Stephen Curry gutted through ankle pain in the Warrior win (Getty Images)

Golden State 110, Denver 108; Golden State leads the series, 2-1

Another preposterously entertaining game in a gem of a series, as the Golden State Warriors rose to the fevered level of their home crowd and overcame an inspired performance from Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson to retain home court advantage and pull to a 2-1 series lead. Stephen Curry was brilliant at times and outrageous in other spots with his quick release from the outside and derring-do in the interior, piling up 29 points and 11 assists in Golden State’s first home playoff game in six years.

The Warriors needed to pounce, because in spite of Lawson’s effort, the Nuggets made just enough mistakes to give Golden State its winnin’ window.

Gerald Wallace is at a loss. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBA/Getty Images)Gerald Wallace’s 3 for 15 shooting in the Brooklyn Nets' two first-round losses to the Chicago Bulls isn’t helping his team’s cause, but all those missed shots aren’t nearly as destructive as the dozens of other possessions the Nets run with Wallace on the court. For two games, the Bulls have been just about ignoring Wallace on the floor, an unfortunate end result in a season that has seen Wallace’s offensive game fall off the face of the earth.

Following the Nets’ tough Game 3 loss on Thursday, Wallace spoke to New York Daily News beat reporter extraordinaire Stefan Bondy, and shared his frustration with a gig gone wrong:

“I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you my role now,” Wallace said Friday at the team’s hotel in Chicago. “I don’t have a clue what my role is on this team.”

What’s striking about a line like this is that it doesn’t appear as if Wallace is complaining. He’s seemed genuinely frustrated and flummoxed by his current status, and the stasis is wearing on him. Wallace hasn’t been able to leak out in transition as he did so well during Saturday’s Game 1 win over Chicago (one that saw him put up 14 points on 5 for 7 shooting), and his attempts in the two losses since have either come on missed 3-pointers (he’s hit 1 of 6) or misspent drives into a closed-off lane.

[Also: Thunder's Russell Westbrook out for season after knee surgery]

To interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo’s credit, he handled the quote in stride. Here’s his discussion with Bondy:

Phil Jackson is looking for a booming front office voice (Getty Images)

The news barely skimmed NBA circles early on Friday, because the hiring of former Anschutz Entertainment Group President and CEO Tim Leiweke to run Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment seemed to only count toward NHL matters. MLSE owns the Toronto Raptors, to be sure, but for a while there, the team appeared pretty ensconced moving forward after allowing current president Bryan Colangelo to swing a massive deal for forward Rudy Gay in February.

Now there are whispers that are whispering back at the whispers that could place Phil Jackson in Colangelo’s chair, taking control of a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2008. ESPN’s Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne came through with the report on Friday:

Sources told ESPN.com this week that the Raptors have interest in talking with Jackson about the Pat Riley-style role he craves in charge of a team's basketball operations. ESPN.com reported last week that Jackson, after nearly two seasons in retirement, is "itching" to return to the NBA next season, but preferably in a role similar to Riley's in Miami that allows him to oversee both the basketball department and the coaching staff, or perhaps as a high-level consultant like Jerry West in Golden State.

J.J. Redick prepares to not talk to Jim Boylan on Tuesday (Getty Images)

When the Milwaukee Bucks traded for J.J. Redick during February’s trade deadline, it seemed like a salvageable enough move for both sides. Yes, the Bucks were giving up solid young forward Tobias Harris for a veteran in his prime who could leave the team as a free agent in July, but Redick boasted the potential to act as a competent shooter and playmaker for a Bucks team that could use the spacing. And J.J. could work as a solid enough addition as a potential re-signee should the Bucks either rebuild this summer, or keep this middling core.

Yeah, there’s no way Redick is re-signing now. Not with the way he’s been treated by interim Bucks head coach Jim Boylan. After Boylan pointed out before Milwaukee’s Game 3 loss that “as a shooter you’ve just got to keep shooting” in reference to the struggling Redick, Charles Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel relayed Boylan’s talks about confidence to Redick in the Buck locker room (via PBT):

Bucks coach Jim Boylan said in his pregame remarks that he told Redick to shoot with confidence but Redick disputed that.

"Jim never talked to me," Redick said. "He didn't say anything to me. I haven't spoken to him during the playoffs. I did not get that message.

Some of the Toronto Raptors that were part of the President's gift (Getty Images)

As a somewhat famous world leader, President Barack Obama is the recipient of a yearly series of over-the-top gifts and baubles from other world leaders. As has been the case for every president in history (save for Harding, probably), Obama is on the receiving end of honorariums presented in order to ably showcase the better features of the country the giving world leader represents.

This was why, in 2011, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave Obama a … signed basketball from the 2010-11 Toronto Raptors? The best of what Canada has to offer? Alongside a gold-framed map of North America from the 1800s, this was the president’s bounty. From the Globe and Mail’s Tu Thanh Ha:

And since Mr. Obama is known as a Chicago Bulls fans, Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered him a basketball, signed by the 2010–2011 Toronto Raptors.

The ball was presented in a plastic display case, inside a green leather-bound box with Mr. Harper’s seal on the top.

David Kahn could be out, and Flip Saunders reportedly is in (Getty Images)

David Kahn, to put it very mildly, has had more downs than ups in his time running the Minnesota Timberwolves. Since taking over the team in 2009, the ex-NBA journalist and former NBC Sports teaboy has presided over four losing seasons, while working with a roster whose two best players (Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic; apologies to Ricky Rubio fans, but Ricky’s not there yet) were drafted by the previous regime.

According to NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner, a former longtime Timberwolves beat writer, Kahn himself is soon to be “the previous regime.” Flip Saunders, the longtime Timberwolves coach and second-hand man to personnel chief Kevin McHale, could be set to take over the Wolves. Here’s the report:

Former NBA head coach Flip Saunders is expected to return to the Minnesota Timberwolves as the team’s next president of basketball operations, NBA.com has learned.

Saunders, 58, has been negotiating a contract that, with option years, could run through the 2017-18 season and could be worth more than $9 million over the full five years, according to league sources who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the hiring.

This picture is worth the next 1,092 words you're about to read (Getty Images)

CHICAGO — The matchup between the Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks was supposed to be this postseason’s infamous “NBA TV Series,” a combination of somewhat anonymous teams playing very ugly games to an audience that would rather watch more high-profile series on other cable stations. Instead, despite a pairing of teams from two of North America’s bigger television markets, the Chicago Bulls-Brooklyn Nets first-round series has supplanted the Pacers and Hawks’ rather enjoyable and relatively high-scoring series.

Coming off of a 79-76 win that put his Bulls up 2-1 over the Nets, it’s probably fair to assume that Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau prefers it this way. Away from the prying eyes, he’s put together 96 minutes of killer Bulls basketball and lineups for his players to perk their ears toward over Game 2 and Game 3, and despite Brooklyn’s veteran pedigree, the Nets just don’t seem to have any answers thus far.

Once again, Bulls forward Carlos Boozer led the way with a solid 22-point performance in the win, nailing nine of 15 shots while anchoring (yes, this is the same Carlos Boozer) Chicago’s defense with a series of needed defensive rebounds. Boozer managed 15 of those, and 16 overall as Chicago held Brooklyn to 35 percent shooting. Luol Deng helped spearhead a quick Bulls start to begin the second half, scoring 12 of his 21 points in a four-minute stretch at the outset of the third quarter, as Chicago managed to cling to the lead in spite of a late Brooklyn comeback.

[Also: Magic Johnson gives up on Lakers' chances]

In Game 1 of the 2011 Eastern Conference finals, Chicago Bulls reserve forward/center Taj Gibson threw down a dunk so hard over Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade (the clip can be found here) that it was eventually immortalized in cake form — the highest compliment some Western nations can give.

In honor of Kris Humphries’ recent legal emancipation from the Kardashian clan, Gibson decided to throw down his own sort of tribute in the face of the Brooklyn Nets reserve forward. During the second quarter of Thursday night’s Game 3 between the Bulls and Nets, this unfortunate event took place:

(As someone who is perched at the United Center as I write this, I should point out that the Bulls crowd was going gaga over the replay some 10 to 15 minutes — and several timeouts — later. And if you think I'm being a little too hard on Humphries, understand that his first move upon entering the game tonight was to leer at the Chicago Bulls cheerleaders while "stretching" on his team's net.)

[Also: Magic Johnson gives up on Lakers' chances]