Jason Collins on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated (Image via Twitter.com/SInow)

Jason Collins is a free agent. He’s a skilled center that can provide stout defense off of the bench, and he’s a veteran presence. He’s also just become the first openly gay athlete in professional North American team sports.

Throughout his 12-year NBA career, the journeyman center has been known for leaving an indelible imprint on every game he plays without putting up major numbers. He’d defend the league’s best big men expertly, changing the course of both regular season and major playoff games with his work on that end, while barely adding points or rebounds to the box score. If you weren’t watching, you wouldn’t know he was there; much less what sort of impact he made.

[Twitter reaction: Kobe Bryant, others voice support for Jason Collins]

Now, after a game-changing interview with Sports Illustrated, Jason Collins has made a sports-altering impact. The free agent center, who played with both Boston and Washington in 2012-13, has announced he is gay. And the calmness and confidence in his revelation befits a man who was always just fine with playing a style of game that left him unnoticed by all but those who were paying close attention.

From Collins’ column in SI:

No one wants to live in fear. I've always been scared of saying the wrong thing. I don't sleep well. I never have. But each time I tell another person, I feel stronger and sleep a little more soundly. It takes an enormous amount of energy to guard such a big secret. I've endured years of misery and gone to enormous lengths to live a lie. I was certain that my world would fall apart if anyone knew. And yet when I acknowledged my sexuality I felt whole for the first time. I still had the same sense of humor, I still had the same mannerisms and my friends still had my back.

[…]

Loyalty to my team is the real reason I didn't come out sooner. When I signed a free-agent contract with Boston last July, I decided to commit myself to the Celtics and not let my personal life become a distraction. When I was traded to the Wizards, the political significance of coming out sunk in. I was ready to open up to the press, but I had to wait until the season was over.

A college classmate tried to persuade me to come out then and there. But I couldn't yet. My one small gesture of solidarity was to wear jersey number 98 with the Celtics and then the Wizards. The number has great significance to the gay community. One of the most notorious antigay hate crimes occurred in 1998. Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student, was

Dwight Howard, before perhaps his final game as a Los Angeles Laker (Getty Images)

Just when you think Dwight Howard’s petulance can’t win him any more doubters, the Los Angeles Lakers center had to go and get himself thrown out of Sunday evening’s Laker loss to the San Antonio Spurs. The Game 4 defeat was well in the bag for San Antonio even by the 10-minute mark in the third, but that was no excuse for Howard as he moaned his way to a second technical foul in what everyone in the building knew was going to be the Lakers’ final game of a terribly disappointing season.

Obviously disgusted, injured Lakers star Kobe Bryant took the moment to make his way towards the arena tunnel while on crutches to join his team on the bench following Howard’s departure, a clear statement of displeasure. Pau Gasol stayed on to work against the Spurs, the only star amongst the Lakers’ hoped-for starting five (with Bryant, Steve Nash, Howard, and Metta World Peace) to stay active until the end, and he ended his final locker room session of the season by telling reporters that “I wish he didn't get ejected so ... he would have stuck all the way through with the team.”

Howard’s response to this bad taste? He logged into Twitter dot com, and apologized in 140 characters or less.

Im still upset about tonights game and the way this season ended. Im mad I lost my cool. Im sorry for letting my team and our fans down when

— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) April 29, 2013

During the first quarter of Sunday night’s San Antonio Spurs 103-82 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Dwight Howard received a technical foul for “holding his ground” and elbowing Spurs guard Cory Joseph after Dwight was intentionally fouled by several Spurs. During TNT’s halftime presentation in the middle of that Game 4, Charles Barkley disagreed with colleague Shaquille O’Neal on the TNT set, pointing out that Howard’s show of machismo probably wasn’t the smart move, considering the NBA fact that one more technical foul would lead to his ejection from what would end up being the Lakers’ final game of the season.

Howard would be aware of this potential reality, though, right? He wouldn’t jeopardize at least a dignified end to a terrible season by earning that second penalty, because that would be ridiculous.

In a season full of the ridiculous, Howard gave his miserable year a suitable ending. He was ejected for the game for showing up the referees following a non-call that did not go his way just over two minutes into the second half. Watch:

Kevin Durant scored 41 draining points on Saturday (Getty Images)

Oklahoma City 104, Houston 101; Oklahoma City leads the series, 3-0

For the first half of Saturday night’s tilt, it seemed as if the Oklahoma City Thunder would have absolutely no issues moving forward without injured star guard Russell Westbrook, against the Houston Rockets at least. The San Antonio Spurs or Miami Heat are another matter for another month, but early on it appeared as even a Westbrook-less Thunder team was outclassing Houston, especially with Kevin Durant carrying the Thunder to a 26-point lead at one point partway through the second quarter, with 27 first-half points.

The second half commenced, seemingly mid-blowout, and things started to fall apart. You remember LeBron James in Cleveland? Remember how predictable the offense was and how tired James often looked? Sadly, with Westbrook now out for the season, there was some of that going around.

The Rockets roared back, without injured guard Jeremy Lin, by spreading the floor and going with their drive-and-kick game. By nailing 3 after 3 and alternating startlingly poor defensive rotations with some honest to goodness very good ones against OKC, the Rockets came all the way back to take a one-point lead over the Thunder with just over three minutes to go. Just barely clinging on, Durant hit a spectacular 3-pointer (one that bounced three times on the rim, one time nearly over the shot clock, before falling in) and Serge Ibaka saved yet another broken possession with a reverse layup to hold off a Rockets team that just couldn’t hit enough corner 3s to make it work.

Jason Terry and J.R. Smith had different reactions to Smith's ejection (Getty Images)

Despite the relative ease of the first three wins in this series, the New York Knicks were going to have their work cut out for themselves on Sunday while attempting to sweep a proud Boston Celtics team out of the playoffs. Now that task will turn even tougher for New York, as Knick swingman and 2012-13 Sixth Man Award winner J.R. Smith will be suspended for Sunday's Game 4.

The NBA announced as much on Saturday evening, a day after Smith was ejected from New York’s Game 3 win for sweeping his elbows through Celtics guard Jason Terry and striking him on the chin. Watch Smith’s screwup, and the reaction from Knicks coach Mike Woodson that followed:

Little Nate Robinson carried the Chicago Bulls on Saturday (Getty Images)

One of the more unlikely playoff teams in NBA history has pulled off one of the more unlikely wins in NBA playoff history. The Chicago Bulls defeated the Brooklyn Nets, 142-134, on Saturday afternoon in a four-hour, triple-overtime marathon that at one point seemed in danger of doubling the score of Thursday night’s sluggish Game 3 Bulls victory.

For the first three games of the Bulls-Nets series, the on-court action was criticized for being deliberate, defensively based, and too ugly for public consumption. On Saturday afternoon, though, the public consumed a whole lot more of the Bulls and Nets than they expected. Sixty-three minutes worth of action from the two teams, as Chicago pulled out the remarkable win thanks to the play of Nate Robinson, and the team’s ability to overcome just about any obstacle imaginable.

The game started as a surprisingly efficient offensive affair, with both sides running out to a strong first half while point guards Kirk Hinrich and Deron Williams traded jumpers as opposed to trading stops. Brooklyn grew in confidence as the game moved along, thanks in part to a Bulls defense that seemed a little flat for the first time in a few games — Williams (32 points, 11 for 25 shooting on Saturday after missing 17 of his last 23 shots heading into Game 4) and Joe Johnson (22 points) were allowed to step into jumpers, while the team’s bench contributed solid play on the offensive end.

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

As a result, the Bulls turned to one of the NBA’s more offensive players. Pugnacious, 5-foot-9 spark-plug Robinson.

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: