The video above is basically the quick-hit, short-take, brief summation of the Miami Heat/Chicago Bulls Eastern Conference semifinals. Without dismissing either team’s significant talents, the block that 5-9 Bulls guard Nate Robinson came through with against four-time MVP LeBron James in the third quarter of Miami’s 104-94 Game 3 win on Friday night was symbolic. The move dramatically came out of nowhere to stop one important shot, but the distraction hardly mattered in the end as Chicago’s stones failed to fell Goliath, and the defending champion Miami Heat took a 2-1 series lead.

The Heat regained the home court advantage by waiting out a Bulls attack that simply could not keep up offensively in the second half, while falling prey to opportunistic three-point bombs on the other end of the court. Heat reserve Norris Cole scored 18 points off of the Miami bench, knocking in 3-3 three-pointers to drag his long range mark to 8-8 in the conference semis, while James hung tough despite what was a miserable start to his evening.

Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals series between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat was a testy affair, with both teams reacting poorly to perceived hard fouls and nine technical fouls issued by the referees. The continuation or cessation of that bad blood became one of the biggest stories of the series heading into Friday night's Game 3 in Chicago. And while there might have been some hope that the teams would put those incidents behind them and focus a less combative form of competition, the first half of Game 3 suggests that this series will only get rougher.

[Also: Bulls mock LeBron James, fan conspiracy flames after Game 3 loss]

With 9:29 left in the second quarter, Heat uber-star LeBron James dribbled the ball up the court in transition at a somewhat leisurely pace. For reasons unknown to anyone but himself, Bulls big man Nazr Mohammed ran up from behind and hugged James in an apparent intentional foul, despite the fact that the Bulls had a numerical advantage in the frontcourt. James did not take kindly to these actions and twisted until he threw Mohammed to the ground. Referee Joey Crawford hit LeBron with a technical foul, which wasn't terribly shocking regardless of Crawford's reputation as an official who enjoys exercising his power whenever possible.

In a much less surprising move, LeBron immediately began to complain to Crawford. Ever resourceful, the 6-10, 250-lb Mohammed used this opportunity to spring to his feet and shove James in the chest. He fell to the ground, the teams got in each other's faces, and the referees decided to eject Nasty Nazr after a short review of proceedings. We will have to see if he's suspended for another game, leaving the Bulls without another player alongside their MASH unit of a backcourt.

And this wasn't even the first tussle of the game! After the jump, check out a clip of the play that earned Joakim Noah the night's first technical foul.

Sometimes a player exits the NBA on terms that in no way reflect his talent. As reported by Yahoo!'s own Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday, the Minnesota Timberwolves are formalizing the release of shooting guard Brandon Roy, effectively ending his career. After signing with Minnesota in the summer of 2012, Roy showed little ability to play with his seriously damaged knees and managed just five games for 122 total minutes. It stands to reason that Roy will decide not to pursue another contract, and even if he did it's hard to know if any team would be interested in his services.

This is a sad moment for many reasons. Roy established himself as a star with the Portland Trail Blazers pretty much immediately upon his arrival in 2006, serving as the most dependable member of what many thought would be a championship-winning core of him, Greg Oden, and LaMarcus Aldridge. Oden's injury history is well-trod ground, but it's important to remember that Roy really was the player he was supposed to

Assistant Pop, early Admiral, the wheeler-dealer in charge. Were we ever so young? (Getty Images)

A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: San Antonio Express-News. With the San Antonio Spurs headed to Oracle Arena tied with the Golden State Warriors at one game apiece, and only a miraculous comeback away from an 0-2 hole, Buck Harvey looks back at the last time the Spurs found themselves in a similar predicament ... back in 1991, against Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and these self-same Dubs. A fun read and a sharp examination of the shift in culture that's helped make the Spurs so good for so many years.

PF: Grantland. OK, if Zach Lowe doesn't know how the hell you stop Stephen Curry and this Warriors offense, then I don't feel so bad about coming to a similarly stumped conclusion the other day. The Warriors have become a very scary problem for opposing defenses, even ones as good as San Antonio's.

SF: Memphis Flyer. Chris Herrington offers the first half of his customarily detailed, smart breakdown of a Memphis Grizzlies game ... in this case, a pretty important Game 3 set for Saturday at the Grindhouse.

SG: SB Nation. A strong pre-Game 3 read by Paul Flannery on how the best Kevin Durant we've ever seen still might not be enough for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Left: Chris Hansen. Right: Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. (Getty Images)

When the NBA Board of Governors Relocation Committee unanimously recommended last Monday that the Sacramento Kings not be sold to a Seattle-based ownership group intent on relocating the franchise to Washington, it seemed that the effort spearheaded by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to bring back NBA basketball back to Seattle had reached its conclusion. But after the board's decision, Hansen and his partners told supporters eager for the return of the SuperSonics that they "remain fully committed" to completing the purchase agreement they'd reached with the Maloof family to buy a controlling interest in the Kings ... and on Friday afternoon, Hansen and company raised the stakes by once again raising their bid, this time by a cool $75 million.

[Also: Bulls mock LeBron James, fan conspiracy flames after Game 3 loss]

The initial report of the increased offer by Chris Daniels of KING5 in Seattle was quickly confirmed by Hansen in a public statement on his SonicsArena.com website:

In an effort to further demonstrate the extent of our commitment to bring basketball back to Seattle, we have elected to voluntarily increase our proposed purchase price for the Sacramento Kings NBA Franchise by $75 million — from an enterprise value of $550 million to $625 million. In conjunction with our revised offer, we have also guaranteed to the NBA that the Franchise would be a revenue sharing payer in all years in Seattle. [...]

While we appreciate that this is a very difficult decision for the league and owners, we hope it is understood that we really believe the time is now to bring the NBA back to Seattle, and that it is paramount that we do everything we can to put Seattle’s best foot forward in this process.

'She took my surfboard, Jordan. My surfboard.' (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)Kobe Bryant's legal dispute with his mother and a New Jersey auction house over the planned sell-off of an estimated $1.5 million worth of memorabilia ramped up a couple of notches Thursday.

First, the Los Angeles Lakers star get a temporary restraining order against New Jersey-based Goldin Auctions to prevent the opening of the auction pending a full hearing on the matter. Then, in his response to a federal lawsuit filed by auctioneer Kenneth Goldin last week, Bryant claimed he'd never given his mother Pamela Bryant — who gave her son's stuff to Goldin in exchange for a $450,000 advance she planned to put toward buying a new home in Nevada — permission to sell his items.

Kobe's filings, which reportedly "quote case law about when property can be considered abandoned after a child leaves home," reference conversations between mother and son in which the 15-time All-Star specifically told Pamela Bryant she could not shop his wares, according to Jane M. Von Bergen of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

"I never told my mother that she could have my personal property, let alone consign it for public auction," wrote Bryant, who was drafted into the NBA directly out of Lower Merion High School. [...]

On the day the suit was filed, Kobe Bryant says in his response, he received a call from his mother.

"I confronted her about her false statement that I had given my memorabilia to her," he wrote.

"I said to her, 'Mom, you know I never told you that you could have the memorabilia.'

"Her response was, 'Yes, but you never said you wanted it either.' Of course, this is untrue, since my wife and I requested that she return my memorabilia several years earlier."

Who among us hasn't had to tell a parent, verbatim, "You know I never told you that you could have the memorabilia?" We've all been here, Kobe. It's so frustrating. We know.

Mike Brown and Mark Jackson compare gestures (Getty Images)

Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown’s continued existence as a hot commodity remains baffling to us, and yet the Cavs wasted no time in securing Brown as their head coach last month just three years after firing him. Weirdly, rumors abounded that the Cavs made quick work of their coaching search, upon firing Byron Scott, because the team was worried Brown would link arms with another team looking for a head man.

Now a report out of Lakers Nation points to Lakers de facto personnel boss Jim Buss as expressing the same worries as he attempted to replace the future brother-in-law (13-time champion, as player and coach) Phil Jackson that he reportedly reviles. Brown was a candidate to take on the Golden State Warriors top gig in 2011, with West acting as a consultant and leading Mike Brown advocate, before the younger Buss swooped in to grab his guy.

From the longtime Lakers go-to guy, Mark Heisler:

Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson received a $25,000 fine for "verbal abuse of a game official," NBA Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson announced Friday. The fine stems from Gibson's ejection at the 10:13 mark of the fourth quarter of Chicago’s historic 115-78 loss to the Miami Heat in Game 2 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals series.

Gibson was frustrated at what he felt was a missed goaltending call against Heat center Chris Andersen on the prior Chicago possession. After a foul on Bulls guard Marquis Teague, Chicago center Joakim Noah began arguing with official Scott Foster from the Bulls' bench, resulting in a technical foul, his second of the game, prompting his automatic ejection. (You might remember what happened next.)

[Also: Knicks' Amar'e Stoudemire expected to play in Game 3 vs. Pacers]

After Noah got the gate, Gibson stepped up his chirping with Foster, who was not in any mood to chat and quickly slapped the USC product with two technicals. Gibson, as you might expect, wasn't so pleased with that. The clip above — provided to us by the NBA and Turner Sports, natch — doesn't really showcase the "abuse" in question. This one, however, does. Many four-letter expletives are involved.