Indiana Pacers forward and former All-Star David West is known for being a prickly sort. Not a dirty player or selfish teammate in the slightest, as the newish Pacer is well respected around by both foes, ex-teammates and teammates alike, working hard to carve out a niche in the NBA after entering the league in relative anonymity out of Xavier.

Also, he doesn't want to low-five you, ya punk kid. Check out West's -- I'm sorry -- hilarious reaction to the eight outstretched hands of various children and one adult in the hallway leading from the Pacers' home court back to the team's locker room. And, it should be noted, this video was taken at halftime, and before West's Pacers saw their season end with a 105-93 defeat at the hand of the Miami Heat. Watch, because it's so good:

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Miami Heat 105, Indiana Pacers 93 (Heat win series 4-2)

A dominant five-day and 10-quarter stretch from the Miami Heat has put them back in the Eastern Conference finals for the second year in a row and the fifth time in franchise history. And the Indiana Pacers will be left to figure out just how they went from series leader after Game 3, with all the momentum on their side, to out of the postseason in just a week's time.

And the rest of the NBA is wondering just what doctor Dwyane Wade visited last weekend. Does he do other body parts and does he work on Friday afternoons?

It was an astonishing night for Wade, a player who has been beyond dominant during the Heat turnaround that started with the third quarter in Sunday's Game 4. Forty-one points for the All-Star, missing just eight shots in 25 tries while pulling in 10 needed rebounds for a team featuring big minutes for two of the best-defending-but-worst-rebounding front-court players in the NBA in Joel Anthony and Shane Battier. Most frightening was the way Wade was scoring, consistently going glass with a series of runners, not exactly taking and making bad shots, but taking and making tough shots. Gorgeous game from Wade, and after all our worry from last week, it's great to watch.

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The Western Conference Finals, which tip off on Sunday, figures to be the best series of the playoffs so far. The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs have been the two most impressive teams in the postseason by a wide margin, losing a whopping one game between them and seeming to have very few, if any, major weaknesses. It's the kind of series where predicting who will win is almost besides the point — really, it's best just to watch some great basketball and enjoy whatever happens.

In the meantime, though, we're all going to speculate about what might happen and how each team might attack the other. For the media, that means asking key players what they expect from the opposition. For some reason, Kevin Durant is tired of being asked these questions. From Darnell Mayberry for The Oklahoman (via SLAM):

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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: Eight Points, Nine Seconds. A pointed look at the Pacers as they prepare for perhaps their penultimate performance.
PF: Vice. David Roth on Stan Van Gundy and the Orlando Magic.
SF: Magic Basketball. Eddy Rivera on Stan Van Gundy and the Orlando Magic.
SG: Orlando Pinstriped Post. Evan Dunlap on Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic.
PG: True Hoop. Kevin Arnovitz: 'The unthinking brilliance of Tim Duncan.'

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It's a cliche to say that great athletes are capable of feats better suited for video games. For many reasons, that idea no longer makes much sense. But the idea remains anyway, because in some cases it's the only way to give a sense of what it's like to watch an unbelievable athlete do his thing. It doesn't even seem real, so it must be virtual.

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin is one of those players. So, in an inspired mashup, the video wizards at SB Nation added graphics and sound effects from the old version of "NBA Jam" to some of Griffin's best dunks of this season. Make sure you watch until the end, because that's when Griffin actually defies the laws of physics.

All the clip is missing, really, is a random halftime appearance from Horace Grant and indiscriminate pushing with no fouls. Flops don't work so well when fouls don't exist, Blake.

Hey, are you in need of something that is the greatest to get you through the remainder of your Thursday afternoon as you wait for a Miami Heat-Indiana Pacers game that will all but certainly kill your soul? WORRY NOT, FELLOW TRAVELER! I have just the thing for you: Dancing!

And not mere "tomato-soup-awaiting, Siri-spurred" dancing — real dancing. From the mean streets of Springfield, Va., where it seems there ain't ish to do but cook or create dances dedicated to Washington Wizards rookie guard Shelvin Mack and venerable multi-team guard of the '90s Robert Pack. Behold:

This unbridled brilliance comes to us from Springfield's Ryan Kopf, 23, who has apparently been doing this sort of thing since he was knee-high to a shoefly, and does it pretty often. From the fantastic Sarah Kogod of the Washington Post's venerable D.C. Sports Bog:

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After presenting the game ball before Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics, NBA legend Allen Iverson headed back up to his seat and he cheered. Man, did he cheer. Oh, boy, did he cheer.

What kind of cheers came out of the mouth of "The Answer"? Best caption wins a head's up that The Questions are back. Good luck.

In our last adventure: LOUD NOISES!

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It's a total given that when you think "Kobe Bryant," you think "Stringy-Haired Belgian-Australian Dude Singing About Difficult Relationship Problems With Twee Belgian And/Or Australian Women." I mean, I know it goes without saying, but for the purposes of the post, I guess I have to say it. Sure, "basketball" is No. 2, but that's obviously No. 1. (Rapping with Tyra Banks, clearly, is No. 3.)

So it's both thematically correct and completely reasonable that Dan Rib and Ken Belcher — aka "Kobye" — produced this re-imagining of Gotye's smash "Somebody That I Used to Know" targeted very specifically at the failings of the Los Angeles Lakers star, how his 2011-12 incarnation differs from the unstoppable version of his youth, and how this year's Lakers might have been better off with fewer Kobe shots and more play through twin-tower types Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol ... which, y'know, is kind of what most folks who aren't diehard Laker fans/Kobe stans were saying for most of this season. Although we weren't saying it so breathily.

If nothing else, as we enjoy this cover — and let's be clear: it's a cover worth enjoying, as Kobye has done well to honor both the source material and fans of the thing they are discussing, a double act that is no easy feat to pull off, I can assure you — let's just be glad of one thing: There isn't any body-painting here. I think we can all agree that that's a clear upgrade, irrespective of your gender preferences or artistic sensibilities, if for no other reason than that stuff can be real hard to get off. (DON'T ASK.)

Hat-tip to longtime blog stalwart Jerod Morris of Midwest Sports Fans, via longtime multiplying effect Jimmy Traina of Hot Clicks.

It's a little too easy, in the wake of news like this, to point to "one bad apple" and declare overreaction. We're not law enforcement officials. We don't do this for a living. We weren't there and we don't know better.

Now that we've shown respect to the Oklahoma City officials that decided to cancel the outdoor playoff game viewings at "Thunder Alley" during OKC Thunder games, in the wake of the shooting that marred the team's Game 5 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, it does appear that the city might be overreacting. Thunder Alley will remain open pregame, so you get to slap on your facepaint and buy a Thunder-sanctioned something or other, but once the game tips off, according to Dan Mahoney, Thunder vice president of corporate communications and community relations, those without a ticket can then "go to their favorite viewing establishment to watch the game."

Not to the big outdoor screen, where a cast of thousands watched the Thunder play in the team's opening-round series against Dallas, and the group's triumph over the Lakers. Undeterred, Thunder fans at Welcome To Loud City are attempting to streamline fan efforts to swamp the OKC mayor and city council with requests that fans without a ticket be given the chance to continue to watch the game outside. Considering that sports fans are often as superstitious (if not considerably more) than the players who play the game, we can understand if there are some jittery OKC backers worried about what's going to happen when next Thursday's Game 3 (the first contest in the Western Conference finals to be played in Oklahoma City) tips off.

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Chris Kaman's doing great, guys. He's about to be a free agent, and while the 30-year-old pivot isn't really anyone's idea of a game-changer, he'll be one of the best available centers on the market.

You'd clearly rather have Kevin Garnett for the next couple of years, even at age 36, but young and gifted restricted free agents like Roy Hibbert, Brook Lopez, JaVale McGee and Omer Asik will cost a pretty penny. And among unrestricted types, only Ian Mahinmi (five years younger, light-years more athletic and an emerging talent on both ends) and Spencer Hawes (a pretty similar player to Kaman during his first five seasons) would seem like better multiyear bets at deals above the midlevel exception.

Even coming off a relatively nondescript season with the New Orleans Hornets, Kaman has value as a legit 7-footer who can score, has nine years of NBA experience, and can walk, chew gum and foul at the same time. He'll find a job, and a lucrative one, at that. He's secure. And when you're secure, you can just chill out and eat some cereal in a cabin surrounded by more animal heads than seem reasonable, healthy or non-mania-inducing.

Once you've kicked things off with the most important meal of the day, though, you should really go out and have some fun with your offseason. Visit with friends. Take long walks. Hide in caves and then jump out pretending to be a legendary ape-like cryptid who purportedly inhabits the woods of the Pacific Northwest:

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