NBA Insider with Ken Berger

Boston – I can see the TD Banknorth Garden from the hotel room I just checked into for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight. I just hope I don’t see any officiating controversy in a few hours, the likes of which has marred the series out West between the Lakers and Spurs.

If you doubted Kobe Bryant's greatness, or just want to sit back and appreciate it, check out this YouTube highlight clip of Kobe doing a number on the Spurs last night -- courtesy of SportingNews.com.

It was with great interest and admiration that I read a column this morning from Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Livy, as he is affectionately known in my former stomping ground, waved his hand in the air with a flourish (a trademark of his while eloquently pontificating in press boxes all over northeast Ohio) and announced that he is the first person in Cleveland to recognize the real possibility that LeBron James could have his eyes on the Knicks in 2010.

The highlights:

The NBA Players Association is investigating allegations that one of its certified agencies provided money to USC guard O.J. Mayo to secure him as a client.

"We've initiated an investigation," a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to Newsday today.

“Il est deux heures du matin et nous sommes condamnés à passer la nuit dans l’avion.”

These were the words of Tony Parker Monday night. Trust me, these are not words you ever want to hear from your point guard less than 48 hours before the Western Conference Finals.

According to the French radio station RMC, the Spurs’ clever plan to fly straight from New Orleans to Los Angeles after beating the Hornets last night was nixed when their chartered plane wasn’t ready to depart after the game. The Spurs said the plane had mechanical problems. (If you know French, click this link and let me know if you find any other clues.) Whatever the reason, this can’t be good. Instead of a full, blissful night’s sleep in the lap of luxury in L.A., the defending champs had to sleep on the plane and fly this morning at 7 a.m.

I asserted in my Sunday column that road teams can still win in the NBA playoffs, despite evidence to the contrary. I'm not one to say "I told you so," and I'm not going to violate my own premise by making too much out of one game. But the Spurs debunked the myth last night by beating the Hornets in Game 7 in New Orleans, 91-82, to advance to the Western Conference Finals against the Lakers.

It was the first time that a road team won in the series and only the third time in 25 games that a road team won in the second round. As I predicted, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

In the interest of full disclosure: If Media WatchDog Neil Best had asked me if I would have written this post had the Hornets won last night, my answer would have been, "No comment, Neil. Now get back to posting photos of scantily clad women on your blog in a shameless attempt to increase page views."

Sigh.

Intriguing day for the NBA. The Eastern Conference Finals open in Detroit with the Celtics trying to snap out of their road funk. For those in a more protracted funk, the draft lottery will be held tonight in beautiful Secaucus, N.J. Alan Hahn and I will be there to monitor the Knicks’ fortunes or misfortunes, depending on when David Stern pulls out the envelope with the “NY” inside.

At the same time, the gambling problem has once again reared its ugly head – and we’re not just talking about Charles Barkley’s gambling problem and ugly head. Disgraced ref Tim Donaghy, in an effort to obtain more lenient sentencing, has filed papers with the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn in which he makes vague allegations that he wasn’t the only NBA employee involved in the betting scandal that brought him down.

Steve Nash is in New York today promoting some skin products. He’ll have to meet with the product designers and have them come up with something to make Mike D’Antoni’s skin a little thicker now that he has to work here.

It was good to see, though hardly surprising, that my pal Chris Sheridan at ESPN.com was thinking the same way I was yesterday at Mike D'Antoni's ballroom gala at the WaMu Theater. Chris and I toiled together on many an NBA assignment when we were both employed by The Associated Press. We still share a similar world view, especially when it comes to the world as it exists between Seventh and Eighth Avenues and 31st and 33rd Streets.

Not that we weren't impressed with everything D'Antoni had to say on his first official day as coach of the Knicks. But both of us shared a trait with D'Antoni and Donnie Walsh: We were distracted by visions of LeBron dancing in our heads.

I just tried to get Newsday.com to launch in my browser and got a blank screen. Does this mean that Jim Dolan has crashed the site because he didn't like our coverage of Mike D'Antoni's introductory news conference yesterday?

Neil Best, our beloved Media WatchDog, has been and will continue to be delving into issues such as this now that Dolan's Cablevision has agreed to buy Newsday from Tribune Co. Richard Sandomir of The New York Times -- a former Newsday scribe -- delves into the Dolan School of Journalism in today's editions. Johnette Howard, yours truly, and the WatchDog himself are quoted in the article, as are current Newsday editor John Mancini and former Newsday editor Howard Schneider.

I shared news of the Cablevision purchase yesterday with D'Antoni's agent, Warren LeGarie. "I know," LeGarie said. "That's one of the reasons we wanted to come here. We wanted to be able to control the coverage."

That was a joke, of course. Dolan has been trying to control the coverage of his teams for years, so I wouldn't expect that to change.

Just another reason to like everything about LeBron. After Paul Pierce wrapped him up to prevent a layup last night in Game 4 between the Celts and Cavs, LeBron's mom, Gloria, got up from her seat and started jawing with Pierce and other members of the Celtics.

A mother's instinct is very strong, no doubt. But LeBron agrees with my assessment that, at 6-9, 250, he is perfectly capable of handling his business. So check out this video clip, which clearly shows LeBron using some choice language to tell his mom to sit down.

I disagree with this blogger's take on it. Who among us hasn't dealt with unwanted interference from a relative?

Another issue related to this: The NBA has to do something about these wrapup fouls. This one from Pierce clearly didn't rise to the level off a flagrant since he obviously didn't intend to hurt LeBron and, in fact, appeared to make an effort to hang onto him to prevent him from falling into the crowd and injuring himself. But there was no attempt to go for the ball, and when you wrap up a player of James' size and speed on his way to the basket, the chances of unintentionally injuring him are quite high -- as TNT analyst Doug Collins correctly pointed out on the telecast.

Something for the commissioner to contemplate and for the owners to address at the next board of governors meeting. They should do something about it before somebody gets hurt.

Priceless. Ernie Johnson plays the old "Anchorman" trick on Charles Barkley on the set of TNT's "Inside the NBA." Notice the look on Barkley's face immediately after he reads the money quote.

This stat falls into the same dreaded category as "if the season ended today ..." Nonetheless, some research worth checking out at NBA.com shows that after the first seven playoff games of his career, Chris Paul is the best postseason point guard in NBA history.

His averages of 24.3 PPG and 12.1 APG surpass all the greats after their first seven playoff games -- better than Earl Monroe, Bob Cousy, Isiah Thomas, and Magic Johnson. Better than all of them. The only one who comes close is Kevin Johnson (24.0, 12.1).

CP3 has a few trophies to raise before he can join the discussion with Cousy, Magic, Isiah, et al. But this is just a little more proof that the dude is good.

With word that Bernie Bickerstaff is leaving the Charlotte Bobcats, my first question, naturally, is whether he is coming to the Knicks. According to a person with knowledge of Donnie Walsh's thinking, Walsh holds Bickerstaff in extremely high regard and will give strong consideration to offering Bickerstaff a role in the new regime.

It's not clear whether Bickerstaff would come on board in a front-office capacity or on the bench. My thought is, Bickerstaff would be extremely valuable as the lead assistant -- particularly to an inexperienced head coach such as Mark Jackson. When Walsh and Larry Bird hired Jim O'Brien to coach the Pacers, they did so after already confirming that O'Brien would bring legendary defensive guru Dick Harter with him. Walsh could be using a similar M.O. here.

We told you in yesterday's Newsday that Mike D'Antoni is not a slam-dunk to get the Bulls' coaching job and that the Knicks are still in the mix for the soon-to-be former Suns coach. Now, others are on the bandwagon, citing sources who have reiterated that James Dolan's deep pockets and Donnie Walsh's trustworthy reputation should not be ruled out as D'Antoni decides his next move.

Here is a story from ESPN.com's Marc Stein that sets up a possible bidding war between the Knicks and Bulls for D'Antoni.

The coaching carousel could be entering the home stretch, which is good if you’re a Knick fan and you’re tired of your team being coachless.

Mike D’Antoni is still waiting for the Knicks or Bulls to make him a formal offer, a person with knowledge of the situation told Newsday this afternoon. That means the Mavericks will be the first team on the hunt for a coach to fill its position, and the dominoes will fall from there.

A person familiar with Rick Carlisle’s situation said negotiations with Dallas “should be wrapped up by late tomorrow or early Friday.” It is believed that the Suns want D’Antoni to advise them of his future plans no later than Friday as well.

Here’s my take on D’Antoni’s situation:

Boston -- Here I am in a very nervous TD Banknorth Garden, where the 66-win Celtics will try not to let their dominant regular season go down the tubes in Game 7 against the Hawks.

As compelling as that will be, I can't escape the Knicks' coaching search. Two of the top candidates -- ABC/ESPN analyst Mark Jackson and Celtics associate head coach Tom Thibodeau -- are in the building. Neat pre-game moment with Jackson I want to share with you.