LeBron James sought the advice of Ray Allen on how to shoot free throws and the four-time MVP is beginning to reap the benefits.

James shot 80.8 percent from the stripe in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"We’ve talked ad nauseam about his bad habits when he misses free throws, so he kind of has a better idea of it," Allen said. "He should watch real film of it. Not just game film, but on the court practicing. And then find that routine and stick to it and give himself a better chance."

James has taken to challenging Allen to free throw competitions during practice.

"You don’t want to look crazy making six out of 10 when he’s making 10 out of 10 every time," James said. "So, he puts pressure on me to make free throws, and I just try to translate what we do in practice into the game."

Due to the injury to David Lee, the Golden State Warriors were forced to be inventive and play Harrison Barnes minutes at power forward.

Many in the media had proposed that Barnes play as the Warriors' small ball power forward previously in the season in order to space the floor due to their lack of playmakers able to get to the basket off the dribble.

"It was fun to kind of play that style," said Barnes. "We’d never really done that before this season. Really, I’d never really played that at Carolina. I’ve always been so accustomed to having two bigs, especially fixtures on the block.

"So just to be able to play that spread out basketball, kind of drive and kick… it was fun to have four people who could handle the ball, just get out on the break, we all had different mis-matches. It was exciting."

Kendrick Perkins finished the 2013 NBA Playoffs with a PER of -0.7, which is the worst on record for a player with 200 or more minutes.

Perkins had 24 turnovers, 24 points, 39 fouls, five blocks and a plus/minus of -40 in the playoffs.

Perkins was acquired by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2011 in a trade involving Jeff Green.

Scott Brooks played Perkins 23.3 minutes per game in the Conference Semifinals against the Memphis Grizzlies despite clearly being ineffective.

Flip Saunders would like to add more shooters to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ roster.

"We need more shooters,'' Saunders said. "You can't play with one (Budinger) or two (Luke Ridnour). A healthy Kevin Love will help there, but if we put shooters on the floor, you're going to see a much better (Ricky) Rubio.''

The Timberwolves were the worst three-point shooting team in the NBA, finishing at 30.5 percent.

J.J. Barea led the Timberwolves in three-point shooting percentage at 34.6 percent, while Alexey Shved paced the team in total attempts with 288.

The Miami Heat have played key stretches without a point guard, playing Shane Battier and Ray Allen with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

But Erik Spoelstra is opting to use either Mario Chalmers or Norris Cole on the floor at virtually all times during the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Chicago Bulls.

Chalmers and Cole are averaging a combined 20.3 points in the series. Cole is the third leading scorer for the Heat in the series at 12.5 points per game.

“We felt we had one of the younger point guard tandems in the league that we can build on and offer us championship minutes now,” Erik Spoelstra said.

“We felt very good about moving forward with them. That’s one of the main reasons we didn’t sign a veteran point guard. We’ve moved in a direction of playing more point guard basketball this year than we have the last two years. Less with hybrid point guards, more with them."

During Chris Bosh's tenure with the Toronto Raptors, the roster was built around him as their franchise player.

When joining the Miami Heat in 2010, Bosh was expected to take on a more complementary role on offense alongside LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

“Everybody says they want to win,’’ said Bosh. “But it’s always about what you’re willing to sacrifice to win. My situation is totally different. I rarely get play calls and before I was getting about 20 touches a game just off play calls (with Toronto). And that’s just something that I had to get used to. Just trying to match a different role in a different situation, it’s been extremely difficult for me. But I’ve kind of embraced that challenge and it continues to be a challenge. It’s never been easy. I try to rise to the top no matter what I do.’’ 

The New York Knicks trail the Indiana Pacers 3-1 after losing 93-82 in Game 4.

“My frustration with myself is extremely high. I take the blame for this whole series,” J.R. Smith said. “It started off in (Game 5) in Boston... I haven’t been playing (like) myself. I haven’t been playing my part.

“I’ve been letting my teammates down. I’ve been letting my coaches down. And it doesn’t feel good.”

Smith went 7-for-22 in Game 4 and is now shooting 28.6 percent over this last six games.

“Everybody’s been encouraging me, ‘Keep shooting, keep shooting, keep shooting,’” Smith said. “I’m still trying to get to the basket, trying to get easy ones, easy layups, get to the free-throw line.

“But I’m even missing layups, too. I missed a technical free throw tonight. It’s just frustrating.”

Sam Hinkie has been officially hired as general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers.

“Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander hired me to bring a data-driven approach to their front office and general manager Daryl Morey allowed me to flourish. I am so fortunate and grateful for the opportunities they both afforded me,” said Hinkie. “I agreed to come lead the Sixers because the first, and to my mind, the most important building block is in place: A thoughtful ownership group committed to building a basketball operation that is data-driven, strategic and relentlessly innovative. The challenge ahead of us is real, but I am invigorated to build something lasting for Philadelphia.”

Hinkie graduated summa cum laude from the University of Oklahoma and received his MBA from Stanford.

While with the Rockets, Hinkie utilized data to improve decision making in the NBA Draft, via free agency and trades, and in-game strategy. Additionally, Hinkie provided day-to-day management of basketball operations, managed the Rockets' salary cap and scouted prospects in person across the collegiate and professional ranks

LeBron James played one fewer minute per game in the opening round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs compared to 2012 (37.8 to 36.8) and 1.2 fewer minutes in the Conference Semifinals (42.2 to 41.0).

Perhaps more importantly, James and the Miami Heat are on pace to play fewer games and fewer cumulative minutes.

The Heat needed five games to defeat the New York Knicks in the opening round last season, allowing this season's sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks to result in 42 fewer minutes for James.

If the Heat beat the Bulls in Game 5 and James plays 40 minutes, he will have played 49 fewer total minutes.

The Boston Celtics extended last season's Eastern Conference Finals to seven games and 320 total minutes for James.

If the Heat ultimately advance to The Finals in five games, James will enter the final round having played in approximately 180 fewer minutes than last season.

James showed no signs of fatigue in last season's Finals, but it was certainly a concern for many observers considering what he was being assigned to do on both sides of the floor.

In the NBA Playoffs, becoming the first team to win two consecutive games is extremely important.

Since the NBA expanded to the best of seven format for the entire postseason in 2003, 89 percent of teams that were the first to win two consecutive games ultimately won the series.

In 17 separate occasions, the team that was not the first to win two straight games won the series. Two of those comebacks came in the NBA Finals, with the Miami Heat winning four in a row after losing the first two to the Dallas Mavericks in 2006 and in 2010 when the Los Angeles Lakers won Games 6 and 7 after losing Games 4 and 5 to the Boston Celtics.

The San Antonio Spurs lost in 2004 to the Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals and again in 2012 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals after being the first to win two in a row.

The Heat lost the 2005 Eastern Conference Finals to the Detroit Pistons after winning Games 3 and 4, while the Pistons lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2007 after winning Games 1 and 2.