(Ed. Note - We'll leave this up for the thread for all playoff games throughout this weekend) -

By popular demand, so that the Ike Diogu thread can stay on track. Better late than never? How bout that Derrick Rose and Jose Juan Barea? Lebron James? Nice night for the road teams, eh? Picks for tommorow night's games, whatever. (I'm really just trying to hit the minimum word count here.) Sill not there huh? The unspoken subplot in the Boston/Chicago series: Brad Miller vs former teammate Mikki Moore. Bad Blood?

[editor's note, by louismg]Breaking News tonight: The NBA is going to step in and help find a new approach to keep the Kings in Sacramento.

During the Kings' game on ESPN, some more details were given around the NBA's proposal, namely:

1. The Maloofs asked for David Stern's help.
2. The Maloofs never intended to leave Sacramento.
3. The NBA has never stepped in like this, except for an expansion team.
4. David Stern said he called Gov. Schwarzenegger to let him know of his intentions, but that he comes in without any preconceived notions or a timetable on when the Kings would need to leave Arco Arena.
5. It was said that given all of the anger around the ballot initiatives, that the situation needed to be "diffused" rather than "heated up" further.

At the very least, this reduces the concerns of many on this site, including those from myself and TZ, that the Kings were on their way out of Sacramento. Not too long ago, when I had pegged the Kings chances of staying in Sacramento long-term as 20%, TZ had said my guess was too optimistic. And now, we have the most-successful commissioner in professional sports saying we can relax.

"We're going to get it done somehow," Stern said in response to fans' fears that the Kings might leave for Las Vegas, Anaheim or other destinations.
Coverage of the story can be found from The Associated Press.

Original comments from Deleran...

Stern is now involved. Its a short story, but I think this is a good thing. Based on what I've been hearing, the Maloofs and the league seem to have a "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality in regards to the fact that Sacramento continues to sell out in a league where many teams have plenty of empty seats.