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For some coaches and purists, the 3-pointer has killed the mid-range game. Why shoot from 20 feet when you can step back and get an extra point?

But for some players, the 3-point line is their saving grace. It's their bread-and-butter, it's where they make their living and it's their equalizer against those who a bigger than they are.

In each of the three games of the conference finals so far, one 3-pointer in each game has been the difference maker.

The Timberwolves have been within four points of the Lakers since a Kevin Garnett turnaround with 4:37 left in the fourth quarter. The Wolves were still within four more than three and-a-half minutes later when Gary Payton swung the ball to a wide-open Derek Fisher in the right corner.

You could practically hear the thoughts in Flip Saunders' head as soon as the ball left Fisher's hands.

"Why, why didn't we stay home on Fisher? I would have been happy to let Payton take that shot, but Derek Fisher? FISHER! He's 3-for-4 from 3 tonight. Cat's colder than Alaska. No. No. Nooooooooo!"

Or as Marv Albert says, "Yes! Derek Fisher!" Fisher's 3 gave the Lakers a seven-point lead with less than a minute to play and put the final nail in the Timberwolves' Game 1 coffin.
-- St. Paul Pioneer Press

In a rugged game (get accustomed to that), the Pistons had taken a two-point lead late in the fourth before tying the game at 74-74 with less than 90 seconds to go in the game on a Jeff Foster layup. It was nearly a minute later when Jamaal Tinsley found a wide-open Reggie Miller on the right wing.

No sadder words than "wide-open Reggie Miller" have ever been heard by Pacers opponents come playoff time. Miller, who has a history of hitting tough shots in the playoffs, calmly drained the open look and the Pacers snuck away with Game 1.

For Pacers fans, it never gets old watching Miller work his postseason mojo.
-- Indy Star

Oh, by the way, just in case you hadn't heard, Miller said looking at the Pistons' Richard Hamilton is like looking in the mirror, with the exception of the face mask and goatee.

You don't believe me, just check out these THREE (Sense a theme?) stories on it:

Detroit Free Press: Miller sees himself in Hamilton
Detroit News: Miller, Hamilton have similar styles
Indianapolis Star: Miller sees himself in Hamilton (Your eyes do not deceive you. It's the same headline, different paper.)

After falling behind by 18 in the third quarter, the Lakers started to do what everyone expected them to do: make a run. They crept within seven of the Wolves on Kareem Rush's 3 with just over a minute to play in the third.

Minnesota's Oliver Miller followed with a dunk and then Kevin Garnett hit the shot that sealed the game for the Wolves. With the clock at a time Lakers fans recognize, 0.4, Garnett hit a wild 3 to give the Wolves a 12-point cushion heading into the fourth quarter. After all, that's what MVPs do. The Lakers got no closer than 11 in the final period.
-- Los Angeles Times (Registration required)

So, let's recap, shall we?

The Lakers and Wolves head to L.A. tied at 1-1 and Game 3 is Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, TNT). Minnesota's Sam Cassell is hurt, but Darrick Martin, who didn't commit one turnover in Game 2, had the Wolves in his capable hands.
-- Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Registration required)

And to anyone who watched the Lakers all season, one columnist said, Shaq's and the Lakers' disappearing act was no surprise.
-- Los Angeles Times (Registration required)

Karl Malone lost his cool in the fourth quarter and that may not be a good thing for the Lakers in the long run.
-- St. Paul Pioneer Press and ESPN.com

Meanwhile, in the Eastern Conference, the Pacers hold the 1-0 advantage, but the Pistons, more correctly, Rasheed Wallace, isn't backing down.
-- Detroit Free Press

"I'm guaranteeing Game 2. That's the bottom line. That's all I'm saying. They will not win Game 2. You heard that from me. Y'all can print whatever you want. Put it on the front page, back page, middle of the page. They will not win Game 2."

Guarantee a Game 2 win! It's not as sexy as guaranteeing a Game 7 win, but still, them's fightin' words! Basically, the only thing Wallace's boast guarantees is that the press will be all over it. Want proof?

Indianapolis Star: Wallace's promise guarantees talk
Detroit News: Rasheed makes a promise: Pacers will not win next game
Detroit News: Bravado puts Rasheed in role as leader, but will he deliver?
Detroit Free Press: Guarantees are too easy, backing them up are tough
Detroit Free Press O'Neal: Boast aimed at them, not us

My guarantee for Game 2: No team will score more than 80 points. Some call that old-school complete with sateen shorty-shorts, a key that looks like an actual key and underhanded free throws.
-- Washington Post

Well, people, we're down to the last four teams in the All-Time Finals Challenge. Let's jettison the formalities and get down to bidness.

(Read these Click and Roll edition to find out which teams we chose in the first and second rounds.)

1. '96 Chicago Bulls (72-10) vs. 4. '86 Boston Celtics (67-15)
How fans are voting: Bulls 79 percent, Celtics 21 percent
How Click voted: D'oh! Aargh! Gack! Ummmmmmm... Hmmm.... Uh.... Let me get back to you.

7. '87 L.A. Lakers (65-17) vs. 3. '67 Philadelphia 76ers (68-13)
How fans are voting: '87 Lakers 82 percent; '67 Sixers 18 percent
How Click voted: '87 Lakers
Why Click voted as Click did: Sigh! Another tough one, but basketball and life are tough, and I give the '87 Lakers the slight, slight, slight advantage because of one Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

But let's quickly look at this matchup to see why it's close. You have two of the greatest players at their positions -- Magic at the point and Wilt Chamberlain at center -- entering their eighth season or basically their prime.

Magic was 27, Wilt was 31. Magic won his first MVP award in 1986-87. Wilt won his third MVP. Both had a common foe: the Boston Celtics and both had numbers that would make today's fantasy owners drool.

Magic averaged 23.9 ppg, 12.2 apg and 6.3 rpg in that season, while the Lakers shot .516 from the field and averaged 117.8 points over the course of the season. At the time, the 65 wins were the second-most in Lakers history.

In the Sixers' first dream season, Wilt averaged 24.1 ppg while pulling down 24.2 rpg. (That's insane!) Wilt also dished out 7.8 apg. He was a little more two assists away from a triple-double for the season. A center! And the Sixers' 68 wins in 1966-67 set a league record.

Both were supremely gifted freaks of nature. Magic was a 6-9 point guard. Wilt was a big man who didn't lumber. I was fortunate enough to have seen Magic in his prime, I wish I had been alive to see Wilt.

That being said, I'd need to give the nod to the '87 Lakers because of the better supporting cast. An in-his-prime Wilt, who was on a mission in '67, would have crushed a 39-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But the Lakers had three guys -- Magic, James Worthy and A.C. Green -- in the starting lineup who were 6-9. That Lakers' team could run past the best of them. And in this case, I think they could.

But, before we move on, a reader named DJ in Kalamzoo, Mich. takes umbrage with our short-term memory society.

Thanks, DJ. You and I both walked uphill to school, both ways. For an example, keep reading.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes, back to the Bulls and Celtics.

How Click voted: Hmmm... '86 Celtics.
Why Click voted as Click did: Why? Because of that Celtics front line of Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale. Add a productive Bill Walton off the bench and you have four -- FOUR! -- frontline Hall of Famers. Can any other team say that?

Sure, the Bulls won five more regular season games than the Celtics, but the Celtics were playing in a tighter 23-team league (sorry, it's true) where the worst record was the Knicks' 23-59, while the Bulls were playing in a 29-team league that had a 15-win team, an 18-win team and a 21-win team. The Bulls were 9-1 against those teams.

Yeah, I know, they beat the teams that were put in front of them and the Bulls had a better margin of victory average (Bulls won by an average of 12.2 ppg, while the Celtics beat opponents by an average of 9.4 ppg.), but I gotta go with the Celtics.

Beside the fact that Luc Longley and Bill Wennington would need to guard Parish, here's why I pick the Celtics.

When I remember the '96 Bulls, I see Dennis Rodman, at the end of the bench, with his shoes off, reading a newspaper paper during a Bulls' easy, late-season win.

When I remember the '86 Celtics, I see them being up 108-98 with the clock winding down on a Celtics sweep of the Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals. Someone finds Bird in the left corner behind the arc. There's no need to fire up the three, the Bucks are already dead. But Bird does it anyway. As soon as it leaves his hand, he keeps going to his left, off the floor and into the Celtics locker room in the old MECCA. He's halfway through the tunnel when the ball swishes through at the buzzer.

I'd never been so mad and so fascinated at an athlete in all my life. In his prime, both Bird and Jordan made Tony Soprano look like a forgiving softie. Jordan would do anything to beat you. Bird would do anything to humiliate you. Plus, Bird had the better, more ruthless family around him. I give the nod to the Celtics.

I received plenty of responses as to whether people can fall somewhere in the middle when it comes to their feelings about the Lakers. I think you either love them or hate them.

What do you think? Write Click and Roll and we'll get those missives up next week.

For those of you who want to re-live the Nets' season, here it is in a nutshell. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll tell your friends. Or maybe not.
-- Newark Star-Ledger

You know what they say: It depreciates once you drive it off the lot. Even Diesels. Instead of used, you can call him "pre-owned."
-- Los Angeles Daily News and Los Angeles Times (Registration required)

T-Mac + Shaq Attaq = newest rumors.
-- New York Times

Well, it has come to this in Sacramento: Heads have been called for and negative labels have been given. You'd need the Heimlich to dislodge such labels.
-- Sacramento Bee and The Oregonian

Could Michael Cooper jump from the WNBA's Sparks to the NBA's Hornets. That's the scuttlebutt.
-- New Orleans Times Picayune