Ben McLemore said Friday he has had a relationship with Rodney Blackstock, a middleman who courted the Kansas standout on behalf of sports agents and financial advisers, since January.

“Rodney Blackstock has been great,” McLemore said in Chicago at the NBA pre-draft combine. “Since Day One, since I met him, we have got that bond and communicating very well. And that’s why I chose him to help me with this process.”

On May 4, USA TODAY Sports reported that Blackstock received complimentary admission as McLemore’s guest to Jayhawks home games on Feb. 2, 11 and March 4. Asked Friday by Derek Page of Hoopsworld why he wanted Blackstock at his games as a guest, McLemore said: “Just because, you know, it was a friend, I just wanted him to see me play, see, you know, the atmosphere there at Kansas, and just go to a game.”

McLemore’s former AAU coach Darius Cobb told USA TODAY Sports in the May 4 story that he accepted two cash payments of $5,000 during the regular season from Blackstock, the founder and CEO of Hooplife Academy, a sports mentoring organization based in Greensboro, N.C.

McLemore said that he was not aware that Cobb accepted money from Blackstock. And McLemore said he never accepted money, gifts or trips from Blackstock. Cobb said McLemore knew “little to none” about Blackstock’s financial involvement in the player’s life, nor did McLemore know that Cobb had accepted $10,000 from Blackstock.

McLemore also said Friday he and Blackstock traveled to Los Angeles for meetings with individuals who could help McLemore as he pursued a professional career. McLemore said he paid for the trip himself.

McLemore said the purpose of the trip was to “just go meet with people.”

“You know at the time I needed to meet with people, my mom wanted me to meet with people, and that’s what happened,” he said. “I am pretty sure I paid for the trip. I paid for the trip. So it came out of my pockets and you know, the whole thing, I think, you know, like I said, the whole Darius Cobb, the AAU coach, it’s just basically a personal attack on Rodney, so I will leave it at that.”

Cobb also said he received three all-expense paid trips to Los Angeles – and that a cousin of McLemore’s, Richard Boyd, accompanied him on two of them – for meetings in January and February with sports agents and financial advisers hoping to represent McLemore if he left for the NBA. Cobb provided travel itineraries and photos taken of he and Boyd on the trips. Boyd denied making the trips with Cobb.

McLemore declared for the NBA draft on April 9. He scored a team-high 15.9 points per game at Kansas this season and is projected to be picked early in the June 27 NBA draft, perhaps first overall.

McLemore said Cobb is trying to personally attack Blackstock because “the things he (Cobb) was just doing was not trying to help me, was not trying to help benefit my family … Rodney Blackstock was doing those things …

“As you can see now, the process is going great. He (Blackstock) helped me a lot, and you know, like I said, I’ve been through a lot so far and he been there trying to help me, you know, get through this process.”

Contributing: Derek Page of Hoopsworld.

Eric Prisbell, a national college basketball reporter for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @EricPrisbell.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Ben McLemore said Friday he has had a relationship with Rodney Blackstock, a middle man who courted the Kansas standout on behalf of sports agents and financial advisers, since January.

“Rodney Blackstock has been great,” McLemore said in Chicago at the NBA Pre-Draft Combine. “Since Day One, since I met him, we have got that bond and communicating very well. And that’s why I chose him to help me with this process.”

On May 4, USA TODAY Sports reported that Blackstock received complimentary admission as McLemore’s guest to Jayhawks home games on Feb. 2, 11 and March 4. Asked Friday by Derek Page of Hoopsworld why he wanted Blackstock at his games as a guest, McLemore said: “Just because, you know, it was a friend, I just wanted him to see me play, see, you know, the atmosphere there at Kansas, and just go to a game.”

McLemore’s former AAU coach Darius Cobb told USA TODAY Sports in the May 4 story that he accepted two cash payments of $5,000 during the regular season from Blackstock, the founder and CEO of Hooplife Academy, a sports mentoring organization based in Greensboro, N.C.

McLemore said that he was not aware that Cobb accepted money from Blackstock. And McLemore said he never accepted money, gifts or trips from Blackstock. Cobb said McLemore knew “little to none” about Blackstock’s financial involvement in the player’s life, nor did McLemore know that Cobb had accepted $10,000 from Blackstock.

McLemore also said Friday he and Blackstock traveled to Los Angeles for meetings with individuals who could help McLemore as he pursued a professional career. McLemore said he paid for the trip himself.

McLemore said the purpose of the trip was to “just go meet with people. You know at the time I needed to meet with people, my mom wanted me to meet with people, and that’s what happened … I am pretty sure I paid for the trip. I paid for the trip. So it came out of my pockets and you know, the whole thing, I think, you know, like I said, the whole Darius Cobb, the AAU coach, it’s just basically a personal attack on Rodney, so I will leave it at that.”

Cobb also said he received three all-expense paid trips to Los Angeles – and that a cousin of McLemore’s, Richard Boyd, accompanied him on two of them – for meetings in January and February with sports agents and financial advisers hoping to represent McLemore if he left for the NBA. Cobb provided travel itineraries and photos taken of he and Boyd on the trips. Boyd denied making the trips with Cobb.

McLemore declared for the NBA draft on April 9. He scored a team-high 15.9 points per game at Kansas this season and is projected to be picked early in the June 27 NBA draft, perhaps first overall.

McLemore said Cobb is trying to personally attack Blackstock because “the things he (Cobb) was just doing was not trying to help me, was not trying to help benefit my family … Rodney Blackstock was doing those things …

“As you can see now, the process is going great. He (Blackstock) helped me a lot, and you know, like I said, I’ve been through a lot so far and he been there trying to help me, you know, get through this process.”

Contributing: Derek Page of Hoopsworld.

Eric Prisbell, a national college basketball reporter for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @EricPrisbell.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Durant followed up a sensational Game 1 performance against the Memphis Grizzlies with an equally impressive effort for 46 minutes Tuesday.

Then came the final two minutes. And despite nearly recording a triple-double in Game 2, Durant was held in check in the last two minutes as the Grizzlies won, 99-93, at Chesapeake Energy Arena. They tied this best-of-seven Western Conference second-round series 1-1 with Game 3 in Memphis on Saturday.

Trailing by two points with just under two minutes to play, Durant closed the game by missing two three-point shots and watching Tony Allen steal the ball from him. Afterwards, the failure to come through down the stretch prompted questions about how much is too much for Durant to handle in the absence of injured point guard Russell Westbrook.

“He is an amazing player that brings it every night,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “He did everything he could possibly do. He rebounded 11 times. He had nine assists. He had 36 points … I can’t complain with the effort he played with. He put us in position to win the game.”

When asked if he is carrying too much of a burden, Durant said, “I can carry as much as coach needs me to carry.”

But the night belonged to players like Mike Conley and Allen, both of whom had Game 1 performances they would rather forget. But as Durant stumbled down the stretch of Game 2, Conley excelled.

He gave his team the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:58 to play. He made an 18-footer with 1:04 to play to extend the lead to four points. And he sank one of two free throws with 29.4 seconds to play. Conley, one game after making five of 15 field goal attempts, finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

“Right now he is one of the top five point guards in the league no matter if anybody likes it or not,” Allen said.

Allen was the other catalyst. Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins was hesitant to put Allen on Durant defensively in Game 1. But Allen found himself covering Durant in Game 2 because, as Allen put it, “I assume we just got desperate.”

Though Durant thrived for most of the game, Allen got the key steal from Durant in the game’s waning moments.

“Tony was huge for us tonight,” Conley said. “When you call on him, he delivers. He had to guard one of the best players in the league. He did a good job throwing something different on him. He rattled him a little bit in different aspects of the game.”

Until the game’s final minute, there was virtually no separation between two teams that staged an entertaining and physical seven-game series two seasons ago. Game 2 in this series featured 27 lead changes and 12 ties.

Marc Gasol, who had 24 points, helped lead the Grizzlies early. And for the Thunder, Derek Fisher, who had an important late-game steal in Game 1, made a key contribution off the bench that was almost enough for the Thunder to eke out a victory.

Fisher, who scored 19 points in Game 2, scored 14 in his first nine minutes of action. He made three three-point shots within a two-minute span in the second quarter to keep the Thunder narrowly in front.

On one possession, Durant shot faked, took one dribble inside three-point line and flipped a pass to the corner for Fisher, who buried his second three-point attempt in the game. Soon after, Fisher then buried a high arcing 3-pointer over hand of Quincy Pondexter.

Memphis scored 30 of its first 56 points in the paint. And the Grizzlies took advantage of sloppy play by the Thunder throughout the first half. At one point in the second quarter, the Thunder had as many turnovers (six) as made field goals.

But in the final seconds of the third quarter, Durant threw down a resounding dunk and drew the foul. Amid chants of “M-V-P,” Durant made the ensuing free throw, giving the Thunder a five-point advantage that appeared like a significant lead in a game that was tight throughout.

But the Thunder gave the Grizzlies too many second-chance opportunities. They allowed too many points off turnovers. And after Durant showcased his impressive skill set for 46 minutes, it was Conley and Allen who had their fingerprints all over this important win that evened the series.

“We can’t put our heads down that we lost,” Durant said. “Me as a leader, I always have to be positive.”

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

OKLAHOMA CITY — For all of the much-needed offensive brilliance Kevin Durant provided in Game 1, including 35 points and the go-ahead jumper with 11.1 seconds remaining, his Oklahoma City Thunder are right where they want to be against the Memphis Grizzlies because of his supporting cast.

“There is no question we are a really good team with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, what they bring to our organization, ” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “But what really makes us good are our role players. We have stars in those departments.”

The Thunder, the top seed in the Western Conference who are pushing onward without injured point guard Russell Westbrook, ended the Grizzlies’ four-game playoff win streak, 93-91, in large part because of the play of a handful of players who have been thrust into larger roles in Westbrook’s absence.

After emerging from a tougher-than-expected six-game first-round series against the Houston Rockets, the Thunder will enter Tuesday’s Game 2 at home knowing that each of those players is capable of making clutch plays on both ends of the court, as they did Sunday.

No one has taken a bigger leap forward than reserve Kevin Martin, who overcame a disastrous Game 5 against the Rockets (1 of 10 shooting from the field) by scoring 25 in the close-out Game 6. All Martin did in Game 1 against Memphis was score 25 points on 8 of 14 shooting from the field.

“He has confidence,” Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. “He has always been a good scorer and shooter … We have to be more focused and build a scheme around what we have to do with him.”

But there was also guard Reggie Jackson, who made two critical free throws with 2.9 seconds to play after sitting out more than six minutes. There was Serge Ibaka, who made just 1 of 10 shots from the field but blocked three shots, including one with 1:31 to play.

And finally there was Derek Fisher, who made two of his vintage three-pointers in the fourth quarter and also stole the ball from Mike Conley to set up Durant’s go-ahead jumper in the final seconds.

“Fish, he made so many important basketball plays …,” Brooks said. “His three-point shooting and his ability to get to the right spots are uncanny.”

When Fisher stole the ball from Conley, the Thunder faced a one-point deficit with 17.9 seconds to play. Instead of calling a timeout, the Thunder pushed the ball up court and Durant rose up and sank the 19-footer, which looked effortless.

Whether the Thunder called a timeout or not before Durant looked to attack, Conley knew the Grizzlies were in trouble.

“When you got KD, I don’t think it really matters [if they called a timeout],” he said. “Any situation is going to be tough to guard. But obviously when they did not call a timeout, it’s tough to guard a guy when you have a team back-pedaling and trying to set up a defense. Either way, we were going to have our hands full.”

Two years after these two teams matched up for a thrilling seven-game, second-round series, this series now promises to be just as fiercely competitive and contentious between two teams unlikely to back down from each other.

Just consider that in three regular season meetings this season, they combined for nine technical fouls. And Memphis’ Zach Randolph and Oklahoma City’s Kendrick Perkins were ejected in one matchup.

The physicality was apparent early in Game 1 on Sunday, when the Thunder’s Nick Collison was assessed a flagrant foul after fouling Tayshaun Prince hard midway through the second quarter.

The Thunder settled down after a disheartening start in which they missed their first 10 field goal attempts before Durant’s step-back, mid-range jumper with 7:01 left in the first quarter.

The Grizzlies, who led by as many as 12 points, saw their lead evaporate early in the fourth quarter. Martin’s three-pointer brought the Thunder to within two points with just over 10 minutes remaining. Durant’s eight-foot running jump shot tied the game at 84 with less than four minutes to play.

Durant scored 12 fourth-quarter points on 6 of 9 shooting in the game’s final 12 minutes. But he needed – and will continue to need – every last hustle play from his supporting cast if the Thunder are going to reach the Western Conference finals without Westbrook.

“We need everyone to step up in terms of leadership,” Durant said. “And we will be fine.”

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

ST. LOUIS — Ben McLemore’s former AAU coach says he received thousands of dollars in cash, lodging, meals and trips from a middle man who courted the Kansas player on behalf of sports agents and financial advisers during the 2012-13 college basketball season.

Darius Cobb, a St. Louis-based AAU coach, told USA TODAY Sports that he accepted two cash payments of $5,000 during the regular season from Rodney Blackstock, the founder and CEO of Hooplife Academy, a sports mentoring organization based in Greensboro, N.C.

Cobb says he also received three all-expense paid trips to Los Angeles — and that a cousin of McLemore’s, Richard Boyd, accompanied him on two of them — for meetings in January and February with sports agents and financial advisers hoping to represent McLemore if he left for the NBA after his redshirt freshman season at Kansas. McLemore, 20, declared for the NBA draft on April 9.

Cobb provided travel itineraries and photos taken of he and Boyd on the trips, however, Boyd denied making the trips with Cobb.

“No, I did not (go to Los Angeles),” Boyd told USA TODAY Sports. “I don’t know anything about that. The rumors, that’s why I don’t want to do interviews because people misinterpret stuff. … There is too much confusion. Everyone is trying to control this and that.”

A person who became close to Blackstock to help him build relationships with players and their families confirmed knowledge of Blackstock’s payments to Cobb. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity so he would not harm his relationships with those involved.

Blackstock did not return multiple text and voice messages left on his cell phone seeking comment.

Although Boyd denied being on the trips, he acknowledged Blackstock had built a close relationship with the family and defended him, saying Blackstock’s involvement has helped because he knows the agent industry and can navigate a landscape strewn with individuals who don’t always have the player’s best interests at heart.

“He is cool,” Boyd says of Blackstock. “He has just given us some pointers. He has been in the business a while and has been overseas. But everything is Ben’s and his mom’s decisions.”

Cobb says Blackstock cultivated a relationship with himself and McLemore’s family and introduced them to multiple Los Angeles-based sports agents during the season. McLemore knew “little to none” about Blackstock’s financial involvement in the player’s life, Cobb said, nor did McLemore know that Cobb had accepted $10,000 from Blackstock.

Documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports via a public records request to the University of Kansas show that Blackstock received complimentary admission as McLemore’s guest to three Jayhawks home games during the 2012-13 season. Guest signature reports for the Jayhawks’ Feb. 2 game vs. Oklahoma State, Feb. 11 game vs. Kansas State and March 4 game vs. Texas Tech list Blackstock’s name as a recipient, McLemore’s name as the student-athlete making the request and Blackstock’s signature acknowledging he was admitted. Under NCAA rules, players are allotted four complimentary admissions per game for guests.

Cobb says Blackstock paid him money because he wanted Cobb to steer McLemore toward Blackstock. Cobb, 41, has known McLemore since the player was in the sixth grade, and he began coaching McLemore when the player was 15 years old. Cobb also said he has helped the family financially from time to time, paying bills and buying McLemore clothes and food. Cobb was on McLemore’s guest list for five home games this season, and he said he also attended some road games.

The payments that Cobb said he received from Blackstock – and the trips to Los Angeles that Cobb says he and Boyd accepted – potentially could have jeopardized McLemore’s amateur status because of NCAA rules that prohibit college players’ family members, friends and coaches from accepting money or gifts from sports agents or those working on their behalf. The NCAA has historically handled similar situations on a case-by-case basis.

Multiple attempts to reach McLemore were unsuccessful.

In a statement on Saturday, Kansas Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger said, “Late this afternoon we received an inquiry regarding the relationship between the family of Ben McLemore and a third party, Rodney Blackstock. This was the first time this inquiry had been presented to us. In accordance with the conditions and obligations of its membership in the NCAA and the Big 12 Conference, the University of Kansas will review the information and process it with both of those entities if necessary. We are not in a position to comment further at this time.”

Cobb detailed his involvement during more than 10 hours of interviews with USA TODAY Sports at his home and elsewhere in the St. Louis area. Cobb says he is telling his story because he wants to help educate basketball families such as the McLemores and expose individuals who pursue college athletes and their families while the players still have amateur eligibility.

“I don’t want to hurt the family, I want to protect the family,” Cobb says. “If there had to be a bad guy, if there had to be a fall guy, let it be me, as opposed to ruining a great kid who has busted his butt to get where he is. Let me be the crooked AAU coach. I was willing to take the brunt of it for the sake of this kid. I wanted to keep him pure.”

Cobb has had run-ins with the law in his life, and has pleaded guilty to charges that include stealing, fraudulent use of a credit device and possession of a controlled substance. He served two years in jail because of the fraudulent use offense.

“I am an example of someone who has made bad choices but has rededicated myself to doing right by helping the kids in my community so they don’t make the same mistakes I made,” Cobb said. “By no means am I perfect. But I have been committed to the kids in my community, and this is the way I give back.”

Cobb also acknowledges he was facing his own financial difficulties at the time he accepted money from Blackstock, and Cobb said the saga has splintered his relationships with McLemore’s family members. Text messages between Cobb and family members throughout the season show that Cobb repeatedly tried to warn the family about Blackstock’s growing influence.

“There is a lot of damage that has been done in a short amount of time,” Cobb says. “And what hurts me the most is Ben. This is supposed to be the happiest time in this kid’s life. It’s not. And it’s coming from the people who supposedly love him.”

After sitting out the 2011-12 season because he was not academically eligible, McLemore’s stock soared during his sole college season, in which he led the Jayhawks to the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16. Kansas coach Bill Self called McLemore, who set the Jayhawks’ freshman scoring record, the best young player that he has ever coached.

Introductions made

Cobb says he started speaking regularly with Blackstock by phone before the 2012-13 season because Cobb and mutual friends sought to launch a sports management company. He felt that Blackstock, 32, with his relationships with college players and his location in the basketball hotbed of North Carolina, could play an important role.

Cobb says he introduced McLemore’s mom, Sonya Reid, to Blackstock at the Jan. 19 Kansas game at Texas because he also felt Blackstock could help the family with advice if McLemore opted for the NBA draft after the season. Cobb says Reid and Blackstock sat together during the game.

Very soon, Blackstock’s influence grew, Cobb says.

Cobb says a cousin of McLemore’s, Boyd, was included on two of the trips to Los Angeles because McLemore’s mom wanted someone in the family present so no business deals were agreed upon without the family’s knowledge.

Cobb says on the second trip he took with Boyd the two stayed at the Luxe Hotel Rodeo Drive. Cobb showed USA TODAY Sports three February emails from people associated with a financial firm and a sports agency in the Los Angeles area that contained hotel confirmation numbers for Boyd, Cobb and Blackstock at that hotel from Feb. 15-17.

Boyd and Cobb are pictured standing next to the sign for the Luxe Hotel in a photo obtained by USA TODAY Sports. Cobb says the photo was taken by Blackstock, who has used a photo of himself standing next to the same sign as the profile picture on his Facebook account.

Cobb describes Boyd as a “good guy who is in over his head.” And Boyd acknowledged that it was difficult to discern who to trust as McLemore’s regular season progressed and that the situation became overwhelming for him and some family members.

On Feb. 16, when Cobb said he, Boyd and Blackstock were in the Los Angeles area, Cobb says Blackstock expressed in a text message his plan to become a sports agent, and to get help covering those costs.

In the message, Blackstock wrote, “We bringing to the table and the pipeline bro they gonna be winning and willing to do whatever. So I am thinking a point and secondary agent they pay my agent license six figure salary benefits [and] travel budget for recruitment bro.”

Multiple efforts to reach Reid by telephone and in person at her home were unsuccessful. Boyd said she had advised him that no one close to McLemore should agree to interviews with the media.

Boyd says he was not aware that Cobb accepted money. When asked specifically about Cobb’s influence, Boyd says, “Everybody should fall in line instead of trying to do their own thing. (Cobb) is a good guy, has a good heart. So much that he wants to try to do on his own, but he has got to follow a protocol with Ben and his mom.”

Visits to L.A.

Cobb offered numerous details about other trips and benefits in interviews. He provided text messages, flight receipts, travel confirmation emails, photos and bank records to support his statements:

“I used it to help purchase hotel rooms and extra tickets” for the Kansas State game, Cobb says. “The whole time I am telling everyone, ‘Hey, this is trial and error. There is no book for doing this. I am doing the best I can. But if something goes wrong, let me be the fall guy.’ That way I kept the family clear and Ben stayed eligible.”

On Feb. 3, Cobb sent McLemore’s mom a text message asking for a “final (head) count so I can book the rooms and get tickets today.” On Feb. 9, Reid sent Cobb a text message, telling him that she had made it to Lawrence for McLemore’s birthday party set for the next day.

Cobb says he helped book a bowling party for McLemore’s birthday, and that Blackstock accompanied him to set up the reservation at Wayne and Larry’s on Iowa Street in Lawrence. Cobb says that when he returned from the restroom, Blackstock already had paid for the party, about $400 or $500. Cobb said he saw the bowling alley employee handing Blackstock’s Bank of America debit card back to him after Blackstock paid the bill.

“He was like, ‘Man, don’t worry about it. I got you,’ ” Cobb says. ” ‘We’re a team. We’re family.’ That was him saying, ‘I am part of this. I am doing this out of my own pocket.’ ”

Eric Prisbell, a national college basketball reporter for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @EricPrisbell.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Eleven days after opening the NBA playoffs with a resounding 29-point victory, the Oklahoma City Thunder now find themselves ensnared in a protracted first-round battle few saw coming.

In their first home playoff game without injured point guard Russell Westbrook, the Thunder exposed themselves as a diminished product, one that is infusing the eighth-seeded Houston Rockets with more confidence by the game.

The Western Conference’s top seed trailed by as many as 16 points in a 107-100 loss to the Rockets, who now trail 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. Game 6 will be in Houston on Friday, with a potential Game 7 looming ominously for Thunder fans back here Sunday.

What else is more apparent by the game is exactly how much Westbrook, who tore his meniscus in Game 2′s victory, meant all season to the Thunder, who won 60 games during the regular season.

“They miss him everywhere, how can you not?” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. “They probably miss him in the locker room, miss him in shoot around, miss him on the bus, miss him on the plane, miss him on offense, miss him on defense. Did I miss anything? … I am very sorry he got hurt. I hate to see that happen.”

The Rockets won with their most impressive statistical performer, James Harden, overcoming flu-like symptoms that kept him in bed most of the day, making 7 of 9 three-pointers and scoring 31 points.

They won by making 14 of 35 three-point shots and watching the Thunder make just 8 of 33 (including 1 of 12 in the first half).

“The basket seemed wider for them,” Kevin Durant said.

And they won without the services of Jeremy Lin, who is nursing a chest contusion, for the second consecutive game. Players like Patrick Beverley (14 points, 8 rebounds) and Francisco Garcia (18 points, five three-pointers) have been invaluable, as the Rockets have abruptly changed the tenor of the series.

“We just came out and played pressure free,” Harden said.

Now the NBA’s youngest team, which has one of the league’s least credible defenses, has seized momentum in the series from a team that less than two weeks ago was poised to make a strong run at a second straight appearance in the NBA Finals.

And if any sequence revealed the vulnerability of this new-look Thunder team, it unfolded with less than six minutes remaining in the game. Trailing by eight points with 5:33 to play, Thunder coach Scott Brooks opted for players to foul center Omer Asik, who shot 56.2 percent from the free throw line during the regular season, on six straight possessions.

But the strategy did little to narrow the gap on the scoreboard. Asik, a native of Turkey, made 8 of 12 free throws during the stretch and finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

“What would that be called? Hack a Turk?” McHale said. “We were thinking about [substituting] for O but once he started making them, I said, ‘Let him go.’”

Said Brooks, “That is a strategy we don’t use often. We used it once last year against the Spurs … I give him credit, he stepped up and made them.”

From the game’s start, Thunder fans made clear who the most unpopular person was within city limits: Beverley, the Rockets point guard whose lunge at Westbrook in Game 2 caused him to tear his meniscus. They booed Beverley at every opportunity.

While they did, it was Harden who made all three of his three-point shots in the first quarter, scoring 11 points in the game’s opening 12 minutes. The Rockets had 16 points five minutes into action, looking as if they could duplicate their 38-point third-quarter effort in Game 4. They nearly matched it again in the third quarter of Game 5, scoring 37 points.

“We gave up two 30-point quarters, one 37-point quarter,” Brooks said. “That is unacceptable.”

Durant scored 36 points but he struggled shooting behind the three-point arc. And he did not score a point in the fourth quarter.

“They don’t really care about everybody else on the team,” Durant said. “When I have the ball, there’s four guys guarding sometimes … Tonight we didn’t make some shots. But I have faith we will make those shots.”

Kevin Martin in particular struggled, missing 9 of his 10 field goal attempts, including all five of his three-point attempts. And without Westbrook on the floor, the Thunder are in dire need of more offensive production.

“It’s on me to give him confidence,” Durant said. “Sometimes he gets lost in the game and that’s my fault … As a leader, I have to continue to keep trusting him.”

Midway through the first quarter, the video screen focused on Westbrook, who was watching the game from a suite inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. The crowd gave the guard a standing ovation.

But the new-look Thunder was on the court, and they looked like a shell of their former selves.

“We have to forget about this one,” Durant said. “Of course it’s tough not having your starting point guard there, but we can’t make any excuse.”

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Durant spent the game’s first 12 minutes displaying the one skill that has defined his NBA career: scoring.

He spent the game’s final 3:10 showcasing his evolution as an all-around player. Three assists, one block, one three-pointer. And Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder needed all of those contributions to avoid a fourth-quarter collapse against the eighth-seeded Houston Rockets.

After watching a 15-point lead turn into a four-point deficit in six minutes, Durant – more playmaker than scorer in the end – was the catalyst for the Thunder’s final three-minute surge in a 105-102 victory over the Rockets inside Chesapeake Energy Arena to take a 2-0 series lead. After scoring 15 points in the first quarter, Durant was the facilitator with the game hanging in the balance.

“He has really improved his playmaking,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “That’s one of the things I love about him. He is not a selfish player.”

Game 2 of this best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series included 22 lead changes, two spirited runs, new wrinkles by the underdogs, an unlikely contributor and unmistakably physical play. All of the above has now added spice to a series that appeared drama deprived after the Thunder’s 29-point romp in Sunday’s Game 1.

And the Rockets nearly knocked off the Thunder despite playing the entire second half without Jeremy Lin, the team’s third-leading scorer during the regular season who sat the second half with what was listed as a contusion of the right chest muscle. Rockets coach Kevin McHale said Lin suffered the injury during the game.

The Rockets threw some zone defense and a smaller lineup at the Thunder. They wanted to rebound and push the ball, and they generally did. They outrebounded the Thunder (57-40) and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds despite a three-guard starting lineup that featured three players 6-foot-5 or smaller.

Looking for answers after the Game 1 rout, McHale opted to give backup point guard Patrick Beverley his first start of the season in place of power forward Greg Smith. The 6-1 Beverley more than held his own, scoring 16 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and collecting six assists. Even in defeat, he was the talk of the arena.

“In December, he was in St. Petersburg, Russia,” McHale said. “Now starting in a playoff game is a cool story … He is a tough little guy from Chicago. He will go fight you for it.”

And he nearly did. The game within the game centered on the unexpected but fast-developing head-to-head battle between Russell Westbrook and Beverley, who refused to back down against the All-Star.

With under six minutes left in the first half, Westbrook came up hobbling after Beverley ran into his knee while attempting to go for a steal. Westbrook pounded the scorer’s table in anger. He then tugged emphatically at his shorts near the bench, as the usually demonstrative guard was even more animated than usual.

After a timeout, Westbrook returned to the court, trying to take his frustration out on Beverley, poking the ball away from him and racing to the other end for a layup. Over the next few minutes, the two exchanged hard fouls as play became chippy. And Westbrook was assessed his third foul when he nudged Beverley near the face on a drive to the basket.

“It doesn’t take much to fire up Patrick,” McHale said. “If you throw the ball up, Patrick is ready to go.”

But the challenge by Beverley ultimately lit a fire inside Westbrook, who matched Durant’s 29 points in the game.

“It was fun,” Westbrook said. “This time of the year, you have one goal and can’t let anyone get in the way. That’s how I feel.”

Much like in Game 1, the Rockets managed to play the Thunder nearly even by the time both teams reached the 40-point mark. But in Game 2, the Rockets did not wilt in the final minutes of the second quarter.

James Harden had an uncontested drive to the basket for a resounding dunk that gave the Rockets a 63-61 lead. That’s when the Thunder went on a 13-0 run to take a double-digit lead that only grew.

“We were down 15, and we could have just given up but we fought back and took the lead,” Harden said. “We definitely have confidence going into Game 3.”

In the final 3:10, Harden said the Rockets wanted someone else to try to beat them instead of Durant. But Durant was content to distribute the ball. He had assists on a layup by Serge Ibaka, a three-pointer by Thabo Sefolosha and a 19-footer by Ibaka to push the lead to five with 31.9 seconds left.

And that was enough, barely. As Brooks said, “He wants to make plays for his teammates.”

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Alex Kline fits right in with so many other Syracuse University freshmen whose daily concerns include overdue laundry and lingering classroom assignments.

But the 18-year-old New Jersey native lives in two different worlds. He doesn’t tell most classmates that he has fielded more than 100 text messages a day this spring from college basketball coaches, top recruits and their family members or advisers.

He does not tell them that he was recently alongside LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Bryce Harper in Forbes‘ “30 under 30″ list of most influential figures in the sports world under the age of 30.

And he does not flaunt the letter from the White House that stated “with sincere regret” that President Obama could not attend Kline’s annual Mary Kline Classic, a high school basketball all-star event he stages in the spring to raise money for cancer research. A brain tumor took his mom’s life when he was 10. More than $39,000 has been raised so far.

In a new media world tailored to pinpoint the next basketball wünderkind, few individuals have received as much hype as Kline, who founded The Recruit Scoop website at 15. The Recruit Scoop is a premium Rivals.com site that offers free recaps. Kline now has more than 27,000 followers on its Twitter account.

“He is an extremely goodhearted person whose intentions are to help people, particularly high school players,” says University of Miami men’s basketball assistant Chris Caputo. “For somebody his age to be helping other kids get college scholarships is a pretty noble thing. The (fame) he gets, I don’t think he craves that. I think he really wants to help people.”

Kline fashions himself part journalist, part event promoter and organizer. He cultivates relationships, gathers information and even recommends recruits to various college coaches nationwide.

His days begin as early as 7 a.m. and continue as late as 3 a.m., as he tries to keep sponsors of his event happy and maintains communication with recruits and college coaches, while worrying about the 1,200-word paper due on immigration and the economy.

While most freshmen spend their final few spring semester weekends tending to academic or social endeavors, Kline has a different itinerary. After returning from a trip to a basketball event in Connecticut two weekends ago, he traveled to Pittsburgh for another this past weekend and will head to Mississippi for another next weekend.

On his way to Pittsburgh, Kline posted on Facebook that he was bored, so the “first five college coaches to text me will receive (a) scoop on a prospect they should watch this weekend.” The result, he said: “It paid off for a lot of them!”

This amounts to about the only downtime for Kline.

“It’s pretty crazy,” he says. “I am just excited to catch my breath here and there.”

Kline has an interest in journalism, management and business, envisioning himself as a “triple-threat, someone who is versatile and could do everything. I am not sure what that entails because there isn’t anyone like that.”

Social media changes recruiting

Kline’s rising acclaim mirrors the growing fan appetite for recruiting news, stories and nuggets. In the past decade, college basketball recruiting has become a year-round drama that in some corners of the country can overshadow a team’s on-court results.

Different from college football, landing just one can’t-miss prospect in college basketball can mean the difference between a deep run in the NCAA tournament and a deep run in the NIT. It can determine whether a coach keeps his job.

The heightened attention on the recruiting world has spawned a cottage industry of those who rank elite prospects who can be as young as fourth graders.

“Everything is so instantaneous now,” said Evan Daniels, 27, national recruiting analyst for Scout.com and among the most reputable in the recruiting business, working in it since just before his freshman year at Western Kentucky.

“Social media has really changed how we cover recruiting. Your average college basketball fan is paying a lot more attention to recruiting now than eight years ago when I first got into this business. The recruiting industry as a whole has really taken off.”

Kline says he got involved in college basketball because he wanted to be around high-profile events and do something “other than filling up water bottles and lugging around the ball bag.” So as a high school freshman he began writing feature stories, conducting video interviews with touted high school players such as Kyrie Irving and developing a following for sharing recruiting news with fans, players and college coaches.

On the trips he takes now, Kline evaluates and interviews recruits, asking them if they have whittled down their list of schools. He often exchanges text messages with college coaches, raising such issue as which schools are offering which players scholarships.

Last month, Kline said, two individuals in college basketball told him that UCLA coach Ben Howland would be fired. He tweeted that out to his followers — and watched the retweets come like “the New York Stock Exchange.”

Juggling act supreme

At Syracuse the biggest challenge for Kline, a graduate of the Pennington School in central Jersey, has been becoming independent and living away from his father. Kline said the first semester was particularly difficult because he knew few people, but he was motivated in proving wrong those who felt he could not deftly juggle academics and his recruiting workload.

“The one thing that was to my advantage, and disadvantage as well, is that I don’t drink or smoke or do all of that stuff,” Kline says. “It is to my advantage because it means more free time for me so I can do all this work. The disadvantage is it’s a little tougher.

“But it’s $50,000 to attend college, and you can do all that when you are finished. Now it’s about being serious. Not just getting your workload done but maybe starting a business or creating something really great. So when you get out of college, have a plan.”

Kline’s father, Robert, said he now has a new introduction for himself — “I’m Alex Kline’s father” — and that his son is more mature at 18 than Robert Kline is now.

“I think because he is very focused and passionate about what he wants to do, and he enjoys what he is doing, he is very capable of balancing all these balls in the air and none of them have fallen,” Kline’s father says. “A lot of that (focus) may have to do with the fact that he had to grow up so quickly with his mother being seriously ill when he was 5. And living through her illness, and then with her passing when he was 10.”

Kline acknowledges that he is not going to be a straight-A student but that he is determined to get his degree. And unlike many of the elite recruits he covers, he says he will not be a one-and-done college student. He will be back at Syracuse next year and says he does not feel going to college is holding him back.

“What does a college degree really mean to me?” Kline says. “I really don’t know. It legitimizes everything.”

There is nothing that means more to him than the Mary Kline Classic, which features some of the nation’s better high school players. The third annual installment is June 2 at Philadelphia (Pa.) University, with 100% of the proceeds going to the National Brain Tumor Society.

“I am someone who wants to be remembered many years after I die,” Kline says. “An event like this promotes (his mother’s) name and does her justice even though she missed out on so many years where she could have done something equivalent to this.”

The spotlight does seem to find Kline. He was right about Howland: UCLA did fire him.

Two days after the firing, Kline was in his grammar class at Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications when one of the many friends oblivious to Kline’s involvement in the story approached with a simple question: “Hey, did you see Ben Howland got fired?”

“Yeah,” said Kline, caught between two worlds. “I broke the story.”

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

OKLAHOMA CITY — James Harden said he experienced some awkward moments before his postseason return to Chesapeake Energy Arena, where much of the fan base that he had grown accustomed to in three years serenaded him with boos.

Once Game 1 of the NBA playoff series began, it only grew more uncomfortable for Harden. In making his return to the familiar and now unfriendly confines of this arena, Harden experienced firsthand why the Oklahoma City Thunder could be every bit as formidable without him.

The Thunder, the top seed in the Western Conference, broke open a tight game in the second quarter and cruised to a 120-91 victory over the eighth-seeded Houston Rockets, who are heavy underdogs playing in their first postseason series since the 2008-09 season.

Kevin Durant scored 24 points, Russell Westbrook added 19 and Serge Ibaka had 17. The one name missing from that touted Oklahoma City group is Harden’s.

“It felt a little awkward looking across there during the national anthem and seeing him with another team,” Durant said. “But we have to get past that. He wants to win so bad. … It’s fun to play against him, but it was a little different.”

Harden was a key cog in the Thunder franchise before they traded him in October after failing to agree on a contract extension with the reigning NBA sixth man of the year. And now Harden, who became an All-Star and the league’s fifth-leading scorer, is attempting to steward a team laden with several players making their first career playoff appearance.

And it showed. Harden used the word “shell-shocked” to describe his team, which missed its first nine field goals attempts in the game. He said a resounding defeat like this one “was definitely good for us. Now we know how to play. We’ll watch film and get better at it.”

Harden had 20 points on 6-of-19 shooting, but no other Rockets starter finished in double figures. And a team that averaged 106 points during the regular season finished 15 points below that average, shooting 36.3% from the floor and 22% from three-point range.

Rockets coach Kevin McHale said players bobbled balls around the paint, missed point-blank shots and exhibited nerves during the early stages of the game.

As for the Thunder, who have taken incremental steps forward in the playoffs the past three seasons, they avoided any dose of adversity other than squandering a 13-point first-quarter advantage. But with the game tied at 40 in the second quarter, Thunder coach Scott Brooks said, he told his team that every minute counted.

The Thunder finished the half on a 20-7 run in a little more than five minutes, seizing control of the game.

“We knew that this team could make runs,” Brooks said. “We missed some shots during their run, then we caught fire. We wanted to focus on those last five minutes. You can really impact a game in the end there. The guys did a good job, if not a great job, closing out that second quarter.”

Before the game, Harden said it would be “interesting” to see how fans greeted him upon his return to Oklahoma City in the playoffs. He signed about a dozen autographs and hugged a security guard before entering the locker room after warming up. But during player introductions, he was serenaded with a chorus of boos, which he heard again when he went to the free throw line early in the game.

With 8:32 left in the first quarter, Harden found himself covering Durant. The Thunder star cut to the basket, and Ibaka found him with a bounce pass for a layup that gave the home team an eight-point advantage.

And Harden said he was also surprised when Durant jumped in front of him during the game, drawing a charge.

Playing against Harden “was fun,” said Westbrook, who also had 10 assists and eight rebounds in just more than 30 minutes of action. “James is competitive and has his own team now. But me and Kevin are here and will compete for our team as well.”

The Rockets will have two days to prepare before Wednesday’s Game 2, and they will need it after they were schooled in playoff basketball by a team that expects to be playing long into June.

Follow sports reporter Eric Prisbell on Twitter @EricPrisbell.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

ATLANTA — The unlikeliest Most Outstanding Player in Final Four history snakes his way around boisterous, delirious men, women and children inside the JW Marriott ballroom early Tuesday morning, stopping exactly 36 times to pose for pictures or sign autographs.

“Damn,” sighs an exasperated Luke Hancock, wearing a crooked national title hat and admittedly overwhelmed by newfound fame that the 23-year-old won’t shake the rest of his life. Hours after becoming the first non-starter in NCAA history to win the MOP award, he puts his arm around a USA TODAY Sports reporter, urging him and girlfriend Kaycee Loucka to follow the Louisville junior through a sea of fans celebrating their first national title since 1986.

This fan base was starved for a national title for two reasons: It had been 27 years since the school won one and just one year since that other school from Lexington, Ky., cut down the nets.

“You saved us! You saved the whole season!” a middle-aged woman with a cardinal painted on her cheek bellows.

Coach Rick Pitino, the first coach in NCAA history to lead two different schools to national titles, has coached more talented teams. He successfully managed egos while stewarding the 1996 Kentucky national championship team, one of the most dominant teams in the modern era. Leading this team required a deft touch to bring the players even closer together following the gruesome injury suffered by Kevin Ware in the Elite Eight victory against Duke.

Two hours after the basket was lowered so Ware could clip a strand from the net inside the Georgia Dome, the guard stands on crutches near the hotel elevator, head down with a net around his neck.

“I promised I would not cry tonight,” Ware says. “I did cry.”

Ware says he was spent emotionally and deeply touched by how his team sought to deliver the Atlanta area resident a national championship. He likes to say that this group is so close that they all “came out of the womb together.”

***

Ware heads to his hotel room a few moments after Pitino, sounding as if he was losing his voice faster than Michigan lost its 12-point first-half lead in the national title game, greets hundreds of red-clad fans with a simple message that encapsulated this team: “Four years ago, we built a brand,” he says. “Our brand was Louisville first. The back means nothing! The front means everything!”

The crowd roared and snapped pictures.

Billy Donovan, one of Pitino’s prized pupils, said by phone this weekend that Pitino is an “extremist,” someone who sees more potential in individuals than they see in themselves. Donovan, who noted that he would be surprised to see the 60-year-old Pitino retire now, acknowledged that winning a second national title at a different school would be a special way to go out.

Tom Jurich, Louisville’s athletic director, says he simply won’t allow it, adding, “He has got no options. He has got no options. I make that call on that one.”

Pitino is happy, even if he now has to make good on a mid-season promise that he would get a tattoo if the Cardinals won the national title. Senior guard Peyton Siva says Pitino will get tattoos of a cardinal bird and the year 2013 on his back. It has been a good year, and Monday included a double dose of emotional highs.

“If right now, if you don’t wish you are Coach P, something is wrong with you,” guard Russ Smith says. “He is so lucky. It’s just crazy.”

He and his son Richard, newly hired at Minnesota, were at a downtown hotel early Monday for Pitino’s Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction. Pitino, who has taken three different schools to the Final Four, was overjoyed and so was Richard, who said, “It’s almost like this overshadows tonight’s national title game.”

It did not. After a season defined in part by unsightly games and low scores, Louisville and Michigan staged an entertaining, up-tempo contest short on whistles and long on fun. Whatever Michigan’s Spike Albrecht could do – 17 first-half points – Louisville’s Hancock matched, and at the most opportune time.

Trailing by 12 points with three minutes to play in the first half, Hancock made four three-pointers before halftime to narrow the deficit to one. That spurt was the game-changer, and the fifth three-pointer by the George Mason transfer with 2:47 to play swelled the Cardinals’ lead to 10 points.

Hancock encapsulates the DNA of this team: a do-it-all reserve who is good enough to start but content not to so long as the team wins. And early Sunday morning, away from the Georgia Dome confetti and the press conferences, Hancock knew his life never would be the same.

Amid the chaos of Louisville’s post-championship celebration with its fans, Hancock finally found an escape from the cameras and squeezed his way into an overstuffed elevator, apologizing to the 13 others inside.

“You don’t ever have to say you’re sorry again,” says one man, drawing laughter.

The elevator shakes, prompting Hancock to say, “Please don’t stop, I will (expletive) kill you.”

Once Hancock is inside Room 612, at 2:35 a.m., he finds Siva lounging on one bed watching ESPN. And he finds peace among the 11 people in the room littered with backpacks, sandwich boxes, cell phone chargers, gym shorts and three half-filled Gatorade bottles on the night stand. Amid the mess is the detailed, multi-paged Michigan scouting report that Hancock and Siva had pored over the past two days. (Hancock politely declines a reporter’s request to see the scouting report.)

Standing near the mirror, Hancock explains how perfect his first three-pointer felt just as he hears the unmistakable voice of Dick Vitale on the television praising his hot shooting. A small smile emerges on Hancock’s face.

His girlfriend Kaycee interjects that when Hancock kept making threes, “I screamed so loud I almost fainted. I literally lost all my air.”

Siva’s father, Peyton Sr., sits on the floor as the television flashes to the scene at Louisville, where thousands have taken to the streets.

“Luke, look at this!” Kaycee screams.

“I wish I was there in the middle doing this,” says Siva, holding both arms over his head.

Hancock, who had just grabbed a quick shower, slips on argyle socks and yells, “I can’t wait!”

“Hopefully my car is safe,” Siva says.

***

The fans in the streets were delirious because Hancock followed his 20-point performance against Wichita State in the national semifinals by tying a career-high 22 points against Michigan. He made all five of his three-point attempts against the Wolverines. The performances were even more impressive when considering what has been on Hancock’s mind.

Hancock says his father, William Hancock, is “very” ill, but declines to elaborate on the nature of the sickness. Hancock says he has been aware of the illness for a long time but that it has become worse recently.

“It was really tough,” Hancock says. “I didn’t want to put it out there just because I didn’t want him to have any added pressure to be here. I felt if I didn’t tell anyone then he wouldn’t be thinking, ‘I’ve got to be here.’ But it meant a lot that he was there.”

Hancock’s mother, Venicia, says she felt all day that Hancock was calm based on his text messages – a calmness she says he gets from his father.

After winning the national title, Hancock remains calm. Now past 3 a.m, he says he has one goal: Stay up all night.

“Absolutely,” he says. “Then I think we’re doing Good Morning America.”

He is still trying to grasp exactly how all this has happened, reflecting in his mind how he went from a solid player at George Mason to a player Cardinals teammates elected captain before his first game with Louisville to a person who men, women and children are hounding in the middle of the night for autographs and pictures.

From Siva’s heart to Ware’s spirit, Pitino’s second national title team is a consummate team, fueled by emotion and belief as much as talent and strength. As Ware would say, out of the womb together. And fittingly, the backbone is a reserve who will now forever receive star treatment anywhere the Cardinals colors are honored. In Louisville, Hancock will never have to buy another drink again.

“I hope not,” Hancock says before heading into the night. “That is the plan.”

Contributing: Rachel George

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.