NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. NorthJersey.com: The Nets are talking trade for Carmelo Anthony, the Nuggets are listening. [via SLAM]

2. Dime: "Hornets Shutting Up the Haters"

3. The Sporting Blog: Deron Williams has a Twitter feed. Sure he does.

4. Third Quarter Collapse: Chauncey Billups sat out Game 5, but somehow got an assist anyway.

5. Deseret News: Could Andrei Kirilenko get deported before Game 6?

6. Channing Frye's Blog: Advice on keeping the ladies happy.

Carmelo Anthony's driving woes continued this past weekend, as 'Melo received a ticket for speeding. Anthony was said to have been going 60 in a 45 zone on Saturday afternoon, which by itself isn't really that big of a deal. But it certainly isn't likely to help his case when he is arraigned on June 5th for that DUI charge he picked up a few weeks ago.

My advice to Carmelo? Use some of that $13M you earned this past season to hire yourself a driver, my man. Seriously.

[via TrueHoop]

"To not go back in, I don't understand that,'' Iverson said. "And (Karl) didn't even say nothing to me even afterward . . . I played every game with a broken finger and all. I always came to play, every game we had. So why not tell me nothing?''

How can the Lakers judge their playoff acumen if they are beating a Nuggets team whose most energetic moment Saturday occurred in the fourth quarter when their coach George Karl was being heckled? "Just don't sit there!"

The heckler's name? Carmelo Anthony.

"Well, I don't think I quit. I quit on not passing the ball,'' said Karl, when asked about Anthony's post-game comments. "In the fourth quarter. I tried to find some answers. I tried to find, 'Is Chucky (Atkins) going to help us?' . . . I think Melo's emotional right now. He's frustrated right now, as we all are. And keeping our composure and a maturity to it is probably the best way to go.''

The Lakers apparently heard the crazed ramblings of Rocky (the Nuggets' mascot) before the series started, and they were not amused. They would not be bullied by his antics of setting up shop in the middle of their pre-game introductions, so they did what any rational NBA team would do in that situation: they used him as a centerpiece for their circular dance ritual.

This was merely a sign of things to come, as the Lakers pretty much ran circles around the Nuggets for the third straight game. Denver had no answer for the Lakers offense, and seemed to not be aware that they were trailing the series two games to none when the game started, as they came out extremely flat and basically showed very little fight the entire afternoon. The Lakers cruised to an 18-point victory, and after taking a 3-0 series lead, pushed George Karl one game closer to his seemingly inevitable fate.

We elected to skip 6th Man--not just because Manu Ginobili was near-unanimous, but since typical candidates are de facto starters--and instead wanted to recognize a true impact reserve. A player who doesn't get starter's minutes (so, no one who played more than 24 mpg) and came off the bench all season (so, no one who started more than 25% of the games he played in).