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.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Bleacher Report: The Utah Jazz have "the most disgusting fans in the NBA."

2. The Wages of Wins Journal: Statistically, the All-Rookie second team is better than the first.

3. Mark Murphy, Boston Herald: Is Sam Cassell getting benched?

4. Basketbawful: What it's like to lunch with Larry Bird.

5. Jerry Brown, East Valley Tribune: Mark Jackson is getting an interview with the Destroyer.

6. FreeDarko: ESPN does not know who Rodney Stuckey is.

In case you haven't seen this highlight a dozen times already, here's Tayshaun Prince's block on Hedo Turkoglu last night to seal the Pistons' win over the Magic and clinch Detroit's sixth straight appearance in the Conference Finals.

Rip Hamilton talked about the block after the game. "That was awesome," he said. "I didn't even see who blocked the shot, to tell you the truth. The only thing I'd seen was Tay flexing. I went up to Rasheed and I was like, 'Uh, who blocked that shot? It must be Tay, huh?' He was like, 'yes.' It was incredible. That's something that Tay does, and we needed that because it was a big shot."

Notes from a trip to the NBA Playoffs.

About 45 minutes before Game 5 between the Pistons and Magic tipped off Tuesday night, Rashard Lewis and I had a conversation about his team's string of bad luck, how competitive the series has been and the role Detroit's experience plays in determining the outcome. As you know by now, his hopes of extending the series were dashed, but Lewis did correctly call yet another hard-fought game.

Matt Watson: Coach [Stan Van Gundy] was talking just now about how one or two plays can kind of change the tone of an entire series. Do you kind of feel like you guys have come up on the short end of the stick a couple of times?

Rashard Lewis: Yeah, the ball hasn't been bouncing our way. We feel like we're a better team than what the series says, 3-1. Turnovers, offensive rebounds, just one point away from the series being tied 2-2. Unfortunately, it's 3-1 and hopefully we can try to get this win tonight and take it back to Orlando.

MW: When you factor in the whole plane troubles, it seems like nothing has been going your way this entire time.

RL: Yeah, nothing has been going our way. It's been a little bumpy for us, but at the same time, it's not over yet. Hopefully we can get some luck tonight and throughout the rest of this series, and maybe we can turn this around. We can't get the bad end of the stick every night.

Notes from a trip to the NBA Playoffs.

Immediately after Saturday's heartbreaking 90-89 loss to the Pistons, Jameer Nelson boldly predicted that the Magic would extend the series with a Game 5 win in Detroit. In case you're just tuning in, the Magic fell short last night, allowing Detroit to clinch the series with a 91-86 win.

After the game, slumped in a chair in front of his locker with his feet soaking in ice and wearing only a towel, a dejected Nelson reflected on his "guarantee" and the attention it attracted. "I didn't guarantee a win," he said. "I didn't say, 'we're going to ...' I said 'we have to go win, we're going to come get this win.' And the media took it out of proportion or whatever they want to do. The media always wants a story. I mean, I really don't care what people write, you know?"

If you take his words literally, Nelson is fibbing: he did predict a win. It wasn't manufactured by the media. He didn't use the word "guarantee," but his exact words were, "We're going to go there and win this game." There's no ambiguity there.

But that's not really his point. Like Stan Van Gundy said before the game, his prediction was more about believing and expecting his team could win than than disrespecting the Pistons (none of whom, incidentally, actually took offense).

Notes from a trip to the NBA Playoffs.

Jameer Nelson turned a lot of heads when he "guaranteed" a win in Game 4, but speaking before tonight's game, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said he didn't mind the bold talk one bit. "Well, I would hope that's what they all feel," said Van Gundy. "I mean, I think he said it in the right way. He said right away, 'I'm not trying to be arrogant or cocky or anything else, but that's the mind set we have to have.' And it is. I mean, what would I want? A guy coming up here expecting to lose? 'We might win, [or] we hope we'll win.' No, you have to come out here expecting to win. Otherwise don't show up."

Van Gundy also commented on how the media often makes sweeping judgments about a team's character based solely on the outcome of the game. "What happens all the time is how well [we] play determines what you guys write about a team's character and everything," Van Gundy told the gaggle of reporters. "So automatically, if you play well, you have great character. And if you don't play well, it's because you don't have the 'resolve,' and the 'mental toughness' and all of that. We have all of that. We have to play well."

He continued: "It's a matter of a play here or there, that people write, 'It's the Pistons' experience, they know how to win.' And if you get one call or Turk makes the shot [at the end of Game 4], everything's different. That's just the way it is. Players have to deal with that perception of them and everything else and understand that's just the business we're in, and it's the way it is. It's a results-driven business. People are going to make comments on your character and your toughness and all of that based on one or two plays in the series."

Notes from a trip to the NBA Playoffs.

Speaking to media about an hour ago, Pistons coach Flip Saunders indicated that he didn't expect to have Chauncey Billups active for tonight's game. He left open the possibility that Billups might change his mind but said that Billups still didn't feel right following this morning's shootaround.

"It's up to the players [to decide] when they're right," said Saunders. "And when they're right, I don't want them to have any hesitation, because if they're not right and they have hesitation, they're not going to play very good, to be honest. So, he's got to feel comfortable as far as about it."

Saunders added that if Billups wanted to give it a go, he'd have the blessing of the training staff. "We don't think that he can hurt it anymore, but he just feels that there's still some soreness in there. I think that it's more than anything else."

With Billups in street clothes, Saunders said he'd go with the same roster he used in Game 4, which means that Juan Dixon and Lindsey Hunter will be active while little-used power forward Amir Johnson will be the odd man out. Rookie Rodney Stuckey will get the start. In speaking with Magic coach Stan Van Gundy and Rashard Lewis, whether the Pistons have Billups won't change a thing in Orlando's game plan.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Need4Sheed: The patented 'Sheed foul reaction, endlessly looping for your enjoyment.

2. Tim Kawakami's Talking Points: Presenting the first annual NBA No-Defense team.

3. Brian Windhorst on the Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron James is glad this didn't happen on Mothers' Day.

4. Mitch Lawrence, NY Daily News: Starbury, meet coach D'Antoni. Now pack your bags.

5. Mike Bresnahan, L.A. Times: Ronny Turiaf won't be suspended for that Game 4 flagrant foul.

6. CelticsBlog: I knew Ray Allen was Jesus, but Wally Szczerbiak as Blue Steel?

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Magic-Pistons Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 5 this evening.

1. That Better Be A Darn Good Guarantee: I hate guarantees. Hate them. I hate them more from slow, unspectacular sized, non-hyper-athletic point guards that have been a contributing factor to their team's need for a guarantee. So part of me kind of hopes Jameer Nelson gets served tonight, like he has all series. Which is odd, because I'd really like for the Magic to have made this into a series. I don't necessarily mind the intent behind guarantees, in fact I think confidence is an absolute necessity going into an elimination game. It's making it public that creates the issue. Because as laid back as the Pistons are about the matter, it's still another reason for them to swat the mosquito that the Magic have turned into on their trek through the playoff jungle. And every time Nelson misses a shot tonight, you can bet the Pistons faithful are going to remind him of his little blip.

2. 50/50, Win-Win: Chauncey Billups is 50/50 to play tonight. But since the Magic are about 0-2000 in things falling right for them in this series, I wouldn't bank too much on Billups taking the night off. Although, with as well as Rodney Stuckey has played in his absence, you have to wonder if the Pistons feel any urgency to get him back on the floor, especially with this series feeling so completely finalized. Billups has struggled this postseason in general, and it might do him more good to take the night off, see if the Pistons can finish up the Magic at home, and get some rest for the Conference Finals. If the Magic were to somehow pull off a mini-miracle and win tonight, it would just put them in better shape to put the foot to the throat in Game 6. It's pretty much a win-win situation for the Pistons.

Chauncey Billups has made improvements in his recovery from a strained hamstring, but the Pistons refuse to let him rush him back. From Krista Jahnke of the Detroit Free Press:

"I don't even know what we are. What are we? OK, 3-1," strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander said. "To me, it doesn't make a difference. I look at purely the comfort level of a player, what they can do. He's getting much closer to it."

How close? For one, Billups hasn't had a single setback from day to day, and he's tested the hamstring with a lot of strenuous activity.

"He can do a lot of pretty intense things on his legs right now," Kander said, "and he has no pain." Kander said he worked with Billups "doing everything from hard dribbles, defensive slides; we box, we did all sorts of maneuvers and he didn't feel anything. So it's good."

The fact that Detroit has a 3-1 lead over Orlando certainly gives them a bit of cushion in terms of being cautious with Billups, as does the fact that Game 5 will be played at the Palace. But if he does sit again, it's not like the don't have a solid backup plan: rookie Rodney Stuckey and veteran Lindsey Hunter may have combined for only six assists while replacing Billups in Game 4, but they didn't turn the ball over once. Plus, the team frequently runs the offense through Tayshaun Prince, who had five assists himself in Game 4.

The Pistons don't need Billups to beat the Magic, nor do they need to win Game 5 to advance to the next round. Considering a sixth-straight Conference Finals appearance is seemingly in the books, getting Billups back at full strength, no matter how long that takes, should be the primary goal. As Pistons fans say, in Arnie we trust.