Saving their season would be more about effort than execution.

“Tonight it was just one of them days where you just got to leave it out there on the basketball court,” Carmelo Anthony said.

Now they have to do it two more times.

Anthony scored 28 points and the Knicks avoided elimination in the Eastern Conference semifinals with an 85-75 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 on Thursday night.

Reserves J.R. Smith and Chris Copeland each had 13 points for the Knicks, who trail 3-2 and will need a victory Saturday in Indiana to force a seventh game back here Monday. They are trying to become the ninth NBA team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a series.

“I was totally impressed because we met the challenge,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “I think as a coach you come into games like this and you want to see who’s going to step up and make plays, and I thought we did that tonight. We were the better team in terms of doing that.”

Anthony, who didn’t make a basket in the fourth quarter of either game in Indiana, made a jumper midway through the fourth quarter after Indiana closed within four points. He followed with two free throws, Raymond Felton made a layup, and the Knicks were never in jeopardy again.

Paul George had 23 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Pacers. They played without point guard George Hill because of a concussion and committed 19 turnovers.

“We’ve just got to play more solid. There’s no other way to put it,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said.

George battled foul trouble and couldn’t contain Anthony quite as well as he had while the Pacers easily won the previous two games.

Anthony made his first two shots as New York raced to a 7-0 lead in a game it never trailed. He finished only 12 of 28, but got plenty of bench help.

“We didn’t shoot the ball very well but we made shots at the crucial time,” Anthony said.

David West had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers, who were trying to reach the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2004.

“We didn’t play well. It was a bad game for us and we were still there,” George said.

The winner will face the defending NBA champion Miami Heat in a series that will start Wednesday.

New York didn’t really shake its scoring slump, shooting only 41 percent from the field, but put together a few runs during the game to open just enough space against a Pacers team that shot 36 percent and was a dismal 19 of 33 at the free throw line.

They clearly missed Hill after learning about four hours before the game they would be without him.

Vogel said Hill was hurt after a collision with Knicks center Tyson Chandler during the first half of Indiana’s 93-82 victory on Tuesday. Hill finished the game and scored 26 points, but experienced some headaches and showed concussion symptoms since and wasn’t able to pass the league’s concussion tests in order to play Thursday night.

The Knicks went back to their regular lineup, reinserting Pablo Prigioni, after going with a bigger group in Game 4 in a futile effort to match Indiana on the boards. The smaller group did a better job, getting outrebounded only 43-40.

“We’re not going to go out without fighting,” Chandler said.

The Knicks finally opened it up midway through the third quarter with a 12-4 run, started by Smith’s bank shot and featuring a 3-pointer and follow shot from Copeland, who got more playing time while Woodson gave little to veterans Amar’e Stoudemire and the slumping Jason Kidd, who missed his only shot and remains scoreless in the series.

“Coaching is a feel. It’s not always what players want at the end of the day, it’s about winning,” Woodson said. “That’s all I’m in it for.”

Anthony made a jumper and a 3-pointer on his first two shots, and Iman Shumpert followed with another jumper for a 7-0 start. Smith got a big ovation when he checked in, which grew much louder when he made his first shot, dribbling back behind the arc for a 3-pointer that made it 17-12 with 2:56 left in the opening quarter.

Smith has endured a miserable stretch since elbowing Boston’s Jason Terry in the fourth quarter of Game 3 in the first round. Suspended for Game 4, he hasn’t relocated his shot since, hitting 28 percent in the first four games and has been criticized for not being focused after he was seen out a nightclub with singer Rihanna the night before Game 1 — a day game.

He was only 4 of 11, but hit the jumper that started the Knicks’ run in the third quarter.

“Still didn’t shoot the best but it always helps coming home and playing in front of these fans,” Smith said. “Hopefully the little bit of rhythm that I did get carries me over.”

The Knicks extended their 19-15 lead after one to 32-23 on Copeland’s 3-pointer with 7:06 remaining in the second. The Pacers chipped away for most of the half but couldn’t take the large in part because of their sloppy free throw shooting, going 8 of 16 in the half that agonizingly wouldn’t end when both Chandler and the Pacers’ Sam Young committed fouls more than 30 feet from the basket in the final 2.4 seconds.

Game notes
Kidd is 0 for 8 in the series, part of a 0-for-17 skid that began with Game 3 against Boston in the first round. The 40-year-old point guard, surely headed for the Hall of Fame, is 3 of 25 in the postseason and hasn’t scored since hitting a 3-pointer against the Celtics in Game 2 on April 23. He played 5 minutes and Stoudemire played 6½. … The Phoenix Suns are the last team to win a series after trailing 3-1, beating the Los Angeles Lakers in 2006. The Brooklyn Nets forced Chicago to a seventh game in the first round but dropped Game 7 on their home floor. … West was 5 of 13 in the first half. The other four Indiana starters were 5 for 23.

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Well, someone different and that guy named LeBron.

Ageless Ray Allen scored 23, setting the NBA career playoff record for 3-pointers in the process, and LeBron James had seven of his 22 points during a decisive run that closed out the third quarter — and maybe the Milwaukee Bucks. The Heat’s 104-91 victory on Thursday night gave the defending champions a 3-0 lead, with a chance to complete the sweep Sunday afternoon at the Bradley Center.

“That’s been our calling card all year, the depth that we have,” said Allen, whose five 3s gave him 322 for his career, two more than Reggie Miller.

“As a team, you’ve got to find a way to plug in the holes, and every night we find somebody different.”

Chris Bosh added 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Heat, who have won 11 straight dating to the regular season and 40 of their last 42. Chris Andersen had another big game, scoring 11 on 5-of-5 shooting and grabbing six rebounds in less than 14 minutes.

Dwyane Wade had just four points, and his 1-of-12 shooting was his worst in a postseason game. But he contributed 11 assists, nine rebounds, five steals and two blocks.

“I shot the ball terrible,” Wade, who is still nursing a bruised right knee, said with a laugh. “But we played a good game. Game 3 is a tough game. I thought, as a team, we showed a lot of guts, a lot of grit. When those guys came out hot, we stayed with it, we stayed with our game plan and were able to get a great win. There’s nothing as satisfying as winning a Game 3 on the road. But it’s over now. Now we have to focus on closing the series out.”

Milwaukee, meanwhile, will simply try and avoid being swept.

Larry Sanders and Brandon Jennings had 16 each to lead six Bucks in double figures, and Sanders added 11 rebounds while Jennings contributed eight assists. But the Bucks couldn’t maintain the 10-point lead they took in the first quarter, when they shot 57 percent (12 of 21) and were 5 of 10 from 3-point range. Milwaukee was just 12 of 21 over the final three quarters (41 percent), and made only two more 3s.

“I hope we’re still confident,” Jennings said. “As a team, we need to stay together.”

The defending champions still haven’t played their best game. But it hardly matters with their ability to pull off one of their patented runs.

After leading for much of the game, Milwaukee was trying to pull away early in the third. Jennings was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws, then followed with a one-hand slam after Ersan Ilyasova’s steal. Luc Mbah a Moute made two sets of free throws, and the Bucks were back up 61-55 with 7:14 left in the third.

But the Heat have made a habit of putting the Bucks away with runs, and this game was no different.

Udonis Haslem made a layup and a pair of free throws, Mario Chalmers followed with a layup and the Heat were off on what would be a 23-7 run to close out the quarter. The Bucks got to 67-66 on a layup by Mbah a Moute, but James answered with a monster 3. After a pair of free throws by Mbah a Moute, Chalmers stripped Monta Ellis and fed James, who sprinted to the other end for the layup as the Bucks watched helplessly. Andersen scored on a reverse, James made a layup and then fed Andersen for another layup that gave Miami a 78-68 lead going into the fourth quarter.

The Bucks never got within single digits again.

“A three-, four-minute stretch just like in the first two games, where they kind of blitzed us,” Bucks coach Jim Boylan said. “We dug ourselves a big hole that we could not come back from.”

Allen made sure of that, knocking down a huge 3 from the right corner with 8:38 to play to give Miami a 90-73 lead. That broke Miller’s record of 320, and Allen added one more two minutes later.

“I think about when I first stepped on this floor for the very first time, I thought about what I was going to be able to contribute to this game,” said Allen, who spent his first six-plus seasons in Milwaukee. “It’s ironic that I’m on this floor right now, because this is where it all started.”

And this could be where the playoffs end for the Bucks.

With no team ever rallying from a 3-0 deficit, Thursday night’s game was a must-win for the Bucks. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said his team expected a “desperate, competitive response” from the Bucks, and the Milwaukee players were hoping for a boost by being back home — the first playoff game at the Bradley Center in three years.

Milwaukee certainly looked sharper early on. After struggling to get their entire offense going at the same time in the first two games, the Bucks finally had everything clicking in the first quarter. Sanders set the tone from the first possession, scoring on a layup and converting the three-point play after he drew a foul.

The Bucks would shoot 57 percent in the first quarter, getting field goals from six different players — including Jennings, whose struggles in Game 2 contributed to Milwaukee’s demise. Jennings’ reverse layup sparked a 9-2 run that gave Milwaukee an early 18-11 lead. He then made a 3, the first of four straight for the Bucks, and Milwaukee found itself with a 10-point lead, double its largest margin in either of the first two games.

“We had to fight for this one,” Spoelstra said. “They came out with a great deal of intensity as we expected. Got us on our heels.”

But no lead is safe when the Heat are hanging around, and this game was no different.

Allen made three 3-pointers in the last four minutes of the first half and James scored his only field goal of the second quarter at the buzzer, a jumper at the buzzer that pulled Miami within 50-48 at the half.

“Consistent effort on their part,” Sanders said. “They didn’t get shaken, rattled by us playing hard. They expected it. When they started playing harder, we got shaken, rattled a little bit. We got to expect that. Keep pushing.”

Game notes

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was at the game. … Bucks fans were tough on all of the Heat players, even Allen, who spent his first six-plus years in Milwaukee, and Wade, whose No. 3 at Marquette hangs from the rafters at the Bradley Center. “I expect that,” Allen said. “Even though I played quite a while here and won some big games, I’m still the opposing team. I didn’t expect any special favors.” … Wade is the first player since Rajon Rondo on March 23, 2011 to have at least 11 assists, nine rebounds and five steals in a game.

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Gregory Campbell scored twice in a three-goal first period, and the Bruins built a four-goal lead and then held on for a 5-4 victory over the reeling New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.

The win moved the Bruins (56 points) a point ahead of the Montreal Canadiens in the Northeast Division with nine games to play in the lockout-shortened season. It also put them back in second place in the Eastern Conference, four points behind Pittsburgh, which has played one extra game.

“It’s certainly nice to be there, in first place,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said after his team won for the fifth time in six games. “That was a little bit of motivation tonight. That’s not to say we played a great game, but we accomplished a goal.”

The Devils didn’t accomplish anything in losing their eighth straight (0-4-4). They are four points out of a playoff spot with eight games to go. It’s certainly not what many expected from a team that played for the Stanley Cup last season.

“You know the spot you are in,” Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. “You have two choices. You roll over and die or you get up tomorrow and find a way to turn one win into six or seven or whatever it is going to take.”

To return to the postseason, the Devils need to play a lot better. But so do the Bruins if they are going to make some noise in the playoffs.

This wasn’t their best effort. They stopped playing for long stretches after taking a 4-0 lead early in the second period on Zdeno Chara’s goal.

“The way the game started was very weird, but we capitalized on our opportunities,” said Tyler Seguin, whose third-period goal was the winner. “After going up 3-0, we definitely took the foot off the gas a little bit and you saw what happened. They came back and almost stole one.”

The Bruins scored three times against Martin Brodeur in the opening 8:12. Daniel Paille and Campbell capped the initial outburst with short-handed goals in a 3:21 span.

Patrik Elias, Travis Zajac, Andy Greene and Matt D’Agostini scored against Anton Khudobin (24 saves) for New Jersey, whose losing streak is its longest since 1985-86.

D’Agostini’s goal got New Jersey within one with 37 seconds to play, but Boston didn’t allow another shot.

The first period was the difference, a session that included the sellout crowd of 17,625 booing the home team a number of times and giving Brodeur sarcastic cheers after routine saves.

Not only did the Bruins score three times early, they killed off four penalties, including an early 1:27 two-man advantage. They even had lumbering defenseman Johnny Boychuk miss a penalty shot, or it would have been three short-handed goals.

“Them taking penalties cost us the game,” said Brodeur, who finished with 13 saves. “We didn’t get many chances and they got a penalty shot and scored two goals. That was the big difference in the game.”

Campbell put Boston ahead 70 seconds after the opening faceoff, but it was Jaromir Jagr who did most of the work. The recently acquired 41-year-old controlled the puck between the circles despite being hounded. He eventually got a quick shot on Brodeur, and Campbell pounced on the rebound, sliding it under the 40-year-old goaltender, who was making his 10th straight start.

“We’re clicking a little bit more,” Campbell said. “Either it’s a slow start or a slow finish. Tonight it was a slow second period. We sat on our lead and got comfortable. Give them credit, they worked hard to get back into the game. The onus is on to stay with the game plan, despite the score.”

The Bruins then killed off the two-man disadvantage and Boychuk got his penalty shot just seconds after coming out of the box and being hooked by Marek Zidlicky. Brodeur followed the Boston defenseman’s slow-motion moves and stacked his pads to stop the shot.

It only slowed down the Bruins’ momentarily.

A bad pass by forward Steve Sullivan at the point on another power play set up a 2-on-1 break for the Bruins a little less than three minutes later. Brodeur made the initial stop on Paille, but he swatted the rebound out of the air for his eighth goal.

Campbell got his fourth with a deflection of a shot from the point by Andrew Ference.

“Getting goals, getting points, it’s a good feeling,” Campbell said. “I try to work hard every game. I’ve had a few chances throughout the year. I was happy tonight they went in.

Chara made it 4-0 with a power-play goal early in the second period, but the Devils didn’t give up.

Elias got them on the board with a deflection of a shot by Sullivan, and the momentum seemed to change after Devils’ defenseman Anton Volchenkov elbowed Brad Marchand in the head, drawing a five-minute major and a game misconduct. It left the Devils with four defenseman because Bryce Salvador did not return after being hit in the hand on a shot by Chara earlier in the period .

Instead of putting the game away, the Bruins got lax and Zajac scored shorthanded late in the period to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Greene scored on a slap shot 5:58 into the third period to cut the lead to a goal. But Seguin scored in close off a nice pass by Paille less than two minutes later to give Boston breathing room.

“We battled back,” Brodeur said. “… but nobody is happy about what happened today.”

Game notes

Boston is 12-1-1 when leading after the first period and 17-2-1 when scoring first. … Marchand was wobbly after the Volchenkov hit and he did not return. … The last time the Devils gave up two short-handed goals in a game was against Atlanta in 2006. … The Devils have not won since Ilya Kovalchuk hurt his right shoulder against the Panthers here on March 23. He hopes to return to the lineup soon. … Bruins C Patrice Bergeron (concussion) has started skating and hopes to return soon. … New Jersey recalled rookie goaltender Keith Kinkaid from Albany (AHL) earlier in the day because backup Johan Hedberg was sore.

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Brandon Knight scored 20 points Sunday night to help the Pistons snap an 18-game losing streak against the Bulls with a 99-85 victory. The loss dropped Chicago two games behind Brooklyn in the race for the fourth seed and a chance to host a first-round series in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Jonas Jerebko added 17 points and a season-high nine rebounds for the Pistons, who also ended an eight-game home skid.

The Bulls led by as many as 11 points in the first quarter but Detroit gradually caught up and took the lead in the second after starting the period on a 12-4 run.

“From that point on, we started to get stops and get out in transition,” coach Lawrence Frank said. “We made a lot of winning-type plays and played with a lot of intensity.”

The Pistons took a 50-46 lead to intermission and pushed it to as many as 10 in the third quarter. Knight scored a dozen points in the period, including a 3-pointer that killed Chicago’s last good chance at getting close. Detroit scored the first four points of the fourth and never let the Bulls get closer than 10 points the rest of the night.

“It felt good,” said Knight, who’d seen the Pistons drop the first three games of the series against Chicago by a combined eight points.

“We were the team to not make mistakes and capitalized on their mistakes.”

Jerebko and Charlie Villanueva (12 points) sparked a bench that outscored Chicago’s 33-12.

Rodney Stuckey, starting in place of injured point guard Jose Calderon, had 14 points and rookie Andre Drummond, who shot airballs on two late free throws in a one-point loss at Chicago on March 31, added 10 rebounds for Detroit.

Carlos Boozer had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who played without leading scorer Luol Deng. Coach Tom Thibodeau wasn’t feeling sorry for his team, which has been missing former league MVP Derrick Rose all season.

“You can’t use that as an excuse,” he said. “Whoever is out there, we have to go out and get the job done.”

Nate Robinson added 18 points and Jimmy Butler scored 14 as Chicago’s two-game winning streak ended. Two of the Bulls’ last six games are against playoff-bound teams, the same number Brooklyn faces.

The teams will not see each other before the postseason.

Deng, the Bulls’ leading scorer and the NBA’s leader in minutes per game, missed the game with a sore hip. Thibodeau said the decision to bench him was “precautionary.”

Chicago’s Joakim Noah, who missed eight games with an injured right foot, and Marco Belinelli, who was out seven with an abdominal strain, each returned Sunday night. Noah finished with 13 points and seven boards.

The Bulls were aiming to match the franchise record for consecutive victories over an opponent, which also was against the Pistons. Michael Jordan’s 1990s teams won 19 in a row against Detroit.

The Pistons treated home fans to their first win since the All-Star break. They hadn’t won at the Palace of Auburn Hills since Feb. 13.

Game notes

Calderon, who had started all 28 games since Detroit acquired him in a Jan. 30 trade, missed the game with a right triceps strain. … Chicago’s last loss to the Pistons was Dec. 23, 2008. … The Bulls used their 13th different starting lineup.

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Two goals from Gonzalo Higuain plus a Lionel Messi penalty handed Argentina a convincing win in Buenos Aires on Friday night. Real Madrid striker Higuain scored in either half, with Barcelona forward Messi converting from the spot a minute before the interval.

Argentina controlled the tempo from the outset, looking to find gaps in the visitors’ defence at every opportunity. They went close to breaking the deadlock several times only to be denied by Venezuela goalkeeper Daniel Hernandez but, just before the half-hour mark, Primera Division rivals Messi and Higuain linked up to give their country the lead.

Messi supplied the pass which put Higuain through one on one with Hernandez, and the Madrid man made no mistake with a neat cross-shot past Hernandez.

The gulf in quality between the teams became even more evident thereafter and Argentina duly doubled their lead in the 44th minute, Messi despatching the penalty after Venezuela defender Gabriel Cichero had handled the ball inside his area.

Messi was again the provider when Higuain made it 3-0 after 58 minutes, supplying the perfect pass for his colleague to slot home.

Colombia enjoyed a convincing 5-0 rout of Bolivia to remain hot on Argentina’s heels. The win kept Jose Pekerman’s second-placed side within four points of Argentina, who have played one game more than the Colombians.

The Cafeteros controlled the match from the first whistle but had to wait until the 20th minute to open the scoring, Macnelly Torres tapping home from Guillermo Cuadrado’s cross.

The floodgates opened after the interval in Barranquilla. Carlos Valdes took advantage of a kind rebound following a corner to double his team’s lead four minutes into the second half, with Teifilo Gutierrez swiftly adding a third on the counter-attack.

The misery was not over for Xabier Azkagorta’s side, though. Four minutes from time, Radamel Falcao latched onto Pablo Armero’s pass and notched a fourth goal and then, deep into stoppage time, substitute Armero made no mistake when one on one with goalkeeper Sergio Galarza.

In Montevideo, fourth-placed Uruguay lost ground in the qualification race as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Paraguay.

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez looked to have won it for Uruguay when he broke the deadlock in the 82nd minute with a superb volley, but four minutes later Edgar Benitez capitalised on a Diego Lugano error to restore parity.

Finally, man of the match Jefferson Farfan grabbed the game’s only goal three minutes from the end to earn Peru a 1-0 triumph over Chile in Lima.

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Mike Rosario scored 19 points and Patric Young added 18 as No. 10 Florida cruised to a 68-47 victory over Texas A&M on Thursday night.

The Aggies led by one point midway through the first half before a big run by the Gators gave them a 35-18 halftime lead, and they didn’t let up in the second half.

It was a letdown for Texas A&M (12-4, 2-1 Southeastern Conference), which was coming off an 83-71 victory at Kentucky on Saturday. Elston Turner scored a career-high 40 points in that win, but managed just four points Thursday on 1-of-10 shooting.

“We as a coaching staff have made some adjustments on things and we’ve done some different things that has helped,” Donovan said of improving the defense. “You can give them facts and show them where they need to get better and why.”

The Gators were proud of their defense on Turner, who entered the game averaging 17.1 points a game.

“We just didn’t give him a chance to do what he wanted to do,” Young said. “We made him really uncomfortable. Being able to limit a guy that just scored 40 points in his last game was huge.”

Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy knows it’s difficult for Turner with A&M not having another major scoring threat to take pressure off him.

“Their team defense was good,” Kennedy said. “He’s also had nights like that. When you have one primary scorer against a good defensive team … they just physically wore him down and did a good job on him.”

It is the fifth straight win for Florida (13-2, 3-0) which is in the midst of playing four of five games on the road.

Jordan Green had 12 points for the Aggies, while J’Mychal Reese added 10.

Texas A&M scored five straight points, capped by a layup by Kourtney Roberson, to take a 14-13 lead about 9:30 before halftime.

The Gators answered with a 22-4 run over the rest of the first half to take a 35-18 lead. Erik Murphy scored seven points in that span, including a 3-pointer, and Young had six points capped by a dunk to help the run.

Murphy finished with 16 points and seven rebounds.

The Aggies had four turnovers and missed seven shots, including two layups in that span.

“They’re very, very hard to guard,” Kennedy said. “But I think people don’t give them enough credit for their defense.”

Florida entered the game ranked third in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 52 points a game. Things were no different on Thursday as they limited A&M to a season-low in points on 34 percent shooting.

The Gators have held eight opponents to less than 50 points this season, and 11 to less than 60.

Florida was playing without Casey Prather, who is out 10 to 14 days with a high-ankle sprain. But they were helped by the return of Rosario, who missed a win over LSU on Saturday with a sprained left ankle.

Rosario said he planned to play regardless of how his ankle felt Thursday.

“It felt good out there,” he said. “It felt how it was supposed to feel. I was going to go out there anyway, whether it was 80 percent or 60 percent and thankfully it was 110 percent for my team tonight.”

The Gators scored the first four points of the second half to extend their lead to 21 points and the Aggies never got closer than 18 points the rest of the way.

A 3-pointer by Alex Caruso got A&M within 46-28 with about 12 minutes remaining. Florida used an 8-0 run after that to extend the lead to 54-28.

Young liked that Florida didn’t let up once it built the lead.

“You want to step on the gas,” he said. “You don’t want to give a team hope that they can come back into the game.”

Texas A&M had a crowd of more than 11,000, which included Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel. It was loud early in the game, but Florida’s run in the first half quickly quieted the group.

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Bradley made his 2012-13 season debut after undergoing a pair of shoulder surgeries while being shelved the past seven months and played just under 20 minutes, scoring four points.

Rondo is battling a hip bruise that caused him to sit out a game last week. He played almost 40 minutes, finishing with 11 points and 10 assists.

Rivers expected Boston’s defense to get a jolt from Bradley’s return, but continued to downplay the “savior” notion that some outside the Boston locker room have promoted.

“I haven’t paid too much attention to all this stuff. Is he (Bill) Russell yet? Or (Bob) Cousy? I don’t know,” quipped Rivers before the game. “If that’s what (the media has) made him, and if he lives up to that, then I’m good with that. I hope everyone’s right.”

Can one great defensive player make a difference for a struggling Boston squad?

“If you take one great defensive player and you put him on a team, the team is going to be a better defensive team,” Rivers said. “And as important as bigs are, I’ve always thought, especially if it’s a guard that applies pressure, that kinda fuels energy. You see it and it’s hard for you not to do it. You got this guy doing it and then, what, are you not going to do anything? It clearly helps.

“Again, because this is his first game this year, the other players have a 30-game advantage on him as far as timing and stuff, as far as running their stuff. I’m not looking for the world today or tomorrow, even in a week. But it’s going to come.”

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