The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Saturday because Vogel’s three-year contract has not been finalized. Vogel flew to Los Angeles on Thursday and met with a group that included owner Jeanie Buss, general manager Rob Pelinka and adviser Kurt Rambis.

The 45-year old Vogel worked for the organization before as an advance scout during the 2005-06 season. He did not coach last season following two years with the Orlando Magic. Vogel went to Orlando following five-plus seasons leading the Indiana Pacers, including trips to the Eastern Conference finals in 2013 and `14. He has a career record of 304-291.

Kidd interviewed with the Lakers last month. The former star player who was a head coach in Brooklyn and Milwaukee was fired by the Bucks during the 2017-18 season. He has a 183-190 record.

The Lakers have missed the playoffs six straight seasons. The drought was expected to end this season but injuries to LeBron James, Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram, as well as internal discord, resulted in a 37-45 record.

It’s an interesting pairing in many ways, including how Vogel was fired by Indiana in 2016 and Orlando in 2018 – and how he simply could never get past James in the playoffs.

The Pacers thought they had a title-contender in 2012, 2013 and 2014, and James and the Miami Heat eliminated them in all three of those postseasons. Vogel won 58 percent of his games in parts of six seasons with Indiana, but the lasting image of his tenure there is the fact that those clubs were always ousted by Miami.

Now, Vogel and James will be on the same side, both looking for a resurgence. This season was James’ first without a playoff appearance since 2005 and ended his streak of eight consecutive trips to the NBA Finals. Vogel is coming off a 54-110 tenure in two seasons with Orlando, while the Magic were rebuilding.

Vogel is known mainly as a defensive coach. Indiana led the league in defensive efficiency twice and was in the top 10 during his five-plus seasons. The Lakers were tied for 13th in defensive efficiency last season. An official announcement announcing his hiring might not come until Monday, which would mark the start of a busy week for the Lakers. They will take part in the draft lottery on Tuesday and will also be at the draft combine.

Vogel’s hiring is the first step in what will be – and has already been – an eventful and critical offseason for the Lakers, who will be on their sixth coach since Phil Jackson stepped down after the 2010-11 season.

The firing of Luke Walton as coach April 12 was not unexpected, and came three days after Magic Johnson stunned the team and just about everybody else by giving up his role running the club. Johnson, the former Lakers star, dropped that news in an impromptu news conference held roughly 90 minutes before the regular-season finale.

The Lakers pursued several other candidates, and appeared to be closing in on a deal with Tyronn Lue that would have looked to make sense in many ways. Lue played for the Lakers, was part of two teams that won championships there, and coached James to the 2016 NBA title in Cleveland. But that deal never got to the finish line, and the Lakers’ search quickly moved toward Vogel.

The Lakers also considered Monty Williams, who was hired by the Phoenix Suns, and Juwan Howard and J.B. Bickerstaff

The Lakers expect to have more than $40 million in salary cap space this summer and will likely resume their pursuit of Anthony Davis – who would have to be traded by New Orleans – either around the draft or the July 1 start of free agency. When that player-shopping window begins, the Lakers will likely try to land Kawhi Leonard and other big names who might be willing to play with James.

And there is a slew of roster work to do. The Lakers had several rotation players on either one-year or expiring deals this season, a list that includes Rajon Rondo, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee and Tyson Chandler.

The post Lakers make Vogel coach, Kidd assistant appeared first on IdealCapper.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because they weren’t at liberty to publicly discuss negotiations. Vogel flew to Los Angeles on Thursday.

The 45-year old Vogel did not coach last season following two years with the Orlando Magic. He arrived in Orlando following five-plus seasons leading the Indiana Pacers, including two trips to the Eastern Conference finals in 2013 and ’14.

Vogel is the fifth candidate known to have interviewed for the opening since the Lakers dismissed Luke Walton on April 12. Los Angeles was thought to be on the verge of hiring Tyronn Lue this week before talks broke down. They have also considered Monty Williams, who was hired by the Phoenix Suns, Juwan Howard and Jason Kidd.

The Los Angeles Times was the first to report the Lakers’ plans to interview Vogel.

The post Lakers, Vogel to discuss coaching job appeared first on IdealCapper.

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.

The post Carmelo Anthony helps Knicks down Pacers to stay alive appeared first on IdealCapper.

He made sure that prediction came true Sunday.

Following the best season of his three-year career, George opened the playoffs by producing the first postseason triple-double of his career — 23 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists — and led the Pacers out of their late-season funk and past Atlanta 107-90 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Suddenly, all those problems ailing the Pacers have been forgotten.

“I know what the team will expect from me now,” George said. “But, again, I like the pressure.”

He can expect to be dealing with even more of it in the best-of-seven series.

There were plenty of questions after Indiana coach Frank Vogel gave four of his starters — George, George Hill, Roy Hibbert and David West — a three-day break this week. The move meant those four came into the opening game without playing a minute since last Sunday’s loss at New York sealed Indiana’s fate as the East’s No. 3 seed.

Outsiders wondered whether those off-days would rejuvenate the Central Division champs, who looked so good from mid-December through early April, or whether would be rusty after stumbling to five losses in their last seven regular-season games.

Those inside the locker room said that the extra rest would be beneficial. Sunday’s performance left no doubt as fans repeatedly waved the gold towels the Pacers handed out before the game.

While George went 3 of 13 from the field, he made his first 17 free throws, tying Reggie Miller’s single-game playoff mark for best percentage. George missed his 18th and final attempt with 2:35 to go. It was about the only thing that went wrong for the All-Star forward who had Indiana’s first triple-double in the playoffs since Mark Jackson on May 13, 1998, against New York.

Indiana also has a 1-0 lead for the first time since beating the New Jersey Nets 90-88 in 2006.

“It was huge for our confidence,” George said. “We got back to playing our style of basketball.”

George had plenty of help, too.

Hill, who sat out parts of practice Friday and Saturday with an injured left groin, made his first six shots and finished 7 of 10 from the field with three 3-pointers and 18 points. And Hibbert added 16 points and 11 rebounds on a day the Pacers outrebounded Atlanta 48-32 and limited the Hawks to 14 fast-break points.

Vogel couldn’t have designed a better script.

“You have to stick to who you are and play your style of play, which I think we did,” Vogel said. “We have to play with passion. When we play with passion and energy on both ends of the court we’re pretty good. ”

Atlanta found out the hard way.

Indy native Jeff Teague led the Hawks with 21 points and seven assists, while Josh Smith had 15 points and eight rebounds. The only other Atlanta player to reach double figures was Al Horford with 14 points.

Most of the Hawks’ players were upset about the wide free throw discrepancy.

Indiana was nearly flawless from the line (30 of 34), while the Hawks spent most of the second half in foul trouble and made seven of the 14 free throws they got.

“I felt we like earned the opportunity to shoot a little bit more free throws than what we did, but it is what it is,” Smith said. “We have to make sure next game that just one player on the opposing team doesn’t shoot more than the whole entire team.”

Coach Larry Drew had bigger concerns.

He was disappointed with how the team responded to the calls and with the effort, too. He hopes both will be fixed when the series resumes Wednesday in Indy.

“We didn’t come up with the big plays, we didn’t come up with the hustle plays, the energy plays,” he said. “I thought right when we were, I believe it was a nine-point game, them shooting a free throw, they come up with the offensive rebound off the free throw, kick it out, swing it around, they get a 3. That’s just getting outworked. They just clearly outworked us.”

It wasn’t a perfect game for Indiana.

Again, the Pacers got off to another rocky start by giving up the first six points. But unlike the previous six games when they dug themselves into 20-point deficits in each game, Indiana wasted no time charging back.

The Pacers used a 9-0 first-quarter run to take a 19-13 lead, extended it to 34-26 after one and never trailed again.

While the Hawks tried valiantly to rally, cutting the deficit to four late in the second quarter and trimming Indiana’s 15-point lead to eight with 7:23 to go, Indiana never let the Hawks get any closer and eventually pulled away.

Just like they were doing in the middle of the season.

“We got back to playing our style of basketball,” George said. “They came out and hit shots, but what we did a great job of was not letting them string some of those baskets together. We kind of ended their momentum and that’s what it’s going to take.”

Game notes

The Hawks dropped to 0-3 this season at Indiana but have won 11 straight in Atlanta over the Pacers. … This is only the fourth time these teams have met in the playoffs. Atlanta holds a 2-1 advantage and won the last postseason matchup 3-2 in 1996. … Hibbert played with the phrase “B Strong” written on his white shoe Sunday, a message to the people of Boston from the bombings earlier this week. … The Hawks went home after the game and will practice there Monday and Tuesday before returning to Indy on Wednesday.

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