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3 Thoughts on the playoffs

3. Give Tracy McGrady a break. The Rockets were going to be in trouble against Utah after losing center Yao Ming for the season and point guard Rafer Alston for the first two games. Those are the two key positions in basketball, while Yao represents 50 percent of Houston's All-Star cast. Don't blame McGrady for failing to protect home-court advantage against a Jazz team that reached the conference finals last year; credit him instead with leading the Rockets into the playoffs without Yao.

2. Arenas' value to the Wizards. Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison are two of the league's classiest stars, and after Gilbert Arenas was sidelined in the first half Thursday with knee soreness, they led the Wizards to a Game 3 blowout of the visiting Cavaliers. This is going to lead to theories that Washington would be better without Arenas, and maybe even that the team shouldn't re-sign him if he insists on opting out this summer. Which would be insanity.

No matter what happens in this series, the Wizards absolutely must re-sign Arenas. They can decide to trade him later if the right deal comes up, but no team can afford the loss of so talented a star with nothing in return. That franchise is weaker without Arenas.

1. Suns-Spurs redux. Phoenix isn't dead yet. It may be that the only way for the Suns to ever overcome San Antonio is to make a come-from-behind run as the Red Sox made on the Yankees in 2004. Of course it's a long shot, but a heedless, all-out, panic-driven crusade may be the remedy. In which case they appear to have the Spurs right where they want them.

2 NBA prospects in this week's D-League Finals

The Idaho Stampede beat the Austin Toros 90-89 on Thursday to even the Finals at 1-1, with the winner-take-all game set for Friday in Boise.

2. Randy Livingston, Idaho Stampede. The 33-year-old point guard is expected to retire this week, but someday he'll return to the NBA as a coach. He has served as an informal assistant to head coach Bryan Gates all season, and he has learned to use his wits to overcome the knee injuries that prevented him from becoming one of the top point guards of the Jason Kidd era.

"He seems to anticipate two or three plays in advance,'' said a scout who closely follows the D-League. "He has always been able to motivate his teammates to elevate their games.''

Another future NBA coach may be Darvin Ham, 34, the former NBA forward who played for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds before being traded to the Toros three weeks ago.

1. Ian Mahinmi, Austin Toros. The 6-foot-9 Mahinmi, a surprise No. 28 pick in 2005 by San Antonio, is viewed as the top prospect in these Finals. The 21-year-old averaged 17.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks for the Spurs' farm team this season after coming over from the French league.

"He has the physical skills to excel,'' the scout said. "He has improved his understanding of the NBA game while learning to be more aggressive at both ends of the floor. Early in the season, he struggled to stay out of foul trouble; now he has improved his footwork and defensive ability to where he can rebound and block or contest shots without getting into foul trouble. He needs to develop a consistent low-post game and a go-to move, and he needs to work on his mid-range jumper so he can step out and be a threat from 12 to 15 feet.''

The scout likes three other prospects from Idaho in the Finals: Undersized but skilled former Gonzaga power forward Cory Violette (6-8, 265 pounds), whose 19 points -- including the go-ahead free throw with 21.3 seconds left -- helped force Game 3; athletic defender Brent Pettway (6-8, 205), who played at Michigan; and explosive point guard Mike Taylor (6-1, 190), who is eligible for the draft this year (he was dismissed from the Iowa State team before his senior season last July, a few weeks after the 2007 draft).

1 Last word on the Mavericks

1. They were my preseason pick. Here's the backstory: Two years ago, the Heat were my preseason pick to win the championship, but by midseason I'd given up on them, which was a decision I didn't regret until the second half of Game 4 in the NBA Finals that year. So this year I figured I would stick with the Mavericks no matter what, because if you aren't going to play the occasional long shot then why bother going to the track? The question now is whether these Mavericks are capable of doing to New Orleans what the Heat did to the old Mavericks in those NBA Finals two years ago. I fully admit, I don't like my chances.