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WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS

By Chris Broussard

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

In Cleveland, they called "Butter." The Pistons yell "Red." And could the Celtics go with anything other than "Green"? Those simple code words, and ones like them, are the key to cracking one of the daunting realities of playoff basketball: familiarity. You see it time and again, because they've seen it time and again. A team—the Spurs, say—tries to get a shot early in the clock for, say, Tim Duncan. The well-schooled D is ready for that one, though, so it's on to Plan B: maybe a ...

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