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He heard the question from ABC's Michele Tafoya, pondered it, removed his cap, cocked his head skyward, then shouted the line that defined not only his career but the Boston Celtics' return to NBA prominence. "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!" screamed Kevin Garnett, motioning to the banners and the heavens before breaking down and weeping in a friend's arms last June.

Alas, it took only 10 months to realize what suddenly isn't possible: the idea of the Celtics repeating as NBA champions without Garnett. That fatal twist is assured after a series of staggering events Thursday, when it became clear that the team's emotional leader and defensive force will miss the entire postseason with knee problems. With Garnett, the second championship in a potential dynasty run was possible. Without him, the Celtics can't beat LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals, a rude awakening that has New England in mourning -- what, six titles involving three teams isn't enough this decade? -- and may have contributed to the stress levels of general manager Danny Ainge, who is said to be "recovering nicely" after a minor heart attack.

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Andres Nocioni has missed 28 games because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot, but his return is near. In fact, it was reported earlier this week that the Bulls were targeting tonight's game against the Nets, but that's no longer the case. From the Chicago Sun-Times:

''If I would let him, he would play,'' Paxson said of Nocioni, who will miss his 28th game because of right foot plantar fasciitis. ''But I'm going to hang on the side of caution, give him an extra couple days. My hope is that he practices a little bit in shootaround [today], runs around, and Saturday has good work. Then, assuming everything goes fine, he'll play Sunday in Toronto.''

A few more days certainly wouldn't hurt, especially considering the Bulls should be able to dispatch the struggling Nets with ease. But I also wonder if this move was also motivated by the fact Cleveland lost last night, flip-flopping with the Bulls from the second seed in the East to the fifth. After all, even if the Bulls do falter, which isn't completely out of the question considering Ben Wallace and Tyrus Thomas are officially listed as "questionable" and "day-to-day," respectively (is there really a difference between the two?), this game means at least a little bit less today than it did had Cleveland won.

Previously on FanHouse:
Will Andres Nocioni's Return Take Minutes from Tyrus Thomas?

A lot of Pistons fans had April 4 circled on their calendar, as it marked Ben Wallace's second and final regular-season return to the Palace. Unfortunately, those fans were sadly disappointed. From Sam Smith in the Chicago Tribune:

Ben Wallace remained at the Bulls' team hotel during Wednesday night's game against his former Detroit Pistons teammates with what was diagnosed as sinusitis after going to the hospital.

The team also canceled its morning shootaround with Tyrus Thomas also ill.

The Bulls apparently first suspected Wallace might have meningitis based on his symptoms, but coach Scott Skiles said it appeared to be a sinus infection. Skiles said he expects Wallace will play Friday night against New Jersey.

"He had a high temperature, and we sent him to the emergency room," Skiles said. "That was the quickest way to see a doctor. ... This is a guy who generally has zero [health] complaints. You take notice when someone like him says he's not feeling well."

A sinus infection doesn't sound like a very serious ailment (and the timing caused some Bulls fans to raise an eyebrow), but his symptoms sounded rather severe. Let's put it this way: I've faked an illness to get out of going to school or work before, but I've never gone so far as to subject myself to a spinal tap.

As it turned out, even without him the Bulls dominated the glass, 48 to 32. Their offense ran smoothly for much of the game, but they kicked things up over the final 5:50 of the third quarter to turn a tie game into a 15-point lead heading into the fourth before routing the Pistons by 18.

The emergence of Tyrus Thomas over the past couple of weeks has been an extremely encouraging development for the Bulls, not just for this season but also for their long-term future. But as we get closer to the playoffs, will Scott Skiles suddenly be forced to put Thomas back in his box?

Andres Nocioni is set to return from the plantar fasciitis in his right foot, and he'll need at least some of his minutes back. Skiles recounts a conversation he had with Thomas when Nocioni first went down:

''I went to Tyrus immediately and said, 'OK, I'm going to try to get you 20 minutes a game, in that area, 20-plus. Be ready.' And I was able to know that I could promise him that and not go back on that promise,'' Skiles said.

''Now Nocioni is going to come back here at some point, and Tyrus has proven himself to be a capable player. But we miss Nocioni from a spacing standpoint -- his three-point shooting, his toughness. He leads our team in taking charges, just a bunch of little things. It's something, hopefully, within the next 10 days, [Nocioni] suits up for a game and we have a little bit of time to figure it out before we actually get into a series.''

Courtesy of the experts over at The Basketball Jones, here's Thomas unleashing it all against the Hawks last night. These are some of the most unspeakably rad NBA highlights you'll ever see, and the irony of seeing Josh Smith victimized like this is not for the faint of mind. They'll make you embarrassed to have ever gawked at this earlier explosion of his.

Tyrus Thomas is actually starting to play well, but really, does that even matter?

The Bulls clinched a playoff spot for the third consecutive year last night against their division rival Pistons, but that wasn't the only reason why the game was notable: it was also the first time that Big Ben was sporting his new Starbury kicks. Here's what he had to say before the game:

"I had couple of days to practice in them," Wallace of the shoes, which have a $14.98 retail price. "It's not a bad shoe at all. I mean, if anybody has doubts, then tonight they should come here to see what a $15 shoe can do."

Turns out the shoe can do a lot -- Ben grabbed a game-high 19 rebounds against his former teammates. He's expected to get his own signature edition of the shoe next year with presumably his own logo, but in the meantime it's pretty convenient that he shares the same jersey (No. 3) number as Marbury.

Previously on FanHouse:
LBJ vs. Marbury: the $150 Shoe vs. the $15 Shoe
Ben Wallace Joins the Starbury Revolution
Mark Cuban Loves the Starbury Shoes ... And That May Not Be a Good Thing

Is it me or has Jason Richardson not quite had the career everyone expected from him? I guess I'm not exactly going out on a limb by saying that, especially this season when his minutes have been cut from 38 to 32 and his scoring has dropped from 23.2 to 14.6, but still.

In this day and age when the ability to slice through the lane and get to the basket is at a premium, Richardson is oddly available -- at least if you believe the Chicago Tribune's ever-reliable Sam Smith:

Jason Richardson is leaving hints that given their infatuation with Monta Ellis Richardson will be the one traded by the Warriors after the season. Richardson is telling friends he's hoping for a trade to the Pistons or Bulls.

Monta Ellis is for real, but he makes me nervous -- the kid can score from all angles, but his frail-ish stature (6-3, 191 pounds) makes me wonder if he can be a true starting two-guard in this league. Richardson, on the other hand, has legit size (6-6, 225) and can hit the boards when needed.

Does he have a chance to actually land with the Bulls or Pistons? Well, if he did, he wouldn't be improving his situation, at least in terms of getting out of someone else's shadow and returning to being the No. 1 scoring option. But hey, now that he's paid (he's due $11.11 million next year, and his contract increases by $1.11 million every year thereafter through 2011), maybe that's not a huge priority for him.

These days, even regular season games are preceded by laser shows and pyrotechnics during player introductions. It didn't used to be like that, of course, and it's kind of funny how the whole evolution really started.

The Bulls are credited for being one of the first teams to take their player introductions up a notch, but it wouldn't have happened had public address announcer Tommy Edwards not gone out one night to see a John Belushi romantic comedy with his wife. From the Chicago Sun-Times:

What also changed dramatically when Jordan redefined air in Chicago was the way Edwards introduced the Bulls at the Stadium. At first, he experimented with Jan Hammer's ''Theme from Miami Vice'' as the backing music. Then he used a self-edited relooping of an instrumental break from Michael Jackson's megahit ''Thriller.'' Finally, he and wife Mary Lou attended a promotional screening of the John Belushi/Blair Brown romantic comedy ''Continental Divide'' one evening at the Biograph Theater on North Lincoln Avenue. No one knew it, but ambient NBA audio history was about to be made.

''John's mother and some of her friends were sitting in front of us, and we were chatting with them as the movie ended and in no rush to leave,'' Edwards said. ''The closing credits were rolling and music was playing. 'Sirius,' by the Alan Parsons Project, came on. I was listening, deep in thought, and then I looked at Mary Lou and said, 'Hey, I think this might work as the Bulls' intro music.' I went out and bought the album and started editing the part I needed. I got the OK from the team to try it, and the rest is history.

Edwards moved on in 1990 to pursue other radio opportunities but returned before this season, and the team has been using "Sirius" the whole time in between. After the jump is P.A. man Ray Clay introducing the Bulls before an NBA Finals game in 1997.

Stephon Marbury gained a lot of positive press for selling and wearing his line of $14.98 sneakers through discount apparel store Steve & Barry's. One of the most vocal fans of the shoes has been Mark Cuban:

"They're aren't many things we will do in our lives that will have an impact on culture and social change. To be able to send a message to kids and sell millions of shoes so the message gets through saying, save that extra $85 and buy your kid a guitar or some clothes. That is huge.

"You can look at NBA cares all you want. You can look at the things I've done for charity all you want. The NBA has never done anything as impactful as what he has done."

That's high praise, and it actually comes across sincere and without hyperbole. And from the sounds of it, Marbury has finally recruited another NBA star to join his movement to change America's mind that "cool" has to equal "expensive." From an email from Steve & Barry's public relations firm:

We are preparing to launch our Spring collection of Starbury ... Stephon Marbury's line exclusively with Steve & Barrys. But this is a much bigger story then another sports figure endorsing another sneaker. Starbury is revolutionizing the sneaker industry each $14.98 sneaker at a time. Of course that fashion aspect of the line is that we have really cool sneakers for men, women and kids that retail for $14.98 and are still considered cool among the sneakerheads of the world. And now Ben Wallace is joining the Starbury team. He believes as strongly in this "social movement" as Steph does.

I've always thought it strange that Ben Wallace doesn't have a shoe deal -- even last year, on his way to his fourth Defensive Player of the Year Award in five years, he was buying his own kicks. Now that he has the biggest contract of his life, he's going to be wearing gear he could have bought with paper-route money. Personally, I love the move, and I think it's a coup for Steve & Barry's, who are getting not only an extremely recognizable player but also one known for his blue-collar image. Kudos all around.

(via Larry Brown)

Kudos to Scott Skiles for making sure his team doesn't get a big head. The Bulls lost to the Grizzlies this past weekend, and he doesn't want hear any excuses:

Told some players have theorized the Bulls play down to their level of competition, coach Scott Skiles frowned.

"Who are we to say we're playing down to anybody?" he said. "We haven't been out of the first round [of the playoffs] since I may have been in my 30s. That's utterly disrespectful. Dallas or Phoenix or San Antonio or Detroit, if they want to say that, they have the credentials to back that up. We don't."

I've always thought the idea of "playing down to another team's level" a little bit insulting to the other team, but it's real and it definitely happens. In fact, I think that's largely what separates the elite teams in the West from the elite teams in the East -- you just don't see the cream of the Western crop cough up winnable games as frequently as teams in the East like Detroit, Cleveland and Miami. I haven't see Chicago do this too much, though losing to the Grizzlies makes you think it's an occasional vice of theirs, as well.