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Heat-Celtics Game 6: It has to be LeBron/Wade show for Heat to survive

Reuters



In all the schadenfreude over watching the Miami Heat lose and seem to unravel, one thing seems to be consistently overlooked — the Boston Celtics are a really good defensive team. They were second in the league in points allowed per possession, they blow up pick-and-rolls, they are tough to score on in isolation. They slow down everyone. They were going to slow down the Heat.
But if LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are really on there is no defense that can stop them.
And that’s what this series has come down to for the Heat — they need LeBron and Wade to be exceptional to win. Not good, like combining to score 57 points on 47 shots in Game 5, they need to be world beaters. Both of them. Every game. They need to put up 65 at least between them and hope that Chris Bosh can pitch in more (he will play more).
Those two especially are going to have to do that on the road in Game 6 because the Heat can’t count on anyone else. If they are going to force a Game 7 it will because the Heat’s stars carried Game 6.
Boston’s offense has looked solid enough the last few games against the Heat, most of that due to Rajon Rondo. He is running the pick-and-roll beautifully with Kevin Garnett (getting KG easy looks rolling to the rim or open spot up 18 footers), he is hitting a few outside shots and he is controlling the flow of this series. Throw in some good buckets from Paul Pierce and Ray Allen and it’s good enough.
Miami is helping out with defensive lapses — often ones of effort. How many times did the old legs of Boston just outrun the Heat players down he floor in Game 5? Dwyane Wade was not alone but was the most prominent guy just getting beat down court, forced into bad matchups because of it that Rondo and the Celtics exploit. That’s not on coach Erik Spoelstra, either — if you can’t get fired up for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals to bust it every single play there is nothing a coach can do.
Remember, the Heat entered this season wanting to up the tempo — play pressing defense, force turnovers, get out in transition and overwhelm with their athleticism. We saw that kind of defense in Game 1 and the second half of Game 4 from Miami, but that’s it. It was supposed to be their identity, but it isn’t. Not every game, not every play. The committment and effort are not there.
And at the end of the day, that is what this series is about. Boston is a good team that will play good defense and give you maximum effort every night. They will be the best team they can be.
Miami plays like it can flip the switch. But that switch almost never stays on for a full game. They will have a fantastic quarter then go back to coasting on both ends, something they can still win doing in the regular season but it leads to bad habits. The Heat are very self-conscious and that can throw off their confidence in a heartbeat. The Celtics will just put their head down and fight through those kinds of stretches.
Which is why you have to think Boston has the edge at home – this will be their best effort, best game of the series. That’s still not good enough to beat Miami’s best, but do you really think we’ll see that for 48 minutes at both ends of the floor? Do you really think this is the night Wade and LeBron both show up and play their best games? I’m just not sold.



NBC

Apple iOS will kick in 40 percent of Google's mobile profits, says analyst

Google will have arch-rival Apple to thank for a huge chunk of its mobile earnings in 2012.
The search giant's licensing deals with Apple over its Maps and Search apps have been a healthy cash cow since the iPhone debuted in 2007. This year will be no exception.
In an investors note released yesterday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said he expects Google to generate around $4.5 billion in mobile revenue this year. And iOS will kick in the largest or close to the largest chunk of that.
iOS will account for around 40 percent of Google's total mobile search revenue, or $1.6 billion, estimates Munster, which ultimately means iOS will generate around 2 percent of Google's total sales for the year.
Those numbers aren't bad, but they're actually conservative compared with an earlier estimate that pegged the iOS contribution at 80 percent of Google's mobile profits, according to AppleInsider.
But what happens if Apple replaces Google Maps with its own in-house map app? Recent reports suggest that Apple has already cooked up a 3D Maps app set to replace Google's app as the default on iOS devices. Regardless, Munster doesn't expect any significant changes to the numbers.
Google Maps will still live on in the App Store, freely available for any person to download, the analyst said. Google recently revealed that its Maps service has attracted more than 1 billion users across the world. Google offers a host of other apps for iOS users, but the Maps app could prove to be the most popular among them even if it's no longer the iOS default



And Google isn't standing still with Maps.
The company unveiled yesterday a host of innovations to the service, including 3D images, offline use, and more shots of Street View.
Still, the move by Apple to replace Google Maps as the default may be just the latest attempt to squeeze out the search giant.
"Moving forward, we expect a continued tug-of-war between Apple and Google," Munster said. "We believe Google is likely to push more of its apps through the App Store, including Chrome, while Apple will continue to innovate around discovery on the iPhone through Siri. Net-net, we believe the core user experience on iOS will remain largely unchanged even if Google Maps is replaced."



Cnet.com

Did lasers find gold-laden lost city of Ciudad Blanca at last?

Underneath the thick, virgin rainforest cover in the Mosquitia region of Honduras, archaeologists have discovered ruins they think may be the lost city of Ciudad Blanca. Legends say the "White City" is full of gold, which is why conquistador Hernando Cortes was among the first Ciudad Blanca seekers in the 1500s.

But the method the modern researchers used was a little different from previous explorers' techniques. The modern-day researchers flew over the area in a small plane and shot billions of laser pulses at the ground, creating a 3-D digital map of the topology underneath the trees.
This is one of the first times this technique, called light detection and ranging (LiDAR), has been used to map ancient ruins. Beyond archaeology, LiDAR researchers at the National Science Foundation are looking to develop the technology for mapping disasters using drones, for military spying and for tracking erosion under rivers and shallow parts of the ocean. 
LiDAR for archaeology Before LiDAR improved enough for their work, archaeologists discovered ruins the old-fashioned way — by hacking through forests using machetes. LiDAR is faster and cheaper.
It's been gaining ground since 2009, when a U.S. archaeology team working on Maya ruins first used the technology to peer beneath 80 square miles (207 square kilometers) of forest canopy in Belize. After four days of laser scanning, team members discovered buildings and agricultural fields they hadn't found in 25 years of study. The team was supported by the then-new National Science Foundation organization for LiDAR science, the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping. [10 Modern Tools for Indiana Jones]
Airborne LiDAR works by sending more than 100,000 short laser pulses to the ground every second while a plane flies over the area of interest. The laser light hits the ground, then returns to the aircraft. The time it takes for the light to make the back-and-forth trip tells researchers the altitude of points on the ground. 
The technology is able to detect height differences of less than 4 inches (10 centimeters) and maps to GPS coordinates within 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters). "It's within a step, in many cases," said Bill Carter, University of Houston engineer who develops LiDAR systems for the National Science Foundation.



The Belize archaeology work and the new Honduras findings both used the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping's LiDAR system. There was one major difference between the two projects, however. At the Belize site, researchers thought it was likely there would be new ruins there. They used the LiDAR to scan regions surrounding structures they had already uncovered. On the other hand, in the new study in Honduras, researchers were running on just a hunch — and plenty of private funding. 
LiDAR in Honduras Cinematographer Steven Elkins has been fascinated with the Ciudad Blanca stories for more than a decade. He previously analyzed satellite imagery of the Mosquitia forest, looking for signs of the city. As LiDAR improved, he gathered private investors to pay for the National Science Foundation's laser mapping center to analyze three areas he thought were especially promising. Elkins had originally approached the Honduran government with his idea, but government officials said they knew the forest well and there wasn't anything there, Carter said.



Over several days, National Science Foundation engineers flew over about 60 square miles (160 square kilometers) of forest for Elkins in their dual-engine Cessna planes. At the end of every day, they sent the data to Carter, who was working out of West Virginia. Carter found the first signs of what appeared to be human-made structures within five minutes of analyzing the data, he said. [Archaeology's Tech Revolution Since Indiana Jones]
"I'm the only person right now on the planet that knows that there's these ruins," Carter recalled thinking when he saw what he said were straight lines and right angles that don't normally appear in nature. "My wife walked in and looked over my shoulder and she was the second person to know." 
Carter sent his analysis back to the archaeologists in Honduras, who agreed the structures were man-made. Now, Elkins, along with a team of Honduran scientists, will visit the structures in person and determine what they are and how old they are. The LiDAR coordinates will help them pinpoint exactly where to look in the thick jungle. 
LiDAR for biology, disasters and the military Carter said he found his involvement in discovering the Honduras ruins exciting, but the National Science Foundation's LiDAR center is looking to do much more with the technology. 
So far, center researchers have used LiDAR to map to the ground to assess flooding risk and to find new fault lines in California. They've pinged Floridian citrus groves with lasers to check on the trees' health. Healthy tree leaves reflect a different quality of light back to LiDAR sensors than do sick trees, Carter explained.



The science agency also recently developed a laser that uses green light, which is able to map features underneath shallow water. Biologists want to use this technology to investigate fish spawning grounds, Carter said, while land managers may use a water-LiDAR to keep an eye on erosion. 
In the future, the center hopes to develop smaller, lighter, less expensive LiDAR that is able to ride in unmanned robotic aircraft. The drones could spy for the military, go on a tough Arctic mapping expedition or assess conditions after disasters, such as earthquakes or hurricanes. 
"As we look in the future, we see the ability to use these types of systems to map the entire Earth," Carter told InnovationNewsDaily. "Certainly all the land areas and shallow coasts."


Msnbc.com

Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth Are Engaged

Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus

Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Wedding Party in the U.S.A.!

Miley Cyrus and Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth are engaged to be married after three years of dating, their reps confirm to PEOPLE exclusively.

"I'm so happy to be engaged and look forward to a life of happiness with Liam," Cyrus, 19, tells PEOPLE.

Australian actor Hemsworth, 22, who met Cyrus when they costarred in The Last Song in 2009, proposed on May 31 with a 3.5-carat diamond ring from jeweler Neil Lane.

Next up for the couple: Cyrus is in the studio working on a new album, while Hemsworth is currently filming Empire State in New Orleans. He'll also shoot Paranoia with Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman before beginning production on the second Hunger Games installment. 

People