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lonely memorial to earlier times.
• ___

• MIAMI (AP) -- LeBron James was still on the court, enjoying the moment after ousting the New York Knicks, when the first questions came about what's next for the Miami Heat.
• For one day, Indiana can wait.
• Having Thursday off from practice is Miami's first playoff prize, and although a five-game win over the Knicks might have seemed easy, the reigning Eastern Conference champions insisted afterward that it was more grinding than it appeared.
• James had 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade both scored 19 points and the Heat beat the short-handed Knicks 106-94 in Game 5 of an East first-round series Wednesday night. Miami will host the Pacers in Game 1 of the East semifinals on Sunday afternoon.
• "Even though it was a five-game series," Wade said, "it was a very tough series."
• ___

• LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Backstage at "American Idol," Hollie Cavanagh was bubbly and confident, practicing vocal riffs and giggling with fellow teenage contestant Jessica Sanchez.
• By the show's end Wednesday, Cavanagh was the sole finalist to be found wanting by the judges -- and possibly by the viewers who decide which singer will exit Thursday.
• "Sorry, baby," judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez both told Cavanagh, 18, of McKinney, Texas, after she delivered a version of Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" that they found emotionally wanting and unsuited to her big voice.
• She won praise for her performance of Journey's "Faithfully," but her three competitors all drew undiluted acclaim from Tyler, Lopez and Randy Jackson.
• "Neither man nor woman has sang that good with that much compassion, ever," Tyler told gospel singer Joshua Ledet, 20, of Westlake, La., after his performance of James Brown's "It's a Man's World." Ledet's take on Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up" also had the judges cheering.

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