A shilling for your thoughts, Curt? (Steven Senne - AP) Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios laid off its entire staff on Thursday only two days after he praised his employees’ “breathtaking resilience” through the video game company’s financial struggles.

Two years after moving from Massachusetts to Rhode Island with a $75 million loan guarantee, 38 Studios was late on a $1.1 million payment to the state’s Economic Development Corporation and told officials it could not make payroll last week.

The company’s 300 Providence employees and another 106 in Maryland were told the layoffs were “non-voluntary and non-disciplinary” in an e-mail sent by 38 Studios and obtained by The Associated Press.

Rhode Island rationalized the 2010 loan with the promise of hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue. Governor Lincoln Chafee said the EDC will continue to attempt to salvage its investment despite what he deemed “grim times” for the company.

Dwyane Wade and the Heat were simply a cut above Indiana. (Darron Cummings - AP) Remember that whole Dwyane Wade-Erik Spoelstra spat during the Miami Heat’s blowout loss in Game 3 in Indianapolis?

Neither do the Heat.

It’s funny how winning a series can turn utter panic into business as usual in the NBA, but after Wade’s scoring explosion helped the Heat finish off the Pacers with Thursday’s 105-93 Game 6 win, Miami is suddenly back in the title conversation.

Three games removed from his miserable five-point effort in Game 3, Wade poured in 41 and LeBron James added 28 as the two healthy members of Miami’s “Big 3” combined for 60-plus points for the third time in six games.

“In the regular season, we’ve had some good games,” Wade said. “But I don’t know if we’ve ever had three in a row like that in the playoffs.”

Gotye’s catchy hit single, “Somebody That I Used To Know” is all over the charts and your radio dial.

After their second-round loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers will only find their way onto the airwaves in the context of “Is it time to blow up the team?” discussions.

Two years removed from his fifth NBA championship and four years removed from his lone MVP award, Bryant is clearly on the downside of his Hall of Fame career. But is it fair to say that he’s no longer the Kobe that we used to know?

At least one depressed L.A. fan thinks so. Here’s Kobye’s nod to the Gotye hit.

(H/T @_JPD)

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Udonis Haslem will miss Game 6 for this flagrant foul to the face of Tyler Hansbrough. (Andrew Innerarity - REUTERS) The chippiness that has been present throughout Indiana’s Eastern Conference semifinals series with the Miami Heat boiled over in Tuesday’s Game 5 in the form of several flagrant fouls. And two of them drew suspensions from the league late Wednesday.

Udonis Haslem will miss Thursday’s Game 6 in Indianapolis for hammering Tyler Hansbrough in the face with both hands on a shot attempt. Dexter Pittman’s hard elbow to the throat of Lance Stephenson earned him a three-game suspension.

Pittman was averaging all of 3.5 minutes in the two games in which he’s played this postseason, but the loss of Haslem could be critical for Miami. He scored 14 points on 5 of 6 shooting in the Heat’s Game 4 victory and was the only player outside of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to crack double figures.

Speaking of James, the three-time MVP said he’s bracing himself for more physical play when the Heat try to close out the series Thursday night. Meantime, the Pacers will try to shed the “S-O-F-T” tag team president Larry Bird gave them after their blowout loss in Game 5.

Hakeem Nicks is expected to need three months to recover from a broken foot. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images) Another day of organized team activities has ended with another significant injury for the New York Giants.

Wide receiver Hakeem Nicks broke his right foot running a route today and is expected to have a pin surgically implanted Friday. The Giants say they expect that he’ll need about three months to recover, which would put him in doubt for the season opener Sept. 5. It wasn’t immediately clear how Nicks was hurt because the OTA was not open to members of the media.