Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: “Consider the following comment from Lakers owner Jerry Buss, because it speaks to so much more than the Lakers being NBA favorites again: ‘It always feels comfortable when I’m on top. It feels uncomfortable when we’re not.’ When I’m on top. When we’re not. This is why Buss understands Kobe Bryant better than most. They are, in fact, more the same than different. Within each is the massive ego to believe that he is a fundamentally a winner – and a loser only when others let him down. Perhaps that degree of self-absorption makes kind-hearted average Joes out there shake their heads. Whatever. It’s the kind of self-confidence and self-reliance that has driven Buss and Bryant to tremendous success.”
Dave McMenamin of NBA.com: “L.A., as a team, got eight of its 13 steals in the second quarter to get back in the game and had three of its season-high 10 blocks in the third quarter to turn the exam into a mockery. Bryant did his part to add to the totals in both rips and rejections as he finished with two of each, including a weakside block on Yao Ming that marked the second straight season the 6-foot-6 Bryant has stuffed the 7-foot-6 Yao. ‘You can get a lot of energy from it, with a blocked shot, especially if you keep it in play and get in transition it can energize your ballclub,’ Bryant said. ‘We have a lot of long, athletic guys. That should be one of our strengths.’ The Lakers also hit for the magic numbers in two other defensive categories, holding the Rockets to under 40 percent from the field and winning the battle of the boards by 14, 50-36. ‘I think our [defensive] philosophy right now is maybe a little bit ahead of the offensive part of the game of the teams we’re playing,’ Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.”
Fran Blinebury of the Houston Chronicle: “Right now, what we seeing is all of that so-called abundance of Rockets talent wandering around at the offensive end of the court as if it was wearing a blindfold or leg-irons. McGrady and Yao and Artest couldn’t look more uncomfortable trying to fit together if there were still such things as phone booths and they were all asked to squeeze into one. Yao was outmuscled and outhustled all night long by the 21-year-old Lakers center Andrew Bynum. To compare McGrady at all to Kobe Bryant is laughable, since McGrady didn’t show up. There is little or no offensive flow to the Rockets’ starting lineup as the Wee Three often takes turns like the featured players in a jazz band – going solo. Maybe it all comes together quickly whenever Shane Battier returns to the lineup. Because Battier is someone who will help with the spacing, can move the ball quickly and, perhaps most important, can allow Artest to move into a sixth man’s role. Such a decision by Adelman would not reduce Artest’s role, but likely enhance it and give him more freedom to be himself.”
Marc J. Spears of the Boston Globe: “Video of Iverson’s introductory news conference was shown before the game, with the perennial All-Star talking about bringing the franchise a championship. Iverson also received a loud welcome when he was announced, but it went downhill from there, as he finished with 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting and four assists in 31 minutes. ‘Obviously, it’s going to take time because it’s a different look,’ Iverson said. ‘It’s a different flow. I’m a totally different player than they’re used to playing with and we are just going to have to get used to each other.’ Garnett viewed the Pistons as a much different team than the one run by his good friend, Chauncey Billups, who led Detroit to an NBA title in 2004 but was sent to Denver in the Iverson deal. ‘The armory doesn’t look the same on this team,’ Garnett said. ‘I’m not taking anything away from AI. He’s a great player. Put him in. But when a team is cohesive and is joined as one, you know it’s different. It’s very different.’”
Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: “How brilliantly did point guard Chauncey Billups orchestrate the Nuggets’ offense on Sunday? Cheikh Samb got playing time. By the middle of the fourth quarter against Memphis, the Nuggets had a comfortable double-digit lead, and the recently acquired raw reserve — who coach George Karl said wouldn’t play — played. In Denver’s 100-90 victory, Billups finished with 16 points and 10 assists (to five different players), and five other Nuggets finished in double figures. ‘He thinks like I think,’ Karl said. ‘Chauncey is just so solid and confident. He’s a winner. There’s not a lot of flash to it. It’s just strong.’”
Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: “There’s no escaping the fact that the Jazz have now lost to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden for a fifth consecutive season. For whatever reason, the Jazz do struggle in New York. Since they can’t make it there, you have to wonder if they can make it anywhere, or so the song goes. The fact is that New York presents some obvious distractions, although probably not the ones that you think I’m going to mention. For one thing, there’s a much larger than usual demand for tickets. Both Morris Almond and Kosta Koufos were looking for extras before the game, which I’m sure I haven’t seen before. The NBA gives every player two tickets to every game, plus the opportunity to purchase additional tickets. The Jazz had to buy something like 40 extra tickets for Sunday’s game. As much as I’m sure players would like to tell everyone to just take care of themselves, life doesn’t work that way. It’s an unavoidable distraction in New York. Another thing is the locker room is just crawling with people. There’s extra reporters – - no surprise in the media capital – - but also representatives from the NBA Players Association, the league office and various agents. Everybody wants to say hello. Everybody has a question to ask. Again, it’s an unavoidable distraction.”
Alan Hahn of Newsday: “This offense is based on finding the open man, whoever that person may be. But it’s impossible not to notice how when Crawford gets it going early — see: Miami, Washington and Utah — the Knicks offense thrives. D’Antoni was furious with Crawford having just two shots at halftime last Wednesday against the Bobcats, so he implored the team to find their most lethal scorer and scolded Crawford for being so passive. Crawford went out and scored 14 points in the second half and the Knicks won the game. ‘I’m the type of player where if I don’t get off early, I just kind of fade out,’ Crawford admitted. ‘I think the key for me is to get it going early. For whatever reason it helps us.’ It’s quite simple. Opponents enter the game with their defensive focus mainly on Crawford. If he gets it going early, they are forced to double-team, which opens the floor for others. He is a better-than-average passer — especially when he’s attacking instead of floating on the perimeter — so his ability to drive into the heart of a defense and find teammates makes him a catalyst for this offense.”
Michael Lee of the Washington Post: “The Wizards, the NBA’s only winless team, have made a habit of treating the start of the season the way a late-night partier treats an early morning wakeup call; trying to sneak in some extra sleep before they finally are forced to get up and scramble. The constant repetition is becoming a tired act for Jamison, who said he was frustrated with the team’s lack of desperation against the Magic. ‘The makeup of the locker room, the environment of the locker room needs to change,’ Jamison said. ‘I’m not saying that it’s almost like acceptable, but guys are not upset. Guys are not hurting. This is your job. It’s all about representing what’s on your chest and doing it the right way. When you don’t do your job and don’t represent the right way, it should hurt.’”
David Moore of The Dallas Morning News: “After the team’s fourth loss of the young season, Dirk Nowitzki questioned the team’s effort and said it has been coasting. ‘If you don’t compete hard, it’s not about Xs and Os,” Nowitzki said. ‘You can run whatever play you want. You can have all the schemes you want defensively. We’ve just got to push ourselves to play harder. ‘I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what’s going on. We don’t leave it all out there, and that’s what you’ve got to do.’ The pattern has become all too familiar in this 2-4 start. The Mavericks fall behind, fight their way back then don’t have enough left in the tank at the end of the game to pull it out.”
Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: “While the news about Parker’s injury was worse than the Spurs had hoped, they have been encouraged by the progress being made by All-Star guard Manu Ginobili as he rehabilitates his surgically repaired left ankle. Ginobili ran through a vigorous shooting drill Sunday that included finishing a series of sprints and shots with a sprint down the middle for a catch-and-dunk. The Spurs have targeted mid-December for Ginobili’s return, but there has been speculation he may be ready to play sooner than that. Buford sidestepped any speculation that Parker’s status could affect the timetable for Ginobili’s return. ‘I don’t think we can comment about Manu,’ he said, ‘other than to say he has continued to progress, as has been prescribed.’”
George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal: “The jokes and laughter come more easily these days for Delonte West. Just this past week, the Cavaliers shooting guard showed up for a game with a cleanly shaven face and tight braids. The next day, a crimson Afro replaced the braids. ‘You need to get a day when Andy [Varejao], Ben [Wallace] and I blow it out,’ he said. ‘You ain’t seen this blown out. It’s got a bit of volumez. It’s French for volume.’ What hasn’t been a joke lately is how West has almost seamlessly fit into his role as the Cavs’ starting shooting guard. Before Saturday’s game against the Chicago Bulls, the veteran guard from St. Joseph’s had been on a tear offensively, averaging more than 13.5 points per game. He’s shooting 53 percent from the floor overall and 50 percent from the 3-point line, and displays an uncanny confidence when he launches a jump shot.”
Britt Robson of The Rake: “Let’s not have any illusions about how poorly the Minnesota Timberwolves have begun the 2008-09 season. Not a single one of the opponents in the Wolves’ first six games has a record above .500, despite the distinct advantage of getting to play Glen Taylor’s lackluster, underachieving ballclub from the northern tundra. The combined record of Sacramento (twice), Dallas, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, and Portland against Minnesota is 5-1. Against the rest of the NBA, those teams are 4-17, for a composite 9-18. The Wolves have yet to play any of the league’s 7 consensual elite teams: the Lakers, Utah, Houston, New Orleans, Boston, Cleveland or Detroit. They have been relatively unscathed by injuries. And after a vow by their head coach that the team would emphasize little else but team defense during the preseason, they have begun their regular season by yielding the fifth-most points per game in the 30-team NBA.”
Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com: “The Sixers aren’t forcing turnovers the way they did a year ago, when they were fourth in the league in steals. This season, they are tied for fourth-worst at 5.67. Meanwhile, opponents are averaging a league-best 10.83 steals against the Sixers. The lack of forced turnovers is producing fewer fast-break opportunities and making the Sixers more reliant on their half-court offense, which has been stagnant as the other players continue to try to adjust to Brand’s presence. In an effort to develop better spacing on the court, the Sixers had five giant Xs taped onto the practice floor yesterday. The idea was for Brand’s teammates to move to one of those spots when he received the ball close to the basket. The Sixers spent a great deal of yesterday’s session working on spacing, and also on giving Brand more room to maneuver by moving him farther away from the basket.”
ClipperBlog: “So this is what it should look like: A half-court-oriented team that uses its size/ability to control the post, as well as its PG’s talent off the dribble to force opponents to over-commit in the paint. On good nights when the matchups are favorable, the Clips will be able to score a good number of their points on post sets or with Baron’s ability to create. But when they can’t work good enough stuff on the block, and when Baron is smothered, this strategy should open up good shots from about 15 feet [or beyond] – provided the PG can find him [Davis almost always can], or the post player can kick it out [work in progress, but coming along]. The Clippers now have a bunch of guys who can nail that shot at various distances with a decent degree of consistency – all of the starters on down to Brian Skinner and Paul Davis. Needless to say, this is a completely different formula than seasons’ past.”
Israel Gutierrez of the Miami Herald: “What did we really know about this Heat team six games ago? That Dwyane Wade was healthy. That Michael Beasley can hit a midrange jumper but couldn’t defend. That Udonis Haslem was shorter than you would like. That Erik Spoelstra had a vision. That’s about it. There was never a solid grasp of what it could offer. Six games later this group already has an identity. That vision in Spoelstra’s head is showing up on the floor more often than even he probably anticipated this early in the season. It’s a group that will try to make life impossible for conventional NBA teams with a defensive anticipation and a pair of elite pickpockets in the backcourt.”
Jerry Brown of the East Valley Tribune: “Stoudemire is the first player in the league to attempt 15 free throws in three straight games since Orlando’s Dwight Howard in 2007. If he does it against the Grizzlies, he’ll be the first to do it four straight times since Allen Iverson turned the trick for Philadelphia in 2001. ‘I encourage them to keep fouling me, because I’m going to keep knocking them down,’ said Stoudemire, who would become the first player in Suns history to shoot at least 15 free throws in four straight games. ‘It just reminds me to keep attacking the basket. Points are points.’ But there is a drawback.The Suns are still trying to find their offensive rhythm, still trying to kick the tempo up a notch and combine their old ‘ball-finds-energy’ side with their half-court game down low.”
Michael Grange of the Toronto Globe and Mail: “Mitchell has been increasingly plain-spoken in addressing the Raptors’ shortcomings. Before the season, he made the point that his team was lacking in athleticism by NBA standards. After the losses to Detroit and Atlanta, he was critical of the play of his perimeter players. Considering that Colangelo is on record saying that this is the best team the Raptors have had on paper, it could make for some tense conversations when it comes around to trying to figure out whether it’s the captain or the ship that’s going off course. Because as Sunday’s game showed, it’s not as though Mitchell has found a way to make the most he can out of what he has. That the same group of players can lock down the paint for the final 15 minutes of a game after waving traffic on through for the first 33 – and two full games before that – suggests that either the message is wrong or it’s not being heard; neither of which reflects positively on a coach.”
Brian McCormick for Hoops Addict: Breaks down Dwight Howard’s free throw shooting mechanics
Kevin Eastman Basketball: “The best example I can give you is Kobe Bryant. He once told me that he does not work out any more……he now blacks out. He said that a workout just isn’t enough anymore if he’s going to stay on top of his game and take on all the players he knows are going to challenge him. He said he has to go beyond what all other players doing. He took his to a higher level. He took his to black out status! What Kobe also was saying is what all players need to hear and need to know. He is willing to invest in his improvement and not stay the same. He was willing to invest in his future and not stay the same. He is willing to invest in his game and not feel that he is entitled to be great, entitled to take every shot, entitled to have everything given to him. He was, and is, going to earn it. The lesson here is one that I tell every one of the great players I work with: it’s not about entitlement if you want to be the best. It’s about investment.”
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: “The documentary — called ‘3 Points’ (a reference to the goals of peace, protection and punishment) — travels with McGrady from his hometown of Auburndale, Fla., to his luxurious life in Sugar Land and on to the refugee camps where he learns of the horrific atrocities suffered in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Sometimes funny, but often gut-wrenching, the film shows McGrady grow from naïve and privileged at the start to educated and driven as he visits with the refugees from the mass genocide that has take place in the Sudan since 2003. ‘This is a project that means so much to me,’ McGrady said. ‘One thing I promised the kids and all the people there was that I would make sure their words are heard.’”
Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: “Jordan, a minority owner with control of basketball decisions, said in Scott Fowler’s interview that he’s ready to buy whenever majority owner Bob Johnson is willing to sell control. Certainly he has the resources, either on his own or through people who’d love to back Jordan. Here’s where it gets more interesting: I hear, from people connected to Jordan’s inner circle, that he can extract himself from the ownership group, for whatever he paid, at certain junctures in the agreement he signed with Johnson. I’m also told one of those junctures is the end of this year. And I wonder if that makes way for Jordan to either seize some sort of succession plan, or move out. The real question might be what the team is fairly worth right now. I doubt anyone would make Johnson whole, which would mean paying him more than $330 million. Jordan is used to buying things at a discount and having his way.”
Lynn Worthy of the Lowell Sun: “Good basketball breeds good basketball. Internally, the Boston Celtics star players like Kevin Garnett infect the entire roster with a championship work ethic, but when a single team’s improvement spreads like a virus across the entire landscape of basketball, now we’re talking about the type of real change that’d make Barack Obama proud. Since the deals that brough Garnett and Ray Allen to Boston, the top-level players to change teams just through trades include Pau Gasol, Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd, Jermaine O’Neal, Marcus Camby, Ron Artest, Richard Jefferson, Chauncey Billups and Allen Iverson. That list includes former MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and NBA Finals MVP award winners. Sure, the constant movement does take away from that old school ideal of watching a team grow together and progress towards a championship. But that ship sailed a long time ago. The word is definitely out. Executives and general managers willing to take on the salaries, risks and expectations of a blockbuster trade might find themselves raising championship banners. Boston proved it. That’s not all The Green did. The Celtics also raised the level of play for teams around the league. One of the most remarkable signs of Celtics Change comes from Atlanta. The Atlanta Hawks provide proof that the Celtics didn’t just change things in the front office, they also impacted the way teams performed on the court.”
