Frank Dell’Apa of The Boston Globe: “The Celtics take a 20-2 record into tonight’s visit to Washington, and Rondo has been a driving force as they have shifted into a higher gear. But Rondo’s numbers – 10.3 points and 7.6 assists per game – would be low for an All-Star selection. Allen, Pierce, and Kevin Garnett, who dominate the Celtics’ stat charts, performed in the All-Star Game last year and are strong candidates to repeat. ‘If I don’t make it, it’s not a big deal,’ Rondo said. ‘My goal is to be on the All-Defensive team and win a championship. You can look at box scores, but you actually have to watch games and see matchups to see who really is the defensive stopper . . . But a lot of times they go off steals, but I don’t think that’s what counts.’”
Ivan Carter of the Washington Post: “Stevenson said the intensity level of any game against Boston rises with the presence of Celtics star Kevin Garnett, who has assumed Alonzo Mourning’s unofficial title as the most intense player in the NBA. Upset after watching the team’s reserves nearly squander a big lead against Portland recently, Garnett lit into second-year forward Glen Davis and the reserves, after which Davis cried. ‘Sometimes he’s talking to himself, other times he’s talking to other people, but he’s always talking,’ Stevenson said of Garnett. ‘Just talking. And that gets me going because I like talking, too. It’s kind of scary the way he does it. He cusses at himself. . . . If ya’ll could be on the court, you’d see what he says. He’s kind of off.’”
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: “Rather than carried by a few stars, the Rockets have been their best when the scoring has been balanced, to the point that six players are averaging in double figures. That’s more than have ended a season averaging 10 or more points for the Rockets since the 1999-2000 season. It would not be a stretch for the Rockets to have eight players scoring in double figures, with Shane Battier averaging 9.5 points per game and Carl Landry 9.2. The Rockets have not had seven players in double digits since 1987-88. They have never had eight players average 10 points. This season’s balance is not accidental. The Rockets believe their offense is best when the ball is moving, with an emphasis on Yao getting touches (if not necessarily shots) and the balance coming from execution before the shots go up.”
Chris McCosky of The Detroit News: “What if Iverson’s tank is empty? What if at age 33 he just can’t take over and dominate games anymore? What if Rasheed Wallace’s legs are gone? He’s 34 and has a lot of basketball miles on him. People talk about his inconsistency and if you ask me, that is a function of his age not his temperament. His body just doesn’t have the resiliency it used to have. If those two guys can’t be the players they’ve always been, then the Pistons will have no shot at getting back to the conference finals, let alone the NBA Finals. That’s an obvious truth, right? I talked to Michael Curry a bit about that this afternoon. Neither he nor anybody else in the organization feels Iverson and Wallace have slipped that much. Their struggles are part of the growing pains, Curry believes. Both will be a lot more productive and efficient once everything starts to come together. Once the Pistons figure out their defense, they will get more opportunities in transition and that’s when Iverson will come alive. As long as the Pistons keep getting bogged down in the half-court, Iverson will remain semi-quiet.”
Detroit Bad Boys: “I can handle losing games for the sake of ‘developing the future,’ but when you’re running the starters ragged, benching players like Maxiell and Amir (and complaining about energy afterward), and lack any apparent guiding philosophy, well, that’s hard to stomach. Joe Dumars told us at Curry’s first press conference that Curry was ‘his guy.’ Everyone before him (Carlisle, Brown, Saunders) was hired because of a resume; Curry got the nod because of a personal connection and trust. Maybe Curry will eventually develop into a great coach — hell, I’ll go so far as to say maybe he’s already a great coach and we’re too naive to see his master plan. But either way, we need to see something more out of the next 20 games than we have the first 20, because unless things turn around soon, this annoying stretch of games could turn into a disaster of a season.”
Johnny Ludden of Yahoo! Sports: “Nash played against the Lakers like he was lost, missing his first eight shots. Afterward, he admitted to feeling ‘pretty flat emotionally.’ ‘He’s my best friend,’ Nash said of Bell. ‘It’s tough. It hurts. ‘I have a hard time committing to this as a business,’ Nash added. ‘I take this personally, and I take my career home with me. I care about my teammates. When you lose two of your best friends, it’s hard.’ It’s important to note that Nash played a role in the Suns’ makeover. Marion’s insecurity had begun to grate on many in the locker room, and both Nash and D’Antoni enthusiastically pushed to get O’Neal. And when the Suns lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs, Stoudemire wasn’t the only player chafing about some of D’Antoni’s coaching decisions. Even Bell lamented the team’s inability to make adjustments in the series.”
Tom Ziller of NBA FanHouse: “The Diaw/Brown pairing — that’s what worries excites intrigues me a great deal. Brown has built a reputation as one of the hardest coaches to play for. He combines the mind games of Phil Jackson, the old-school authoritarianism of Jerry Sloan, the constant tinkering of Avery Johnson and the repressive offensive style of Jeff Van Gundy. Those are four good coaches, but I’m not building this Frankenstein to be complimentary. Combined, those traits must be excruciating for Brown’s players. There’s a reason he sat outside the coaching circles for a year (despite pleading for a few jobs) and ended up taking the undesirable (considering Brown’s legend status) Charlotte gig. And then we have Diaw, a player who showed up to the 2007-08 season at least 20 pounds overweight. A player Jack McCallum described in Seven Seconds or Less as someone who would have to be forced to work on a specific move or drill in practice … while playing for the mostly laissez-faire Suns.”
Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Daily News: “Are you happy with this good Lakers team? OK, this very good Lakers team. No? What, you want more? Want true greatness? Want a team of the ages, a team that looks as if its return trip to the NBA Finals is all but assured? Sorry, these Lakers are not that team. Not yet, anyway. And there are no guarantees they ever will be. Certainly, they looked like that team to start the season. When they broke out 7-0, holding every team to less than 100 points, winning by an average of 18 points a pop. They were all pumped up and excited then. Had this chippy attitude that seemed the residue of being embarrassed by the Boston Celtics in the Finals. Ateam that had something to prove. Now, though, they are something else. Something assuredly good, but if exactly how good remains difficult to quantify, it does not currently scream true greatness.”
Bethlehem Shoals of the Sporting News: “The East, for the first time in years, inspires confidence. The West, on the other hand, has question marks and best-case scenarios surrounding it. The gap between good and bad remains more daunting in the East; there will be Eastern playoff teams that have no business being there. However, there’s power being consolidated up at the top, while the West’s top-to-bottom onslaught is looking increasingly mortal. In the past, we’ve heard the theory that a Western field could exhaust itself between the grueling regular season and the playoffs—somehow, the Celtics almost accomplished this last year.”
The Knicks Blog: “Al Harrington has been a great addition, I feel, since joining the team several weeks ago. And when you study his game there are some great qualities. He’s a good shooter who can go off and is shooting 50% from the field and 37% from behind the arc in December. But the telling stat for me, and a major reason why he isn’t an elite player in this league, yet, is that he fails to get to the line. He settles. Considering that he’s 250 lbs and has a solid low post game, D’Antoni needs to feature him more there so he can get to the line. He hasn’t shot a FT in his last 4 games.”
Britt Robson of The Rake: “There were two priorities that ex-Wolves VP Kevin McHale told everyone he would immediately embark upon as the team’s new coach– putting some pace in the game (translation: goosing up the running game for points in transition) and restoring some confidence and a sense of fun among the players. After being mired in the dolor of the Randy Wittman regime, both of those things started to gain some traction during the Wolves first two games–both second-half fades against quality opponents–under McHale. Ranked 26th in the NBA with just over 9 fast-break points per game going into McHale debut versus Utah on Tuesday, the Wolves got 15 points off the break in the loss to the Jazz, and 11 more in the road defeat in Denver tonight. But McHale has been even more successful in his attempt to loosen up and embolden his troops. He’s changing the tone by cozying up to his players from different angles.”
Sekou K Smith of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Since they reached 6-0 together, sharing the love accordingly and collectively, it’s only right that they share the heat accordingly and collectively now that they’re marred in a 6-9 slide since then. After all, the facts are the facts. One of the league’s elite defensive teams in the first two weeks of the season, the Hawks have suddenly become a punching bag for opponents. In the first six games of the season the Hawks allowed opposing teams just 89.5 points per game. In the 14 games prior to Wednesday night that averaged ballooned to 98.9 points, the only noticeable difference during that stretch being the absence of the team’s leading shot-blocker, Josh Smith (high ankle sprain), for a 12-game stint on the inactive list. During that same 14-game span the opposing team’s shooting percentages in every category rose as well, the clearest sign that the Hawks’ defensive focus has run away from the nest.”
Yannis Koutroupis of HOOPSWORLD: “The Atlanta Hawks and their management made no secret about the fact that they wanted to bring Josh Childress back. Josh was a great locker room guy who everyone on the team got along with and his versatile skill set was extremely valuable for the Hawks off their bench. However, when Olympiacos came with a three-year $20 million offer the Hawks couldn’t afford to keep Childress. While at the time losing Childress was a major hit on their depth, his departure has actually led to them becoming a deeper team. ‘We’ve been playing nine or ten guys sometimes. I feel good about our bench this year, with Zaza (Pachulia) and Solomon Jones, who’s gotten stronger and better as a player. Acie Law’s a guy we’re still trying to groom and I have to help him. I don’t think I’m helping him enough, but he has shown some flashes of getting better. That’s why Flip (Murray) is there, too, they can switch off at the point and Acie can learn from Flip. I feel good about our bench, we just have to stay healthy and work. That’s the key to winning in this league,’ explained Hawks coach Mike Woodson. Not only have Maurice Evans and Flip Murray provided Woodson with some additional weapons off the bench, they’ve also provided some valuable experience, leadership, and guidance that the younger guys on the team desperately need.”
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Through 21 games, Wade is averaging 29.5 points, 7.5 assists and five rebounds. The only players to stand at those thresholds at the end of a season are Oscar Robertson, who did it six times, and Michael Jordan, who did it once, in 1988-89. ‘Hopefully I can keep it up,’ Wade said. ‘Hopefully I can do better. Right now, it’s always great to be in the same conversation with anybody of the likes of Michael Jordan and Oscar and Magic [Johnson] and all those guys. But they did do it for a season and mine is only for 20-something games in. We’ve got 60-something more to go.’ Through 21 appearances last season, Wade averaged 24.2 points, 6.6 assists and 4.3 rebounds. He said he expects his assist average to outpace last season’s, but is not as certain he can maintain his league lead in scoring.”
Tim Buckley of the Deseret News: “Williams was tagged with five turnovers Tuesday, making it a total of 30 — or more than three per game — in his last eight outings. The 2008 Team USA Olympic guard has reached double digits in assists in five of the eight games in which he’s been back since late November, a stretch in which the Jazz have gone 5-3. But the career 46.6 percent shooter coming into the season has struggled with his shot in that same span, hitting just 35-of-85 — 41.2 percent — from the field. That includes a 6-for-17 night in last Saturday’s loss at Phoenix, and a 2-for-11 showing — including a start of 0-for-7 in the opening half — at Minnesota.”
Jason Quick of The Oregonian: “The general feeling from Blazers management, coaches and players is that Oden is doing fine in his rookie season, and will only get better if he could learn to eliminate the pressure he puts upon himself. The ovation, some feel, could be an icebreaker in Oden settling into his niche on the team. ‘With Greg, every second he plays in a game, and the more success he has, the more he will get comfortable,’ general manager Kevin Pritchard said. ‘And the more comfortable he gets the better he will be. And the more he feels a part of the team the better he will be.’ Many of the players, center Joel Przybilla chief among them, have implored Oden to forget about the people outside of the team analyzing his play. Przybilla says he often tells Oden that people have no idea how much he helps the team.”
K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: “Publicly, at least, Vinny Del Negro has criticized players about as often as Michael Jordan passed up last-second shots. Del Negro’s positive, upbeat approach has sugar-coated most personnel matters publicly, sometimes to eye-rolling effect. That changed dramatically after Wednesday’s practice when Del Negro responded to fairly benign questions regarding the recent minutes of Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas with the most pointed words of his brief tenure as coach. Del Negro said of them: ‘They’re young and have to find their way. When you’re on the court, you have to value those minutes. The guys who are focused, know their role, commit to it and come with effort every day will play.’”
Erin Durkin and Jothan Sederstrom of the Daily News: “Top brass behind Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project insisted Wednesday the $4.2 billion project would survive the crumbling economy – but conceded there will likely be further delays and didn’t have a construction time line. ‘I think we can successfully delay until we are prepared to start [the project],’ Forest City Enterprises President Charles Ratner told investors just hours before the price of the company’s stock fell 15%, to $7.02 a share. ‘I can’t tell you in this market when that can be. How long?’ Ratner said. ‘I don’t know.’ Ratner said that with the exception of the 22-acre Brooklyn project, the company has ‘put virtually all new development on hold until economic and financial market conditions improve meaningfully.’ In a reversal from an earlier 2018 target date, Ratner also refused to commit to a time line for the ambitious Atlantic Yards NBA arena and 16 towers, insisting the economy would dictate when it will be built.”
Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “LeBron James was going through the motions – another city, another bunch of reporters wanting pregame quotes – until Charles Barkley’s name came up. James’ blandly pleasant expression disappeared for a moment. Barkley, the erstwhile Sixer and present-day provocateur, said on Dan Patrick’s radio show that James should ‘shut the hell up’ about where he might sign when he becomes a free agent in 2010. In recounting the comment, James inserted an F bomb. ‘I’ve got kids at home wondering why someone would say something like that to their father,’ James said.”
Elliott Teaford of the Los Angeles Daily News: “Asked if it’s a championship or bust, Bryant said, ‘I’m cool with that. That’s better than, ‘Damn, I hope we make the playoffs.’ It’s exciting because you have an opportunity to win a championship. Having seen the other side of that, I’d much rather have this situation than the other one.’ He has made similar comments during the season, but never quite as candidly. Plus, his words went a long way toward explaining the Lakers’ recent public dissatisfaction with their play. They know they must play better and more efficiently than they have recently in order to achieve their goal of winning a championship. ‘We’ll beat the good teams,’ Bryant said. ‘It’s Boston that’s our barometer. That’s the team that beat us. They’re the standard. They’re the benchmark. That’s the team that beat us, so that’s how it’s going to be.’”
Ian Thomsen of CNNSI.com: “Throughout last season’s Finals, the Celtics were able to triangulate their defense on Bryant because no other Laker scared them. Gasol, Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher weren’t able to consistently punish the Celtics for their concentrated efforts to hold Bryant to 25.7 points on 40.5 percent shooting (down from 51.4 percent for 31.9 points over the opening three playoff rounds). That series confirmed that Bryant must lead the Lakers in an untraditional way. ‘In a lot of ways, I’ve got to do a little bit of what Michael and Scottie had to do, you know what I mean?’ he said. For all six of his championships, Jordan had a complementary star in Pippen who could make plays on his own. ‘Right,’ Bryant said. ‘Scottie was the quarterback. Michael was more of the scorer. I’ve got to do a little bit of both. It’s not necessarily like a point guard role; it’s like a quarterback. You’ve got to go through a series of options with your team to make sure you set this guy up or that guy up.’”
