Adam Lauridsen for the San Jose Mercury News: “This is not the team for Ellis to learn how to lead. Ellis talked before his injury about his desire to be a new leader for this squad. Then came the moped, the lying, and then silence. He’s got a lot of ground to regain to prove that he can be a true leader, but this is not the team to tangle with given his inexperience. When Ellis is confident, he’s nearly unstoppable. When his confidence gets rattled, as we saw in the 07 playoffs, his ability to recover is a question mark. This team is currently smothered in a toxic atmosphere. The veterans that should be leading are the problem, the coach appears to have washed his hands of dealing with the attitude issues (if he isn’t actually creating them), and — most depressingly — the entire mood likely comes from the top of the organization down through the ranks. Monta Ellis might be a good leader, but this is one hell of a challenge for someone already facing some tough reputation rehabilitation.”
Brett Edwards of FanHouse: “Things slowly start to pick up steam from there, as Boston plays in Portland on December 30th, in Cleveland January 9th, in Orlando January 22nd, and in Detroit January 30th. The middle of February though will likely tell us all we need to know about these Celtics. From February 11th through the 23rd (broken up a bit by All-Star weekend), Boston plays five straight road games against high quality Western Conference opponents, in the following order: New Orleans, Dallas, Utah, Phoenix,. Denver. Now we’re (finally) talking. So yes, the Celtics are admittedly the best team at the moment, and definitely have played with more focus and intensity than their conference-leading counterparts in Los Angeles. But to me, there’s no question that their home heavy early season schedule has as much to do with that 22-3 record as anything else.”
Sekou K Smith of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “I asked Williams and several of his fellow teammates who were tasting the playoff-rush for the first time if they thought their inexperienced in such situations might have caused the Game 7 meltdown, an obvious conclusion to draw after watching the entire thing up close. It made sense to Josh Smith. But he also pointed out that the Hawks’ current rise was born out of the same series, making it the turning point that we all know it was. ‘What really sticks out to me is just the way we pulled together.’ Smith said. ‘When we were down 11 points going into the fourth quarter in Game 4 and LD [Hawks assistant coach Larry Drew] came up to me and put his arm around me and said, ‘This is when players are made. You’re the man when you’re up 11. Let’s see what happens when you’re down 11.’ We huddled up and got everybody involved. It started at the defensive end and it started with us playing together and the rest of the series went from there.’ Losing the rematch game Nov. 12 in Boston the way they did only served to stir the flames of this budding rivalry for the Hawks.”
Paola Boivin of The Arizona Republic: “Does he need to become a better defender and rebounder? Of course. But it seems silly to suggest the Suns’ hopes for the future have faded when Stoudemire is still here. Stoudemire would benefit from taking a step back. If you want to be the leader of this team then act like one. Questioning your touches and wondering aloud whether your coach’s system is the right one doesn’t sound like someone who has his priorities in place. This organization has treated Stoudemire well. They have paid him handsomely and gave him a terrific support staff as a rookie to make sure his off-the-court transition from high school to the NBA went smoothly. Many wondered if he could succeed following a childhood surrounded by turmoil. His father died when Stoudemire was 12 and his mother has been in and out of jail 30-plus times. To his great credit, Stoudemire stayed out of trouble and made the Suns look like geniuses for selecting him.”
Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star: “An easy excuse for the Pacers would be that they have played the toughest schedule in the league and have had to devise schemes to contain Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. But that doesn’t explain Charlotte scoring a season-high 115 points, 26 more than their season average, or Milwaukee totaling 121 Saturday. Indiana has shown it is capable by holding Boston and Houston to 35 percent shooting in victories last month. ‘It’s not necessarily a matter of being in the wrong spot right now,’ O’Brien said Monday. ‘Good defensive teams bring a good defensive disposition. Their goal is to play defense; you can see it in their body language. We have not been able to find that yet.’ O’Brien said players have to take more responsibility.”
Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register: “The Lakers haven’t been playing well lately, but with renewed mental health and defensive intensity as a result of Derek Fisher’s players-only meeting, the Lakers will do just fine if Bryant’s jump shot comes back. What beyond the box score suggests Bryant’s jump shot will come back? Indeed, Bryant shot 9 for 24 from the field (37.5 percent) in his last game Sunday night against Minnesota. He is seemingly slumping. He also has jagged lines of 9 for 25 at Sacramento and 6 for 16 vs. Phoenix in the past week. But if you know Bryant, you know he’s not OK with sub-par play even mostly in victory. And the one good game Bryant has had recently – 11-of-21 shooting vs. Sacramento Friday night – reflected a key adjustment he made to get his shooting straight: Bryant is getting more arc on the ball with a better follow-through.”
Jim Alexander of The Press-Enterprise: “The season is long. Memories can be short. And sometimes it takes something special to get players’ attention — a marquee opponent, or a dose of potential adversity like the four-game, five-night road trip that begins Friday in Miami. That trip will not be a gimme. Miami and Memphis are winnable games. But Orlando and New Orleans are dangerous, and each is the second half of a back-to-back. And two days after New Orleans, they get the Celtics at home. In short, this is no time to coast. ‘The NBA’s a process,’ Jackson said before Tuesday’s game. ‘A marathon is what you’re running, and you’re going to have games where you have to raise up to a certain level of competition. You have to go to another gear.’ They also have to work their way through fatigue, injuries and sickness, as Jackson noted. It would be nice to beat everybody handily and give the starters plenty of rest, but it’s not practical.”
Jason Quick of The Oregonian: “The play is as instinctual and intuitive as there is in basketball, and it has become one of the signatures of Rodriguez, the flashy point guard, and Fernandez, the high-flying shooting guard. In the Blazers’ 109-77 win over Sacramento on Tuesday night, the two connected on a fourth-quarter lob pass, marking the 11th time this season Fernandez has converted an alley-oop from Rodriguez. Ten of those 11 alley-oops have come at the Rose Garden. It is one of the most difficult plays to execute, because it requires more than the skill of Rodriguez to loft a pass near the rim, and the agility of Fernandez to catch the ball in midair and convert it to a basket. It requires the sixth sense of both to detect when a defense is overplaying the perimeter, allowing Fernandez to make a ‘backdoor’ cut. The play also requires the trust that both players will commit to the play. They have perfected the art, in part because they have played together for five years, mostly on various teams in Spain. But it also helps that no two players on the Blazers are closer or more in tune with one another than Rodriguez and Fernandez.”
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “James set a goal, and then went ahead and made it public, to shoot 80 percent from the line this season. It was surprising for two reasons. One, James usually doesn’t pin himself down with such proclamations. Second, he’s been a below-average free-throw shooter for most of his career. He bottomed out in the 2006-07 season when he finished at less than 70 percent, the third consecutive season his percentage declined. He improved last season, but only slightly, to 71 percent. Which convinced him to make it a priority this season. ‘I knew I was a better free-throw shooter than I showed in my first five years,’ James said. James didn’t start out the season too well, but has been living up to his promise over the last month. He got to 80 percent by making 89 of his last 104 (86 percent) over the last 13 games. During his career, James has tried numerous different routines. But all dealt with physical motions. James came to believe past issues were caused by not getting into a mental routine.”
Hooped Up: The NBA All Blogger First Team
Michael Wallace of the Miami Herald: “That improved midrange jumper is no longer falling. The acrobatic layups and dunks that had been his specialty are now missing badly.Any player he tries to defend suddenly can’t miss a shot. And referees seem to have turned a deaf ear to his complaints and a blind eye to the pounding he believes he’s taking. Which of these dilemmas has derailed Dwyane Wade’s breakout start to the season and recently dumped the Heat star guard into one of the worst slumps of his career? Try all of the above. ‘I’ve been through it [before],’ Wade said of his recent struggles amid the Heat’s three-game losing streak, its longest of the season. `I’ve been in this league for six years. You’re going to go through something like this as long as you play basketball. It all averages out.’ Wade is searching for middle ground after a turbulent two-week stretch of highs and lows.”
Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: “Nuggets coach George Karl ‘can’t deny’ he has pondered putting J.R. Smith in the starting lineup. But things are going well for the first-place Nuggets, so if it ain’t broke, don’t jinx it. ‘I think Dahntay (Jones) has gotten in a little bit of a groove as a starter,’ Karl said. Jones starts at shooting guard despite being Denver’s eighth-best scorer, primarily because he is a defensive weapon who often rattles the opposition’s best guard or forward. Karl, like many other coaches in the league, believes starting is overrated. It’s who plays in the fourth quarter that matters most. But Karl did enjoy watching Smith play with starting point guard Chauncey Billups in Monday’s victory at Dallas, where Smith often hit shots off the pick-and-roll. After Tuesday night’s game at Houston, Smith has 16 double-digit scoring games, second-most among NBA players who haven’t started a game.”
Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press: “Rasheed Wallace isn’t only a player. He’s an entry on a balance sheet — an easily disposed-of asset. That’s his true value to the Pistons. And that’s why it would be ridiculous to trade him for somebody who could contribute now. It might generate some buzz, convince a few more ticket holders to come to the Palace rather than eat the cost of the ticket. But it doesn’t change the reality of a Pistons season that’s more about tomorrow’s possibilities than today’s. So don’t get frustrated over Wallace’s dwindling offensive production — only one double-digit scoring performance the past five games — because the only number that matters now is his $14-million salary slot.”
Gordon Monson of The Salt Lake Tribune: “People keep saying Millsap is no Boozer. And they’re right. Boozer is wine-and-cheese, a ‘would you happen to have any Grey Poupon?’ all-star, a 20-and-10 guy who collects those numbers almost without anyone noticing, which is rare for a power forward. He’s a terrific offensive player, at least when the sun is shining. He also has a knack for not playing defense, and for suffering injuries, the type of injuries that leave all kinds of wiggle room for determining when he’s coming back. There was the foot problem of a few years ago, the one that he pronounced healed and ready — on the season’s last day. Then there was the hamstring that ate Salt Lake, benching Boozer over an extended period and prompting questions about whether he wanted out of the freshly devoured city. And now, the strained tendon and bruised kneecap, which, at times, feels ‘great,’ but apparently not yet great enough to play. In all of those scenarios, Boozer put the Jazz and their fans in a precarious spot, forcing them to wonder about his toughness, his softness. With injuries, nobody can know with certainty about their status except the player himself, but everybody can suspect. And Boozer left everyone with their suspicions, sometimes stirring, sometimes cranking them.”
