Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “I lobbed a softball question in Shaq’s direction before the Suns played the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, and O’Neal hit it out of the park — to the opposite field. ‘If there’s such a thing as the ‘next Shaq,’ is Dwight Howard the closest thing you’ve seen?’ I asked. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Not at all. He’s a good player. He can jump. But no. I was the type of player that they had to have secret meetings and change the rules and do all that. Probably never be another me. He’s a good player, but everything he’s done, I’ve invented. So I’m not impressed.’ In fact, O’Neal his 4-year-old son, Shaqir, is the only living candidate for the title ‘Next Shaq.’ Why? ‘He’s a juvenile delinquent,’ O’Neal said. ‘Chip off the old Shaq.’ But no love for Howard, the most feared big man in the game. Not from Shaq, the most feared big man of his generation. ‘He’s a good player,’ O’Neal said, ‘a fabulous player. But for me to get my eyes wide open about another big man, he’ll have to do something that I haven’t seen before or something that I haven’t invented.’”
Jeff Eisenberg of The Press-Enterprise: “Midway through the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s 108-97 victory over the Clippers, fans at Staples Center began yelling for Coach Phil Jackson to reinsert Bynum so he could take get his first 40-point game. Jackson obliged and Bynum delivered, reaching the mark on two-handed breakaway slam that generated a rousing ovation from both Lakers and Clippers fans. Bynum finished with 42 points on 17-for-24 shooting and 15 rebounds, a breakout game that overshadowed Kobe Bryant’s second triple-double in three games and evoked memories of Bynum’s play just before he got injured last year. It was the first time a Laker besides Bryant scored 40 since Shaquille O’Neal did it to Boston six years ago.”
Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register: “When asked late Wednesday night to reflect on everything that has happened since he hurt his knee last January, Bynum made an immediate association between what he did to recover and what he is doing now to boost his game performance. ‘A lot of it’s coming just from the little bit of extra work I’ve been putting in,’ Bynum said. ‘A little bit before each practice with my guy Sean, and then before the game with Kurt Rambis out there on the court to get my touch right around the rim.’ Being a pro is doing something with those moments when you’d be perfectly justified just to sit there. And rehabilitation requires another level of dedication, because it sure isn’t fun and games when there aren’t any games. Yet isn’t it curious to hear Lakers training and rehab guru Chip Schaefer, who was the Chicago Bulls’ athletic trainer all through their glory years, name the two guys who stand above all others he has helped in rehabbing injuries? They happen to be two of the best ever in the games: Bryant and Michael Jordan, in that order – though, to be fair, Jordan was so durable that he had fewer opportunities.”
Jennifer Floyd Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “The harsh reality is the Mavs are OK, not bad, not great, OK and probably on the downside of OK. And once teams are in a downward cycle, they don’t just suddenly get better. They are fooling themselves to think otherwise. So I e-mailed Mavs owner Mark Cuban on Wednesday to check his pulse. Was he having to retrench with his expectations? And if not, what gives him the belief that they will go on a run in the second half and maybe into the playoffs? ‘We are going to play the games and see what happens,’ he said. ‘Last time I looked, the Cardinals made it to the Super Bowl.’ Which is a far cry from ‘Finals, baby.’ He did bring up good points about extenuating circumstances, like lost Jerry Stackhouse scoring and how much Josh Howard’s extended layoffs due to injuries hurt them. ‘I don’t think fans realize just how important JHo is to our team,’ he said. Of course, I’d counter that I’m not sure Josh does, either.”
Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger: “Harris wasn’t able to say that he agreed with his coach (‘It’s over and done with. It doesn’t really matter anymore’ he said after some deliberation), but more than one locker room denizen said he was embarrassed by the move — if only because he thought Frank would give him the benefit of the doubt after all his accomplishments over the first half of the season. Still, Frank reiterated yesterday that it was something he expected his floor leader to get over. As in, immediately. ‘You have a conversation, explain why you did it, and you move forward,’ the coach said. ‘You can’t live in the past. What’s done is done. You deal with it. Sometimes, confrontation is healthy. And that’s part of coaching. Confrontation doesn’t have to be a negative thing. You do it in different ways, and you try different things to get the message across. And with anything, what we want is in the best interests of the team. We want our guys to continue to grow.’ But inadvertently, the coach might have created a distraction that he hadn’t bargained for.”
Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: “Suns star Amaré Stoudemire rallied to a personal victory this week, passing Denver’s Carmelo Anthony in fan voting to earn his first start in an NBA All-Star Game. Stoudemire edged Anthony for the second forward spot alongside San Antonio’s Tim Duncan and Houston’s Yao Ming in the Western Conference frontcourt for the Feb. 15 game in Phoenix. The official announcement of the All-Star starters will be at 5 tonight on TNT’s pregame show. Stoudemire opened the fan voting with a lead in December, but it gradually decreased with each set of returns until Anthony passed him two weeks ago. This will be Stoudemire’s fourth All-Star Game appearance in five seasons, missing a shot at the year he missed because of knee surgery. He is the first Suns’ All-Star starter since Steve Nash in 2006 and the first Suns frontcourt starter since Charles Barkley in 1996.”
Ramona Shelburne of the Los Angeles Daily News: “It’s not just that the Clippers are in the throes of another injury-plagued, losing season. That Davis is shooting a career-worst 36 percent from the field, or that most of the news he’s made this year has been for whatever his latest injury is, or whoever the latest Golden State Warrior he might have vented to. It’s that as things have fallen apart for the Clippers, Davis has been in the shadows. He watched most of the game Wednesday from the locker room, as has become his custom during this latest stretch of missed games. Alone, with his thoughts and the television monitor. His philosophy has been to keep a low profile until he’s done something worthy of talking about. ‘My whole thing, if I ain’t playing, is why do people want to talk to me?’ he said. ‘It’s frustrating to continue to talk about what I would consider to be nothing worth talking about.’”
Dana Wakiji of The Detroit News: “While the rest of the Pistons were doing their pregame ritual of forming a dancing circle around Rasheed Wallace, who does his own little inspired dance, Rip Hamilton rested on the bench. I guess that’s his own form of protest since he’s taking one for the team now.”
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “The Cavs-Lakers game on Monday was the most watched regular-season NBA game on cable since James’ first pro game in 2003. The 2.3 national rating meant more than 3.6 million viewers. The Martin Luther King tripleheader on TNT saw a 76 percent increase in viewers from last season. In other words, expect the Cavs to probably be in L.A. on Martin Luther King Day next season as well.”
Mike McGraw of the Arlington Heights Daily Herald: “Paxson provided more detailed insight into how he wants to reshape the Bulls following the team’s practice and a Navy induction ceremony Wednesday at the Berto Center. Specifically, he’d like to find another star player to complement rookie guard Derrick Rose. ‘A lot of our guys fit teams that have an established star or two,’ Paxson said. ‘We’d obviously like to get another guy with Derrick where every night you can say to yourself, ‘We’ve got these two guys we can go to all the time,’ and fill around them.’ The best opportunity to add such a player might be in free agency, and the Bulls could create cap room in the summer of 2010 if they trade some long-term contracts or simply let Ben Gordon, Drew Gooden and Hughes walk away when their deals expire. Gordon and Gooden will be free agents after this season, Hughes a year from now.”
Isreal Gutierrez of the Miami Herald: “It never has been more obvious that Riley should go through with a trade that sends Shawn Marion and his expiring contract away and returns any quality player with a contract that expires in 2010. The past two games alone should be enough of an indication that Marion is not enough of a difference-maker to even consider hanging onto for the sake of this better-than-expected season. Marion didn’t play against the Thunder on Sunday, and the Heat won anyway. Marion played only eight minutes Wednesday against the Celtics, and the Heat would have been humbled had he played 40 minutes. You don’t miss him enough when he’s gone, and you don’t get enough when he’s there.”
Indy Cornrows: “For fans and media, pro sports have an absolute measure of success and failure. After each game the final score determines whether a team has won or lost and thus succeeded or failed. It’s a neat and tidy metric, with no qualitative variance. Regardless of the list of excuses available, if you’re losing after the final buzzer sounds, there’s no way to change that L to W. But anyone who has played sports at any level realizes that analyzing a group of individuals brought together to compete as a team requires more depth than simply looking at the won-loss record. Sure you could look into the numbers, for instance you may consider a team with a losing record but a slim point differential better than a team with a similar record that is blown out regularly. But numbers are just one layer to the whole story of a team. For the whole story, there are elements of the team that fans and media just aren’t privy to during the season. There is a human element involved — relationships, motivations, emotional highs and lows – and how each player and coach weaves their emotions into the fabric of the team begins to tell the story of the journey a team goes through in the quest for success.”
Mike Baldwin of The Oklahoman: “D.J. White swishes a free throw, leaps into the air and screams as if he’s drained a game-winner with :00 on the clock at the Ford Center. But this is practice. Nick Collison lumbers over and shakes White’s hand. White, a rookie, hasn’t suited up for the Thunder all season, sidelined by jaw surgery. He still hasn’t been cleared to practice. But every player on the roster participates in coach Scott Brooks’ post-practice free-throw contest. Each day, Brooks pits one player against another in a one-on-one competition. Players receive two points for a swish, one for a made free throw that touches the rim. They alternate shots. First one to 21 wins. ‘It makes it really competitive,’ said Desmond Mason. ‘You’re not just out there shooting free throws. You’re playing for your own personal record and bragging rights.’”
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: “They have retooled their offense around Yao Ming, but make it work with ball movement. Until a late-game fade, they were heading to a fourth-consecutive game hitting 50 percent of their shots or better, which would have been their longest streak hitting 50 percent or better since 94-95, a season that ended pretty well. Still, they made 46.1 percent, which is better when you consider they made 45.8 percent of their 3s and a season-best 96.4 percent from the line. (Had Carl Landry not missed a free throw, it would have been the most made free throws without a miss in Rockets history.) They don’t always do the right things defensively. Teams are getting into the paint way too regularly, with too many breakdowns from the young guys playing so much more these days. But the effort has become reliable. And even shorthanded, and with Aaron Brooks struggling big-time, and with more than his shot, the bench has maintained or extended leads. They have a long, long way to go, but they have established a standard for Artest and McGrady to reach. They are not coming back to save the Rockets. They will return, most likely in New York on Monday, to do more of what has been done without them and add their own distinctive talents.”
Jason Quick of The Oregonian: “During the makeover of this franchise, the Blazers have drafted countless kids — often times teenagers. And those kids have marveled at the size of James. The tenacity of Kobe Bryant. The grace of Tracy McGrady. They didn’t go as far as Webster, but in a word, they were in awe of these stars. So fast forward to Wednesday night at the Rose Garden. King James and his improved supporting cast were in town, and by the time James had put up 34points, 14 assists and seven rebounds, the Blazers were left lamenting that it took them too long to start playing. ‘We just waited too long,’ veteran center Joel Przybilla said. ‘I don’t know if it was that we were in awe of LeBron or what.’ If the Blazers are ever going to start taking strides to becoming a playoff team, they have to shed the tendency to be in awe of stars and start looking at the matchups as a challenge instead of a front-row seat to greatness.”
John McMullen of the Sports Network: “The Knicks’ Chris Duhon actually turned down a ticket to the inauguration in order to receive treatment on his sore lower back. But, the point guard made a point to sit down with a group of foster children and regale them with how he once played with the new Commander-in-Chief, who happens to be a huge basketball fan, during his days in Chicago. ‘I would have obviously loved to be there, but at the same time, it still doesn’t take away how special a day it was for America,’ Duhon told the New York Daily News. ‘Everyone talks about his game. He’s all right. He’s a solid player. But he’s going to be an even better President.’ The NBA’s biggest star, LeBron James, even offered up his services if the nation’s new first fan needs any help during a White House pickup game. ‘I’ll play with him as long as I’m on the same team. I don’t want to make the President mad,’ James deadpanned.”
Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe: “We’re not yet quite post-racial, and we may never become an ideally colorblind society, but if we truly want to get there, we do have a working institutional model. Professional football (1946) and baseball (1947) integrated in the competition area first, and hockey doesn’t really enter into this discussion, for rather obvious reasons, but the fact is the National Basketball Association is the most egalitarian major institution in our society. In fact, the NBA is so infused with black power that it is the only significant American institution I know of where the white man is inherently perceived to be inadequate to the task. But put the topic of playing ability to the side for a moment. Where the NBA laps and relaps the field is in the area of authority. All this discussion about the paucity of black coaches and managers in football and base ball is so much Sanskrit to those of us who follow the NBA, where black coaches have been coming and going and coming and going and coming and going for 40-plus years.”
Charley Rosen of FOXSports.com: “Kevin Loughery wasn’t far off when he claimed that coaches were better served by scouting the refs than they were scouting the other teams. The number given out by the NBA is that a careful study of game tapes proves that refs make the right calls about 94 percent of the time. Too bad there’s no number for the erroneous non-calls that aren’t made. My biggest gripe is that not enough refs have actually played the game at some competitive level. Accordingly, their function is to oversee ball games and focus entirely on the mistakes that players make. Yet despite these shortcomings, NBA officials are the best in the business. They’re much better at their work than the fatties who officiate major league baseball. They’re far superior to the part-timers who work the NFL. And they’re at least twice as good as NCAA refs.”
