Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: “The significance of this week is not lost on the Raptors as they continue to try to climb out of the deep hole they dug in a brutal first half of the NBA season. And for all the one-game-at-a-time philosophy they espouse, they are admitting games tonight in New Jersey and Friday at home to Milwaukee carry extra weight. ‘It was the first thing we addressed today,’ coach Jay Triano said after yesterday’s practice. ‘Where we are, where they are and what this week means to us.’ Where the Raptors are is 18-28 and in 13th place in the 15-team Eastern Conference. But as bad as that record is – only eight teams in the league are worse off than Toronto – it’s not as if the season is shot. The Nets occupy ninth place with a 20-25 record, and the Bucks, who have lost leading scorer Michael Redd for the season with a knee injury, are in eighth with a paltry 22-26 record. The 19-25 Knicks, 18-26 Charlotte Bobcats and the 18-27 Chicago Bulls began play last night also between the Raptors and the final playoff berth.”
Steve Luhm of The Salt Lake Tribune: “Only a week ago, the Jazz were eight games over .500 and moving up in the playoff pecking order. Today, Utah is ninth in the West, a full game behind No. 8 Dallas, 1½ games behind No. 7 Phoenix and 5½ games behind Denver in the Northwest Division. If the playoffs started tonight, the Jazz would not be included for only the fourth time since 1984. ‘I wouldn’t hit the panic button, but we’re kind of in must-win situations now,’ said Ronnie Brewer, who had 23 points against the Spurs. ‘There are still a lot of games left. You have a lot of games after the All-Star break. Teams can get hot. But we’ve got to turn the switch on somewhere. We can’t wait and say, ‘When Booz gets back, we’ll turn it around.’ We’ve got to be ready to play now. We’ve got to beat the teams we’re supposed to beat.’”
Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: “The Suns have been puzzled with themselves. Like a Rubik’s Cube, they fix one side only to learn another side was altered. They broke out of last week’s visit to an emotional rock bottom with road wins Sunday and Monday, two of their better defensive efforts, but the offense did not look quite right. It is a running team without a stride, despite stats that say the Suns shoot better than any team and rank fifth in scoring. The Suns’ issues can be traced to one source: a roster of offensive players – an offensive hybrid that is not quite a floor model. It’s a starting lineup of former go-to players asked to share the ball and play consistent defense. There are more sideline pleas to ‘Push!’ from coach Terry Porter, even after makes. Still, the run game is not the same in space or pace, just as Steve Nash’s half-court navigation is limited by the presence of Shaquille O’Neal.”
John Reid of The Times-Picayune: “Although opponents have showed various defenses, it has not kept Paul from penetrating the lane. Paul’s ability to control the tempo is why the Hornets are winning despite missing West’s 20-point scoring average and Chandler’s team-leading 8.3 rebounding average. ‘If you take him (Paul) off our team, I don’t know what would happen, ‘ Scott said. ‘Even with the guys we’ve had out, he has been able to take his game to a different level and kind of bring some guys along with him.’ Last season, Paul finished second in the MVP voting to Lakers’ star Kobe Bryant. Scott said Paul has had a productive first half this season and again should be a serious MVP candidate for the remainder of the season. ‘I think it’s between him and LeBron right now, with Kobe being a close third, ‘ Scott said. ‘He’s having an unbelievable season again and has had to do more because of the injuries we’ve had.’”
Wages of Wins: “Despite the fact the team employs the most productive player in the game — New Orleans is just another good team. If we delve a little deeper into the numbers we can see where Chandler and West are failing. Both players are not rebounding as much as they did last year. Why this has happened, though, is puzzling. Last year the Hornets out-rebounded their opponents. This year, New Orleans has a rebounding deficit. This tells us that there are rebounds for Chandler and West. The two players are simply not getting these boards. Currently each player is hurt. But if these two could a) get healthy and b) return to what we saw last year; the Hornets would become one of the top teams in the league.”
Kevin Pelton: The Basketball Prospectus Stats Pages
Daily Thunder: “As we look through reasons why OKC is starting to win, one thing comes to my mind first. Free throw shooting. In OKC’s wins, the Thunder’s shooting 79.5 percent. In losses, they’re shooting 76.1 percent. So that’s not that big of a difference. But look at the difference in attempts. In wins, OKC gets to the line 29.8 times while in losses, just 24.0. Add in the fact that in wins the Thunder’s hitting a higher clip and that’s five or six points right there. And when you’re leading the league in losses by six or less, every point matters. In this stretch where OKC is playing it’s best ball of the year, free throw shooting has been even better.”
Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: “Chicago’s Derrick Rose has the exposure that comes with playing in the third-largest media market. Memphis’ O.J. Mayo has the hype that he’s carried since his days as a high school celebrity. Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook? All he has aiding his chase for this year’s Rookie of the Year award is persistent production. The battle for the league’s top rookie honor is alive and well, contrary to the opinion of Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro, who all but handed the hardware to his point guard last week by saying, ‘There’s not even a conversation as far as I’m concerned.’ And no longer is the conversation reserved only for Rose, the No. 1 pick, and Mayo, the No. 3 overall pick. Mayo leads his Grizzlies into the Ford Center tonight leading all rookies in scoring at 19.1 points per game. But what has gone untold throughout the league is that no rookie has fared better over the past month than Westbrook, who has gained steam while his competition has cooled off.”
Michael Cunningham of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Dwyane Wade figured he knew how things would go with Erik Spoelstra. The NBA’s youngest coach, in his first job running a team, would stick to a tight rotation of eight or nine players. Spoelstra would lean heavily on his best players for minutes and push them physically as he made the Heat his own. Instead, Spoelstra has been willing to expand the rotation. He’s kept Wade’s minutes down. And he’s even backed off in practice at times, like Tuesday’s light session following the Heat’s 95-79 victory over Atlanta on Monday night. ‘Coach Spo has done an unbelievable job all year of keeping guys fresh,’ Wade said. ‘It’s kind of surprising.’ Wade said Tom Crean at Marquette followed the usual pattern of a young coach: start off as hard-driving taskmasters, then ‘as they get older mellow out.’ But Wade said Spoelstra, 38, already has struck a balance between pushing players and preserving them.”
Jeff Eisenberg of The Press-Enterprise: “Three years after their acrimonious relationship reached its nadir in New York, Lakers forward Trevor Ariza and Charlotte coach Larry Brown had a reconciliatory meeting that helped heal old scars. The Lakers and Charlotte Bobcats were warming up for an exhibition game this season in San Diego when Brown sought out Ariza near midcourt. Brown apologized for alienating Ariza by reducing his role without explanation in New York, while the young forward thanked the former Knicks coach for teaching him lessons about hard work and being a team player that only now can he appreciate. ‘I thanked him for everything he did for me,’ Ariza said. ‘As a young player, I didn’t understand everything he was trying to tell me, so I looked at it as he was picking on me instead of listening to what he was saying. Now when I look back on it, I understand what he was saying. He taught me a lot, and I appreciate him for that.’”
Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Magic are willing to talk about rewarding Coach Stan Van Gundy with a contract extension or re-doing his deal completely after the season, the Orlando Sentinel has learned. Van Gundy’s contract expires after next season and the club has an option for the 2009-10 season. ‘We could do something this summer, sure,’ said Magic Chief Operating Officer Alex Martins. ‘If it meets the desires of both parties, we can talk about it.’ Martins said the Magic could lengthen Van Gundy’s contract or ‘tear up’ his current deal, replacing it with a new one. ‘Stan has more than exceeded our expectations,’ Martins said. Van Gundy is 86-40 after taking over the Magic before the 2007-08 season, replacing Billy Donovan in one of the most bizarre coaching soap operas.”
Blog-a-Bull: “It’s been pretty bad all season. But back when I was still grasping for hope to believe in Vinny, I mentioned that he at least played Ben Gordon a lot, and that the players seemed to like him and play hard for him. Well, since Hinrich’s return (and one shamefully clamored for, along with the other ‘captains’, in some desperate excuse-making) Gordon’s been sitting in the majority of the fourth quarter time. And more importantly, while I’d bet the players still like Vinny (heck, he’s certainly likeable), they do not seem to respect him nor play hard for him anymore. How do we know? Well the media asking players directly if they respect Vinny might be a bad sign. (And we can’t even blame Larry Hughes.) After 45 games they actually have the same record as they did last season. The next two games are winnable, but they’re still on the road. Then there’s 4 more road games that will see the Bulls as certain underdogs. They’ll return home after that and face the Heat and Pistons before the All-Star break. Will Vinny even be coach by then? How many games are Paxson and Reinsdorf willing to lose? We can pretend to be the smarter, ‘long-view’, fans and realize that this team is a first-round exit at their absolute best, so what’s the harm in a few more lottery balls. But there’s a difference between a gutted rebuilding team and what we should be seeing this year.”
Justin Kubatko of Basketball-Reference.com: Reggie Miller’s Hall of Fame Probability
Basketball.org: Google vs. All-Star Fan Voting
Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News: “Watching away from the ball, content knowing he had put the Spurs in position with a game-high 24 points, was Parker. ‘You have to be the one who accepts it sometimes, too,’ Parker said. ‘Some nights you have to take your turn.’ He says now, when people ask what’s the matter with Ginobili, they should consider this. ‘When he plays with me and Timmy, sometimes it’s hard to get a rhythm. But Manu doesn’t say anything, and that’s the key to our success. Waiting your turn.’ Parker thinks people don’t talk about this. ‘If you take the history of the NBA, every time you have a lot of good players, they don’t get along. We do.’ And the last time Parker played with a selfish player? ‘The French national team,’ he said, laughing. ‘Then I go back to earth … the way people really are.’”
Scott Howard-Cooper of the Sacramento Bee: “Teams looking to streamline the payroll love expiring contracts and will swap established players, potential impact players, for the chance to slice a chunk off the salary cap. That $13 million gets the Cavaliers something real at a time other championship hopefuls are likely weighing moves to acquire complementary pieces. It doesn’t always happen that way — the Lakers got Pau Gasol last season, the Mavericks added Jason Kidd — but the arms buildup of 2007-08 was a rarity. On paper, it’s a no-brainer. Trade Szczerbiak. But the Cavaliers haven’t lived anything like this first half in more generations than they care to remember. Even the club that won the Eastern Conference title in 2007, before becoming a bug on the windshield to the Spurs in the Finals, was 24-18 after the same 42 games. The current roster is tracking to 66-16. One wrong move to the chemistry, to the mood and the intangibles and whatever mojo has been floating around the locker room, whether by the loss of Szczerbiak or the addition whoever comes in return, could have huge implications.”
Jefferson George of The Charlotte Observer: “At the midway point, the Bobcats are at a crucial juncture. The next few weeks could decide whether they continue to languish or finally gain a solid foothold in the Charlotte sports scene. Supporters have long said that if the Bobcats start winning, fans and corporate sponsors will follow. After a slow start, the team won five of six in a recent stretch, beating playoff contenders Detroit, Portland and Phoenix. ‘People know we’re sincere about putting the best product on the floor,’ said Whitfield, also the team’s chief operating officer. ‘We’re getting more credibility in the community.’ Yet that improvement comes during a recession that has curbed consumer spending and made it even tougher to attract cash-strapped fans. Despite a sellout Friday that drew more than 19,000, home crowds for this season are at an all-time low – even with ticket discounts – hampered by a schedule that gives the Bobcats more home games early in the season, when they compete with pro and college football.”
