Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: “It just felt wrong for this to be happening again to the Lakers’ 21-year-old little brother whose 2007-08 season had ended prematurely. Word that Bynum hadn’t heard any pop and could put some pressure on his leg as he left FedEx Forum gave Bryant some hope, but his eyes got wet just from talking about the whole thing again after the game. ‘I can sit here and (utter expletivies) all night long. … I’m just really P.O.’d,’ Bryant said. ‘Because he doesn’t deserve it. He has worked extremely hard.’ Bryant was visibly emotional as the game continued without Bynum with 6:55 left in the first quarter. When former USC guard O.J. Mayo said a quick something about Bynum, Bryant didn’t respond. He just stood with his hands on his hips, shaking his head, and muttered a single expletive.”
Marc J. Spears of The Boston Globe: “At the time of the announcement, Jefferson was averaging 22.7 points and 10.5 rebounds, compared with O’Neal’s 18.2 and 9.2. But with solid play over the last two months for a winning team, and with the All-Star Game in Phoenix Feb. 15, the West coaches gave the 36-year-old O’Neal the nod, knowing the 24-year-old Jefferson will have many more opportunities. ‘I’m disappointed for Al and I feel bad,’ said Timberwolves coach Kevin McHale, who was a seven-time All-Star with the Celtics. ‘But as I told Al, there is some poor 14- or 15-year-old kid who is playing who in about 10 or 11 years will deserve to make his first All-Star team, and Al will make his eighth All-Star team on reputation and he’ll be cursing out Al Jefferson like he is cursing out people here. It all goes around.’”
Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee: “The Kings’ lack of leadership has been a shared failure. But the mixture of personalities certainly has not worked, with the two longest-tenured Kings – Martin and center Brad Miller – simply not the vocal type. Martin has continued to take the lead-by-example route, watching film after every game and often working out on off days. He stops well short of demanding more from his teammates.
‘That’s the worst thing you can do as a player is change the ways of how you approach things,’ he said when asked about leadership. ‘I’ve always been a leader by example. … I just like to lead by example and be able to communicate with guys.’ Kings coach and former Cleveland assistant Kenny Natt said Martin’s stance on leadership reminds him of LeBron James early in his career.”
Mike Baldwin of The Oklahoman: “A winning record the past month has given fans hope young stars Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook, along with recently acquired Nenad Krstic, will form the foundation for a team that improves its win-loss record year after year. ‘This team is not that far from being a good team in the Western Conference,’ Atkins said.’Anytime you lose that many games by (six) points or less says a lot about your young talent. ‘It’s a growing-up process. Every team has to go through it. This team is no exception. We have great young players that are developing, and evolving, and learning every day. The more they learn the better they will be at winning close games.’ Atkins referred to the other relevant stat. The Thunder is 2-13 in games decided by six points or less. Once a young team learns how to win its share of close games, it will be yet another step forward in a season full of baby steps.”
David Moore of The Dallas Morning News: “Carlisle let it be known after the win over Miami that he no longer calls the majority of the plays. The Dallas Mavericks coach met with Kidd last week and told the point guard to take over. Carlisle then handed Kidd a CD with the plays he had been calling and how efficient the players were in those sets. There has been a noticeable offensive improvement in the two games Kidd has called. ‘I think I have a pretty good feel of where we need to get the ball,’ Kidd said. ‘The big thing is have everyone understand what we’re running. ‘Now, nobody has to look over and figure out what we’re running. We’ve tried to eliminate some of the steps of the process and just play.’ Several players estimate that Carlisle called 70 to 80 percent of the plays in the first three months of the season and Kidd took the rest.”
Brett Pollakoff of FanHouse: “Late in the game when the Suns closed the gap, they couldn’t get a stop to save their life, and again, this Bulls team is playing better, but they simply aren’t built to drop 122 points on anybody. After the game, Shaq said it comes down to wanting to play defense, and that it’s time for his teammates to ‘man up’ on that end of the floor. ‘You just gotta man up,’ Shaq said. ‘Whoever your man is that day, you just gotta say, ‘he’s not getting off.’ That’s what I’ve tried to do my whole career. I’ve never been a defensive stopper, but whoever I’ve got to play that night, he’s not gettin’ off on me. You have to want to play defense. It doesn’t matter what type of style we play on offense, offense is not our problem. You still got to make stops. If you want to be a good team, if you want to make it to the big dance, you still got to make stops. Period. Doesn’t matter if we run, or slow it down, you gotta f—–g stop somebody. Period.’”
Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: “Randolph’s main connection with the Warriors has been Chris Mullin. That’s just like Monta Ellis, who made the point emotionally in an interview played during ESPN’s telecast earlier this week. If there’s one guy who could best keep the lid on the frayed situation with these two talented guys, it’s Mullin. Oops, Mullin has been shoved out of the Warriors’ power circle by Robert Rowell and Nelson (10 more minutes of rant!). And I can add this one bit: By all accounts, Armstrong was the No. 1 guy telling Randolph and his family to be quiet about Nelson, the Warriors, and any issues about playing time and just be happy about being in the NBA at all. Yes, that does go contrary to the usual agent concept. But it’s true.”
Kate Fagan of the Philadephia Inquirer: “Rather than allowing their opponents to smoothly catch the ball and shoot, the Sixers need to become rhythm killers. They must arrive a step sooner, forcing the opponent to take a contested shot, dribble, or make one more pass. How? With a smarter pick-and-roll defense, better rotations, and improved help-and-recover efforts. Switching, as the Sixers did against the Rockets, is one way to guard a pick-and-roll. But the Sixers mostly defend in different ways: they slide behind the pick, they fight their way over, they trap the ball handler. Each method – employed depending upon the opponent’s strengths – offers something to the defense. And each method has a ripple effect on the rest of the defense. If the Sixers trap the pick-and-roll, as they often do, they are committing two defenders – say, Miller and Elton Brand – to one player. That means three defenders – say, Dalembert, Andre Iguodala and Willie Green – must guard the four remaining players. That is the rotation with which the Sixers must become quicker.”
Jason Quick of The Oregonian: “During the winning streak, the Blazers are outscoring their opponents in the paint by an average of 48 to 31.5. Against the Jazz, they had a whopping 56 points, the most in a regulation game this season. In addition, over the past 12 games, the Blazers have been averaging 32.2 free throw attempts, including 37 against Utah. That’s an amazing statistic. Denver leads the NBA in free throw attempts per game with 31.2. All the while, the Blazers have maintained a steady place among the league leaders in fewest turnovers per game, entering Saturday’s game ranked fifth. Take a minute and digest that. The Blazers of late have been outscoring their opponent by nearly 17 points a game inside, have been getting to the free throw line with the best of them and have been taking care of the ball. Oh yeah, and they are the top rebounding team in the league. What you have there is the tried and tested formula for winning in the NBA playoffs.”
