Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star: “You can say a lot of unflattering things about the .388 Raptors this season. You can assassinate their basketball acumen for ignoring defence and shirking rebounding and actively avoiding the paint in favour of jump shot upon jump shot. But it’s only lately, in two straight home losses, that you’ve been able to say this: They quit. There wasn’t more than a fleeting moment in yesterday’s unconscionable blowout at the hands of the Orlando Magic and Friday’s dismal walk-around against the Milwaukee Bucks when you could say, with any honesty, that the Raptors looked like they had the desire to win. And there certainly wasn’t a single moment when they looked like they had a chance to win. What’s alarming is their throw-in-the-towel performances weren’t strictly a matter of strategy or ability – try non-existent team chemistry and mental frailty.”
Raptors Republic: Bosh tells Colangelo he will not re-sign, trade discussions ongoing [Video]
Tim Buckley of the Deseret News: “Williams — who agreed to a max-money, multiyear contract extension last offseason — seems to have this nagging feeling that this just isn’t what he signed up for. And he can’t be sure it’s going to change, Williams added, ‘until we decide that we’ve got to show up every night, can’t take nights off — as a team.’ Or until the cavalry returns. ‘I’m not talking about anybody individually, but as a team we’ve just got to play better,’ he said. ‘You know, I don’t understand why one night we can have 35, 40 assists (and) the next night what, 13, 14 assists? Seventeen assists? That’s a low number for us. ‘It’s probably that we get a little selfish, don’t help each other out on the road,’ added Williams, who with his teammates doing little to help in Portland was compelled to score a team-high 35 points in the loss. ‘It’s just something we can’t do.’ Jazz coach Jerry Sloan is equally frustrated. ‘I don’t know what their interest is — getting numbers or winning basketball games,’ he said after Saturday’s loss. ‘That’s the bottom line. You know, numbers are great. But winning is what it should be about.’”
Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News: “Denver (31-16) has the sixth- best mark in the NBA, is No. 3 in the West and Tuesday plays host to the Spurs. So what’s the main guy acquired in the Nov. 3 trade for Iverson saying about the Nuggets’ elite status? ‘We’re getting there,’ guard Chauncey Billups said. ‘We’re not as close as I wish we was.’ Billups knows one statistic is keeping Denver from receiving an invitation to the NBA’s exclusive fraternity. While the Nuggets are a staggering 19-1 against teams currently with losing records, they’re only 11-15 against winners (Denver also has a win against .500 Philadelphia). ‘When you’re trying to break into that elite group . . . to do great against the teams that are not so great, that’s one thing,’ Billups said. ‘We’ve passed that. . . . Now it’s time to start trying to beat some of the elite teams.’”
Marcus Thompson II of the Contra Costa Times: “For a team that prides itself on offense, scoring points didn’t come so easy. That seems to be more the latest occurrence in a trend instead of a blip. While the players like to point out the individual potency they boast, the numbers reveal they aren’t quite the offensive juggernaut they were the past two seasons. They enter tonight’s game averaging 106.4 points per game, significantly shy of the 111 they averaged last season. Nailing down what’s wrong and fixing it may turn out to be a harder task than scoring consistently. ‘With the makeup of our team, (our offense) gives us a better chance to win,’ guard Jamal Crawford said. ‘We have a lot of scorers. We’re not really known for defense, even though we’re getting better. Still, scoring is what we do. That’s why we’re second in the league.’ The All-Star break has yet to arrive, and the Warriors have failed to score 100 points or more in 14 games. That happened 11 times all of last season.”
Marc Berman of the New York Post: “It’s all coming together for D’Antoni’s club. Al Harrington is back on fire since D’Antoni returned him to the starting lineup last Monday. Harrington dominated the Pacers and his gesturing toward Knicks president Donnie Walsh in the Conseco Field House seats after making a basket was one of the season’s warmest moments. Chandler returned to the bench and is out of his slump. Nate Robinson has busted through his down period. Lee is playing like an All-Star. All the pieces to the puzzle fit in place after the return of rookie Danilo Gallinari, giving D’Antoni a well-rounded nine-man rotation rather than the seven-man group they had been using. ‘Getting Gallinari back, we can rest them a little bit more,’ D’Antoni said. ‘(Chris) Duhon . . . can play a normal rotation because we have nine guys and everyone’s contributing, everybody’s playing well. We got to try to bottle it.’ One year ago, the Knicks were returning from an 0-5 West Coast trip – the season already shot with 2½ months to go. Now the season is just getting started.”
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: “The Spurs’ latest eight-game barnstorming tour of America begins tonight at Golden State. Before it is over, they will have set foot in nine NBA cities — including San Antonio — covered 10,761 air miles and played games in every U.S. time zone but their own. If history holds, they will return home for a Feb. 24 game against Dallas to a pungent post-rodeo aroma, and steeled for the season’s stretch run. In the six seasons since the cows first came home to the AT&T Center, the Spurs are a combined 35-13 on their rodeo trips. ‘We try to use the rodeo trip as a silver lining, to try to come together and realize it’s tougher on the road,’ coach Gregg Popovich said. ‘You get a little bit of a bunker mentality, a little edge. It’s a good test and a good measure of where we are and what has to be done by the time playoffs come. We look forward to that challenge.’ The Spurs typically use their rodeo trip as a springboard into the rest of their season. It is the time when roles are firmed up, schemes are fine-tuned, purpose is hardened.”
Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “Evidence of Lionel Hollins’ commitment to how the Griz play without the ball came the other day. Hollins gave the second unit the basketball and put the starters on defense in a half-court game. Points were added and deducted based on stops. The kicker? Those first-string players had to earn consecutive defensive stops in order to ignite a fast break toward the other end of the court. Otherwise, they had to keep churning away in the half court. The message? ‘We want to run,’ Hollins said, ‘but you have to get stops to run.’ Hollins is emphasizing solid, deflection-filled, turnover-generating defense. And not just every other possession. He wants the Griz to be as routinely frenetic without the basketball as they are with it. The philosophy? It’s quite simply ‘takes a mindset of helping and then the effort to recover,’ Hollins said.”
Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Many wrongly dismiss the impact coaching has on pro basketball. George Karl used to say it was more about ego management and babysitting, which is true to a degree. But Karl also liked to say that an NBA coach makes more decisions in a quarter than a college coach makes in an entire game. Part of that was self-aggrandizement, but part of it is true. Managing an NBA game is incredibly challenging. And then there’s the part about managing NBA players. A couple of Chicago radio talkers were mentioning this the other day in a conversation about Skiles, whose previous gig was with the Bulls. They were repeating the oft-told tale about Skiles’ firing on Christmas Eve of ‘07, when Skiles supposedly went to the Chicago general manager to say he could no longer manage the unmanageable collection of personalities that John Paxson had assembled. Based on the evaluation that the Bulls’ talent is better than what the Bucks are currently putting on the floor, the radio guys’ conclusion was that Chicago got rid of the wrong person.”
Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: “He’s already started one game (against Chicago on Dec.16) and seemed surprised Sunday that anyone would doubt he’s still up to being a starter in more than spot fashion. ‘It’s not surprising to me at all; I (started) two years ago in Houston,’ Howard said. ‘I can do 25-30 minutes a game. I can go 35 if you need it. An 82-game schedule? Yeah, that would take a toll on my body. But I don’t let myself go.’ That’s where the baking and bending take effect. Howard says he doesn’t go three weeks in the offseason without going back into training. And even in those three weeks off, he’s still doing high-heat yoga to maintain health and conditioning. ‘At 105 degrees, all the toxins sweat out of you,’ he said. ‘My wife thinks I’m crazy. She always says I need more rest. But I love basketball – it’s my passion. And I’d be staying in shape if I wasn’t playing anymore.’ At about 250, Howard said he weighs 3-5 pounds more now than he did when he was drafted, with a lower body fat. That lean strength is about four hours a day of training in the summer – basketball drills, weight-training and conditioning in the morning, followed by two hours of games in the afternoon.”
Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News: “I have uncovered a situation that might interest those who think Anthony, an All-Star each of the past two seasons, was shafted. As mentioned above, Anthony had missed 15 of Denver’s 46 games when the All-Star reserves were announced. So he had played in 67.4 percent of the Nuggets’ games at that time. Anthony looks like an iron man compared to Ray Allen in 2004. Allen, now with Boston and then with Seattle, had played in only 21 of 46 games at the time he was named an All-Star reserve that season. No, that’s not a misprint. Allen, who had missed the first two months of that season due to an ankle injury, had played in 45.7 percent of his team’s games at the time, and was still named an All-Star. That was Anthony’s rookie season, and the season the Nuggets completely turned around their fortunes after going 17-65 in 2002-03. Both Anthony and guard Andre Miller had All-Star hopes, but both were left home.”
Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee: “There is plenty to like about the current and future Hawes, starting with that attitude. Sure, he pouts and mumbles under his breath when he gets yanked from a game. But that’s nothing a few more benchings and scoldings won’t cure. The good thing is, he cares. He wants to win. He works hard. He works so hard before and after practice, and especially during his one-on-one duels with the ultracompetitive Jason Thompson, that the Kings probably should consider keeping paramedics on the premises. Then, as on Sunday, Hawes’ talent tantalizes. The jump hook with either hand. The three-pointers from the wings and corners. The bounce passes underneath. The hard screens that free teammates for driving layups or jumpers in the lane. The rebounds, the blocks, the dunks. The unique combination of size, length, skill, desire.”
Chris Lau of the Detroit Free Press: “Iverson averages 27.2 points for his career, but he is scoring only 17.8 for the Pistons. His number hasn’t been called as often as it was called when he played in Philly or Denver. ‘I would love to be a focal part on the offensive end,’ he said. ‘That’s where I’ve been all my career. And that’s why I play the game. That’s the type of competitor I am. In crucial situations, I want the ball in my hands. But like I’ve been saying all along: The calls they make, I trust my teammates and the coaching staff to be able to get us over the hump.’ The Pistons are 21-21 with Iverson and 25-21 overall. Asked if he thought his team could be better if he shouldered a heavier offensive load, he went in a different direction. ‘Don’t do that to me,’ he said. ‘You’re opening up a can of worms. I don’t even want to do that. I trust the way everything is going. I don’t have a choice. What I say don’t matter.’”
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “For a third consecutive season, LeBron James is leading the NBA in fourth quarter scoring, currently at 7.8 points a game. Numerous times in that span he’s led the Cavs to victories by carrying the offensive load in close games. But Mo Williams is nearly in the same category and it continues to pay dividends. In the 90-80 win over the Pistons Sunday, Williams and James combined for 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting. It was one of their better combined fourth-quarter efforts of the season but it just highlighted the trend. Williams averages 5.1 points on 48 percent shooting in the fourth quarter. The Cavs are the only team in the NBA besides the Golden State Warriors, who seem to set the curve when it comes to all offensive stats, that have more than one of the top-20 fourth-quarter scorers. It is more than just numbers. Williams’ contributions have more value because he starts the fourth with James on the bench for four or five minutes of important rest.”
Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register: “‘Pau is kind of like a silent leader on this team,’ Coach Phil Jackson said. ‘In a way his presence is very evident.’ Jackson then proceeded to tell the story of what he told his team when things began to go awry in the opening game of this trip Friday night in Minnesota: ‘Throw the ball in to Pau. He’s going to find shots for everybody on the floor. We don’t have to run anything special or get fancy with a lot of offensive executions, because he’s going to hit the cutters, he’s going to hit the open guys for shots, and he’s going to find someone.’ Gasol doesn’t have Bynum’s body or power game, but no one should mistake Bynum’s injury — even if it is a multiweek absence — as something that should cost the Lakers the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs or even the entire NBA. Gasol fits the triangle offense perfectly because he is a reader — not just of the books Jackson might give him — but of the opposing defenses. That’s what players are supposed to do in the triangle far more than standard NBA sets, and Gasol is brilliant at it.”
Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Doc Rivers huddled with his coaches Sunday morning to consider the day’s opponent and ended up evaluating Al Jefferson, the Timberwolves forward who a few hours later delivered another 34-point performance that, unless there’s an injury, still won’t get him to this month’s All-Star Game. ‘We were discussing who’s a better post player than Al, and we had zero names,’ said Rivers, who coached Jefferson during his first three NBA seasons in Boston. ‘[Tim] Duncan faces you up a lot. But just low-post, back-to-the-basket scorers? In the league, there’s just not a lot of them. ‘If you go by that criteria, you’re probably an All-Star. Not if you can’t come up with more than two or three names, and we didn’t.’ Jefferson’s scoring exhibition Sunday against a rugged defense intent on stopping him showed he’s a far more polished offensive player than the guy who left the Celtics two summers ago in that historic trade for Kevin Garnett.”
