Jerry Crowe of the Los Angeles Times: “The disappointment cut so deep, Jerry Colangelo remembers, that he left his office, jumped into his car and drove aimlessly around Phoenix for hours, ‘just trying to shake it.’ Richard Bloch, at home in Beverly Hills, says he muttered into the phone something like, ‘That’s terrible,’ and hung up. Forty years ago this week, on March 19, 1969, the Phoenix Suns suffered a defeat so damaging that it probably cost them at least one NBA championship and possibly more. They lost a coin flip with the Milwaukee Bucks for the right to take Lew Alcindor with the No. 1 pick in the draft. They called heads. In New York, then-NBA Commissioner J. Walter Kennedy tossed a 1964 Kennedy half-dollar into the air with his right hand, caught it in the same hand and turned it onto the back of his left. ‘The coin has come up tails,’ he announced to representatives of the two teams listening in on a conference call. Pandemonium in Milwaukee. Dejection in the desert.”
David Friedman of Pro Basketball News: “It is embarrassing for a team with as much talent as Phoenix has to miss the playoffs. Two-time MVP (2005-06) Steve Nash is still productive, 2000 MVP — and 2009 All-Star Game co-MVP — Shaquille O’Neal seemingly has been drinking from the Fountain of Youth, Jason Richardson averaged at least 21.7 ppg in three of the previous four seasons, and 2007 Sixth Man Award winner Leandro Barbosa provides scoring punch off of the bench. Also, seven-time All-Star Grant Hill is still a solid player who is good enough defensively that he often defends point guards while Nash is assigned to slower-footed players. An eye injury has sidelined four-time All-Star Amare Stoudemire for the rest of the season but the Suns were hardly tearing up the league in the 53 games he played before he got hurt. During ABC’s telecast of Boston’s 128-108 win in Phoenix, Jeff Van Gundy hammered home points two and three, declaring that Nash, Hill and Stoudemire’s refusal to buy into Porter’s defensive-oriented approach and give their new coach a reasonable chance to succeed will forever be a ‘blight’ on their resumes.”
Ryan McNeill of Hoops Addict: “The team is now an impressive 6-2 in Iverson’s absence and the team has started to gel. Not only that, but the players feel like they’ve gotten back to the style of play which saw the team win the Central Division the previous four seasons. One of the recurring themes both Richard Hamilton and Antonio McDyess talked about following their win on Friday is the need for the team to remember why they had success in the past in order to have success going forward this season. In their minds, this means sharing the ball and trusting everyone on the court to take and make open looks. This isn’t a knock on Iverson per se, more of a case of the Pistons enjoying success in the past because they worked like a well-oiled machine. For that to happen once again, players need to work as one unit, not a collection of talented players battling opponents as well as their own egos. ‘When you are playing you always feel as though guys have deficiencies, but I’m a strong believer that when you’re open you get the ball,’ Hamilton explained to the media. ‘Regardless of if you’re a rookie, second or third year player, you just have to trust your teammates.’”
Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: “We chronicled it before, but the Jazz have beaten only two teams (Philadelphia and Detroit) all season on the road who came into Sunday with winning records. Now the Jazz still have seven games left on the road against winning teams to close the regular season. The Jazz also are 3-13 in the second game of back-to-back sets, with five more sets of back-to-backs still remaining. After the game, I asked Williams whether there was time left to correct what have been fatal flaws to the Jazz’s season. ‘We’ve got a lot of road games, so there’s always time to turn it around,’ Williams said. ‘I thought we played good against Atlanta, except for the last couple minutes, played really good against Miami except for a minute and then the last overtime. Those are two games we should’ve had, we just let slip away. It’s kind of tough to swallow. We’ve just got to get back on the winning track.’ One more road loss, by the way, will guarantee the Jazz a losing road record for the season. It’s something that’s been coming for a long time, but still will be worth noting given the emphasis the Jazz put on improving their road fortunes back in training camp.”
Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star: “Some of you probably look at the standings and think the Pacers still have a chance at making the playoffs because they’re only 2 1/2 games out of the last playoff spot. Don’t kid yourself. Grab the nearest white towel in your house, ball it up and throw it in the middle of the floor as a sign of giving up. The Pacers are done (sorry Keauhou). There’s no excuse to go up to Toronto and get embarrassed by a Raptors team that was on a seven-game losing streak. A loss like that would be understandable if they were playing Cleveland, Boston, the Lakers or Orlando. We’re talking about Toronto, though. You would have thought the Raptors were the ones trying to get the eighth seed the way they smacked the Pacers around both ends of the court. The Pacers played like they were already on summer vacation.”
Fred Kerber of the New York Post: “Playoffs or lottery? The debate is as old as Stonehenge – the Druids probably had many lively debates over a pint of mead. Do you go for the playoffs and a likely first round wipeout or aim for the lottery and a shot at a top level pick? To the Nets ‘ brass, there is no discussion. ‘It is always important to get in the playoffs, in particular for the young guys,’ said team president Rod Thorn, ‘to show them this is what it’s about. The games are tougher, more hard-nosed, competitive. That’s why you want them playing all these meaningful games now. ‘A lot of teams, they give up. And then it becomes easy to give up later.’ Coach Lawrence Frank sums up his feelings in one word: Atlanta. Every coach wants to win but fans get enamored with the possibility of again drafting first and picking Kenyon Martin, especially when the best the Nets realistically can gain is the eighth spot. And that means Boston or Cleveland and likely quick extinction. Forget the finances of a couple home playoff games. The lure of landing up in the lottery is powerfully tempting.”
Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: “The coach hopes his players will strategically attack offensive rebounds more often, notably players coming from the perimeter, who have a better view of the rebound. The Nuggets are 16th in the NBA in offensive rebounding, and recently, Renaldo Balkman has kept that number from plummeting. In the past four games he played, he had five of the 17 offensive rebounds against the Clippers, eight of 15 against the Thunder, three of 16 against the Kings and six of 13 against the Jazz. ‘He’s getting underneath the defense a lot and gets a lot of offensive rebounds and extra possessions,’ Karl said of Balkman, who will likely start if Kenyon Martin (back, questionable) doesn’t play. Once Martin gets healthy, Karl will have to decide whether to keep the same rotation (which basically didn’t include Balkman) or shave some of Chris Andersen’s minutes to give Balkman some playing time here and there. Karl has said he isn’t a fan of giving players spurts during games. He prefers giving a smaller number of players enough minutes so the player can find a comfort zone on the court.”
Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: “Allen still blames his departure on former Bucks coach George Karl, who favored the deal that sent Allen to the SuperSonics and brought veteran point guard Gary Payton and young forward Desmond Mason to Milwaukee. Payton played 28 regular-season games and six playoff contests with the Bucks and quickly left town as a free agent, only to be booed mercilessly whenever he returned to Milwaukee on an opposing team. When Allen was introduced before the Bucks’ 86-77 victory over the Celtics on Sunday, he received a rousing ovation from the near-sellout Bradley Center crowd. He scored just eight points on 2-of-11 shooting and failed to make a three-point shot in five attempts. ‘That’s what I planned on; that’s what I had hoped,’ Allen said of staying in Milwaukee. ‘I was looking at building and trying to create something great. I always modeled my career after what Brett Favre did in Green Bay; they won a Super Bowl. I didn’t feel I needed to be in a big market to achieve greatness or even to win a championship. It was all about trying to create a mentality of having a dynasty here. We started doing that. I think we were one or two players away from doing that.’”
Jeff Eisenberg of The Press-Enterprise: “The soonest Bynum believes he could return is the first week of April, though he cautioned that the team has a more cautious estimate of when he’ll be able to play again. ‘I’m hoping two to three more weeks, but they said it could go four to five,’ Bynum said. ‘In a couple weeks, hopefully I’ll be able to participate with the team a little more in practice, and a week after that hopefully I’ll be in game shape.’ The initial prognosis after Bynum tore his medial collateral ligament was that he could be sidelined from eight to 12 weeks, putting his return somewhere between March 30 and April 30. Bynum has worked hard to meet or exceed that timetable, working out daily with athletic trainer Sean Zarzana. Bynum said he has experienced no aggravation or swelling since he began running on the treadmill Tuesday. The only pain he still experiences is from lateral movement, especially when he pushes off his right leg.”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “The last two weeks of March are sacred ground in basketball for those who prefer the ‘amateur’ variety. But if you want the whole truth, what really intrigues me more than all of this is what will transpire over the next two weeks between the Lakers and Cavaliers in the battle for the best record in the NBA. As we sit here today, L.A. and Cleveland are dead-even with 16 games left (53-13). Should they meet in the NBA Finals, chances are home court will be decided between now and March 31. With a 98-93 victory over the Knicks Sunday, the Cavs embarked on a crucial two-week stretch in which they’ll play eight of nine games at home, where they have the best record in the league at 29-1. The Lakers opened a three-game homestand Sunday with a 107-100 victory over Dallas. Starting Saturday at Chicago, the Lakers will play seven straight on the road over a 10-day period. After the Bulls, they’ll visit Oklahoma City, Detroit, New Jersey, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Milwaukee. The Cavs are finished playing out West (until a potential Finals trip), having swept the Clippers, Suns, and Kings on their final long trip of the regular season. What does it all mean? While the Lakers are packing their bags and heading East one more time, the Cavs need to do what they’ve been doing all season — keep winning at home.”
