Patrick McManamon of the Akron Beacon Journal: “The Magic’s roster is filled with shooters — the Magic take an average of 27.5 3-pointers per game, second highest in the league, and they make 38 percent of them, also among the best in the league. If this sounds like a bad matchup for the Cavs, it is. But the Magic have not patented anything with the Cavs. They are a bad matchup for everyone in the league. Their 49 wins include the best road record in the East. Included are wins at Boston, Los Angeles (Lakers), San Antonio, Portland, Dallas and Utah. The Magic started the game having beaten the Cavs seven of nine times, three in a row overall and three in a row in Cleveland. Every one of those stats illustrate why this game mattered to the Cavs. It wasn’t a must win in the strictest sense, but it was a helpful win for the Cavs psyche — for their own frame of mind and as they look at the Magic. The last thing a team needs as it starts a playoff series is an element of doubt — no matter how small.”
Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: “Gasol has proved his manhood plenty of time this season and again Tuesday night, when he got his right pinky finger banged badly late in the first quarter, but cast aside the restrictive tape job and later the protective sleeve and went on to shoot 9 for 12 from the field. Then he was led to the X-ray machine after the game. This overuse of Gasol is a conundrum for Jackson, who is used to Shaquille O’Neal getting tired and building swimming pools of sweat on the court under his non-moving body. Bynum has been like clockwork, always getting tired and declining in production after eight-minute stretches. But Jackson doesn’t believe Gasol shows any real dropoff when he’s fatigued, and that dichotomy creates enormous temptation just to keep playing him. And both Jackson and Gasol are, frankly, a little frightened they are flirting with disaster. ‘I’ve been playing over 40 minutes for a while now since Andrew’s been down, and so far I’m holding up OK,’ Gasol said. Then he took a deep breath, the kind you take when you are tired or nervous … or both.”
Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: “Kevin Garnett will play this weekend if he is deemed healthy enough to do so, but Doc Rivers has trepidations. The Celtics forward has been out nearly four weeks with a strained right knee, and Rivers is concerned about just throwing him back into the fire. ‘The problem for me is that he may get clearance at the end of the week, but we won’t have a practice,’ said Rivers, who will give the Celts tomorrow off after playing back-to-back games. ‘And that’s going to be very difficult for me to play him, even though obviously we need to play him in those games. But right now someone’s going to have to convince me how that’s good.’ The Celtics have a weekend back-to-back beginning Friday in San Antonio and moving to Memphis. ‘That’ll be difficult for me to put him on the floor in either one of those games,’ Rivers said. ‘I know I won’t play him in both of those games even if he comes back. And unless the shootaround is better than I expect Friday morning, I don’t know how we play a guy that hasn’t played in four weeks.’”
Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: “Westbrook helped the Thunder to a 109-98 overtime win in the first meeting between the two teams, finishing with 14 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Rose scored 16 points with six assists and three rebounds. Could a season sweep of Rose’s Bulls help Westbrook sway some votes? ‘I don’t think so,’ said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. ‘I don’t think you can judge a Rookie of the Year on two games. … For an individual award like the Rookie of the Year, it wouldn’t be fair if whoever votes let it rest on those two games.’ If team success is the barometer — which it wasn’t last year when eventual winner Kevin Durant’s Seattle Sonics finished 17 wins shy of Al Horford’s Atlanta Hawks — Rose holds the edge. The Bulls had 11 more wins than the Thunder before Tuesday night’s game against Boston and sat in a virtual tie with Milwaukee for the Eastern Conference’s eighth playoff seed. Chicago’s team success is why Westbrook admittedly thinks he hasn’t done enough to inch ahead of Rose and others in the race.”
Chris Perkins of the Palm Beach Post: “The Heat’s last two games, against Utah and Philadelphia, might have been the best indicators yet for how Miami plans to use center Jermaine O’Neal. Early in both games, coach Erik Spoelstra had his team pound the ball down low and let his 6-foot-11, six-time All-Star go to work. Late in the games, Spoelstra put O’Neal on the block and All-Star guard Dwyane Wade near the free-throw line and had them play a two-man game. ‘That makes the defense have to guard one of the two – pick your poison,’ O’Neal said. ‘And now that I’m starting to get a rhythm, and starting to get comfortable with the offense, it makes it very, very difficult to guard that.’ O’Neal’s last two games – 28 points against Utah, 20 against Philadelphia – were his best since he made his Heat debut a month ago. O’Neal, rarely utilized in this fashion in his first 12 games with Miami, hadn’t hit the 20-point mark until last weekend. ‘The vision when he came here was to have that 1-2 punch,’ Wade said.”
John Reid of The Times-Picayune: “New Orleans is 9-3 since his return. However, he has not played of late with the spark that led to his having three double-doubles in his first seven games back — when he averaged 9.9 points and 10.1 rebounds — and during the Hornets’ current two-game losing streak, Chandler has averaged four points and eight rebounds. ‘My ankle is banged up, but I’m going to continue to try and play through it, ‘ Chandler said. ‘But it’s definitely affecting me, because a lot of the stuff I get comes from energy and hustle, and I don’t feel like I’m able to do that.’ Chandler and Hornets Coach Byron Scott said Chandler’s sprained left ankle, which forced him to miss 14 consecutive games in January and February, has not fully healed. And with the Hornets’ bench continuing to play ineffectively, Scott does not appear to have many options. However, he said if Chandler’s ankle continues to affect his mobility and performance, he would consider playing him fewer minutes, opting to use reserve Sean Marks. Chandler is likely to play in the 37-minute range again tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Arena, a game Scott said is a must-win with 16 remaining in the regular season.”
Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Before speaking for publication, Scott Skiles wanted to preface his thought. ‘The people in this city have been very supportive and kind to me,’ he said Tuesday. Uh-oh. With a setup like that, what usually follows isn’t good. But this was. All the Milwaukee Bucks coach wanted to say was that he appreciated the compliments he gets at the gas stations and in the stores when fans come up to say thanks for the strong effort, thanks for hanging in there with what you’ve got, just thanks. But then Skiles thinks to himself: We’re 31-38. ‘The bar can’t be that low,’ he said. ‘I’m proud that these guys have been winning with the injuries, but it has to be kept in perspective.’ It doesn’t matter to Skiles that the Bucks have been playing without two starters for the longest time. Doesn’t matter that their record would qualify them for the playoffs if the season ended today. All he sees are the games that got away and the mandate to win, no matter the circumstances.”
Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post: “Lately, playing the right way has involved simplification. The Nuggets have gone back to the basics on defense where things got so complicated and muddled, players were doing the wrong things much more often than anything right. ‘We started off doing one thing during training camp and then when we play against certain teams, we’d change it up, switching this guy, switching that guy,’ Carter said. ‘So we’re kind of going to the basics of what got us to a lot of wins early. Simplifying everything and making sure everybody is held accountable. We wasn’t that aggressive, but now we’re a lot more aggressive when we went back to our main things.’ Also helping the Nuggets has been a turn in the schedule. The Nuggets not only faced three teams under .500, they played those teams without their stars. Oklahoma City played the Nuggets without Kevin Durant. The Los Angeles Clippers played without Zach Randolph. New Jersey played without Devin Harris.”
Brian Windhorst of the Plain Dealer: “Mike Brown has a brand new swear jar, of sorts. The Cavaliers head coach, self-assessing that he’s been complaining to officials too much and picking up technicals at an unsavory rate, has put himself under a self-imposed ban complete with a self-imposed fine. He’s vowed not to pick up another technical foul this season or otherwise he’ll turn over an undisclosed sum to his team to use at their discretion. ‘I’ve committed to a large sum of money that I’ll let my team have,’ Brown said. ‘I want the team to understand that we control our own destiny on the floor and off the floor.’ Brown said he feels like he’s gotten more technical fouls this season than the last two years combined. That isn’t true, but he’s already been thrown out of two games after getting tossed just once in his first three seasons as coach. After picking up three technicals on last week’s road trip and getting ejected last Friday in Sacramento, Brown has six technicals on the season, which ranks him 12th among coaches.”
Marc Berman of the New York Post: “Gallinari first injured his back in early July while training for the summer-league. Eight months later, the pain was still there. And one Jersey chiropractor and diehard Knick fan told me a couple of weeks ago he was concerned enough to offer his advice to Dr. Lisa Callahan about alternative treatments. ‘It’s got to mean something more than a simple disc bulge,” Jersey City chiropractor David Sylvester told me the day after Gallinari posted his career high of 17 points vs. the Hawks. ‘That can’t be the complete diagnosis. ‘I would fear it’s degenerative,” he added. ‘That it’s more than one disc involved. If so, he could have chronic lower back problems for his career. A 19, 20-year-old with a disc problem should heal a lot faster than a 32-year-old.’ If he has a degenerative disc disease – as it’s called – Gallinari could be plagued with this his entire career. At best, he may never fulfill his All-Star potential – Donnie Walsh compared him to Larry Bird the other day. At worst, his career is shortened.”
Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: “Acknowledging some concern about Tim Duncan’s play since the Spurs All-Star missed three games with a sore right knee, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich forced his two-time Most Valuable Player to skip Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at AT&T Center. ‘He doesn’t love it,’ Popovich said about an hour before tipoff of the Spurs’ 93-86 victory, ‘but I just think it’s important for him to be fresh and healthy for the end of the season. I think one way to do it is to limit the number of back-to-backs you play in down the stretch. That’s what I’m doing.’ Kurt Thomas started in Duncan’s power forward slot and turned in a solid game, getting 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. The Spurs only have two sets of back-to-back games remaining this season, March 24-25 (vs. Golden State, at home, and in Atlanta) and April 7-8 (in Oklahoma City and at home, vs. Portland). Popovich did not commit to holding Duncan out of one game in those sets, saying he would weigh each of them as it approached. Asked if he was concerned that Duncan’s inconsistent play since returning from his three games out with tendonosis indicated ongoing knee problems, Popovich said, ‘it’s gone through my head.”
Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: “Some of the most important work for the Raptors in the remaining days of a lost season won’t come during games, it will come on off days and it involves chairs, pylons and, at times, a massage therapist. The continuing education of rookie point guard Roko Ukic, who at times has shown promise and at times struggled this season, goes on unabated because he’s one of the few young players whose game needs developing in the remaining 15 games. So the post-practice drill unfolds almost daily. One day, Ukic was dribbling around a chair at the top of the key, cutting close to make sure he would use a screen correctly in a game. The next he’s working on his jump shot, painstakingly firing up one-hander after one-hander, working on making sure his off-hand doesn’t guide the ball too much, as it did early in the season. And he’s got all kinds of help at his disposal. It’s assistant coach Mike Evans working with him one day, Alex English the next and Gord Herbert another. Sometimes it’s two of them, sometimes all three. Sometimes they enlist massage therapist Ray Chow to pretend he’s a defender.”
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “If ever there was a game when Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was going to give Dwyane Wade the day off, Sunday probably was it, after Wade scored 50 points in 52 minutes in Saturday’s triple-overtime victory over visiting Utah. Instead, Wade was back on the court, struggling through 34 lethargic minutes in a loss at Philadelphia. For now, Wade’s goal remains to play in all 82 games for the first time in his six-year career. And whatever Wade wants, the Heat makes every effort to make sure Wade gets it. So instead, Wade watched from the side as his teammates went through a grueling practice Tuesday at Emerson College in preparation for tonight’s nationally televised game against the Celtics. ‘I know it’s important for him, considering where he’s been the last two years, when he wasn’t healthy. He wants to play all 82,’ Spoelstra said. ‘He’s really gotten his body ready for the battle of 82 games.”
Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee: “I don’t want to say this is a new and improved Joe Maloof. True, he has two new knees. But when approached Friday during the Kings-Cavaliers game while he was half-leaning, half-sitting on a stool near the east baseline, the uptick in attitude was a stunner. I asked myself, ‘Who is this guy? Where’s he been? What hath he been sipping?’ Though not fully recovered from double knee replacement surgery, the Kings’ co-owner was gesturing, pointing, laughing, frowning. He was engaged, funny, upbeat, an older version of the wealthy bachelor who charmed the community and presided over one of the league’s most entertaining franchises. I had more questions and wanted more answers, he wanted to watch the game, so we continued the conversation Tuesday. He was shockingly positive then, too. It was as if he finally – and honestly and truly – believes he can spin his image around by being attentive, being here, and dropping those ticket prices.”
Steve Aschburner of CNNSI.com: “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the fourth of his six MVPs with the 40-42 Lakers in 1975-76, which at least represented a 10-game improvement for L.A. — and a 31-game swing in the standings overall, if you include Milwaukee’s swoon from 59 victories to 38 in the Bucks’ first season after trading Abdul-Jabbar. As supreme as Kareem was, his case was helped by the lack of any obvious competitors for the award. Golden State, at 59-23, posted the NBA’s best record but had no individual in the top 10 in scoring or rebounding (Rick Barry averaged 21.0 points, 11th best). The only other team to win more than 49 games that season was Boston and the Celtics had no one among the league’s top 20 scorers. Curiously, the reigning MVP — Bob McAdoo won it in 1975 — led the NBA in scoring for a second-straight season. But his Buffalo club slipped from 49-33 to 46-36 and his scoring averaged dipped from 34.5 to 31.1 and that, apparently, was enough to cost him. It’s worth noting, too, that through the 1979-80 season, the MVP award was determined by a vote of NBA players; the media took over in 1980-81. That might explain a shift away from any informal ‘Player of the Year’ aspect, giving more weight to the individual than his team’s results, toward the various stabs at assessing each candidate’s “value” in wins and losses.”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “If you had Sean Williams in your “NBA player most likely to be arrested next” pool — and after all, why wouldn’t you? — then consider yourself a winner. Williams isn’t winning anything these days, except the systematic destruction of his basketball career. He’s not the first, and certainly won’t be the last, but somehow the sadness never ends with stories like this. The latest wrong-place, wrong-time, no-brain moment for Williams came Monday in suburban Denver, where the New Jersey Nets forward/center/knucklehead got into an altercation with a cell phone store clerk and allegedly threw a computer monitor. (Who among us hasn’t wanted to do that? Just not somebody else’s monitor.) Police charged Williams, 22, with felony criminal mischief and misdemeanor disorderly conduct, saying Williams caused about $1,300 in damage. The damage that the 17th overall pick in 2007 has inflicted on himself is incalculable. The Nets have tried everything — demoting him to the D-League, where he was almost suspended, and then welcoming him back with open arms. First-round picks get second, third, even fourth chances in the NBA, but Williams’ chances are running out alarmingly fast.”
