Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post: “Next time you’re tempted to call Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony immature or question his credentials as a winner, please remember this: He never quit on Denver, never begged out, never walked away from a job undone. In fact, at age 24, Melo has led the team to 50 victories in back-to-back seasons for the first time in its NBA history. ‘One thing that has become overwhelmingly obvious is: Carmelo wants to be loved,’ Nuggets vice president of player personnel Rex Chapman said Saturday. ‘I’ve got no doubt: He cares about winning, and he wants to be great.’ Hard to believe that less than a year ago Anthony was the subject of trade rumors, unsure if Denver coach George Karl believed in him. A lesser man or more temperamental diva might have thrown a hissy fit, demanded to be traded and refused to answer his cellphone until news of a deal was done and all ties with Colorado were broken.”
Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: “Kevin Garnett recently passed Larry Bird in one particularly alarming category. With 42,625 career minutes (regular season and playoffs combined), Garnett has now logged more NBA playing time than Bird, who, before injuries ended his career at age 35, had played 41,329 minutes. This included the almost inconceivable sum of 6,886 playoff minutes. Though Garnett started younger, his time has been more evenly spaced. He has played in only one NBA Finals series, while reaching the conference finals twice. Bird spent most of his career going deep, and admittedly paid the price physically. That’s why Garnett’s minutes total and the current deterioration in health has caught the Indiana general manager’s attention.”
Alan Hahn of Newsday: “Bosh, like James, spoke candidly about the possibility of New York as a destination. ‘It’s always an attractive place,’ he said. ‘Madison Square Garden is one of the special places for basketball. Just the city alone is attractive to a lot of players. It’s a tourist spot. There are a lot of things the city has to offer.’ Bosh, a key member of the gold medal-winning Redeem Team at the Beijing Olympics, has plenty to offer the Knicks, who need an athletic big man who can rebound, block shots and score both in the post and on the perimeter. Bosh would be a good fit for D’Antoni’s system, which Team USA utilized at the Olympics. Bosh, in fact, called D’Antoni ‘an offensive genius.’ The Knicks – who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday – could attempt to trade for Bosh this summer if the Raptors decide to entertain offers for his $15.7-million salary next season. David Lee could be dangled as a key piece of such an offer, but as a restricted free agent, Lee cannot be dealt until July 9.”
David Zizzo of The Oklahoman: “After a grueling road trip in his regular job, basketball player Desmond Mason knows how to handle stress: He spreads his emotions on the floor. ‘I usually destroy my garage doing it,’ Mason said. It’s just one way the 6-foot-5 guard/forward for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder carries out his other passion — creating works of art. He does most of his paintings on the floor, he said. Mason, who majored in studio art at Oklahoma State University, wields a pretty mean brush. About 50 of his works were on display at a private sale Saturday to benefit Allied Arts and White Field, an organization that cares for abused and neglected boys. ‘To me, abstract art is all about feelings,’ Mason said. ‘It’s all about past history, things that are going through your mind, how you feel that day.’ On a cool evening, for instance, he might listen to B.B. King (he always paints to music), drink a glass of wine and come up with a piece representing the night sky.”
Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: “The Thunder’s best three players are genuinely buddies, sharing a close bond that has guided them through the storm of this inaugural season and will serve as the backbone on which franchise success could be formed in the years to come.‘Nobody is jealous of the other, and everybody just kind of gets along,’ said Westbrook, the rookie guard out of UCLA. ‘That makes it a lot better for us regardless if we’re losing or we’re winning.’ That chemistry proved invaluable during the first two months of the season, when the Thunder started 3-29 and appeared on the path to breaking the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers’ record (9-73) for the worst in league history. ‘The thing that I’ve enjoyed is during the times that the winning was not there early on they hung together,’ said coach Scott Brooks. ‘They understood that it’s going to take extra effort, extra togetherness. And they did that.’”
Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star: “A career high in points. An All-Star appearance. Is the league’s Most Improved Player award next for Indiana Pacers forward Danny Granger? A case could be made for the Pacers’ $60 million player. ‘I should be in the running, but I’m sure I’ll get looked over,’ Granger said. ‘They’ll probably give it to somebody else.’ The Pacers media relations staff plans to help Granger win the award. The Pacers, who would be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss tonight at Oklahoma City, plan to send a letter from team president Larry Bird to media members who vote for the award explaining why Granger should be considered.”
Bud Shaw of The Plain Dealer: “The common theme in the losses has been opposition points in the paint. The Lakers outscored the Cavs, 62-24, there at The Q. The Celtics beat them up, 58-22, in Boston, a number matched by the Wizards just three nights ago. Orlando has held a smaller yet decisive advantage, too. This happens when your best answer to penetration is the charge and not the blocked shot. It’s not a problem that only shows up against the best opponents or in losses — Utah had 62 points in the paint and Atlanta 58 in games won by the Cavaliers. But the margin of error is clearly narrower against the teams the Cavaliers will likely need to beat to win a conference title and a NBA championship. Mike Brown is at his best in the playoffs because of the defensive adjustments he makes as the opponent grows more familiar to him. So this deficiency is not necessarily fatal. But it’s too dangerous to blow off with excuses such as the Cavs not having Zydrunas Ilgauskas against L.A. the first time or being tired against Orlando Friday. It goes well beyond that.”
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “‘I am concerned where we are defensively,’ Brown said. ‘Teams are scoring easy against us and that is something we have to correct as a team, starting with me.’ Right now, the biggest issue is opponents being able to drive the ball inside off the dribble. When that happens the Cavs’ help-and-recover system breaks down. The guards share blame there with Mo Williams, Delonte West and James all losing their edge recently. But the team’s big men are equal partners. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is lagging defensively now and getting scored over regularly. Anderson Varejao hasn’t taken a charge in several games and Joe Smith has repeatedly allowed himself to get in poor position under the basket. ‘We have not been able to contain the dribble drive and it has hurt our overall defense,’ Brown said. ‘You’re going to lose some games, you are going to lose two or three or four in a row. [But] there’s a way that you lose games, and we should be embarrassed with the way that we played.’”
Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: “Coach George Karl, who changed the defensive culture during training camp, feels the Nuggets have been consistently aggressive on pick-and-rolls, as opposed to following the ball and passes like a dog walker. ‘I really think we play better when we’re the active, aggressive, involved team, rather than a laid-back, droned-up team,’ Karl said. ‘With 82 games, it’s hard to be that way all the time. And I think the talents of our team, especially our big guys, is to play that way. A lot of teams don’t have the ability to play that way.’ Power forward Kenyon Martin, as he is in most defensive facets, is vital to the Nuggets’ success against the pick-and-roll. In the victory at New Orleans in late March, Martin rattled all-star forward David West, who gets a lot of his shots on the elbows due to the pick-and-roll penetration of fellow all-star Chris Paul. But that night, Martin was brilliant at deciding when to smother West and when to pick up Paul. As Billups said — ‘The key is communication and knowledge.’”
Don Seeholzer of the Pioneer Press: “Since announcing their season-ticket plan a month ago, the Timberwolves have tried enticing fans with everything from a three-day Las Vegas vacation to invitations to team practices to having players hand-deliver renewal kits. In the current economic climate, David Carter, principal of the Sports Business Group in Los Angeles, said such measures are both prudent and necessary. ‘It’s mandatory right now to be creative and responsive to what the fans are going through,’ he said. ‘The more teams treat these fans like they are partners, like they’re part of the process as opposed to the way sports have treated everyday fans for a very long time, the better. What we are seeing, I think, is the re-embracing of the everyday fan.’ The Timberwolves say they get that. Always a tough sell, the Wolves recognized years ago that they had to get creative to survive, which is why they were one of the first NBA teams to establish a fan relations department.”
Frank Isola of the Daily News: “Have you ever seen a Knicks player who craves attention more than Nate Robinson? The only guy that comes close is Chris Childs, who tried to dress like Charles Oakley and loved to cast himself as the unquestioned vocal leader of the team. On Easter Sunday 12 years ago, Childs showed up in the hotel lobby in Orlando wearing the same orange shirt and tie as Oakley, who was so upset that he went back to his room to change. Childs also had a habit of implying that his conversation with a certain teammate may have been the reason why said teammate had a good game. For example, if Allan Houston scored 30 points in a Knicks win you could count on Childs saying, ‘I talked to Allan yesterday and I told him you just have to play your game. I’ll get you the ball and when you’re open, shoot it.’ But let’s also say this about Childs; he was as tough as nails and a huge contributor to the great Knicks team in the late ’90s. The jury is still out to whether Robinson can ever be a contributing player on a team that goes 41-41 much less a team that reaches the NBA Finals. He is, however, a dream come true for the marketing department.”
