Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post: “Saunders is a bright, engaging man, a guy you like to see walking into the room. But that’s where my reservations begin, not about Saunders, but about the situation he’s walking into. See, one of the things players often said about Saunders, in Detroit and Minnesota, was that he’s a “players coach.” Nobody’s going to confuse Saunders with being heavy-handed, or authoritarian, which is fine for most of the Wizards. You think Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler need rigorous structure? No, they don’t. A lot of people can coach Jamison and Butler. But there’s somebody else playing for the Wizards, somebody making $111 million, who it seems to me needs a tougher nut in the corner office, somebody cut from the cloth of Pat Riley or Gregg Popovich . . . somebody who makes Gilbert Arenas think occasionally, “Damn, he’s crazier than I am.” Arenas, it seems to me, needs a coach who’s more hands-on, somebody not only willing to take him on behind closed doors (or publicly, if necessary) but a man who’s eager to do it, a coach with a deep bag of mind games and a bit devious himself. That, from what we’ve seen, isn’t Saunders.”
John DeShazier of The Times-Picayune: “‘Coach is going to go with the guys that want to be productive and play hard,’ West said Sunday, after playing center most of the second half. So, perhaps, we’re going to have to get used to the mini-Hornets — 6-foot-9 West playing some center, 6-8 James Posey lining up at power forward, 6-10 Peja Stojakovic and 6-7 Rasual Butler swinging between the small forward and shooting guard and Chris Paul at the point, with 6-8 Julian Wright sprinkled in to play some minutes in the post. Sure, New Orleans would love for Armstrong to play to his potential a little more often than once every four or five games, for Ely to be consistent during his spot duty. It’s a credit to Marks as much as an indictment of Armstrong and Ely that Marks, from whom little was expected this season, has been the best and most dependable player among the three. But the Hornets still need more from the center position, and if Chandler isn’t around to give it, and the other three aren’t able, then West might be the preferable option, depending on the time and opponent.”
Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post: “He and George Karl aren’t the best of buddies, and they probably never will be. But when Smith signed a 3-year, $16.5 million guaranteed contract last summer, it became evident the two had better learn to at least be business partners. The contract showed the organization’s commitment to a player it hopes grows into an all-star. Letting Karl go wasn’t even in the discussion when the Nuggets reviewed the team after being swept in the first round of last season’s playoffs by the Lakers. Neither is going anywhere. And yes, they have made progress. There was pretty much no communication between the two early in the season, but over the course of the season that has changed for the better. The two aren’t exactly chatty, but a mutual respect is growing as Karl trusts Smith’s game more and Smith trusts his relationship more with the coach.”
George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal: “‘We haven’t had to play our guys huge minutes going down the stretch, so you do have to feel good about that,’ he said. ‘Guys have gone out and when they’ve been on the floor, they’ve tried to take care of business the right way — which is defensively.’ Of particular focus is LeBron James, who started Tuesday night at Canseco Fieldhouse. James has been able to sit out 13 fourth quarters for the season, a nice situation to have considering his participation in last year’s Summer Olympics. ‘It adds up to much-needed rest going into the postseason, especially with the schedule he has in the summertime,’ Brown said. ‘It’s a terrific thing to be able to sit him down and know that whoever is on the floor is going to go out and get the job done.’ Indeed, it’s almost better to sit James if the Cavs win tonight than run the risk of injury. But not so fast, because circumstance presents Brown with another dilemma. With a win Wednesday, the Cavs will tie the 1985-86 Boston Celtics for the best home record in a season in NBA history at 40-1.”
Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: “In the wake of Saturday’s loss to a seven-man Golden State team, Sloan opted against making any lineup changes for Monday’s game against the Clippers. ‘I could look at a lot of people and change everybody, but this is kind of who we are to a certain extent,’ Sloan said. ‘The way I see it and when I talk with the coaches, that’s pretty much in agreement.’ Sloan said he had been nothing but honest in saying he expected Carlos Boozer to struggle in his return from knee surgery, much as Deron Williams did after returning from a sprained ankle. But Sloan was asked why the Jazz have had seemingly less chemistry at full strength than they did playing through injuries earlier this season. His comments suggested that he felt he had no choice but to play Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko. ‘What do we do? Sit them down and not play them at all?’ Sloan said.”
Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: “The Lakers are mum on who they prefer, though they went 3-0 against Dallas, 3-1 against New Orleans and 1-1 against Utah this season. Jackson typically says he would rather play the team that is closest to Los Angeles to cut down on travel time, but he wouldn’t even say that much Monday. ‘It’s always nice in the Western Conference to have short trips, but you certainly don’t want to name an opponent as someone you have a preference for,’ he said. ‘I think all the teams in the West are capable of winning their first-round playoff games against their opponents.’ Jackson said Utah matches up fairly well with the Lakers, mentioning Mehmet Okur versus Pau Gasol, Deron Williams versus Fisher and physical power forwards Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap versus the Lakers’ front line. He also suggested that lanky forward Andrei Kirilenko can occasionally cause problems if he guards Kobe Bryant.”
Howard Beck of The New York Times: “‘He’s a great kid that works hard, and I really think he has a chance’ to become a star, D’Antoni said. ‘That will depend on him and his work that he puts in the summertime.’ The encouraging news on that front is that Chandler plans to spend the off-season in New York working with the coaching staff. His top priorities are improved ball-handling skills and shooting. Chandler has converted just 43.3 percent of his field-goal attempts and 33 percent of his 3-point attempts this season. Chandler’s energy sometimes wanes, particularly in transition. Although he is a willing passer, he sometimes forgets to look for teammates before making a move with the ball. But he has proved to be coachable, almost to a fault. ‘You tell him something and you can see he goes right on the floor and tries to incorporate it in his game,’ D’Antoni said. ‘We have to be real careful about telling him something, because he’ll literally do what we tell him.’”
Marc J. Spears of The Boston Globe: “The big question mark for the Celtics is: How healthy will Garnett be in the postseason? They seem optimistic that Garnett will be close to his old self. He should be aided by having extra days off during the playoffs, no back-to-back games, and long television timeouts. Davis, Powe, and Mikki Moore can also reduce Garnett’s minutes with solid play off the bench. And even if Garnett isn’t 100 percent, Pierce says his focus and presence alone have a positive impact on the team’s play. Asked if he were confident that Garnett would be a positive factor in the postseason, Pierce said, ‘I’m very confident. I’m confident that even if KG’s not 100 percent, [he'll contribute] just by his presence on the floor.’ There are many valid reasons why the odds are against the Celtics repeating. But the champs haven’t lost their swagger in the least. They believe they will have the last laugh. ‘I don’t think, even without us healthy, that anyone can beat us four times,’ Rondo said.”
Marc Berman of the New York Post: “‘Doc wants me to be a ball-mover,’ Marbury added. ‘I just run the team, get shots for guys who are supposed to get shots and my shot will come. I score when you gotta score, when nobody’s scoring.’ Marbury said that, after being dissed by D’Antoni, Rivers has been a godsend. ‘He’s unbelievable, breathtaking, he’s a real man,’ Marbury said. ‘He tells you right in the face as soon as it happens. There ain’t no bull.’ Marbury also tweaked D’Antoni’s lack of priority on defense. ‘Night and day,’ Marbury said of the emphasis on defense between the coaching staffs. ‘When you preach defense – and you look it up, preach means delivering a message – that’s what you perform up to. When you preach defense, [it] wins championships. You don’t even think about it. It’s something you just do.’”
Kerry Eggers of The Portland Tribune: “Since 2006, Pritchard has heisted a draft pick from Boston to get Brandon Roy, suckered Chicago to get up to No. 2 to take LaMarcus Aldridge, used Allen’s wallet to buy the rights to Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Rodriguez from Phoenix (think the Suns could use that pair next season?) and made the right decision by taking Greg Oden over Kevin Durant at No. 1. Pritchard even acquired a $3 million trade exception from Sacramento in exchange for a player not even in Portland’s rotation – Ike Diogu – and that exception probably will be used at the trade deadline next season. Perhaps most important, Pritchard resisted temptation and stood pat when an awful lot of pundits thought he should move Raef LaFrentz’s expiring contract at the trade deadline to add a veteran. It was the right decision, and the Blazers have developed chemistry and grown together the second half of the season as they prepare for what could be an extended playoff run.”
Brad G. Faye of Suns.com: “While speaking with the media before the game, O’Neal caught something out of the corner of his eye. Although it was only for a second, Lopez – sitting in his locker while watching tape of Phoenix’s last meeting with Memphis – placed his game jersey on backwards. The big man out of Stanford caught the accident so quickly it easily could have gone unnoticed. The Big Cactus, however, was not about to let that happen. ‘Hey Robin, did you just put your jersey on backwards?’ With all eyes now on him instead of O’Neal, Lopez immediately turned red and tried to dismiss his blunder. ‘You went to Stanford, Robin. You can’t be putting on your jersey backwards.’ Embarrassed at being called out in front of several members of the media, Lopez may actually want to look into the backwards jersey as a new pregame tradition. He would later enjoy perhaps his most efficient effort as a pro.”
Mike Barrett of Blazers.com: “The Trail Blazers have now won 9 of their last 10 games, and are peaking at exactly the right time. There aren’t a lot of teams in this league who can say that. Portland is also now a staggering 25 games over .500. They have the most wins since the 1999-2000 team won 59. Yes, that’s the team that lost to the Lakers in seven games in the Western Conference Finals. Other than that team, you have to go all the way back to the 1991-92 team, which won 57 games, and lost in the NBA Finals to the Chicago Bulls in six games. We mentioned this on the TV broadcast in this game, but this simply isn’t supposed to be happening this quickly. This is the youngest playing rotation in the NBA, and as we’ve said countless times, historically, youth doesn’t win in this league. Not a team that’s still learning to play together, learning to mesh, and learning how to win. Not a team that has three rookies in its regular rotation, and a team that’s two stars are just in their third seasons. Sorry, it just doesn’t happen.”
Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “Magic GM Otis Smith admires Howard’s efforts to bring home a gold medal from the Summer Olympics. But he’s also happy that his all-star center’s commitment each summer for the past three years has ended. ‘He’ll be able to work on his game this whole summer as opposed to playing for Team USA,’ Smith said. ‘It was good for him and they did a good job with him, but it’s not the same as being able to work on specific things you need to work on.’ Smith said that Howard, 23, still doesn’t quite understand how good he can be. ‘I tell him that in two years he’s going to be scary, absolutely scary, and he just kind of nods. It’s kind of the same expression I get from my kids when I talk to them,’ Smith said, laughing.”
RaptorBlog: “By this point, it should be obvious to even casual Raptors observers that Bosh is not the caliber of player to lead a championship team. Even if Bosh would agree to re-sign with the Raptors, he simply isn’t worth one-third of the cap space on a team where he is expected to be the best player. A team like the Magic can apparently get away with overpaying a guy like Rashard Lewis because he plays next to Dwight Howard. Unfortunately for Raptors fans, Dwight Howard is not walking through that Raptors dressing room door anytime soon. It’s almost become fashionable for fans to hate on Bosh during this disappointing season. While he remains an excellent offensive player, his rebounding and defence are average, at best, and it’s unlikely those attributes are going to improve significantly at this stage in his career. With Player Efficiency Ratings of 22.2, 23.8, 22.6 and 23.2 over the past four seasons, it seems as though Chris Bosh is about as good now as he’s likely ever going to be — and if you expect him to be the leader of a true contender, that’s just not good enough.”
