The Fundamentals

David Moore of The Dallas Morning News:  “The Mavericks’ normally unflappable point guard was rattled by Denver’s frenetic, trapping defense. A player who turned the ball over three times in the team’s first-round series with San Antonio now owns the Mavericks’ postseason record for most turnovers in a regulation game. ‘Well, if I was going for a triple-double, I should have stayed in and kicked it around a couple of more times,’ Kidd said. ‘I should have been more aggressive and held the ball longer instead of picking it up. When I picked it up, they swarmed me. That’s what they live for.’ The Mavericks won’t be alive much longer if they don’t protect the ball. The Nuggets forced 20 turnovers and converted those into 25 points. That played a bigger role in Denver’s Game 1 victory than the free throw discrepancy or any other injustice the Mavericks perceived. In the words of philosopher/coach George Karl, these Nuggets are aggressive physically and conceptually.”

Charley Rosen of FOXSports.com:  “Denver’s biggest hero was Chris Andersen, who single-handedly changed the complexion of the game. After Nowitzki lit up K-Mart, the Birdman was sicced on the Mavs’ go-to scorer and quickly cooled him off. Nowitzki had been riding a 6-for-6 shooting streak, but in his subsequent encounters with Andersen, he missed three jumpers and had one blocked. Indeed, one of those shots was so off-balance and awkward that it seemed for a moment that Nowitzki had sprained an ankle or wrenched his back. And from Andersen’s first appearance in the game, Nowitzki’s points were more gratuitous than critical. Sometimes he’s a woodpecker, and sometimes he’s a loon, but in Game 1, Andersen was a killer eagle. Flying high near the basket, swooping down from the sky to spear unsuspecting layups, and mercilessly gobbling up rebounds.”

Marc J. Spears of The Boston Globe:  “One Eastern Conference advance scout described the Magic as a finesse team with four shooters surrounding Howard. He added that Turkoglu and Lewis rarely post up and often leave the lane to Howard. The scout added that the Celtics could have success by single covering Howard and not leaving the perimeter shooters open. ‘To me, the key to beating Orlando is keeping them off the glass,’ the scout said. ‘Dwight leads the league in rebounding, but, as a team, they’re one of the worst in the league. If Dwight isn’t getting the rebounds, you can, because Rashard and Hedo aren’t physical. Don’t double-team [Howard]. That’s why they don’t run plays for him. They get on [coach] Stan Van Gundy because he has no plays for Dwight, but he gets scoring off the fast break, rebounds, and slashing down the lane. But he’s not dominant in the post like Moses Malone.’”

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel:  “The Orlando Magic have talked about winning a championship for years and years now. Well, if they’re serious this season about finally claiming their first title, what better way to do it than to go through the storied franchise that has won 17 of them? That’s why many Magic players gathered over at Dwight Howard’s house Saturday night to root on the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series with the Chicago Bulls. ‘I was hoping Boston would win — a lot of us were,’ J.J. Redick admits. ‘It’s not an arrogant thing, but you want the challenge of beating the best. And they are the best.’ Adds Rashard Lewis: ‘It’s just the whole aura and atmosphere of playing the Boston Celtics. That name inspires you to bring your A-game.’”

Israel Gutierrez of the Miami Herald:  “Is it fair to evaluate an entire team and its future potential based on one Game 7 performance in what was a schizophrenic playoff series? Probably not. But this is what happens when a season ends in sudden disappointment. And it becomes a little bit more reasonable when that final act encapsulated the Heat season fairly well. At its best, the Heat is a one-man show so good it can defeat even the most complete of teams. At its worst, the Heat is a one-man show so full of holes that even the one man can look overwhelmed by the responsibility. In a seven-game series against the Hawks, the latter showed up once more than the former. So the numbers show this is what the Heat, as currently constructed, really is.”

Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:  “‘When we had exit meetings last season, he told me ‘Coach, I’m going to come back in the best shape,’‘ Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. ‘He said, ‘I just didn’t have a chance to do it when I was traded to you because I missed veterans camp.’ He was probably the most in-shape player in veterans camp. He’s had a stellar season so far.’ What a difference a healthy year makes. Bibby missed just two games this year. One was due to a sprained left foot, the other to the flu. ‘I just feel better,’ Bibby said. ‘I’m in shape. I went through a whole year without injury. Last year I hurt my thumb. Then my first game here [following a trade from Sacramento] I hurt my foot. Now I’m healthy and more confident.’ More than his health, it’s been Bibby’s leadership — on and off the court — that has mattered most to the Hawks. ‘From training camp through the playoffs he has been leading us,’ Hawks captain Joe Johnson said. ‘He keeps everybody in the right spots on the floor. But not only that, off the court he always gets us together. We go out to eat, hang out and he brings that camaraderie. He’s a great teammate.’”

Buck Harvey of the San Antonio News-Express:  “France has always had a love-hate with Parker, and the split is attributable to his half-American, half-Euro heritage. The love is as obvious as his advertisements in the Metro. When the Spurs trained in France in 2006, the Parisian newspapers called the excitement around him ‘Le Parkermania.’ The hate is less clear. Maybe because of his NBA life, they see someone not like them. With his games played in the middle of the night in Europe, they hear more about his success than they see it. Parker has tried to mend this. He went to Singapore in 2005 with the French delegation in an attempt to land the 2012 Olympics. Still, he’s seen as a product of America. He’s in Los Angeles now, living a Hollywood life. Is the only thing French about him the language? The best way to change this: lead an underachieving French team to some respectability.”

J.A. Adande of ESPN.com:  “If Bynum can stay in the game along with Pau Gasol, the Lakers will have a front-line height advantage that’s even more noticeable now that Dikembe Mutombo is done. When Yao is out, the Rockets send in 6-foot-9 Carl Landry or 6-foot-5 Chuck Hayes. That gets back to the importance of Yao. He can’t afford to get in foul trouble. But it’s not just about matching up. His team needs production from him. Yao was the Rockets’ leading scorer in the regular season but has led the team in scoring in only two of six playoff games so far. He missed the 2008 playoffs with an injury. In the 2007 playoffs, he averaged 25 points and 10 rebounds but lost a critical rebound battle to Utah’s Carlos Boozer in the final 90 seconds of Game 7. The best have to be at their best in the playoffs. You’ve seen superstars carry teams through series; it’s rare to see a team carry a superstar who is having a sequence of bad games. A team takes on the personality of its best player. The problem for Yao and the Rockets is their best player isn’t one of the best in crunch time.”

Mike Kurylo of Knickerblogger:  “Falk suggests the owners will push for a hard cap and shorter contracts. And I hope they win, because the soft cap/guaranteed contract is bad for the league and its fans. Imagine if player deals were only guaranteed for the first 3 years. Almost instantly the Knicks could have jettisoned any unwanted players and reshape their team in a single offseason. On his first day Donnie Walsh could have cut Stephon Marbury, Zach Randolph, Eddy Curry, Jerome James, Jamal Crawford, and Malik Rose. With the players cut from other teams, Walsh could have had a wider berth of players to chose from when building the 2009 roster. Unfortunately the current cap rules forced Walsh to stick with these undesirable players and allowed him to trade them only for matching salaries (and in Eddy Curry’s case – not at all). It’s easy to see why this would benefit teams and their fans. Bad franchises would be able to fix their mistakes quicker, which means fans wouldn’t have to wait years for the hometown squad to turn things around. And since winning correlates to ticket sales more than anything else, it means the owners would see more money in their pockets.”

Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer:  “You can take almost any 18-year-old male from whatever you may consider as the ‘ideal’ family, hand him more than $100 million — and it seems like it would be a recipe for a disaster on many fronts. Would the player be driven to win and improve his game? Would he be able to stay out of trouble off the court? How can the 18-year-old not turn into one of the biggest spoiled brats in the Western Hemisphere — especially as the Akron native would be playing with his hometown pro team where every ‘friend’ and ‘relative’ can try to squeeze favors out of him. Somehow, James has managed to avoid that. Somehow, James has usually come across as a mature 30-something in his news conferences with the Cavs. Somehow, he usually dresses with class in public, usually says the right thing, rarely losing patience with even the dumbest questions. Somehow, he didn’t fall apart with his hometown team, as many players have over the years.”