Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times: “In the end, the Lakers not only lost their poise, but their fans, the supposedly most passionate group in Los Angeles literally running for the exits in the final minutes, making it an embarrassing night for everyone. On a day when Kobe Bryant lost the Most Valuable Player award to LeBron James, the trendy fans even abandoned him at the foul line, with only a smattering of MVP chants, nothing louder than the final buzzer boos. ‘We’ll be fine,’ assured Bryant afterward, even though Shane Battier made sure he was not. ‘Derek (Fisher) and I have been in this situation before, losing Game 1 … it will be interesting to see how we progress.’ Interesting because while the Lakers have indeed been in this situation 11 times since Fisher and Bryant arrived in the summer of 1996, they haven’t always handled it so well. Only twice have they lost the first game and come back to win the series.”
Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com: “Houston’s defensive strategy induced an ugly 32 point effort from Kobe Bryant, if such a thing is possible. ‘We did a great job with team defense tonight,’ Rockets forward Shane Battier said. ‘Every time [Bryant] came off the pick and roll, we had a guy there.’ Thanks to the preparation of both the coaching staff and the roster, Houston’s defense was able to anticipate the Lakers’ offensive action, and prevent Bryant from penetrating into the paint. Bryant took 26 jumpers Monday night, draining nine. He drove to the basket only seven times, resulting in four field goals, and five free throw attempts. How do you explain that 26:7 ratio for a player as explosive as Bryant? ‘Overall we did a very good job of making a wall,’ Battier said. ‘That third guy in the pick-and-roll was there a lot better than in games past.’”
Dave McMenamin of NBA.com: “Brooks, still draped in his towel from a postgame shower, approached Yao. The big man was icing his feet at his locker, and Brooks didn’t wait to get dressed before relaying his concern. ‘Don’t play around like that, I was nervous,’ Brooks said. ‘I was trying to say I was fine, it just hurt,’ Yao explained. ‘Next time put your hand up and let us know that … You took so damn long to get up.’ Yao laughed and nodded before becoming serious again as Brooks readied himself to speak to reporters: ‘By the way, great hustle when you dove to the floor for that ball.’ Brooks looked Yao in the eyes, solemnly accepted the compliment and two minutes later started answering postgame questions. A lot of words are written about the camaraderie in Cleveland, the brotherhood in Boston and the let’s-make-up-for-last-season sentiment in L.A., but what about the fellowship shared by the team in Houston?”
Marc J. Spears of The Boston Globe: “Considering the grind of that tough series, physical and mental rest was a must Sunday. ‘I tried to get a lot of rest and a lot of water in my system and just go from there,’ Perkins said. ‘The main thing is, we didn’t have a practice to get your mind set and ready. You couldn’t watch as much film as you possibly can.’ The Celtics had only one day to prepare for Orlando; scouting books were left in the players’ cars Saturday, before they had eliminated the Bulls. So they basically entered Game 1 last night with a ‘Cliffs Notes’ scouting report in hand and a lengthy shootaround to prepare. Perkins said a lack of focus was the result. ‘We weren’t locked in, focused from the shootaround from the time we walked into the building,’ Perkins said. ‘There was a lot of laughing. There was a lot of joking around before the game. We weren’t really locked in. That’s what happens.’”
Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Orlando Magic were straddling the final moments of Game 1 against the Boston Celtics, only seconds away from being portrayed as the victim of a great comeback or an enabler of a colossal collapse. Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy certainly wasn’t on the fence about how he felt the outcome should be written, broadcasted, analyzed or Twittered. The Magic took the first step — albeit a shaky one — toward dethroning the NBA champs with a 95-90 victory Monday night at TD Banknorth Garden. Van Gundy’s team might have lost almost all of a 28-point third-quarter lead, but it didn’t lose the series opener, even if Magic fans needed heart defibrillators. ‘You guys get into, ‘Oh, what a great comeback.’ How about the fact we were up by 28? We play these games to win, and that’s it. We won,’ Van Gundy said, rather defiantly. ‘Right now, the series is 1-nothing.’”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “This was a mere prelude of what’s to come in this series, the beggar’s purse before the wedding feast. If the Magic get past the Celtics — and despite their panicky play with a huge lead, they’ve taken a big step by erasing Boston’s home-court advantage — they will do so by understanding what it takes to put a team away in the playoffs. And it will all begin and end with the two guys who were wrestling for that loose ball. ‘We’ve just got to be strong with the ball,’ Alston was saying in the Orlando locker room. ‘This game is about runs, and we knew they were going to make a run. We don’t like the way we responded to it. We let the lead get all the way down to single digits. We’ve got to do a better job of holding onto the ball and understanding the game — which has it going, which doesn’t have it going, and getting the ball to Dwight when teams are making runs.’ Correct me if I’m wrong, but all of those things are the job of the point guard.”
Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post: “Denver fully expected this battle with Dallas to get down and dirty. In the minutes before tipoff of Game 1, Nuggets executive Mark Warkentien and team adviser Bret Bearup sat together eating brunch at the Pepsi Center. ‘What’s the over/under on suspensions in this series?’ Warkentien wondered. ‘Two,’ replied Bearup, who figured the penalties could arise from the same altercation. He reached the conclusion because the Mavericks understand playoff intensity and the Nuggets don’t take guff from anybody. This is not to suggest Denver entered this series looking to instigate trouble. But everybody knows the reputation of the Mavericks. Turn up the heat and they sweat. Push ‘em and they fold. In 2006, Dallas collapsed after taking a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals against Miami. A year later, the Mavericks won 67 times during the regular season only to come undone in the first round against Golden State.”
David Moore of The Dallas Morning News: “Denver hasn’t lost a game at the Pepsi Center since March 11. Its average margin of victory this postseason is 22.5 points. Yet the suspicion remains that if someone can step up and challenge Denver, if an opponent can force the Nuggets to play from behind in a series, their athletic gifts won’t flow as freely. One thing we don’t know about Denver in the 2009 playoffs is how it will handle adversity. Karl chuckles at the thesis. You think the Nuggets haven’t faced adversity? This is the first time in the last 15 years that Denver has advanced to the second round. This nucleus – minus Chauncey Billups – had gone down five consecutive years in the first round without winning more than one game.”
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “The Cavs outscored the Hawks by a combined 37 points in the first quarter in their three victories. In the single loss, they were outscored by seven in the first quarter. The two wins at The Q saw the Cavs jump out to leads of 14 and 16 points, respectively. ‘I don’t know what it is why we get off to the bad starts up there,’ Hawks forward Josh Smith said Monday. ‘If we come out being more aggressive and attacking the basket, we’ll give ourselves a chance to shoot some more free throws and maybe get into a rhythm as opposed to just coming out and settling for jump shots.’ Which is exactly what the Cavs want to avoid. The Hawks averaged less than 90 points a game against the Heat and a third of their points came from offensive rebounds and fast-break points. So as the Cavs look to harness their emotion early in games, they also are focusing on trying to control the tempo.”
Bernie Wilson of the Associated Press: “Jeremy Tyler is being home-schooled and will graduate early, his father said. ’He has a chance to grow up,’ James Tyler said. ‘He has a chance to see things he probably would never see. I mean, at 7 feet, 260, and you’ve got the talent Jeremy’s got, I’m pretty sure your resume is set to go play basketball, either in this country or somewhere else. He’s not going to be your doctor, he’s not going to be your lawyer.’ He’s got a supporter in Hall of Famer and fellow San Diegan Bill Walton. ’What are his options?’ Walton told The Associated Press. ‘The idea that there is one career path to accomplish your goals and dreams in life is absurd.’ Walton is all for college, having played for John Wooden at UCLA. His four sons all played college basketball and graduated, including Luke, who plays for the Jeremy Tyler’s favorite team, the Los Angeles Lakers. But Walton said this is a different situation, and he admires and respects Tyler’s decision.”
Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: “Since we entered the new millennium, only one player has won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award, then earned a championship ring. Tim Duncan’s second NBA Finals MVP trophy meant more to him on June 15, 2003 than his second regular-season MVP award, which he had received six weeks prior. If LeBron James, anointed Monday as this season’s MVP, matches Duncan’s double-MVP feat next month, he’s probably going to emulate Duncan in another significant way next summer. Then, look for him to re-sign with the Cavaliers after he becomes a free agent.”
Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer: “Instead of receiving his first MVP award in a glitzy studio, he stood in a gym built in 1950 where the walls are cement blocks painted in green and white. The side baskets have old, square wooden backboards. The seats are long, wooden bleachers. As Barbara Wood listened Monday, the school’s librarian remembered how a young James would walk into the library and sit on her desk to talk. They’d Google his name on the computer, how there were only a few mentions at first — then thousands. She thought of how she corrected his grammar: ‘There is no such thing as fiddy cent. It’s fifty cents … with an S. It’s more than one S.’ She fought back the tears as he spoke with such poise, usually keeping the syntax and sentence structure together. ‘He didn’t have it easy growing up,’ said Wood. ‘But he wanted a better life for himself and his family.’”
Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger: “So he was just about wrapping up his MVP Award ceremony at his old high school gym in Akron Monday, when some killjoy from the press corps asked him whether the success of his mission this spring — winning the title that some of us regard as inevitable — will mean that he’ll skedaddle next summer, forever leaving the good citizens of Ohio in some gloom-induced state of catatonia. You know what came next: The guy asked the question and the silence in the room was suddenly replaced by jagged sounds of aggravation and disapproval. Tut-tut, The King had a ready response. ‘A mission is not starting and ending in six years or seven years,’ James said, in what sounded like his only rehearsed remarks of the afternoon. It’s a long journey. It doesn’t mean just basketball. ‘It’s a mission in life to become a better man, better basketball player, better role model, better father, teammate, friend — everything you can think of. So to answer your question, my mission won’t be done.’ Ah, the artful dodge.”
