Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: “The Suns’ Amaré Stoudemire was trying to take multiple charges. The bench turned the game with second-half defense. It may be preseason, but Brandon Roy having a 4-for-13 shooting game still is appreciated after he scorched Phoenix for 52 in December. All of it prompted one NBA scout to tell Suns coach Alvin Gentry that the Suns’ 110-104 victory Wednesday night at Portland, Ore., was the best defensive effort he had seen from Phoenix in six years. The Suns will try to give the home crowd the same feeling Friday night against Philadelphia as they gradually increase the regulars’ playing time. Although Portland’s 49 percent shooting was not ideal, the Suns are more readily embracing the defensive principles the staff has installed, particularly with rotations. The Suns had 11 steals and seven blocks, after averaging seven steals and five blocks last season. … Stoudemire blocked three shots but Gentry was excited that he was in position to take six charges in the past two games. ‘It’s phenomenal where he is now,’ Gentry said. ‘He’s so engaged in trying to do the right thing defensively and trying to help a teammate and do the right rotation. When he does get in shape, he’s going to be pretty good defensively.’”
Elliot Teaford of the Los Angeles Daily News: “At first glance, there wasn’t anything terribly wrong with Ron Artest’s line from the Lakers’ 98-92 exhibition victory Thursday night against the Sacramento Kings. He had seven points, seven rebounds and two assists. Upon further review, Lakers coach Phil Jackson found fault with Artest’s game. Artest, who signed a five-year, $34 million deal with the Lakers during the offseason, has played three exhibitions so far. He hasn’t played with the aggression that Jackson would like to see from him, however. ‘He still looks like he’s standing around watching the other guys play at times, and he’s not involved as much as I would like him to be involved,’ Jackson said after watching Artest play 26 minutes, 14 seconds against the Kings. Asked if he believed Artest was deferring too much to his teammates, Jackson said, ‘Yeah, yeah, I think he’s got to find his way in the post and do some things that asserts himself and put pressure on his teammates to get him the ball in the right spots. He’s trying to be the right guy and try to fit in and not try to crowd his way in there, but he’s got to do that. I’m going to have to force him to do it.’”
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “One of the Orlando Magic’s most important goals this preseason has been to make sure their all-star point guard has recovered fully from the torn shoulder labrum he suffered last February. The entire team plays better when Nelson, the floor leader, feels confident. Any of Nelson’s own remaining doubts have evaporated, especially now that he can hurl his across-the-body passes once again. ‘I’ve seen him in practice, and he’s not worried about his shoulder anymore,’ said Dwight Howard, one of Nelson’s closest friends on the team. ‘He just gets out there and plays. He’s not worried about anything but getting better. I think he’s 100 percent.’ Nelson has approached this preseason in his typically gritty fashion. He has boxed-out opponents. He has fallen to the floor. He has collided with teammates. And no problems. In Tuesday’s win over New Orleans, Nelson had his best overall game of this preseason, scoring 12 points and dishing out nine assists. But Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy likes one statistic in particular: Nelson’s 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in his four exhibition appearances.”
Chris Tomasson of FanHouse: “Kevin Durant made news on his Twitter page last Sunday by responding to an Oct. 9 ESPN True Hoop blog that, due to his poor plus-minus rating, Durant ‘has been killing his team.’ ‘Everybody that is doubtin’ me as a player and my team as a whole … all I can say is that we all are tryin’ and workin’ our hardest!’ Durant wrote in part, with The Daily Oklahoman having reported his full comments. ‘What more do you want? Let me be the player I am.’ News travels fast these days. Soon, Durant’s thoughts were all over the Internet. Looking back a few days later, Durant wondered if he should have held his tongue, er, keyboard. ‘I felt like I wanted to defend myself,” Durant said in an interview with FanHouse while the Thunder was in Tulsa for Wednesday’s 96-91 preseason win over Miami. ‘I’ve let a lot of stuff slide. I shouldn’t have done it. But when contributions to this team [are questioned], I got kind of offended because I’m passionate and emotional about all that stuff. I try to do everything to my best of my ability. Some people overlook that, and don’t see how hard we work every day.”’
Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle: “As much as the Warriors’ coaches and players want to pretend that Stephen Jackson’s cantankerous behavior won’t impact their season, it has already impacted their locker room. Here’s the curveball: It’s affected the locker room in a positive fashion. ‘When Jackson asked not to be a captain, I thought it was a good thing, because our young guys need to accept more leadership and it gives Monta (Ellis) more of a chance to be that guy and grow into that role,’ coach Don Nelson said. Ellis, already the face of the franchise, seemingly has finally accepted a role as the team’s mouthpiece as well. Nelson and general manager Larry Riley have consistently asked Ellis to take on a bigger leadership role. On the Warriors’ four-game swing through Southern California, the guard took a huge step toward those ends. Ellis twice during the road trip pulled the team together and preached the importance of ‘being on the same page’ before Nelson entered the locker room for his postgame address.”
Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times: “Either Griffin was being his usual humble self or he hadn’t been on the Internet all day because he seemed unaware of the compliment from Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich. ‘He’s a monster,’ Popovich told reporters after the Clippers beat the Spurs, 93-90, on Wednesday in San Antonio. ‘He deserved to be picked where he was picked, that’s for sure.’ Griffin smiled after being sufficiently reassured that monster was meant in the most complimentary way. ‘That’s cool; humbling,’ Griffin said. ‘For somebody like that . . . somebody who has coached a lot of guys. Makes me feel good.’ A day later, he was still inspired by having gone head to head against an All-Star fixture. Griffin remembered watching Duncan play in Duncan’s first year in the league. … He was respectful of Duncan but not frozen by his reputation. ‘I don’t think Blake is going to be intimidated by anybody,’ Dunleavy said. ‘I think he’s respectful and he’s just going to play his game. He’s got the confidence to know that he has a big game. He plays with a big effort so that is going to make it hard for him to have a bad game.’”
Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia News: “In his 4 years at Campbell Hall High School in North Hollywood, Calif., JRue Holiday led his team to three state titles. Following his senior season, he was listed as the No. 2 overall prospect by Rivals.com and named the Gatorade national player of the year. He played one season for Ben Howland at UCLA, starting all 35 games and averaging 8.5 points, before declaring for the NBA draft. Now he is entering a new world of his basketball life. And so far, it has been, well, rocky. ‘I think it’s early for him,’ said Lou Williams, one of the many guards ahead of Holiday on the depth chart right now. ‘He’s still kind of soaking everything in. But he’s a naturally talented player. He still competes hard. I think it’s going to take some time for him to get his feet wet. When he does, I think he’ll be a tremendous help for our team.’ For now, it’s trudging through the daily practices with the hope that playing time comes during the four remaining exhibition games. Like all employees, Holiday is looking for that chance to prove himself, to show that he can be given more of a workload.”
Jason Quick of The Oregonian: “Looking for better defense and more cohesion, Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan strongly indicated on Thursday that his starting unit from last season will remain intact as the team approaches its Oct. 27 season opener against Houston. McMillan said Sunday’s exhibition game against Denver will feature a starting lineup of Steve Blake at point guard, Brandon Roy at shooting guard, Nicolas Batum at small forward, LaMarcus Aldridge at power forward and Joel Przybilla at center. The Denver game has long been a red-letter game, the contest in which McMillan told the players he will start to implement real-game rotations and allot real-game minutes. ‘That group, they know how to play off each other,’’ McMillan said of last year’s starters. ‘We have been trying to build a rhythm this preseason, and I just feel that group knows each other.’ McMillan has experimented liberally throughout the first five games of the preseason, and the results have not been good.”
Frank Isola of the Daily News: “Mike D’Antoni will be using his fourth different lineup in four preseason games. If nothing else, it shows the coach is not convinced which combinations work best. He also wants to get a good look at first-round pick Jordan Hill. However, it is likely that Chris Duhon, Wilson Chandler, Al Harrington, David Lee and Jared Jeffries will be the starting five on opening night. Danilo Gallinari could conceivably replace either Harrington or Jeffries in the lineup but it’s hard to rationalize using Harrington, the team’s best offensive player, as a sixth man. Plus, Jeffries’ ability to defend all five positions makes him a better fit with an offense-heavy unit. ‘All his energy is very positive,’ D’Antoni said of Jeffries. ‘It’s double teams, it’s offensive rebounding and he’s 7-feet almost. What he does is invaluable for the team.’ Gallinari, Robinson, Darko Milicic and either Larry Hughes or rookie Toney Douglas will likely start the season as backups in D’Antoni’s rotation.”
Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee: “When Francisco García went down in an exercise-ball heap last Friday, the question almost immediately arose as to which Kings small forward would step up. Omri Casspi was not the consensus pick. The rookie drafted 23rd overall by the Kings in June had been the most maligned player in training camp and early in the exhibition season, with coach Paul Westphal agonizing over the mistakes that began in the Las Vegas summer league in July. But it appears Casspi is in the midst of a well-timed turnaround, as Westphal said he has seen significant improvement from the player who spent the last four seasons playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv. The Israeli’s drive to improve and willingness to listen, Westphal said, are speeding his much-needed acclimation. ‘He just keeps getting better,’ Westphal said before the Kings lost 98-92 to the Lakers at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center on Thursday. ‘He didn’t come over here to fail. He’s serious. You tell him something, and he works on it and tries to add it to his game. He’s gotten better every day.’”
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: “Spurs forward C made a lifetime’s worth of memories playing the past four seasons in Europe. Not all of them were good. There was the time in Turkey when some disorderly fans shot off flares in the middle of a game. He has been spat upon and pelted with coins from varying nations. ‘One time, I saw a pocketknife fly on the floor,’ Haislip recalled, shaking his head. ‘The fans over there are crazy.’ Through four preseason games back on U.S. soil, Haislip — a former first-round draft pick of the Milwaukee Bucks — has been reminded of one perk of playing in the NBA. ‘They’ve actually got security here,’ he said. ‘So that’s great.’ Haislip’s European escapade did more than simply prepare him for a perverse game of dodge-the-debris. To hear him tell it, it has prepared him for new life in the NBA. After four seasons overseas — two in Turkey and two in Spain — Haislip has resurfaced with the Spurs, eager to pick up where he left off before being forced across the Atlantic.”
Howard Beck of The New York Times: “The N.B.A. rule book defines a second-degree flagrant foul as ‘unnecessary and excessive contact,’ and leaves the painful details to the imagination. It is much easier to grasp after watching Shaquille O’Neal clobber Rodney Stuckey in midair. Four times. From four different angles. In slow motion. That, more or less, is the premise behind the latest feature on the league’s Web site. The video rule book (at nba.com/videorulebook), which launches Friday, brings to life more than 100 rules — from traveling to charging to illegal screens — by using video clips from N.B.A. games. It is one thing to read the definition for discontinued dribble and another to see Hornets guard Chris Paul slyly shift his left palm under the ball and push it across his body to elude a defender. ‘It’s very difficult, unless you’ve played the game at a very high level, or better yet, officiated the game at a very high level, to understand the complexity of our rules simply by reading them,’ said Stu Jackson, the N.B.A.’s executive vice president for basketball operations. The league is aware of the need to educate fans — especially now, with a staff of replacement referees on the court and the regular referees locked out over a contract dispute.”
