Brian Windhorst of The Cleveland Plain Dealer: “At least for the short term, get used to seeing the Cavaliers twin 7-footer look of Shaquille O’Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas on the floor together. After barely using it in the preseason, coach Mike Brown is committed to experimenting with the look most nights. His tentative pregame minute sheet has a four-minute slot to play them together in each game, though it may change depending on the opponent. It’s an interesting decision for Brown to plan on giving such a test drive, as that combination seemed like it would only be used in rare instances. ‘I envision that happening a lot with those guys on the floor, but it is going to be a little bit of time before I’m comfortable with it,’ Brown said before Wednesday’s game in Toronto. ‘That’s my plan.’ After playing together for a total of just three minutes together in the preseason, Brown played Ilgauskas and O’Neal seven straight minutes in the season opener. ‘It looked pretty good. It was a little iffy at first because you look at our transition and how they get up and down the floor, but they did a good job,’ LeBron James said. ‘It was positive and I didn’t think we would go to it as much.’ Count James among the surprised.”
Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: “Soaring so high that he should have served peanuts, Carmelo Anthony cocked back his right arm, like he was about to throw a knockout punch. In a way, he did. In Wednesday night’s fourth quarter at the Pepsi Center, Melo unleashed a vicious tomahawk dunk over Utah’s Paul Millsap, a heart-pumping slam that caused the Denver star to beat his own heart with his fist. The Nuggets won their season opener 114-105. That dunk (with the ensuing free throw due to Millsap’s foul) gave the Nuggets a 99-88 lead, deflating the once-peppy Jazz. Anthony had the distinction of leading the NBA in preseason scoring (23.6 points per game), but more important, he scored effectively and efficiently, maximizing his minutes (averaging 24.1). Would this translate to a dominant regular season? Yes, for one night, anyway. Anthony played like it was the 2009 playoffs, dribbling with a swagger, shooting with daggers, finishing with a game-high 30 points, 11-of-22 shooting, eight rebounds and five assists. ‘It was a statement game for me, letting the team know it’s serious business from me,’ he said.”
Michael Lee of the Washington Post: “Before the season opener in Dallas, Arenas said Coach Flip Saunders told him not to let the ‘outside world’ dictate how he should play. With Saunders’s offense placing the ball in his hands and forcing him to make decisions, Arenas deftly balanced his duties as a distributor and scorer. He committed just three turnovers and shot 10 of 21 from the floor. Arenas noticed that the Mavericks were ‘weak’ on pick-and-roll defense and exploited it to his advantage, first by setting up Brendan Haywood for three easy dunks, and next by penetrating into the lane for driving baskets — runners off the glass and winding, whirling shots in traffic. He missed 9 of 15 shots from beyond 15 feet, but after hitting two shots from just inside the three-point line late in the second quarter, he backpedaled and cocksurely shook his head at Dallas’s Jose Barea. ‘There is no question that Gil brings that swagger,’ Saunders said. Andray Blatche was second in scoring with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting, but he said he couldn’t take all the credit for how he played. ‘Honestly, it all starts with having Gil back. Gilbert, he just draws so much attention, I’m always going to be open because he sucks everybody in.’”
Ramona Shelbourne of the Los Angeles Daily News: “Blake Griffin’s injury didn’t come out of thin air, as other accursed Clippers injuries have in the past: see Marques Johnson’s neck, the knees of Norm Nixon, Derek Smith, Danny Manning and Shaun Livingston; Elton Brand’s Achilles and Baron Davis’ thumb. It has been bothering Griffin since before training camp, when he banged knees with teammate Craig Smith. After 10 days, Griffin convinced himself and the Clippers’ training staff he was good to go when in reality he was just good enough to play, but still probably just 70 or 80 percent. It’s easy to understand why he would play through the pain. As the No. 1 overall pick, with a dogged work ethic and a sublime game, Griffin was eager to get on the court and develop a Which he did exceptionally well in the preseason until Friday when he landed a little awkwardly on his still-a-bit-sore knee after slamming home a thunderous dunk in the third quarter of the Clippers’ exhibition finale against the New Orleans Hornets. The club initially said it wasn’t sure the injuries were related, but after speaking with Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy, there could be little doubt they were. ‘He needs to be more honest with his body and with our medical personnel,’ Dunleavy said. ‘He’s a warrior. He’s trying to go out there and play hurt.’”
Marcus Thompson of The Oakland Tribune: “Warriors swingman Stephen Jackson said he knew it was coming. The boos. ‘Fans are so predictable about that,’ he said. ‘Any time you say you want to leave, that’s going to happen. I was prepared for it. They can do it all they want. I’m going to go out there and play hard for the fans that do support me.’ They booed him when he was announced with the starting lineups. For the first few minutes, they booed when he had the ball in his hands. They booed him when he clanked a 3-pointer. He was cheered, too. They cheered when he found Andris Biedrins under the basket for a lay-up in the first quarter. They cheered when he nailed back-to-back 3-pointers in the second. They cheered after he made a hook shot in the third. He finished with 17 points, four assists, four rebounds and two turnovers in 35 minutes. Jackson said earlier he’s feeling the best he’s felt in about five years. He has no pain since having season-ending surgery on his left big toe March 31. He also has the added motivation of impressing potential suitors.”
Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express News: “Opening night can be deceiving, but last season’s wasn’t. Then, the Spurs lost their first opener in the Duncan era, in a tight game to Phoenix, and they continued to play tight games. Considering the injuries, as well as limited personnel, some Spurs coaches were amazed they won the division. But all of it was a grind. In the Spurs’ best years, their point differential was close to 10, and last year’s was 3.8. That’s a small margin for a team that won 54 games. So Wednesday night showed the change, and Gregg Popovich emerged from the locker room and quickly noted that. ‘We didn’t have to play our main guys 35 or 40 minutes,’ he said. But even as he said this, there was another issue. Exactly who are the ‘main guys?’ Told what Mason had said, Manu Ginobili smiled. Ginobili also began his response with considerable diplomacy. Arguing the second team is better, he said, would be ‘a little disrespectful to our All-Stars.’ Ginobili followed that, however, as if he had been talking to Mason. ‘But I think we could compete,’ he said.”
Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times: “The Bulls should be better this season. Derrick Rose has been though a full 82-game cycle, knows what to expect and is poised to take that next step toward superstardom. Luol Deng has recovered from the most mysterious stress fracture in medical history and has something to prove. Joakim Noah turned a corner late last season. This should be the season Tyrus Thomas makes the consistent contribution that everybody has been waiting for. Even Del Negro should be better prepared to prod the potential out of this team than he was before his rookie season. There are a list of reasons why these Bulls should be new and at least somewhat improved. Chemistry, according to Rose, ranks high among them. ‘Everybody is liking each other,’ he said. ‘We rarely argue, and if we do argue, we make sure we take care of it right then and there so it doesn’t grow bigger. We like each other. That’s one thing. We’ve got a lot of good guys on the team. We don’t have any attitude problems. That’s the mark of a good team.’”
Greg Stoda of the Palm Beach Post: “Now, for sure, the 20-year-old Beasley is a better player than is the 29-year-old Haslem, even given the younger man’s defensive deficiencies. Beasley, quite simply, can be the offensive force Haslem isn’t, and the Heat is going to need him to complement Dwyane Wade when it comes to scoring with some sort of consistency. Beasley, though, has been an off-the-court worry too often for the Heat’s taste. At the start of his second professional season, he already has a reputation as something of a problem child. He is an effervescent personality, and can be delightfully entertaining in the proper setting. But it’d be of great benefit to the Heat should Beasley manage to tone down his act. To that end, Beasley could do worse than to emulate Haslem, who has been and is again a team captain. But can he do such a thing? Will he mature? Is it possible Haslem was challenging Beasley when he gave him a certain piece of advice? ‘Just be me,’ Beasley said. ‘He tells me every day: ‘Don’t let anybody change who you are.’ Like last year, I cut my hair, because nobody liked it. He told me to grow my hair back out. Udonis just wants me to be myself. No matter what it is, no matter what I do, no matter where I end up in life. He wants me to be me.’”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “Someone mentioned misunderstood NBA players on Wednesday, and the name Rasheed Wallace came up. But to me, Vince Carter is right up there. The game has always come so effortlessly to him that those who don’t know him come away with a negative impression. Especially those in Toronto, where Carter began his career and then demanded to be traded. He was sent to New Jersey, and you know the rest. Or if you don’t, you can follow along with Carter over the next few days. After his debut with the Magic — who are 9-0 in the Carter era, if you count preseason — it’s ‘this is your life’ time. Orlando plays at New Jersey on Friday night and at Toronto on Sunday. ‘It doesn’t always work out like this, as you know,’ Carter said. ‘You’re not always fortunate enough to get traded to your hometown and to a team like this. Sometimes you get traded to a bad situation. I’m thankful, and that’s why I’m trying to take advantage of it.’ Carter received a text message from Nets president Rod Thorn on Tuesday, wishing him luck — ‘but not against us,’ the text read, and you could just hear Thorn’s trade mark ‘teee-heee-HEEE!’ as he typed that. Thorn knows the real Carter, knows that he was a better teammate than outsiders understood, a tougher hombre than anyone imagined, and a good guy, too. ‘He’s not a good person,’ said Sixers president Ed Stefanski, who was Thorn’s right-hand man in New Jersey when Carter was there. ‘He’s a great person.’”
Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press: “Ninety minutes before his Timberwolves coaching debut, coach Kurt Rambis looked as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He was calm and smiling and fresh as a daisy. I considered discreetly taking a picture of him with my cell phone. In a couple of months, I could show it to him and we could marvel at life in a simpler time. Of course, by then I’ll have to talk him off the ledge to show him the photo. Oh, I’ve seen that serene look before on opening nights. Dwane Casey, Randy Wittman, even Kevin McHale looked all powdered and unsullied before the first game. They were convinced they had a perfect grasp on the situation. Then reality set in. Game by game, little pieces of their heart got ripped away. By January or so they all qualified for starring roles in ‘Night of the Living Dead.’ ‘I like challenges,’ Rambis noted. He has come to the right place. On Wednesday, the Wolves put Rambis through the wringer. Against one of the few teams they probably should beat, the New Jersey Nets, the locals spent most of the second half trailing by double digits. It felt right, like a comfortable pair of jeans. Their defense was awful. They had a mere five assists at the half. And as for their new team slogan, ‘United We Run!’ perhaps they were referring to their noses during flu season.”
George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel: “He took in all the frantic energy from his seat caddy-corner to the Orlando Magic bench Wednesday night: The pregame pyrotechnics, the screaming fans and rock anthems from Queen and Phil Collins. At 83, Rich DeVos still stands strong, despite the cane he uses to get around. It marks the resilience of a man who needed someone else’s heart to stay alive. The transplant took place on June 2, 1997. Every day since then has been a gift. There is an unspoken sense of purpose for the Magic as they begin another chase for the championship. To a man, from the executives in suits to the guys in baggy shorts sweating it out in the paint, they want to win one for the patriarch of this organization. … ‘Mr. D,’ as some in the organization call him, may seem a little out of place in the NBA. Hip-hop, tattoos, and bouncy cheerleaders have never been part of his family-friendly Amway vision. He and Mark Cuban are hardly blood brothers. Cuban starts his day on the Internet surfing Twitter. DeVos and his wife Helen begin their day with devotionals to their four children and 16 grandchildren, praying for them by name. Then there’s his extended family. He invited the whole team to dinner Monday night at his Palm Beach mansion. Coaches and front-office types, too. It’s a yearly tradition, where everybody can sit down casually, relax, and not say a word about basketball. There’s dinner, ping pong and billiards between the players and his grandchildren. Mr. D tells them about the importance of faith and family, stresses on personal conduct, and doles out advice. He tells stars like Dwight Howard to save a million dollars every year for 10 years, and then watch what interest can do to that stash of money.”
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “As soon as Mikhail Prokhorov reached agreement on the $700 million purchase price for the New Jersey Nets, sources say his emissaries were relentless in securing something they believed to be of the highest importance for the Russian billionaire: a sit-down with Jay-Z. It is rare that an owner with such a small controlling interest in a franchise could inspire such dogged pursuit, but Jay-Z is no silent partner with the Nets. Immediately, insiders understood Prokhorov’s plans to woo Jay-Z pushed far beyond the music mogul’s global celebrity and Brooklyn roots. This was part of the Russian’s ambition to become intimately involved in the summer of 2010 and the most valued free agent in professional sports history: LeBron James. As the Nets floundered with legal red tape and financial issues that threatened the proposed Brooklyn arena, the threat of Jay-Z and a flashy new building would come and go over the years. Now, it could be a far more real threat than the blah New York Knicks and historic Madison Square Garden. Suddenly, the Russian’s staggering $9.5 billion fortune and alluring charisma threaten to transform the fledging Nets into a fully loaded weapon again. ‘Prokhorov and his people know that the way to LeBron is through Jay-Z,’ one high-level source connected to the Russians and Nets said. ‘From the start, that’s right where they’ve wanted to go.’”
(AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Frank Gunn)
