ESPN NBA

• Isn't it time for James Harden to get his own shoe? And should it be modeled on this?
• Video of the 9-0 run that sealed Game 2 for the Thunder.
• John Hollinger argues that R.C. Buford should have been Executive of the Year (Insider). The trade Buford made with Larry Bird (who won the award) that sent George Hill to Indy for Kawhi Leonard is just one example of Buford's unappreciated brilliance: "That's a solid move for Indy, and for the chunk of the league's GMs that just throw stuff at the wall and hope something sticks, that's about as deeply as they saw it. But for San Antonio, I don't think people realize what a spectacularly good trade this was. Not just because it gave the Spurs a defender at the 3 who proved better than people expected, but because of the cap ramifications. Leonard is on a rookie contract and will make $1.8 million, $1.9 million and $2.9 million in the coming three seasons; Hill, meanwhile, will re-sign a somewhere between $5 and $7 million a pop as a restricted free agent. Over the next three seasons the Spurs will save about $12 million as a result of making this trade, without losing anything on the court."
• Meanwhile, ClipperBlog's Charlie Widdoes doesn't understand why Clippers GM Neil Olshey didn't win EOY: "The Clippers made a bigger improvement this year than the Pacers, and no one can question that they did so because they got Chris Paul. When you get a player of that caliber and the move works as planned, history says you get rewarded with the Executive of the Year award. It doesn’t matter how it happened, when LeBron James signed with the Heat, Pat Riley won the Executive of the Year award. In my mind, when you get Chris Paul, every other executive has to top that."
• Even after Duncan retires, the Spurs will be good for as long as Gregg Popovich and his system are in place.
• The Celtics clamped down on their pick-and-roll defense in Game 3.
• Chris Bosh's absence puts a strain on LeBron James, and reveals just how terrible the Heat's top role players have been.
• Do fans in Indiana have the swag to pull this off?

• Mike Meister, founder and head coach at the Thunder Sports Institute, e-mails a question some stat geek may be able to address: "Looking at how the Thunder made their comeback reinforces what I teach my teams: Players love to practice halfcourt shots or running 3s, but mine get chewed out for it all the time. My experience with almost 70 teams and my own playing experience is that you win more games with layups and free throws than you will with jumpers, especially 3s. I don't have access to Synergy or Elias, but I scanned through articles and tend to find more instances of this trend. My question, which maybe will be something you would look into anyway, is: Are more NBA games won on free throws and layups than on jumpers? Especially deeper mid-range and 3s. I know overall for the game, yes, but just looking at crunch time scoring and maybe especially the last two minutes."
• What can the Clippers do to slow down the Spurs offense? Perhaps they'll try to make Boris Diaw a scorer.
• So Bill Laimbeer and Isiah Thomas walk into a diner ...
• We noted on Wednesday that the Lakers and Thunder don't draw a lot of charges. (TrueHoop reader Michael's great point: Teams with quality rim protectors, like these two, don't have to resort to charges to stop layups and dunks.) Charges are not the same as flops. But they are prime opportunities to flop. And sure enough, there won't be a Flop of the Night today, for the simple reason that after a night of Sixers, Celtics, Lakers and Thunder, we can't find clear video of an obvious flop. Now, if history is any precedent, tonight's action, which includes the Heat, Clippers and Spurs, will feature plenty.
• The Brooklyn Nets logo has roots in old New York City subway signs.
• Has Sebastian Telfair found a home in Phoenix?
• Grantland's Michael Kruse digs deep into why we don't have ads on jerseys: "Tradition is an incomplete explanation. That $370 million sits fat like a hanging curve. It takes a special kind of credulity to think owners of teams in major American sports who are so resolute in all manners of revenue extraction simply shrug their shoulders here because of some particular reverence for convention. Ads on jerseys will unsettle the fans? They will not. It'll be like new Facebook or something, when everybody bellyaches for about 10 minutes and then it's just Facebook. We'll get used to ads on jerseys, and fast, and the owners know this. Because we always do. Because we get used to things like the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl and extra points getting kicked into not just a net but an Allstate ad. That's a Coors Light Cold Hard Fact. So what's really the reason for this country's faux-prudish reluctance to put ads on jerseys?"
• How one man learned to love the Spurs.
• Chris Paul and Eric Bledsoe have been a tremendous combination in the playoffs, and were in the regular season too ... so why don't they play together more?
• Rashard Lewis made $23,336 per minute of basketball played this year.
• SI's Zach Lowe on James Harden's role in Oklahoma City's end-of-game offense: "Oklahoma City players attempted 120 shots in the regular season during games in which the scoring margin was three points or fewer in the last three minutes of regulation and overtime. Durant and Westbrook took 103 of those shots, per NBA.com. Harden took five. He made one. James Harden, Sixth Man of the Year and likely All-Star next season, made one basket the entire season in the last three minutes of a close game. He has already taken five such shots in six postseason games, compared to six attempts for Durant. This is a sea change happening instantly, a strategic switch so dramatic you almost wonder if Scott Brooks has been waiting all season to unleash Harden on unsuspecting defenses.
• Thunder fans react positively to their Game 2 win. (Via @Okastro)
• Wait, left-handed Greg Monroe is actually right-handed?

• The Thunder are doing a great job of locking up Jason Terry.
• I'm not sure it's possible to look tough when you're in Mickey Mouse ears, but the Pacers make a good effort.
• Tom Sunnergren of Philadunkia has some important advice for Jrue Holiday and the Sixers: "In an admittedly small sample, [Jrue's] shooting 70 percent in this series when Rose isn’t on the floor. In a larger one, he’s scoring 21 ppg in five games against the Bulls this season. Get to the basket, Jrue. Challenge Watson defensively: Derrick Rose only averaged 1.8 personal fouls per 48 minutes in the regular season, his backup committed 4.3. Use that. Most of all, though, the Sixers can’t relax for a minute. The Bulls are wounded, but don’t take them lightly, guys. You’re liable to get your hand bitten."
• Things I didn't know before reading this Mark Murphy feature on two of the unique talents in the NBA: Rajon Rondo introduced Josh Smith to Smith's future wife, and that the two crashed a prom together as high school seniors.
• What happened to Devin Harris? The picture at the top of this post says it all.
• The NBA playoffs are showcasing the guile of the Gasols.
• SI's Zach Lowe looks for ways the Nuggets can turn things around against the Lakers. Solving this issue is going to be a doozy: "The Nuggets have struggled to defend the Bryant/Sessions pick-and-roll, a play that has really flummoxed the league since Sessions arrived as the true dribble-drive threat Blake and Derek Fisher -- also occasional partners on this play -- could never be. They switched a ton in Game 1, leaving poor Lawson to try to defend Bryant. They tried to avoid switching in Game 2, in part by having wing players (Gallinari and Brewer) defend both Sessions and Bryant. Denver was better, but still inconsistent; perimeter defense and over-switching have been an issue for much of the season in Denver, and finding a workable solution to this simple play -- one that doesn’t involve defense-breaking rotations elsewhere -- is going to be hard."
• Is Lamar Odom really ready for a comeback?
• Chris Paul said this about Marc Gasol to the Clipper bench: "I'm going to knock him out." I'm sure the 2011-12 Pacific Division Sportsmanship Award winner was talking about knocking him out of the playoffs.
• A look back at some players who should have been in the All-Star Game.
• Some who hoped Oklahoma City would develop a "system" on offense have voiced frustration. But heed this, from Rob Mahoney: "The Thunder are so tremendously good at utilizing the secondary break -- a stage of semi-transition that has long been good to the Mavericks as well. The only difference: Westbrook, Durant, and Harden all put so much pressure on opposing defenses in the initial transition stage that shooters are subsequently open almost as a default."
• Vince Carter says he can still do a 360 windmill dunk. Dallas would make due with more scoring of any kind.
• One of my favorite things during the postseason: David Thorpe's postseason MVP rankings (Insider). According to Thorpe, the guy at No. 5 "may be the most dangerous offensive force in basketball today." This list always contains a few surprises, including ... Nick Young?!
• Congratulations to Ryan Anderson, the 2012 Most Improved Player. This award may represent an improved public profile more than actually improved play, because a look at the numbers shows there are some far more deserving candidates. Ryan Anderson was really good last year; he just didn't play nearly as much.
• Kevin Durant had a shooting night that was reminiscent of what Dirk Nowitzki did to the Thunder last year.
• The Pistons want Kyle Singler to come back to the Detroit. But it sounds like he's having a jolly time living and playing in Spain. Can't say I blame him.
• Tacking on a couple Kobe-related points to Henry Abbott's post on why the Lakers should give Andrew Bynum more late-game touches.

The bloggers of the TrueHoop Network have voted:

Most Valuable Player

Player, points (first votes-second votes-third votes-fourth votes-fifth votes)

1. LeBron James, 460 (46-0-0-0-0)
2. Kevin Durant, 272 (0-23-21-2-0)
3. Chris Paul, 259 (0-23-17-4-1)
4. Kevin Love, 85 (0-0-3-18-16)
5. Tony Parker, 64 (0-0-3-12-13)

Others receiving votes: Dwight Howard, 23 (0-0-2-4-1); Kobe Bryant, 20 (0-0-0-5-5); Dwyane Wade, 5 (0-0-0-0-5); Russell Westbrook, 4 (0-0-0-0-4); Steve Nash, 3 (0-0-0-1-0); Tyson Chandler, 1 (0-0-0-0-1)

Defensive Player of the Year

1. Tyson Chandler, 182 (29-10-2)
2. LeBron James, 69 (3-15-9)
3. Kevin Garnett, 47 (5-5-7)

Others receiving votes: Andre Iguodala, 37 (3-4-10); Tony Allen, 19 (0-4-7); Dwight Howard, 15 (1-2-4); Serge Ibaka , 4 (0-1-1); Kawhi Leonard, 1 (0-0-1)

Rookie of the Year

1. Kyrie Irving, 215 (43-0-0)
2. Ricky Rubio, 72 (0-19-15)
3. Kenneth Faried, 54 (0-14-12)

Others receiving votes: Isaiah Thomas, 35 (0-9-8); Kawhi Leonard, 9 (0-1-6); Iman Shumpert, 1 (0-0-1); Chandler Parsons, 1 (0-0-1)

Sixth Man of the Year

1. James Harden, 210 (42-0-0)
2. Lou Williams, 75 (0-21-12)
3. Taj Gibson, 56 (0-13-17)

Others receiving votes: Thad Young, 12 (0-2-6); Jason Terry, 11 (0-3-2); Al Harrington, 4 (0-1-1); Mike Dunleavy, 4 (0-1-1); George Hill, 4 (0-1-1); Ramon Sessions, 1 (0-0-1); Willie Green, 1 (0-0-1)

Most Improved Player

1. Nikola Pekovic, 136 (18-13-7)
2. Ersan Ilyasova, 77 (9-8-8)
3. Jeremy Lin, 55 (4-9-8)

Others receiving votes: Ryan Anderson, 48 (7-3-4); DeMarcus Cousins, 33 (3-4-6); James Harden, 17 (1-3-3); Danny Green, 7 (0-2-1); Roy Hibbert, 5 (0-1-2); Greg Monroe, 5 (1-0-0); Goran Dragic, 2 (0-0-2); Brandan Wright, 1 (0-0-1); Randy Foye, 1 (0-0-1).

Coach of the Year

1. Gregg Popovich, 177 (30-9-0)
2. Tom Thibodeau, 105 (8-20-5)
3. Ty Corbin, 32 (1-5-12)

Others receiving votes: Frank Vogel, 23 (1-4-6); Monty Williams, 13 (0-0-13); Stan Van Gundy, 5 (0-1-2); Doc Rivers, 4 (0-1-1); Rick Adelman, 1 (0-0-1).

Executive of the Year

1. Neil Olshey, 114 (17-7-8)
2. R.C. Buford, 106 (11-15-6)
3. Larry Bird, 77 (8-9-10)

Others receiving votes: Masai Ujiri, 24 (1-4-7); Kevin O'Connor, 9 (1-1-1); David Kahn, 5 (0-1-2) Mitch Kupchak, 3 (0-0-3); Dell Demps, 1 (0-0-1)

Sportsmanship Award

1. Shane Battier, 248 (11-9-2-5-2-1)
2. Jeremy Lin, 244 (8-6-12-3-1-0)
3. Antawn Jamison, 200 (3-7-7-8-5-0)
4. Luke Ridnour, 198 (6-6-6-4-4)
5. Chris Paul, 96 (2-1-1-2-12-12)
6. Jason Kidd, 94 (0-1-2-8-6-13)

Citizenship Award

1. LeBron James, 3

Also receiving votes: Luke Ridnour; LaMarcus Aldridge; Gerald Henderson; Isaiah Thomas

All-NBA

First team

• Guard: Chris Paul, 133 (26-1-0)
• Guard: Dwyane Wade, 85 (10-9-8)
• Forward: LeBron James, 135 (27-0-0)
• Forward: Kevin Durant, 133 (26-1-0)
• Center: Dwight Howard, 111 (18-6-3)

Second team

• Guard: Russell Westbrook, 80 (6-16-2)
• Guard: Tony Parker, 74 (8-9-7)
• Forward: Kevin Love, 85 (2-25-0)
• Forward: Blake Griffin, 46 (0-13-7)
• Center: Andrew Bynum, 61 (3-13-7)

Third team

• Guard: Kobe Bryant, 66 (2-17-5)
• Guard: Steve Nash, 22 (0-3-13)
• Forward: Kevin Garnett, 21 (0-3-12)
• Forward: Carmelo Anthony, 20 (0-4-8)
• Center: Tyson Chandler, 59 (5-7-13)

Others receiving votes: James Harden, 17 (2-1-4); Dirk Nowitzki, 13 (0-2-7); Rajon Rondo, 11 (0-0-11); Paul Pierce, 7 (0-0-7); LaMarcus Aldridge, 6 (0-1-3); Josh Smith, 5 (0-1-2); Andre Iguodala, 5 (0-1-2); Derrick Rose, 5 (0-1-2); Paul Millsap, 5 (0-1-2); Pau Gasol, 4 (0-0-4); Al Jefferson, 3 (0-0-3); Deron Williams, 2 (0-0-2); Ryan Anderson, 1 (0-0-1)

All-Defensive

First team

• Kevin Garnett, 60 (29-2)
• LeBron James, 60 (29-2)
• Tyson Chandler, 59 (28-3)
• Andre Iguodala, 59 (28-3)
• Tony Allen, 56 (25-6)

Second team

• Dwight Howard, 35 (6-23)
• Avery Bradley, 29 (4-21)
• Serge Ibaka, 16 (3-10)
• Luol Deng, 15 (1-13)
• Taj Gibson, 13 (0-13)

Others receiving votes: Dwyane Wade, 11 (1-9) Rajon Rondo, 11 (0-11) Chris Paul, 10 (0-10) Joakim Noah, 10 (1-8) Ronnie Brewer, 8 (0-8) Josh Smith, 7 (0-7) Thabo Sefolosha, 3 (0-3) Kawhi Leonard, 1 (0-1) Elton Brand, 1 (0-1) Grant Hill, 1 (0-1)

All-Rookie

First team

• Kyrie Irving, 56 (28-0)
• Kenneth Faried, 55 (27-1)
• Ricky Rubio, 54 (26-2)
• Kawhi Leonard, 51 (23-5)
• Isaiah Thomas, 49 (21-7)

Second team

• Iman Shumpert, 33 (7-19)
• Chandler Parsons, 32 (6-20)
• Klay Thompson, 27 (1-25)
• MarShon Brooks, 24 (0-24)
• Gustavo Ayon, 21 (1-19)

Others receiving votes: Derrick Williams, 9 (0-9); Brandon Knight, 7 (0-7); Kemba Walker, 2 (0-2).

Something funny happened last Wednesday. It looked, for a game, like the Pistons might be tanking:

• They deactivated Tayshaun Prince and Ben Wallace.
• They started Austin Daye, who had spent much of the season on the bench.
• They played Vernon Macklin and Walker Russell big minutes.

Lottery teams do this kind of stuff all the time. For many already-bad teams, mildly increasing the chances of landing Anthony Davis seems more valuable than the potential of a late-season win.

But that's simply not how the Pistons have done things.

Detroit general manager Joe Dumars has been a part of three championships -- the first two as a player and the last as general manager. In all three cases the Pistons marched through the playoffs beating teams that consisted of far more starpower and far more high draft picks.

The 2004 Pistons are the only modern-era team to have won a title without a significant contribution from a player it picked in the lottery (or a lottery pick it traded for on draft night).

From Dumars down, the Pistons evidently can't stomach the thought of losing, and certainly not for a draft pick. In 2010, Dumars told Dave Pemberton of the Oakland Press:

“It is impossible to feel good about losing,” Dumars said. “I understand that maybe from a fan and media perspective, ‘Oh, just lose games.’ Your mind can’t even get around that. Even down the stretch when we were way out of it, you feel better leaving the arena after you won a game as opposed to losing a game because at that point you’re not looking at standings and trying to figure out where you are because you know that you have to go through a lottery anyway."

Dumars has brought in like-minded individuals: a coach and players who apparently hate losing just as much.

There’s certainly a reasonable case that he has made mistakes in assembling the current roster. Refusing to tank might be another one of his strategic mistakes.

But it should be noted that the Pistons have denounced tanking -- and backed it up with their actions. In playoff-less seasons, the Pistons finished with a 4-1 run last year and a 4-2 run the year before.

That takes us back to Wednesday. If the Pistons tanked in Atlanta -- they deny it -- it was an aberration that was quickly rectified.

In the Pistons' next game, Lawrence Frank tightened his rotation against the Timberwolves -- an action absurd on its face until considering he’s just trying to win the game.

The Pistons’ strategy (or stubbornness, depending on your point of view) has provided them little direct help.

In addition to Detroit, six teams -- the Warriors, Timberwolves, Nets, Kings, Raptors and Wizards -- will miss the playoffs this season for at least the third straight year. In the previous two years, all of them have drafted ahead of the Pistons at least once. And all of those teams that might own their own draft pick this June have worse records than the Pistons this season.

In other words, the Pistons’ reward for not tanking has been drafting the leftovers of the teams that apparently do tank.

Here’s the good news, for anyone who opposes tanking: drafting lower doesn't appear to have hurt Detroit much.

In 2010, the Pistons took Greg Monroe, who has been the best player in his draft class to date by most measures. In 2011, they drafted Brandon Knight, a player they appear to be very pleased with. I’m not sure Detroit would trade those two for the players selected higher by teams with allegedly better strategy.

Not to mention, the Pistons have won as many NBA titles as the aforementioned six teams combined, and Detroit has won all three of its championships since any of them won their most recent.

The Pistons lost at Indiana last night, though the game was much more competitive than when the Pacers routed Detroit in the season opener. The Pistons were even worse against the Raptors the night before, shooting 36.6 percent on field goals, 13.3 percent on 3-pointers and 62.9 on free throws. It was so bad, it might have looked like the Pistons were trying to lose. Even when pushing for victory, Detroit isn’t great.

But the signs the Pistons refuse to tank were aplenty. Macklin, the team’s rookie center who might be too raw for the NBA but needs minutes to find out, was deactivated. Frank’s rotation was tight once again, and he leaned on his veterans.

Most importantly: They won that one.

It’s not something the Pistons have done often this year or the previous two -- except for at the very end of the season, when so many of their opponents aren't trying nearly as hard to win.

• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: No James Harden meant no easy buckets. Now, it's anyone's guess when the team's most dynamic playmaker will return. But as the opening weekend of the playoffs nears, the Thunder can only hope Harden's symptoms subside soon. Sunday's game proved that with Harden, the Thunder has a championship-caliber, three-headed monster offensively that can be nearly impossible to stop, and without him, well, OKC could be on upset alert in round one. That's the significance of one swing of the elbow by Metta World Peace.
• Geoff Calkins of The Commercial-Appeal: You want to go to a Grizzlies home playoff game? Then put down the paper and get your butt to FedExForum. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. today. Yes, you could stay at home and get your phone ready and start frantically punching buttons at 9:59 a.m. But if you're truly dedicated, you'll do that while standing in line. That way, you'll cover all the angles. "It's almost here," said Tony Allen. The playoffs, he meant. How awesome is that? The fury and the tension and the mind-altering din. The white outs and the growl towels and the unmistakable civic spring in the step. ... Allen and the Grizzlies took care of another bit of business Monday night, dispatching the Cleveland Cavaliers, 109-101. ... "We did what we had to do," said Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley. "Now the pressure is on them." By them, he meant the Los Angeles Clippers, aka the team you are free to start loathing any day now. The Grizzlies will almost certainly play the Clippers in the first-round of the playoffs.
• Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer: Lots of Cavaliers fans wanted to see Kyrie Irving and his sprained right shoulder in street clothes for the remainder of the season for fear of re-injury. Four games into his return, Irving's opponents are once again the ones worrying about damage control. The presumptive NBA Rookie of the Year is shaking off the rust the way he often does defenders in the paint. The 20-year-old point guard scored 25 points Monday night in a 109-101 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. "That's why we wanted him to come back, just to go out there and get his feet wet and keep accepting the challenge every single night," Cavs coach Byron Scott said. "He's done just that, so I'm very excited about the way he's played the last couple of games especially." Irving was terrific for the first three quarters in which he scored all his points, but two rare free-throw misses with the Cavs trailing, 100-98, proved costly in the final minutes as the Grizzlies ended the game on an 11-3 run.
• Dave D'Alessandro of The Star-Ledger: The notion that team ownership is a “public trust” is a laughable anachronism. Maybe it felt that way once. But not since they priced the middle class almost virtually out of the picture. For the first time, the Nets are attempting to join that rat race in earnest. We wish them bon voyage and Godspeed and all that rot. They should do well. Mikhail Prokhorov personally thinks they will be valued at $5 billion in five years’ time, and since that’s the only measure of success he seems to know, we hope he achieves this goal that is so essential to the public welfare. The team itself could be great, or it could be horrid. Much of that depends on whether the point guard stays home, because Deron Williams is a player of extraordinary gifts: He can run and jump like an antelope, he plays hard, he cares about winning. But he’s also an incurable mope, with the personality of a nightclub bouncer, and if that’s the kind of guy you want to root for, help yourself. So embrace these dyspeptic darlings, if you must. But more than likely, you will watch without the emotional investment, because you have outgrown the need for it. You recognized this as a team with a core existential crisis since 2004 — from the moment Bruce Ratner bought them, they were an orphaned franchise with an estranged fan base, and as Jason Kidd belatedly observed four long years ago, “It’s not about basketball around here anymore.”
• Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: Goodbye New Jersey, hello playoffs. While the Nets' organization celebrated its final game in North Jersey after 35 years, as they'll be moving across the river to Brooklyn next season, the 76ers held a mild celebration of their own after beating New Jersey on Monday night, 105-87. The win clinched a playoff berth as the Sixers improved to 34-30 with their third straight win, each on the road. They are tied with New York for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference, but the Knicks own the tiebreaker, having won the season series. The Sixers will play at Milwaukee Wednesday and at Detroit Thursday. New York will host the Clippers on Wednesday and play at Charlotte on Thursday. The Sixers will play either Chicago or Miami in the first round. Although the effort wasn't as strong as Saturday's at Indiana, the Sixers did jump out to a fast start. That seemed to deflate much of the interest that New Jersey, playing without injured All-Star guard Deron Williams, had in winning.
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: Wrapping up the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference moved Spurs captain Tim Duncan to do some campaigning for Spurs coach Gregg Popovich for Coach of the Year. “Is it time to start the chant?” he said after Monday’s 124-89 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers at the AT&T Center that clinched the top spot in the West. “‘Coach of the Year, Coach of the Year.’” Duncan declared the work Popovich has done this season the best he has observed in any of his 15 seasons playing for him. “I really think so,” he said. “He’s put so many guys into our system. We’ve been playing with two very young guys starting for us the entire year; getting all those guys acclimated on the fly with very little practice time. All those things, he’s done an unbelievable job with it. Yeah, it’s probably the best job he’s done thus far. Obviously, not only the coaching job he’s done, but the rotation he’s given us. He’s kept us fresh. He’s found ways to rest guys when he can. I think our minutes are as low as anyone, and we’re still No. 1 in the West.” Duncan’s minutes are at a career low, 28.2 per game, and he is one of 10 current Spurs who average at least 20 minutes per game on the deepest roster of Popovich’s 16 seasons as head coach.
• Dan McCarney For The Oregonian: As has become the norm in recent weeks, Blazers interim head coach Kaleb Canales opened his pre-game media session Monday in San Antonio with an injury report. Joel Przybilla -- game-time decision. Nicolas Batum -- game-time decision. Jamal Crawford -- game-time decision. Raymond Felton -- game-time decision. Canales didn't need to mention All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge, already lost for the season. Finally, a bemused reporter cut to the chase: "Who's playing?" Even Canales had to laugh. But there was little humor to be found later as the Spurs, gearing up for pursuit of their fifth NBA title, destroyed the depleted Blazers 124-89 at the AT&T Center. ... It was not the homecoming Canales, who grew up two hours south in Laredo, was hoping for. Scores of family members and friends were on hand to witness one of the most lopsided losses of a trying season.
• Mike Wise of The Washington Post: Ernie Grunfeld, judged strictly by what he has done to execute owner Ted Leonsis’s plan the past two years — and not what he did or didn’t do in his six years under Abe Pollin — isn’t going anywhere. Two NBA officials, on condition of anonymity, told The Post that Leonsis and Grunfeld, whose contract expires at the end of this season, have agreed to a new deal that could be announced Tuesday. It is believed to be for more than one season. If that doesn’t make sense, well, it’s time to take a serious look at what Grunfeld has done since Leonsis took over rather than get caught up in How-Can-Ernie-Possibly-Be-Back? rhetoric. ... When the Wizards actually spend big money in the offseason and the mandate is to be a perennial playoff team, that’s when Grunfeld should be properly judged. Until then, disenchanted fans target their ire toward Leonsis’s long-term strategy and whether it’s going to pay dividends. Moan at the moon; Ernie was just doing Ted’s bidding. That’s why he’s staying.
• Tom Sorensen of The Charlotte Observer: The night that matters is May 30. The evening will be the most important in the team’s eight-year history. Across the river from Manhattan, in the NBA’s Secaucus, N.J., studios, the league will place 14 pingpong balls in a drum. If the balls roll right, Charlotte will receive the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA draft. That pick will be 6-foot-10 Anthony Davis, the former Kentucky star. Davis is Manhattan. Compared to him, every other player is New Jersey. The Bobcats have only a 25 percent chance of winning the pick. We like to say that people, and teams, make their own luck. We lie. Good fortune is underestimated in the NBA and every other sport. San Antonio did a great job of packing talent around Tim Duncan, Chicago around Derrick Rose. But without Duncan and without Rose, the Spurs and Bulls are merely a collection of nice players. I wrote on Twitter last week that Davis will be as transcendent a basketball player as Panthers quarterbackCam Newton is a football player. Readers begged to differ, although they didn’t beg. ... You want to know how good Davis will be? This is how good. If the Bobcats get him, owner Michael Jordan will again become a courtside regular at his team’s home games.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: Frank Vogel’s latest move could help the Pacers when they open the playoffs this weekend. He gave Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and George Hill the night off against Detroit on Monday. Hibbert and Hill will be back in the lineup for the season finale against Chicago on Wednesday because Vogel wants to stick with his normal rotation as much as possible against the Bulls. Granger will sit the game out because he’s been dealing with knee issue. He’d be in the lineup if they were playing Game 1 on Wednesday. ... It’s uncertain how many minutes Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau will play his rotation players on Wednesday. But you can expect Vogel to go with his normal rotation – minus Granger – for as much as possible so come Game 1 on Saturday or Sunday the Pacers continue to look like the team that’s 12-2 this month. Not the team that looks like its out of sync. Vogel is making the right call.
• Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: Pistons forward Jonas Jerebko sat in his locker, quietly looking around and made a telling, but not arrogant, vow. "I don't want to go through this again," Jerebko said. "We're going to the playoffs next year. We know what it takes. You can't start off a season 4-20 and bounce back." He was asked if he was guaranteeing anything, seeing as how former Piston Rasheed Wallace made headlines years ago with his famous boasts. "Yes, sir," said Jerebko with a smile. "We're a playoff team, with playoff-caliber players."
• Charles F. Gardner of the of Journal Sentinel: The Milwaukee Bucks were reduced to scoreboard watching while trying to beat the Toronto Raptors on Monday night at the Bradley Center. Ersan Ilyasova led a late Bucks rally to overcome the Raptors, 92-86, but that scoreboard gaze revealed the dreaded news: Milwaukee's playoff quest was over for another year. Philadelphia won at New Jersey, 105-87, to clinch the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference and eliminate the Bucks from contention. The Bucks (31-33) chased both the New York Knicks and 76ers in the final weeks of the season but failed to catch either one. Philadelphia (34-30) leads Milwaukee by three games with just two remaining, and Wednesday's game between the teams doesn't mean much now. "It's real disappointing to finish the season and not make the playoffs," said Ilyasova, who had 19 points and 15 rebounds against Toronto. "We started the season really bad. And when you look at our season, we lost a lot of close games. It's really frustrating."
• Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun: Jonas Valanciunas and Linas Kleiza were among 24 players invited to try out for the Lithuanian National team that will attempt to qualify this early this summer in Argentina for the Summer Olympic games in London. Valanciunas, 19, will battle 32-year-old, 6-foot-10 centre Robertas Javtokas and 6-foot-10, 243-pound centre Antanas Kavaliauskas for a spot on the team. While Valanciunas, 7-feet, 240 pounds doesn’t have the track record of either player, he made a huge impression at Eurobask last summer and before that was huge in Lithuania’s win at the FIBA under-19 championships where he was MVP. Lithuania will have to finish in the top three at the July 2-8 tournament to qualify for London.

• Linda Robertson of The Miami Herald: Miami Heat coach and healer Erik Spoelstra has his players on a late-season “maintenance” program. Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau has also been giving his guys nights off and treating the battered Derrick Rose with caution. But the R&R approach didn’t relegate Thursday’s game to a place holder on the brutally compressed schedule. When the Heat and Bulls meet, there’s always something at stake. The No. 1 seed in the East is still up for grabs. And the Heat’s ability to win at home and even the season series against Chicago at 2-2 certainly counted on the mind games scorecard. Meaningless? It didn’t look that way when James Jones was whistled for a flagrant foul on Joakim Noah, then ejected. Nor when Dwyane Wade was called for a flagrant flooring of Rip Hamilton and the two continued to jaw and shove throughout the game. Nor when LeBron James delivered a hard shoulder screen that decked John Lucas III, prompting players from both teams to assume the usual combative positions for a midcourt brawl. No fight, but the bad blood got boiling. Hard knocks and hard feelings added to the history of this rivalry, which is projected to continue in what would be the dream Eastern Conference title matchup in June.
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: Derrick Rose sat for the 26th time Thursday night. The London Olympics begin in 98 days. If Rose, as expected, makes the U.S. team, might his myriad injuries give him pause? "I really haven't thought about it," Rose said. "But I've said before if I get the opportunity to play in those, it would be a great opportunity. I would have to make the smart decision. But I don't think it would change my mind because if I'm able to play through the playoffs, I should be able to play in the Olympics. "You also have to remember I probably wouldn't play that many minutes because of the great team we would have. Representing your country is a huge honor." The Bulls have no say in whether players play for their national teams. As the face of the host country's team, Luol Deng is preparing to play for Britain with a torn ligament in his left wrist. Joakim Noah will play for France.
• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: Dwight Howard is expected to undergo back surgery Friday morning in Los Angeles to repair a herniated disk that will effectively end his season and essentially end any remote chance the Magic may have had of winning a championship. But you know what? This is so much better than the alternative; than the reports and rumors that began to catch fire and circulate throughout the sports world on Wednesday night and all day Thursday. It all started on an Orlando TV station and spread into a full-fledged Skip Bayless ESPN debate on Thursday afternoon: Was Dwight Howard quitting on his team? That was essentially the report aired on WKMG Channel 6 when sports director David "Ping" Pingalore — quoting anonymous sources — reported that Howard called Rich DeVos Friday night and told the 86-year-old Magic owner that he will no longer play for head coach Stan Van Gundy. The report intimated that Howard, in protest of Van Gundy, would miss the playoffs even if he is healthy enough to play. In essence, Channel 6 was saying Dwight may have had a sore back, but he was more sore about his coach. No Magic fan wanted to believe it, but in this dysfunctional Dwightmare of a season anything seemed possible. Even the unthinkable: That Dwight Howard, the captain of the Magic, would turn his back — herniated disk and all — on his teammates and fans. Thank God, it turned out to be untrue. Then again, this is journalism in the Internet age. ... In the end, though, this surgery might be the best thing that ever happened to Dwight. Now he can properly rehab his back. But, mostly, he has a chance to rehab his image.
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: "What a game," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "I just thought we just kept hanging in and hanging in and found a way to pull it out at the end. ... It was a gut-check game and we did everything we could to just hang in there and find a way to pull it out." The Suns (33-30) moved back into an eighth-place tie with the Utah Jazz for the final playoff spot with three games left for each team to play. Houston fell a game back of both with its sixth consecutive loss, putting the Suns in a situation to clinch a playoff spot if they can win at home Saturday against Denver and at Utah on Tuesday. If Utah wins its final three games at home against Orlando, Phoenix and Portland, it would make the playoffs. A playoff bid is going to require playoff intensity, and the Suns captured that in the third quarter with their venom aimed at Clippers forward Blake Griffin. It started with Jared Dudley getting tangled with him on a foul and not backing down in the aftermath. In the fourth quarter, Griffin was going for a breakaway "SportsCenter"-bound dunk when Suns center Robin Lopez ran him down and braced his left hand on Griffin's back and swiped across his head and throat with his right arm. Lopez was ejected for a Flagrant Foul2 on the play with 6:14 to go, but Clippers guard Mo Williams also received a technical foul for running up on Lopez.
• Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: The Clippers entered Thursday night's game against the Phoenix Suns with a five-game winning streak and having won 13 of 15 games, but when names have been mentioned for NBA coach-of-the-year candidates, Coach Vinny Del Negro's name is never among them. Del Negro was asked about his thoughts on that, on whether he even weighs something like that. He downplayed it, agreeing that San Antonio's Gregg Popovich, Boston's Doc Rivers, Indiana's Frank Vogel and Chicago's Tom Thibodeau should be the leading candidates. "Those guys deserve all that," Del Negro said. The media agreed with Del Negro, but his team has been playing really good basketball as of late.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: The Indiana Pacers began the season simply wanting to move up a spot or two in the Eastern Conference standings after getting a brief taste of the playoffs last season. They've accomplished that and much more. The latest turn in the Pacers' best season in eight years happened Thursday when they secured home court in the first round of the NBA playoffs by beating the Milwaukee Bucks 118-109 in a testy game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. "It's tremendous the step that we've taken in one season," Pacers forward Danny Granger said. "How we've had a complete turnaround. Now we're one of the best teams in the NBA. It's really fun to win like this." The Pacers (41-22) will finish as the third or fifth seed. They would host Games 1 and 2 as the fifth seed because they'll finish with a better record than Boston, which is currently the fourth seed. The playoffs open the weekend of April 28.
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: Everything started spinning out of control in the fourth quarter Thursday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Milwaukee Bucks forward Larry Sanders picked up two technical fouls in a 20-second span, fouled out and was ejected, nearly setting off a melee between the Bucks and Indiana Pacers. And the Pacers continued to send Bucks guard Mike Dunleavy Jr., a former Indiana player, crashing to the floor with hard fouls. This time it was Leandro Barbosa picking up a flagrant-1 foul for hitting Dunleavy on a Bucks fast break. In the midst of all the chaos, the Pacers prevailed, 118-109, to win their seventh straight game and nearly end to the Bucks' playoff hopes. Milwaukee (29-33) lost for the fifth time in its last six games to fall three games behind eighth-place Philadelphia (32-30) with four games to play in the chase for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. The 76ers' magic number to clinch a berth dropped to two - any combination of Bucks losses and 76ers victories totaling two will eliminate Milwaukee. "We're on the outside looking in," Dunleavy said. "We've got to do something extraordinary right now."
• John Reid of The Times-Picayune: With an expiring contract and no guarantee from the Hornets on a possible extension, forward Carl Landry may have played his final home game Thursday night at the New Orleans Arena. With two picks already assured to be among the top 14 in June’s NBA draft, it’s not certain what direction the Hornets may go with their rebuilding plans now that Tom Benson owns the franchise. But Coach Monty Williams indicated Thursday night that changes are likely ahead for their roster. “It could be some surprises, and I’ll just leave it at that,’’ Williams said. “We’ve been evaluating older guys, even when they’re not on the floor.’’ Like Landry, shooting guard Marco Belinelli’s current deal expires after this season. Center Chris Kaman, who was acquired in the December trade that sent Chris Paul going to the Clippers, is in the final year of his contract. Although the Hornets listened to trade offers for Kaman before the February trade deadline, Hornets General Manager Dell Demps didn’t trade him. Now Kaman will become an unrestricted free agent. ... Landry said he would like to return to the Hornets, but said he didn’t know if they will pursue re-signing him. “You just never know,’’ said Landry, who scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against the Rockets. “You hear one thing one day, and something (else) the next. You’ve just got to play every game like it’s your last. That’s all you can do, especially in a contract situation like myself. You can’t worry about if you are going to be here tomorrow.’’
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle Just as their season spiraled down the drain from the heights of a four-game road trip sweep to a late-season fold, the Rockets went from a 13-point lead to a 105-99 overtime loss to the New Orleans Hornets on Thursday, filling the night with missed free throws, a bungled offense and a broken defense. The loss sent the losing streak to a season-long six games and all but ended the hopes for a return to the playoffs, the goal Kevin McHale had declared as a plan on the day he was introduced as Rockets coach. “It snowballed,” Rockets forward Luis Scola said. “With every game we lost, the ball was bigger and the rim was smaller. Tonight, we missed shots we never miss. I don’t find a valid excuse, and also I don’t have valid answers.” The Rockets knew only that with their season on the line, they shrunk. The latest loss did not eliminate them mathematically. It did capture where their season went so wrong so quickly.
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: The biggest smile in the Timberwolves' locker room Thursday night, April 19, belonged to Wayne Ellington. It took Ellington nearly three full seasons to experience the joy of winning an NBA game in April. Even more satisfying for Ellington was that the Wolves' 91-80 victory over Detroit at The Palace reminded him of a special flashback. "The last time I won a game in April was in 2009, when I won a national championship in Detroit with North Carolina," Ellington said after the Wolves snapped an 11-game losing streak and won their first game in April since a 105-97 victory at Golden State on April 8, 2009. "Unbelievable." The Wolves (26-38) had lost 27 consecutive games in April, a statistic that was picking up steam around the league and giving the Wolves more unflattering publicity.
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: Pistons coach Lawrence Frank gets downright indignant when anyone mentions "tanking" about his team that's destined for a third straight season without a playoff appearance. But after a 91-80 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had lost 11 straight entering Thursday night, fans might be thinking, "Yeah, right." But the schedule might have had something to do with this one since the Pistons were playing their third game in three nights and sixth game in eight nights while the Timberwolves were off Wednesday night. Will Bynum, who tried to lead a comeback by scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter, confirmed that the team was tired, but added: "We ain't had no legs all season. You can't complain about that now."

• Al Iannazzone of Newsday: Carmelo Anthony continued his dominant play, registering his first triple-double as a Knick, but he also got the help he needed from his teammates to beat a quality playoff team Tuesday night. Anthony scored 35 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished for 10 assists in the Knicks' 118-110 win over the Celtics at the Garden. But three other Knicks scored at least 20 points, including a career-high 25 by Steve Novak , who was huge in the fourth quarter. Novak drilled back-to-back three-pointers with under three minutes left after the Celtics' trimmed a 21-point deficit to six, helping the Knicks hold off Boston and a 43-point night by Paul Pierce. The Knicks hit 19 threes, and Anthony assisted on both of Novak's big baskets that made it a 10-point game with 2:05 left. "I think Melo now is settling in," coach Mike Woodson said.
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: Just a few hours after Ray Allen said he was ready to play in Tuesday night’s showdown with the Knicks, the Celtics guard was a late scratch when his troublesome right ankle swelled up again. Allen has missed the past five games and 16 overall this season with ankle issues, and the late scratch this time surprised coach Doc Rivers, who had begun formulating plays for Allen. Allen participated in shootaround Tuesday and told reporters that he was ready to return. But he returned to his hotel after the workout and felt the same discomfort that has plagued him the past few days. He said he is unsure whether he will play Wednesday night against the Magic at TD Garden. “As far as the movement and mobility . . . it wasn’t to my liking,’’ Allen said before the Celtics’ 118-110 loss to the Knicks. “I couldn’t get the pushing off that I wanted so I’ve got to let it kind of relax a little bit more before I get back out there.’’ For the most part, Allen has been durable during his time with the Celtics, so the past two weeks have been a source of frustration.
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: Tim Duncan swears he has not spent one idle moment considering his future. “That’s something I’ll think about after the season ends,” he said after a recent road game. “For now, I’m not worrying about anything except our next game. I don’t even have an agent.” Indeed, Duncan’s former representative, Lon Babby, had to divest himself of his relationship with his clients when he became general manager of the Suns. Duncan has not replaced Babby just yet, but don’t take that to mean he won’t need one this summer. ... On or about July 1, the Spurs will open talks with Duncan and/or whoever winds up representing him. ... Duncan is realist enough to know a pay cut is coming his way. But the Spurs know they can’t disrespect him as the Rockets once did Olajuwon. Duncan is worth more to the Spurs than to any team with the ability to pay him more than the veteran minimum or mid-level exception. Silver and black are part of Duncan’s basketball DNA. It should not take long to find the right deal.
• Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: If the Lakers look predictable on offense sometimes with Kobe Bryant, they just showed everyone how predictable they can look without him. The San Antonio Spurs overplayed every Lakers entry pass with complete trust that the Lakers would force the ball inside toward center Andrew Bynum, and the Lakers piled up the turnovers en route to a 112-91 loss Tuesday night. The 21-point margin was the largest in a Lakers loss all season — one point greater than the Lakers' loss in Phoenix in their first game without Bryant. The Spurs were far more motivated than Wednesday night in San Antonio, where they were disengaged without Bryant opposing them and MVP candidate Tony Parker shot 2 for 12 from the field in a Lakers romp. Parker shot 14 for 20 from the field and finished with29 points and 13 assists in 30 minutes in the rematch, with one more game and a possible Bryant return on tap Friday night at AT&T Center. "Not only did we have bad, unforced turnovers, but our floor balance wasn't there, which led to easy points for San Antonio," Lakers coach Mike Brown said. "When we play too fast or we try to make a home-run pass ... we can be mistake-prone."
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: A close game. Multiple options from which to choose. Go inside or move the ball to get an open jump shot. The Indiana Pacers lack a superstar who everybody in the building knows will end up with the ball at the end of a close game. That's OK with them. They know opponents can't key on one player. All five Pacers starters scored in the final 3 minutes Tuesday night to hold off the struggling Philadelphia 76ers 102-97 at the Wells Fargo Center. "That's us," Pacers forward Danny Granger said. "We just execute. We play the right way. We make plays for each other. Whoever gets the shot at that particular moment takes it." Team basketball is why the Pacers (40-22) have had their most successful season since 2004. They have a roster full of players who have bought into coach Frank Vogel's system and set aside personal goals.
• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: Why would Indiana Pacers President Larry Bird even think about leaving now? That's a question only Bird can answer, and right now, Bird doesn't have any answers. "Honestly, it's not even a debate around my house," he said the other day. "I'll sit down with Herbie (team owner Herb Simon) when it's all done and we'll move from there. Herbie will ask me about it every once in a while, but I don't want to be a distraction. Right now, it's the furthest thing from my mind." It doesn't make sense for Bird to leave now, but, then, it didn't make sense for Bird, as the coach, to walk away after he led the Pacers to the NBA Finals in the 2000 season. ... Here's my plea: Larry, please stay. There have been some mistakes along the way but, by and large, Bird has done a masterful, if understated job moving the Brawling Pacers into this new era. ... So the question will linger: Will he stay or will he go? Nobody seems to know at this point. Least of all Bird himself.
• Tom Moore of phillyBurbs.com: The loss, which was their third in a row, dropped the 31-30 Sixers one game behind the No. 7 Knicks. They are 1 1/2 games ahead of the No. 9 Bucks, who they visit April 25, in the race for the final spot. The Sixers finished 19-14 at home in the lockout-shortened, 66-game season. They lost 11 of their last 17 in South Philadelphia after a 13-3 home start. “It’s crunch time,” said Thaddeus Young, who had 19 points for the Sixers. “We just have to figure out a way to win games like this.” Elton Brand compared the Sixers’ late-game difficulties to a plague. The Sixers end the regular season with five games on the road, starting Wednesday in Cleveland to complete a back-to-back-to-back. The Cavaliers lost to the Pistons 116-77 after trailing by 50 Tuesday, but are expected to have rookie star Kyrie Irving back from a foot injury. Brand said the Sixers are viewing the final five games almost like they’re starting over in a second season. “We’ve got to make a push,” Brand said. “I’m highly optimistic we’ll find a way. We haven’t completed games, but we’ve played well in spurts.” Collins agreed, saying, “We have a great opportunity. If you’ve got a chance, take advantage of it.”
• Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer: Kyrie Irving wants to come back to this? He’s rehabbing his sprained right shoulder to rejoin a depleted and dispirited club that trailed by 50 points after three quarters Tuesday night in The Palace? If the Pistons are routing the Cavaliers, 116-77, what are Spurs and Grizzlies going to do to them on Sunday and Monday? Irving should be pulling a Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack as his tee shot ricochets off the ball cleaner. “Oh, Byron, my arm, my arm,” The Cavaliers didn’t mentally check out of Tuesday’s night’s game. That would imply they had checked in. They got jumped by the Pistons in the opening minutes and never fought back. They trailed 100-50 after three quarters. Alonzo Gee is a decent player, but his absence should not have resulted in this kind of performance. The Cavs were playing their sixth game in eight days, but an opponent should not be shooting 67.9 percent after three quarters. Especially one that entered the game ranked 28th in scoring. “No excuses,” Scott said. The NBA competition committee should remove ping-pong balls for efforts this malodorous. The Pistons dunked at will. Nobody in a white jersey got knocked down or was made to pay a price.
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: With that 4-20 start pretty much eliminating any possibility of postseason play, why not tinker sooner? Frank said after Tuesday's morning shoot-around that the team started playing better so he didn't want to mess with the budding chemistry. ... For example, he wants to see Jonas Jerebko at small forward, where he backed up starter Tayshaun Prince and scored 14 points Tuesday. Jerebko, who was drafted as a small forward in the second round of the 2009 NBA draft and played there some during his rookie season, might prefer the position since he is often asked to guard bigger opponents at power forward and at 6-foot-10, he has a size advantage over most small forwards. Jerebko said it was a "mutual agreement" with Frank to give the position a try. "I'm not complaining," Jerebko said. "I love being out on that floor, so it doesn't matter to me. It's just basketball. At the end of day I just want to be on that court, and I really don't care if it's the 3 or 4."
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: A week ago, Michael Beasley delivered a passionate dissertation on how much he wanted to remain with the Timberwolves and how much he "loved the fans, the city and the organization." Before the Wolves' 91-84 loss to Memphis on Tuesday night, April 17, at Target Center, the Wolves' 11th straight loss, Beasley's tone was dramatically different. The Wolves forward felt uncomfortable talking about his future with the team and expressed mild frustration over not getting a contract extension before the Jan. 25 deadline. "My future is so blurry," said Beasley, a restricted free agent after the season. "I don't have too much to say about next year. It's frustrating not knowing your situation next year. So many of my friends are certain where they're going to play next year. They got contract extensions. But that's how the ball drops."
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: Marc Gasol posted on his Twitter page that Randolph is back. Hollins admitted that Randolph would have started if Gasol was unable to play. Both sentiments suggest that Randolph is getting closer to rejoining the starting lineup. “Zach gave us big minutes offensively,” Hollins said. Randolph made 8 of 15 shots and grabbed four offensive rebounds. His presence down low is unparalleled, especially given the Timberwolves’ decision to double team Randolph in the second half. “He’s a big part of our success as a team,” guard O.J. Mayo said. “We must not forget that and he must not forget that. We need him mentally and physically to be fit and ready to go.” That’s what he said

• Watching the Bulls in overtime on Sunday night I had something of an epiphany. They just played so hard and together on both ends. So many Bulls seem to love that very intense time of the game. The Pistons got the first rebound of overtime, and then no more. The Bulls played very tough defense, and on offense, they created one good look after another. Joakim Noah was everywhere on both ends, even making fabulous passes. Nobody forced anything. And things were chippy and intense and they appeared more than OK with what. The whole thing was just nasty. Shortly we'll be making all kinds of playoff predictions. It'll be tough to pick against Chicago.
• Having left the Kings, J.J. Hickson is back to showing all kinds of promise, like he once did in Cleveland. Kind of weird, huh? He does his best to explain.
• The suggestion that Dwight Howard has his eye on Warriors assistant Michael Malone as his next head coach.
• Bill Simmons, talking tanking on Grantland on Friday: "You can expect David Lee to get shut down any day with 'knee tendinitis' or some equally bogus injury." The Warriors need to lose some games, and Lee is a pretty good player. The end of Lee's season was announced at essentially the same time.
• More charges are being called in the NBA, which could be a sign of flopping.
• It's just possible the Maloofs aren't acting with the city of Sacramento's best interests at heart. It'll be tough for the Kings to stay in Sacramento ... but it'll also be tough for them to move.
• Pau Gasol's 3s are heroic. Andrew Bynum's are dastardly. Is this really a tale of shot selection ... or makes?
• Lots of talk about what it will take for the Knicks to reach their full potential. They have improved mightily on defense, won a lot of big games, endured some injuries and questionable signings. They were never going to be that great anyway. Just wondering if, instead of hand-wringing, it's time for celebrating. A pretty good team is looking pretty damn good. That's no sign of trouble. All that is out of whack is the expectations.
• This is a question that comes up in sports as much as anywhere. Who cares what your gender is? Why does that matter? Why do official bodies need to know that?
• Are the Celtics contenders?
• Rodney Stuckey talking with a lot of poise about the value of seeing a therapist. This is far more macho to me than the traditional macho approach, which is denying you're seeing a therapist. Kudos.
• Jan Vesely gets everywhere on foot.
• A little video of John Wall's blazing speed -- leading to an airballed midrange jumper.
• On Hardwood Paroxysm Jared Dubin notices that the Spurs' best defensive lineups feature Danny Green: "You can do a lot of things with Danny Green. You can ask him to shoot, you can ask him to pass, you can ask him to rebound and you can ask him to defend. You can start Danny Green and you can bring him off the bench. You can yank his minutes around. You can run plays for Danny Green, but you don’t have to. You can ask him to fill in the blanks and you can count on him to make the right play. You can win games with Danny Green. That’s for sure."
• Lakers up and down the roster played well. How often has that been true this season?
• Jamario Moon promises to play his legs off, and pretty much does.
• The Pacers have a shot at emerging as the ultimate winners of all this playoff positioning -- with the potential for homecourt advantage against the compromised Magic. Check it out in the playoff odds. The Pacers play their brains out, too -- kind of emerging as the Grizzlies of the East.
• The Thunder players talk about tornadoes. And on the topic of safety, Royce Young and I have the same first thought on seeing this video: Be careful up there, Kevin Durant!

• Harvery Araton of The New York Times: “Doing it by yourself is for when you’re young, when you’re 22, 23,” Wade said after the Heat absorbed 39 points by Carmelo Anthony through three and a half quarters before limiting him to an after-the-fact 3-point shot down the stretch of a 93-85 Miami victory. “That’s for then. When you get older, you appreciate it more when you got other guys that can get the job done and you don’t have to have the ball 90 percent of the time.” Since Anthony has been in the N.B.A. for eight years, same as Wade and James, shouldn’t he feel the same way? Not that Anthony has formally made a request to dominate the ball; he just generally seems most motivated and productive when the Knicks’ offense is flowing like a river through his marvelously gifted hands. And lately, while Anthony has been on a scoring binge that has bordered on unstoppable, the popular narrative around the Knicks has been that this would be the most prudent approach for the playoffs, with a returning Amar’e Stoudemire best-suited for minutes off the bench. In effect, so Stoudemire wouldn’t get in Anthony’s way. And so he could enjoy a few minutes at a time of relative freedom to shoot as much as he wishes without Anthony on the floor or Tyson Chandler cluttering up the paint. It all sounded nice except that pro basketball at the highest playoff levels is about the alignment of stars — or co-stars — and trying to attain that enlightened state of championship co-existence.
• Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post: Erik Spoelstra is tired of talking about his player rotation, and wary of revealing too much of the plan to upcoming opponents. "Some of that is pretty obvious, the direction that we're going," the Heat coach said. "It's self-explanatory." Yet some of his players have privately expressed as much confusion as many fans, unclear about their roles going forward. What's been clear from the last two games of significance, at Chicago and at New York, is that one of Spoelstra's primary objectives is to get to the so-called "Big 5" lineup that was dominant in the 2011 Eastern Conference finals but had been used in only two games until this past week. To that end, Udonis Haslem started again Sunday, though he played only 17 minutes, and this time, it wasn't because he was vomiting before the game, as he was Thursday in Chicago. The first substitution again was Mike Miller for Mario Chalmers, allowing Haslem and Miller to play with Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. That lasted three minutes, as did a stint for the "Big 5" in the second quarter. They played together for one minute in the third quarter, and Miller didn't get off the bench in the fourth. ... Spoelstra said he would continuing "tightening up" his rotation over the next two weeks, though little figures to look normal Monday or Wednesday. Expect Miami to rest players against lesser opponents New Jersey and Toronto.
• Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: They are accustomed to winning on the road almost as consistently as they win at home. But not this year. For just the fourth time in Mark Cuban's 12 full seasons of ownership, the Dallas Mavericks will finish this season with a losing record on the road. Sunday's 112-108 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers gives the Mavs just a 13-17 record on the road with only three road games remaining. Because the Mavs (34-27) will be starting this year's playoffs on the road, it would seem they'd be concerned about their inability to grab more than their share of victories away from home. "Not at all," guard Jason Terry said. "The regular season is going to have no meaning on what the playoffs will mean. Obviously you can blame it on the schedule. Every team has gone through it, but it's not as what it would be in a regular season." The Mavs play their 31st road game at 8 tonight at Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City against a Utah Jazz squad scrapping for its playoff lives. Dallas' final two road games are Saturday in Chicago and April 26 in Atlanta.
• Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: Metta World Peace, as he still does often, felt so fired up after playing an entire game that he went for a post-game workout in the weight room Sunday. After he was done, he sat down and talked about how much better he feels physically after being limited last season and overweight early this season. “I’m not even 100 percent,” World Peace said, “and I feel very dominant right now.” World Peace said he is trying to stay within the team concept despite how much he feels he can do offensively besides his usual defense. He said he feels capable and can “take over the game if I have to.” World Peace had 18 points on 7-of-20 shooting Sunday in the victory over Dallas, his biggest shot coming from the right elbow after a Lakers timeout for a 110-106 Lakers lead with 1:04 left in overtime. ... World Peace missed all five 3-point shots Sunday, but he has scored 23, 19, 8, 26, 14 and 18 points in recent games — the last five with Bryant sitting out.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: The Rockets were feeling no pressure when they came home from their four-game sweep of the road trip. They were on a roll and feeling great. Then they had their worst shooting game of the season, making 35.6 percent of their shots against the Jazz. They have not been much better since, with the problem bleeding into their defense. Instead of defending with greater determination and discipline, they have indulged in moments of frustration. The Nuggets punished them for it. That three-game shooting slump and the way it has diminished their play overall has dropped the Rockets to a shaky eighth in the West and elevated tonight’s rematch with the Nuggets to a virtual must-win. Yet, when I asked Luis Scola about whether the pressure was taking a toll, he offered a pretty good glimpse into the sort of message I would imagine has made its way around the room. Scola usually has a pretty good feel for the way the Rockets are thinking. He also has become increasingly willing and effective at speaking up. Basically, he said the Rockets have to persevere, but with a confidence that they can.
• Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post: The future can't wait for the Nuggets. It is time for coach George Karl to realize: Wherever this young NBA team is going, Ty Lawson, Danilo Gallinari and Kenneth Faried will lead the way. Let the young guns play, Coach. Lawson, Gallinari and Faried can't learn how to be stars on the bench. Win or lose for the remainder of the season, the primary goal for Denver should be the development of its Big Three. The isn't the time for the Nuggets to win a championship. Now is the time to get Lawson, Gallinari and Faried at least 30 minutes of playing time every night. ... In one important aspect, NBA coaches are no different than paying customers. When the pressure of the playoffs approaches, the man drawing X's and O's during timeouts feels the same strain of an elevated heart rate that fans do. So can't blame Karl for leaning on Nuggets veterans such as Andre Miller and Al Harrington when the going gets tough. But that's the temptation Karl must resist. Even if it costs Denver a victory, the experience given Lawson, Gallinari and Faried now will pay dividends down the road.
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: On Friday, Dwight Howard traveled to the Los Angeles area with Magic physical therapist Ed Manalo to seek a second opinion from spine surgeon Robert Watkins. On Friday night, team officials announced that Howard has a herniated disk in his lower back. On Sunday, Otis Smith refuted speculation that the Magic medical staff misdiagnosed Howard's injury. “The diagnosis really didn't change from one location to the other,” Smith said. “It's the same diagnosis we had and the same prognosis we had. They probably were a little bit more conservative than we would have been, but that's normal. We were on the same rest and rehab [regimen] that he got over there. So, he's going to rest and rehab for the next 10 days and see how we go from there.”
• Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer: Moondog showed he’s hockey tough by not missing a game. The Cavaliers showed their smarts by continuing to remain vague on the returns of Irving (sprained shoulder) and Varejao (fractured wrist). Ten days ago, I wanted them both to come back and play with Tristan Thompson to see how those three worked together. A dozen or so games could have supplied a decent sample size and given management a preview look as to what to expect. Could Thompson and Varejao produce enough offense in the same front court? How much of an adjustment would it be for Irving to have his power forward playing near the basket instead of on the perimeter where Antawn Jamison often lurks? Coach Byron Scott admitted he, too, was intrigued. Now, what’s the point? Irving is going to practice Tuesday morning with the potential of returning as early as Wednesday, Scott said. But the coach also left open the possibility that neither Irving nor Varejao would play again this season. They shouldn't. I’ll go a step further. The Cavs should ask Varejao to think long and hard about representing Brazil this summer in the Olympics. I’m a huge fan of watching the world’s best pros compete in Olympic basketball and hockey, but Varejao has twice been injured playing for Brazil, most recently in 2010. He also has missed substantial parts of the past two seasons with the Cavaliers.
• Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Hawks were in such a slumber they had just four players on the floor as play began at one point. It's no wonder officials didn't initially notice the missing player. The Hawks barely made an impression while losing 102-86 to Toronto Sunday at Philips Arena. Atlanta could have clinched a berth in the Eastern Conference playoffs with a victory. Instead the Hawks were dominated by the Raptors (22-39), who long ago were eliminated from the postseason. “I think some of us was ready, and some of us wasn't,” Hawks guard Joe Johnson said. “It just kind of gave a bad effect on the whole team. But give Toronto credit. They were better than us tonight. If we come out and start like that tomorrow, they'll be better than us [again].” The Hawks play at Toronto Monday, and no longer does that game look like a walkover for Atlanta.
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: Ryan Hollins was acquired by the Celtics to provide depth in the frontcourt, but his impact has been minimal so far. He had fallen out of Rivers’s rotation until Sunday, when he was the primary backup to Stiemsma. Hollins scored 2 points and had four rebounds in a season-high 20 minutes, but his reputation has followed him to Boston. Hollins has a habit for picking up offensive fouls on illegal screens or with reckless play under the basket. In 3 minutes, 31 seconds Saturday against the Nets, he picked up four fouls and had three turnovers. In 11 games with the Celtics, Hollins has 24 combined turnovers and fouls and 25 points. “He plays hard, he just does things that get him in trouble,’’ Rivers said. “The extra stuff with the picks and stuff like that. He has a chance. He’s a big body. He’s very active; having an active big is great because half the bigs are not active. So he has that in him. We just have to figure out him still. And he needs gym time, and unfortunately he doesn’t have that. But I think he’s a guy you invest time into because he has a chance to be a good player in our league.’’
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: Forget the number of times the Grizzlies lost the basketball. Too many to count. Or so it seemed. Forget the amount of defensive lapses. That's what the New Orleans Hornets kept track of as they routinely pick-and-rolled the Griz into surrendering the paint. Just put the Grizzlies' 88-75 loss Sunday night to the Hornets out of your mind. Griz guard Tony Allen even flung the box score into a bucket of ice at his feet afterwards in the visitor's locker room in New Orleans Arena. It was a cold night, indeed. But the Grizzlies' ended up with a bigger concern than their 21 turnovers and 35-percent shooting in a bad loss to the lowly Hornets. Center Marc Gasol suffered what is believed to be a hyperextended left knee midway through the fourth quarter. The 7-footer was examined by the Hornets' team physician and then went for an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to determine the extent of his injury. ... The Grizzlies were already scheduled to remain in New Orleans Sunday night and fly to Minneapolis this morning. So Gasol's status will be known long before Memphis plays on the road Tuesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
• John Reid of The Times-Picayune: The Hornets announced Sunday night that NBA Commissioner David Stern will formally introduce new owner Tom Benson this afternoon in a news conference at the New Orleans Arena. Gov. Bobby Jindal and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu are scheduled to attend. Benson purchased the Hornets for $338 million on Friday, assuring the franchise’s long-term future in New Orleans. Benson attended the Hornets’ game on Sunday night against the Memphis Grizzlies at the Arena with his wife, Gayle. As he walked to his courtside seat, Benson heard cheers. He received a standing ovation when he was introduced between the first and second quarters. Benson, who wasn’t made available for comment, appeared engaged throughout the game.
• Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times: It’s never a good thing when there are more ice bags on the floor than sweaty jerseys and unrolled tape, especially with the postseason in sight. But this is the reality of Bulls basketball these days, and forward Luol Deng seems to be the latest poster child. Deng has been fighting through a torn ligament in his left wrist for most of the year, and the injury seems to be winning. Deng played nearly 45 minutes in the Bulls’ overtime win against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday but was 1-for-8 from the field, scoring two points. Coach Tom Thibodeau was asked if he’s concerned about resting Deng or at least keeping an eye on his minutes down the stretch. ‘‘If you studied his total minutes, you would see that he’s had plenty of rest this year,’’ Thibodeau said. ‘‘If you compared his total minutes for the season, don’t forget he’s missed nine games already, so he’s not a guy that’s piled up a ton of minutes.’’ But he admitted the Bulls’ minutes — and Deng’s injury — are something that has to be watched.
• Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: Reigning MVP Derrick Rose uncharacteristically got involved in trash talk after blood streamed down his face, courtesy of a flagrant foul that was mild compared to some we've seen in this storied rivalry. Later, Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey caught an inadvertent elbow to the chops that left him on the Palace floor. Tempers flared, harsh words were exchanged and afterward, Rose believed he was the target of some dirty play after his team escaped from Motown with a 100-94 overtime win. It wasn't dirty; It was beautiful. For the first time this season, the Pistons playing the Bulls wasn't about Richard Hamilton playing his former mates; the game was the main attraction. We're a long way from Rick Mahorn shedding Bulls coach Doug Collins aside like a rag doll after a hard foul on Michael Jordan in 1988, the true genesis of this 20-plus year rivalry, but the seeds are usually planted well before teams begin vying against one another for a title. How glorious would it be to see intensity like this over seven games in May?
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: The Maloofs, the city, the NBA, the Kings … The drama … Sunday afternoon at Arco Arena – um, Power Balance Pavilion – was eerily reminiscent of the days when the Kings were good and the Maloofs were flush. The announced crowd of 16,012 directed its venom at the Portland Trail Blazers, for the most part internalizing or ignoring the ongoing spat about the downtown arena proposal that collapsed late last week. These Kings are like catnip. That's why the NBA is so protective of this market. Give Sacramento fans even a whiff of a potentially appealing and marginally successful product, and they will surprise you. Scratch that. They will amaze you. ... The Kings' co-owners arrived about 30 minutes before tipoff and walked through one of the main doors instead of making their usual entry at the security gate. They didn't sit courtside but remained in their suite and were visible throughout – pacing, cheering, speaking animatedly on their cellphones. And the crowd reaction? Now that was interesting. Benevolent? Detached? Understanding? Tolerant? Controlled fury? The local shrinks must be having a blast with this. Excluding a few shouts to "sell the team," there were few outward displays of displeasure directed at the brothers.

• Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times: Try as Thibodeau might to lower the flame on the burner, Thursday night’s game was everything a game between the best teams in the Eastern Conference is supposed to be — perhaps not aesthetically but at least emotionally. When C.J. Watson hit a three-pointer with 2.2 seconds left to help send the game to overtime, the United Center sounded like a Harley convention stuffed into a three-car garage. The Bulls went on to win 96-86. Sure. Just another game. Watson called it one of the bigger shots of his life, “if not the biggest.’’ “It was a big game on a big stage,’’ he said. “It’s a big win for us.’’ Every coach tries to sell the one-game-at-a-time philosophy, which was around when Aristotle was in the third grade, but nobody was buying Thibs’ stab at level-headedness. We might not have witnessed the greatest basketball Thursday night, but we did witness two teams that knew this was more than another game on another weeknight in the NBA. If it weren’t a big game, Derrick Rose would have been resting whatever it is that ails him. And after watching him struggle all night, that might not have been a bad thing. It wasn’t wrong to take a pass on the fiction the Bulls coach was selling. Thank goodness for that. Thank goodness for two teams taking it to each other as if it were a playoff game. Did it have meaning? It’s silly to think it didn’t.
• David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune: We already knew the Bulls had better reserves. The biggest thing the first game between both teams at full strength proved was that Rose and Rip Hamilton need more time in the same backcourt. More rest only would add another layer of rust — a fact reinforced by Rose's shaky 1 of 13 shooting. More than anything, lingering injury issues have prevented Rose and Hamilton from jelling. To think those medical problems suddenly will disappear once the NBA calendar flips into postseason borders on blind faith. If Bulls officials honestly ranked team concerns as the regular season comes to a close, health might rank ahead of defense and rebounding. Last year the sight of Rose produced chants of "M-V-P!" This year, we think MRI. Rose has yet to play in more than 11 straight. Hamilton's longest consecutive games streak is five. Can the Bulls feel comfortable knowing Rose and Hamilton both will be playing by the Eastern Conference finals? Anybody in the Bulls organization who answers yes has a rabbit's foot in his pocket and a four-leaf clover on his lapel — and is fibbing. If the Bulls are lucky they never will need Watson more than they did Thursday. Healthy, I agree the Bulls will enter the playoffs more equipped than last year to beat the Heat. They improved more. They have more motivation fueled by last year's loss and a better head coach. They likely will enjoy home-court advantage.
• Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post: LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, mauled Thursday by something called the Bench Mob. Here they are, with two weeks and nine games to play, virtually locked into a No. 2 seed, and left with little to accomplish until the regular season mercifully ends. Here we go, following a 96-86 overtime loss, wondering when and how they'll pull it together. And here's the thing about Thursday: it was there for them. That "signature road win" that Erik Spoelstra said Thursday the he sought. The win that eluded the Heat in Los Angeles, against the Lakers and Clippers; in Oklahoma City; in Boston; and earlier, here in Chicago. ... It is what it is. The Heat will not have home court in the Eastern Conference Finals, if its opponent is Chicago. And, yes, while Miami won here twice in the last Eastern Conference Finals, it has not passed any road tests of significance this season. "Guys fought until the end," James said. They did. And they can keep fighting for the next two weeks. But they will not pass Chicago. "It's not perfect," Wade said of their situation. "But that's sports." Thursday, sports hurt. Hurt bad.
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: The San Antonio Spurs were intent on scratching and clawing their way out of a funk. And Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay has the scars to prove it. “One of those games, man,” Gay said after the Grizzlies’ four-game winning streak ended Thursday night with a grueling 107-97 loss to the Spurs in AT&T Center. ... Lionel Hollins said he wished he could take back his decision to make substitutions when the Griz trailed 101-97 with 58.5 seconds left. At that point, Hollins inserted Gilbert Arenas for Conley, Pondexter for Mayo and Cunningham for Gasol. The Spurs had possession but the Griz didn’t need to foul. There was plenty of time on the clock to earn a stop, score and then start fouling with a two-point deficit. But Pondexter didn’t understand the circumstance and immediately fouled Ginobili, who buried two free throws to make it a six-point game. Hollins immediately went back to Mayo, Conley and Gasol as soon as Ginobili went to the foul line.
• Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News: After watching his team humiliated on the boards in a convincing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night, Duncan guaranteed the Spurs would play with more effort against Memphis the following night. Duncan has been around the team long enough to know what he needed to say. But the Spurs’ captain didn’t need to mention anything to his teammates. And with a gritty second-half comeback, they fulfilled Duncan’s promise as they claimed a 107-97 victory over Memphis. “I didn’t tell them anything. I didn’t need to tell them anything about it,” Duncan said. “We can get playing ourselves, we refocus and come back and play better. We always do. It’s just the kind of guys we have.” Duncan provided a huge inspiration with a monster game that might have been the best of the season. Despite facing Marc Gasol, Duncan matched his season-high with 28 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and added two blocked shots. It was the kind of vintage performance that Spurs Nation has seen from Duncan throughout his career. One day, it will guarantee Duncan a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame. And it showed he’s also a pretty good leader, too.
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: "I haven't seen anything like this," Adelman said of the Wolves' injury troubles. "The timing of it is the worst part. When Ricky went down, we were playing well. Then we had to go on the seven-game trip out west. During that time, we lost Pek, Michael, J.J. and Luke. I don't think people really understood how much Ricky meant to our group when we lost him. Luke stepped up for awhile. Then he got hurt." Ridnour, out since April 2 with a sprained ankle, might be in the same situation as Love. Do the Wolves really want to put them back in the lineup with the playoffs officially out of the picture? Before Thursday's game, reserve forward Anthony Tolliver injected a dose of reality when discussing the Wolves' injury problems. Tolliver, who said he exchanged texts with Love on Thursday before Love left Denver, viewed the situation as a final chance to make an impression on the coaching staff and management before the end of the season.
• Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: It was as if Mo Williams had never been out, as if he hadn't missed the last 11 games because of a sprained left big toe. Williams scored 14 points off the bench on six-for-11 shooting, two for four on three-pointers Thursday night in the 95-82 victory over Minnesota. He also had five assists. He had not played a game in three weeks, but Williams was the same player he has been for the Clippers all season. Williams said credit for that goes to Clippers trainer Jasen Powell and his staff. ... With Williams back, Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro now has a deep backcourt. It's a given that Chris Paul and Randy Foye will start. But now Williams wants playing time as the first guard off the bench. Then there is Nick Young, the biggest of all the guards at 6 feet 7, and second-year guard Eric Bledsoe, who has become the energizer and defender for the Clippers. How does Del Negro plan to rotate five guards? "They all better play well," Del Negro said. "Whoever is playing well will be out there. So they better play hard and execute. And it's about winning. We'll make it work somehow." All of the guards played Thursday night.
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: If the Mavericks had been more concerned with stats than a victory, they might have been able to get Jason Kidd his 107th triple double of his career. As it turned out, he finished a point shy, amassing 12 assists, 10 rebounds and nine points. Kidd missed a tough jumper in the final minute and also passed up a possible layup to kill more time off the clock. "At that point, I thought we needed to run clock,'' he said. He was right, of course. And Kidd wasn't upset in the slightest at coming up short of a triple double. His teammates seemed more concerned. "If we'd have known, we would have gotten him one or two more shots,'' Dirk Nowitzki said. ... The Mavericks were reminded just how much they missed Kidd when he was out for four games with a groin injury. "Never underestimate greatness,'' coach Rick Carlisle said. "I don't care if that guy's 29, 39 or 49. He's going to do something to help you win.''
• Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle: There's also way more than has been reported about the link between Odom and Golden State, and those details have many thinking the disgruntled forward is much more than "on the radar" or a "long shot" for the 2012-13 Warriors. Here's the key: Warriors assistant coach Jerry DeGregorio is as close as anyone to Odom. DeGregorio coached Odom in high school, college and the pros and has been like a father to him since Odom was a 16-year-old prospect from South Jamaica, Queens, N.Y. DeGregorio was the best man in Odom's September 2009 wedding to Khloe Kardashian. ... Warriors head coach Mark Jackson doesn't allow his assistants to speak publicly to print media during the season, but he talked Thursday about Odom. "He's a New York City guy who's had an outstanding career and is a champion," Jackson said. "He's going through something right now, and I don't know what it is. But I'm pulling for him, and I'm looking forward to seeing him back on the court next season." Maybe in a Warriors' uniform.
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: I wonder if Corey Maggette has played his last game as a Charlotte Bobcat. Maggette will miss the last 10 games of the season with an injured right Achilles tendon. He leaves as this season’s leading scorer, at 15 points per game. And when you think about all the change likely coming this off-season, I could see Maggette being waived as the Bobcats’ amnesty provision. The Bobcats have the option to waive one player and no longer count his salary against their cap or a potential luxury-tax bill. Maggette makes about $10.9 million next season, the last on his contract. So the Bobcats could drop considerably under the cap by using the amnesty clause on Maggette. ... I’d think twice before waiving Maggette, in that he is still a dependable scorer when healthy on a team that is last in the league in scoring. He doesn’t have a good shooting percentage this season (37 percent) but he still has a knack for getting to the foul line. He’s been more productive this season than Thomas, Diop or Carroll. This could simply come down to which free agents might be willing to sign here over the summer and how much cap space it would take to get those deals done.
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: Pistons coach Lawrence Frank twice faced questions about the recent lack of production from center Greg Monroe. The drop-off was highlighted in consecutive blowout losses to the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic this week during which Monroe averaged only seven shots per game. Frank emphasized at Thursday's morning shoot-around and during pregame availability before the Pistons faced the Bobcats that a lot more was going on than the Pistons not calling Monroe's number. He insisted Monroe's big games come in the normal flow of the offense with Monroe making strong cuts and attacking the offensive glass. Whatever the cause of Monroe's decline, playing the Bobcats cured all ills. Monroe recorded 25 points and 11 rebounds in 26 minutes as the Pistons embarrassed the Bobcats, 109-85. "Greg's effort on both ends was at a high level," Frank said. "Again, I don't ever care about individual stats."
• Dale Kasler,Tony Bizjak and Ryan Lillis of The Sacramento Bee: For the second year in a row, Mayor Kevin Johnson will parachute into New York in an 11th-hour attempt to keep the Kings in Sacramento. Johnson will meet with Kings owners and NBA officials today for what appears to be an attempt at peacemaking following weeks of rancor that threaten to kill a tentative plan for a new downtown arena. ... Johnson declined to comment about the trip. The mayor's staff, however, released an open letter from the mayor to the Maloof family late Thursday night laying out Johnson's parameters for today's meeting. In the letter, Johnson reiterated the city's stance that the Maloofs had agreed to a deal more than a month ago and said "under no circumstances will the city make material adjustments to the current terms of the deal. Put simply, we have done our part. And there should be no expectation in (today's) conversation that this deal is subject to further negotiation."
• Editorial from The Sacramento Bee: The time has come for the Maloof family to sell all or part of their ownership in the Sacramento Kings. For the good of the league – and the good of a city and region that have been devoted supporters of professional basketball ever since the Kings first arrived – NBA owners must use their leverage to make this happen. As has been increasingly clear, the Maloofs lack the means and the will – or both – to pay for their share of a new sports and entertainment complex in Sacramento, even under terms that many would judge to be extremely favorable to them. Their financial status makes it difficult for them to field a competitive team, which means a franchise owned by the Maloofs will continue to drag down and distract the NBA, regardless of whether the team is in Anaheim, Seattle or another city.

• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: The Bulls took their recent spate of slow starts to a new low Sunday afternoon, missing 11 of their first 12 shots, committing seven first-quarter turnovers and trailing 27-6 at one point. "It's a big concern," coach Tom Thibodeau said. Thibodeau preaches about readiness to play ad nauseam, which is why he fielded a question about if he has new plans to address an old problem. "We'll see," he said. Thibodeau burned two timeouts before 4 minutes elapsed, but the Knicks kept the pressure on, finishing with 18 first-quarter points in the paint. "We have to play with more urgency," Derrick Rose said. The Bulls also dropped to 2-6 in afternoon games. "I'd prefer to play a few of them at home," Thibodeau said. The Bulls are 1-1 in home matinees, losing to the lowly Nets on Feb. 18.
• Al Iannazzone of Newsday: Carmelo Anthony was hopping around and screaming "This is my house!" after burying the shot that capped his best performance of the season and greatest moment as a Knick. Anthony has been booed at the Garden this season, but he had everyone standing and cheering Sunday after his three-pointer gave the Knicks a 100-99 overtime win over the Bulls. Anthony scored a season-high 43 points, shooting 16-for-31. He sent the game to overtime by drilling a three-pointer with 11.2 seconds left and erased a two-point deficit with 8.2 seconds to play in overtime against a team the Knicks will face again Tuesday in Chicago and could play in the first round of the playoffs. Bulls All-Star Derrick Rose , who returned after missing 12 games with a groin injury, had some costly missed free throws and eight turnovers and was outdueled by Anthony in his house. "It was mine today," Anthony said. "They were talking some trash out there a little bit. In the moment, it's fun times."
• Harvey Araton of The New York Times: Can they count on the officials letting Shumpert play Rose as physically as he did Sunday? Can they expect the Bulls to choke at the line? Are the odds with the Knicks when they must live or die with Anthony unloading the way Johnson did long ago and far away? Yes, there are parallels to be drawn to the season in which Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby joined Johnson, Patrick Ewing and friends in New York — although it was the general manager, Ernie Grunfeld, who was fired that time in an attempt to light a fire under the embattled coach Jeff Van Gundy’s team. ... Teams at the bottom of the conference playoff seeding usually are, and an overwhelming percentage do not survive the first round. So give Anthony and the Knicks credit for accepting Chicago’s generosity at the free-throw line and turning Sunday’s instant Easter classic into a much-needed victory. But if there was a statement to make afterward, it should have been more about the division race than the conference. Trust me, Chicago and Miami are the last places the Knicks want to be when April gives way to May.
• Scott Souza of the MetroWest Daily News: Ray Allen has accepted his reserve role with the Celtics. That doesn’t mean he’s content with it. Shortly before coming off the bench for the third game in a row — and the seventh time in his 16-year NBA career — the 36-year-old guard said that while he is willing to do whatever Celtics coach Doc Rivers asks of him to help the team, he is not yet comfortable coming off the bench, and is not necessarily looking for that to be his role for whatever remains of his career. “I think my challenge is to be able to compete at a high level every year coming into the season and that means competing for a starting job every opportunity I get,” he said before last night’s game against the 76ers at TD Garden. “That’s my focus. That’s my goal. “If I felt as though I wasn’t playing up to that level, and those standards, then I think there’s going to be a point where I’d have to say it’s time for me to move on."
• Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: On a day when many Christians around the world observed a resurrection, the 76ers' offense remained lifeless. And their playoff hopes are nearing life-support condition. For the 10th time in 14 games, the Sixers lost, this time to the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Celtics, 103-79. Boston has a three-game lead on the Sixers and any hopes of winning the division seemed to get thrown into the nearby Boston Harbor. Holding onto a playoff spot is also close to getting washed away as the New York Knicks, with their win Sunday over the Chicago Bulls, pulled into the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference and dropped the Sixers to eighth. Though both teams have the same record at 29-27, the Knicks own the tiebreaker as they took two of three from the Sixers this season. The Sixers are only one game ahead of the ninth-place Milwaukee Bucks. For now, though, playoff talk should be the furthest thing to come out of anyone's mouth concerning this team. Approaching the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, the Sixers appeared to be submerging just as quickly.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: With 10 games left in the regular season, Thunder coach Scott Brooks has no plans on resting any of his players in an attempt to enter the postseason rested and working with a clean bill of health. But if the Thunder plays like it did Sunday night, rest won't be a problem. The Thunder trounced Toronto, 91-75, inside Chesapeake Energy Arena, snapping a three-game skid by using a 24-0 run to turn what was a ho-hum game for 21/2 quarters into borderline humiliation for the Raptors. Thabo Sefolosha was the only Thunder starter who logged any minutes in the fourth quarter, as OKC built its lead to as many as 27 before turning the page to Milwaukee on Monday night. “If we keep winning like this, I'll get a rest,” said Russell Westbrook, who played just 27 minutes. Brooks has never subscribed to sitting players. He has likened the strategy to “cheating the game” and the fans. And on Sunday, he confessed that his team's youth plays a part as well. “If we had a bunch of veteran guys in their 30s, there's no question things would be different,” Brooks said. “But our guys, if you take out some of the guys, they'll think I'm benching them twice a game. They want to play every minute. They love to play and they want to keep playing. It's like pulling teeth to get five or six minutes out of them per half.”
• Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun: The Raptors, who lost Andrea Bargnani for the second half due to a flare-up of his calf injury, battled the Thunder starters tooth and nail early, forcing all kinds of turnovers, but things changed once Harden, the NBA’s premier reserve and the rest of the bench entered in the first half. Even more noticeably, Harden imposed his will during the aforementioned run late in the third, which began with the Thunder up only three points. Then the visitors collapsed, giving up 24 straight — one shy of the team record set twice, most recently, back in 2000 against the Charlotte Hornets. That spoiled all the good work from earlier in the game by the visitors. “Like being hit by a train going from Oklahoma City to Dallas,” Casey said of the run. “We can play them 10 out of 10 times and the results probably wouldn’t be different. But like I told the guys, I’m looking for 10 guys to compete, to fight, to scratch, to claw going down. “I didn’t feel like we were competing. That’s what we’re looking for these last few games.”
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: Beginning the final three weeks of the NBA’s compressed schedule with back-to-back games against the Utah Jazz, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich went with another lineup wrinkle designed to manage the minutes of key players. After starting DeJuan Blair at center for the first 53 games, Popovich went with newcomer Boris Diaw in the middle for Sunday’s game at the AT&T Center. Blair didn’t play at all, and neither did forward Stephen Jackson. Both were healthy and in uniform, but Popovich had told both players before tipoff to not plan on seeing any court time. The coach would not reveal his plans for tonight’s rematch in Utah. Might some players even remain at home when the team’s charter flight takes off for Salt Lake City? “It’s a fair question,” Popovich said, “(but) it’s none of your business. Absolutely a fair question, and a good one. It’s something I need to think about.” Jackson offered a hint as he exited the locker room to head to San Antonio International Airport. “See you when we get back,” he called to guard Manu Ginobili, who scored 23 points in little more than 28 minutes in Sunday’s 114-104 win. Ginobili insisted he had received no instructions to remain behind but also could not say for certain he would be on the plane.
• Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune: The Jazz will return home hobbled. More beaten up than they’ve been at any point this season. Possibly down to 10 active players, two of whom are rookies, four of whom are 22 or younger. Needing every ounce of strength and willpower that’s kept them fighting thus far. Utah lost two key athletes Sunday during a 114-104 defeat to the Spurs, and the Jazz’s playoff hopes took another hit. Starting shooting guard C.J. Miles (strained left calf) and backup point guard Earl Watson (sore right knee) left the game during the second quarter and didn’t return. Miles wore a protective boot afterward, Watson was on crutches, and both will undergo MRI exams Monday. "I can’t even walk," said Watson, who initially was placed in a wheelchair. Meanwhile, a Jazz (29-28) team that’s dropped six of nine fell back into 10th place in the Western Conference. Utah’s a half-game behind ninth-place Phoenix — which holds a tiebreaker — and 11/2 games behind eighth-place Denver with just nine contests left in the 2011-12 season. With starters Josh Howard and Raja Bell already out of action, the Jazz exited the AT&T Center knowing their options are increasingly becoming limited.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: Kyle Lowry returned less than two weeks after he said he did not know if he would play again this season, just 10 days after he was cleared to begin any activity. He went through one practice and a light walk-through before convincing coach Kevin McHale he was ready. Eager to return “I wanted to play the last game,” Lowry said after the Rockets’ third straight win on the road. “Coach said no. Tonight, he let me go out there. I said I wanted to play. After the day I practiced (Thursday), I felt great. Coach didn’t want me to play the Lakers game. Tonight, was an opportunity to play, so he let me.” Lowry said that if he had been told March 29 when the antibiotics catheter was removed from his arm that he would be playing against the Kings on Sunday, “I wouldn’t have believed you. Things happened really fast. The training staff did a great job. I committed to getting back sooner than later.” After missing 15 games — with the Rockets going 9-6 — Lowry did not ease his way back. He played 18 minutes off the bench, including the entire fourth quarter. He missed his three shots, but he had seven assists without a turnover or a complaint. “I’m not as fast as I want to be, but I’m going to get back there,” Lowry said. “
• Matt Kawahara of The Sacramento Bee: Marcus Thornton missed his fourth consecutive game Sunday evening with a bruised left calf, though Kings coach Keith Smart suggested the guard could return Tuesday against the Mavericks in Dallas. ... Thornton has not played since last Monday, when he left in the first quarter of the Kings' win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Forward John Salmons, missing his eighth consecutive game with a sore right hip, and swingman Francisco Garcia (concussion) also were out against the Rockets. After staying fairly healthy through the first half of the season, the Kings have seemed more susceptible to injuries since the All-Star break. As of Feb. 29, three Kings had missed a total of 19 games because of injury and illness, the third-lowest total in the NBA at that time, according to information compiled earlier this season by the Philadelphia 76ers. That number had increased to 46 entering Sunday. Thornton and Salmons each have missed a team-high 11 games because of injury or illness.
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: If San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich were filling out Sunday's lineup card, there is a reasonable chance the notation next to Dwyane Wade's name in the box score would have been "DNP-Detroit Pistons." Instead, because Erik Spoelstra would never do what Popovich did last month, listing Tim Duncan as "DNP-old," the Miami Heat merely listed Wade as missing the 98-75 thrashing of the Pistons at AmericanAirlines Arena due to a sore right ankle. OK, whatever. Just as Wade was given the night off last week with a "bruised knee" against the Philadelphia 76ers to be there when needed in the next night's victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Wade this time got a bit of R&R in advance of Eastern Conference showdowns this week on Tuesday night against the visiting Boston Celtics and Thursday night on the road against the Chicago Bulls. As it was, the Heat completed their regular-season sweep of the 76ers without Wade and Sunday did the same against the Pistons, getting more than enough from LeBron James and Chris Bosh. "Right now it's coming into form," Spoelstra said. "Hopefully we can maintain that."
• Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: There wasn't much time for Pistons rookie Vernon Macklin to re-familiarize himself with his teammates on his return from the D-League but they were waiting on him. Teammates Austin Daye and Ben Wallace led the playful chiding chant of "swag, swag, swag" as he was being interviewed by media Sunday, hours after he landed in Miami from Fort Wayne, where the Pistons' D-League affiliate is located. Macklin, a second-round pick in last June's draft, acquitted himself well in his 10-game stint, averaging 14.3 points and 14.5 rebounds, earning rave reviews from front office personnel and the coaching staff. Pistons coach Lawrence Frank was impressed with Macklin's approach. "A lot of guys look at it as a punishment or demotion," Frank said. "He had a great attitude and positive spirit. The people at Fort Wayne were very complimentary of him. (Spoke well) Not just for himself but for the organization."
• Andy Vasquez of The Record: Through Sunday night’s win over Cleveland, the Nets have lost 211 man games to injury/personal reasons this season. They’ve also used 22 starting lineups in 57 games. In 82 games last season, they used 24 starting lineups. Six players who have dressed for the Nets this season have been ruled out for the remainder of the year; Brook Lopez (right foot surgery), Damion James (right foot surgery) and Jordan Farmar (right groin injury) still are on the roster. Keith Bogans (left ankle surgery) was released after suffering a season-ending injury, and Mehmet Okur (back) and Shawne Williams (left foot surgery) were traded to Portland as part of the Gerald Wallace deal.
• Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer: Lester Hudson arrived in Cleveland on March 30 as a 27-year-old journeyman trying to keep his career alive in the NBA's Development League. Ten days later, he is the second-best offensive threat on the depleted Cavaliers. He is scoring points in bunches, making the type of fourth-quarter plays Kyrie Irving often delivers and prompting the team owner to tweet: "Lesanity!" in reference to the phenomenon created by another D-Leaguer who captivated NBA fans about 10 miles from here on the other side of the Hudson River. On Sunday night, as his 10-day contract and the game clock were expiring, Hudson hit a fadeaway 3-pointer to force overtime against the New Jersey Nets in the Prudential Center. The fact the Cavaliers lost, 122-117, is almost immaterial given their place in the standings. The fearless combo guard, a member of the Austin Toros two weeks ago, is at worst making the last few weeks of the season palatable for a fan base growing increasingly more interested in mock drafts. Hudson scored a career-high 26 points two days after he tallied 23 in a win over Toronto. That's 49 points in two games coming off coach Byron Scott's bench. He nearly made it 52, but his 3-point attempt in the final seconds of overtime rimmed out and the Nets salted away victory at the foul line. "I think we're going to sign him to another 10-day [deal], that's for sure," Scott said with a grin. "I'll get a good chance to talk to [General Manager Chris Grant] tomorrow and I'm pretty sure Lester will be in a Cavaliers uniform for the rest of the year."

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: After what transpired Thursday in one of the most bizarre, surreal and awkward media moments in NBA history, the Magic need to do themselves and Coach Stan Van Gundy a favor. They need to part ways with their coach immediately, pay off the remainder of his contract and install Dwight as the player-coach for the remainder of the season. Why not? Go ahead and give Howard exactly what he wants as this Dwightmare of a season spins toward its dysfunctional, farcical conclusion. Let's face it, Dwight is already the new CEO of the team and the de facto general manager, so why not make him player-coach as well? Especially since there is no possible way for Van Gundy and Howard to coexist. Not now. Not after Van Gundy pulled back the curtain and made Howard look like a fraud and a fool Thursday. The bluntly honest Magic coach obviously was fed up and wanted no part of this ongoing Dwight dog-and-pony show. And so the media were treated to a scene straight from Comedy Central or a skit from Saturday Night Live. ... It's all on Dwight now to sign long-term in Orlando and lead the Magic to a championship. It's the least he can do. The best player in franchise history has sabotaged the best coach in franchise history. Stan Van Gundy will soon be gone. A no-nonsense coach saying goodbye to a nonsense operation.

Howard Beck of The New York Times: Against that bizarre backdrop, the Knicks rolled to a 96-80 rout that only added to the Magic’s woes. Orlando (32-23) has lost five straight games, a streak that began with a 22-point loss at Madison Square Garden last week, when Howard was seen laughing on the bench. The Knicks, who have had their share of dissension and woe, were happy to capitalize on Orlando’s dysfunction. “Absolutely, you can see it,” Carmelo Anthony said of the Magic. “You still have guys that are going out there playing hard, trying to win the basketball game. But at the end of the day, when there’s a lot of stuff like that that’s surrounding a team off the court, it can be very distracting.” Anthony had 19 points and 8 rebounds in just three quarters. J. R. Smith had 15 points and 9 assists in his best all-around game as a Knick — a performance that came just two nights after his flagrant foul and ensuing ejection drew criticism from Coach Mike Woodson. “I’m going to keep pushing him to do the right thing,” Woodson said, “as well as everybody that’s on this team, and hopefully the results will be wins.”

Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times: Derrick Rose is expected to return from a groin injury Sunday when the Bulls face the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, which means it’s back to the bench for John Lucas III. The third-string point guard proved during Rose’s absences that he belongs in the NBA, at least. “I’m not here by accident,” Lucas said. “I proved I can play with the best. That was my whole goal, to show people I could play. People who said I was here because of my father, I didn’t want to hear any of that. Every night I step on that court I want to prove everybody wrong.” Lucas III, the son of ex-NBA player and coach John Lucas, has been the biggest surprise of the Bulls’ season, although players and coaches say they have long known what he can do. He scored 25 points against the Wizards in his first NBA start. He scored 20 against Orlando and had 24, including a late-game, fade-away jumper over LeBron James, in a victory against Miami last month. Lucas has been a bottom-of-the-roster player during his NBA career. He has also played in China, Spain and Italy. “I don’t even think about stuff like that,” Lucas said when asked if he has earned a measure of security. “It’s a business. This league is crazy. I go out there and play like it’s my last game every game. I don’t care if we’re up by 30 or down by 40, I’m going to go hard no matter what.”

Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: The Bulls simply out-executed the Celtics on offense in the second half. And the Celtics were relegated to another moral victory, perhaps hoping that Mickael Pietrus can return from his concussion in time to help in the final stretch of games. Afterward, coach Doc Rivers wasn’t happy. “I had to use two timeouts to remind us that we were actually in an NBA game. I thought this was the worst loss for us this year with the way we approached the game. And then in the second half, I thought Chicago, they’re just too tough for us. I thought their toughness made us let go of the rope.’’ Rivers said. “We wanted to use all these excuses all night. I thought Chicago was just too tough for us. We’re not going to go a lot of places playing with that type of mental toughness. We have three weeks, if we play like that tonight, we’ll be playing one of those [top teams] in the first round. We gotta get better. That was unacceptable. Rivers didn’t limit his criticism to the players. “That is on me first,’’ he said. “I didn’t see something tonight. It’s always on the coach. That’s an unacceptable effort for us. I don’t say that often. I don’t think I’ve ever said that. That was a crime. It was tough to talk after the game. About what? We gotta be better than that.’’

Michael Lee of The Washington Post: If Detroit Pistons center Ben Wallace’s free throw percentage were a batting average, it would still make him a marginal hitter. So, with the Washington Wizards desperately seeking any means to rally from a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit on Thursday night, Coach Randy Wittman asked his players to intentionally foul the notoriously terrible free throw shooter, hoping that it would yield the same result as a turnover. The strategy backfired hilariously, and as Wallace kept knocking down free throws with his unorthodox form, he angrily stared down the Wizards’ bench. Wittman could only chuckle uncomfortably. Because when a man who entered the final period shooting 26 percent from the foul line connected on 5 of 6 in the final 2 minutes 18 seconds, the Wizards had to know they weren’t leaving the Palace of Auburn Hills with a win. “It ain’t your night if he goes 5 for 6,” John Wall said of Wallace after the Wizards lost, 99-94. “Amazing. If he misses those, we might have a tie game, going into overtime — or a chance to try to win it in regulation.” The Wizards didn’t get either, as they suffered their fourth consecutive loss with regular starters Nene and Trevor Booker still out with left plantar fasciitis. At this point, with the roster depleted by injury and the finish line to another forgettable season well within sight, the Wizards just needed to be in a competitive game and Wall needed to know what it felt like to be on top of his game again.

Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: It's a sight rarely seen during a Pistons game, and although it looks alarming there's a greater underlying positive message. Piston guard Brandon Knight snapped at teammate Greg Monroe during a crucial stoppage in a recent game, which on the surface could be cause for alarm. But in reality, Knight, a rookie point guard, was finding his voice — and promoting accountability. Frank believes in the perfect democracy, where no one is above or below giving or receiving proper criticism. "There's no pecking order in terms of holding each other accountable, guys who's been in the league an eternity compared to young guys," he said.

Dan Woike of The Orange County Register: Style points aren’t important this time of year, and that’s good because the Clippers didn’t earn any. Still, the team somehow picked up a key road win at Sacramento, beating the Kings 93-85. Despite leading by double digits in the second quarter, the Clippers let Sacramento hang around, and inside the final five minutes, found themselves trailing. But on a key stretch of possessions, the Clippers scored four straight trips. Blake Griffin, who was quiet for the second game in a row, scored once in the post and drained back-to-back 20-foot jumpers from the top of the key, and Chris Paul got to the rim for a righ-handed layup to put the Clippers back up for good. In the final minute, Randy Foye was perfect on four trips to the line to ice the win. Despite being 1-for-6 from deep, Foye led the Clippers with 20 points in the win thanks to some key penetration. Griffin and Caron Butler scored 14 points each, and Paul scored 13 to go along with five steals.

Matt Kawahara and Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee: Kings center DeMarcus Cousins said he won't change the way he plays knowing that he's one technical foul from a one-game suspension. Cousins picked up his 12th technical of the season in the Kings' win over the Utah Jazz last Friday. NBA rules dictate that when a player reaches 13 technical fouls, he will be suspended for one game. Every two technical fouls thereafter result in another one-game suspension. "Some of my technicals, just, I don't even understand," Cousins said before the Kings played the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday. "I see some of those technicals other players get, and I compare them to mine and they're completely unfair." ... Cousins was tied Thursday for the most technical fouls in the league with Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins. Kings coach Keith Smart said he will not advise Cousins to subdue his passionate, sometimes fiery play in order to avoid picking up No. 13. "If it happens, it happens," Smart said. "He knows where he's at, and if it happens, he'll take a seat and watch."

• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: Coach of the Year? Frank Vogel's got a case. He's got an even stronger case to have that third year, now a team option, fully guaranteed by upper management. What else do they need to see? He has taken a wounded, defeated team and in a short time, first as an interim coach and then in a lockout-shortened year, established himself as the man for the job long term. In 91 games -- the last 38 of last season, the first 53 of this one -- Vogel's Pacers are 52-39. If the Pacers can go on a run here -- nine of their next 13 games are at home -- Vogel may get some play as a serious candidate for Coach of the Year. He came in as Dr. Feelgood, propping up a team that had been beaten down by Jim O'Brien's relentless negativity. And then, about three weeks into his interim season, he started bringing the hammer down. And players who wondered if he could be tough took notice. ... Who has done more with his team than Vogel with these Pacers? The answer, best I can tell, is nobody.
• Howard Beck of The New York Times: So much changed for the Knicks in a torrid, dizzying 13-minute span Tuesday night that it may take hours or days before they fully digest the consequences. They lost a 17-point lead, they lost their cool, then they lost the game as their grip on a playoff berth became a little looser. If the Knicks ultimately miss the postseason, they will look back with stinging regret on a stunning 112-104 loss to the Indiana Pacers. Carmelo Anthony was mostly brilliant, scoring a season-high 39 points, only to miss the two most critical shots of the night. The Knicks’ defense was mostly sound, until it allowed a 40-point fourth quarter. As the frustration bubbled over, J. R. Smith lost his head, earning an ejection after throwing Leandro Barbosa to the court in the final seconds — an act that Coach Mike Woodson called “unprofessional.” “We somewhat self-destructed,” said Woodson, who lost for just the third time in his 12 games as the interim coach. “I mean, we kind of lost our composure.” The collapse was so quick and so forceful that it took the Knicks at least a dozen adjectives to describe it as they milled about a dejected locker room.
• Geoff Calkins of The Commercial-Appeal: At a certain point, you had to wonder if Lionel Hollins would summon Jesse Jackson out of the crowd and send him into the game. He had tried everyone else, every other combination he could dream up. “I was searching,” he said. “I was reaching far and wide.” He had tried Hamed Haddadi and Zach Randolph, he had tried Marreese Speights and Quincy Pondexter. And, still, the Golden State Warriors were dropping in shots, pushing the Grizzlies closer and closer to a truly devastating loss. The Grizzlies had just beaten Oklahoma City on the road. They couldn’t lose to Golden State at home, right? So with 10-plus minutes remaining — Memphis down by 12 — Hollins mixed and matched yet again. He sent in Gilbert Arenas and Tony Allen to play with O.J. Mayo, Dante Cunningham and Marc Gasol. There was no need for the Rev. Jackson, as it turns out. Not with that group around to keep hope alive. “It was a great fourth quarter,” said Allen. “It was just another great team win.” The final score was Memphis 98, Golden State 94. The final sentiment was: Whew.
• Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: The Heat played the 76ers on Tuesday. In other words, it was a good time to experiment with the lineup. With guard Dwyane Wade resting on the bench with a sore knee, the Heat inserted Shane Battier and Ronny Turiaf into the starting lineup and defeated Philadelphia 99-93 at AmericanAirlines Arena. It was the Heat’s 16th consecutive victory at home, a league high, and Miami clinched a spot in the playoffs in the process. For the season, the Heat is 22-2 at home. A late scratch Tuesday, Wade is probable for Wednesday’s nationally televised game against the Thunder, which crushed the Heat on March 25 in Oklahoma City. The Heat will need Wade on Wednesday but managed to do without him against the Sixers, especially on a night when LeBron James set a season-high for points. He scored 41, shooting 15 of 25 from the field. “It’s never really mattered to me about scoring,” James said. “[Tuesday] was a good team effort, and I’m happy to get a good team effort against a playoff team.”
• Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: For the first 24 minutes and the final 12 against the Miami Heat Tuesday night, the Sixers put together some of their best basketball in quite some time. Passes were crisp, cuts to the basket were hard and it added up to a three-point lead at halftime. But the inconsistency of which Collins spoke reared its ugly head in the third quarter as the offense grew sloppy and the Dwyane Wade-less Heat picked up the pace and, ultimately, a 99-93 win. The Sixers' third-quarter struggles, in which they scored just 16 points, made six of 18 shots and turned the ball over four times, were exacerbated when forward Andre Iguodala had to leave the game with 4 minutes, 42 seconds left after sustaining a left eye contusion. He went to the locker room and didn't return to the bench the rest of the game. "To start the third, we were careless, we started to turn the ball over," Collins said. "We didn't have the crisp movement that we had during the first half. I was pleased with our game. I'm never pleased that we lose, I don't want anyone to think that there's a moral victory, but I thought there was a lot of good things."
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: What Patrick Mills brought to the Spurs when he arrived March 27 was something rare: a thorough knowledge of most of the team’s plays, right down to terminology and signals, without having played a single game in silver and black. The secret: Mills was the point guard for the Australian national team, called the Boomers, for the last four seasons. That team has been coached by Spurs assistant coach Brett Brown since 2009. Mills’ familiarity-by-proxy was on display Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena when he made 8 of 11 shots, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range, and scored a team-high 20 points in just under 20 minutes of court time. He became the 11th different player, including the recently-traded Richard Jefferson, to lead the Spurs in scoring in a game this season. It was Mills’ third game since joining the Spurs and his longest stint by more than 13 minutes. Against a Cavaliers defense that yielded 23 layups among the Spurs’ 48 baskets, Mills found open shots without needing to create anything on his own.
• Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer: Byron Scott is no longer talking about winning, something the Cavaliers haven't done since winter turned to spring. Things have eroded so quickly in the past few weeks the Cavaliers coach is just simply looking for his players to compete, to care. It's gotten so bad one of the team's leaders admitted some players have been joking around in the locker room after losses. "I worry more when me as a coach and my coaching staff want it more than my players," Scott said. "That's when I start to worry. And I'm getting worried." His concern elevated to another level after the San Antonio Spurs embarrassed the Cavaliers, 125-90, on Tuesday. The second consecutive lopsided home defeat -- the Cavs lost by 37 points on Friday night to Milwaukee -- drove many in the crowd of 14,759 fans out of the building long before the final horn sounded. It marked their eighth straight loss overall and 11th in the last 12 games.
• Elliott Teaford of the Los Angeles Daily News: Andrew Bynum walked into the Lakers' locker room at 6:30 p.m., roughly 30 minutes after his teammates were required to arrive. He changed into a pair of practice shorts and took his uniform, still on its hangars, back to the equipment room. Bynum couldn't play in Tuesday night's game against the New Jersey Nets because of a sprained left ankle suffered in Sunday's victory over the Golden State Warriors. He wouldn't talk to reporters before the game, as is his custom. So, it was left to coach Mike Brown to answer questions about him. Brown confirmed Bynum was fined an undisclosed amount last week for blowing off a meeting with general manager Mitch Kupchak that was arranged to discuss his immature behavior, including an ill-advised 3-pointer March 27 against Golden State. A Lakers insider said the team hadn't suspended Bynum for his recent actions. Then he smiled faintly and added the word, "Yet." "Am I concerned with Bynum's attitude?" Brown said, repeating a reporter's question about the 24-year-old center's recent behavior. "No, I'm not concerned. - It's been handled internally. It's an internal matter."
• Tim Bontemps of the New York Post: Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has been missing in action, but that will change next week. That’s when Prokhorov will meet with NBA commissioner David Stern, and Prokhorov may attend the league’s Board of Governors meetings next Thursday and Friday, Stern said at an event in Manhattan Tuesday to kick off NBA Green Week presented by Sprint. At those meetings, the Board of Governors officially will vote to approve the Nets’ impending move to Brooklyn, along with the team’s name change from the New Jersey Nets to the Brooklyn Nets. “I know I have a meeting with him next week,” Stern said. “He’ll be in New York next week. Whether he is going to physically be there for [the Board of Governors] vote, I’m not sure, but I hope so.” Stern also spoke glowingly of the ongoing construction of the team’s new home in Brooklyn, the Barclays Center, which is set to open this fall. “It’s going to be on time, [and] it’s going to be a spectacular addition to the New York entertainment scene,” Stern said.
• Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: Charlie Villanueva again didn't play and has played only 15 minutes all season, erasing the optimism he had when the lockout-shortened year began — and the reality is beginning to set in. "Mentally it's frustrating and hard because you worked so hard to get healthy and help the team out," said Villanueva, who fought ankle problems that kept him out the first two months of the season. "Then after you work so hard you don't get the minutes that I feel like I should be playing." Villanueva is stuck behind Monroe, Jason Maxiell, Ben Wallace and Jonas Jerebko in the frontcourt and Frank likes the rotation as such, despite Villanueva's diverse set of skills. "Look, it's not a knock on Charlie," Frank said after Monday's practice. "Charlie is working hard and doing what we're asking, but my thing is Greg, Max, Jonas, Body (Wallace) — you know they are all doing basically what we're asking. In order to put Charlie in there, one of those guys has to sit." ... He has two years left on his contract, and is scheduled to make $16.6 million over that span. He could be a prime candidate for the amnesty clause if the Pistons can't find a taker for him. "The fact I'm not being used this season, and we have the same guys coming back (contractually)," Villanueva said. "My mind is, 'What's going to happen next season?' I feel like I can be helping out, but we'll see what happens."
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson sat out Tuesday night's game against the Detroit Pistons with injuries, but Orlando Magic officials believe Howard and Nelson will not be out for an extended period. Howard missed his second game in a row because of back spasms, and Nelson did not play because he has a sore left calf. Ryan Anderson has a sprained right ankle. Coach Stan Van Gundy was briefed about each player's status before tipoff by athletic trainer Keon Weise. ... Howard would not discuss his injury. Nelson said his calf had bothered him for three or four games. Team officials decided to proceed cautiously with Nelson to make sure the injury did not worsen. ... Van Gundy said Anderson likely will be out another five or six days. ... ESPN reported and an NBA source confirmed to the Sentinel that Dallas Mavericks center Brendan Haywood will not be punished by the league. Van Gundy alleged that Haywood caused Howard's injury by punching Howard in the back during Friday's Mavericks-Magic game. The Magic had sent video to the league officials for review.
• Frank Zicarelli of the Toronto Sun: Anyone who watches any game, especially at home and regardless of the quality of Toronto’s opponent, can’t help but be impressed at the way Dwane Casey goes about his business. If his players remotely approached every tip the way Casey approaches every possession, the Raptors wouldn’t be life and death when a team such as Charlotte pays a visit to the Air Canada Centre. In Chicago, there’s much angst as to why the Bulls have yet to extend Tom Thibodeau, the NBA’s reigning coach of the year who took his team to the Eastern final last spring before losing to Miami. In Toronto, there’s no chatter about Casey’s extension when there should be as Casey continues to prove his worth and his impact on a team that is more D-league than NBA-ready against an equally inept Bobcats side. In fact, he’s making such a case that the Raptors should lock him up well beyond next season as more legitimate pieces are assembled. Stability has been so fleeting in Raptorland in what seems like an eternity that a known commodity in Casey simply must be locked up for good. Give him a five-year deal and send a message that a culture that demands defence will always be adhered to and enforced. In Casey, the Raptors have finally found a guy players league-wide respect.
• Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer: Anthony Davis as a Bobcat: It would change so much. But first, to keep things realistic, let’s look at some odds. I’m assuming two things – Davis will soon declare he’s coming out after his freshman season and the Bobcats are going to finish with the NBA’s worst record. Both seem safe assumptions. As of Tuesday, the Bobcats were five games worse in the win column than anyone else, and the regular season ends this month. But even with the worst record, Charlotte has only a 1-in-4 chance of getting the first pick – which is absolutely going to be Davis, which is why he’d be foolish not to come out – when the NBA draft lottery is conducted May 30. The Bobcats, in other words, have a 75 percent of not getting Davis. ... He would give the team an identity. But he wouldn’t be an immediate fix, much like John Wall hasn’t really moved the win-loss needle in Washington. Davis would need help, which is where the Bobcats’ cap room comes in. Still, Davis would make the Bobcats a lot better than they are. He would intimidate people inside. His mere presence would allow the Bobcats’ shooters to get more open shots. It would all be a whole lot of fun. But first, those 1-in-4 (at best) odds must pay off.
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: The Suns remain unsettled on how to act on Aaron Brooks, although it seems doubtful that he will join a team with three point guards and play at this stage. The Suns could sign Brooks to a multiyear contract while they have exclusive negotiating rights, but that would cut into their July salary-cap flexibility for free agency. They could let him go into free agency and still be able to match any team's offer if they elect to keep him. "It's put us in a situation where we need to have some serious conversations, internally and potentially with Aaron, about the state of where we are and what's going to make the most sense with the organization," Blanks said. "I can't give you A or B right now, but it certainly needs to be discussed. He's a NBA-level point guard and a pretty good one. Does it make sense now or later? Those things need to be talked about, and that's a lot easier to do that when you have spent a week with a guy seeing him live in basketball games and talking to him." Brooks' Guangdong team lost 4-1 in the finals to Stephon Marbury's Beijing team. Marbury scored 41 points in Game 5, and Brooks had 33.
• Marcos Breton of The Sacramento Bee: Sacramento is going to be hard-pressed to build a downtown arena to house the Kings as long as the Maloof brothers are the Kings owners. I wish this wasn't so, but the Maloofs have always found a reason not to pay up when it was their turn. They've always thrown up roadblocks when everyone else was ready to take on the monumental task of building an arena here. ... They are refusing to pay $3.2 million in pre-development costs – chump change for most NBA owners – when Sacramento is paying a much larger share. AEG, the Los Angeles-based arena operators, is ready to pay as well. The Maloofs contend they shouldn't pay for pre-development costs when they won't have an ownership stake in the arena. They'll just be renters. ... How curious that this whole story first broke in the Los Angeles Times, the market where the Maloofs wanted to move the Kings last year but were blocked by the NBA. Am I accusing the Maloofs of leaking this story? Heavens to Betsy, no! It's just very curious, wouldn't you say? Now the Maloofs' Los Angeles-based lawyer is firing off letters raising doubts that Sacramento can complete an arena on time. Think about that for a minute.

• Al Iannazzone of Newsday: Carmelo Anthony winced and grimaced because of his strained right groin, but also smiled and bounced around as if pain free as he and the Knicks were putting a hurting on the Magic. Anthony had 25 points in one of his best all-around games of the season last night, providing an emotional lift that sparked the undermanned Knicks to an improbably lopsided 108-86 victory at the Garden. "It definitely fires everybody up to see your star player sacrificing his body and playing defense and doing all the little things, the intangible things," Baron Davis said. "It's definitely an inspiration to the guys." For the second straight game, the Knicks were minus Amar'e Stoudemire (bulging disc in his back and Jeremy Lin (sore knee). Stoudemire is out 2-4 weeks, but two games into his rehab the Knicks seem to be doing fine. They're getting contributions from everyone. Their defense remains solid and Anthony, despite his condition, looks like his old self.
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: It doesn't add up. The Orlando Magic own the fifth-best record in the NBA, and yet on too many nights this season, they have played terribly. They played without any passion Wednesday night and they paid an all-too-familiar price. The New York Knicks administered a 108-86 drubbing in which the Magic trailed by as many as 39 points and looked inept on offense. "What's shocking to me is that a team that's playing over .600 basketball can get absolutely rocked as many times as we have been," coach Stan Van Gundy said. "Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, tonight — that's what's mind-boggling to me. It'll happen every once in a while if you're a bad team. To be a .600 team and get crushed like that as many times as we have? That's shocking." On Wednesday, nothing worked from the middle of the second quarter onward.
• Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News: Not all compliments are created equal. Some even come disguised as a slight. So when the Clippers went through their little funk through the beginning of March, dropping successive games, losing to teams they should beat and tumbling backward in the standings, the calls for coach Vinny Del Negro's job and cries of panic from the fan base weren't so much criticisms as they were flattery. It meant people were paying attention and invested. "Last year we'd lose two games in a row and no one cared," Clippers center DeAndre Jordan said. It meant actual expectations for this once despondent franchise were not being met, which led to anxiety among the fans and probing analysis from the media. That's growth. ... The real key to change, though, is how the Clippers responded. To the losing, the added pressure and the adversity. Could have been the same old Clippers if they caved in. But it looks like the dawn of a new day for this franchise, evidenced by the Clippers' 103-86 win over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday at Staples Center to push their winning streak to three games.
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: Suns forward Grant Hill arrived at the office Wednesday night with optimism that the improvement in his right knee would be enough to let him get back to work. As doubtful as Hill was about playing before Tuesday's game, he felt good about his chances Wednesday night until he tested the knee and became a pregame scratch for the second consecutive night. Hill missed consecutive games for the first time since January 2011 because of soreness in his right knee, on which he had surgery in September. The knee was hit Sunday while he was taking a charge at Cleveland. Hill, 39, left the game early, but he had progressed to the point that shooting was comfortable Wednesday evening. Moving laterally was the issue. ... Hill has missed five games this season, but two were for rest in the middle of back-to-back-to-back sets. Hill missed three games in the previous three seasons combined.
• Colin Stephenson of The Star-Ledger: After all the mind-numbing losses they’ve had this season, and particularly over the past couple weeks, this was perhaps the last thing anyone could have expected. A double-digit victory over the Indiana Pacers? Really? Really. Deron Williams had 30 points and nine assists and the Nets, who started the game with 10 players in uniform and finished with only eight, stymied the Pacers, 100-84, tonight before a delighted crowd of 10,817 at the Prudential Center. The 16-point margin of victory, in the Nets’ final game before leaving Thursday on a four-game West Coast trip, was their largest of the season. ... The Nets finished with eight players in uniform after Jordan Williams left the game in the third quarter with concussion-like symptoms, and Shelden Williams left in the second quarter with an eye injury. Shelden Williams was poked in the right eye by Hansbrough. “We’re really concerned about Shelden,” Avery Johnson said.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: Many of the Indiana Pacers traveling party, including most of the coaching staff, took in the bright lights of Broadway on Tuesday night in New York. They attended "Magic/Bird," a play about Magic Johnson and Larry Bird's fierce rivalry during their playing careers. "I loved it. I thought it was great," coach Frank Vogel said. "I loved how they portrayed Larry because I know him the best of anybody in the show. But the whole story, the racial issues they were involved with in the '80s(, was great)." The Pacers had about 15 people, including six players, attend the play. Several of them took pictures with the actors who portrayed Johnson and Bird in the six-member cast. "It was cool because for me, Larry is new to me," forward Jeff Pendergraph said. "A lot of the stuff in the play the guys got, but it kind of went over my head a little bit because I haven't really hung around with him." Vogel grew up outside of Philadelphia watching Julius Erving play for the 76ers, but he admired Bird's Hall of Fame career with Boston.
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: Ever since the July 8, 2010, day the Bulls traded Kirk Hinrich essentially for extra salary-cap space to pursue the greatest free-agent class in NBA history, a segment of the fan base has clamored for his return. Hinrich, who still spends offseasons in the north suburban home he kept, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer for the first time in his nine-year career. So what about a Bulls return? "I wouldn't be opposed to it," Hinrich said. "It's still a ways away, and a lot can happen. We'll see. I have no preconceived thoughts on what will happen." He might have some financial ones, though. The Bulls will be hard-pressed to sign Hinrich unless he accepts a hometown discount. Because they're over the salary cap, the Bulls will have only cap exceptions at their disposal. And there are luxury-tax concerns, as well, when Derrick Rose's five-year, $95 million extension begins next season.
• Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It’s a dangerous game the Hawks are playing of late. After falling behind by large first-half margins the past two games, the Hawks rallied only to fall short. The latest came Wednesday night in a 98-77 loss to the Bulls at Philips Arena. The Hawks trailed the Bulls by 18 points in the first half. The used a 16-2 run to cut the lead to four points, 56-52, but would get no closer. The Bulls used an 18-4 run of their own in the third quarter to push the lead back to 18 points. Luol Deng provided the final nail in the coffin with a 3-pointer to cap the run. It came on a pass from Taj Gibson, who gathered the rebound of his own miss when Ivan Johnson failed to box him out. From there the Bulls' lead only increased. On Tuesday, the Hawks trailed by 17 points to the Bucks. They battled back to take a three-point lead before succumbing in the fourth quarter. They wouldn't get that close against the Eastern Conference-leading Bulls. ... The Bulls took the season series from the Hawks, 3-1. The Hawks (30-22, 16-8 home) lost for the second straight night, losing the final two games of a streak of five games in six nights.
• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: Jimmer Mania wasn’t all hype. This, Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard firmly believes. Immersed in his own rookie season, Leonard admits he hasn’t seen Jimmer Fredette play much this season with the Kings. But he remembers how Fredette lit up the Mountain West Conference — and his own San Diego State squad — last season at BYU, led the NCAA in scoring and won national player of the year honors. Fredette, a 6-foot-2 shooter the Kings are hoping to remake as a point guard, has struggled to find a foothold his first season in Sacramento. Heading into Wednesday’s game against the Spurs, Fredette was averaging 7.2 points and shooting 38.3 percent in 18:23 per game. “It’s his first year,” said Leonard, selected 15th in the June draft, five spots lower than Fredette. “Everybody’s struggling as rookies coming in. With the lockout, you didn’t get to practice with your teammates. He’s a hard worker. I believe he’ll get better as time goes on.” For both rookies, life has changed since their epic battles in the Mountain West (BYU has since left the conference). In one meeting last season, Fredette had 43 points in a BYU victory, while Leonard had 22 points and 15 rebounds.
• Matt Kawahara and Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee: Allowing opposing teams to shoot for high percentages has been a problem all season for the Kings, who entered Wednesday night's game against the San Antonio Spurs ranked 29th in the league in that category. Now that the Kings are playing at a faster pace, creating more possessions per game, there is even more of an emphasis on bringing that percentage down. Coach Keith Smart said the Kings ideally want to limit opponents to shooting 41 percent or 42 percent. Opponents were shooting 47.5 percent against the Kings before Wednesday. In their previous seven games, the Kings had averaged 111.7 points but lost four of those games in which their opponents shot 47.3 percent or better and averaged 112.3 points. Smart said lowering that percentage means working harder to contest shots and eliminating easy buckets that result from allowing second-chance opportunities under the basket or turning the ball over above the foul line.
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: When asked if he would give his veteran players extra rest during the final month of the season in preparation for the playoffs, Doc Rivers said yes. But there may be an exception. “The problem without saying a name is one of the guys you would suggest sitting, it’s not fun to get him to do that. The conversation is no fun,’’ Rivers said, likely alluding to Kevin Garnett. “Maybe he’ll see that, maybe he will not. But that will be an interesting discussion.’’ Garnett contributed his 16th double-double of the season Wednesday with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
• Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune: Gordon Hayward doesn’t just have the talent to be a game-changer. He’s becoming one. The No. 9 overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft was the Jazz’s best player Wednesday during a 94-82 loss to the Celtics. He scored a team-high 19 points, while being second in rebounds (seven) and assists (five).Then there were his two blocks. When Boston suddenly turned a 66-all fourth-quarter tie into a 73-66 lead, Celtics guard Keyon Dooling stole the ball at midcourt and raced home for an easy layup. Until G-Man started flying. Hayward smoothly tracked Dooling’s path, perfectly timed his leap, then coldly swatted away a gimme shot that would’ve given Boston a nine-point advantage. Five seconds later, the just-turned-22-year-old from Butler was flying again. This time, a greedy Avery Bradley was the victim. Ray Allen’s replacement collected Hayward’s initial block and tried to toss in a quick putback. The Jazzman hit the replay button. Hayward destroyed Bradley’s layup, and Utah still had life.
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: Seldom-used reserve Austin Daye was going to get a little time with sixth man Ben Gordon sidelined with a sore right groin against the Cavs on Wednesday night. But when Rodney Stuckey (pulled left hamstring) left the game almost seven minutes in, the third-year swingman ended up with almost 30 minutes of playing time. Daye finished with eight points, two rebounds and two steals in the Pistons' 87-75 victory. It's the first time the Pistons (18-32) have won back-to-back road games this season. The team is 2-1 on its latest trip with the finale Friday night at Eastern Conference-leading Chicago. And with the nature of Stuckey's and Gordon's injuries, Daye can probably count on more playing time. "I thought Austin Daye really helped us because defensively he was very good," Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said. "He was in good position where he forced guys to make extra passes." Daye has been open about his displeasure at a lack of playing time -- he has played in 31 of the team's 50 games.
• Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer: The easy thing for Anderson Varejao to do -- and some might say the smart thing -- is to forget about returning this season. The Cavaliers' center could spend the summer healing up, doing nothing more strenuous than working on his tan on some Brazilian beach. Not Varejao. As soon his broken right wrist heals, he wants to rejoin the Cavaliers. And as long as he's healthy, he also plans to represent Brazil in the Summer Olympics. Varejao has been out of the lineup since Feb. 10. According to the latest medical update supplied by the team, he won't begin to practice until early April. With the team falling out of the playoff race and the season ending on April 26, he was asked, why rush back? "Because I am part of the team and I want to help even if we don't have any more chance at the playoffs," Varejao said. "I want to play, that's what I get paid for. Last year, I was hurt [torn tendon in ankle] and this season I got hurt too. I want to play. This is what I love to do."
• Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune: In an 88-83 victory over a Charlotte Bobcats team that played with more energy than one would expect from a seven-win team, Love, as it has been since March began, led the way. Love attempted a career-high 31 shots, but never forced one. He made 14, four from three-point range. He scored 40 points and grabbed 19 rebounds. (When informed of that number, Wolves coach Rick Adelman joked that Love must have missed a shot late hoping to get to 20). With Charlotte hanging around, Love scored 14 of his points and grabbed six of his rebounds in the fourth quarter as the Wolves secured an important victory. For a team still hanging on the edge of a playoff chase, coming off Tuesday's loss in Memphis, this had to happen. ... It was Love's 10th game with 30-plus points and 15 or more rebounds, the 19th time he has scored 30 or more this season. It was also the third time he has scored 40 or more points this month. And it's a tribute to the Bobcats that the Wolves, playing without Michael Beasley, J.J. Barea and Nikola Pekovic, needed all of that to win.
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: The NBA wants to know in advance which Silas is the Charlotte Bobcats’ head coach for any single game. Coach Paul Silas told me at shoot-around this morning that the league has asked the Bobcats for a heads-up whenever lead assistant Stephen Silas is taking over the team for a game. With the front office’s blessing, Paul Silas is having his son coach about once a week the rest of the season as a training exercise. The likely next game Stephen Silas will coach is Saturday, on the road against the Detroit Pistons. It makes sense that the league office wants to inform that night’s officiating crew in advance that Stephen Silas is in charge. Referees give head coaches more latitude – to stand throughout the game, to argue calls, to ask for interpretations – than they do assistants. So it makes sense for refs to know how to delineate between Paul’s and Stephen’s roles. What Paul Silas is doing with his son isn’t unprecedented. Former Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson used to let assistants Avery Johnson and Keith Smart coach games on occasion. Johnson now coaches the New Jersey Nets. Smart now coaches the Sacramento Kings.
• Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle: Mark Jackson says he's coaching the NBA's version of the Bad News Bears. If the Warriors are the Bad News Bears, then Brandon Rush is Kelly Leak - the neighborhood's best athlete who was once considered a troublemaker off the field. Rush has been quite the find for the Warriors, who got the 6-foot-6 swingman in a December trade after he wore out his welcome in Indiana. He tore his ACL during an illegal predraft workout in 2007, was suspended five games for violating the league's substance-abuse policy last season, and says anti-gay slurs on his Twitter account were posted by someone else. Rush has been a model citizen with Golden State. He consistently has been one of the Warriors' top perimeter defenders, their best rebounding wing and a knockdown three-point shooter. He backed up a season-high 23 points the night before with a 12-point performance in a 102-87 loss to New Orleans at Oracle Arena on Wednesday night.
• Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune: In many ways, Wednesday night’s game between the Hornets and Warriors was a matchup of two teams with similar problems. New Orleans was playing with nine players, and Golden State was once again without their starting point guard, Stephen Curry, who earlier in the day was ruled out for another two weeks with an ankle injury, and without two potential starting centers, Andris Biedrins and Andrew Bogut. The Hornets won this war of attrition, 102-87 in Oracle Arena, making a continued statement to the rest of the league, and themselves, that quitting on a season heading nowhere was not an option. The Hornets get right back at it tonight when they travel to meet the Trail Blazers in Portland, the third in this five-game West Coast road swing. Each of the clubs Wednesday night has dealt with adversity, primarily because of injuries.
• Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun: The 105-96 final was the first Toronto win against Denver since a 121-94 win at the ACC back on March 23, 2007. It was just the second win against Denver since the 2004/05 season. Offensively, the load was carried by Andrea Bargnani, who had that “pep in his step” back from before he was injured according to Casey. Bargnani, who had hit just five three-pointers in 31 attempts since returning to the lineup a dozen games ago, went 2-for-4 from beyond the arc in this game, both successful threes coming late in the fourth quarter and neither one of them the easy, wide open variety. “It was fun because in this stretch I have missed so many wide open threes and then I hit the two hardest I have had maybe,” said Bargnani who wound up with 26 on the night.
• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: So, when is Danilo Gallinari coming back? That's the question Nuggets fans are asking, as the budding star remains sidelined with a left thumb fracture. "I don't think it's going to be this week, but we'll try to push him sometime next week to get on the practice court and then push it a little bit more," Nuggets coach George Karl said Wednesday. "We have a couple of practice days (between the games Sunday and Wednesday), so that's what we're shooting for." The small forward is averaging 15.2 points per game, second on the team to Ty Lawson's 15.6. Gallinari had strung together some good games in March before injuring the thumb against Dallas on March 19. In his place, Karl has started Wilson Chandler, who is averaging 11.5 points in his six games since rejoining the Nuggets.

• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: The Pacers didn’t hide their feelings about Monday’s game against the Miami Heat. They didn’t use the standard cliché often heard from athletes, “It’s just another game.” It wasn’t just another game for the Pacers. It was a game they had been looking forward to for more two weeks. They wanted prove they could truly beat the Heat and that their collapse during the final 90 seconds in South Beach wouldn’t happen again if they faced a similar situation. The Pacers made sure they weren’t in the position to choke this time. They led by double digits for all of 1 minute and 25 seconds of the fourth quarter. The Heat really only made two runs on the Pacers and the blue and gold withstood them both to move 10 games over .500. “We needed to get over this hump,” Roy Hibbert said. “We feel like we can play with anybody and when we have intensity like that from start to finish, we can beat anybody. There’s a chance we could see them in the playoffs and we wanted to let them know we weren’t going to roll over and it’s not going to be easy.” The Pacers didn’t have one player carry them. They did it with a complete team effort, which is what it takes to beat the Heat.
• Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: It’s a good thing the Heat plays most of its games at home during the final month of the regular season. Miami has been downright awful on the road since the All-Star break. While the Heat has won 13 in a row at AmericanAirlines Arena, Miami has played like a different team entirely away from Biscayne Bay — a much worse team. On Monday, the Heat lost its sixth game on the road since the season’s midway point, losing to the Indiana Pacers 105-90 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. All five of the Pacers’ starters scored in double figures while the Heat’s lineup continued to struggle with its offense for the second night in a row. “It’s that time of year for us to hit a little pothole in the road,” said Heat guard Dwyane Wade, who finished with 24 points, six assists, five rebounds, and four blocks. “We have to make the adjustment before we get back to playing on Thursday.” The Heat is 8-6 since the All-Star break and has lost two in a row. ... The Heat is playing its worst basketball of the season with a month remaining until the playoffs.
• Jill Painter of the Los Angeles Daily News: Clippers star Blake Griffin was whistled for a flagrant foul against New Orleans forward Trevor Ariza, less than a week after Hornets forward Jason Smith was called for a flagrant foul that sent Griffin sprawling to the court. The difference was the Clippers won this game against New Orleans, 97-85 on Monday at Staples Center. And yet, the Clippers' win got lost in that foul, which less than an hour after the game already was on YouTube. Usually, Griffin's posterizing dunks dominate highlights, and he had some of those as well. Griffin fouled the former Laker and UCLA player with both arms extending over him as he was driving to attempt a layup. Ariza lost his balance and fell on his backside but quickly hopped to his feet to voice his displeasure with the foul. Players started jawing, and Ariza received a technical foul, too. Smith - not here because he was serving a two-game suspension - fouled Griffin so hard he was knocked to the ground, and Smith served a two-game suspension for it. Afterward, Griffin brushed off talk of retaliation and discussed the game plan to not allow layups. Griffin's hands were situated deep in the pockets of his jeans, so perhaps his fingers were crossed. "No, I don't think that was a flagrant foul," he said.
• Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune: There’s apparently going to be a certain edginess every time the Hornets and Clippers play now, if Monday night was any indication. The hard-feelings that came out of last Thursday night’s win — Jason Smith’s hard-foul against Blake Griffin that brought about Smith’s two-game suspension — spilled over into the stands and on the floor in the Clippers’ 97-85 victory. One fan was ejected for throwing a peanut at Hornets Coach Monty Williams, and Griffin exacted a bit of revenge with a flagrant 1 foul on Trevor Ariza in the third quarter, which also resulted in a technical on Ariza when he whispered something to Griffin within earshot of an official. Griffin scored 20. The Clippers toyed with the Hornets until Chris Paul put up 15 third-quarter points — he finished with 25 — as the short-handed Hornets, playing without Smith and Chris Kaman (illness), couldn’t stand up to Los Angeles’ punishing inside attack. ... Williams, an old-schooler in his thoughts about how the game is played, said Griffin is just going to have to become accustomed to being pushed around. “He knows; he’s no fool,” Williams said. “He knows he’s making people look crazy, and guys don’t like that. He’s got to expect some of that. It’s just going to happen.”
• Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post: JaVale McGee hasn't done everything right, but he had accomplished being a significant enough presence in his first three games with the Nuggets that he was in the starting lineup Monday at Chicago. McGee is averaging 12.3 points (on 62.2 percent shooting), 8.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots since being traded to the Nuggets. In his time in Denver he has been a more imposing, intimidating, effective presence in the middle than normal starter Timofey Mozgov has been of late. "You've got to experiment," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "He played well in the second half (at Minnesota). There's an energy there. ... JaVale is not the most experienced guy in the world, but I think he has more of a starting mentality to his game. We've got to experiment to see who plays well with who." McGee had his first double-double with the Nuggets on Sunday against the Timberwolves with 13 points and 11 rebounds. On Monday at Chicago he finished with 10 points and eight rebounds in nearly 24 minutes.
• Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times: Everything’s good, right? Who needs a 34-year-old who can’t seem to stay healthy? Who needs a guy who wears an invisibility cloak over his uniform? The Bulls do. They need a rickety, sharp-shooting Hamilton, even if their NBA-best 40-11 record would seem to scream down the very idea of it. The reasons the Bulls signed Hamilton in December haven’t gone away. They still need another element to throw at the Heat. They still need somebody with more offensive skills than Keith Bogans gave them last season. This is where the more enthusiastic Bulls fan says, “Have you seen John Lucas III lighting it up lately?’’ Yes, I have. And I also can’t help but think that Lucas will be lucky to get a few minutes a game in the postseason, when coaches rely more heavily on starters. ... If you’re a fan of doing things the right way, you want that to count for something. It should count for something if life were fair. But life isn’t fair. Some teams coast in the regular season and find an extra gear in the playoffs. Not to get too philosophical on you, but what does it all mean? What does all the regular-season success mean for the Bulls? Very little if they come up short of their expectations. Mr. Hamilton? Any time you’re ready.
• Frank Dell’Apa of The Boston Globe: Mickael Pietrus has not started baseline testing after the concussion be sustained at Philadelphia Friday. “There is no update, nothing, we’re just talking to him on the phone,’’ Rivers said of Pietrus. “Last I heard, they want to try this week. I think you have to start the baseline tests. They haven’t gotten to that. “He’s having too many symptoms. I don’t think we’re going to see him for a while.’’ Former Celtic Brian Scalabrine had a concussion during the 2008-09 season, returned quickly, and sustained another concussion. The Celtics are being more cautious now. “He’s great, he’s back home and he’s talking,’’ Rivers said of Pietrus. “It’s funny, we had it with Scal. You talk to them on the phone, they sound normal. But, obviously, it’s still a factor. “The first thing he said: ‘I’ve got to get back on the floor.’ Take your time.’’
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: Charlotte Bobcats big man Byron Mullens must have big ears. Before Monday’s 102-95 home loss to the Boston Celtics, coach Paul Silas said he sees 7-footer Mullens’ future at power forward because Mullens hasn’t been physical enough at the center spot. As Silas put it, “I just don’t know if you can make a tough guy out of somebody who is not.” Mullens sure looked like a guy making a statement, coming off the bench for 18 points, seven rebounds and two shots blocked. He even traded taunts and the occasional shove with Boston Celtics center Kevin Garnett. The Bobcats were down 18 at the end of the first quarter when Mullens revved up. He hit a 3-pointer over Garnett’s outstretched arms, then beat Garnett to the rim to catch and dunk an alley-oop pass from rookie Kemba Walker. Silas liked what he saw. “We did play tough more than early on this season,” Silas said. “I like what Byron did and Derrick Brown (16 points) was tough, too.”
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: Bucks guard Monta Ellis has been thrown into the mix without much preparation time. That's what happens when you make a deal at the trade deadline. "He's made some really good plays," Bucks coach Scott Skiles said before the game. "He's made some plays on the pick-and-roll; he's passed the ball well. We're a better-than-average passing team and he's fit right into that. "But there's also moments where we're going to need him to step up and exert his will on the game a little bit and score the ball. It's tricky. You make a trade with not a lot of games left, and a guy deserves a period of time to adjust. “And we deserve a period of time to adjust to him, especially a guy as talented as Monta. At the same time, we’ve got to win the game.” Ellis was 2 for 14 from the field against the Knicks was extremely frustrated. He scored on a tip-in in the first quarter and did not score again until 6:03 remained in the game on a fast-break dish from Brandon Jennings. “It will fall,” Ellis said. “Hopefully it will turn around soon."
• John Branch of The New York Times: The latest rash of ailments tainted the enthusiasm over the Knicks’ seventh victory in the eight games since Woodson replaced Mike D’Antoni this month. “It just seems like it’s not stopping,” center Tyson Chandler said. “You get that bug and it seems like it transfers from one guy to another.” The game with the Bucks had enough intrigue without the injuries. With about one-quarter of the shortened regular season to play, the Eastern Conference appears to be a nine-team game of musical chairs for eight playoff seats. The victory moved the Knicks, with 16 games to play, two and a half games ahead of the Bucks for the final slot. The slight cushion may come in handy. While nagging injuries to Lin and Anthony are a concern, Stoudemire’s long-range health is by far the most worrisome. The Knicks hope his injury is not a repeat of last season, when Stoudemire pulled a muscle in his back during warm-ups for Game 2 of a playoff series with the Boston Celtics, and the Knicks hobbled meekly to an early vacation. It took Stoudemire about seven months to fully recover.
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: The Orlando Magic have tried to address their turnover troubles by focusing on the problem. Now, Stan Van Gundy will try another remedy. He'll try to let his players play. "We're gonna have to play the game better," Van Gundy said before the Magic faced the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre on Monday night. "We spent a lot of time talking about it. We showed film on it. Now we're gonna go the other way a little bit and just sort of harp on other things and let 'em play a little bit." Orlando had committed at least 19 turnovers in four of their previous five games.
• Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun: The tragic number going in was nine. Raptors head coach Dwane Casey felt his team would at least give themselves a good shot at a win if they could limit the Orlando Magic to eight or fewer three-pointers. The fact that Orlando already had nine, six of them by Ryan Anderson alone, and there was still 1:26 to go in the first half pretty much told the tale. If the pre-game message was “We’re going to chase these guys off that three-point line,” it got lost in translation somewhere as the Magic rolled to a 117-101 win. Casey’s post-game mood was one of abject disappointment. “We came out as flat as a pancake against one of the top teams in the league and it’s disappointing,” Casey said.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: Rockets guard Kyle Lowry shoveled a basketball to Goran Dragic with his left hand, unable to use his right because of the antibiotics PICC line in his right arm. The effort was not much greater than passing the peas at dinner, but it was as much as he has been permitted in weeks or is likely to undergo for several more weeks. He laughed when Dragic hit the shot Lowry told him would be his last. He celebrated not just his first morning around the Rockets since he was hospitalized March 8 with a bacterial infection but the understanding that if not for an alert technician and luck his serious condition could have been worse. Lowry, 26, said he might not return this season from his infection and its treatment, but he was happy just to be back at a morning shootaround. “It was very scary for a while,” Lowry said. “I had a temperature of 104 for a couple days. It’s not a good feeling. It’s very scary, but it’s something that you learn from and you have to deal with and do what you have to do to get better. If I waited a little bit longer I could have been (in danger). I could have been in a real bad situation if I waited a day longer to go in. They don’t have a clue how it happened or how this situation came about.”
• Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee: Terrence Williams said facing his old team provided no extra motivation. ... The Rockets waived the seldom-used Williams on March 16, and the Kings signed him to a 10-day contract Wednesday. In both of his appearances with Sacramento, he has been on the court at crunch time. "I don't care where we were playing (Monday)," Williams said. "I wasn't going to let the last game happen again. I just tried to be focused and be ready to play basketball." Williams committed a turnover with 15.6 seconds left in the Kings' 111-108 loss at Golden State on Saturday. On Monday, he had 10 points, three rebounds and two steals. Coach Keith Smart said Williams is "moving up the charts" and earning the right to play earlier in games. "He's playing well. He's playing within himself," Smart said. "He's shown he can make some plays and be a playmaker defensively, so he's moving at the right pace for our basketball team." Williams likely will stay for the rest of the season.
• Colin Stephenson of The Star-Ledger: It has gotten to the point where the Nets lost tonight for the sixth time in seven games — to a team playing its fourth game in five nights, and coming off a four-overtime game the night before — and no one on the team seemed particularly surprised or terribly disappointed. “They’re a good basketball team,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said of the Utah Jazz, who came into the Prudential Center and beat the Nets, 105-84. “This (Utah) is a team that’s vying for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, and they have a lot at stake right now. So even if you’re a little tired, you try to dig a little deeper.” The Jazz have been digging deep for the past couple weeks, at least. The win tonight was their seventh in eight games. At 27-23, Utah is in the thick of the playoff race, currently in a three-way tie with Houston and Denver for the final two playoff spots. The Nets (16-35), on the other hand, have lost eight of their last 10. Johnson said the group that finished the game — Sundiata Gaines, MarShon Brooks, DeShawn Stevenson, Jordan Williams and Johan Petro — let the game get too far out of hand.
• Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune: This is Deron Williams’ NBA life 13 months after being traded by the Jazz. The former face of Utah’s franchise was part of another professional embarrassment Monday during the Jazz’s 105-84 victory at the Prudential Center. Just 10,310 fans were announced, and the mark was generous. The only time Williams looked like D-Will came during the third and early fourth quarter, when the Nets (16-35) finally started caring, erasing a 17-point halftime deficit to pull within 72-69 after the All-Star point guard sank an 11-foot turnaround jumper with 11:02 to go. It was as close as Utah (27-23) allowed New Jersey to get, and as good as Williams looked. The man who owned Salt Lake City finished with 17 points, a co-game-high 11 assists and four rebounds in 40:18.
• Michael Lee of The Washington Post: As Jordan Crawford walked through the tunnel, following yet another fourth-quarter collapse, he pulled at the drawstrings on his shorts, lifted his head toward the rafters, shook it and rolled his eyes. It couldn’t have happened again. Not like this. Not at home. Not against the Detroit Pistons. But as Rodney Stuckey and the Pistons giddily hugged and celebrated a 79-77 victory at center court, the Washington Wizards had to deal with completing an improbable home threepeat on Monday night, as they allowed their third straight opponent to rally back from a double-digit second-half deficit to pull out a victory at Verizon Center. “It’s mental. It’s mental for sure. You think about it all the time,” Crawford said after scoring a team-high 20 points. “We’re playing to not lose and that’s why we’re not winning. It’s frustrating. We got to play to win the game.”
• Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey went through Monday's morning shoot-around and declared himself ready to play against the Wizards on Monday. Stuckey, who admittedly hates missing games because of injuries, said electronic stimulation and treatment he has been receiving have eliminated the swelling, which was the most difficult part of the injury. When he played against the Clippers on March 18, Stuckey was laboring, unable to plant his feet. He missed the last three games with a sore left big toe and had to watch the Pistons muddle through the last two games offensively. The one thing Stuckey isn't concerned about is re-injuring the toe. He was asked if he was worried about making his sore toe worse, and he smiled. "We'll find out if I re-aggravate it," Stuckey said. "If not, I'll be fine."