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There's no arguing: People like Damian Lillard's game.

I'm one of them.

Hell yes I feel the urge to honor that guy, and, as a Blazer fan, to keep him at all costs. Lillard reminds me in different ways of all kinds of amazing young players. One is Kobe Bryant, for perfect work ethic seemingly out of the womb, to pair with unwavering confidence. He reminds me of young Kevin Durant; both were high-scoring Pacific Northwest prospects who basketball people declared to be nearly perfect, even as they posted rookie season PERs barely above the league average. Lillard also has elements of Damon Stoudamire, who did the heavy lifting of bringing hope and buckets as a rookie, all season long, to a team that sorely needed both.

Lillard excels at the things our eyes are best at appreciating -- essentially, highlight scores. He's bad on defense, so-so at seeing the floor and moving without the ball. But those elements of the game aren't exactly putting butts in seats. We tune in for the big makes, and he's a big maker. He is also durable as hell and may well become the first rookie to ever lead the league in minutes played tonight.

Lillard also may have a game that meets the moment. Nowadays referees and the rulebook are generally on the side of protecting high-speed, high-scoring ball-handlers.

I just looked up on Basketball-Reference rookies who, like Lillard, played a lot of minutes and scored a lot of points, but didn't have the highest PERs. I was wondering: Did those guys tend to go on to become much more efficient over time?

And the answer is they almost all had good careers, and especially lately some have been great: Names like Derrick Rose, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are on that list.

Lillard might be on that path. Who doesn't enjoy seeing greatness in the making?

Zach Lowe and Kevin Pelton are among the smart, analytics-based guys picking Lillard.

I'm OK with simply stopping the analysis there. Maybe Lillard does what we want rookies to do, period. Maybe we invented the Rookie of the Year award to give to players like him.

That's fine. Give the man his prize.

But.

Well, you read what Ethan Sherwood Strauss had to say about this (Insider) and explain to Anthony Davis what he should have done better.

You're saying, essentially: PER ain't perfect.

OK, I hear that.

Let's talk about John Hollinger's PER for a second. That's the best-known of the many advanced stats where Davis dusts Lillard. Davis has the 15th-best PER in the NBA, up there around with All-Stars. Lillard is 99th, between Pau Gasol's nightmare season and Will Bynum.

I'm not asking you to take PER, or even stats, as gospel. What I know, though, is that it's exceptional for players to make big leaps in PER. So if Davis is way ahead now, even while he's much younger, Lillard is fighting long odds to think he'll catch up or surpass Davis.

I also know there are ways, but only limited ways, to be an amazing player without showing up well in PER (see Shane Battier).

But those things are almost impossible for someone with a game like Lillard's. PER and the box score know scorers like Lillard -- makes, misses, free throws, 3s -- it's all tidily charted. PER's known limitations, in fact, come more on the things where Davis plays:

• By PER founder John Hollinger's own admission the box score knows almost nothing about defense. Lillard's biggest fans admit he's a bad defender. Davis, interestingly, was drafted to anchor the defense and hasn't really done that yet. But if PER were overhauled to include some magical defensive metric, it would widen the gap in favor of Davis.
• Among stat geeks, PER's most vocal critics are people like David Berri and Wayne Winston, who have both shed copious amounts of ink laying into PER. But at the core of their critique is an accusation that PER perversely rewards players who shoot too much. Players like Lillard, they would argue, are getting artificial bumps from PER.

I've also seen the claim that PER favors big men. This one is tricky, and I'm not sure if it's true. This year's top 10 in PER features eight guards or small forwards and two big men. Certainly Berri's competing measure favors big men far more than PER does. Not to mention: basketball favors big men. There's a reason everyone is bigger in the NBA than at every lesser level of the game.

But that PER omits most defense and omits almost none of a scorer's abilities is irrefutable. That's a stat built to make Lillard look good, which puts Lillard-style players like Westbrook, Dwyane Wade and James Harden in the top 10.

That such a stat is making Lillard look bad compared to Davis is eye-opening.

The real and true evidence-based argument for Lillard would be the sheer weight of his total contributions. Respect the brute power of big numbers! Lillard may not have helped as much per minute, but he helped for about 1,300 more minutes.

All true. And precisely why Hollinger developed a measure called Value Added. This is where you basically take a player's PER and then multiply all that by minutes played.

You can probably see the punchline coming. With fewer than two-thirds of Lillard's time on the court, with a measure that most experts say would favor Lillard's game to his own, Davis still has the better total Value Added on the season. And it's not all that close -- Davis is 35th in the league, Lillard 46th.

If we're talking about which player delivered the most useful work to his team this season, there is no case for Lillard over Davis.

But is that what we're talking about when we talk about Rookie of the Year?

Teams typically like to use high picks on players with good size. But if you ignore that, things tend to work out beautifully.

 

• Tom Moore of phillyBurbs.com: In the wake of a published report saying the organization privately hopes Doug Collins doesn’t return next season as 76ers coach, his agent claims it will be Collins’ call. “The relationship with Doug, me and Sixers management has been terrific,” said John Langel during a Thursday afternoon telephone conversation. “What they told me beyond this season and as recently as today and yesterday is how long Doug stays here is Doug’s decision.” Langel denied rumblings that the story, which cited multiple unnamed NBA sources, in Thursday’s Philadelphia Inquirer originated from Collins’ camp. Sixers spokesman Mike Preston said, “We are aware of the report and will not comment on a column loaded with innuendo and speculation.”
• Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: An NBA source reached Thursday said the decision of staying or going is up to Collins, that Harris and Co. are on board with him being the coach of the team "for as long as he wants." That stance hasn't seemed to change since the beginning of the season. But through all this, one thing seems to be clear - Collins most likely won't be coming back as head coach next season. This type of talk usually doesn't arise unless a change is going to happen. Should Collins quit, he would leave the last year of his salary, reportedly at $4.5 million, on the table. No one wants to leave that kind of money out there. But coming back at age 62 and overseeing yet another rebuilding year certainly can't be enticing to Collins, though, again, management would welcome him back with open arms.
• Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: In the history of its franchise, the Heat has won less than a handful of games in San Antonio. Up the road a ways from the Alamo is Oklahoma City, where the most hostile home crowd in the NBA cheers for the Thunder. Consider these two cities Exhibit A and Exhibit B for why locking up the best record in the NBA was important for the Heat. In clinching the league’s best record Wednesday, Miami earned itself home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, and that includes a Game 7 scenario at AmericanAirlines Arena in the Finals. In other words, the Heat bought itself an insurance policy. “We’re not going to use that as a crutch, but it’s a nice break-in-case-of-emergency box that we have installed in the ‘Triple A,’ ” Battier said. Since the beginning of the LeBron James Era, the Heat has only played one Game 7. It was the final game of last season’s Eastern Conference finals, and the Heat defeated the Celtics 101-88 at AmericanAirlines Arena. The Heat did not begin the 2012 Finals with home-court advantage but turned that series in its favor with a win in Oklahoma City in Game 2. Miami then won three consecutive games at home to prevent the series from going back to Oklahoma.
• Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: Danny Ainge doesn’t drink alcohol, but he’s having a shot of reality with his beverages these days. He has a genuine good feeling about his Celtics as they lug duffel bags filled with question marks through the last four regular-season games and into the playoffs. But the president of basketball operations is well aware the odds are not smiling kindly on his lads as they take the court against the Heat in Miami tonight — and beyond. Even with both Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett traveling to Florida, the two stars are battling ankle issues and will not play tonight, according to the team. (Dwyane Wade, who has missed six straight games with right knee soreness, expects to play for the Heat.) In terms of psychological edge, the best thing the Celts may have going for them in a week is they may catch an opponent looking beyond their blip on the screen. “I don’t know,” said Ainge, pondering the point, then reaching for real. “Usually when you’re under the radar and you have low expectations, it’s because you’re not as talented as the teams you’re playing. So I don’t know if that’s good or bad. “We’ve been the favorites in a lot of series over the last years, and our guys have responded to that. This will be a chance to see what our guys are made of being the underdogs.” Ainge then commenced with what would be considered stock talk from a guy at the top of an organization. But even in this case, he didn’t dodge the harsher facts. “I love our team going into the playoffs,” Ainge said. “I think our team has good chemistry, we have a lot of resolve and I think they’re fun to be with.”
• Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: Knock on wood. The most important piece of theTrail Blazers’ future is about to be jinxed. For all the accolades Damian Lillard has received, for all the history-making statistics he has accumulated, for all the hypehe has generated, perhaps his proudest achievement during this runaway Rookie of the Year season has gone unrecognized. Lillard is one of just 39 players in the NBA — and the lone person on his own team — to play in every game this season. His basketball ability is so dynamic and so polished, its easy to forget that Lillard also is quickly proving to be one of the toughest and most durable players in the NBA. “He’s the closest thing I’ve seen to Andre Miller since Andre Miller,” Blazers trainer Jay Jensen said, referring to the former Blazers point guard and one-time NBA Iron Man who played in 632 consecutive games before a suspension ended the streak. “Damian is one of the toughest I’ve seen.” No NBA franchise has had its foundation and future rocked by injuries more than the Blazers in recent seasons, as one-time franchise cornerstones Greg Oden andBrandon Roy had promising careers sabotaged and a host of other players endured various ailments. But Lillard is breaking the Blazers’ bad mojo. Not only has he started all 78 Blazers games, Lillard also has played extensive minutes. Lillard ranks second in the NBA in minutes played (3,012) and third in average per game (38.6).
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins doesn’t think his future in Memphis is tied to how far the team advances in the playoffs. His players certainly don’t believe a contract extension for Hollins should come down to the postseason. … Hollins is in the third and final year of his contract. There is nothing in place beyond this season and the Grizzlies have not discussed an extension with him yet. Griz management has not laid out criteria for Hollins, either. Majority owner Robert Pera and CEO Jason Levien have tinkered with the roster while continuing to afford Hollins coaching autonomy. But there is a growing perception that the organization could be waiting to see whether the team advances past the first round after losing an opening-round Game 7 at home to the Los Angeles Clippers last year. Hollins doesn’t believe that is the case.
• Bob Finnan of The News-Herald: The Cavaliers will be facing the hottest team in the NBA when the Knicks visit Quicken Loans Arena on Friday. Now is not the time for Kyrie Irving to wear down before our eyes. In the five games since his return from a sprained left shoulder, Irving is shooting 33.7 percent from the field (29 of 86) and 29.2 percent from behind the arc (7 of 24). He admitted after the Cavs' 111-104 loss to Detroit on Wednesday, he's a bit worn down. "Going into the fourth quarter, I was obviously a little fatigued like everyone else on the court, but that's no excuse for not executing on both ends of the floor," Irving said. Irving has committed an uncharacteristically high 13 turnovers in his last two games. During that span, he's dished out 15 assists. He has averaged 28 points in those two games. The 6-foot-3, 191-pounder has been very good vs. the Knicks this season and has averaged 31.5 points. Included in that total was a career-high 41 points against the Knicks on Dec. 15. "I think he looked more tired in the first half," Cavs coach Byron Scott said. "In the second half, he picked it up."
• Jody Genessy of the Deseret News: Depending on how things play out — in both the impending postseason and the upcoming offseason — tonight could be the last time Paul Millsap ever wears a Utah Jazz uniform at EnergySolutions Arena. Utah finishes its regular season in Minnesota and Memphis, so Friday's game against the Timberwolves could possibly be the free-agent-to-be's home finale after a seven-year stint in Salt Lake City. The longest-tenured Jazz player clearly didn't want to think about that fact, somewhat brushing off a question about whether he'd have extra emotions going into what could be his last home hurrah in a No. 24 Jazz jersey. "I don't approach it differently than any other game, especially in these past few weeks," Millsap said. "The main focus, the main goal, is to win." Millsap smiled when asked to talk about the growth he's experienced since coming to Utah out of Louisiana Tech in 2006.
• Dale Kasler, Ryan Lillis and Tony Bizjak of The Sacramento Bee: In another day of chaos and confusion over the Sacramento Kings, a respected sports publication said Thursday that the NBA is asking Sacramento's bidders to compensate Seattle investors if the team stays put. Sports Business Daily, quoting an unnamed source, said the NBA wants Sacramento's investment group to compensate Seattle investor Chris Hansen for the $30 million nonrefundable deposit he already paid to the Maloof family. The report came one day after a source told The Bee that the Maloofs have demanded a written purchase offer from the Sacramento investors as a backup to the purchase agreement they signed in January with Hansen. The two developments, coming less than a week before the NBA is expected to decide the Kings' fate, underscore the fluid nature of a process that league Commissioner David Stern has called unprecedented. Michael McCann, a legal expert at NBA TV, said the league may have asked Sacramento's investors to compensate Hansen out of fear he might sue the league for damages. "If the NBA is going to, in effect, pick Sacramento over Seattle, it wants to do so in a way that eliminates any legal exposure," McCann said.
• Jeff Faraudo of The Oakland Tribune: The playoffs are secure, a No. 6 seed is not quite so certain. And suddenly neither is the status of center Andrew Bogut, who aggravated a sprained left ankle in the first quarter Thursday night and did not return in the Warriors' 116-97 loss to Oklahoma City. Golden State hung with the Thunder for a half before the NBA's Western Conference leader pulled away. With three games left in the regular season, the Warriors have just a half-game lead over the Houston Rockets in the race for the No. 6 spot in the West. A seventh-place finish would mean a daunting first-round playoff assignment against either the San Antonio Spurs or the Thunder. Bogut, who had microfracture surgery on the same ankle late last April, suffered the sprain in Tuesday's playoff-clinching victory over Minnesota, according to a team spokesperson. He aggravated it Thursday and exited the game with 2:55 left in the first quarter. He went to the locker room for the remainder of the night. It was not immediately clear whether his removal from the game was precautionary or indicative of something more serious.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: In a must-win of sorts, a game the Thunder needed to stay in control of its own destiny, OKC came out and absolutely demolished the Warriors, a team that historically puts pressure on the Thunder inside Oracle Arena. “We emphasized before the game 48 minutes of just toughness and (being) locked in,” said Kevin Durant. They’re going to score, but we stayed locked in and poised. And I think we did that throughout the whole night.” In the race for the West’s top seed, the Thunder is now a half game ahead of San Antonio with three games remaining. In many ways, the final three games will be as challenging as the past five. Unlike the past five, the next three will come against sub-.500 teams, only one of which (Milwaukee) will make the postseason. It’ll be more of a mental challenge to take care of business in these final three than it was to get up for the previous five. Those were about executing and the Thunder playing up to its potential. These final three will be about showing up.
• Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: The next time you hear a team owner, executive or player say “We’re a family,” just remember the unfortunate ending to Kurt Thomas’ career. Family doesn’t treat family that way — unless, I suppose, you are a Soprano or a Manson. Thomas will lose the title of the NBA’s oldest player Friday once the Knicks, desperate to add a healthy body for their depleted front line, release the 40-year-old forward and sign journeyman James Singleton. The expected move — Singleton was in town Thursday but unable to play because the deal was not finalized — comes eight days before the playoffs begin and 23 days since Thomas saved the Knicks’ hide on the West Coast by playing the game of his life. The Knicks’ winning streak, which was snapped at 13 games here Thursday night, began in Utah with Thomas’ selfless and courageous performance. Thomas played with a broken foot, knowing that he could possibly damage it further by playing. Next week, Thomas will have pins inserted in his right foot. “For him to go out there and be playing on a fractured foot and do the things he did for that game, (he) helped us right the ship,” Carmelo Anthony said. “I don’t think he gets enough credit for that.” Instead, Thomas is essentially being fired. This is a necessary evil of the business, of course. The Knicks need frontcourt insurance and Thomas wouldn’t be available even if the Knicks reach the NBA Finals. With Thomas gone, 39-year-old Marcus Camby is now the second- oldest player on the roster behind Jason Kidd and the only active player from the Knicks team that reached the 1999 NBA Finals.
• K.C.Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: The only timeline the Bulls have given regarding Derrick Rose's return is eight to 12 months. That means, given the surgery took place May 12, missing the 2012-13 season always was a possibility. Now that Rose sitting out all season is all but a certainty, the Bulls and Rose have drawn some criticism. Asked in light of that whether the Bulls should have just declared Rose out for the season last fall, coach Tom Thibodeau shrugged. "They were just being forthright," Thibodeau said of management and team physician Brian Cole. "That's what everyone thought. We didn't know, and we still don't know. We were just being honest.” … Rose was cleared for full scrimmaging on Feb. 18. He has practiced well but has given no signs of playing in games. … Thibodeau reiterated there is no drop-dead date for Rose to return, leaving the possibility open he could play in the playoffs after missing the regular season. Nobody expects that scenario to transpire, however, which means Rose likely would return next training camp.

In the summers of 2011 and 2012, ESPN.com has asked a panel of experts to rate every player in the NBA. The scope wasn’t quite as wide for this week’s “in-season” #NBArank, but even the smaller-scale project produced a lot of insight. After each voter rated each player, 9,546 individual ratings had been processed. And while simply averaging each player’s rating and producing a ranking from that is the backbone of #NBArank, there are countless other ways to parse the information to gain insight on how the panel of experts views the players involved.

The first important thing is to not get hung up on the actual rank, which may seem counter-intuitive for a project called #NBArank. For example, the players ranked 20th through 30th were separated by just .208 ratings points. A couple of changed ratings by a handful of voters here and there could’ve completely reshuffled that group. In fact, had one voter given Paul Pierce (30th) a rating a point higher and Zach Randolph (29th) a rating a point lower, they would’ve flipped spots. That’s how close things were in that range of the rankings.

Interesting: The group of elite players is shrinking (or the panel is evaluating players more critically as time goes on):

• In 2011, 22 players rated an 8 or higher.
• In 2012, that number fell to 19.
• The ratings compiled near the end of the 2012-13 season produced just 16 players rated 8 or higher.

Injuries may have been a factor in that. Seven different players -- most of whom are currently expected to miss the rest of the season -- received a zero. It’s also a big contributing factor in Derrick Rose’s fall from No. 5 to No. 23 and Andrew Bynum’s fall from No. 13 to dead last among the players rated this time around. Bynum received a dismal 4.84 average rating, which would’ve ranked him 146th in the offseason (for perspective, it’s the same rating Ramon Sessions received).

Injured players also accounted for the top three biggest drop-offs from August: Andrew Bynum (-73), Steve Nash (-39) and Danny Granger (-36).

On the opposite site of the spectrum, 25 different players received a high rating of 10, including three players who didn’t crack the top 30 in the rankings. The voters, though, remained stingy with the 10s. While every voter handed out at least one (and one voter handed out 15), on average voters gave 10s to just under four players. Three injured players -- Kevin Love, Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose -- received at least one 10 and at least one 0.

Obviously the player on whom the panel agreed the most was LeBron James, who received a 10 from every voter. Using standard deviation, we can find that the next most agreed-upon players were Kevin Durant (who received exclusively 10s and 9s), Russell Westbrook and James Harden.

Excluding injured players, the player with the largest standard deviation was J.J. Hickson, who had a high rating of 8, a low rating of 1, a median of 6 and a standard deviation of 1.27. So good luck trying to calculate what his contract will be this offseason.

Last, but not least, special mention needs to go out to Jimmy Butler. The second-year Bulls guard made a leap in the ratings usually reserved for rookies (who are sometimes under-ranked in the preseason version of the rankings, with no NBA data to go on). Butler jumped nearly 300 spots, though he was helped because only 86 players were rated this time. It’ll be interesting to see how Butler holds up against the full player pool rather than the reduced one the panel worked with here. Butler’s rating of 5.29 was good for 80th here, but would’ve only placed him 108th this past summer.

• On Land O' Lakers, Brian Kamenetzky learns interesting stuff about Pau Gasol's mindset: "'I’m reading books about the Zen philosophy and mindset. Zen’s Mind, Beginner’s Mind,' Gasol said. After Sunday’s loss, I asked Pau what motivated him to start exploring Zen in more depth (keeping in mind he used to have a coach into that sort of thing). 'Well, just by reading other books about leadership and self-organization and to have a happy and fulfilled life,' he said. 'All of them pretty much mentioned meditation, self-awareness, live in the present, keeping your mind calm, and emptying your mind.' The last couple years have been tough for him, I noted. 'True,' he replied. And the study, he believes, has been beneficial. 'It’s helped me,' Gasol said. 'It’s helped me, reading these books I think has helped me deal with a lot of stuff that I’ve been through.'" (Pau's Zen mind could come in handy while reading this, in which he is lampooned for failing to play adequate defense against Bill Murray.)
• The flashiest game in the NBA is from the suburbs. Is that a problem?
• There is no such thing as a game-winning shot. There is no such thing as crunch time. There is also no Santa Claus. All three are totally true and totally untrue, and I'm okay with that.
• Larry Sanders' blocks, the website.
• Cole Patty of Hickory High breaks down video of Bradley Beal. Conclusion: "The way Beal moves should be considered one of the finest illusions in the entire NBA."
• Jovan Buha of ClipperBlog on the Clippers sweeping the Lakers: "Make no mistake: this is no moral victory. It’s a real victory, in every sense. The Clippers won the division on their own; nothing was handed to them. They kicked the Lakers’ butts four times spread throughout the season. They deserve all the credit, respect and praise that should be coming their way. For the first time Sunday afternoon, it felt as if there were almost as many Clipper fans as Laker fans at Staples Center. Laker fans have traditionally dominated the crowd in the match-ups, even at Clipper home games, but that’s changing. You could hear Clipper fans booing and fighting back whenever Laker fans would cheer, and there a was a level of off-the-court animosity unbeknownst to the rivalry. L.A. may never be a Clipper town, or even open to the idea, but if the Clippers keep winning, enough fans will flop sides. It happened at the inception of Lob City, and it can happen again. No one loves a winner quite like Los Angeles. The key, of course, is to win."
• Clipper worry: Team was much better before New Year's. (Although, against a tough recent schedule, not bad.)
• Be honest: How'd your NCAA bracket turn out?
• The Warriors' tough new opponent: The idea they're the weak link in the tough West playoff picture. Also, they're good when Carl Landry plays.
• George Karl, Erik Spoelstra, Gregg Popovich, Mike Woodson ... let's talk about coach of the year.
• What's wrong with Gerald Wallace?
• In New York this Thursday, a reading from We'll Always Have Linsanity: Strange Takes on the Strangest Season in Knicks History, which I'm super-excited to read.
• At times a bit PG-13, but thoroughly entertaining. Larry Bird cartoons by an American professional basketball player working Down Under.
• On Hardwood Paroxysm, Alex Wong imagines a different DeMarcus Cousins: "On slower days, he’ll take a larger binder out of the bottom drawer of his desk, and comb through them in detail. He uses a yellow post-it to mark where he last finished. They are the fine print of the company’s travel policy. He wants to suggest changes at the next annual summit meeting with the executives."
• The Rudy Gay trade did good things for Jerryd Bayless.
• Happy Birthday, 48 Minutes of Hell.
• With the season almost over, Blazer scrub Will Barton busted out career highs in almost everything. Danny Nowell of Portland Roundball Society: "It’s a funny idea, that NBA players should shock us by being effective. It’s as if fans imagine a practice wherein the starters win every scrimmage they play 80-0. Fans, I think, and certainly I myself fall into a trap: we think of 'quality' as either a duality or a simple sliding scale. A player is 'good' or 'bad;' a starter is an '8' while his backup is a '4'. Even where we introduce some subjectivity into the idea of player comparison—the numerical scale—we tend to treat player quality as a fixed role rather than a set of attributes unique to individual players. Really, games like the one Will just had are windows into the players’ experience, a night where we see what they do every day. In practice, Barton doesn’t sit on the bench and think about defensive responsibility, he cuts to the rim for lobs from Eric Maynor. How odd it must be, to be a player with such a dynamic style that you work on most days behind closed doors while fans on the other side talk about your ability in the future tense. Let me make an analogy a little closer to my own experience: being Will Barton would be like writing every day, and storing my writing away where no one would see it. My improvements, my present qualities, none of them would get seen. Every NBA scrub, then, is a basketball Kafka."
• The Magic are bad. But Jacque Vaughn has some coaching moves.

• NBA hopefuls, and LaMarcus Aldridge, take note: An above average NBA 3-point shooter is far more valuable to his team than an above average 2-point shooter. Ian Levy writes for Hardwood Paroxysm about how we are funny in how we perceive 3s: "Corey Brewer is routinely lambasted for being such a willing and inaccurate 3-point shooter. But while his 3.7 three-point attempts per game generate 1.3 negative blog posts per week, rarely is Joe Johnson criticized for the 9.5 2-point shots he attempts each game, even though they generate essentially the same number of points per shot."
• Magic Johnson tells the tale of his son coming out of the closet.
• The inspiring tale of Ray King, playing for North Carolina Central despite cancer, bathing in bleach every night to ward off staph infections.
• Is the Rockets re-build -- keep a bunch of cap space around for a star who'll come somehow or other -- a road map for post-Josh Smith Hawks?
• Mark Jackson's "next level boldness" has the power to rearrange your thinking.
• Watch for "Millionaire Mama's Boy," a reality show starring JaVale McGee. Not kidding.
• The many ways Carmelo Anthony can kill you.
• Does Manu Ginobili remember the moment he was drafted? He does not, because he wasn't there, nor watching, because he didn't even know it was draft night. He had to be woken up.
• To recover faster from concussion, doctors told Nikola Vucevic not to read, watch TV or text. So what did he do?
• Jim Cavan for The New York Times on the Wizards' freakish recent defense: "Over the last 42 games, the Wizards are third in defensive efficiency (98.6), fourth in opponent field-goal percentage (43.3 percent), second in opponent 3-point percentage (33.1 percent) and second in defensive rebounding percentage (75.6 percent)."
• The sports fans perennial task: to imagine what a player might be.
• Kobe Bryant's off-ball defense really perked up against the Mavericks.
• Things have gone badly for the Suns. But does that mean a change is in order? Suns bloggers chew on Lon Babby's extension.
• LeBron's best game.
• The restaurant that thrives in the building owned by the Players Association, which has offices upstairs.
• Lawrence Frank, candidate to coach Rutgers?
• Not into Jay-Z: A.J. Price.

• John Canzano of The Oregonian: When that awful video footage went public, showing the Rutgers men's basketball coach throwing balls at his players in practice, verbally abusing them, shoving them and assaulting them with gay slurs, I did the oddest thing. When I read or heard people declare, "Mike Rice must go," I quietly added "Jr." to it. If you're like me you were eager this week to separate the son -- Mike Rice Jr. -- from his father -- Mike Rice Sr. One is a deranged coach who deserved to be immediately terminated for his actions. The other is the Trail Blazers' television analyst, a guy insanely proud of his son. I have only three words to say to Mike Sr.: Hang in there. I sent them to him via text. I sent them through his broadcasting partner, Mike Barrett. I'll tell them to Rice's face when I see him next. Because even as the father and son share a name, and both coached, I can't think of a less enviable position anywhere in this than the father who raised a child who is now humiliated and ruined by his own doing.
• Harvery Araton of The New York Times: History is beckoning the Knicks these days, but which will be the more powerful calling, the individual measure of lasting greatness or the consummate joy of collective achievement? … It is no secret that collective achievement outweighs individual exploits on the most important scorecards, but that does not mean the heights King reached in the 1980s, or what Anthony did Tuesday night in Miami and on many other a night this season is not worthy of a starred archiving in the Knicks’ history book. But when the defensive intensity increases in the playoffs, the challenge for the Knicks will be to avoid deferring too much to Anthony, in the interest of finding and sustaining a delicate chemistry that would allow Anthony’s future Hall of Fame candidacy to evoke 1973-like memories of sharing, sacrifice and ultimate celebration. As LeBron James routinely proved last spring — and Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan before him — it can and has been done. Just not for four decades in New York, Monroe, Meminger & Co. will remind everyone Friday night.
• Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News: When the playoffs roll around, Deron Williams says he won’t need the high dosage pain killers that helped salvage his season. The point guard plans to ride this out cortisone-free. Having braced himself for continued ankle pain and a fourth round of shots just before the playoffs started, Deron Williams told the Daily News on Wednesday that his treatments in February were so successful that injections aren’t necessary prior to the postseason in late April. It’s a welcome development for Williams, who is aware of the longterm dangers of injecting too much cortisone – a hormone steroid which, used liberally as an anti-inflammatory, can weaken cartilage in the joints, leaving it susceptible to damage or ruptured tendons. Doctors typically recommend athletes don’t take more than four injections per year, and Williams is happy he doesn’t have to test the limits with a fourth round. “That’s a good thing,” said Williams, who indicated in February that he “probably” will receive injections before the playoffs.
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: Grant Hill has 27 appearances, a 3.2 scoring average, career-low 38 percent shooting and no regrets about joining the Los Angeles Clippers. Hill expected to return to Phoenix for a sixth Suns season when he stayed in the Valley to train last summer. The Suns made a one-year, minimum-salary offer of $1.35 million and the Clippers came with a two-year, $4 million one while Oklahoma City and Chicago also pursued him. Hill, 40, joined the Clippers, began the season on the inactive list after suffering a bone bruise to his right knee, the one which underwent two arthroscopies since 2011 in Phoenix, and did not play until Jan. 12. Hill likely will not make it to that second contract year and opt to retire this summer. “Strong chance,” Hill said. “I’m leaning toward it. I want to get to the end of the year and off-season and think about it but I’m pretty confident that’s where my mind is right now. I’ve enjoyed it.” Except for a brief 2008 experiment under then-Suns coach Terry Porter, Hill always had started in his career until this season, when he often is not in the 10-man rotation.
• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: Seven hours before tipoff, an arena quiet, George Karl envisioned nighttime at EnergySolutions Arena — an ear-popping crowd where "the whistle gets wild and crazy against you," he said. Oh, and Utah had won five consecutive games, fighting for a playoff spot. As such, the Nuggets' coach suggested that Wednesday's game would either be close in the fourth, or a blowout — in favor of the home team. So what happened? Well, let's put it this way — Timofey Mozgov played. The Nuggets blew out the Jazz in Utah, 113-96, thanks to stat sheet-stuffing games from numerous players. "It's not very often that this building is empty by the end of the game," Karl said. It was bananas. Danilo Gallinari scored a team-high 21 points, including a huge 3 in the fourth. Kenneth Faried had 19 points and eight rebounds. Kosta Koufos gobbled up 13 rebounds in 24 minutes. And even Evan Fournier, again, made major impacts as the backup point guard, and took advantage of garbage time, finishing with 18 points.
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: Spurs guard Gary Neal could not recall the last time he played as many as 30 minutes, and no wonder. Until logging 31:28 against Orlando on Wednesday night at the AT&T Center, Neal hadn’t topped 30 minutes of court time since Dec. 15, in the 25th game of the season. “I can’t remember that far back,” Neal said, “but I think it must have been when Kawhi (Leonard) and Jack (Stephen Jackson) were injured.” Indeed, Leonard and Jackson were on the injured list when Neal scored 20 points in a win over Boston. A long run on the court Wednesday produced Neal’s highest point total since that Dec. 15 game. He scored 16 on 6-for-14 shooting, including 4 for 8 on 3-pointers. “I felt good on the court,” the third-year guard from Towson said. “It’s coming back. I’ve just got to keep grinding at it, keep working, keep getting shots up and fight to get the rhythm for the playoffs. “Our goal is the playoffs. That’s what we’re playing for and trying to prepare for. I’m trying to be sharp for the playoffs so I can do my job, which is space the floor and make shots.”
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: Lionel Hollins made it clear Wednesday night before the Grizzles’ 94-76 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers that this end-of-season drive presents a different set of circumstances. The Griz began a three-game road trip trying to keep pace with the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers for the third seed in the Western Conference playoff standings. So when the subject of rest came up, Hollins said he’d play it by ear and limit minutes depending on the flow of the game. “I just want us to be playing well,” Hollins said. “Everybody is talking about the playoffs, but we still have (regular-season) games to play. We’re playing to win.” The Grizzlies’ starters certainly came out as if they wanted to dominate and then rest. Memphis (51-24) was never seriously challenged as the Grizzlies set a franchise record for wins in a season by earning their 51st victory. Memphis also guaranteed it would finish this season with the best overall winning percentage in franchise history, surpassing the .621 mark set in 2011-12. The Griz will finish this season with a winning percentage no worse than .622.
• Marcus Thompson II of The Oakland Tribune: The Warriors have made a pact that everyone will grow beards until they clinch a playoff spot. No shaving. No trimming. "The worse it looks, the better it is for the team," David Lee said. From the looks of it, though, Andris Biedrins isn't on board. He looked cleanly shaven Wednesday. And the patch on rookie Harrison Barnes' chin looked well groomed. Jackson is even in on it. His shadow was turning into some rough real estate at practice, highlighted by some gray strands. But he had his facial mane neatened. There was talk about extended the beard pact through the playoffs. But Curry wasn't a fan of that idea. "This thing," he said at Wednesday's shootaround, scratching his grizzled neck. "I've already got lint all in it."
• Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: The easy part for Brandon Bass always has been the scoring, and the Celtics forward didn’t disappoint with last night’s performance against the Pistons in a 98-93 win, scoring 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting. But defensive signal-caller is a new look, and sound, for him. “Hell, maybe the blessing is without Kevin (Garnett) we’ve removed the security blanket,” coach Doc Rivers said of the sudden need for Bass to expand his role. “And Brandon, he has to be the talker on defense now. “It’s great. He was upset at someone early in the game because they were in the wrong position, and I was thinking, ‘Wow, that’s really new. And that’s really nice.’ That’s good, so maybe it’s a blessing.” Bass acknowledged that in the Celts’ current injury vacuum, he has indeed experienced a growth spurt. “I’d rather play with Kevin being out there,” Bass said. “He’s like a big brother to my little brother. But when your big brother isn’t around, it’s time to step up and grow, basically. It gives me the opportunity to grow up and play the big brother role.”
• Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune: Let the Adelman talk commence. Wednesday’s victory in Milwaukee gave the Wolves their first winning streak since Dec. 15 and gave coach Rick Adelman his 999th career NBA victory. Friday’s game with Toronto will be the first crack at 1,000, something many of the players in the locker room were talking about. “Everybody is thinking about it,” center Nikola Pekovic said. “And I know we’ll all be honored to be a part of that.” J.J. Barea said the prospects looked good for getting Adelman his 1,000th this season, something that couldn’t be said a few weeks ago. But the Wolves are starting to play very well. They won their third straight road game for the first time this season and have won five of their last eight overall.
• Richard Walker of the Gaston Gazette: The Charlotte Bobcats will be in the NBA draft lottery for the eighth time in nine years after this season. But after a fifth win in six home games has them within two victories of 20 on the season, there’s little doubt Charlotte will at least be taking more momentum into this offseason that last. Wednesday’s 88-83 victory over Philadelphia continued the Bobcats’ recent strong play while also diminishing the 76ers’ flickering playoff hopes. “We were able to prove again that we’re very interested in the outcome coming down the backstretch,” said Charlotte coach Mike Dunlap, whose 18-57 team has won five of its last nine games overall. “Our guys are playing together. It was particularly a good night for us in terms of the character of the group of guys playing. Even the guys that didn’t get a lot of minutes played great.” As has been the case lately though, guards Kemba Walker and Gerald Henderson led the way.
• Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun: There are fewer things on a basketball court that can put a bigger smile on a coach who values defence the way Dwane Casey does than a thoroughly dominant defensive quarter. Turn that into a dominant defensive half and it’s that much better. For the first time in weeks (although it felt like quite a bit longer) the Raps enjoyed one of those halves on Wednesday night as they held Washington to just 28 points while piling up 49 of their own to put themselves in charge of a game they would go on to win 88-78. Casey has been tormented by the Raptors defensive retreat this season and has made re-establishing that defensive identity that they valued so much a year ago a priority over this final stretch of games.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: After spending most of the last two seasons in the heart of the battle, from the near move to Anaheim through the handshake deal to remain in Sacramento and finally the Seattle-Sacramento tug of war to be decided by the Board of Governors meeting April 18 and 19, Garcia can’t begin to handicap how the competition will end. On Wednesday, the groups vying for the Kings — Steve Ballmer and Chris Hansen are seeking to buy them and move them to Seattle; Ron Burkle, Mark Mastrov and Vivek Ranadive are bidding to buy them and keep them in Sacramento — made the presentation to a Board of Governors sub-committee, which later will make its recommendation. Francisco Garcia could not help but feel empathy for the fans who supported the Kings so faithfully through much of his career. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “One guy is saying this; another guy is saying that. I don’t know. I’d be sad (if the Kings leave Sacramento). It’s such a great city. They’re great fans. They’ve been supporting the team for a long time. “It’s great. It’s a great city. I have nothing but good things to say about Sacramento. I had a great eight years there.” He did return in time to get his first look at the infamous visitors’ locker room, having heard so much about it. “I was never in there,” Garcia said. “It’s pretty bad. I heard about it, but I was never in there.”

• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: In the aftermath of another heartbreaker, there was nothing more the Spurs could do but make the best of it. Monday’s 92-90 loss to Memphis essentially ended with a Mike Conley layup with 0.6 seconds left, the Grizzlies’ point guard doing to the Spurs what Miami’s Chris Bosh and Houston’s James Harden had done in the span of eight days before. Namely, rip their guts out. It was the Spurs’ sixth consecutive game to come down to the final play of regulation and the third they had lost in the middle of a white-knuckle race for the Western Conference’s top playoff seed. “If they have the character I know they have, this is all going in the computer,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “It will make them smarter and make them make the right decisions come playoff time, hopefully.” By now, forgive the Spurs if they are all “learning experienced” out. Monday at FedEx Forum, they very nearly did to the Grizzlies what Miami had done to them in San Antonio the night before, when LeBron James and Dwyane Wade sat and the Heat won anyway. This time, Popovich kept All-Star forward Tim Duncan and small forward Kawhi Leonard at home to rest sore left knees, along with sixth man Manu Ginobili, who is out for as many as four weeks with a strained right hamstring.
• David Barron of the Houston Chronicle: James Harden sat out a second consecutive game as coach Kevin McHale said his primary goal for the All-Star guard was for him to be at maximum efficiency as the playoffs approach. “I think it’s important that James tries to get this thing to the best level he can, considering that we’re short on time,” McHale said. “The longer you have something that bothers you, the more accustomed you get to it and the less you think it bothers you. But when you look at you play — actually stand way, way, way back — you analyze that ‘I’m not doing things the way I used to.’” Harden, who iced his foot twice and underwent treatment Monday morning, agreed it’s better to err on the side of caution. “Health is definitely more important,” he said. “When I’m not effective on the court and not playing to my best abilities, hopefully guys can keep winning and we can go the right way and I hope I can come back and help them out as well.”
• Phil Collin of the Los Angeles Daily News: At one point, the Clippers sat atop the Pacific Division with a 32-9 record on the heels of their 17-game win streak. Entering Monday's game against Indiana, the Clippers were 17-16 since that point. And after a month in which the Clippers went 7-7, it's obvious they're still trying to rediscover the formula that propelled them to their fast start. "We didn't finish a few games out," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said of the .500 record in March. "We had a couple of opportunities, but you have to be able to finish games out by getting stops or making plays but we missed a few opportunities, especially on the road. You've got to play better. You win games by playing at a high level consistently." The Clippers have been beset by injuries, even after it looked like they were ready to make a big run when Chauncey Billups returned in earnest from his Achilles' injury. But then a new series of bumps hit, particularly among key reserves Eric Bledsoe and Jamal Crawford. "You can talk about injuries, you can talk about schedule, you can talk about all these things," Del Negro said. "Everyone goes through it, some more than others. At the end of the day, you have to win games."
• Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times: That day is here. Shaquille O'Neal's No. 34 will join Chamberlain's No. 13, Abdul-Jabbar's No. 33 and the banner that honors Mikan's No. 99 in the upper reaches of Staples Center on Tuesday when the Lakers play the Dallas Mavericks. After winning three of his four titles with the Lakers during a 19-season career that ended in 2011, O'Neal doesn't need to fear his place in purple-and-gold lore anymore. Collectively, the Lakers' Biggest Four logged 11 most valuable player awards, 18 championships and 51 All-Star game selections over their careers. Fifteen of those titles came with the Lakers. "It's not surprising the success the Lakers have had," said Hall of Fame guard Gail Goodrich, a member of the 1971-72 team that won the championship with Chamberlain and West, "because they've had great centers." The Lakers' luck in acquiring those centers, however, was nothing less than extraordinary.
• Jody Genessy of the Deseret News: If you ask Al Jefferson, the NBA forgot to dish out an award on Monday. Denver's George Karl and Miami's Erik Spoelstra earned coach of the month honors for March, while the Knicks' J.R. Smith and Big Al were named players of the week for their respective conferences. "They said Al Jefferson's player of the week," Jefferson said. "I think the Utah Jazz is the team of the week." Can a trophy maker along the Wasatch Front make that award happen? Continuing their red-hot play of late, the Jazz might be front-runners for team of the month honors based on their 112-102 blowout win against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night at EnergySolutions Arena. The victory pushed the Jazz's season-high winning streak to five games, the most consecutive wins they've strung together since the end of the 2011-12 season. The outcome also gave Utah (39-36) sole possession of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, putting the streaking squad a half-game above the vaunted Los Angeles Lakers (38-36). "We're just a team playing like we want to be in the playoffs," Jefferson said, "and that's the difference."
• Eric Koreen of the National Post: Jose Calderon is not done handing out assists for the Toronto Raptors. As of now, Calderon is acting as Landry Fields’ landlord. Fields has been living in the condo Calderon lived in during much of his Raptors tenure for the entire year. There are no immediate plans for Calderon to kick his old teammate out. The two will deal with it at the end of the year, Calderon said on Monday. So, that gave Calderon one less thing to worry about as he made his return to Toronto, playing his first game in the Air Canada Centre since the late-January trade that ended his seven-and-a-half-year tenure as a Raptor. Everything else — well, Calderon had a word for it. “It’s been weird since this morning, being in Toronto in a hotel,” Calderon said. “It’s just weird. It’s a weird feeling all around.” Yes, almost the entirety of Detroit Pistons’ 108-98 win was strange. But at least it was predictable. There was no doubt how the fans would react to the return of the franchise’s all-time assists leader. “I think obviously there’s a lot of emotion involved. I think this will be a little bit different than some of the other former Raptors,” said Pistons coach, and former Nets coach, Lawrence Frank. “I was around when Vince [Carter] came back, and [the same thing happened with] Tracy McGrady and Chris Bosh. This will be, hopefully, the complete opposite.” It was.
• Brendan Savage of MLive.com: Forward Jason Maxiell might have played his final game for the Detroit Pistons after undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a detached retina. Maxiell, who will be an unrestricted free agent after the season and might not return to the Pistons, is expected to make a full recovery. "It's very disappointing," coach Lawrence Frank said. "You feel horrible for Jason. You hate to see any of your guys get injured, especially where their season is over. "The positives are the surgery went very well. He won't be able to resume any basketball activities for two months but the good thing is it's not career threatening. He'll be able to get back and get back to playing basketball." … Maxiell, 30, has spent his entire eight-year NBA career with the Pistons since they made him their first-round pick (26th overall) out of Cincinnati in 2005. He became the player with the longest Pistons' tenure when Tayshaun Prince was traded to Memphis in January. He has started 175 of 523 career games for the Pistons, averaging 6.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.8 blocks.
• Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Cavaliers aren’t the kind of opponent likely to inspire the Hawks to find the the “playoff mode” coach Larry Drew is seeking as the regular season draws to a close. That was the concern for Drew after he said his team “played as if we can turn it on at any point” during a lackluster victory against Orlando Saturday. It took a while for the Hawks to find their form against the struggling Cavaliers, but they eventually did enough to secire a 102-94 victory Monday at Philips Arena. “We want to get back to just grinding defensive possessions out,” Drew said. “I thought we did a little better job tonight (but) not what I was hoping. I thought we had some breakdowns tonight. As we wind this thing down we need to get back to where we not focus on our offense as much as our defense. That got us into a little bit of trouble tonight.” … Hawks forward Kyle Korver extended his streak of consecutive games with a made 3-pointer to 68 games to tie Reggie Miller for fifth place on the NBA’s all-time list. Dennis Scott is fourth all-time with 78 consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer made.
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: Charlotte coach Mike Dunlap said he's glad his team is playing teams in contention for the playoffs. "The great thing about playing the Bucks tonight is they have the playoff fever," Dunlap said. "Every possession presents itself with an intensity that is good for our young guys to understand." Charlotte scored 60 points in the first half but only 42 in the second half as the Bucks won their 10th consecutive home game against the Bobcats. The Bucks and Bobcats met twice early in the season, with Charlotte prevailing at home, 102-98, on Nov. 19 and the Bucks winning at home, 108-93, on Dec. 7. Charlotte started 7-5, matching its total of victories last season. But it has won just 10 more times since that promising start. "Youth, is one," Dunlap said. "And two is you have them in a concentrated period of the training camp and you come right into the season. There's a bit of fizz there in terms of clarity.”
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: Nikola Pekovic had 29 points and Dante Cunningham added 19 points off the bench to lead the Timberwolves to a 110-100 victory over Boston on Monday night, April 1, at Target Center. The victory left Wolves coach Rick Adelman two wins shy of his career 1,000th victory. Adelman, in his 22nd season as an NBA coach, is 998-702. The win also snapped the Wolves' 11-game losing streak to Boston. Avery Bradley led Boston with 19 points. The Wolves took advantage of a depleted Celtics team that played without Kevin Garnett (ankle) and Paul Pierce (personal reasons). Both remained in Boston. This was a game the Wolves were supposed to control and they did. Pekovic returned from missing one game with a sprained left ankle and his presence made a huge difference inside. Without Garnett, the Celtics had virtually no inside answer for Pekovic.
• Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe: Jeff Green’s resurgence coincided with the point at which Rajon Rondo suffered his injury, but Doc Rivers said he isn’t sure if that’s a coincidence or not. “Because with the whole heart thing and sitting out a year, you don’t know if this is progression from sitting out a year or if this is just him getting better as a player and getting more confident,” Rivers said. From the start of the season to Jan. 25, the day Rondo was injured, Green, who sat out last season after undergoing open-heart surgery, was averaging 9.6 points. Since then, Green was averaging 16.3 points per game entering Monday night, when he scored 10.
• Mike Tokito of The Oregonian: Damian Lillard broke the NBA rookie record for most three-point makes in a season. His first three-pointer of the game, with 6:16 left in the first quarter, was the 167th of the season, breaking the record he had shared with Golden State's Stephen Curry, who set it during the 2009-10 season. Lillard finished 3 for 7 behind the arc and had 17 points.
• Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon-Journal: Tristan Thompson is one of seven finalists for the prestigious J. Walter Kennedy Award, given annually by the Pro Basketball Writers Association to the player, coach or trainer who shows outstanding service and dedication to the community. Thompson created “Giving Thanks in Tristan’s Town” for Thanksgiving, purchasing turkeys and groceries for 150 families from Historic Greater Friendship Baptist Church in Cleveland. He helped distribute the meals along with game tickets. Thompson has also raised funds for Cavaliers Youth Fund and has been an advocate for pediatric epilepsy because his younger brother has epilepsy. He has worked on behalf of the Domestic Violence & Child Advocacy Center and is active in filling requests with the Cavs’ community service department. He has helped with events at the Children’s Rehab Hospital, Harvest for Hunger food drive and participated in the filming of a Valentine’s Day video for women whose military husbands were deployed.

• Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: The streak hasn’t been without some lucky breaks. In five of the Heat’s past six games, opponents have been without key contributors. On Wednesday at United Center, the Bulls were without starting center Joakim Noah, starting two-guard Richard Hamilton, reserve Marco Belinelli and, of course, Derrick Rose. Before the game, Heat coach Erik Spoelstraacknowledged “luck” as a contributing factor to the streak. The Heat defeated the Cavaliers after trailing by 27 points. Would that comeback have been possible if Cleveland was playing with Dion Waiters and Kyrie Irving? And what about that two-point victory in Boston when the Celtics were without Kevin Garnett andRajon Rondo? The Pistons played in Miami without Brandon Knight and Andre Drummond last week. The Magic went up against the Heat’s winning streak without center Nikola Vucevic and Arron Afflalo.
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: We now resume the dog days of the season already in progress. So who starts alongside Juwan Howard in New Orleans? And what exactly are NBA TV and ESPN going to do with those extra upcoming Heat games they added? It had to end sometime. And it became clear the Heat were running on fumes. There was an undeniable mental aspect of the streak. History would have been nice. A second consecutive championship would be nicer. LeBron James simply has to get some time off now. He pushed as hard as anyone during the streak. And Dwyane Wade would be wise to going back to resting that knee. So it still will take one more Heat victory or one more Knicks loss for the Heat to wrap up No. 1 in the East. That will happen. But it will be interesting to see how hard, if at all, Erik Spoelstra pushes for the top overall playoff seed. We may get that read on Sunday in San Antonio. It could be argued that the Spurs game is the only game that matters on the Heat's remaining schedule.
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: Wednesday morning, hours before the Bulls applied the brakes to the Heat's run at history, Tom Thibodeau was asked if he had mentioned their 27-game winning streak. "What streak?" Thibodeau said. Indeed, on a night when the only Derrick Rose appearance came via a bobblehead doll and Joakim Noah, Richard Hamilton and Marco Belinelli also sat with injuries, the Bulls made history disappear. The second-longest winning streak in North American major professional sports league history is over thanks to a 101-97 victory that, out of nowhere, rekindled talk of a substantive Bulls' postseason run. The Bulls clinched their fifth straight playoff berth, handing the Heat their first loss since Feb. 1. "We've been saying it all year: When we're at our best, we can beat anybody," Luol Deng said. … And just like that, chants of "End the streak!" and "Beat the Heat!" from the United Center faithful rang out. "I mean, everyone is aware," Thibodeau said of the Heat's chasing the 1971-72 Lakers 33-game streak. "But we're more concerned about them being the defending champion. Everyone is chasing them, regardless of whether there is a streak or no streak." Emphasis on no streak.
• Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: The 1971-72 Lakers can exhale. Their 33-game winning streak is still the NBA's longest. The current crop of Lakers took some pride in its preservation after the Miami Heat's streak ended at 27 with a 101-97 loss Wednesday to the Chicago Bulls. Some players were even happy. "In a big way, I am," said Pau Gasol, who in his six seasons with the Lakers has become friends with the coach of that '71-72 team, Bill Sharman. "I'm glad that we kept the streak. It was about time that Miami lost." … "I guess now that it's over, it's kind of nice that the Lakers still have it," Steve Blake said. Kobe Bryant, in his 17th season with the Lakers, was diplomatic. "I think as a student of the game, as a fan of the game, you appreciate those kind of streaks," he said. "You realize how difficult it is to put together that big of a streak. Obviously, the Lakers winning 33 in a row was phenomenal. The Heat's run was just as impressive." The present-day Lakers weren't lighting up cigars to commemorate the continued life of the 41-year old record. It didn't even matter that they also beat Minnesota on Wednesday, 120-117.
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: Washington Wizards point guard John Wall didn't hesitate when he was asked if the Thunder's Russell Westbrook is the NBA's fastest player. “No, I'm going to say myself,” Wall said after shooting just 3 for 18 from the field in the Wizards' 103-80 loss to OKC before a sellout crowd of 18,203 at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Wall wouldn't even say for certain that Westbrook was the league's second-fastest player. “It's tough man,” said Wall, who was coming off a career-high 47 points Monday against Memphis and finished with 18 points and 12 assists against the Thunder. “There's a couple fast guys in this league. He (Westbrook) is up there, Derrick(Rose) is up there, when he's healthy. Mike Conley's pretty quick. There's a couple guys. Ty Lawson's quick. So there's a lot of guys, but I put myself first.” Wall was still complimentary of Westbrook, admitting he is at a place in his career where Wall hopes to some day find himself.
• Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe: His mechanics looked sound, as they often do for a player whose shooting stroke is simply textbook, and Bradley buried jumpers from all over the hardwood. But Bradley had a rough shooting performance in the Celtics’ 93-92 win over the Cavaliers, hitting just 1 of 7 shots, scoring just 3 points. And in the last 12 games, Bradley is shooting 32.2 percent (39 for 121) and several misses have been layups or other shots right around the rim. “I’ve just got to stay confident,” Bradley said before the game. “Sometimes I forget that I had surgery [on both shoulders]. “And I always think that everything will be perfect all the time. Obviously I’m going through a slump right now. I’ve just got to stick with it.” Bradley struggled against the Knicks in the Celtics’ 100-85 loss Tuesday night, missing 8 of his 11 shots. After that game, coach Doc Rivers said that Bradley was “clearly going through something” and that “I’m probably going to have to do something to get him going more, not less.” Rivers did acknowledge that Bradley’s offensive role has shifted with point guardRajon Rondo out.
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: Wednesday’s game against the Nuggets, one of the NBA’s hottest teams, was slipping from the Spurs before Danny Green went on one of the season’s hottest long-range shooting streaks during the last four minutes of the second quarter. In just 93 seconds, Green made four 3-pointers to help trim a 14-point deficit to three by halftime. The Spurs went on to win 100-99. “Only reason why we stayed in the game,” said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, whose 3-pointer with 1:25 left to play proved to be the game-winner. “He made some tough threes when we were really struggling. They were feeling good, and he made four in the quarter. That kept us alive, and it was huge to keep the game close.” The four rapid-fire 3-pointers gave Green six for the half, a franchise record for 3-pointers in one half. “They found me in pretty good scenarios,” Green said. “I was pretty much open every time Tony (Parker) drove. He drew the defense and kicked it and found me — what he does best. I’m happy he’s back. I got some open threes and luckily, some of them dropped.” Parker was happy Green’s shot was back after a Sunday game in which he only made two.
• John Jeansonne of Newsday: Just because he can doesn't mean he should. Knicks shooter J.R. Smith is just that, a shooter, who can nail jump shots from binocular range. But what coach Mike Woodson has liked about Smith's contribution to this Knicks season, and particularly to the team's six-game winning streak down the stretch, is that "he's starting to figure out some things. He's not just taking jump shots. He's taking it to the rim, getting to the free-throw line. He's rebounding, he's playing defense." In Wednesday night's uneven 108-101 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies -- the Knicks were like an orchestra on offense in the first half, harmonizing movement, passing and spot-on shooting, and mostly off-key in the second half -- Smith again was the leading scorer. He had 35 points, the night after scoring 32 against Boston. In a reserve role, as usual, he made 10 of 18 field goals -- 3 of 7 three-pointers -- and, as Woodson said, earning free throws. He made 12 of 13 and shared team-high rebounding honors with Carmelo Anthony (7 apiece).
• Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News: Gerald Wallace has reasons to be celebrated in Portland, and it’s mostly because he was the means to Dame Lillard in a trade that has been universally evaluated as a steal for the Trailblazers. Nets GM Billy King – who also dealt for Deron Williams and Joe Johnson -- has been most scrutinized for his one trade at the 2012 deadline, when he gave up a first-round pick for Wallace on an expiring contract. But it’s more complicated for the Nets. For starters, Brooklyn wouldn’t have drafted Lillard had they kept the pick that became sixth overall. The top candidate for Rookie of the Year has surpassed all expectations, plus the Nets had their own point guard they were trying to re-sign. Tyler Zeller was a name the Nets considered as reported by ESPN, but more likely they would’ve traded the pick in a draft their scouts distrusted, according to a source. To me, the only question of the trade was whether that pick would’ve been enough convince Orlando to trade Dwight Howard within in the Eastern Conference? Otherwise, the logic for acquiring Wallace is easy to follow. It also shaped two franchises and their futures. “Obviously it changed the course of the franchise,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said Wednesday.
• Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: Chauncey Billups started for the first time in three games for the Clippers and was playing well until he aggravated his strained right groin early in the third quarter. Billups left the game with 10 minutes 40 seconds left in the third and was replaced by Willie Green. Billups didn't return and has been listed as day to day by the Clippers. "Yeah, it's frustrating," Billups said. "It's always frustrating to be banged up and in and out a little bit. I just mark it down as part of the process. I'm not going to be depressed or nothing like that. I'll get back right." Billups had missed just one of his five first-half shots and he had made all three of his three-point shots. His final shot was when Billups banked in a three-pointer at the buzzer ending the first half, giving the Clippers a 56-48 lead. Billups said he felt the injury late in the second quarter but kept playing through the pain. He had it wrapped up at halftime and came back out to play.
• Richard Walker of the Gaston Gazette: Like most rookies, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has shown signs of wearing down late in the season, even as Dunlap has played him 30 or more minutes only three times in the last month. “For all rookies, there’s the emotional ups and downs,” Dunlap said of Gilchrist, whose scoring has dropped to 8.9 after hitting a season-high of 12.7 six games into the season. “And there’s also endurance. He’s had some tough times but he’s also gotten some good lessons.”… Wednesday’s win continued a strange trend for the Bobcats as it relates to attendance. In the 16 home games this season in which Charlotte has played in front of 16,000 or more fans, the Bobcats are 1-15 while they are 10-10 in games with less than 16,000 fans; The attendance Wednesday was 11,839.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: I’m sure most of you would like for the Pacers to have the No. 2 seed in the East already locked up so that they could rest some players and also use the time to give Danny Granger plenty of minutes to work his way back into shape. I personally like what’s going on with the Pacers, Knicks and Nets. Every game means something. The Pacers, Knicks and the Nets can’t take any nights off because each team has little room for error in the standings. The only team that doesn’t have anything to play for are the Heat, who had their 27-game winning streak come to an end Wednesday in Chicago. The goal is to avoid the fourth seed because that likely sets you up for a second round match up against LeBron and his crew. The Pacers don’t want the three seed because that likely means opening the second round in Madison Square Garden in a city that’s passionate about its team and the fans can blow the roof off the Garden with their excitement.
• Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune: Al Jefferson has been the focal point of the Jazz offense since his arrival in 2010. There is no surprise when the Jazz pound the ball to the center on the left block. That part of the court is his workshop, where he toils and tinkers, finding new ways to frustrate competent, professional big men into looking foolish. Jefferson took 23 shots on Wednesday. His role in the Jazz offense is not diminished. But is it changing? That was the sense given by both Mo Williams and Paul Millsap following the Jazz's 103-88 win over the Phoenix Suns. Jefferson finished with 25 points on 12-of-23 shooting, and he scored six of the team's first 10 points to start the game. However, both Williams and Millsap said the Jazz have changed the offensive philosophy at beginnings of games, which could explain the fast starts in Monday's win over Philadelphia and Wednesday. Both nights, the Jazz made their first six shots. "I think we got a little carried away with just coming down, starting the game, just throwing it down to Al, letting him work." Millsap said. "It made it too tough on him, made it too tough on everybody else. It's basically just getting everybody moving, moving the basketball around." Millsap said the Jazz's focus needs to be "getting different options."
• Mike Kern of the Philadelphia Daily News: In 1973-74, the Milwaukee Bucks were three seasons removed from their lone NBA title and they still had a center by the name of Jabbar. That was also the last time they swept the season series with the Sixers. It still is. Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center, the Sixers beat the Bucks for the first time in four tries, 100-92. They have 11 games left, only three more at home, in what has been a season gone horribly wrong. They're ninth in the Eastern Conference standings, 7 1/2 games out of the last playoff spot that currently belongs to Milwaukee. So … "Until the math says [we're eliminated], we're going to keep playing like we're fighting for it," said center Spencer Hawes, who finished with 15 points, his seventh straight double-digit effort, and a career-high 17 rebounds. Fair enough. On Fan Appreciation Night, the Sixers opened up an 18-point lead midway through the second quarter.
• Tony Bizjak of The Sacramento Bee: The basketball war between Sacramento and Seattle ratcheted up Wednesday as both cities made moves to strengthen their claim to the Sacramento Kings. The day after his City Council approved a $448 million downtown arena plan, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson released a list of 24 businesses that have pledged $50 million in team corporate sponsorships for the next five years. He also said he plans to gather 10,000 season ticket purchase pledges to take with him to New York when he makes his case next week to keep the team in town. As of 9:35 p.m. Wednesday, the www.herewebuy.org website, which has been up since late January, had 7,369 pledges. But Seattle scored a big headline of its own Wednesday. According to court documents, the Seattle group seeking to buy the Kings has signed a tentative $15.1 million deal in bankruptcy court to take control of the 7 percent of the team owned by Sacramento businessman Bob Cook, who is in bankruptcy. The group, led by San Francisco investment fund manager Chris Hansen, already has a deal in hand to buy a 65 percent share from the Maloof family, the team's current majority owners, and minority owner Bob Hernreich. Their plan calls for a $490 million arena south of Seattle's downtown. … Hansen's 7 percent purchase in bankruptcy court is not final, either, court officials said. Any of the team's other four minority owners has the right to match that bid in the next 15 days. If one matches the bid, he has priority to buy the shares.

• Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: It’s been four-and-a-half months since Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen unexpectedly showed up to the first day of training camp and revealed his secret wish to see his team play better defense. Four-and-a-half long months of head-scratching, mediocre and sometimes awful oh-lay performances that made you wonder if the young and defensively-challenged Blazers would ever show the heart and grit required to stifle an opposing offense. Well, the answer finally arrived in emphatic fashion Thursday night in Chicago, where the Blazers were — gasp! — rugged, determined and connected on defense en route to a 99-89 victory over the Chicago Bulls before 21,946 at the United Center. “Hands down,” All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge said, when asked if it was his team’s best defensive outing of the season. “I don’t think we’ve ever rotated like that in pick and roll (coverage), ever controlled the ball like that in a game.”
• Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times: It wasn’t supposed to look like that. Not with so much that had gone on for the Bulls lately. A high-energy week of practice, the return of both Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson from injuries, a group of players still angry about an overtime loss to Denver on Monday. No, Thursday was supposed to be the start of the playoff push, and Portland was expected to be the team that was just standing in the way of that progress. Following the 99-89 loss to the Trail Blazers, however, the fading Bulls had more questions than answers. “It’s really disappointing,’’ Joakim Noah said. “We’re not playing good right now. This is the final stretch and we’re not getting it done, so we got to find a way.’’ When asked what needed to change, however, Noah paused and replied, “I don’t know.’’ That was the running theme, as the Bulls (36-31) have now lost two straight on the three-game homestand, and dropped into a sixth-place tie with Boston in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: How? How?? It was unreal, surreal. This thing was over — the 76ers up eight points with less than two minutes left — but the Nuggets, resuscitated, climbed back into the game and won 101-100 on Thursday night at the Pepsi Center. Corey Brewer made three free throws with 2.1 seconds left to give Denver the lead for good, cemented by an Anthony Randolph block on Damien Wilkins at the buzzer. Brewer scored — poured? — a career-high 29 points, including a 3-pointer with 9.2 seconds left. "It was crazy. To be honest, I didn't think we had any chance of wining," Brewer said. "Even when (Evan Turner) missed those two free throws, it gave us life." After Turner missed both, Denver was able to get Brewer open for the 3-ball foul. "We ran it for Andre (Miller) to come off, and then (Danilo) Gallinari, to keep it," Brewer said, "and then I was going to come for the handoff, and I was able to get it — and I saw the defender coming, so I tried to get it off quick." That makes 14 consecutive wins for the fellows in yellow, a team NBA franchise record, while also tying the longest streak in coach George Karl's career, a streak that occurred in 1996, when his SuperSonics ultimately went to the NBA Finals. Denver is an incredible 31-3 at home and on a 16-game home winning streak.
• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: TRUST. That's what it said on the locker room's dry erase board, in letters as big as the Nuggets' win. It was Tuesday in Oklahoma City, where Denver would win an eye-popping, back-to-back finale against the mighty Thunder. Why do the Nuggets win games they should lose? I can give you a lot of fancy stats about fast-break scoring and improvements in all facets of defense, but the incalculable intangible is that they're among the league leaders in trust. "We talk a lot about the word trust," Nuggets coach George Karl said, "trusting each other, trusting the concepts, trusting the intensity. The word trust has been in our game plans a lot. And I have to trust them, they've earned that trust." … On the offensive end, Karl said the Nuggets are as good as any team at sharing the ball with the open player, regardless of the name on that player's back. That was the curse of the Iverson-Melo Nuggets. It's Spurs-esque. No, the Nuggets are not as good as the Spurs. But they trust each other like they do, and that could be something come mid-April.
• John Mitchell of The Philadelphia Inquirer: The ending was emblematic of just how things have gone for the 76ers. Leading by six points late in the game against the Denver Nuggets, the Sixers let it all slip away and lost a game they had won, falling to the Nuggets, 101-100, Thursday night at the Pepsi Center. With 7.1 seconds left and the Sixers leading, 100-98, Evan Turner missed a pair of free throws, allowing the Nuggets, who called a timeout, one last shot to win the game. Then Damien Wilkins fouled Denver's Corey Brewer as he attempted a three-pointer. Brewer stepped to the line and sank all three free throws to give the Nuggets the victory and extend their winning streak to 14 games. "I don't know; the referee said I fouled him, so I must have fouled him," Wilkins said. "I was just trying to challenge the shot aggressively and not let him get a clean look. I was a little bit too aggressive tonight and I cost my team a win tonight. I can't foul a guy shooting a thee-pointer when we're up two. "So we didn't deserve to win the game. Being overly aggressive cost us one, so you live and you learn."
• Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee: Tuesday's win over the Los Angeles Clippers might have been the Kings' best home victory of the season, considering the opponent. But it also was a game the NBA deemed to have had too much acting. Kings guard Tyreke Evans and Clippers guard Chris Paul both received warnings for flopping during the game. The league defines flopping "as any physical act that appears to have been intended to cause the referees to call a foul on another player." "The primary factor in determining whether a player committed a flop is whether his physical reaction to contact with another player is inconsistent with what would reasonably be expected given the force or direction of the contact."
• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: Timberwolves forward Chase Budinger returned Thursday night after four months away with a three-pointer made and a big smile in a 101-98 loss at Sacramento, but neither of those two things were quite enough. Budinger’s 17-plus minutes played and nine points scored on 3-for-7 shooting included one three-pointer — the only one in his team’s 1-for-19 night — as the Kings recovered from a 12-point, first-half deficit to win their third consecutive home game. The Kings had beaten the Bulls and the Clippers at Sleep Train Arena and on Thursday completed the trifecta, thanks to a game-changing 13-2 fourth-quarter run when Tyreke Evans attacked the basket at will. Evans scored 11 of his 21 points in a fourth quarter when the Wolves led by a point with 9:44 left, trailed by 10 with 5:32 left and still had a chance to tie the score at the final buzzer when Dante Cunningham’s desperation three-pointer went wide right. “We gave them too many spurts, too many easy opportunities, too many easy baskets,” Wolves coach Rick Adelman said.
• Dale Kasler, Tony Bizjak and Ryan Lillis of The Sacramento Bee: Sacramento's drive to keep the Kings took a dramatic detour Thursday as a new lead investor emerged for the team and the city missed its self-imposed deadline for wrapping up a deal for a new arena. The dual developments, announced within minutes of each other during a chaotic afternoon, suggested that Sacramento was still laboring to finalize its plan to keep the Kings from moving to Seattle. Although city officials said they're confident they'll get a deal done on a new arena, there isn't a lot of time: The plan must get OK'd first by the City Council, and Sacramento has to pitch its proposal to a group of key NBA owners in less than two weeks. Vivek Ranadive, an Indian-born software tycoon who lives in Silicon Valley, was unveiled as the man who will lead the bid for the team itself. Already a part owner of the Golden State Warriors, he takes the reins from East Bay health-club financier Mark Mastrov. A source familiar with the situation said Mastrov – whose initial bid was described as inadequate by the NBA – will remain a major partner in the bid. The third investor in the Sacramento effort, Beverly Hills billionaire Ron Burkle, was continuing to negotiate a deal with city officials on a new arena at Downtown Plaza. But in a somewhat unsettling development for the city, officials were unable Thursday to complete the so-called term sheet outlining the city's subsidy and other elements of the deal. The document was supposed to be released to the public in the afternoon.

• The Thunder's schedule is about to take a turn for the easy, and all this will be forgotten. But they did just lose to the Nuggets and Grizzlies, which counts as worrisome for a team that's used to nothing but sunny news. Meanwhile, there has been some eye-opening ball-hoggery from Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Against the Nuggets, the star duo combined for 44 field goal attempts and just 11 assists. Against the Grizzlies, it was 53 shots to a piddly six assists. Remember, their offense has long been at its best when the other players on the roster shoot more. Dean Oliver and Alok Pattani know this. I know this. I assume Scott Brooks know this. But until Durant and Westbrook know that victories are on the fingertips of open Serge Ibakas and Kevin Martins ... that offense won't be all it can be.
• Chris Paul becomes the NBA's first real-deal superstar to be called for a flop, after a whole mess of people on Twitter, and Beckley Mason on TrueHoop, insist on it.
• Thinking about LeBron James, Michael Jordan, minutes and exhaustion. A key difference I'd point out: The NBA has changed such that guys who play very long minutes don't win titles like they did in Jordan's day. Rest appears to be more valuable now than it once was, likely because defenses have become more active.
• Kate Fagan making wonderful points: "So, to recap: Women's basketball is maligned for not being as athletic as the men's game, but as women become more athletic, these players are often labeled unfeminine, and therefore unwatchable. Feel free to pause here and scratch your head."
• The West's top teams keep losing to the Nuggets.
• Is Portland locked into mediocrity?
• Mark Cuban sure does make the NBA more fun and interesting. There's no arguing that.
• Travis Wimberly of The Two Man Game talking Mavericks: "Here, I’m lodging a grievance with one thing in particular: the ability to consistently get the ball to the Mavs’ best scorers. As noted above, Dirk Nowitzki finished the week on an incredible shooting tear, yet had very few opportunities to actually put up shots. ... A large part of OJ Mayo’s struggles this year have stemmed from the Mavs’ need for him to handle the ball excessively, which again draws back to the same underlying problem. If the Mavs had point guards with credible fundamentals, they could get Mayo the ball at the appropriate times (as with Dirk) and allow him to focus exclusively on scoring. And you could probably say the same of several other Mavs scorers. Anybody miss Jason Kidd? Just kidding — I already know you do."
• CBS News asked economist David Berri about paying college athletes. His response includes this: "Every student that we hire to do things on campus we pay. I have a grader. She grades my exams for me. We pay her. We pay her enough so that she will not go work at Arby’s. That is what you do. In a market economy when people do things for you and they generate revenue for you, you pay them. Everybody does this. Everybody who is arguing the players should not be paid, have a job where they are being paid by somebody else. And if you told those people ‘We have a rule that says cannot get paid. Those are the rules.’, they would sue. That is not a rule that would stand up in court."

• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: Dick Vitale whispers louder than Andre Miller screams. But in the pregame locker room, the Nuggets' veteran guard delivered a powerful, passionate speech, channeling the oration of, say, Jesse Jackson, who just happened to be at Tuesday night's Nuggets-Thunder game. "One amazing speech — guys were just amped up, ready to play," Denver forward Kenneth Faried said after the Nuggets' 114-104 win, Denver's 13th consecutive, a franchise-NBA record. "He said it doesn't matter that we're coming off a back-to-back, it doesn't matter that we went to overtime — we're going to play this game hard and with pride. We don't have any excuses. Andre Miller is a guy who doesn't really say much, but when he talks, everybody listens, nobody's playing around. "Everybody locks in." And sure enough, it was Miller who was locked in the most when it mattered. In just nine fourth-quarter minutes, he scored 13 points with six rebounds and three steals. Unreal. And he made two tough shots late. The second, a leaner in the lane with 1:29 left, gave Denver (47-22) a 10-point lead. What a night.
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: Of the 13 teams the Nuggets have disposed of consecutively, eight currently are bound for the playoffs. “We're not beating up on the little guys,” Karl said. “I don't think our team is going to let up. I think they enjoy what's going on right now.” Denver (47-22) trails OKC (50-18) by just 3 1/2 games for second in the Western Conference playoff race and owns the tiebreaker with its 3-1 series edge over the Thunder thanks to winning the last three meetings. Eight of the Nuggets' 13 remaining games are at home and only five games are against playoff teams. The Thunder has 14 games remaining, with eight on the road and seven against playoffs teams, beginning with Wednesday's 7 p.m. game at Memphis.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: It’s real simple what happened here tonight. The Thunder got sucked into the Nuggets’ style, succumbed to it and suffered its first loss in 21 home games against Western Conference opponents. That was the story of the game, and it has to be a disappointing result for a team that should be past the point of playing its opponent’s style of play. For a team that likes to talk about how it prides itself on defense, the Thunder sure didn’t play much of it tonight. Instead, when the high-octane Nuggets came to town and the Thunder looked awfully interested in turning the contest into a run-and-gun affair. That much was evident from early in the first quarter. OKC pushed the pace, apparently trying to out-quick Denver’s quick, and jacked shots early and often. Some of the first quarter wasn’t so bad. But about halfway through the opening period, and for all of the second, the Thunder had embraced the track meet. Kevin Durant: “It’s easy to fall into that trap. That’s what they do. They get up and down the court. Our game is a little different. We want to run, but we want to run off of our defense.
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: The Bucks know they have a chance to pick up ground in the Eastern Conference race. Atlanta is one of the three teams they are chasing along with Boston and Chicago. Milwaukee trails all three teams by two games in the loss column after Tuesday's victory. "Everyone knows it," Dalembert said. "We talk about it and it's enough talk for us. We just have to beat teams we are capable of beating and let it be known it's going to be a fight. "Who knows? In the next five or six games, we might end up being No. 6 (seed). We lost some games we were supposed to win. But they're NBA players. I think we learned our lesson. Games we should win we have to go out there and let it be known." Atlanta (37-30) currently is seeded fifth while Chicago (36-30) is sixth and Boston (36-30) seventh.
• Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: Different city. Different arena. Different opponent. Same old maddening Trail Blazers. The team that wowed and surprised for so much of the season before eventually breaking your spirit was up to its usual tricks Tuesday night in Milwaukee, simultaneously playing some of the worst basketball and some of the best en route to a 102-95 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center. After a head-scratching start that included their worst offensive performance in any quarter this season, the Blazers mounted a furious second-half rally that ultimately came up short. Sound familiar? It should. It’s a similar script to the one the Blazers showcased during Monday night’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, during their first loss to the Bucks in January and, really, in so many games this season.
• Phillip B. Wilson of The Indianapolis Star: George Hill says he meant no disrespect to fans. He just insists more Indiana Pacers fans should be in the stands at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. And he’s not going to budge on that point. In his first home game since making critical remarks about seeing too many Los Angeles Lakers fans at the Pacers’ venue, Hill received the usual round of applause when the starting lineup was announced Tuesday night. Before that, he sat at his locker and tried to expound upon his comment, which received negative fan responses on Twitter; local sports-talk radio shows; and in emails sent to The Indianapolis Star. One fan tweeted: “I’ll be real sure to boo the (crap) out of you now on.” “I’m not saying you can’t be somebody’s fan,” said Hill, an Indianapolis native who went to Broad Ripple High School and IUPUI. “I was a Michael Jordan fan growing up, but when I did go to the games, I always rooted for my hometown team. You root for who you want to root for, but I know one day that we’re going to get it like it used to be at Market Square Arena. That’s my dream, that’s my goal from when I first got here, to help bring fans back. That’s all I’m trying to do.”
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: For almost two seasons now, David West has been the anchor, the backbone of the Pacers. He’s the lead-by-example veteran the team has needed. West gets injured, heads to the sidelines, Tyler Hansbrough steps in, has two good games and all of sudden some people are saying West should come off the bench when he returns. Are you serious? Is that an early April Fools Day joke? I thought people were really joking about it when they mentioned it during and after the Cleveland game. But a few people brought it up again after Hansbrough had 14 points and 14 rebounds in Tuesday’s victory over Orlando. Put a stop to it. There’s no way in hell it’s going to happen. There’s no way in hell it should happen. How quickly some people forget, it wasn’t that long ago that Hansbrough was struggling so bad that an argument could be made that Jeff Pendergraph should back up West at power forward.
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: During the first two and a half quarters Tuesday night, Jacque Vaughn saw Tobias Harris absorb a shot to the mouth, Nik Vucevic receive an elbow to the face and the Indiana Pacers' defense stymie the Orlando Magic at every turn. Vaughn couldn't hold in his frustration any longer. When one of his rookies was whistled for a questionable technical foul, Vaughn complained to the referees. Vaughn earned the first and second technical fouls of his head-coaching career, resulting in automatic ejection. But not even Vaughn's uncharacteristic outburst could snap the Magic out of their offensive funk. Facing a suffocating defense keyed by Roy Hibbert's shot-blocking presence, Orlando shot a season-low 31.8 percent and lost 95-73 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. "I guess it was just an accumulation of the game," Vaughn said afterward. "I got a player who was hit in the mouth. It's just part of the game. I'm not going to lose any more money, but [it was] a tough game." Vaughn became upset when referees whistled rookie Kyle O'Quinn for a technical foul along with a technical foul on Hibbert as they jostled for position as a Pacers free throw sailed toward the hoop with Orlando trailing 57-44 with 4:47 remaining in the third quarter. From Vaughn's perspective, it appeared that O'Quinn had established inside position in the lane and that Hibbert had initiated the contact.
• Ryan Lillis, Tony Bizjak and Dale Kasler of The Sacramento Bee: The frantic process of hammering out a financing plan for a new downtown sports arena has reached its most pivotal day. Sacramento city officials said Tuesday night they remain on track to release a plan Thursday that will lay out how they intend to pay for an arena at the site of the Downtown Plaza. City Manager John Shirey said he believes "we'll still make that deadline" of releasing a proposal Thursday, but that "it will take every minute between now and then to achieve that." "We're still on track," Shirey told the City Council, adding "it's still a work in progress at this moment." It has been an intense effort. Shirey's office has been negotiating with billionaire Ron Burkle over the financing plan for less than a month. … A price tag of the development has also not been released, although sources close to the deal have previously told The Bee the project would cost roughly $400 million.
• Marcos Breton of The Sacramento Bee: It's going to take leadership and follow-through to make the abstract a reality. Quite frankly, it would be very easy to poke holes in this effort. But years of recession have taken a huge economic and emotional toll on the Sacramento region. The possible departure of the Kings coincides with hopes of a new economic cycle in the next five years. The difference between wallowing in the past or creating a new future is the choice before the Sacramento region now. What are we going to do?
• Dan Woike of The Orange County Register: Eric Bledsoe has missed the Clippers' past four games, covering a span of nearly two weeks. Bledsoe said his sore left calf is feeling better, but better isn't good enough to get him back on the floor. "It's definitely something I couldn't let linger on," he said Tuesday. "I had to rest it at some point before it got worse." The team's patience with Bledsoe's recovery, though, could be tested. In the first half against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, Chauncey Billups had to leave the game because of a strained right groin muscle. He didn't return to the game. The injury leaves Maalik Wayns as the only healthy true point guard available to back up Chris Paul. Wayns was re-signed to a second ten-day contract by the team earlier in the day. The team slid Jamal Crawford over to play point guard minutes briefly in the fourth quarter, though Crawford's not a natural playmaker who the team prefers to play off the ball. The best scenario would be to have Bledsoe return healthy, playing at the level he did before the All-Star break. Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro said he hopes to have Bledsoe back sometime over the weekend.
• Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: Dwight Howard is growing all on his own, single-mindedly focused on who he wants to be, and he has taken another major step forward in his career by leaving the business manager who has been Howard's primary advisor his entire career, Kevin Samples. "We had nine great years together," Howard told me late Monday night. "Just time to go separate ways." For all the intangible growth Howard has discovered recently, breaking away from Samples is a concrete gesture that the past is the past – and Howard is confident in calling his own shots in the future. "I know what I want to accomplish," Howard said. "I've always written down my goals and everything I want, and I want to make sure I get 'em. Everything I've lost, everything that's gone away, I'm going to get it back." Samples came to Los Angeles with Howard after the trade to the Lakers, and it was hard to envision him not being around considering they're actually first cousins – and Howard's parents dispatched Samples to live with Howard in Orlando right after the 2004 NBA draft as a big brother/guidance counselor/business manager. Their relationship grew into Dwight Howard Enterprises, which had two and only two officers: Howard and Samples. For Howard to sever the tie is no small statement.

• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: On a night he enjoyed one of his most productive offensive games of the season, the Spurs’ Tim Duncan spent the final 8.7 seconds of a 92-91 victory over the Mavericks in the worst possible position: Sitting on the bench, helpless to do anything but watch as Dallas’ Vince Carter launched a potential game-winner at the buzzer. Opting for a smaller, quicker defender, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich replaced Duncan with Boris Diaw, with the Mavericks down by one. “It’s always tough to sit in that position,” Duncan said. “It is what it is. He’s got a game plan, a system in those times to go smaller. If they go smaller or have a shooter in there, he likes to put someone a little more mobile in. “You’ve got to respect it. You’ve got to sit there and cross your fingers.” After missing seven of his first 10 shots Thursday, Duncan made nine of his final 10 and finished with 28 points. He was one rebound shy of his second 20-20 game of the season, finishing with 19. It was his most productive game since returning Feb.13 from a left knee contusion suffered on Feb. 2. “It’s finally starting to come back,” Duncan said. “My shot’s not there like I want it to be. Other than that, I feel great. I feel healthy. The pain is gone. I’m starting to feel like I can actually play the game.”
• Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Coach Rick Carlisle said Chris Wright, the Mavs’ newest point guard, cleared a big hurdle when Dallas signed Wright to a 10-day contract. “He just got here [Wednesday],” Carlisle said. “That’s the biggest challenge.” Indeed it is a big challenge for Wright, who, on Wednesday, became the first player with multiple sclerosis to be on an NBA roster. And what perfect timing for Wright — it’s MS Awareness Week. Wright agreed with Carlisle that making the team was his biggest challenge thus far. “I’m just trying to make the team and get on the team,” Wright said. “I’m honored to be here and be in front of Dirk Nowitzki and guys like that.” Wright averaged 15.5 points and seven assists in 38 games this season for the Iowa Energy of the D-League. Carlisle likes what he’s seen thus far from Wright. … Carlisle said he’s “not qualified” to answer any questions about MS. But, “he’s been playing at a high level in the D-League and now he’s on an NBA roster, so he’s fine.”
• Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: With a chorus of boos echoing around the Rose Garden every time Felton touched the ball and the Blazers cruising to a convincing 105-90 victory over the Knicks' junior varsity team, basketball turned into a secondary form of entertainment Thursday night. And one of the few to leave the fiasco disappointed was Felton, the critical component behind last season’s monumental Blazers collapse. He sauntered into the Rose Garden loading dock about 75 minutes before the scheduled tip wearing a determined scowl and headphones, breezing past a throng of reporters to the visitors locker room. … An electric sellout crowd of 20,636 flashed gigantic posters with enlarged pictures of donuts and hamburgers and R-rated messages aimed at a player who last year challenged his detractors to visit his Pearl District apartment building if they had a problem with him. Felton was heavily booed during pregame introductions and every time he touched the ball, from the moment the Knicks won the opening tip to the final horn.
• Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News: Last spring, the Heat’s Dwyane Wade also had his knee drained during the playoffs, but didn’t need to take a game off. But he’s another playoff virtuoso, with championship jewelry. What’s in store for Anthony, normally a first-round ouster waiting to happen, is anyone’s guess. Anthony should have learned a lesson from these past few days: He never should have returned on Monday in Oakland, hoping that the fluid would somehow magically disappear. It’s kind of funny that a guy with all those tattoos didn’t want to deal with a needle. So he missed the third straight loss on this trip when he got the fluid removed, while questions about how it got there still had not been sufficiently answered. “There comes a point where you’ve got to figure it out,” Anthony said, explaining why he finally addressed the knee. “Got to get to the bottom of it and move on.” The Knicks’ season only depends on it.
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: The reaction in the Mavericks’ locker room was mixed about the play former teammate Dahntay Jones had against Kobe Bryant on Wednesday night. Jones, who was traded to Atlanta for Anthony Morrow last month, stepped under Bryant at the end of the Hawks’ win. Bryant said it was a dangerous and dirty play. Jones said it was good defense. “It was a 50-50 play,” said Brandan Wright. Added Darren Collison: “Tough play. That’s all I can say about it.” There also were a few jokes that it was Jones’ best play for the Mavericks all season. But coach Rick Carlisle didn’t want to hear about the possibility of Bryant being out for an extended period and the Mavericks having a chance to overtake the Lakers in the playoff race. “I didn’t see the play,” Carlisle said. “And I’m not going to get involved with anything having to do about saying anything happening with Kobe Bryant. I think our owner showed what can happen with that 10 days ago.” That comment ellicited laughter from the coach and the media assembled before Thursday’s game against the Spurs. When Mark Cuban suggested the hypothetical scenario where the Lakers could amnesty Bryant, he came back with 38 points against the Mavericks.
• Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The NBA reviewed video of the play Thursday and found that referees missed a foul call on the play. The league said Jones failed to give Bryant the opportunity to land cleanly on the floor, and he should have been granted two free throws. … Jones sent several Tweets of his own Wednesday night after learning of Bryant’s comments. On Thursday, he appeared on the ESPN program “First Take” to further defend his actions. “The play, I don’t think was dirty because all I was trying to do was contest a jump shot,” Jones told the network. “Yes, it was a fadeaway, but when you deal with shooters or high-profile scorers, you have to try to get as close to them as possible to contest jump shots. So, even though he faded away, you still don’t give up on a play. You try to still contest it. That’s all I was trying to do. I wasn’t trying to do anything dirty. We played 48 minutes of basketball before that. There were not issues before that. And I wouldn’t take him out on the last play of the game.”
• Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post: Ray Allen has had conversations with teammates that put into context the relative age of the Heat’s roster, age that renders some of their seasonal trends, and especially those over the course of the current 20-game winning streak, all the more remarkable. “You look down our bench, and you don’t see some young guy you don’t know,” said Allen, whose team takes on the Bucks on Friday night. “I look down some NBA benches, and some of these guys, I do not know who they are. … Cole, at 24 years and five months, is the Heat’s youngest player, and one of only five – along with Jarvis Varnado, Mario Chalmers, LeBron James and Chris Bosh – still in their 20s. Nor is Pat Riley trying to infuse the roster with youth: Recent additions Chris (Birdman) Andersen and Juwan Howard are 34 and 40, respectively. “It’s crazy, because I was talking to Bird the other day, and I was like, ‘Bird, how old are you?’ ” Allen said. “And I was like, ‘I’m 37.’ And he just fell (down)! He was like, ‘Really?’ Normally he’d be the oldest guy on most teams in the NBA.” Normally, a squad with so many grizzled veterans might be expected to struggle in two areas in which the Heat have fared at least as well as any team in the league – staying healthy and finishing strong.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: We've arrived at the point where the only true measure of success for this Thunder team is postseason results. The regular season no longer matters. For better or worse, that's what a trip to the Finals, even one that ends in defeat, brings. To some, a popular predictor of future playoff success can be found in a team's scoring differential. After the team's winning percentage, it's the next best basic indicator of what we can expect from a team in a playoff run. To that extent, OKC is outscoring opponents on average by 3.4 points more than last season. It's the best scoring margin in basketball. Many other metrics suggest the Thunder is a sounder team. The team's scoring is up, both in raw averages and efficiency. The Thunder has evolved into a better defensive team, both in points yielded relative to the rest of the league and per 100 possessions. Oklahoma City also has gotten better in the categories of assists, steals and turnovers, historically some of the Thunder's biggest bugaboos. Many, however, fear that the Thunder isn't as well-equipped for a title run.
• Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times: After an afternoon practice at Oracle Arena, coach Tom Thibodeau almost set off a media frenzy when he was asked about the likelihood that Derrick Rose would make his season debut Friday against the Golden State Warriors. “We’ll see [Friday],’’ Thibodeau said. “With him, it’s just day-to-day. He had a good day [Thursday], went hard, did a lot of stuff, but we’ll see.’’ … When warned that his open-ended answers would ignite a fuse of speculation, Thibodeau tried to clear things up. “It hasn’t changed,’’ Thibodeau said. “It could be in a couple of days; it could be in a week. I don’t know when it is; he doesn’t know when it is. As I said to you guys [Wednesday], I think he was very forthcoming with [the media]. That’s where he is. He’s got to feel real comfortable; he’s got to feel the explosion is there. He’s made great progress, and we don’t know when that time is.”
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: Rob Hennigan made one of the most important decisions of his life here, just a short walk from where the Orlando Magic will play the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night. He made that decision with Sam Presti, a friend and mentor, by his side. It was 2008, and Presti, the Thunder's general manager, offered Hennigan a job in the Thunder front office. They walked through downtown, discussing the type of team Presti wanted to build, talking about the meaningful connection Presti wanted to create between the franchise and the city. They eventually reached the Oklahoma City National Memorial, the site where, 13 years earlier, Timothy McVeigh detonated explosives in front the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. … That belief and confidence in Presti helped lead Hennigan to where he is today, the general manager of the Magic. Presti gave Hennigan two of his big breaks: a coveted internship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2004 and a position as director of college/international player personnel with the Thunder four years later. As Hennigan worked his way up the NBA ladder, he and Presti developed a close friendship that still endures.
• Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun: Andrea Bargnani says he hasn’t given up on playing again this season, but that’s certainly the way it looks. “What I know is what you guys know, what came out (Wednesday)” Bargnani said Thursday when he faced the media for the first time since his latest injury was confirmed. “I just do therapy and we see how it evolves.” The lastest injury is an avulsion sprain to his right elbow. The affected ligament is the same one that Bargnani tore in December costing him 26 games of the season, but a different injury. Bargnani sounded as frustrated with his season as his detractors have been. “It was a very unlucky season,” Bargnani said. “I don’t even know if I played like 10 straight games because every time I played I got an injury. It was very frustrating. I’ve just got to stay positive, try to get back in shape and be back and play very good.”
• Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: So Wednesday night’s win over Toronto wasn’t the first time it occurred to Jason Terry that he’s now part of a living museum. The sights and sounds of the Garden crowd acknowledging Garnett, who had just passed Jerry West to become the 15th all-time scorer in NBA history, and Pierce, who moved past Charles Barkley into 20th place in scoring and past Allen Iverson into 10th spot all-time in made free throws, simply heightened the experience. “When you’ve been around as long as Paul and Kevin, and play at a high level like they have, you’re going to be amongst greatness,” Terry said. “That’s what all of those milestones mean. They’re two of the chosen few who are great. “No question this whole ride has been special,” he added.
• Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle: After Klay Thompson was fined $35,000 for his involvement in the scrum between the Warriors and Indiana on Feb. 26, his father said he was going to increase the penalty.Mychal Thompson, who was the No. 1 overall pick in 1978 and is currently a radio broadcaster in Los Angeles, said he handled his son's finances and would allocate less than his usual $300 stipend that week. The comments were taken seriously and landed on a variety of blogs, but Klay Thompson said he maintained his own accounts and his father was just having some fun. "Come on, man," Klay Thompson said. "Some people took it really seriously, but that's all right. That's my dad. He jokes a lot. ... Since I grew up, he's been a jokester. I just read it and thought it was funny. It's fine. It's a good story. He had some fun with it. It's his job to entertain, so I don't blame him. "But I do make my own allowance."
• Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News: With the Lakers (34-32) visiting the Indiana Pacers (40-24) tonight at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Brian Shaw said he's moved well past the initial frustration he felt two years ago when the Lakers passed him over in favor of Mike Brown to coach the Lakers following Jackson's retirement. Instead, Shaw said he's relishing the changed circumstances with his eyes still set on the big picture. "My ultimate goal is to be a head coach," Shaw said. "But I'm not going to take or go after the wrong job just to get the experience of being a head coach. I'm in a great situation here."

• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: The Los Angeles Clippers fell apart in the second half at the Pepsi Center, losing 107-92 to the scorching Nuggets, winners of seven consecutive games. The Nuggets were airborne all evening. The game's first basket was a Gallo breakaway dunk. Kenneth Faried swatted Chris Paul's layup in the first quarter. Kosta Koufos, normally known for the lay-in, hammered home a dunk early. JaVale McGee stuffed Lamar Odom with the scorn of an angered Kardashian. … The Clippers played Wednesday on the West Coast and Thursday in Denver, which meant things probably wouldn't go well for them. Check out this info courtesy of the stat guys with Clippers TV — since 2007-08, teams that play a game on the West Coast and then come to Denver for a back-to-back are 3-41 in the Denver game. Unreal. And Nuggets PR calculated that the Nuggets are 44-10 since 2009-10 when facing an opponent at home in second game of back-to-back, no matter where that team is coming from.
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: Thursday’s victory completes four straight games against quality teams, three of which are bound for the playoffs and another that should be. OKC finished with a 3-1 record against these teams, which is more than acceptable. The Thunder’s victories came on two of the biggest stages in the world – Staples Center and Madison Square Garden against the Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks, respectively. The other victory came at home against the underachieving, but undeniably talented, Los Angeles Lakers. The lone loss was at Pepsi Center, where the Denver Nuggets own a 27-3 record, tied with the world champion Miami Heat for the best home mark in the NBA. Had Denver’s Ty Lawson not drained a 20-footer with 0.2 seconds left, the Thunder might have been able to win in overtime and made it a clean four-game sweep. Had that transpired, OKC (45-16) would be riding a seven-game winning streak. Instead, winning six of its last seven will have to do.
• Tim Smith of the New York Daily News: If the Knicks were going to have any shot of beating OKC, they needed to put the clamps on Kevin Durant, who entered the night leading the NBA in scoring at 28.6 points per game, and Russell Westbrook, who had averaged 32 points in his last five games. Durant finished with 34 points and Westbrook had an erratic 21. And Woodson decided to put Kenyon Martin in the game to guard Durant. It seemed like a risky move, considering Durant is about as fluid a scorer as you will find in a 6-foot-9 body. … In the third quarter, when Durant went slashing through the lane, Martin went all Charles Oakley on the OKC forward, hitting him with a cross-bodycheck that sent Durant to the floor hard. At first officials called Martin for a flagrant foul, but they reversed it after a review. “I am not trying to hurt anyone,” Martin said. “It is a contact sport. I want to let them know it is not going to be easy. That’s always how I’ve approached the game.” Woodson called it “old school” and said that’s what Martin, Kurt Thomas and Rasheed Wallace bring to the Knicks. “They don’t believe in guys coming to the rim getting layups,” Woodson said. Without their star scorer and with only one player who caught fire, the Knicks needed to grind one out. They fell just short against one of the best teams in the NBA. There’s no shame in that. But they better hope Anthony gets back in a hurry so they don’t lose too much ground in the Eastern Conference standings.
• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: Congratulations, Dwight Howard. You have now done the impossible. You have pretty much alienated everybody you ever knew in Orlando. The fans who once poured their hearts, souls and disposable income into you are irate because you lied to them about your "love" and "loyalty" to the city. The kids who once idolized you can't stand you because you stiffed them by blowing off your own youth basketball camp before bailing out and high-tailing it to the West Coast. Your former coach Stan Van Gundy and former general manager Otis Smith -- two decent men who had your back at every turn – are surely disappointed in the way you threw them under the bus and cost them their seven-figure jobs. And, sadly and pathetically, you've even lost the respect of your former Magic teammates – a bunch of good guys who you once called your "family" but now have denigrated and minimized into a "a team full of people nobody wanted." … Do you notice anything missing from Dwight's extensive explanation of his "team full of people who nobody wanted" comments? Never once does he take responsibility for what he said.
• Bob Finnan of The News-Herald: After Wednesday's game at Quicken Loans Arena, Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving admitted his right knee is not 100 percent. "I'm trying not to let it bother me," Irving said. "It's still bruised. The only way it'll get better is to the sit out the rest of the season, and I'm not doing that." Irving played 38 minutes in the 104-101 victory over the Utah Jazz. It was a rough-and-tumble game, and the point guard took several hard falls. Cavs coach Byron Scott said he found out Irving's knee was bothering him by reading the daily media clips on Thursday morning. He said after practice, if Irving's knee gets any worse, he would have no hesitations about shutting him down. The news caused a furor on Twitter. A Cavs spokesman clarified the team has no plans to rest Irving. "If he said it was bothering him again to the point that he can't perform like I know he's capable of, yeah (I'd considering shutting him down)," Scott said.
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: Charlotte Bobcats rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist says he’s not going to use a concussion as an excuse. Others who care about him say mentioning the concussion Kidd-Gilchrist suffered in early February isn’t an excuse, it’s an explanation. Until the last two games he hadn’t been the player worthy of the No. 2 overall pick; not the guy who occasionally totals 25 points or 10 rebounds or three steals. Simply put, not himself. “He’s always in the action – he’s a physical player who attacks – so for him to get a concussion, you’ve got to make sure it’s all the way out,” said Bobcats co-captain Gerald Henderson. “That’s nothing to play with.” Yet that’s precisely what Kidd-Gilchrist did; play with it. He collided with teammate Jeff Taylor Feb. 2 in Houston. First his head and neck made contact with Taylor’s leg, then his head bounced off the floor at the Toyota Center. The injury was serious enough that his neck was immobilized by medical staff and he spent the night in a Houston hospital. Kidd-Gilchrist missed the next two games before passing the NBA’s post-concussion protocol to play again. But there’s a difference between being well enough to play and effective. He struggled the past month, and appeared to hit a low point against the Los Angeles Clippers at the start of a four-game West Coast trip.
• Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: Jeff Green has taken over leadership of the second unit, and is usually on the floor at the end of games. That perpetual pressure Green imposes on himself is paying its highest dividend yet. … Garnett has told him not to be so nice, in language that typically can’t be used here. They’ve all told him to be more selfish. But Green has the critiques covered. That never-ending gravity was apparent the night of Feb. 20 in a tweet by @unclejeffgreen: “Damn altitude killed me today, tough (loss) but got another one tomorrow.” Green came off the bench with 15 points that night during a loss to the Lakers in the Staples Center. He also had seven rebounds, four assists and a block. He may have been minus-11, but rare was the Celtic with something to crow about that night. So Green sent out a modern mea culpa. He tweeted. Some players, especially, need a new kind of release.
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: As Ricky Rubio approaches the one-year anniversary Saturday, March 9, of his devastating knee injury, the second-year guard is still rebuilding the skills that made him one of the NBA's most entertaining players as a rookie. The total package in Rubio's game might not be complete until next season, but the Barcelona native has made enough progress to show he's still an impact player. "I know what he did overseas, and he's not back to that level yet," San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovic said in February. "An injury that keeps you out that long, it takes a while to get your rhythm back, regain your confidence and really feel 100 percent. He'll get there because he's a hard worker. He's still going to be a heck of a player here in Minnesota." What Rubio lacks in elevation, he has made up in floor burns and bruises, diving for loose balls and making steals.
• Daniel Brown of the San Jose Mercury News: A little more than a year after the birth of "Linsanity," point guard Jeremy Lin returns to where it almost didn't begin. He was buried on the Warriors' bench for 29 forgettable games two seasons ago. It was during that stretch when an elderly man with a special place in basketball history sat down and wrote him a fan letter. "I figured he could use a little bit of encouragement," recalled Wat Misaka, now 89 and living in Salt Lake City. "So I sent him a note that said: 'Hang in there. It's sure to get better.' " Things got better all right. Lin, now with the Houston Rockets, returns to Oracle Arena on Friday as an internationally known sensation playing on a three-year, $25 million contract. A documentary that traces his unlikely rise to fame with the New York Knicks opened to rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The 88-minute film, "Linsanity," makes its San Francisco debut next Thursday at the Center for Asian American Media Festival. Lin's global fame means the world to Misaka, who in 1947 became the first non-Caucasian to play professional basketball in the U.S. The Japanese-American was a 5-foot-7, 150-pound point guard for the Knicks, even if his career only lasted three games. To Misaka, the rise of another Asian-American wasn't "Linsanity." It was lineage. "It really made me feel good that he was getting all the attention that he deserved," he said.
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: Mitch Richmond is buying back into the Kings. Emotionally, for sure. Financially, he hopes. And we knew that. The first legitimate star of the Sacramento era is among the investors who each have committed $1 million and are bidding on the seven percent share being auctioned in bankruptcy proceedings. But that's not the bottom line. Richmond wants back into basketball, too. After a meet-and-greet session with fans and reporters Thursday at a downtown restaurant, the six-time All-Star quietly revealed that, if the Mastrov/Burkle ownership bid for the Kings prevails, he will pursue a position in the basketball front office. "That's where my interest is, what I'd be looking at," said Richmond, a consultant with Golden State until 2009. "I left when (Chris Mullin) was let go." Because uncertainty intrudes into virtually every conversation about the Kings and their future, Richmond declined to elaborate. There is an exhausting list of issues to be addressed and resolved before one city celebrates and the other city slumps.
• Kerry Eggers of The Portland Tribune: Chris McGowan is in the preliminary stages of selling the Rose Garden’s naming rights. He hired a company called “Premier Partnership” to facilitate the process. They have a list of about 100 businesses — some local, some national — that have a likelihood of interest. Three or four presentations have already been scheduled. “We’re getting pretty good feedback,” he says. “It could be a local company, which would be great, or it could be a (national) blue-chip brand.” McGowan would like to have a contract in place before the 2013-14 NBA season. It’s not a done deal, though, that he’ll make a deal at all. “It’s good for our organization to have this revenue stream,” he says. “All of it would get reinvested into what we do on the court. There are only three NBA teams that don’t have (a naming rights deal). But I’m going to be very cautious about it. I’m not going to do a deal with the wrong brand. We’re the Portland Trail Blazers. The Rose Garden has a great name. It’s not something we have to do, which is a good position to be in. There are a lot of companies that have to get deals done. We’re not one of them.” … McGowan speaks almost daily with general manager Neil Olshey, who runs the basketball side of the operation, and often sits with him at games. … It’s way too early to predict how successful McGowan will be with his new mission. He is certainly bright and an ideas guy, and seems every bit a people person, which never hurts when you’re dealing with the public. He doesn’t carry himself as a big shot. He seems genuinely enchanted with Portland, too, where his boys can play soccer and lacrosse and his family can ski and enjoy the outdoors. When I ask if he envisions this job as being a steppingstone to something bigger — if this is just another line on his resume — he smiles.