- Sam Amick of The Sacramento Bee: "When the Kings walked so sheepishly off the United Center floor at halftime against Chicago on Monday night, they half expected to have pink slips waiting in their lockers with the way they pretended to compete. Nonexistent defense on their part and outrageous offense from the Bulls added up to a 24-point deficit.And even tempered as coach Paul Westphal may be, some players were certain a tongue-lashing was coming. 'But he didn't come in here and curse us out like we were little kids,' rookie guard Tyreke Evans said. 'He talked to us. He said, 'We're not playing our best basketball, but keep fighting.' And then we went out there and did that. It was unbelievable.' Believe it or not, it happened. The Kings pulled off a 35-point comeback, shocking the Bulls 102-98 and skipping town to a chorus of boos that were aimed at both teams as the announced crowd of 19,631was venomous in its disbelief."
- Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com: "How do you blow a 35-point lead? In the third quarter? Against a team that you have been completely dominating all night? Those are the questions that the Bulls have to answer now. Those are the ones that will haunt them for the foreseeable future after the Kings came back to stun them 102-98 on Monday night. And, ultimately, those are the questions that could cost Vinny Del Negro his job. 'It's tough,' the embattled Bulls coach said after the game. 'We had it going pretty well in the first half. We just stopped being aggressive. Stopped moving the basketball in the third quarter I thought. It kind of just got contagious.' ... The Bulls' collapse was the second worst in NBA history and the worst second-half collapse ever. "That's the first time I've ever been involved in that," a hushed John Salmons said. 'It's a tough loss. I don't even know what to say.' Neither did anyone else. The Bulls locker room felt like a funeral home. It was eerily quiet and everyone looked miserable. Nobody could believe what had just happened. Nobody had a clue what was going to happen next."
- Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald: "Here’s an amazing stat about the fourth quarter: After
Kirk Hinrich hit a jumper to put the Bulls ahead 92-74 with 10:15 remaining, the home team went 0 for 6 from the field during the rest of the game – 6 shots in more than 10 minutes. They shot some free throws during that span, 8 to be exact. But the biggest problem was 9 turnovers during the final 10 minutes. They came in all varieties – two shot clock violations, Taj Gibson called for three seconds while being guarded by the much-smaller Sergio Rodriguez, John Salmons losing the ball on a fast break and complaining about no foul call. On one of the shot clock violations, Salmons actually knocked down a 17-foot jumper, but the refs ruled that it was still in his hands when the buzzer went off. Close call." - Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: "This was supposed to be the year Indiana Pacers point guard T.J. Ford didn't need to worry about losing his starting job. Ford was supposed to be the playmaker who could get into the teeth of the defense to either get a layup or pass to an open teammate on the perimeter. instead, Ford is back to where he ended last season: on the bench serving as the backup. ford will continue to back up starter Earl Watson for the foreseeable future. 'It's tough,' Ford said. 'The season definitely hasn't gone the way I thought it would.' "
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel: "The last time Dwyane Wade and the Heat appeared on ESPN, on Dec. 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers, Jeff Van Gundy and fellow ESPN analyst Mark Jackson noted Wade taking his time getting back on defense. Monday, in promoting the ESPN/ABC schedule of five Christmas games, Van Gundy did not back off that premise. 'That wasn't a one-game thing for him in transition,' the former New York Knicks and Houston Rockets coach said during a conference call of national media. 'I think it's something that's crept in over the past few years, that happens more than it should. And I think it could be corrected by him if he chooses to and I hope he does.' After Monday's film session and light shooting work by his team at AmericanAirlines Arena, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra challenged the notion. 'I don't think Jeff's comments are accurate,' Spoelstra said. 'What happens a lot of times is Dwyane attacks. He goes to the rim. In many instances, he's going to be last guy back, after some kind of layup attempt or dunk attempt at the rim.' "
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: "For J.J. Redick, the difference between success and failure in the NBA largely has come down to self-confidence. He plays well when he has faith in himself. His confidence is flowing after Monday night. Redick scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Magic defeated the Utah Jazz 104-99 at Amway Arena. 'I'm just going to roll with it right now,' Redick said. Magic officials consider Redick one of the team's best conditioned players, and it showed as he played the entire fourth quarter. In November, Redick received the team's Iron Magic award for his performance on a variety of agility, speed and strength tests. He even received a championship belt for his victory. But for him, the real prize came in last season's Eastern Conference semifinal series. He started all seven games against the Boston Celtics, and the experience gave him a dose of confidence that carried into this season."
- Scott Souza of the MetroWest Daily News: "Five years later, he is exactly the type of player Doc Rivers hoped, and believed, Paul Pierce could become. While Pierce's shot totals spiked back to 18.5 and 18.1 per game during the immense struggles of Rivers' second and third years in Boston, they dropped to 13.7 during the championship season and settled at 14.6 last season. In the case of the pendulum perhaps going too far the other way, the captain was well under 12 shots a game as of last week. He hadn't taken more than a dozen shots in 10 contests, and was beginning to pass up valuable scoring opportunities in the name of being unselfish. Rivers appreciates the sentiment. But he needs his captain to shoot the ball. 'It's really not being assertive -- it's more just playing with his instincts,' Rivers said. 'Instead of being a thinking-man's player, where you're trying to read everything, I told him he has great instincts and needs to use them. He reads it right anyway. He doesn't have to slow down to read it, he just has to play.' "
- Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: "Allen Iverson has been diagnosed with arthritis in his left knee. He knows what it is, he knows the way the 76ers will want to treat it, and he knows how it feels. But only one word popped into the 34-year-old's head when he heard the diagnosis. Old. 'That was the worst part of the whole thing,' Iverson said with a laugh yesterday. 'You could have said anything but arthritis. I mean, that sounds so old. But it's something that I've got to deal with and that's what it is.' After not playing for close to a month after his brief three-game stint with the Memphis Grizzlies this season, Iverson jumped right into the fray with the Sixers, admittedly out of shape and lacking his normal basketball skills. That didn't stop him from putting in major minutes in his five games back in Philadelphia, as he's averaged 34.4 minutes since returning. It could have been what has cost him the past three games and perhaps two more."
- Eric Koreen of the National Post: "In Sonny Weems, DeMar DeRozan and Amir Johnson, the Toronto Raptors have three players, aged 23 or under , who can make highlight-reel plays above the rim. Obviously, that calls for a nickname, and team security consultant Willis Richardson has already chimed in. 'He called us the Young Guns,' Weems said yesterday. 'We got our father, [26-year-old Jarrett] Jack. He's kind of old. He's older than all of us, so we call him the father.' If Jack is old, what does that make 33-year-old Rasho Nesterovic? 'Oh, Rasho is old as dirt. He moves so slow. But I love Rasho, man.' "
- Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune: "Old habits, the maxim goes, die hard. New Orleans Hornets Coach Jeff Bower has spoken for the last week or so how he and his coaching staff are attempting to get his team to forget tendencies that have been developed on both ends of the floor, behaviors that, at times, manifested themselves in Sunday’s 98-92 loss at Toronto. Erasing those ingrained predispositions continue to be a focal point of the Hornets’ preparations, as they were again during Monday’s practice at the Alario Center. 'You know, you continue to emphasize it on a daily basis, and it takes time to break habits,' Bower said. 'It has to be daily, and it has to be repetitive. And it has to be on the front of everyone’s mind. So that’s what we do. We had a terrific practice today. We really felt they worked extremely hard.' "
- Jeffrey Martin of the Houston Chronicle: "Joking that all he wants for Christmas are his 'two front teeth,' Carl Landry returned to practice Monday and pronounced himself fit enough to play tonight. In fact, Landry was incredulous when asked if he would go against the Los Angeles Clippers after damaging five of his teeth Friday night in a collision with Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki. 'Why not? I'm all right,' he said. Landry endured six hours of surgery to repair his teeth. He said two were clipped at his gum line, and he has temporary fixes. He has been relegated to eating soft foods -- soup, yogurt, 'healthy stuff,' he said -- and is not sure when he will get back to solids. 'It's not going to stop me,' Landry said. 'It wasn't life-threatening or anything. It was a little bit of pain. We all go through things in life where it's kind of painful. You fall, but you get back up again, and that's what I did.' His teammates weren't surprised Landry is back so soon. 'He's tough,' Tracy McGrady said. 'It's happened to him a couple of times -- it's nothing new to him. He's just got to keep his teeth in his mouth.' "
- Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: "Chris -- Over the years, everyone from George Karl to us in the media have become amateur psychologists when it comes to J.R. Smith, who for all his nicknames should be called 'Rubik's' because he's such a tricky puzzle. (By the way, how many nicknames DOES this dude have? There's 'J.R.' to begin with, and then 'J.R. Swish,' 'Young Rich,' 'Fonzie,' etc.) Now, if you simply look at his scoring average (nearly 15 points per game), you'd surmise that things are peachy. If your top reserve can do that, and also has the ability to take over the game, then you've got yourself a nice little situation. But we all know J.R. is a complex puzzle. I'm writing you, Chris, on Monday, and in Denver's two past games, Karl has spoken out about Smith's questionable shot selection. Fact is, yes, the guy can fill the stat sheet on occasion. But he's frighteningly inconsistent. Consider his past six shooting nights -- 5-16, 0-8, 5-14, 9-14, 11-17, 2-12. Overall this season, his shooting percentage is 42.0, which is his worst since joining the Nuggets. He shot 39.3 with the Hornets in 2005-06."
- Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: "A rare NBA treat happened late in the second quarter Monday night. For the first time in four Suns-Cavaliers games, LeBron James was called for a defensive foul. He fouled Jason Richardson under the basket in the final minute of the first half, only to get another foul three minutes into the second half against Amar'e Stoudemire. James also had banged Richardson in transition with no call in the first quarter. James is a good defender, but nobody is good enough to go 130 minutes without a foul."
- Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: "Most NBA players have at least one good story about playing the Los Angeles Lakers inside Staples Center. Oklahoma City Thunder players can one-up even the best. 'The last game, an impromptu concert broke out, which was a little strange,' remembered forward Nick Collison. 'I haven’t had too many experiences like that before. It was a circus in there.' It was Nov. 22, a Sunday. The American Music Awards was being held across the street at the Nokia Theatre. One-by-one, the stars trickled in, taking their rightful place in the league’s most expensive courtside seats, turning the game into an after party. Actors Jack Nicholson and Andy Garcia were in their usual seats. Rappers Jay-Z and Drake sat across from the Thunder’s bench. Former NBA player and current ESPN analyst Jalen Rose even had camera lenses zooming in. ... 'I was thinking it’d probably be crazy to play in there all the time,' Collison said. 'That’s the first time anything like that happened in my career.' Said Thunder coach Scott Brooks, 'Only in L.A.' "
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