- Jerry Brewer of The Seattle Times: "Business is bad, really bad. The league is making desperate decisions. Just as the Sonics were allowed to become the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Kings will become the Anaheim Royals soon. Why? Because Sacramento won't finance a new arena that, only in theory, could help owners Joe and Gavin Maloof make money by providing the kinds of amenities that appeal more to bandwagon-jumping, status-seeking high-rollers than the fiercely-loyal average customer. Just as Oklahoma City is a questionable long-term NBA hot spot, Anaheim has many wondering why the league thinks having three teams in the Los Angeles market, the king of fair-weather fandom, makes sense. Well, it doesn't make sense. The Clippers have a hard enough time competing with the dynastic Lakers for attention. The so-called Royals should actually be named the Subordinates. NBA business is so bad that, after this incredible season ends, a labor war will commence that could make the NFL's battle seem like a friendly. A lockout seems inevitable, and it could linger deep into next season. The league is so on edge about what's to come that it fined Lakers coach Phil Jackson $75,000 for discussing how the anticipated lockout likely will send him into retirement. And to show it was really mad, the league slapped another $75,000 fine on the organization."
- William C. Rhoden of The New York Times: "If the N.B.A. really did care, as its slogan suggests, Kobe Bryant would be sitting out Game 1 of the Los Angeles Lakers’ playoff series Sunday against the New Orleans Hornets. Instead, one of the league’s best and most popular players will be in the lineup, a little lighter in the wallet but no worse for wear. Commissioner David Stern fined him $100,000 Wednesday for directing an antigay slur at the referee Bennie Adams, who had whistled Bryant for his third offensive foul and a subsequent technical for arguing. ... Four years ago the N.B.A. banished the former star Tim Hardaway from All-Star Game activities after he said he hated gays in a radio interview. Bryant at the time rallied to the defense of what was right. He said there was still a long way to go for gays to gain full acceptance and called for open-mindedness. Had Stern sat Bryant down for a playoff game, rather than administer checkbook justice, the league would have made a forceful statement about its intolerance with intolerance. Some say that would have been overkill. Hardly. Not in an atmosphere in which intolerance seems to be stiffening."
- K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: "Of course, the 2010-11 Bulls are playing the Pacers rather than history, which is why Tom Thibodeau's metronomic consistency in focusing on the task at hand has players prepared. They even are stepping up their sound bite game, with Ronnie Brewer
colorfully describing what the No. 1 overall seed means. 'We're going to have a Bull's-eye on our back and our front,' Brewer said. This is a departure for a Bulls team that has been playing the underdog role since a smiling and shirtless Joakim Noah strolled outside the Berto Center on the warm summer night of LeBron James' 'Decision' TV show, defiantly predicting strong competition for the South Beach trio otherwise known as the Heat. Or maybe it's not. 'Even though we're No. 1, we're still going to have that underdog mentality,' Noah said. 'The best record doesn't help you win a playoff game. We have to keep our edge, know we will face some adversity and stick together. We're a deep team and we realize we can do something special.' It starts Saturday against the physical Pacers, who can battle with the Bulls on the boards and also score in bunches. The fact Brewer brought up the Bulls' March 18 overtime loss in Indiana -- their only blemish in 16 Central Division games -- is a good sign for focus." - Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: "Indiana Pacers swingman Mike Dunleavy is glad to no longer have his name associated with the 'list.' Dunleavy has watched his name move up that list each season the Pacers missed the playoffs. Scratch Dunleavy off the list of active players to never appear in the playoffs now that the Pacers ended their four-year postseason drought. After nine years, 627 regular-season games and a major knee operation, Dunleavy will make his playoff debut when he comes off the bench in Game 1 against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday at United Center. 'It felt like a long time in some regards, but in some ways it's gone fast,' said Dunleavy, who trailed only former Pacer Troy Murphy for most games without reaching the postseason. 'Realistically, looking back, I don't feel like I've been on a playoff team.' "
- Dan Le Batard of The Miami Herald: "The Heat is the coolest and most famous team in South Florida’s history, but here’s what makes it the most interesting team we have ever seen around here, as well: There has never been a team this loved locally -- not the perfect Dolphins of 1972, not the underdog champion Marlins, not the popular teams of Shaquille O’Neal or Dan Marino, not the anarchist Hurricanes football kings -- that was this hated everywhere else. Very little is going to connect a community and a sports team quite like that. America’s hate and South Florida’s love, in fact, are directly proportional. Sports teams always are symbols for civic pride, so the more villainous America makes this team, the more the Heat’s players become our villains, damn it. ... And now, after 82 meaningful meaningless games, here comes the best stuff. Finally. The most interesting team in South Florida’s history, and one of the most polarizing in America’s, begins the playoffs Saturday, and it really and truly is us against everybody else. Are you ready?"
- Martin Frank of The News-Journal: "They'll be on network television for Game 1 Saturday on ABC for the first time since March 5, 2006. They'll be on the network again the following Sunday in Game 4, and they'll have at least two games on TNT, which they haven't been on this season. Those stations aren't broadcasting the games because the Sixers are playing. They're broadcasting them because of Miami's three stars -- LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. And for the Sixers, no matter how the series turns out, that could help many of them get the exposure they haven't had since getting into the NBA. 'You know it's going to be an incredible atmosphere down there [in Miami], something our younger guys have never seen before,' Sixers coach Doug Collins said. 'It's not just going to be sports media. TMZ will be there. I might even get on TMZ, Entertainment Weekly, whatever.' That atmosphere could be daunting for any team facing the Heat in a playoff series, except for maybe the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, who have years and years of playoff experience."
- Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: "No one’s going to forget that the better team will win the first-round playoff series between the Celtics and Knicks, but please excuse us for going all sneaker-commercial, NBA-hype-machine on you for a few moments. No doubt we’ll all be focused on which club executes better and how good the team defense is. But, in that our mind’s video suite is equipped with picture-in-picture, we’ll be keeping an eye, too, on the Paul Pierce-Carmelo Anthony matchup. The teams’ leading scorers will be going head-to-head beginning Sunday, and while the Celts and Knicks will try to run their offense and find the free man, the ball will meander its way into these two players’ hands an inordinate amount of the time. Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett have and will continue to hit big shots. Chauncey Billups and Amare Stoudemire, too. But Pierce and Anthony live in the final seconds of the shot clock, when everything else has broken down and you need someone to make a play. When Doc Rivers and Mike D’Antoni talk about getting the ball into their best player’s hands, you know to whom the coaches are referring."
- Alan Hahn of Newsday: "Consider this crazy thought: reserve Jared Jeffries as a critical element to the Knicks' chances of winning their first-round playoff series against the Celtics. Yes, that Jared Jeffries , the guy who occasionally hits the side of the backboard with his jump shot and makes free-throw shooting an adventure. But Jeffries, reacquired March 1 after the Rockets waived him, might be the only Knick who can keep All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo from dominating. ... Jeffries explained that if Knicks defenders don't have to help on Rondo, the Big Three of Ray Allen , Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett won't be as open for easy shots. Jeffries would be an option coming off the bench, especially if Rondo got on a roll. Using Jeffries for limited minutes as part of a scheme would be a matter of protecting Chauncey Billups, who has had trouble defending quicker point guards."
- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: "Call me a college football helmet-head if you want, but I've always thought making it to the conference finals is akin to going to a BCS bowl. Sure, you want to play for the national championship, but you've still had a good season if you get to the Sugar Bowl. However, anything less than the conference finals and you might as well be playing in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. If the Magic get to the conference finals again, the feeling among fans and players will be that the team is still close. As an organization, the Magic can say honestly they are at least as good as last season and remain one of the elite franchises in the league. The status quo would actually be an improvement considering the NBA East has become as rugged as the SEC West. Furthermore, by making the conference finals, Van Gundy and GM Otis Smith can then sell Dwight Howard on the fact that the Magic are just a Gilbert Arenas offseason of rest and rehab from taking the next step, reshuffling the deck and making a run at the title next season."
- Jeff Schultz of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "On the eve of the NBA playoffs, the Hawks need to locate all of the intangibles they too often lack: desire, heart, toughness. People doubt them because too often they play small. Or soft. They fold quickly, quietly, comfortably -- as if knowing it doesn’t matter because they’re on direct deposit. If they want to change that perception, this would be a good time to knock somebody down. In the first round of the playoffs, the Hawks go against the eminently beatable Magic. The series opens Saturday in Orlando. Forget socks. Pack an extra elbow. They have beaten Orlando three out of four this season. Regular seasons bear little resemblance to playoffs. But it’s significant that the Hawks, who had gone 2-10 against Orlando in the previous two seasons (regular season and playoffs) were 3-1 this season. This Magic team is not the Eastern Conference power of recent seasons. But a big reason the Hawks have had some success is they’ve beaten up Dwight Howard, utilizing the Bruise Brothers defense of Jason Collins and Zaza Pachulia."
- Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News: "It’s almost becoming as big a part of April around San Antonio as long lines for rest rooms at Fiesta events and cascarones. If it’s April, it must be time for another 'Manu Watch' about an injury. Manu Ginobili’s sprained right elbow marks the fourth straight season his playoff playing time in the playoff time has been potentially hampered by injuries. Ginobili had an MRI performed on his elbow, which was injured early in the first quarter of the Spurs’ loss Wednesday night in Phoenix, but is considered doubtful for the first game of the playoffs against Memphis. ... Ginobili’s toughness among his teammates has never been questioned. But they still jokingly call him “El Contusion” because of the marks occasionally left by his frenetic playing style."
- Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: "There is no question that the Griz will need as much pep in their step as possible when the NBA playoffs begin this weekend. Memphis, the Western Conference's eighth seed, will begin a first-round matchup with the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs on the road Sunday at noon. The Griz didn't hold an organized practice Thursday, instead holding a one-hour film session. But that didn't stop several players from leaving the video room for the practice court to put up shots. ... Each of the Grizzlies' past three playoffs teams was swept out of the postseason. Memphis owns an NBA record -- it has gone winless in its first 12 playoff games. Forward Shane Battier played for the Griz during those insufferable times. He rejoined the team in February after being traded from the Houston Rockets, and he said these Griz have more grit. 'I like the way we play,' Battier said. 'If we muck it up enough and play solid defense, we have a chance.' "
- Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: "The Thunder is a bunch of 20somethings who haven't been together long and haven't done anything together in the postseason. All this Thundermania is over a group that hasn't won a playoff series. Hasn't so much as won a playoff road game. Hasn't even played a closeout game, a game that insiders say is the toughest kind of NBA game to win, when you can secure a series but you know you are about to get the absolute best shot from a formidable foe. An NBA truth is that inexperienced teams don't win and that even experienced teams don't win big in the West if they're not the Lakers or Spurs. Some in Boomtown say this is all a process. Say the Thunder has to pay its dues. But Feudal Europe eventually caved. Customs died and walls fell, because of revolution. The NBA could use some new blood on its grandest stage. It could use an Oklahoma City or a Portland or a Denver crashing its biggest party. No NBA team is better constructed than the Thunder for desperately-needed revolution."
- Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post: "There are massive chips on the shoulders of some of the Nuggets heading into their first-round series against Oklahoma City, which starts Sunday. And perhaps on those of the Nuggets' coach as well. Oklahoma City isn't just Denver's playoff opponent. The Thunder is a division mate that some Nuggets are finding easier to dislike by the day. And maybe, just maybe, it means the series has implications beyond who wins over the course of the next two weeks. It may have the makings of a rivalry. 'There's potential for that,' Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo said Thursday. 'These are two teams that could potentially be facing each other year after year.' The teams played two games last week that turned heated. Oklahoma City won both, but it was words during and after its April 5 win in Denver that the Nuggets vow not to forget. 'We know what they were saying after the game here,' Denver coach George Karl said. 'We know what they were saying. We know. I'm not going to bring it to the public, but we know. It gets back to us. We have ballboys in that locker room. We have agents of players that have the same agents. We know what's going on.' "
- Randy Galloway of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "The Mavs have a well-earned reputation as jump-shooting, soft chokers in the playoffs. The disrespect card is not unfair. But still, the blatant disrespect that surfaced for the Mavericks over the last month was rather shocking. It is, by gosh, a 57-win team, which is a monumental number over the course of six months, and this season it was also achieved despite injury issues. My favorite local NBA historian is Chuck Cooperstein, the radio voice of the Mavs, and a man with a vast memory database. The question to Coop was this: Has a 57-win team EVER been so disrespected entering the first round of the playoffs? 'No,' came the immediate answer. 'Not only no, but there's never been a situation in the league even close to this. It's something the Mavericks have to live with, and who knows, maybe it can be motivational.' It is also logical to say no higher seeded team in either conference of the playoffs will have to deal with more first-round pressure than the Mavericks. It's the kind of pressure that comes with being labeled a desired pigeon by the opposition even before the first tipoff. But there's also the massive buildup of local doubt because of previous failures, and even with a final total of 57 wins, the Mavs had one strange final month of the season. It was not exactly a confidence-inspiring stretch run. ... Me, I'll take a gutty Portland team, with LaMarcus Aldridge, as the series winner, in six games. Might as well pile on with the disrespect card. And let's hope the Mavs know how to play that card."
- Jason Quick of The Oregonian: "LaMarcus Aldridge scores the big points. Gerald Wallace makes the big plays. And Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum draw the big defensive assignments. But when it comes to leading the Trail Blazers, nobody plays bigger roles than Marcus Camby and Andre Miller. That's why Camby, the 37-year-old veteran of 15 NBA seasons found himself in the office of coach Nate McMillan in mid-February for a surprise meeting. And it's why McMillan said he will seek out Miller, the 35-year-old veteran of 12 seasons, sometime before Saturday's Game 1 in Dallas for a pointed talk. The message from McMillan's meetings with Camby and Miller is simple: Life in the NBA can be short. Make the most of it."
- Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: "How does Kopbe Bryant feel about the Lakers going into the postseason? 'I'm not sure. I don't know,' Bryant said, chuckling. 'This team is so weird. I don't know what the hell everybody is going to look like tomorrow. So I don't know.' Bryant has a point about the Lakers. It was hard to figure out a team that lost three consecutive games before the All-Star break, including a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who finished the season with the second-worst record in the NBA. The Lakers then went 17-1 after the All-Star break, then they lost five consecutive games before finishing the season on a two-game winning streak. 'We've had a very up-and-down finish,' Coach Phil Jackson said Thursday. 'There's no doubt that the last 25 games don't make sense in a lot of ways -- having a great win in a sequence of games and then losing five in a row from one Sunday to the next.' "
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