- Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: A night after playing with emotion, determination and a chip on their shoulders, the Clippers looked drained and not as focused against the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night. No, Memphis is not the Lakers, but the Grizzlies are a talented, athletic group that lost last season in the Western Conference semifinals. The Clippers were forced to grind through the back-to-back game to pull out a 98-91 victory over the Grizzlies at Staples Center. It took all the energy the Clippers had to escape the Grizzlies, the game not being decided until late. It took Blake Griffin almost producing a triple-double for the Clippers to get this one. Griffin had 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. It took Chris Paul, playing in his second game after missing the previous five with a strained left hamstring, scoring 18 points, grabbing seven rebounds and handing out seven assists.
- Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: Both teams were scrappy. Both teams exhibited all-out hustle. To borrow a phrase from retired NBA big man Rasheed Wallace, both teams played hard. The Grizzlies’ 98-91 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night in Staples Center had a playoff feel. Or it was at least a show of two teams eager to carve out a place in an ultra-competitive Western Conference. There were 19 lead changes and 14 ties as the Griz dropped their second straight game after winning seven in a row. The Griz also suffered a third consecutive loss to the Clippers. Rudy Gay, who has averaged 21.1 points on 52.6-percent shooting in 15 games against the Clippers, led the Griz with 24 points; Marc Gasol had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Forward Blake Griffin’s 20 points paced the Clippers.
- Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: Perhaps this is what growth is all about. This is what playing without Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen and Jermaine O’Neal can do for a team. This is also what a 27-point second-quarter hole can do for a team that knows it can do better. The Celtics, facing all of those conditions last night against the
Magic team they beat by 31 points on Monday, roared out of their hole with last night’s 91-83 win at the Amway Center. E’Twaun Moore is especially what growth is all about. The Celtics rookie guard made big plays in every area down the stretch last night, from four 3-pointers — two in the fourth quarter — to a late block on Orlando’s Ryan Anderson. Combined with big shots by Brandon Bass and a recharged Paul Pierce [stats] (24 points, 10 assists, six rebounds), and impressive dirty work by Chris Wilcox, Moore had the best night of his young career with 16 points. But it was the overall surge of confidence in last night’s second half that told Pierce something had changed. “It’s just our spirit, where we remain positive,” said the Celtics captain. - Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: The way the Magic have lost the past two games to the Celtics, you wouldn’t be surprised if Dwight Howard expanded his trade-request list to Memphis, Sacramento or the Harlem Globetrotters. Howard intimated that teammates didn’t stick to their roles Thursday night’s loss to Boston. “We didn’t play the right way and we have to change,” he said. “Everybody just can’t come down (the floor) and feel like they have to take the game over. You just have to play team-ball and play the way we want to play. We didn’t do that.” Howard included himself in the meltdown inwhich the Magic lost a 27-point lead. He finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds, but didn’t steady the ship as the lead dwindled and got into early foul trouble. The irony was that the Magic scored 58 points in the first half with Dwight playing only six minutes….then looked dysfunctional in the second half when he stays on the floor. “It defies logic,” Stan Van Gundy said. Howard said the team let down after racing to a big lead. “We thought it was going to be easy after the first two quarters,” Howard said. “We can’t allow that. We have to change.”
- Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press: During the 1997-98 season, Glen Taylor signed star Kevin Garnett to a then-NBA-record $126 million, six-year contract. Compared with that, it wasn't difficult for the Timberwolves owner this week to sign star Kevin Love to a $62 million, four-year contract. "I've had more experience with these things," Taylor said Thursday. "I feel that I don't have to talk as much, and I feel more confident in our position. We stated right up front what our position (with Love) was, where in the other one (Garnett), it probably took a lot longer - a lot more communications, a lot more back and forth. To me, this one was a lot more businesslike. Even though the (discussions about) length went on, I didn't feel it was contentious or anything like that." Love's agent wanted five years; the Wolves held firm on four. The Garnett contract negotiation was much tougher. "Because we were talking about the tax phase and all that stuff, so it really cost us a lot of money," Taylor said. Love's $62 million still is a lot of money. Taylor, who had Wolves President David Kahn negotiate the Love deal, was asked if he enjoys working on player contracts. "It isn't what I call fun because it's a big, important matter," he said.
- John Reid of The Times-Picayune: Eric Gordon, 6 feet 3, 215 pounds, will become a restricted free agent July 1, and General Manager Dell Demps said they are going to make a strong push to re-sign him. “I’m still very optimistic that we will make Eric a big part of our team for years to come, and hopefully, we’ll get something done this summer,” Demps said. The Hornets can match any offer Gordon gets, and there already are reports surfacing that the Indiana Pacers are planning to make a push to sign Gordon, who is from Indianapolis. The Pacers were able to convince former Hornets forward David West to sign with them before this season as a free agent. It’s not uncommon in the NBA for players to recruit top free agents to their respective teams. Gordon could draw that kind of enticement from West, who opted out of his contract with the Hornets after last season. With the Hornets announcing Thursday that Gordon, 23, could miss up to six weeks because a right knee contusion hasn’t healed properly, it’s unknown what kind of attention he might draw.
- Michael Lee of The Washington Post: When Randy Wittman stepped in as a midseason replacement for Dwane Casey in Minnesota on Jan. 23, 2007 — nearly five years to the day before he would be asked to assume the same role in Washington — he thought the job required a massive overhaul of schemes, systems and styles. To make it work, he had to make it his, he thought. He simply made everything too complicated. “The last time, I tried to invent the game of basketball,” said Wittman, who didn’t last two full years with the Timberwolves, “and I learned from that.” Thrust back into a similar position after the Washington Wizards dismissed Coach Flip Saunders after 21 / 2 jagged seasons, Wittman’s debut was more about simplifying the game plan and forcing the players to give him what he will always demand: an honest, concerted effort. Without the benefit of a full practice, his players responded with a high-energy game built around a ball-hawking defense that forced turnovers and an up-tempo offense that kept the Charlotte Bobcats on their heels. The Wizards pulled off a decisive 92-75 victory over the depleted Bobcats that was far from aesthetically pleasing throughout, but yielded the ultimate result in a results-driven league. “I’ve been in the league 30 years as a player and a coach,” said Wittman, who was originally drafted by the Washington Bullets in 1983 but was immediately traded to the Atlanta Hawks. “Ownership, management, they can tell you all the things — it’s about winning. It’s what this boils down to. We’ve got to win."
- Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: The Wizards replaced one coach whom Rockets coach Kevin McHale hired and fired when he was Timberwolves general manager, Flip Saunders, with another, Randy Wittman. But McHale said little about the coaching change Thursday. “I’m not that worried about Washington,” McHale said. “We play them tomorrow night, and that’s the last time I’ll think about them until next year. We don’t play them again. I’ll prepare tonight, watch film of them all afternoon. We’ll prepare for them. Other than that, I’m not thinking about them.”
- Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: The Denver Nuggets are deeply dangerous — and dangerously deep. Tonight against Toronto, the Nuggets likely won't have their starting point guard. Or shooting guard. Or backup shooting guard. Yet the Nuggets are potent and unpredictable enough that recent history suggests someone will step in and have a big scoring night. In the past eight games, seven of which were wins, the Nuggets have had six different leading scorers. "This team is hard to guard. You can't predict us," said Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson, who is doubtful with a left ankle sprain. ... Andre Miller, who led Denver (13-5) in scoring in the win at Philadelphia, likely will start at point guard for Lawson, who left Pepsi Center on Thursday after practice with a precautionary boot and a tub for soaking his left foot. ... Shooting guard Arron Afflalo (groin) is doubtful, and his backup, Rudy Fernandez, is a game-time decision (right Achilles tendon strain). Coach George Karl, unafraid to get quirky with a lineup here and there, will have to get creative tonight against the Raptors (6-13). If Wednesday was any indication, he might go with Corey Brewer at shooting guard — Brewer started in the second half at Sacramento, alongside Miller, after Lawson was hurt in the first half.
- Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: Andrea Bargnani’s latest calf injury — one he termed much worse than the original one he suffered — is going to put the Raptors in an eerily familiar position for the foreseeable future. Robbed again of their leading scorer, the Raptors are going to have to figure out again how to manufacture enough points to stay in games. There was no word on Bargnani’s fate as the team enjoyed a day off here Thursday; he was scheduled for an MRI but the results won’t be dissected by various physicians and trainers here and in Toronto and Italy for a little while. But suffice it to say he won’t be available for a while and that’s not a good thing for a team that’s proven it can’t score consistently without its best offensive player. In the six games Bargnani missed with the first injury, the Raptors were 0-6 and averaged just 81 points per game. In the 13 games he’s played, when the Raptors were 6-7, they averaged 90.4 points per night.
- Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: Larry Bird's patience is finally paying off. He has slowly rebuilt the roster the way he wants it, and in turn, the Pacers (12-5) are off to their best start in eight years heading into tonight's game against the Boston Celtics. The Pacers, who have the sixth best record in the league, have already beaten Boston twice and have wins against the Lakers and Atlanta. "I'm happy for the players," Bird said. "I brought every one of them in here except for Jeff Foster. I'm happy for Indiana because I told them I was going to change the culture, get some good guys in here and win some games. "We're going to have our days where we're not playing well, but when you look at it, we still have a lot of cap room. We'll build on that and keep building on it." The Pacers aren't on pace to be one-hit wonders. They'll be about $20 million under the salary cap next summer before they try to re-sign soon-to-be restricted free agents George Hill and Roy Hibbert. "More than three years ago, (Bird) told me in three years he'd have us in the playoffs and the salaries would come down and we'd be competitive again," owner Herb Simon said. "Everything he told me came true."
- Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki says he is much better after missing the past three games because of a sore right knee and poor conditioning. However, he will not play against the Utah Jazz tonight and there is no guarantee he will return Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs as originally expected. "I feel better," Nowitzki said. "I think it was definitely a good week for me to work on some stuff that I wasn't able to work on when I had some trouble with my knee. So that's definitely good. We lifted a lot, ran some, shot some. Well, we were always shooting for Sunday, so we'll just take it day by day and see how these next two days of training go and keep pushing myself, twice a day. But that's where my head is, hopefully Sunday, and we'll go from there." Nowitzki said he can do without questions about him coming into the season out of shape, as coach Rick Carlisle and owner Mark Cuban suggested as reasons for his early-season woes and the team's decision to shut him down for a week. "No, I don't know why coach threw that out there," Nowitzki bristled when asked about his conditioning. "I didn't have any problem with conditioning at all. You can never work hard enough on conditioning, but that wasn't holding me back." Asked if he was disappointed that Carlisle "threw that out there," Nowitzki said, "No, not at all. I don't really care what the media writes, anyway."
- Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times: The curious case of Carlos Boozer continues to unfold nightly at the United Center and NBA arenas around the country. Much of the criticism leveled at Boozer from Bulls fans is unwarranted. It’s not his fault that he’s the player he is and not the player they want him to be. It’s almost as if Bulls fans had a distorted view of the free agent vice president John Paxson and general manager Gar Foreman acquired before last season. What fans see is what the Bulls got. If Boozer’s numbers are down, it’s because his minutes are down. He’s not a great finisher inside. In fact, it sometimes seems his shooting percentage decreases the closer he gets to the basket, although some of those bunnies are bound to start falling. But fans complaining about him settling for jumpers don’t realize that’s what he is being asked to do. Critics often get so caught up in what Boozer doesn’t do they forget how effective he and Derrick Rose can be on the pick-and-roll. They forget all the times Boozer grabs a rebound and whips the ball to a streaking Rose for an easy layup on the other end. He averages 15 points and eight rebounds while playing just over 30 minutes per game. There’s value in all that.
- Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune: Gordon Hayward expressed frustration, lamenting on how his jumper always falls during practice. Tyrone Corbin expressed worry and concern, but maintained that Utah's prized lottery pick of 2010 would fight through. At this current time, however, there's no denying the obvious: Gordon Hayward is in a major slump. And that could be understating it. Hayward's 1-9 performance in 36 minutes of action on Wednesday night, a 111-106 double-overtime loss to the Toronto Raptors, stands out in a number of forgettable performances. But the thing that has to be concerning is the fact that Hayward doesn't seem like he even wants to shoot the ball. Multiple times in the two overtimes, the 6-foot-8 swingman passed up open looks. He looked hesitant. He wasn't aggressive, and that hurt the Jazz as Toronto surrounded Paul Millsap when it mattered.
- John N. Mitchell of The Philadelphia Inquirer: Coaches have a lot more respect for players who, when they have made a mistake, will tap their chest, signaling to the coach, "my bad." But this goes two ways, and on Thursday, after an abbreviated practice at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, one day after they had lost their second overtime game at home in a week, 76ers coach Doug Collins let his players know that he was as much at fault as they were for their 97-90 overtime loss to the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday. "I felt like last night I did not help our guys out very much offensively," Collins said. "I was searching all night trying to find combinations and I didn't do a very good job with that. As a coach you lay in bed and say, 'What could I have done better?' I just didn't think we had a lot of rhythm in what we were doing, and a big part of that was they dictated that, and I didn't give our team much help last night." Collins was given an out. It was pointed out that against the Nets the Sixers (12-6) were without a pair of injured 7-footers in starting center Spencer Hawes (left Achilles tendon) and his backup, rookie Nik Vucevic (strained left knee/quadriceps strain). So what. "As a coach I'm paid on a nightly basis to help our guys," Collins said. "We played defense well enough to win that game, but I did not give our guys enough help offensively to win that game, especially with our smaller lineup out there. I've got to be better."
- Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News: The Spurs had been leaning this way for a while, and they understood how it would look. When they drafted James Anderson in 2010, he was their highest pick since they took Tim Duncan. Then he was hurt most of his rookie year, then stunted by the lockout — and they didn’t pick up his option on Wednesday? “I know,” said one on the staff. “It looks crazy.” But while Anderson struggled to get out of his own way, fitting of a draft class with other whiffs, the Spurs reluctantly went in this direction because of one person. Danny Green. It’s always more complicated than that, and it was Wednesday. The Spurs worked through the day, making sure they weren’t missing anything. Mostly they were determining if Anderson had any trade value. What they heard: Those teams who had liked Anderson just hadn’t seen enough of him as a pro. So why not hold onto Anderson and see what’s there? Sure, Anderson wasn’t making shots, and he looked at times as if the game was too fast for him. But he was scheduled to earn only $1.5 million next year. Given the promise the Spurs had originally seen in him, and given that he hasn’t had much time to show that yet, didn’t it make sense to wait? Those are the thoughts that made the Spurs hesitate. They like Anderson as a person, and their fear now is playing out in Dallas. They went ahead once without Ian Mahinmi, too, after waiting far longer on him. Now, Mahinmi is showing signs of being a player with the Mavericks.
- Bob Finnan of The News-Herald: Things have been difficult for Omri Casspi. When he made the trek from Sacramento to Cleveland, his jump shot was lost somewhere along the way. Casspi can't blame U-Haul for that one. It has started to arrive, little by little. His numbers aren't what people expected when he was acquired, along with a conditional first-round pick, in exchange for forward J.J. Hickson in June. He's averaging 8.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists. Casspi is shooting 43.3 percent from the field, 31 percent from behind the arc and 67.7 percent from the foul line. The 6-foot-9, 225-pounder has started all 17 games at small forward and is showing signs of breaking out of his slump. In his last seven games, Casspi is averaging 10.7 points and shooting 49.1 percent from the field. He scored 13 points and added three rebounds in the Cavs' 91-81 win over New York on Wednesday. "I'm feeling more comfortable on the court. That's the most important thing to me," Casspi said. "I got my jump shot back. That gives me a lot of confidence. I'm attacking."
- Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: On the morning after arguably the best performance of his three-year career, Austin Daye showed up at the Pistons' practice facility early to work more on his game. It was good timing -- considering his personal trainer, Joe Abunassar, based in Las Vegas, was still in town. Daye was working to prove his 28-point explosion against the Miami Heat in a 101-98 loss at the Palace on Wednesday night wasn't a fluke. Abunassar, who is from the Detroit area, has been in town for several days. The two also had a 2-hour session Tuesday night. Daye, who was a 40% three-point shooter last season, was 1-for-17 from three-point land going into Wednesday night and was shooting less than 30% from the field as he had been in and out of first-year coach Lawrence Frank's lineup. He has been getting positive reinforcement from the Pistons' organization but more from the coach didn't hurt.
- Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times: It turns out Metta World Peace's career-low scoring numbers have nothing to do with his poor shooting stroke. It turns out World Peace's declining defense has nothing to do with his age (32) and decreasing lateral quickness. It turns out World Peace's conditioning has nothing to do with arriving to training camp out of shape. It has to do with one thing and one thing only. "I got bored with defense because it was so easy for me to stop people over the years," World Peace said after Thursday's practice. "I just got bored with it." That is, until the Lakers' 96-91 victory Wednesday over the Clippers where he played a large part in securing the win. World Peace made late-game plays, including a three-pointer that gave the Lakers an 87-82 lead, a feed that set up an Andrew Bynum dunk and a stuff on Chris Paul in the lane. If the explanation sounds absurd, well it is. But the most unlikeliest of sources agrees with World Peace's logic.
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