- Brian Hendrickson of The Columbian: "The series between the Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle SuperSonics conjures several descriptions. Intense is frequently used by former players. Competitive will also be thrown around. Physical might be heard a time or two. But ask about the possible end of the 38-year-old series, and you’re bound to hear disappointment. 'It’s just a crying shame,' said Bill Schonely, the Blazers’ original play-by-play broadcaster who called 168 games between the regional rivals. 'I’m going to miss that. I think the fans are going to miss it, too.' Then tonight may be a moment to savor. The final game of this year’s regular-season series between Portland and Seattle may also be the end of their rivalry."
- Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: "The Donnie Walsh-Larry Bird saga is overshadowing the Pacers' season-high ... four-game winning streak. Speculation on who will lead the franchise and when it'll happen will continue until Herb Simon officially announces who he's putting in charge. Simon met with team officials Friday, but there's no timetable on when there's going to be an official announcement."
- Jonathan Abrams of the Los Angeles Times: "There is for some on the Clippers' skeleton-crew roster incentive to play out the string with purpose. Only six -- Chris Kaman, Al Thornton, Josh Powell, Brevin Knight, Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley -- have guaranteed contracts next season. Elton Brand and Corey Maggette can opt out of the last year of their contracts and the team has to tender Shaun Livingston a qualifying offer this summer or he can potentially depart. It all amounts to a lot of potential shifting in the off-season with some using the remaining games to show they can fit into next season's fold."
- Ian O'Connor of The Record: "... the identity of the future Knicks' president isn't as important as the intentions of the current Knicks' owner. If Jim Dolan plans on imposing his management philosophy on the new guy, the Garden won't see a relevant basketball game outside of the Big East tournament for another 10 years. The man in Dolan's bathroom glass is the real problem here, even a bigger problem than Thomas, who has managed to perform a most improbable trick: He converted the Scott Layden era into the good old days."
- Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News: "The consensus in the Indiana Pacers' draft war room in late June 2002 was to take Tayshaun Prince, the long-armed Kentucky star who was expected to be available when the Pacers were making the 14th pick. The team's scouts were in agreement that Prince, a 6-9 shot-blocking talent with an emerging long-distance game, would be the perfect addition to a team that needed to make defensive strides, coming off its 42-40 season and first-round ouster by the Nets in the playoffs. Prince was the unanimous choice -- until the team's top basketball executive, Donnie Walsh, announced that he was allowing his head coach, Isiah Thomas, to take control of the draft. Weeks earlier, Thomas had settled on Oregon guard Fred Jones after watching him in the pre-draft camp in Chicago. When it came time to make the pick, Walsh stunned his subordinates when he said, 'I'll let the coach make the decision.' Wrong move, as it turned out."
- Bruce Arthur of the National Post: "This is a team of jump shooters, of nice guys. They lead the league in three-point shooting, they pass the ball well, they try to do the right thing. But the worst flaw might be the lack of a perimeter player who can attack the basket when it matters, as Carmelo Anthony did yesterday. That's the roster. And that's not new. As Bosh himself said, 'We've been communicating it all year. We just have to do it. You can talk all day, but talk doesn't get much done.' There are just 12 games left to avoid the death sentence of a first-round matchup with either Detroit or Boston. But this cannot be fixed in a day, or it would have long since been fixed. And until that correction, this is a paper team."
- David Moore of The Dallas Morning News: "On an afternoon when the Spurs virtually offered themselves up as a sacrifice, the Mavericks still couldn't win. It was a dismal end to what the Mavericks hoped would be a seminal stretch. The Mavericks opened the most important homestand of the season by falling 25 points behind the Lakers. The owner and head coach clashed, the player the Mavericks mortgaged their future to obtain was non-existent on offense and the reigning MVP had to be helped off the court because he was unable to put any weight on his left leg. Jerry Stackhouse is right when he said what has happened these last six days is 'not like it's the end of the world.' But you can see the end from where the Mavericks are standing right now."
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