- Chris McCosky of The Detroit News: "The Pistons have had three 6 p.m. Sunday starts and lost all three by an average of 18.7 points. 'That tells me we're not ready to play and whatever we're doing prior to these games isn't right,' coach Michael Curry said. 'As professionals, we've got to get ourselves ready to play whether it's an early game or a normal game. We have to be ready to play, and as the head coach of this team, I take full responsibility for that.' Curry has tried three approaches to these 6 p.m. starts. He's had a shoot-around at 9 a.m. and at 3:30 p.m. on game day and lost badly to the Celtics and Suns. This time, he had shoot-around after practice Saturday and let the team sleep in Sunday. Still no good. 'It's on us,' Allen Iverson said. 'I think a game is a game regardless of what time you play. You've got to prepare yourself to able to play.'"
- Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: "The Cavs have an interesting leadership structure put in place by the team's veterans and coach Mike Brown. It even has its own moniker. 'I call them 'The Committee',' Brown said. The Committee is made up of LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Mo Williams. They have semi-regular meetings with the head coach in his office and cover everything from disciplinary matters to travel plans to key strategy decisions. It is a cog in Brown's style of being a player-oriented coach. It's not a democracy, but the group of leaders act as a buffer and a sounding board for issues, big and small. 'That's a recipe for a good team,' said Williams, who was invited into the circle despite being in his first year with the team. 'Players are players and coaches are coaches. Over the course of the year, things are going to happen and you need the players to keep the team together.'"
- Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star: "If you wanted to write a sports column in the style of the Raptors' 118-103 loss to the Celtics yesterday, you'd start it something like this: Hmmm ... let me think ... cough, hork, sneeze ... burp, scratch, hiccup. You'd also promptly be slapped in the head by a hovering editor who would suggest you stop easing into your work day by exposing your unbecoming human frailties to thousands of innocent bystanders. Yesterday's Boston blowout was something like the polar opposite of the cliché NBA game, when everything you need to see happens in the final two minutes. Almost everything you needed to see of the Raptors' seventh defeat in 10 games happened in the opening three minutes. That's all the time it took for the defending NBA champions to run up a double-digit lead while the home team did the on-court equivalent of sitting on the couch and expelling gas."
- Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News: "LeBron James used to mean an automatic sellout at the Garden, just like another famous No.23 from the world of pro basketball, Michael Jordan. But several times on Saturday night during the Knicks' win over the Wizards, the public address announcer reminded fans that tickets were still available for James' first trip into New York this season. During those announcements, no one started chanting, 'We want LeBron.' But Knicks fans could begin pleading their case Tuesday night, while cheering his every move to make him feel right at home. 'We'll see,' Quentin Richardson said. 'Knick fans are Knick fans. They're gonna root for the Knicks. But that's what makes entertainment and that's what it is. I'm sure it will be a circus.' James' presence at the Garden always brings a palpable buzz, along with extra media attention. In light of the Knicks' trades that have opened cap room for when he could become a free agent in 2010, the atmosphere could remind fans of the days of playoff basketball in New York."
- Ivan Carter of The Washington Post: "Eddie Jordan has been able to overcome various challenges, particularly injuries to key players, to lead the Wizards to four straight playoff appearances. He's the longest tenured coach in the Eastern Conference largely because of his ability to handle the various ups and downs associated with coaching in the NBA, but never has a Jordan team started a season 1-10. The one thing Jordan is hanging his hat on is the fact that his players have continued to give maximum effort. The Wizards haven't always played smart -- bad defensive rotations contributed to Saturday's defeat -- but they haven't showed any quit either, and players haven't started pointing fingers at one another or the coaching staff. Jordan feels he can build on that. 'The thing we talked about the game is the same thing we talked about after the game: you didn't win the game but you don't have losing habits,' Jordan said. 'We play hard and we are unselfish and we don't point fingers. We are accountable and we still have confidence that we can still go out and win games so, even though we are 1-10, we don't have losing habits and that's a good thing.'"
- John Denton of Florida Today: "The Orlando Magic have the Eastern Conference's third-best record at 9-4, they sit atop the Southeast Division and they are again one of the league's best road teams. But their season, in many ways, still is lacking a defining victory. Before Philadelphia won Sunday to improve to 7-6, the Magic have yet to defeat a team with a better-than-.500 record. Three of Orlando's losses have come against Atlanta (8-5), Portland (8-6) and Houston (9-5), and the Magic were soundly outplayed in all three games. Orlando missed a chance to nab an impressive win Saturday, crumbling down the stretch in a 100-95 loss to the Rockets. Magic point guard and co-captain Jameer Nelson, for one, isn't worried. After all, he said, Orlando can only play the teams on the schedule. 'It's still early and I'm sure that some of those teams that we have beaten that are under .500 will have winning records eventually,' Nelson said. 'We beat Toronto, Dallas and Philly and they are under .500, but those are good teams. I can't say why those teams have struggled, but that's just who we have played.'"
- Jan Hubbard of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "The Jason Kidd-Devin Harris comparisons will continue for the next few years, so I don't think it will make a difference that I am officially declaring a cease-fire in the discussions. A kind of humorous sideshow developed after the trade and even continues to this day. It's basically this: Were you for it or against it when it happened? I was thoughtful enough to cover myself in both directions, declaring myself for it in a radio interview but against it in this newspaper. So I'm right no matter what -- and also wrong. But in declaring the cease-fire, I'm saying this. It doesn't matter whether you were for it or against it. It does not make you more or less of an expert. Who could possibly care? The pertinent point is this. It's over. It happened. Kidd is a Maverick. Harris is a Net. The Mavericks have a better team with Kidd right now. The Nets will benefit in the future. And didn't everyone know that at the time the trade was made?"
- Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "A career 42.5 percent shooter who connected on 45.3 percent of his shots last season, Ron Artest would seem to expect to shoot better than he has most of this season. In truth, he might not love this season's shooting as much as he is indifferent to individual numbers or, more specifically, insists he loves any numbers if the Rockets win. 'I just don't care,' Artest said. 'If I can shoot 30 percent and we win, I'm good. I don't care if we shoot 60 percent or 30 percent as long as we win.' Still, Artest and the Rockets admit they would like him to feel more comfortable within the offense, and it's assumed the shooting will come around from there."
- Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: "Soon after the Thunder's charter landed in New Orleans, just before 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, newly named interim coach Scott Brooks spoke to his team for the first time. His message: 'I've been there. I know what you're going through.' It was a speech fired coach P.J. Carlesimo never could deliver to his team and one that instantly gave Brooks credibility inside the locker room. Thunder players admittedly have more respect for Brooks, an 11-year NBA player, than they did for Carlesimo, whose playing days ended at Fordham University in 1971. 'He can relate,' said Desmond Mason of Brooks. 'If somebody can relate to something you're going through, you're going to naturally absorb more from them than maybe somebody that's coming off the street telling you what you need to be doing.' ... Brooks, 43, is also 16 years younger than Carlesimo, a difference some Thunder players believe will translate to more energy and a better understanding of how to communicate with today's younger players."
- Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: "In the courtside-seat celebrity ring Sunday night at Staples Center you had some of the elite: David Beckham, Barry Bonds, Will Ferrell, George Lopez, Jack Nicholson. Jason Bateman and John Krasinski were there, too. Sitting next to each other and talking all game long ... you just know they were cracking wise something awesome. That's sort of the way it is with the Lakers, headlined by Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol --- yet very possibly providing greater entertainment value on any given night with second-unit go-getters Trevor Ariza, Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic with glue guy Lamar Odom. If you were to use the old position-by-position comparison Sunday night, the check marks would have been overwhelming in the Lakers' favor over the Sacramento Kings' starters ... and I'm talking about in favor of the Lakers' second unit."
- Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: "iPods are almost as prevalent in NBA locker rooms as basketball shoes and scouting reports. It's routine to see the Trail Blazers sitting in front of their lockers or on training tables bobbing their heads to tunes. So what do they listen to? Channing Frye: The pregame music taste of the Blazers reserve power forward is as unique as his personality is eclectic. He usually listens to gospel music, including Fred Hammond's 'No Weapon.' 'This year I'm living a little more religious,' Frye said. 'It calms me down and helps me focus on the right thing.' Greg Oden: The rookie center doesn't wear headphones to listen to music before games -- he doesn't have to. 'I just listen to theirs,' he deadpanned, peering around the locker room. 'Their music's so loud, you can hear it through their headphones."
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