- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: "Get used to it LeBron. Get used to it Kobe. Get used to NBA. This could be the beginning of your worst Dwightmare. One more win. One more win over the Cleveland LeBrons and Dwight Howard will finally begin to be treated like the superstar he is. One more win. This is the only way the NBA will know that maybe it is marketing the wrong superstar. This the only way Nike will know it should have locked up Dwight years ago, put him in that puppet commercial and instructed the world to witness his greatness. Are you kidding me? After Tuesday night's nail-biting, heart-palpitating 116-114 Magic overtime victory shoved the Cavs to within the brink of playoff elimination, Phil Knight is this close to realizing that not signing Dwight will go down as Nike's biggest mistake since being tied to child-labor sweatshops in Pakistan. What Dwight did Tuesday is what superstars do: he took over the game when it mattered most. He scored the first three buckets in OT on dunks. He calmly swished two free throws with 21 seconds left to all but seal the game. He scored 10 of the Magic's 16 points in the extra period and finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds."
- Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer: "So now what? Now what do the Cavs to save the season? How do they bounce back after yet another heartbreaking, will-shaking loss to Orlando? Try playing some defense. Yes, the Cavs are relying too much on LeBron James to carry them. Yes, James made seven turnovers after halftime. Yes, he made some poor decisions. Yes, he put 44 points next to his name, but he'd be the first to confess it was not a great game. Think about the score: Orlando 116, Cavs 114. Yes, that's in overtime, but that's still a lot of points for a team that regularly held the opposition under 90 during the season."
- Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post: "It used to be, the Nuggets would go to Los Angeles and see stars. We're not talking about the ones in the expensive clothes and courtside seats. L.A. was a big and bad place. The Nuggets couldn't beat the Lakers there, and both teams knew it. But something funny has happened in this series: The Nuggets are no longer in awe of the venue or the players. Los Angeles now is just another town. The Staples Center is just another arena. The Lakers have become just another team. The Nuggets won Game 2 in Los Angeles. It was their first postseason win over the Lakers in 11 games, which spanned 24 years. The Nuggets believe they also would have won Game 1 if not for miscues down the stretch. So as the Nuggets await Game 5 in L.A. tonight, they do so without fear. 'Our confidence is sky-high on the road,' Carmelo Anthony said. 'We feel that we can go in and get Game 5. But we (have to) play the way we know how to play.' "
- Jeff Miller of The Orange County Register: "The Lakers glided into the 2007-08 Finals, losing only three games before running into the Celtics. They've already lost six times in these playoffs and have to play again in Denver, where they just left not their hearts but their lungs. By their own admission, they weren't desperate enough, committed enough or man enough in Game 4. Phil Jackson, making $12 million this season specifically to prepare the players, somehow still hasn't figured out how to pull maximum effort from the group. In Game 4, the Nuggets played like a team that could not lose; the Lakers played like a team that, well, you know, could pretty much go either way with it, whatever. So that sets the mood for tonight and a game that everything -- from the oddsmakers to the Lakers' tendencies to the Lakers' best player -- says they will win. 'No,' Kobe Bryant offered on the question of self-doubt entering Game 5. 'We'll be ready to go.' "
- John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News: "Greatness, at least greatness to the level that LeBron James aspires, cannot be bestowed. It cannot be granted through the words of enamored fans, pundits and advertisers. It cannot be guaranteed by potential and deeds that have been speculated about, but not yet performed. Greatness, the kind that Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird achieved, must be earned through actual accomplishments, not words or glitzy commercials. James faces such a task, after last night's 116-114 overtime loss in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final. His Cleveland Cavaliers are now down, 3-1, in the best-of-seven series to the Orlando Magic, even though he scored 44 points last night, including hitting two free throws to send the game into overtime. It is now time for James to take a huge step toward validation, or he faces serious questions about his much-hyped legend. At only 24, he does not face his Waterloo, but it is a watershed moment for his career. That's how quickly things can change in the NBA playoffs."
- Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee: "Hedo Turkoglu's ascension at age 30 is attributable to several factors, starting with his size and versatility. At 6-foot-10 and 220 pounds, he has long fancied himself as a supersized playmaker -- not unlike his favorite player, Scottie Pippen. That is, a player who creates shots for himself and teammates, rebounds, handles the ball, makes decisions and superbly enters the ball into the post. 'The thing that separates Hedo right now is his passing, his creativity,' said Geoff Petrie, the Kings basketball president. 'To have a guy that size who can make good decisions, penetrate and score himself, that's a tough matchup for anybody.' ... Turkoglu's demeanor has always been deceiving. His deep-set eyes, half-smiles and slow speaking manner disguise a quiet confidence and competitiveness, and he plays at a pace and rhythm all his own. With long, graceful strides, he directs the fast break without ever appearing to rush. Because of his height and instincts, he effortlessly tosses lobs over defenders for rim-rattling dunks by Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis. And for final possessions, the ball is in his hands. Make the pass. Take the shot. Make the play. His call."
- Tom Sorensen of The Charlotte Observer: "Let's assume somebody wants an NBA team so badly he's willing to buy the Charlotte Bobcats. It might be a flawed assumption, but without it this column doesn't work. Would you like the new owner of the Bobcats to be Michael Jordan, the team's managing member of basketball operations? I would not. Nothing Michael has accomplished indicates he is capable of running a major-league franchise. The Bobcats (the organization, not the team) have been so abysmal for so many years that they need to start over. That's why I hope the sale of the team is not pretend. I hope Michael and his supposed super secret investment partners are not sitting in the shadows, waiting to see how low owner Bob Johnson will go before they pounce. ... Don't we know by now that possessing a big name is not enough? Ask Dale Earnhardt Jr. For three years, Michael has been the franchise's No.2 man. After a horrid start (he drafted Adam Morrison), he ha
s made some nice basketball moves or, at least, granted his coach permission to make them. He gets credit either way. But what else has Michael accomplished? Here he is, the biggest name in Charlotte sports. And neither he nor his team has become part of our town." - Bruce Arthur of the National Post: "Chris Bosh has become an all-star, a fine and respectable player, and a 6-foot-10 metronome. 'I don't think he's going to get any better,' says one NBA source who has scouted Bosh extensively. 'I love him, but he is what he is -- he's a jump-shooting power forward.' Bosh was left off the league's three all-NBA teams this season, finishing 18th in the voting. The year before, when Bosh missed 15 games due to injury, he was 26th. Both times, coincidentally, he finished one spot ahead of Atlanta's Joe Johnson, a miscast No. 1 if there ever was one. The best-case scenario is that there is a leap left in Bosh, or that he can be a Garnett-like centrepiece on a team with perimeter finishers. It's not clear that either is a possibility. Regardless, Bosh will command a maximum contract as a free agent next summer -- beginning at 30% of the salary cap, whatever it is, which makes it harder to build one hell of an ensemble -- and will be forcefully pursued by more than one other team, including at least one with more immediate championship ambitions than Toronto. The big question being asked is whether the Raptors can resign their franchise player. But that is not the only question. The other one is this: even if they can re-sign Bosh -- the team's best player, a four-time all-star, a good citizen and teammate and employee -- should they?"
- Tom Enlund of the Journal Sentinel: "Making sound financial decisions will be extremely high on the Milwaukee Bucks' priority list as they move forward into the summer and attempt to improve their roster and salary structure. In fact, according to general manager John Hammond, the team will be making decisions in the weeks and months ahead based as much on financial considerations as on basketball considerations. 'Right now, having (financial) discipline is the best thing for us,' said Hammond. Financial discipline. Those will be words to live by for the Bucks as they move toward the June 25 draft, consider possible trades and enter the free-agent signing period in July. The team's financial discipline will affect the future and, more specifically, restricted free agents Charlie Villanueva and Ramon Sessions, and possibly European player Ersan Ilyasova. It will affect whom the Bucks select in the draft and whether they will be able to sign a free agent this summer, which right now appears highly unlikely. The upside, though, is that if the Bucks are able to maintain that discipline now, as difficult as it might be, it will afford them the flexibility in a year or two to make some major moves and deal from a position of power rather than with their backs against the wall."
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