- John Gonzalez of The Philadelphia Inquirer: "In sports, as in politics, perception matters. Late last week in California, the perception was that Kobe Bryant gave a very large, very public middle finger to Philadelphia. If you haven't heard or didn't see it, he was sitting with the mayor of Los Angeles, the owner of the Dodgers, and Tommy Lasorda for Game 2 of the NLCS. When the camera found him, Kobe made an 'L.A.' gesture with his hands. It was like watching Zell Miller at the Republican National Convention or Arlen Specter cozy up to President Obama and the other Democrat fat cats - the defection was complete and the insult was obvious. Pictures say so much. Ah, but that wasn't enough. Mamba wanted to make sure we got the message and sent word through Craig Sager. TBS's Technicolor Dreamcoat reporter asked the NBA's version of Kanye West - Bryant's ego has grown so impossibly large that he didn't hesitate to go out in public wearing a shirt with his own likeness on it -- if it felt a little strange to root against his hometown. Even Sager knows how poorly that sort of thing plays, especially here in Philly. 'It's not weird.' Bryant reportedly said. 'I've lived in Los Angeles for 14 years now.' I lived in Boston and Dallas for eight years total, but I never had the urge to buy a Red Sox hat or spoon with former Big D mayor Ron Kirk. (He's not much of a cuddler, anyway.) Plenty of athletes leave home to play elsewhere, but few have so openly and unapologetically dug up their roots and scorched the earth they left behind. Can you imagine Dwyane Wade so blatantly snubbing Chi-town?"
- Jeff Eisenberg of The Press-Enterprise: "The most memorable matchup on Tuesday figured to be between Kobe Bryant and Golden State's Stephen Jackson, who stormed to the locker room and didn't return after picking up a technical and five first-quarter fouls trying to guard the Lakers star in a recent preseason game. The disgruntled swingman later publicly lashed out at Bryant, telling reporters he's 'not a fan' of Kobe, accusing him of playing dirty and suggesting 'If it came down to a real fight, I know what would happen.' 'That'll motivate Kobe,' Phil Jackson said 'I was wondering why he was so hyped up to start the game.' Although Bryant insisted he didn't read any of those unflattering comments, he still attacked Jackson in the post or off the dribble on the Lakers' first few possessions and showed a little extra emotion after early buckets."
- Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: "O.J. Mayo desperately wants to win, become more of a complete player and force the Griz to be cohesive, even at the expense of his own game. The second-year guard and runner-up to Chicago's Derrick Rose for last season's NBA Rookie of the Year award almost sounds as if he's happier about not being asked to be a dynamic scorer. 'I figure I can do all of the intangibles,' Mayo said. 'You may not see 30 points that night but if you look across the (statistical) line you can see I dibble-dabbled a little everywhere. I'm going to just try to get the job done. In order for the Memphis Grizzlies to be successful we need to come together and play for each other. Man, last year wasn't a pretty sight. So if we work together we can get over this hump.' "
- Benjamin Hochman The Denver Post: "Yes, it's the preseason. Yes, they're with replacement refs. Yes, it was against Minnesota. But Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 24 points in just 23 minutes, while shooting 7-for-8 from the line. When he called it a night in the third quarter, the entire Timberwolves team was just 9-for-12. 'He has a lot of matchups that he has power on,' George Karl said of the career 79.6 percent free-throw shooter. 'And then some matchups, if they play big on him, he has the quickness. He has both abilities to go either way.' Melo is a weapon of mass production. Last season, he got to the line 7.1 times per game, which was ninth in the NBA and sixth among non-post players. Already this preseason, he has logged games in which he was 7-for-10, 7-for-11 and 16-for-17, all in which he played just 20-something minutes. Last season, he averaged 34.5 minutes."
- Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: "There is a staccato rhythm to the NBA season: practice, shootaround, game, practice, shootaround, game, lather, rinse, repeat. It is a schedule that has withstood the test of time and the whims of coaches who would alter it; a schedule that suits the players. 'The schedule? It's fine,' said Toronto's Chris Bosh. 'No sense messing with it.' Yet some are. ... The New York Knicks have stopped morning shootarounds at home and will meet about 3:30 p.m. to get ready for that night's game. The Portland Trailblazers changed departure times for road trips East last year from early morning west-coast time to late afternoon to keep the players' bodies on the same time clock. Some teams have pushed practices on the days after home games to later in the morning to give the players more time to recuperate. ... Toronto tried it two seasons ago under Sam Mitchell, going at 4 p.m. instead of 10 a.m. at home and the memories don't sit well with at least a couple of players. 'I didn't like it, not at all,' Bosh said. 'I don't like being at the gym for an extended period of time. I don't like that sitting around and I don't like that idle time. I like to get in, do my job. I get in right before it's time for me to get out on the court and shoot; get loose, shoot and by the time I shoot and by the time I get dressed and the coaches speak, we're out there for warm-ups,' Bosh added."
- Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: "The Celts had a morning session at Madison Square Garden, but Doc Rivers plans to eliminate most home shootarounds in favor of getting to the Garden earlier for a walkthrough. 'When you go over something right before the game you have a better chance of them remembering it, better than at 10 a.m.,' Rivers said. 'A lot of this goes from the guy that we met that dealt with Portland, the sleep deprivation guy. That's the main reason we're doing it. Clearly our practices this year have been noticeably better because they're later. They have more sleep; they have more rest.' "
- Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News "Maceo Baston's memories of European basketball were triggered by watching Sunday's outburst in New York involving Maccabi (Israel) Electra Tel Aviv coach Pini Gershon. After earning his second technical foul in an exhibition game against the Knicks, Gershon refused to leave the court. It took a rabbi attending the game, an NBA official, and referees about 10 minutes to convince Gershon to leave the court. Baston, incidentally, played for Gershon at Maccabi. He wasn't surprised by Gershon's antics. 'That's just him, he loves to be part of the show,' Baston said. 'He's a good guy. He wants to be part of it all. One time during a middle of a game, he started dancing. He really did.' Baston has spent the better part of six seasons in Europe and doesn't regret it. 'I played on three championship teams, played in some of the best basketball of my career, and it was fun,' Baston said. 'The fans love the game over there.' "
- Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "The Rockets went into the preseason determined to be more up-tempo. They have discovered that the break works best when their small but relatively swift big men lead the charge. In Toronto, the Rockets got 51 points in transition (in 10 or fewer seconds), scored 124 points with 30 assists. In Monday's 20-point victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Rockets had 53 transition points, scoring 105 points, with 29 assists. In Toronto, Battier hit his first seven 3s, the first three coming on the break. Against Oklahoma City, the transition scoring did not come so quickly but picked up as the game progressed, indicating the Rockets' big men ran more consistently. 'Being a good transition team is not about running fast,' Shane Battier said. 'Lord knows I'm not the fastest runner. But running consistently, especially when the big guys are running the floor, flattens the defense out. (Opposing big men) have to make a decision. Are they going to take away the corner 3 or are they going to take away the layups? Nine times out of 10, they're going to take away the layups. That leaves the 3s.' "
- Greg Stoda of The Palm Beach Post: "Tim Hardaway, the steadfast 6-foot point guard known as 'Bigs' for his on-court fearlessness, and Alonzo Mourning, the powerful center, helped Pat Riley transform the Heat into a force despite never winning a championship together. In retirement, though, Hardaway has been less than successful. 'I'm looking for a job,' he said the other day. He failed as a TV analyst and his Miami Pit Bulls -- Hardaway was player/coach -- folded even before the parent American Basketball Association. And then there was the Valentine's Day 2007 radio interview during which Hardaway was asked - based at the time on the coming out of retired NBA player John Amaechi - how he would deal with a gay teammate. Hardaway responded with a homophobic rant ('I hate gay people, so I let it be known ...'). The reaction was swift and justifiably harsh. The NBA, most visibly, pulled Hardaway from scheduled All-Star festivities. Since then, Hardaway has been almost invisible while trying desperately to discover a new direction in his life."
- Sekou Smith of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "For the better part of the past two years, Hawks point guard Mike Bibby played his role to perfection. When his team needed a clutch basket or the right pass, he was there. He ran things in a way that not only put Hawks coach Mike Woodson and his teammates at ease, he did it in ways the Hawks hadn't seen before his arrival. 'We didn't put it all together until he showed up,' Josh Smith said. 'Once he got here it all came together. To me, you couldn't ask a guy to do any more than he's done for this team.' But that's exactly what the Hawks did when they re-signed Bibby as a free agent this past summer. The returnees are a year older and wiser. And the new additions, mainly Jamal Crawford and rookie point guard, are offensive talents that will help alleviate the scoring load. In short, Bibby won't have to spend the majority of his minutes this season as Johnson's safety valve on offense."
- George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon-Journal: "Never say that LeBron James doesn't have a grip on reality. Before the start of Wednesday's game, a Pittsburgh TV reporter asked him whether he thought the Steel City could ever be a basketball town. ''As long as you've got the Steelers, you can't be a basketball town,' he said. For the record, he said somewhat the same of Ohio. With Friday night fervor dominating the autumn months, James said the Buckeye State will never be a basketball state."
- Robert Dvorchak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Never one to shy away from giving his opinion on controversial subjects, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said steroids could be used to help athletes recover from injuries as long as they are prescribed by doctors and that it could be proved there would be no long-term damage. At a University of Pittsburgh forum yesterday, the Pittsburgh native responded to a question about the 10-game suspension of Orlando's Rashard Lewis during last season's NBA playoffs. 'I'll get killed for saying this,' Cuban replied, 'but I'm not so against steroids if they're administered under proper supervision and there is no long-term damage.' He said that steroids, which are banned by all the major sports and are also illegal to possess without a doctor's prescription, may benefit those recovering from surgery. Cuban said he hoped his comments would initiate a conversation on a topic that is considered radioactive. If the proper medical criteria are met, he added, 'why wouldn't we' use them for medical reasons."
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