Adelman, whose winning percentage with the Rockets is better than any coach in franchise history, had gone into his third season with the Rockets in the final guaranteed of year of his contract, with the Rockets intending to address his contract situation in the off-season. “I’m going to pick up his option,” Alexander said. “We’re going to do it soon, relatively soon." -
Houston Chronicle
One might think McGrady, as an inactive player, would be ineligible for the honor but the early indication from the league office is that he would be able to start. There have been parameters for injured players previously but this likely is new territory. Of course, he could be traded to an East team by then and it would be moot because he would be behind the far more deserving Allen Iverson. -
Arizona Republic Blog
Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets top the Western Conference, while LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat lead the Eastern Conference after the third returns of 2010 NBA All-Star Balloting. Bryant, a three-time All-Star MVP, is the overall leader with 1,606,032 votes, while James, a two-time All-Star MVP, is second overall with 1,579,530. -
InsideHoops
He didn't answer directly when asked if he was satisfied general manager Gar Forman's comments Tuesday would put the issue to rest for a while.
"It's been beat up so much, I just really want to focus in on the game and what my job is with this team," Del Negro said. "I think all that stuff will play itself out. I think we just have to try to move forward a little bit and see what direction things go." -
Chicago Sun-Times Blog
But the Pistons coach and backup power forward did have long a discussion after Wednesday's practice session --
Kuester gave Villanueva the key to staying on the floor after he expressed frustration over playing only 12 minutes in Tuesday night's home blowout loss to the Knicks. "I've been struggling the past couple of games," Villanueva said of the team's eight-game losing streak heading into today's game against the Bulls. "We talked about it and I made some defensive, you know, I missed assignments. And he took me out because of that." -
Detroit Free Press
However, Phil Jackson said he didn't believe Abdul-Jabbar's absence has had a profound impact on Andrew Bynum's play. Jackson said the loss of assistant coach Kurt Rambis might have had a greater role in Bynum's diminished statistics, however. Rambis became the Minnesota Timberwolves' new coach this season. -
LA Daily News
When it was suggested he could offer a “no comment” to questions about officiating, Rasheed Wallace said,
“Yeah, I could do that, but I think I have to be honest when I’m asked a question. And what happened to freedom of speech? You know, I say what’s on my mind, speaking my freedom, and I get fined for it. It’s a catch-22 with that (expletive), man. “See, they think they can control people with money. Everybody don’t live like that. That’s how they live up there in that office. They think, ‘Oh, I’m going to hit him in the pocket. That’s where it will hurt.’ No, it don’t hurt me. I didn’t have it growing up, so, I mean, either way it don’t hurt me. As long as my family’s cool, I’m cool. It ain’t hurting my family. I make sure of that.” -
Boston Herald
NBA officials can do whatever it is they do in these circumstances. They can consider the arguments and render a judgment. The Rockets don't care. This is it, they said, the last meeting they will have with the Dallas Mavericks this season. The Mavericks have sought an additional 61 seconds on the court with the Rockets beyond tonight's game. They protested the Rockets' victory in Dallas, hoping to replay the final 1:01 after center Erick Dampier was ejected for his second technical foul. The NBA is expected to rule early next week. -
Houston Chronicle
After virtually every home game, Bulls general manager Gar Forman and coach Vinny Del Negro share a debriefing in Del Negro's office. Tuesday night's lasted far longer than usual. When Del Negro finally emerged to hold his postgame news conference, his typical upbeat nature was missing, replaced by a palpable gloominess despite a solid victory over the Pacers. -
Chicago Tribune
The agent for New Orleans Hornets guard Devin Brown said Wednesday a proposed deal that would have sent Brown to the Minnesota Timberwolves fell through for financial reasons. Mark Termini, Brown's Cleveland-based representative, said the Hornets wanted Brown to give up some money in order for the salaries to match, as per the NBA's collective bargaining agreement. Without that sacrifice, the trade for Jason Hart, who was subsequently traded to the Phoenix Suns, would not be approved. -
New Orleans Times Picayune
The problem is that even though the Sixers are 22nd in the league in team salary, their bloated payroll of $62.9 million is still well over the NBA cap of $57.7 million. And for the 2010-11 season, when the cap is expected to drop, the Sixers' payroll is expected to rise to $65 million. That's why the Sixers should do whatever it takes to win the Tracy McGrady sweepstakes. -
Philadelphia Daily News
Grunfeld would not address specific trade rumors when reached by telephone on Wednesday, but when asked if he wanted to make a move, he said, "It depends on how things go and what opportunities present themselves." The Houston Rockets are shopping Tracy McGrady and his $23 million expiring contract, but making a trade for him would make it a difficult match in salaries. ESPN.com reported that the Wizards made an exploratory call, offering Arenas for McGrady, but a league source said such a deal was "unrealistic." -
Washington Post
"The last two years, we've got a loser mentality," Arenas surmised. "We're finding ways to lose basketball games. From forcing shots to turnovers, if you can think of it, we're doing it." Haywood, meanwhile, said Washington's problems stem from players choosing to focus on offense rather than defending. -
Washington Times
The Atlanta Hawks plan to file a game protest after the shot clock failed to reset in the final two minutes of their 106-101 loss in Cleveland on Wednesday night. After Cleveland's Mo Williams shot an air ball with 1:56 left and the Cavs trailing 99-98, the Cleveland scoring crew failed to reset the shot clock to 24 seconds. Mike Bibby dribbled across halfcourt and passed to Josh Smith, who lost the ball in the lane as the abbreviated shot clock was winding down. The Cavs went back the other way and scored on Anderson Varejao's putback of a Williams miss to take a 100-99 lead with 1:31 left. The Cavs eventually won on Varejao's first career 3-pointer, which made it 104-101 with 17.2 seconds left. The shot was reviewed and correctly upheld via replay, which confirmed that Varejao had both feet behind the 3-point line. -
CBS Sports
There were some sketchy reports in the summer of 2008 that the Pistons were close to a deal for McGrady. It never really got that close because Houston wanted Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups. Because McGrady has such a bloated contract – he’s the NBA’s highest-paid player this year at about $23 million – it’s pretty easy to figure out what would work. It would have to be a deal that included two of Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Ben Gordon. But McGrady is now a much different asset than he was two years ago. He’s damaged goods. It’s very unlikely he’ll ever be an All-Star-caliber player again, let alone a superstar. -
Pistons.com
Nelson on point guard Monta Ellis leading the league in minutes: “Yeah I think it’s definitely going to catch him pretty soon, because he also has that surgically repaired ankle that we always worry about. And you start playing that many minutes you’re going to have problems with parts of your body that get dinged and then when you do, it takes your toll on you.” -
Sports Radio Interviews
Triano on the way that shooting has been a lost art in the NBA: “I think that it has, but I think the pure form to shoot has been lost at all levels of basketball. I think there are a lot of guys that can flat knock it down, but sometimes the game and the way the game is played has filtered players to where they want to dunk the basketball all the time and the game has become super athletic and it’s about drives and flashy plays to the rim." -
Sports Radio Interviews
LeBron James celebrated his 25th birthday today by scoring an impressive 48 points for the Cleveland Cavaliers, leading the team to a victory over the Atlanta Haws, 106-101. The icing on the cake for the superstar forward was revealed post-game by his teammate Shaquille O'Neal. After the game, Shaq said during the post-game show that he bought James a White Rolls Royce Phantom for this birthday. With an MSRP of over $400,000, that's quite the impressive gift. -
Cleveland Leader
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(From the Associated Press) - Derrick Rose scored 22 points, and Joakim Noah added 15 points and 21 rebounds to help the Bulls end a six-week road drought with a 98-87 victory over Detroit...Chicago had lost eight straight on the road, but never trailed while handing Detroit its ninth straight loss. The Pistons (11-21) are 10 games under .500 for the first time since the 2000-01 season, but coach John Kuester was still encouraged...Tyrus Thomas added 19 points for Chicago (13-17), and John Salmons had 17. Rodney Stuckey led the Pistons with 22 points despite leaving the game twice in the first half after spraining his left ankle...The Bulls led 44-39 after a sloppy first half that saw the teams combine for 22 turnovers. Detroit got to 46-44 in the third quarter, but Chicago led 69-56 at the end of the period. The Bulls led by 20 as the Palace emptied during the fourth quarter.
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(By PAUL J. WEBER From the Associated Press) - Tim Duncan had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and San Antonio beat a winning team for the first time in a month with a 108-78 victory over the Miami Heat on Thursday night—the most lopsided Spurs victory this season...Before the game, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he’s been “not quite as impressed” as his team’s recent roll may suggest since its dominance has only been against weaker competition. Nonetheless, San Antonio won its fourth straight...Michael Beasley scored 26 for the Heat, and Dwyane Wade had 16 before watching the blowout from the bench in the fourth. The Heat fell on the road for the second consecutive night. Back-to-back games have been trouble for Miami, which is 1-7 whether playing on the first or second night...Tony Parker had 15 points and rookie DeJuan Blair had 14 for the Spurs. Beasley and Wade were the only Heat players in double-figures. Wade was just one point better than his lowest-scoring game of the season, and his seven turnovers were a season-high.
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(By MICHAEL A. LUTZ From the Associated Press) - Brooks scored 30 points, Shane Battier made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 2:11 left, and Rockets beat the Mavericks 97-94 on Thursday night...Brooks followed Battier’s 3 with one of his own for a six-point lead with 1:35 remaining, and the Rockets held on when Jason Kidd missed a potential tying shot from behind the arc in the final second...Jason Terry led a strong bench performance by Dallas with 20 points. Josh Howard had 16 points and Drew Gooden added 10 points off the bench. Shawn Marion had 16 points and Kidd scored 14 for the Mavs, but Dirk Nowitzki sat out much of the first half with three fouls, and finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. Landry added 15 points for the Rockets...The Rockets beat the Mavericks 116-108 in overtime in their last meeting on Dec. 18. There were seven technical fouls called in the game and the Mavericks protested to the NBA that the final 61 seconds should be replayed, believing a “misapplication of the rules” led to the ejection of Dallas center Erick Dampier in the extra period.
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(By JEFF LATZKE From the Associated Press) - Kevin Durant scored 31 points to tie a franchise record for consecutive 30-point games, Collison hit the tying and go-ahead free throws with 4.5 seconds left and the Thunder beat the Utah Jazz 87-86 on Thursday night. The Thunder franchise, which moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City before last season, hadn’t won five in a row since March 18-25, 2005...Collison came away with the ball after Durant missed a jumper from the right wing, and was fouled by Paul Millsap in the process. After hitting only one of his previous four foul shots, Collison made both when it counted the most...Ronnie Price missed a 3-pointer from the right side at the final buzzer for Utah, which got a final surge from Deron Williams to pull ahead before Collison’s game-winning free throws. Carlos Boozer scored 17 points, reserve Wesley Matthews had 14 and Mehmet Okur had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Jazz...Durant surpassed 30 points for the sixth straight game, tying a franchise record set by Spencer Haywood in January 1972. He and Jeff Green ran together for a mid-air chest bump after Price’s shot caromed off the rim, and white, red, yellow and blue balloons dropped from the rafters. The win gave the Thunder the same 18-14 record as Utah, one year after a New Year’s Eve win against Golden State was only their fourth of the season.
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(From the Associated Press) - With assistant coach Tony Brown orchestrating the show, the Clippers used a strong fourth quarter to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 104-88 on Thursday night in the NBA’s final game of the decade. Chris Kaman had 26 points and 10 rebounds, as all the Clippers’ starters scored in double figures...Baron Davis had 20 points and seven assists for the Clippers and Marcus Camby contributed 14 points and 10 boards. Los Angeles completed a season sweep of the 76ers after losing both meetings in each of the previous two seasons. Lou Williams led Philadelphia with 19 points and Elton Brand had 17 in his first road game against the Clippers since he left town as a free agent. The 76ers, coming off victories over Portland and Sacramento, still haven’t won three in a row this season...Brand, who signed a five-year, $80 million contract with the Sixers in July 2008 after he opted out of his Clippers contract, came off the bench for the ninth straight game. When he reported in with 3:18 left in the first quarter and Philadelphia leading 25-16, he was booed lustily by the crowd of 15,257. “It was definitely strange, playing on the other side here. It was kind of surreal,” Brand said. “I mean, there were a few plays where they did something good, and I wanted to give Kaman a high-five. But it’s been a long time since I left, so it was a lot easier.”
