First Cup: Tuesday

• Randy Youngman of The Orange County Register: "NBA Sacramento Kings co-owner Joe Maloof, in his first public comments related to ongoing negotiations to move the Kings to Anaheim, reacted angrily Monday night after learning a Sacramento city official had sent a letter to an Anaheim city official advising Anaheim officials to 'cease negotiating with the Kings.' 'It's not for the mayor or anybody (in the City of Sacramento) to interfere with our business. That's what I think they're doing, and it's not right,' Maloof told The Orange County Register. 'We would appreciate that they not interfere with our business.' John Dangberg, Sacramento's assistant city manager, sent a letter earlier Monday to Anaheim City Manager Thomas Wood, expressing concern that actions taken by the Anaheim City Council tonight might cause 'irreparable harm to the City of Sacramento.' ... 'That letter is completely wrong, and it was uncalled for -- below the belt -- and it's a shame it had to come out of his office,' Maloof said. 'We tried to be classy and not get in arguments in the media, but I (have to) make this comment. We will continue on with our business and do what is best for the viability of the franchise -- what's best for the franchise and what's best for the league.' "
• Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: "The Heat’s commitment to physical play will be tested Tuesday when it plays at Cleveland for the second time this season. The first trip there was a watershed moment for the Heat, which rallied together amid the harshest of environments. A repeat of December’s vitriolic atmosphere isn’t expected, but the Heat again is preparing for the worst. 'We’re expecting shenanigans,' Chris Bosh said. The Heat arrived in Cleveland on Monday, giving LeBron James time to visit family and friends in nearby Akron, his hometown. 'It can’t get any worse than it was Dec.?2,' James said. 'I know that. I know that for a fact.' "
• Alan Hahn of Newsday: "Desperation turned into inspiration. And inspiration produced Carmelo Anthony's most impressive performance since he arrived in New York more than a month ago. Anthony, who earlier in the day called the game a must win, scored 39 points to lead the Knicks to a 113-106 overtime win over the Magic Monday night at the Garden. It snapped their losing streak at six games and was their second win in 11 games. 'It was definitely a must win for us,' said Anthony, who had 10 rebounds. 'We showed from the first play of the game, just with the intensity that we had, everybody, the starters, the bench. We did a great job, especially on the defensive end.' ... When the buzzer sounded, Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire enjoyed a happy embrace. 'Winning,' said Stoudemire (20 points, nine rebounds), 'always cures all problems.' "
• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: "The mounting odds and the New York Knicks were too much to overcome for the Orlando Magic – or what was left of them. The Magic had only eight players available in the second half, and fell to the struggling Knicks 113-106 Monday night in overtime at Madison Square Garden. They also lost Dwight Howard in the extra period after he fouled out and picked up his 17th technical foul (one more tech and he will be suspended for a game). 'It was tough after that,' coach Stan Van Gundy said. Howard protested his sixth foul on an offensive rebound with one minute, 17 seconds left, and Orlando behind 108-106. He angrily flung the ball to the other end of the floor. 'It was one of those crazy games,' Magic point guard Chris Duhon. How crazy? Duhon injured his right thumb and was unable to play in the second half, leaving the Magic (47-27) with only one point guard -- Gilbert Arenas -- and just eight players."
• Gerry Callahan of the Boston Herald: "Teams go through bad stretches. It happens. Even America’s team, Virginia Commonwealth, lost 11 times this season. The Celtics are going through an ugly stretch right now -- they have lost 6-of-11 and scored 90 points just three times in that span -- and there are more theories for their tailspin than tattoos on Delonte West’s torso. The new guys are still learning. The old guys are pacing themselves. Everyone is waiting for one O’Neal or the other to show up. The top spot in the East means everything to Chicago and to Miami, and not so much to the Celtics, who went to Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals after finishing fourth in the regular season. The Celtics can blame their slump on any number of factors, but there is one thing they definitely cannot, they must not, attribute it to: The Trade. Sorry, but The Trade isn’t the reason for the slide. The Trade is just an excuse, and a lame one at that. When he played, Kendrick Perkins [stats] was an average player for this team — good defender, decent rebounder, and not much more than a compulsive moving picker on the offensive end. All in all, a good role player who was surrounded by stars who made him look better every night. If the loss of that guy is the reason for this funk, then maybe general manager Danny Ainge did make a mistake. He assumed the four stars could carry on without Kendrick Abdul-OlajuEwing. Maybe he gave them too much credit. Maybe they’re not as mentally tough as he thought."
• Jason Quick of The Oregonian: "It wasn't pretty, it wasn't dominating, and it wasn't against the full cast of the San Antonio Spurs, but the Blazers' 100-92 victory over the league leaders counted just as much as any other win, which pushed the Blazers (43-31) closer to the playoffs. 'We won,' said Andre Miller, who led Portland with 26 points. 'That's all that matters.' ... Less than an hour before the game, a buzz started circulating among the Blazers when they saw Parker on the court in a business suit. Eventually, Blazers forward Nicolas Batum went over to talk to Parker, a friend and fellow Frenchman. Parker told Batum that he was being held out along with starting power forward Antonio McDyess because Popovich wanted to prevent Parker from joining the injured ranks of Duncan (sprained ankle) and Ginobili (thigh bruise). Only small forward Richard Jefferson was among the normal starters for the Spurs, who sent out two rookies (Tiago Splitter and James Anderson) and two efficient reserves, sharp-shooting Matt Bonner and high-scoring George Hill. Immediately, Blazers coach Nate McMillan said the contest became 'a trap game' because of the way the mind works, thinking the game was suddenly going to be easier."
• Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: "There were plenty of blunders earlier this season -- and, yes, some as recently as last month -- but the Lakers finally see something ahead of them. It's not the finish line. It's the staggering San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers suddenly have a Texas-sized carrot in front of them for their final nine games: San Antonio is down to a 31/2 -game lead atop the Western Conference after another loss Monday. ... Not all the Lakers are showing interest in the Spurs. 'It doesn't matter to us whether we catch them or not,' Kobe Bryant said. 'We try to win every game. If we catch them, so be it. If we don't, so be it.' Before the Lakers took the court Sunday against New Orleans, Derek Fisher walked past a TV in the locker room just as Memphis was finishing off San Antonio. Fisher showed no expression. In fact, he didn't even stop. For what it's worth, the Lakers trail the Spurs in the season series, 2-1."
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: "As far as Tom Thibodeau is concerned, the Bulls lost their first home game since Jan. 18 on Monday morning as much as they did on Monday night. A sluggish, unfocused shootaround led to a sluggish, unfocused start and double-digit first-quarter deficit, and the 76ers held on for a 97-85 triumph. That snapped the Bulls' home win streak at 14 and dropped them to 32-5 at the United Center. 'There are really no excuses,' Joakim Noah said. 'It's a wake-up call. We don't have anything figured out. People are telling us, 'Oh, you're going to win this game. It's easy.' Nothing is easy in this league. We didn't start this game with the right mindset. And it bit us in the ass.' About the only saving grace came when the Celtics lost again, this time on the road to the Pacers."
• Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: "Mike D'Antoni's decision not to hold game-day shootarounds isn't about rest or X's and O's. Instead, it comes down to rush hour traffic. 'New York's a little bit different than other places,' D'Antoni said Monday. 'I just don't know if Amar'e being in a car for two hours in the morning of a game is the way to go. If we can get a shootaround the day before, if we can get our work done, then I don't think that's the way to go. If we can't get our work done then yeah, we'll do this.' Monday, the Knicks held their first home morning shootaround, which is standard operating procedure for most teams. D'Antoni does conduct game-day shootarounds on the road but has passed on holding them for home games. It's a questionable decision since the Knicks went 18-23 at home last year and were 19-17 entering Monday night's game against Orlando. ... Donnie Walsh suggested that getting the team out of bed for an early game-day workout isn't such a bad thing. 'When you're losing a lot you change something,' Walsh said. 'We'll see if the change helps us.' "
• Herb Gould of the Chicago Sun-Times: "Derrick Rose’s whirling-dervish moves to the basket are the talk of the town as well as the NBA. But the MVP front-runner points to something else when asked about the Bulls’ hopes of making good on their NBA championship promise. Tough defense. 'If you want to win, to separate yourself from all other teams in the NBA, you’ll do it,’ Rose said. 'We have good guys on this team. They’re winners. They do extra stuff. You don’t want to be the one who messes up a practice because other teams are having great practices. That could put you back a little bit. We just try to come in and work hard every day, especially on the defensive side.’ That has added up to a defense that -- before Monday’s games -- ranked first in opponents’ field-goal shooting (42.8 percent), opponents’ three-point shooting (32.7 percent) and second in points allowed (91.1 a game) and rebounds per game (44.4) and fifth in blocks per game (5.72)."
• Tom Enlund of the Journal Sentinel: "Bucks guard Michael Redd, coming back from a major knee injury, played in his first game since Jan. 10, 2010, and went scoreless with four assists in 15 minutes. He missed all three of his shots. Forward Drew Gooden, coming back from a foot injury that had sidelined him since late January, returned and had two points, eight rebounds and four fouls in 16 minutes. Redd had looked forward to playing in a game again for a long, long time. 'One of my greatest games ever,' said Redd. 'To come back from two ACLs. Just to be back on that court tonight. I put up a doughnut but was productive and had a blast being out there with the guys. I hate that we lost, but just to be out there was probably one of the best nights of my career.' Redd got the call early, first entering the game with 9:54 left in the first quarter after John Salmons picked up two quick fouls. 'I sprinted (to the scorers' table) as if I was a rookie,' said Redd."
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: "I’ll ask this question for the second time in as many games: Have you seen a more confusing team than the Pacers? They looked bad in losses to Sacramento and Detroit, but then they go out and beat the Boston Celtics on Monday. Go figure. ... 'When I’m old and gray I’m going to look back and wonder what was wrong with us, why we couldn’t beat teams like Sacramento and Detroit, but we can beat Boston and Chicago,' Pacers forward Danny Granger said. 'I don’t know, we’re going to have to figure it out at some point.' The Pacers have to figure it out because four of their final seven games are against teams with a losing record."
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: "Consider it good news that the Mavericks' next three games on this road trip are against Pacific Division teams. After they overwhelmed Phoenix at the finish line Sunday night, the Mavericks now own a 12-1 record against the Pacific Division. The lone loss was against the Lakers a couple weeks ago in Dallas. The Mavericks are 3-0 against Golden State, 2-0 against the Clippers, 1-1 against the Lakers, 3-0 against Sacramento and 3-0 against the Suns. Their next three games: Clippers, Lakers, Warriors. Of course, the Pacific Division is looking more and more like a one-hit wonder. The Lakers are among the championship favorites, of course. But the other four teams are all lottery bound."
• Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: "Because of ongoing misinformation from a variety of sources and skeptics, let me clarify again as the Mavericks-Lakers big game nears: In case of a tie with Dallas in the regular-season standings, the Lakers are positioned in this case to have the first tiebreaker, which would be if one team is a division champion but the other is not. Yes, I did clarify this with the NBA office. I really, really did. The Lakers have already clinched the Pacific Division, and the Mavericks continue to trail the slumping Spurs for the Southwest Division. So even if the Mavericks beat the Lakers on Thursday night to win the season series, 2-1, that would not be the primary tiebreaker in this case. Head-to-head record would be the second tiebreaker if Dallas winds up passing San Antonio and still finishing tied with the Lakers. The NBA tweaked the rule in 2008 to give division champions a little extra pull primarily to avoid a situation where in a three-way tie a team that didn’t win its division could wind up the conference’s No. 1 seed (based on head-to-head records against the other teams)."
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: "In two games against OKC this season, Stephen Curry has averaged 42.0 minutes, 31.0 points, 9.5 assists, 2.0 steals and is shooting 63.2 percent from the field. As a rookie last season, he averaged 21.0 points, 4.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds. General manager Sam Presti and coach Scott Brooks obviously won't discuss what the Thunder might be with Curry on its roster, which would be disrespectful to Curry, James Harden and all teammates. However, Presti and Brooks freely confirm Curry and Harden are superb fits precisely where they are. Harden particularly has excelled since the Thunder's trades 16 games ago with Boston and Charlotte. The 21-year-old Harden is sandwiched between a pair of 22-year-old All-Stars in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook on the league's third-youngest roster. The 23-year-old Curry plays alongside a should-be All-Star in fellow guard Monta Ellis. To those longing for a Curry-Harden swap, a reality check: You can't simply swap stats. Statistically, Curry dwarfs Harden. But this is the NBA, not a fantasy league. Players have to blend, feed off each other and make each other better. It's about chemistry, not raw numbers. ... Would Curry also have spurred a 27-win improvement? Maybe, maybe not, but it's hard to argue with what has transpired without him. The Thunder is 98-56 (.636) with Harden on its roster and will advance to the playoffs for a second straight season."
• Monte Poole of The Oakland Tribune: "The music has stopped, the snacks are gone and the party is over. Any euphoria felt by Warriors fans with the fall of the Chris Cohan era has given way to anxieties and debate over the capability of the new regime. Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, the men now atop the organizational chart, haven't been instant saviors. They haven't delivered miracles or engineered dramatic improvement. And with the new Warriors looking a lot like the old Warriors, impatient fans are growing restless. Moreover, clouds of skepticism are forming above Oracle Arena -- directly over the head of Lacob, the managing member of ownership. It's much too early to conclude that Lacob won't find the right answers. That wouldn't be fair to a man who has been on the job since November. It's not reasonable or rational to expect him to so quickly repair and redirect a vessel adrift for all but a few moments over the past 16 years. It's not unfair, however, to wonder if he can repair and redirect the thing at all. By all accounts, Lacob already has influenced the culture at Warriors headquarters. He's asking questions, prodding and probing. It's apparent he wants everyone on the payroll working to improve the product. He projects energy. He said he'd be an active owner and he has been precisely that. But action isn't always productive or effective. Some of Lacob's words and actions suggest he might perceive himself as not just the managing owner but the unofficial general manager. That's perilous territory. ... Clueless or genius is a game fans play with their GM. They don't want to play it with the owner. Ever. And Lacob would be wise to avoid it altogether, no matter how much he trusts his instincts."
• Stephenson of The Star-Ledger: "Anthony Morrow has quietly become the Nets’ top offseason acquisition. He is averaging 13.2 points and shooting 42.4 percent from 3-point range in 43 starts, the most of his career. His career 3-point shooting percentage trails only Steve Kerr (.454) in NBA history. 'I’ve only played with one other shooter similar to him and that’s Kyle Korver, a guy that’s just a dead-eye 3-point shooter,' Nets point guard Deron Williams said. 'Guys like that are a point guard’s dream, because you’re pretty much mad when they miss.' "
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: "Kevin Drurant already taken seven more 3-pointers this year than he did last season. And there's still 10 games left to play. AND if he plays each of the remaining 10, he'll still be four shy of last year, when he played all 82 games. The numbers have been shocking. He seems to have diversified his game much more in his fourth season. But his 3-point attempts are staggering."
• Kaye Fagan of The Philadelphia Inquirer: "Let's just take a minute to address this drama surrounding Saturday night's Lil Wayne concert. The details are simple: Lou Williams and a few others 76ers attended Saturday night's concert despite having a noon game the following day vs. the Sacramento Kings. After the loss, Lou, believing their attendance at the concert had already been brought up, commented on it, saying that some guys who went to the concert played well (Jrue Holiday, Spencer Hawes), while other guys didn't play so well (Lou himself). Pretty quickly, this became a very big deal with folks saying the Sixers were being unprofessional and immature, staying out until 3:30 a.m. in the morning, and jeopardizing their preparation for the game -- an overtime loss to the Kings. Before tonight's game against the Chicago Bulls, we went straight to Lou himself to get an explanation about exactly how all of this blew up on them. Later, I went back to Lou to ask him if he really was out until 3:30 a.m. and he denied that, saying he has a kid now and he can't be out all night like that. He seemed exasperated by all of this and didn't want to keep talking about it."
• Bob Young of The Arizona Republic: "Gary Bender announced his retirement from broadcasting Monday, effective at the conclusion of the Suns season. He will return to Kansas, where he attended graduate school and once served as voice of the Jayhawks, to serve as a consultant for the KU Alumni Association. 'It's going back to my roots,' Bender said. Bender has called Suns TV games for nearly two decades. 'Gary defines the word 'professional' in the broadcasting industry,' Suns President and CEO Rick Welts said. 'His class, talent and character have combined to give Suns fans 18 years of great memories and unforgettable moments lived through his words.' In addition to the Suns, Bender has been the TV or radio voice of five pro football, basketball or baseball teams. And as a network broadcaster for CBS and ABC he called some of the more memorable sports moments in history, including Michael Jordan's game-winning shot for North Carolina in the 1982 NCAA Tournament title game and North Carolina State's 1983 upset of Houston that sent coach Jim Valvano running onto the court looking for someone to hug."
• David Rowell of The Washington Post: "When head coach Flip Saunders emerged from the tunnel before tipoff against the Milwaukee Bucks, he had the pained expression of a teacher who had just been assigned to teach summer school. Now Terrance Briscoe, 6 feet 2 inches tall, was stepping onto the court to stretch, gripping the toe of his size-15 sneaker. The shrill whine of Guns N’ Roses’ ubiquitous “Welcome to the Jungle” blasted over a crowd still finding their seats. As if hit with an electric bolt, Briscoe’s knees collapsed, and his arms began to flail to the chainsawlike grind of the guitars. As his hips swung from side to side, he had the look of a scarecrow trying to get out of the path of a hurricane. And then just as quickly, his body snapped back into place, and he sprinted up the closest aisle and waved his hands, which are as big as cutting boards, to see if he could get a few fist pumps in the air. And he did: a few. The Wizards reject the term male cheerleader, and they don’t like male dancer, either. They describe Briscoe as a Hype Guy. But he does dance, and he does cheer, and his smile, which he flashes all night long, is as wide as the backboard he frequently dances behind. And as a man doing these things for thousands of fans every home game, he occupies an exceptionally rare position in all of professional sports. Can we all be okay with that?"

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/26888/first-cup-tuesday-148

Mikko Kozarowitzky Anthony Wayne Stewart Kevin Harvick Andrew Bynum Baron Davis Golden State Warriors