First Cup: Thursday

• Jill Painter of the Los Angeles Daily News: "Kobe Bryant isn't really sorry for using a homophobic slur, and that's worse than saying it. The Lakers superstar was in the middle of a tantrum during Tuesday's game against San Antonio, when he angrily went to the bench after being called for a technical foul. He flung his towel, punched a chair and then tried to get NBA official Bernie Adams' attention. You don't need a degree in lip-reading to know exactly what Bryant said. It's as clear as the No. 24 on Bryant's tarnished Lakers uniform. Bryant used the F-bomb, then a homophobic slur that also started with 'f' and was rightly fined $100,000 by the NBA. His behavior, and the childlike rant, is inexcusable. His refusal to apologize is more disturbing. After issuing a nonapology apology in the morning, Bryant did a radio interview on 710-AM (ESPN) and seemed to suddenly realize the implications the word could have, even if he still wasn't sorry about it. ... Bryant made a big-time mistake by using that derogatory term in front of millions. He erred greatly, but he has a chance to make something good out of something deplorable. A chance to right a wrong. His first attempt at doing so was laughable. Try again, Kobe."
• Herb Gould of the Chicago Sun-Times: "The Bulls have posted the NBA’s best record four times before. Each time, they have followed that up with the NBA championship. It was a splendid regular season, punctuated by a monster finish. Led by MVP front-runner Rose, the Bulls won 21 of their last 23, including their last nine, and finished with a 36-5 record at the United Center. All of that good stuff has given them the top seed in the East, which they will exercise when they open at noon Saturday against the No. 8 Indiana Pacers, whom they beat in three of four regular-season games. And all of that good stuff has left them feeling good. Not as chest-thumping good as their rabid fans. But good about what they have done to this point. And quietly confident about what they can accomplish if they tune out all the chatter and play the way they’ve been playing."
• Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald: "Inside the locker room, the Bulls prepared for a radically different playoff journey. The last two years, they were heavy underdogs against Boston and Cleveland. Now they're the No. 1 seed in the East and heavy favorites against Indiana in the first round. 'I'm even more anxious right now, because I've never been in the position in the NBA where I'm the top seed,' Derrick Rose said. 'The last two years, we were always the underdog. I'll have to see how this is going to go. There's definitely going to be pressure. I'm just anxious to see how we're going to handle it.' Joakim Noah, one of only three Bulls who were around for those two playoff series, felt it's a matter of how they look at this challenge. 'Even though we're No. 1 in the East, we're still going to go with that underdog mentality,' Noah said. 'Expectations really don't mean anything. Nobody believed we could win 62 ballgames this year, especially with the injuries we went through this year.' "
• Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: "The Heat’s video coordinators started editing film of the Sixers earlier this week, and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he would prepare for the East’s No.7 seed in earnest during the team’s flight from Toronto to Miami. 'We accomplished I think what we wanted to in the regular season in terms of building a game that’s ready for the playoffs -- really building those habits defensively, which take a long time,' Spoelstra said. 'When you’re incorporating nine new players, demanding a philosophy and building a philosophy on that side of the floor it takes time.' The regular season didn’t begin as expected for the Heat -- it was 9-8 through November -- but Miami rebounded. Only the San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls finished with better records than the Heat, which fell three wins shy of tying the franchise’s high-water mark of 61 regular-season wins."
• John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News: "Again, I thought 42 would have been big, but it was not going to define the season for the Sixers. And if they can get Iguodala and Williams back healthy and somehow regroup to push the Heat in this playoff series, then that last week of the season will really be irrelevant. Nobody is giving the Sixers a chance of playing more than five games, if that, against Miami. But this has been an entire season of surprises for the Sixers. 'I've got to keep their spirits up,' Doug Collins said of what he has to do going into Saturday's game. 'I'd like to think they know that we have a chance to get our guys healthy and get back to the way we've played most of the year. The one thing I've always felt is that you either have confidence or you don't. I don't think anybody ever takes your confidence. I think you give it away. I think our guys are very confident.' We'll find out how much that matters starting Saturday."
• Monique Walker of The Boston Globe: "The Celtics left the court at the Staples Center last June 17 unsure if they would get back to the NBA Finals. That night, Boston lost Game 7 to the Lakers. Today the Celtics begin their postseason march back to the Finals. Boston ended the regular season with a 112-102 victory last night against the Knicks, their first-round postseason opponent beginning Sunday. 'I think this is what our guys have been playing for all year,’ Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. 'You know, when you lose a Game 7 it sticks with you and that’s very difficult to get back through the regular season because the whole season you’re thinking about, ‘Gosh, we’ve got to go through 82 of these just to have a chance to get back to where were last year’ and now all that part is gone. And now we can start trying to get back to and finish the job.’ "
• Howard Beck of The New York Times: "The Knicks and the Celtics played a game Wednesday night, because the schedule requires 82, but it resembled an October exhibition much more than a playoff preview. Both teams exercised caution over playing time. The Celtics rested their entire starting five -- Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Jermaine O’Neal. The Knicks held out Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups. At the final buzzer, the Celtics’ bench had beaten the Knicks’ bench, 112-102. The cheers and taunts were muted, as if the fans, too, were waiting for something worth screaming about. It will come Sunday, when these teams take the court for Game 1 of the playoffs. Game 2 will be played Tuesday, also in Boston, before the series shifts to Madison Square Garden next Friday, for the Knicks’ first home playoff game in seven years. 'Now we know what it takes; it’s the real season now in the postseason,' said Amar’e Stoudemire, who spearheaded the return to the playoffs."
• Zach McCann of the Orlando Sentinel: "Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy isn’t afraid to mince words about his players, whether it’s a compliment or a criticism, and he’s one of the more honest coaches in sports. Magic fans should hope he’s being honest about what he said Wednesday night. After the Orlando Magic’s 92-74 win over the Indiana Pacers -- a game in which both teams were undoubtedly going through the motions and the Magic turned the ball over 28 times -- expressed confidence in his team’s ability to beat anyone in the playoffs. 'If we play well, if we’re healthy and play at a good energy level and play to our potential, we can beat anybody. I think our chances are as good as anyone’s. But we have to play well. We’re not going to d oit, obviously, turning the ball over a lot and things like that. But, I like our chances.' "
• Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "The Hawks have been looking ahead to their playoff series against Orlando for a week and played like it again in a 96-85 loss to Charlotte. Coach Larry Drew’s bigger concern was his team’s health, especially after he saw Lakers center Andrew Bynum and Chicago’s Ronnie Brewer suffer injuries in games Tuesday. ... The Hawks (44-38) finished the season with nine fewer victories than last season after closing with a season-long six-game losing streak. Four of those defeats came after their playoff seeding was locked in at No. 5 and Drew began to limit minutes for his starters. But Hawks regulars were outplayed in all four games while they were on the court. Now they will have to find their edge over two days of practice before Game 1 at Orlando on Saturday night. 'Hopefully the rest will do us some good,' Hawks guard Kirk Hinrich said. 'I still feel like everyone in this locker room believes we are a dangerous team. I am just ready to get going. I think everybody feels that way. Since we clinched our spot, locked it in, everybody is kind of like, ‘Let’s get to the playoffs and do it.’ '"
• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: "The Spurs could stomach losing their season finale Wednesday night. Losing Manu Ginobili? Now that could be a problem. In an untimely accident, Ginobili suffered a hyperextended right elbow during the first quarter of the Spurs’ 106-103 season-ending loss at Phoenix, casting in doubt his availability for the start of the Western Conference playoffs against Memphis this weekend. Forget ceding control of the NBA’s top overall record to Chicago. There was only one way the Spurs’ season finale could have ended in catastrophe, and it happened just 2:14 into the game. Ginobili was coming across a Tim Duncan pick, with Suns forward Grant Hill trailing, when he appeared to get his arm pinned between his teammate and his opponent, bending the elbow backward before tumbling to the court in evident discomfort. X-rays taken at US Airways Center were negative. Ginobili is scheduled for an MRI today, at which point the Spurs will have a better feel for a timetable."
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: "This is what happens when you make a promise and deliver. Michael Heisley, a wildly successful Chicago-based businessman, said in 2008 that the Grizzlies would be a playoff team by 2011. He called it a "three-year plan" to become competitive -- and now the much-discussed, oft-mocked prediction has come true. The NBA playoffs begin this weekend and Memphis is in for the first time since 2006. 'I'm hoping that this is the beginning,' Heisley said. 'We have a young team that can beat anybody in the playoffs.' So how did Heisley go from being an owner many fans loved to hate to someone revered for following through? 'It's really a normal evolution of a team,' coach Lionel Hollins said. 'We made some good draft picks, signed some free agents and made some trades.' That's the three-year plan in its simplest form."
• Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune: "As first-year coach Monty Williams reflected in American Airlines Center -- with the Hornets’ 121-89 loss to the Mavs -- one word that stuck out was 'gratifying.' 'It’s been a gratifying year from a number of respects,' said Williams, who finished his first regular season 46-36. 'Just the fact that I’ve been privileged to coach this team, being around the guys, being able to help guys get better, being able to clinch and make it to the playoffs ... things I wasn’t quite sure of before I took the job, or even at the beginning of the season, especially after the (1-7) preseason we had. After the season, we’ll be able to reflect on all those things, Lord willing, in June. As of now, we have a good group of guys, and we’re looking forward to finishing the season strong.' With the loss, New Orleans finished seventh after Memphis lost to the Clippers. Dallas became the third seed after the Lakers defeated the Kings. The Hornets will meet the Lakers in the first round."
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: "Sit back. Relax. This year's postseason run could take a while. The road to the Western Conference Finals just got far less rocky for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Following a 110-106 overtime loss in the regular season finale to Milwaukee inside Oklahoma City Arena, the Thunder locked up a first-round matchup with the Denver Nuggets. It appears to be the best possible scenario for the Thunder. As the No. 4 seed, Oklahoma City will have home-court advantage and host the first two contests in the seven-game series with the 5th-seeded Nuggets. A potential second-round matchup with San Antonio looms if the Thunder wins the series and the Spurs down Memphis in their 1 vs. 8 first-round matchup. 'The key is to advance. It don't matter how you do it,' said Kendrick Perkins, the Thunder's most experienced playoff performer with 68 postseason games for the Boston Celtics."
• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: "Not only did Nene finish with the best shooting percentage (.615) in the league, it's the third-highest season percentage of an active NBA player. Only Andris Biedrins (.626 for Golden State) and Tyson Chandler (.623 for New Orleans), both in 2007-08, shot a higher percentage than Nene did this season for the Nuggets. 'He's a tremendously efficient player,' Denver coach George Karl said of Nene, who averaged a career-high 14.5 points in 75 games. 'He prides himself on being a team-oriented player, so he doesn't force a lot of shots. And he's such a huge target under the basket. He has great hands and he can finish in tough situations.' Nene's shooting percentage ranks 17th in NBA history, not bad considering that nine of the top 17 were produced by Wilt Chamberlain and Artis Gilmore."
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: "The Mavericks got tough for a half of basketball Wednesday night, bashed the New Orleans Hornets, then waited. A couple hours later, they found out the Los Angeles Lakers had wrapped up the No. 2 seed. So the Mavericks were pushed to No. 3 and will play the sixth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the playoffs. Like seven other Western Conference teams, the Blazers were hoping it would turn out this way. 'The feeling is we have something to prove,' said Jason Terry, one of seven Mavericks in double figures in a 121-89 domination of the Hornets in the regular season finale. 'We’re a team that everyone wants to play, for some reason or another. I guess it’s good in a way. They’re going to get their shot, one by one. All seven other teams wanted to play us. “Now, we’re the underdog and we’re going out fighting every night.'
• Jason Quick of The Oregonian: "It took until the final seconds of the NBA season, but the Trail Blazers finally have their first round playoff opponent: the Dallas Mavericks. The pairing was met with mixed emotions, if not indifference, in the Blazers locker room as some of the players sat around a television to watch the overtime portion of the Lakers’ win over Sacramento, which clinched the No. 2 seed for the Lakers and pushed Dallas to No. 3. The Blazers (48-34) split their four-game series this season with Dallas (57-25), with each team winning twice on its own court. 'A good matchup for us,’ forward Nicolas Batum said. LaMarcus Aldridge, who is from Dallas, said he is happy to be returning home, but not thankful of meeting a team loaded with All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, super sub Jason Terry and future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd. When asked to describe his feelings about facing Dallas, Aldridge was quick to answer. 'Not happy,’ he said. 'It’s not like, ‘Oh thank you, we’ve got Dallas!’ They are really, really good. It’s going to be a tough task.’ "
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: "Saying goodbye? After another Kings-Lakers classic? That's a difficult thing to do. Maybe the Maloofs don't feel the passion, but as an L.A.-based journalist, I traveled to Sacramento for the beginning. I heard stories about cows in nearby pastures. I heard about a temporary arena and a second arena on the drawing board. I was introduced to a loud, loving, homespun crowd. The NBA still doesn't have many places like this. What a waste."

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/27358/first-cup-thursday-151

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