Its time to start focusing on the playoffs and our potential roadblocks to Banner 18. Every day we'll bring you what's making news in enemy territory. This way we know what they're up to when it comes time to take 'em out.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Yahoo!: Maybe James is fighting some war, but Wade lost his own when he let LeBron into his life. He was warned. He didn’t listen. Now, he ought to take his own advice and “live with the consequences.” Mostly, he should stop feeling sorry for himself. LeBron James apologized to his team on Sunday, not Dwyane Wade’s.
Hot Hot Hoops: The Chicago Bulls played as a team led by a superstar. The Heat play individually with Wade, LeBron and Bosh taking turns attempting to score.
Sun Times: There is nothing wrong with crying. Speaker of the House John Boehner is an inveterate crier. People cry on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” all the time. But NBA players after a loss in March? Really?
ESPN Chicago: The days of the Bulls flying under the radar at all now are over … and Rose knows it. But that's OK. MVPs have the spotlight on them every night, and that's the way Rose wanted it in the first place, although, as usual, he deflected any MVP talk for a later date.
Blog A Bull: But after a weekend like this, the Bulls are in a position to where they won't have to see [Miami] again until the Eastern Conference Finals. There's so much to go before then, this edge in the season matchup will likely not be as much of a factor. But man, it was a great and memorable three games, and getting a top seed is the best edge of all
Sentinal: Dwight Howard has lost $201,338 this season because of technical fouls. He’s lost $50,000 on fines from his 16 technical fouls, and he’ll lose $151,338 (1/110th of his total salary) for his one-game suspension Monday night. That money goes to charity.
Orlando Magic Daily: considering Orlando knows it will have to go through at least two of those top three teams — Miami, Boston or Chicago — to get to the Finals, righitng the ship at home might be best for the team. As Van Gundy said, taking care of yourself will be the best way to take care of everything else.
NEXT OPPONENT
Clips Nation: the Clippers are once again without Eric Gordon, after getting him back for a little more than one game after he had missed 18 games with a sprained wrist. But after being once again knocked to the floor… Gordon is out again with the same wrist issue. The initial estimate is 7 to 10 days
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Project Spurs: "They hit us in the mouth from the beginning and by the time we realized it, it was the ninth round and we were down on the scorecard," Spurs guard Gary Neal said.
Project Spurs: “Yeah, of course nobody expects to be losing by more than 20 in the first quarter, but the way the game presented itself, they were making every shot. We couldn’t make layups, threes, free throws, anything, and besides they played more angry. They played with more edge. We were a little, not soft, but waited to see what was going to happen and they came to get it. They deserved it.” – Manu Ginobili.
ESPN LA: Bryant rejected the idea his team sent a grand message to the Spurs. "We know we're capable of having games like this, and I think San Antonio knows we're capable of having games like this. It just as easily could go the oother way around," he said. "We know each other extremely well. We know what we're capable of, we know what they're capable of. I don't think it was that big of a message that we sent today."
Forum Blue & Gold: There were so many positives to take away from this game, it’s difficult to know where to start to praise the team. Actually, that’s a lie. I know exactly where to start. The Lakers defense was tremendous. Again. In the first half they held the Spurs to only 37 points and an offensive efficiency (points per 100 possessions) of 88.1.
LA Times: In a town noted for having no quit, Andrew Bynum added yet more embarrassing commentary on San Antonio's collapse. He said the Spurs' "starters definitely quit.''
Mavs Moneyball: (Dirk On the Loss) "That's what happens sometimes if you give up big leads all the time, at some point, it's going to come back to bite you and today it did."
ESPN Dallas: No doubt the Mavs could have used their starting center against the Grizzlies. After all, Memphis scored 66 points in the paint, which is simply a ridiculous number. But the blame doesn’t all fall on backup big man Brendan Haywood. The Mavs’ team defense was atrocious in the second half. Haywood, who had six blocks, can’t be expected to make up for mistakes every defensive possession.
Welcome to Loud City: the Thunder were outscored in each of the first three quarters, but then surged ahead mid-way through the fourth. I thought things would end there, but with the Thunder failing to increase their lead late in the game, the Suns were able to catch up and make things interesting. A big Vince Carter 3-pointer sent things into overtime. Russell Westbrook and James Harden played the key roles, with Harden getting five of the team's 13 OT points, and Westbrook hitting the game-icing free throws as time ran out.
Daily Thunder: What’s kind of great about this victory is that the Thunder scored 122 points, shot 49 percent from the field andwon despite KD going just 3-14 from the floor. That’s not going to happen often. Why the Thunder got away with it this time was because of huge efforts from Harden (tied his career-high with 26 on just 12 shots) and Westbrook (32 points, 11 assists). It’s becoming pretty obvious that Harden is sort of OKC’s x-factor player
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