http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/12605478p-13459768c.html
Mark Kreidler: Wanna play guard for a few minutes?
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Good to be with you. I almost didn't make it. My tryout with the Kings went a little longer than expected.
• So Tim Duncan sprained his ankle pretty badly, and that could leave San Antonio vulnerable around the middle down the stretch, and ... oh, wait. No longer relevant here. The Kings are currently consumed with trying to figure out how to beat the Warriors.
• No doubt about it, Mike Montgomery has to be happy with Golden State going 4-4 on a recent long road trip and winning its last three in a row. This is not actually the same as saying he made the right move in leaving Stanford to come to the hired-to-be-fired NBA, no matter how much Warriors fans would love to spin it that way. Monty's gettin' paid major bank to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and even the occasional good times. Keep Baron Davis healthy, the good times could hang around awhile.
• If only LeBron James had scored 66 points instead of 56 on Sunday, the Cavaliers would have beaten Toronto by three rather than losing by seven. Hey, maybe next time. (Paul Silas: Fired as Cleveland's coach on Monday.)
• "We have to have a little run right now, an eight-game win streak, something like that," Minnesota's Sam Cassell said after the T-Wolves beat Houston on Sunday. The Wolves are 19-15 at home, 15-19 on the road. Just not sure there's an eight-game run there, either way. (Translation: The Kings, even with all their uncertainty, almost cannot fall out of the postseason field no matter what.)
• There were rumors for more than a year that Don Nelson was on the outs with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, but let's face it: Nellie made his exit the right way. He picked Avery Johnson to succeed him, worked Johnson into the mix as the spot-starter at head coach when Nelson couldn't go, and thus was able to step away late in the season without the franchise falling into a complete dither. (Bonus: Cuban will like Nelson much better as "consultant" than "coach." Goes with the territory.)
• In a sweet moment, USA Today ran a long cover story in Monday's paper explaining what a mellowed presence Texas Tech coach Bob Knight has become while coaching his impressionable young lads into the NCAA's Sweet 16.
Alas, Knight had just appeared on Sporting News Radio on Saturday, ripping his former employer at Indiana, calling the ex-athletic director a guy who "didn't know his (expletive) from third base" and dismissing current Hoosiers coach Mike Davis, a former Knight assistant, as someone Bob was planning to can before he himself got the boot five years ago.
Missed the Turn a New Leaf Award by that much...
Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/kreidler.
Mark Kreidler: Wanna play guard for a few minutes?
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Good to be with you. I almost didn't make it. My tryout with the Kings went a little longer than expected.
• So Tim Duncan sprained his ankle pretty badly, and that could leave San Antonio vulnerable around the middle down the stretch, and ... oh, wait. No longer relevant here. The Kings are currently consumed with trying to figure out how to beat the Warriors.
• No doubt about it, Mike Montgomery has to be happy with Golden State going 4-4 on a recent long road trip and winning its last three in a row. This is not actually the same as saying he made the right move in leaving Stanford to come to the hired-to-be-fired NBA, no matter how much Warriors fans would love to spin it that way. Monty's gettin' paid major bank to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and even the occasional good times. Keep Baron Davis healthy, the good times could hang around awhile.
• If only LeBron James had scored 66 points instead of 56 on Sunday, the Cavaliers would have beaten Toronto by three rather than losing by seven. Hey, maybe next time. (Paul Silas: Fired as Cleveland's coach on Monday.)
• "We have to have a little run right now, an eight-game win streak, something like that," Minnesota's Sam Cassell said after the T-Wolves beat Houston on Sunday. The Wolves are 19-15 at home, 15-19 on the road. Just not sure there's an eight-game run there, either way. (Translation: The Kings, even with all their uncertainty, almost cannot fall out of the postseason field no matter what.)
• There were rumors for more than a year that Don Nelson was on the outs with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, but let's face it: Nellie made his exit the right way. He picked Avery Johnson to succeed him, worked Johnson into the mix as the spot-starter at head coach when Nelson couldn't go, and thus was able to step away late in the season without the franchise falling into a complete dither. (Bonus: Cuban will like Nelson much better as "consultant" than "coach." Goes with the territory.)
• In a sweet moment, USA Today ran a long cover story in Monday's paper explaining what a mellowed presence Texas Tech coach Bob Knight has become while coaching his impressionable young lads into the NCAA's Sweet 16.
Alas, Knight had just appeared on Sporting News Radio on Saturday, ripping his former employer at Indiana, calling the ex-athletic director a guy who "didn't know his (expletive) from third base" and dismissing current Hoosiers coach Mike Davis, a former Knight assistant, as someone Bob was planning to can before he himself got the boot five years ago.
Missed the Turn a New Leaf Award by that much...
Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/kreidler.
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The more the merrier.
