I went ahead and split this off. Here's the entire article:
Ten things we learned in the NBA
Mike Kahn / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 1 day ago
As we wind down to the final 10 games of the regular season, times are getting serious for a slew of teams — none more surprising than the Denver Nuggets.
You know the deal, of course. The Nuggets lost Kenyon Martin before the season with a second microfracture knee surgery, made the huge deal to acquire Allen Iverson, overcame a 15-game suspension for Carmelo Anthony and dealt popular Earl Boykins to add Steve Blake. They even got Nene back healthy and playing better than anyone remembered.
Everything began to look good for coach George Karl and his crew in preparation for the playoffs … until it didn't.
1. Item: When the Nuggets were drilled by 17 at Phoenix Friday night, it was their third loss in a row, fifth in six games, and they dropped below .500 for the first time in more than two months.
What this really means: Two of those five losses were unspeakable — losing at Chicago on a tip-in at the buzzer; and an overtime loss to Detroit when a turnover on an inbounds pass with 1.5 seconds left turned into a 65-foot shot from Rasheed Wallace to tie the game at the buzzer (when the Pistons pulled away) They haven't come close to establishing a comfortable chemistry with each other, even if they do look at times as if they are on the verge of being a team capable of challenging an elite team in the playoffs.
So what's the problem? Most of the time, it's just mental gaffes, particularly on the defensive end. The Nuggets will start every game playing tough defense, particularly with Camby blocking shots and Iverson on the ball. But as the game progresses, other than Camby, these guys are all offensive-oriented. Iverson has been terrific sharing the ball with his teammates — particularly with high-scoring Carmelo Anthony and has been vital in the unexpected development of young forward Linas Kleiza. But consistency has not been achieved on either end.
When the game gets tough, they fall into an offensive mindset instead of making defensive stops. And they've been horrible in close games all season — also losing at home to Seattle during the streak, another team that has been horrid in close games. Maybe it's just going to take the rest of this season for the Nuggets to figure out who they are … or maybe it's just a bad fit, period. Nonetheless, the Nuggets entered this week just a couple of games out of ninth place. For them to take the rest of this season to get a grip is not surprising. But should they fall apart and not make the playoffs at all, then it would be unspeakable.
2. Item: One of the surprising developments of the week was the reality that the Dallas Mavericks were about to sign 44-year-old 7-footer Kevin Willis, who has not played in the NBA since a 29-game season in Atlanta that ended in 2005.
What this really means: Willis is expected to sign a 10-day contract on Monday, practice and be in the lineup by the end of the week — allowing him to surpass Robert Parish (43) as the oldest player to ever play in an NBA game. Willis, the 11th overall pick in the 1984 draft by the Atlanta Hawks out of Michigan State, played 10½ years with the Hawks before bouncing around the league for the next 10 seasons as an enforcer mostly off the bench. And yet, he was a big contributor for the 2003-04 champion San Antonio Spurs, and the Mavs are hopeful his inside presence will help defensively and on the boards as they head into the playoffs.
Willis, always an amazing physical specimen, will bring a toughness and experience inside that the Mavs will need to take a run at the first NBA title in their club history. They have run away with the best record in the league, will have homecourt advantage over every team they play and these days general manager Donnie Nelson is just dotting all the I's and crossing all the T's, as is the case with the addition of Willis. It isn't an earth-shattering move by any stretch of the imagination, but these are precisely the little things that may ultimately be the difference in a championship run. Now if the Mavs can just prove capable of handling the Phoenix Suns (after having lost Sunday for the second time in two weeks), they could become the favorites in the West … maybe.
3. Item: Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant finished up the month of March with 53 points in a 107-104 loss to the Houston Rockets,.
What this really means: It was the eighth time this season and fifth time in a seven-game stretch that Bryant scored at least 50 points in a game. He finished March averaging 40.4 points, the fourth time over the past four years he has had a month during which he has averaged at least 40 points — although no other player has averaged 40 points in a season since Wilt Chamberlain in 1967. What's best about this run isn't the extraordinary scoring as much as Bryant's will to get the Lakers back into some semblance of a competitive spirit heading into the post-season.
Lamar Odom has come back from a shoulder injury with superb rebounding stats, scoring OK and becoming a huge part of everything again. Luke Walton hasn't come back as strong yet from his ankle injury, but is improving. Ultimately, it's all about making this team competitive — and presumably lifting the level of play from youngsters Kwame Brown, Andrew Bynum and Smush Parker. There is little question that the Lakers lack the depth to be a serious contender in the West, but it was just a year ago that they were on the verge of eliminating the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs. To overlook this team in the first round would be a serious mistake with the explosiveness of Bryant — but this time around, nobody will underestimate what he is capable of accomplishing.
4. Item: During the course of a week, the Portland Trail Blazers named Kevin Pritchard their general manager, lost leading scorer Zach Randolph for the season with a hand injury and seem primed for Brandon Roy to become their first rookie of the year since Geoff Petrie shared the award with Dave Cowens in 1971.
What this really means: The Blazers are growing and getting back into the mix after a disastrous few seasons that saw them fall from being an perennial postseason performer, a sellout every night and a crucial part of the community's fiber into nearly being sold and moving. Instead, owner Paul Allen re-committed to the team and coach Nate McMillan; re-purchased the Rose Garden and finally handed the future of the team over to Pritchard. The erratic decision-making of deposed president Steve Patterson and John Nash put not only a serious dent into the talent base, but the community that had been pulling away.
Instead, with Pritchard, they have a classy basketball-lifer who cut his teeth as the point guard for Larry Brown's 1984 NCAA Championship team at Kansas; kicked around the NBA for a few years as a support player, ran his own minor league team in Kansas City from the ground up; and then learned how to do everything the right way in San Antonio in the Spurs personnel department. Now he's rebuilding the Blazers with the hard-nosed McMillan as the right coach for the young team. And with Roy to build around, the key may very well be how well Pritchard figures out what to do with the talented but erratic Randolph and injured distraction Darius Miles — the two contracts left from the old regime that still cause a twinge in the hamstring.
5. Item: With all the turmoil going on Seattle with the Sonics trying desperately to get a new building while unable to get into the playoffs, everyone waited for coach Bob Hill to lay out his case for another shot with this team with the final days of his contract coming precariously close.
What this really means: Sure, the Sonics have shown signs of life lately, despite All-Star Ray Allen being out for the year as he prepares for surgery on both ankles. And Rashard Lewis has come back strong from a hand injury that has done nothing but enhance his value on the free agent market this summer when he officially opts out of his contract. Meanwhile, Hill is back on the offensive, as he always has been with excuses and finger-pointing that marred his stays in San Antonio, Indiana, New York and other places that kept him out of the NBA for nearly a decade.
With new owner Clay Bennett seemingly determined to give Lenny Wilkens the primary decision-making ability, all of Hill's lame rhetoric about footprints and developing young players may impress some people. But it's hard to fathom as this team attempts to move forward — perhaps to Bennett's hometown of Oklahoma City if they can't get a building in Seattle — that Bennett won't want to establish his own prints on this franchise, which would preclude Hill.
Just as they did last season, the Sonics make runs when it matters little. In a Western Conference where it seems inevitable that a sub-.500 team will make the playoffs, the Sonics will fall short again — the fifth time over the past seven years. That falls right under the previous ownership regime of Howard Schultz, Wally Walker and Co., and it seems inevitable that Bennett seems primed on eradicating the taste of those years. Does that include general manager Rick Sund and his personnel staff? That's nearly as big a question as Hill — but the change has to start on the bench, where a breath of fresh air is definitely in order.
6. Item: And speaking of a franchise desperately in need of change, watching the Indiana Pacers fall apart down the stretch to the Orlando Magic in an eight-point loss Friday night was a reminder of how fall the Pacers have fallen.
What this really means: Point guard Jamaal Tinsley no longer is the kind of guy anybody wants to run their show with his poor off-court decisions after hours, and constant injuries that make him so erratic on the floor. Jermaine O'Neal looks like nothing more than damaged goods anymore. His talent notwithstanding, every year it's been something else with him, his knees a real problem, while shoulders have also been issues, and for a maximum salary player, they appeared to wait a year too long to move him.
And lastly, what to do about coach Rick Carlisle? His record was impeccable and his skill as a game technician unapproachable until the horror of the brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills led by Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson undermined the NBA and the Pacers in December of 2004. Since then, the Pacers haven't been the same and there has been nothing that Carlisle can do about it. It seemed the Pacers were destined for greatness with CEO Donnie Walsh training Larry Bird as president, with the talented Carlisle to develop the players. Instead, they have gone straight downhill and now seem primed to miss the playoffs for the first time in 10 years and only the second time in 18. Not even the ability to rid the team of Artest and Jackson, plus bring in three fresh players from Golden State — Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy and Ike Diogu — has helped. It's time for Carlisle to move on — mostly for his own sake than anyone else's — and let the front office sort out the rest.
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