NBA

This kind of thinking will work out just fine for them, I’m certain: “Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant aren’t sweating it.

Or whatever it is that has him so damn excited all the time: “D’Antoni has met with Robinson to implore him to stop constantly arguing with officials, grabbing at opponents and getting into altercations. He said Robinson always promises he will control his emotions. ‘It’s the next step in his maturity as a basketball player,’ D’Antoni said. ‘To be able to be a winner, he has to get that under control.

by Marcel Mutoni
It’s only natural (and fitting), I suppose, to want to beat the team that’s given you so many problems in years past.
Dwight Howard knows who he wants to face, and beat, in the postseason this season. Detroit Pistons, come on down!
From ESPN:

Why can’t we all just get along: “Nuggets center Nene has fired back at Louis Amundson. Four days after Amundson, a Phoenix forward, referred to Nene as a ‘dirty player’ and a ‘fake tough guy,’ Nene had his say.

by Holly MacKenzie
A bunch of games yesterday, but my focus was firmly on the Raptors/Bulls contest. I was at the game and spotted an empty seat courtside on press row (I’m usually in a different press section), and emailed Raptors PR who told me to make the move, so I was able to watch Derrick Rose, and Ben Gordon in action and watching them will their team back from 18-down was something.

by Lang Whitaker

by Eric Woodyard
“It’s cool to love to win but it’s better to hate to lose…”
— Nas, The N—-r Tape (2008)
If there’s one thing that can be said about Kobe Bryant, it is that he hates to lose. With such a burning desire to rise above the competition, why would he even think about a negative outcome?

Were you expecting anything different?: “For the first time collectively, the Charlotte Bobcats are playing for actual stakes – the last spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Half of the eight-man rotation hasn’t done this before. They’re not managing it well, as losses to Minnesota, Indiana and Washington demonstrate. And time is running out with 11 games left in the season. ‘There’s definitely something to that,’ shooting guard Raja Bell said at practice Thursday.

by Matt Caputo

How charitable of you, Mr. Thomas: “Thomas is doing what he can to try to get back into the game, and with his daughter set to attend Loyola Marymount, he offered to work for the Clippers without getting paid because he is still receiving money from the Knicks, Dunleavy said. The Clippers were sympathetic to Thomas’ overtures. ‘Isiah came to us,’ Dunleavy said in a telephone interview Thursday morning.