SL: Tim’s wear-and-tear; Jim’s 100th; Paul’s second stinger
Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your canned ham.
Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News: "Tim Duncan begins each workday by attaching a lightweight hunk of space-age plastic to his left knee. He fastens it with three Velcro straps in back and, with the help of a member of the team's athletic training staff, swaddles the entire contraption in a black nylon wrap. On the cusp of his 34th birthday, in the throes of his 13th season, this is Duncan's new normal. 'I'm used to it,' he says. 'Just part of the process now.' It's a process meant to mitigate chronic soreness in his left knee, to make life as Tim Duncan(notes) a little easier. Yet the Spurs' captain still occasionally leaves NBA arenas dragging his left leg behind like luggage, with a limp that might have caused even Willis Reed to call in sick. This too, Duncan says, is perfectly normal. 'I feel good,' Duncan said. 'No huge complaints. Just the wear-and-tear of the season.' "
Mike Wells, Indianapolis Star: "There wasn't a postgame ceremony by the players in the locker room. Indiana Pacers coach Jim O'Brien didn't enter the postgame interview room with a painted ball that had each of his players' signature on it. O'Brien didn't even know the 102-95 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday was his 100th victory as coach of the Pacers. It's understandable since O'Brien has yet to lead the Pacers to the playoffs and it took him 239 games to reach 100 wins. Leave it to the blunt O'Brien not to sugarcoat how he feels about the milestone. 'Irrelevant, totally irrelevant,' he said. 'The fact I had no idea tells you how important it is.' "
Frank Dell'Apa, Boston Globe: "Celtics captain Paul Pierce(notes) was "stung'' again yesterday. Two days after sustaining a shoulder injury against San Antonio, Pierce was felled during practice, and his status was unclear for tonight's game against Oklahoma City. 'It's a stinger, same exact reaction, looked worse,' coach Doc Rivers said. In the Spurs game, Pierce was hit on the left side by Manu Ginobili(notes) and felt pain in his right shoulder and upper back. Trainer Ed Lacerte diagnosed the injury as a 'stinger' and Pierce was allowed to continue playing. 'Eddie says it's a stinger, and if it's a stinger, he'll be fine,' Rivers said. 'You get concerned two days in a row, a game and a practice, and the exact same thing happens. He just got picked and he went down, so we'll find out. You can play a guy five minutes and that can happen. Nothing you can do about that. Good news — it's not a shoulder separation or anything, and probably the worst case is he misses a game or two.' "
Dave Krieger, Denver Post: "The best photo is George Karl lying there in a hospital gown and what appears to be a plastic shower cap, raising both hands as if to catch a pass, grinning John Lithgow-style at the camera. It was taken shortly after emergency procedures to dissolve blood clots in his lungs and leg. And it's hard not to wonder: What is this man grinning about? The Nuggets' coach is undergoing an intense, 45-day cancer cocktail of radiation and chemotherapy that saps his strength and causes so much pain to his mouth and throat that he cannot eat. Karl's hopes of coaching through the treatment have dissolved in a mist of pain and pain meds and fatigue. And, oh yes, his team has fallen from second to fifth in the Western Conference standings, and the seventh-winningest coach in NBA history can't do anything about it. What he and life partner Kim Van Deraa can do is provide a rare public window on their private battle through an online blog at mylifeline.org/georgekarl. It wasn't so much inspiration as necessity. Van Deraa found she could do just about everything that needed to be done each day only if she didn't respond individually to the hundreds of people who constantly want to know how George is doing. 'I can now add nurse assistant to my resume,' she wrote a couple of weeks ago. 'I can prepare a feeding tube syringe in speedy fashion, mix diluted juice and water in a flash, apply cream to his face and to his feet to heal the cracked skin. If this isn't love, it's hard to know what is. 'Early on, George contributed to the blog too. 'After three weeks of radiation my throat is very sore and I can't believe how tired I am,' he wrote. 'My lips are also very dry and cracking. My face has a rash. Thank God it's March Madness and I have lots of basketball to watch.'"
Vincent Goodwill, Detroit News: "With their playoff chances long gone, now is the time for the Pistons to give rookies Austin Daye(notes) and DaJuan Summers(notes) more playing time. Daye and Summers are untapped commodities who should be utilized for the final nine games. They've played more the past month and that pattern should continue. Daye, the 15th pick in the draft out of Gonzaga, hasn't received as much time as fellow rookies Terrence Williams(notes) or DaJuan Blair. But when pressed into duty, Daye has shown he can score in bunches, scoring in double figures four out of six times in January. 'I knew how it was going to be, with the veterans,' said Daye of his playing time. 'I just appreciate the opportunity.' Unlike past Pistons rookies, this season's crop doesn't seem to be suffering from immaturity. They've stayed professional all season, never causing trouble. Daye has called upon Golden State's Ronny Turiaf(notes) and Memphis' Rudy Gay(notes) for advice, and both have stressed patience. Summers has done likewise with Denver star and fellow Baltimore native Carmelo Anthony(notes). It should be interesting to see how Summers and Daye perform together, since both can create mismatches with their size or strength. Even though they'll make their share of rookie mistakes, the leash should be longer, given both will be closely scrutinized the next three weeks. 'It's a great opportunity,' said Summers, a second-round pick from Georgetown. 'I didn't want to preconceive anything, but it's been a good run, besides the [losing].' "
Doug Smith, Toronto Star: "Like all good sons, Hedo Turkoglu(notes) will abide by the wishes of his dad. As he moves into a new role with the Raptors, a backup for now as the team makes its final push to the NBA playoffs, Turkoglu is done talking about roles and 'ball' and his place in the big Toronto picture. For now, he'll do what they want, and just play. 'My dad told me silence is always a good solution,' said Turkoglu, who once again will come off the bench when the Raptors face the Los Angeles Clippers at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday night. 'So from now on ... ' "
Chicago Sun-Times: "Coach Vinny Del Negro was purposely vague on the return of forward Luol Deng(notes), who missed his 11th consecutive game since suffering a right calf strain March 11. Deng began running on a treadmill Tuesday and is 'feeling a little bit better,' Del Negro said. But he would not venture a guess on when the 6-9 forward would play again. 'I don't want to say day-to-day; I don't want to say a week,' Del Negro said. He's got a little bit more time before he [comes back]. There's no target date. It's going to be how his leg reacts with the conditioning, running, cutting and moving. If it doesn't tighten up, we'll get him out there. If it does, we'll have to slow the process down.'"
Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle: "A matchup against 6-8 Washington point guard Shaun Livingston(notes) put a priority on Aaron Brooks(notes) to be more disruptive defensively, an improvement Brooks and Rockets coach Rick Adelman said he needs to make next season. '[Brooks] cannot be put in that position where there are bigger players playing and it puts us at a real disadvantage defensively,' Adelman said. 'He's got to find ways to be effective, whether it is fronting, being more active, picking up full court. That's a stage he has to go through if we're going to become better as a team. And I think he'll do that.'"
Jason Jones, Sacramento Bee: "The Kings' string of injuries continues. The latest to go down was Spencer Hawes(notes), who left Tuesday's 102-95 loss to the Indiana Pacers with a left knee bruise. 'He's pretty sore,' Kings coach Paul Westphal said. 'He's almost certainly out [tonight at Minnesota].' Hawes said he was kneed in the back of his knee. He missed Sunday's loss in Cleveland because of a lower back strain.
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