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Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban put Derek Fisher on full blast for what the guard pulled on him, from Tim MacMahon of ESPN: “Mavericks owner Mark Cuban gave Derek Fisher a villain’s welcome during the 38-year-old point guard’s return to Dallas on Sunday night. “I’ll just boo him like hopefully everybody else,” Cuban said before the game. Mavericks fans were on board, too. They booed Fisher when he entered the game with 1:45 left. They then cheered loudly 10 seconds later when the reserve guard was called for his first foul in Oklahoma City’s eventual 107-101 win… “My personality is to try to help somebody, particularly somebody that I thought one thing about, even if it didn’t turn out to be that way,” Cuban said. “So I was just trying to be nice and help. Usually when you help somebody, you expect at least some semblance of loyalty back. When you don’t get it, then it’s more disappointing. “With his history, I shouldn’t have been surprised what happened.”
- Andrew Bynum will go through surgery in NY on Tuesday, promptly ending his season that never began, from Howard Eskin of Fox 29:
J.R. Smith had a stern message for his team after the Knicks’ latest loss against the Clippers, from Marc Berman of New York Post: “Smith, who has been playing through a sore left knee, questioned the team’s “heart’’ earlier in the trip and warned the club may be facing an early playoff exit if it doesn’t get with it. “I’m fine [physically],’’ Smith said. “It’s just starting to take a toll on me mentally. Losing like this, knowing the type of team we were at the beginning of the year, we have to keep fighting through it.” The Knicks (38-26) were 18-5 in mid-December. They are now one game below .500 since. “I believe we can [get back to that],’’ Smith said. “We don’t have a choice. Either keep playing like this and have an early exit in the playoffs or start fighting. We need some help. We have to help each other on the offensive and defensive end. We can’t rely on our offense.”
Kenyon Martin is apparently not a big believer in what the Clippers are doing, from Nate Taylor of The New York Times: ““They made a few shots in the third,” Martin gave as the reason the Clippers won. “We gave a valiant effort, and that’s all you can ask for. Guys have pride, man. This team is not made of one or two guys. Would we like to have ‘Melo and Tyson? Of course. That’s not the case.”… “You can’t do it in the playoffs, so it don’t matter,” he said. “In the regular season it’s all up and down, man. We know the way the game goes in the regular season.” When asked how the Clippers would do in the playoffs, Martin gave a short answer that shouldn’t surprise many people. “I don’t care what they do,” he said, smiling. “I hope they lose every game. I don’t care.”
Check out the twitter battle between Mark Jackson and Chandler Parsons, from Jonathan Feigen of Houston Chronicle: “Warriors coach Mark Jackson praised the Rockets’ Chandler Parsons, especially citing his versatility on both ends of the floor. He added, however, “He probably should just stay off Twitter.” After the Rockets’ 140-109 win against the Warriors, Parsons had tweeted one of Jackson’s catch phrases, “Hand down, man down.” After Sunday’s 108-78 Warriors win, Jackson tweeted to Parsons “Congrats on a great year. GREAT seeing U 2night!!!!!” Parsons responded, “just be glad u don’t have to c us again.”
