- Speaking of rolling into the playoffs, the Knicks won their ninth straight game behind 50 points from Carmelo Anthony Tuesday night against the shorthanded Heat. Without James, Wade and Chalmers for the second straight game, the Heat hung around with the Knicks until Melo caught fire again midway through the fourth quarter, helping him tie his career high of 50 for the night on 18-of-26 shooting. With the win, the Knicks remain deadlocked with the Indiana Pacers for the 2nd seed in the East. Either way, the Knicks have assured themselves a path clear of Miami — whom they’ve beaten 3-of-4 times this season — until the conference finals.
- While the Lakers have not caught many breaks this year, if they can get back into the playoffs — likely to be the 8th-seed — they could be facing a San Antonio Spurs team without Manu Ginobli. More from Jeff McDonald of MySanAntonio.com: “Before Monday’s 92-90 loss at Memphis, the Spurs put an official number on Ginobili’s prognosis, announcing the 35-year-old bench catalyst would miss the next three to four weeks with his latest injury. That estimate might keep Ginobili out for the remainder of the regular season, which ends April 17. Should he go the full four weeks, it would place the start of the playoffs in jeopardy.”
- On the business side of the industry, big news came this morning when Jay-z (Sean Carter) announced his new sports agency, Roc Nation. His first order of business was snagging Robinson Cano, the New York Yankees’ All-Star second baseman from Scott Boras. More from ESPN’s Buster Olney: “Roc Nation, an entertainment company founded by Shawn Carter, also known as Jay-Z, announced Tuesday that it is getting into the sports representation business through a partnership with Creative Artists Agency (CAA). This arm of CAA will be known as Roc Nation Sports, which simultaneously announced that its first sports client is Cano.”
- More from Olney: “Sources say Jay-Z himself is planning to be a certified agent, first in baseball and eventually in basketball and football. In order to represent clients in basketball, he would have to give up his small share of the Brooklyn Nets. The initial launch is with CAA, but Roc Nation Sports will be its own company. Roc Nation, which was founded in 2009, currently represents Rihanna, Shakira and Timbaland, among others.”
“Because of my love of sports, it was a natural progression to form a company where we can help top athletes in various sports the same way we have been helping artists in the music industry for years,” Jay-Z said in a statement.
- One of the more disappointing teams this season, the Phoenix Suns, have decided to extend its president of basketball operations, Lon Babby, two more years: “One of the industry’s most successful and well-regarded player agents, Babby began his career in sports representing first the NFL’s Washington Redskins (1977-84) and then MLB’s Baltimore Orioles (1979-94). Charged with guiding the Suns through a time of transition and building for the future, Babby and his basketball operations staff have placed a premium on building through the draft.”
- With the future of the Sacramento Kings up in the air all year, Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento who has fought so hard to keep the team in town is ready to make his pitch, according to Sam Amick of USA Today: “Johnson, whose group will present its case formally to the NBA’s relocation committee and advisory finance committee in New York on Wednesday before final verdict is expected at Board of Governors meetings on April 18-19, agreed to explain his immense confidence with USA TODAY Sports. Despite the fact that the Seattle group headed by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has a deal in place to buy 65% of the team from the Maloof family for a league-record valuation of $525 million, and despite the claims of so many that NBA Commissioner David Stern is determined to return at all costs to the market the NBA left in 2008 when the Seattle SuperSonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder, Johnson speaks like a man who fully intends on throwing a purple parade in his native city not too long from now.”