If the Lakers do make the playoffs, they may be without assistant coach Eddie Jordan, who is close to finalizing a deal that would make him the head coach at Rutgers, more from Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski: “In the aftermath of the scandal surrounding former coaches physically abusing players in practices, Rutgers offered Jordan the job after University of Rhode Island coach Danny Hurley turned down an offer from the school earlier this week, sources said. Jordan will meet with Rutgers officials face-to-face, sources said, this weekend to try to finalize an agreement.”
- There’s trouble in the Atlantic Division. Both the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics will fight for playoff seeding tonight without key players. According to Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York, the Nets will be without Gerald Wallace: “Wallace suffered the injury early in the second quarter of Brooklyn’s victory in Boston on Wednesday night. He was carried off the court and into the locker room by teammates Brook Lopez and Reggie Evans and did not return.”
In a typically “heated” matchup with Miami, the Celtics will be without Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. More from Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston: “As expected, both players traveled with the team for a brief two-game road trip, but neither will dress for the first night of a back-to-back because of sore ankles. Garnett sat out eight games because of left ankle inflammation before playing the past two contests for Boston; Pierce has missed two games recently because of sore ankles.”
- The first concrete date that Chicago and NBA fans should expect to see Derrick Rose back has finally been mentioned: training camp. More from the Chicago Tribune: “Now that Rose sitting out all season is all but a certainty, the Bulls and Rose have drawn some criticism. Asked in light of that whether the Bulls should have just declared Rose out for the season last fall, coach Tom Thibodeau shrugged.
“They were just being forthright,” Thibodeau said of management and team physician Brian Cole. “That’s what everyone thought. We didn’t know, and we still don’t know. We were just being honest.
- As the Warriors head into the playoffs, currently holding off the Houston Rockets for the 6th-seed, there is questions surrounding the severity of Andrew Boguts latest injury, according to Jeff Faraudo of Oakland Tribune: “And suddenly neither is the status of center Andrew Bogut, who aggravated a sprained left ankle in the first quarter Thursday night and did not return in the Warriors’ 116-97 loss to Oklahoma City. He aggravated it Thursday and exited the game with 2:55 left in the first quarter. He went to the locker room for the remainder of the night. It was not immediately clear whether his removal from the game was precautionary or indicative of something more serious.”