J.R. Smith is in the midst of a mental battle with himself, from Alan Hahn of MSG Network: “Smith’s game, which showed so much determination and confidence over the last six weeks of the regular season, hasn’t been the same throughout the playoffs. And since his elbow to Jason Terry’s face, Smith’s performance has plummeted to troubling depths: He’s shooting just 28.6% from the field in his last three playoff games. Smith admitted he is “fighting through a mental game” with himself as he is “still relying on my jumper too much.”… “You can’t start the game with low energy,” Smith said. The fourth quarter performance might have been too little, too late for Game 1, but we’ll see if it has a carryover effect in Game 2. Smith’s offense is critical for this team in what is now a critical game. “I’m a big piece of this puzzle,” he said. “I’ve got to keep pushing, pushing, pushing and don’t beat myself up mentally.”
If all goes well, Amare Stoudemire could return for Game 3 against the Pacers, from Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York: “Recently in drills, Stoudemire has looked very fluid and explosive with his low-post moves against some contact. The key is how he will handle full contact, which is coming this Thursday and Friday when he’ll participate in his first 5-on-5 scrimmages since his right knee debridement. If he clears that hurdle, Mike Woodson said the power forward could play in Game 3 on Saturday in Indianapolis. If Stoudemire returns as well as he did earlier this season after left knee debridement, the Knicks will benefit from not only his ability to score around the basket, but also his ability to draw fouls. On several occasions, he had eight or nine free throw attempts in a game, and he’s a solid 76.3 percent shooter from the stripe. If he can continue getting to the line in his return, that could alleviate some of the pressure off of Anthony.”
The Bucks will interview two candidates to take over the vacant coaching position, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports: “The Milwaukee Bucks are planning interviews with Nate McMillan and Kelvin Sampson this week forthe franchise’s head-coaching job, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. McMillan spent parts of 12 seasons as the coach of the Seattle Sonics and Portland Trail Blazers. Before getting fired midway through the 2010-11 season in Portland, McMillan had led the Blazers to three straight playoff appearances. McMillan recently interviewed with the Detroit Pistons for their coaching opening. Before joining Kevin McHale’s coaching staff in Houston in 2011, Sampson had been on Scott Skiles’ coaching staff in Milwaukee for two years. He was a head coach at the college level with Washington St., Oklahoma and Indiana. Hammond is fond of Sampson and has since targeted him as a potential head-coaching candidate in Milwaukee.”
Jerry Sloan may have strong interest in coaching the Milwaukee Bucks, from Ryan Carreon of Deseret News: “Woelfel gave a phone interview with WSSP 1250 sports radio in Milwaukee about the possibility that Sloan could coach the Bucks next season. “I talked to a couple of friends of Jerry Sloan’s within the past couple of days, he definitely wants to return to coaching, and the other interesting facet is that he wants to coach in the small markets, one similar to Utah, so I think Milwaukee qualifies as that kind of environment,” he said in the interview… Sloan told Fox Sports Florida on Thursday, that he would be open to returning to the NBA. “Yeah, probably, if I thought it would be the right situation,’’ he said. He did say however, that he hasn’t heard from any teams directly. “I’ve not aware of any (interest from those teams),’’ Sloan said. “I haven’t quit answering the phone… If something comes along, it does. If something doesn’t, it doesn’t. That’s one way to look at it.’’
Deron Williams cited lack of consistency as the Nets’ biggest issue for much of the season. He would also welcome being coached by Jerry Sloan again, from Tim Bontemps of New York Post: ““I think we got better as the season went on,” Williams said. “Personally just because of injuries and once I got healthy, people saw a little bit of what I can do, and so I look forward to building on that.”… “As a team, I still feel like we can play a lot better and consistency, of course,” Williams said. “I think that is what we’ve been plagued with [all season], and if we can find a way to be consistent, that would put us up there with anybody. “When we play like we can, when we’re at the top of our game for a consistent amount of time, you know, we’re tough to beat.”… Williams said he “would love” to play again for Jerry Sloan, his old coach in Utah, and when Phil Jackson’s name came up, Williams said, “Who wouldn’t want to play for Phil Jackson?”
