求歌曲翻译！来自陈奕迅stranger under my skinlove is a mystery to me
she was once here,and now she's someone
that i could not bear
no matter how i tried 'll the day i died
damages are done and hidden within
those were the thing that were hidden under my skin
来自监制舒文的微博
爱对我来说是一个解不开的奥秘。 她曾经在我的生命中出现，但现在她已经是我不能承受的人了。 无论我如何尝试，试到我死的那天，那些伤害已成和深深埋藏了， 那些就是隐藏在我皮肤下的东西。
燃烧着的玫瑰，充斥满灰烬， 放声大哭但已没有时间哀悼， 像一个陌生人的“眼光”，她从不在乎。 那些就是隐藏在我皮肤下的东西。
孤单的流离，一个人。 一辆汽车，或一颗流星， 它的光芒最终变成我不可承受的东西
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扫描下载二维码The Hawks are in the midst of one of their best seasons ever. But the man who helped build them is away from public view.
But the point which drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfigured the wearer -- so that both men and women who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time -- was that SCARLET LETTER, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself.
-- Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Scarlet Letter"
Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?
-- Former Labor Secretary Ray Donovan, who was acquitted of fraud and grand larceny charges after an eight-month trial in 1987, and after having had to resign his Cabinet position in order to stand trial.
..."Did you ever unravel a baseball?"
"It's not a particularly illuminating exercise, but I used to enjoy doing it when I was ten or eleven years old. After you take the white horsehide cover off, you come across a ball of white string, or it's like string. There's about a mile of the stuff, once you start unraveling it, all this white string. Finally you get down to the core, which is black, a small hard black rubber ball. Well, that's Atlanta...Wrapped all around them, like all that white string, are three million white people in North Atlanta and all those counties...so how do all those white millions deal with that small black core? That's what leads to the Atlanta Way."
-- Tom Wolfe, "A Man in Full"
The week that the Atlanta Hawks began the longest, most successful regular season run in franchise history, the man most responsible for putting the current iteration of the franchise together was in Senegal, doing clinics for 60 African teenage boys and girls, along with his daughter.
He had been invited to Senegal by Amadou Gallo Fall, who had helped develop the Live, Learn and Play program last May as part of his job as Vice President and Managing Director of NBA Africa. The program teaches life skills to high school age kids in Senegal, Fall's native country.
Fall -- everyone calls him Gallo -- has spent his life helping bridge barriers, and introducing African children to the game that helped him go from Senegal to the United States on a scholarship, and on to the NBA, first as an executive for the Dallas Mavericks, then the league.
He is considered family by the likes of San Antonio Spurs general manager R.C. Buford (whose sister, Anne, directed a documentary about four African teenagers in Gallo's SEED program who came to the U.S. to play college basketball), Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder and Toronto Raptors general manager, Masai Ujiri.
Inside Stuff: Jeff Teague Kristen Ledlow and All-Star point guard Jeff Teague of the streaking Atlanta Hawks take a trip to the Georgia Aquarium.
Gallo is beloved around the world for his humanity and his ability to bring different cultures together, to find their collective humanity. He is a big brother to the many African-born players who have come to the States to go to college, and then gone back to their native countries -- as well as those who were good enough to become NBA players. Everyone -- everyone -- loves the guy.
Gallo is friends with .
And Gallo is friends with Danny Ferry.
That is why he invited Ferry to Senegal.
"We were having an end-of-year function, a showcase where the kids in the program are brought together to play," Gallo said by phone Sunday night from Johannesburg. "We had coaching clinics. It was an opportunity to give out awards to the kids who'd been in the program. Danny was our guest. He and his daughter came and visited the academy. It was basketball, and at the same time, it was just catching up. It was a great time. We really had a fantastic time with him and he did a fantastic job with the players and the coaches."
Seven days after the awards ceremony and exhibition games in Senegal -- Dec. 27 -- the Hawks played in Milwaukee. On Dec. 26, . It left a decidedly bad taste in their mouths.
2015 All-Star Reserves: Jeff Teague Check out the plays that made Hawks guard Jeff Teague a 2015 East All-Star Reserve.
On Dec. 27, though,
... and the Hawks haven't lost since. Their 19-game win streak is the longest in franchise history and the fifth-longest in NBA history,
and their 40-8 mark is the best in the league.
The Hawks have been beautiful to watch, displaying a teamwork that is positively Spurs-ian. The ball moves as if on a string, from one open guy to the next, more open guy. The team's spacing is exquisite, creating avenues for driving and passing, leaving defenses helpless to get to the ball before it's out of the shooter's hands.
Atlanta leads the league in baskets created by assist,
. It leads the league . It is , , and third
and . It will send three players to .
Through late January, the team's local TV ratings were up 61 percent. Its 15th straight win, over Oklahoma City Jan. 23, tied a 2010 game as the highest-rated regular-season Hawks game ever on SportsSouth, the team's regional sports network. The team has risen from 28th in average attendance last season to 21st this season, with 11 sellouts, including in 10 of the last 12 home games. The Hawks had nine sellouts combined the previous two seasons.
Success, the cliché goes, has many fathers, while failure is an orphan. And there were surely many hands responsible for this magical run on which the Hawks find themselves. But it was Ferry, the Hawks' president of basketball operations and general manager, who put many of the pieces in place.
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But Ferry is nowhere to be found publicly these days. He is , which he took days after the disclosure of an audio tape made of a June 6 meeting .
During that meeting, which included many of those involved in the Hawks' three primary ownership groups, Ferry read from a background report he'd received from speaking with teammates and front office people who'd worked with Deng in Chicago, where he'd spent the bulk of his career, and Cleveland, where he was traded in 2014 after it became clear he'd likely not re-sign with the Bulls.
Although much of the report was overwhelmingly positive toward Deng -- indeed, the Hawks wound up offering him a contract, though Miami ultimately signed him -- one section, clearly from someone who seemed to be, at the time, in the Cleveland organization, raised questions about Deng.
And it was at that section Ferry was looking when he said, according to an audio transcript obtained in September by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "the rap on him (Deng) is little bit, um, body is not as torn up as you think, um, although he's played a lot of minutes. If managed the right way he'll be fine. He's still a young guy overall, um, but here is also, he is a good guy overall but he's not perfect. He's got some African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way other than he is a guy who will do something behind you."
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Ferry, according to the transcript, continued: "he (Deng) has a storefront out front that is beautiful and great, but he may be selling some counterfeit stuff behind you. And when I say that, what I mean for example, is he can come out and be an unnamed source for a story, um, and maybe two days later come out and say 'That was absolutely not me. I cannot believe someone said that.' But talking to reporters you know it's him."
Ferry apologized for the comments, though has insisted that he was reading from the report and that the words were not his (you can ). But he did not resign when he took the leave of absence, and shows no signs that he plans to.
Ferry, who declined to speak for this article, may well feel that enough's enough, that he's done everything that he can do to apologize to as many people as he can, and that he should be reinstated. He's , and to other African-born players like Hakeem Olajuwon and Dikembe Mutombo. He's sought out the forgiveness -- and, counsel -- of local clergy, like the Rev. Toussaint Hill, the pastor at West Hunter Street Baptist Church, in Atlanta's West End, as well as members of Atlanta's most famous religious family, the Kings.
GameTime: Ferry Under Fire The GameTime crew gives the latest update on the fallout in Atlanta and Luol Deng comments on the Hawks controversy surrounding him.
An internal investigation that followed Ferry's remarks unearthed a 2012 e-mail from majority owner Bruce Levenson to Ferry that decried the lack of affluent white fans at Hawks home games. Soon after, Levenson announced he would sell his majority share of the team.
But after conducting 19 interviews and looking at more than 24,000 pieces of internal correspondence, no additional racially inflammatory statements from Ferry were found. This was not comparable to former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling's history of racially charged statements and behaviors. And when Ferry agreed to the leave of absence, he surely expected the Hawks' ownership situation to be resolved by now.
Yet Ferry watches the team he did the most to put together from afar, with coach Mike Budenholzer, brought from San Antonio by Ferry, in control of basketball operations in his absence -- though the two continue to speak often.
Ferry signed , now going to his second All-Star Game in as many seasons in Atlanta, . He opted to keep guard , when many around the league thought he wouldn't, .
He acquired
from the Bulls, and Korver
because he believed in Ferry's vision for building a championship contender. In any other year, in any other circumstance, Ferry would be the prohibitive favorite for Executive of the Year.
But Ferry's future is still uncertain, even though NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last September that he didn't think Ferry should be fired for his remarks. Hall of Famer Magic Johnson said after meeting with Ferry that he believed Ferry deserved a second chance, either with the Hawks or another team.
Steve Koonin Joins the Beat Hawks CEO Steve Koonin joins the guys to talk about the team with the best record in the NBA East: the Atlanta Hawks.
But the Hawks' fractious ownership groups, after months of wrangling, decided last month that they would sell 100 percent of the team to new ownership. It will be at least a few more months before a new owner is selected. And so, Ferry's future will be determined by someone who does not yet have the authority to decide what it will be.
"I believe that Danny will be resolved by the new ownership group," the Hawks' CEO, Steve Koonin, said on "The Beat" last week on NBA TV. "It's such a big, important, strategic issue that has to be resolved by new ownership. And so, that's my best guess today, but I really don't know."
That will likely leave Ferry in limbo through the rest of the season.
But nothing in this is cut and dried.
Ferry has supporters and critics throughout the Hawks organization, though none of the critics are among the players or current coaching staff. Their concerns, obviously, are more parochial, that their incredible run and their evolution as a team will be overshadowed by the denouement of Ferry's situation.
Ferry, no doubt, established a greater winning culture in Atlanta. But some of Ferry's decisions rankled many in the organization when he took over, with a six-year deal at $3 million per year that was unprecedented for a front office executive on the team.
He fired the team's longtime vice president of communications, Arthur Triche, who'd been with the Hawks for two decades, and who was one of the most respected PR people in the league. (Ferry replaced Triche, who is African-American, with another African-American public relations executive that had worked with him in Cleveland. And, in the interests of full disclosure, I consider both of them friends, despite their career choices in public relations.)
The interactions of whites and blacks in Atlanta is never simple. There is no monolithic whit there are factions within factions. But Ferry's comments particularly stung many black Atlantans, given the city's history as the fulcrum for the modern civil rights movement.
My whole thing has always been, you can't judge a person by one mistake. To me, you judge a person on his whole being. And if you know Danny Ferry and Danny Ferry's family, (and) you know what Danny Ferry has done for people like myself, you know it was a mistake. & Brooklyn Nets GM Billy King
Hill began what he says is now regular communication with Ferry in September. While another local clergy member, the Rev. Markel Hutchins, has said that Ferry shouldn't be brought back to the Hawks, Hill has a different view.
"When you consider that from time to time our Caucasian brothers and sisters are insensitive, many times, with that privilege, they become blinded to sensitivity to other cultures," Hill said by phone. "And that insensitivity is rooted in culture and the caste system in society, which they didn't create, but are the tremendous beneficiaries of."
Hill believes Ferry is genuinely determined to expand his worldview. Hill recommended Ferry read several books, including "Slavery by Another Name" by Douglas Blackmon, "White Like Me" by Tim Wise and "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander, all to provide Ferry with a greater understanding of the African-American experience.
"Throughout all of these, I believe he's had a chance to see life through a different prism," Hill said, "and even though he was exposed as a child playing basketball and through his time in high school, and at Duke, it's different when you have a situation that transforms a life and humbles you and forces you to see things from a different perspective."
Ferry has strong supporters and more than a few detractors around the league. He is viewed, almost universally, as an extremely smart and capable executive -- but someone who can be short and abrasive. But those views are not divided on the basis of race. Far more white executives around the league have had harsh things to say over the years about dealing with Ferry than African-American ones.
But Ferry didn't take a leave of absence for alleged arrogance. The question is whether he's viewed as a racist, or prejudiced. And, around the league, the answer to that question has been no.
"If I were starting an organization, I wouldn't hesitate in any way to hire Danny Ferry. And you can quote me on that," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said last month. Ferry played for Popovich in San Antonio from 2000-03, then worked as the team's vice president of basketball operations (2010-12) before taking the Atlanta job.
"He's intelligent, he knows the business, and he's not a racist," Popovich said. "If there was a transcript of all of us and the things we've said, we would piss somebody off in the world."
Brooklyn general manager Billy King, who is African-American, is among Ferry's closest friends. The two met as teenagers in the early 1980s playing AAU ball in Washington, D.C., where Danny Ferry's father, Bob, was the longtime GM of the Bullets.
If I were starting an organization, I wouldn't hesitate in any way to hire Danny Ferry. And you can quote me on that. & San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich
"My whole thing has always been, you can't judge a person by one mistake," King said. "To me, you judge a person on his whole being. And if you know Danny Ferry and Danny Ferry's family, (and) you know what Danny Ferry has done for people like myself, you know it was a mistake. He admitted it. And he shouldn't be punished for life for it."
King said there have been times, as both were looking to make deals, that he's had verbal run-ins with Ferry. But the two have done deals together, the biggest of which sent
from Atlanta to Brooklyn in 2012 for five players and a 2013 first-round pick.
"I would push him on certain things and just wouldn't give in. But at the end of the day, we were still good friends," King said. "When I say I consider him like a brother, it's true. He can be an (expletive), but he's not a racist. And that's the hardest thing for me, when you see people doing something, and you know what (people) are saying is not true."
Fall met Ferry through Snyder, who was Ferry's roommate at Duke. Even though Fall was with Dallas at the time, while Ferry played for San Antonio ("and I used to hate his set shot in the corner" with the Spurs, Fall said), the two became friends. They still are. Fall did not, and does not, take what Ferry said as a personal slap at him, a man of African heritage.
"Obviously, what happened had no place to happen in the league," Fall said. "It was sad. I've had frank conversations with Danny, being candid. I know that's not who he is. Whether he read something from somebody else, that should not have been said. For me, and Luol, we've moved on from it. I know the person. A really good guy. Does his job, extremely confident, and sometimes, that can probably border on arrogance, or whatever.
"But he's a good guy. For us, the time we spent in Senegal with his daughter, the good news was he didn't try to hide from anything. He knew what happened was a terrible thing. I respect that he didn't try to hide."
Ferry still retains the support of Wayne Embry, the first African-American general manager in the NBA, hired in 1972 by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Embry is no shrinking violet when it comes to racial issues. He wrote extensively in his autobiography about racial slights he suffered both in Milwaukee and in Cleveland, where he built the Mark Price-Brad Daugherty-Larry Nance teams that were often vanquished in the playoffs by the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons.
But Embry, now an advisor for the Raptors, defends Ferry, whom he acquired as a player from the Clippers in 1990. Ferry played in Cleveland () before finishing his playing career in San Antonio.
"When you're in a position when you're about to make a sign economic investment into a player, your owners want to know what you're spending their money on," Embry said. "He did his due diligence and read the reports he got. When I heard it I said 'well, this doesn't sound like Danny.' Danny's not a racist, knowing his family background. I did my due diligence when I traded for him. I wouldn't trade for a racist. I was somewhat taken aback, but I knew he was reading from a report."
Embry believes Ferry should get his job back.
"I know him," Embry said. "I know how it's troubling him. He's done a terrific job there. If I thought otherwise, I certainly wouldn't be as much involved in this as I've been, counseling him, talking to people in the Atlanta community."
Danny's not a racist, knowing his family background. I did my due diligence when I traded for him. I wouldn't trade for a racist. I was somewhat taken aback, but I knew he was reading from a report. & Former Cleveland Cavaliers GM Wayne Embry
But none of this matters until there's a new owner. No matter what pressures are brought to bear to resolve Ferry's status, the Hawks are riding the enthusiasm of an unprecedented win streak through the rest of this season, at least. They don't have to do anything. It will almost assuredly fall to the team's new owners to decide what to do with the man who improved what had been a playoff team into a title contender.
Ferry's professional redemption will have to wait. His personal redemption continues.
"From what I've seen in these months of interacting with him professionally and socially, I do see a person evolving and going through a transformation," Hill said. "Life sometimes provides us with unexpected situations and forces us to reach for different situations. I believe this has humbled him tremendously. I don't think you can go through something without coming out different.
"I'm a preacher, so I don't mind going to the Bible. Jacob, who had done wrong to his brother Esau, he went into prayer and did not want to let the representative of God let go until he was blessed. However, God blessed him but also burdened him with physical limitation. Sometimes, in our blessings, we become burdened. I think now, with this burden that Danny has had to carry, has also become a blessing for him."
TOP O' THE WORLD, MA!
(Last week's r last week's ranking in brackets)
1) Atlanta (3-0) [1]: You hope 's injury isn't one of those sneaky-costly ones (think , Jr., being out in Chicago) that no one's going to notice until the streak is over and they lose a couple of games.
2) Memphis (4-0) [3]: 's production for his contract this season has been "ridiculous," to quote one member of the Grizzlies' braintrust.
Suns vs. Warriors Stephen Curry scored 25 points and added 7 assists as the Warriors topped the Suns Saturday night.
3) Golden State (1-2) [2]: After Saturday's 106-87 win over the Suns, the Warriors improved to 22-0 this season when holding opponents under 100 points.
4) Houston (2-1) [4]:
out "for a while," per coach Kevin McHale. This is officially ominous.
5) L.A. Clippers (3-1) [6]: The Grammy Trip comes East this week for three games -- at Brooklyn Monday, at Cleveland Thursday, at Toronto Friday -- before heading back West for games at Oklahoma City and Dallas.
6) Toronto (4-0) [10]: Six straight wins after beating Brooklyn and Washington on consecutive nights in overtime. But the schedule gets very tough before and right after NBA All-Star 2015: Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Clippers, Spurs and Washington again before the break, at Atlanta, at Houston, at New Orleans at Dallas, home against Golden State coming out of the break.
7) Portland (0-3) [5]: Mad respect for Cousin (LaMarcus) Aldridge playing with that torn thumb ligament, but the loss of
in the middle starting to sting.
Raptors vs. Wizards Kyle Lowry scores 23 points, Louis Wiliams adds 19 to top John Wall's 28, as the Raptors top the Wizards in overtime 120-116.
8) Washington (1-2) [7]:
is a wondrous offensive talent, but he's got to become more consistent at the defensive end. See: Thompson, Klay.
9) Dallas (2-2) [8]: After sweeping Miami and Orlando Friday and Saturday, the Mavericks are now 13-0 on the road against the Eastern Conference this season. Two games remaining -- at the Hawks Feb. 25, at Indiana March 29.
10) San Antonio (1-1) [9]: Gregg Popovich is three wins shy of becoming the ninth coach in NBA history to win 1,000 regular-season games. He currently leads all active coaches in victories.
11) Cleveland (4-0) [14]: The Cavaliers' 10-game win streak suddenly leaves them a game behind Chicago for the Central Division lead, and just 2
games behind third-place Washington in the Eastern Conference.
12) Phoenix (2-1) [12]: The Suns hadn't beaten the Bulls in Phoenix since 2007 before Friday's home win against Chicago.
13) New Orleans (2-1) [13]: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says during Super Bowl week that 87-year-old Tom Benson, in a dispute with his stepdaughter regarding his competence to run the NFL's New Orleans Saints and the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans, is "in complete control" of the football team.
GameTime: Bulls-Warriors Break Down The guys chat about the Bulls-Warriors match up and break down Chicago's defensive struggles.
14) Chicago (1-2) [11]: Maddeningly inconsistent season shows no signs of stopping.
15) Milwaukee (3-0) [NR]: Bucks are not going away, seemingly on or off the court, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announcing last week that the state would offer $220 million toward construction of a new arena, on top of the $250 already pledged by owners Marc Lasry and Wes Edens and former owner Herb Kohl. The public money would come in the form of bonds that would be repaid through anticipated increases in "jock tax" revenues due to the new national television deals worked out by the league and its TV partners.
Dropped out: Oklahoma City [15].
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Atlanta (3-0): How can any other team get this award until the Hawks lose a game? They became the first team in league history to go 17-0 in a month, and overtook the Warriors for the best record in the league.
TEAM OF THE WEAK
Orlando (0-3): Magic has come unglued defensively, allowing more than 100 points in 12 straight games, and it's almost certain to cost Jacque Vaughn (see below) his job in the next couple of weeks.
Who can out-Grit-n-Grind the Memphis Grizzlies?
is stubborn -- "hard headed," he likes to say. It takes a while for things to become clear to him. He is not like his big brother, who seems to glide through life with a smile and a plan. Had his big brother Pau been 6 feet tall instead of 7, he may well have become a doctor.
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Marc Gasol had no such notions growing up.
"Honestly, I didn't have that goal as clear as Pau did," Marc Gasol said Thursday. "I was a different kind of kid. Pau always knew what he wanted. He was really good at school, really responsible. I was more of a loose cannon, honestly. I was running around and outside, and getting into a little trouble more than anything. But always in a good way. It was never my fault. It was the other guy. I was just there."
In some ways, Marc Gasol is still the guy who's just there. Except now he's a piece of granite instead of a lumpy, 300-pound blob, strong enough to be the foundation for a championship team. He is the league's most complete big man, an MVP candidate after winning the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award in 2012. He's capable of scoring with either hand or with an unstoppable fadeaway on the low block, he's a deft passer from the top of the key, and he defends without needing any help.
And he will be part of history in two weeks in New York, when he and Pau jump center against one another, the first pair of brothers ever voted in by fans to start an All-Star game for their respective conferences (the Van Arsdale brothers, Dick and Tom, played together on the West All-Star teams in 1970 and '71).
That jump ball will mean a lot to the Gasol family, a small Catalan clan with basketball roots -- Marc and Pau's parents, Marisa and Agusti, both played organized ball, but topped out at 6-foot-1 and 6-foot-3, respectively -- and embraced a work ethic combined with a curiosity about the world around them.
"Oh, man, I can't even imagine, what it symbolizes," Marc Gasol said, "the many, everything that we've done since we've been (here). It's like two different ways of doing things. Pau has taken a different path than I've taken, and both of us did end up at that jump ball. It symbolizes a lot, and it's emotional. It's humbling, because of what it means. Again, you're going to celebrate it that day, and that weekend, and hopefully a couple of days after, but then it goes back to the rest of the season, and make it as high as we can in the playoffs, and hopefully take it all the way."
GameTime: The Gasol Bros. Watch this feature on the Gasol brothers, Marc and Pau, and their journey from Spain to dominating in the NBA.
The Grizzlies are no longer under the radar, no longer an afterthought in the West. They're no longer a one-dimensional team that wins solely with defense. While they can still bludgeon you inside with Gasol's and 's seemingly endless low-post repertoires, they're now about
and his pace, and their increased offensive efficiency, as much as their bigs.
And with the acquisition of
from Boston last month for , in a three-team deal that also sent
from Memphis to New Orleans, the Grizzlies are now all-in for the next couple of years to try and bring a title to "The Grindhouse" -- even as they'll have to endure Gasol's impending unrestricted free agency this summer.
The Houston Rockets have gotten more ink because of , the Dallas Mavericks more after getting , the San Antonio Spurs because they're the defending champs. But it's the Grizzlies that have won six straight, lead the Southwest Division by 2 1/2
games , after beating the Thunder Saturday night. It was a game that the Grizzlies had circled on their calendar for months.
The last time Oklahoma City was in Memphis, , after winning Game 5 on the road (that led to the infamous "Mr. Unreliable" headline about Durant ). The Grizzlies had all the momentum on their side, with a chance to move on to the West semifinals.
But OKC blew out Memphis at FedEx Forum, and the Grizzlies lost Randolph for Game 7 after he was suspended one game for punching the Thunder's . Without Randolph to deal with, the Thunder swarmed Gasol and harassed him into 7 of 20 shooting, . It was the latest hard postseason lesson, following a home loss in , and .
The Grizzlies are tired of being taken to playoff school.
"The way you have to think is, you've got to think about, from the first day you get together, okay, we want to play in The Finals," guard Beno Udrih said. "Why are you here? Let's try to get to the playoffs? And when you're in the playoffs, let's try to get to The Finals? No. You've got to have one goal, and you can't be afraid to be disappointed."
But the Thunder taught the Grizzlies a harsh lesson.
Series Recap: Grizzlies vs. Thunder The Thunder take down the Grizzles to move on to play the Clippers in the Western Conference semifinal.
"They wanted it more," Conley said. "And you could see it in the way they played. And in Game 7, with Zach being out, a couple of guys banged up, we played hard. We played very hard. And they deserved to win that series, from fighting the way they did. And you learn a lot from those situations. And hopefully we'll get a good glimpse of how much better we've gotten, and see if that measuring stick is there."
There has been a different vibe from the start of training camp.
"From the beginning of the year (last season) I wasn't here, but I picked it up," Udrih said. "Their mentality was different. They had injury problems, so I don't think guys were taking care of each other, or of their bodies. This year it's a whole different story. We're taking care of ourselves, making sure we eat good, get treatment when we need it."
The Grizz got off to a 15-2 start and haven't had many stumbles yet, the product of a vastly improved
and . With its , Memphis' margin for error has increased dramatically -- as has its margin of victory,
The way you have to think is, you've got to think about, from the first day you get together, okay, we want to play in The Finals. ... You've got to have one goal, and you can't be afraid to be disappointed." & Memphis Grizzlies point guard Beno Udrih
Coach Dave Joerger was brought in to replace Lionel Hollins in 2013 with one mandate: improve the offense. After some stumbles out of the gate last season (which were sandwiched by injuries), the Grizzlies' offense is indeed now more balanced.
has been the starting shooting guard all season and is shooting a career-best 47 percent on 3-pointers, allowing Memphis to play inside-out with consistency.
The ball, which used to stick when it went inside, now flies around. But Gasol is also getting more looks by design this season.
"Our IQ has come so far from having done this now for four or five years that this group has been together," Joerger said Thursday. "So you go through those battles. And it's really helped us now in close games down the stretch this year. I think we've been fortunate to win a lot of close games. And I think that's where you see the benefit of some of that -- knowing how to get a stop, knowing when we need to get a stop, and executing. The offense has been a little bit better this year than it has been, so that eases (the burden on) the defense a little bit."
It has been important for players to see offense winning games, as with Lee's improbable (and, if you believe the folks in Sacramento, illegal) , and , leading to a triple-overtime Grizzlies win, and
that led to another OT win.
But the Grizzlies believed they needed to get to another level to break through in the playoffs. The issue was small forward.
Teammates loved Prince -- "Tay was somebody that may not be a loud voice or spoke all the time, but when he spoke, everybody listened," Gasol said -- and they felt the same about , who signed as a free agent from Dallas. But Prince was clearly going downhill offensively. Opposing teams could play off of two guys when Prince and Allen were on the floor together, and Carter has been in a shooting slump all season, even before partially tearing his left tendon in his foot against the Nuggets. And when Allen played the three, with Lee at the two, the Grizzlies' rebounding numbers went south.
So the Grizzlies dealt Prince to Boston for Green, who they'd been coveting for more than a year.
Arena Link: Jeff Green Jeff Green joins GameTime via Arena Link to talk about the Grizzlies recent 5 game win streak.
That meant Allen, a team and fan favorite since coming to Memphis in 2010, had to go to the bench. That would be a problem on a lot of teams. But Allen never let it become an issue, saying publicly he accepted Green taking his starting spot.
"I can see his potential," Allen said. "That's pretty much what we needed, one of those Durant, LeBron-type bodies in the lineup, I believe. It's best for the team. I didn't really take no offense to it. I just said if it's best for the team, let me come in and do what's best for the team, give 110 percent. Let's win a championship. I'm well-proven in this league. Now, we got Jeff and he's adapting well, and I'm adapting myself. But I've been productive coming off the bench last year, and I know what the ultimate goal is."
Having someone on the weak side who is capable both of spotting up and getting to the rim will be crucial when good defenses load up on Randolph and Gasol in the playoffs. No big man is better finding the open man than Gasol, whether at the top of the key or on the block. And Joerger has dusted off some of the Grizzlies' old postup sets for
to use with Green.
"I told (Green) game one, as soon as he has an edge, if he looks, he's going to get the ball," Gasol said. "To always be ready for the pass. Don't think I don't see you, because I have pretty good court awareness and see what they're doing to us. Don't just stay in one place, because that's easy to guard."
Green was a good soldier in Boston the last couple of years as the Celtics dismantled their veteran team and let coach Doc Rivers go to the Clippers. But he wants to test himself again in the postseason, as he did earlier in his career in OKC and Boston.
Let's win a championship. ... Now, we got Jeff [Green] and he's adapting well, and I'm adapting myself. But I've been productive coming off the bench last year, and I know what the ultimate goal is. & Memphis Grizzlies swingman Tony Allen
"I'm looking forward to it," Green said. "I haven't been in the playoffs since Doc left. It's going to feel good. Especially, I love the competition, the competitiveness, especially in the Western Conference. Every game matters."
Randolph continues to blast away inside. He has posted 12 straight double-doubles, including 21 and 18 Saturday against the Thunder. His current
-- the percentage of available boards a player gets -- is the highest of his career. And his current PER of 21.8 is his best in four years. He and Gasol take turns beating up opponents inside, with Randolph particularly effective against Dallas' , whom he drove crazy last week in the Grizzlies' impressive road win over the Mavericks.
Zach Randolph's Night Zach Randolph goes 10-for-15 from the field with 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Grizzlies over the Mavericks.
Z-Bo rained jumper after jumper over Chandler, who couldn't have guarded him much better. And the Grizzlies won going away, despite Conley resting with a sprained wrist.
Randolph could have been one of the most coveted free agents in the league this summer. Instead, he quickly opted to take an extension in Memphis and take himself off the market, with a two-year, $20 million deal that kicks in next season. The Grizzlies can only hope that their talks with Gasol are as productive. They will start with some important intangibles on their side.
Gasol came to Memphis as a teenager, playing for Lausanne Collegiate when the family moved to the city in 2001, after Pau's rights were traded to Memphis from Atlanta on Draft night. He went to games at the old Pyramid, and he started his NBA career in Memphis when there were 2,000 people in the stands at FedEx. He has taken to the city and his teammates, and while he'll listen to any and all suitors this summer, he's not looking to leave.
"I think it just happened," he said of his comfort level in Memphis. "I was fortunate enough to go to high school here for two years, and seeing Pau develop into the person he is today, in this city. I'm an observer. I always try to learn. And so I picked up a lot of things quick from Pau. And just watching him and seeing him, I was a fan. I was at every home game at the Pyramid watching those games. I ultimately had that dream, going from the fan -- any fan would have -- playing in that arena, and playing for the team that you're cheering for. So ultimately, I accomplished that dream from the stands to the floor. That's pretty cool."
The kid brother has come into his own.
He would watch Pau play and marvel at all of his counters and reads, how he didn't seem to be thinking at all when he was on the floor, just moving in rhythm. "It's natural and has a flow to it. It's
it has a flow," Marc said of his brother's game. "Everything is connected. And so it's pretty cool to watch."
When they were kids in Spain, they would play shooting games all day in their grandmother's backyard, and then their dad would team with Marc and play two-on-one against Pau. In a fortnight, in Manhattan, it will be one-on-one. And Marc Gasol, who made sure he had teammates from his Lausanne squad in each of his classes to help his learn English, will see exactly how far he's come.
He knows what his big brother will do with the ball.
"If he posts me, I know he's going to face up, and see, and look over me," Marc Gasol said. "He's going to see where everybody's at. But that is a scout for a real game. I don't think they're going to throw the first ball to Pau. If they do, that's going be kind of messed up. But it'll be okay. I'm up for the challenge. He knows what I'm going to do defensively, and I pretty much know what he's going to do. He's going to read over me, try to see who's behind, and he's probably going to take a hard jab step to the right, to the baseline, to see how I'm going to react. And he'll take it from there."
AND NOBODY ASKED YOU, EITHER
All these rests make him sharp. From Markel Lee:
...I just want to know when is the NBA gonna do something about this RESTING crap. I feel its a slap in the face to the fans who don't make nearly as much or close to the money these guys make for them to be sitting out for REST! Our tax dollars help build these freaking super arenas and stadiums, we buy their jerseys and shoes supporting the hell out of these teams and players and what happens...you and your kid(s) shoe up to find out the superstars/star player is on the bench in his $5000-plus suit cheering. Not because he's hurt or even injured...no its because he had three games in four nights in three different cities. Well whoop dee do...
I know you had more to say, Markel, but you expressed yourself with words that don't belong in a family NBA column. It's a tough call. Coaches and organizations are charged with trying to win championships. The Spurs, of course, are the most notorious in this regard, resting their aging starters whenever Popovich thinks they need a night off. It seems to have worked for them. On the other hand, fans have an expectation when they buy a ticket that they're going to see both teams' star players, unless they're already out of the lineup because of injury. Unfortunately, it's just that: an expectation. It's just like going to a Broadway play. You paid to see Daniel Day Lewis doing Hamlet, not Jerry Lewis. But there' they're going to do Hamlet at 8 whether Daniel Day is ready or not. And, I agree with you -- I feel especially bad for kids who may only get one chance to see their favorite players. But I don't know what the solution is, other than maybe tweaking the schedule going forward by playing the 82 games over a longer stretch, so there are fewer back to backs and four games in five nights, and less incentive for coaches to sit their stars.
No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you. From Justin Hale:
2015 All-Star Reserves: Kevin Durant Check out the top 10 plays that made Thunder forward Kevin Durant a 2015 West All-Star Reserve.
Could it be, in this age of internet and technology that the draw of "big-market" cities is no more? If Durant can be as popular in Oklahoma as
can be in L.A., what now will be the draw of destinations like New York & L.A.? Has the playing field been leveled with the small-market competition?
I forsee an NBA landscape that now may really be about putting a competitive product on the floor that will draw our box-office players to those teams vs. the high level of exposure and promises of endorsements. I believe this may be the reason we see cities like New York and L.A. in dire straits now. They need a team to sell to these free agents and thus far they have fallen short. Who knows what the future may bring to those franchises but for now it's a thought provoking topic of discussion. Could Durant In his free agency choose Washington over L.A.? Could Marc Gasol choose to stay in Memphis over relocating to the bright lights of New York City? It could happen. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
But until then, lets talk about it. What do you think? Are we witnessing a changing of the guard?
I don't think players have thought about small markets versus big markets for a few years now, Justin. That's an old, somewhat outdated theory. Durant (and, lately, ) have gotten plenty of endorsement deals while playing in Oklahoma City. I'll really be surprised if
leaves Portland, or Marc Gasol leaves Memphis. We all know how much of a model franchise San Antonio has been. Players want to get paid, to be sure, but they also want to win and be with well-run organizations. Also, the CBA has definitely impacted the old advantages high-revenue teams had to buy and retain quality players above market value. There's no way the Nets would be as willing to sell off their quality assets under the old rules, which weren't nearly as punitive for teams over the luxury tax threshold.
He's in a Melbourne state of mind. From Juan Manuel Boan:
I just want someone to say the name
when talking about All-Star reserves. The Warriors have only lost two games with him on the floor, but more importantly, there aren't many elite two-way centers in today's NBA. He plays a bigger role than he is credited for in his team and in all the never-ending arguments about who got snubbed, there hasn't been a single mention about him.
Not much chance of Andrew making the All-Star team, Juan Manuel, even though he's clearly one of the most important pieces of the Warriors' team. With centers no longer on the All-Star ballot, centers like Andrew are now competing for spots with the likes of Durant, , Aldridge, Zach Randolph, , etc., not to mention the other centers like Dwight Howard and , et. al. Just too many people in front of him.
Send your questions, comments, criticisms and
to . If your e-mail is sufficiently funny, thought-provoking, well-written or snarky, we just might publish it!
(Weekly averages in parentheses)
1) James Harden (19 ppg, 6 rpg, 8 apg, .404 FG, .769 FT): With Dwight Howard , the weight of RocketsWorld is completely on the shoulders of the Beard.
(26 ppg, 5 rpg, 7.3 apg, .412 FG, .846 FT): . (h/t to Diamond Leong of the San Jose Mercury News for the original find.)
LeBron Battles Wiggins Highlights from the battle between LeBron James and Andrew Wiggins in tonight's action as the Cavs defeat the Timberwolves.
(29 ppg, 5 rpg, 6.3 apg, .492 FG, .760 FT): Watching LBJ dueling with Andrew Wiggins Saturday, couldn't help but think about how devastating the two of them could have been playing together. It may not have happened this season, but can you imagine what a frontcourt of Wiggins at the three and LeBron at the four would look like in 2017?
4) Marc Gasol (14 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 4.3 apg, .438 FG, .933 FT): First Grizzlies player ever voted in by fans as a starter for the All-Star Game.
(28 ppg, 11 rpg, 3 bpg, .588 FG, .889 FT): Looking to return from a groin strain tonight against the white-hot Hawks after missing Friday's game against the Clippers.
BY THE NUMBERS
Mavericks vs. Heat Charlie Villanueva had a team-high 20 points as the Mavericks outscored the Heat 60-27 in the second half to win 93-72 in Miami Friday night.
601 -- Career coaching wins for Rick Carlisle, who reached the 600 mark Friday night in Miami. In his 12 previous seasons as a coach, he's had one (!) sub-.500 season, in 2006, his final season in Indiana (35-47). Carlisle's teams in Detroit, Indiana and Dallas have won 50 games six times, and made the playoffs all but that one season with the Pacers.
11 -- Consecutive years the Timberwolves have not made the playoffs, the longest current streak in the league.
366 -- Days since Adam Silver took over as NBA Commissioner. His first year since succeeding David Stern has surely been eventful, but most new commishes are tested right out of the gate. Few, though, have done as well as Silver, who didn't need a focus group to tell him to throw Donald Sterling out of the league. And Silver quickly finished up an historic television deal that should shut the league's owners' mouths for a generation about how they can't make a go of it economically with this Collective Bargaining Agreement. But there will be harder challenges coming for Silver in the years to come, and tougher problems to solve. He's built up a lot of goodwill, though, on which he can lean when the tough times arrive.
I'M FEELIN' ...
GameTime: Kobe's Injury Jared Greenberg and Rick Fox discuss Kobe Bryant's injury and how it affects the Lakers and his future in the NBA.
1) Nice to see, 14 years after I reported that Kobe Bryant, at the height of his feud with Shaquille O'Neal, wanted out of Los Angeles in 2001 (), and after Kobe and his then-agent both denied it (the agent said the story was "utterly ridiculous"), that Kobe has finally copped to the fact that he, indeed, . Look, I've gotten some things wrong over the years. But not that one.
2) Freddy Carter, you are all but assured of remaining the best player on the worst team in NBA history. Congrats!
3) Great read
over the last couple of decades. To me, there's no question that the cost of going to games has priced out millions of fans who used to attend regularly, and has dramatically affected the home-court edge many teams had. As John Salley said two decades ago, when the Pistons first moved to the Palace of Auburn Hills, 31 miles from Detroit: "we used to play in front of the auto workers. Now we play in front of the executives." Also, today's newer buildings are bigger, but that allows the noise to dissipate rather than echo back onto the court. You could not hear the person next to you in the old stadiums in Chicago, Boston and Detroit, but also in places like San Antonio and Charlotte (the old Hive). There's only a couple of older buildings left -- Sleep Train in Sacramento and EnergySolutions in Utah -- that still preserve the noise from fans.
4) Friday was .
5) Former Charlotte coach Sam Vincent is having a very good season coaching in Bahrain, where his Manama team is undefeated in that country's Premier League. Vincent's team features former Connecticut star and Nets first-round pick Josh Boone.
NOT FEELIN' ...
1) Because Orlando still has six games to play before the All-Star Break, and very little practice time scheduled, coach Jacque Vaughn will probably make it to then, but no further. That's the logical time to make a coaching change, when the new coach will have at least three or four days of practice during the extended break. The Magic's record just isn't what the Magic's front office thinks it should be. This was the season Orlando was supposed to play meaningful games throughout the season, and at least compete for a playoff spot in the East. It's not like the Magic have been blown out of every game -- they've beaten Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, Phoenix and should have beaten Golden State. But there have been way too many losses, and not enough development, to save Vaughn's job.
2) Knicks fans, stop. You can't have it both ways. You can't lament how horrible an owner Jim Dolan is, and how inexperienced Phil Jackson is as an executive, and how over his head Derek Fisher is as a coach, and decry the worst start in franchise history, and then get mad when the Knicks win five of their last seven games because it hurts their Lottery position.
3) I'm starting to think that there's not going to be a Tiger Woods Renaissance.
4) Yeah, Sherlock, this . But I appreciate your concern.
5) You have a truck in Marshawn Lynch in your backfield, Pete Carroll, a guy who lives to run people over, and you throw the ball on the 1-yard line with the Super Bowl on the line because you're afraid of going against the Patriots' goal line defense? There has never been weaker sauce served at the worst dinner party in history.
was a little salty. The All-Star starting lineups were announced in mid-January, and the Raptors'
had been voted in by fans for his first appearance in the mid-season classic. But Jennings, the Pistons' guard, believed other forces besides Lowry's fans were at work. He tweeted last week:
"," a clear reference to the Raptors' coterie of famous fans, including Drake and Justin Bieber (and, one supposes, his Beliebers), who'd advocated that Lowry be voted in.
But the 28-year-old Lowry didn't need anyone's help. He's posting career highs in points (19.3), has tied his best mark in assists (7.4) and carried the Raptors through some rough patches while they were without injured shooting guard . Lowry has led the Raptors to what already looks like an insurmountable lead in the Atlantic Division (14 games over second-place Brooklyn entering play Monday), and second place in the Eastern Conference. And Lowry has become the Raptors' unquestioned leader, just a year after the team was hours away from trading him to New York, a deal that was scotched at the last minute by Knicks owner Jim Dolan.
2015 All-Star Top 10: Kyle Lowry Check out the very best plays from Eastern Conference All-Star Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors took off after that deal imploded, making the postseason and nearly toppling the Nets in the first round before losing a Game 7 heart-breaker that saw Lowry's last-second drive get blocked by . But that didn't stop Toronto's momentum, and it didn't stop Lowry , spurning interest from the Rockets and the Miami Heat. And it hasn't stopped Lowry from playing with that edge that has kept him in the league, and allowed him to excel, since being drafted by the Grizzlies in the first round of the 2006 Draft.
Me: What do you think people may know now about you as a player that maybe they didn't before to make them go, 'man, we need to get that guy on the All-Star team?'
Kyle Lowry: That I can play. (Laughs). I don't know. I think it's just that my team's winning, and I've got a great group of guys who've helped with that. And I guess with DeMar going down, everybody thought we were probably going to go down, and we ended up staying in the flow. People are paying more attention to us.
Me: Of all the point guards that have connected at some point in your life as a pro --
in Houston, Mike Conley in Memphis, Chauncey Billups as a mentor -- which has had the greatest impact on you for playing the position?
KL: I mean, of course, Chaunce. I think that's just someone I kind of tried to mold my game after to a certain extent. And I always said, he always challenged me to be better than he was. And I would always take that as, not a person challenge, but come on, you're my young guy. I'm passing the torch to you. You see what I now follow my footsteps and make me proud. To have a guy like that who wants you to follow in his footsteps is pretty cool.
Justin Bieber: Worst of the Week Justin Bieber could have cost Kyle Lowry his All-Star spot. It's not hard, Justin. Throw a hashtag on it.
Me: What were those talks like when you spent time with him?
KL: It was more about being professional. Working at your craft, and understanding the game, and understanding your team, and knowing that things might not always go the right way, but how to put yourself in a position to shift the tide, make sure things go the right way. He played on a hellified team back then. They all looked at him to go. And when you've got that kind of personality, and respect, it doesn't matter who's on your team, people are going to follow. You want to lead a group of men to a situation where he got a ring, and that's where I want to lead a group of men.
I think that's just someone I kind of tried to mold my game after to a certain extent. And I always said, he always challenged me to be better than he was. ... You see what I now follow my footsteps and make me proud.
& Kyle Lowry, on Chauncey Billups' influence on his game
Me: When you got in the lab this summer, what did you want to work on?
KL: I always want to work on my jump shot. I always work on my jump shot. I worked a lot on my mid-range. Even to start the game, even though people don't like the mid-range. And I did a lot of post work this offseason. But every year, it's always something different. You can always re-develop your jump shot. You can always fix your jump shot to make it even better. And part of me, I wanted to make my free throws better. I'm kind of sucking on that one. But I take bits and pieces from everybody. Last summer, I watched Steph Curry, the way he shoots the ball. I want to be able to go out there and get -- I won't be as great a shooter as he is -- but why not get up there? Why not be that type of level type shooter, where you can't leave me at all?
Me: Who's your rebound guy, your shot guru?
KL: I can't tell you, because of the conflict of interest of his job. So I'm gonna keep that one a little hush. People know who he is. But he's great. And he's been great for me my whole life. He's been in my life since I was a junior or senior in high school. I can't get him in trouble right now.
Me: So what do you work on -- hand placement, footwork?
KL: Footwork, shooting in all types of angles, changing speeds and shooting, coming off of pin-downs, shooting from range. Just being confident. No matter if you're getting pushed left, pushed right, you can still get your footwork and shot to where you want it to be.
Inside Stuff: Straight to the Hole Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors shows off his love of golf and talks about his team's rise in the East.
Me: Did you want to get more comfortable going to the right and pulling up?
KL: I felt I could always go left on the pullup. Going right on the pullup has always been a challenge for me. And that's one of the things I worked on this past summer. If you ask (Raptors assistant Bill) Bayno, he always says 'push him right' in practice. You can push me right now, and I'll make the shot. I work on it. Every year, it's always something. And the person I take that from was Chris (Paul). Chris goes right, and he has that game. I'm a student of the game. And I'm not ashamed to say I'll steal from anybody. I take tidbits from everybody. That's one thing about it, I just love the game and love watching the game. Like, tomorrow -- well, tomorrow's the Super Bowl -- but I've got two TVs in my house, a couple of TVs, just to watch basketball. And I'll sit there and watch two games. I love watching the game.
Me: What was that courting process like this summer? 'Cause everybody wants to be courted once, right?
KL: Yeah, it's true. But after your one time, you're like 'I don't know if I want to do that again.' I had Houston at the house at 12:15, and they were there, Coach McHale, and then Masai (Ujiri) and them come in. It's cool. But at the same time, it's very stressful, because you've got to put yourself in the position of, okay, how are you going to be successful? It's not peaches and cream like everybody thinks, because it's a life-altering situation. You can go think the grass is greener on the other side, but it's not.
I'm a student of the game. And I'm not ashamed to say I'll steal from anybody. I take tidbits from everybody. That's one thing about it, I just love the game and love watching the game. & Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry
Me: Most guys turn their phone off during that time. Who could still reach you?
KL: My wife. My guy that I work with in the summertime. And DeMar. I talked to DeMar almost every single day. Him and Rudy Gay are my guys. I was able to bounce things off of them. Honestly, that's one of the things that helped me come back to Toronto. 'Cause when I called DeMar, he would just listen. And I told him about every situation that was possible. And he didn't say 'nah, bro, you should just do this.' He would just listen. And it makes life a lot easier when you know you've got somebody who just literally, truly is out there just for you, just wants you to be happy.
Me: So, no sales pitch?
KL: No sales pitch. I talked to that man on the cellphone, he was going somewhere, and he was on the plane with the phone. He kept on the phone and just listened to me. I probably owe him about $60 for that call?
Me: Were you surprised Miami didn't do everything possible to get you? I really thought you'd be a priority for them.
KL: I don't know. I think, they sent the little pitch through the e-mail --
Me: But if they're trying to get you --
KL: I think they were trying to figure out their own selves, with LeBron. And I don't know if they knew they were going to lose him, but at the same time, I don't know what was their thinking. I'm not them guys. At the end of the day, I was open to any and everybody, and I wanted to listen and be courted. It was cool. They sent their e-mail, they sent their pitch, and that was it. It was one of those things were, okay, it went that way.
Me: It worked out.
KL: It worked out perfect.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
-- Actress Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu), Thursday, 6:25 p.m., responding to Sir Charles's belief that her husband, , shouldn't have been named an Eastern Conference reserve.
THEY SAID IT
"We don't like each other. He didn't like me when I was there and I didn't like him when I was there so it is what it is. If you're going to say something like that to me, expect me to respond but don't go run and tell when I do go say something. You can ask him what he said. He said enough to make me respond. We don't like each other."
-- Clippers forward ,
in a game against the Suns. Barnes subsequently claimed that he was fined for cursing at Suns owner Robert Sarver (the "he/him" in Barnes' quote), though the league went to pains to claim that Barnes was fined for language toward an unnamed fan/fans, not Sarver.
"We've tried both ways and we're just going to try to do a better job as a team, as teammates, to corral each other when they start to argue. The guys came up with that."
-- Suns coach Jeff Hornacek, discussing the team's rule that if a player gets a technical foul at any point of a game for arguing with an official, he is immediately benched for the rest of the game. Hornacek said he has discussed tweaking the rule with his players as the team approaches the postseason, and might allow a player to return to the game in the future.
Longtime NBA reporter and columnist David Aldridge is an analyst for TNT. You can e-mail him
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