Orlando's Tracy McGrady has a big supporter in the MVP race — himself. "Who knows where we would be without me playing," McGrady said. "I do make everyone around me better, and that's important for an MVP."
After Magic's Patrick Ewing sat out an entire game for the first time in his 17-year career, coach Doc Rivers explained, "We can't use him when we have to play a game of speed. . . . But what does lean in the favor of Patrick is the playoffs. Rarely are they speed games, and that should suit Patrick's style."
Lakers coach Phil Jackson was incensed when refs called a free-throw line violation on Shaquille O'Neal. "We have just miles and miles of footage of people jumping in the lane early, so we can just inundate the league office with all their missed calls on the lane if they want to start calling something as petty as that," Jackson said.
Flagrant fouls are up this season, causing Commissioner David Stern to say, "Despite our attempts to liken the two, the ballet analogy only goes so far. There are large men in small places running very fast. . . . It's our job to distinguish between physical play and unacceptable thuggery."
ESPN's plan to have two cameras assigned solely to Nets bad boy Kenyon Martin burned coach Byron Scott. "This is putting the spotlight on him like he's a criminal," Scott said. "If you put a camera on a guy that's playing 35 minutes a game, you're going to see something somewhere down the line that you can say, 'That was flagrant.' "
Scott says the great Lakers teams of the '80s were better than the current champs. "They've got two great players in Shaq and Kobe (Bryant) and they've got a bunch of guys that are pretty good," Scott said. "We had five guys who probably could have been All-Stars every year. We just had more firepower."
Scott said Shaq would have scored on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but Kareem would have scored right back. "Nobody could stop that sky hook. (Kareem) was one of the most competitive people you'd ever want to meet. He was tough-minded, so if you tried to beat up on him, he got madder and scored more."
More Scott: When he said the Nets needed more marquee players before it could be a powerhouse, it was an indictment of Keith Van Horn. "He's just been very inconsistent all season long," Scott said. "The guys that are so-called marquee players in this league are pretty much on even keel the whole season."
Jeff Van Gundy was shocked to read an Orlando Sentinel report that he would be the next coach of the WNBA's Washington Mystics. "I'm sure the Mystics don't appreciate that," he said. "They want somebody good. You know, I can see my upbeat personality going over well with women's games."
Detroit's Ben Wallace has a chance to join this group — Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Hakeem Olajuwon — as the only players to lead the league in blocked shots and rebounds. He's way ahead in blocks, battling Tim Duncan in rebounds and very confident. "You can chalk that up," Wallace said. "It's already done."
Warriors took it personally when Minnesota's Wally Szczerbiak referred to them as "that bunch of clowns" awhile back. "Nobody in this locker room forgot what he said," Golden State's Chris Mills said after handing the Timberwolves a loss. Szczerbiak's response? "Aw, I don't care. If that motivated them, whatever."
Ex-Jazzman David Benoit is playing with the Shanghai Sharks in China as a teammate of 7-6 center Yao Ming. "I'm amazed by how agile he is, how he is able to move and run the floor," Benoit said. "He's not like Shawn Bradley . . . If anything, he's more like Shaq."
Rumor has it Ming is waiting to see which team drafts him before deciding whether to play in the NBA. Chinese officials apparently want him in a big market with a large Chinese population.
Asked to handicap the East playoffs, Charles Oakley said, "It's handicapped all right. You got eight tow trucks and eight tow cars. They all look the same. If I'm looking for a favorite, I'm going to the Kentucky Derby. I'm looking for a 60-1 shot."
Mavericks coach Don Nelson, sandbagging shamelessly, said, "We're not as good as a lot of teams in the West, but we're pretty good. Portland, the Lakers, Sacramento, San Antonio are all better than we are."
Pacers' Ron Artest yapped about stopping Detroit's Jerry Stackhouse, so the next time they met Stackhouse scored 10 points while luring Artest into three fouls in the first quarter. "He had 10 big ones in his face real quick," Stackhouse said. "They do a lot of talking for a .500 team."
Bucks' Jason Caffey is on the bench and wants to be traded. He's signed for three more years at $17 million total.
Compiled by Rich Evans from Internet and wire-service reports