The Sacramento Bee (Sam Amick) reports: In a season-long series of punishments for rookies failing to execute their locker room duties, Donte Greene’s car recently was filled with popcorn, and Bobby Jackson was believed to be the culprit. Against his better judgment or NBA credo, Greene retaliated Thursday by dousing the outside of Jackson’s white Mercedes with a mixture of dog food, soy sauce and condiments that sent a stench emanating from the car and sent Jackson into a locker room rant not likely to go unresolved.
UPDATE (March 14): The Sacramento Bee reports: The Kings rookie small forward exacted revenge on Bobby Jackson on Thursday, retaliating for a recent popcorn prank on his car by dousing the veteran’s Mercedes with a variety of condiments and dog food after practice. Yet the hijinx that was intended to be in fun wound up reflecting poorly on Greene and sparking little laughter within the organization. Not long after it happened, Jackson’s angered opinion could be clearly heard at the team’s practice facility. And while Greene may not have come to his senses in time to avoid the subsequent fallout, he said he eventually realized the error of his ways. “Let’s just say this,” Greene said with a straight face before Friday’s game when asked if there was any resolution to the matter. “I did a lot of apologizing today.”
The San Francisco Chronicle (Janny Hu) reports on Stephen Jackson of the Golden State Warriors, who added 10 pounds of muscle and is 6’8″ and 235 pounds: Jackson says his new-and-improved physique is behind his sustained surge, and he’s giving credit to the Warriors’ strength and conditioning gurus Mark Grabow and John Murray. It was Murray who pointed out that Jackson’s lack of strength was causing him to get pushed around without getting his share of foul calls, so the nine-year veteran hit the weight room to bulk up. Jackson now lifts for 30 to 40 minutes after every Warriors shootaround to jump start his game-day routine. He’s also using meal-replacement shakes to boost nutrition. “This is the most I’ve lifted and the most I’ve been in the weight room my whole career, and it’s starting to pay off,” said Jackson, who usually plays at 222 or 223 pounds.
The Toronto Star (Doug Smith) reports on the Raptors and their losing ways: “Right now, I think we’re in the process of `just do something,'” said Chris Bosh. “We as a team, we always talk about it, we talk about it, talk about it, talk about it, talk about it. Do we practise? Yeah, we practise great, nobody can get a shot off in practice. But in the games, for whatever reason, it’s different. “Are we going to keep talking about it, or are we going to do it? We’re past talking about it, it’s all about action. “I can sit up here and deliver a positive message every day, I can tell you what I’m going to do every day. But until you see me to do it, it’s a whole different story.”
The Boston Globe (Marc. J. Spears) reports: It started as a gentlemen’s bet before the season between two ultracompetitive Celtics, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. The issue was free throws. As long as Pierce can stay within 6 percentage points of Allen’s free throw accuracy, he wins. No money was involved. Just pride. At .838, Pierce is just .06 shy of surpassing his career-best mark. But even with that average, he is getting trounced by Allen, who is not only doing the best free throw shooting of his career but seems poised to surpass a longstanding Celtics record and challenge the NBA standard, too. “That dude’s having a super career year, Ray Allen,” Pierce said. “He’s never shot over 92 percent. I thought I’d get within like 6 or 8 percent of him, but he is just running away with it. That’s little stuff we do to push each other. Dang, he’s got his career year. I didn’t know he was shooting 95. He’s killing me.”
The Deseret News (Tim Buckley) reports: When the season started, the plan was to bring versatile Andrei Kirilenko off the bench but perhaps play him what amounts to starter minutes. But it hasn’t exactly gone that way in the 12 games Kirilenko has played since returning from January ankle surgery. Before surgery, partly because various teammates were injured, Kirilenko played 30 minutes or more in 22 of 38 games — including one regulation-length game with 42, and 50 in a double-overtime loss at Houston. Since then, he hasn’t played more than 26 minutes. He’s often used almost exclusively now in the second and fourth quarters, and isn’t subbing in for center Mehmet Okur like at times previously. Sloan said the forward from Russia no longer is on restricted minutes, and the coach believes he’s fully healthy.
The New York Post (Marc Berman) reports: A Cavaliers source admitted Larry Hughes played in a depression-like state his last 2 ½ seasons in Cleveland. His stay was a disappointment, considering the Cavs signed him to a five-year, $70 million deal to be James’ running mate. “Just watching him play in Chicago early this season, you could see the difference, he looked like he was having fun,” the Cavs’ source said. But it didn’t work in Chicago either, as Hughes fell out of favor with new coach Vinny Del Negro and didn’t play the last five weeks before the Feb. 19 trade to the Knicks.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution (Sekou Smith) reports: Hawks forward Marvin Williams will not undergo surgery on his injured lower back and could play again this season. Williams said he will undergo weeks of intensive rehabilitation after being examined by specialists at Duke University Wednesday. He wants to return before the Hawks wrap up the regular season April 15.