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Ron Artest cannot explain shooting improvement

Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times reports:

Ron Artest managed to hit three three-point attempts in Game 2 and was six for nine from the field in scoring 18 points, a slight uptick from his Game 1 performance of 14 points.

There is, apparently, no explanation for his enhanced shooting.

“I’m not sure. I have no clue. I really don’t. I really don’t,” Artest said. “. . . All I do is shoot it. . . . I don’t know what it’s doing.”

More shooting practice in the gym?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I shoot a lot every day. When I was going 0 for 10 or whenever that was, I was in here shooting.”

Back to his comfort level with the triangle offense: Artest managed to get off a good line about his teammates.

“There are still guys that don’t know the triangle and they’ve been here longer than me,” he said, looking amused.

Wife gives Channing Frye pep talk

The Arizona Republic reports:

The pep talk came on the flight back from Los Angeles, and it set Channing Frye straight.

“I got an earful on the plane from my wife, man, but it was all positive,” the Suns’ center said Friday. “She’s like, ‘Just think about how far you’ve come and have some fun. . . . This is not you. This is not who you are. You’re supposed to be this and that. You’re showing everybody else wrong. Imagine if our kid was here now. How would you want him to act?’ “

That made Frye, whose wife is expecting their first child in October, realize he’s making mountains out of molehills. Through two games of the Western Conference finals, this has not been his series. A consistent long-rang shooter throughout the regular season, Frye has made just 1 of 13 against the Lakers. He played only 8 minutes, 39 seconds in Game 2, a season low.

Magic not in panic mode, yet

Tania Ganguli of the Orlando Sentinel reports (via blog):

Stan Van Gundy said he didn’t implement any drastic changes to the game plan today. He does not plan to change his starters, either.

“We are not in panic mode,” Van Gundy said.

But they did insert a few new plays to help Rashard Lewis’s offensive game, and worked on improving ball movement, shot selection and offensive and defensive transition games.

During today’s practice, the team was intensely focused, having moved past the disappointment of Tuesday’s loss and looked forward to Saturday’s Game 3 in Boston.

Ben Wallace unsure of future

Terry Foster of the Detroit News reports:

Ben Wallace admitted Wednesday he’s unsure if he’ll retire, or if he does return to the NBA, stay with the Pistons.

“Everybody has supported me, and for the rest of my life I am going to be remembered for what I did here,” he said. “I feel a part of the community of Detroit. This is always going to have a special place in my heart.”

The factor in his decision: his 35-year-old body. Wallace, who is working out almost daily at home in Virginia, said he must listen to his body.

“When I am healthy, I can play this game at a high level night in and night out,” he said. “But sometimes, those knick-knack injuries take so much out of you mentally. Physically, I can handle anything but mentally when you have those injuries, it takes away from your game.”

Phil Jackson, Steve Nash trade playful jabs before series

Kirkland Crawford of the Detroit Free Press reports:

The Lakers coach has made a name for himself in two ways: winning 10 NBA championships and complaining to officials via the media with stealth-like effectiveness.

And his latest target is Suns All-Star guard Steve Nash.

A couple of days ago, Jackson was asked if it was tough to prepare for Nash and Jackson quipped, “yeah, because you can’t carry the ball like he does in practice.”

So, Nash, what’s your response?

“I’ve never heard anyone accuse me of carrying it,” Nash said. “I mean, the best coach in the league Gregg Popovich (of San Antonio) didn’t have a problem with it last week.”

Dwight Howard frustrated by Celtics in Game 1 loss

The AP reports:

Dwight Howard knew what the Boston Celtics had planned. Whenever he got the ball in the post, someone was going to hit him, bump him, push him, do whatever it took to keep him from getting into rhythm.

It wasn’t a new approach.

The Celtics simply do it better than just about everyone else.

Howard made only 3 of his 10 shots from the floor Sunday, continuing what’s been a yearlong offensive struggle against the Celtics, and his Orlando Magic lost Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals to Boston 92-88.

”I played like a robot,” Howard said.

He doesn’t have long for reprogramming. Game 2 is Tuesday night.

Shaq will consider joining Nets

Marc Berman of the New York Post reports:

Cavaliers free agent center Shaquille O’Neal, a Newark native, told The Post he would consider the Nets as a destination this summer — intrigued because they now reside in his hometown.

O’Neal, the Cavs “other” free agent, praised the new Prudential Center as being an NBA hotspot and said he would rather them not move to Brooklyn in 2013.

“I think it’s better than most arenas, I think it’s one of the best arenas in the country,” O’Neal told The Post following the Cavaliers’ stunning second-round elimination against Boston on Thursday night. “Hopefully they can stay there forever. I don’t know what’s going on with the Brooklyn situation, but it says a lot for the city of Newark.”

InsideHoops.com Says: Shaq has limited impact at this point in his basketball career, and the Nets have Brook Lopez at center already. So while it’s fun to think about O’Neal heading over to Newark, in reality he’ll probably wind up continuing to play elsewhere, for contenders who need him a bit more.

Kobe says little about early LeBron elimination

The AP reports:

If Kobe Bryant was even slightly disappointed to learn that LeBron James won’t be showing up for a possible career-defining showdown, the Los Angeles Lakers star isn’t letting on.

Bryant had almost nothing to say Friday about the Cleveland Cavaliers’ playoff elimination, which ruined the best chance yet for a finals meeting with James.

“I don’t know,” Bryant said when asked what he thought of Boston’s Game 6 victory, before an awkward silence with the phalanx of television cameras and digital recorders pointed at him in a back corner of the Lakers’ training complex.

Surely Bryant realizes the anticipation was extra-high this spring, after the superstars’ teams finished atop their respective conferences with two of the NBA’s top three records. Nike certainly spent many months hoping for the showcase of two top clients, building that unusual advertising campaign around their puppet replicas.

But while James begins his offseason, Bryant is still standing — albeit on a gimpy ankle — after persevering through an injury-riddled year. The veteran star won’t slow down for the Western Conference finals just because King James isn’t waiting on the other side.

InsideHoops.com Says: I hope reporters ask Bryant about this until he gives a real response. I assume he’ll eventually say that he thought the Cavs would go further, but the Celtics are a very good team. That’s the boring, politically correct response, at least. But hopefully he gives something more interesting than that.

Jack Ramsey tosses doubt at Mike Brown

Marc Berman of the New York Post reports (via the Post blog):

Jack Ramsey, former legendary coach and ESPN Radio’s color man for this second-round series, blames coach Mike Brown for the Cavaliers’ dire predicament, not LeBron James.

Ramsey believes Brown hasn’t made any strategic adjustments to get James better looks against the Celtics’ swarming help defense, feels the coach should push the pace and get Antawn Jamison more involved.

Speaking at the morning shootaround, Ramsey told The Post, “I think the pieces are there. But you got to use the pieces you have. Coaches have to make adjustments to what the other team is doing and find ways to beat that.”

Brown said this morning he planned to give Boston “a different look” and there’s rumors he’s considering playing James at point guard tonight.

LeBron James playing passively in playoff losses to Celtics

LeBron James playing passively in Cavs playoff losses to Celtics

The basketball world has noticed that LeBron James isn’t playing with his usual fire in the second round NBA playoffs series between the Cavaliers and Celtics.

Especially in the Cavs losses.

LeBron’s squad is now down 3 games to 2 in the best-of-7 series.

Is his right elbow more of an issue than previously thought? Or:

Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, writing at LeBron James, reports:

How can you allow your team to lose 120-88 on your home court as you did to Boston in Tuesday’s Game 5? Certainly, you couldn’t win it yourself. But early in the game, you seemed resigned to the worst, taking only 14 shots and being outplayed and outhustled by Paul Pierce.

In the Cavs’ three losses, you have attempted only 18, 15 and 14 shots.

Where is the LeBron James who went down firing in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, averaging 38 points in this six games against Orlando?

Or the LeBron James who fired up 20-25-23-24 shots in the last four games of the 2008 series against the Celtics. Or the LeBron James who scored 45 in that Game 7 loss in Boston?

Or how about the LeBron James who had a miserable ordeal in the four-game sweep by San Antonio in 2007, but still put up 16-21-23-30 shots? In 2006 when the Cavs were eliminated 79-61 in a Game 7 at Detroit, you were 11-of-24 from the field for 27 points.

LeBron, you have always gone out with fire in your eyes, your finger on the trigger. You have been willing to take the criticism, even when you know that the Cavs had not supplied you with much support.

The world will tune in Thursday night for Game 6 in Boston.