Dan Woike of The Orange County Register: You can tell that Blake Griffin wants patience. After the Clippers lost 107-91 to a dominant Memphis Grizzlies team, his voice changed tones when talking about maintaining a big-picture view of his team this season. “I didn’t expect to go undefeated the rest of the year. It’d be great. But we’re going to have games like this, but we’ve got to relax. We can’t start panicking,” he said. “We’ve done a poor job handling playing badly early in the season, and we can’t do that again. We have to relax.” Sunday, the Clippers certainly played badly, partly because of their own doing and partly because Memphis is playing like one of the best teams in the NBA.

Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: If there was any doubt about whether Marc Gasol would actually suspend his pass-happy mentality after his preseason promise to be more of an offensive force, the Grizzlies’ center has squelched skepticism. The 7-footer emphatically made believers out of coach Doc Rivers and his Los Angeles Clippers late in the third quarter Sunday evening during the Grizzlies’ 107-91 victory in FedExForum. Gasol caught the basketball at the top of the circle and tossed a pass to a streaking Quincy Pondexter along the baseline for a dunk. The play gave Gasol his only assist. By then, an assertive Gasol was showing an array of offensive moves and a bunch of emotion to go with 26 points and nine rebounds. He’d tattoo the Clippers’ weak interior defense for 30 points and 12 boards by the end of the Grizzlies’ romp toward padding their NBA-best record at 12-2. Gasol also solicited an “M-V-P” chant, albeit faint, from the crowd.

Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News: Kobe Bryant once spent part of his teenage years studying every move Michael Jordan made, hopeful that eventually he could emulate them. Though it will hardly end the debate that has encompassed Bryant’s 19-year career, he has emulated Jordan’s game enough to surpass him in one category that defined both of the players’ skill sets. Bryant entered the Lakers’ game on Sunday against the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center only 246 points shy of surpassing Jordan for third place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. “He’ll probably just say it’s another milestone, but Jordan was somebody Kobe idolized and looked up to,” said Denver coach Brian Shaw, who won three of his NBA titles with Bryant on the Lakers from 2000-2002 and served as an assistant coach when he won two more championships in 2009 and 2010. “Whether he says it or not, I personally feel it would be one of his greatest accomplishments.” Bryant has said he cares more about his five NBA championships, which trail Jordan’s six titles. But Shaw considers Bryant and Jordan nearly on equal footing. “Michael is the best player to ever play the game and the best player at the 2 guard position,” Shaw said. “It’s 1A and 1B and I think Kobe is the best 2 guard right behind him. I don’t think there’s any one difference between the two.”

Joseph D'Hillolito for The Denver Post: t was ugly, but the Nuggets will take it. Denver outlasted the Los Angeles Lakers, 101-94, in overtime here Sunday night in game where both teams could not find a rhythm at the offensive end. With the Nuggets desperate for anyone to make a basket, Danilo Gallinari drained a three-pointer with 1:28 left for a 94-90 lead that the Nuggets rode to victory. "I like to take that shot," Gallinari said.

Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle: Warriors reserve big man Marreese Speights took it to Oklahoma City in Sunday’s 91-86 victory, and then he offered some parting shots on his way out of town. Speights spent much of the game talking trash to the Thunder’s bench — all the while, knocking down 11-of-18 shots for a season-high 28 points. Apparently, most of Speights’ venom was directed at Oklahoma City backup center Kendrick Perkins, who had four points on 2-of-4 shooting. “It’s just that Perk always has something to say,” Speights said. “He thinks he’s a tough guy, but at the end of the day, his game is terrible. He always has something to say to me, every time we play against each other. “It always gets me going, so: ‘Shout out to Perkins’ for helping me get this game."

Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: In some ways, Scotty Brooks is coaching his butt off. His Thunder is playing hard, playing defense with maniacal effort, and staying competitive with a roster missing its pearls. Warriors coach Steve Kerr talked before the game Sunday night of how the short-handed Thunder is playing up to the organizational standard, in terms of effort and commitment. You halfway thought Kerr was Sam Presti’s ventriloquist dummy. But then comes crunch time. And you’re reminded that the Thunder needs more out of Brooks. ... Like I said, there is much to appreciate about Brooks’ leadership during this 3-12 start. He’s calling more timeouts, because the Thunder’s breakneck pace doesn’t work so well when Durant and Westbrook are out and the depth is short. And these guys are playing as hard as they can. That’s a big chunk of coaching, right there. ... But in the same way that Jackson has to step up in Westbrook’s stead, and Serge Ibaka has to shoulder more of the load, and everyone has to try to improve their game, the coach has to find new ways to win ballgames. No one expects the Thunder to flourish without their pearls. But some of this 3-12 start is on Brooks.

Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: On a night when no shot seemed to be falling, when turnovers dropped like rain, when ugliness ruled, the Trail Blazers had one important thing going for them. Actually, they had two: The old Shake-and-Blake. Steve Blake showcased a little pizazz at the perfect moment to help the surging Blazers survive an ugly performance and defeat the Boston Celtics, 94-88, Sunday night at TD Garden. ... The hot-button topic in the postgame locker room was Blake and two jaw-dropping second-half crossover moves. "Steve is just as crafty as ever," Wesley Matthew said. "He was big-time for us tonight." ... Blake was sheepish about it all as a horde of reporters questioned him after the game. He said he was simply using the Celtics' defensive coverages and tendencies against them. He knew Turner would try to keep him away from the middle of the court and play him hard to the right. So Blake turned that into an edge, using the combination of Turner's right-leaning momentum and his deft dribbling ability to make the plays.

Jimmy Toscano of CSNNE.com: Jeff Green made it abundantly clear after the Celtics' 94-88 loss to the Blazers on Sunday: He does not want to be traded, and has no patience for "B.S. rumors". Before Green took any questions, he got that off his chest. “Before you start, I just want to clear the air about some B.S. rumor that came out. I don’t know if the person who made this article is in this circle, but the rumor about me wanting to get traded is definitely false," Green said. "I said that I was frustrated with losing, not frustrated with the team. So if the words didn't come from my mouth, I'd appreciate if you did not write a dumb-[expletive] article like that." Needless to say, the group of reporters was confused as to what Green was talking about. Nobody there had written anything of the sorts. CSNNE.com's A. Sherrod Blakely wrote an article on Green after Friday's loss in Memphis that mentioned Green being frustrated with the losses as of late. Green said his frustration was at an "all-time high". In the same article, Blakely explained that Green is having his best season on the Celtics, and based on his contract situation, could be very attractive as a free agent if he opts out of the final year of his deal at season's end. Nowhere in the article was there a mention of Green's frustration turning into a trade demand.

Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: But if you can stand the thrill ride, including the wild sequences at the end Sunday, you start to get an idea of where this could be headed. Shabazz Napier has become a lovely parting gift from LeBron James. Mario Chalmers has become a Rio-coaster that instead of going off the tracks has become a settling factor amid a Wade absence now entering its third week. Chris Bosh again flourished as leading man, this time with a challenging fadeaway jumper with 31.1 seconds to play that closed the scoring. Sure it took surviving a Chalmers turnover at a point when clock was there for the running out, as well as Charlotte center Al Jefferson missing at point blank with 2.1 seconds left. But that's where this currently stands. Fighting to remain above .500. Struggling to realize health. And desperate to avoid the drama LeBron has exported to Cleveland. "It's good for us to have a close game, where we have to find a way to win," Bosh said. "It's still a work in progress."

Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: You’re frustrated, they’re frustrated: I got an emphatic sense of frustration from the fan base tonight on Twitter. I got an even stronger sense of frustration in the Hornets’ locker room tonight. I’ve covered 25 NBA locker rooms and I’ve seldom seen so many expressions of angst long after the place was open to the media. I’m not talking play-acting, I’m talking about real human emotion. Typically when an NBA team stinks it’s because they either are horribly over-matched or because they don’t care. I don’t get either sense from this group. By-and-large they’re smart, talented basketball players. And they really want to fix this. Right now they don’t have clue how to do that.