Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: The little things are beginning to bother Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger. There is, however, one big consolation even if the Griz aren’t executing as well as their coach would like. His name is Zach Randolph. The veteran power forward put together his ninth straight double-double Monday night and the Griz led for all but 26 seconds of their 103-94 victory over the Orlando Magic in FedExForum. Randolph’s 24-point, 10-rebound effort also was the 15th straight game in which he has grabbed double-digit rebounds. “He got loose early,” Joerger said. “He was rolling. The guy’s fantastic. He’s so good at his craft.” Randolph made 8 of 13 shots and all eight free throws. He routinely demoralized the Magic with feathery midrange jump shots, power moves at the rim and putbacks after using his muscle on the offensive glass. “I feel pretty good,” Randolph said.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: The Orlando Magic’s season has become like a broken record. The team keeps repeating the same jarring sounds again and again and again. The Magic simply do not play quality defense. That’s obvious, and it’s even more obvious after what occurred during the first half Monday night in The Blues City. The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Magic 103-94 at FedEx Forum, the 10th consecutive game the Magic have allowed an opponent to score at least 100 points. One positive emerged. After the Magic allowed 67 points in the first half, they held the Grizzlies to 36 points in the second half. The improvement coincided with Jacque Vaughn’s decision to bench ineffective power forward Channing Frye for the entire second half and replace him with a more energetic youngster, lanky big man Dewayne Dedmon. “I’m a pretty simple guy, and I’m asking [for] just simple concepts: to play together and play hard,” Vaughn said.

Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: The Celtics haven’t seen the last of Utah this year. There has been no formal announcement that this area will be reviving the summer league known as the Rocky Mountain Revue, but sources say the Celts are prepared to participate. The club, which defeated the Jazz, 99-90, last night, will also have a team in the Las Vegas Summer League, the second time it has been in two leagues in one offseason. The reason the C's will be so active is that they figure to have a load of young players in need of development. The number of draft picks the Celtics will have this June is as yet undetermined because, a. some are protected in certain positions, and, b. the team isn't done dealing. As it stands, they will have their own first round pick as well as the Clippers' as compensation for allowing Doc Rivers out of his Boston contract. They also expect to have at least their own and Philadelphia's second round choices. And with veterans Marcus Thornton, Brandon Bass and Tayshaun Prince on the last year of their contracts, there will be a number of job openings -- spots that could be available even sooner if any of the three or others are traded by the Feb. 19 deadline or, in the case of Prince, bought out afterward. Most recently the C's took part in the Orlando Pro Summer League, but with the decision to get involved in two of the July gatherings, the thought was that it'd be better to do leagues in adjoining states -- a 368-mile flight. The Rocky Mountain Revue ceased after 2008, but there have been repeated calls locally to bring it back.

Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune: Consistency. This is the difference between an NBA playoff team, or a draft lottery participant. It's a word that can mean the difference between winning and losing. There are plenty of teams in the league that show consistency. At this point, the Jazz aren't one of them. Maybe you can chalk up Monday's 99-90 loss to the Boston Celtics as youth, a callow team coming off a big win, digging itself a hole early that it couldn't emerge from. Truthfully, Utah's done this more than a few times over the season, playing well one night and struggling the next. And that's why the Jazz locker room was so disappointed following the defeat. "Really, this is just about playing the game the right way," Utah point guard Trey Burke said. "Some night's, shots aren't going to fall and we know that. But how we maintain and stay in the game tells a lot. And once we start prioritizing defense more, then we can find a way to be more consistent."

Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: It may be hard to believe, but Clippers center DeAndre Jordan and the incomparable Wilt Chamberlain are being mentioned in the same breath. Before Monday night's game against the Denver Nuggets, Jordan led the NBA in rebounding (13.4 per game) and field-goal percentage (73.4%). Chamberlain was the last player to finish a season shooting more than 70% from the field, when he made 72.7% of his shots during the 1972-73 season. But it doesn't stop there with Jordan and Chamberlain. Jordan led the NBA in rebounds (10.4) and field-goal percentage (67.6%) last season. If he finishes this season leading the league in both categories, Jordan would become the first player to accomplish that feat in consecutive seasons since Chamberlain in 1971-72 and 1972-73. "That's been my point. Why isn't nobody noticing that?," Coach Doc Rivers said. "It's amazing. I mean, what DJ has done last year and this year, it's been amazing."

Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post: Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said he plans no changes to the team's new shootaround policy after point guard Ty Lawson's arrest last Friday. "I didn't just wake up one day and say 'We're just going to move shootaround back' with nothing behind it," Shaw said. "There was research done. There were studies. There's science behind sleep patterns, recovery time. It had nothing to do with alcohol or hanging out or anything else. And so I've been slowly but surely studying some of these things and talking to some of the leading researchers in the area." Shaw wants to see better focus at the start of games, which is his main reason for doing away with the shootaround. "I looked at the results that I'm noticing personally from the focus level that we have or the retention from having shootaround closer to game time," Shaw said.

Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman: And when Adams wasn’t on the floor, his tag-team partner, Kendrick Perkins, was handed the chore of slowing Pekovic. And he, like Adams, was up to the task. “It was interesting watching him and Perk,” Adams said. “It was like two bears attacking each other. It looked amazing.” As this Thunder roster has been stripped at nearly every position throughout this injury-riddled season, the center has remained steady. OKC has played 44 games. Adams has started all but one. Perkins has appeared in all but one. And the duo has consistently played well, with neither flashing big numbers but neither needing to, contributing solid defense and steady rebounding. Monday’s win was the latest example.

Derek James of 1500ESPN.com: Now, Hummel will be out 4-6 weeks after leaving Sunday's game in Atlanta with a broken hand. When it comes to injuries creating playing time and opportunities, apparently, turnabout is fair play. Just as Hummel benefited from players missing games, Glenn Robinson III may benefit from Hummel's extended absence. There isn't much that we know about Robinson as a professional basketball player. He's appeared in just 21 games and is only averaging 4.3 minutes per game. That's less than half the court time as Troy Daniels, and about a minute less than the seldom-used big man Miroslav Raduljica. Here's the thing with rookies: they're not always good immediately. Look at last year for example. Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng were both very raw, and weren't effective players until March. That's just the way these things go, and that may be the case for Robinson as well. ... Injuries have forced the team's hand this season with Robinson's development, but it could be Hummel's fractured hand that winds up benefiting Robinson. In the same way that Hummel earned the confidence of the organization by playing hard and not trying to do more than he's capable of, Robinson could earn a similar role doing the same.

John Reid of The Times-Picayune: Whenever they were matched against each other on Monday night, it was a noticeable difference between Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis and Philadelphia 76ers forward-center Nerlens Noel. Davis looked heavier, and appeared stronger. There also was a substantial difference in skill level, Davis soared for forceful dunks and made mid-range shots. Noel didn’t command the ball much and appeared reluctant to take charge after missing his first four shots. Davis, 6-feet-11, 240 pounds, turned their matchup into a mismatch. He scored 32 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, blocked four shots and had three steals in just 30 minutes of work. Noel, 6-11, 220 pounds, finished with two points after going 1-of-9 from the field. "I was thinking about the game too much," Noel said. "I was taking some shots that weren't falling.I needed to have the mindset of playing within myself. I wasn't aggressive as I should have been." It was first time the two former University of Kentucky stars played against each other in an NBA game.

Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: Joel Embiid has been more visible of late, having long shooting sessions before games, showing a fluid touch from as far as 18 feet out and sometimes beyond. So many are wondering: If he and Nerlens Noel are paired in the frontcourt together next season, who plays where? And what if the team lands the first overall pick and decides to take Duke's Jahlil Okafor, the 6-11, 270-pounder who appears to be the slam-dunk top pick? If you think about that for a second, is it really a problem? Think if the Sixers land Okafor, Embiid comes back healthy and Noel is also still here. That's not a bad problem to have and lends the kind of excitement to the program that hasn't existed in quite some time. Let's start with Embiid and Noel. If they are paired next season, it will be interesting. Though the team has worked hard on Noel's shooting, it's quite obvious that his offense is going to come from 6 feet and in. His scoring should mainly come from put-backs, alley-oops and strong, one-dribble drives to the basket. Thinking he can step out and add anything isn't smart. ... On the offensive end, Embiid would be able to step out from the basket at times, opening things up for Noel to do some things in the paint. And what if you add Okafor to the mix? Is that really a problem? If so, again, it's a pretty good one to have.

Michael Lee of The Washington Post: When Kobe Bryant made his first public comments after signing a two-year extension in November 2013, the Los Angeles Lakers were in Washington and the future Hall of Famer held a news conference at Verizon Center while a Washington Wizards banner hung behind him and a microphone with the Wizards’ “dc” logo rested in front of him. The image gave Wizards fans a chance to indulge a fantasy in which Bryant collected championship rings a few blocks from the White House instead of Los Angeles. Very few know that this seemingly laughable fantasy was nearly reality: More than a decade ago, Bryant wanted to get away from Los Angeles, and the team he wanted to join was the Wizards, where he would join forces with his mentor Michael Jordan. Those plans evaporated when then-Wizards owner Abe Pollin parted ways with Jordan in 2003, a year before Bryant became a free agent, but as Wizards fans pine over the idea of Kevin Durant coming to Washington as a free agent, the near-miss that was Kobe-to-DC finally can be shared. “That’s true,” Bryant confirmed recently. “A long time ago? Yeah.”