Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: With boxing icon Floyd Mayweather sitting courtside, the Grizzlies used their speed and craftiness on defense to keep the NBA’s second highest scoring team on the ropes all night. Point guard Mike Conley’s steal on the Los Angeles Clippers’ second to last possession ended up being the Grizzlies’ last strong jab in their 90-87 victory Monday night in Staples Center. The Griz led by a single point but the Clippers had the ball with a chance to win with less than 15 seconds left. That’s when Conley stole the ball from Chris Paul and sprinted the other way. Conley was eventually fouled and converted two free throws, leaving just 1.5 ticks on the clock. The game ended with Matt Barnes throwing the ball the length of the court and right into the hands of Courtney Lee. Los Angeles had no timeouts left to advance the ball. Fittingly, defensive stops saved the Griz. Ted Lewis of The Advocate: Whatever Dell Demps thinks his team’s playoff odds are, he isn’t saying. He won’t even refute the 10 percent notion. “We’ve still got an opportunity to make a playoff run,” he said. “But I’m not qualified to answer anything about somebody else’s numbers.” And while Demps is quick to point out that although the Pelicans have suffered a seemingly inordinate number of injuries for the second straight season, every NBA team has to deal with them to some extent. He has not been happy about the team’s continuing inability to step up when others are out. The losses to Utah and Indiana after Davis’ original injury and the one at Orlando were the Pelicans’ ninth, 10th and 11th losses to teams with losing records. In contrast, they’re 11-10 against the nine Western Conference teams ahead of them in the standings. Monday’s though, was the second against Toronto, the No. 2 team in the East, with Davis and Holiday out. Go figure. ... The Pelicans should be able to hang close in the duration. Over the next 12 days, they play seven games, five of them at home and five of them against teams with losing records, starting with Brooklyn in the Smoothie King Center on Wednesday. Given the Pelicans’ record in games they were supposed to win, nothing is a given. Except the unexpected. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: The Bulls are in no position to judge victories, and that's six in seven games after Monday's 87-71 triumph over the Bucks at the United Center. This season hasn't been a particularly aesthetically pleasing one. To wit, all the improved offense has done is raise concerns about the defensive issues — and on and on and on. It's odd, to be sure: On one hand, the Bulls now sit 15 games over .500 and a game ahead of the Cavaliers for third in the Eastern Conference. On the other, players keep shaking their heads postgame, trying to clearly voice the team's issues, answering more questions about what's wrong than right. "We're OK with where we're at," guard Jimmy Butler said. "I'm not going to say we like it because we know we can be much better on both ends of the floor. And we've got to get it turned around before the playoffs start." Indeed, they do. Monday brought the usual mixed bag of positives and negatives, the biggest being the regular lineup is now 15-4. There was also a contribution of 20 points off the bench from Tony Snell, playing extended minutes for the ill Kirk Hinrich. There was Nikola Mirotic's fourth career double-double of 16 points and 14 rebounds as the rookie logged extra time with Taj Gibson sick as well. Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: It should be noted that Erik Spoelstra has been a rock of positivity throughout his team’s trying season. Depending on perspective, Spoelstra is on his fourth or fifth rebuild of the Heat’s lineup this season, and each time the coach and team have been handed a setback or injury, they have adapted and improved. Spoelstra, of course, is facing his toughest rebuild yet. “We’re coming off an emotional 48 hours, and we had to address that, but [Sunday] was just about moving forward and trying to find some solutions for this team and make the new guys feel comfortable, but also the guys that are already here, getting them all on the same page,” Spoelstra said. There have been new wrinkles, necessary changes, rebuilds and all-out reinventions of the Heat’s system, but the team’s attitude hasn’t faltered yet. “We’re still in a position where we still have a playoff spot, and that says a lot about our team and says a lot about our character,” co-captain Udonis Haslem said. “Obviously, things haven’t gone the way we would like them to go, but we continue to work the process, and I’m proud of the way we responded as a group. Wish we could be a lot better off health-wise, but it hasn’t worked out like that.” Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: Terrence Jones put one last offensive rebound back in, turning the final minutes of a tight game into a rout, then leaned his head back to shout to the Toyota Center rafters as he bopped his way back down the floor. With power forwards all over the Rockets' rotation now that Jones was ready to play starter's minutes, coach Kevin McHale decided he could no longer have one of his young big men spending so much time sitting next to him. So for the only time this season, save a brief experiment with starting then-newly acquired Josh Smith, McHale made a lineup change that was not forced by an injury. Jones on Monday returned to the starting lineup for the first time since the season's fourth game. It was not how he started but how he finished that made the move pay off and sent the Rockets past the Minnesota Timberwolves 113-102. Brad Rock of the Deseret News: Dennis Lindsey will report to the gym Tuesday morning around nine. But there will be no scouting reports, players-to-be-named-later, draft picks, trades or cash considerations involved. The Jazz’s general manager will be watching his favorite team for pure enjoyment. The object of his affection won’t be the Jazz, though. It will be the Olympus Titans, who meet East in the first round of the state 4A playoffs. Five days after dealing Enes Kanter and Steve Novak to Oklahoma City, Lindsey will be watching his sons, Jake and Matt, chasing the brass ring. “I’d say 75 percent of the time I do a good job of keeping the emotions in check,” Lindsey says. “But if it happens to be a tough matchup, or a heightened game, as you can imagine, I can have some opinions.” His first opinion might be surprising: No “daddy coaching.” A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com: Isaiah Thomas really did try to say all the right things after Boston’s 115-110 victory over his old team, the Phoenix Suns. He wanted to say that it was good to get a win, regardless of the opponent. But this wasn’t just any game or opponent. This was the same team that signed him to a four-year, $27 million deal this past summer and then turned around and traded him months into it. And as much as he would have loved to have said Monday’s game wasn’t personal, it was so, so personal. “It meant a lot,” Thomas said afterwards. “I just wanted to win at the end of the day.” And then came the smile, followed by, “it felt good to beat a team that traded you away.” Making the night even sweeter was Thomas coming through with a four-point play with 1:37 to play and the Celtics clinging to a one-point lead. He finished with 21 points. Tim Bontemps of the New York Post: Even Markel Brown was stunned by his performance in his first NBA start Monday night. “I didn’t realistically think about even playing that much,” Brown said with a smile after stuffing the stat sheet with 10 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, two steals and four blocked shots in 45 minutes — all setting or tying career-highs — to help the Nets cruise to a 110-82 victory over the Nuggets on Monday night. ... Brown impressed Lionel Hollins as far back as training camp, when he repeatedly earned the praise of the Nets coach. But after falling ill for several days after the team returned from its preseason trip to China, Brown fell down the depth chart and spent the first few months of the season almost exclusively watching from the sidelines. But after playing 15 minutes in Friday’s win over the Lakers, Hollins chose to start Brown in part due to injuries to Jarrett Jack (hamstring) and Bojan Bogdanovic (ankle), and Brown didn’t disappoint. A wiry, athletic 6-foot-3 guard, Brown — whom the Nets took with the 44th pick in last year’s draft out of Oklahoma State — was all over the court, getting a pair of highlight-reel blocks on jump shots, throwing down a huge alley-oop from Deron Williams and giving the Nets an adrenaline shot of athleticism they have lacked for most of the year. Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman: Striding into the reading room that now bears his name at Martin Luther King Elementary, Russell Westbrook was greeted by a chorus of oohs and aahs. He’s getting that reaction a lot lately. Monday afternoon was all about his latest community endeavor. Through his Why Not? Foundation, the Thunder superstar opened a reading room in an Oklahoma City school for the second time this academic year. He wants to promote literacy. He wants to provide a welcoming environment. He wants to encourage kids who might be low income and at risk. But even as Westbrook hoped to inspire off the court, that reaction from the kids when he arrived was a reminder of what he’s doing on the court. The way he’s been playing is worthy of oohs and aahs. Even more than that, it’s worthy of MVP consideration.
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