Hooped Up

If the Phoenix Suns are really going to redefine the nature of an NBA championship contender, we’ll need to adapt the terminology. In the new world, the Suns gave the Lakers a beatdown in Game 4 of this first-round series. No, they didn’t send the Lakers back to the locker room on stretchers. The Suns just had their way, imposed their will. Flexed, if you will.”

Los Angeles Times

Tony Dutt, the agent for Rashard Lewis, said his client will not go back to the Sonics with offers from other clubs to see if they will match.

Lewis said after the Sonics’ April 20 loss to Dallas that he planned to give the Sonics the opportunity to match offers. Dutt said he expects the Sonics to make a competitive offer by July 1, the first day teams are eligible to negotiate with free agents.

“I can’t honestly say that’s not what we meant. That’s not the way it was meant,” Dutt said Wednesday. “It’s important for them to know that. We’ll see how they really feel about him come July 1. Rashard’s expectations are such. We want everyone to be in the same situation. We’ll look at all of our options. We expect them to kind of show us what his feeling of worth is as well.”

Seattle PI

They told him it was time. His time to take over.

They told him at the time-out, his coaches and his teammates. They reiterated it again on the floor, gave him the ball, reminded him of who he is.

“That’s kind of my job,” Chris Bosh said with unusual emotion and a smile that seemed perpetual, lighting up the Toronto night.

Bosh unintentionally is grinning as he is telling the story on his proudest night as a professional. How he took charge of a playoff game that bordered on desperation for the Raptors. How he did what star players are supposed to do at when it matters most.

This was career playoff win No. 1 for Bosh, playoff win No. 1 for the re-energized and emerging Raptors. The big game, the big win, the big finish, couldn’t have come at a more dire time.

Toronto Sun

When it’s there, the Suns appear to be the NBA’s best team. When it’s not, opponents gleefully line up for layup drills that harden the opinions of the team’s skeptics. “It” is Amaré Stoudemire’s interior defense.

It was there during 15- and 17-game win streaks.

It wasn’t so much when the Suns looked like an ordinary team for much of the post All-Star game schedule.

And it’s been back for the Suns’ two playoff wins over the Lakers.

Stoudemire had four blocks, nine defensive rebounds and several altered shots in Tuesday’s 126-98 rout of Los Angeles in Game 2.

The exclamation points came on two early spectacular blocks of Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom — defensive gems that set the stage for the Suns to explode and the Lakers to wilt.
East Valley Tribune

Rick Carlisle took the fall Wednesday for the team’s worst season since 1989, but Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird didn’t hesitate to point fingers at others, including himself.

Saying it was “time for a new era,” Bird removed Carlisle as the head coach but gave him the option of finishing the final year of his contract in the front office. Carlisle has until June 15 to accept or possibly pursue another coaching position.

Bird gave no timetable for selecting the team’s fourth head coach since 1997 but expressed interest in several NBA assistants.

Both men characterized Carlisle’s removal as anticipated and mutually agreed upon after the Pacers missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons and finished with their worst record since 1988-89.

Indy Star

Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas is believed to be considering Jeff Wechsler as a potential agent, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Arenas, who can opt out of his contract next summer, parted ways with former agent Dan Fegan last summer with no explanation. Fegan was Arenas’ agent when the player signed a six-year, $65 million deal with Washington in the summer of 2003.”

Washington Times

Charges of aggravated battery against Boston Celtics guard Tony Allen were dismissed Tuesday in a Chicago court.

The development came on the second day of a trial stemming from a fight in August 2005 outside a restaurant near downtown Chicago.

“He was pretty happy about the outcome,” Michael Higgins, Allen’s agent, said. “I think this has been dragged out for too long. It’s been a long time coming.”

ESPN

Bryan Colangelo is not about to take red out of the Raptors’ colour scheme.

In fact, the Raptors president/general manager does not regret his organization’s decision to hand out red shirts to fans before a playoff game in which the opposing team decided to wear red uniforms.

Colangelo stood behind the “Let’s Go Red, Let’s Go Raptors” promotion, which seemed to backfire on Saturday when the New Jersey Nets pulled a little trick on Toronto by donning red uniforms in a 96-91 win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarter-finals at the Air Canada Centre.

“Our colour is red, I don’t think the colour of the shirts being worn out there has any (impact) on the outcome,” Colangelo said before Game 2 on Tuesday night. “What I saw was a crowd that was excited and energizing following their team’s colours or mantra to paint it red so to speak.”

Globe And Sports