Hooped Up

Mavericks: The owner and the coach are bickering, which is either the norm or a sign of strain or both. The team is struggling, looking for some sort of spark. And the Mavericks had their annual charity gala Friday night. Sound just a little familiar? It was three years ago that Don Nelson decided at the team’s tuxedo-and-tennis-shoes formal to give up his coaching duties. The next morning, March 19, 2005, he turned the whistle over to Avery Johnson, ending his run as coach and his tumultuous working relationship with Mark Cuban.

Dallas Morning News

Warriors’ guard Stephen Jackson and Grammy Award-winning artist John Legend will make a two-week trip to Africa this offseason to help right poverty in small African villages, according to Inside Bay Area.

“I always wanted to go to Africa, but I didn’t just want to go on vacation,” Jackson said. “Here’s my opportunity to go for a purpose and help somebody, so I’m happy I can do that.”

Inside Bay Area

Halftime show done proper!

USC went one-and-done. Mayo looks as if he will too.

The much-ballyhooed battle of the freshman stars, Mayo and Kansas State’s Michael Beasley, became a battle of teams, and Kansas State won it with contributions from some of its less-heralded freshmen.

Afterward, Mayo slapped hands with the Kansas State players, then found Beasley and his high school teammate Bill Walker and hugged them. They rubbed his head, and Mayo walked off the court, giving a ball boy a high five.

Somebody asked him in the locker room if he had played his last game in a USC uniform.

“I don’t know. I’m not thinking about that right now,” Mayo said.

He handled himself perfectly well, the way he has all season, with yes-sirs and yes-ma’ams and spot-on analysis of the game.

LA Times

While no one will know what is happening with Pacers’ CEO Donnie Walsh until he sits down with team owner Herb Simon next week, Knick president Isiah Thomas was upbeat on Thursday.

According to the New York Post, Knicks’ owner James Dolan made a rare visit to the team’s practice facility yesterday to partake in team pictures. The talk with Dolan has Thomas talking about next season again, despite rumors that the Knicks want Walsh to take over control.

“I feel very supported and treated extremely well,” Thomas said. “I think I’m well informed. Yes I do. I plan on being here. I’m here today. I’ll see what tomorrow holds.”

There is also speculation that Walsh is using the Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks as leverage for what he wants in Indiana, which is full control once again. Walsh and Larry Bird have disagreed on personnel this season and one friend of Walsh’s called it “an awkward situation.”

It is also rumored that Walsh’s wife is against a move to New York.

The word ‘’sprain” was used to describe the injury Sasha Pavlovic suffered back in January, but that didn’t mean it was minor.

There was a period when the Cavaliers’ team doctors feared that the mid-foot injury might have wiped out his season. The point being, just having him back on the court is its own success story. Nonetheless, Pavlovic couldn’t have been more aggressive in his desire to get back to the team as fast as possible.

The reason is simple: competition. Pavlovic might not directly admit it, but he and the other guards on the Cavs’ roster know there is probably going to be an odd man out come the playoffs, and none of them want to be that man. Which is why Pavlovic returned ahead of schedule from his foot injury last week and has quickly found a rhythm in the starting lineup.

Akron Beacon Journal

NBA legend Jerry West is interested in taking over in the front office of the Knicks, according to Newsday.

“He would definitely take the job,” said a source close to Newsday.

“It wouldn’t surprise me. He’s such an A-type personality. It’s hard for him to sit on the sidelines and not be involved,” added a Western Conference executive.

West, however, denied a majority of the rumors.

“I have not had any contact from anyone about any job, period,” West told Newsday. “I have not been approached. I do not know what my response would be to any job opportunity, but I’m not out actively campaigning for anything.”

Newsday

Gerald Wallace made it clear to the coaches, and repeated this to the media, that he doesn’t think it’s safe to keep guarding typically bigger, bulkier power forwards. Banging with the bruisers adds to the risk of suffering a fifth concussion as a Bobcat. The problem: How do you keep Wallace in the starting lineup and give him the 30-plus minutes per game he warrants, without playing him at least part-time at power forward?

Charlotte Observer

Forward Shawn Marion, who has missed three of the past four games, has an early termination option he can exercise to also become a free agent. “The offseason, you’ve got to take it as it comes,” said Marion, who has been battling severe back spasms and may miss tonight’s game against the visiting Wizards. “I like Miami, though. I’m a Heat player right now. I don’t know tomorrow.”

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

While Heat coach Pat Riley left Thursday to scout the NCAA Tournament and is expected to miss the next two games, his focus upon his return will be sorting out his roster. Riley, for example, has declined to comment on the impending free agency of forward Ricky Davis and guard Jason Williams, both of whom have played well in recent games. “It’s not an easy situation for these guys to be in, being free agents and also being on the worst team in the league,” Riley said. “It’s not a very good position.”

South Florida Sun-Sentinel