Tag: Dwight Howard

Cuban questions Lakers moves

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has never been one to keep his mouth shut. His latest target? The Lakers, whose acquisitions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash .

Indeed, he went so far as to compare their latest revamping to the one they executed in 2003, which ended in disaster with a loss to the Pistons in the Finals.

“The Lakers have done this before. Gary Payton and Karl Malone and Kobe and Shaq were all together, and it didn’t work,” he said Monday in a gathering of the media and season-ticket holders. “It takes great chemistry. … It takes guys wanting to be there. I don’t know if all their guys want to be there.”

Of course, everything Cuban is saying is true in the sense that basketball games are won on the court, not on paper. And you can guarantee that the Spurs are thinking pretty much the same thing. They just probably aren’t going to draw any attention to themselves by sharing their opinion publicly.

But then, keeping things to himself has never been Cuban’s strong suit, has it?

Atlanta end skid, frustrate Orlando

ATLANTA — It’s safe to say the Orlando Magic were disgusted with their performance Thursday night.

With the All-Star break beginning Friday, the Magic didn’t want their 83-78 loss to the Atlanta Hawks to resonate, so they held a brief players-only meeting in hopes of correcting some bad habits.

“We need to be depending on each other as a team,” forward Ryan Anderson said. “We need to rely on each other, keep each other accountable. We haven’t been playing that great and we’re still third in the East, so we must be doing something right. But it just shows that we could be that much better.”

Josh Smith scored 22 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to help the Hawks snap a three-game skid with the victory.

J.J. Redick finished with 13 points and Dwight Howard had 12 for the Magic, who had won two straight and six of seven.

“Our energy was bad,” Redick said. “When we play that way, we’re bad. We have to figure out a way to eliminate that.”

Howard, who has been the subject of trade speculation this season, suggested that the Magic aren’t too far from correcting their mistakes.

“You’ve got to stick together and buy into what we’re trying to accomplish and go from there,” Howard said after the meeting that lasted between 8-10 minutes. “My focus is just to keep the guys in the locker room together despite what’s being said on the outside.”

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was more succinct.

“I’ve been saying it to you guys, and I come off as negative all the time — we don’t play hard enough,” Van Gundy said. “We just don’t. We’re not going to be anywhere near contenders in the East unless we’re going to play hard all the time, and we don’t. Simple as that.”

Svelte Barkley sparkles on Tonight Show appearance

Charles Barkley looks like he’s found “The Fountain of Youth.”

Adhering to the Weight Watchers weight-loss program helped Barkley to drop to 50 pounds as he prepared for TNT’s Dec. 25 opening games.

“I lost 35 on Weight Watchers,” Barkley said. “I am the first guy for them. I feel good about that. Me and Jennifer Hudson. They just wanted a couple of good-looking people to advertise their products.”

Barkley told Jay Leno on NBC-TV’s Tonight Show that he’s had other chances with weight-loss products.

“I had other opportunities to other products,” Barkley said. “But I don’t think you can give a fat person a little meal and think they won’t cheat.”

Barkley said he rarely ate vegetables before his Weight Watchers conversion. And when he did, he ate starches like potates, rice and corn.

“You can’t really cheat,” Barkley said about his new weight program. “I eat cauliflower, brussle sprouts, asparagus. You know, I hadn’t any of those things. I’m not going to stand out here and lie to you and tell you they are good, but they are all right.”

Barkley held court on a variety of other subjects. Here are some of the best bits:

On his weight loss: “What I hate more than anything in the world is when every fat black guy who is bald comes up to me and says he looks like me. Clearly, I’m not as good looking as I think I am.”

On Dwight Howard’s impression of Barkley: “He thinks he’s funny. The only thing funny is his team.”

On teammates’ wives tattling leading to Kobe Bryant’s divorce: “That’s never good for a team. You keep the wives and girlfriends away from each other.”

Barkley on Tim Tebow: “I’m a fan of Tim Tebow, but I’m Tebowed out. I like Tim Tebow and wish him the best, but there are other things in the world.”

Here’s a look at the interview, courtesy of NBC.com.