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James is on his Yoga game: “When James first came into the NBA at the age of 18 he didn’t even tape his ankles, sometimes ate McDonald’s an hour before tipoff and his main use for ice was cooling beverages. As he’s matured, part out of necessity and part out of pride, he’s serious about preparing and maintaining his body for the rigors of an NBA season.

The Denver Nuggets are trying to come up with all kinds of creative ways to save money: “Kroenke Sports Enterprises last week announced layoffs. Also affected has been the Denver Nuggets Cheerleading team, whose performances have been scaled back from all home games to only weekend games…So how money would be saved by benching the cheerleaders for seven games this season? It would seem to be less than $17,000.”

Wildly expensive, too: “Nubeo, a high-end watch brand known outside the U.S. for its jellyfish-shaped watches, has teamed up with the basketball star to create a limited-edition line of high-tech sport watches starting at about $21,000 and topping out at $285,000. The Black Mamba series — a play on Mr. Bryant’s nickname — will be unveiled this coming week at Baselworld, the watch and jewelry show held annually in Basel, Switzerland, and will go on sale in the U.S.

Playing in NBA arenas everywhere: “He sat at his locker for several minutes. Motionless. O.J. Mayo’s hands were cupped to hold his head, but parted enough for the Grizzlies’ rookie to stare at the floor. Presumably, Mayo’s deep thoughts centered on making sense of the downward spiral. When Mayo finally moved, his head wagged right and left — a polite way of denying an interview request while maintaining silence.

He’s tired of waiting for an opportunity to come along: “I hope so,” Ewing told The Post last night before the Magic hosted the Knicks. “I think every assistant coach in this league would love to get an opportunity. Herb [Williams] would love to get some interviews, too. We’re not in it just to be assistants our whole career. We would love to have the opportunity to be a head coach. Either him or myself hopefully will get an opportunity [...Read More at Source]

Still, they have bigger goals: “Sunday night, the Cavaliers cut down the New Jersey Nets 96-88 at the Izod Center to tie the franchise record for most wins in a season held by the 1988-89 and 1991-92 teams that featured Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance and John ”Hot Rod” Williams.

The two Pacers got into it on Friday night during a game, but according to Jack, it’s now water under the bridge: “Jack said his public argument with Ford on Friday was a “heat of the moment” incident and both players have put it behind them. Jack and Ford got into an argument on the court midway through the third quarter against the Dallas Mavericks.

His coach, to O’Neal’s endless dissapointment, knew (and didn’t care) that he was going to Tweet at halftime against the Wizards: “And sure enough, a brief message was posted on Shaq’s feed before the third quarter. ‘Shhhhhhh,’ it read. It was the same message O’Neal delivered when asked about his Twitter plans before the game.

Manu hopes it’s sooner rather than later: “The war of wills has begun. Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, 37 days removed from his last game action, said before Friday’s game against the Boston Celtics that he has begun to pester coach Gregg Popovich to get back on the court. With an eye on the playoffs, Popovich continues to turn a deaf ear to Ginobili’s entreaties.

As the team continues on its four-game road trip, neither the Washington Post or Times have sent reporters to cover the 16-53 Wiz. The L.A. Times stopped sending writers back in January. Be ready: Beat reports are quickly moving away from newspapers and heading in YouTube’s direction.