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The biggest surprise to the Clippers' strong start: They had a losing record against the East - 5-6 - before taking on Washington on Saturday night. Among the off-court changes: Junk food in the locker room has been banned. New Nuggets coach Brian Shaw has introduced a few strategical changes in Denver, where there are no more double-teaming schemes and players are expected to stay on their man and avoid switching at all costs. With more talent and his coaching ability, they're going to be very good in the future." Here's something else that has worked in Stevens' favor after coming from Butler University, where he got two teams to overachieve in back-to-back seasons and reach the NCAA title game: The Celtics signed him to a six-year deal, so there is no question with the players about who's in charge. "That was an inspired choice by Danny Ainge. "He's completely mellow and calm waters but he has a great feel for running the right play and getting the max out of his guys," said one Eastern Conference GM. The Celtics' rookie coach has already made his mark. "It took us about four games to figure it out," Wallace says. So what's going on in Boston, anyway? Credit Brad Stevens for the turnaround in those two players, along with a few others, as his Celtics have come together faster than anyone expected. Gerald Wallace has toned down his angry-man act and Jordan Crawford was voted Eastern Conference Player of the Week after continuing to show that he can handle the point guard duties for the Celtics. Dwight Howard's backup has been laid up the past few games with what they're calling a leg problem, but it figures to get better as soon as he's with a new team. The Rockets want to deal Omer Asik by Thursday, so that his next team can turn around and deal him by the February trading deadline if that's in its plans. Look for a few bumps in the road for rookie coach Mike Malone. He was a bust with the Raptors and he will be vying for the ball with center DeMarcus Cousins. Gay gets $36 million this season and next, so now his new team, Sacramento, has to hope he regains his old form. But those are the same folks who think they should have never traded Rudy Gay to Toronto in the first place.
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It's funny to hear some people with Memphis say the Grizzlies need a starting small forward. We're guessing Oden will be up and running by Round 3. The Heat and Pacers meet in Round 2 on Wednesday in Miami and then don't play again until March 26 in Indiana. But when Spoelstra didn't use Udonis Haslem at all against the Pacers, that was a major surprise. Remember, except for one brief stint in preseason, he's been away from the game since December of 2009. When Erik Spoelstra didn't dress Greg Oden against the Pacers, and Roy Hibbert and David West destroyed the Heat's interior in Indiana's win this past week, that told us that Oden still isn't ready to tackle that kind of competition. The way Iman Shumpert has been playing, you'd swear he's tanking the season. (David Liam Kyle/NBAE/Getty Images)Ī coach without an ego, now how about that? The Blazers' fast start has also quelled all the preseason talk about Stotts starting the season on thin ice and the Blazers looking to make a coaching change. Carlos Boozer is unlikely to be back in Chicago after his current contract expires.