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Seattle SuperSonics: Ray Allen will tell you he's no savior despite playing one for Spike Lee. "Just because I'm out there, that doesn't mean we'll win more games," he told the Seattle Times. "I hope it does. But this is a different team than last year. ... There's no guarantees." He's made three all-star teams, had a vanity license plate depicting his "Jesus Shuttlesworth" character in the movie and is coming off almost seven weeks of rehab on his surgically repaired right ankle. But it still may not be enough. "It's going to take all of us to get this team to playing the kind of basketball that we're capable of," said Allen. "I'm not a savior."

Chicago Bulls: Just because head coach Scott Skiles is talking playoffs doesn't mean he's been hitting the egg nog a little hard and a little early this year in Chicago. "We're not out of anything in the Eastern Conference," Skiles said in the Chicago Tribune. "We still have the same goal that [former coach Bill Cartwright and general manager John Paxson] had at the beginning of the season, and that's to make the playoffs." It just means he's saying the same things the former coach said and the same things his boss expects him to say. "We have young players who aren't ready yet to compete at that [championship] level," Skiles said. "The first goal is to get them competitive on a nightly basis. So far we have been. Then, get our guys back and see where we can go."

New Jersey Nets: The current ownership isn't saying that Byron Scott isn't going to be fired. They're just saying that they're not the ones who will do the firing. "He's not going to be fired," said the owner, who asked not to be identified, in the Newark Star Ledger. "We're in the middle of selling the team. We can't change management when we're in the middle of selling the team." In fact, the current ownership is a little peeved at Jason Kidd for calling for Scott's head. "Does he take any responsibility for what happened?" said the member of the ownership group. "He's 4-for-14 (shooting). He's 1-for-10 the night before. If you lose a game and you're 4-for-14, you don't blame the coach. You take responsibility for your own actions. That's called accountability. And he's shown zero accountability."

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