Quotes from around the NBA

Gerald Wallace played in the 2010 All-Star game, but the Trail Blazers forward didn’t get selected this year. So what were his plans for this All-Star weekend?

“I’m going to sleep in, eat some bad food, drink some sodas,” Wallace said.

Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy wasn’t happy after his team lost at Atlanta, 83-78, to close out the first half of the season.

“I come off as negative all the time,” he said, “[But] we don’t play hard enough. 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 just don’t. Simple as that. I’m not really interested in the reasons.”

Jeremy Lin began his hot streak early this month when the Knicks beat the Nets and he clearly outplayed New Jersey’s All-Star point guard Deron Williams.

So Williams was motivated going into their next matchup and he got his revenge Monday by pouring in a season-high 38 points when the Nets beat the Knicks, 100-92.

“I don’t really watch too many games, but I do see Twitter, people tweet me and every, you know, three lines it was ‘Jeremy Lin destroyed Deron Williams,’” Williams explained. “So I definitely took offense to that [after] the first game and definitely, like I said, I had it circled.”

Former Bulls and Knicks enforcer Charles Oakley said Kevin Garnett’s reputation as a bully on the court is wrong.

“[Garnett] is one of the weakest guys to ever play the game. He’s a complementary player and went to Paul Pierce’s team and won a championship. I wouldn’t consider him a top 10 tough guy.”

— Barry Stavro