Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your Rainbow Brite cereal.

Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle: "The always-short-handed Rockets played with another key hand out on Monday, as Ron Artest sat to rest a sprained ankle he has battled since Nov. 16. He is questionable to play tonight against the Atlanta Hawks. With the Rockets already without Tracy McGrady and Brent Barry at shooting guard, Artest had hoped that the ankle would improve by sitting out practices. 'It’s just nagging a little bit,' Artest said. 'We tried to see if we can work it out, but it’ll be all right. It should be better by tomorrow.'"

Marc Berman, New York Post: "While banished from the New York Knicks, Stephon Marbury was pursued relentlessly by a pair of alleged Swiss bankers claiming to have connections to Real Madrid. Marbury, after discovering their intricate plot was a hoax, was considering turning over information to law-enforcement officials about the contact. The alleged investors, who identified themselves to The Post through phone calls and e-mails as working for Union Bank Suisse, gave their names and claimed they were trying to sign him to a multi-million dollar sponsorship contract that can be parlayed into a deal with the Real Madrid basketball club. Marbury said he returned calls and e-mails from the investors Saturday. 'They're phonies, it's a hoax,' said Marbury."

Jerry Zgoda, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "Twelve hours after Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor told him he was fired as head coach, Randy Wittman still couldn't help but refer to his now former team as 'we.' 'It's been a tough day, no question,' Wittman said by telephone Monday night. 'Ultimately, the responsibility falls on me. From the standpoint of where we are today, I take responsibility for that. My job is to get us where we can still go.' Wittman took consolatory calls from friends and colleagues most of Monday believing that things should have turned out differently. 'After 10 games, we legitimately should have been 5-5,' Wittman said, referring to a number of games when the Wolves held double-digit leads and still lost eight of their first 10 games. 'But that's not the reality of it. We weren't, and from there it snowballed and we just couldn't get it back.'"

Mike Bresnahan, LA Times: "On offense, [Trevor] Ariza carried a reputation as an inconsistent contributor. A rangy 6 feet 8 and 210 pounds, Ariza had an innate ability to get open with his planting and cutting skills, but his lack of an outside shooting touch hurt him. Defenders learned to lag off him, taking away his ability to slash to the hoop and daring him to shoot from the perimeter. Over the summer, he added an extra dimension to his game, piling up long hours in nearly empty gyms. He concentrated on holding the follow-through of his shot a little longer and added confidence via twice-daily visits to the court — 90 minutes in the morning and two hours at night. He is shooting 50.4% from the field this season and has already made eight three-pointers after making only nine in his entire career before this season."

Jerry Brown, East Valley Tribune: "Any win that snaps a rare four-game losing streak in Phoenix is welcome. But the 106-104 victory over the Jazz more closely resembled the Suns who came out the other side of “The Grand Shaq Experiment” with 15 wins in their final 20 regular-season games last season — a mixture of power inside and pushing the tempo with the perimeter. Hill, now reinstalled as the starter at small forward, felt the Suns followed up that win with their best practice of the year Monday, leading into Tuesday’s game against Milwaukee. 'We threw the ball inside and we were running … we’re just getting back to playing.' Hill said. 'I think we’ve come closer together, we’ve aired some things out and hopefully it will make us stronger. Of course, it’s all for nothing if we come out and lay an egg tomorrow.' If that happens, that egg would make one heck of an omelet."

Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News: "George Karl said there's a 'good possibility' forward Kenyon Martin will return Wednesday after he sat out Saturday at Sacramento because of a sore left wrist. Martin called it a 'game-time decision.' Martin didn't practice Monday because Karl wants him to 'feel like he can do more.' With Martin out, Renaldo Balkman got his first start of the season against the Kings and totaled 17 points, six rebounds and three steals in a 118-85 win. 'My role is energy and defense,' Balkman said. Karl calls Balkman an insurance policy but predicts he'll play 1,000 to 1,200 minutes this season. 'Our coaches have done a good job with his shot,' Karl said. 'The league thinks he can't shoot.'"

Tom Powers, St. Paul Pioneer Press: "Judgment day has arrived for Kevin McHale. Although the official verdict was not revealed to the public, we can make certain assumptions (guilty!) based on the fact that the sentencing was out in the open for everyone to see. Now for the punishment: McHale has been stripped of his power within the Timberwolves' hierarchy. You can sugarcoat it and serve it up on a fine China plate, but that's what happened. Furthermore, he must coach the odd collection of players he has assembled until the end of the season. Call it community service time."

Jan Hubbard, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram: "Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle’s substitution pattern would seem to invite unhappiness. Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry and Josh Howard (when healthy) know they are going to play a lot. Each of them average more than 35 minutes a game. For everyone else, however, it’s a little like Deal or No Deal. A total guessing game. Take J.J. Barea, for instance. In the first 13 games of the season, he never played more than 16 minutes. But in the past five games, he has played 21, 25, 25, 31 and 21 minutes, respectively. Part of the reason is Howard is still sidelined with a sore ankle. Part of it is because Barea has played so well."

Ramona Shelburne, LA Daily News: "Looks like the Clippers will have to wait a little longer to see how their new frontline of Chris Kaman, Marcus Camby and Zach Randolph will be able to play together. Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said Monday that Kaman will be out longer than the team had first expected, possibly a few more weeks in addition to the two weeks he's already missed with a strained left arch. 'It seems like it's going to be a little slower,' Dunleavy said. 'Basically what it is, is you have a partially torn tendon in your foot. It shows up on the MRI, you see the healing process and when it's all healed he'll be ready to go.'"

Tom Enlund, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "With the Milwaukee Bucks a little more than one-fourth of their way through the season, the realities of life in the National Basketball Association are beginning to settle in for rookie forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. One of the harshest realities for any rookie is living and playing on the road. The frequent games and miles add up quickly and can become overwhelming for a first-year player, which is why the Bucks are closely monitoring Mbah a Moute's performance away from home. 'We're working on that with him,' coach Scott Skiles said. 'He has to be able to get it done on the road also. We're asking an awful lot out of him. We're asking him to guard some of the best forwards in the league. Then he comes out and I put him back in on a guard. That's an awful lot to ask.'"

Mary Schmitt Boyer, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: "With only a quarter of the season completed, it may be a little early to start looking at end-of-the-season awards. But it's certainly not too early to start making people sit up and take notice. That's what the Cavaliers are doing defensively as a team, and what LeBron James is doing defensively as an individual. He may have more blocked shots among ESPN's 'Top 10 Plays' this season than slams. It is not entirely coincidental that James needs just one steal to break Mark Price's record and become the team's all-time leader in that category."

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