Both the New York Times’ Marek Fuchs and the Journal News’ Mike Doughtery preview tonight’s Rockets/Knicks game from the perspective of the impending Yao Ming/Eddy Curry mismatch. As you’d expect, Isiah Thomas pleads with Doughtery for patience, claiming “big men are always slow to develop when you compare them to small men. We have a lot of time. We’re not asking Eddy to dominate the league at 23 years of age.”

At the risk of seeming pendantic with the Knicks’ President & Head Coach, Curry turns to 24 in two weeks and this marks his 6th year in the NBA. I don’t think he’s been asked to dominate nearly as much it would be great if he held his own at either end of the floor with any sort of consistency.

From the look of items in today’s Toronto Sun and Chicago Tribune, it would be fair to say that Chris Bosh has grown weary of putting the Raptors on his back, night in and night out. The latter entry comes from Sam Smith, who writes of Portland’s premier gangsta-not-a-Blazer (the player’s words, not mine) :

“Snitch bitch ratheads get Swiss cheesed up.” This allegedly was yelled by a member of Zach Randolph’s posse, according to a suit filed in Portland by a man accusing Randolph and former Trail Blazers teammate Qyntel Woods of harassment. It is one of two suits filed against Randolph in the last month, the other by a woman who alleged sexual assault. Despite his problems, Randolph is eighth in the league in scoring at 26.6 per game. The comments were believed not to be a part of the NBA Cares program.

On Toronto’s woes, The Association’s Craig Kwasniewski offers further analysis with a scoop of xenophobia :

The Toronto Raptors have five European players and one American-born one who starred in the Euro-league in Anthony Parker. That’s a lot of soft bigs with outside shooting touches, srcappy/flopping guards and ZERO clutch play. So what’s the direction there, are they trying to market themselves as Euro-friendly? Should we expect cigarette night or crazy chick day or deodorant free zones in Air Canada Centre?

Or does the scouting staff just look for reasons to write off trips to Europe. Paris with the kids, write-off; Venice with the wife, write-off; Monte Carlo with the mistress, write-off.

Along with spreading the news about the Dajuan Wagner buyout, Golden State Of Mind is running a multi-part interview with the San Jose Mercury News’ Tim Kawakami this week.