Detroit coach George Irvine ripped Orlando's Doc Rivers for ordering the Magic to commit five intentional fouls against Pistons center Ben Wallace, a poor free-throw shooter, in a game last Sunday. Rivers responded by telling Irvine to worry about coaching his own team. Then, once Hill left Detroit for Orlando, Rivers pointed out, Irvine was suddenly saying that Jerry Stackhouse was a better leader than Hill had ever been. Rivers says he's lost all respect for Irvine. Both coaches no doubt have the teams' final meeting, March 30 in Detroit, circled on their calendar.
Rookie turnarounds After a slow start, two rookies are starting to live up to their advance billing.
Nets forward Kenyon Martin is making a late run at the Rookie of the Year award with a strong second half that included a triple double on March 5 against Milwaukee. Martin has been playing so well that Nets coach Byron Scott apologized for his public criticism of him during the first part of the season. Scott says he realizes now that Martin still isn't fully over the effects of the broken leg he suffered in the final game of his college career at Cincinnati. Stromile Swift's improvement for the Grizzlies hasn't been as dramatic as Martin's, but Swift has played his way off the bench and into some fourth quarter minutes recently. He's obviously been working on his free-throw shooting as well, because his percentage has improved every month, from 52 percent in November to 70 percent in February.