“I’m a big thinker,” Howard said during a wide-ranging, candid interview after the Los Angeles Lakers practiced Saturday afternoon. “So I just stayed in the hotel and thought about the first half of the season and how I could do better for our team.

“And I just told myself, ‘I’m going to commit myself to being better for the second half of the season.’ ”

That meant cutting sugar completely out of his diet so he could get into the kind of shape he needed to be in to be the Lakers’ defensive anchor and run coach Mike D’Antoni’s pick-and-roll sets.

That meant acknowledging that he was trying to be somebody he wasn’t the first half of the season.

And, yes, it meant admitting to himself that playing alongside the hard-driving Kobe Bryant was something that he needed both personally and professionally.

“It’s going to make me a better man and a better player from watching Kobe,” Howard said.

Playing in Los Angeles, for a franchise with expectations as high as the Lakers, is “a lot different,” Howard said.

“Besides just the expectations,” he said. “In games, I mess up and there’s somebody in the crowd saying something and I’m ready to snap at ’em. That’s not what we’re supposed to do.

“But you look at a guy like Kobe and he doesn’t care about nothing but going out there and playing hard. That’s a lesson a lot of us have to learn — especially young guys.”

Howard said he and Bryant always have had a good relationship, but it’s deepened this season, particularly since the All-Star break.

“I told him [Bryant]: ‘I’m afraid to miss. When I get out there, I don’t want to miss, and I end up missing.’ And he was like: ‘You know what? Shoot 1,000 jumpshots a day. You’re going to miss a lot of those shots. But that’s OK. Because you’re teaching yourself it’s OK to miss.’

“Now I see it. He gets out there and he might miss a couple 3s, but then he’ll make nine in a row. You see that and it just kind of gives you more inspiration.”

Howard and Bryant are coming off their best two games as Lakers, with the latter becoming the first Laker since Jerry West in 1970 to post back-to-back 40-point, 10-assist games in wins against New Orleans and Toronto, respectively. Howard has dominated defensively while averaging 22 points, 14 rebounds and 4.5 blocks.

In nine games since the All-Star break, Howard is averaging 15.4 points, 14.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks a game. Moreover, his energy and attitude seem markedly different.

“He jumped three or four times after one ball,” D’Antoni said of Howard’s defensive performance Friday night, when he blocked five shots and intimidated several Raptors. “His conditioning didn’t allow him to do that [before].

“I think he was harshly judged because he wasn’t 100 percent. There’s all kind of little factors, but the further away he gets away from the [back] operation, the better he will be.”

Whatever the case, Los Angeles (32-31) will take it. With Utah’s loss Saturday night to the Knicks, the Lakers are now tied with the Jazz for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff berth.

“When I first [came to L.A.], I wanted to come here and not talk to anybody and act completely different,” Howard said. “But that’s not who I am. I’ve never been that way. I shouldn’t ever shut myself off to the world. I don’t think that’s good for the team or for me and what I want to accomplish in life.

“I thought about it and said, ‘No, I can’t change. I’ve got to mature in certain areas,’ and I think I have. But I can’t change who I am.”

When did that change take place?

“At the All-Star break,” Howard said. “I just thought about what we’re trying to accomplish as a team and I really want to win a championship. That’s the reason why I’m in LA.”

The post Dwight Howard: I changed at break appeared first on IdealCapper.

Big hits — some legal, some not so much — also turned the outspoken five-time Pro Bowler into focal point for a league-wide crackdown on helmet-to-helmet contact.

Harrison’s outlaw image made him beloved in Pittsburgh but reviled elsewhere. His onerous contract, however, no longer worked for a team with serious salary cap issues. The Steelers released the former Defensive Player of the Year on Saturday when the two sides could not agree on a more cap-friendly deal.

“It’s been a great run but all good things must come to a end,” Harrison posted on his Twitter account on Saturday afternoon. “Thank you Steelers Nation I will miss you all!”

Pittsburgh general manager Kevin Colbert and Harrison’s agent Bill Parise had spent the last few days trying to iron out a new deal but couldn’t reach any common ground. Harrison was entering the final two years of a $51-million extension he signed in 2009 and was scheduled to make $6.57 million in 2013.

Harrison was set to make $7.6 million in 2014. By releasing Harrison, the Steelers create $5.105 million in cap space.

They’ve already put that money to good use, too.

A source told ESPN’s John Clayton that the Steelers gave $1,323,000 tender offers to four restricted free agents — running back Jonathan Dwyer, running back Isaac Redman, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders and defensive tackle Steve McLendon.

Harrison — who turns 35 in May — will find himself looking for work for the first time since he became a fixture on the right side of Pittsburgh’s 3-4 defense in 2006.

“James has been an integral part of our success during his years in Pittsburgh and has helped us win two Lombardi trophies during that time,” Colbert said in a statement. “We appreciate all of his efforts and wish him the best.”

Harrison is the first cap move by the Steelers this offseason as they try to get under the $123 million salary cap by Tuesday, when the new league year begins. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and linebacker Lawrence Timmons have restructured their contracts to help get Pittsburgh under the cap number but Colbert told reporters after the Steelers finished a disappointing 8-8 in 2012 “terminations” would also be necessary.

“Sooner or later you have to pay the debt and you never want to get to a point where you have to gut your team and start over because we have to compete for a championship every year,” Colbert said in January.

This isn’t the first time the Steelers have released a star to save money. They let go wide receiver Hines Ward and linebacker James Farrior last spring, but unlike Ward and Farrior — who both retired rather than sign elsewhere — Harrison remains intent on playing in 2013.

Harrison missed the first three games of the 2012 season with a minor knee injury but was one of Pittsburgh’s steadiest performers over the second half of the year. He finished with six sacks, tied for the team lead, and a pair of forced fumbles as the Steelers finished No. 1 in total defense for the fourth time since Harrison became a starter.

“James has played a major role in the success of this organization during his time in Pittsburgh,” coach Mike Tomlin said in a statement. “I appreciate everything he has done in my six years as head coach.”

In many ways Harrison’s success is emblematic of “The Steeler Way.” Signed as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2002, Harrison spent two years on the practice squad before getting signed by the Baltimore Ravens, who sent the undersized Harrison — listed at 6-feet — to NFL Europe for some seasoning. The Ravens eventually cut him loose and Pittsburgh brought him back hoping he had matured.

It ended up being one of the better bargains in team history.

Harrison eventually blossomed into one of the league’s most feared pass rushers. He helped the Steelers win their fifth Super Bowl in 2006 and was named the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2008, when he collected 16 sacks.

Chasing their second championship in four years, Harrison put together one of the most spectacular plays in Super Bowl history, returning a Kurt Warner interception 100 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the first half in a game the Steelers eventually won 27-23.

Yet Harrison’s violent play sometimes came at a hefty price. He was fined multiple times for hits to the head.

Feeling he was being unfairly persecuted by the league, Harrison called commissioner Roger Goodell a “crook” and a “devil” during an interview with Men’s Journal in early 2011. Harrison later apologized and promised to clean up his act.

It didn’t exactly work. Harrison was suspended for a game in December, 2011, after his helmet smacked into Cleveland quarterback Colt McCoy’s facemask a moment after McCoy released the ball.

Harrison did not receive any letters from the commissioner’s office in 2012 but his physical style of play took a toll on his body. He missed all of training camp with a knee injury and admitted he had endured “a dozen” concussions over the course of his career.

The Steelers hope they have Harrison’s replacement in 24-year-old Jason Worilds, who finished with five sacks in limited action last season.

The post Steelers release James Harrison appeared first on IdealCapper.

The Knicks were in Minnesota to play the Timberwolves on Friday night. They initially planned to fly home after the game, but coach Mike Woodson said that flight was postponed. The team opted to stay in Minnesota overnight and to fly to New York on Saturday.

The Knicks are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Clippers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

Woodson said on Friday the team planned to get up on Saturday morning and go over scouting for the Clippers at the hotel before trying to leave for New York.

The Clippers stayed in Miami overnight after their game Friday night against the Heat. They are expected to fly into New York on Saturday afternoon.

Forecasters are estimating 1-to-3 feet of snow will hit the Northeast this weekend.

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