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For the past two weeks, Mario Chalmers has been too busy thinking about the future to spend much time reliving the past.

Sure, he has seen the cover of Sports Illustrated more times than he can count. That's been pretty cool. And he has posed for more photographs with fans than usual, too. No surprise there. But Chalmers hasn't watched the replay of the NCAA championship game yet. He hasn't reveled in the glory of what is already being called the biggest shot in Kansas history, the one that flew off his fingertips with three seconds left and the Jayhawks trailing by three.

"I'm still waiting for the right time," Chalmers said.

Chalmers won't have much time now. He announced on Wednesday afternoon that he will declare for the 2008 NBA draft, joining teammates Brandon Rush and Darrell Arthur in the draft pool. Chalmers, like Arthur, will not hire an agent, giving him the option of returning to Kansas.

Chalmers said that he will stay in the draft if he feels confident that he will be a first-round pick. As of now, he says, he is being projected between Nos. 25 and 35, which puts him firmly on the first-round bubble.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing if I can work myself higher," Chalmers said. "But if I hear anything that's not in the first round, I'm just going to come back."

Notes

• D.J. Augustin is declaring for the NBA draft, and Texas teammate A.J. Abrams is headed with him.

The Longhorns lost their All-American point guard when Augustin announced he would skip his final two seasons at Texas and enter the draft, where he is widely considered a first-round pick.

Abrams, a junior, also declared himself eligible for the draft. The 5-foot-11 guard has also not hired an agent.

• The Memphis Tigers' entire starting lineup last season is eligible for the NBA draft now that juniors Antonio Anderson and Robert Dozier have become the last from the 2008 NCAA runner-up to declare.

• Connecticut women's coach Geno Auriemma said the regular-season series against rival Tennessee was canceled because Vols coach Pat Summitt accused the Huskies of a recruiting violation.
Auriemma, speaking to reporters on campus Tuesday, said Summitt "doesn't have the courage to say it publicly."

• Xavier coach Sean Miller has agreed to a 10-year contract extension.

• Arizona assistant coach Kevin O'Neill has been reassigned to duties within the athletic department. O'Neill, 51, was hired last spring, and took over as interim coach when coach Lute Olson took a personal leave of absence last season. After Olson returned in March, he announced O'Neill would no longer be a part of his staff.

• Derek Kellogg, who played on four Atlantic 10 championship teams at Massachusetts in the 1990s, was formally introduced as his alma mater's head coach.

Associated Press

April 24, 2008 at 7:53 AM EDT

DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki has it all figured out.

To snap out of their funk, and start climbing out of an 0-2 hole against the New Orleans Hornets, all the Dallas Mavericks have to do is get on the court Friday night in front of their home fans.

OK, he acknowledged, they also need to "play in attack mode," which means getting more physical on both ends of the court.

And it would be great if they could play better defence and hit a few more open shots.

Turning to specifics, he mentioned needing to contain Chris Paul, needing to find ways to turn Jason Kidd into the playmaker he's supposed to be and needing a reliable second option on offense.

But despite all those pesky, basketball-related issues, Nowitzki repeatedly returned Wednesday to the notion that being back in Dallas — where the Hornets haven't won since January 1998 — will cure all that ails the Mavs.

"We've got to believe that," he said. "I think if we win on Friday, then everything will already look a lot better. Right now, it doesn't look that good. But if we do all the things we did at home all year long — that's play together, push the ball, make some shots and actually get some stops — we should be all right."

Dallas led by the opener by 12 at halftime, but it's been all New Orleans since.

The Hornets wound up taking Game 1 by 12, then doubled the margin in Game 2. The real eye-popping numbers have been put up by Paul, who went from 35 points and 10 assists in the first playoff game of his career to 32 points and 17 assists.

"The last six quarters on both ends of the court have probably been the best six quarters we've had all season long," Hornets coach Byron Scott said.

Nowitzki is right about how much of a different one win could make. Being down 2-1, but coming off a win, is a world apart from being down 3-0 and hearing talk build about blowing up the team, firing the coach and all other doomsday scenarios.

The Mavs are at that kind of a crossroads.

Since being up 2-0 to the Miami Heat in the 2006 NBA finals, Dallas has lost 10 of its last 12 playoff games. The skid includes losing 4-2 to Golden State in the first round last year, wasting a 67-win regular season, and going down 2-0 in the first round this year.

"The guys are not happy with the way they've played," coach Avery Johnson said. "They came in this morning and I saw some angry looks, but I hope we take that disappointment and controlled anger into practice tomorrow and iron out a couple of things and then take it out on our opponents."

The anger seemed to subside by the time guys reached reporters.

Perpetually upbeat Jason Terry came out smiling "because we are back home where we are loved, away from all of that voodoo down there in New Orleans." Then he echoed Nowitzki's themes about the comfort of being cheered by their fans and about a Game 3 win changing everything.

Kidd talked about "taking a page from them in understanding to keep attacking." The logic is fine, but it's strange that a team filled with finals-tested veterans would have to learn about playoff poise from a group of postseason novices.

"You can always play with passion and have fun with it," Kidd said. "We just need to relax, we're at home, and use that to our advantage."

The last time the Hornets played in Dallas was the season finale. They were pulling away in the second half until Kidd and Terry fueled a 32-8 surge.

Although New Orleans was locked into the No. 2 seed, the Hornets went all out to beat the Mavs to keep open the chance of drawing Denver in the first round. Dallas went all out to win and avoid a first-round matchup with the Lakers. Nowitzki even said so after that game.

Oops.

New Orleans players had some fun using those quotes as bulletin-board material coming into the series. Now they can have even more fun by winning Friday and Sunday, then returning home to get ready for the second round.

Paul insists the Hornets aren't thinking about a sweep. They just want to keep doing all those things on Nowitzki's list of frustrations.

"The best part about it is we won two games, but at the same time it means absolutely nothing," Paul said. "It's the first team to four."

Center Tyson Chandler, who has dominated Dallas' big men, also sounded like a grizzled playoff vet, talking about "picking our spots, allowing the game to come to us individually."

"The thing I like is everybody's aggressive offensively and defensively," he said. "I think we've gotten in a flow. Everybody's in rhythm."

Games like this are why you can't trust box scores. You could look at the numbers, see that Kobe Bryant scored 49 points, and think you had the story of the Lakers' 122-107 victory over the Nuggets in Game 2 of this opening round playoff series. You'd have no idea that Bryant and the Lakers were at their best during a five-minute stretch at the end of the third quarter when Kobe made only one shot.

That's when he took over the game in a manner reminiscent of a guy sitting in the baseline seats at Staples Center: Magic Johnson.
The score was tied when Bryant found Luke Walton for a layup and a foul. The next time down the court, Bryant fed Vladimir Radmanovic for a dunk. Three possessions later he threw the ball to Walton for a 3-pointer. All that giving brought him a gift in return, when Pau Gasol tossed an alley-oop that Bryant appeared to stop in mid-air before throwing it down. And Bryant closed out the quarter with a pass to Sasha Vujacic for another 3-pointer. Four of Bryant's 10 assists in that little stretch.

A 10-point advantage for the Lakers heading into the fourth quarter. Kobe's quarter.

"It's just about forcing them to make choices," Bryant said. "I knew in the third quarter they were going to try to zero in on me a little bit, try to Ttake me out of my groove.

"We're very used to those types of defenses. So my teammates are used to making cuts and taking advantage of it. I felt like it kind of softened them up for me to go back at it in the fourth."

A bunch of Walton and Vujacic body blows before Bryant could unleash the haymakers. The game's greatest closer put this one away with a flourish exceptional even by his standards, scoring 19 points in less than 4 ½ minutes.

After Bryant hit a 3-pointer to give him 46 points and put the Lakers up by 17 with 2 ½ minutes remaining, he took advantage of a pause while Carmelo Anthony shot free throws. Bryant walked by Marv Albert and Reggie Miller in the sideline announcer seats, pulled out his imaginary six-shooters and blew them off.

Nuggets guard J.R. Smith made the mistake of saying something to him, which only brought more pain. Bryant went at Smith the next time down the court, got a layup and-one to get to 49 points, one shy of the playoff career high he set against Phoenix in 2006.

"Better learn not to talk to me," Bryant said of Smith's jabbering. "You shake the tree, a leopard's gonna fall out."

The Nuggets shouldn't say anything to anyone right now. They picked up two more technical fouls in the fourth quarter, the first at a time when the Laker lead was still in single digits.

"As a team, I think we lost our focus, lost our composure," Carmelo Anthony said.

Sometimes it seems as if the Nuggets don't care if they win the series. In the second quarter George Karl sat Allen Iverson for what seemed as long as an afternoon at the DMV (in reality it was four minutes and 15 seconds). And even though Lakers backup big man Ronny Turiaf sat out with a sore throat, the Nuggets didn't make a point of attacking the Laker frontcourt players to get them in foul trouble.

Instead it was Denver's Kenyon Martin who fouled out halfway through the fourth quarter.

The Lakers know their way to win, and it requires getting everyone involved through the first three quarters. In the first quarter, Bryant had 20 points but the Lakers only had a one-point lead to show for it.

"Defensively, we couldn't find the combination of what to do," Phil Jackson said. "We were just a step behind defensively, they were attacking with a lot of confidence."

It wasn't that Bryant dominated the ball. He got transition baskets. He scored when the defense rotated away from him. One time a loose ball bounced his way, he gathered it up, didn't see anyone around and he calmly shot a 3-pointer.

And when a guy's shooting 60 percent, common sense dictates he should be taking all the shots. But that's not what got the Lakers to the top of the Western Conference this year. This was the season when a three-point drop in his scoring average coincided with a 15-win increase in the standings.

"You definitely play better when you're touching the ball and you're involved," said Walton, who had another big playoff performance with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists. "Basketball is so much of a rhythm game and just being in the flow, not even realizing what's going on. When you're involved and touching the ball and making passes and making plays, it makes you involved in defense. You can read the court better, you can do all of the little things. It definitely helps."

Those were the Lakers of the third quarter, much more similar to the way they played this season.

Now the Nuggets need to make more adjustments. They went with Martin on Bryant again, but replaced Anthony Carter with Linas Kleiza in the starting lineup to avoid the size mismatches that allowed Pau Gasol to score 36 points in the first game. They tried zone defense. They put Smith on Bryant. None of it worked.

"The way he was going we could have put 10 people on the court and it probably wouldn't have been able to stop him," Allen Iverson said.

It's not about throwing everyone at Bryant. It's the way he has used every player on his team that's made the Lakers more of a threat this year, and certainly a class above the Nuggets in the first two games of this series.

J.A. Adande joined ESPN.com as an NBA columnist in August 2007 after 10 years with the Los Angeles Times. Click here to e-mail J.A.

Vince Carter underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle today, the Nets announced this afternoon.

The procedure, performed by Dr. Martin O'Malley at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, included the removal of multiple loose bodies and a bone spur from the ankle, as well as a debridement of the ankle.

Carter will be on crutches for several weeks, and then begin rehab. He is expected to be fully recovered by the time the team begins training camp in late September.

The New Jersey Nets finished the 2007-08 regular season with 34 wins and 48 losses, failing to make the NBA playoffs. Veteran point guard Darrell Armstrong, whose pro career began in 1994, played 11.0 minutes per game as a backup. While his stats are low, his leadership drive is high. InsideHoops.com contributor Randy Zellea recently met with Armstrong for an exclusive interview.

Q: You have been seen on the sidelines shouting instructions to players and showing leadership on and off the court. Are you thinking of following the same route that Avery Johnson took and become a coach?

Darrell Armstrong: Yes, that's my plan. Not just to be a coach, but a head coach. I think you have leaders in this game and some are learning how to be great leaders, both on the floor with the kind of game they play and making the transition into becoming a coach. You basically learn how to coach while playing in the game and get guys in place and where they have to be on the floor. With all that said, you have good top assistants, you have good assistants, and then you have assistants who can be moved into being a head coach and that's the job I want to take. I know what I want, I know what type of training camp, the offense and defense I want to run. I have a lot of different material with me and together and that's what a lot of coaches start doing. You take something from each coach you play under, and that's what I have done. Byron Scott has told me that. So I try to let it all soak it all in. I still love to play the game. Hopefully I can come out and play another year. That's what I am looking forward to right now.

Q: Out of all your coaches, who did you learn the most from?

Armstrong: All of my coaches. I have gained confidence from all of my coaches. I watch and I learn. I learn from just watching the coaches at practice and different situations because you want to know how to talk to and motivate and push guys. Then you have to learn there is a time not to push as well. It's a lot to learn and you have to lead by example on the floor, guys usually listen to me and they follow me. When I pick it up full court, they pick up full court. I can't do it like I used to it but I can still do it.

Read the rest of the interview here