George Hill is out indefinitely with a small chip fracture in his left ankle.

Hill has become a vital part of Indiana's rotation this season, coming to the team from the Spurs in a draft night trade.

James Michael McAdoo has too often allowed his emotions to get the best of him during his freshman season at North Carolina.

 “I did allow it to get to me at times,” McAdoo said. “The past couple weeks have been real big, ups in practice and downs in the games. I felt like I was really going to be able to turn it up for ACC play. I wasn’t, but at least it never affected my work ethic.”

McAdoo is coming off his most effective Atlantic Coast Conference game of the season, a nine-point, six-rebound performance in Sunday night’s victory against Georgia Tech.

“I want to be out there and when I’m out there I want to be productive, the player I know I can be, and not let whatever happens affect my confidence," McAdoo said.

McAdoo’s wired nature has left him susceptible to picking up fouls while also accentuating some awkwardness and lack of polish down low.

Kansas coach Bill Self spoke with his players in a Monday afternoon film session about a trend that needs to stop.

“We haven’t been as energized the last two games. We’ve played flat,” Self said of Wednesday’s 64-54 home victory over Texas A&M and Saturday’s 72-64 loss at Iowa State.

“It’s not about playing hard. I’m talking about just being enthusiastic, energetic. When we do that, we’re pretty good. When we are not (energized), we don’t appear to be near as athletic and don’t seem to make plays that players make when games are tight. When you are energized, it covers up for a lot of mistakes. When you are not energized, then execution and discipline — all those things become more a factor. Against Iowa State the last five minutes, we didn’t get stops. The majority of those times it all came with under seven seconds on the shot clock. A guy reaches, a guy loses sight of his man, a guy doesn’t block out. All these things can be avoided if we are a little more in-tune.”

Eric Musselman has completed a verbal contract to return to coach the Venezuela National Team this summer.

Musselman is currently head coach of the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the D-League.

With Musselman on the sidelines last summer the Venezuela National Team finished fifth in the FIBA Americas Pre Olympic Tournament held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, and advanced to the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, to be played in Caracas, Venezuela, this coming July 2-8

Phil Jackson’s next title will be on the cover of his new book.

Penguin Press says Tuesday that Jackson, the Hall of Famer who won 11 NBA championships as coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, is writing his memoir called “Eleven Rings.”

The book is tentatively scheduled to be out next year.

BCM Gravelines has recently stumbled in Eurocup play, but they haven’t lost a domestic league game since Dec. 10th against JDA Dijon and hold a one game lead over Chalon in the standings. But in our Floor Impact Counter rankings, Andrew Albicy, Ludovic Vaty, Pape Sy and company have been significantly better than their counterparts.

Gravelines has an average point differential of 14.7 points, compared to less than seven for Malcolm Delaney, Blake Schilb and Alade Aminu’s Chalon squad.

ASVEL has remained about the same since Tony Parker returned to the NBA. Parker had 23 points, eight assists and five rebounds in his last game with the team, which was a win to put them back to .500 at 4-4. They beat STB Le Havre over the weekend to improve to 8-8.

For Nancy, the loss of Nicolas Batum has proved more significant. They were 7-1 during Batum’s final game before returning to the Blazers and now sit with a 12-4 record.   

Individually, Eric Chatfield is the league's leading scorer at 21.4 points per game, while Lamont Hamilton is the leader in rebounds at 8.3 per game and Kareem Reid averages 8.6 assists.

Vaty has the league's highest PER, while Taylor Rochestie has the highest season FIC.

1. BCM Gravelines: 23.43  
2. Orleans Loiret Basket: 11.81  
3. Chalon-Sur-Saone: 11.12  
4. Nancy Basket: 9.73  
5. Le Mans Sarthe Basket: 8.98  
6. Cholet Basket: 8.27  
7. Paris-Levallois Basket: 4.79  
8. Strasbourg IG: 3.07  
9. ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne: 1.77  
10. JDA Dijon Basket: -2.38  
11. STB Le Havre: -6.24  
12. Chorale Roanne Basket: -6.45  
13. JSF Nanterre: -9.72  
14. Poitiers Basket 86: -13.75  
15. Pau-Orthez: -15.73  
16. Hyeres-Toulon Var Basket: -28.80

Derrick Rose was still fuming Monday after missing potential go-ahead free throws and a last-second jumper against the Heat on Sunday.

"I'm just hurt not for me but for the city of Chicago," Rose said. "Knowing how big that game was not only to me and the organization but to our fans. That's a rivalry. You have your best player, and he has the opportunity to take the lead and I didn't come through. The only thing I can do is hope the fans stick with me and stay with me. I promise I won't let them down again."

Rose vowed to make up it next time.

"That's something I live for," he said. "I think of my legacy. I want people to think of me as a clutch player, someone that always came through a majority of the time when they were on the court. Yesterday, it hurt a little bit but it will help me in the long run."

Ty Lawson missed his third consecutive game because of a sprained ankle on Sunday night as the Clippers snapped the Nuggets’ six-game win streak. The Nuggets (14-6) still boast the second-best record in the Western Conference.

"When we don't have Ty, the versatility of the team, the confidence that comes with being short one of your best players, it's not how you lose the game, it's the confidence you don't have all the time," Karl said.

In the Denver style of basketball, Lawson is the centerpiece.

Karl wants the Nuggets to push the pace, and Lawson keeps that pace fast. The former North Carolina star keeps the Nuggets on schedule with what they want to do offensively and makes them more dangerous doing it.

"How we like to play and how we play efficiently is with a lot of speed and open-court quickness and aggressiveness," Karl said. "We did a good job of getting a lot of that into the game (against the Clippers), but we didn't get as much as we normally get into the game. Probably the efficiency of our pick-and-roll game, our penetration game, was down because Ty didn't have 20 of those possessions.

"Without Ty, it's above average. With Ty, it's special."

Nets rookie MarShon Brooks will be out for an undetermined amount of time with a fracture in his right pinky toe.

Brooks arrived at yesterday’s practice with “some pretty significant swelling,” according to coach Avery Johnson before an X-ray revealed the injury. Brooks visited a foot specialist later in the day.

Brooks, the team’s second-leading scorer, returned to play 22 minutes in Sunday night’s loss to the Raptors after missing three games with a sore left Achilles tendon, but Johnson said the injury was unrelated to Brooks’ previous affliction.

Carmelo Anthony said his left wrist and right thumb had improved greatly over the last few days. The last hurdle is his right ankle, which he sprained nearly three weeks ago. He will try running Tuesday morning, for the first time in nearly a week.

“I know I can run, but it’s just a matter of me being able to cut and push off that ankle,” Anthony said, adding, “Right now it’s just getting the pop back in my ankle and getting my explosion back.”

If he cannot play Tuesday, Anthony said he would aim for Thursday, when the Knicks play the Chicago Bulls — the first game of a back-to-back-to-back set.