Lumberjacks

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Pascal Siakam matched his season high with 33 points, Fred VanVleet had 26 points and 11 assists and the Toronto Raptors beat the Atlanta Hawks 125-114 on Friday night for their fifth straight victory.
The Raptors also beat the Hawks 106-100 in Atlanta on Monday night, with the Hawks' only two losses in the last 10 games coming against Toronto.
Siakam scored 21 points in the first quarter. Gary Trent Jr. scored 19 points, Scottie Barnies had 16, Chris Boucher 11 and Precious Achiuwa 10.
De&rsquo;Andre Hunter and John Collins each scored 23 points for Atlanta, Trae Young had 22 points and 13 assists, and Bogdan Bogdanovic had 18 points.
&ldquo;This team, they speed you up with their pressure and their trapping, and changing defenses,&rdquo; Hawks coach Nate McMillan said about the Raptors. &ldquo;We had a couple of turnovers late that hurt us.&rdquo;
Besides its two wins over Atlanta, Toronto beat Miami twice in this five-game streak, once in triple overtime, and had an OT victory over Chicago on Thursday night. The Bulls and Heat are the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.
&ldquo;I think we should feel pretty good,&rdquo; Siakam said. &ldquo;Definitely some tough games out there against really good teams in the East. Those are the teams we want to face every single night. The games came at us pretty fast. I liked the way we responded every single game.&rdquo;
Both teams were playing the second night of a back-to-back. Toronto played its fifth game in seven days, while Atlanta played for the fifth time in eight days.
&ldquo;We knew it was going to be rough and we knew we were going to be fatigued,&rdquo; Toronto&rsquo;s OG Anunoby said. &ldquo;We just try to pick each other up and play hard, get through it.&rdquo;
Young was coming off a 43-point performance Thursday night in a 124-115 home victory over NBA-leading Phoenix. Young shot 9 for 20 against Toronto and went 0 for 4 from 3-point range.
&ldquo;We definitely had heavy legs,&rdquo; McMillan said. &ldquo;They had heavy legs as well. I thought it affected our shooting.&rdquo;
Atlanta shot 20 for 41 from distance against the Suns, but missed 19 of its first 24 attempts Friday before four straight 3-pointers in the final quarter helped close the gap to five points, 115-110, with 4:11 remaining.
Young&rsquo;s jump shot with 3:26 left cut the gap to three, but Barnes scored a layup and Trent hit a corner 3 to put Toronto up by eight, 120-112, with 1:56 left.
&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a work of art but it was enough tonight,&rdquo; Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.
QUARTER POUNDERS
Siakam is the second Raptors player in the past month to put up a 20-point quarter. VanVleet had 24 in the third quarter of a Jan. 7 home win over Utah. Siakam holds the Raptors record for points in a quarter, scoring 25 in the first quarter of a Jan. 26, 2020 win at San Antonio.
DOWN AND OUT
The Hawks are 2-12 in road games where they trail after the first quarter, and 5-18 overall in such games.
TIP-INS
Hawks: Collins started after injuring his right shoulder late in Thursday&rsquo;s win over Phoenix. &hellip; G Lou Williams returned after sitting out Thursday because of back spasms. &hellip; F Danilo Galinaro (right hamstring) was not available.
Raptors: Shot 5 for 11 from 3-point range in the first half but made 7 of 10 from distance in the third quarter. &hellip; Anunoby had 10 rebounds, while Siakam and Barnes each had nine. &hellip; Toronto had 17 turnovers. Its season high is 21.
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UP NEXT
Hawks: At Dallas on Sunday night.
Raptors: At Charlotte on Monday night.

Pascal Siakam scored 33 points, Fred VanVleet had 26 points and 11 assists and Toronto beat Atlanta 125-114.

Siakam matches season high with 33 points, Raptors top Hawks

In case you missed it, Markieff Morris had this to say last night.
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Ain&rsquo;t shit wild about it! It&rsquo;s a real injury! Imagine having a 300 pound sloppy fat boy run full speed and make direct contact with your spine! I&rsquo;ll be back soon like I said. <a href="https://t.co/jMdySrLxuw">https://t.co/jMdySrLxuw</a>
&mdash; Keef Morris (@Keefmorris) <a href="https://twitter.com/Keefmorris/status/1479276725292830723?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2022</a>
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Yeah, so, about that.
It&rsquo;s been 60 days since Markieff Morris last played an NBA game. The reason... we all know by now, don&rsquo;t we?
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It was common to hear reactions from NBA Twitter, "Inside The NBA" and others&nbsp;that suggested Jokić was in the right and/or Morris deserved it. While Morris can&rsquo;t entirely be absolved because of the needless take foul beforehand, the entire ordeal and aftermath are worth revisiting precisely two months later.&nbsp;
Let&rsquo;s preface the rest by saying, coming from someone who also covers combat sports and asks for&nbsp;your favorite kerfuffles on his profile for this website, I think fighting in non-combat sports isn&rsquo;t as bad as the pearl-clutchers think. It honestly shouldn&rsquo;t even always warrant a suspension &mdash; depending on the context &mdash; but I understand why it often does. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOAEz9uK6GY">Some sh*t goes too far</a>, but more than often,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmAMCFAugKc&amp;t=27s">guys don&rsquo;t even want to fight to begin with</a>. (Kenyon Martin even <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-kenyon-martin-enforcer-toughness-physicality-league-kevin-garnett-fight-fighting-defense" target="_blank" rel="noopener">addressed that here on BasketballNews.com in an article</a>.) 
And there&rsquo;s shared blame here, which we&rsquo;ll navigate through as one, big, happy-ass family.
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First of all, the video of the fight itself: Bleacher Report having as their headline, &ldquo;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L06009FEQRs&amp;t=27s">Nikola Jokic INJURED Markieff Morris &amp; ALMOST ENDED HIS CAREER 👀</a>&rdquo; is pretty wack. Eyeball emojis shouldn&rsquo;t come after ALMOST ENDED HIS CAREER in all caps &ndash; that&rsquo;s mad insensitive to still have up there after two months.
Secondly, the comments embody what we&rsquo;re talking about. People saying a variation of Morris getting what he deserved, applauding Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal and Charles Barkley for defending Jokić&rsquo;s right to obliterate Morris from behind &mdash; we&rsquo;ll get to that momentarily.
Not too many combinations of jokes were directed at Morris, who apparently was faking his injury, right? So much so that he still hasn&rsquo;t played since.&nbsp;
Now, the "Inside" guys.&nbsp;
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The first thing Charles Barkley said was, &ldquo;I love this.&rdquo;
Less than a minute later, O&rsquo;Neal added, &ldquo;I like what The Joker did.&rdquo;
Asked by Ernie Johnson to expand, Barkley emphatically interjected, rhetorically asking, &ldquo;What did Joker do?&rdquo;&nbsp;
Johnson replied, &ldquo;Gave him (Morris) a shot in the back and whiplashed him.&rdquo;
And Shaq contributed, &ldquo;First of all, Ernie, it&rsquo;s called retaliation. When you hit me, don&rsquo;t turn around. Don&rsquo;t turnaround, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM1V1D1r_PU">Brad Miller, because I&rsquo;m swinging</a>,&rdquo; with a laugh.
Kenny Smith attempted to provide a more levelheaded take, saying, &ldquo;We would hope that Joker could have some self-restraint.&rdquo; He was then immediately shot down by O&rsquo;Neal and Barkley, and the segment continued.
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There&rsquo;s absolutely something to what O&rsquo;Neal and Barkley said regarding retaliation, self-defense and sending a message. Additionally, there&rsquo;s some arrogance in leveling someone and immediately turning around, thinking you&rsquo;re untouchable as a result. Not great from Keef, there.
And as bad as the neck injury has been for Morris, it could&rsquo;ve been worse &mdash; a stretcher was even brought out as a precaution. Luckily, he was able to walk off.
And, look, we&rsquo;ve all been to an emotional point where the subsequent actions we took were regrettable, so this ain&rsquo;t finger-wagging more than an observation and reevaluation.
Jokić, at 6-foot-11, 284 pounds, has a distinct size advantage over Morris' listed <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/morrima02.html">6-foot-9, 245-pound frame</a>, so throwing his entire body weight into an unsuspecting Morris from behind is especially threatening. You&rsquo;d probably say Morris put himself in that danger, but even Jokić &mdash; clearly not being in his right mind at the time &mdash; has to know that he can&rsquo;t charge into Morris from behind like that, which he admitted after. It isn&rsquo;t like the foul was from behind, either.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a stupid play,&rdquo; Jokic said, seemingly with regret. &ldquo;I feel bad. I&rsquo;m not supposed to react that way, but it&rsquo;s in the middle of the game. I got hit, I saw him, but I just thought it was gonna be like a take foul... I thought [what Morris did] was a dirty play, and I just needed to protect myself. I fouled him bad, and I&rsquo;m not supposed to react that way.&rdquo;
He later added, insisting his feelings were genuine, &ldquo;No, I felt bad, for real... his head snapped back, so I feel really bad.&rdquo; &nbsp;
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In regards to the unusually physical Morris take foul, that was mad unnecessary at that point of the game, and when NBA games are out of reach, that&rsquo;s typically when things like this happen. As many people have indicated, Keef has a history of NBA dust-ups &mdash; including <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBZ4Al-zAQU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with DeMarcus Cousins</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ-azSxV-oE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OG Anunoby</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlWOv0HEYlk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Ennis</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9WUBR3e7H8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">whatever this was with Buddy Hield</a> among others.&nbsp;
But if his reputation preceded him, Jokic&rsquo;s should too.
Just four months earlier, Jokić was ejected for a reckless-ass frustration foul against 6-foot-1, 180-pound Cameron Payne, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bHAc-BU8oE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">then going head-to-head and exchanging words with Devin Booker</a>. Two months before that,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bQgHLt59NM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jokić punched Terrence Ross in his arm</a>&nbsp;out of anger for not getting a call he felt he deserved. Ross gave him a receipt later in the half, but not an overly rough one.
In the Orlando Bubble, and in similar fashion, Jokić was upset about a non-call against 6-foot Patrick Beverley, and frustration fouled him on a break by... <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmftuUeYLHk">trying to Rick Flair chop him</a>? In the Nuggets-Blazers 2019 playoff series,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhndn_k-6G0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he elbowed the sh*t out of Enes Kanter</a>. (Depending on who you ask, he might&rsquo;ve been ahead of his time. Lots of people would, and I.... I understand.)
Jokić also had a bumping/shoving match with Marcus, Keef&rsquo;s twin, two years ago.&nbsp;&nbsp;
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This isn&rsquo;t to say Jokić is a bad dude or an a**hole. Things happen, and different athletes have different ways of expressing themselves. But if people are going to hold up Morris&rsquo; past, this should go both ways. And all of these things can co-exist &mdash; this doesn&rsquo;t have to be some tribal, side-taking nonsense.&nbsp;
Revisiting all this is not to say we should retroactively ban Jokić for an extended period, but we should reevaluate how we process these things both in the moment and afterward. Morris still hasn&rsquo;t played. I don&rsquo;t care how much you don&rsquo;t like the dude and the misguided, non-productive nature of his foul &mdash; he didn&rsquo;t deserve to get hurt and obviously hasn&rsquo;t been faking an injury. (In the moment, I thought Jokić would get suspended 3-to-5 games, so one game appeared light at the time, for what it&rsquo;s worth.)
A question lingers in my mind: How would people have reacted if this were reversed? I&rsquo;m not even going to Black and white, but more specifically: What if Morris did this to Jokić? Clearly, people would&rsquo;ve been coming for Morris&rsquo; head since he&rsquo;s a role player, Jokić is a superstar, and plenty of y&rsquo;all don&rsquo;t like the Morris twins to begin with.
On Christmas Eve,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Keefmorris/status/1474434182575185922" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Morris said he was "coming soon."</a> He said it again last night.
Well, it&rsquo;s been eight weeks since the encounter with The Joker. At 32 years old, hopefully, he&rsquo;ll be able to reclaim what he established earlier, <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/morrima02.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which has turned out to be his best season in three years</a>. And ideally, Jokić could, as he himself indicated, collect himself a tad better before endangering someone else in this fashion.

Two months later, Bryan Fonseca analyzes the aftermath of the Nikola Jokic-Markieff Morris incident, with the latter still injured.

60 days later: Revisiting the Nikola Jokić-Markieff Morris incident

Matt Babcock concludes his series by detailing the post-2001 years in Milwaukee and his father's role in finding talent deep in drafts.

Growing up a Buck: From Ray Allen to Giannis, my dad remains in Milwaukee

Trae Young and the Hawks are taking their stunning turnaround to the Eastern Conference finals.
Young made a late 3-pointer and scored 21 points to help Atlanta win for the third time in the series in Philadelphia, a 103-96 victory over the top-seeded 76ers on Sunday night in Game 7.
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TRAE FROM DOWNTOWN ❄️<a href="https://twitter.com/ATLHawks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ATLHawks</a> by 4 with 2 minutes to go on TNT. <a href="https://t.co/z5UsNnQHdL">pic.twitter.com/z5UsNnQHdL</a>
&mdash; NBA Fantasy (@NBAFantasy) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAFantasy/status/1406800492563423232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2021</a></blockquote>

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The Hawks will open their first East finals since 2015 against the Bucks on Wednesday night in Milwaukee.
&ldquo;This team is special, man,&rdquo; Kevin Huerter said. "Everybody has counted us out all year. For us to make it this far and win in this building in Game 7, it&rsquo;s huge for us.&rdquo;
Atlanta had been 0-9 in Games 7s on the road.
But the Hawks ignored their ignominious history and got one in Philly, where they already won in Game 1 and Game 5 and knocked out Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and closed the book on the Process.
Not so deep down, not even the Hawks could have seen this coming, especially in March when they were 14-20, 11th in the Eastern Conference and fired coach Lloyd Pierce.
Under coach Nate McMillan, the Hawks turned into birds of prey and Young led a charge into the postseason for the first time since 2017 that kept rolling with a first-round win over New York.
Embiid, the NBA MVP runner-up, Simmons and a high-priced cast of stars were supposed to put the upstart Hawks in their place. It never happened.
Young shook off an otherwise off night from the floor &mdash; 5-for-23 &mdash; and kept shooting until he hit that 3 for a 93-87 lead with 2:31 left in the game.
Huerter, who led the Hawks with 27 points, sealed the win with three free throws and the packed house of 18,624 fell as silent as it was when the season opened without any fans.
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THE HAWKS ARE MOVING ON! Kevin Huerter was MASSIVE tonight, dropping a playoff career-high to help carry the <a href="https://twitter.com/ATLHawks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ATLHawks</a> to the finish line. 27 PTS 7 REB 3 AST 41.9 FPTS <a href="https://t.co/RPwnf5hHR6">pic.twitter.com/RPwnf5hHR6</a>
&mdash; NBA Fantasy (@NBAFantasy) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAFantasy/status/1406804140290981890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Sixers fans let the home team have it and booed them off the court and were reprimanded by the public address announcer for throwing trash on the court.
Embiid scored 31 points.
This marked only the second year since 1973 &mdash; when the NBA began seeding for the playoffs by conference &mdash; when neither No. 1 seed will make the conference finals. West No. 1 seed Utah was eliminated by the Clippers.
Philly was on edge &mdash; the public address announcer even noted &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a little quiet in here&rdquo; &mdash; having seen two losses in this series already. Playing for the season, Rivers played four reserves over the final minutes of the third that produced little offense and little faith the Sixers could keep pace. Embiid returned but promplty had a pass picked off by Lou Williams for a fastbreak dunk and the Hawks closed the third with a 76-71 lead. The Sixers had 17 turnovers.
Rattled by Game 7 and a packed house on the road? Not these Hawks, who took a 26-point lead in a Game 1 victory in Philly and then rallied from 26 down on the same court to pull out Game 5.
Young, the breakout start of the postseason, was a nonfactor in the first half. He had more pushups (three, after he was knocked to the court by Dwight Howard) than baskets (1 for 12) in the first half. He even got T&rsquo;d up for arguing over a rescinded foul call on the Sixers.
No matter. Huerter and John Collins picked up the slack and Danilo Gallinari hit consecutive 3s -- one of an Embiid turnover -- to send the Hawks into halftime with a 48-46 lead.
The Sixers had 10 turnovers in the half and again, Embiid and Curry showed the only signs of life for the offense. Simmons could be playing his way out of Philly with a postseason to forget. The All-Star guard was whistled for his third foul with 25.9 seconds in the first half and took only two shots. The embattled guard had vowed all series he would return to an aggressive style but instead was invisible on offense.
He picked up his fourth foul moments into the third quarter.
Rivers said before the game there were two big keys to winning Game 7.
&ldquo;Execution for sure, and trust at the end of the day,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Trusting what you&rsquo;ve done all day and not getting away from it.&rdquo;
The Sixers strayed for what got them this far and now they head into an early offseason with a summer full of questions.
TIP-INS
Hawks: Bogdan Bogdanovic played after leaving Game 6 with right knee soreness.
76ers: Embiid was fined $35,000 by the NBA for escalating an on-court altercation in Game 6. The NBA said Embiid also failed to comply with an NBA Security interview following the on-court incident. .. Ryan Howard, Brian Westbrook and Bernie Parent rang the ceremonial bell.
GAME 7
Rivers is 6-9 in Game 7s.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The Hawks will open their first East finals since 2015 against the Bucks on Wednesday night in Milwaukee.

Hawks head to East finals after Game 7 win in Philadelphia

A few weeks ago, on an idyllic afternoon in Northern California, Tom Konchalski crossed my mind.
I hadn&rsquo;t spoken with Tom in a year, but the air was crisp, the sun was shining and the tree branches were vibrating in the breeze. I was holding my young son&rsquo;s hand as we walked to a local pond to see the ducks. The serenity made me think of Tom. Without hesitation, I took out my phone and called him.&nbsp;
Tom Konchalski, the rail-thin 6-foot-6 patron saint of basketball, a lifelong native of Queens, New York and a devout Catholic who attended mass daily, is regarded as the most respected evaluator of high school basketball talent in history. He nurtured countless New York City ball-players and helped change countless lives through basketball. My dad, Ernie, was one of the first New York City kids Tom discovered. He was like family to us. He looked after me as a young player just like he had looked after my dad.
Last week, Tom was transitioned to hospice care as he privately battled cancer. The basketball community was rocked by the news. On Monday, amidst an outpouring of prayers, Tom passed away, leaving the basketball world heartbroken and leaving behind one of basketball&rsquo;s holiest legacies.&nbsp;
Since Tom&rsquo;s death, condolences have poured in from every corner of the globe. Friends and admirers have shared stories of Tom&rsquo;s kindness, grace and humanity. He&rsquo;s been affectionately referred to by his nickname, &ldquo;The Glider,&rdquo; a moniker given by college coaches for how quietly Tom moved in and out of gyms. Tom&rsquo;s quirks have been described with love &ndash; that he didn&rsquo;t own a cell phone or answering machine, that he never learned to drive, that he didn&rsquo;t use a computer, that he produced his iconic scouting newsletter on a typewriter, that he had a photographic memory and a legendary handshake.
When the Naismith Basketball Memorial Hall of Fame Class of 2021's eligible candidates were announced in December, Tom Konchalski&rsquo;s name was on the list. He was a first-time nominee eligible to be inducted as a contributor to the game of basketball. Tom Konchalski may be a first-time nominee, but he belongs in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, period.
He is deserving both for what he did for the game and for how he did it. Tom&rsquo;s greatness as a basketball scout is unquestioned, but more importantly, his goodness as a human being was unparalleled. It is the latter &ndash; the supreme quality of his character &ndash; that made Tom the most beloved man in basketball. I&rsquo;ve never known someone as universally respected and adored. I&rsquo;ve never known someone whose opinion of players was so widely esteemed. I&rsquo;ve never known a contributor to the game more worthy of sanctification in the Hall.
I&rsquo;m fortunate to belong to a family that has experienced firsthand the sacred standard that Tom set in the world of basketball for the last five decades.
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Tom first saw my dad play basketball in the mid-1960s during a local CYO game at The Church of the Ascension on Grant Avenue in Queens. Tom had been an altar boy at the church and was by then a hoops-obsessed college student at Fordham. My dad was in sixth grade, a Jewish immigrant who had just fled Communist Romania for New York City. He was still learning English and had just started playing basketball.
As would become Tom&rsquo;s custom, he saw talent in a New York ball-player when no one else was looking. Tom became my dad&rsquo;s guardian angel -- a confidante, mentor and friend, a constant source of guidance for navigating the perils of big-city basketball. He&rsquo;d put my dad on teams to play against top players across the boroughs, he&rsquo;d attend his junior high games and give pointers on his jump shot, he&rsquo;d help him with recruiting once colleges descended. My dad would turn into an All-American at Forest Hills High School in Queens, an All-American at the University of Tennessee and a top NBA draft pick in 1977. Tom was the first person to sense it was possible. He was there every step of the way.
There are thousands of basketball players in New York City who, like my dad, have had their lives changed by Tom&rsquo;s presence. He had a special eye for basketball ability, but that&rsquo;s not enough to make a permanent impact on a person&rsquo;s life. Tom did that by getting to know the players he evaluated, by asking them questions, by talking to their families, by investing his time in them, by caring about them. Tom not only supported my dad, but he also became one of my grandpa&rsquo;s best friends. Even after my dad was out of the house, Tom and my grandpa would travel around New York together watching high school basketball, whether at Archbishop Molloy High School, at Forest Hills High School or at Long Island Lutheran High School.
In an impersonal world, Tom created real interpersonal connections. In a world without time to waste, Tom never treated people like a waste of his time. Tom sat at the top of the bleachers with a yellow legal pad during games so he could concentrate on the action, but there was never anything transactional about his approach. When my dad&rsquo;s jersey was retired at the University of Tennessee in 2008, Tom was one of the only non-family members invited as a guest. That&rsquo;s how much he&rsquo;s meant to the players he&rsquo;s touched.
Everyone who knew Tom has a story about his memory &ndash; he remembered the starting lineup of my dad&rsquo;s junior high team, he remembered how many points my dad scored against Bryant High his senior year, he remembered the name of my dad&rsquo;s freshman year Math teacher in college &ndash; but it was not merely a feat of extraordinary mental acuity. More than anything, Tom&rsquo;s recall was a further demonstration of his commitment to other people. His incredible recollections were almost never about himself. He was always focused on others. He had programmed himself to listen, to absorb and to serve. He was giving of his energy and helpful to anyone who needed it. &nbsp; Though my grandpa passed away in 1986, Tom still called my grandma several times a year. In fact, he had called her every Yom Kippur for the last 50 years. Not every other Yom Kippur and not 48 out of 50 Yom Kippurs. He called her on that day every single year for half of a century. It&rsquo;s telling that, as a true man of God, Tom made a point to check in on my Holocaust-surviving grandmother on the year&rsquo;s most important Jewish holiday. It&rsquo;s also telling that, over such a long period of time, he did not once miss an opportunity to do so.
Tom&rsquo;s love for the game of basketball, its people and its places was divine. He was basketball&rsquo;s heart. His positive spirit was the lifeforce that bound together a complex system of players, coaches, fans, media, scouts and so many others. He is a man the world needs to honor. He is a man who belongs in basketball&rsquo;s most hallowed hall for eternity. He is a Hall-of-Famer in every sense of the word.
When Tom answered my call a few weeks ago while I was out walking with my son, it was as if we&rsquo;d spoken yesterday. Our chat lasted 20 minutes. He asked if my wife was still enjoying her job. He was able to conjure up the addresses of my dad&rsquo;s childhood apartment in Queens and my grandparent&rsquo;s old fabric store in the Bronx. He casually mentioned some health issues he was having, but said he was doing what he could.
When we hung up, I had no idea he&rsquo;d soon be in hospice care and that I&rsquo;d have no way to get in touch with him. I would not have believed that, in a matter of weeks, he&rsquo;d be gone.
Looking back, I wish I would have told him that I love and appreciate him. I wish I would have told him that I admire him. I wish I would have told him that his memory will always be a blessing, far beyond the game of basketball, and that the rightful last stop of his remarkable journey here on earth should be the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Dan Grunfeld pens a touching tribute to the late, great Tom Konchalski and shares his favorite memories of the legendary scout.

Basketball's most beloved man: Tom Konchalski belongs in Hall of Fame

Each day, BasketballNews.com scours #NBATwitter to bring you the best tweets from the previous day. Some are insightful, some are just hilarious (so we had to include them).
Without further ado, here are the tweets of the day for January 21, 2021.
Feel the Bern
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<a href="https://t.co/3p4CoHLAJE">pic.twitter.com/3p4CoHLAJE</a>
&mdash; Miami Heat Beat (@miaheatbeat) <a href="https://twitter.com/miaheatbeat/status/1351946754443382784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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How strong is this Wi-Fi at the White House?
Came Thru Drippin&rsquo;
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The mystery man wearing the Air Jordan Dior 1s is Nikolas Ajagu, husband of Meena Harris, Kamala's niece. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Inauguration?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Inauguration</a> <a href="https://t.co/kuyn20Mr2z">pic.twitter.com/kuyn20Mr2z</a>
&mdash; Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffEisenband/status/1351939093094146052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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This is barely a basketball tweet, but it had to be included because of the immaculate level of sauce, and the fact that there are actual NBA players still trying to get their hands on these sneakers.
It&rsquo;s Always Sunny In Sexland
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Collin Sexton, humble as always, would rather talk about how excited he was to have Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince out there with him tonight and Darius Garland with him on Friday over his big night.
&mdash; Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmNotEvan/status/1352103227811115009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2021</a></blockquote>
Cleveland has become First-Team All-Friendship, and it is beautiful.&nbsp;
Two-Term Win Streak
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S/o to Bernie for hanging tight through 2 OT&rsquo;s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/dedication?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#dedication</a> <a href="https://t.co/072HdazRUi">pic.twitter.com/072HdazRUi</a>
&mdash; Andre Drummond (@AndreDrummond) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndreDrummond/status/1352114421598990338?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Does Bernie have a favorite NBA team? Did Andre make this meme himself?&nbsp;
Bacon, Extra Salty
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TELL EM HOW U REALLY FEEL BAKE🤣 <a href="https://t.co/xipJQR8u5O">pic.twitter.com/xipJQR8u5O</a>
&mdash; ᴶᵁᴰᴬᴴ 💫(Tank 4 Green) (@BlockedByIsaac) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlockedByIsaac/status/1352110046533079041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Is this a new rivalry? Is this the 2020-2021 Jimmy Butler and TJ Warren feud all over again? Stay tuned.&nbsp;
Alexa, Play &lsquo;Upgrade U&rsquo; by Beyonce
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<a href="https://t.co/ixShnFWTtK">pic.twitter.com/ixShnFWTtK</a>
&mdash; Colb (@___Colb___) <a href="https://twitter.com/___Colb___/status/1352086784344268802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2021</a></blockquote>

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So the No. 2 jersey will be retired in Cleveland, just not for whom we expected.&nbsp;
We Did It, Joe
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All of this for Collin Sexton. <a href="https://t.co/omcMvOYdDR">https://t.co/omcMvOYdDR</a>
&mdash; J.E. Skeets (@jeskeets) <a href="https://twitter.com/jeskeets/status/1352088491761553408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2021</a></blockquote>
The Cavaliers are fun again. A nation is healing.&nbsp;
What Could Have Been
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Joining in on the Bernie fun <a href="https://t.co/SLWASYgNhY">pic.twitter.com/SLWASYgNhY</a>
&mdash; JB the Tank Commander soyboy 🍞📈 (@JustHavingATime) <a href="https://twitter.com/JustHavingATime/status/1352151727957536768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2021</a></blockquote>

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This is exactly how the election went for Bernie Sanders, except in this instance, the shot didn&rsquo;t fall.
Golden State of the Union
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<a href="https://t.co/ArJAr8ZXKo">https://t.co/ArJAr8ZXKo</a> <a href="https://t.co/LMudv2ttUP">pic.twitter.com/LMudv2ttUP</a>
&mdash; r~ steph curry's burner acct~ (@fymroo) <a href="https://twitter.com/fymroo/status/1352145005352284160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2021</a></blockquote>

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The land of the three, and the home of the BLOCKED BY JAMES!
Are Ya Winnin&rsquo;, Son?
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🙏🏽 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/proudpoppa?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#proudpoppa</a> <a href="https://t.co/zCgXVfXOd8">https://t.co/zCgXVfXOd8</a>
&mdash; Greg Anthony (@GregAnthony50) <a href="https://twitter.com/GregAnthony50/status/1352100303118753797?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Crying in the club right now.
See a tweet that should be featured in tomorrow's Tweet of the Day piece? Send it to <a href="https://twitter.com/kelsea_lately" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@kelsea_lately</a>.

Every day, our Kelsea O'Brien scours #NBATwitter to find the best posts. Here are the tweets of the day for Jan. 21, 2021.

NBA Tweets of the Day: January 21, 2021

Over six months removed from their final game of the 2019-20 season, the Cleveland Cavaliers are raring to go. This week, they&rsquo;ll finally return to the court, as the franchise prepares to conduct its first organized team activity since the pandemic.
Currently, the Cavaliers&rsquo; players and staff are quarantining in their own hotel rooms downtown before their first scheduled group workout on Wednesday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Abiding by the same protocols as the NBA teams in Orlando, everybody must test negative for COVID-19 twice in order to attend. There will be six, two-and-a-half-hour late-morning programs and optional nightly shooting and workout sessions from Sept. 23 through Sept. 30.
According to a Cavaliers team source, the organization fought hard for this opportunity. It was anything but the perfect solution; Cleveland and the seven other teams left out of the NBA bubble in Orlando would&rsquo;ve loved to participate in the restart. These eight franchises lost a lot of footing compared to the teams that were able to continue their season in Orlando.
Despite missing the playoffs, the Phoenix Suns went 8-0 in the seeding games and built toward next season. The Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans had the chance to fight for a playoff spot. Perhaps the closest team to Cleveland process-wise is the Washington Wizards and, with Bradley Beal on the sidelines, they saw their future cornerstone pieces such as Rui Hachimura and Troy Brown Jr. improve and get reps versus other teams. The Cavaliers source described being left out of the Orlando bubble as an "extreme disadvantage." Each team in Orlando played a total of eight games and had three scrimmages.&nbsp;
While it seems minor, that type of progression is important and Cleveland had no way to replicate that. Instead, the Cavaliers will have to settle for this in-region, internal bubble of their own -- scrimmaging five-on-five and practicing within a team setting. Again, it isn&rsquo;t perfect, but it&rsquo;s better than nothing, even without the likes of Andre Drummond (personal matter), Cedi Osman (overseas), Tristan Thompson (unrestricted free agent) and Matthew Dellavedova (unrestricted free agent).
&ldquo;First of all, it's going to be some semblance of normalcy, which is great,&rdquo; the Cavs team source said. &ldquo;I think, more than anything, the team bonding and being together and enjoying each other and our presence is going to be awesome. I think that's going to be a big, big positive for us. It's going to be like a really cool retreat, if you will, with basketball. I think it&rsquo;s going to be a major plus and then Coach (J.B. Bickerstaff) getting to reaffirm some of the stuff he wants to put in from a defensive standpoint will be great. And just getting to play [is important]. We'll just continue to move forward, onward and upward, hopefully make some real strides during these next few days in our bubble, and then continue on to what's next.&rdquo;
Bickerstaff will return as head coach after his 11-game showing last season; it&rsquo;s the first time the Cavs have had the same coach in consecutive years since Tyronn Lue in 2018. That continuity is essential for a franchise that&rsquo;s focused on turning into a consistent winner. According to the team source, Bickerstaff was always going to be the coach to lead Cleveland into the future; it just so happened that former head coach John Beilein didn&rsquo;t make it through the year, so Bickerstaff got to grab the reins a bit earlier than anticipated.&nbsp;
The Cavaliers are thrilled to see how Bickerstaff can push their team forward. He&rsquo;s been in the NBA for 17 years, starting under his father, Bernie, as an assistant with the Charlotte Bobcats. He also had stints coaching the Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies. His head coaching experience with the Rockets and Grizzlies is a huge reason why Cleveland believed in him as its long-term solution, per the team source.&nbsp;
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Bickerstaff has a unique ability to develop relationships with his players, on and off the floor. He&rsquo;s not afraid to be honest, he grinds and he&rsquo;s &ldquo;magnetic&rdquo; as a teacher.
&ldquo;He's the right guy for what we're doing right now,&rdquo; the team source said. "We have our head coach of the future. And we have some continuity moving forward.&rdquo;
Consistency is the next step for these Cavaliers. For that to happen, there has to be widespread improvement from top to bottom. That includes the front office providing the right pieces to the puzzle, players committing to get better in-house and coaches continuing to adapt their schemes to the roster. Bickerstaff&rsquo;s short takeover stint was a taste of what that looks like.
&ldquo;It has to be a multi-prong approach. There's not one solution to becoming better at that,&rdquo; the team source said. &ldquo;Post All-Star break, we were competing, we were playing hard. And the results show that; it&rsquo;s a small sample size, but [it was] 11 games against some real teams. We know we can do it.&rdquo;
Cleveland went 5-6 after the All-Star break, but there were plenty of positive takeaways from that stretch. There was a double-digit comeback win against the Miami Heat, a grind-it-out victory over the San Antonio Spurs, a 14-point win over the Philadelphia 76ers and a tough victory over the Denver Nuggets. Even in losses, there was a competitive spirit that had been missing.&nbsp;
Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman and his front-office staff have the chance to bolster the roster in multiple ways. First, there&rsquo;s the upcoming NBA Draft on Nov. 18. The Cavaliers currently hold the No. 5 overall pick. According to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, the team will be active in trade conversations and <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2020/09/will-kevin-porter-jr-start-for-cleveland-cavaliers-this-coming-season-hey-chris.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could use the selection as bait</a> -- if the right short- or long-term piece is available. That is contingent on how the draft shakes out, though.
The 2020 NBA Draft is wide open in terms of where players are projected to land. Altman and his front office are still mulling things over. With plenty of time to do their due diligence, there have been debates over certain prospects; Cleveland.com reported Deni Avdija, Isaac Okoro and Devin Vassell as the <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2020/08/who-will-cleveland-cavaliers-pick-at-no-5-in-nba-draft-hey-chris.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three top wings in consideration</a>.&nbsp;
Per the Cavs source, this pre-draft process has been more difficult than usual considering teams can&rsquo;t meet any of the prospects in person to get a feel for their personality and establish a rapport. Also, there&rsquo;s less data available than in a typical year, so the team is just trying to watch as much game film as possible and hold virtual meetings with prospects. If Cleveland chooses to hang on to the fifth pick, the organization has an opportunity to add a good player who fits into the culture that&rsquo;s being established. Ideally, they&rsquo;ll find someone with the right attitude, a strong work ethic, toughness and a desire to be there.
Another way Altman and Co. can help Bickerstaff is through free agency. Much of their plan is hinges on Andre Drummond and whether he&rsquo;ll opt out. According to the team source, all signs suggest that Drummond &ldquo;probably will&rdquo; exercise his $28,751,774 player option. Drummond said as much during an appearance on ESPN&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.espn.com/espnradio/podcast/archive/_/id/26437808" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Le Batard &amp; Friends Network podcast</a>.
&ldquo;Yeah, that&rsquo;s going to be pretty hard to give up, so you can count on me being in Cleveland still,&rdquo; Drummond said in June. Later in the interview, he added: &ldquo;I definitely will be in Cleveland.&rdquo;
Since they&rsquo;re no longer a luxury tax-payer, the Cavaliers will have the $9,258,000 mid-level exception on their hands; this can be used entirely on one free agent or split between multiple players. The Cavs source said that the team will be looking for &ldquo;defensive-minded players&rdquo; while also looking to add &ldquo;length and athleticism.&rdquo;&nbsp;
It is important to note that the franchise does hold Tristan Thompson&rsquo;s Bird rights, meaning if the Cavaliers decide to bring him back into the fold, they can go over the salary cap to sign him and still have their MLE. With that said, they&rsquo;re likely not going to spend a ton of money to the point of dipping back into the luxury tax, especially since they did all that work to clear up their cap sheet in the previous two years. At this stage, it&rsquo;s about hitting singles and adding those positives up -- Alfonzo McKinnie and his team-friendly contract is a perfect example of that.
The team source said that there&rsquo;s &ldquo;a lot of mutual interest&rdquo; between Cleveland and Thompson. In a sense, who the team drafts could play a significant role in that free-agency decision. Would it make sense for Thompson to return if Onyeka Okongwu is the selection at five? Though unlikely, if <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/james-wiseman-memphis-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Wiseman were to surprisingly slide</a> to the Cavaliers and they nabbed him, re-signing Thompson may no longer be a priority.
The Cavs could also try to improve the roster via trades, although league sources say that most trade talks around the NBA are on hold at the moment. Not many conversations were taking place while teams were in the bubble and everyone is waiting to see what the 2020-21 salary cap will be set at before making moves.
As for the cornerstone pieces already on the roster, Cleveland feels great.&nbsp;
Collin Sexton found his niche and, specifically under Bickerstaff, thrived. Over his five games in March, the second-year guard averaged 30 points, 4.6 assists and 3.6 rebounds in 40 minutes per contest. His true shooting percentage during that stretch was a career-best 66.4 percent. If you want a slightly larger sample size, look at his post All-Star break numbers when Bickerstaff slid into his head coaching role: 25.5 points and 4.2 assists with a 43.1 three-point percentage. Playing both as a ball-handler and off the ball, Sexton was as efficient as he&rsquo;s ever been, had the highest usage rate on the team and made teams pay.
The team source described Sexton as &ldquo;looking monstrous&rdquo; and &ldquo;huge&rdquo; after working on his body. The Cavaliers are excited to see where Sexton goes next in his development.
&ldquo;He's our cultural backbone and what we want to be about,&rdquo; the Cavs source said. &ldquo;He just puts his head down and goes. He got left off the initial team for Rising Stars, which is insane. He's an incredible kid in that way [that he keeps working].&rdquo;
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Last year&rsquo;s draft saw the franchise bring in three different talents: Darius Garland, Kevin Porter Jr. and Dylan Windler.&nbsp;
Garland had a case of the ups and downs, but the ups gave us a glimpse of his ceiling. Among rookie point guards, he ranked second in total assists (229) behind only Ja Morant. Despite his streaky shooting nights, he still knocked down 35.5 percent of his five triples per game. Coming off just four games of collegiate experience, reps at the professional level were paramount for Garland from the standpoint of running the marathon, so to speak.
According to the source, Garland&rsquo;s been throwing down alley-oops in 1-on-0 workouts, asserting the fact that he&rsquo;s healthy and has his legs under him without any limitations. He&rsquo;s also come back to Cleveland with a better physical frame.
&ldquo;We know there's so much more left, we know there's so much more there,&rdquo; the team source said of Garland&rsquo;s development. &ldquo;He's also been super locked in because he feels like he has so much more potential, so much more to offer. He also feels snubbed and disrespected by that All-Rookie team, which was absurd in a lot of regards. He's a wonderful kid, too. Great worker. We're excited about him and his potential. I think his best basketball is yet to come.&rdquo;
Can Sexton and Garland work in the same backcourt, particularly on the defensive end? That&rsquo;s a question the Cavaliers are hoping to get answered too. The source concedes that the two would benefit from a bigger and longer froncourt; however, they&rsquo;ll also have to get tougher, slide their feet better, power through screens and genuinely take charge of that side of the court as a duo.
They could always just talk to Larry Nance Jr. An unsung hero for the team, last season was the best of his career. He&rsquo;s a Swiss Army knife who offers the versatility that coaches dream of, both as an offensive weapon and defensive stalwart. Most notably for Bickerstaff, he was even used as a three in some lineups when the Cavaliers went bigger. Remember the double-digit comeback against the Miami Heat at home? That all started with Nance&rsquo;s tenacity on defense.
Of course, Porter might&rsquo;ve shown the most flashes as an individual defender among the young guards, and he showed much more than just that. Bouncing between the second unit and the starting lineup, the rookie swingman provided highlight-reel playmaking, impressive shooting and infectious energy. Though there&rsquo;s been curiosity about when he&rsquo;ll start at the three or supplant one of Sexton or Garland as a starting guard, the Cavs source has an inkling that Porter will continue to pack his powerful punch off the bench. Maybe that&rsquo;s because the organization would like to see what Year 2 looks like for its young pairing, and it&rsquo;s been reported that Cleveland views Porter more as a shooting guard rather than a forward.
Regardless of positional opinions and who&rsquo;s in the starting five, you&rsquo;re going to see all three of them playing together at the same time under Bickerstaff. You might see different combinations of those players alongside Windler, too.
The 24-year-old missed the entirety of his rookie season with a stress reaction in his lower left leg. The Cavaliers tried to bring him back slowly via a couple of stints with the team&rsquo;s G League affiliate, the Canton Charge, but it was to no avail. Since the January surgery, however, he has recovered fully. According to the team source, Windler is going to be 100 percent, full-go in the upcoming team workouts.&nbsp;
&ldquo;These next couple weeks are going to be just awesome for him, to get back to playing basketball again,&rdquo; the Cavs source said. &ldquo;We're excited to see what that looks like. But talk about a great fit along with the guards -- size, shooting, basketball IQ, cutting, really good rebounder for his position. We're pretty pumped about the possibilities, but we have to see it first.&rdquo;
A healthy, fresh Kevin Love will go a long way too. His gravity on the perimeter, effectiveness on the block and aggressiveness on the glass are game-changers. Cedi Osman has steadily improved as one of the team&rsquo;s all-around forwards. The length of the second unit with Dante Exum and McKinnie was one of the more intriguing parts of the latter half of the season.
The Cavaliers also converted Dean Wade&rsquo;s two-way contract into a standard deal and took a flyer on versatile big man Jordan Bell, so we&rsquo;ll see how they look in the next week.
The Cavs source said that the mood around the team is an eager one. Being on pause for this long has Cleveland wanting to get going. It hasn&rsquo;t been easy to sit at home and watch as much of the league continues without you.
Come 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning, they won&rsquo;t have to anymore.

Spencer Davies details what's next for the Cavs as they hold their first team workouts since March and enter a unique offseason.