Silverswords

LeBron James and his son LeBron James Jr. made NBA history Sunday night when they shared the floor in the Lakers&rsquo; preseason game against the Phoenix Suns.&nbsp;
The duo made their much-anticipated debut together at the start of the second quarter of the game in Palm Springs, California.
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Bron x Bronny 👑 The father-son duo officially shares the court, becoming the first to do so in NBA history! 🙌🏽<a href="https://t.co/TjQwe3JAw7">pic.twitter.com/TjQwe3JAw7</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1843113805439709496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2024</a>
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Although they did not have many basketball moments in their time on the court together, it was such a cool moment for the Los Angeles superstar as his longtime dream of playing together with his eldest son came to fruition.
&lsquo;Bronny&rsquo; James, as he&rsquo;s fondly called, was picked by the Lakers at the 55th overall selection in this year&rsquo;s NBA Draft.&nbsp;
The elder James notably expressed his desire to play with his son a lot of times in the past. LeBron mentioned it again recently on their team&rsquo;s media day citing it has given him joy and a new lease in his illustrious 22-year NBA career.
&ldquo;It's a lot of excitement, a pure joy, to be able to come to work every day, put in hard work with your son every day, and be able to see him continue to grow," James said. "We push each other. He pushes me. I push him. We push our teammates, and vice versa. So it's just a very joyous moment not only for myself but for our family. So it's pretty awesome. Gives you a lot of life.&rdquo;
LeBron was his usual dominant self despite being the oldest player in the NBA with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks at the half for the Lakers while Bronny logged in 1 rebound and 3 turnovers, going 0/1 on his shot attempts.
The Suns eventually won the game in a tight affair, 118-114, as LeBron only played the first half with Anthony Davis who also had a good game with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Phoenix was led by their bench unit with 4 players scoring in double digits &ndash; rookie Oso Ighodaro, Damion Lee, Collin Gillespie, and Josh Okogie.&nbsp;
The Lakers had one last shot to win the game with new head coach JJ Redick drawing up a play for Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht. However, he missed on the potential game-winning three with fellow rookie Ryan Dunn of the Suns all over him, and Dunn leaked out for a transition dunk in the ending moments for the final score.
The younger James is expected to take his time in developing at the Lakers&rsquo; G League team South Bay as he continues to build his NBA career after suffering a career-altering condition last year. Bronny suffered a cardiac arrest while playing college ball for the USC Trojans and has been trying to get back on track since.
LeBron and the Lakers open the season against the Minnesota Timberwolves on opening night with championship aspirations still on the horizon for the 2nd winningest franchise in NBA history.

LeBron James and his son LeBron James Jr. made NBA history Sunday night when they shared the floor in the Lakers’ preseason game against the Phoenix Suns.

LeBron James, Bronny James become the first-ever father-son duo to play together in the NBA

Golden State Warriors superstar point guard Stephen Curry has long established himself as the greatest shooter in the history of the game. With his numerous three-point shooting records along with his three-point makes that still stretch to date, Curry is the undisputed GOAT shooter. 
However, Curry is more than just a shooter, as evidenced with the several accolades he has amassed over his colorful career. Curry has 4 NBA titles, 1 Finals MVP, 2 season MVPs, and countless all-NBA and all-star teams. This summer, Curry completed perhaps the last award he has yet to get in his illustrious career &ndash; an Olympic Gold Medal. Steph and Team USA made history when they went to Paris and captured the nation&rsquo;s 5th straight gold.
It did not come easy, though. Despite being favored in their games, the Americans were tested multiple times throughout the tournament. The toughest one came in the medal rounds when Team USA faced Serbia in the semifinals and hosted France in the gold medal game. For both of those games, it was Curry who came through the most, carrying the Americans behind his back. Against Serbia, Steph scored 36 points, making 9 threes in the game as Team USA eked out a tough 95-91 comeback win. In the gold medal game, Curry cemented his legacy and created a memorable moment that would be remembered for generations to come.
Steph hit 4 three-pointers to end the game in front of a stunned French crowd at the Bercy Arena in Paris, then proceeded to hit his signature &lsquo;night night&rsquo; celebration after hitting the last of the 4 threes over the outstretched arms of Nico Batum and Evan Fournier. This left the world in awe of Curry&rsquo;s brilliance and ability to come up big in clutch situations.&nbsp;
One of those people who marveled at Steph&rsquo;s greatness is former NBA player CJ Miles. In an interview with <a href="https://rg.org/news/basketball/nba-veteran-cj-miles-reacts-to-team-usa-olympics-gold">RG.org&rsquo;s Alex Kennedy</a>, Miles mentioned Curry&rsquo;s performance as wild and Stephortless. Miles even went further as to say Curry&rsquo;s place being one of the all-time greats and one of the greatest of all-time and not just being the greatest shooter of all time.
&ldquo;Steph just continues to solidify who is the greatest shooter of all time [and] what&rsquo;s crazy is as he continues to make that gap even bigger, he places himself in the realm of best players ever,&rdquo; Miles said. &ldquo;I think players see him that way, but the narrative is never that when we talk about him.&rdquo;
Miles also praised the longevity of LeBron James in his exclusive interview with Kennedy. He says James&rsquo; ability to stay in shape speaks to the power of his mind. James, who is approaching 40 years old this year later in December and going onto his 22nd season in the NBA, was named the FIBA Olympic MVP after providing the all-around brilliance game by game for Team USA. &ldquo;As far as LeBron goes, [his longevity] is incredible. I think it just really speaks to the power of his mind,&rdquo; Miles said. &ldquo;We as people have a fascination with youth and we get bored with greatness because there is nothing left to figure out. I know I am getting 25, 8, and 8 from him [every game], and that&rsquo;s not exciting from a fan standpoint; they want entertainment, which is full of unpredictability.&rdquo;
Finally, Miles shared his thoughts on Team USA&rsquo;s LA2028 Olympic team, which could be without the three greatest players of this generation &ndash; Steph Curry, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant.
&ldquo;As far as the future, Team USA is in great hands. Ant [Edwards], [Tyrese] Haliburton, [Jayson] Tatum. And the guys on this team playing small roles like [Devin] Booker and Bam [Adebayo] are capable of doing incredible things also,&rdquo; Miles explained.
&ldquo;And there are guys who will rise up in the next couple of years who are more than capable of being handed the keys.&rdquo;

Warriors superstar Stephen Curry has long established himself as the game's GOAT shooter. However, he is more than that.

Steph not just the GOAT shooter but one of the greatest players ever, says CJ Miles

There has been a level of dominance the Boston Celtics have had this season that not a lot of teams in the history of the league have reached or come close to. The team&rsquo;s mixture of star power, depth, and chemistry within the tight-knit group of guys has been the source of power for the historically dominant regular season team.&nbsp;
In their March 17 game vs Washington, Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford combined to destroy the Wizards, 130-104. Bench player Sam Hauser, who started the game, led the team in scoring with 30 points built on 10 three-point shots.&nbsp;
Then on their next game, in came Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Kristaps Porzingis, who then annihilated the Detroit Pistons 119-94 on the second night of a back-to-back. Another bench player, Payton Pritchard starred with 23 points and 7 assists as the Celtics earned yet another win.&nbsp;
This speaks to their depth as a team as well as the adaptability of each player to play with either of their core six guys with relative ease and without skipping a beat. The Celtics are a machine that keeps going with pieces and parts that are versatile enough to keep their brand of basketball going no matter who you sub in or slot onto the floor whenever someone is out.
With their dominant regular season coming down to a close, one question awaits the rest of the league as the playoffs arrive.&nbsp;
Who is stopping the Boston Celtics?&nbsp;
The guys in green have been far away the best team in the league by a wide margin, racing past ahead of all the other teams.
The Celtics just speedrun through everything, especially in the East, where they were far away the best team and are just cherry-picking to wait and see whoever will finish second behind them. The only disappointment thus far was not winning the In-Season Tournament title, which probably wasn&rsquo;t the championship they wanted to win anyway.
They have the league&rsquo;s best record at 64-18 and they never lost more than two straight throughout the year. They blew out three teams by 50 or more points and they have only lost four games at the Boston Garden, and have only just lost to an Eastern Conference team at home for over a year &ndash; since March of 2023. The only team to win two and claim the season series over Boston are the defending champions Denver Nuggets, which makes sense considering they&rsquo;re the team all teams in the NBA are chasing after.
The Celtics will be the only team that will finish in double-digits in plus/minus efficiency (+11.3) and they rank 1st in offensive rating (120.4) and 5th in defensive rating (110.5) in the entire league. This level of dominance in the regular season makes it one of the most impressive ones in recent NBA history.
The Boston Celtics might go all the way this year and take that coveted 18th championship title, but what makes them so good?
'The Jays' superstar duo: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown&nbsp;
The Celtics start and end with their star forward duo. They would not be near where they are right now without these two. The way they complement each other and play off of each other has been spectacular, and their chemistry has been built since 2016-2017 when Boston drafted both guys back to back with the no.3 pick. With the Celtics having two dynamic two-way guys in Tatum and Brown, they have the foundation to allow them to surround the team with guys that complement their skills, which president Brad Stevens and coach Joe Mazzulla have done an incredible job of doing so over the past couple years.
Roster construction
After trading away mainstays Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, and Grant Williams this season, Brad Stevens built the roster with some awesome replacements in Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday.
Porzingis just fits the Celtics&rsquo; scheme so much as he gives them a stretch big that can space the floor for their 5-out offense. On defense, his towering 7&rsquo;3 frame can alter and block shots. Porzingis is also the perfect Al Horford replacement who has been key to the lineups the Celtics run in the previous years. Although Horford is now 37 and is nearing the end of his career, he's still bringing that veteran leadership and the floor spacing to give the Celtics more options on offense.
Holiday&rsquo;s transition into the team has been seamless, filling in the place of Smart. A 2022 champion with the Milwaukee Bucks, Holiday brought the championship mindset along with his trademark defensive versatility and a plug-and-play offensive repertoire that has elevated the Celtics&rsquo; play all season long.&nbsp;
Around Tatum and Brown and their new acquisitions Porzingis and Holiday, the ever-consistent Derrick White and the ageless Al Horford come into place to complete their starting five and their fearsome six-man lineup. Solid bench pieces led by Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser provide quality backup minutes to ensure Boston does not lose a single step whenever their mainstays rest during the games. Depending on the matchup, big men Xavier Tillman and Luke Kornet will see some minutes and both have proven they can play the style of basketball the Celtics need to win. Overall, this team is arguably the best the Celtics have in years, and they have all the makings to have a deep playoff run.
However, Boston knows the job is not done yet and the real test is at hand. No matter how good they have been in the first six months of the year, it all comes down to how they will perform and execute in the season&rsquo;s final three months when it matters the most. And they certainly hope they can reach the pinnacle again and this time, come out on top in June.
To further strengthen that point, it isn&rsquo;t a guarantee to win all the time, especially in the playoffs. Although it is an indication of good habits built throughout the season, the playoffs are a different beast. According to NBA.com, only five teams in the last 20 years had the best record winning the title that season. The last best-record champions were the 2016-17 Warriors as teams deal with a variety of challenges throughout the postseason.&nbsp;
As the road to the 18th banner looms close, the Celtics have themselves as their biggest obstacle &ndash; only they can stop themselves from achieving their full potential.&nbsp;

As the road to the 18th banner looms close, the Celtics have themselves as their biggest obstacle.

Who’s stopping Boston? Dissecting the Celtics’ juggernaut after their dominant season

In today&rsquo;s NBA, the league is undeniably dominated by big men. 
The last five MVPs went to Giannis Antetokounmpo (two), Nikola Jokic (two) and Joel Embiid. Rookies Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren stand at a towering 7-foot-4 and 7-foot-1 respectively, and both are starting to make their mark in the NBA.
As the league embraces this new era filled with giants, it is awesome to see the two sub-6-foot guys match up against each other: New Orleans&rsquo; Jose Alvarado and Minnesota&rsquo;s Jordan McLaughlin.
Alvarado and McLaughlin, who are both listed as 5-foot-11 without shoes, have each carved out a role on their squad. The two provide different valuable skills off the bench, and they have been vital pieces to their team&rsquo;s success. 
Alvarado impacts the game on the defensive end by suffocating and pestering ball-handlers. He also comes up with his signature blindside steals, which earned him the nickname Grand Theft Alvarado (GTA). McLaughlin, on the other hand, is a crafty playmaker who sets up the Wolves' offense off the bench and serves as a reliable backup for Mike Conley.&nbsp;
In a league where there are 34 players who are 7-feet or taller this season alone, Alvarado and McLaughlin remain outliers and part of a dying breed.
There are only 12 players who are listed at 6-feet or below in the NBA this season, with the shortest being Markquis Nowell at 5-foot-7 and Jacob Gilyard at 5-foot-8. Together, they represent only 3% of the league population &ndash; which means small guards are largely going extinct in the NBA.
Unless you&rsquo;re an established point guard like Fred VanVleet, Kyle Lowry or Chris Paul, there has been little to no room for these shorter players on NBA rosters.&nbsp;
The current trend of positionless basketball and do-it-all forwards has certainly hurt these smaller guards. Whether it be less reliance on traditional point guards to set up an offense or getting hunted out for switches defensively, teams have been shifting away from said player prototypes. Even a former All-NBA teamer and super scorer like Isaiah Thomas was virtually driven out of the league mainly because of his unfortunate trait of getting exploited on defense due to his height.
Given this, it&rsquo;s impressive how Alvarado and McLaughlin are staying in the league. This could be attributed to their specific skill-sets. Both guys show that short players still have a place in the NBA as long as they provide value and play a certain role effectively and efficiently. In a league where height is often equated to success, it&rsquo;s refreshing to see two sub-6-foot players hold their own on the court.

As sub-6-foot players, New Orleans’ Jose Alvarado and Minnesota’s Jordan McLaughlin are the last of a dying breed.

Jose Alvarado, Jordan McLaughlin are the last of a dying breed

We&rsquo;re two weeks into the 2023-24 NBA season, which is far too early for overarching declarations, but not too early for a statistical deep dive into some numbers that jumped out at us. Put on your wetsuits.
52&nbsp;
Portland Trail Blazers sophomore Shaedon Sharpe has been assisted on 52% of his made baskets this season, down considerably from the 67% he was assisted on last season. That number dropping, combined with Sharpe&rsquo;s points per game rising (20.1 PPG, up from 9.9 last season), allows us to infer a few things.&nbsp;
First, it shows that Sharpe&rsquo;s role has increased significantly, which we expected. With Damian Lillard gone and Anfernee Simons sidelined for a few months with an injury, Sharpe was the obvious next man up regarding shot attempts. And the 20-year-old isn't afraid to put up shots, as he's attempting over 15 per game.&nbsp;
Secondly, it shows that Sharpe is getting his own buckets. His self-creation ability is one of the main reasons he was the No. 7 overall pick in last year's draft &ndash; despite not playing any college ball &ndash; and he&rsquo;s starting to turn that creation potential into a real skill on a nightly basis.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Shaedon Sharpe&rsquo;s 26-point second half: <a href="https://t.co/lyhXlJzCcg">pic.twitter.com/lyhXlJzCcg</a>
&mdash; Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/UsherNBA/status/1719899721110577389?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2023</a></blockquote>
36.9&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s how many minutes Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis is playing per game thus far, which would be a career-high. While that number will surely come down as the season progresses &ndash; we don&rsquo;t think Darvin Ham wants to run AD into the ground during the regular season &ndash; it&rsquo;s a good sign nonetheless that he can play that many minutes a night.
Davis is making the most of his minutes too. He is leading the league in blocks per game (3.3) and has shot the ball extremely well from three-point range (42.9%). Maybe more importantly, he&rsquo;s shooting just one three-pointer a game! That&rsquo;s a great number!&nbsp;
100.7&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s the league-leading defensive rating of the Minnesota Timberwolves. This would be the best DRTG in the NBA since the 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs, who finished the season with a simply outrageous 98.2 DRTG.&nbsp;
Is Minnesota the best defensive team in almost a decade? Probably not, but they do have the potential to be elite defensively, and they are showing that through two weeks. Rudy Gobert is blocking 2.4 shots per game &ndash; much closer to his career average (2.1) than last season, when he was down to 1.4 blocks per game.&nbsp;
Surrounding Gobert is Kyle Anderson (who is still being a pest, while averaging 1.9 steals + blocks per game), a healthy Jaden McDaniels (who solidifies any defense), a 36-year-old Mike Conley (who has lost a step but still provides intelligent play on both ends), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (who is blocking shots like a madman, with a 2.7 block percentage) and budding (budded?) superstar Anthony Edwards (who is as bought in defensively as he ever has been).&nbsp;
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Anthony Edwards is a two-way force - hard closeout + block on defense - tough PnR euro + finish through contact on offense <a href="https://t.co/G3zZJNVJKf">pic.twitter.com/G3zZJNVJKf</a>
&mdash; Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) <a href="https://twitter.com/WolvesClips/status/1720972196477120711?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
50&nbsp;
That is Tyrese Haliburton&rsquo;s AST% right now. Seriously. If a player on the Indiana Pacers makes a shot, there&rsquo;s a coin flip chance that Haliburton assisted it. Sustainable? Maybe not. But I am confident in calling Haliburton a top-three facilitator in the league, and he could absolutely get to No. 1 on that list if his game continues to ascend at the pace it has in his first few seasons.
Haliburton has flash in his game, of course:&nbsp;
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Haliburton with the no-look pass🙈<a href="https://t.co/daZesj2sml">pic.twitter.com/daZesj2sml</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1719136140861813166?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2023</a></blockquote>
But like all the great distributors, some of his best passes don&rsquo;t even end up as assists &ndash; like this cross-court dime against Charlotte last Saturday:&nbsp;
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This is a great cross court pass from Haliburton and swing to Buddy. Pay attention to Charlotte's defense Melo sprints over to Brown but no one else tries to make a run at Hield until after he's making the catch. <a href="https://t.co/A0msdX9Cih">pic.twitter.com/A0msdX9Cih</a>
&mdash; Mo Dakhil (@MoDakhil_NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MoDakhil_NBA/status/1721252256899846227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
10.3 and 13.8&nbsp;
The first number is how many assists Chris Paul records for every turnover he commits. Paul&rsquo;s facilitation is still elite, and the Golden State Warriors' second unit is benefitting mightily because of it. Point God lives on.&nbsp;
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Here come the Dubs 👀 <a href="https://t.co/oPW29CMIgg">pic.twitter.com/oPW29CMIgg</a>
&mdash; Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCSWarriors/status/1721331455669014769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2023</a></blockquote>
The second number, however, is Paul&rsquo;s three-point percentage this season. Paul is struggling to score regularly right now.&nbsp;
Dario Saric has been a nice surprise for Golden State off the bench, Jonathan Kuminga is scoring nearly 13 points per game and Gary Payton II is shooting the ball well too. Everyone plays better when Paul is distributing at an elite level like this.
81.0
That&rsquo;s Mark Williams&rsquo; field goal percentage through six games. The Charlotte Hornets' second-year big man is looking like the big rim presence the franchise has desperately needed in recent years. 
Williams was solid in a starting role down the stretch of last season &ndash; and he appears to have refined pretty much every aspect of his game in year two.&nbsp;
As a prospect, Williams was widely perceived as a defensive force with minimal offensive ability. But seemingly every game, Williams gets more comfortable on the offensive end, showcased by a career-high 27 points on November 4.

Quinn Everts dives into some interesting numbers that jumped out from the first two weeks of the 2023-24 NBA season.

Picking Cherries: 7 NBA statistics that stand out so far this season

Since Halloween is just two-and-a-half weeks away, BasketballNews compiled a list of the best costumes worn by NBA players.

Which NBA players have rocked the best Halloween costumes?

Last week, NBA legend Shawn Marion traveled to Abu Dhabi to support the 2023 NBA Abu Dhabi Games, which featured two preseason games between the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves as well as youth clinics and fan events.&nbsp;
Marion led a skill-development clinic for youth athletes from Dubai's NBA Basketball School &mdash; a year-round basketball program in the UAE for boys and girls ages 6-to-18. He also judged a dunk contest, met with fans and took part in other NBA events alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ray Allen, Tim Hardaway Sr., Gary Payton, Sam Perkins, Kenny Smith, Ronny Turiaf and Salah Mejri.
Marion is an NBA champion, four-time NBA All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection and one of just five players in NBA history to record 17,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 1,500 steals and 1,000 blocks (the other four are LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Karl Malone and Hakeem Olajuwon). The Phoenix Suns recently announced that they'll retire Marion's jersey this season.
While in Abu Dhabi, Marion joined me on <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1710458099448811578" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my new show "Running Up The Score"</a> to discuss his legendary career, the Suns' decision to retire his jersey, Mat Ishbia's impact since buying the franchise, the globalization of the NBA, how the game has evolved, whether he'll get back into podcasting and more.&nbsp;
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MwvBnhrrzgs?si=eVIfF5h6J8LrK9aA&amp;start=1676" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
You&rsquo;re currently in Abu Dhabi for the Mavericks-Timberwolves preseason games and to host a basketball clinic with kids from the NBA Basketball School in Dubai. How is your trip going?&nbsp;
Shawn Marion:&nbsp;"Man, the trip is going amazing. This is a new culture for me; I've never experienced this, never been here. We're in a different part of the world right now and, I mean, I can tell you this: this is a place I'll definitely be coming back to. This is truly awesome. And, you know what, they're very passionate about [basketball]. I just had this meeting; I just came from an office visit and they had like 250 employees, but everybody spoke different languages! There were 16 languages being spoken! That tells you how diverse it is here, and they really pride themselves on that here. It's pretty amazing."
The globalization of the NBA has been a big priority for the league for some time. From when you were playing to now, do you see a big difference in terms of the NBA&rsquo;s worldwide popularity and international support?
Marion: "Yes. I think as you look at the lay of the land right now, the NBA and basketball is a global sport. But the way that the NBA has been able to grow it, they're taking it to other levels. They're starting NBA Academies and having clinics all around the world, and that just helps it grow even faster. Of course, TV and social-media content help as well, but the level it's growing at right now is unheard of."
The Phoenix Suns recently announced that they are retiring your jersey. Congratulations!
Marion: "Thank you!"
How did you find out that news and what was your reaction?
Marion: "I'm gonna be very honest and candid. Mat [Ishbia] called me as soon as he took ownership of the team and he was like, 'I'm not doing some of the shit that's been done [before]. I'm going to take care of you and reward you by retiring your jersey. I'm a man of my word, and that's what I'm going to do.' That's exactly what he said, and he did! Yep, it was that simple."
Ishbia is quickly winning over fans &mdash; he&rsquo;s spending money, making it easier to watch games, honoring past legends like yourself and so on. What do you think of Ishbia and the fresh start in Phoenix from an ownership perspective?
Marion: "I love it, man. I got a chance to see the practice facility; it's literally not too far from the place that I still have in Phoenix and I ain't been able to see [it before]. I ain't feel like... I feel like a weight was lifted off my shoulders to a certain degree. He's making the transition so easy. And he wants all the players who paved the way and set the foundation for the Suns organization and helped build that team into what the city loves and admires [to be involved]. He just wants everybody to be a part of it, man, and I love it. I think it's awesome. He's doing some amazing things out there."
The Suns have so much talent with Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic. What do you think of this year's team and do you think they can win it all?
Marion: "Man, I think they got a chance just like anybody else, but, of course, their [championship hopes] are probably a little bit more realistic than some other teams. I just hope they stay healthy. When you stay healthy, you give yourself a chance. That's the thing. A lot of teams deal with injuries, and they've been hit with the injury bug a little bit as well. But they've got Frank Vogel as the head coach out there now and he's a defensive-minded guy. They just made another trade and got some other pieces to add to it &mdash; Grayson Allen and Jusuf Nurkic. I think that happened while I was out here; I was at a meeting when I got the alert and I was like, 'Wow! They ain't playing no games right now!' Listen, at the end of the day, he's trying to give himself and the organization the best chance to win. That's what you gotta do."
You obviously helped change the game and were ahead of your time. Overall, what are your thoughts on the modern NBA?
Marion: "Listen, it's run-and-gun, it's feast-or-famine right now. We set the foundation for what [the game] is now. There's so much positionless basketball being played, and it's dynamic. You're seeing the transition and evolution of what we started back in my Phoenix days during the Seven-Seconds-Or-Less era. That's what we started, and that's what it is right now. And I don't see the game going back to two traditional big men ever again."
Throughout the 2000s, not having a specific position was a death sentence for a player; nobody wanted to be labeled a "tweener." Then, seemingly overnight, the NBA became obsessed with "positionless" players and the tweeners were suddenly the most valuable players. That's one of my favorite examples of how the NBA is always evolving.
Marion: "Here's the thing: people can say [they're positionless], but it don't mean they are. You know, to be a two-way player in this league is very rare, but to be a positionless player is even more rare. You could be a guy who can go out there and guard 1 through 5, but to actually do it &mdash; willingly do it &mdash; is a big difference! A lot of guys probably could do it, but they don't do it, you know? Right now, teams are playing positionless basketball because everybody's switching everything. Most guys don't really post up anymore either. It's all face-up game and jumpers. So, it's easy to just jump into that narrative and bandwagon, but if you look at the game as a whole though, it's more of a guard-heavy game now than it was prior to when we made that transition. It's just been a shift. A lot of bigs now don't post up anymore; they're face-up players [too]. That's the evolution of the game."
A few years so, you and I did some of the NBA Watch Parties together on Clubhouse. I also love that <a href="https://twitter.com/MainTeamSports2/status/1506615984173592589" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video where you jumped on Twitter Spaces</a> and educated fans about your career; it was incredibly entertaining. You're obviously passionate about this game. Have you ever thought of doing a podcast?
Marion: "Well, Alex, it's funny you say that. I actually had a podcast with one of my guys in Dallas, so I was one of the first guys to ever do it. I just didn't do any promoting or all of that stuff, but it was something that we did in the Mavs organization kind of early on &mdash; like way before everybody started getting into podcasts. And it was great! But the thing about podcasts is unless you got a set thing, you gotta create content all the time, and I was so busy focusing on trying to be a father first. That was my lane. And then I dibbled and dabbled in TV a little bit and thought about doing some broadcasting work, but, like I said, my priorities shifted because I'm a hands-on father. So, I couldn't keep doing it in Dallas because that was the situation, but I have thought about reopening that window.
"I do have a different side of the game that I like to talk about. I know narratives get created easily by the media, and we consume them and we digest them. It becomes part of our thought process of that player, of that team or whatever it is. But I was talking about this with one of my friends. I was telling him: it's easy for a [former] player to say, 'I can do this or that.' But what kind of player were you though? Because it's hard for a point guard to tell how to guard a big, or for a big to tell how to guard a point guard. But when I say it, I actually guarded all of them! I did it all! And I didn't just do it for a quarter or half a quarter. I did it for full games! So, when I sit there and I tell people that, people are like, 'Man, you know, I never thought about it from that standpoint.' I was like, 'Yo, I actually did this.' You know what I'm saying? Like, it's easy for somebody to say, 'I can guard somebody,' or, 'Oh, I'm a two way player; I can guard this player.' I'm like, 'Can you do it for a full game though?' I'm the only person ever to do it for full games."
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kg3.jpg" alt="" width="707" height="342" />
I love to ask players about big &ldquo;what-ifs&rdquo; from NBA history. There was a report a while back that you were nearly traded to the Boston Celtics as part of a three-team deal that would have sent Kevin Garnett to Phoenix and picks to Minnesota. Is that true and, if so, can you tell that story?
Marion: "It is true. But Phoenix wasn't gonna do the deal. They didn't think it was viable because they would have to change their style of play instantly because we're two different type of players. So, they didn't want it. KG was in Minnesota at the time, and I would've went to Boston and he would've came here (to Phoenix). At the time, Boston was losing; I think they had a losing record at that time. I was like, 'Uhh...' But I mean, we have no control over that. Some of the rumors that come out about trades are actually true, but both sides have to agree to it. People throw out deals all the time, [teams talk] all the time, so there's plenty of hypotheticals out there.
"But you wanna hear an untold true story? I never really fully ever became a free agent except my last year playing when I signed with with Cleveland. When I signed with Dallas, it was a sign-and-trade, so I was still under contract basically with Toronto. It was a sign-and-trade deal, so I never really tested the free-agency market like that. So, what happened was I was about to be a free agent or get traded, and this was around that same time as those KG rumors. Kobe [Bryant] called me and said, 'If you're really gonna go out on the market and it's a possibility [that you're changing teams], I want you to come out to L.A.' So, we was texting and he was like, 'Yo!' It ain't happen because they didn't have the money to pay me, but that's a story that a lot of people don't know about."
I love those kind of stories and it's always interesting to think how those potential moves could have changed NBA history.
Marion: "Oh, there were a lot of situations out there like that where [trade talks] were open! It was pretty fun. When you look at the business of the NBA, man, the optimism and [hope] of what could possibily be is what makes it so fun and dynamic &mdash; een with the trade that just went down with Damian Lillard. It's funny, Paul Pierce actually predicted that. He called that in July. He said, 'If I'm Dame, I would try to get to Milwaukee.' It's funny that he said that and I could see it [from Lillard's perspective]. But do I think they're better? Ehh, they lost a lot for that trade, you know? [Jrue Holiday]. Grayson Allen was a great player for Milwaukee. He is a great pickup for Phoenix. He's a hell of a player, a great player, dude. Like, he does a lot of small stuff. He's a very tough guy. I like him. It's something about him that I like. I like the little Duke dudes with that little rough-and-rugged side! But he's one of those guys who can hit shots, he's gonna play defense and he competes. He's actually a lot better than people give him credit for. He ain't got a chance to really showcase his skills, but he can play. And if they use him the right way, he can help them."
For sure. Thanks for your time, I really appreciate it!&nbsp;
Marion: "Anytime, man. You know, we have great conversations and stuff. I might contemplate doing a podcast again. I gotta have the mobile equipment. We'll see; I don't know. I gotta have a great co-host. I like people who shoot [straight]. I told this to a reporter, so I'll give this to you. I told this guy who was recording me yesterday: when you are doing your interviews, do not ask the same questions and stuff that somebody else asks. Do not&nbsp;ask the same stuff."
I'm sure that gets really annoying.
Marion: "It's so annoying. It's okay to piggyback off of answers just to get some kind of content to create something in your own way. But don't ask the exact same questions. You sound you are a true fan. I know you are a true fan of the game. Like, you really love this. And so [you] ask the questions that you wanna know from someone in my position! Forget about the stuff that's already been out there already! Create your own. We all got a story to tell."
For sure.
Marion: "And the thing is, I love my former guys talking about ball and stuff, but some of them talk like they was way bigger and better than they were. Some of these guys were below-average role players, but they talk like they were superstars! I'm like, 'What did you... How good was you? What did you do?!' (laughs) I'm like, 'He was a role player!' He was a solid role player! And look, I became a role player. But you know...
Yeah, but that was because of your longevity. You had four All-Star years before that.
Marion: "Yeah, that's about longevity and understanding that you gotta sacrifice to win. That's the biggest thing, you know? And I could have easily averaged such and such, but I was like, 'You know what? They don't need me to do that. I don't have to do that. If we can win and I'm averaging 16, 17 points, I'm cool with that. We gonna win, so I'm good with that. Let's win.' That was about getting them Ws.
"But that's something to think about though. You asked some great questions. That's the lane to go into. Those are the things to ask &mdash; the hypotheticals or something you [researched]. Like, 'You know what, he was pretty good at this, how did you pick up on that?' or, 'What's something that you did differently than everybody else?' Those are different questions, not the same questions [we always hear]. We get repetitively asked the same questions time and time again. It's boring. It sucks. I'ma be honest: it sucks. I hate it. It&nbsp;sucks!"
I can't imagine how old that gets.
Marion: "One thing that everybody was constantly asking me about was my shot. Everybody seemed to want ask me about my shot. But listen, you know what's really messed up about that though? One media person said it, so it went rampant and every media person wanted me to replicate the answer, right? Whether I like it or not, or whether I enjoy it or not. I did so much on the floor, but you wanna focus on something that nobody talks about? Nobody in the league talks about that. Don't nobody in the league shoot the same! ... I [used to get] pissed off, but now I respond and it's fine. 'It don't matter, don't nobody shoot the same. Next!' But why would you wanna talk about my shot, but then you won't talk about how I just had 25-and-15!"
Or that you shot 39% from three-point range one year!
Marion: "You wanna discredit me and what I did just to talk about my shot? Got it. I totally understand. There's certain lanes and narratives that will be pushed. I totally get it. I'm an owner now, so I see exactly what lane [they're in]; it's all marketing strategies. I know how it works and I know who controls it. Being on this side of the business, I know how things work now. But it's all good though. And it's all love. Thank you."
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/MwvBnhrrzgs?si=2BRrY0Vaq8WWyAPe&amp;t=1676" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch the full conversation here</a>.
Other news from around the web: <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/dress-to-impress-why-barbie-and-ken-are-the-hottest-couples-costume-this-halloween/ar-AA1iaTEh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barbie and Ken are the hottest couples costume this Halloween</a>

Shawn Marion opens up about the Suns retiring his jersey, nearly getting traded to the Celtics, Mat Ishbia, the modern NBA and more.

Shawn Marion on Suns retiring his jersey, near-trade to Celtics, more

Brendan Malone, whose coaching career spanned six decades, is the recipient of the 2023 Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact award, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced today.
&ldquo;Brendan Malone has been a name synonymous with NBA success for many decades,&rdquo; said Rick Carlisle, Indiana Pacers head coach and NBCA president. &ldquo;He's helped develop players and young coaches, and been a multiple NBA champion on Chuck Daly's Detroit coaching staff in 1989 and 1990. Congrats to Coach Malone on this prestigious recognition.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;I want to thank the National Basketball Coaches Association for this award,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;Tex Winter was a man I got to know and respect. I also want to thank all of the head coaches that I enjoyed working with during my 29-year career in the NBA, in particular Hubie Brown who brought me into the league; Chuck Daly and our two championships; the Van Gundys, Stan and Jeff, and Don Chaney. Lastly, I want to thank my wife Maureen and our six children for sharing my journey.&rdquo;
Wetting his whistle with a few years of coaching CYO basketball, Malone began his coaching career in 1967 at the legendary Power Memorial Academy in New York City where he won three city championships and three Coach of the Year awards.
He then moved to the college ranks in 1976 as an assistant coach at Fordham, then Yale, and then Syracuse. At Syracuse, the Orange went to the NCAA Tournament four times. Malone was a Syracuse assistant for the first five years of the Big East. He left Syracuse to become head coach at the University of Rhode Island (URI) in 1984.
While at URI in 1986, Hubie Brown recruited Malone to join him as an assistant for the New York Knicks, the beginning of his 29-year NBA career. Malone had three different tours with the Knicks, the most notable of which was the four years with head coach Jeff Van Gundy. From 1996 to 2000, the Knicks went 177-119 with two Eastern Conference Finals appearances, as well as a trip to the 1999 NBA Finals.
Malone was an assistant coach for Stan Van Gundy for five years (2007 to 2012) in Orlando. The Magic won 50-plus games four straight years, went to the Eastern Conference Finals twice, and to the 2009 NBA Finals.
Malone was also an assistant coach for Bob Hill and Rick Pitino in New York, Don Chaney in both Detroit and New York, Isiah Thomas in Indiana, Paul Silas in Cleveland and Stan Van Gundy in Detroit. He was also a scout for the Detroit Pistons.&nbsp;
But it was in Detroit with Chuck Daly that Malone made his name, orchestrating the Jordan Rules defense that helped propel the Pistons to back-to-back NBA championships in 1989 and 1990.
Malone was the first head coach of the Toronto Raptors in 1995-96 and also served as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers for 18 games in 2004-05.
In 27 seasons of NBA coaching, teams that Malone coached went to the playoffs 20 times, to the Conference Finals seven times, and to the NBA Finals four times, winning the title twice. His teams compiled a 1165-1001 record (.538).
Brendan and his son, Michael, who is the head coach of the 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets, are the only father-son coaching duo to have both won an NBA championship.
&ldquo;I want to thank the NBCA Selection Committee for acknowledging my father&rsquo;s impact and career in the NBA,&rdquo; Michael Malone said. &ldquo;His work ethic, his love of the game, and his passion for teaching were the foundation of my coaching career. This is a well-deserved honor and I feel very fortunate to be a part of this celebration.&rdquo;
Brendan Malone was enshrined in the New York Catholic High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1993. In 1997, he was inducted into the Basketball Old-Timers of America Hall of Fame (which recognizes and honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to New York City basketball). He is a 2017 enshrinee in the Power Memorial Academy Hall of Fame.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Assistant coaches generally operate behind the scenes and almost never receive enough public recognition for their team&rsquo;s success. However, any head coach will tell you that they are an indispensable part of the team equation,&rdquo; said David Fogel, NBCA Executive Director and General Counsel. &ldquo;Coach Malone&rsquo;s contributions to the accomplishments of his teams are well known inside the NBA and his contributions to the game continue through his son Michael&rsquo;s tremendous success. Congratulations to Brendan on this well-deserved honor.&rdquo;
The NBCA Tex Winter Lifetime Impact Award honors the tremendous achievements and commitment of Hall-of-Famer Tex Winter, who set a standard of innovation, integrity, competitive excellence, loyalty, and tireless promotion of NBA basketball throughout the course of his outstanding NBA coaching career.
The award is selected annually by the NBCA Selection Committee, comprised of some of the most respected coaches and executives in the game, including Rick Adelman, Hubie Brown, Doug Collins, Wayne Embry, Danny Ferry, Mike Fratello, George Karl, Doc Rivers, Rod Thorn and Lenny Wilkens.
This year&rsquo;s nominees included assistant coaches Bob Beyer, Dan Burke, Jeff Bzdelik, Gordon Chiesa, Carroll Dawson, Hank Egan, Jim Eyen, Brian Hill, Jim Lynam, Bob McAdoo, Brendan Suhr and Bob Weiss.
Prior recipients of this award are Ron Adams (2022), Dick Helm (2021), Bill Bertka (2019), Tim Grgurich (2018), Ron Rothstein (2017) and Phil Johnson (2016).

Brendan Malone is the recipient of the 2023 Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact award, the NBCA announced today.

Brendan Malone given Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact award

PHOENIX (AP) &mdash; Bradley Beal was drafted on his 19th birthday and spent his entire 20s with the Washington Wizards, where he scored a lot of points, enjoyed a little team success, but also suffered through plenty of painful losses.
On Wednesday, he turned 30. Not a bad time for a new chapter in the three-time All-Star&rsquo;s life and basketball career.
Beal was introduced as a member of the Phoenix Suns on Thursday at the Footprint Center, more than a week&nbsp;<a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/article/wizards-suns-trade-bradley-beal-55adab5fa31d5dfbc35b83223743d9c6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">after he waived a no-trade clause that allowed him to be sent to the desert</a>&nbsp;in exchange for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and a package of future draft picks.
&ldquo;I feel refreshed, I feel rejuvenated,&rdquo; Beal said. &ldquo;This is an exciting moment for me. This is an awesome team.&rdquo;
Beal is now part of one of the NBA&rsquo;s most star-packed starting lineups, including 13-time All-Star Kevin Durant, three-time All-Star Devin Booker and former No. 1 draft pick Deandre Ayton. They&rsquo;ve also got a new coach in Frank Vogel, who led the Los Angeles Lakers to a title in 2020.
&ldquo;Bradley Beal is one of the best players in the NBA,&rdquo; Vogel said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re thrilled to have him be a Phoenix Sun with KD and Book. That forms a trio of three of the most prolific scorers in the game. A great two-way center, one of the best two-way centers in the game.
&ldquo;These pieces are a great foundation for what we hope will be a championship run for this franchise.&rdquo;
Beal&rsquo;s arrival marks the latest big move for new owner Mat Ishbia, who has had an extremely eventful tenure since purchasing the franchise from the embattled Robert Sarver in February. Almost immediately after he was introduced,&nbsp;<a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-phoenix-suns-nba-sports-basketball-3932b34f477549895cce131490bec86d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he approved the team&rsquo;s big deal to land Durant</a>&nbsp;at the trade deadline.
A few months later, he&nbsp;<a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/article/nuggets-suns-jokic-ishbia-technical-a2c83b6bc613666925579917ddbaecf9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">got into a brief sideline spat with Nuggets star Nikola Jokic</a>&nbsp;during a playoff game. (The&nbsp;<a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/article/nikola-jokic-suns-owner-ishbia-nuggets-68825fb1632f87930fe30ec72ae5c94f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two have since made up</a>.)
Now Ishbia and general manager James Jones have swung a deal that brings Beal and his big scoring numbers across the country. The three-time All-Star has averaged at least 20 points per game in each of the past seven seasons, including a career-high 31.3 points per game during the 2020-21 season.
Beal never got past the second round of the playoffs with the Wizards, but still has plenty of fond memories of his tenure in the nation&rsquo;s capital.
&ldquo;I have a lot of emotional ties to that city, my family was established there,&rdquo; Beal said. &ldquo;So I just want to take a moment to thank the city of D.C., thank the organization for allowing this partnership to happen.&rdquo;
But Beal also admits he&rsquo;s excited about his new challenge. The sharpshooting guard was often the Wizards&rsquo; main scoring option, but in Phoenix, he&rsquo;ll be sharing the load with several other stars.
The Suns are trying to win their first championship since coming to the NBA in 1968. They&rsquo;ve lost in the Finals three times &mdash; in 1976, 1993 and 2021.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited to play with two Hall of Famers, I&rsquo;ve never done that,&rdquo; Beal said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited what that brings. They&rsquo;ll push me in ways I&rsquo;ve never been pushed and hopefully I&rsquo;ll do the same.&rdquo;
Beal&rsquo;s arrival also means the Suns will have to engage in some salary cap gymnastics to fill out their roster. The foursome of Durant, Beal, Booker and Ayton will make more than $160 million next season.
A summer of bargain hunting on the free agent market awaits, but that&rsquo;s a problem to worry about another day.
For now, Beal and the Suns are relishing a roster that looks like it will be among the very best in the league during the upcoming season.
&ldquo;Hopefully, we can chase this ring,&rdquo; Beal said.

On Wednesday, Bradley Beal turned 30 years old and he's ready to start the next chapter of his NBA career with the Suns.

Bradley Beal says he’s ready to ‘chase this ring’ with Phoenix Suns

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; The Denver Nuggets act like they&rsquo;ve been here before.
There is an&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-2023-heat-nuggets-b0f83f7baccd425dbf8aba440e3e210c">unmistakable poise</a>&nbsp;to the Nuggets, who are&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-miami-heat-denver-nuggets-abb4788990b6fb026d65d83c8bc4bb8b">only one win away</a>&nbsp;from their first NBA championship and could hoist the Larry O&rsquo;Brien Trophy as early as Monday night when the finals return to Denver for Game 5. Their stars have been starry in their first finals appearance. Their role players have delivered. There hasn&rsquo;t been a colossal blunder. And even on the cusp of a title, they refuse to change their approach.
&ldquo;We need to win one more,&rdquo; two-time MVP Nikola Jokic said.
That&rsquo;s the Nuggets. Simple. Effective. Blunt.
With Jokic and Jamal Murray leading the way, and with basically a different person stepping up to be the third hero every night so far for the Nuggets, they have the Miami Heat in serious trouble now.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-2023-heat-nuggets-b0f83f7baccd425dbf8aba440e3e210c">They lead the finals 3-1</a>&nbsp;and with potentially two of the next three games &mdash; if needed &mdash; in Denver.
&ldquo;We get an opportunity to play a super competitive game in a great environment,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s going to be an awesome environment. Our guys are built for that. They love that. &hellip; Yeah, we understand what the narrative will be, but that&rsquo;s the way it is with our team.&rdquo;
History says this series is pretty much over; only one team in NBA history has dug its way out of such a hole in the finals, that being the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers against the Golden State Warriors. Heat forward Kevin Love played for that Cleveland team.
&ldquo;Forget the game,&rdquo; Love said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just one possession, one quarter, half by half. Just get it done by any means necessary and we&rsquo;ll figure the rest out.&rdquo;
It will be a daunting task.
The Nuggets have held Miami under 100 points three times through the first four games; those were the three Denver wins in the series. They&rsquo;re 9-1 at home, the only loss coming in Game 2 of this series when Miami pulled off a big rally and survived when a potentially game-tying 3-pointer by Jamal Murray missed at the buzzer.
&ldquo;This is what I always tell my guys: Winning a championship will be the hardest thing you ever do,&rdquo; said Heat forward Udonis Haslem, a three-time champion whose 20-year career ends when this series ends. &ldquo;People only talk about the parade and holding up the trophy. They don&rsquo;t talk about the journey, the sleepless nights, the frustration, the tears, the pain. They don&rsquo;t talk about that (stuff). This is all part of that.&rdquo;
Denver isn&rsquo;t talking about a parade; some city officials in Dallas were during the 2006 finals when the Mavericks led Miami 2-0, and the Heat won the next four games. The Nuggets aren&rsquo;t making any such blunders. No blunders at all, really. Every detail is covered, even remembering to run the 24-second shot clock down to the very end on multiple possessions in the final minutes of Game 4, just to shorten the game and limit whatever chance Miami had at making a comeback.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done our job. But we&rsquo;re not celebrating like we&rsquo;ve done anything yet,&rdquo; Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;We know we&rsquo;re going to have to go home and turn off the TV, the radio, don&rsquo;t read the papers, don&rsquo;t listen to everybody telling you how great you are. &hellip; We stay true to our identity.&rdquo;
Here&rsquo;s what that means: The Nuggets have two exceptional players, a two-time MVP in Jokic playing the role of Batman and a still-rising star in Murray happily playing the role of Robin in Denver&rsquo;s superhero duo.
Jokic &mdash; who will never willingly enter a conversation about his incredible stats &mdash; is on the cusp of becoming the first player to ever lead the NBA in points, rebounds and assists during a postseason. Murray is the first player to have at least 10 assists in each of his four finals games. They have been the 1-2 punch that has put Miami on the ropes throughout this series.
And then there&rsquo;s always a third or fourth hero to finish the job. In Game 1, it was Michael Porter Jr. with 14 points and 13 rebounds. In Game 3, it was rookie Christian Braun with 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting. In Game 4, it was Aaron Gordon with a team-high 27 points and Bruce Brown with 21 off the bench.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just how this team is built,&rdquo; Gordon said. &ldquo;We have guys that can step up night in and night out. Sometimes it&rsquo;s not going to be your night, and sometimes it is going to be your night. This team does a good job finding the people that are kind of in a rhythm and kind of going.&rdquo;
Jokic gets most of the credit and doesn&rsquo;t want it. Murray doesn&rsquo;t get enough credit and doesn&rsquo;t care about that, either. The other guys, they just take their cues from Jokic and Murray and find a way.
If they do it one more time, they&rsquo;ll be getting rings in a few months.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just ready to win a championship,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;We have the tools to do it. It&rsquo;s been on our minds for a while. We&rsquo;re just locked in. I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;ve got to overthink it. We&rsquo;re just dialed in, ready to win.&rdquo;

Despite the fact that is their first NBA Finals appearance, the Denver Nuggets act like they’ve been here before.

Nuggets showing plenty of poise in NBA Finals against Heat

Aaron Rodgers was sitting alone in the dark two months ago, pondering his future while many speculated about his next move.
Now, the New York Jets quarterback is the toast of his new town, bonding with the Big Apple and his excited teammates.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a legend right there, that&rsquo;s a Hall of Fame player,&rdquo; wide receiver Garrett Wilson said Wednesday during a video call. &ldquo;This is something 20 years from now, 30 years from now, I can tell my kids, &lsquo;You know, I played with Aaron Rodgers.&rsquo; I try not to think about it too much at this point, you know, just because we&rsquo;re going to work and he&rsquo;s my teammate and that&rsquo;s got to be the mindset.
&ldquo;But the reality of it is it&rsquo;s awesome, man.&rdquo;
After an offseason that included Rodgers going on an isolation retreat in Oregon and deciding to continue his playing career &mdash; and with the Jets &mdash; the four-time NFL MVP was&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/aaron-rodgers-new-york-jets-nfl-0a298bb72384d01d8ed5b0bcae9e340e">formally introduced by New York last Wednesday</a>&nbsp;after acquiring him from Green Bay. The deal&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/aaron-rodgers-trade-jets-packers-0a6b5e68c1c3d5c2ab1b9e59312dd181">brought one of the league&rsquo;s greatest players</a>&nbsp;to a franchise frustrated by 12 straight seasons without a playoff appearance and hungry for a winner.
And Rodgers is already making an impact.
&ldquo;We know that all of the sudden, all eyes are on us,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to back it up every time we take the field, you know, practice or game.&rdquo;
Rodgers is also enjoying his turn as New York&rsquo;s newest celebrity while taking in Knicks and Rangers games at Madison Square Garden.
&ldquo;I met Spike Lee, Martha Stewart and Patrick Ewing,&rdquo; Rodgers&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1653473013109755905?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said Tuesday on &ldquo;The Pat McAfee Show&rdquo;</a>&nbsp;on YouTube and SiriusXM. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sitting next to Jack Harlow. So much fun. Just having a ball.&rdquo;
He was there&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/jets-allen-lazard-aaron-rodgers-nfl-free-agency-b2e191509441f98a7dc54ef62d77b758">with former Packers teammate Allen Lazard</a>&nbsp;and running back Breece Hall for the Rangers&rsquo; 5-2 win over the Devils in Game 6 last Saturday. Rodgers and Lazard were back the next day for the Knicks&rsquo; playoff loss to Miami in Game 1. On Tuesday night, Rodgers and cornerback Sauce Gardner sat courtside next to actor Jerry Ferrara and former Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist for the Knicks&rsquo; victory in Game 2.
&ldquo;It was great being around a veteran guy like him, a down to earth guy who &mdash; I didn&rsquo;t know he was that funny,&rdquo; Gardner said.
&ldquo;Everybody knew who he was and I was able to just be in his shadow a little bit.&rdquo;
Rodgers, who&rsquo;s 39, teased the 22-year-old Gardner about his age at times during their night out on the town &mdash; which started with the QB picking up the tab for dinner at Carbone restaurant.
&ldquo;We were getting seated (at the Garden) and he was like, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re about to sit by Jessica Alba,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Gardner, last season&rsquo;s AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. &ldquo;I was like, &lsquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t know who that is.&rsquo; He looked at me like I&rsquo;m crazy.&rdquo;
Rodgers probably would&rsquo;ve had a similar look a few months ago if someone had told him he&rsquo;d be calling the New York/New Jersey area home &mdash; as a member of the Jets.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just pinching myself a lot of days,&rdquo; Rodgers said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe it&rsquo;s real sometimes. It&rsquo;s been a dream, for sure, just to be here.&rdquo;
Rodgers is participating in offseason workouts, something he hadn&rsquo;t done the past couple of seasons in Green Bay while he feuded with the Packers&rsquo; front office. A&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/nyjets/status/1653096952236503041?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">slow-motion video posted Monday by the Jets</a>&nbsp;of Rodgers throwing a pass to Wilson, last season&rsquo;s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, has gotten more than 9.6 million views.
&ldquo;I ain&rsquo;t gonna lie to you, I was kind of starstruck at first,&rdquo; linebacker Quincy Williams said with a smile. &ldquo;I was like, &lsquo;Hold on, coach, let me just take a little minute to just take this in,&rsquo; just to watch a few throws and seeing him in the green.
&ldquo;And it was like, all right, let&rsquo;s get to work so we can give him more opportunities to throw the ball.&rdquo;
The Jets are counting on Rodgers doing that and jumpstarting an offense that ranked near the bottom of the league in several categories the past two years with Zach Wilson struggling in then-coordinator Mike LaFleur&rsquo;s system. Rodgers is reunited with Nathaniel Hackett, his offensive coordinator for three years in Green Bay, including the last two of his four MVP awards in 2020 and 2021.
Hackett isn&rsquo;t the only former Packers teammate joining Rodgers in New York. The Jets signed Lazard, backup quarterback Tim Boyle and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/jets-billy-turner-aaron-rodgers-hackett-a6c3c931ddc16822cd7db87f8226ac3b">offensive lineman Billy Turner</a>&nbsp;in free agency. They also already had wide receiver Malik Turner and offensive lineman Adam Pankey.
The Jets also&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/jets-randall-cobb-aaron-rodgers-a4d1e5166dd1bd02cf034294ca3c290a">signed wide receiver Randall Cobb</a>&nbsp;on Wednesday night. Cobb had two stints as Rodgers&rsquo; teammate in Green Bay and walked off the field with the quarterback after the Packers&rsquo; season-ending loss to Detroit at Lambeau.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like the first day of school every single day,&rdquo; Rodgers said on &ldquo;The Pat McAfee Show.&rdquo; &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s new and exciting and fun.&rdquo;

The New York Jets quarterback is the toast of his new town, bonding with the Big Apple and his excited teammates.

Aaron Rodgers bonds with new Jets teammates at Knicks playoff games

If there is any singular number that has defined basketball in 2023, it might be 9.9 million &mdash; the viewership of Sunday's NCAA Tournament championship game between LSU and Iowa.
The figure isn't just the largest ever for a women's college game; it also flew past other audiences for some of American sports' marquee events.
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The NCAA Women's National Championship's 9.9 million viewers are more than: ▪️ Any Women's CBB game ever ▪️ Any MLS game ever ▪️ Any Stanley Cup game since 1973 ▪️ The 2023 Orange Bowl ▪️ The 2023 Sugar Bowl ▪️ 2023 Thursday Night Football ▪️ The 2021 NBA Finals ▪️ The 2020&hellip; <a href="https://t.co/X6MGXYkflQ">pic.twitter.com/X6MGXYkflQ</a>
&mdash; Front Office Sports (@FOS) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOS/status/1643051889846525953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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To say the game has "arrived" is disrespectful to the illustrious history of women in basketball. But Sunday was a stage unlike any other, and those who watched on TV or <a href="https://www.nola.com/sports/lsu/womens_basketball/ticket-prices-for-lsu-iowa-national-championship-jump/article_8f541656-d0d6-11ed-83a2-7fb0a63f33b8.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paid hundreds to attend</a> were awestruck by the outpouring of deserved fan support.
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I&rsquo;m completely blown away. The direction our game is going and the excitement surrounding it- I personally have never been more proud to be a part of it. ❤️ <a href="https://t.co/WjNZii3Vg1">pic.twitter.com/WjNZii3Vg1</a>
&mdash; Rachel Galligan (@RachGall) <a href="https://twitter.com/RachGall/status/1642976923193331713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2023</a></blockquote>

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A poorly-officiated contest (Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic had <a href="https://theathletic.com/4377949/2023/04/03/womens-basketball-officials-clark-reese/?source=emp_shared_article" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some important thoughts on this</a>) and the trash-talking discourse that followed are problematic, but they won't taper our excitement for the trajectory of women's basketball. An influx of new, casual, uninformed fans are swarming into the sport, and we're ready for them because we've learned two important lessons in the last week.
One: This generation's stars are glimmering in the spotlight.
Two: The sport's core of diligent media members and passionate fans won't take any B.S.
Angel Reese surpassed a million Instagram followers after winning the national title, a result of her superstar season and her "Bayou Barbie" persona. But her name also dominated headlines because of her John Cena and ring-me gestures towards Caitlin Clark in the closing minutes of LSU's win, earning critical labels like "classless" and others that hinted at more serious racist undertones.
Reese didn't hold back in her initial response.
"I don&rsquo;t fit in the box that y&rsquo;all want me to be in. I'm too hood, I'm too ghetto, y'all told me that all year. When other people do it, y'all don't say nothing. This was for the people that look like me," Reese <a href="https://twitter.com/sportingnews/status/1642671282767507456" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
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This is different from Reese "not caring" about the critics. She does care and is aware of her own aura, which she says has been criticized since high school. Reese cares that her image as a powerful, talented, confident Black woman resonates with younger girls who can relate to her, and that for so long, that combination of traits has been met with hate.
That Reese continues to quote tweet and subtweet, and take additional interviews on ESPN days after the game, shows she's not backing down from who she wants to be.
Clark is similarly aware of her standing as a figurehead for the sport. On Tuesday, she went on ESPN's Outside the Lines and basically ended the trash-talking discussion.&nbsp;
"I don't think Angel should be criticized at all," Clark <a href="https://twitter.com/espn/status/1643311621861949441" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. "No matter which way it goes, she should never be criticized for what she did. I'm always one that competes, and she competed. I think everyone knew there was gonna be a little trash talk the entire tournament; it's not just me and Angel."
Just as important was her full response on the importance of showing passion as an athlete:
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"Men have always had trash talk. ... You should be able to play with that emotion. ... That's how every girl should continue to play." Caitlin Clark discussed if women are held to a different standard than men on <a href="https://twitter.com/OTLonESPN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OTLonESPN</a>. <a href="https://t.co/JY7MWlOuVq">pic.twitter.com/JY7MWlOuVq</a>
&mdash; ESPN (@espn) <a href="https://twitter.com/espn/status/1643309736572616704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Clark is arguably the biggest trending name in basketball right now and a truly generational talent who helped drive this year's record-shattering ratings. For her to jump on ESPN two days after a heartbreaking loss and be explicit with her opinions shows that she recognizes the gravity of her voice.
The Iowa sharpshooter rightfully captured the country's attention for her NCAA Tournament heroics. According to one Google search analysis from World Sports Network, Clark's name saw a 476% search increase in the last week of March Madness.
New fans were quick to label her a "best-ever" of some sort. The social media response: Familiarize yourselves with the college careers of Cheryl Miller, Sheryl Swoopes, Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, Brittney Griner, Maya Moore, Kelsey Plum or Sabrina Ionescu.&nbsp;
And when some <a href="https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/1642649593140637706" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pretty loud voices</a>&nbsp;took aim at Reese on Sunday, the community quickly let them know it was unacceptable.
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As women's basketball has continued to rise, deserved passionate media coverage has reached the foreground.&nbsp;The Next Hoops, Winsidr,&nbsp;and Just Women's Sports&nbsp;are three of my personal go-to's, but these smaller (yet growing) independent outlets have helped legitimize and drive quality coverage. ESPN's television coverage is spectacular and&nbsp;The Athletic&nbsp;is another outlet with high-level storytelling. Arielle Chambers delivers phenomenal energy for HighlightHER, Mark Schindler does an amazing job at WNBA.com, and while I'm biased, our own Nekias Duncan's WNBA coverage is top-tier (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/south-carolina-dared-caitlin-clark-to-beat-them-and-she-did-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as was his Clark film dive!</a>).
We collectively know more about media and narrative than ever in our history. It allows these writers to make sure the sport is covered fairly and accurately at the college and pro levels, holding new, influential fans accountable.&nbsp;
The players and coaches have stories to share, personalities to gravitate towards and electric talent to entertain with. The WNBA still has so much growth potential; it logged a 20% increase in regular-season viewership on ESPN last year, and this spring's March Madness momentum can be a springboard for another leap. And with NIL-driven branding soaring at the college level, more players and teams can place themselves in front of new audiences.
Sunday felt like the quantitative peak for women's basketball in the national conversation &mdash; what's exciting is that there's so much mountain still left to climb.

Nearly 10 million people watched the national championship game, signaling that women's basketball is ready for a popularity explosion.

Women's basketball is well-equipped to shape its own narrative

In January, the NBA and NBPA launched <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nba-all-world/id1632344574" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA All-World</a> &ndash; an officially licensed geolocation augmented-reality basketball game with Niantic, the creators of Pok&eacute;mon Go.&nbsp;
Just like with Pok&eacute;mon Go, users are encouraged to explore neighborhoods around the world and encounter today&rsquo;s NBA stars. Users can challenge the NBA players one-on-one, add them to their team, level them up and compete to become the ruler of real-world courts, while also collecting gear from well-known brands (such as adidas, Puma and Todd Snyder).
BasketballNews recently caught up with Marcus Matthews, the senior producer of NBA All-World. Prior to joining Niantic, Matthews spent the last few decades working on various sports video games including the original NBA 2K, NFL 2K, NHL 2K and NBA Action 98.
In this Q&amp;A, Matthews opened up about the inspiration for the game, lessons that Niantic learned from Pok&eacute;mon Go, the future of video games, advice for anyone who wants to work on video games and more.
How did this idea come about and what was the inspiration behind NBA All-World?
Marcus Matthews: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been at Niantic for about two years now and the inspiration for the game came from our CEO, John Hanke, who is an avid basketball fan. He played high-school basketball in Texas and he&rsquo;d play pick-up regularly in college at Berkeley, and even now since he joined Google and Niantic. At NBA All-Star Weekend, we had a couple of pick-up games with Hanke and other employees. Overall, he&rsquo;s a huge basketball fan. And with Hanke&rsquo;s experience with Google Earth and map-based, location-based gaming, he was always just trying to find a way to bring his love and passion for basketball to this new platform. My background in sports games goes back more than 20 years including being the senior producer on the original NBA 2K and NFL 2K on the Sega Dreamcast. I&rsquo;ve always tried to look at the cutting edge with sports games and not just copy what&rsquo;s already here, but try to move the industry forward.&nbsp;
&ldquo;So when I heard about this opportunity, I was like, &lsquo;Wow, this is amazing.&rsquo; Here we are with this new way of gaming, of turning the real world into a gaming board, literally, and that&rsquo;s the future: connecting the real world with digital bits and integrating them and having all of these novel experiences. And I was like, &lsquo;Nobody has done that in sports. This is an opportunity to once again create a ground-breaking sports gaming experience.&rsquo; And those kinds of opportunities only come around every blue moon, with the right technology, funding, resources and team. And I was like, &lsquo;Yeah, let&rsquo;s jump in. Let&rsquo;s see what we can figure out.&rsquo; So I came in and it was in gestation for probably about a year or two before I got there. My role was just to bring that sports-gaming, basketball experience and merge that with what was already existing, so we could create a novel experience.&rdquo;
When Niantic created Pok&eacute;mon Go, it was a huge success and introduced AR games to a lot of people. Since this game is similar, were there any lessons that you all learned from Pok&eacute;mon Go that helped you while working on NBA All-World?
Matthews: &ldquo;Absolutely. Pok&eacute;mon Go was an absolute overnight success, but there were still some challenges that they ran into. We wanted to make sure that we took the good learnings (from Pok&eacute;mon Go) and try to avoid upfront the negative learnings that come with building something outdoors. Probably the biggest challenge of building any kind of outdoor experience is trying to break that obvious habit of just playing games where you&rsquo;re at. It&rsquo;s not a console, it&rsquo;s mobile, so you have access to the whole world and environment right there on your screen. And our game isn&rsquo;t really a screen-only experience, so we were just trying to get users out of the habit of just doing everything on the screen. We&rsquo;re really trying to connect real-world places with authentic experiences for your player. If there&rsquo;s a bank or ATM in your area, you can go get money for your player in our game. If there&rsquo;s a shoe store near you, you can go get shoes for your character. If there&rsquo;s a clothing store or department store near you, you can go get apparel, shirts and pants for your player. If you&rsquo;re out and about, you want to remember to open up this game because there may be some unique things out in the world that may not be available at your home or your job. There are different things you may discover. That&rsquo;s the main thing: (helping users understand that) it&rsquo;s a whole new way of interacting with the world. We really want to enhance and improve users&rsquo; experience by tying real-world locations to virtual-world locations. We just think that&rsquo;s so novel, so different and so new. I think that&rsquo;s going to be the foundation of a lot of games moving forward.
&ldquo;And the other biggest challenge that we had was probably just the randomness of the real world. With traditional games, when you lay out a world or environment, you have total control over where every object goes and how users are going to interact in it. We had to kind of abstract that out, like, &lsquo;Okay, well we&rsquo;ve got this city that has a lot of real-world game objects that we can use. But when you&rsquo;re in the suburbs or rural areas, there are fewer items for us to tag and for you to interact with &ndash; whether it&rsquo;s a court or a shoe drop or a boost or an energy or an arena pass. Now, we&rsquo;ve got to get a little more creative. How do we balance out the experience for people who live in different kinds of environments in terms of density? We&rsquo;ve been learning a lot and pulled a lot from Pok&eacute;mon Go on those items like real-world game boarding, how to (get) our players out into the world and how to balance that all out. There was definitely a lot that we learned from our other games.&rdquo;
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NBA All-World hosted some real-world events at All-Star Weekend like a pick-up game and meet-up, where attendees were able to access special content and drops in the game. In the future, I could see this becoming a cool way to reward users who attend NBA games and events. Are you planning to do more stuff like that in the future?
Matthews: &ldquo;Absolutely! That&rsquo;s an automatic in the playbook that we&rsquo;re going to use because that&rsquo;s what makes our game different &ndash; the fact that you can play our game in the world and you can get unique experiences. We can control the drops, and we can allow the user to do all kinds of cool things that you wouldn&rsquo;t normally be able to do in other locations. We want people to go outside and explore and game, so the more live events we can host and get people to engage in, the more powerful it&rsquo;ll be for our game and our audience.&rdquo;
Do you think these augmented-reality games are the future of video games? What do you see as the future of gaming?
Matthews: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s an awesome question. I think it is by far the most realistic, tangible new area of gaming. I think Pok&eacute;mon Go is a perfect example of what can be done because it can be well-monetized and create a great experience that literally hundreds of millions or even a billion people can enjoy. I really feel like AR is proving to be the next wave. But just like there were only console games before mobile games came out, console games are not going away (even though) mobile gaming is growing into its own thing. I think this will be like the third big wave or area of gaming, so we&rsquo;ll have console gaming, more mobile gaming and then this area that&rsquo;s going to expand over the next decade around exploration and connecting digital to the real world, and gaming is going to lead that charge. There will be other apps and experiences that will fall out of that, but the big, main utility that makes business sense is going to be gaming and it&rsquo;s going to become its own vertical. I don&rsquo;t see (AR) replacing anything or eliminating the other categories, I just think it&rsquo;s going to be its own thing alongside the other existing categories.&rdquo;
I know the game is still relatively new, but what&rsquo;s been the reception from the audience?
Matthews: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been actually pleasantly surprised with the initial media response and consumer response. We've been in the top five on the app stores for free-to-play sports games and we have a 4.8 rating in the app stores. There are numerous things and features that are coming in the future, and we&rsquo;re going to make a big push for next NBA season to really round out the experience, but we&rsquo;re very, very pleased with the initial response. For me, I think the biggest thing is that people realize that the sports-gaming world is different from the Pok&eacute;mon world. We&rsquo;ve made a game that was organically built from the ground up around basketball fans and basketball players, and we&rsquo;ve made that world work. It&rsquo;s not just a straight copy of another game; we&rsquo;ve built this game organically and from the ground up around that.
"And the beauty of basketball is that A) it&rsquo;s played outside and B) it&rsquo;s naturally played in groups of friends. Our game does both very well. When I was growing up in Jacksonville, FL, as a kid, me and my friends would walk to the neighborhood park and go play basketball for a few hours in the summer and hang out. Now, my son does that with his friends. But now, not only is there an opportunity to play real basketball, you can also play this game while you happen to be at the court and see what&rsquo;s around and maybe gain some new players. What we&rsquo;re hoping to do is get people, especially kids, back out to real-world courts to play not just our game but also real basketball. That would be the ultimate impact that I hope this game could have.&rdquo;
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Are you ready to ball? Get into the gameplay of NBA All-World in episode 2 of &ldquo;Beyond The Game.&rdquo; <a href="https://twitter.com/nbaallworld?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBAAllWorld</a> 🏀 <a href="https://t.co/6Q55ogVuAR">pic.twitter.com/6Q55ogVuAR</a>
&mdash; Niantic (@NianticLabs) <a href="https://twitter.com/NianticLabs/status/1617684389089136641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>

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You mentioned that some new features will be rolled out next season. Can you share any new features that are coming or things that you hope to add to the game?
Matthews: &ldquo;We have a lot of things on the list, but it&rsquo;s too early to say (when they&rsquo;ll be added) in the second half of the year, so I don&rsquo;t want to get into any specifics. We&rsquo;re working through all of the feedback and different ideas that didn&rsquo;t make it at launch. But one feature that we&rsquo;re going to ramp up before next season that&rsquo;s going to be a major push is camera-based AR experiences in the game. We&rsquo;re going to have some things coming down the pike later on this year that are going to expand what I like to call our &lsquo;basketball theme park.&rsquo; This is a platform that can be built on top of, so just like Disney World, we&rsquo;re always going to be expanding the experiences in our park. This game is really a virtual-world game at its core, so we&rsquo;re going to be adding on more pieces and just building on the experience as we go.&rdquo;
This is Niantic&rsquo;s first officially licensed sports game. Are there any plans to launch similar games with other sports leagues?
Matthews: &ldquo;I mean, I wouldn&rsquo;t rule out any expansion of this sports-gaming experience that we developed. To your point, expansion could include other sports. Right now, we&rsquo;re totally focused on making the basketball experience as great as possible, but we&rsquo;re definitely open to future opportunities and expansion.&rdquo;
I saw that Karl-Anthony Towns, Jordan Poole and other players were part of the game&rsquo;s launch. What has been the response or reception from NBA players?&nbsp;
Matthews: &ldquo;I think they&rsquo;re interested. Games like 2K and Madden have been around for 20+ years and the players who grew up on those are always looking for the next thing, and everyone was aware of Pok&eacute;mon Go and its success. So, yeah, Jordan Poole, Karl-Anthony Towns and those guys have been really interested in how their player looks, what their player&rsquo;s moves are, when we&rsquo;re going to update it to add more moves, so they&rsquo;re really interested in the world and how they&rsquo;re represented. Today, not only do people care about their real-world representation, they really care about their virtual representation. They want to make sure that the player looks and moves like they move. We&rsquo;ve gotten really good buy-in (from players) and I&rsquo;m very confident that as we add onto this game, we&rsquo;re going to get more and more players engaging and wanting their likenesses and movements to be part of the experience. And that&rsquo;s the beauty of this, it&rsquo;s a system that&rsquo;s set up to scale and be built upon, and we&rsquo;re going to relish that.&rdquo;
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You&rsquo;ve had a very successful career and worked on some incredible games. What advice would you give to someone who wants to work on video games?
Matthews: &ldquo;I give talks at high schools and colleges about breaking into the video-game industry and I went to Georgia Tech, even though Atlanta isn&rsquo;t known as a video-game hub. But ever since middle school, I was coding with friends and trying to make games on my own. When I got to college in the early &lsquo;90s, there wasn&rsquo;t any kind of video-game major or anything like that. This was actually before the internet really kicked in. But I was really passionate about making games, it was just something innate in me. So whenever I had a class project or assignment that was flexible, I would try to do it around video games. In my spare time, I would start designing sports video games because I love sports, I love games and technology. I would just play around with my own gaming ideas. Luckily, in Atlanta, there was an education games company there, so after I graduated, I figured, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s close enough. I&rsquo;d rather do that than be a consultant or an engineer at a plant or something.&rsquo; So I went with my passion; I didn&rsquo;t know where it was going to take me. Then, after work, I&rsquo;d just work on my own sports-game designs and I started working on a prototype with some friends.
"This is an entertainment business, so it&rsquo;s kind of like movies and music where you kinda have to do short films or demos to showcase your talent. And when people see that, they see that you can help them. So I was working on my designs and saw that there were some weaknesses with the current sports games. They didn&rsquo;t feel like the folks who actually played sports were programming and designing them. So, I did a lot of work and then got lucky. A friend of mine went from IBM to Sega and a couple years later, they needed a sports producer and he reached out: &lsquo;Hey Marcus, I know you&rsquo;ve been working on these sports-game designs and doing all of this stuff on the side.&rsquo; I sent my resume to the head of sports and got flown out for an interview. We talked for two-and-a-half hours and I told him everything that was wrong with the games and how I would improve them, and two weeks later, they hired me.
"But it took five or six years or more of working on designs on my own time and just diving into the space and waiting for the right opportunity. I was going to all of the conferences back then like GDC (when it had just started) and E3 and just networking to try and get that big break. It&rsquo;s a tough business to break into &ndash; especially being in Atlanta &ndash; but you have to do the extra work. Don&rsquo;t think you can just go to school, get your degree and then work on sports games. It&rsquo;s going to take more than that &ndash; whether you&rsquo;re an artist, a programmer, a producer or a designer.&rdquo;
<a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nba-all-world/id1632344574" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA All-World</a> is available now in the app store and it's free to play.

NBA All-World senior producer Marcus Matthews opens up about the game, lessons from Pokémon Go, the future of gaming and more.

NBA meets Pokémon Go: Inside the augmented-reality game NBA All-World

Late January was probably the first time I looked at the jam-packed Western Conference standings and felt extra excited to watch how it would ultimately shake out. We're now about to reach April, and with 10 days left in the regular season, we're no closer to understanding the playoff picture.
This dogfight in the West has been&nbsp;insane. The fourth-place Phoenix Suns and 12th-place Utah Jazz are separated by just 4.5 games, with most teams only having five or six contests left on the schedule.
No team in this glob has been able to separate themselves. Any momentum generated in the final weeks of the season could be crucial for playoff positioning &mdash; which makes the New Orleans Pelicans' quiet resurgence significant.
New Orleans is eighth in the West at 38-38, but was rolling on a five-game winning streak before fumbling away a great start to Tuesday's game against the Golden State Warriors. The Pelicans have the best defensive rating (107.0) in the league across the last 10 games.
This team was atop the West standings on Dec. 12 and 11 games over .500 on Dec. 30. Then, injuries and simply poor play sent them tumbling; the Pelicans went 10-25 from New Year's Eve up until the current recovery.
Now, at the most critical point of the year, the Pelicans seem to be back on track.
Brandon Ingram missed all of December and most of January with a toe injury and it understandably took the star some time to regain form. But he's been electric since the All-Star break, averaging 26.7 points, 6.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 49.3% from the field and 40% on threes. Zoom into the last six games and it gets even more explosive: 29.2 points, 8.3 assists (!) and 5.8 rebounds on a 51.6% shooting clip (47.4% from three).&nbsp;
Ingram's 40.4% overall efficiency from distance is a career-high even as he continues to glide his way inside. The 25-year-old is one of the premier mid-range maestros in the league, and he's still improving his presence closer to the basket. According to PBP stats, Ingram is driving the ball once every five possessions and making 52% of his shots via drives &mdash; both the highest rates of his career.
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This and-one from Tuesday's loss is simply tough. In the midst of his faceup touch, Ingram spins to drive right, but sees Stephen Curry has left his assignment to help on the right drive. So Ingram then twirls back, drives left, takes the contact from Anthony Lamb and has the touch to finish the floater. It's an impressive display of quick processing and calm determination.
Ingram's continued development as a fulcrum plus New Orleans' injury struggles have given him the largest on-ball role in his seven years as a pro. His usage rate (30.9), touches per possession (0.96), seconds per touch (4.02) and dribbles per touch (3.03) are all career-highs. The lanky forward has matched his 2021-22 playmaking breakout with those opportunities.&nbsp;
So far in March, Ingram has seen 18.7% of his total passes turn into assists. That rate ranks second in the NBA during that span, behind only Trae Young (19.4%). In the last six games, Ingram has led the league with a 22.6% assist-to-pass ratio. How is he doing it? Ingram dished out 4.6 three-point assists per game across those six contests, second in the league behind only Luka Doncic.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/pah7ss" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Ingram's gravity as a mid-range scorer creates these types of plays. Trey Murphy III screens to get Ingram open and then clears out to the arc. The Warriors are anticipating an Ingram isolation and react as such, with Curry and Jordan Poole losing Murphy in the process. Ingram then applies pressure but doesn't overcommit himself, and kicks it out for the easy three.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/jhviq5" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Here's another example. The Houston Rockets are preparing to contain Ingram off of the high ball screen and it looks like CJ McCollum might help with a second screen, but then McCollum jets out to the perimeter. Houston is still focused on Ingram for just that split-second though, opening up another window. It's an easy pass to make, but it works because Kevin Porter Jr. overcommits to helping stop Ingram's drive.
Of course, it helps that the Pelicans' cast of shooters have caught fire all at the same time. Murphy is knocking down 48.1% of his 8.7 treys across the last six games. McCollum (44.7%), Josh Richardson (50.0%) and Herb Jones (41.7%) are each clearing 40% on at least two attempts per game.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
It's the right time for the supporting cast to heat up, but even if those clips regress slightly, a humming Pelicans offense should keep generating open looks with Ingram in control.
We don't know when Zion Williamson might be healthy, and we certainly don't know what the road in the West will look like. But with Ingram steering the ship, and backed by a top-notch defense, the Pelicans will be a tough out for any opponent come playoff time.
THE OUTLIERS (a.k.a. other random interesting numbers I found in the void):
<ul>
<li>I am a massive fan of Zach Kram's work at&nbsp;The Ringer, and as highlighted here, this is the Domantas Sabonis effect:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
So many great stats in this piece about the Kings' dominance from DHOs, but this might be my favorite <a href="https://t.co/sHXxQ6Qsqa">https://t.co/sHXxQ6Qsqa</a> <a href="https://t.co/19hbydtqOc">pic.twitter.com/19hbydtqOc</a>
&mdash; Div B (@statcenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/statcenter/status/1641113194625220622?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2023</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

<ul>
<li>Come for the Synergy Caitlin Clark shooting heat map, stay for the video where she breaks down how she slices the court in transition:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Iowa star Caitlin Clark shows <a href="https://twitter.com/debbieantonelli?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@debbieantonelli</a> how she likes to slice the court in transition to get to her step-back jumper moving left. Awesome insight and a little shoutout for <a href="https://twitter.com/SynergySST?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SynergySST</a>, too 😁 <a href="https://t.co/2V7cfDop3A">https://t.co/2V7cfDop3A</a> <a href="https://t.co/awUXkSgC4X">pic.twitter.com/awUXkSgC4X</a>
&mdash; Todd Whitehead (@CrumpledJumper) <a href="https://twitter.com/CrumpledJumper/status/1640789230225088513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2023</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

<ul>
<li>Sure, the qualifiers are kind of random but Angel Reese is dominant:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Angel Reese is ONE OF ONE as she is now the only player across Division I basketball, WNBA, and NBA to record: 76 Points, 51 Rebounds, 12 Blocks and 7 Steals in the span of three games. <a href="https://t.co/0ljn9IWWdj">pic.twitter.com/0ljn9IWWdj</a>
&mdash; WSLAM (@wslam) <a href="https://twitter.com/wslam/status/1639429628736548864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2023</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Ethan Fuller shows how Brandon Ingram has helped steady the Pelicans in a tense Western Conference playoff race.

NBA Stats Notebook: Brandon Ingram's steadying presence on Pelicans

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) &mdash; The horn sounded and Miami coach Katie Meier turned to start jumping and hugging her staff as players and cheerleaders sprinted past for a meet-at-midcourt celebration. She soon made her way into the crowd to embrace players hollering with delight.
Soon she emerged through the other side to trade hugs and high-fives with a front-row section of Hurricanes fans.
An improbable and emotional ride to the program&rsquo;s first Elite Eight appearance in the women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament was worth sharing with as many people as she could.
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe it,&rdquo; Meier said afterward. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to act cool. This is awesome.&rdquo;
Jasmyne Roberts scored a career-high 26 points &mdash; including a stick-back for the go-ahead, three-point play with 38.8 seconds left &mdash; to help Miami overcome blowing a 21-point lead and beat Villanova 70-65 on Friday, pulling the program to within a win of the Final Four.
Miami had reached the Sweet 16 only once before, in 1992. Now the Hurricanes will play Sunday for the Greenville Region 2 title against third-seeded LSU.
The ninth-seeded Hurricanes (22-12) looked dominant in building a huge lead, wobbly in blowing it. But they hung on down the stretch after Villanova made its push back behind the latest big-scoring effort from Associated Press first-team All-American Maddy Siegrist.
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t even explain the feeling really,&rdquo; guard Haley Cavinder said.
The celebration said plenty. While Meier made her way to the fans, Roberts stayed locked in a firm and emotional embrace with teammate Ja&rsquo;Leah Williams. The sophomore guard picked a perfect time to come through with a huge performance by making 10 of 16 shots and all six of her free throws while pulling down nine rebounds.
&ldquo;Cool Hand Luke is her new nickname. She doesn&rsquo;t even know that movie,&rdquo; Meier said, referencing the Paul Newman movie released more than three decades before Roberts&rsquo; birth.
Siegrist, the nation&rsquo;s scoring leader, had 31 points, 13 rebounds and five steals for fourth-seeded Villanova (30-7). It marked her third 30-point outing in as many tournament games, pushing her to the No. 2 single-season scoring total in Division I history.
Yet it wasn&rsquo;t enough down the stretch, with Siegrist coming up empty in a couple of key moments late. The first came when she posted up Destiny Harden inside, but a quality look on a turnaround hit the backboard before coming off the rim with her team down just 67-65.
Moments later, after a Miami free throw, Siegrist missed from the other side of the lane as Villanova had a chance to extend the game. Instead, Miami secured the rebound, and Roberts hit clinching free throws with 11.1 seconds left for a two-possession lead.
Miami originally appeared to be headed for a much easier finish.
The Hurricanes spent much of the first half using their athleticism and aggressiveness to take control, both in scoring off the dribble and attacking the glass. The Hurricanes led 46-33 by halftime then used a stunning 8-0 burst in the opening minute of the second half, ending when Harden scored on a drive through contact from Siegrist for a three-point play that pushed Miami to a 54-33 lead.
Villanova responded by throwing fullcourt pressure to get back into the game. The Wildcats scored 14 straight points to end the third quarter then took a 60-59 lead on Siegrist&rsquo;s free throws with 5:31 left to cap a 23-2 run, a stretch that had Roberts saying the Hurricanes &ldquo;did kind of lose our composure for a little bit.&rdquo;
That set up a tense finish with neither team leading by more than two until the final 30 seconds. Villanova took its last lead at 65-64 when Lucy Olsen banked in a drive with 49 seconds left before Roberts answered with the and-1.
&ldquo;My mistake,&rdquo; Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. &ldquo;We should have in the first half shown some more of the pressure, the press, but you think just a team that&rsquo;s quick like that can take advantage. But again, just waited a little too late to make that run.&rdquo;
Consider it the latest entry in a wild NCAA novel for the Hurricanes. They first rallied from 17 down to beat Oklahoma State. Then Harden hit the late shot to win at 1-seed Indiana and get them back to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 31 years.
Now they have a chance to play for &mdash; and celebrate &mdash; a whole lot more.
SIEGRIST&rsquo;S FUTURE
An emotional Siegrist fought back tears during her postgame news conference, and offered a hint of finality when asked about plans that could include returning to school or pursuing the WNBA.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to talk to my parents and stuff like that after,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But I couldn&rsquo;t be more grateful for the opportunity to have played here. So many good people, and it&rsquo;s really about the people. Take the basketball part out of it, like the memories and the people are something that I&rsquo;m going to cherish forever.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Siegrist closed with 37 straight 20-point games, which the NCAA said is the longest streak by any men&rsquo;s or women&rsquo;s Division I player this century. ... Christina Dalce had 13 points, eight rebounds and five blocks to help Villanova do a better job of battling Miami inside after halftime. ... Harden had 15 points and nine rebounds for Miami, which took a 43-32 rebounding advantage. ... The Wildcats made just 2 of 16 3-pointers.&nbsp;

Miami had reached the Sweet 16 only once before, in 1992. Now the Hurricanes will play Sunday for the Greenville Region 2 title vs. LSU.

Miami women hold on, beat Villanova for first trip to Elite 8

SEATTLE (AP) &mdash; Caitlin Clark felt it was all happening a little too quick and on the stage of playing in a regional semifinal, Iowa&rsquo;s star needed to slow down for a change.
&ldquo;I felt like I was playing a little frantic. I felt like I was rushed on offense,&rdquo; Clark said.
In this case, slowing down led to a big second half from Clark and the Hawkeyes.
Clark scored 31 points, 18 coming in the second half, and No. 2 seed Iowa shook disappointments the past two seasons and reached the Elite Eight of the women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament with an 87-77 win over Colorado in the Seattle 4 Regional semifinals on Friday night.
After two straight tournaments where Clark&rsquo;s season ended in the round of 16 and the round of 32, the Hawkeyes will play for a chance at just the second Final Four berth in school history on Sunday.
&ldquo;Anytime you get to play basketball for this long, it&rsquo;s really special. None of us want this to end,&rdquo; Iowa&rsquo;s Monika Czinano said.
Clark was the catalyst for Iowa&rsquo;s big second half, and the first-team All-American finished 11 of 22 shooting with four 3-pointers and eight assists. It was her 11th game this season scoring at least 30 points.
But she had plenty of help, especially after Clark sat a chunk of the first half after picking up two fouls.
Czinano added 15 points, including a key basket in the paint with 1:10 remaining. Kate Martin scored 16 and McKenna Warnock scored 10. Iowa shot 54% for the game and 59% in the second half.
&ldquo;We shot the ball very well tonight and I&rsquo;m proud of that because of Colorado&rsquo;s defense,&rdquo; Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. &ldquo;We scored more points than anybody has all year against their defense. Their defense is very good, but we were still able to shoot over 50% from the field. But you do that when you&rsquo;re having the balance of four people in double figures.&rdquo;
Iowa (29-6) will face No. 5 seed Louisville in the regional final on Sunday. It&rsquo;s the fifth Elite Eight appearance for the Hawkeyes, but their only Final Four appearance came in 1993.
Frida Formann led Colorado (25-9) with 21 points, but 19 of those came in the first half when her shooting carried the Buffaloes. But Formann was shut down in the second half and fouled out with 6:37 remaining.
&ldquo;I had a lot of space in the first half and my teammates were just finding me. When it&rsquo;s this stage my job is to shoot the ball so that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m gonna do,&rdquo; Formann said. &ldquo;And then they adjusted defensively and we&rsquo;re a little tighter.&rdquo;
Colorado pulled within 76-70 on Quay Miller&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 4:16 remaining and the deficit was down to 78-74 after Jaylyn Sherrod&rsquo;s steal and layup with 1:40 left. But that was the last push by the Buffaloes as Czinano scored in the paint and Iowa made seven free throws in the final minute.
Aaronette Vonleh added 13 points and Miller had 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Buffs.
&ldquo;To be down twice by double digits against Iowa and to be able to fight back and continue to never wilt, never hang our heads and just keep playing, stay the course was awesome,&rdquo; Colorado coach JR Payne said.
DECISIVE RUN
Colorado lingered far longer than expected, but it was Iowa&rsquo;s run in the early stages of the third quarter and keyed by Clark that finally gave the Hawkeyes some cushion.
Clark started a string of 11 straight points for the Hawkeyes with a driving basket, added a 3-pointer off a loose ball and followed by a steal and layup that gave Iowa a 54-42 lead and forced Payne to burn two timeouts in 2 minutes.
Iowa eventually pushed the lead to 62-47 and Colorado could never catch up over the final 15 minutes leaving Clark and her team celebrating before the large Iowa contingent of fans walking off the court.
&ldquo;I guess it was kind of our crowd. It felt like there was a lot of Hawk fans out there. I don&rsquo;t know if they&rsquo;ve traveled from the state of Iowa, from the Midwest and if they did, we really appreciate that. And if you&rsquo;re from out here, we appreciate you coming too,&rdquo; Clark said.&nbsp;

Caitlin Clark scored 31 points, 18 coming in the second half, and No. 2 seed Iowa shook disappointments the past two seasons.

Clark’s March Madness marches on, Iowa women beat Colorado

Princeton forward Tosan Evbuomwan spent his first three college seasons enduring one disappointment after another.
Reaching the NCAA Tournament and advancing to the Sweet 16 made it all worthwhile.
After the 2020 Ivy League Tournament was canceled, after the entire 2020-21 season was canceled, after losing by two points in the conference&rsquo;s 2022 tourney title game and after watching three friends transfer just to keep playing in 2022-23, this resilient 6-foot-8 Brit has taken the Tigers on their deepest NCAA Tournament run since 1967 and has emerged as survivor of one of college basketball&rsquo;s strangest journeys.
&ldquo;I think it did start with that COVID year,&rdquo; Evbuomwan said. &rdquo;There was a togetherness with that group. One of my favorite things about that time was the Zooms with one another, the Face Times, just talking about what we wanted the next season. We wanted a championship.&rdquo;
Now,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-princeton-3e7e64d87d64a24587f258af065e7ce0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Ivy League tourney champions are the talk of the nation</a>&nbsp;and an illustration of the impact two pivotal COVID years have had on the college basketball world.
Nobody outside the Princeton locker room expected this run &mdash; especially when three of last year&rsquo;s top five scorers left to take advantage of the NCAA&rsquo;s extra season. League rules allowed them only to use that season at a non-conference school.
But these Tigers pride themselves on perseverance. So instead of allowing the obstacles to derail their dreams or steal their spirit, they dug in, stuck around, forged a bond and finished the job.
&ldquo;We missed out on a whole year. That hurt, watching essentially every other team in the country play,&rdquo; Princeton guard Matt Allocco said. &ldquo;But I think it actually helped us in the long run. We were able to get together in the spring and practice, be with each other, build those relationships. It ended up being a great experience.&rdquo;
Not everyone remembers the COVID years fondly.
San Diego State and Dayton saw their 2020 title hopes dashed by the NCAA&rsquo;s announcement. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo thought he had a Final Four team, too.
Northern Kentucky coach Darrin Horn&rsquo;s long-awaited return to March Madness was extended by three more years, prompting him to acknowledge two weeks ago that winning the 2020 Horizon League crown almost seemed like it never happened.
There&rsquo;s no way to replace what was lost &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/ncaa-march-madness-san-diego-state-charleston-orlando-0d6d6cd47a1ff1baa3bfb448286b0ff6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">even for this year&rsquo;s 16 regional semifinalists</a>.
Just ask San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher, whose team faces top-seeded Alabama on Friday in the Louisville Regional. The Aztecs were supposed to be a top-two seed three years ago.
&ldquo;As I said all those years ago, as good as Malachi Flynn and KJ Feagin and Yanni Wetzell were, they never played in the NCAA Tournament one time in their careers. That&rsquo;s unbelievable,&rdquo; Dutcher said. &ldquo;Sometimes we take for granted just going and losing in the first round. Just to have a chance to play would have meant the world to those guys so I feel bad for that, that they never got a taste of March Madness.&rdquo;
Meanwhile, at Creighton, it was a different scenario.
In 2021, the tourney provided the Bluejays with a bittersweet memory: Celebrating their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1974 inside the lonely Indianapolis &ldquo;bubble.&rdquo;
So when&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-creighton-nembhard-d5b5da14046dffc8c7fb28e2f8b2da13" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sixth-seeded Creighton knocked off third-seeded Baylor 85-76 last weekend</a>&nbsp;to return to the Sweet 16, something suddenly felt far more satisfying about Friday&rsquo;s matchup against 15th-seeded Princeton in Louisville.
&ldquo;We had a lot of fans there to celebrate at the end of the game with us (in Denver) and then you go back to the hotel with family and friends and have a chance to celebrate rather than go back to your room and eat another piece of rubber chicken out of a Styrofoam box, which is what we did in Indianapolis,&rdquo; Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. &ldquo;To get to the Sweet 16 is a difficult thing to do, it was just a little more fun to celebrate that particular night.&rdquo;
What about 2021 national champion Baylor? Of course, the Bears had no complaints.
Kansas State coach Jerome Tang was an assistant on that title team and has used the lessons from that run as the model for his third-seeded Wildcats, who take on Izzo&rsquo;s seventh-seeded Spartans on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-transfer-portal-0b9862a4e4e4b6da08ce56b3eb2c443a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tang believes the similarities in roster composition</a>&nbsp;will help Kansas State this weekend.
&ldquo;We spent 30 days in the &lsquo;bubble,&rsquo; right? And if you don&rsquo;t like each other, nobody wants to spend that amount of time together,&rdquo; Tang said. &ldquo;That team, we really liked each other. We loved being together. I mean, it was fun to be around them. I feel the same way around these guys. We could be in a bubble for 30 days and we&rsquo;ll be just fine. We&rsquo;re going to have a great time.&rdquo;
But nobody will have more fun than Princeton.
Just two years after watching everyone else&rsquo;s games, the Tigers need two wins to end a 48-year Final Four drought, two wins to become the first Ivy League team in the national semifinals since Penn in 1979 and two wins to cement their status as one of the greatest and most compelling advance-and-survive stories in tourney history.
And it might not have happened without Princeton&rsquo;s COVID experience.
&ldquo;Having to watch those games on TV, the tournament, hurt. I think looking back on it, it fueled us for the next year,&rdquo; Princeton guard Ryan Langborg said. &ldquo;I think this year, this Sweet 16 run so far, it&rsquo;s more than making up for it.&rdquo;

Princeton is on its deepest NCAA Tournament run since 1967 after surviving one of college basketball’s strangest journeys.

Princeton’s journey becomes face of March Madness’ COVID era

DENVER (AP) &mdash; There&rsquo;s some good-natured debate over which is the better Baylor &mdash; Scheierman or the Bears.
Some answers arrive on Sunday when&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/CBSSportsCBB/status/1636848750663725057" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baylor Scheierman</a>&nbsp;and No. 6 seed Creighton take on third-seeded Baylor in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
One thing both schools can agree on: the importance of a transfer stepping in to fill a missing piece for an otherwise-solid program. There are schools that use the transfer portal to get good quick. Then there are schools like Baylor (23-10) and Creighton (22-12) that use the portal to stay good for a while.
The Bears brought in two players in Jalen Bridges (from West Virginia) and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BaylorMBB/status/1636865628744339456" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Caleb Lohner (BYU) to</a>&nbsp;fill in holes and try to make a run to a second title in three seasons.
For Creighton, the big addition was Scheierman, the highly sought-after player who left South Dakota State and chose to stay close to home (he&rsquo;s from Nebraska).
He&rsquo;s definitely on the radar of Baylor coach Scott Drew.
&ldquo;Love his name,&rdquo; Drew cracked. &ldquo;Hopefully, this Baylor does better than that Baylor tomorrow.&rdquo;
Scheierman made a big impression in a first-round win over North Carolina State, sealing the game with a late basket and blowing a kiss to the crowd in celebration.
Safe to say he has settled into his new surroundings.
&ldquo;Ever since I stepped on campus, the guys have taken me in and treated like I&rsquo;ve been there all along,&rdquo; said Scheierman, who was the 2021-22 Summit League player of the year at South Dakota State. &ldquo;The process coming in has been smooth and the chemistry on the team is very good, and at a very high level right now.&rdquo;
The same can be said at Baylor (the school).
When Bridges was considering a new program for this season, he had a definitive checklist with warm weather, winning culture and family atmosphere leading the way.
Check, check and check with the Bears.
&ldquo;It was kind of easy to see myself here because they played in a way that fits my style,&rdquo; said Bridges, who is averaging 10.2 points 5.6 rebounds this season. &ldquo;I just try to do my best to make a play.&rdquo;
Same with Lohner, who appeared in 62 games with BYU before joining Baylor this season. He scored a season-high 13 points in a first-round win over Santa Barbara on Friday.
&ldquo;For me, (the transfer portal) has been awesome,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BaylorMBB/status/1636819509612007425" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lohner said</a>. &ldquo;One of those situations that all lined up and I&rsquo;m really grateful and blessed to be in a spot like this.&rdquo;
At South Dakota State, Scheierman was counted on for his scoring (more specifically, his 3-point shooting).
At Creighton, he has plenty of company. The Bluejays have big man&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BluejayMBB/status/1637136786748067840" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ryan Kalkbrenner</a>&nbsp;and guard Trey Alexander to help carry the scoring load.
&ldquo;Coming in, I knew my role is going to be much different than it was in South Dakota State and I was accepting of that,&rdquo; Scheierman said. &ldquo;I knew that if we put everything together and we made a deep run that it would eventually help all of our individual goals pan out.&rdquo;
Sharing the same name as the school the Bluejays are about to play has been &ldquo;a lot of fun,&rdquo; Scheierman said.
Along with it, a bit of confusion.
&ldquo;The past 24 hours the coaches have been saying Baylor a lot and it&rsquo;s kind of thrown me off a little bit,&rdquo; Scheierman cracked. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really follow them a lot growing up and what-not. Obviously, I always knew that we had the same name, but at the end of the day, it&rsquo;s just another basketball game.&rdquo;

As No. 6 seed Creighton faces No. 3 Baylor in the second round of the NCAA Tournament both schools have benefitted from transfers.

Transfers step up for Baylor, Creighton in March Madness

In his 27th season as the head coach of one of the most prolific franchises in pro sports, Gregg Popovich has seen a lot of talent come through the San Antonio Spurs&rsquo; doors. But his first impression of 19-year-old rookie Dominick Barlow before the season is one he&rsquo;ll not soon forget.
&ldquo;I look at this guy, I say (to the Spurs staffers), 'Where'd you find this guy? Was he a bag boy at HEB or was he working at the gas station?'&rdquo; Popovich recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;He looks like he never played basketball before. He's just this long, stick sorta guy. He looks almost uncoordinated in a way.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I said, 'Who is this guy?' And they said, 'Just watch him, just watch him. This guy is raw. It's a blank slate, but he's got really quick feet, he's long, he's eager (and) he's really smart.'&rdquo;
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Signed to a two-way contract on July 11, 2022, Barlow's pro career is in its infancy.
Considering there are players ahead of him in the Spurs' development pecking order, as well as more experienced individuals who are higher on the depth chart, the 6-foot-9, 221-pounder has only recently gotten the chance to get his feet wet at the NBA level. Now, having 10 games under his belt, he&rsquo;s eligible to appear in the rest of the team&rsquo;s 33 contests. Up until the trade deadline, he had played under 40 minutes across six total games.
San Antonio felt more comfortable with a gradual maturation via the G League, where the undrafted two-way forward is averaging 12.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 26.3 minutes a night across 32 games played with the Austin Spurs. Chop that down to the <a href="https://go.nba.com/y5v8t" target="_blank" rel="noopener">last four contests</a> &mdash; &nbsp;25.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.3 steals on .603/.571/.929 splits &nbsp;&mdash; and it helps explain why the big club called Barlow's number to see more.
Between Feb. 10-13, Barlow played 17.0 minutes a night over three games on San Antonio&rsquo;s lengthy road trip, including significant stints in the fourth quarter. It was his first real exposure to the NBA level, and there are going to be more opportunities coming his way.
&ldquo;Everything he's doing now is just like a freebie. He's gonna get these minutes and he's gonna play and we're gonna get to take a look at him,&rdquo; Popovich said. &ldquo;But he's been one of the team favorites because of his personality and his sort of wildness on the court. 'Cause he doesn't really know much yet. He's just got these athletic skills and he's like a whirling dervish, so to speak.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Just stay patient and stay with what I'm doing,&rdquo; Barlow told Basketball News when asked what he&rsquo;s learned during his rookie season. &ldquo;Obviously, I think the organization is seeing something &mdash; some of the stuff that I'm doing often and allowing me to play some more minutes when some guys are hurt, which I want to just keep proving myself and proving I can play at this level.&rdquo;
Barlow understands what it&rsquo;s going to take to keep him on the floor at this stage of his career. It&rsquo;s the simple things: Playing hard, running the floor, getting rebounds, finishing at the rim and, most importantly, locking in on <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1631230/head-to-head?dir=D&amp;sort=SECONDS" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defense</a>.
&ldquo;Everybody wants to become a good offensive player, but I think defensively is the way to get out on the court," Barlow said. "So just trying to read that and understand that certain guys can score. As long as you're keeping them in spots where they're uncomfortable and they have to make tough shots, you kinda sometimes have to limit that. So just trying to learn.
&ldquo;Don't get too frustrated if a guy scores; you know you did what the scouting report says. You kinda just have to trust that sometimes. It's hard playing defense in the NBA. It's hard. There's so many different looks that you see, so you kinda have to just trust your coaches, trust yourself and just give effort. Effort, at the end of the day, will trump some of the other stuff.&rdquo;
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While he has yet to put a stamp on this league, he is already a trailblazer for another.
Barlow is the first player to make it to the NBA from Overtime Elite, a rising professional basketball league focused on preparing the top high-school prospects in hoops around the globe, giving amateur athletes an alternative path to the highest level of competition with proper preparation.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I take pride in representing Overtime Elite. I feel like as a brand and as a group, they helped me a lot [with] just learning how to lock in and work on my game, and [I] became a student of the game,&rdquo; Barlow said. &ldquo;So I take those values that they brought me and I try to bring 'em into here and be a pro and do the same thing every day. Regardless of what's gonna happen game-wise, just try to be a professional. So I take a lot of pride in that.&rdquo;
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&ldquo;I loved coaching Dom. He worked hard every day, was dedicated and determined, and it finally paid off,&rdquo; OTE Cold Hearts head coach Ryan Gomes told Basketball News. &ldquo;He's where he always thought he would be, the NBA, and he's a perfect example of what putting in the work can do.&rdquo;
A solid pro in his own right, Gomes spent eight years in the NBA and also had stints in the then-D League, Germany and Spain. He started many games and learned from a lot of great players, and he&rsquo;s passed on his knowledge to Barlow.
&ldquo;Prepare for the daily grind, watch film, study yourself and your opponents, re-watch your games, keep your focus on staying there &mdash; not just making it,&rdquo; Gomes said. &ldquo;Punch the clock every day.&rdquo;
Gomes sees many parts of his student&rsquo;s game translating to the NBA level. Barlow had a 40% clip beyond the arc with OTE. He also put positional versatility on display as a ball-handling playmaker at the 4 and as a two-way defender at the 3.
We&rsquo;ve seen a lot of those tools being used in Barlow&rsquo;s games in Austin, and some of them are coming to the surface with San Antonio. He&rsquo;s a get-down-the-court, lengthy, athletic player with long strides who can feast in transition when given the chance. He'll block shots with either hand and tip a lot of passes too.
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❌ DOM BLOCK ❌<a href="https://twitter.com/Dominickbarlow_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Dominickbarlow_</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/austin_spurs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@austin_spurs</a> <a href="https://t.co/bIZmLEWL9F">pic.twitter.com/bIZmLEWL9F</a>
&mdash; San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) <a href="https://twitter.com/spurs/status/1625296715447148544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2023</a></blockquote>

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While in Atlanta with the program, Barlow admitted not everything in OTE&rsquo;s first year went perfect. What that did, though, was force him to adjust &mdash; which is the biggest lesson he could&rsquo;ve learned.&nbsp;
&ldquo;You're one of like, 30 people, so there's not too many other people that have that experience. So everybody kinda came in there last year not knowing how it was gonna go or what was gonna happen; they told us the plan, but obviously some things had to be changed on the fly,&rdquo; Barlow said. &ldquo;You just learned how to be adaptable and, whatever happens, you just kinda come in and really work on your game and just try to keep getting better every day.&rdquo;
Already, Barlow has set an example for the next wave of OTE players &mdash; such as projected high-first-round picks Amen Thompson and Ausar Thompson &mdash; to follow. It's an accolade to especially to be proud of, and Gomes is beaming over that fact.
&ldquo;I think it brings respectability for us as a program and league for a player like Dom (to accomplish this),&rdquo; Gomes shared. &ldquo;More under the radar, but able to apply the daily routine and have a focus and determination to achieve his goals of getting drafted.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And with the daily regimen that all student-athletes are on, him being first gives everyone &mdash; current and those who will come to OTE in the future &mdash; someone to look at and say to themselves, &lsquo;I can get there too.&rsquo;&rdquo;
OTE gave Barlow his first taste of the resources other prospects might have had long before him. Remember, he was only identified as recently as two-and-a-half years ago before entering this tier of pro prospect. Now that he's got access to the best strength training to help him work on his body and on-court guidance to help him work on his skills, it's going to be a game-changer.
"Dominick has an it-factor about him that, when his story is written a few years from now, it's gonna be that much more amazing," a source who's worked with Barlow in the past told Basketball News. "His basketball IQ and his obsession with basketball is at the highest level &mdash; his ability to take in information and apply it very quickly, his knowledge of the game, the way he studies the NBA and the game and other players. He takes in all the coaching advice. He lives it and breathes it and applies it.
"The fact that he's 6-foot-10 and 19 and still growing, he's only gonna get stronger. He's got great feet. He's got good instincts that are getting better. He could be a poster boy for development long-term."
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Every rookie experiences a classic rite of passage in Year 1 &mdash; the welcome-to-the-NBA moment. Coincidentally, it happened in the same city where he made all that noise in OTE.
&ldquo;When I came down the lane in Atlanta, Clint Capela, he blocked my shot. Pretty crazy,&rdquo; Barlow admitted. &ldquo;I was just like, 'In the NBA, naw. I can't lay the ball up like that here.' So that was definitely a moment where I was like, 'Okay, yeah, this is definitely something different.'"
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Barlow made sure to acknowledge and show appreciation to everybody in the Spurs locker room for their encouragement. He also pointed to well-seasoned big man Gorgui Dieng as one of the players who has taken the young forward under their wings.
&ldquo;One of the veteran leaders in here, he's helped me a lot in game moments,&rdquo; Barlow said. &ldquo;If we have a timeout, just talking real quick, telling me, 'Hey do this,' or 'You're doing well, just keep doing what you're doing.' So it kinda just gives me confidence to keep playing hard and try to help this team win some games.&rdquo;
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That fact that he's an NBA player is still sinking in for Barlow. Growing up in the early-to-mid 2010s, he was glued to the television watching the Spurs and Miami Heat duke it out in the 2014 Finals. That series featured the superstar trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili completely dominating LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the help of a championship breakout performance from Kawhi Leonard.&nbsp;
Popovich was in charge of the team then, and he&rsquo;s in charge of the team now. Knowing that, and how he&rsquo;ll be taking the same lessons that the Spurs' legend taught Hall-of-Famers, Barlow is grateful.
He won&rsquo;t be taking this for granted.
&ldquo;It's definitely kind of a surreal experience knowing that the man who was coaching in those games is now my coach,&rdquo; Barlow said. &ldquo;The organization has faith in me and I want to keep making them feel like they made a smart investment in taking me in and just treating me with respect and demanding good things from me.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I'm hoping to keep living up to those expectations and trying to go past that.&rdquo;

Spencer Davies talks to Spurs two-way rookie Dominick Barlow about his season and being OTE's first NBA representative.

Dominick Barlow proud to be Overtime Elite's NBA trailblazer with Spurs

The Milwaukee Bucks enter the All-Star break as the hottest team in the NBA. They've won 12 straight games despite missing key contributors for parts of the surge, including Khris Middleton, Bobby Portis and, most recently, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
"There&rsquo;s 25, 26, I don&rsquo;t know, 28 games left and (all our players) need to shut it down for a little bit, and then, they also need to come back with some conditioning and ready to work and ready for the stretch run,&rdquo; <a href="&ldquo;There&rsquo;s%2025,%2026,%20I%20don&rsquo;t%20know,%2028%20games%20left%20and%20(all%20our%20players)%20need%20to%20shut%20it%20down%20for%20a%20little%20bit,%20and%20then%20they%20also%20need%20to%20come%20back%20with%20some%20conditioning%20and%20ready%20to%20work%20and%20ready%20for%20the%20stretch%20run,&rdquo;%20Budenholzer%20said%20before%20the%20Bulls%20game.%20&ldquo;Hopefully,%20we&rsquo;ll%20be%20playing%20our%20best%20basketball%20as%20the%20playoffs%20start.&rdquo;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Budenholzer said before Thursday's win against the Chicago Bulls</a> (and before Antetokounmpo injured his wrist). &ldquo;Hopefully, we&rsquo;ll be playing our best basketball as the playoffs start.&rdquo;
It'd be hard to notice the Bucks' injury struggles on the scoreboard though. They still took down Chicago by double digits to cap a perfect run since the surge began on Jan. 23. The All-Star break presents a much-needed window to get healthy, but even in the thick of a race for the Eastern Conference's top seed, Milwaukee is learning that its depth of impact players might be more impressive than most realize.
The Bucks' top-ranked defense is the backbone of its current 41-17 record. Brook Lopez and Jrue Holiday deserve all of the praise for their All-Defense-caliber seasons, and Antetokounmpo still excels in his own right.
Since the streak began though, Milwaukee has catapulted its offense forward. The team's offensive rating was No. 22 in the league (112.9) before the stretch; it ranks eighth (119.8) since, per Cleaning the Glass. Over the past four weeks, when Milwaukee has called on ancillary scorers to step up, they have answered the call.
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The Bucks jack up a ton of threes. They're one of five NBA teams (plus the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz) who attempt more than 40% of their total shots from behind the arc. In the last 12 games, Milwaukee has increased the volume to more than 42 three-point attempts per game, and the shots are collectively falling (37.5%).&nbsp;
Yet, only four players on the team are knocking down above 36% of those tries during the streak&nbsp; Portis' one game notwithstanding): Jevon Carter, Grayson Allen, Pat Connaughton and AJ Green.&nbsp;
Carter deserves a spotlight as perhaps the breakout player of the season for his team. Milwaukee scooped up Carter late last February after he was waived by the Brooklyn Nets, and played him sparingly in the 2022 postseason. This year, the 27-year-old has earned a career-high 22.5 minutes per game and responded with his most impactful pro season, which includes a 41.7% three-point clip that has ballooned to 55.1% during this winning streak.
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Just a couple of clips of Jevon Carter pull up 3&rsquo;s. Figured <a href="https://twitter.com/fmaddenNBA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@fmaddenNBA</a> would get a kick out of it. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fearthedeer?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#fearthedeer</a> <a href="https://t.co/a152ABLpHC">pic.twitter.com/a152ABLpHC</a>
&mdash; Steve Sabbatini (@ssabb05) <a href="https://twitter.com/ssabb05/status/1626337809689636867?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2023</a>
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Carter has been all over the map as a shooter during his career, and he's finally blended volume, efficiency and shot variation together. He's hitting 41.2% of his threes when he needs less than two seconds to generate a shot, per PBP Stats.
More impressively? Carter has attempted 70 self-created threes this year, defined by PBP Stats as a shot that took more than two seconds to generate. Among 83 players who have tried 50 or more such shots this season, Carter's 42.9% shooting percentage ranks fourth behind only Malcolm Brogdon, Steph Curry and Desmond Bane.
That's stunning company to be in for a journeyman player whose calling card has historically been his defense. Milwaukee needs more individual creators; it's one reason Nekias Duncan mentioned Russell Westbrook as a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/exploring-landing-spots-for-russell-wetbrook-nba-trade-deadline-buyout-buy-out-bought-out" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sneaky-interesting buyout option</a> (which I agree with, for the record). Carter is basically the opposite of Westbrook as a creator &mdash; Carter rarely gets to the rim by himself &mdash; but having a perimeter shot-maker with fewer peaks and valleys compared to, say, Holiday, is valuable.
And a quick sidebar on Carter: His defense has still fit right in. The 6-foot-1-inch combo guard is swiping 1.6 steals per 75 possessions, placing him in the 92nd percentile at his position, per BBall Index. He's defending players in BBall Index's highest usage tier on 32% of his possessions (99th percentile) and grading out highly both on tape and in the spreadsheet. Applaud this man.
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Back to the shooting &mdash; Allen, one of two Bucks players to start more than 50 games this season, has drawn ire for an apparent reluctance to bomb away when shooting is primarily why he starts. During the 12-game winning streak, he's increased his three-point volume by about one attempt per game while still converting at an elite rate. It's nothing substantial, but hopefully a sign of progress.
Connaughton, meanwhile, had shaken off a ghastly shooting start prior to missing Thursday's win with a calf injury. The 30-year-old was shooting just 29.6% beyond the arc by the end of 2022. Since the calendar flipped, he's up to 39.4%, including 44.1% during the current streak.
Though he pops in and out of the rotation, Green also deserves a shout-out. The undrafted rookie from Northern Iowa knocked down 5 of 7 triples Thursday night, and has hit half of his threes attempted in the last 12 games despite wild playing time inconsistencies. Green is an unabashed gunner, and microwave movement shooting is a fun skill to have in the reserve.
With these four mostly healthy and cooking, life has become a little easier for Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak is putting up a whopping 34.3 points, 12.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game during the winning streak, even including his early exit against Chicago.
Antetokounmpo has dished out 3.8 three-point assists per game in that span. It's a rate that ranks second only behind Trae Young, and it's a full assist more than his rate prior to Jan. 23.&nbsp;
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The assist to make Giannis the all-time assist leader in Bucks franchise history!! <a href="https://t.co/nI2IsVc6gj">pic.twitter.com/nI2IsVc6gj</a>
&mdash; Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bucks/status/1626386416296132608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2023</a></blockquote>

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It's fitting an assist like this put Antetokounmpo atop the franchise leaderboard. He draws three defenders to him in transition with his downhill force and makes a high-level pass to the corner. With sharpshooters like Carter, Allen, Connaughton and Green around him, Antetokounmpo has options when he drives into traffic. The same goes for Holiday and Middleton.
The Bucks have the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/celtics-remain-nba-championship-favorite-suns-move-to-2ndbest-odds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">third-best odds to win the NBA championship</a> and already deserve their slice of respect in the title conversation. But over the last 12 games, they continue to click offensive puzzle pieces into place even as they battle injuries.
Milwaukee goes from imposing to straight-up dangerous with a supporting cast firing on all cylinders.

Ethan Fuller highlights how the Bucks' scorching perimeter shooting has helped them in their 12-game winning streak.