Mountaineers

The Oklahoma City Thunder&rsquo;s blazing 22-5 start to the season has put them atop in the NBA once again following a 1st seed finish from last year. While Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his MVP campaign is garnering much of the spotlight, a key piece in the Thunder&rsquo;s puzzle has been the unassuming yet impactful Isaiah Hartenstein. Acquired in the offseason to shore up the team&rsquo;s frontcourt, Hartenstein has been a revelation, proving that his addition could be the missing ingredient in the Thunder&rsquo;s Western Conference semifinals loss to the Dallas Mavericks last season and their eventual rise to claim the NBA title.
Last season, Hartenstein was a pivotal part of the New York Knicks&rsquo; run to the Eastern Conference semifinals. His chemistry with Knicks star Jalen Brunson was the highlight of their postseason push with Hartenstein&rsquo;s screening, passing, and hustle plays complementing Brunson&rsquo;s scoring and playmaking. This experience has seamlessly translated to Oklahoma City, where he&rsquo;s brought the same energy and skill set to elevate the Thunder&rsquo;s overall performance this year.
Hartenstein&rsquo;s contributions are essential to the Thunder&rsquo;s success, with several career-highs posted this season. He&rsquo;s currently averaging 12.5 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.0 blocks per game while shooting an efficient 58.2% from the field in 30 minutes played per game &ndash; a career-high. Among centers logging at least 25 minutes per game, Hartenstein&rsquo;s 4.8 screen assists per contest rank in the top five league-wide, highlighting his ability to create opportunities for his teammates.
Defensively, Hartenstein has anchored the Thunder&rsquo;s interior over the past 10 games, holding opponents to just 48.3% shooting within six feet of the basket&mdash;a mark that places him among the top rim protectors in the league. His impact on the defensive end extends beyond shot-blocking; he&rsquo;s a master at positioning, consistently deterring drives and forcing opponents into tough mid-range attempts.
Rebounding has been a glaring issue for the Thunder in recent seasons. Last year, the team ranked 28th in rebounding percentage, often losing the battle on the boards in critical moments. Enter Hartenstein. With his presence in the paint, OKC has vaulted to 12th in rebounding percentage this season, a dramatic improvement that&rsquo;s directly tied to his ability to crash the glass on both ends of the floor.
Hartenstein&rsquo;s offensive rebounding has been particularly valuable. He&rsquo;s averaging 3.2 offensive boards per game, creating numerous second-chance opportunities for the Thunder&rsquo;s perimeter shooters.&nbsp;
What truly sets Hartenstein apart from traditional big men is his playmaking ability. His 3.9 assists per game rank 4th among centers, trailing only Nikola Jokic, Domantas Sabonis, and Bam Adebayo. Hartenstein&rsquo;s high-post passing has added a new dimension to the Thunder&rsquo;s offense, allowing them to exploit mismatches and keep defenses guessing. Whether it&rsquo;s a backdoor cut to Williams or a quick handoff to Gilgeous-Alexander, Hartenstein&rsquo;s decision-making has been instrumental in generating quality looks.
OKC&rsquo;s offense is also benefiting from his uncanny knack for timing and spacing. His ability to set rock-solid screens and quickly dive to the rim has made him a perfect complement to the Thunder&rsquo;s dynamic guards. The synergy between Hartenstein and Gilgeous-Alexander has been particularly noteworthy, with the duo combining for 1.14 points per pick-and-roll possession&mdash;a figure that ranks among the league&rsquo;s elite pairings.
With Chet Holmgren returning from injury, the Thunder now have the potential to field one of the league&rsquo;s most versatile frontcourts. Hartenstein&rsquo;s high basketball IQ, defensive positioning, and playmaking ability make him an ideal partner for Holmgren in two-big lineups.&nbsp;
While Holmgren&rsquo;s shot-blocking and perimeter shooting stretch the floor and protect the rim, Hartenstein&rsquo;s physicality and low-post presence can complement those skills, creating a dynamic interior duo. Additionally, in single-big lineups, the two can alternate seamlessly depending on matchups, with Holmgren&rsquo;s mobility excelling against quicker lineups and Hartenstein&rsquo;s toughness thriving against traditional big men. Together, they provide OKC with flexibility, balance, and depth in their quest for a championship.
As the Thunder continue their push for the top seed in the West, Hartenstein&rsquo;s role will only grow in significance. With marquee matchups against the league&rsquo;s best bigs looming, his defensive prowess and playmaking will be put to the test. His ability to fill gaps on both ends of the floor has given the Thunder a level of balance and consistency they&rsquo;ve lacked in previous seasons.&nbsp;
In a Western Conference brimming with elite big men, Hartenstein has quietly held his own, ensuring that the Thunder remain competitive in the paint every night despite being without Chet Holmgren as of the moment. If his performances thus far are any indication, Hartenstein is more than capable of rising to the occasion.

The OKC Thunder’s blazing 22-5 start to the season has put them atop the West again with the help of acquisition Isaiah Hartenstein.

Isaiah Hartenstein’s impact on the Thunder’s stellar start to the season

Views are the author&rsquo;s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the website.
The 2023-2024 NBA season has wrapped up and the race for the league&rsquo;s annual awards has officially ended. Here&rsquo;s a look at my picks of the NBA's award winners.
Most Improved Player: Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers
(Runner-ups: Coby White, Jalen Johnson)
Notes: In the end, Tyrese Maxey takes the award with the amount of burden and responsibility in a Philadelphia team reeling from the loss of James Harden to become a true No. 2 option behind reigning MVP Joel Embiid. White improved a lot this year, increasing his averages both numbers and his shooting percentages. Johnson, like White, has also increased his usage and averages by a lot, featuring as the third option behind DeJounte Murray and Trae Young, or even as the second option without one of those two. A jumbo playmaking forward, Johnson showed improvements in his playmaking as well as his ability to score and had increased numbers in shooting as well. Ultimately, Maxey wins this award out because he was a guy who increased his usage and his role while playing most of the season without Embiid.
Sixth Man of the Year: Naz Reid, Minnesota Timberwolves
(Runner-ups: Malik Monk, Bobby Portis)
Notes: Naz Reid has been the best player off the bench this season with the way he has been an offensive spark plug for the Timberwolves this season. He&rsquo;s had a phenomenal season, and he had to start and fill in for Karl-Anthony Towns when he went down while still being an efficient scorer as he is. If you factor in all the stuff for these awards, you could actually make a case for Monk, for Portis, maybe even guys like Norman Powell for the Clippers and Bogdan Bogdanovic for the Hawks. But with Minnesota going 56-26 and having the second most wins in franchise history &ndash; ultimately ending up atop the three best teams in the West, this gives a little bit of boost to Naz Reid due to his importance to the team.
Defensive Player of the Year: Rudy Gobert, Minnesota Timberwolves
(Runner-ups: Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Davis; Honorable mention: Bam Adebayo)
Notes: One of the hardest awards to figure out. Minnesota had the best defense in the league for a reason, and based on that Rudy Gobert would be a deserving winner of the award. When he&rsquo;s off the floor, the team does not perform defensively the way it does when Gobert is on the floor. This was hard because Wembanyama had a legitimate case, being the generational defender that he was. Davis also had a strong case with how he carried single-handedly the Lakers&rsquo; defense, while Adebayo had the immense burden of playing all the defensive schemes in Miami. Ultimately, it ended up with Gobert with the way he lifted a good defensive team to the best in the league, manning that paint and being that anchor that holds all of the pieces together.
All-Defensive Team:
1st Team - Rudy Gobert, Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Herb Jones
2nd Team - Derrick White, Jalen Suggs, Jaden McDaniels, Alex Caruso, Jonathan Isaac
Notes: Starting this year, the NBA&rsquo;s All-NBA teams and defensive teams were positionless so I had to cheat a little bit here, putting 4 bigs in the 1st team. Gobert, Wembanyama, Davis, and Adebayo are no-brainers considering their defensive impact for each of their teams, while Jones takes the last spot in the 1st team for his ability to disrupt offenses as well as guarding each team&rsquo;s best player night in and night out for the Pelicans.&nbsp;
The second team features White (most blocks for a guard), Suggs and Isaac (best defensive players for the 4th best defense in the league, helping to lead the Magic back to the playoffs), McDaniels (best wing defender for the best defense in the league), and the perennial all-defense player Caruso who brings it in defensively every game.
Rookie of the Year: Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
(Runner-up: Chet Holmgren)
Notes: Despite Holmgren having far and away the better team success, there&rsquo;s no denying Wembanyama&rsquo;s greatness in his rookie year. The French phenom has transcended the game both figuratively and on the eye test &ndash; he is simply a generational talent who is going to take over the league soon. Holmgren got off to a hot start in the first two months of the season but since January, Wembanyama has locked up the award for himself with out-of-the-world numbers for a rookie. He was dubbed as the best prospect since LeBron James and now he is well on his way to being one of the greatest of all time if he remains healthy after a historic rookie season.
All-Rookie Team:
1st Team - Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren, Brandon Miller, Jaime Jaquez Jr., GG Jackson
2nd Team - Ausar Thompson, Amen Thompson, Keyonte George, Brandin Podziemski, Trayce Jackson-Davis
Notes: There were several names to choose from here, and it felt hard to cut some of them here. Jordan Hawkins of the Pelicans has had a good start to the year when the team had all those injuries paving the way for him to play early into the season but has seen the bench since as NOLA got healthier and players came back; Cason Wallace had such a good shooting year off the bench for the No.1 seeded Thunder despite shooting being labeled by scouts as his biggest weakness coming into the NBA; Dereck Lively II being center that Luka Doncic needed and fit well with by catching all those lobs and helping the Mavs&rsquo; defense this season big time; No.2 overall pick Scoot Henderson had a good close to his rookie year.
All in all, these 10 rookies have felt like the best rookies in terms of production, opportunity, and narratives surrounding them. Of course, Wembanyama and Holmgren are automatic locks; Miller has been the best player in Charlotte without LaMelo Ball and Mark Williams; Jaquez is a vital piece off the bench for Erik Spoelstra&rsquo;s playoff-bound Heat team; and GG Jackson becoming a legit NBA scorer despite being the youngest player in the league to round out the first team.
The Thompson twins have just been defensive monsters ever since stepping foot in the league; George playing point guard at Utah has turned some heads and he has stepped up with the opportunity given to him; while Podziemski and Jackson-Davis have arguably been rotational pieces to the Warriors despite being rookies and has contributed a lot to them finding a way to fit in a complex team.
Coach of the Year: Mark Daigneault, Oklahoma City Thunder
(Runner-ups: Chris Finch, Jamahl Mosley)
Notes: There have been so many good coaches this season that have elevated their teams to good records, say Ime Udoka of the Houston Rockets and Tom Thibodeau from the New York Knicks. But my Coach of the Year pick goes to Mark Daigneault of the OKC Thunder because this award tends to favor the expectations set for a team before the start of the season. The Thunder weren&rsquo;t supposed to be this good this season, but Daigneault catapulted them into one of the best teams not just in the West but the entire NBA. The evidence is written on the wall: No.1 in the West despite being the second youngest team in the league; having a top 5 ranking on both offense and defense and no.2 overall net rating. Finch and Mosley take the runner-up spots with the work they had to lift both the Timberwolves and the Magic to being top 4 seeds in their conferences as well as having top-rated defenses in the league.
Clutch Player of the Year: Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
(Runner-ups: DeMar DeRozan, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)
Notes: Another tough and close race, but ultimately it goes to Curry. Despite the Warriors&rsquo; so-so record, Curry had the most clutch time points, shot 50% from the field, and 46% from three in clutch time. Curry had the most threes than anyone in crunch time &ndash; being just the incredible clutch-time performer that he is &ndash; and always been.
All-NBA Team:
1st Team - Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum
2nd Team - Jalen Brunson, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards, LeBron James
3rd Team - Stephen Curry, Domantas Sabonis, Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker, Tyrese Haliburton
Notes: With Jalen Brunson carrying the Knicks to a second seed in the East playing without Julius Randle since January, it was incredibly hard to leave him off the 1st team. However, by the slightest of margins, I gave the nod to Tatum for being the best player on the best team in the league by a wide margin.
All the other picks were pretty explanatory, with the top 4 in the MVP race in Jokic, Doncic, SGA, and Giannis all expected to be first-teamers. The second team kind of got tougher besides Brunson, with legends Durant and James making the list because of the seasons they had leading their team as well as playing their most regular season game in years. Rounding out the second team were Edwards and Davis, two stars with the biggest impacts on their teams in the tough Western Conference.
The third team is actually a toss-up with a lot of good cases from the league all around, but ultimately I went with Curry, Sabonis, Leonard, Booker, and Haliburton.
Most Valuable Player: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander&nbsp;
(Runners-up: Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic; Honorable mention: Giannis Antetokounmpo)
Perhaps the closest race out of all the awards, all three players here are each deserving with their narratives and the numbers that support each of their cases. You can never go wrong picking one over the other, so it came down to personal opinion on who I thought had the strongest case this season. His case?
-Leading the second youngest team in the league to No.1 in the West
-3-1 series vs Denver
-3-1 series vs Dallas
-First player since Steph and MJ to average 30/5/5 in a season with 2+ steals
-Second in defensive net rating for guards
One could make the argument for Nikola Jokic being the best player in the world having better numbers than his two MVP seasons while Luka Doncic had one of the best seasons statistically in all facets of the game, but there&rsquo;s no denying SGA&rsquo;s strong case as well given the expectations for this young Thunder team.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is my MVP.

The 2023-2024 NBA season has wrapped up and the race for the league’s annual awards has officially ended.

OPINION: Picking the 2023-2024 NBA Awards winners

After months of scrolling through countless Damian Lillard trade rumors, the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/bucks-shock-nba-world-by-acquiring-damian-lillard-in-blockbuster-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news finally broke</a> on Wednesday afternoon that the Portland Trail Blazers' long-time franchise cornerstone was headed to the Milwaukee Bucks. In one of the more surprising blockbuster trades in recent memory, the seven-time All-Star guard will pair with Giannis Antetokounmpo to form one of the best duos in the league.&nbsp;
Now, the new big fish in the trade market is none other than the player Lillard was dealt for: Jrue Holiday. The Blazers' return featured Holiday, former No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton, Phoenix Suns second-rounder Toumani Camara, an unprotected Bucks 2029 first-rounder, and 2028 and 2030 first-round pick swaps from Milwaukee. The circumstances of Lillard&rsquo;s trade request and his desire to be dealt specifically to the Miami Heat dampened his trade value, but the Blazers were able to come away with a &ldquo;palatable&rdquo; return.
 However, Holiday is unlikely to stay in Portland for long as he does not fit their rebuilding timeline around core players Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe. <a href="https://twitter.com/BobbyMarks42/status/1707100851880259810" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN&rsquo;s Bobby Marks</a> graded Portland&rsquo;s trade return as &ldquo;incomplete&rdquo; pending the potential assets the team receives for Holiday when they flip him.
Many contending teams are reportedly rushing to the phones to make moves in reaction to the Lillard blockbuster, with several expressing serious interest in Holiday. These possible suitors include the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers and Heat. Teams must factor in Holiday's potential free agency next summer and the possibility of signing him to a long-term extension, which he becomes eligible for on Feb. 22. Perhaps the Blazers will have some urgency to deal Holiday prior to Media Day on Oct. 2 in order to avoid questions and logistics about bringing him in for training camp.&nbsp;
For any team over the luxury-tax apron ($171,294,000) to trade for Holiday, they need to trade away at least $33,175,536 (90% of Holiday&rsquo;s 2023-24 salary) in salaries in order to legally execute a trade. The rest of the league will only need to send out $27,646,280 (75% of Holiday&rsquo;s 2023-24 salary) in order to make a deal.&nbsp;
Another important CBA note with any Holiday trade is that his $36,861,707 salary cannot be aggregated with other contracts for two months. While Holiday is still eligible to be immediately rerouted elsewhere, he cannot be traded with other players. For example, just a few months back, Chris Paul was traded to the Washington Wizards and then quickly rerouted in a separate deal to Golden State. Because Paul was the only salary going back to the Warriors, he was legally allowed to be traded. This must be taken into consideration when proposing potential trade ideas.
With Holiday potentially on the move in the coming days, let&rsquo;s take a look at some potential deals for the 33-year-old.
Realistic Trade Destinations
BOSTON CELTICS
Celtics receive: Jrue Holiday
Trail Blazers receive: Malcolm Brogdon, Al Horford, Dalano Banton (salary guarantee increased to $1,009,853 to satisfy trade rules), 2024 GSW top-4 protected first-round pick, 2025 BOS first-round pick, 2026 BOS first-round pick swap, 2024 CHI/DAL/NO (most favorable) second-round pick, 2026 MIN/NO/NYK/POR (most favorable) second-round pick
By trading away Marcus Smart this summer, the Celtics lost the key cog to their juggernaut defense. Despite not having a Defensive Player of the Year award, Holiday would probably serve as an upgrade to Smart on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, helping the Celtics compete against the new-look Bucks in the East. If they wish to enter the Holiday sweepstakes, they would need to trade Malcolm Brogdon ($22,500,000), whom they were close to dealing to the Clippers in July. Along with Brogdon, they would have to sacrifice either Al Horford ($10,000,000) or Robert Williams III ($11,571,429) to make the salaries work. They have all of their own draft picks to trade as well as the Golden State Warriors' pick in 2024, which they got from the Smart trade.
MIAMI HEAT
Heat receive: Jrue Holiday
Trail Blazers receive: Kyle Lowry, Nikola Jovic, Haywood Highsmith, 2027 MIA first-round pick, 2029 MIA top-14 protected first-round pick, 2028 MIA first-round pick swap, 2024 MIA top-50 protected second-round pick, 2026 LAL second-round pick, 2027 HOU/IND/MIA/OKC/SA (least favorable) second-round pick
Missing out once again in their pursuit of a star third option to pair with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, Miami could use an upgrade like Holiday to their seemingly incomplete roster. Holiday would provide a must-needed scoring punch and would fit seamlessly in Miami&rsquo;s hard-working culture. While their Lillard trade package was highlighted by Tyler Herro, they likely wouldn&rsquo;t use him in any trade for Holiday. Their salary going out in a deal would come from Kyle Lowry&rsquo;s expiring salary ($29,682,540) and some combination of younger players like Jaime Jaquez Jr. ($3,510,533), Nikola Jovic ($2,352,000) and Haywood Highsmith ($1,902,137). While they are somewhat restricted in terms of draft assets, they can offer up to three first-round picks if they amend their 2025 first-round pick they owe the Oklahoma City Thunder. They have three second-rounders to offer as well.&nbsp;
NEW YORK KNICKS
Knicks receive: Jrue Holiday
Trail Blazers receive: RJ Barrett, Reggie Bullock, Khem Birch, 2024 DAL top-10 protected first-round pick, 2024 DET top-18 protected first-round pick, 2024 WAS top-12 protected first-round pick
Spurs receive: Evan Fournier, 2026 MEM top-42 protected second-round pick, 2027 NO/POR (less favorable) second-round pick
The Knicks may be holding out for when the next superstar &ndash; i.e. Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell or Giannis Antetokounmpo (although maybe not anymore?) &ndash; asks for a trade. While New York may be focused on further down the line, acquiring a player like Holiday could allow them to boost their roster right now without giving up enough capital to harm their future superstar pursuits. A Knicks trade that would not harm their trove of draft assets would have to send out RJ Barrett ($23,883,929), who potentially fits Portland&rsquo;s rebuilding timeline. Jrue could line up as the team&rsquo;s starting shooting guard alongside Jalen Brunson, while Josh Hart would play more minutes at small forward to mitigate the loss of Barrett. Evan Fournier&rsquo;s large salary ($18,857,143) would also have to be in any deal for the Knicks to take in Holiday. Portland wouldn&rsquo;t want to acquire both Fournier and Barrett as that would push them over the luxury tax, therefore they would likely route Fournier to another team (like San Antonio).
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
Clippers receive: Jrue Holiday
Trail Blazers receive: Marcus Morris Sr., Robert Covington, Amir Coffey, Jason Preston (salary fully guaranteed), 2028 LAC first-round pick, 2030 LAC first-round pick, 2029 LAC first-round pick swap
The Clippers may have been given an olive branch with a player like Jrue Holiday becoming available, as he's an impact player at a price they can afford. It also provides an alternative for the Clippers to land a third star while avoiding the potential drama/issues that could come with acquiring a player like James Harden. The Clippers have a lot of high-salary veterans they could use to get to Holiday&rsquo;s number like Norman Powell ($18,000,000), Marcus Morris Sr. ($17,116,279), Nicolas Batum ($11,710,818) and Robert Covington ($11,692,308). They would probably like to keep Terance Mann, who they seem to not want to include in a potential Harden trade, although his $10,576,923 could be useful. Portland could view their unprotected picks in 2028 and 2030 as some of the best draft assets they could receive due to their aging stars and lack of postseason success.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
76ers receive: Jrue Holiday
Clippers receive: James Harden, 2024 NYK second-round pick, 2029 PHI second-round pick, 2030 PHI second-round pick
Trail Blazers receive: Marcus Morris Sr., Robert Covington, Amir Coffey, Jason Preston (salary fully guaranteed to satisfy trade rules), 2028 LAC first-round pick, 2029 PHI first-round pick, 2029 LAC first-round pick swap
Amidst the James Harden debacle, Daryl Morey has remained steadfast in getting a formidable return if they choose to trade the disgruntled All-Star. A reunion with Jrue Holiday, who played in Philadelphia from 2009 to 2013, certainly should get Morey and the Sixers' attention. Holiday would certainly upgrade their defense while being a good support and influence on Tyrese Maxey. The Trail Blazers would have little interest in taking a direct package from Philadelphia, which would almost certainly be headlined by Harden ($35,640,000). Harden's desired destination, the Clippers, should still be interested in acquiring him, but may be more interested in trading for Holiday directly. Portland would likely get a similar package to what they would receive if they traded directly with the Clippers, potentially leaving Philadelphia out to dry. The Sixers would have to incentivize the Clippers by trading some draft capital to take Harden instead of Holiday.
Honorable Mentions
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
The Warriors are a logical Holiday destination in terms of fit and trade assets. A trade package would have to send the newly acquired Chris Paul back to Portland or a third team along with a young player like Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody or Brandin Podziemski, plus a draft pick. Given that coach Steve Kerr has talked all summer about bringing Paul into the fold, it would be pretty surprising if the team pivoted from the future Hall-of-Famer just before training camp. If the Warriors do choose to jump in the Holiday waters, they could quickly move to the front of the line.&nbsp;
TORONTO RAPTORS
Toronto was considered the favorite to acquire Lillard at one point, with a package that was likely headlined by OG Anunoby and draft assets. In order to acquire Holiday, they would need to use a similar package, albeit with less draft capital involved. It seems as though the Raptors were being coy about potentially dealing Anunoby for Lillard, according to <a href="https://torontosun.com/sports/basketball/nba/toronto-raptors/options-for-raptors-with-damian-lillard-trade-dream-done" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun</a>. If Masai Ujiri was unwilling to include Anunoby in trade discussions before, it&rsquo;s unlikely he will do so for a player like Holiday.&nbsp;
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
Holiday would be a near perfect fit alongside Anthony Edwards in the Wolves' backcourt and would greatly improve their defense. However, Minnesota simply doesn&rsquo;t have the right salaries or draft assets to realistically get to Holiday&rsquo;s number unless they are willing to part ways with Karl-Anthony Towns. Even if Tim Connelly was willing to deal Towns for Holiday, the trade may not be what Portland is looking for with the 2015 No. 1 overall pick&rsquo;s five-year supermax extension beginning next season. The idea of paying supermax money to Towns will likely be a turn off for Blazers GM Joe Cronin.
ORLANDO MAGIC
Orlando is probably the most fun dark-horse destination for Jrue. While Markelle Fultz has been a suitable lead guard when healthy, Holiday would bring a championship-level veteran presence that could be useful for Orlando&rsquo;s young squad. The question with the Magic is whether they would actually pursue a deal that would accelerate their timeline with Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, as well as whether they would part with draft capital that they could potentially use down the line in future trades.

With the Blazers looking to flip Jrue Holiday, Blake Stern breaks down several teams that make sense as a trade suitor.

NBA trade rumors: Examining potential destinations for Jrue Holiday

Today, the NBA and FIBA announced 80 of the top high-school-age prospects from across Africa who will participate in the 19th edition of Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Africa, which will be held July 28-31 at the American International School of Johannesburg (AISJ) in South Africa.
BWB Africa 2023 will bring together 80 boys and girls from more than 25 African countries &ndash; including 19 NBA Academy Africa and NBA Academy Women&rsquo;s Camp Africa 2022 prospects &ndash; to learn directly from current and former NBA, WNBA and FIBA players, legends and coaches and compete alongside their peers from across the continent.&nbsp;
The campers will be coached by two-time NBA All-Star Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat; U.S.; ties to Nigeria), 2022 NBA All-Star Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers; U.S.), 2022 NBA champion Jonathan Kuminga (Golden State Warriors; Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Jalen Suggs (Orlando Magic; U.S.).
Five current and former NBA head coaches will also serve as BWB Africa 2023 coaches: Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff; two-time NBA Coach of the Year, Nigeria Men&rsquo;s National Team head coach and Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown; 2018 NBA Coach of the Year Dwane Casey (most recently with the Detroit Pistons); Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham; and veteran NBA coach Dave Joerger (most recently with the Philadelphia 76ers).
Several former NBA and WNBA players will also serve as BWB Africa 2023 coaches, including 2015 FIBA AfroBasket champion Olumide Oyedeji (Nigeria), 2011 NBA champion Ian Mahinmi (France; ties Benin), former NBA player and Basketball Africa League Head of League Operations Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje (Cameroon), former NBA player Tacko Fall (Senegal), 2003 WNBA champion Astou Ndiaye (Senegal), two-time WNBA champion Taj McWilliams-Franklin, four-time WNBA champion Sheryl Swoopes and Mozambique basketball legend Clarisse Machanguana.&nbsp;
Toronto Raptors Vice-Chairman, Team President and Alternate NBA Governor Masai Ujiri; New Orleans Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin; and Portland Trail Blazers Assistant General Manager Mike Schmitz will serve as camp directors, while David Crewe and Frank Adams (Phoenix Suns) will serve as the camp&rsquo;s athletic trainers.
The players and coaches will lead the campers through a variety of activities, including movement efficiency drills, offensive and defensive skill stations, three-point contests, 5-on-5 games, and life skills and leadership development sessions.&nbsp;&nbsp;A ceremony on the final day of the camp will award the Kim Bohuny Camp MVP, the Patrick Baumann Sportsmanship Award, the B.J. Johnson Most Improved Player Award, the Three-Point Champion and the Defensive MVP to the boys and girls who distinguish themselves on the court and as leaders.
As part of the camp, NBA players and coaches will also participate in several community outreach initiatives around Johannesburg, including a hospital visit and a Her Time to Play seminar for the female campers on July 28, and a court unveiling in the Alexandra Township on Saturday, July 29.&nbsp; In addition, BWB Africa 2023 coaches will lead a development clinic for local coaches at AISJ on July 30.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Also on July 29, select&nbsp;NBA players&nbsp;will visit the NBA Store at Sandton City Mall in Johannesburg and engage with fans.
BWB Africa 2023 will be supported by Nike, a global partner of BWB since 2002, which will outfit participants with Nike apparel and footwear, and Gatorade, which will keep players and coaches hydrated throughout the camp.
BWB has reached more than 4,100 participants from 136 countries and territories since 2001, with 112 former campers advancing to the NBA or WNBA.&nbsp; The NBA and FIBA have staged 70 BWB camps in 47 cities across 32 countries on six continents.
The following is a complete list of players participating in the 19th&nbsp;BWB Africa camp (rosters subject to change):
&nbsp;
<table style="width: 447px;" width="447">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 403px;" colspan="2">
GIRLS
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Name
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Country
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Ines Bellahmer
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Algeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Filomena Luis
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Angola
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Guigma Sadia
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Burkina Faso
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Gisele Kipo*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Cameroon
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Hannah Dibadjou
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Cameroon
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Salma Khedr*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Egypt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Leila El Sanadily
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Egypt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Aisha Hassan
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Egypt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Lucie Mounganga
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Gabon
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Fatoumata Sylla
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Guinea
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Roseline Ooko
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Kenya
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Harena Randriamasimanana
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Madagascar
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Fitahiana Ratsimason
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Madagascar
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Joanie Rakotonanahary
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Madagascar
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Fatoumata Samake*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Mali
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Oumou Soumare
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Mali
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Aya El Kallali*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Morocco
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Albertina Matsinhe*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Mozambique
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Bata Lurdes*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Mozambique
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Shanaya Matusse*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Mozambique
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Joy Biribebe
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Nigeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Benitha Ngarambe
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Rwanda
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Jane Dusabe
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Rwanda
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Fatou Sima
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Marie Diouf
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Ndickou Matar Diop*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Tacko Sy
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Sheriffa Rahman
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Sierra Leone
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Onnetse Molokwame
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
South Africa
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Luhle Ndaba
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
South Africa
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Reneilwe Motebele
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
South Africa
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Susan Peter
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
South Sudan
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Asunta Ring
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
South Sudan
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Nawasa Lazaro
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Tanzania
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Ibouanga Moussounda
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Togo
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Arwa Ghorbel*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Tunisia
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Eya Nasri
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Tunisia
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Afef Bengoula
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Tunisia
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Christine Namyalo
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Uganda
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Immaculate Adongpiny
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Uganda
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
*Participated in NBA Academy Women&rsquo;s Camp Africa 2022
&nbsp;
<table width="447">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 418.75px;" colspan="2" width="447">
BOYS
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Name
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Country
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Aginaldo Neto*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Angola
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Manuel Camboma*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Angola
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Inacio Anatoli Da Silva
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Angola
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Claudino Capangaa
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Angola
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Sansao Wika
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Angola
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Philippe Ntungicimpaye
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Burundi
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Arnold Eyadi Kenfack
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Cameroon
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Hermann Bel Gassina
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Cameroon
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Chris Naguidebe
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Central African Republic
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Tahir Doungous*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Chad
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Zie Cheikh Conde
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Tarek Khairy
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Egypt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Ahmed Nedale
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Egypt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Karim El Gizawi
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Egypt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Courage Agbekpornu
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Ghana
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Kiggundu Austin Omondi
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Kenya
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Chouhaybou Keita
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Mali
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Mahamadou Konate
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Mali
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Hamza Bechchar
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Morocco
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Bolaji Oderinlo
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Nigeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Sultan Baruwa
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Nigeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Ibrahim Dan-Mutum
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Nigeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Jonah Precious
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Nigeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Ezekiel Obe*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Nigeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Andre Bonazebi
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Republic of Congo
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Jude Fred Nkouka Silaho
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Republic of Congo
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Khadim Mboup*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Assane Mandian*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Yakhya Diop*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Amar Diop*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Mouhamed Camara
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Siyanda Radebe
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
South Africa
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Gilchrist Storm
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
South Africa
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Khaman Maluach*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
South Sudan
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Moses Marial Mandiria
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
South Sudan
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Bol Wieu Mou Thet
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
South Sudan
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Lual Deng Lual Aguek
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
South Sudan
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Rayen Rouissi
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Tunisia
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Amen Hammi
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Tunisia
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Liberty Fusire*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Zimbabwe
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
*NBA Academy Africa prospect

Bam Adebayo, Darius Garland, Jonathan Kuminga and Jalen Suggs will coach 80 top high-school-age prospects from across Africa.

Adebayo, Garland, Kuminga, Suggs to coach prospects at BWB Africa 2023

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Gabe Vincent scored a career-high 29 points, Duncan Robinson added 22 and the eighth-seeded Miami Heat moved one win from the NBA Finals after rolling past the Boston Celtics 128-102 on Sunday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference title series.
Caleb Martin scored 18, Jimmy Butler finished with 16, Bam Adebayo had 13 and Max Strus added 10 for Miami, which leads the series 3-0. Every team in NBA history that has won the first three games of a best-of-seven has ultimately prevailed; the Heat are 8-0 in that situation.
Jayson Tatum scored 14 and Jaylen Brown added 12 for the Celtics, who won three times on Miami&rsquo;s floor on the way to winning last season&rsquo;s Eastern Conference finals &mdash; but simply never had a chance in this one and basically emptied the bench for the fourth quarter.
Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard each had 12 for Boston. Game 4 is Tuesday in Miami.
The NBA Finals start June 1, and the way things are going, that might mean the league is about to go a few days without games. The Western Conference finals could end Monday; Denver leads that series against the Los Angeles Lakers 3-0. And now, the East finals could end Tuesday.
There&rsquo;s never been a season where both conference finals ended in sweeps; it happened in 1957 in the division finals immediately preceding the title series, when Boston beat Syracuse 3-0 and St. Louis beat Minneapolis 3-0.
Of all the 3-0 series leads in NBA history, this one might be the most unexpected &mdash; a No. 8 seed in the Heat, a team that struggled just to get into the playoffs, a team that was less than 3 minutes away from being eliminated in the play-in tournament, getting past top-seeded Milwaukee in five games, then fifth-seeded New York in six, and now on the brink of denying the No. 2-seeded Celtics a second consecutive East crown.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Gabe Vincent TOOK OVER Game 3! 🔥 29 points (playoff career high) 🔥 6 threes (playoff career high) 🔥 11-14 shooting MIA can clinch Finals berth Tuesday on TNT <a href="https://t.co/iBylN4kBlf">pic.twitter.com/iBylN4kBlf</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1660480494578835456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2023</a></blockquote>

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

<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/naveenganglani/status/1660465686827917312?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">And the Heat let Boston know</a>&nbsp;how much they were enjoying this one.
Mindful that Boston&rsquo;s Al Horford directed a timeout signal toward the Miami bench during Game 1 when the Celtics were on a second-quarter spurt to build a comfortable lead, Butler did the same to Horford as the Heat were running away in the third quarter of Game 3.
Besides, the Heat rallied to win Game 1 anyway. There was no rally required in Game 3 by the Heat. There was barely one attempted by the Celtics, for that matter.
Boston got within 61-49 when Marcus Smart had a three-point play on the opening possession of the second half. The rest was all Miami, which immediately answered with a 28-7 run to open a 33-point lead at 89-56, which had the building rolling. The lead was so big, and there was so much time left, that the sellout crowd of 20,088 actually was subdued a bit by the time it was over.
They might have been yelled-out. Or maybe they were saving it for hockey on Monday night, when the Florida Panthers &mdash; another No. 8 seed on a magical playoff run in South Florida &mdash; will try to take a 3-0 lead in their East finals series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
TIP-INS
Celtics: Robert Williams made his first shot, meaning he made 12 straight to start the series. He missed his second attempt. &hellip; The Heat encourage fans to wear white to playoff games, and Tatum also arrived in an all-white suit. &hellip; Smart appeared to throw a punch in the third quarter, but missed and after review referees determined he did not deserve a flagrant foul or a technical (which would have been his second of the night).
Heat: Robinson made five 3-pointers and now has 124 in his Heat postseason career, passing LeBron James (123) for the most in Miami history. ... Butler&rsquo;s steal with 7:17 left in the first quarter was the 2,000th in Heat postseason history. &hellip; Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, at the game as part of the TNT broadcast crew, greeted former teammate (and now Heat executive) Alonzo Mourning and got a long ovation when introduced during a second-quarter time out. ... Vincent&rsquo;s previous career best was 28, set in a Jan. 12 win over Milwaukee.
CONFUSED DOLPHINS?
Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, a regular at Heat games this season, tried to get the pregame crowd going by waving one of the giveaway towels. Dolphins defensive lineman Christian Wilkins was at the game &mdash; wearing green shoes on a night Miami was playing the Celtics, though it should be noted he was born in Massachusetts.
LOVE HURT
Miami&rsquo;s Kevin Love checked out 4:47 into the game after what the Heat said was an undisclosed ankle injury. He went to the Heat locker room for evaluation, returned to the bench area later in the first half, and started the second half.
QUOTABLE
&ldquo;The lack of mental toughness. It&rsquo;s embarrassing &hellip; that was an embarrassment for the Celtics.&rdquo; &mdash; TNT&rsquo;s Charles Barkley at halftime, with Boston trailing 61-46 and after being down by as many as 22 points.

The Miami Heat moved one win from the NBA Finals after rolling past the Boston Celtics 128-102 on Sunday night.

Heat roll past Celtics 128-102, take 3-0 lead in Conference Finals

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra walked into the postgame interview room, a cup of a celebratory beverage in his hand, took a seat and began explaining how difficult the journey has been for Heat.
The regular season was a struggle. They needed to survive the play-in. They were three minutes away from going home before the playoffs even started, needing a rally just to earn the right to play top-seeded Milwaukee.
All forgotten. They&rsquo;re in the NBA&rsquo;s final four &mdash; getting there as a No. 8 seed.
Jimmy Butler scored 24 points, Bam Adebayo added 23 and the Heat are headed back to the Eastern Conference finals after topping the New York Knicks 96-92 in Game 6 on Friday night.
&ldquo;It is really frickin&rsquo; hard to get to the Eastern Conference finals,&rdquo; Spoelstra said.
Maybe for some franchises. Not for Miami. The Heat are headed there for the 10th time overall, the seventh time in the last 13 years and the third time in the past four seasons. They&rsquo;ll play Game 1 at either Boston or Philadelphia on Wednesday; those teams will decide their East semifinal series Sunday.
Max Strus scored 14 points and Kyle Lowry had 11 points and nine assists for the Heat. They&rsquo;re the second No. 8 seed in NBA history to make the conference finals &mdash; joining the Knicks, who pulled it off in 1999.
Jalen Brunson was spectacular for New York, scoring 41 points on 14-for-22 shooting. But his teammates combined for only 51 points &mdash; Julius Randle had 15 and RJ Barrett 11 on 1-for-10 shooting. Josh Hart also had 11 points for the Knicks.
&ldquo;Congratulations to the Heat, to the organization, to the coaching staff, Spo and Pat Riley and all their players,&rdquo; Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. &ldquo;They played tough in this series and hats off to them. But I&rsquo;m proud of our guys. There&rsquo;s always disappointment in the end of the season and in the end, there&rsquo;ll be one team standing. ... Proud of the way this team worked all year.&rdquo;
It was dicey at the end, but Miami survived. Gabe Vincent was called for a flagrant-1 against Brunson with just under a minute left, starting a run where the Knicks scored four points in 4.6 seconds.
Brunson made the free throws, Hart added a layup and a 92-86 lead was down to 92-90.
The Knicks got a stop at the other end, but never got a shot off on the next possession. Lowry knocked the ball away for a steal, Butler made two free throws with 14.4 seconds left and the countdown back to the conference finals was on.
&ldquo;It was a battle,&rdquo; Lowry said. &ldquo;A Tom Thibodeau-coached team, they&rsquo;re always going to play hard. ... This was a grind and we found a way.&rdquo;
Miami was whistled for four fouls in the first 2:15 of the fourth quarter, setting the tone for New York to keep getting to the line throughout the final period.
The Knicks tied it early in the third, but missed 10 other field-goal attempts in the second half &mdash; along with two free throws &mdash; that would have pulled New York into a tie or given it the lead.
Brunson had 22 points in the first half, tying his third-most before intermission in any game this season &ndash; and his most ever by halftime of a playoff game. He had 15 in the first quarter when the Knicks came out flying to grab early control.
New York led 14 in the opening quarter, and Miami never led by more than two in the first 24 minutes. But it was Miami with the lead at the half, going up 51-50 by the break in large part because it finally kept New York off the line.
The Knicks made 11 free throws in the first quarter &mdash; the most by any Heat opponent this season and tying the fourth-most against Miami in an opening period over the last decade. But they didn&rsquo;t even get to the line in the final 15:16 of the half.
The score to that point: Knicks 29, Heat 17. The score over the rest of the half: Heat 34, Knicks 21. And the lead never changed hands again.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got guys that just want it,&rdquo; Lowry said.
TIP-INS
Knicks: Brunson and Quentin Grimes played all 48 minutes of Game 5, but that was quickly off the table in Game 6. Grimes sat for 6:41 of the opening half, Brunson for 2:44, though some of that was because he got his third foul with 37.6 seconds left. &hellip; Immanuel Quickley (sprained left ankle) missed his third consecutive game. &hellip; New York finished 53-40, its best record in a season since going 60-34 in 2012-13.
Heat: Victor Oladipo was at the game, on crutches and braced after surgery to repair his torn patellar tendon. &hellip; The Heat had three starters (Vincent, Strus and Butler) all shorter than the Miami Marlins&rsquo; starting pitcher a couple miles away &mdash; rookie Eury Perez, who made his big-league debut, is 6-foot-8. &hellip; Miami had 3-point tries as time expired in each of the first three quarters. They all missed.
CELEB WATCH
Among those at the game: Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel &mdash; even on a rookie minicamp weekend for his team &ndash; and Dallas (and former Knicks) guard Tim Hardaway Jr., whose father&rsquo;s jersey is among those retired by the Heat.

Jimmy Butler scored 24 points, Bam Adebayo added 23 and the Heat are headed back to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Heat top Knicks 96-92 in Game 6, advance to Conference Finals

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Miami and New York are&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/jimmy-butler-heat-nba-playoffs-f2f75023171cd047bb8cae29d791c9c1">wondering who will be able to play.</a>&nbsp;Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers are wondering which team will land the next punch.
A pair of Game 3s await as the NBA&rsquo;s conference semifinals continue Saturday &mdash; the fifth-seeded Knicks visit the eighth-seeded Heat in the East, while the sixth-seeded Warriors visit the seventh-seeded Lakers in the West. Both series are tied 1-1.
Both have followed the same script: The road teams won Game 1, those victories going&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/heat-knicks-butler-nba-playoffs-2023-f4474b8a32678b93fef1c3c90da8d449">to Miami</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/lakers-warriors-lebron-curry-davis-playoffs-69d7ad92747c3a86640d06dbbf5fe517">the Lakers,</a>&nbsp;while the home teams won Game 2 to even the series. The&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/knicks-heat-brunson-butler-randle-playoffs-25c2da5fef30890bfae60fcd309ed7b7">Knicks squeaked theirs out 111-105;</a>&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/lakers-warriors-playoffs-591ee82b1104266a28d7d47a9914ae16">Warriors rolled 127-100.</a>
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be better,&rdquo; Lakers big man Anthony Davis said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be better.&rdquo;
In Miami, all eyes are on Jimmy Butler and his sprained right ankle. It kept him out of Game 2 on Tuesday, and there is some optimism he can play Saturday. Butler took to social media to show that he was putting himself through a shooting workout Thursday night.
&ldquo;Our guys love to compete, any place, anywhere, against any team,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;We have the three days off in between. It definitely helps, or at least in theory helps us gear up. But if we could have played this game (Thursday), our guys would have loved that as well.&rdquo;
The Knicks have enjoyed road success all season. Including playoffs, they&rsquo;re 26-18 away from Madison Square Garden this season &mdash; only Philadelphia (28-17), Boston (27-17) and Milwaukee (26-17) have been better. Sacramento was also 26-18 away from home.
It&rsquo;s New York&rsquo;s best road record since 1996-97, the fourth-best road mark in franchise history and a huge jump from their .306 road winning percentage over the last eight seasons before this one.
&ldquo;When you go on the road, there&rsquo;s less distractions,&rdquo; Knicks guard Josh Hart said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not worried about family, tickets, where you&rsquo;re going to eat after the game, you have nothing, only basketball.&rdquo;
Golden State has struggled on the road all season; the Warriors&rsquo; 13-32 record away from home is better than that of only three teams&rsquo; &mdash; Detroit, Houston and San Antonio, the franchises that finished at the bottom of the NBA and have the best chance at winning the lottery and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-nba-draft-spurs-ee1a9bd2232173666d3302bb491c7c5c">right to draft French phenom Victor Wembanyama.</a>
But the Warriors won two road playoff games against the Kings in Round 1 and now will try to win another in Los Angeles.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a whole lot tougher, Game 3 in LA,&rdquo; Warriors guard Stephen Curry said after Game 2. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big morale boost to give ourselves life and belief that our game can carry on the road. So, I&rsquo;m excited about the opportunity and the challenge ahead.&rdquo;
This will be the fifth time the Lakers go into Game 3 of a series tied at 1-1 since LeBron James went to Los Angeles.
In those previous Game 3s, they&rsquo;re 4-0.
&ldquo;Give credit where credit&rsquo;s due. They played exceptionally well and we didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; James said after Game 2. &ldquo;The series is tied 1-1, so that&rsquo;s where we&rsquo;re at.&rdquo;
KNICKS AT HEAT
Series tied 1-1. Game 3, 3:30 p.m. EDT, Saturday, ABC
&mdash; NEED TO KNOW: A three-day break with no games is likely what the doctors (and athletic trainers, massage therapists and everyone else involved in player health for both teams) ordered. Miami got Game 1, New York got Game 2 and the crowd in Miami tends to not be overwhelmingly pro-Heat when the Knicks are in town. There are many transplants from New York in South Florida, and they&rsquo;ll let their presence be known Saturday.
&mdash; KEEP AN EYE ON: Bam Adebayo. Miami&rsquo;s center blamed himself for the Game 2 loss, has struggled from the field by shooting only 43% over his last five games and knows that the Heat need more. If he gets going early, everything else tends to open up for Miami&rsquo;s shooters and slashers.
&mdash; INJURY WATCH:&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/oladipo-injury-heat-nba-playoffs-d5d7cec8f9a875de139be68e9bb3a538">Victor Oladipo&rsquo;s season is over</a>&nbsp;and Tyler Herro is still weeks away from any hope of a return for Miami, which is waiting to see if Butler (ankle) can play and Max Strus has any ill effects from his bruised back in Game 2. For the Knicks, Jalen Brunson was playing on a bad ankle in Game 2, and Julius Randle came back from an ankle sprain.
&mdash; PRESSURE IS ON: Miami. The Heat did what they were supposed to do at MSG, getting a split and taking home-court advantage. If they let it go in Game 3, it&rsquo;ll be quite an emotional boost for the Knicks.
WARRIORS AT LAKERS
Series tied 1-1. Game 3, 8:30 p.m. EDT, Saturday, ABC
&mdash; NEED TO KNOW: The Warriors have won at least one road game in each of their last 28 playoff series, the longest streak in NBA history. They know they&rsquo;ve got to win at least one in Los Angeles during this series to keep alive their hopes of a fifth title in nine years.
&mdash; KEEP AN EYE ON: The foul line, especially the one that the Lakers happen to be shooting from in each half. Game 2 was the 225th time in their four seasons together that the Lakers got more than 37:00 of action from James and/or Davis, and the first such game where they combined to shoot no more than one free throw. They shot one in a combined 61:02 of Game 2.
&mdash; INJURY WATCH: Golden State&rsquo;s Kevon Looney was dealing with an illness in Game 2, but other than all the aches and pains that accompany basketball this late in a season, the Warriors and Lakers both seem OK on the health front.
&mdash; PRESSURE IS ON: The Lakers. Golden State outscored LA 84-47 in the middle two quarters of Game 2. The defending champs are still powderkeg-level explosive, and if they get a second straight win in this series, they&rsquo;ll become even more dangerous.

A pair of Game 3s await as the NBA’s conference semifinals continue Saturday, with Heat-Knicks and Lakers-Warriors both tied at 1-1.

Heat, Lakers head home, seek 2-1 leads over Knicks, Warriors

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Back when the New York Knicks and Miami Heat were meeting every year in the postseason, nobody had the kind of series&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/jimmy-butler-heat-nba-playoffs-2023-277604ca21669f2f255b9efa86af92e1">Jimmy Butler just did</a>.
Get as hot as he was against Milwaukee and a player was going to get clobbered.
They were&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/heat-knicks-nba-playoffs-2023-6383364c2ebdf6f3fe7dbb4af99cdf04">foul-filled matchups</a>&nbsp;at the end of the 1990s, better fit for brawlers than ballers, and beautiful to watch only for someone who loves ferocious competition like Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau.
&ldquo;And it was on every play,&rdquo; Thibodeau said. &ldquo;And the style of play is a little bit different today than it was then.&rdquo;
The intensity might be about the same.
The teams renew that rivalry beginning Sunday when the Knicks welcome the Heat back to Madison Square Garden for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
&ldquo;We know how fierce it&rsquo;s going to be at 1 o&rsquo;clock in the Garden,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
The Knicks arrived here by winning a playoff series&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/knicks-madison-square-garden-heat-nba-playoffs-2023-233faa2d835d5e1b46ce0648bd67d7ae">for the first time since 2013</a>. They got to start it at home when the Heat stunned the top-seeded Bucks thanks to Butler&rsquo;s spectacular series, where he averaged 37.6 points.
It&rsquo;s a No. 5 against No. 8 matchup, making this series a surprise. It used to seem like fate.
They met every year from 1997 to 2000, with the Heat coming from 3-1 down to take the first one after suspensions from a fight swung the series, and the Knicks taking the final three. Every one went the distance.
The typically gruff Thibodeau, then an assistant under Jeff Van Gundy, chuckled repeatedly recalling the history this week, particularly Allan Houston&rsquo;s shot to win the 1999 first-round series &mdash; another of the six No. 8 upsets of No. 1 in NBA history.
&ldquo;I probably wouldn&rsquo;t be here today if that thing didn&rsquo;t roll in,&rdquo; Thibodeau said. &ldquo;It hit every part of everything.&rdquo;
But it&rsquo;s a history that means little to the current Knicks, whose core of 20-somethings is too young to remember it.
&ldquo;So for us, those are the war stories of the past and they&rsquo;re cool to hear and they&rsquo;re cool to see highlights of it, but as a team we&rsquo;ve got our own path and our own vibe and way to navigate that,&rdquo; swingman Josh Hart said.
Hart will be one of the Knicks tasked with trying to slow Butler, who scored 56 points, tied for fourth-most in NBA playoff history, in Game 4 against Milwaukee. He followed with 42 in Game 5 to win the series.
He began his career in Chicago playing for Thibodeau, who said he didn&rsquo;t foresee Butler turning into such a dominant scorer. They reunited later in Minnesota, so Thibodeau might know what it will take to throw the swingman off his game &mdash; if that&rsquo;s even doable at this point.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to make this a Thibs vs. myself thing,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take our entire roster to be able to do something special. It&rsquo;s the Miami Heat versus the New York Knicks.&rdquo;
Even those who don&rsquo;t understand what that used to mean are ready to be a part of it now.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be honest: I didn&rsquo;t know the rivalry was like that,&rdquo; Heat center Bam Adebayo said. &ldquo;For me, this is a chance to build a rivalry in that aspect, but also it&rsquo;s a chance for us to try to advance. It&rsquo;s another series for us to be battle-tested.&rdquo;
KNICKED UP
All-Star forward Julius Randle is questionable to play after reinjuring his left ankle in the Game 5 victory at Cleveland. Starting guard Quentin Grimes, who missed the last two games with a bruised right shoulder, is practicing again and also listed as questionable.
FAMILIAR GROUND
Miami is in Round 2 of the playoffs for the 11th time in the last 20 seasons. The Heat have wound up advancing in eight of their 10 most recent conference semifinal appearances.
New York made the conference semifinals in nine consecutive seasons from 1992 through 2000. This is only the second trip since then for the Knicks, who last won this round in 2000 &mdash; against Miami, in a seven-game thriller.
SEASON SERIES
The Knicks took three of four, with their first two victories both by two points. All four games were decided by single digits.
SEEDINGS SPEAK
This is just the third NBA playoff series where both teams are seeded No. 5 or lower. A 1994 matchup between Utah and Denver was also a No. 5 vs. No. 8, and Houston and Seattle had a 6-7 matchup in 1987.
THE COACHES
Spoelstra is 100-66 in playoff games. Thibodeau enters 29-37 as a head coach in the playoffs. They&rsquo;ve squared off twice previously in the postseason; Miami beat Chicago 4-1 both times, in 2011 and 2013.

The Knicks and Heat are renewing their rivalry beginning Sunday at MSG for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Rivalry reborn: Heat, Knicks ready to face off in second round

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Jimmy Butler is different.
Some players hit beaches over All-Star break;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOiYvdQOECw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Butler went to Argentina</a>&nbsp;to watch tennis and learn about coffee. Some players rest with one day off between games; Butler spent 10 hours flying round-trip to be at&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1633324947262038016?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pau Gasol&rsquo;s Los Angeles Lakers jersey retirement</a>&nbsp;one night and back in Miami for shootaround the next morning. Some&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1651677598207062016?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Miami teammates jumped around the locker room</a>&nbsp;to celebrate after eliminating top-seeded Milwaukee; Butler simply watched while sipping a drink.
He does things his way, which is not a bad thing &mdash; and the results prove it. Butler has led Miami to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the third time in his four seasons with the Heat; this year, a matchup with the New York Knicks awaits, starting Sunday.
&ldquo;He wants to live an interesting life,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to respect that. But he is very serious about winning.&rdquo;
Very, very serious. A championship is what lured Butler to Miami, and it&rsquo;s all that matters to him now. A revival of the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/heat-knicks-nba-playoffs-2023-6383364c2ebdf6f3fe7dbb4af99cdf04">Heat-Knicks playoff rivalry</a> that was born a generation ago? He doesn&rsquo;t care. Facing his former coach Tom Thibodeau in this series? He thinks that&rsquo;s irrelevant. The outside world&rsquo;s opinions or predictions? He immediately dismisses them.
Teammates love him for it, too.
&ldquo;Jimmy&rsquo;s just a talented player,&rdquo; guard Kyle Lowry said. &ldquo;I think Jimmy goes out there and, every assignment that the other team gives him, he tries to take that personally. ... I&rsquo;m rolling with Jimmy at all times.&rdquo;
Added center Bam Adebayo: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just thankful that he&rsquo;s on my team.&rdquo;
It would be inaccurate to say that the regular season doesn&rsquo;t matter to Butler. It would not be inaccurate to say that the postseason matters more. Case in point: He has scored at least 40 points in a game eight times since joining the Heat &mdash; and all eight of those performances came in the playoffs, including two in the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/heat-jimmy-butler-nba-playoffs-2023-302a7341d83e00069828a04c48a70a73">series against Milwaukee</a>, the first a 56-point masterpiece in Game 4 and the other a 42-point effort in the clinching Game 5.
Social media lit up when Butler was putting on his show in Game 5.
&mdash; &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s stop faking on 22. Bro really like dat!&rdquo; injured&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/VicOladipo/status/1651449220992212992?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Heat guard Victor Oladipo</a>&nbsp;wrote, referring to Butler by his jersey number.
&mdash; &ldquo;Somebody said Jimmy Butler averaged my age!!&rdquo; wrote&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/andre/status/1651451469374328832?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Golden State&rsquo;s Andre Iguodala,</a>&nbsp;a former teammate in Miami. (Almost true; Iguodala is 39.)
&mdash; &ldquo;Himmy Butler lol,&rdquo; wrote&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/Dame_Lillard/status/1651475569731837952?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Portland&rsquo;s Damian Lillard.</a>
Butler doesn&rsquo;t like the notion that he becomes&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/heat-jimmy-butler-playoffs-f8a16b065ba7faf991e2878185c4d559">&ldquo;Playoff Jimmy</a>,&rdquo; but it&rsquo;s tough to argue otherwise. He averaged 22.9 points per game in the regular season &mdash; and averaged 37.6 points in Round 1 against the Bucks, the highest average of anyone so far in these playoffs.
&ldquo;My teammates keep telling me to shoot the ball, shoot the ball more, attack,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s just what it was. No matter what, if I&rsquo;m scoring, if I&rsquo;m passing, defending, rebounding, whatever it may be, we&rsquo;ve just got to win at all costs.&rdquo;
Win at all costs. That&rsquo;s his mantra off the court as well.
The world sees the highlights of Butler pointing at a scoreboard and telling Milwaukee&rsquo;s Jrue Holiday what he&rsquo;s doing to him &mdash; that happened in Game 5 of Round 1 &mdash; but the world doesn&rsquo;t see the highlights of Butler tormenting his close-knit inner circle. If they get on the basketball court with him, that obviously doesn&rsquo;t work out well for them. When they play dominoes or card games, good luck. He famously wouldn&rsquo;t even give teammates a discount when&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-nba-travel-sports-coffee-8f4d8fad0623e1c8ccf5d3e592c46d8a">he was selling $20-a-cup coffee</a>&nbsp;at the NBA&rsquo;s restart bubble in 2020.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got an incredible group that keeps me level-headed, that make my life not always just about basketball,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;ve got an amazing family, too.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s all just Jimmy being Jimmy. He fits perfectly within the Heat organization, and Spoelstra figured that out right away.
&ldquo;He is us and we are him,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;I just respect him so much for being such a unique, world-class, elite competitor. A lot of guys play the game of basketball in this league. He competes to win. That&rsquo;s a different language. He&rsquo;s desperate and urgent and maniacal and sometimes psychotic about the will to try to win and he&rsquo;ll make everybody in the building feel it.&rdquo;
Even when the Heat struggled this season, Butler never publicly changed his tune much. He kept insisting the same thing &mdash; that Miami has enough talent to win, that the Heat would figure out what they were supposed to do in time to compete for a title.
They were overwhelming underdogs in Round 1 and became the first No. 8 seed to advance by losing only one game against the top seed. Now comes Round 2, and the Knicks, and a chance to get back to the East finals for the third time in his Miami tenure.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a good group of basketball players and we&rsquo;re having fun whenever we&rsquo;re out there,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing basketball the right way and good things happen if you do that.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

Jimmy Butler has led Miami to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the third time in his four seasons, while doing things his own way.

Jimmy Butler, the most interesting man in the Heat world

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Jimmy Butler had the game of his life, and the Miami Heat had a comeback for the ages.
Butler scored 56 points &mdash; tying the fourth-best scoring performance ever in an NBA playoff game &mdash; and the Heat roared back from 14 points down in the final quarter to stun the Milwaukee Bucks 119-114 on Monday night to put the NBA&rsquo;s top overall seed on the brink of early elimination.
The 56 points also became Butler&rsquo;s career high. He was 19 for 28 from the field, 15 of 18 from the foul line and added nine rebounds for eighth-seeded Miami &mdash; which took a 3-1 lead over the Bucks in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
&ldquo;For my team, to get this dub, in this way, in this atmosphere, for this city, it&rsquo;s huge,&rdquo; Butler said.
Brook Lopez scored 36 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Milwaukee. Giannis Antetokounmpo returned from a two-game absence with a bruised back and had a triple-double &mdash; 26 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists.
And the Bucks &mdash; who now need to win three straight, starting with Game 5 at Milwaukee on Wednesday &mdash; led almost the whole way, until the Heat roared back in the final minutes.
&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t make enough plays on either end,&rdquo; Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. &ldquo;And they did.&rdquo;
Butler had 21 of his points in the fourth, and the Heat still trailed 101-89 after a layup by Lopez with 6:09 left.
That&rsquo;s when a 13-0 run, capped by a Butler dunk off a Bucks turnover, put Miami up for the first time all night with 3:17 left &mdash; 102-101.
The lead changed hands four more times, and Butler&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 1:20 left put Miami ahead for good. He added a step-back jumper on Miami&rsquo;s next possession, punched the air in celebration, and the Heat knew they would soon be leaving with a 3-1 lead.
&ldquo;For 40 minutes of this game, it was frustrating. ... It just shows you that when you have the right grit and perseverance, you can win,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;And then it always helps to have a guy like him.&rdquo;
The only players to score more in a playoff game: Michael Jordan had 63 in 1986, Elgin Baylor had 61 in 1962, Donovan Mitchell had 57 in 2020. Butler became the fourth with 56, joining Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and Charles Barkley.
Bam Adebayo scored 15, Caleb Martin had 12 and Gabe Vincent scored 10 for the Heat.
Antetokounmpo missed Games 2 and 3 of the series &mdash; and most of Game 1 &mdash; with a bruised lower back. He worked out Sunday, went through shootaround with the Bucks on Monday, got cleared to play and looked good as new.
But Butler was better than ever.
He set the tone early &mdash; with the highest-scoring quarter of his career. He had 22 of Miami&rsquo;s 28 first-quarter points, including 20 in a row over a span of 5:45 late in the period.
And in the fourth, he had 21 more &mdash; leading a massive comeback, one that put a team that won an NBA-best 58 games this season squarely on the ropes in Round 1.
&ldquo;The series is still going,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;And we have great respect for the championship DNA that group has.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Bucks: Milwaukee now has made 138 3-pointers in eight games against Miami this season, including playoffs. No team has ever made more vs. the Heat in a season; Boston made 126 in 10 games last season. &hellip; All three of Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s playoff triple-doubles have come on the road &mdash; two at Miami, the other at Boston.
Heat: Butler is averaging 16.5 points in first quarters in the series, with at least 13 points to open all four games. &hellip; It was the 99th win of Spoelstra&rsquo;s playoff career.
OLADIPO TRIBUTE
The game was Miami&rsquo;s first since&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/oladipo-injury-heat-nba-playoffs-d5d7cec8f9a875de139be68e9bb3a538">Victor Oladipo&rsquo;s season-ending torn left patellar tendon injury.</a>&nbsp;Heat players arrived at the arena wearing&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/1650632827354992640?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oladipo T-shirts.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;He said, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t shed any tears for me. I&rsquo;m going to get through all of this,&rsquo;&rdquo; Spoelstra said.
FANDUEL SAYS
Milwaukee closed as a 7.5-point favorite at&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">FanDuel Sportsbook.</a>&nbsp;The Heat hadn&rsquo;t been more than a 2.5-point underdog in any home game this season, and weren&rsquo;t such a big underdog in their arena since Feb. 27, 2019 against Golden State &mdash; 177 games ago.
ERA ENDS
With&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/aaron-rodgers-trade-jets-packers-0a6b5e68c1c3d5c2ab1b9e59312dd181">Aaron Rodgers getting traded</a>&nbsp;from Green Bay to the New York Jets earlier Monday, it was the first time in the last 2,611 games that the Bucks played with neither Rodgers nor Brett Favre considered the Packers&rsquo; first-string quarterback &mdash; excluding games affected by injury.

Butler's 56 points tied the fourth-best scoring performance ever in an NBA playoff game, and the Heat stunned the Bucks 119-114.

Jimmy Butler scores 56, Heat stun Bucks 119-114 for 3-1 lead

The last time Golden State faced a 2-0 series deficit, Stephen Curry was finishing his freshman year at Davidson and coach Steve Kerr was still in broadcasting.
It&rsquo;s been a while. It was 2007, to be precise.
But that&rsquo;s where the Warriors are again now, having dropped&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-playoffs-warriors-kings-2023-965846db11aa9086e8eb66b846d6bd0a">the first two games to the Sacramento Kings.</a>&nbsp;Also in a 2-0 hole: The Brooklyn Nets, who fell again&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nets-76ers-playoffs-b1d93ff38c8b4896bfa13e18462b7912">to the Philadelphia 76ers.</a>&nbsp;Philadelphia simply held serve at home, as did Sacramento, but the pressure is now quite high on both the Warriors and Nets.
Atlanta, Cleveland and Phoenix will look to avoid falling into 0-2 holes on Tuesday.
WHAT'S NEXT?
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/playoffs-cavaliers-knicks-celtics-hawks-59a6e8717e469c11883a51b3c889ef15">A trio of Game 2&rsquo;s await on Tuesday,</a> with Atlanta at Boston, New York at Cleveland and the Los Angeles Clippers at Phoenix. The Celtics, Knicks and Clippers will be seeking 2-0 leads.
Game 2&rsquo;s in the Los Angeles Lakers-Memphis, Miami-Milwaukee and Minnesota-Denver series are set for Wednesday.
KINGS-WARRIORS TENSIONS
Golden State&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-playoffs-2023-draymond-green-ejected-075df068895834184e0877648d513b0a">Draymond Green was ejected for stomping</a>&nbsp;on the chest of Sacramento&rsquo;s Domantas Sabonis in Game 2 on Monday night &mdash; with some of the Warriors saying Sabonis committed the actual dirty play by grabbing Green&rsquo;s ankle.
Now the teams will wait to see if the NBA will weigh in, with fines or suspensions possible.
HOW TO WATCH
&mdash; Most games being played Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be shown nationally on TNT. The exceptions are Hawks-Celtics on Tuesday, Heat-Bucks on Wednesday and Suns-Clippers on Thursday; they&rsquo;ll all be on NBA TV. There&rsquo;s also local coverage for most games in Round 1.
&mdash; Some games return to ESPN and ABC this coming weekend.
&mdash; The NBA Finals will be broadcast on ABC beginning June 1.
WHO WINS THE AWARDS?
We started finding out those answers on Monday, the first of four days of award-handing-out from the league office this week.
&mdash; Monday:&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/jackson-grizzlies-dpoy-nba-defensive-player-award-25780ba4e0e48bdc7bd9ba2707cbaf97">Memphis&rsquo; Jaren Jackson Jr. won defensive player of the year,</a>&nbsp;with Milwaukee&rsquo;s Brook Lopez finishing second and Cleveland&rsquo;s Evan Mobley placing third.
&mdash; Tuesday: The inaugural winner of the new Clutch Player award &mdash; Miami&rsquo;s Jimmy Butler, Chicago&rsquo;s DeMar DeRozan or Sacramento&rsquo;s De&rsquo;Aaron Fox &mdash; will be made known.
&mdash; Wednesday: Coach of the Year &mdash; Sacramento&rsquo;s Mike Brown is the big favorite, with Oklahoma City&rsquo;s Mark Daigneault and Boston&rsquo;s Joe Mazzulla the other finalists &mdash; will be awarded.
&mdash; Thursday: Sixth Man of the Year will be revealed, with Boston&rsquo;s Malcolm Brogdon, Milwaukee&rsquo;s Bobby Portis Jr. and New York&rsquo;s Immanuel Quickley the finalists.
INSIDE THE DPOY VOTE
Only five players &mdash; Jackson, Miami&rsquo;s Bam Adebayo, Golden State&rsquo;s Draymond Green, and Milwaukee teammates Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday &mdash; got defensive player of the year votes both last season and this season.
Adebayo has gotten at least one first-place vote in four consecutive seasons. That&rsquo;s the longest active streak in the league.
Last year&rsquo;s top three votegetters &mdash; in order, Marcus Smart, Mikal Bridges and Rudy Gobert &mdash; got 63% of the votes in 2022. They combined for zero votes this year.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
The Warriors and Kings combined for 18 turnovers in the first quarter Monday. The last time an NBA game had more in a first quarter was Nov. 15, 2010, when Memphis and Orlando combined for 20. That was about 16,000 first quarters ago.
QUOTABLE
&ldquo;Steph is the greatest of the great. You&rsquo;re not stopping him. You&rsquo;re not going to slow him down. You just want to try your best to make him work.&rdquo; &mdash; Kings coach Mike Brown, on the challenge of guarding Stephen Curry.

Brooklyn and Golden State will head home down 0-2, while Atlanta, Cleveland and Phoenix look to avoid falling into an 0-2 hole Tuesday.

NBA Playoffs: Warriors, Nets heading home in 0-2 hole

Professional basketball players are in a constant state of data collection. Al Horford's been logging tricks of his trade for 16 years, and it's helped him reinvent his game to suit a team in the title hunt.
Horford, age 36, will be the fourth-oldest starter and fifth-oldest rotation player in the 2023 NBA playoffs, behind only LeBron James, Chris Paul, PJ Tucker and Kyle Lowry. He has dramatically transformed his game to suit the era and needs of today's league, and the Celtics have taken note.
After a March 1 win against the Cavaliers, coach Joe Mazzulla alluded to Horford's evolution, heightened by his experience and attention to detail.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s massive,&rdquo; Mazzulla said postgame. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s done a great job this year in recognizing coverage and screening. ...And he recognized the coverage [the Cavaliers] were in and popped and shot it. The second time they tried to switch him, he created an advantage. He&rsquo;s constantly trying to find small ways to reinvent his game.&rdquo;
Horford is averaging his highest minutes per game (30.6) of the last five seasons, but his on-ball role has diminished to career-lows according to practically every go-to metric (usage rate, touches, touch time, etc.). He's played five total seasons with the Celtics across two stints; comparing his usage across those years is fascinating. Here's some touch data from PBP Stats highlighting three such years: his All-Star season in 2017-18, his first season back in Boston in 2021-22, and this current one.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 110px;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 44px;">
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 44px;">Year</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 44px;">Touches/game</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 44px;">Frontcourt touches/game</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 44px;">Elbow touches/game</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 44px;">Post touches/game</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 44px;">Seconds per touch</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">2017-18</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">63.5</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">40.0</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">3.1</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">5.2</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">2.20</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">2021-22</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">49.2</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">29.4</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">2.2</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">1.9</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">1.73</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">2022-23</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">45.7</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">25.4</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">1.1</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">0.9</td>
<td style="width: 14.84579%; height: 22px;">1.53</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
It makes sense that Horford would take a back seat in his return to the Celtics given that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown had risen to stardom. But the elbow and post touch volume in particular is stunning &mdash; Horford is getting the ball in those spots not even half as much as last year, and fractionally compared to his last All-Star appearance. His days of facilitating and scoring out of the post are over.
We all know Horford has laid down a transcendant shooting year, but the scale of his shift to the arc cannot be overstated. Per Cleaning the Glass, a whopping 67% of Horford's total shot attempts have come from distance. That is a mind-boggling 23% increase from last year; to put that in context, Horford had never increased his three-point frequency by more than 12% year-over-year since he first started shooting them often in 2015-16.&nbsp;
To make this type of leap &mdash; and match it with a career-high 44.6% clip (an 11% jump from last year) &mdash; is one of the more astounding developments I've seen from a veteran in some time.&nbsp;
Boston needs Horford at this level for the playoffs. Last year, the Warriors gunked up the Celtics offense in the NBA Finals by shutting off driving lanes for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen. They were unafraid to let Horford and Grant Williams bomb away above the break, even as both shot the ball well, if it meant Tatum and Brown could not penetrate the defense.&nbsp;
But this year could be different. Horford can punish as a reliable outlet on his own or force opponents to stay home on him. He's also more than doubled his shot frequency in the corners and added an area defenses have to track.
Horford's evolving role means we see less of him as the facilitating big that has helped define his game in the past. But he's still a very good passer and the numbers (and tape) back this up.
The NBA Underground has a set of <a href="https://thenbaunderground.com/analytics/better-passing-stats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statistics that help us understand passing impact</a> beyond basic assists per game. One interesting number: passing turnover to potential assist ratio, which basically says that for every 100 potential assists (pass leading to a shot attempt), a player is logging X amount of passing turnovers.
Horford is averaging 3.9 passing turnovers per 100 potential assists, putting him seventh-best among 364 players. It's not a perfect assessment of passing, but it shows he's making quality decisions when he does have the ball. Just under 10% of his total passes this year turned into assists or free throws, a mark that ranks ninth among bigs this year, per Second Spectrum.&nbsp;
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Plays like this are meaningful because Boston should want to get Tatum cutting and running without the ball. It keeps him from being the sole defensive focus and allows him to get up to speed more easily. Horford and Robert Williams III are both capable high-low passers, and while this isn't a jaw-dropping dime, it shows how either big can be leveraged effectively.
Horford isn't put in this position as often anymore, but he still gets plenty of assists by swinging the ball around at the arc and dishing short passes to Celtics guards and wings who use screens off the ball. There's schematic creativity on display around Horford and he's tasked with making the advantage pay off.
We could say the same for his defense. Derrick White has been Boston's best defender this season. Robert Williams is the team's most dynamic shot-blocker and Marcus Smart is the intense tone-setter. But I truly don't think this is a top-5 unit without Horford holding down his role as an individual stopper.
The Celtics typically task Horford with handling the opponent's best scoring forwards or bigs. Among the 20 players he matched up against for 20 or more possessions per game this season (per NBA Stats): Bam Adebayo, Deandre Ayton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Paolo Banchero, Nikola Vucevic, Myles Turner.
Many of these players are also heavily involved in pick-and-rolls, where the Celtics usually ask Horford to play some form of shallow drop coverage while the guard goes over the screen. The shallow drop big man is one of the toughest responsibilities in today's NBA; they have to contain the drive from a guard while keeping the roll man in front to remove a lob threat.
And that's not all he's doing &mdash; Boston switches a lot away from the ball, so Horford then has to slide onto wings and occasionally guards. He actually spoke about this a couple weeks ago with JJ Redick on The Old Man and the Three (start at 31:30).&nbsp;
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Horford's impact shows up in several of the defensive stats I've come to trust. BBall Index has created estimates for defensive positional versatility and role versatility based on what positions and usage rates players are guarding. Horford ranks in the 92nd and 85th percentiles at his position, respectively.&nbsp;
Also from BBall Index: Horford is contesting 38.1% of opponents' shots at the rim while he is on the court (89th percentile) and holding opponents to an at-rim efficiency 6.2% lower than expected (91st percentile). Those are particularly impressive numbers considering Horford is 36 and not a volume shot-blocker.
It will certainly help to have Rob Williams by his side. The two bigs have only played 330 minutes together this season, but the Celtics are outscoring opponents by 15.1 points per 100 possessions when they share the floor.
Still, Horford is going to take the primary frontcourt assignments before Williams. And this postseason run could be a gauntlet. The Celtics start by facing the Hawks' trio of John Collins, Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu. Win that series, and there's a good chance they meet Embiid in the second round. An Eastern Conference Finals trip could see Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez, or Mobley and Allen. Then, should Boston make a return Finals run, they might run into any of Jokic, Domantas Sabonis, Jaren Jackson Jr., Deandre Ayton, or others at the big positions.&nbsp;
That's a monster workload for a 36-year-old trying to play into June for the second consecutive year.&nbsp;And&nbsp;he carries pivotal pressure as a spacer and ball-mover.&nbsp;
Horford's evolution has been commendable and his value to the Celtics far outweighs his spotlight. If Boston wants to win a championship, he can't let up on either end.

Horford will hold down key two-way roles for however far the Celtics advance in the postseason.

NBA Stats Notebook: Why Al Horford is the Celtics' playoff X Factor

After monitoring the NBA awards races all season, Nekias Duncan shares his final selections for DPOY, ROY, MIP, 6MOY and more.

Nekias Duncan's 2022-23 NBA award selections: DPOY, 6MOY, MIP, more

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Nikola Jokic had 31 points and 11 assists, Jamal Murray finished with 26 points and nine assists, and the Denver Nuggets beat the Milwaukee Bucks 129-106 on Saturday night in a late-season showdown of the NBA&rsquo;s conference leaders.
Michael Porter Jr. scored 19 points for West-leading Denver (50-24), which outscored East-leading Milwaukee 68-40 in the second half.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 31 points -- just seven in the second half -- and grabbed nine rebounds for the Bucks (53-20).
The battle of the top teams in each conference -- and two strong MVP candidates -- was more competitive than the teams&rsquo; first meeting, won by the Bucks 107-99.
SUNS 125, 76ERS 105
PHOENIX (AP) &mdash; Devin Booker scored 29 points, Bismack Biyombo added 17 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks, and the Phoenix Suns snapped a three-game losing streak.
Phoenix got good minutes from most of their bench players, particularly Terrence Ross and T.J. Warren. Warren finished with 16 points, while Ross had 15. Booker shot 9 of 18 from the field and hit all nine of his free throws.
The Suns won despite a huge game from Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey, who finished with 37 points on 14-of-19 shooting, including 7 of 11 from 3-point range. Joel Embiid added 28 points and 10 rebounds.
KINGS 121, JAZZ 113
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Kevin Huerter scored 27 points, had seven rebounds and four assists and Sacramento beat Utah.
Domantas Sabonis finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists for his NBA-leading 60th double-double of the season. Harrison Barnes added 18 points. Keegan Murray scored 14 of his 22 total points in the first quarter and knocked down six three-pointers for the Kings.
Jazz rookie Walker Kessler scored a career-high 31 points for the Jazz. Kessler added 11 rebounds and finished 14 of 16 from the floor. Kelly Olynyk finished with 17 points and 10 assists, Ochai Agbaji scored 20 and Jarrell Brantley added 13 off the bench for Utah.
NETS 129, HEAT 100
MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Mikal Bridges scored 27 points, and the Brooklyn Nets opened the third quarter on a 31-6 run on the way to rolling past Miami and leapfrogging the Heat back into the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference.
Cam Johnson added 23 points and Spencer Dinwiddie scored 15 for the Nets (40-34), who snapped a five-game slide. They&rsquo;re only a half-game up on Miami (40-35) in the race for the sixth and final guaranteed playoff berth, but swept the Heat 3-0 this season and would also own a head-to-head tiebreaker.
Max Strus scored 23 for the Heat, all of them in the first half. Tyler Herro scored 23, Jimmy Butler had 18 and Bam Adebayo finished with 16 for the Heat. Miami was outscored 64-31 after halftime.
HAWKS 143, PACERS 130
ATLANTA (AP) &mdash; John Collins led eight Atlanta scorers in double figures with 21 points and the Hawks overcame Jordan Nwora&rsquo;s season-high 33 points and protected their shaky hold on the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff standings
Trae Young was ejected in the third quarter after firing an unusually hard pass to referee Scott Wall during a timeout. Wall caught the ball. Young was immediately called for a technical foul and ejected. Young had 14 points and five assists. Dejounte Murray had 20 points in his return after missing two games with a non-COVID illness. Saddiq Bey led Atlanta&rsquo;s bench with 18 points.
Tyrese Haliburton scored 19 points and Buddy Hield had 16 for Indiana.
PELICANS 131, CLIPPERS 110
LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Trey Murphy III scored 32 points, Brandon Ingram had 32 points and 13 assists, and the New Orleans Pelicans never trailed against the Los Angeles Clippers.
C.J. McCollum had 21 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Pelicans, who have won four in a row.
Bones Hyland scored 18 points and Kawhi Leonard added 12 points and six rebounds for the Clippers, who have lost three of four.
At risk of falling out of the play-in tournament with a loss, the energized Pelicans started out hot, scoring the first eight points, and never let up.

A recap of Saturday's slate of NBA hoops includes the East and West's best going head-to-head.

Conference leaders clash as Nuggets top Bucks 129-106

It's hard not to be impressed by the growth of Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo.
He's gotten better every year &mdash; somewhat of a rarity, despite the expectation for linear growth among young players. That really shines through on the offensive end of the ball, where Adebayo has transformed from screen-and-dive man, to handoff hub, to an increasingly comfortable bucket-getter.
Adebayo has never been more self-sufficient: 40.3% of his made field goals have been unassisted this year, marking the first time his assisted mark has fallen under 60%. Per Second Spectrum, the Heat are generating 1.08 points per possession (PPP) on trips featuring an Adebayo isolation, and roughly the same clip on post-ups (1.075 PPP).
Among high volume scorers &mdash; a minimum of 150 isolations&nbsp;and 150 post-ups &mdash; only Luka Doncic and DeMar DeRozan match Adebayo's efficiency in both situations. That's pretty good company to be in; honestly, that's company I'm not sure anyone outside of the Heat organization ever expected Adebayo to be in. At least not this early.
"The growth speaks for itself, the work speaks for itself," Adebayo told Basketball News after another 30-point performance of the season, his 11th, in Saturday's win over the Atlanta Hawks.
"Another year expects, you know, more growth from you, after every year. Nobody wants to get complacent in this league &mdash; I sure don't. The goal for me is to keep getting better, and I feel like I've done that."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
As Adebayo has been given &mdash; no, earned &mdash; more hats to wear within the offense, there's one in particular that's been left on the rack with increasing frequency: Pick-and-roll reps.&nbsp;
We know what Adebayo can do as a screener, laying the lumber before jetting down the lane for lobs or short-rolling into mid-range attempts &mdash; something he's doing more often than ever. You would think, with the Heat being more comfortable with the ball in his hands, they'd follow the trend of bigger creators running more ball-screens.
We've seen them sprinkled in at random moments. Adebayo's bringing the ball up the floor more than ever &mdash; roughly 11 possessions per game, per Second Spectrum &mdash; opening the door for some early screens to be set for him.
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Then there's the random set piece, like this possession against the Hawks on Saturday.
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The play ends with an incredible recovery and block from Clint Capela, but look at how tantalizing the setup is for Adebayo.&nbsp;
He gets a touch in his comfort zone. The defense has to worry about him posting up or facing up. They have to worry about the Heat flowing into split action or, with the left side only being occupied by Adebayo, the possibility of this turning into a handoff with limited help available.&nbsp;
Instead, it's Tyler Herro running his man (Jalen Johnson) into Capela, creating a path for Adebayo to get to the rim. With Adebayo taking a career-low 40% of his shots at the rim this season, finding ways to scheme that up would make sense.
One would think a potential solution would be those kind of ball-screen sets. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra notes that while Adebayo "has been initiating for us for years," he's careful not to put too many eggs into the pick-and-roll basket.
"That's part of bringing a little bit more diversity to our offense, but we also have some specific things that he has to do for us," Spoelstra told Basketball News.
"As a screener, as a big, putting pressure on the rim. That's vital for our offense. He has to do a lot of different things, and that's not easy to balance. If you do one of the things&nbsp;too&nbsp;often, that's not great for us."
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To Spoelstra's point, the Adebayo-led ball screens haven't been efficient &mdash; though that comes with a small sample caveat.&nbsp;
Adebayo has only received 63 on-ball picks this season, or 1.5 per 100 possessions, the lowest rate since becoming the undisputed starter in 2019-20. On those possessions, the Heat have only generated 0.83 PPP. That ranks 214th among 243 players to run at least 60 ball-screens this season.
The Heat may not have the ecosystem to give Adebayo a meaningful bump in frequency either. Going back to the Hawks example, it makes sense to empty a side and allow Herro &mdash; Miami's best (movement) shooter &mdash; to put extra strain on defenses. But even with it making sense on paper, this is how it looked in practice.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2023-03-06-at-12-43-10-pm.png" alt="" width="650" height="367" />
Bogdan Bogdanovic is peeled in early, with two feet in the paint. Saddiq Bey is sagging off Max Strus, a step away from the paint. Dejounte Murray doesn't affect the play in a meaningful way, but he's also sagging off of Victor Oladipo and can provide help at the nail if he wants.&nbsp;
Spoelstra noted that Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry (currently out) have been screening partners for Adebayo in the past. They make more sense than Herro as partners right now. Lowry's one of the best (and willing) <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/changing-of-the-guard-the-future-of-screening-is-here" target="_blank" rel="noopener">guard screeners in NBA history</a>. Butler is rugged in his own right, and has the dual benefit of mitigating his own issues as a spacer by being directly involved in the action.
Ultimately, if Miami is going to run a ball-screen, Butler, Herro and healthy Lowry will remain higher on the pecking order. They should&nbsp;remain higher on the pecking order.
And until the context in Miami improves, you can expect it to remain that way.&nbsp;

Nekias Duncan examines how Bam Adebayo's growth as an offensive player has changed the way the Heat have used him.

Bam Adebayo's game is expanding for the Heat in all but one way

The Kevin Love addition has mostly been fine for the Heat.&nbsp;
Love has been a complement to the starting group. He's kicking off transition possessions with UCLA-esque outlet passes, prying guys open on and off the ball with screens, and helping on the offensive glass -- the Heat's offensive rebound rate has increased by 6.9% with Love on the floor, per Cleaning The Glass.
The shot hasn't fallen &mdash; Love is now 6-of-24 (25%) from three &mdash; which is a big part of why he fell out of favor in Cleveland to begin with. If it's unrealistic to expect a bounceback to the 39.2% three-point shooter he was a year ago, or the 41.5% shooter he was during his last All-Star year in 2017-18, the Heat would surely take him knocking down 35% of his looks like he was during his Cleveland stint this year.&nbsp;
Quietly, there may be room for slight optimism. Love's converting 35.3% of his catch-and-shoot 3s, still below the level we're accustomed to, but slightly higher <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/201567/shots-dash?PerMode=Totals&amp;DateTo=02%2F15%2F2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">than his Cleveland stint</a> (34.6%) this year. Frankly, Love hasn't found the rhythm on his pump fake-dribble-fire sequences. He's yet to make any of his six attempts after taking one dribble for the Heat, after converting those shots at a 37.2% clip during his Cleveland career, per Second Spectrum.
Like, this ain't Love.
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The defense has been more interesting to track with Love. While the Heat have been among the switchiest teams in the league since Bam Adebayo took over as full-time starter, they've employed a more aggressive coverage for Love. Instead of switching with him or having him in a drop, they've asked him to hedge and recover against ball screens.
When executed well, Love's size presents a wall for ball-handlers to navigate. At best, the opposing offense is forced to burn more time within their possession, making it more likely that the shot they eventually get will be contested.
At worst, the two-on-the-ball nature on the coverage will lend itself to forced reads; with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo on the back end, that often means forcing turnovers &mdash; something the Heat have excelled at this season.&nbsp;
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The Heat had fared well with Love in that coverage. Heading into Friday's matchup with the New York Knicks, Love had defended 38 ball screens with aggression (hedging, blitzing), with the Heat allowing 0.63 points per possession (PPP) &mdash; a better-than-elite number, per Second Spectrum.&nbsp;
The Bucks (12 picks) and Hornets (12) went after Love often without much success. He defended 14 across both of the Philly matchups.&nbsp;
Enter the Knicks on Friday, who tested Love more than he had ever been.
On 15 different occasions, Love was called into the action. The Knicks generated an eye-popping 1.73 PPP on those trips &mdash; a number you'd have difficulty achieving if you were shooting alone in your backyard.&nbsp;
The Knicks oscillated between showing patience &mdash; simply waiting out the hedge from Love before getting into what they were planning to &mdash; and using that early aggression against him. To further complicate matters for Love and the Heat, they were intentional about emptying the corner before flowing into their ball screens.
Of those 15 screens Love defended, 10 of them came with an empty corner. It was the highest number of empty corner ball screens Love had faced since ... an early December matchup between Love's Cavaliers and the New York Knicks.
Surely that's just a coincidence.
I'd point to this first quarter possession to highlight the small margin for error within this Love-specific coverage.&nbsp;
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With Love playing that high against ball screens, it requires the Heat's help to be locked in.
More specifically, the weakside corner defender&mdash; Max Strus in this case, though the early guard screen from Quentin Grimes complicates things &mdash; is tasked with peeling over early to account for the screener's roll to the paint. From there, the defender on the wing (Victor Oladipo) is tasked with "splitting the difference" &mdash; zoning up between two players (Grimes and Josh Hart) &mdash; to take away a potential skip pass.
Brunson, as he did for most of the night, did a great job of diagnosing and handling the pressure from Love. As Love retreats, he attacks to his right. Hart earns a gold star by setting a pin-in screen on Oladipo, freeing Grimes for a triple.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2023-03-04-at-12-40-53-pm_690w.png" alt="" width="572" height="325" />
Because Strus is in the paint accounting for Isaiah Hartenstein, he can't provide relief. And because Adebayo is accounting for Julius Randle, he can't (nor should he be expected to) sprint out to Grimes for any sort of relief. With Love and Butler on Brunson, the Knicks simply won the numbers game.
It was a simple, yet effective counter from the Knicks to take advantage of how Love was defending ball screens.

Miami has been using Kevin Love aggressively in defensive coverages, but the Knicks took advantage on Friday.

Explain One Play: How the Heat, Kevin Love came up empty

Nekias Duncan checks back in with this year's NBA award races with an in-depth look at who leads the pack through the end of February.

2022-23 NBA award front-runners Vol. 2: MVP, DPOY, ROY, more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) &mdash; Jimmy Butler hit an&nbsp;acrobatic reverse layup in the final minutes, and his 23 points led five Miami players in double figures as the Heat edged the Philadelphia 76ers 101-99 on Monday night.
Butler was an assist shy of a triple-double, adding 11 rebounds and nine assists. He also had four steals. His spinning move and finishing layup while driving between the Sixers&rsquo; Joel Embiid and P.J. Tucker gave the Heat a 100-99 lead with 1:28 to play after Philadelphia rallied from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter. He added a free throw with 8.1 seconds left.
&ldquo;I work on that kind of stuff every day,&rdquo; Butler said of his highlight-reel basket. &ldquo;I love to play this game and I love to compete, but it&rsquo;s always much more fun when we win.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
How, Jimmy? 🤯<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CenterCourt?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CenterCourt</a> <a href="https://t.co/5UXBZuMGsY">pic.twitter.com/5UXBZuMGsY</a>
&mdash; NBA TV (@NBATV) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1630393261381541889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2023</a></blockquote>

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James Harden had a chance to win the game for the 76ers, but his 3-point try at the buzzer bounced off the back of the rim.
&ldquo;You have to expect things to be a little bit gnarly on the road,&rdquo; Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;You have to weather a bunch of different storms. &hellip; Sometimes you just need the ball to bounce the right way. Harden had a window there and was open, but we contested so many shots tonight that sometimes when you do get an open shot you don&rsquo;t have a great rhythm.&rdquo;
Gabe Vincent scored 14 points and Bam Adebayo added 13 as the Heat snapped a four-game losing streak.
Embiid led all scorers with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Harden finished with 20 points and 12 assists.
Max Struss hit a pair of free throws with 7:10 to play in the fourth quarter, giving the Heat an 11-point lead. But the 76ers mounted a furious rally, erasing the deficit and taking the lead on a pair of Harden free throws.
The Sixers rally was keyed by Tyrese Maxey, who scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half before fouling out with 3:21 to play.
The Heat did a nice job on Philadelphia defensively, forcing 18 turnovers. However, the 76ers also missed several layups, especially in the second half.
&ldquo;I just think we were really sloppy tonight, sluggish,&rdquo; Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers said. &ldquo;It happens, but you still have to find a way to win the game. Tonight, we didn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
Miami also got help from the bench as Struss scored 13 points and Victor Oladipo added 11.
The 76ers have lost back-to-back games. Philadelphia hasn&rsquo;t lost three in a row since the first week of December. They look to avoid the skid in a rematch with the Heat on Wednesday in Miami.
TIP-INS
Heat: There was a thought that G Kyle Lowry would return to the lineup Monday after he was upgraded on the injury report to questionable on Sunday. However, the Heat downgraded Lowry just as quickly on Monday and he missed his ninth straight game with knee soreness. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said there&rsquo;s no timetable for his return, but that he was making progress. ... G Tyler Herro was also listed as questionable Sunday with a rib contusion, but he was in the starting lineup.
76ers: Philadelphia played its final home game before heading out on a five-game trip. More than that, it is facing an incredibly daunting March schedule. The 76ers will play 17 games in 31 days and 12 of the first 15 will be on the road. If that weren&rsquo;t enough, the Sixers will play four sets of games on consecutive nights, with all eight contests on the road in eight different cities.
HAMLIN CELEBRATED&nbsp;
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/sixers/status/1630375205490008066" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin was in attendance</a>, sitting with 76ers owner Joshua Harris and Fanatics owner Michael Rubin. He was wearing a No. 3 Sixers jersey and received a nice ovation from the sellout crowd when introduced during a second quarter timeout.
UP NEXT
The teams play again at Miami on Wednesday night.

Jimmy Butler hit an acrobatic reverse layup in the final minutes, as the Miami Heat edged the Philadelphia 76ers 101-99 on Monday.

Jimmy Butler’s acrobatic layup, 23 points lead Heat past 76ers

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; In his third game since arriving in the Kevin Durant trade, Mikal Bridges had an electrifying scoring stretch to rival even the superstar he replaced.
Bridges scored a career-high 45 points, including 15 in a row for Brooklyn to break open a game that had been close for 3 1/2 quarters, and the Nets beat the Miami Heat 116-105 on Wednesday night in the final game for both teams before the All-Star break.
&ldquo;I just had it going and my teammates found me every time,&rdquo; Bridges said.
The Nets led only 90-89 before Bridges went to work with an array of drives, 3-pointers and jumpers over the next three minutes. That pushed the lead to nine and when another Nets player finally scored, it was a 3-pointer by fellow former Phoenix player Cam Johnson that pushed it to 108-96.
Bridges scored 17 points in the final quarter to blow by his previous career best of 34 points. He was 17 of 24 from the field, 4 of 6 on 3s and 7 of 7 at the line, and also had eight rebounds and five assists.
&ldquo;I think overall just his spirit and energy and juice, even at our walkthrough today, like he had the mindset it seemed like he wasn&rsquo;t going to let us lose,&rdquo; Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said.
Bridges was the runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year last season whose offensive game is growing. He said after the blockbuster trade last week that he understood why the Suns would trade him for Durant, and still does after averaging 25 points since while earning the nickname &ldquo;Brooklyn Bridges.&rdquo;
&ldquo;You traded a future Hall of Famer that averaged damn near 30 for his career, so I&rsquo;m just trying to continue to get better and get to a point where I can score a little more,&rdquo; Bridges said.
Cam Thomas added 19 points and Johnson had 18 for the Nets, who won for the first time since the two former Suns joined them in the lineup.
Bam Adebayo had 24 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for the Heat. Max Strus scored 18 points.
The Heat fell behind New York into seventh place in the Eastern Conference, out of guaranteed playoff position, and will hope missing regulars Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry and Victor Oladipo get healthy during the break.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got 23 to go to get to where we need to get to,&rdquo; Heat star Jimmy Butler said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about being healthy, which is what going into this break is going to do for us, come out swinging for the fences in the right way.&rdquo;
Bridges scored on a jumper with 0.2 seconds left to give the Nets an 83-80 lead after three quarters in which neither team led by more than six points.
Duncan Robinson had six points in his first game since Jan. 4 surgery to repair a finger ligament.
TIP-INS
Heat: Lowry missed his sixth straight game with left knee soreness. Oladipo has missed seven in a row with a sprained right ankle. ... Miami began a four-game road trip around the break. The Heat don&rsquo;t play at home again until March 1.
Nets: Ben Simmons was booed when he checked in four minutes into the game. He finished with two points, four rebounds and four assists in 20 minutes. ... Seth Curry was scoreless in 10 minutes after missing five games with a left adductor strain. ... Brooklyn plays nine of its first 11 games after the All-Star break on the road.
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HURTING HERRO
Herro missed his second straight game with a bruised left knee but is still scheduled to fly to Salt Lake City and compete in the 3-point contest at All-Star weekend.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not burning any calories in that and you&rsquo;re certainly not colliding or jumping or doing anything,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;He is making progress. He definitely is not ready to be able to play in an NBA game tonight and then we&rsquo;ll just see how he feels the next two days with his treatment, whether he&rsquo;ll be able to do that. I know that he really wants to.&rdquo;
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Mikal Bridges scored a career-high 45 points, and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Miami Heat 116-105.

Mikal Bridges has career-high 45 points, Nets beat Heat

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Tyler Herro scored 23 points, Jimmy Butler added 22 points and seven rebounds and the Miami Heat rallied to beat the Orlando Magic 107-103 in overtime on Saturday night.
Gabe Vincent, who finished with 20 points, opened the overtime period with a 3-pointer. Herro scored twice from the lane and the Magic, who had led by nine with 2 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, never caught up.
Markelle Fultz led the Magic with 17 points. Paolo Banchero had 16 points and 13 rebounds and missed a driving layup in the final seconds of the fourth quarter that was altered by Miami center Bam Adebayo.
Once the game went into overtime, the advantage swung to Miami.
&ldquo;We have a ton of experience, so we have the packages where we know where we want to get the ball, facing all the different coverages that we&rsquo;ve faced,&rdquo; coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a big part of it, but you also have to get the stops.&rdquo;
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&ldquo;They&rsquo;re a team with a lot of experience and they&rsquo;ve been in these situations a ton of times,&rdquo; Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said.
Adebayo, who played the entire fourth quarter and overtime, finished with 13 points, 17 rebounds and six assists. He was the centerpiece of the defensive effort that held the Magic to 24 points in the final 17 minutes.
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&ldquo;Taking the paint away was the biggest thing, not letting them get the easy layups like they did in the first half,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Really closing out and helping each other. That&rsquo;s how we&rsquo;re going to win games down he stretch.&rdquo;
The Magic grabbed a 52-35 lead with the Heat shooting below 30% with 10 turnovers in the first 21 minutes. Butler and Adebayo rallied Miami late in the half and Max Strus hit a 3-pointer just before the halftime horn as the Heat pulled within 54-46.
Mo Wagner scored 10 straight points for the Magic late in the third period, and a dunk by Jonathan Isaac pushed Orlando&rsquo;s lead to 12 early in the fourth. But after a dunk by Bol Bol put the Magic up 91-81, they scored only six points in the final 6:40 of regulation, and only six more in overtime.
&ldquo;We had a couple lapses on both ends of the floor, but I think offensively we started to slow down a little and not play our style of basketball,&rdquo; Fultz said. &ldquo;We kind of let it stick a little bit. I think they turned up the heat and got a couple of calls to go their way as well.&rdquo;
Suggs, Wendell Carter Jr., and Mo Wagner scored 14 points each for the Magic.
TIP-INS
Heat: Butler, whose dunk at the buzzer won Friday night&rsquo;s game against Houston, played both ends of a back-to-back for the first time since October. ... The Heat had 20 turnovers, but none in overtime. ... Coach Erik Spoelstra said G Victor Oladipo, who missed a fifth game with an ankle injury, has a chance of playing before next weekend&rsquo;s All-Star break.
Magic: F Chuma Okeke, out since Nov. 21 with a knee injury, was slated to play a second G-League game before being reconsidered for the active roster.
SUGGS SAT OUT THE OVERTIME
Suggs, who had four steals and three blocks for Orlando and generally wreaked havoc defensively, did not play in overtime.
&ldquo;Gary (Harris) was defending Herro decently well,&rdquo; explained Mosley while acknowledging that &ldquo;we may have to go back and look at how we may have to get (Suggs) those minutes.&rdquo;
Said Suggs, who played 28 minutes: &ldquo;We realize how close we are, and we need wins in games like this. I kind of feel like we let ourselves down.&rdquo;
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Tyler Herro scored 23 points, Jimmy Butler added 22 points and the Miami Heat rallied to beat the Orlando Magic 107-103 in overtime.

Dola