Pioneers

Nekias Duncan breaks down the 2022 NBA Finals between the Celtics and Warriors from a multitude of angles.

2022 NBA Finals Scouting Report: How the Celtics and Warriors match up

What happens is the crux of any conversation. Results spur on ideology and conjecture. Wins, losses, box scores and stat lines invite slander and celebration.
Why?&nbsp;
Results are important for measuring goals, gauging success and resetting priorities or strategies. Why those results occur is what I find fascinating.&nbsp;
The 2022 Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics have been difficult to parse through, akin to a redux of the 2004 series between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers. Only four of the players who played 10 minutes per game or more in that series shot 40% or better from the floor.&nbsp;
A series defined by restrained offense and amplified defense is rooted in the why. Yes, both the Heat and Celtics have exchanged slogging moments. Turnovers have been in abundance. There have been many free throws, as the physicality is ratcheted up to the 10th degree.
The Heat&rsquo;s offense is predicated on movement, screening, handoffs and maximizing their pressure points through shooting gravity to open up looks with their collective passing and intuitive play. Miami was 14th in the league in three-point attempts per game, but first in three-point percentage (37.9%). What made them more impressive was how those shots got off.&nbsp;
The Heat are chock-full of movement shooters with Max Strus, Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro, Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry all capable of hitting shots off of a variety of movements and even self-created with their handles to varying degrees. Miami shot 42.9% from deep in Game 6, a far cry from the 29.2% (52/178) over the previous five games. Jimmy Butler hit four shots from distance after only hitting two all series. Tough shots fell in volume.&nbsp;
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To equate Miami&rsquo;s victory and invigorated offense strictly to shot variance would be unfair. Miami has thrived on those tough threes off movement or pull-ups all season, but they haven&rsquo;t hit the same. It&rsquo;s difficult to project another game like last night for Miami&rsquo;s shot-making, although one game throws sample size to the wind. Again, the why is so crucial here.&nbsp;
Miami&rsquo;s offense has been stuck in the mud much of the series as our own Nekias Duncan <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-heat-have-a-bigbig-problem-on-their-hands">recently wrote</a>. Boston&rsquo;s bigs have stifled the Heat in the paint and through their ability to toggle between the paint and perimeter. Stopping shots at the second and third level has been a large reason for Boston&rsquo;s defensive success. Miami,&nbsp; 27th in rim frequency during the regular season per Cleaning the Glass, is dependent on their ability to attack the gaps created by their shooting gravity.&nbsp;
They&rsquo;ve been constricted by their own shot profile at times this series, but mainly due to how Boston has been able shut off the release valves. Most of Miami&rsquo;s aforementioned premier spacing core, particularly the shooters off screens, has struggled throughout the series. We know the shots haven&rsquo;t fallen, but it&rsquo;s not simply a collective slump. Boston&rsquo;s defense as a whole has been swarming, but why have Miami&rsquo;s movement shooters struggled the most?
Through the lens of the Eastern Conference Finals and the league at large, few players epitomize the why quite like Derrick White. The results haven&rsquo;t always been there for White during the playoffs, although the post-baby bump has been real (congrats again to Derrick and his family).&nbsp;
Yet, so often when watching White, whether with the Spurs or Celtics, the why is consistently there. The consistency in process matters so much more than the consistency in production. That sounds counterintuitive, but it&rsquo;s strikingly true in basketball. There&rsquo;s a line in the sand that wavers among the grains, and White often has crossed the line in spite of his production simply due to his persistent process.
White has routinely neutralized Miami&rsquo;s release valves and shut off the water entirely for stretches. It&rsquo;s been like watching a naturally-rich land dry up after a dam is built up stream. That dam is Derrick White, and the Heat have employed any number and variety of players to try to take White out of the picture to free up shooters.
This play from Game 5 stood out.
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Notice the quick flip and pushoff from P.J. Tucker in a screening action that was masked with Oladipo setting up as a second screener. White immediately takes Oladipo, and Horford takes Tucker after Jaylen Brown switches onto Duncan Robinson. Brown navigates the screen well enough for the action to die out, and would you look at that... Derrick White still makes a play on the back side.
Already four games and roughly 10 minutes into the series, the Heat are throwing the kitchen sink at an off-ball chaser to free up their shooters. Whatever it takes to force switches, including some semi-illegal&nbsp; screens. Again, why?
Well, White immediately made his presence felt on Max Strus.
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He always shifts his body, scans the floor constantly, and his slight movements are impeccable. So often, chasers get beat off the ball because of too big a stride or a wrong step. White rarely crosses his feet up, and he can appear choppy at times, but it's because he's always on his toes, minimizing space given and maximizing his margins for error. Even with the majority of hard screens, White is making his recovery plays and finding his way back into the picture.
If he does get beat when running a shooter off the line, he's one of the best in the league with backtaps and strips.
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Press up that hard on a shooter, and the opposing team will try to use that against you as a pressure point. Lo and behold, Erik Spoelstra dialed up just that, using Duncan Robinson as a screener with White stapled to him, hoping to cause an error on the perimeter.
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White shoots that gap absurdly well. Not just well, like Julius Peppers is smiling somewhere watching that. White dips his shoulder back around Bam Adebayo's screen and is back in front of Herro by the free throw line. It's a ridiculous possession.
To say Max Strus hasn't had a fun series would be an understatement. Watch the way White starts to angle himself, immediately prepping to lock and trail as soon as he knew the movement was en route.
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White seemingly always has at least one hand on the man he's trailing, making it that much harder to gain separation.&nbsp;
This play is a pinnacle "What else am I supposed to do?" moment. Strus hits White with a swim move, sends him careening into the Tucker screen, and Tucker thuds White. So clearly, Strus should be open, right? Right?
Once again, White comes flying around the screen and reattaches to Strus' hip without being overly physical or fouling, funneling him into the looming Horford.
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That consistency has been unreal. While White isn&rsquo;t necessarily the player finishing possessions defensively (although he still forces his fair share of turnovers), the quietness is what stands out.&nbsp;
White&rsquo;s giving his best Darrelle Revis impression, shutting off options, isolated against the best deep threats in the game. You see Jimmy Butler struggling to find an opening, wading in the mid-range, but the why? Max Strus can&rsquo;t get separation. White&rsquo;s been glued to Duncan Robinson. Gabe Vincent is always seeing a rear contest on pull-up twos. Nothing is coming easy for Miami.&nbsp;
Derrick White has put on a masterclass of screen shedding and route mirroring. His off-ball defense and ability to make things difficult always&nbsp;is a large reason for why Nekias Duncan, Jackson Frank and I had <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/defensive-awards-and-a-celebration-of-defense" target="_blank" rel="noopener">White making an All-Defense team</a>. It's not hyperbole to say that White is among the most consistent defensive players in basketball, something that tends to go underappreciated. Regardless of whether or not the Celtics win Game 7 tomorrow and make their first NBA Finals since 2010, Derrick White's consistent ability to make things difficult deserves shine.

Derrick White has put on a defensive masterclass during the Conference Finals, shutting down Miami's shooters.

Derrick White: Eliminating release valves and shutting off the water

In perhaps one of my favorite matchups of this basketball season and scouting cycle, Duke ousted Texas Tech 78-73 in the Sweet 16. It was quite literally a &ldquo;tale of two halves&rdquo; as Tech and Duke exchanged jabs and pot shots for the opening 20, with the Blue Devils struggling to consistently find a weak spot in Tech&rsquo;s no-middle leviathan. 
According to KenPom, Texas Tech&rsquo;s first-ranked defense, allowing just 85 points/100 (adjusted for schedule), was the best defense in DI basketball since&hellip; Tech in 2018-19 (84.1 pts/100), Virginia in 2017-18 (85.6 pts/100, 31-3 record) and Kentucky in 2014-15 (84.4 pts/100, 38-1 record).
In the second half, Duke scored 49 points. That's the most Tech allowed in a half this season &mdash; in fact, Tech held its opponent below 49 points in the entirety of a game multiple times this season. They allowed 45 in a half to Oklahoma earlier this season, and held them to 42 points the next game. Duke&rsquo;s 78 final points was the second-most allowed by the Red Raiders all year, and most in regulation.
This Texas Tech defense was a juggernaut all season, which puts into context the performance Paolo Banchero put together in the second half.
The first time you watch a no-middle defense (what Tech thrives upon), it's vexing. It's odd to watch a team welcome baseline drives, but it makes sense when an unsuspecting guard takes the open lane and runs into well-timed help and back-line rotations in the paint. The communication required to fully execute a scheme so reliant on switching, timeliness and aggression cannot be undersold.&nbsp;
Just watch this possession.
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Duke opts into a high-aligned horns set to draw out the defense. Look at how much space is presented along the baseline.
Now, watch how Tech slowly shows you that the space just doesn't actually exist!
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Terence Shannon Jr. shades Wendell Moore, presenting the baseline drive, denying the potential of a middle pick-and-roll with Paolo Banchero.
Bryson Williams helps down off of Mark Williams, preparing to time his slide with a Roach drive.
Kevin Obanor pre-rotates off of AJ Griffin to help at the rim.
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Williams rotates and the ball is stopped.&nbsp;
Kevin McCullar fronts Mark Williams, preventing any quick lobs or interior passes opened up by Bryson helping off his man.
Adonis Arms (great name) is glued to Banchero to take away any immediate outlet.
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Moore tries to split the double and passes out to Roach in the slot as he stumbles.
Obanor closes hard and forces the pass to Griffin who takes an initially open, but at least late-contested shot from deep, as Williams screams to the corner.
This possession wasn't even a perfect showcase of the difficulty of trying to break down a defense this in-sync &mdash; with length, court awareness and athleticism throughout the 5-man unit.
Throughout the first half, Duke attempted to get Paolo open in different ways, but Tech made it near-impossible to get him downhill. If a dribble hand-off was called, Tech switched, but the defender who just switched off would keep a hand on Paolo, sticking to him as the next defender took him on, giving a more open look from deep &mdash; but also not affording Paolo a slip or quick post mismatch. Also, it should be said that there just isn't really anyone you can post-up against and take advantage of on the Tech team. If he did catch the ball outside the arc, the Red Raiders would soft-close, refusing to give him a lane to the rim and forcing him to either drive and post into help on his pivot, or take a pull-up two.
These are the three baskets Paolo made in the first half:
<ul>
<li>And-one layup on the break</li>
<li>Catch-and-shoot three in early offense</li>
<li>Wide-open two-handed slam on blown switch with 15 seconds before the half</li>
</ul>
Tech's defense clung to Paolo like an overblown life jacket. Duke started to use him as a screener for pin-downs from the low/mid-post to try and get him more to the middle of the floor away from action, and able to attack off the catch &mdash; attempting to get his vision in the heart of the defense (precisely where Tech did not want him).
That last basket in the first from Paolo felt like a bit of a parting of the Red Sea, the "we-need-this-more" moment for Duke.
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Griffin is by and large one of the best shooters in college basketball this season, so Tech sells hard on his cut to the arc off an elevator screen. However, the quick dive from Mark Williams frees up Paolo due to Tech's overplay and miscommunication on the switch. To be fair, that is a hard play to cover when factoring in the gravity in-play. You have one of the best shooters (Griffin), a great roll-man and lob threat (Williams) and then maybe the most dynamic scorer in Division I (Banchero).
It's sort of like guarding a Spain pick-and-roll without the actual pick-and-roll.
While this isn't an action you can just spam over and over against a great defense, it showed the key for Duke &mdash; the team needed to set up more interior screening actions to force the defense to think more and get them into more precarious situations.
To open the second, they started to look for high-lows to find Williams off dummy actions. After Duke caught Tech the first time, they started selling out harder to front. Duke also slipped in more off-ball lifting from the corners to make it harder on the taggers.&nbsp;
Even then, Tech's defense was so stout, and was able to flounder most of those actions. However, it freed up Paolo Banchero to find cracks in the defense. The man who was glued to him at all times earlier... well, the early actions and off-ball movement were enough of a solvent to pry him loose.
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Shannon is ball-watching a bit and prepared to help on Williams, but Moore lifts, gets the kick, is stifled himself, and then... Paolo.
The ability to jut into space, and tight space at that, shimmy through unbothered, and then place a perfectly timed lob... that's special. It seems basic watching, but make no mistake, this sort of play is backbreaking.
Then, a few minutes later, a play breaks down. Duke starts swinging and trying to find an answer, and the ball reaches Paolo's hands with 10 seconds on the shot clock.
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He looks to Theo John, fakes a chest pass to Trevor Keels, then jabs and rips left as soon as Kevin Obanor plants his foot, but then spins back on the pivot.
This is really solid defense from Obanor, but the body control and composure from Paolo beats solid defense.&nbsp;
Paolo's drive commands Shannon's attention, but so does Griffin lifting to the slot. Paolo keeps his eyes on the rim as he jumps for a fleeting moment, keeping Shannon's eyes on him in the process, adding a sliver of time and space for Griffin to plant and fire.&nbsp;
This possession and this pass are far from perfect, but in a game like this against this level of opposition, the ability to make imperfect plays work in your favor is part of what sets apart good and great players.
Remember that elevator play from earlier? Well, it's back!
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Tech remembers what happened last time that play went down, switching everything, keeping the screeners from getting open, but now with the Arms rotation, Keels is wide open in the weak corner. The shot doesn't fall, but attacking the middle is opening up plays on the perimeter.
Here comes another variation.
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What else is Texas Tech supposed to do? The action from Paolo is too quick to front, you can't really just give him a baseline shade when you're that close to the rim. Williams honestly helps about as well as he can given positioning and how the play develops. Paolo just hits a ridiculous baseline floater/push shot that's been setup by his utilization as the game's gone on.
Again, the offense looks late to Paolo off-ball as the clock winds down off multiple stuffed actions.
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Williams can't finish inside, but again, they get a great look. Paolo catches, dips left, and rips to his right &mdash; drawing two while also freezing Arms in the middle of the floor, opening Williams for the lightning quick pass to the dunker spot (<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dunker-spot/id1547857052" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listen and subscribe!</a>).
Getting to the middle of a no-middle defense is, as the name implies, the way to best defeat it.
Next play down, Roach kicks the ball to Banchero early in the clock and he attacks immediately, driving baseline.
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Here's the fun wrinkle. He spins as soon as help comes, essentially rendering it useless as he fires the ball out to the top of the key. He draws two to where the ball no longer is!
Griffin attacks the paint and kicks to the corner as Paolo relocates and gets the wide-open three, because of the attack he set in motion seconds earlier.
Again, Paolo stirs the drink later down the floor, attacking off the close, getting deep in the paint and forcing rotations and a wild close-out as Moore attacks off his pass for the bucket at the rim.
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Duke has the pace pushing now.
Tech's on their heels and it's palpable through pixels.
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It's hard to find players who can spin with regularity, but also with control.&nbsp;
Paolo's drive game has entered 'the deal zone' and there's not an offer that Tech can put forth to stop it. Sell out for the drive, and a dump-off or lob is headed to the dunker.
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Mark Williams throws down an emphatic exclamation point on a dominant offensive half from Duke.
I could go on and on about their play as the minutes wound down &mdash; a methodic and metronomic bucket precipitated by an attack on the middle of the floor. Paolo Banchero wasn't the primary ball-handler for the Blue Devils, but he was certainly the primary difference maker.
Credit to Duke's coaching staff for putting their players in the right positions to succeed, but Banchero's decisiveness, awareness and gravity put Duke over the top and into the Elite Eight. Just an absolutely electric offensive showing and one of the best games I've seen from a collegiate player this year. Remember this game, as it highlights a great deal of what makes him so intriguing at the next level.
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After Texas Tech stifled Duke's offense in the first half, they were unleashed in the second, spurred by freshman Paolo Banchero.

How Duke's Paolo Banchero picked apart the best defense in basketball

If you haven&rsquo;t heard by now, you will soon: the Cleveland Cavaliers are coming for you.
Seemingly in the blink of an eye, the wine-and-golders have gone from lovable underdogs to unforgiving bullies. Through 30 games, over one-third of the way into the 2021-22 campaign, the Cavs boast an 18-12 record &mdash; probably the most misleading in the NBA, an absolute undersell &mdash; with one of the top average margins of victory in the league.
Using cliches and &ldquo;broken-record coach speak&rdquo; as J.B. Bickerstaff lightheartedly says before answering our repetitive comments of praise, you can&rsquo;t single out anyone as the sole reason for such a dramatic turnaround. Everyone has collectively bought in &mdash; from the returning players who &ldquo;took a lot of ass whoopings&rdquo; to the new ones who came in looking to advance a process.
Pun definitely intended, these Cavs will let you know, and fast. Jumping out to double-digit leads quickly. Punching you square in the mouth to close first halves. Putting you on the wrong end of the highlight reel. Not only do they feel like they belong, they expect to win.&nbsp;
No matter who they&rsquo;re up against. No matter who&rsquo;s on the floor for them. No matter the situation.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s giving us confidence just knowing we can beat some of the best teams in this league. I think we&rsquo;re one of &lsquo;em, to be honest with you,&rdquo; Darius Garland said after a win over the Chicago Bulls last week. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just got to bring that confidence, bring that intensity every game. Just stay with it, just keep being us. Bring the scrap every night, listen to the coaching staff and keep playing Cavaliers basketball.&rdquo;
There were times in the past few years when Cleveland looked like it began to put things together... in stretches. But an injury here, a setback there, an interruption, a roster change &mdash; it never sustained. At this point, we&rsquo;ve gotten a two-month sample size of this version of the team. It fights with the same vigor, the same self-belief and the same grit on a nightly basis.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s about those guys in the locker room,&rdquo; Bickerstaff said. &ldquo;From day one &mdash; go back to September, they showed up the day after Labor Day &mdash; they were in the gym and working, and were committed to one another. And then their personalities, they genuinely all get along, they genuinely all like each other. They fight for each other. They support each other.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I go home and I watch the games over, and I spend so much time just watching our bench. There&rsquo;s body after body after body that&rsquo;s up celebrating, cheering, [and] guys that don&rsquo;t even sit down during the game. That&rsquo;s what does it, and it&rsquo;s that chemistry the guys have formed. They love to compete. These games, even games we&rsquo;ve lost, they&rsquo;ve laid it out there. We&rsquo;ve had leads versus really good teams because of the spirit that those guys have played with... Guys being committed to what you're trying to do, and committed to one another is the most important thing that you can have. And I think that's where we've seen the biggest leap.&rdquo;
Combine that consistent effort with otherworldly versatility, skill and attitude, and you&rsquo;ve got the recipe for a unique, killer concoction.&nbsp;
As muttered recently on a radio hit in Cleveland, it&rsquo;s nearly impossible to cover everything top to bottom in regards to what&rsquo;s going right for this team. But we&rsquo;ll give it a try.
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Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley (and Lauri Markkanen)
Coming into the season, everybody wondered how the duo of Allen and Mobley would coexist on the floor. The thought of Markkanen sharing the floor with both never crossed anybody&rsquo;s mind. And yet, here we are, talking about Tall Ball as <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-the-nba-length-matters-unedited" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the league's newest craze</a> that&rsquo;s thrown nearly every opponent for a loop.
Bickerstaff decided at the beginning of the season that he had to find a way to put his best players on the floor all at once, and for his team, that was through size and skill. We&rsquo;re seeing Cleveland reap the benefits of that on a nightly basis. It all starts on the defensive end.&nbsp;
You&rsquo;re seeing Allen and Mobley deny those bold enough to enter their territory. Allen is the anchor in the middle, timing his head-on challenges to near perfection, while Mobley is the weak-side insurance policy waiting to reject all comers who&rsquo;d initially believed there was a path to an easy bucket. The rookie covers some insane ground, by the way, with his long strides allowing for quick recovery if he ever overcommits or has to be the last line of defense at a certain spot. He&rsquo;s also insanely intelligent, keeping the ball in play whenever he blocks shots (or just blatantly ripping it out of somebody&rsquo;s hands).
The funny part is that the teams strategizing to get Allen and Mobley on perimeter switches don&rsquo;t fully comprehend that those two are hoping for such a plan. They are not going to be left in the dust in space, and no matter which one is tasked with defending a quicker guard, the other will have his back down low. The rotations are just incredibly crisp. Of the duos in the NBA that have played at least 500 minutes, the Allen-Mobley pairing is allowing just 95.9 points per 100 possessions. That is the top Defensive Rating in the entire league, if you&rsquo;re keeping count.
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Also, their defensive prowess allows the Cavs&rsquo; perimeter defenders to put more pressure on the ball and gamble more due to the protection behind them. Which brings us to the third leg of the triumvirate&hellip;
Let&rsquo;s give credit to the unheralded contributions from Markkanen on this end of the floor too. Stride for stride, the Finnish 7-footer has been able to shuffle his feet laterally to contain his assignments rather successfully. He&rsquo;s not fouling, he&rsquo;s contesting the third-most shots on the team on average (8.3) and he&rsquo;s utilizing his length to make his man either give up the ball or force a shot attempt over a trio of towers. By no means is he the primary guy to highlight individually; however, considering past questions of how Markkanen would handle playing the 3 on the defensive side of the ball, the returns have been more than acceptable, particularly with how he&rsquo;s positioned himself. He&rsquo;s an integral part of this Cavs' frontcourt.
DG the PG
Where do you even start with Darius Garland?&nbsp;
Is it the way he picks his spots? How quickly he&rsquo;s processing his reads? His trickery with lobs? The fact that he's firing up shots without hesitation?
No matter which area of his game pops out to you, it&rsquo;s plain and obvious that Garland is making that all-too-familiar third-year jump from good to great. He&rsquo;s in complete control of the game with the ball in his hands, becoming the conductor of the (not-so) soothing Cavs symphony.&nbsp;
The 21-year-old is so agile and shifty that he has his defenders constantly asking for help, and what happens after that is up to him. He has shown a tendency to disguise the floater he used so often last year, which allows the aforementioned Allen and Mobley to capitalize with thunderous throwdowns. They are Garland&rsquo;s top two targets on the offensive end by and large, and Allen has a 62.8% field-goal percentage off those connections.
With his dribble penetration drawing more and more attention, opportunities are opening up for others. Garland puts a lot of heat on his pocket passes and quick shovel feeds, but his teammates are beginning to understand when and where to expect the ball, which has allowed for this Cleveland offense to thrive.&nbsp;
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Asked Steph Curry about Darius Garland, and he gave his props to the third-year <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cavs</a> guard: "He's taking another step in that right direction." <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/071djCaBWJ">pic.twitter.com/071djCaBWJ</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1461716450301947906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2021</a></blockquote>

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He&rsquo;ll also get his own shot going when he sees an opportunity, and those attempts are coming at all three levels of the floor. Not many point guards around the league can match his production. According to Basketball-Reference, Garland&rsquo;s shooting percentages across the board are as follows: 63.2% from 0-to-3 feet, 46.3% from 3-to-10 feet, 49.2% from 10-to-16 feet, 52.6% from 16 feet to the three-point line and 38.9% from beyond the arc.
Garland has been able to play off the ball as well, with Ricky Rubio as a ball-handler. He&rsquo;s been able to catch the opposition sleeping on a number of cuts, and is making them pay as a catch-shooter on the outside to boot. He&rsquo;s got synergy with the bigs coming off dribble handoffs. It&rsquo;s just all clicking for him right now. (Spoiler Alert: Our own Nekias Duncan will have more on Garland in the future.)
Veterans Matter
Without Rubio, who knows if Garland reaches this level of success? The Spanish guard has been a mentor and a maestro in his own right for this young team. As adamantly stated by several Cavs, he is a starting point guard in the NBA, yet he is propelling a uniquely productive bench alongside Kevin Love.&nbsp;
Both are buying what Cleveland is selling, and have become a crucial part of not only the development of this inexperienced bunch, but also the contributions toward its winning ways. The inherent unselfishness has permeated throughout, which is allowing for the production we&rsquo;ve seen.
Rubio has been the Cavs&rsquo; iron man, having played all 30 games and making an impact in whatever way is working that night &mdash; turning the corner, shooting the basketball at a 34% perimeter clip, pushing the offense in transition. In addition to all of this, he recently surpassed the 5,000-assist mark, backing up the importance of moving the ball. It was the team's No. 1 goal coming into the campaign, and thanks to Rubio&rsquo;s IQ, there&rsquo;s been a domino effect.
Love has rediscovered the fun of &ldquo;the chase&rdquo; with Cleveland, and it&rsquo;s shown with his performances. As a super-sub this season playing a tad under 20 minutes per night, the former All-Star is averaging 12.0 points and 7.1 rebounds per contest, while nailing 41.2% of his triple tries. Albeit on a low amount of attempts, Love is leading the NBA at 96.4% from the free-throw line.
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"You don't get this often." No lip service when Kevin Love talks about *these* <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cavs</a>. He's saying this team has something "bigger than ourselves" and "truly celebrate each other." <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/MJIf43fdLW">pic.twitter.com/MJIf43fdLW</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1470597707341479941?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2021</a></blockquote>

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These two deserve a boatload of credit for the sacrifices they&rsquo;ve made knowing where they&rsquo;re at in their respective careers, and the fact that they&rsquo;ve embraced the roles fully demonstrates their professionalism.
Those are the vets who see consistent playing time. There&rsquo;s another who doesn&rsquo;t receive quite as much love because his impact is not as obvious, and that&rsquo;s Ed Davis. Bickerstaff went to bat for the seasoned big man to occupy Cleveland&rsquo;s final roster spot for locker-room and mentorship purposes, and thus far, it&rsquo;s been a home run. Davis knows why he&rsquo;s here, and he&rsquo;s more than willing to hold up his end of the bargain. And in cases where Allen and/or Mobley aren&rsquo;t available, he&rsquo;s able to slot in and do his job.&nbsp;
The &ldquo;others&rdquo; that really aren&rsquo;t the others
It&rsquo;s unfortunate that Isaac Okoro just got placed into the NBA&rsquo;s health-and-safety protocols, because he is the backbone of the Cavs&rsquo; perimeter defense. He&rsquo;s constantly taking on the opponents&rsquo; toughest offensive players, chasing guys all around the half-court to deny them the ball, defeating screens to stick on them when the ball is in their hands and forcing them into awkward positions.
Offensively, Okoro is beginning to find his footing from the corner. It&rsquo;s not just the three-point shot &mdash; where 61.6% of his perimeter tries have come from &mdash; it&rsquo;s the way he&rsquo;s making defenses pay when they close-out too hard. He&rsquo;s putting the ball on the floor, going into contact and, in some cases (as seen against Houston), bruising the rim. Okoro&rsquo;s got a hell of a layup package too, and in transition, he&rsquo;s a load to handle.
Cedi Osman&rsquo;s hot start to the season has tailed off a bit; however, with a defined role as a part of the second unit, you can see how relaxed he&rsquo;s playing. Defensively, he&rsquo;s been swiping away steal after steal, and in the open floor, he&rsquo;s been in attack mode. He&rsquo;s also hoisting threes on the move and standstill like we&rsquo;ve never witnessed before. There is no lack of confidence there.
Maybe the most underappreciated player the Cavs have is Dean Wade, who, whether in the starting lineup playing 30 minutes or with the reserves in garbage time, constantly brings the same effort on both ends no matter the circumstance. He&rsquo;s able to stretch the floor as a long-range sniper, and he is Bickerstaff&rsquo;s sneakiest contingency plan on the defensive end.&nbsp;
Speaking of which, Lamar Stevens is the man Cleveland goes to when it needs a shot in the arm. He&rsquo;s got a bulky frame and matches up well 1-through-4. There have been numerous occasions when the team has gone to him and found the energy it needed from only his presence on the floor. He won&rsquo;t take many shots, but he&rsquo;ll prevent quite a few.
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The core of what makes the Cavs such a dangerous team is their box-score balance. Every night, you&rsquo;ll see six or seven players in double figures, assist figures in the mid-to-high 20s and 30s and modest (or poor) opponent field-goal percentages.
In every sense of the word, Cleveland is playing team ball. The NBA challenged the organization with eight out of 11 on the road to begin the season &mdash; including a grueling West Coast trip &mdash; and the wine-and-gold passed that test with flying colors. (They&rsquo;re one of the best away teams in the league at 9-5.) Now, whenever the Cavs are playing a team that isn&rsquo;t a playoff contender, they&rsquo;re demoralizing them and steamrolling them. The tough love has paid off in a major way.
No, they&rsquo;re not a finished product. They're even missing their leading scorer from a season ago (here's to hoping for a speedy recovery for Collin Sexton). They&rsquo;re not close. There haven't been nearly enough 48-minute games, and the hunt for a &ldquo;signature win&rdquo; is still on.
With that said, the Cavs have consistently brought it every single night, and teams that haven&rsquo;t taken notice are in for a hard, painful lesson once that ball tips off.
The warning sign is right in front of them: Beware of <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiC_7ut0-v0AhWHkIkEHe4rAFUQFnoECAMQAQ&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cleveland.com%2Fcavs%2F2021%2F11%2Fcleveland-cavaliers-have-adopted-underdog-mentality-complete-with-new-barking-celebration.html&amp;usg=AOvVaw1bAEDy2vYzH4odGmLpFcU0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Junkyard Dogs</a>.

Spencer Davies breaks down the Cavaliers' unexpected start to the season and why they're having so much success.

From lovable underdog to unforgiving bully: How the Cavs got here

Natasha Cloud watched her wife, Aleshia Ocasio, win the Athletes Unlimited softball title this past summer and now will have a chance to win her own championship in the winter.
Cloud will be part of the new Athletes Unlimited basketball league that will debut in January.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen first-hand from the initial (softball) league how it&rsquo;s a really dope thing,&rdquo; the Washington Mystics guard said in a phone interview. &ldquo;My wife just won the whole thing this past season and it was amazing.&rdquo;
The basketball league will feature 44 players, including Cloud and former WNBA players Sydney Colson and Ty Young. All three are on the league&rsquo;s executive council. The season will be played in the same city running from Jan. 29 through Feb. 28. Players will earn points each week based on their team&rsquo;s results as well as some individual stats. At the end of the week, the leading four players will draft the teams for the next week&rsquo;s games.
&ldquo;Seventy to 80% come from how the team performs based on winning quarters and winning the game,&rdquo; said Athletes Unlimited Co-Founder/CEO Jon Patricof. &ldquo;Fans today really care about individual players, free agency and moving teams so rapidly, among younger fans this format works really well.&rdquo;
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Athletes Unlimited has built its name in revolutionizing sports. And we&rsquo;re not finished yet. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BeUnlimited?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BeUnlimited</a> <a href="https://t.co/mfSJYvSgXD">pic.twitter.com/mfSJYvSgXD</a>
&mdash; Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/AUProSports/status/1447909928589533186?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2021</a></blockquote>

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The rules will be similar to the WNBA. There will be over $1 million for the 44 players to earn with the winner receiving roughly $50,000. The league is still finalizing the city where the games will be played.
Besides trying to not let her wife have complete family bragging rights, being able to play at home for the 6 1/2 week season was appealing to Cloud.
&ldquo;I have played overseas, it&rsquo;s not what I want to do,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to spend seven months away from my family. To have a competitive league and stay in shape and transition right in the W is new wave. I&rsquo;m excited to be one of the pioneers for the basketball side of it.&rdquo;
Athletes Unlimited started in 2020 and has softball, volleyball and lacrosse leagues in which there are no team owners and players share directly in league profits. Basketball is the first one that has an already well-established pro domestic league with the WNBA.
&ldquo;We reached out to WNBA earlier this summer and we had a couple of meetings with them virtually,&rdquo; Patricof said. &ldquo;We shared our plans and our view is that we hope to be part of growing the sport.&rdquo;
There&rsquo;s also a charity component to it, as each player will be playing for a cause. At the end of the season, Athletes Unlimited will also donate 50% to the players&rsquo; charities based on the bonus money the athletes won during the season.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s everything to have that support from your league because we are much more than athletes,&rdquo; Cloud said. &ldquo;We have been given this platform to be a voice for the voiceless. We step on the court every night, not just playing for Athletes Unlimited, but also our charities of choice, so that adds a different sense of importance. We&rsquo;re playing to fight for life and create opportunities and resources.&rdquo;

Natasha Cloud, Sydney Colson and Ty Young will be part of the new Athletes Unlimited basketball league that will debut in January.

Athletes Unlimited starts women's pro basketball league

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; There were times when Tyler Herro felt overwhelmed last season.
The Miami Heat guard would see his name linked to trades all over Twitter along with questions about his personal life and how he wasn&rsquo;t taking basketball seriously. He also was preparing to become a father for the first time.
Herro said it wasn&rsquo;t fun. But those days, he believes, are over. His daughter is here, he said his head is clear and as Heat camp looms, the 21-year-old guard is planning for this to be his best season.
&ldquo;For me, one of the biggest things was hearing people say that I partied too much, that I&rsquo;m not in the gym, that I don&rsquo;t love the gym,&rdquo; Herro said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. &ldquo;If you knew me, you&rsquo;d know I try to be the hardest-working dude out here. So, I think you&rsquo;ll see that this year.&rdquo;
The Heat surely hope that&rsquo;s the case.
Herro should be one of the keys for Miami this season, with the Heat looking to return to the form that sent them to the 2020 NBA Finals in Herro&rsquo;s rookie season out of Kentucky. Herro took &mdash; and passed &mdash; the Heat conditioning test Thursday, which in Miami always serves as the precursor to the season. Practice officially starts Tuesday.
His daughter, Zya Elise Herro, was born Sept. 14. The middle name is an homage to the baby&rsquo;s mother, Herro&rsquo;s girlfriend Katya Elise Henry. Mother and baby are doing well, and Herro said he feels like a huge weight has been lifted heading into this season.
&ldquo;I just feel good,&rdquo; Herro said. &ldquo;I feel like I have a reason now. Not that I didn&rsquo;t before, but now I have another reason to be motivated every single day when I walk into the arena. I have to be the best I can every single day because I have a daughter now. And I&rsquo;m in a very good spot right now.&rdquo;
That wasn&rsquo;t the case at times last season.
Most of Herro&rsquo;s numbers improved a bit from Year 1 to Year 2: His field-goal percentage ticked upward from 43% to 44%, he raised his rebounding (5.0 from 4.1) and assist (3.4 from 2.2) averages and his points per game rose from 13.5 to 15.1. He became only the fifth player in Heat history to have those scoring averages in his first two NBA seasons, and the first to do so without starting most of the time.
What didn&rsquo;t see improvement was his 3-point percentage, falling from 39% to 36%. And there was a 10-game stretch in March where he really struggled &mdash; shooting 32% from the field, 22% from 3-point range, averaging just 11.3 points.
But more than anything else, he simply wasn&rsquo;t happy.
&ldquo;Last year, it was all mental,&rdquo; Herro said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t enjoy coming into work every day.&rdquo;
That seems to have changed. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CTi8BtGDkBS/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;ig_rid=ceb3f389-7c46-4d37-abe2-21ce80b8f640" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A picture provides some of the proof.</a>
He posted the picture to Instagram on Sept. 7, an image of him about to take a shot inside the Heat practice facility. He didn&rsquo;t exactly look the way he did in his first two seasons; his arms were chiseled, along with his quads and calves. Even teammates couldn&rsquo;t resist making comments.
&ldquo;That picture, it&rsquo;s not edited,&rdquo; Herro said. &ldquo;I guess the angle, the light, it all looks right.&rdquo;
He would be extension-eligible next summer; he&rsquo;ll make $4 million this season, then about $5.7 million in 2022-23, and be in line for a much bigger payday starting in 2023-24. The size of that next contract &mdash; and where it comes from &mdash; might hinge on how this season goes.
Herro is fine with that. He knows this will be a telling season, and going into it happier than he was a year ago is a good start.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s motivation for me,&rdquo; Herro said. &ldquo;You see the rest of the guys that have gotten paid, and rightfully so. Everyone earns their check. I feel like this is an opportunity where I have everything in front of me and I&rsquo;m willing to go get it. I know I want to be in Miami. I love it here, the Heat culture and everything that comes with it. This is a prime opportunity. They&rsquo;re giving me the ball and letting me prove myself.&rdquo;

Tyler Herro spoke with the Associated Press on Thursday about the mental challenges of last season and what's to come next.

Heat's Tyler Herro in 'very good' place mentally

We're back to normal in the NBA for the next few nights, with doubleheaders tonight, Friday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The only folks more disgusted than Michael Malone last night were those who scheduled their TV time around what turned out to be a 123-98 rout of the Denver Nuggets by the Phoenix Suns as the lone playoff game of the evening. Let&rsquo;s just say the videotape of that game is not on its way to Springfield.
Malone went off afterward, saying there were multiple players on his roster who &ldquo;quit,&rdquo; which is about as strong of a statement as you will ever hear from an NBA coach. Malone said he would look down his bench to find somebody who wants to give a better effort, and we get to find out who that will be Friday night.
"This was an embarrassing performance from myself all the way through the last player," Malone said. "We're walking out of here with our heads held down, rightfully so. And there's a reason that their crowd is yelling 'Suns in 4!' and they're calling for a sweep. Because if we play like this back in Denver, this is going to be a really quick series.
&ldquo;We had no juice, no energy, no passion, no fight, no urgency, no grit, whatever adjective you want to use, we did not have it," Malone said. &ldquo;So I guess for Game 3, I'm just going to try to find guys that will at least go out there and leave it all on the line. I may have a hard time coming up with five guys that fill that, but these two games, these second halves have really been disappointing, and that's an understatement."
With Will Barton on a minutes restriction as he makes his way back after missing 20 games with a hamstring injury, Malone&rsquo;s choices are limited. The Nuggets are shooting just 43.4% from the field, and have recorded only 25 assists in their first two games combined against Phoenix. Monte Morris is just 2-for-17 (including 1-for-7 on 3-pointers), so he would be Candidate A on the list of &ldquo;Guys Who Will Not Take Their Warmups Off In Game 3.&rdquo; After producing at a high level in Round 1, Austin Rivers has missed two-thirds of his shots, which is not exactly what you want from a &ldquo;shooting&rdquo; guard.
It is still early in the second round, but it is a crucial juncture for a couple of teams on the precipice of joining the 22 teams already planning for next season. Tough business, the NBA; just ask Nate Bjorkgren and Danny Ainge, or Terry Stotts and Steve Clifford.
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But who will Malone turn to? And who will Mike Budenholzer of the Bucks go to as his team tries to climb out of a 2-0 deficit? Let&rsquo;s look into the crystal ball for those two, and the teams that are competing in the Hawks-76ers series and the Jazz-Clippers series.
Markus Howard, Nuggets
Howard was the NCAA's scoring leader last season at Marquette, and Malone turned to him in the final three games of the regular season, when he shot 22-for-41 overall and 10-for-22 from three-point range. Howard fell out of favor after going 3-for-14 in a Game 4 loss to Portland in the first round, but the 5-foot-10 rookie, 22, was a prolific scorer in college with three 50-plus point games and four 40-plus point games during his final three seasons as a four-year starter at Marquette. As Calvin Murphy and others can attest, guys under 6-foot can be impactful NBA players from time to time.
Malone needs to find somebody who wants to prove himself and who can hit a three-point shot. The Nuggets came back from the dead twice last season, but Wednesday night&rsquo;s game was especially bad, and if Denver&rsquo;s players are not moving around on offense (on a majority of possessions they were not), they have no shot. But if they get back to doing what has worked for them for two seasons, they can recover at home. Game 3 is as much of a must-win for them as it is for Milwaukee in the East, but the Bucks are facing a much more difficult opponent than Denver is. And Malone does not have many other pure scorers to choose from.
Nuggets runner-up: Michael Porter Jr.
Rajon Rondo, Clippers 
With Mike Conley sidelined and Jordan Clarkson continuing to come off the bench, one would imagine the Jazz would be at an operating deficit in the backcourt. We really did not see that in Game 1, even though it came down to Rudy Gobert blocking a three-point attempt by Marcus Morris on the final play of the game. That last chance would not have been possible without Rondo -- who assisted on Paul George&rsquo;s three-pointer with 38.4 seconds left after grabbing an offensive rebound -- then picked up a defensive rebound with 15.9 seconds left off a miss by Donovan Mitchell. Rondo logged 28 minutes with 5 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, and we shall see tonight whether coach Ty Lue plans to increase his minutes now that Patrick Beverley is basically out of the rotation.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_16203062_lg.jpg" alt="" />
Rondo was a huge difference-maker for the Lakers last season in the second round against Houston and in Game 5 of the 2011 NBA Finals against the Heat (19 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 3-for-4 on 3s). The 35-year-old has 129 career playoff games under his belt, and if history repeats itself we are going to see him wave off Father Time at least once more in this postseason. Starter Reggie Jackson logged only 17 minutes and fouled out of Game 1, and if this series goes to 2-0 in Utah's favor, it would not be the least bit surprising to see Rondo among the starting five.
Clippers runner-up: DeMarcus Cousins
Bobby Portis, Milwaukee Bucks 
The only advantage the Bucks have over the Nets is a size advantage, but they have not even come close to exploiting it in Games 1 and 2, so Coach Mike Budenholzer (already without Donte DiVincenzo) needs to look down his bench and find somebody who can shoot, rebound and provide toughness. Portis is that guy if Bud has faith in him, which is an open question after Portis logged only 17 minutes in each of the first two games.
Back in April, Portis was playing an average of 21.8 minutes and scoring 12.5 points per game on 50.6% shooting, including 47.5% from downtown, and what exactly he did to have his role reduced so significantly has not been adequately explained. The 26-year-old averaged career-highs in field goal percentage (52.3%) and three-point percentage (47.1%), and should not be gathering cobwebs when the Bucks are being run out of the gym against a Nets team without James Harden. If there is anyone in this series who can come in and turn things around with toughness on both ends of the court, it is the sixth-year veteran, who was signed in the offseason because the Bucks were lacking a guy just like him when they were eliminated from last year&rsquo;s playoffs against Miami.
Bucks runner-up: PJ Tucker
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John Collins, Hawks 
The last time Collins took more than 11 shots in a game was May 12 against the Wizards, when he went 5-for-12. In the previous game he was 10-for-14 (also against Washington), and in the one before that he was 10-for 15 (against the Pacers). The 23-year-old averaged 12.2 shot attempts per game in the regular season, but in seven playoff games, he has not yet reached that number (either by design or via happenstance). Whatever the case, the Hawks can play with the Sixers if Collins and Clint Capela can combine to outperform Joel Embiid on the offensive end (hey, Embiid is so good that sometimes you need two guys to match his production).
But Collins, despite strong shooting percentages, is either not having enough plays run for him or is not being assertive enough. He has been to the free-throw line only four times in this series, so maybe it is time for Nate McMillan to tell Collins to spend less time outside the three-point arc and more time in the paint on offense, where he is shooting 62.5% on shots from between 3-10 feet. The restricted free agent-to-be has about 120 million reasons to be better than he has been through the first seven playoff games.
Hawks runner-up: Lou Williams

Chris Sheridan takes a look at the players that need to answer the bell for their respective teams to avoid a postseason exit.

4 NBA players who need to step up in second round of playoffs

Jaylen Brown's season-ending wrist surgery feels like that final weight-bearing Jenga piece being pulled from Boston Celtics fans' tense tower of sanity.
This season felt cursed. The Celtics have underperformed as much as any team in the NBA, sitting 35-33 in the home stretch of the regular season. They just lost a critical seeding game to the Miami Heat, 130-124, that really wasn't even a contest until the final quarter -- and have to play them again Tuesday.
The notoriously loud Boston sports landscape has unabashedly complained about a lack of energy, continuity and consistency this season. They're all valid observations.
Even with the postseason on the horizon, the 2020-21 campaign feels like a lost cause. Fans should feel frustrated. Blame should fly in every direction -- except towards the players.&nbsp;
Brown's loss hurts, but based on this season's trajectory, it's not a surprise. The Celtics have lost <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nba/injured-reserve/cumulative-team/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15 different players</a>&nbsp;to injuries or COVID absences this season -- tied for fourth-most in the NBA behind only the Brooklyn Nets (17), Orlando Magic (16) and Houston Rockets (16). Look at this list compiled by NBC Sports' Chris Forsberg:
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🚑 2020-21 Celtics in a snapshot ⤵️ 183 games missed. Add 4 more for Jaylen Brown. Maybe more for Rob. And now it&rsquo;s guaranteed: Zero games played with their top 7 available the entire season. <a href="https://t.co/fbC5NgsV92">pic.twitter.com/fbC5NgsV92</a>
&mdash; Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisForsberg_/status/1391908896403562496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2021</a></blockquote>

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That is&nbsp;staggering&nbsp;for the fifth-youngest team in basketball. How can you expect a roster with an <a href="https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/transactions/composition_search" target="_blank" rel="noopener">average age of 24.7</a> to mesh cleanly on the court when they never get to see each other at the same time?&nbsp;
Even more egregious is the short and long-term impact of COVID-19. According to data tallied by Fansure, Celtics players have spent a <a href="https://fansure.com/user/fansureFeed/detail/608" target="_blank" rel="noopener">whopping 167 days</a> in the league's health and safety protocols this season -- 49 more days than the second-leading Dallas Mavericks. Jayson Tatum was still <a href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/04/14/post-covid-19-jayson-tatum-says-he-uses-inhaler-to-open-lungs-up-before-games/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">using an inhaler</a> as of mid-April to combat lasting effects from COVID-19 that he had experienced&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/02/16/sports/jayson-tatum-says-hes-still-experiencing-some-side-effects-his-bout-with-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three months earlier.</a>
Evan Fournier detailed his own experiences of contracting COVID-19 just after arriving in Boston via trade from Orlando. When he spoke to the media on May 3, Fournier described the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/evan-fournier-on-covid19-recovery-been-feeling-really-weird" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concussion-like symptoms and depth perception issues</a> he was still feeling.&nbsp;
To recap: the face of the Celtics franchise, as well as its biggest trade deadline acquisition in a decade, has battled serious long-term COVID ramifications despite clearing protocols.&nbsp;
Fans should be irate at Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA for jeopardizing the health and safety of its players. The shortened offseason, jam-packed schedule and unflappable resolve to play games in January now has major consequences on this team in May, and potentially, beyond.&nbsp;
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But it's not just Silver on the hot seat here. General manager Danny Ainge sure loved to put the blame <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ainge-on-celtics-struggles-im-putting-it-on-my-players-shoulders-right-now" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"on my players' shoulders"</a> when they struggled. But how did Ainge help? He did finally make a small splash at the deadline by nabbing Fournier. However, based on the swirling rumors surrounding Nikola Vucevic, Harrison Barnes and Aaron Gordon, March still feels like a missed opportunity with that $28.5 million trade exception at his disposal.&nbsp;
Tragically, that wasn't Ainge's only move. He also traded Daniel Theis and Javonte Green, two well-liked players, to Washington in a three-team deal for Moe Wagner and Luke Kornet. Wagner is now in Orlando and Kornet has been a healthy scratch in half of his last six games.
The Celtics currently roster three players over age-26 and zero over 30. Yet Ainge would pop into Boston sports radio shows with win-now expectations.
Brad Stevens isn't exempt, either. In fairness, he's been dealt a tough hand by Ainge and the league with the aforementioned young team, short offseason and harrowing absences. But while fans loved to clamor at the players for a lack of energy, that ultimately falls on a coaching staff.
Inconsistency has plagued the Celtics since trading for Kyrie Irving way back in 2017. This year, it's come to a head, with the usual stalwarts plummeting to the 19th-ranked defensive rating in the league.
But Boston also has a minus-0.4 net rating in first halves this season, which ranks 18th in the NBA. In the second half, that improves to a plus-3.2, good for the sixth-best mark in the league.
Over the last 15 games, however, the discrepancy is much more noticeable, as the Celtics have been a net minus-6.7 in the first half (ranked 24th) and a plus-7.6 in the second half (eighth).&nbsp;
There is a noticeable difference in energy and engagement. It's on Stevens and the coaching staff to motivate the players to be consistent, or change the first-half game plan, or do something different in general -- because the players are doing everything they can.
According to <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nba/injured-reserve/boston-celtics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spotrac</a>, Brown has withstood six different injuries and illnesses this season, not even including time spent in league protocols. Finished at the hands of wrist surgery, there's no doubt that he still put together his best season by far as a pro.
Kemba Walker has missed 20 games with injuries and illness, yet is putting consistent games together. In spite of his uniquely dangerous COVID-related circumstances, Tatum still tied the franchise record for points in a single game.
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☘️ Career high and <a href="https://twitter.com/celtics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@celtics</a> franchise record-tying 60 points ☘️ 31 PTS in 4th quarter &amp; OT ☘️ Led <a href="https://twitter.com/celtics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@celtics</a> 32-point comeback W ☘️ Career high 80.1 fantasy points Jayson Tatum WENT OFF last night. <a href="https://t.co/epNrPHlEw9">pic.twitter.com/epNrPHlEw9</a>
&mdash; NBA Fantasy (@NBAFantasy) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAFantasy/status/1388493409476702216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Fournier has battled the virus, too, and the jarring experience that comes with being dealt at the deadline (which is even tougher during this condensed season with limited practice time). Robert Williams III has broken out as a potential starting center of the future -- all while missing 16 games (to date) with four different injuries and illnesses. Marcus Smart, the heart of the franchise, missed 20 games with a calf injury, thumb injury and illness. Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard proved themselves in one of the most unusual rookie seasons they could imagine.&nbsp;
Do not blame the players for appearing unmotivated during a miserable season. They've cobbled together a winning record despite their inexperience, both in the Association and with each other. The Celtics are still in the growth phase, although most will tell you that time should pass.&nbsp;
Regardless of what happens in the playoffs, Celtics fans should appreciate the players for making do with an unstable and hopeless situation.

Regardless of what happens next, Celtics fans should appreciate the players for making do with an unstable and hopeless situation, writes Ethan Fuller.

In a cursed year, Celtics fans shouldn't place any blame on the players

Darius Garland scored a career-high 37 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the San Antonio Spurs 125-101 on Monday night to snap a five-game skid.
Collin Sexton added 22 points for Cleveland. Isaiah Hartenstein scored a season-high 16, and Taurean Prince finished with 14.
&ldquo;I actually said something at shootaround early this morning,&rdquo; Garland said. &ldquo;I was like, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a good day.&rsquo; Everybody was locked in during shootaround, no horseplaying.&rdquo;
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DARIUS GARLAND CAREER-HIGH 37 PTS ‼️ 37 PTS | 7 AST | 2 STL | 56.7 FPTS <a href="https://t.co/IvF2EzUkOb">pic.twitter.com/IvF2EzUkOb</a>
&mdash; NBA Fantasy (@NBAFantasy) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAFantasy/status/1379250993360203777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2021</a></blockquote>

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San Antonio finished the longest homestand in franchise history at 2-7, dropping from seventh to ninth in the Western Conference. It marked the fourth time during the homestand that an opponent beat the Spurs to snap a losing streak.
&ldquo;We look like we are fried,&rdquo; San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. &ldquo;We just look tired. Cup is less than half-filled, it seems.&rdquo;
DeMar DeRozan had 25 points for San Antonio. Rudy Gay, Derrick White and Keldon Johnson each had 13 points.
Cleveland entered the game as the league&rsquo;s lowest scoring team, averaging just 102.7 points, but it had no trouble scoring against a lethargic San Antonio defense.
&ldquo;We had a motivated team come in and we got steamrolled,&rdquo; Spurs forward Rudy Gay said. &ldquo;It happens sometimes in the league. Hope it doesn&rsquo;t carry over.&rdquo;
The Spurs were without starting point guard and defensive stalwart Dejounte Murray, who was a late scratch with a sore right foot. Murray averaged 38 minutes in San Antonio&rsquo;s previous games, a pair of overtime losses.
Garland took advantage, shooting 14 for 22 from the field, including 5 for 10 on 3-pointers.
&ldquo;A couple of times I got the rebound, and I was like, &lsquo;Here, I&rsquo;m going to throw it to him,&rsquo;&rdquo; Sexton said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m cool. I&rsquo;m chilling. I wanted him to get to that 40. He had an amazing game.&rdquo;
Cleveland shot 52% in its first victory since defeating the Chicago Bulls on March 24. It was 12 for 34 on 3-pointers.
The Spurs started well, leading by eight points in the opening quarter, only to squander that advantage just as they did in their two previous losses. The Cavaliers built a 13-point lead in the second quarter and extended it to 32 points in the second half.
San Antonio has trailed by double digits in 62% of its games this season. It is 9-21 when falling behind by 10 points this season.
Coming off two overtime losses in three days, the Spurs emptied their bench with 8:30 remaining and the Cavaliers leading 107-83.
&ldquo;Just having the mindset that we have to finish games,&rdquo; Garland said. &ldquo;Our second halves aren&rsquo;t as strong as our firsts most of the time. Coming out for the second half, we just had to come out with a lot of energy (and) play the way we were playing in the first half.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Cavaliers: Garland&rsquo;s previous career high was 29 points against the Spurs on March 29. &hellip; C Jarrett Allen missed his fifth straight game while following the league&rsquo;s concussion protocol. &hellip; Larry Nance Jr. missed the game with an undisclosed illness. &hellip; Cleveland is 9-40 in San Antonio. The Spurs had won five straight home games against the Cavaliers prior to losing consecutive contests to them.
Spurs: Popovich did not give a timetable on when Murray would return, but said his injury is &ldquo;short-term.&rdquo; &hellip; G Lonnie Walker IV missed his fourth straight game with a sore right wrist. Popovich said he hopes Walker will return during the team&rsquo;s upcoming road trip. &hellip; Before beating the Spurs during their homestand, Charlotte had lost three straight, Indiana was a on three-game skid and Atlanta had suffered two consecutive losses.
UP NEXT
Cavaliers: Visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday.
Spurs: Visit the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday.

Cavs' Darius Garland put up a career-high 37 points as Cleveland routed the Spurs 125-101 on Monday night.

Darius Garland puts up career-high 37 points, Cavs blow out Spurs

Duncan Robinson scored 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting on 3-pointers and the Miami Heat continued their home dominance over the Cleveland Cavaliers with a 115-101 victory Saturday night.
Bam Adebayo finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds, Trevor Ariza scored 15 points and Jimmy Butler added 15 points and 11 assists as the Heat won their 20th straight against the Cavaliers in Miami.
The Heat finished with 35 assists, including 13 in the first quarter. Robinson hit his first four 3-pointers as Miami shot 10 for 21 from long range in the first half and led 67-54 at halftime.
&ldquo;Everybody has pure intentions about it &mdash; just to play off each other, share the game and enjoy each other's success,&rdquo; Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;You play to your strengths but you do it with the intention to play together, to try to create something better.&rdquo;
Collin Sexton scored 26 points and Taurean Prince finished with a season high 19 points for the Cavaliers, who lost their fifth straight and have not win in Miami since Jan. 25, 2010.
After losing six straight, the Heat extended their winning streak to four.
Miami also got double figure scoring from reserves Goran Dragic, who finished with 13 points, and 10 points each from Tyler Herro and Nemanja Bjelica.
&ldquo;There are a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;It makes my job a lot easier because I can pass it to the open guy.&rdquo;
Cleveland pulled to 75-70 on Prince&rsquo;s layup with 4:05 remaining in the third quarter before Miami scored five consecutive points and regained its double-digit advantage.
&ldquo;I thought it was a battle of two halves,&rdquo; Cleveland coach J.B Bickerstaff said. &ldquo;When you're playing a caliber team like this and the equipment they have, you've got to play for 48 (minutes).&rdquo;
TIP INS
Cavaliers: Larry Nance Jr. (illness), Jarrett Allen (concussion) and Dylan Windler (left knee soreness) remained out. &hellip; The Cavaliers snapped a four-game string of failing to reach 100 points.. Sexson is averaging 25 points a game since March 16. &ldquo;As long as I'm being aggressive it helps everyone else,&rdquo; Sexon said.
Heat: Andre Iguodala (left hip soreness) sat out Saturday&rsquo;s game. Miami was winless and lost by an average of 20.5 in the four previous games Iguodala missed this season. &hellip; With double-figure performances in consecutive games, Ariza overcame two-point outings in each of his previous two games. . The Heat are 8-1 when they reach 30 assists.
ROBINSON&rsquo;S MILESTONES
Robinson&rsquo;s third 3-pointer was the 450th of his career in his 138th game. The previous fastest total in league history was Luka Doncic, who accomplished it in 171 games. Robinson also reached 14 consecutive games with multiple 3-pointers. He holds the Heat record with 24 in 2019-20.
&ldquo;Duncan is a very resilient guy, he can handle it when shots aren't going in,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;He stays with his process. He really works at it behind the scenes. The team really wants to see his success and how much it helps our offense.&rdquo;
OLADIPO STRUGGLES
Victor Oladipo scored eight points on 3-of-13 shooting in his second game with Miami since joining the club following his trade from Houston. In his Miami debut against Golden State Thursday, Oladipo shot 2 for 8 and finished with six points.
&ldquo;I just have to keep playing, everything else will take care of itself,&rdquo; Oladipo said. "The flow will come. The timing and everything will come. I just have to keep playing hard.
ROAD WOES CONTINUE
In addition to their decade-long losing streak in Miami, the Cavaliers are on a current road skid of seven-of-eight. Cleveland had played four of its last five away from home and Saturday was the first of a three-game road stretch that will continue at San Antonio and Oklahoma City.
UP NEXT
Cavaliers: At San Antonio on Monday.
Heat: Host Memphis on Tuesday.

After losing six straight, the Heat extended their winning streak to four.

Heat continue home dominance over Cavaliers with 115-101 win

Early in the first quarter, Michael Porter Jr. once again finds himself stationed on the right wing.&nbsp;
Jamal Murray flies off a Nikola Jokic screen at the free throw line. Porter Jr. misfires the pass to Murray, the ball practically falling at the feet of Clippers forward Marcus Morris. Morris pushes the ball and chaos ensues.
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We get a failed chasedown block, then a recovery, rotation, and a block from Porter Jr. He rim-runs after the swat and Aaron Gordon, filling the same right wing that Porter Jr. did to kick off the action, fires a dart inside to get the 6-foot-10 forward a dunk.
There&rsquo;s something fitting about the exchange, an entertaining blip in the middle of a 101-94 victory. The play begins with Porter Jr. operating as an initiator, and it fails miserably. It ends with Gordon piecing things together; not just filling the slot, but sliding an extra couple of steps to create a wider passing window so Porter Jr. could cap things off.&nbsp;
This is what the Nuggets want out of Porter Jr: multiple efforts on defense and efficient bucket-getting on the other end. The transition sequence is a basic view of what the Nuggets want out of Gordon: fill the space created from the gravity of their top two, and help branch things together when necessary.&nbsp;
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MICHAEL PORTER JR. IS REACHING NEW HEIGHTS
Sometimes the box score does tell the story. Porter Jr. is fresh off a March where he averaged 20.3 points while shooting 63.6% from two and 53.2% from three. The free throw shooting lagged behind (67.7% on 2.2 attempts), but he was still able to log an absurd 70.8 True Shooting percentage. Just look at this freaking shot chart from March, per InStat.
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Insane, right? Here&rsquo;s the shot chart on the &ldquo;contested&rdquo; shots he took.
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There isn&rsquo;t much difference. And that is terrifying.
The appeal -- and fear -- of Porter Jr. is that he&rsquo;s in complete control of his success rate. There might be six or seven players on the planet who have the quickness and the length to slide with him and affect his shot. A player with his size shouldn&rsquo;t be able to handle the way that he does; he surely shouldn&rsquo;t also have a feathery soft touch and a sky-high release point.&nbsp;
The inherent difficulties of defending Porter Jr.&rsquo;s shot is the work he puts in before it. He&rsquo;s an opportunistic mover, able to capitalize against occupied defenses:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/mpj-pull-up.gif" alt="" width="650" height="367" />
In other instances, he&rsquo;s able to create the window with his prowess. Turning a hammer screen into a cutting opportunity is a stroke of genius:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/mpj-hammer-cut.gif" alt="" width="651" height="368" />
There&rsquo;s been more growth defensively. Part of that is being able to play the 4 more often. He&rsquo;s found himself navigating on-ball screens a little less, and he&rsquo;s improved his off-ball feel. The help rotations are a little more crisp, a little more often.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/mpj-help-2.gif" alt="" width="651" height="368" />
Denver&rsquo;s defense has still been better with Porter Jr. off the floor &mdash; replacing him with the know-how of Paul Millsap or JaMychal Green will do that &mdash; but it&rsquo;s encouraging that the defense with Porter Jr. has been trending positively over the past couple of months.
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AARON GORDON IS FITTING IN
Speaking of the defense, Gordon has already slotted into the &ldquo;big-wing-defender&rdquo; role. In his three-game stint with the Nuggets, Gordon has already spent time defending Ben Simmons and Kawhi Leonard. He also spent a healthy amount of time on John Collins in his debut game versus the Atlanta Hawks.
He&rsquo;s strong enough to not be completely dislodged by the Kawhis of the world. That sounds like a backhanded compliment of sorts, but it&rsquo;s darn near impossible to stop superstars with that blend of strength and fluidity. Making things tough is generally a job well done.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/ag-post-up.gif" alt="" width="650" height="357" />
There&rsquo;s also intrigue in Gordon&rsquo;s ability to toggle through multiple assignments in a small amount of time.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/ag-switch.gif" alt="" width="650" height="364" />
Offensively, Gordon is getting in where he can fit in. Like Porter Jr., he&rsquo;s rarely the option that kickstarts the action, at least in the half-court. His primary job is to find openings off the ball. The early returns are promising.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/ag-cut-1.gif" alt="" width="649" height="359" />
That&rsquo;s some subtle goodness from Gordon. He reads how the Los Angeles Clippers defend the 1-5 pick-and-roll. A peel switch from Reggie Jackson puts him on the hip of Jokic. Murray floats around the dunker spot, then jets to the left corner as Ivica Zubac comes to double Jokic. Kawhi picks up Murray, and Gordon capitalizes with a timely cut.
It&rsquo;ll be interesting to track Gordon&rsquo;s pick-and-roll usage. He&rsquo;s already run a few with Jokic. More intriguing, he&rsquo;s been the screener for Jokic in ball-screen situations. If we&rsquo;re making the Jerami Grant comparison, Gordon should provide more juice as a vertical spacer.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/jokic-ag-pnr.gif" alt="" width="650" height="364" />
We&rsquo;re working with a small sample right now, but the Nuggets haven&rsquo;t lost since acquiring Gordon. The 3-0 record is nice; the <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612743&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;PlayerIds=203932,1629008&amp;OnlyCommonGames=true">plus-28.7 net rating</a> in the 77 minutes that Gordon and Porter Jr. have shared together is an even bigger positive.
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We know what Jokic provides. If he isn&rsquo;t the MVP frontrunner for you, he&rsquo;s at least in the top three because of his blend of three-level scoring and unreal playmaking. We know what Murray provides, a pull-up dynamo who can wreck teams for halves at a time when he gets rolling.&nbsp;
The Gordon-Porter Jr. tandem must complement those two for Denver to get to where they want to go. If the early returns are any indication, they may be well on their way.

The Nuggets are 3-0 since adding Aaron Gordon. Nekias Duncan explains why Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. are Denver's X-factors.

How the Nuggets are maximizing Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr.

Life is supposed to be hard as a non-shooter.
Players without real pull-up equity get walled off with conservative coverages. If you don&rsquo;t provide a spacing threat off the ball, defenses are fine turning games into 4-on-5 affairs in the half-court.
There are workarounds -- passing, screening, timely cuts -- but the margin for error is incredibly thin. For role players -- your Tony Allens or Andre Robersons, for earlier-but-relevant examples -- it&rsquo;s become darn-near impossible to exist in closing lineups. In recent postseasons, we&rsquo;ve seen it become difficult for (super)stars -- your Giannis Antetokounmpos or Russell Westbrooks -- to thrive to their usual level.&nbsp;
Zion Williamson is looking to change the math on this equation, and it&rsquo;s something we should be paying more attention to.
The &ldquo;why&rdquo; has always been easy to see with Zion in regards to his dominance. He is an athletic marvel, a defensive end with a &ldquo;Pro 2&rdquo; dribbling package and rockets in his calves. The &ldquo;what&rdquo; is also pretty straightforward. It&rsquo;s not that he can finish over the top of you -- he will finish over the top of you. Double-clutch layups, nifty scoops under the arms of taller-but-helpless defenders, high-flying slams and skyscraping lob finishes pollute his highlight tape.
It&rsquo;s time we examine the &ldquo;how&rdquo; of his recent success, because we&rsquo;re witnessing an inevitability that could shift the way we think about defense.
OFF-BALL VALUE
Zion isn&rsquo;t a real shooting threat. His career 37.8% clip from deep may surprise you if you view his player page, but that&rsquo;s offset by a lack of volume (37 attempts in 68 career games). More importantly, teams defend him like a non-shooter. You won&rsquo;t see aggressive closeouts if he receives a kick-out, and teams are more than willing to help off of him to junk up other actions.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/zion-3-ball.gif" alt="" width="649" height="367" />
The Pelicans flow out of HORNS here. Denver hedges hard, per their screen coverage, to prevent Nickeil Alexander-Walker from turning the corner. Behind that, Paul Millsap drops to pick up Steven Adams on the roll, while Jamal Murray helps off of Eric Bledsoe to &ldquo;tag&rdquo; Adams. Murray rotates and recovers; Millsap takes his sweet time turning his attention back to Zion because, ultimately, a jumper from him is a win for the defense.
There are two counters to involve Zion without the ball. He&rsquo;s deadly as a cutter, either filling space as the defense scrambles, or more designed looks from the slot. Zion is a frequent benefactor of Blade or Maggette cuts -- lifting from the corner and jetting inside following a pick-and-roll.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/zion-maggette-cut.gif" alt="" width="649" height="367" />
Zion as a screener in pick-and-roll has been just as deadly. He ranks in the 81st percentile as a scorer, per Synergy, but even that sells him short as a threat. There&rsquo;s an inherent &ldquo;who do we guard him with, and how?&rdquo; problem he poses.&nbsp;
Teams across the league are becoming more comfortable switching their 4s. The prospect of switching a guard or a weaker wing onto Zion is an unfavorable one; he&rsquo;ll simply seal and score -- he ranks in the 63rd percentile on post-ups, by the way -- or force a double team.&nbsp;
The new-age 4 is essentially an old-school 3; asking them to hold up in drop coverage is a pretty tough task. Like, what more is Robert Covington supposed to do with this?
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/zion-vs-drop.gif" alt="" width="649" height="367" />
Stashing your center on Zion seems like a natural counter to that problem, but it simply opens another one. Unless your center is switchable, you&rsquo;re leaving yourself open to handoffs on the perimeter, or pull-up jumpers from the likes of Brandon Ingram.&nbsp;
Even if you&rsquo;re operating with a true two-big alignment, placing your bigger player onto Zion means a weaker one is banging with Steven Adams on the glass. Per NBA.com, the Pelicans&rsquo; offensive rating and offensive rebound rate skyrocket with <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/impact/advanced/#!?LineupIDs=1629627&amp;VsLineupIDs=203500&amp;TeamID=1610612740&amp;VsTeamID=1610612740">Zion and Adams on the court</a>. That isn&rsquo;t a coincidence, even with the lack of shooting gravity between those two.
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ON-BALL USAGE
This has been the more fun development as of late. Zion has been an elite garbage man in the early stages of his career. Hunting out space for cuts, screening and rolling, abusing the offensive glass with his Super Mario-esque double jumps.&nbsp;
Now, the Pelicans are letting him dictate the action instead of reacting to it. His pick-and-roll usage is up, but that&rsquo;s obvious to see. What&rsquo;s more important to note is how teams have defended him in pick-and-roll.
Against ball-handlers without reputable pull-up jumpers, the general rule is to either duck under screens against them, or switch the action. It&rsquo;s an invitation of sorts, with defenses yelling, &ldquo;You can have this pull-up jumper if you&rsquo;d like!&rdquo;&nbsp;
Against upper-echelon talents -- think Westbrook or Giannis again -- it&rsquo;s a security blanket against rim attacks. The pick-ducking becomes more exaggerated, as does the help defense. The Milwaukee Bucks have <a href="https://theathletic.com/2281277/2021/01/11/bucks-new-offense-blue-dunker-spot/">altered their offensive framework</a>, from 5-out to 4-out, 1-in, in part to eliminate the &ldquo;wall&rdquo; that has been built against Giannis in each of the past two postseasons.
What happens when defenses are faced with the speed and dexterity of a Westbrook, as well as the power of Giannis&hellip; at the same time? This is the Zion Problem that nobody has solved yet.
Teams have attempted your basic conservative methods. They duck under picks, but it hasn&rsquo;t worked. Per Synergy, Zion has converted 75% of his shots when attacking against &ldquo;under&rdquo; coverage. Switching has been a more frequent counter, especially when Zion has run 4-5 pick-and-rolls, but he&rsquo;s roasting traditional 5s.&nbsp;
In higher ball-screens, he chews up space at a rate that leaves big men in their tracks. Even in lower ones, Zion has a level of short-area burst and ball-handling that a guy like Giannis simply doesn&rsquo;t.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/zion-handle.gif" alt="" width="649" height="367" />
Here&rsquo;s the slowed down version so you can see the effectiveness of Zion&rsquo;s in-and-out dribble, and how quickly he gains inside leverage on Boban Marjanovic because of it.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/zion-slo-mo-handle.gif" alt="" width="649" height="367" />
That&rsquo;s an example of him attacking the players who should have the size to deter him. Inverted pick-and-rolls have been even more difficult to stop. Zion is simply too strong and, at times, too quick for guards to handle if he&rsquo;s able to get downhill. You can&rsquo;t even do the normal hedge-and-recover because he can turn on the jets, or flat-out reverse course on the fly.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/zion-fouled-1.gif" alt="" width="651" height="368" />
Zion&rsquo;s recent game against the Mavericks was a fun one -- unless you&rsquo;re a Mavericks fan, of course. They tried just about everything. They went under. They switched. They even attempted to trap, all to no avail.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/zion-vs-trap.gif" alt="" width="649" height="367" />
That&rsquo;s the other part that makes Zion impossible: you can&rsquo;t completely sell out to stop him. He&rsquo;s a good passer, particularly on the move. Despite leading the NBA in <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/shooting/?Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;PerMode=Totals&amp;DistanceRange=By%20Zone&amp;sort=Restricted%20Area%20FGA&amp;dir=1">rim attempts</a> by a wide margin, he&rsquo;s only been called for 18 charge violations and has committed 26 &ldquo;bad pass&rdquo; turnovers, per <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/totals/nba/player?Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason">PBP Stats</a>. By comparison, Giannis has racked up 22 and 39 respectively.
Zion is one of three players averaging at least 25 points while shooting 55% or better from the field (along with Nikola Jokic and Giannis). He&rsquo;s the only one converting at least 60% of his shots. Over his past 10 games, Zion is averaging 29 points while shooting 65.7% from the field (69.9 TS%).&nbsp;
Those numbers aren&rsquo;t empty, either. As the Pelicans have shifted more on-ball usage to Zion, they&rsquo;ve won four of their past five games behind an offensive rating that tops 122 with him <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/vs/advanced/#!?TeamID=1610612740&amp;VsPlayerID=1629627&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;LastNGames=5">on the floor</a>.
Teams don&rsquo;t have a safe coverage to play against Zion at this point, and that&rsquo;s with him sharing the majority of his minutes with a center (Adams, Jaxson Hayes) and a guard (Eric Bledsoe) that teams don&rsquo;t treat as a shooting threat. What happens when he&rsquo;s consistently attacking with a spread floor?
Points and pain.

Zion Williamson has been unstoppable recently and he could be shifting the way we think about defense, writes Nekias Duncan.

Zion Williamson is breaking basketball

NBA All-Star 2021 will take place on Sunday, March 7 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, reaching fans in 215 countries and territories in more than 50 languages on their televisions, computers, mobile phones and tablets. This marks Atlanta&rsquo;s third time hosting the league&rsquo;s annual global celebration of basketball.
TNT&rsquo;s NBA All-Star coverage in the United States will begin at 5 p.m. ET with TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by CarMax, followed by the Taco Bell Skills Challenge and MTN DEW 3-Point Contest starting at 6:30 p.m. ET. NBA All-Star Game coverage on TNT will begin at 8 p.m. ET, with the AT&amp;T Slam Dunk Contest taking place at halftime. ESPN Radio coverage in the U.S. will begin at 7 p.m. ET.
Below are facts and figures about NBA All-Star 2021:
NBA All-Star Game
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">4 &ndash;&nbsp;The Phoenix Suns&rsquo; Chris Paul is the third player to be named an All-Star with&nbsp;four&nbsp;different franchises, joining Moses Malone and Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">9 &ndash;&nbsp;The LA Clippers&rsquo; Paul George&nbsp;made a record&nbsp;nine&nbsp;3-pointers on his way to 41 points in the 2016 NBA All-Star Game while representing the Indiana Pacers.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">17 &ndash;&nbsp;The Los Angeles Lakers&rsquo; LeBron James has been selected as an NBA All-Star&nbsp;17&nbsp;times, third most in league history behind Kareem Abdul Jabbar (19) and Kobe Bryant (18).&nbsp; James is also set to start the All-Star Game for the&nbsp;17th&nbsp;consecutive year.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">20 &ndash;&nbsp;At&nbsp;20&nbsp;years old, the New Orleans Pelicans&rsquo; Zion Williamson is set to become the fourth-youngest player to play in the NBA All-Star Game, behind Kobe Bryant, James and Magic Johnson.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">27.3 &ndash;&nbsp;The Milwaukee Bucks&rsquo; Giannis Antetokounmpo has the highest scoring average in NBA All-Star Game history at&nbsp;27.3&nbsp;points per game.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">58 &ndash;&nbsp;As part of the game production,&nbsp;58&nbsp;cameras will be positioned around the arena, including more than 30 in robotic form in the tunnel, practice court and locker room.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">70 &ndash;&nbsp;This is the&nbsp;70th&nbsp;edition of the NBA All-Star Game, which was first played in 1951.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">385 &ndash;&nbsp;James is the leading scorer in NBA All-Star Game history with&nbsp;385&nbsp;points.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">7,424,951 &ndash;&nbsp;NBA All-Star Voting 2021 presented by AT&amp;T set a single-day record with&nbsp;7,424,951&nbsp;fan votes cast on Jan. 28.</li>
</ul>
AT&amp;T Slam Dunk Contest
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">1 &ndash;&nbsp;In the final round, the two competitors who advance that far will perform&nbsp;one&nbsp;dunk each and the winner will be determined by &ldquo;Judges&rsquo; Choice&rdquo; instead of individual score.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">2 &ndash;&nbsp;Two&nbsp;Slam Dunk participants, the Portland Trail Blazers&rsquo; Anfernee Simons and the Pacers&rsquo; Cassius Stanley, have NBA G League experience.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">3 &ndash;&nbsp;Nate Robinson is the only player to win Slam Dunk&nbsp;three&nbsp;times (2006, 2009, 2010).&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">7 &ndash;&nbsp;This year&rsquo;s five Slam Dunk judges (Dee Brown, Jason Richardson, Josh Smith, Spud Webb and Dominique Wilkins) won a combined&nbsp;seven&nbsp;Slam Dunk titles.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">44 &ndash;&nbsp;Stanley recorded a maximum vertical leap of&nbsp;44&nbsp;inches in the 2020 NBA Draft Combine, tied for the third-highest mark since 2000.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">107 &ndash;&nbsp;Slam Dunk competitor Obi Toppin of the New York Knicks led Division I college basketball in dunks last season with&nbsp;107.</li>
</ul>
MTN DEW&nbsp;3-Point Contest
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">3 &ndash;&nbsp;The 3-Point Contest will feature two shots in the deep &ldquo;MTN DEW Zone&rdquo; that are worth&nbsp;three&nbsp;points each.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">6 &ndash;&nbsp;The&nbsp;six-player field&nbsp;will be composed entirely of 2021 NBA All-Stars &ndash; Devin Booker of the Suns, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls and Donovan Mitchell of the Jazz &ndash; making it the first 3-Point Contest in which each participant is a current All-Star.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">7 &ndash;&nbsp;Curry, the 2015 champion, will compete for the&nbsp;seventh&nbsp;time, tying Dale Ellis for the second-most appearances behind Craig Hodges (eight).</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">2,664 &ndash;&nbsp;Curry has made&nbsp;2,664&nbsp;career 3-pointers, second most in NBA history behind Ray Allen (2,973).</li>
</ul>
Taco Bell&nbsp;Skills Challenge
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">2 &ndash;&nbsp;Steve Nash and Dwyane Wade are the only&nbsp;two-time winner of the&nbsp;Skills Challenge.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">5 &ndash;&nbsp;Chris Paul is making his record&nbsp;fifth&nbsp;appearance in the&nbsp;Skills Challenge and his first since 2011.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">22 &ndash;&nbsp;Dončić, who turned&nbsp;22&nbsp;on Feb. 28, is the first player in Mavericks history to be voted as an NBA All-Star Game starter in two consecutive years.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">2013 &ndash;&nbsp;Robert Covington, who entered the NBA in&nbsp;2013,&nbsp;attended Tennessee State, an HBCU in Nashville, Tenn.</li>
</ul>
NBA All-Star in Atlanta
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">3&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;This is the&nbsp;third&nbsp;NBA All-Star in Atlanta, which previously hosted in 1978 and 2003.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">27 &ndash;&nbsp;The Buffalo Braves&rsquo; Randy Smith scored&nbsp;27&nbsp;points to lead the Eastern Conference past the Western Conference 133-125 in the 1978 NBA All-Star Game, the first time that Atlanta hosted.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">300 &ndash;&nbsp;The teams combined for&nbsp;300&nbsp;points in the 2003 NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta, where the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 155-145 in the only double-overtime game in All-Star history.&nbsp; Kevin Garnett scored a game-high 37 points and Michael Jordan had 20 points in his final NBA All-Star Game.</li>
</ul>
NBA All-Star Entertainment
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">12&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;All-Star entertainers have earned a&nbsp;combined&nbsp;12&nbsp;GRAMMY Awards during their careers.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">7 &ndash;&nbsp;Gladys Knight, a&nbsp;seven-time GRAMMY Award winner, will sing the U.S. national anthem at NBA All-Star 2021.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">3 &ndash;&nbsp;Three-time GRAMMY Award winner and Florida A&amp;M University alum Common will introduce the Clark Atlanta University Philharmonic Society Choir, which will perform an original rendition of &ldquo;Lift Every Voice and Sing.&rdquo;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">1 &ndash; GRAMMY Award winner and singer-songwriter Alessia Cara will sing the Canadian national anthem.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">1 &ndash; GRAMMY Award winner Anthony Hamilton will perform his song &ldquo;Fine Again&rdquo; in recognition of frontline workers.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">100&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;The nationally-recognized Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band and Florida A&amp;M University Marching&nbsp;100&nbsp;will play during NBA All-Star player introductions from their respective historic campuses.</li>
</ul>
NBA All-Star Around the World
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">1 &ndash;&nbsp;For the&nbsp;first&nbsp;time ever in Canada, TSN, Sportsnet and RDS will televise all the All-Star events.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">2 &ndash; Two&nbsp;international players have been named All-Star Game MVP: Tim Duncan (U.S. Virgin Islands; 2000) and Kyrie Irving (Australia; 2014).</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">4 &ndash;&nbsp;Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers; Cameroon) is one of&nbsp;four&nbsp;players born in Africa to be at least a four-time All-Star, along with Dikembe Mutombo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Steve Nash (South Africa) and Hakeem Olajuwon (Nigeria).</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">6 &ndash;&nbsp;A record&nbsp;six&nbsp;European players were named All-Stars this season: Antetokounmpo (Greece), Luka Dončić (Dallas Mavericks; Slovenia), Rudy&nbsp;Gobert&nbsp;(Utah Jazz; France),&nbsp;Nikola Jokić (Denver Nuggets; Serbia), Domantas Sabonis (Indiana Pacers; Lithuania) and Nikola&nbsp;Vučević&nbsp;(Orlando Magic; Montenegro).</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">9/5 &ndash;&nbsp;There are a record&nbsp;nine&nbsp;international All-Stars, including a record&nbsp;five&nbsp;international players voted All-Star Game starters.&nbsp; The nine international All-Stars are Antetokounmpo, Dončić, Embiid, Gobert, Irving, Jokić, Sabonis, Ben Simmons (76ers; Australia) and Vučević.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">14 &ndash;&nbsp;Fourteen&nbsp;active international players have been named All-Stars during their careers.</li>
</ul>
NBA All-Star on TNT
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">7 &ndash;&nbsp;TNT&rsquo;s announcing team of Marv Albert, Reggie Miller and Chris Webber will call its&nbsp;seventh&nbsp;straight NBA All-Star Game together.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">8&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Analysts&nbsp;Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal (3), Isiah Thomas (2), Charles&nbsp;Barkley (1), Dwyane Wade (1) and Candace Parker (1) have won a combined&nbsp;eight&nbsp;All-Star MVP awards in the NBA and WNBA.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">19 &ndash;&nbsp;TNT will present the NBA All-Star Game for the&nbsp;19th straight year.</li>
</ul>
NBA All-Star on ESPN Radio
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">25 &ndash;&nbsp;ESPN Radio will broadcast its&nbsp;25th&nbsp;NBA All-Star Game.&nbsp; Commentator Marc Kestecher and analyst Jon Barry will call the game action, with Kevin Winter and analyst P.J. Carlesimo anchoring pregame, halftime and postgame studio coverage.&nbsp; ESPN Radio host and Los Angeles Sparks star Chiney Ogwumike will join the broadcast at halftime as a special guest analyst for AT&amp;T Slam Dunk.</li>
</ul>
Support for HBCUs and COVID-19 Equity Efforts
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">9&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Throughout the game, members of the Divine&nbsp;Nine&nbsp;fraternities and sororities, a prestigious group of nine historically Black Greek letter organizations, will introduce step teams from Spelman College and Morehouse College.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">37/47 &ndash;&nbsp;As part of this year&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2021/03/2021-NBA-All-Star-Game-Format-3-4-21.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2021/03/2021-NBA-All-Star-Game-Format-3-4-21.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615047366969000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHdCojJOVRRBY1zllGkbqgXgB87Sg">game format</a>, the two All-Star teams will play for either UNCF (consisting of&nbsp;37&nbsp;member colleges) or Thurgood Marshall College Fund (composed of&nbsp;47&nbsp;publicly-supported HBCUs) as their respective beneficiary, with both providing scholarship funding to further HBCU students&rsquo; higher education.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">3,400 &ndash;&nbsp;The Goodr NBA All-Star Grocery Pop-Up presented by Kaiser Permanente will benefit nearly&nbsp;3,400&nbsp;families in need across 16 locations in Metro Atlanta by providing them with free groceries and household essentials.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">3 Million &ndash;&nbsp;As part of NBA All-Star 2021, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association will commit more than&nbsp;$3 million&nbsp;in initial funds and resources toward HBCUs and support awareness around equity and access to COVID-19 care, relief and vaccines.</li>
</ul>

Here are some interesting facts and figures about the 2021 NBA All-Star Weekend.

2021 NBA All-Star Weekend: By the numbers

Prior to the Denver Nuggets hosting the similarly-skidding Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, Michael Malone challenged his group to have a greater sense of urgency and prove that they were tired of losing.
&ldquo;Right now, we&rsquo;re not irritating a lot of people except the head coach,&rdquo; Malone said at his pregame press conference.
Message received.
The Nuggets put on a clinic in a 133-95 trouncing at Ball Arena to kick off a three-game homestand that will conclude with a visit from the Los Angeles Lakers. From the tip, it was an energetic outclassing on both ends, with unselfishness and a commitment to the defensive end that showed why Denver isn&rsquo;t one to be messed with when the team is clicking. There were two focus areas for Malone&rsquo;s staff in their morning &ldquo;state-of-the-union&rdquo; meeting with the players: come out of the half with a purposeful mentality and lock in on defense. The Nuggets answered.
&ldquo;As we all know, this season we&rsquo;ve had big leads at halftime, and the third quarter has been something that wasn&rsquo;t very good to us. So I love the fact that the defense for 48 minutes was terrific, 32 assists, 18 deflections -- which shows that we&rsquo;re being a lot more active. But I was proud of the guys for understanding the importance of playing for 48 minutes and coming out at the half playing a really solid third quarter.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a reason we went 11-4 in 15 games, &lsquo;cause our defense, it mattered, we cared about it... I&rsquo;ve said it for six years now -- when you defend, you give yourselves a chance every night.&rdquo;
Before the win over Cleveland, Denver had dropped three straight and was winless in the first games of February. The group had allowed 122.2 points per 100 possessions and had slippage offensively, which resulted in a negative-12.6 net rating (third-worst in the NBA during that span). Compare that to the 15 games Malone referred to, a stretch where the Nuggets had a <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/advanced/?sort=NET_RATING&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateFrom=01%2F03%2F2021&amp;DateTo=01%2F31%2F2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">top-10 defense and the third-best net rating (plus-7.6) in the league</a>. The difference is clear and obvious -- when Denver puts it together, it&rsquo;s dangerous. But the effort has to be consistent.
&ldquo;For us, it&rsquo;s us getting back on the right track,&rdquo; said Paul Millsap, who turned back the clock with a 22-point game on his 36th birthday. &ldquo;When we play the right way, man, we&rsquo;re a really good team, with everybody in this locker room. We&rsquo;ve shown halves, we&rsquo;ve shown quarters, but [Wednesday] we put together four quarters, a full game, and it showed on the stat sheet. We have our mentality we&rsquo;ve gotta stick to and we have our goals we&rsquo;re trying to reach.&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Speaking of mentality, Michael Porter Jr.&rsquo;s has been tested all season long with peaks and valleys, and he is currently in the midst of an adjustment period. Porter came out firing when he returned from the COVID list, notching multiple double-digit scoring efforts to pace the Nuggets&rsquo; second unit in late January. However, just as Denver had struggled in the three games to begin this month, so did he, to the tune of 8 points per game on a frigid 30 percent clip (and 18.8 percent from deep).
Malone&rsquo;s gone back to Porter in the starting five, though, so he&rsquo;s getting reacclimated with his teammates as far as the balance regarding his involvement on the offensive end goes, as well as figuring things out on the fly as a defender. Denver&rsquo;s head coach had high praise for the sophomore forward following his latest performance, specifically with how engaged he was on both ends of the court.
&ldquo;I wanted Michael Porter to know in front of his teammates that I thought he played a great game,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;Michael&rsquo;s had games where he&rsquo;s put up big numbers for us, but I thought Michael played a complete basketball game -- offensively, shooting the basketball, shooting it with confidence, spacing the floor correctly, defensively, being engaged, helping, being in the right spots... Michael struggled the last five games. We know he&rsquo;s gonna bounce back. He&rsquo;s too good of a player, he&rsquo;s too talented and it was great to see that happen. I was proud of him.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough when you expect a lot of yourself, especially when it&rsquo;s two or three games strung together when you don&rsquo;t play your best,&rdquo; Porter said. &ldquo;But for me, it&rsquo;s just trying to take the emotion out of it and really dissect it and understand what I could do to be better and just look at it from that angle. That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve been trying to do every game. Obviously, it&rsquo;s frustrating for me -- I try not to let it affect my confidence, which it can be hard to do -- but that&rsquo;s how I&rsquo;ve been trying to attack it is just look at it constructively and how I can get better.&rdquo;
Porter&rsquo;s box score didn&rsquo;t read quite as flashy as his usual loud scoring outbursts -- 19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists -- but recording a pair of steals and blocks each is something that he&rsquo;s only done one other time this year (in the season opener vs. the Sacramento Kings).&nbsp;
The 22-year-old is set on changing how he gets into his rhythm offensively. To this point, he&rsquo;s admittedly been apt to hang around the perimeter and fire off a bunch of threes, which have determined what kind of night it would be. Since he feels nobody can block his shots, he figured that was the right way to approach getting started. Now, he is going to prioritize attacking the rim off the dribble for closer looks and to get to the foul line, not settling in the process.
Building his rapport with Nikola Jokic has been important as well, and his dribble handoff synergy with the Nuggets&rsquo; superstar big man worked like a charm. The two have a good relationship, and Porter emphasizes how much Jokic &ldquo;gets on him&rdquo; for knowing how much better the talented young forward can be.
&ldquo;I think Nikola, he sees me working every day, he knows how hard I work and I think he expects a lot of me,&rdquo; Porter said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t take any of that personally because I know I&rsquo;m my biggest critic. I know I can be better, especially when I have bad games. We&rsquo;ve got a good relationship on the court. He just expects a lot out from me, he wants me to be helping out, so that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve gotta try to do."
&ldquo;Obviously, the more chemistry that Michael and Nikola create is only going to help us,&rdquo; Malone said.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Being inserted back into a lineup that features Jokic, Millsap, Jamal Murray and Will Barton has been a work-in-progress for Porter. It might not always be his night to shine on the stat sheet -- and it wasn&rsquo;t on Wednesday with limited touches -- but there are ways to impact that game in a positive manner. Getting a feel for that part is his next step.
&ldquo;With that starting unit and there being so many guys who can score and so many guys who can put the ball in the hoop, my job isn&rsquo;t necessarily to force that,&rdquo; Porter said. &ldquo;Everybody knows I can score. I think my teammates just want me to be locked in on the other areas of the game, so it&rsquo;s not letting scoring determine my energy on the defensive end. And I think that&rsquo;s what I did that I liked.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I just felt like I was locked in the whole game, didn&rsquo;t have too many lapses and that&rsquo;s progress, just not basing a good game off of scoring. I only shot three times in the first half, but that&rsquo;s okay. As long as my team&rsquo;s doing good, I can affect the game in other ways.&rdquo;
His teammate Millsap pointed out that Denver needs to take it one game at a time, even as far as one quarter and one possession at a time. While that may be a cliche, it would be smart for Porter to take the veteran&rsquo;s advice on an individual level.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I just gotta keep it up, keep doing the small things, keep helping my team,&rdquo; Porter said. &ldquo;The last few games have been rough for me, so I&rsquo;ve just gotta continue to get better, continue to be locked in every night and help my team.&rdquo;

Michael Porter Jr. knows everyone is aware he can score the ball, but he understands the Nuggets need more from him.

Michael Porter Jr. is his biggest critic, aiming to help Nuggets in other ways

Michael Frazier opens up to Spencer Davies about how locked in he's been this offseason to continue chasing his NBA dream.

Michael Frazier doesn't have an ounce of quit in his body

I have had more than two dozen parents and players reach out to me and ask for my advice on whether their children should play youth sports this year. I&rsquo;ve received calls, emails, messages and tweets about this (and so has my manager, Nyles). This is a topic that parents all over the country are dealing with: What do we do with our children who love sports and want to play?&nbsp;
Some places are pushing to open up; some have been open since the summer. Others have tried to open and then had to close back up due to outbreaks of COVID-19. I understand the dilemma that parents are currently in. I can&rsquo;t tell anyone what to do with their children, all I can do is explain what we are doing with ours.&nbsp;
We are a sports family. My wife, Nichole, and I both played basketball at Syracuse University. Our children have played multiple sports throughout their childhood - baseball, lacrosse, tennis, soccer and basketball. We love sports. It teaches them responsibility, how to work together as a team, how to push yourself individually, how to accept constructive criticism, how to follow directions, how to overcome adversity, the agony of defeat, the thrill of victory and so on.&nbsp;
My son, Malcolm, was looking forward to his freshman year at DeMatha High School as a two-sport athlete, playing soccer and basketball. 
My daughter, Imani, has shined for Metro Volleyball (which is the premiere club in the DMV) and was looking forward to trying out for the travel team this fall. 
My youngest daughter, Sierra (who I still call Baby Sierra), has been playing up for two years so that she wouldn&rsquo;t dominate her age group and she was on the practice squad for her big sister&rsquo;s team. They were all learning, being challenged and getting better.&nbsp;
They all were looking forward to a big fall season of sports. But as we kept an eye on the second surge of coronavirus cases currently sweeping across America, we had to take these facts into consideration. Our decision was based on data.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/aau2_lg.jpg" alt="" width="604" height="AUTO" />
Public health experts have not only been consistently cautioning Americans of a possible second wave of new coronavirus cases in the fall and winter, but they have been forewarning that it could be worse than the wave of infections from earlier this year.
John Brownstein, a Harvard Medical School professor and ABC News contributor, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/americans-brace-2nd-wave-covid-19-experts-predict/story?id=72817318">explained</a>, "As the fall approaches, you have drier conditions. More people are spending more time indoors, so generally the virus is more efficient."
Brownstein also pointed out that students who return to in-person classes will not be "practicing the same level of social distancing and mask wearing" as they were during the initial wave of the pandemic, which could cause a spike in infections.
In addition, for months, public health experts have been <a href="https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2020/08/27/flu-season">sounding alarms</a> of a "nightmare" that could occur if the United States sees its traditional flu season mixed with high rates of coronavirus transmission.
According to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-says-we-re-rounding-turn-covid-19-spreading-faster-n1244942">NBC News</a>: &ldquo;COVID-19 infections are spreading across the United States at the fastest rate since the start of the pandemic. The 71,000 new cases per day that the U.S. averaged over the past week was the most in any seven-day stretch since the crisis started and stood in stark contrast to President Donald Trump&rsquo;s repeated claims that &lsquo;<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1321078919924207617?s=20">we are rounding the turn&rsquo; </a>on the pandemic.&rdquo;
I understand how confusing this situation is for parents because we are constantly being bombarded with misinformation - even from the President of the United States. We can have our own opinions, but the facts are the facts.&nbsp;
And just to be clear: this isn&rsquo;t a political issue for me, it&rsquo;s a safety issue. If Barack Obama, Joe Biden, my pastor, my mother or anyone else provided false information that I felt would work to the detriment of my children&rsquo;s safety, they would face the same opposition from me.&nbsp;
We value sports, we love sports, and we are a sports family. However, we value our children&rsquo;s safety much more and have decided to hold them out of all fall sports activities no matter what their teams, schools, counties or programs decide.&nbsp;
Because our children are no longer participating in sports, we&rsquo;re working out at home as a family. We do basketball drills outside, volleyball bumps and setting, jump rope in the backyard, and footwork drills on the driveway. They even have a drill where they chase our dog, Marley, around the backyard like Rocky chasing the chicken in Rocky IV.&nbsp;
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It&rsquo;s important to note that my 11-year NBA career has afforded me the luxury of having a court in my backyard, a weight room in my basement and a gym with cardio equipment, so I do recognize the privilege I sit in.&nbsp;
With that being said, we will revisit everything in the spring and see where the numbers are with COVID-19. If the cases continue to spike (as they are now) and this second wave turns into a third wave, we will have our children sit out the entire year from youth sports.&nbsp;
Now, there are quite a few realities that have to be considered.&nbsp;
I understand that since the pandemic started, over two-thirds of high-school athletes reported anxiety and depression when all sports were shut down.
According to <a href="https://www.uwhealth.org/news/more-than-two-thirds-of-high-school-athletes-report-anxiety-and-depression-since-pandemic/53429">this study</a>: &ldquo;Exercise and physical activity are powerful anti-depressants and anti-anxiety interventions and we strongly encourage public health experts and school administrators to thoughtfully consider both the benefits and risks of prolonged school closures and sport cancellations. We hope that any plan moving forward addresses not only our kids physical health and safety, but their social development and emotional well-being as well.&rdquo;&nbsp;
My response would be that my kids can get the physical activity they need in the safety of our backyard and basement (and, again, I recognize my privilege).&nbsp;
The alternative is to put our faith in school systems and youth-sports leagues to devise COVID-safe environments to protect our children. It&rsquo;d be one thing if they were going to duplicate the NBA bubble, which is a format that has proven to be successful (shout out to Adam Silver). But if they are just talking about the janitor, Otis, spraying some extra disinfectant and telling kids to wash their hands or use a little extra hand sanitizer and then let the games begin, that&rsquo;s gonna be a hard pass for me.&nbsp;
What we are currently seeing is schools and youth leagues essentially using kids as guinea pigs and gambling with their health to test if their coronavirus protocols will be effective. You actually had school and youth leagues having virtual meetings to finalize plans for resuming games (which is absolutely ridiculous).
This is all while so much remains unknown when it comes to the long-term effects of testing positive for the coronavirus on a young athlete&rsquo;s heart, lungs and other vital organs. I know proponents of resuming youth sports like to ask, &ldquo;Well, how many kids have died?&rdquo; But that can&rsquo;t be the only barometer we use.&nbsp;
According to <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-long-term-effects/art-20490351">this article</a> from the world-renowned Mayo Clinic:&nbsp;
&ldquo;Organs that may be affected by COVID-19 include:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Heart. Imaging tests taken months after recovery from COVID-19 have shown lasting damage to the heart muscle, even in people who experienced only mild COVID-19 symptoms. This may increase the risk of heart failure or other heart complications in the future.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Lungs. The type of pneumonia often associated with COVID-19 can cause long-standing damage to the tiny air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs. The resulting scar tissue can lead to long-term breathing problems.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Brain. Even in young people, COVID-19 can cause strokes, seizures and Guillain-Barre syndrome &mdash; a condition that causes temporary paralysis. COVID-19 may also increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Liver and Kidneys. COVID-19 can also weaken blood vessels, which contributes to potentially long-lasting problems with the liver and kidneys. COVID-19 can make blood cells more likely to clump up and form clots. While large clots can cause heart attacks and strokes, much of the heart damage caused by COVID-19 is believed to stem from very small clots that block tiny blood vessels (capillaries) in the heart muscle.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
"Organ damage [from COVID-19] may increase the risk of long-term health problems.&rdquo;
If that&rsquo;s not enough to create pause, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci warned parents who were trying to decide whether they should send their children back to school that, contrary to what they&rsquo;ve been told, kids over 9 years old can spread the coronavirus just like adults.
"It's been shown that children from 10-to-19 can transmit the virus to adults as well as adults can," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/29/dr-fauci-says-kids-over-9-years-old-can-transmit-the-coronavirus-as-well-as-adults-as-some-schools-reopen.html">said during an interview Wednesday on MSNBC</a>.
But wait, there&rsquo;s more. 
A<a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/10/20-1315_article"> recently published study</a> in South Korea indicated that although kids under the age of 9 were less likely than adults to transmit the virus to their families, teenagers were at least as likely to transmit the disease as adults. Members of the Infectious Disease Society of America have previously <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/23/coronavirus-infectious-disease-experts-warn-against-reopening-schools-in-florida-texas.html">pointed to the study and warned against reopening schools</a> in states where coronavirus cases are surging.&nbsp;
Now, I understand why it&rsquo;s tough to keep kids home, especially when parents have to work. But data like this does present a major dilemma for parents wrestling with the decision of whether to allow their children to return to school or return to sports.&nbsp;
I know for a fact that many AAU, youth volleyball and youth soccer programs (because those are the ones our children are currently involved in) pushed to have youth sports resume during the summer and fall, and many are playing in tournaments right now as we speak. There has been a mixed reaction throughout the youth-sports community. Some coaches elected to play in tournaments all summer as various red states (mainly Florida, George and Texas) opened up back in June and July.
I&rsquo;ve heard AAU coaches express that they would be doing their players a disservice by not letting them play because they need the exposure to college coaches. (Although the rules have changed and colleges can only see AAU players during live periods).&nbsp;
I&rsquo;ve seen AAU coaches try to have massive training sessions, but then they&rsquo;re forced to shut them down due to a COVID-19 outbreak.&nbsp;
I&rsquo;ve seen youth-soccer programs attempt to conduct socially distanced games, which were an epic failure.
I&rsquo;ve seen volleyball tournaments move to red states that were open and reschedule entire fall seasons.
I&rsquo;ve seen some places (like my hometown of Tulsa, OK) have regular high-school football games with fans in the stands and everything.&nbsp;
But it just isn&rsquo;t worth the risk, in my opinion.&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s why I decided to cancel my team&rsquo;s AAU season and pull my kids out of youth sports during the summer. I love coaching my team and seeing my guys develop and improve - and I was really looking forward to this AAU season, just like my daughters were looking forward to volleyball. But we just didn&rsquo;t feel comfortable risking their health.&nbsp;
And just like the summer, we are currently witnessing an onslaught of outbreaks all across the country on the collegiate level. <a href="https://www.si.com/college/florida/football/florida-gators-football-lsu-tigers-postponed-coronavirus-covid19-outbreak">Florida</a> and <a href="https://www.si.com/college/2020/10/12/vanderbilt-missouri-game-postponed-coronavirus">Vanderbilt</a> have (at least) a combined 60 players out for virus-related reasons, resulting in postponements of their games against LSU and Missouri, respectively. <a href="https://www.si.com/college/olemiss/football/ole-miss-football-experiencing-covid-19-issues-but-could-play-game-today">Ole Miss is battling an outbreak as well</a>,
Across the country, at least 29 NCAA football games (about 10 percent of those played) have been postponed or canceled because of a virus that has killed more than 200,000 people in America and nearly 1.1 million worldwide. Nick Saban became the seventh FBS head coach to reveal that he&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.si.com/college/2020/10/15/college-football-covid-19-travel-nick-saban">tested positive</a>, and his diagnosis sends a chilling reminder of what medical experts have cautioned throughout the summer.
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Trevor Lawrence, who coincidentally was the voice and face of getting back on the field and playing college football, just <a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30219463/clemson-dabo-swinney-expects-trevor-lawrence-go-nfl-never-know">tested positive</a> for COVID-10. He is the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy and is considered a lock to be the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Wisconsin's football team will suspend all activities after head coach Paul Chryst and 11 other players and staff members <a href="https://www.nbc15.com/2020/10/28/uw-badgers-to-pause-football-activities-for-at-least-7-days/?fbclid=IwAR3pporIfpiIb6crKSpCPiNYxrUCHt9PYl7wUXWSPYIOQ8B9Qf9E1vVDaA0">tested positive</a> for COVID-19. At least 30 LSU football players and 25 Notre Dame players have tested positive too.
And this is all at the collegiate level. The NCAA, in theory, should have better protocol than high-school, middle-school or elementary-school sports. When even they are having consistent outbreaks and non-stop positive tests, why would anyone think youth sports (with nowhere near the same funding of universities) can keep kids safer?&nbsp;
I have been outspoken and consistent in my position that I am wholeheartedly against any sports at any level resuming play until we get a hold on this COVID-19 outbreak. I held that position in March when I decided not to have my team, the FBCG Elite Dynamic Disciples, participate in AAU over the summer. My position hasn&rsquo;t changed.&nbsp;
Once the numbers change, then we can talk. But as we have seen, the numbers are getting worse, so my kids will be working out in the backyard and in our basement for now. Again, I can&rsquo;t tell anyone what to do with their children; but, for me, it&rsquo;s just not worth the risk.&nbsp;

Etan Thomas explains why he decided to hold his three children out of fall sports and cancel his AAU team's season amid the pandemic.

Doug