Brooklyn Nets

ATLANTA (AP) &mdash; Dejounte Murray sank three free throws with 2:14 remaining to give Atlanta the lead and added a fall-away jumper with less than a minute left to lead the Hawks to a 120-118 win over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.
Murray led Atlanta with 29 points and Onyeka Okongwu added a season-high 21. The Hawks remained tied with Toronto, which beat Miami 106-92 on Tuesday night, for the eighth-best record in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavaliers held out starting forward Isaac Okoro (left knee soreness) and center Jarrett Allen (strained right groin) and were led by Donovan Mitchell&rsquo;s 44 points. Mitchell, who surpassed 10,000 career points, tied LeBron James&rsquo; Cavaliers record of10 games of 40-or-more points in a season.
With Atlanta&rsquo;s win, NBA- and Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee clinched the Central Division title.
WARRIORS 120, PELICANS 109
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) &mdash; Stephen Curry had 39 points with eight 3-pointers, eight rebounds and eight assists, Jordan Poole added 21 points and Golden State rallied past New Orleans.
Klay Thompson scored 17 and hit five 3s to set a single-season career high of 278, which leads the NBA. Draymond Green was whistled for a double technical for tussling with Brandon Ingram late in the second quarter &mdash; and Green&rsquo;s foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 1. He already served a one-game suspension March 17 at Atlanta for his 16th technical.
The Warriors moved up a spot into sixth place in the crowded Western Conference standings, a half-game up on Minnesota and 1 1/2 games ahead of New Orleans. The top six teams are guaranteed playoff berths.
Ingram had 26 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, Trey Murphy III scored 21 points and CJ McCollum added 15 for the Pelicans, who came in riding a five-game winning streak.
GRIZZLIES 113, MAGIC 108
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Desmond Bane scored 31 points and made 8 of 10 free throws down the stretch, leading Memphis past Orlando.
Bane&rsquo;s free throws thwarted a last-minute rush by the Magic, led by Franz Wagner, who ended up with 25 points, including nine in the final 1:10.
Xavier Tillman had 20 points for Memphis, while Luke Kennard and Jaren Jackson Jr. finished with 16 points apiece. Jackson added 10 rebounds and three blocks.
Ja Morant, the Grizzlies&rsquo; leading scorer, sat out the first night of a back-to-back with right thigh soreness.
Paolo Banchero finished with 24 points and Wendell Carter Jr. added 14 for the Magic.
HORNETS 137, THUNDER 134
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) &mdash; P.J. Washington scored 22 of his career-high 43 points in the fourth quarter, and Charlotte rallied to beat Oklahoma City for its third straight win.
Three Thunder players scored career highs &mdash; Isaiah Joe with 33 points and Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams with 31 each. But Williams and Giddey each missed one of two free throws in the final 16 seconds, and Williams missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have forced overtime.
It was a potentially costly loss for Oklahoma City. The Thunder were looking to strengthen their position in the Western Conference play-in race despite being short-handed. Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who entered the day fourth in the league averaging 31.3 points per game, sat out with a sprained left ankle.
Charlotte was short-handed, too. Terry Rozier (right foot discomfort) and Kelly Oubre (strained right shoulder) sat out for the third straight game and Dennis Smith (sprained right toe) also did not play.
RAPTORS 106, HEAT 92
TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Pascal Siakam scored 26 points, Scottie Barnes had 22 points and a career-high 12 assists and Toronto beat Miami.
O.G. Anunoby scored 22 points, and Precious Achiuwa and Fred VanVleet each had 12 as Toronto won for the 10th time in 11 home games.
Tyler Herro scored 33 points and Bam Adebayo had 21 points and 12 rebounds as Miami lost its second straight. The Heat are 15-22 on the road.
Miami played without leading scorer Jimmy Butler, who sat because of a sore neck.
WIZARDS 130, CELTICS 111
WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; Kristaps Porzingis had 32 points and 13 rebounds, and Washington boosted its flickering postseason hopes with a victory over Boston.
The Wizards, playing without Bradley Beal (left knee soreness) and Kyle Kuzma (right ankle sprain), pulled within 2 1/2 games of Chicago for the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference. Washington has six games remaining in the regular season.
The Celtics had their three-game winning streak snapped. Jayson Tatum led Boston with 28 points, and Jaylen Brown contributed 18 points.
Deni Avdija matched a career high with 25 points and added 10 rebounds for Washington. Monte Morris scored 19 points.

A recap of Monday's slate of NBA games includes a down-to-the-wire battle in Atlanta.

Hawks beat Cavaliers 120-118, help Bucks clinch Central Division

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; When the Los Angeles Lakers reached the final minutes of a tight game they desperately needed to win, the player with the ball in his hands on every possession Sunday night wasn&rsquo;t one of their superstars, but an undrafted second-year reserve guard who has made a career out of surpassing expectations.
Austin Reaves took over, scoring the Lakers&rsquo; last 10 points during the final 93 seconds of a 111-105 win over the Orlando Magic that breathed life into Los Angeles&rsquo; flickering playoff hopes while LeBron James is out with a foot injury.
Reaves ended up with a career-high 35 points, and Lakers fans serenaded him with chants of &ldquo;M-V-P! M-V-P!&rdquo; each time he stepped to the free-throw line down the stretch.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s special,&rdquo; Reaves said. &ldquo;I grew up a Lakers fan, so to do it for this organization especially is surreal. Sometimes I&rsquo;ve got to stop and really think about what I am doing. Obviously, I think all the odds were stacked against me from where I&rsquo;m from.&rdquo;
Reaves has become something more than another interesting find by the Lakers&rsquo; scouting department: The unsung prospect from rural Arkansas who played more baseball than basketball growing up is now a versatile, vital part of Los Angeles&rsquo; rotation. He&rsquo;s in line for a huge pay raise in free agency this summer &mdash; after he helps the Lakers into the playoffs, he hopes.
&ldquo;He carried us tonight with his play,&rdquo; Anthony Davis said after Reaves added six rebounds and six assists while hitting nine of his 14 shots against Orlando. &ldquo;He got whatever he wanted, pick-and-rolls, 3s, got to the line 18 times. We know what we have in Austin. We&rsquo;re very confident in him.&rdquo;
Reaves became only the seventh player in franchise history to score at least 35 points in a reserve role, but the way he got his points was particularly impressive. Driving to the hoop and shooting with confidence, he also repeatedly baited the Magic into fouls and then made 16 of his 18 free throws, both career highs.
&ldquo;He gets a lot of those calls,&rdquo; Davis said. &ldquo;Me and Bron joke about it, like, &lsquo;Man, we wish we could get some of those.&rsquo; As a guard, he&rsquo;s able to &mdash; I don&rsquo;t want to say manipulate the game &mdash; but to see how the game is being called and use it to his advantage, like guys who get a lot of free throws.&rdquo;
Reaves said he has studied how James Harden and Trae Young draw fouls and attempted to incorporate their strategies into his game. Between his penchant for getting fouled and his physical approach on defense, Reaves regularly ends up moderately bloodied or bruised after games.
Reaves sees it as a way to help the Lakers without relying on superior strength or world-class speed. Lakers coach Darvin Ham calls him a daredevil, while James describes him as fearless.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said many times I&rsquo;m not the most athletic person in the world,&rdquo; Reaves said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not the best at anything, but I think I&rsquo;m really good at a lot of things.&rdquo;
Reaves jokes about his limited athletic ability, yet he would be the most athletic person in almost any room in the world &mdash; except the room where he spends most of his life.
And basketball is in his blood: Both of his parents were accomplished players at Arkansas State, his mother a high-scoring 6-footer and his father a playmaking guard. He grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant, his grandmother&rsquo;s favorite player.
He was modestly recruited out of high school, and he headed to the pros after five years in college at Wichita State and Oklahoma. He started out on a two-way contract with the Lakers last season but played his way into a firm NBA role as a rookie.
Reaves will be a restricted free agent this summer, and Lakers fans are already fretting about his future two years after they lost Alex Caruso, another undrafted find who played his way into a major role on the 2020 championship team. Los Angeles allowed Caruso to leave for Chicago apparently to avoid adding to its luxury tax bill, even though Caruso said he would have given a discount to stay.
The Lakers can match any contract offer given to Reaves, and it&rsquo;s clear how their superstars feel about him: James cheered for Reaves&rsquo; big finish from the bench before tweeting about Reaves postgame: &ldquo;You toooooo TOUGH!!&rdquo;
Reaves smiled when he was shown the tweet, briefly looking like a star-struck Lakers fan once again.
&ldquo;I felt like there was a really good chemistry IQ-wise from day one,&rdquo; Reaves said of his bond with James. &ldquo;Stuff like that (tweet) means a lot to me. Looking back in 20 years when I&rsquo;m hopefully retired, playing golf every day, I can tell my kids, my grandkids.&rdquo;

Reaves has become something more than another interesting find by the Lakers’ scouting department.

Austin Reaves rising to challenges in Lakers’ playoff push

If you flicked on a random Tari Eason highlight in the past two weeks, you probably wouldn't realize we're still in the thick of the NBA preseason.
Eason has been the sultan of second efforts through three exhibition contests, swooping in for offensive rebounds and shrugging off contact to get putback points. He's averaging a league-high 5.3 offensive boards per game by snaking around boxouts, like in the below clip.
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The ball just seems to find Tari Eason. <a href="https://t.co/RqRBVVR59o">pic.twitter.com/RqRBVVR59o</a>
&mdash; Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1578614121352036352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2022</a></blockquote>

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These types of hustle plays have garnered early respect from fans and teammates, but they're just one facet of Eason's preseason showcase. The No. 17 overall pick has put up 20.7 points and 10.0 rebounds per game with a scorching 64.1% shooting clip from the floor. Eason is the early "steal-of-the-draft" badge-wearer, and he has Rockets fans daydreaming about how he could fill some of the critical holes in Houston's young core.
Eason is an eye-popping vertical athlete for a player his size (6-foot-8) and that has shown up on some of the transition hammer dunks he's dropped so far. But that bounce, coupled with a 7-foot-2-inch wingspan, also allows him to swallow up rebounds like this.
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Tari Eason suction cups for hands. Also, this is good awareness by Mathews to balance the floor once he sees Eason go to the rim. <a href="https://t.co/jVwoqTvyTc">pic.twitter.com/jVwoqTvyTc</a>
&mdash; DJ (@ACE_ZULLO) <a href="https://twitter.com/ACE_ZULLO/status/1579812450589110274?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
Despite a somewhat bizarre bounce, Eason overcomes his late dash to the interior and skies over Jamal Cain for the board. Cain's no slouch; he's 6-foot-7 and has played hard for the Miami Heat this month en route to a two-way contract. But Eason timed his late jump well, and followed it with a quick second leap for the bucket.&nbsp;
This level of intensity is obviously a way for Eason to earn the respect of his coaches, and in turn, get some playing time. Houston ranked 20th in offensive-rebound rate last season.
However, Eason has also shown he's far more than a putback boss. He's knocking down catch-and-shoot threes and attacking closeouts &mdash; necessary skills alongside Houston's ball-dominant players.
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He has not been a super efficient driving finisher, but Eason covers some remarkable ground with his handle and stride size. He loves this power step-through and displays some surprising body contortion for his size. Eason has natural touch around the basket, and I wouldn't be too concerned about a touch miss in this small sample.
However, the downside to these power drives is that they often leave Eason out of juice when he goes up for a shot. Those long strides sap him of vertical pop and lead to some tough blocked shots:
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Still, they're ambitious attempts, and "ambitious" aptly describes a lot of Eason's game right now.
Though he has just three assists in three preseason games, Eason has thrown some eyebrow-raising passes, including this one:
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You won't see it in many highlight reels because of the blown finish, but this full court bounce pass by Tari Eason after securing the steal was absolutely sensational. LeBron James, Cade Cunningham-esque. <a href="https://t.co/thYTYtpZ4d">pic.twitter.com/thYTYtpZ4d</a>
&mdash; Itamar (@Itamar_17_10) <a href="https://twitter.com/Itamar_17_10/status/1578747322330406912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2022</a></blockquote>

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He's also made some impressive reads in the half-court, though they haven't equated to scores. At the same time, Eason sometimes telegraphs his plan a bit too plainly, and it leads to turnovers like these:
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I'm optimistic about Eason becoming a better decision-maker. The fact that he's seeing these passing options is a positive, and as he acclimates to NBA pacing and spacing, his experience will naturally help his intuition.
The Rockets have to put Eason in positions where he can gamble with his physical tools and developing vision. His length and strength are already coming in handy on defense, where Eason can will himself out of bad spots and create opportunities out of thin air.
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Against the Heat on Tuesday, Eason altered shots like he was shot out of a cannon. That third clip, where he glides in to effortlessly reject a Duncan Robinson three-point attempt, still amazes me given where he was mere split-seconds before. Eason also can afford to dig at driving players, like he does against Max Strus, because he's long and agile enough to recover back and provide a quality contest.&nbsp;
The 21-year-old should get on the floor because he can grab rebounds and create havoc on defense. He can exceed expectations, perhaps to All-Rookie-type levels, by developing his jumper and syncing with the fluid lanes and pockets that come together on an NBA court. Will he have stretches of poor shooting and unwise gambling on both ends? Probably &mdash; most young players do.&nbsp;
But Tari Eason is a rookie who already has strengths in a defined role and flashes of upside in versatility. That's already pretty special, and it makes him a must-track member of this 2022 class.

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Houston Rockets rookie Tari Eason has averaged 20.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals through three preseason contests.

Is Tari Eason's preseason play forecasting a breakout rookie year?

LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; Victor Wembanyama&rsquo;s favorite players in the NBA right now are Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo. That makes sense, given that they&rsquo;re both taller than just about everyone else in the league and have all-world all-around games.
He might see some similarities there.
But comparisons to them, or anyone else, are not what Wembanyama is seeking. When the 7-foot-2 French teen comes to the NBA next season &mdash; by most accounts, he would be the No. 1 pick if the draft was held today &mdash; he isn&rsquo;t interested in trying to become the next Durant, or Antetokounmpo, or Dirk Nowitzki.
The path he wants to take, he said in an interview with The Associated Press, will be all his own.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m gonna tell you something that&rsquo;s been going on in my life, like for my whole life, since I&rsquo;ve been a kid, even before I played basketball,&rdquo; Wembanyama said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always tried to do (something) different. I&rsquo;m not even talking about sports, whatever. Any field, I&rsquo;m always trying to be original, something original, something one of one, something that&rsquo;s never been done before. And this is really how it worked in my life. I don&rsquo;t know where it comes from. I think I was born with it. I&rsquo;ve always been trying to be original. Unique, that&rsquo;s the word.&rdquo;
Unique, indeed, is the word.
&ldquo;My goal,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;is to be like something you&rsquo;ve never seen.&rdquo;
He might already be that.
He is why Metropolitans 92, a team from the top league in France, flew 5,500 miles this week <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-paris-las-vegas-draft-7cd6f8dbdda1b6aac3b2005464d8c3a9">to play a pair of exhibition games against the G League Ignite and another top draft prospect in Ignite guard Scoot Henderson.</a> The Ignite haven&rsquo;t started their season yet. The Metropolitans have already played three games, and are interrupting their regular season to play these exhibitions on Tuesday and Thursday in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nevada largely to help introduce Wembanyama to the U.S. basketball audience.
Tuesday night will, quite simply, be an event. About 200 scouts are credentialed; every NBA team will be in attendance, most sending multiple people to watch. Some clubs had executives watching practice Monday afternoon. There are journalists who flew in from France, Brazil and Canada for these games that don&rsquo;t count toward anyone&rsquo;s standings. The Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns play a preseason game in Las Vegas on Wednesday night; some players from those clubs are expected to come get a look at Wembanyama, as are some members of the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s good for the game,&rdquo; Ignite coach Jason Hart said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good for our program as well as theirs. I&rsquo;m so excited.&rdquo;
Wembanyama is just a big deal. Clearly. And literally.
They list him at 7-foot-2, some say he&rsquo;s 7-foot-4, his wingspan is nearly 8 feet and he can nearly grab the rim &mdash; 10 feet in the air &mdash; without even jumping. He shoots 3-pointers with ease, almost always unbothered by the efforts of defenders whose flailing arms come nowhere near the ball or his field of vision. He can run the floor. He handles the ball. Passes the ball. Creative. Athletic, blessed with the genes passed along from Felix Wembanyama and Elodie de Fautereau; his dad was a track star, his mom was a basketball standout.
Few, if any, prospects since LeBron James in 2003 have had this big of a can&rsquo;t-miss label on their shoulders as an 18-year-old.
&ldquo;I was built for this, I guess,&rdquo; Wembanyama said. &ldquo;All of what happens to me, I expected for myself. So it&rsquo;s just a checklist of expectations. I&rsquo;m not surprised by what&rsquo;s happening to me. And yeah, this is happening, this is how I can manage it and I think I managed it well.&rdquo;
He already speaks almost-perfect English, which will come in handy considering next June, then at the age of 19-1/2, he&rsquo;ll be getting selected by a team and moving to the U.S. (or Canada, if Toronto secures the pick that will land Wembanyama). It&rsquo;s hard for him to fathom that he has just a few months left living in his native France.
But he&rsquo;s also unbothered by what&rsquo;s happening, and what&rsquo;s coming. He speaks confidently, plays even more confidently, and truly seems to enjoy all the attention that comes with being one of the tallest human beings on the planet. That confidence, however, doesn&rsquo;t come with arrogance. He knows he&rsquo;s good. He wants to get better.
That&rsquo;s where Metropolitans 92 coach Vincent Collet comes in. The coach of France&rsquo;s national team is tasked with taking Wembanyama and making sure he&rsquo;s as NBA-ready as possible by next summer.
&ldquo;Many people around him are always telling him &lsquo;It&rsquo;s great, what you do is fantastic.&rsquo; And me, I am the coach, so I am the one that most sometimes say &lsquo;This is not good, this you could do better,&rsquo;&rdquo; Collet said. &ldquo;And for me, this is the most important, to teach him.&rdquo;
On the court, Wembanyama tries to be all business.
Off the court, he tries to still be a kid when he can.
He loves to read. Loves to draw. Yes, he plays video games. He showed off soccer moves with a basketball on Monday, expertly juggling &mdash; in soccer, that means to flick the ball in the air with one&rsquo;s foot and leg without letting it hitting the ground &mdash; while talking and walking. He also is working on some projects that he said &ldquo;have nothing to do with basketball,&rdquo; and when pressed to give some hints on what that meant, he offered a slight smile and said, &ldquo;if they&rsquo;re successful, you&rsquo;ll hear about them for sure.&rdquo;
After this week in Vegas, the French season resumes at home. Every Metropolitans 92 game will be followed because of him. This spring, draft talk will intensify. Then, on June 22, 2023, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is scheduled to walk to a lectern and say &ldquo;with the first pick in the 2023 NBA Draft ... &ldquo; and if all goes to plan, Wembanyama will take the stage seconds later for the ceremonial handshake.
That&rsquo;s when his path, the path to being &ldquo;one of one,&rdquo; will truly begin.
&ldquo;At the end of the day, regardless of what position you get picked in the draft, I think the most important is to have the best career afterwards,&rdquo; Wembanyama said. &ldquo;But as an athlete and as a competitor, I can&rsquo;t accept not to be No. 1.&rdquo;

Top 2023 NBA Draft prospect and French pro Victor Wembanyama speaks with the AP about the upcoming year, his goals and more.

Victor Wembanyama: 'My goal is to be like something you've never seen'

A perfectly orchestrated out-of-bounds set is a thing of beauty.&nbsp;
Plays ran after timeouts, or ATOs as they're commonly referred to, are by far the most intricately designed sets in any NBA game.
We hear the phrase "read and react" quite frequently, but that's truly the best way to describe the typical flow of NBA offenses. Possessions in the half-court without any sort of stoppage regularly feature some sort of pick-and-roll or handoff action, maybe with 1-to-2 additional tinkerings depending on the team you're watching. But the point is: There is a great deal of freelancing going on out there. These guys are pros for a reason &mdash; they don't need a guy in a suit telling them exactly&nbsp;what to do for every second of the game.
ATOs, however, are quite different. They allow head coaches to step in, sit down with their players for a full minute and 15 seconds, precisely rehearse and recall a scripted action from practice, and, most of all, tactically prey on the weaknesses of an opponent.&nbsp;
And when they're executed well? Sheesh, there's truly nothing better.&nbsp;
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Now, just for size, imagine watching two back-to-back successful ATOs in the final eight seconds of a playoff game. That'd be crazy, right? Huh?! For all my play-by-play geeks out there?
Alas, that is what happened during Tuesday's Game 5 between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Memphis Grizzlies.
Let's set the stage a little bit: This contest was not a gorgeous showing of pristine execution. It was a back-and-forth, frenetic affair, with both teams streaking up-and-down the floor like the Gatorade coolers had been spiked with C4 pre-workout. All of that speed didn't necessarily equate to production; collectively, both teams turned the ball over a ghastly 39 total times, and Memphis couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from deep at just 25.0% (7 of 28).
Minnesota controlled the tempo for most of Tuesday's game, building a lead as large as 13 in the second half. The Grizzlies looked dead in the water on their home floor, unable to get much of anything going in the halfcourt. Then, Ja Morant did this, and the mood completely changed...
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Chasing History -Episode 12 🏆 A jaw-dropping dunk&hellip;.a clutch late 3&hellip;.a game-winning shot. Ja Morant did it all in game 5, leading the Grizzlies to victory over the Timberwolves to take the 3-2 series lead. <a href="https://t.co/pKbwxriEws">pic.twitter.com/pKbwxriEws</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1519677816828313601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2022</a></blockquote>

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(Seriously, it's tough to get enough of this freakin' dunk. BBN's Mark Schindler even <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ja-morants-jadropping-dunk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote an entire article on it</a>! I mean, what the actual HECK, Temetrius Jamel Morant.)
That audacious poster lit something inside of Morant, who went on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-the-grizzlies-helped-ja-morant-find-himself-as-a-scorer-in-game-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an absolute tear in the final period of the game</a>, eventually boosting his fourth-quarter point total to 16 after a pair of free throws. This put Memphis up by 3 with just eight seconds remaining.
With the first-round series hanging in the balance at 2-2, Minnesota needed a three-pointer more than ever to even things up at 109 apiece. And gosh darn it, Wolves head coach Chris Finch delivered.&nbsp;
Minnesota sets things up with Jordan McLaughlin inbounding, its two strongest offensive players &mdash; Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards &mdash;on the strong side of the floor and D'Angelo Russell and Jaden McDaniels on the weak side.
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McLaughlin inbounds the ball to Towns at the left slot to initiate things. All the while, McDaniels streaks toward the left dunker spot and Russell brushes a backscreen for McDaniels. Then, Russell proceeds to "ghost" or fake a secondary back-screen for Edwards cutting up from the low block to the right slot.
Here's a video of that specific action involving that trio of players:
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In the end, it was a simple exchange of positioning; McDaniels had replaced Russell in the right dunker spot, Edwards had taken McDaniels' place as the lifted shooter on the weak side of the floor, and Russell was now in Edwards' spot on the strong side. But most importantly, Brandon Clarke, the largest Grizzly available, was now tasked with manning rim-protection duties as the "low man."
Now, let's zoom out a bit. Minnesota inbounds the ball to its most dangerous offensive player, Towns, who at this point has scored a team-high 28 points on the night. Yet as the inbounder, it's McLaughlin who is technically the most dangerous player on the floor, and so Towns immediately returns the rock to give the zippy backup a running start. As such, McLaughlin gains a step on his defender, Kyle Anderson, and this causes Clarke to hesitate for a second, unsure if he's supposed to protect the rim or track the weak-side shooters.
Because Clarke decides to hold his ground in the paint, Morant then becomes responsible for "zoning up" and guarding the two weak-side offensive players, Edwards and McDaniels. So, Edwards drifts down to the baseline for deep positioning to create a brutally tough angle of recovery, and McDaniels sets a back-screen on Edwards' man (Morant).
This specific screening setup is known as "exit" action, where one offensive player pins the "zoned-up" defender with a screen to generate a corner three for his teammate. (Finch loves&nbsp;his exit-screen plays, I tell ya.)
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McLaughlin flicks a ridiculous bounce pass to the corner like he's skipping rocks across a pond, and Edwards&mdash;quietly shooting ~42% on catch-and-shoot threes in the regular season and postseason&mdash;nails the corner jumper over an excellent closeout from Clarke.
Here's Finch's pi&egrave;ce de r&eacute;sistance in full:
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Tie game at 109.
Which meant it was Taylor Jenkins' time to cook for the Grizzlies' response.
Unlike Minnesota, Memphis set up by overloading one side of the floor with Desmond Bane, Anderson and Morant all sharing the strong side, and Tyus Jones on the weak side.
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Morant sets a cross-screen for Jones to cut across the paint, only to have Ja then come off a pindown screen from Desmond Bane. This specific action is known as "screen the screener," in which a player (Morant here) sets a screen for one teammate (Jones) and then receives a screen from another (Bane). Meanwhile, Anderson cuts across the paint from the left corner to the right slot to drag Minnesota's only rim-protector, Towns, completely out of the play.
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Memphis' screen-the-screener setup, or STS, forces Morant's defender (Edwards) to navigate not one, but two&nbsp;off-ball screens while tracking the hottest player on the floor. Edwards falls slightly behind the lightning-quick Morant, and exasperates things by gambling for the steal. Ant giveth, Ant taketh.
Now, Morant has the advantage with a free lane to the rim and Clarke in the right dunker spot. Jarred Vanderbilt rotates over to the stop the drive, and Towns inexplicably (??) turns his body away from the ball instead of rotating down to Clarke. This effectively leaves Vanderbilt in no man's land, forced to defend perhaps the best downhill dude in the league and&nbsp;a premier lob-threat... and, well, you know the rest.
Let's see the full play.
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Game. Set. Match. The Grizzlies went on to win Game 5 by a final of 111-109, and took an emphatic 3-2 lead in the series all behind Morant's 18 fourth-quarter points.
And sure, the night was dominated by the highlights (again, whew, that dunk), but it's sequences like the final eight seconds that make this NBA game what it is &mdash; great.
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Matt Brooks gives kudos to both Chris Finch and Taylor Jenkins for their ATOs in the crucial moments of Game 5 in Memphis.

Applauding Chris Finch and Taylor Jenkins' ATO play-calling wizardry

The last time Ben Simmons appeared in an NBA game was June 20, 2021.&nbsp;
It was Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, which the Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 103-96. Simmons contributed 5 points, 13 assists, 8 rebounds and a steal, but the most memorable play occurred with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter when he passed up a wide-open layup. The loss ultimately led to the Simmons saga, which culminated in a trade to the Brooklyn Nets. 
Simmons has yet to suit up for the Nets, but that may change very soon. ESPN&rsquo;s Adrian Wojnarowski <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/woj-ben-simmons-targets-first-rounds-game-4-to-be-his-nets-debut" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> that Simmons is targeting Game 4 against the Boston Celtics to make his season debut. The 25-year-old has been dealing with a herniated disc in his back, but he's made progress this week.
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Based on Ben Simmons&rsquo; progress in practices this week &ndash; and the anticipation of him further accelerating in the coming days &ndash; Game 4 vs. Boston on Monday is looming as a realistic target for his Brooklyn debut, sources tell ESPN.
&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href="https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1516830553160527889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2022</a></blockquote>

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If Simmons does get cleared, does it even make sense for Brooklyn to play him against Boston? Do the risks outweigh the rewards? We asked our BasketballNews.com writers to weigh in:
Mark Schindler: I'd probably lean toward not playing Ben. I understand the impact he&nbsp;could have, but the precedent of bringing players who haven't logged a regular-season minute into the middle of a playoff series makes me lean "no." I don't think it's as simple as, &ldquo;Well, he could just play 15-to-30 minutes&rdquo; because he needs rhythm. The players in the rotation already have a rhythm, and even then, it's still being sorted out. Brooklyn&rsquo;s rotation has been in flux and has varied all year, and it finally feels close to right. Given that, as well as Ben&rsquo;s injury timeline, it's murky for me.
Nekias Duncan: The Nets could use Simmons, particularly on the defensive end. They currently don't have a forward-sized player aside from Kevin Durant who is completely trustworthy. Considering the role Simmons would have to play on both ends, I don't think it'd be a crazy adjustment period for him. Defend, push after misses, execute some handoffs and hang around <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-dunker-spot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the dunker spot</a> otherwise.
Alex Kennedy:&nbsp;This is complicated. Simmons has been sidelined for nearly a year, so he's going to be rusty. It also seems unlikely that he'll be 100% healthy. A few weeks ago, Simmons needed an epidural because his herniated disc was causing him so much pain. Also, he hasn't played with any of these current Brooklyn players (aside from 49 games alongside Seth Curry in Philadelphia). He'll be trying to learn a new system, a new role and new teammates' tendencies on the fly; meanwhile, the other players will be trying to adjust to Simmons and the new rotation. If that wasn't tough enough, Simmons also has dealt with confidence issues and has struggled in high-pressure moments. This isn't throwing him into the deep end; it's tossing him into the Mariana Trench. I understand the temptation to play him since he's a Defensive Player of the Year runner-up, and the Nets had the NBA's 15th-ranked defense this season (third-worst among the East playoff teams). There's no question that he'd help on that end, especially against Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Still, I lean toward sitting him and focusing on next season. Playing him is the high-risk, high-reward move, but it feels like that could blow up in the team's face.&nbsp;
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Sharon Brown: I would play him in limited sets. Simmons' role with the Nets is different than it was with the Sixers. Defense comes naturally to him. He will be able to get rebounds, alter passing lanes, block shots and more. All the Nets need him to do is play defense and pass the ball to either Kyrie or KD. I don't see how that can hurt the Nets.
Bryan Fonseca: F**k no! You're really going to take a guy who had that playoff experience last year and &mdash; fresh off a back injury and alleged mental-health issues &mdash; just throw him into this series? How does that make sense? Can he help from a basketball standpoint on the floor? Sure. That's why Brooklyn made the trade, isn't it? And maybe the Nets are confident in how they've gotten him ready, his progress, their culture and things of that nature. Cool. But to throw him back in there after a year off, after the conclusion to last season and after all that's unfolded since, I'm not sure what sense this makes. Perhaps he's mentally and physically ready, but it feels like a desperate-times-call-for-desperate-measures move.
Spencer Davies: Despite having the luxury of an All-NBA defender and All-Star-caliber threat in the open floor, it'd be wise for the Brooklyn Nets to ease Ben Simmons back into competition. If that means he plays 10 total minutes in short, separated stints, so be it. He'd likely be tasked with roaming off the ball on defense and trying to create pick-sixes, in addition to containing Jayson Tatum and/or Jaylen Brown directly. There's always an inherent risk with debuting a player who hasn't played with your team in a playoff setting, particularly one where you could be experimenting in a situation that needs to be concrete (pending the series score). Still, there's always room for a playmaking, athletic, rangy weapon in the postseason, no matter how little Simmons is out there.
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Moke Hamilton: I&rsquo;m torn on this. I argued that the Nets <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/at-some-point-nets-may-be-wise-to-rule-ben-simmons-out-for-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">should shut Simmons down</a>, but I also recognize that Kevin Durant is no spring chicken. He and Kyrie don&rsquo;t necessarily have all the time in the world to bring a championship to Brooklyn, so you figure Simmons can help while they&rsquo;re both playing at a high level. Why not, right? At the end of the day, if you&rsquo;re Sean Marks, you have to trust your medical staff. If I&rsquo;m Brooklyn, I&rsquo;d let him run if everyone thought he was good to go. My major concern is that after a one-year layoff, coming back in the playoffs &mdash; especially against a team like Boston &mdash; is going from zero-to-100 pretty quickly. And let&rsquo;s keep in mind, medical staffs can be wrong. The Warriors probably didn&rsquo;t think Durant could do further damage to his &ldquo;calf strain&rdquo; by returning against Toronto in the 2019 NBA Finals. Wrong they were, obviously. I&rsquo;d let Simmons play, but I would slowly ramp him up. I also wouldn&rsquo;t be expecting him to be as effective as usual. At that point, you&rsquo;d have to wonder if he&rsquo;d even be a net-plus over the guy whose minutes he&rsquo;d be taking (Bruce Brown, in most instances)&hellip; But that&rsquo;s Steve Nash&rsquo;s problem.
Ethan Fuller: I don't think a mid-playoff-series toss into the teeth of the Celtics' defense is going to get Ben Simmons feeling confident and in rhythm after nearly a year on the sidelines. The Nets have already faced trials of team chemistry with the James Harden trade and Kyrie Irving&rsquo;s return to full-time play. Now they want to roll out Simmons and further disrupt a rotation that's finding its footing? Simmons is an All-World defender, and maybe that's what the Nets will need if they face elimination. But until then, I just can't logically picture him instantly clicking with the high stakes of the postseason.
Tommy Beer: I understand the hesitancy to introduce a new player into a heavily competitive series when he clearly hasn&rsquo;t had enough time to practice with his new teammates. However, I think throwing Ben Simmons into the mix is worth the gamble for Brooklyn, primarily because of the significant contributions he can make on the defensive end. Keep in mind, Simmons was named to the All-Defensive First Team for a second consecutive season in 2020-21 and was one of just two unanimous selections (along with Rudy Gobert). The Nets will need quality defenders if they hope to slow down a Celtics squad featuring Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Also, Simmons brings incredible versatility to the table. He is one of the very few players in the league capable of covering quick point guards (like Marcus Smart) as well as burly power forwards (like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/appreciating-a-brilliant-showing-from-al-horford" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Al Horford</a>). While the downside is obvious (expect Boston to send Simmons to the free-throw line early and often), the pros outweigh the cons for Brooklyn.
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Jesse Blancarte: I am guessing that most people think the Brooklyn Nets should not play Ben Simmons this postseason. I understand the arguments. He has not played in a long time. He has struggled mightily in past postseasons. His shooting is a problem. He is playing on a new team and will have to try and fit into their offensive and defensive systems on the fly. He could become a distraction if he clams up and the collective focus turns to his struggles like it did in Philadelphia. I still think the Nets should integrate Simmons immediately if he is healthy. Assuming Simmons is healthy, he is one of the most versatile defenders in the league. He has the length, mobility and strength to defend guards and forwards and can jump passing lanes to create easy fastbreak opportunities. Integrating him on offense will be more complicated, but a progressive ramp-up could pay off down the road, assuming the Nets can advance past the Boston Celtics (which is not a certainty at this point). If he doesn&rsquo;t look healthy, or if he is struggling, then bench him or scale back his minutes. But considering his skillset, his playmaking ability and the fact that he has Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to distribute the ball to, I think there is too much upside to not give him a chance. Without him, the Nets are viable contenders, but if Simmons is activated and plays well, the Nets could become the favorite to win it all.
Justin Lewis: The Nets clearly need a body to throw at Jayson Tatum and another playmaker to take some pressure off of Kyrie and KD. They don't need Simmons to score a single point. His defensive prowess and ability to start a fastbreak and make plays for his teammates are valuable enough to throw him out there despite the rust.
Drew Maresca: Simmons is a risky play at best. Back injuries are fickle, and proceeding without sufficient time to gauge how well he responds to contact is dangerous. Simmons may have caught a break in that he avoided surgery. Why tempt fate? If his back is re-injured in any way, surgery is all but guaranteed, and that would result in additional complications. As much as Brooklyn and its fans are dying to push their chips to the center of the table, I'd proceed with caution.
Matt John: There are just so many unknowns surrounding what Ben Simmons could do for the Nets. He hasn't played all season and he's playing for a new team that will put him in a different role from what he was accustomed to in Philadelphia. Simmons could be a game-changer for Brooklyn, but that remains in the abstract until further notice. He's a great passer, but he's not going to have the ball too much playing next to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. He's a great defender, but there's only so much ground he can cover for a sub-par defensive team like the Nets. Right now, Brooklyn's problem is that they need guys who can help them on both ends of the floor outside of KD and Kyrie. Defensively, Simmons helps them immensely. Offensively, he may pose spacing problems. On paper, Simmons should help slow down Jayson Tatum, but since he's coming off a back injury, there's no telling if he's physically capable of covering one of the league's best players. If he comes back, he won't be eased in because the Nets will be throwing him to the wolves. If he thinks he's ready, he'll have to prove it right away.
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Ben Simmons is hoping to make his season debut in Game 4 against the Celtics. Should the Nets to play him? Our writers weigh in.

NBA Roundtable: Should the Brooklyn Nets play Ben Simmons right now?

Over the weekend, a video of 16-year NBA veteran Erick Dampier&rsquo;s son &mdash; whose namesake is Erick Dampier Jr. &mdash; spread throughout social media, as he dunked on his fellow sixth graders in a game.&nbsp;
The viral clip has been viewed more than 2 million times in just a few days.
Dampier Jr. is seen dribbling the ball confidently up the court, first left-handed before crossing over to his right hand, then easily jumping off of one leg for the dunk as the buzzer went off.
(Quick shout-out to the kid who had the courage to make an attempt for the LeBron James chase-down block. You definitely get an A for effort.)&nbsp;
Afterward, as the scoreboard flickered the game's 30-0 score, his teammates jumped up to chest bump him, and one of them happily gave Erick Jr. a hug and a few pats on the back.
Everyone was buzzing about the moment, and Erick Jr., all weekend. BasketballNews&rsquo; Rex Chapman even tweeted about it. 
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SIXTH. GRADE.🤯 <a href="https://t.co/zHA8dEWcFo">https://t.co/zHA8dEWcFo</a>
&mdash; Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) <a href="https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1490357038064488454?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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I caught up with Erick Dampier to ask him about his son's viral video, as well as how he is training and preparing Erick Jr. both on and off the court.
Etan Thomas: So I saw the viral video of your son dunking on cats and he&rsquo;s only in the sixth grade. But first, I wanted to ask you about the working out process you have with him. I was watching some of his videos on YouTube and saw him handling the ball, bringing the ball up the court; then, I saw the post moves like it&rsquo;s the Clifford Ray and Robert Parish big-man camps we used to go to in the summer time. But talk to me how you have been developing your son.
Erick Dampier: (Laughing) "Yes, shout-out to Clifford Ray and Robert Parish, loved those big-man camps we used to go to. But It&rsquo;s been great watching [Erick Jr.], staying on him, putting him through drills. I want him to be a complete player; you know, the game is different from when we played. Big men now have to be able to do it all. I put him through a lot of drills and try to keep him in the gym. So we work on dribbling, footwork, lateral movement, skills training, etc. before we advance to shooting and post work. I want him to really work on his all around game, not just back-to-the-basket big man drills, but everything. But the main thing is keeping him in the gym. He plays sometimes with an older team, but he enjoys playing with his friends and the kids he knows as well. But the main thing is keeping him in the gym."
Etan: So you mentioned him playing with his both age group and with an older team, could you go into a little more detail with that? I saw a lot of people on social media asking that question.
Dampier: "Yeah, I saw that too. But, here&rsquo;s the thing: you want him to enjoy the game and play with his friends at the same time. All of those kids in the clip of the game everyone saw, those are the kids he goes to school with. Those are his friends. So I want him to have his fun with those kids, and also play with an older group in order for him to continuously be challenged and improve."
Etan: That makes sense, so how much older of an age group does he play with? He&rsquo;s in sixth grade, so does he play with seventh-grade teams or eighth-grade teams? Or even high school?&nbsp;
Dampier: "He plays with a seventh-grade travel team and he plays against eighth graders in the gym, but not on an eighth-grade travel circuit. But yeah, I see people saying that, but he&rsquo;s still a kid. You don&rsquo;t want to kill his confidence. You want him to get better but you still want his confidence to continue so it&rsquo;s a balance."
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Etan: So he&rsquo;s 6-foot-5 in the sixth grade, Damp?&nbsp;
Dampier: "Yeah may be inching toward 6-6, honestly."
Etan: "Wow! That&rsquo;s great, man." 
Dampier: "Yeah and I have another son who is right behind him in [the Class of 2034], who has been watching and learning from his big brother his whole life and mimicking the drills I do with Jr., so watch out for him too."
Etan: Oh okay, like Venus and Serena Williams. He&rsquo;s just waiting for his turn, huh? That&rsquo;s great. So your son has your namesake and he&rsquo;s the No. 1 sixth grader in the country... Now this is a little different &mdash; because I don&rsquo;t know if they were ranking sixth graders when we were coming up &mdash; but as the No. 1 sixth grader, how do you balance that label given to someone that young?
Dampier: "Well, as far as on the court, I tell him over and over again every day that just because they rank you No. 1, don&rsquo;t get too comfortable and think you&rsquo;ve arrived. You gotta work extra hard now because everyone will be gunning for you. You gotta prove you deserve that ranking every time you step on the court, because believe me, the other kids who are good are going to try to go at you and give you their best anytime they play against you. And there are other kids just as big as you, just as tall as you who can dribble, dunk and score like you just waiting for their chance to shine. So you gotta continue to put the work in."
Etan: How do you prepare him for the scrutiny that&rsquo;s going to come at some point? It&rsquo;s interesting because me and my son Malcolm have been watching Emoni Bates, and I&rsquo;ve pointed out the shift that took place. He was built up to be the second coming of KD, on the cover of magazines, nonstop praise, etc. But as you see, this season at Memphis and really starting last summer at Peach Jam, there has been the complete opposite and nonstop criticism. How do you prepare him for that part?&nbsp;
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Dampier: "We&rsquo;ve discussed the scrutiny that is going to come, and even started now. Sometimes he looks on his Instagram page (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/edampjr2028/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@Edampjr2028</a>)and sees some of the negative comments, and he&rsquo;s asked why would people say this and he would show me the different comments. I had to tell him, 'Look EJ, there will always be people who scrutinize you and criticize you. In fact, you&rsquo;re going to have that for the rest of your playing career. You just have to keep working hard and ignore what people say. They criticize everyone, that&rsquo;s what they do.' But yeah, [I'm] glad you asked that because that is definitely something we have to prepare our children for."
Etan: And it&rsquo;s so different now. Again, we didn&rsquo;t have social media back in the day. Ain&rsquo;t nobody see us play in middle school, but now things are different, so the preparation has to be different &mdash; even for someone as young as your son. How old is he? 
Dampier: "He&rsquo;s only 12. But here&rsquo;s the thing: we&rsquo;ve been there, so we know what to tell them to look out for. If I had all this preparation and knowledge and tools both on and off the floor growing up..."
Etan: Man! I say that all the time with my son. Like, do you know how blessed you are? But that&rsquo;s why we have to keep reminding them.
Dampier: "Even teaching him what it means to have real work ethic. Yeah you can play with your friends, play PS4, be talking y&rsquo;all talk on the headphones &mdash; and we didn&rsquo;t have that capability either (laughing) &mdash; but you have to structure time when you gotta take care of your working out and training. And spending time in the gym as well, because that&rsquo;s the only way you get better. But being able to teach him and guide him in all facets of this process, you&rsquo;re right. It&rsquo;s a blessing."
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Etan: It&rsquo;s gotta be a great feeling seeing your little man out there doing his thing. It&rsquo;s crazy because I&rsquo;m looking at the YouTube videos of him and I&rsquo;m like, man, he looks just like you. (Laughing.) There is this expression you have that&rsquo;s just the Erick Dampier expression after you score. You look up... it&rsquo;s hard to explain, but it&rsquo;s your look, and it&rsquo;s crazy seeing him have that same exact expression. 
Dampier: (Laughing) "Yeah, people tell me that all the time. But yeah, it&rsquo;s great to see. And I&rsquo;m sure sometimes he thinks Dad is hard on him and Dad is always pushing him. But then, he sees how it&rsquo;s paying off and he&rsquo;ll come to me and say, 'Hey dad, could we get some extra practice in, there&rsquo;s a few things I wanna work on.' And you know how it is &mdash; no matter what you&rsquo;re doing, you&rsquo;ll drop it all and go work with him. (Laughing) You can be in the middle of an important call, and you reschedule in a heartbeat. I gotta admit, it makes old Dad proud."
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Etan Thomas chats with Erick Dampier about Erick Jr.'s viral dunk, the attention his son is getting as a sixth grader and his preparation.

Erick Dampier discusses his 12-year-old son’s viral dunking video

Opening night in Hollywood went well for three quarters for Los Angeles Lakers superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
But it was a flop for their new supporting cast, including L.A. native and former league MVP Russell Westbrook.
Curry, a two-time MVP, had 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Warriors, who rallied from 10 points down to stun the Lakers 121-114 in a season opener Tuesday night.
The Lakers went cold in the fourth quarter, and surrendered the lead halfway through the period.
James had 34 points and 11 rebounds, while Davis had 33 points and 11 rebounds. No other Lakers scored in double figures.
&ldquo;Those two guys were spectacular," coach Frank Vogel said. &ldquo;We're going to be pretty good if we get those type of performances. We just have to be better defensively. This is a team that is all new to each other, so everybody's finding their way a little bit.&rdquo;
Wesbrook shot just 4 for 13 for eight points in his Lakers debut.
&ldquo;Him more than anybody, it's going to be an adjustment period," Vogel said. &ldquo;He's coming into our culture, our system, he's the new guy, he's got to find his way. It's difficult, when you're used to being the guy that has the ball most nights, to be able to play off others like LeBron and A.D. It's just a little bit different for him. He's going to be great for us but it's going to be an adjustment period."
James and Davis said they helped console Westbrook afterward.
&ldquo;I told Russ to go home and watch a comedy,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;Put a smile on his face. Don&rsquo;t be so hard on himself.&rdquo;
The Lakers had an 84-74 lead late in the third quarter after a jumper by Kent Bazemore, but the Warriors slowly closed the gap.
&ldquo;We didn't finish quarters well the whole night," Vogel said. &ldquo;We gave up a 38-point fourth quarter. If you do that you're going to lose most nights. Our defense is just not on a string yet. I thought we did a good job being up on Steph, but the back side was much better in the first half than the second half.&rdquo;
Curry made three free throws in the closing seconds of the third quarter after he was fouled taking a 3-pointer, and Jordan Poole and Damion Lee hit 3-pointers early in the fourth.
Poole&rsquo;s layup with 9:17 left put the Warriors ahead for good at 91-90, and he finished with 20 points. The Warriors expanded the lead to 98-90 before the Lakers twice closed within two points.
But Curry and Nemanja Bjelica each hit 3-pointers to give the Warriors some breathing room. Bjelica had 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Lee also scored 15 points.
&ldquo;We kept our composure and didn't turn the ball over in the second half, which was a huge benefit to just maintaining the pace and giving ourselves some looks,&rdquo; Curry said. &ldquo;But the fact that everybody who was on the floor contributed in a meaningful way kind of speaks to our depth and how we want to play going forward. We're excited about that and it's good to be 1-0.&rdquo;
Davis and James dominated for much of the game while welcoming a slew of new teammates, including Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan.
The Lakers, who won the NBA title in the bubble in October 2020, retooled after losing to the Phoenix Suns in the first round of last season&rsquo;s playoffs. They retained just three players &mdash; James, Davis and Talen Horton-Tucker, who&rsquo;s out with a thumb injury.
James and Davis made 3-pointers and fallaway jumpers. In one remarkable sequence, James saved an errant pass and flicked it to Davis, who slammed it home for a 68-61 lead with 7:51 to go in the third quarter.
The Lakers, who went 0-6 in the preseason, led 59-53 at halftime.
TIP-INS
Warriors: Golden State remains without All-Star guard Klay Thompson, who continues to rehab an Achilles tendon injury that cost him the entire 2021 season. ... The teams last met on May 19 when Los Angeles beat Golden State 103-100 at home in the opener of the league&rsquo;s first play-in tournament.
Lakers: Howard welcomed fans with a short address just before the game, mentioning that it was the NBA&rsquo;s 75th anniversary and closed by saying, &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s get it!&rdquo; ... Jordan and Bazemore started alongside James, Davis and Westbrook. ... Anthony and Rondo got a nice hand when they subbed in together with 5:40 to go in the first quarter.
UP NEXT
Warriors: Host Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday.
Lakers: Host Phoenix on Friday.

The Warriors rallied from 10 points down to stun the Lakers 121-114 in the purple and gold's season opener Tuesday night.

Curry, Warriors stun James, Lakers 121-114 in opener

BROOKLYN &ndash; This will go down in history as the night Cade Cunningham was drafted No. 1 overall by the Detroit Pistons. It will not be remembered as the night Russell Westbrook was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Says who?&nbsp;
Says Cunningham, who was unafraid to answer a direct question about what fans will remember about July 29, 2021 a decade or so down the road.
&ldquo;I think it will be Cade Cunningham's night, that he got drafted by the Pistons, because when people look back, that will be the start of whenever the Pistons restored their franchise and brought greatness back to the city," Cunningham said from the interview room at Barclays Center. "That's my whole goal stepping into Detroit, to restore that city. They've already had championship teams. They've already witnessed greatness. I want to be able to bring that back to the city."
It was a genuine answer to a question a lot of athletes might have dodged or ducked. But Cunningham is clearly as intelligent as he is confident and talented, and he answered without hesitation. Props to him for that.
He is only 19 years old and was not even out of diapers the last time the Pistons were relevant in the NBA-championship discussion. But his brother, Cannen, played for Larry Brown at SMU, and he spent three years hearing about what Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, Rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace meant to the Detroit area a generation ago when LeBron James was still climbing the hill in Cleveland, trying to get past their rivals one industrial city away in a neighboring state.
Cunningham&rsquo;s geographical history includes growing up in Arlington, Texas, attending high school there for two years and at Montverde Academy in Florida for two years before spending a season in Norman, Oklahoma. So he will encounter culture shock and architectural shock as he makes the move to Michigan and gets to know the city the Pistons have returned to after their long stint in the suburb of Auburn Hills.
He has already met with general manager Troy Weaver and coach Dwane Casey. What struck him about those sitdowns was the genuine level of commitment both men have to restoring glory to a franchise that has been on the skids for the past dozen years, making the postseason just two times and never getting out of the first round.
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&ldquo;More than anything, they're locked in and they're stuck on restoring them. I heard that so many times throughout my visit in Detroit, and it stuck with me just because it makes sense,&rdquo; said Cunningham, who knew all day that Detroit would be selecting him first overall, but had to wait until just after 8:00 p.m. ET to make it official.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Seeing the two guys that are leading that organization as far as the head coach and general manager having that type of motivation to bring the team back, I mean, I know it's their job. I know that technically they're supposed to feel that way. But to really feel the genuine feel that I had from them, it meant a lot to me and it gave me a different confidence going in because I know I'm going to be in a good situation.&rdquo;
Pistons fans, Cavs fans, Knicks fans and fans of several other teams (such as those in Milwaukee who waited 50 years between championships) know that the road back to relevance can be an excruciatingly long one. Somewhere along the way, you must have luck, and the Pistons will learn soon enough whether hitting the proper ping-pong ball combination in this pandemic season was what turned things around for them.&nbsp;
Cunningham is considered a can&rsquo;t-miss prospect in a particularly strong draft year. However, he is joining a franchise that still seems at least a player or two away from postseason contention, no matter how good rookies Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart were last season, and no matter how great of an addition Jerami Grant was in free agency.&nbsp;
There is always a balance that must be found between youthful exuberance and talent along with veteran leadership and savvy, and the Pistons currently seem to have more of the former than the latter. They jettisoned Mason Plumlee in a deal that sent the veteran center to Charlotte in what appeared to be a salary dump to make room for an acquisition of a replacement backup center whose identity was not immediately clear.
<img style="float: right;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/resized_20210729_203118_lg.jpeg" alt="" width="324" height="433" />
When you are in Weaver&rsquo;s shoes, picking a player of Cunningham&rsquo;s caliber is the easy part. Filling in the blanks around him is tricky.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s sharp,&rdquo; Weaver said of Cunningham. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very aware.&rdquo;
&ldquo;If you look at our team, he's a human connector, on the floor and off the floor," Weaver said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been an elite player at all levels, and I think he&rsquo;ll continue that because of his sharp mind.&rdquo;
Cunningham spoke with the same level of self-confidence that Billups used to display when the Pistons were making it to the Eastern Conference Finals for six consecutive years under Rick Carlisle, Brown and Flip Saunders. Back then, even though the action was some 33 miles north of Detroit, it was the center of the Eastern Conference universe, despite those great Pistons teams producing only one championship.
Compared to their irrelevance of late, those were halcyon days for the franchise, simply because everyone in the NBA respected their talent and knew the road to the NBA Finals would eventually roll through Michigan.
It is rare nowadays for any franchise to remain as powerful as those Pistons were for so many consecutive years. The Sixers were supposed to be that way, but Ben Simmons' confidence waned. The Lakers were supposed to be that way, but LeBron James and Anthony Davis got hurt. The Warriors were that way for a while, but Kevin Durant is long gone and it has been two seasons since Klay Thompson was able to play. The Celtics dropped off the contender map. The Rockets reminded everyone over the past year-and-a-half that the NBA can be a fickle league and once one guy jumps ship, others quickly follow. The Raptors were damn good three years ago. Same for the Heat two seasons ago. But nobody has mentioned either of them for months, with good reason.
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&ldquo;I feel like stepping onto the court with the greats that I've watched for a long time, the LeBrons, Giannis -- I mean, Giannis is great right now, but the LeBrons, the Kawhis, the guys that have been in the league for a while that have been killing, I'm excited to be able to step on the court and see them in person and learn from them and take as much as I can from them,&rdquo; Cunningham said. &ldquo;And then the Giannises and the young guys, Lukas, Ja Morants, all those guys in the league right now giving the NBA a spark and the young core, I'm excited to try to add onto that and be the next guy that's coming in and making a real impact.&rdquo;
What happens short-term and long-term with the Pistons remains to be seen. In the headlines, the Lakers won this night simply by virtue of adding a former MVP and future Hall-of-Famer to a core led by James and Davis. Their window will be tighter than Detroit&rsquo;s, and it&rsquo;ll take years to know whether Cunningham&rsquo;s prediction of what history will remember ends up being accurate. But the kid clearly has a sharp brain and you cannot fault him for being confident enough to peer into a crystal ball that had his own reflection.
He is going to be fun to watch.&nbsp;
Fun in May and June? That could be years away &hellip; or maybe not. Some No. 1 overall picks make a difference quicker than others. Only time will tell what&rsquo;s truly the truth.

After being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Cade Cunningham expects to lead a Detroit Pistons revival.

Cunningham says Draft Night 2021 will be about him, not Westbrook

Twice, like a thief in the night, Lady Luck picked his pocket cleaner than even Allen Iverson could&rsquo;ve.
That fistful of rings that Magic Johnson possesses could&rsquo;ve easily been seven, but she &mdash; perhaps put up to it by the Basketball Gods &mdash; had other plans.
A five-time champion, the legendary Magic Johnson won the league's MVP award in 1989. His Los Angeles Lakers were looking for a three-peat, which seemed inevitable. They'd be squaring off against Isiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons in a rematch of the prior year's Finals, one in which the Lakers prevailed in seven games.
Au contraire.
After losing Game 1 in Detroit, Johnson suffered a season-ending strained hamstring in the third quarter of Game 2. The Lakers would go on to lose that one, as well as both Game 3 and Game 4 &mdash; neither of which saw Johnson take the court.
Two years later, after Michael Jordan knocked off the Pistons and ascended to the Eastern Conference&rsquo;s throne, he would see Johnson in what was the Laker legend's ninth and final trip to the championship series. Those 1991 NBA Finals should have been a clash of the titans... But Jordan&rsquo;s Bulls rolled over the Lakers in just five games.
James Worthy, the Lakers&rsquo; leading scorer that season, suffered a sprained ankle during the Western Conference Finals. It hampered him before a reaggravation caused him to check out of the series for good with 2:49 remaining in the third quarter of Game 4. The Bulls, in all fairness, led the series 2-1 at that point. But the Lakers would lose Game 4 and Game 5, the second of which was played without both Worthy and key reserve Byron Scott.
As a result of those absences, in that fateful game, the Lakers played only seven players.
Magic wouldn't see the Finals again. His 5-4 record there is pretty good, but not nearly as spectacular as a 7-2 record would have been. But that&rsquo;s okay&hellip; Injuries always have and always will be a part of the game.
Somewhere, Kevin Durant is nodding in agreement. And Kyle Lowry is raising his eyebrows and shrugging his shoulders.
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As safe a bet as there is, your last nickel can confidently be wagered on injuries playing a part when it comes to the Larry O&rsquo;Brien trophy. One of LeBron James&rsquo; Finals losses came without Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love by his side. Doc Rivers would quickly remind you about Kendrick Perkins&rsquo; torn ACL.
So yes. It happens&hellip;
But damn, bro&hellip; Not like this.
The 2021 NBA Playoffs &mdash; where asterisks abound.
Unlike Magic&rsquo;s first NBA Finals in 1980, and still quite dissimilar to his last one in 1991, today, the NBA is a billion-dollar business. We love the game. We watch players like Steph Curry, Damian Lillard and Durant make Herculean feats looks routine. Larger than life in every sense of the word, having an in-person conversation with an NBA superstar &mdash; no matter how long you&rsquo;ve been around the business &mdash; is pretty damn cool.
For most of us, making eye contact with LeBron or giving a fist bump to Zion Williamson is the closest we&rsquo;ll ever get to meeting a superhero. We can&rsquo;t help but wonder what it feels like to fly.
So we watch games and we buy tickets. Now, we place bets. StubHub wants in on the action, so does BetQL. And the likes of ESPN and TNT pay the NBA billions of dollars to televise everything from preseason games to the newest phenomenon: the All-Star Game Draft.
The trickle-down effect of that &mdash; thanks to a player-friendly collective bargaining agreement that usually distributes the majority of revenue to the players &mdash; is merely &ldquo;decent&rdquo; pro players becoming centimillionaires.
They employ agents, business managers, public relations professionals, bodyguards, nutritionists, strength trainers, chauffeurs and nannies. And in each their own right, NBA players have become their own economic solar systems with their own individual sets of celestial objects.
So when there&rsquo;s a work stoppage and Player X doesn&rsquo;t have the means to earn his millions, the aggregate economic impact for those within his ecosystem is catastrophic.
For that reason, as we learned in the Orlando Bubble last season, the game must go on, even if the NBA&rsquo;s players don&rsquo;t necessarily want it to.
It&rsquo;s just sad now that everyone seems to be paying the price.
The powers that be in the NBA and its players union jointly agreed to ask its workforce to play 80 regular season games and two postseasons in less than one year. For the Lakers and the Miami Heat, specifically, their 2019-20 season ended on Oct. 11, while their 2020-21 season began on Dec. 22 and Dec. 23, respectively.
Neither would get out of the first round this time around. Maybe it was a coincidence, but it&rsquo;s hard to make that argument based on what we&rsquo;ve seen transpire before our very eyes.
Between then and now, scores of impact players have had their seasons derailed by injury. Without knowing better, you could believe the names to be a recital of some All-NBA teams.
Jamal Murray, Jaylen Brown and Victor Oladipo never played a minute in the 2021 playoffs. Neither did Myles Turner or Gordon Hayward (whose teams didn't qualify for the playoffs but did make it to the play-in tournament, where perhaps they could've secured a spot if they were at full strength).&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_16132328_lg.jpg" alt="" width="707" height="471" />
Among the difference-makers who sustained significant injuries, but played through them, are LeBron, Luka Doncic, Russell Westbrook, Bradley Beal and Michael Porter Jr.
Many others weren&rsquo;t as lucky.
Anthony Davis, who officially missed only one playoff game, was essentially absent from the Lakers&rsquo; final three. Chris Paul will likely begin the Western Conference Finals on the shelf after testing positive for COVID-19, but let&rsquo;s not forget about the shoulder injury that threatened to derail the Suns&rsquo; title run before it even began. He was favoring the shoulder as recently as Game 3 against the Denver Nuggets.
Kawhi Leonard&rsquo;s season is potentially over, while many other participants in the NBA&rsquo;s Elite Eight are attempting to shake off their ailments and return to form. Entering play on June 18, James Harden, Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell, Kyrie Irving and even Mike Conley, in their truest forms, are still M.I.A.
Ja Morant and Devin Booker have arrived. Porter grew up. Durant returned. But we&rsquo;ve been distracted from it by the fact that many of our favorites are dropping like flies.
Thus far, eight of the 26 players selected as 2021 NBA All-Stars have missed playoff games which, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, is an all-time record.
That sobering statistic led to LeBron &mdash; still the face of the NBA &mdash; <a href="https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1405236532215095301?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">going on a mini-rant on Twitter</a>, essentially wagging his finger and saying, &ldquo;I told you so!&rdquo;
James reportedly advocated for the start of the 2020-21 season to be pushed back until at least some point in January due to, according to him, fears of increased injury probabilities due to fatigue.
James obviously lost. And now, unfortunately, so has everyone else.
Superheroes they may be, but the exploitation of their talents &mdash; and our collective willingness to watch it, talk about it, and yes, write about it &mdash; is the NBA&rsquo;s business. The decision to begin the 2020-21 season days before Christmas was made with careful thought, and after balancing many factors. But for the NBA, as is usually the case, business won out.
From the beginning, it was always a zero-sum game: playing as close to 82 games as possible was the priority and completing the season with enough time to get the 2021-22 season back on its traditional schedule was necessary.
The beauty of an NBA Finals played in June has always been not having to compete with Major League Baseball&rsquo;s pennant races or with the NFL. This year in particular, the league had to consider the Tokyo Olympics, which is set to commence on July 23.
So business won out. It&rsquo;s just a shame that, in the form of their health, the league&rsquo;s players had to pay the bill.
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When the smoke clears, the 2021 NBA Champion, without question, won&rsquo;t be able to flatly lay claim to being the best team &mdash; not with so many impact players hobbling into the postseason.
What we&rsquo;ve seen this postseason in terms of injuries, is unprecedented, and even though injuries have always been a part of the game, Magic Johnson himself probably can&rsquo;t help but to be blown away.
Jamal Murray should&rsquo;ve had a chance. Kawhi Leonard&rsquo;s season shouldn&rsquo;t end with him in a suit. Kyrie Irving isn&rsquo;t supposed to be sidelined for a Game 7. Nobody ever wanted to see Anthony Davis limp off the floor, just like nobody wants to see Joel Embiid reduced to being a wounded warrior.
We now know that LeBron was right. We&rsquo;ve seen enough to say that, with confidence, the NBA returned to action much too soon. We all understand why, but in deciding to do so, Adam Silver, Michele Roberts and the powers that be decided to sigh, inhale, look up into the sky and shoot the dice.
With one flick of the wrist, they decided to take a monumental risk and bet that their players would hold up over the long haul.
Defiantly, they shook up the dice and shot. And with it all on the line, they rolled snake eyes.
In the end, they've made losers of us all.

Injuries have always been a part of the game, but this postseason has been different. It's obvious why, writes Moke Hamilton.

Injuries Galore: The NBA’s all-too-soon return has made losers of us all

Like any top NBA executive this time of the season, Daryl Morey is trying to better his roster. Sure, NBA Top Shot &mdash; sort of a collectible highlight reel &mdash; is in its infancy, but Morey is all in on the frenzy stirred by digital dunks and nonfungible fast breaks.
&ldquo;I just grabbed all the Sixers,&rdquo; Morey said. &ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t have all of them because they&rsquo;re hard to get. But I&rsquo;ve got Joel (Embiid), I&rsquo;ve got Ben (Simmons), I&rsquo;ve got Tobias (Harris), I&rsquo;ve got (Tyrese) Maxey, I&rsquo;ve got (Matisse) Thybulle.
&ldquo;Some of the players need to complain and say, &lsquo;Where are my highlights?&rsquo;&rdquo;
Say, for example, Seth Curry.
So Morey juggles answering questions over Zoom about his first season running the Philadelphia 76ers with a Top Shot search on his laptop for clips of their starting shooting guard.
Morey needs patience completing his digital lineup.
He can revel that the real one on the court has been about as good as it gets in the NBA. The Sixers (26-12) have the best record in the Eastern Conference headed into Sunday&rsquo;s game against San Antonio, the first one in Philly with fans since the coronavirus pandemic began. Morey says he can&rsquo;t wait to see and hear what the fans are all about.
His Instagram Q&amp;As are part of his appeal that connects him with fans and makes them feel like they&rsquo;re together in the championship chase.
&ldquo;Younger fans want to feel like they&rsquo;re part of something,&rdquo; Morey told The Associated Press in an interview this week.
Morey is here after 14 seasons running the Houston Rockets to make the Sixers feel like they&rsquo;re part of something they&rsquo;ve largely missed out on since 1983 &mdash; the championship conversation. Yes, that&rsquo;s the 48-year-old Morey fist-bumping general manager Elton Brand after big buckets and lingering in his row with the front-office team long after the final horn, but he oversees a team largely in place when he was named president of basketball operations in November.
Simmons and Embiid, an <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-joel-embiid-basketball-los-angeles-lakers-philadelphia-76ers-d180b5a293e8b4051d6bafeefdb74f7f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MVP candidate</a>, are the All-Star cornerstones and Harris is having a career year under Doc Rivers. Rivers, who coached the Boston Celtics to the 2008 NBA championship, in his first season in Philly has maximized the talent on a team swept out of the first round of the playoffs last season.
&ldquo;He really knows his stuff and does it as good or better than anything I would do if I dove in,&rdquo; Morey said. &ldquo;It allows me to just focus on my job, which is try and get better players for him.&rdquo;
The NBA trade deadline is March 25 and that means rumors and fantasy deals are at the forefront in Philly &mdash; the Sixers were in the mix for James Harden before he was traded to Brooklyn &mdash; and Morey said he&rsquo;s not necessarily pursuing a blockbuster to shake up the lineup.
&ldquo;We have a great group, a great chemistry, they&rsquo;re playing at a high level, they play even better against very good teams,&rdquo; Morey said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s something fragile and we need to respect it. Long story short, everyone expecting some big thing, I would ask them to be excited about who we have more than what&rsquo;s possible.&rdquo;
The path toward a top seed in the East &mdash; already more rugged in the second half, starting with a six-game road trip later this month &mdash; cratered when <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-nba-joel-embiid-philadelphia-76ers-philadelphia-4eb059eb24a9227850978ae9e6eeef30" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Embiid went down Friday night with a bone bruise </a> on his left knee. Embiid has 29.9 points and 11.5 rebounds in 31 games and blossomed into the rarified air of true NBA elite players.
Simmons is a regular triple-double threat and Harris went from overpriced scapegoat to legitimate All-Star candidate averaging a career-best 20.2 points. Curry, a 44% career 3-point shooter, is just off that clip at 43%. The Sixers are 14th in the NBA in 3-point percentage but only 28th in total attempts. On Morey's watch, Houston averaged 45.3 3-pointers per game last season, tops in the league.
&ldquo;Well, we happen to have the best inside players in the NBA,&rdquo; Morey said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care how we win, just that we win. I would say our offense does need to be better. You want to be at least top 10. If you ask me, how are we going to make our offense better, it wouldn&rsquo;t be by shooting 3s. Joel, Tobias and Ben all are top 10 in terms of being able to score 10 feet and in, so I don&rsquo;t know why you&rsquo;d do anything much else. The other guys we have are good at spacing. But Ben, Joel and Tobias are so good inside, we don&rsquo;t need it.&rdquo;
Morey and Rivers are both experienced at handling superstar players with supersized egos, and making sure one basketball can satiate three scorers hasn&rsquo;t become an issue &mdash; if it becomes an issue &mdash; quite yet.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve found people are generally who they are by that age,&rdquo; Morey said. &ldquo;But I would say one source of tension that can come up that we are past, is that until everybody gets paid, I think there can be tension. All our main three guys are all paid, and hopefully feel well paid. They should. We&rsquo;re past where a lot of tension can come from that.&rdquo;
Consider, the 26-year-old Embiid has two years left on a contract that paid him $148 million, the 24-year-old Simmons is signed through 2025 on a $170 million deal and Harris signed a $180 million max deal in 2019.
Morey insists he still can&rsquo;t believe he&rsquo;s in this position and that he meant it when he said upon leaving the Rockets that he was taking a year off to spend time with his family. He joked he has texts from his two adult children wondering if they still loved him after he took the Sixers job.
&ldquo;I feel like I want to grab my wife so she can tell you,&rdquo; he said, laughing.
His wife recently joined him in Philadelphia &mdash; and his home is furnished now after a post showing his bachelor pad in January with just a folding chair and TV.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think anyone would say, &lsquo;OK, we&rsquo;ll add someone 10 days before the draft,&rsquo;&rdquo; Morey said.
Once the Sixers called, Morey got right to work. He undid two of the 2019 major moves on draft night when he traded free-agent bust Al Horford to Oklahoma City and sent Josh Richardson to the Dallas Mavericks as part of a deal for Curry.
Landing Curry in a trade seems like a breeze compared with trying to find him in Top Shot. Morey&rsquo;s excitement flickers out after he thought he had a lead on a highlight.
&ldquo;Ah, that&rsquo;s the issue, he&rsquo;s still on another team,&rdquo; Morey said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want that. I want Sixers. I want the best Curry on the Sixers.&rdquo;
Morey is almost an open book compared with his recent predecessors such as Bryan Colangelo or Sam Hinkie, who worked with Morey in Houston and was the mastermind behind Philadelphia&rsquo;s rebuild known as The Process.
&ldquo;People always laugh and they think I&rsquo;m going to be like Sam or Sam&rsquo;s going to be like me since we worked together,&rdquo; Morey said. &ldquo;But yeah, we&rsquo;re pretty different. I would say starkly different on a lot of things.&rdquo;
His protegee got the championship ball rolling orchestrating the moves that landed them Simmons and Embiid. Morey&rsquo;s steadfast belief that the NBA is a superstar-driven league has him &mdash; talking to the AP before Embiid's injury &mdash; convinced he can finish the job he failed to achieve in Houston and win the championship.
&ldquo;I definitely think we can win the title,&rdquo; Morey said. &ldquo;Obviously challenging, but for sure, good enough.&rdquo;
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

“I definitely think we can win the title,” Morey said. “Obviously challenging, but for sure, good enough.”

AP Interview: Morey embraces challenges of leading 76ers

Jerami Grant had quite the week: A victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night, a 26-point outing the previous night against Cleveland, and a 25-point, 8-rebound, 5-assist performance Monday in the Detroit Pistons' 119-104 road victory over the Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers.
Pistons general manager Troy Weaver got himself a winner when he signed Grant away from the Denver Nuggets shortly after taking over Detroit's franchise. Like Houston Rockets big man Christian Wood, Grant has emerged as a legitimate contender for the NBA's Most Improved Player award.
Grant is currently +150 (or 3/2) at DraftKingsSportsBook, while Wood -- the player he ironically replaced at power forward for the Pistons -- is +130. Behind those two is Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics (who was already pretty good), and Chris Boucher of the Toronto Raptors. Brown is 6-1 and Boucher is 10-1.
At PointsBet.com, which recently signed Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal to an endorsement deal for the Australian market, Wood and Grant are co-favorites at 3/2, Boucher is 10-1 and Collin Sexton is 13-1. At FanDuel.com (the site that Charles Barkley always references when making his picks on TNT), the order is Wood, Grant, Boucher, Collin Sexton and Brown, and then there is a big odds drop to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Michael Porter Jr. of the Denver Nuggets at +3600.
And at BetMGM, which just signed a content deal with The Athletic, the order is pretty much the same &ndash; although Julius Randle of the New York Knicks is 25-1 there, whereas he is 49-1 at FanDuel and 33-1 at DraftKings.
That is one of the interesting things about sports gambling in the United States, which has been legal since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) on May 14, 2018. There is no national gambling law, and 26 states plus the District of Columbia have legalized it. New York and Connecticut are considering legalized gambling laws, and eventually there will be 49 laws in 49 different states (hey, we will always have Utah).
The Jazz, by the way, are still at 25-1 odds to win the title despite their current 10-game winning streak, one that is on the line tonight against the Dallas Mavericks in a late-night ESPN doubleheader. Nobody in the gambling world ever gives Utah any respect, as the major sportsbooks in the United States have taken a bulk of the championship futures market money on the Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia Sixers.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/usatsi_15487409-1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="860" height="AUTO" />
But the Jazz are the hottest team in the league (as <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/spencer-haywood-covid19-covid-coronavirus-hall-of-fame-seattle-supersonics-nba-aba-survivor-survive-stigma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spencer Haywood pointed out in yesterday&rsquo;s feature story about his recovery from COVID-19</a>), and their odds vary from gambling site to gambling site. FanDuel has them at 18-1 and BetMGM has them at 20-1.&nbsp;
But back to the Most Improved Player race.
Wood has been terrific for the Rockets, who have won four in a row as their roster has stabilized following the trade of James Harden. Wood has scored 20 points or more in all but one of their games this season, and he has reached double-figures in rebounds in four of the last five games.&nbsp;
His scoring average has risen from 13.1 last season with the Pistons to 23.4 for the Rockets, and he is sixth in the league in blocks (1.6) and 11th in rebounding (10.8) per game.
Grant, a key role player for the Nuggets last season, is leading the Pistons in scoring at 23.8 points per game after averaging 12.0 points for the Nuggets last year and 13.6 for the Thunder the previous season.
But a guy to keep an eye on is Randle, the Knicks power forward who has led the team to a surprising 8-11 record, although they slumped recently by losing the final three games of a Western Conference road trip. Still, they are playing 11 of their next 16 games at home and have shown vast improvement from where they were a year ago at this time when David Fizdale was getting fired.
Tom Thibodeau has them allowing just 103.8 points per game, which leads the NBA. Yes, leads the NBA. Knicks fans are excused if they just spit up their coffee reading that sentence.
Randle&rsquo;s points-per-game average has risen from 19.5 to 22.5, his assists have nearly doubled from 3.1 to 6.0, and his rebounds per game have boosted from 9.7 to 11.3. And while those numbers do not show the same level of improvement regarding Wood and Grant, one mitigating factor that could work in his favor is whether New York qualifies for the playoffs and the Rockets and Pistons do not.
NBA award voters can be a fickle bunch, and Most Improved is quite subjective (years ago they changed it from Comeback Player of the Year because it went annually to a player who had come back strong from an injury).
The same goes for Coach of the Year, where Frank Vogel of the Lakers is the 5-1 leader and Thibodeau is 12-1. Terry Stotts is sitting at 40-1 for the Portland Trail Blazers, who are 9-8 but have survived the loss of CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic thanks in large part to the play of Gary Trent Jr. and Enes Kanter.
The NBA gambling world is a strange universe that the public at large is still learning about. That is certain to change as more and more states legalize the practice.

Chris Sheridan provides an update on the battle for the NBA's Most Improved Player Award and more.

Jerami Grant's odds are rising in NBA's Most Improved Player race

Jimmy Butler finished with 40 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists, and the Heat beat the Lakers 115-104 on Sunday night.

Jamie