Saints

The 2024 NBA All-Star Saturday Night at the Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis saw some electrifying highlights across all four events, including a spectacular shooting display and jaw-dropping dunks. Here&rsquo;s a quick recap of everything that went down.
Team Pacers rule 2024 Kia Skills Challenge
After a tight contest, Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin and Myles Turner of Team Pacers take the crown of the NBA&rsquo;s Skills Challenge. The hometown team bested other competitors in the field including Team Top Picks (Victor Wembanyama, Paolo Banchero and Anthony Edwards) and Team All-Stars (Trae Young, Tyrese Maxey and Scottie Barnes).
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"INDYYYY" Team Pacers lifts the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KiaSkills?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KiaSkills</a> trophy infront of the home crowd 🙌<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StateFarmSaturday?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StateFarmSaturday</a> on TNT <a href="https://t.co/E7AnW3heYQ">pic.twitter.com/E7AnW3heYQ</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1759037129806475764?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2024</a></blockquote>

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Team Pacers got off to a hot start, winning the first two events in the Three-man Relay and Passing Round with a total time of 1:07 (relay) and 92 points (passing round), with each amounting to 100 challenge points. Team All-Stars then got hot in the shooting round to claim the event, which was worth 200 challenge points.
With the score tied at 200 challenge points each, the two teams had a tie-breaker round, which was a half-court shot. Team All-Stars went first and nailed the shot with a total time of 58.8 seconds, but Haliburton and Team Pacers responded to hit their's more than 20 seconds quicker to win the challenge.
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HOME TOWN CHAMPS 🏆 Tyrese Haliburton hits the game-winning half-court dagger as the Team Pacers WIN the 2024 NBA Skills Challenge 🙌🏾<a href="https://t.co/jpP6fhvswH">pic.twitter.com/jpP6fhvswH</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1759036015224770883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2024</a></blockquote>

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This was the second win of All-Star Weekend for the home team, after Mathurin also won the MVP award of the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday night.
Damian Lillard wins back-to-back Three-Point Shootout titles
The Milwaukee Bucks' Damian Lillard earned his second-straight Starry Three-Point Contest title in a thriller on Saturday night.
At the final rack and needing just one shot to seal the title, Lillard missed out on his first four attempts before sinking the last shot to defend his crown in style.
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DAME TIME ⌚️ Damian Lillard hits 26 treys to take home the 2024 NBA 3-Point Contest🎯 BACK-TO-BACK 🏆<a href="https://t.co/0fqcoAPzRI">pic.twitter.com/0fqcoAPzRI</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1759049093404303702?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
He became the first back-to-back winner of the event since Jason Kapono, who won in 2007 and 2008.
Lillard was joined by the Atlanta Hawks&rsquo; Trae Young and the Minnesota Timberwolves&rsquo; Karl-Anthony Towns in the final round and both scored 24 points apiece, which set the stage for "Dame Time."
Steph Curry beats Sabrina Ionescu in "Steph vs. Sabrina" Shootout
Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry needed every point he could muster to fend off Sabrina Ionescu of the WNBA&rsquo;s New York Liberty to win the first-ever NBA vs WNBA 3-Point Challenge.
Ionescu, who set the record for points scored in a Three-Point Shootout with 37, put immense pressure on Curry by tallying 26 points to start the face-off.&nbsp;
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SABRINA IONESCU. 26 POINTS. COOKING. Stephen Curry is up next on TNT! <a href="https://t.co/fvM9iOA0ZD">https://t.co/fvM9iOA0ZD</a> <a href="https://t.co/nlDCX25eIx">pic.twitter.com/nlDCX25eIx</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1759051195702706262?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2024</a></blockquote>

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However, the greatest shooter of all-time was not to be deterred as he displayed cold-blooded shooting and ended up with 29 points to win the event.
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NIGHT NIGHT 🌙 Stephen Curry WENT OFF with 29 threes to win the inaugural NBA vs. WNBA 3-POINT CHALLENGE 🏆<a href="https://t.co/kkOp7bGfHK">pic.twitter.com/kkOp7bGfHK</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1759053236214866271?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2024</a></blockquote>

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The historic first-of-its-kind event was a success, with each made shot triggering a donation from State Farm to the NBA Foundation to support economic empowerment in the Black community.
Mac McClung defends 2024 AT&amp;T Slam Dunk Contest title
Mac McClung saved his best for last as he became the first player since Zach LaVine to win the AT&amp;T Slam Dunk Contest in back-to-back years.
The Osceola Magic guard pulled off a reverse windmill dunk while jumping over NBA legend Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal to garner the only perfect score of the evening.
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HE'S DONE IT AGAIN 🤯 Mac McClung is the back-to-back <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ATTSlamDunk?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ATTSlamDunk</a> champion ‼️ Straight 5⃣0⃣'s<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StateFarmSaturday?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StateFarmSaturday</a> on TNT <a href="https://t.co/p2sBx7h2IM">pic.twitter.com/p2sBx7h2IM</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1759064682789269518?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2024</a></blockquote>

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McClung defeated the field of competitors that included the Boston Celtics&rsquo; and NBA All-Star Jaylen Brown, Miami Heat&rsquo;s Jaime Jaquez Jr. and New York Knicks&rsquo; Jacob Toppin to defend his title.

Here’s a quick recap of everything that went down during the 2024 NBA All-Star Saturday Night.

2024 NBA All-Star Saturday Night recap: Lillard, Curry, McClung shine

The Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers inquired about Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James prior to the NBA&rsquo;s trade deadline on February 8, according to <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39523705/sources-warriors-made-bid-lebron-james-trade-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN&rsquo;s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne.</a>
Warriors owner Joe Lacob (with the encouragement of star forward Draymond Green) reached out to Lakers owner Jeanie Buss to inquire about the availability of James in hopes of pairing him with longtime rival Stephen Curry. However, Buss (and James) quickly turned down Golden State.
After struggling to make waves all season, the Warriors attempted to add James at the deadline and extend their dynastic run. Even at 39 years old, James is still playing at a high level with a skill set that would complement Curry, Green and Klay Thompson.
ESPN <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39523705/sources-warriors-made-bid-lebron-james-trade-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>: &ldquo;Buss told Lacob the Lakers had no desire to trade James, but that he would need to seek the answer on James' state of mind from his agent, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, sources said. As an owner, Buss has operated with the mindset that she wants her star players content with the franchise, and that instructed her thinking on referring Warriors leadership to James' representation, sources said.&nbsp;
"If the Lakers ever wanted a temperature check on James' commitment, here was his chance. In the end, the answer was returned resoundingly on the eve of the trade deadline: Paul told Lacob and Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr., that James had no interest in a trade and wanted to remain a Laker, sources said. When Dunleavy reached out to Lakers GM Rob Pelinka in those pre-trade deadline hours, Dunleavy had been told the same: The Lakers wanted to keep James."
Green, who is also represented by Rich Paul&rsquo;s Klutch Sports, went the extra mile and asked Paul to help persuade James to come to Golden State, but to no avail.
&ldquo;Earlier Wednesday, Green -- whom Paul also represents at Klutch -- had sent Paul a text message soliciting his help in convincing James to join him in Golden State, sources said. Once, Green had been a lead recruiter on Kevin Durant's free agency signing with Golden State, but this was a far different, far more futile 11th-hour pursuit," Wojnarowski and Shelburne <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39523705/sources-warriors-made-bid-lebron-james-trade-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Moreover, Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey also joined in the LeBron James sweepstakes but was immediately denied by Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka. Wojnarowski and Shelburne revealed that Pelinka responded to Morey by asking if superstar Joel Embiid was available, but that immediately ended their trade conversation.
&ldquo;Dunleavy was the second team executive call to Pelinka on a possible James trade, sources said. After seeing James' cryptic social media post of an hourglass a week before the trade deadline, Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey called Pelinka to probe on a James trade and was immediately told that James wasn't available," the <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39523705/sources-warriors-made-bid-lebron-james-trade-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report states</a>. "In fact, Pelinka responded by asking Morey if Joel Embiid was available, sources said. And that ended that brief conversation.&rdquo;
Ultimately, James stayed put in Los Angeles and two sides remain committed to each other for the rest of the season as they look to gain important positioning for the playoffs. The Lakers currently sit in ninth place in the Western Conference with a 29-26 record.

The Warriors and 76ers inquired about Lakers superstar LeBron James prior to the NBA trade deadline, according to ESPN.

Warriors, 76ers tried to acquire Lakers' LeBron James before deadline

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

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

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

After a long four-month offseason, the 2023-24 NBA season officially kicks off on October 24. Preseason action is currently underway, with teams evaluating their roster and getting ready for the start of the regular season.
There were a few roster rule changes of note this offseason that were introduced as part of the new CBA. Now, each team can sign up to three two-way players (up from two) who are able to play up to 50 games with their NBA team and spend the rest of their season in the G League. Also, offseason rosters were originally limited to 20 players but have since increased to 21.&nbsp;
Each team needs to be at 15 standard contracts prior to the start of the season, which means a few players on guaranteed deals will have to be cut prior to the season. While some teams have a pretty set roster, others (like the Oklahoma City Thunder) will be forced to part ways with talented players to reach their roster limit.&nbsp;
Looking at the Atlantic Division, let's see how each team&rsquo;s lineup is shaping up and what questions they may need to answer before the start of the season.
(This is part one of a six-part series, with more divisional previews coming soon).
<h1>BOSTON CELTICS</h1>
Outside of the top-six players, who will be the most reliable depth option?
After acquiring Jrue Holiday, the Boston Celtics may have the best top-six of any team in the league. While we can add the Holiday trade to their list of aggressive offseason transactions, their depth has taken somewhat of a step back.&nbsp;
They will have to replace four rotation players from last year&rsquo;s Conference Finals team with a few players who don&rsquo;t have much experience in playoff situations. Three players who should definitely see more minutes are Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet. Pritchard has played well on both ends of the floor when given an opportunity, notably shooting 40% from three-point range over his first three seasons. The Celtics rewarded him with a team-friendly extension that should see him take up about 5% of the salary cap over the next four years. Hauser has also been a stellar three-point shooter, knocking down 42% since coming into the league.&nbsp;
The frontcourt is probably the most notable weakness on the team&rsquo;s depth chart. Joe Mazzulla has expressed confidence that <a href="https://www.celticsblog.com/2023/10/7/23907608/boston-celtics-depth-sam-hauser-luke-kornet-payton-pritchard-joe-mazzulla-blake-griffin-bus-one-boys" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kornet should be successful on both ends of the floor and will be their go-to backup center to start the season.</a> The preseason will be important in determining who else (i.e. Oshae Brissett, Jordan Walsh, Svi Mykhailiuk, etc.) may stand out for Mazzulla and get an opportunity for playing time behind Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis.&nbsp;
Roster Decisions
The Celtics have the least amount of players on guaranteed contracts in the league (10). However, their roster for opening night is likely set unless they want to open up flexibility to sign other veteran players or buyout candidates later this season. If they choose to cut someone, it would very likely be a player on a non-guaranteed deal. Mykhailiuk and Dalano Banton each have a partial $200,000 guarantee that increases to over $1,000,000 if they make the roster. Kornet, Wenyen Gabriel and Lamar Stevens all have non-guaranteed contracts.&nbsp;
Rotation
Current Roster Count: 19 players (10 guaranteed, 2 partially guaranteed, 3 non-guaranteed, 3 two-way, 1 Exhibit-10)
Projected Starters: G Jrue Holiday, G/F Jaylen Brown, F Jayson Tatum, F/C Al Horford, F/C Kristaps Porzingis
Projected Rotation Players: G Derrick White, G Payton Pritchard, C Luke Kornet (non-guaranteed), F Sam Hauser, F Oshae Brissett
Projected Reserves: F Jordan Walsh, G/F Svi Mykhailiuk ($200K guaranteed), F Wenyen Gabriel (non-guaranteed), G Dalano Banton ($200K guaranteed), F Lamar Stevens (non-guaranteed)
Projected Two-Way Players: C Neemias Queta, G JD Davison, G Jay Scrubb (Injured)
Projected Roster Cuts: G DJ Steward (Exhibit-10)
<h1>BROOKLYN NETS</h1>
What is Ben Simmons' role?
Ben Simmons has only played 42 games since being acquired by the Nets in February 2022, dealing with physical and psychological hurdles that have made him somewhat of an afterthought. Head coach Jacque Vaughn has expressed confidence that Simmons is now 100% healthy and ready to contribute again at a high level.&nbsp;
He seems to be penciled in as the team&rsquo;s starting point guard, starting in the Nets&rsquo; first preseason game. Though it was just a small 14-minute sample size, Simmons looked a lot like his former All-Star self. Having not played since February 15, he looked athletic, aggressive and confident before sitting out the second half.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He attacked the rim, I think he played with pace, looked pretty natural out there getting up and down the floor, communicating with guys into the flow of the game,&rdquo; Vaughn said, <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/10/10/ben-simmons-passes-eye-test-in-nets-preseason-opener/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praising his $38-million man</a>. &ldquo;Really good to see.&rdquo;
Vaughn has some options when it comes to starting lineups where he could go smaller, with a backcourt of Simmons and Spencer Dinwiddie, or decide to start Dorian Finney-Smith and use Mikal Bridges as a big two-guard.&nbsp;
Roster Decisions
Darius Bazley, Harry Giles and Trendon Watford are all on non-guaranteed deals and are vying for the final two roster spots. The Nets also have an open two-way spot, which I believe they could potentially use on a player like <a href="https://www.si.com/college/tennessee/mens-basketball/kennedy-chandler-starring-in-nba-summer-league" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Summer League standout</a> and former Memphis Grizzlies second-rounder Kennedy Chandler.&nbsp;
Rotation
Current Roster Count: 18 players (13 guaranteed, 3 non-guaranteed, 2 two-way)
Projected Starters: G/F Ben Simmons, G Spencer Dinwiddie, F Mikal Bridges, F Cameron Johnson, C Nicolas Claxton
Projected Rotation Players: F Dorian Finney-Smith, F Royce O&rsquo;Neale, G Cameron Thomas, G Dennis Smith Jr., C Day&rsquo;Ron Sharpe
Projected Reserves: G/F Lonnie Walker IV, C Noah Clowney, F Dariq Whitehead, F Darius Bazley (Non-Guaranteed), C Harry Giles (Non-Guaranteed)
Projected Two-way Players: G Armoni Brooks, F Jalen Wilson, G Kennedy Chandler* (Projected Signing)
Projected Roster Cuts: F Trendon Watford (Non-Guaranteed)
<h1>NEW YORK KNICKS</h1>
Who will be the first option off the bench?
New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has his fair share of options to headline his second unit. In his third year, Immanuel Quickley had his best season to date, finishing as the runner-up for the Sixth Man of the Year award behind Malcolm Brogdon. Quickley was the primary scorer for the second unit, but he shouldn&rsquo;t have to carry the entire load on offense with the addition of Donte DiVincenzo.&nbsp;
DiVincenzo impressed last season with the Golden State Warriors as a reliable bench shooter and should spot minutes for Quentin Grimes and R.J. Barrett when offensive pushes are needed. Josh Hart could also be the team&rsquo;s sixth man, just like he was during the Knicks&rsquo; playoff run. After being traded from Portland, Hart averaged 30 minutes per game despite coming off the bench most of the time. It is worth noting the Knicks-Villanova connection between Hart, DiVincenzo and Jalen Brunson, who should fit seamlessly together on the floor thanks to their pre-existing chemistry. While unlikely to be the first off the bench, Isaiah Hartenstein also deserves mention since he has been one of the league&rsquo;s better backup centers and could see more time if Mitchell Robinson gets in foul trouble. In terms of rotation issues, Thibodeau should see this as a good problem to have regardless of who he brings off the bench first.&nbsp;
Roster Decisions
The Knicks have three spots up for grabs between Ryan Arcidiacono, DaQuan Jeffries, Isaiah Roby and Duane Washington Jr. All are on non-guaranteed deals that won&rsquo;t be fully guaranteed until the league-wide guarantee date on January 10.&nbsp;
Rotation
Current Roster Count: 21 players (12 guaranteed, 4 non-guaranteed, 3 two-way, 2 Exhibit-10)
Projected Starters: G Jalen Brunson, G Quentin Grimes, G/F R.J. Barrett, F Julius Randle, C Mitchell Robinson
Projected Rotation Players: G Josh Hart, G Immanuel Quickley, G Donte DiVincenzo, C Isaiah Hartenstein, G Miles McBride
Projected Reserves: G Evan Fournier, C Jericho Sims, F Isaiah Roby (non-guaranteed), G Ryan Arcidiacono (non-guaranteed), G/F DaQuan Jeffries (non-guaranteed)
Projected Two-way Players: F/C Nathan Knight, G/F Dylan Windler, F Jaylen Martin
Projected Roster Cuts: G Duane Washington Jr. (non-guaranteed), G Charlie Brown Jr. (Exhibit-10), F Jacob Toppin (Exhibit-10)
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/embiid332.jpg" alt="" width="672" height="440" />
<h1>PHILADELPHIA 76ERS</h1>
Will Tyrese Maxey become more of a creator and how can that adjust the rotation?
The Sixers&rsquo; ceiling is contingent on how much Tyrese Maxey can improve this season. Maxey hasn&rsquo;t needed to be the team&rsquo;s primary distributor since James Harden joined the team, allowing him to blossom into a reliable 20-PPG scorer. Regardless of whether Harden&rsquo;s trade situation is resolved, Maxey will need to become a better creator and distributor if he wants to take his game to the next level. Prior to Harden&rsquo;s arrival, Maxey had an impressive 4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio despite his small frame and risk-averse tendencies.&nbsp;
Interestingly, team president Daryl Morey has held off on giving Maxey an extension this offseason, electing to wait until next summer to pay his budding young guard. Maxey will likely demand near max-level money that could harm Philly&rsquo;s flexibility to go after star players next offseason. If he can improve his ball-handling and distribution tendencies, the Sixers&rsquo; offense should benefit tremendously, helping the offensive output of players like P.J. Tucker and Paul Reed and easing the reliance on De&rsquo;Anthony Melton and Patrick Beverley.
Roster Decisions
Two players will likely be fighting for the Sixers&rsquo; final roster spot. The team re-signed veteran Danny Green, who played for the team from 2020 to 2022, to a non-guaranteed deal. They also brought over young big Filip Petrusev, who was drafted by Philadelphia in 2021. Petrusev signed a multi-year deal that was partially guaranteed for $559,782 this season and non-guaranteed next year. Although unlikely, the 76ers could also elect to waive Montrezl Harrell despite his deal being fully guaranteed, as he should miss this season with a torn ACL.
Rotation
Current Roster Count: 21 players (14 guaranteed, 1 partially Guaranteed, 1 non-guaranteed, 3 two-way, 2 Exhibit-10)
Projected Starters: G Tyrese Maxey, G James Harden, F P.J. Tucker, F Tobias Harris, C Joel Embiid
Projected Rotation Players: G De&rsquo;Anthony Melton, G Patrick Beverley, F/C Paul Reed, F/G Kelly Oubre Jr., F Danuel House
Projected Reserves: C Mo Bamba, F Furkan Korkmaz, G Jaden Springer, G/F Danny Green (non-guaranteed), C Montrezl Harrell (injured)
Projected Two-way Players: G Terquavion Smith, G Ricky Council IV, F Azuolas Tubelis
Projected Roster Cuts: F/C Filip Petrusev ($559,782 guaranteed), G David Duke Jr. (Exhibit-10), G Javonte Smart (Exhibit-10)
<h1>TORONTO RAPTORS</h1>
What style does Darko Rajakovic bring to Toronto and who will benefit the most?
New coach Darko Rajakovic inherits an interesting Raptors team with plenty of talent, but they may be facing a crossroads in terms of how successful they can be as a group. Rajakovic is in his first NBA head coaching gig after three seasons as an assistant with the Grizzlies and is known around the league as a pick-and-roll guru.&nbsp;
The idea of the Raptors being a primary pick-and-roll team became less appealing when they were unable to retain Fred VanVleet in free agency, replacing him with a less reliable shooter in Dennis Schr&ouml;der. Instead, Rajakovic will likely rely on Schr&ouml;der and his newly paid center Jakob Poeltl for more ball movement and playmaking. Rajakovic compared Poeltl to Domantas Sabonis before the Raptors&rsquo; preseason win over the Sacramento Kings on October 9 and could use him in a similar role. If Poeltl can be 70% of what Sabonis was last season, it can be a huge boost to an inconsistent offense.
Roster Decisions
The Raptors have 15 players on guaranteed deals going into the season, but also carry Jeff Dowtin Jr. on a non-guaranteed deal. Dowtin played on a two-way contract with Toronto last season, appearing in 25 games. With the roster full, Dowtin is unlikely to make the regular-season roster but he has still <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/raptors/news/toronto-raptors-praise-jeff-dowtin-jr-as-roster-decisions-await" target="_blank" rel="noopener">impressed the coaching staff this preseason</a>. If any player is in danger of losing their roster spot to Dowtin, it would likely be former first-round pick Malachi Flynn. Dowtin&rsquo;s deal becomes guaranteed for $900,000 on October 21, four days before the team&rsquo;s season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves. I would expect the Raptors to make a decision on Dowtin before then.&nbsp;
Rotation
Current Roster Count: 21 players (15 guaranteed, 1 non-guaranteed, 3 two-way, 2 Exhibit-10)
Projected Starters: G Dennis Schr&ouml;der, F/G Scottie Barnes, F OG Anunoby, F Pascal Siakam, C Jakob Poeltl
Projected Rotation Players: G Gary Trent Jr., F Precious Achiuwa, F/C Chris Boucher, F Jalen McDaniels, G/F Gradey Dick
Projected Reserves: F Thaddeus Young, G Malachi Flynn, F Otto Porter Jr., C Christian Koloko, G/F Garrett Temple
Projected Two-way Players: G/F Ron Harper Jr., G Markquis Nowell, G Javon Freeman-Liberty
Projected Roster Cuts: G Jeff Dowtin (non-guaranteed), F Mouhamadou Gueye (Exhibit-10), C Makur Maker (Exhibit-10)
Other news from around the web: <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/dress-to-impress-why-barbie-and-ken-are-the-hottest-couples-costume-this-halloween/ar-AA1iaTEh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barbie and Ken are the hottest couples costume this Halloween</a>

Blake Stern previews the Atlantic Division, breaking down each team's projected lineup and a burning question entering the season.

NBA Atlantic Division Preview: Burning questions, rotation projections

The seven-time NBA champion Golden State Warriors have been awarded a WNBA expansion team, it was announced today by WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
The team will begin play in the 2025 season, making it the first new franchise to join the league since 2008.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The new team will be owned and operated by Warriors co-executive chairman and CEO Joe Lacob and co-executive chairman Peter Guber, and will play home games at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Additionally, Golden State&rsquo;s Oakland Facility, which served as the Warriors&rsquo; practice facility and front office from 1997-2019, will be the WNBA team&rsquo;s headquarters, housing a world-class practice facility and the team&rsquo;s front office staff.
&ldquo;We are thrilled about expanding to the Bay Area and bringing the WNBA to a region with passionate basketball fans and a strong history of supporting women&rsquo;s basketball,&rdquo; said Engelbert. &ldquo;Joe Lacob, Peter Guber and their leadership team know how to build and operate a world-class organization, as witnessed by the immense success the Warriors&rsquo; franchise has enjoyed from both a business and basketball perspective over the last decade. Their interest in joining the WNBA family is yet another sign of the league&rsquo;s growth potential.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The Warriors become the sixth NBA franchise to have a WNBA team, joining the Indiana Pacers (Indiana Fever), Minnesota Timberwolves (Minnesota Lynx), Brooklyn Nets (New York Liberty,) Phoenix Suns (Phoenix Mercury) and Washington Wizards (Washington Mystics).
&ldquo;The Bay Area is the perfect market for a WNBA team, and we are thrilled this opportunity has finally come to fruition,&rdquo; said Lacob. &ldquo;We have been interested in a WNBA franchise for several years, due in part to the rich history of women&rsquo;s basketball in the Bay Area, and believe now is the ideal time to execute that vision and build upon the legacy. The WNBA continues to solidify itself as the preeminent women&rsquo;s professional basketball league, and we look forward to supporting the best women&rsquo;s basketball players in the world and our team starting in 2025.&rdquo;
The 2023 WNBA regular season delivered record-breaking viewership, attendance and digital engagement as the league continues its business transformation. The offseason featured the most-viewed WNBA Draft since 2004, followed by a sold-out preseason game in Toronto, the most-watched regular season in 21 years and a digital transformation centered on the WNBA App and WNBA.com.
Other highlights this year included the addition of CarMax as a WNBA Changemaker and ION as a broadcast partner.
Other news from around the web: <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/dress-to-impress-why-barbie-and-ken-are-the-hottest-couples-costume-this-halloween/ar-AA1iaTEh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barbie and Ken are the hottest couples costume this Halloween</a>

The seven-time NBA champion Golden State Warriors have been awarded a WNBA expansion team, the WNBA announced today.

Bay Area, Golden State Warriors awarded WNBA expansion team

When the new league year began on July 1, NBA teams were quick to sign free agents and start negotiating extensions with some of their younger players.&nbsp;
Players who were selected in the first round of the NBA Draft are signed to rookie-scale contracts, which are eligible to be extended on the first day (July 1) of the fourth and final year of their deal. This past offseason, the vast majority of players eligible for rookie-scale extensions were picked in the first round in 2020. Teams have until the day before the start of the 2023-24 regular season (which begins on October 24) to agree to an extension, or else those players will hit restricted free agency next summer.&nbsp;
Out of the 30 first-round picks in the 2020 NBA Draft, 27 were eligible for rookie-scale extensions. In addition, the Orlando Magic&rsquo;s Chuma Okeke also became eligible for a rookie-scale extension because he signed his rookie deal in 2020, a year after he was drafted due to injury. So far this offseason, five players have signed extensions, with four of them receiving maximum contracts.&nbsp;
Those who received the max signed what&rsquo;s called a Designated Rookie Extension, which has a starting salary at 25% of the 2024-25 salary cap (projected at $37,405,750) with 8% raises over five years (for a total contract value of $216,953,350). However, via the &ldquo;Derrick Rose rule,&rdquo; if any of the players who signed one of these extensions is a member of any of the 2023-24 All-NBA teams, their starting salary will be set at 30% of the 2024-25 salary cap (projected at $44,886,900) with 8% raises over five years (for a total contract value of $260,344,020). These players include Minnesota&rsquo;s Anthony Edwards, Charlotte&rsquo;s LaMelo Ball, Indiana&rsquo;s Tyrese Haliburton and Memphis&rsquo; Desmond Bane. However, Bane&rsquo;s extension doesn&rsquo;t contain the &ldquo;Rose Rule&rdquo; language, so he can&rsquo;t receive a starting salary raise even if he earns an All-NBA nod.
There is also a new wrinkle in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that changed the rules in regards to rookie-scale extensions, allowing teams to offer all players an extension up to five years. Previously, only players who were offered maximum contracts could agree to an extension up to five years. So far, no team has given out a five-year non-max extension.
The only player who has signed a non-max rookie extension this offseason is Detroit&rsquo;s Isaiah Stewart. Stewart, the No. 16 pick in 2020, has been a starter for the rebuilding Pistons over the past few years. The tough, defensive big man agreed to a four-year, $64 million extension with $60 million guaranteed, $4 million in potential performance bonuses and a team option in the final season. Stewart&rsquo;s extension could serve as a potential benchmark for other big man extension candidates like Toronto&rsquo;s Precious Achiuwa and Atlanta&rsquo;s Onyeka Okongwu.
With 21 first-round picks (and Okeke) still awaiting a potential extension, let&rsquo;s take a look at who is most likely to receive an extension and what their deals might look like.
LIKELY TO BE EXTENDED
Patrick Williams (Chicago Bulls): Williams has been a steady force for the Bulls amid the team&rsquo;s struggles to consistently play winning basketball. The former Florida State forward has improved his shooting each year of his career but has yet to really break out as a primary scoring option for Chicago. Williams is just 22 years old and still has a lot of potential, so he should command an extension similar to what Atlanta&rsquo;s De&rsquo;Andre Hunter received last summer.
Extension Prediction: Four years, $90,000,000, no options
Onyeka Okongwu (Atlanta Hawks): Okongwu has been slotted as the Hawks&rsquo; center of the future for a few years now and has mostly looked the part backing up Clint Capela. Atlanta has a very crowded cap sheet, especially after extending Dejounte Murray. It is possible they could look to move Capela soon in order to free up cap space and give the starting center job to Okongwu. As mentioned above, look for Okongwu to ask for slightly above what Detroit gave Isaiah Stewart.
Extension Prediction: Four years, $72,000,000, could earn up to $80,000,000 with incentives, no options
Devin Vassell (San Antonio Spurs): The Spurs should try to lock up some of their reliable young pieces as they begin the Victor Wembanyama era. Similar to what San Antonio did with Keldon Johnson, they&rsquo;ll likely look to give Vassell a long-term value deal. They also could take advantage of the new CBA rules, keeping the former No. 11 pick under contract through 2029.
Extension Prediction: Five years, $110,000,000, no options
Josh Green (Dallas Mavericks): Green has quietly been developing very nicely with the Mavericks and could fight for a spot in the starting lineup this fall. The Australian native has shown real potential as a 3-and-D wing and could command the full mid-level exception if he reaches the open market next summer. Dallas shouldn&rsquo;t (and most likely won&rsquo;t) let that happen.
Extension Prediction: Four years, $65,000,000, no options
Immanuel Quickley (New York Knicks): Quickley is coming off his best season as a pro that saw him finish as runner-up for the NBA&rsquo;s Sixth Man of the Year award. A scoring machine, the former Kentucky guard would likely start for a good chunk of NBA teams, but will likely have to be the backup as long as Jalen Brunson is in New York. The Knicks would certainly love to keep Quickley, but look for them to wait all the way up to the October 23 deadline to pay him in order to maintain trade flexibility.
Extension Prediction: Four years, $88,000,000, could earn up to $92,000,000 with incentives, no options
Jaden McDaniels (Minnesota Timberwolves): McDaniels is certainly viewed as a core piece by the Timberwolves&rsquo; brass as they fought hard to keep him out of the Rudy Gobert trade, sacrificing more draft capital instead. The Washington product has been a versatile, two-way player since arriving in Minnesota and is an ideal wing next to Anthony Edwards. He should be paid accordingly.
Extension Prediction: Four years, $100,000,000, no options, declining annual salary
LIKELY TO REACH RESTRICTED FREE AGENCY
James Wiseman (Detroit Pistons): Wiseman has been better on both sides of the ball since being traded to Detroit last February, but his game still needs to be developed further if the Pistons are to seriously invest in him.
Isaac Okoro (Cleveland Cavaliers): Cleveland has been looking for a permanent solution at their starting small-forward position for some time now, resulting in them paying Caris LeVert and signing Max Strus. Okoro hasn&rsquo;t shown he can be the Cavs&rsquo; long-term solution.
Obi Toppin (Indiana Pacers): If Toppin had stayed in New York, there&rsquo;s no way he would have been extended. Now in Indiana, the former Naismith National Player of the Year should get a chance to start and improve his stock going into next summer.
Deni Avdija (Washington Wizards): Avdija is a pretty good young player outside of his shooting struggles. With a new regime in Washington, Avdija may be a trade candidate if new president Michael Winger doesn&rsquo;t see him as a part of the team&rsquo;s long-term plan.
Aaron Nesmith (Indiana Pacers): A starter for the Pacers last year, Nesmith may be buried on the depth chart with the additions of Toppin and rookie Jarace Walker. He hasn&rsquo;t made enough of an impact to warrant an extension.
Cole Anthony (Orlando Magic): Anthony has been a solid bench contributor for Orlando since being drafted out of North Carolina. However, the Magic backcourt is extremely crowded with the addition of rookie Anthony Black, making them unlikely to prioritize securing a deal with Anthony.
Aleksej Pokusevski (Oklahoma City Thunder): Poku is coming off a fractured leg that kept him out for the back half of last season. He needs to show that he can be a long-term piece if he wishes to stay with the Thunder.
Saddiq Bey (Atlanta Hawks): Bey is certainly talented enough to warrant an extension, fitting into the starting five seamlessly after being acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline. However, the team may have to choose between extending Bey or Okongwu in order to manage their already-very-full salary cap sheet.&nbsp;
Precious Achiuwa (Toronto Raptors): The Raptors have already committed to a center in Jakob Poeltl this offseason. Achiuwa hasn&rsquo;t shown enough to break through outside of his bench role to warrant an extension.
Zeke Nnaji (Denver Nuggets): Despite not being a regular member of the rotation, Nnaji has shown he is a capable backup option to Nikola Jokic when he&rsquo;s on the floor. While an extension isn&rsquo;t in the cards, the Nuggets should look to retain him.
Payton Pritchard (Boston Celtics): Boston would probably love to keep Pritchard on a team-friendly deal, as he has been a reliable insurance option for them since coming into the league. The former Oregon guard will more than likely want to test the free-agency market to see if he can possibly find a path to more playing time elsewhere.
LIKELY TO NOT RECEIVE A QUALIFYING OFFER, BECOME AN UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT NEXT SUMMER
Killian Hayes (Detroit Pistons): Hayes has not lived up to his top-10 pick billing and has fallen out of Pistons general manager Troy Weaver&rsquo;s long-term outlook. Detroit could extend him a qualifying offer next summer, but he likely won&rsquo;t receive much interest on the open market.
Kira Lewis Jr. (New Orleans Pelicans): Lewis has been relegated to a reserve while suffering through multiple injuries through his first three years in the NBA. The Pelicans have made it known league-wide that he is available for trade.
Chuma Okeke (Orlando Magic): Okeke has struggled with his all-around game for the better part of the last two years and is unlikely to be retained by Orlando going forward.
Malachi Flynn (Toronto Raptors): Flynn hasn&rsquo;t taken advantage of the many opportunities he&rsquo;s had to be a part of the Raptors&rsquo; rotation as the backup point guard. He may see some run this year, but the Raptors may have seen enough to move on this summer.
THE TYRESE MAXEY WILD CARD
Tyrese Maxey (Philadelphia 76ers): Maxey is the wild card of the rookie-extension candidates, as Sixers general manager Daryl Morey has said that the team will hold off on extending the 22-year-old shooting guard in order to maintain trade and cap flexibility going into next summer. Maxey has blossomed into a core member of the 76ers going forward and would likely receive close to, if not the full, max rookie extension. With no end in sight to the James Harden debacle, the Sixers may want to secure their young prize before their situation could turn worse.

Blake Stern takes a look at which players are most likely to receive a rookie-scale extension prior to the October 23 deadline.

Checking in on the NBA's rookie-scale extension candidates

The NBA announced that 242 players have filed as early-entry candidates for the 2023 NBA Draft. Here is the complete list.

NBA announces 242 early-entry candidates for 2023 NBA Draft

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Pascal Siakam scored 22 points and the Toronto Raptors rallied from four 9-point first quarter deficits to roll past the Charlotte Hornets 120-100 on Tuesday night.
Toronto has won five of its last six games, improving to 40-39 and solidifying their position for the NBA play-in tournament.
The Raptors scored 19 straight points during a stretch late in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter after Charlotte had gotten within 80-75 with 3:49 left in the third quarter.
Siakam also had 14 rebounds and was joined in double digits by Chris Boucher (21 points), Will Barton (20), O.G. Anunoby (17), Fred VanVleet (16), Precious Achiuwa (12) and Jakob Poeltl (10).
The Hornets were led by Bryce McGowens&rsquo; career-high 20 points. Nick Richards added 18 points and 11 rebounds and Svi Mykhailiuk had 17 points, JT Thor 13 and Theo Maledon 13.
The Hornets (26-54) are without eight players due to injury: LaMelo Ball (right ankle surgery), Gordon Hayward (left thumb sprain), Kelly Oubre Jr. (left shoulder sprain), Terry Rozier (right foot injury), Dennis Smith Jr. (right toe sprain), P.J. Washington (right foot sprain) and Mark Williams (left ankle sprain).
Toronto&rsquo;s 36-20 second quarter was sparked by reserves Boucher and Barton, who combined for nine 3-pointers.
&ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t that sluggish,&rdquo; Toronto coach Nick Nurse said of the early Charlotte leads. &ldquo;They were just really fast and we weren&rsquo;t as fast as they were. I just kept saying, &lsquo;They&rsquo;re really moving&rsquo; so we had to pick it up a half-notch. We switched to zone and got a bunch of stops in a row and obviously got the ... 3-ball going. Fifteen out of 33 is a really good night on 3-pointers.&rdquo;
Boucher said Barton, who converted six of his nine 3-pointers, really helped the Raptors spread the floor in its victory.
&ldquo;We need that off the bench,&rdquo; Boucher said of Barton&rsquo;s production. &ldquo;The more guys we have that can do things will help. They got Will here for a reason. They know what he can do and today was just a peek at what he can do.&rdquo;
Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said Toronto&rsquo;s defense that created 22 points off 18 turnovers was a huge difference-maker.
&ldquo;Ball pressure and passing lane pressure led to live-ball turnovers,&rdquo; Clifford said. &ldquo;It was 22-10 in points off turnovers.&rdquo;
BOUCHER&rsquo;S BIG WEEK
Boucher&rsquo;s big effort came one day after he announced a scholarship program to help his community and young people growing up like he did.
According to Monday&rsquo;s Toronto Star, Boucher grew up in abject poverty, was once homeless, dropped out of school and washed dishes at restaurants.
Now a key to the Raptors&rsquo; second unit who has a three-year, $35 million contract, the Star says he is using &ldquo;an undisclosed amount of money disbursed through his SlimmDuck Foundation&rdquo; to launch a scholarship program that will offer financial support to five students of Caribbean descent. For each of the next five years, a scholarship will be offered to a student with financial struggles who wants to pursue a university degree.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something I wanted to do for a long time,&rdquo; Boucher said after Tuesday&rsquo;s game. &ldquo;It was just finding the opportunity. I want to help the people that struggle when they move to Canada.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Raptors: Barton is one of the more veteran players on the Raptors&rsquo; roster with 11 years of NBA experience, which includes 29 postseason games with nine starts. But he&rsquo;s played in 12 games with Toronto since being signed as free agent on Feb. 28 and he had missed the previous three games with a left ankle sprain. &ldquo;I guess we&rsquo;re going to have to figure that out in the next four games that we have left,&rdquo; Toronto coach Nick Nurse said of Barton&rsquo;s role.
Hornets: Clifford started his 26th different starting lineup Tuesday. It&rsquo;s the third-most lineups in franchise, behind the 2005-06 and 2006-07 Charlotte Bobcats, which used 28 different starters.
UP NEXT
Raptors: At Boston on Wednesday.
Hornets: Host Houston on Friday.

Toronto has won five of its last six games, improving to 40-39 and solidifying its position for the NBA Play-In Tournament.

Pascal Siakam scores 22, leads Raptors over Hornets 120-100

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Giannis Antetokounmpo had 33 points, 14 rebounds and six assists and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Philadelphia 76ers 117-104 on Sunday night to move a step closer to the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Bucks (56-22) have a two-game lead over Boston (54-24) with four games left. Boston won the season series with Milwaukee and has the tiebreaker. Philadelphia (51-27) is third in the East.
Brook Lopez scored 21 points, Khris Middleton had 19 and Jrue Holiday and Bobby Portis each added 18 as the Bucks shot 57.5%. Middleton also had nine assists.
Tyrese Maxey had 29 points and Joel Embiid 28 for the 76ers.
The Bucks bounced back three nights after a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/milwaukee-bucks-boston-celtics-sports-602518fe91ba1ade71877f8d634cbdd4#:~:text=MILWAUKEE%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20Jayson%20Tatum,in%20the%20Eastern%20Conference%20standings." target="_blank" rel="noopener">140-99 home loss to Boston</a>&nbsp;that matched their most-lopsided defeat of the season. The Bucks never trailed thanks to a blistering start that enabled them to build a 31-15 lead.
Milwaukee made its first first eight shots from the floor and 12 of its first 13. The Bucks were 5 of 5 from 3-point range during that stretch.
The Bucks eventually led by 20 during a first half in which they shot 67.4%.
After making their first five 3-point attempts of the night, the Bucks missed 14 of their next 15. But after the Bucks&rsquo; lead dwindled to four with about four minutes left in the third quarter, Bobby Portis ended the dry spell by sinking a 27-footer.
Milwaukee soon regained a double-digit advantage and broke the game open by going on a 16-2 run that began late in the third quarter and carried over to the final period. Antetokounmpo scored nine points during that stretch and capped the spurt with a basket putting the Bucks ahead 105-84 with 9:04 remaining.
TIP-INS
76ers: Georges Niang went scoreless and missed his only two shots, both from 3-point range. Niang had gone a combined 9 of 14 from 3-point range in Philadelphia&rsquo;s last two matchups with the Bucks, which both resulted in victories for the 76ers. ... James Harden was held to 11 points after flirting with a triple-double in a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bucks-76ers-giannis-antetokounmpo-joel-embiid-harden-4d4536b59829e9d8de1d14d0cde6a861" target="_blank" rel="noopener">133-130 victory at Milwaukee</a>&nbsp;on March 4. Harden had 38 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in the March 4 game.
Bucks: Grayson Allen left midway through the third quarter with a sprained right ankle. ... The Bucks observed Autism Acceptance Night on Sunday by lowering the decibel level of noise and in-game sounds, keeping the lights on for the entire game and not using any strobing lights. Bucks forward Joe Ingles and his wife, Renae, had unveiled upgraded sensory rooms at Fiserv Forum during a Thursday news conference. Their 6-year-old son, Jacob, has autism.
UP NEXT
76ers: Host Boston on Tuesday night.
Bucks: At Washington on Tuesday night.&nbsp;

The Bucks beat the 76ers 117-104 on Sunday night to move a step closer to the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.

Giannis Antetokounmpo helps hot-shooting Bucks beat 76ers 117-104

Women&rsquo;s basketball seems to have found a winner with its new Sweet 16 format in March Madness and the timing couldn&rsquo;t be better with looming TV contract negotiations on the horizon.
There were record-setting attendance at the two sites &mdash; Greenville, South Carolina and Seattle &mdash; along with record numbers for TV ratings. It fueled the momentum heading into a star-packed Final Four lineup in Dallas.
NCAA selection committee chair Lisa Peterson expects the format success to help in upcoming contract negotiations. The current NCAA TV deal ends next summer.
&ldquo;It has to,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very much looking forward to seeing those conversations. It only can be good for the game. People are talking about it.&rdquo;
TV ratings for games on Friday and Saturday averaged 1.2 million viewers, a 73% increase over last year. Saturday afternoon&rsquo;s Ohio State and UConn matchup on ABC was the most watched women&rsquo;s Sweet 16 game on record with an average of 2.4 million.
Ratings were also up for the games Sunday and Monday on ESPN &mdash; up 43% gain and averaged 2.2 million. Sunday night&rsquo;s Iowa-Louisville contest which featured dynamic guard Caitlin Clark led the way at 2.5 million, making it the most watched Elite Eight game on record.
Tag Garson, Wasserman&rsquo;s senior vice president of properties, said this year&rsquo;s ratings will be one of many pieces that factor into what path the NCAA will take.
&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re looking at how ratings are performing as you&rsquo;re preparing for a negotiation you don&rsquo;t just look at one year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re looking at the historical value while projecting out the future value.&rdquo;
The NCAA is expected to decide by this fall whether to separate the women&rsquo;s tournament or keep it as part of the championships TV package that includes at least 24 sports.
Peterson and her group will have a lot to review.
Arenas in Greenville and Seattle were mostly full which created an entertaining atmosphere. While attendance was expected to be high in Greenville with the undefeated Gamecocks there. the closest team to Seattle was Colorado &mdash; 1,300 miles away.
The distance didn&rsquo;t stop fans from flocking to Seattle, with strong support from basketball fans around the city thanks in part to the success of the WNBA&rsquo;s Storm over the last two decades. In the end, the Seattle region outdrew its South Carolina counterpart by a few thousand. Overall 82,275 fans took in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games, including 43,556 in Seattle.
&ldquo;It really was a great atmosphere to play in. You love to play in these kind of atmospheres with this kind of crowd and play in a great building like this,&rdquo; said UConn coach Geno Auriemma whose team played in Seattle.
The NCAA also hopes the success leads to more cities bidding to host the regional games and eventually the Final Four.
&ldquo;The number of cities that had bid (in the past), we didn&rsquo;t have that many more options,&rdquo; Peterson said. &ldquo;With the success we&rsquo;ve had hopefully it opens up new doors so we don&rsquo;t keep going to the same cities.&rdquo;
The local organizing committee in Seattle said that they expected the tournament to generate more than $8.3 million to the city.
&ldquo;When we host events like this there&rsquo;s no playbook to say it&rsquo;s a guaranteed success,&rdquo; Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell told The Associated Press. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know how the fans are going to come out, but what has been proven time and time again, particularly around women&rsquo;s sports is that they come from all over the state even come from Canada. ... The revenue is incredible for our tax base.&rdquo;
Harrell threw Seattle&rsquo;s hat in the ring for a future women&rsquo;s Final Four, saying he would love it if his city got that opportunity.
One of the next steps the NCAA is planning for upcoming two regional sites is to turn them into &ldquo;mini Final Fours.&rdquo;
Many fans seemed to enjoy the new format going to more than just their team&rsquo;s games. Dave Lichliter, who is from Pennsylvania, went to games both Friday and Saturday and enjoyed the expanded field.
&ldquo;You get to see more teams,&rdquo; said Lichliter, who was wearing an LSU championship football shirt from 2019. &ldquo;Next year is Albany (New York) and Portland (Oregon), so we&rsquo;ll see how that goes.&rdquo;
So will the NCAA.
The two-city format will be in place at least another three years. The next bid cycle starts in July where regional hosting will be decided from 2027-31.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re doing this for three years. It&rsquo;s not a permanent deal,&rdquo; Peterson said. &ldquo;As always we&rsquo;ll evaluate it. If we feel it doesn&rsquo;t work, we&rsquo;ll see what we need to do to change it. Whether it&rsquo;s changing formats, or if that&rsquo;s adding a day, Whatever that looks like, we&rsquo;ll keep looking at it.&rdquo;
There were a few logistical bumps with the two sites.
With eight schools at one venue required some adjustments by teams and arena staffs. Practice time on the court was cut from 90 minutes to 60 to allow all eight time on the court. It also required a little more coordination when it came to the locker rooms with teams having to double up.
But none of it seem to bother the players. Some said it felt like an AAU tournament from their younger days with so many teams in the same place.
&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s fun. I think it&rsquo;s cool,&rdquo; said Clark, before he Hawkeyes guard added: &ldquo;Obviously we&rsquo;re not going to be coming to all the games, that&rsquo;s just not really how it works, but I think I like the two regional sites.&rdquo;
___
AP Sports Writers Tim Booth in Seattle, Pete Iacobelli in Greenville, South Carolina and Joe Reedy contributed to this story.

There were record-setting attendance at the two sites — Greenville, South Carolina and Seattle — along with record numbers for TV.

Women making case in tourney for own March Madness TV deal

South Carolina senior guard Brea Beal knew she could trust Dawn Staley before she even suited up for the Gamecocks.
It wasn&rsquo;t just Staley&rsquo;s coaching accolades, which include fueling South Carolina&rsquo;s meteoric rise in women&rsquo;s basketball, that sold Beal. Beal knew that Staley &mdash; a Black woman like her &mdash; would best understand how to guide her as she navigated both life and playing basketball on a big stage.
&ldquo;People that were telling me what this community was about, I know it&rsquo;s somewhere I wanted to be,&rdquo; Beal said. &ldquo;As soon as I got here, she definitely led me down a journey so I could find out who I am.&rdquo;
Black female representation in the coaching and sports administrative ranks has existed on a minute scale &mdash; even in a sport like basketball, which along with track and field has the highest concentration of Black female college athletes. Black female players who have been coached by a Black woman told The Associated Press that it was crucial to their development.
&ldquo;There are some coaches who will just have all guys with no understanding that there are sometimes things that a young woman may need to talk to another woman about,&rdquo; said Kiki Barnes, a former basketball player and jumper at New Orleans and current Gulf Coast Athletic Conference commissioner.
While the number of women coaching women&rsquo;s sports has increased in the past decade, Black women continue to lag behind most other groups. During the 2021-22 school year, 399 Black women coached women&rsquo;s NCAA sports teams in Divisions I, II and III, compared with 3,760 white women and 5,236 white men.
In women&rsquo;s NCAA basketball, a sport made up of 30% Black athletes, Black women made up 12% of head coaches across all divisions during the 2021-22 season, according to the NCAA&rsquo;s demographics database.
Fourteen Black women led women&rsquo;s basketball teams across 65 Power Five programs this past season &mdash; up one from 2021. That&rsquo;s less than 22% of the total in a sport that was played by more Black athletes (40.7%) than any other race in Division I, according to a report with data from the 2020-21 season.
For the first time in a decade, four Black coaches advanced to the Sweet 16 of the women&rsquo;s basketball tournament, including Staley, who said she believes it&rsquo;s more popular to hire a woman at &ldquo;this stage of the game.&rdquo;
&ldquo;And it&rsquo;s not to say that I&rsquo;m going to sit here and male bash, because we have a lot of male coaches who have been in our game for decades upon decades,&rdquo; said Staley, who will lead her team into the Final Four this weekend. &ldquo;But I will say that giving women an opportunity to coach women and helping women navigate through life like they have navigated through life will allow your student-athletes a different experience than having a male coach.&rdquo;
For years Staley has been an advocate for hiring more female coaches &mdash; especially minorities &mdash; in college basketball, but WNBA player Angel McCoughtry said Black female coaches as successful as Staley are still too few and far between in the sport.
&ldquo;When I was getting recruited in high school, I don&rsquo;t remember having a Dawn Staley to look up to,&rdquo; said McCoughtry, who played at Louisville from 2005-09.
McCoughtry also named Carolyn Peck, the first African American woman to coach her team to an NCAA women&rsquo;s basketball title in 1999 with Purdue, as another example of representation in the sport.
&ldquo;So there&rsquo;s one or two every decade,&rdquo; McCoughtry said. &ldquo;Why can&rsquo;t we have 10? There&rsquo;s 10 Caucasian coaches every decade.&rdquo;
McCoughtry, a former No. 1 overall pick by the WNBA&rsquo;s Atlanta Dream, got used to being around people who didn&rsquo;t look like or understand her. She is Black. Her AAU and high school coaches were Black men. Her college coaches were white men. Marynell Meadors, a white woman, was her first coach in Atlanta.
She has fielded frustrating questions from white peers, coaches and owners &mdash; like how often she washes her hair, or whether her passionate play was because she was from Baltimore.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s just a disconnect in understanding things,&rdquo; the 36-year-old said, adding: &ldquo;We need more coaches to protect us.&rdquo;
McCoughtry has never had a Black female head coach but did have the impactful guidance of Michelle Clark-Heard, a Black woman whom Jeff Walz brought on as an assistant when he took over at Louisville in 2008.
She also leaned on Tim Eaton, a Black assistant coach who she said advocated for her in her freshman year, when then-coach Tom Collen wanted to send her back to Baltimore because she was late to one of her first practices. Similarly, McCoughtry said, she felt she had less room to make mistakes than white teammates. When she questioned a coach, she was labeled a troublemaker; when she got fired up about a play, she was told she had a bad attitude.
&ldquo;We just never had any inch to be human, like our Caucasian counterparts,&rdquo; she said, adding: &ldquo;But who understands that? Our Black coaches. Because they went through everything we went through. They have a story, too.&rdquo;
Part of the reason for the lack of Black female coaches is because of who ultimately holds the power to hire, Barnes said. That&rsquo;s often athletic directors, a level where there is an even greater lack of diversity &mdash; 224 of 350 in Division I are white men. Plus, she added, there are changing requirements for what it takes to get leadership opportunities.
&ldquo;And now the system has changed to where now you&rsquo;ve got to know search firms because now search firms are the ones that are managing and determining who gets these opportunities,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Every time we understand how to get in the room and what it takes to be prepared, it&rsquo;s like the rules change.&rdquo;
Barnes played high school basketball in her hometown of Minden, Louisiana, where she had an assistant coach who was a Black woman; Barnes still refers to her as &ldquo;Coach Smith.&rdquo;
&ldquo;For her, it wasn&rsquo;t just about basketball. It was about who I was as a young lady,&rdquo; Barnes recalled, adding, &ldquo;I would say it&rsquo;s similar with a young woman wanting to talk to a mom about womanly things. It&rsquo;s not that a man couldn&rsquo;t do it, but I wouldn&rsquo;t feel as comfortable talking to either my dad or any other man about woman things.&rdquo;
Priscilla Loomis, a 2016 Olympic high jumper who is Black, said she became a coach to provide kids that look like her the representation the sport has lacked. NCAA track and field numbers mirrored women&rsquo;s basketball numbers in 2021-22: 5% of head coaches were Black women, while 19% of women&rsquo;s NCAA track and field athletes are Black.
&ldquo;They want so badly to feel seen and to feel loved and to be given guidance,&rdquo; Loomis said. &ldquo;And so that&rsquo;s why I always say it&rsquo;s important to get women of color, men of color to the starting line, because a lot of times we&rsquo;re so many steps behind.&rdquo;
___
AP Sports Writer Pete Iacobelli and AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg contributed to this report.

For years, Dawn Staley has been an advocate for hiring more female coaches — especially minorities — in college basketball.

Black female athletes: Having Black female coach is crucial

It's December 14, and Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford has already had enough.&nbsp;
Normally a willing interviewee and giving orator, Clifford sets the stage early.&nbsp;
"You don't have to ask questions," he says, before laying down the law for nearly two full minutes.&nbsp;
The heart of the message: The Hornets won't win games &mdash; and certainly nothing of consequence &mdash; if they don't nail the little things. And they'll have no shot if they don't nail the big thing: Defense.
"We are playing no defense, not one guy. There's no bright spot," Clifford says.&nbsp;
"We don't run back on defense. We don't guard the ball. Our pick-and-roll stuff &mdash; all stuff that was good. I think we were as high as 12th or 13th in defense about 10 games ago, and we're right back where we started: Ground Zero, where all we want to be is, "Let's try to outscore the other team." It doesn't work that way. "
Quotes don't really do it justice &mdash; you can watch the whole thing <a href="https://youtu.be/DnWSEJypz5A" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> &mdash; but Clifford was right on all accounts. Well, mostly all accounts.&nbsp;
Through Dec. 14, the Hornets ranked 26th in half-court defense per Cleaning The Glass. Opponents generated 1.083 points per possession (PPP) on trips featuring a drive against the Hornets, the worst mark in the NBA. Only five teams allowed more points on a per-possession basis than the Hornets when defending pick-and-rolls.
The lone bright spot&nbsp;was&nbsp;the transition defense, ranking fifth in PPP allowed (1.165) and second in transition frequency allowed (13.7% of possessions). Honestly, it made sense for Clifford to be paranoid overseeing any slippage in that area, considering how woeful everything else had been.&nbsp;
Fast forward a few months, and we're singing a different tune.&nbsp;
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The Hornets have a 110.6 defensive rating since the All-Star break, making them, statistically, the stingiest defense in the league right now. And it's not like their numbers are juiced by feasting on awful offenses. Nearly half of their games have come against top-10 offenses.
Here are their splits, per Cleaning The Glass:
<ul>
<li>Against top-10 offenses (7 games): 115.3 DRTG (3.6 lower than league average), 8th in the NBA</li>
<li>Against middle-10 offenses (4 games): 107.6 DRTG (-9.3), 1st</li>
<li>Against bottom-10 offenses (5 games): 106.7 DRTG (-6.5), 5th</li>
</ul>
It's important to emphasize the "statistically" part. A large portion of what's driving Charlotte's success is opponent three-point shooting. Teams have shot just 31.6% from deep against them since the All-Star break, nearly two percentage points lower than the second-ranked Denver Nuggets (33.1%).
Per Second Spectrum's Quantified Shot Quality (qSQ) metric, teams have&nbsp;underperformed&nbsp;their expected field goal percentage from deep against the Hornets by nearly six percentage points (-5.87) &mdash; the largest gap in the league.&nbsp;
That's not to say the Hornets have&nbsp;only&nbsp;gotten lucky. They've been pretty intentional about limiting fruitful three-point attempts; between their off-ball switching, an uptick in space-limiting ball-screen coverages (more on that shortly) and more aggressive closeouts, teams are struggling to win the math battle in a way they weren't earlier this season.&nbsp;
You can see that reflected in the actual shot profile. Before the All-Star break, 36% of the opposition's shots were coming from deep against the Hornets, a mark that ranked No. 21 in the league. Since the break, that's fallen to 32.9% (No. 7).
But even when fruitful threes are given up &mdash; their corner three rate allowed has remain unchanged (9.6%) &mdash; they're at least making those tougher. Their contest rate on corner threes has improved throughout the year, ranking 12th before the break and sixth after it, per Second Spectrum.
The Hornets have asked their bigs &mdash; rookie Mark Williams when available, and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-feature-interview-nick-richards-charlotte-hornets-bench-mason-plumlee-steve-clifford-jamaica-basketball-dennis-smith-jr-kelly-oubre-lamelo-ball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quietly-solid reserve Nick Richards</a> &mdash; to play closer to the level against ball-screens. When trending smaller with PJ Washington or Kai Jones (he's been fun!) at the 5, they're more inclined to (late) switch.
If opponents attempt to target a weaker defender in ball-screens or with a clear out, or are able to force an unfavorable switch, the Hornets are willing to send doubles to get their guys out of perceived trouble.&nbsp;
Either gambit puts two on the ball, creating openings on the back end. But this is where you tip your cap to the length, athleticism and overall ground coverage this group has.&nbsp;
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Only two players in the Hornets' rotation are shorter than 6-foot-7 &mdash; Terry Rozier (6-1) and Dennis Smith Jr. (6-2). Rozier has missed the last two games, and has been replaced by Theo Maledon; Maledon keeps the quota at two, while also offering more size (6-4) than Rozier.&nbsp;
Smith has been one of the best guard defenders in the NBA on a per-minute basis. He's physical at the point of attack and combines that ruggedness with some real feistiness at the rim. He isn't afraid to challenge shots. He's currently <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defensive-impact?CF=BLK*GE*25&amp;Height=LT%206-4&amp;PerMode=Totals&amp;TeamID=0&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=MIN" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of 10 players</a> listed at 6-4 or shorter with 25 blocks to his name; everyone on the list has appeared in more action than Smith.
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On a team that's willing to send a bunch of help, it's a breath of fresh air to have someone like Smith who doesn't need&nbsp;it all that often.&nbsp;
To that point: 47 players have defended at least 200 on-ball picks at the point of attack since the All-Star break. At 0.78 PPP, no player has "allowed" a lower clip than Smith. On the year, Smith ranks second in Dunks And Three's Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus (dEPM) metric (+3.6), narrowly edging out OG Anunoby (+3.4) and trailing only Alex Caruso (+4.5).&nbsp;
Beyond him, I've been impressed with the wings. JT Thor and Gordon Hayward have taken turns picking up top-tier elite wing assignments, and have mostly held their own. Hayward's been surprisingly spry chasing dudes around off-ball screens. I enjoyed the work he put in against Luka Doncic over the weekend, even if he got dotted a couple of times.
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Thor has used his rare blend of size and mobility to stick with different types of assignments on the ball. He's also provided us with some fun rim-protection flashes; you always have to be aware of where he is.&nbsp;
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As for the bigs, many will point to rookie Williams' insertion into the starting lineup as a real turning point. There's some credence to that; the Hornets rank third in defensive rating since Feb. 10th, the date marking the rookie's first start.
His size is valuable, particularly on the glass. He's had nice flashes of rim protection during this stretch, averaging 1.1 blocks while contesting <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/hustle?CF=G*GE*10&amp;DateFrom=02/10/2023&amp;Height=&amp;PerMode=Per36" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13.1 shots per 36 minutes</a>, a number in the range of guys like Jakob Poeltl (13.4), Kristaps Porzingis (13.0) and Rudy Gobert (12.6).
I'd argue they've gotten more juice out of Richards, whose growing comfort on the perimeter has really popped. He isn't the mountain to dribble around or pass over that Williams is, but the gap in mobility and understanding of angles make him a more effective at-the-level defender. He's gotten better at contesting shots vertically, which gives him a chance to alter shots in light of his limitations as a leaper.
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Neither big is ready to be a true defensive achor right now, but that's okay. Williams is still trying to navigate space at the NBA level, period. Having to defend multiple actions within a possession can get dicey for the young man.
Richards' attempts at being a late leaper &mdash; waiting for the offensive player to leave his feet before challenging the shot, in hopes of avoiding fouls &mdash; can end with the ball going in the basket as Richards' hand is slapping the backboard.
On the positive side, Williams has shown enough to be encouraged by his potential to get there. Richards will likely never be an anchor, but he's made enough strides from last season to feel comfortable with him executing multiple coverages. In 24 or fewer minutes &mdash; and I'd guess he'd be in the 18-ish range on a better team &mdash; that's all that's needed for him to be a valuable role player.&nbsp;
Are the Hornets&nbsp;actually&nbsp;the best defensive team in the NBA? No, they are not. It is, however, worth celebrating the strides they've made as the season has gone on. With the collective size and mobility this roster has, it's also worth getting excited about the foundation that could be built.&nbsp;
(And hey, with enough lottery luck, they could be set in the paint for years to come.)

Nekias Duncan explores what's happening with the Hornets' suddenly-elite defense.

What's the buzz with the Charlotte Hornets' defense?

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) &mdash; Karl-Anthony Towns hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 11 seconds to play after Kyle Anderson stole a pass by Draymond Green, and Minnesota held off Golden State.
Jordan Poole gave Golden State the lead on a 3 with 1:28 left, moments after Towns had connected from deep. Poole had a game-high 27 points.
The Warriors had a chance with 9.9 seconds left but Stephen Curry couldn&rsquo;t corral Poole&rsquo;s errant pass, then Curry missed a contested 3 from the baseline just before the final buzzer.
Towns had 14 points and five rebounds in his second outing following a 52-game absence with a strained right calf.
The Warriors had their nine-game home winning streak snapped and missed a chance to boost their playoff positioning. A victory also would have clinched Sacramento&rsquo;s first postseason berth since 2006. The Kings will try to end the longest playoff drought in NBA history Monday night at home against Minnesota.
BULLS 118, LAKERS 108
LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; LeBron James scored 19 points off the bench in his return from a monthlong injury absence, but Zach LaVine had 32 to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 118-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
DeMar DeRozan added 17 points for the Bulls, who easily overcame James&rsquo; return with an impressive performance in their seventh win in nine games. LaVine hit 11 of his first 14 shots to lead an offensive effort that snapped the Lakers&rsquo; three-game winning streak despite the return of the NBA&rsquo;s career scoring leader.
James sat out 13 games with right foot soreness, missing four weeks during the Lakers&rsquo; run at a playoff berth.
For only the second time in his 20-year, 1,958-game NBA career, James wasn&rsquo;t a starter. He came in midway through the first quarter.
The Lakers still were without D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, who missed his second straight game with a right hip injury. Los Angeles went 8-5 in James&rsquo; absence.
CAVALIERS 108, ROCKETS 91
CLEVELAND (AP) &mdash; Jarrett Allen had 24 points and 14 rebounds, Donovan Mitchell scored 22 and Cleveland beat Houston to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2018.
It&rsquo;s also the first time Cleveland has made the playoffs without LeBron James on the roster since 1998.
The Cavaliers are closing in on locking up the No. 4 spot in the Eastern Conference &mdash; and home-court advantage in the first round. They&rsquo;ve won 9 of 11.
Evan Mobley added 19 points and Darius Garland had 17 for Cleveland.
Jalen Green scored 30 to pace the Rockets, who have lost five straight.
GRIZZLIES 123, HAWKS 119
ATLANTA (AP) &mdash; Ja Morant scored 27 points in his return to the Memphis starting lineup and the Grizzlies held off Atlanta for their sixth consecutive win.
Desmond Bane added 25 points for Memphis, twice delivering fourth-quarter baskets after the Hawks pulled within one.
Memphis is second in the Western Conference despite a 15-22 road record. But the six-game winning streak, the NBA&rsquo;s longest active streak, includes two victories away from home.
Morant received a big cheer from the Atlanta sellout crowd during pregame introductions. He came off the bench in his first two games after serving an eight-game NBA suspension for posting a video in which he was shown waving a gun at a Denver-area strip club.
Trae Young led the Hawks with 28 points and 10 assists, one day after he was ejected for throwing the ball at an official during a 143-130 win over Indiana.
CELTICS 137, SPURS 93
BOSTON (AP) &mdash; Jaylen Brown scored 41 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Boston over San Antonio.
The Celtics were without star forward and leading scorer Jayson Tatum, who was sidelined with a bruised left hip. But they still moved within 1&frac12; games of Milwaukee for the Eastern Conference&rsquo;s best record with their seventh victory in nine games.
Malcolm Brogdon added 20 points and nine assists for Boston, and Derrick White had 19 points with eight rebounds.
Zach Collins had 21 points with seven rebounds for the Spurs, who finished an 0-4 road trip.
CAVALIERS 108, ROCKETS 91
CLEVELAND (AP) &mdash; Jarrett Allen had 24 points and 14 rebounds, Donovan Mitchell scored 22 and Cleveland beat Houston to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2018.
It&rsquo;s also the first time Cleveland has made the playoffs without LeBron James on the roster since 1998.
The Cavaliers are closing in on locking up the No. 4 spot in the Eastern Conference &mdash; and home-court advantage in the first round. They&rsquo;ve won 9 of 11.
Evan Mobley added 19 points and Darius Garland had 17 for Cleveland.
Jalen Green scored 30 to pace the Rockets, who have lost five straight.
RAPTORS 114, WIZARDS 104
TORONTO (AP) &mdash; O.G. Anunoby scored 29 points, Fred VanVleet had 28 and Toronto never trailed in a win over Washington.
Pascal Siakam had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Jakob Poeltl added 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Ninth-place Toronto clinched the three-game season series with the Wizards and maintained a three-game lead over 11th-place Washington in the Eastern Conference standings. Both teams have seven games remaining.
Scottie Barnes scored 13 points in his return to the starting lineup after missing two games because of a sore left wrist as Toronto won for the ninth time in 10 home games.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 26 points for the short-handed Wizards, who have lost four straight road games. Washington played without guard Bradley Beal (left knee) for the third straight game, while forward Kyle Kuzma (right ankle) sat out for the fourth consecutive game. Washington was also without guard Monte Morris (left groin).
HORNETS 110, MAVERICKS 104
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) &mdash; The Charlotte Hornets overcame a 40-point outing from Luka Doncic for their second win over Dallas in three days, another costly blow to the Mavericks&rsquo; playoff hopes.
Gordon Hayward scored 22 points and P.J. Washington added 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Hornets, who have been eliminated from playoff contention.
Doncic picked up his 16th technical foul of the season in the third quarter, meaning he will face a one-game suspension Monday night unless the technical is rescinded by the league office.
Kyrie Irving had 18 points for Dallas.
MAGIC 119, NETS 106
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Cole Anthony had 21 points to lead eight Orlando scorers in double figures, and the Magic overcame Mikal Bridges&rsquo; 44 points in a victory over Brooklyn.
Franz Wagner added 19 points and 10 rebounds for Orlando. Wendell Carter had 18 points and six rebounds, and Jalen Suggs returned from an injury with 16 points to help the Magic win their third straight. Paolo Banchero finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Bridges came up one point short of his career high. Cam Thomas added 18 points for the Nets, who lost for the sixth time in seven games.
THUNDER 118, TRAIL BLAZERS 112
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points and Oklahoma City beat depleted Portland.
Jalen Williams had 23 points and Isaiah Joe added 20 off the bench for the Thunder (37-38), who moved into a tie for ninth place in the Western Conference with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Shaedon Sharpe led the Trail Blazers with a career-high 29 points, and Nassir Little scored a season-best 28 off the bench. The loss was Portland&rsquo;s eighth in 10 games. The Blazers (32-42) are four games back of 10th place in the West and the final spot in the play-in tournament.
Portland was playing without four of its five regular starters as guards Damian Lillard (right calf) and Anfernee Simons (right foot), forward Jerami Grant (left calf) and center Jusuf Nurkic (right knee) all sat out.

A recap of Sunday's action in the NBA includes Karl-Anthony Towns burying a clutch triple to snap Golden State's home winning streak.

Towns makes two late three-pointers, lifts Timberwolves over Warriors

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Rookie guard Andrew Nembhard had 25 points and 10 assists in his first NBA game back home in Canada, and the Indiana Pacers beat the Toronto Raptors 118-114 on Wednesday night to snap their home winning streak at seven.
Myles Turner scored 16 points, Bennedict Mathurin added 15 and Buddy Hield had 13 for the Pacers, who swept the three-game season series between the teams.
Canadian-born players Mathurin, Nembhard and Oshae Brissett all started for Indiana as the Raptors celebrated Canada Basketball Night. It was the first time since the NBA began tracking starters in 1970-71 that three Canadians started for the same team.
&ldquo;For it to happen in Toronto, it&rsquo;s pretty cool,&rdquo; Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. &ldquo;All three of those guys played well. Nembhard had a great game. Mathurin was terrific. I thought Brissett did what he does. He gave us energy, rebounded, he scored the first five points of the game. That was great.&rdquo;
Pascal Siakam scored 18 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter but the Raptors lost their second straight. Siakam also had 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Fred VanVleet had 28 points and 11 assists for Toronto, and Jakob Poeltl scored 23.
Poeltl missed two free throws with 1:24 left when Toronto could have cut the deficit to two. After a missed 3 by VanVleet, Nembhard connected from long range to give the Pacers a 114-107 lead with 33 seconds to play.
&ldquo;That was the shot that put the game away,&rdquo; Carlisle said. &ldquo;Just an amazing night for him and his family.&rdquo;
Nembhard shot 11 for 17, going 3 of 5 from long range.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really feel too much pressure to play out of character tonight,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just wanted to be aggressive.&rdquo;
Fellow rookie Mathurin made three of his five shots and earned praise from Carlisle for his defensive effort on VanVleet.
&ldquo;It was really fun just to play in Toronto my first time,&rdquo; Mathurin said. &ldquo;The fact that we got the win makes it even more exciting.&rdquo;
The short-handed Raptors were without forward Scottie Barnes, who exited Sunday&rsquo;s loss at Milwaukee because of a sore left wrist. Toronto was also without forward Precious Achiuwa (right hamstring) and guard Gary Trent Jr. (right elbow).
Toronto lost at home for the first time since Feb. 10 against Utah, when the Jazz overcame a 12-point deficit in the final five minutes to beat the Raptors 122-116.
&ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t feel super organized at either end at the start or for a while,&rdquo; Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. &ldquo;I thought that we let a lot of chances go.&rdquo;
The Raptors shot 7 for 34 from 3-point range. Chris Boucher&rsquo;s buzzer-beating shot helped Toronto avoid matching a season low for makes and setting a new low for shooting percentage from beyond the arc.
Nembhard scored 14 points in the first, the most he&rsquo;s ever had in a single quarter, as the Pacers led 36-26 after one.
&ldquo;Nembhard obviously at the start was big,&rdquo; Nurse said.
Indiana led 58-52 at halftime and took an 83-78 lead into the fourth.
TIP-INS
Pacers: T.J. McConnell scored 14 points and Jordan Nwora had 10. &hellip; G Tyrese Haliburton (right ankle), G Chris Duarte (left ankle) and G/F Kendall Brown (right leg) all sat for Indiana. &hellip; The Pacers committed 18 turnovers, leading to 21 points for Toronto. &hellip; Indiana outscored the Raptors 40-21 in bench points. ... The Pacers are 3-1 when Nembhard scores 20 or more.
Raptors: Barnes sat for the fourth time this season and first since Nov. 26. &hellip; Actor Mike Myers sat opposite the Toronto bench. Actor Nicholas Braun also attended the game, sitting in a baseline seat.
HIELD FINED
Hield was fined $25,000 for making an obscene gesture while sitting on the bench during the second quarter of Monday&rsquo;s loss at Charlotte. TV cameras caught him raising his middle finger to someone on the court.
UP NEXT
Pacers: Visit Boston on Friday.
Raptors: Host Detroit on Friday.

Andrew Nembhard had 25 points and 10 assists in his first NBA game back home in Canada, and Indiana beat Toronto 118-114.

Back home in Canada, Andrew Nembhard nets 25 as Pacers top Raptors

After gaining a dominant lead over the Western Conference over the past couple of months, the Denver Nuggets have come back down to earth.
They've lost five of their last seven games, including a four-game skid featuring the Chicago Bulls at home, an 8-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs on the road, a tightly contested home loss to the Brooklyn Nets and a road loss to the Toronto Raptors, who dropped 49 first-quarter points on the Nuggets' head.
That four-game losing streak was their longest of the season, and only the second time they've lost three straight.
The big problem has been their defense. The Nuggets logged a defensive rating of 125.2 during the losing streak, with that dropping to 120.5 when accounting for the entire seven-game run. Either mark would easily be the worst in the league if extrapolated across the entire season.
The defense has almost always been the reason they've lost games this year; their defensive rating is nearly 13 points worse in losses (122.4) than wins (109.5), representing the sixth-largest gap in the NBA.
(Brief aside: Cleveland &mdash; at 16.6 points worse in losses &mdash; is kinda lapping the field in that stat. When the defense gets hit, it gets hit.&nbsp;Worth keeping an eye on, at least.)
WHAT'S UP WITH THE DEFENSE?
Before digging in, let's set the appropriate framing for the struggles of the Denver Nuggets: they may be recent, but they're not new.
Naturally, we have to start with Nikola Jokic here. I hate most of the conversations around his defense because I feel it devolves into &ldquo;HE SUCKS!&rdquo; a little too quickly. But I don&rsquo;t think his defense can be at the level it was in the Bulls game, and it especially can&rsquo;t be at the level it was in the Spurs game.
Jokic doesn't offer much scheme versatility; at the very least, he isn't&nbsp;effective&nbsp;at multiple coverages. He's at his best &mdash; and, in turn, the Nuggets are at their&nbsp;best &mdash; when he's operating at the level of the screen or higher.&nbsp;
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Because of that, they absolutely can't afford slippage within that coverage.
Heading into this stretch, the Nuggets were allowing 0.916 points per possession (PPP) on trips featuring a ball screen defended by Jokic at the level or higher, per Second Spectrum. That was in the vicinity of guys like Jarrett Allen (0.898 PPP) and Draymond Green (0.905 PPP), and better than Joel Embiid (0.927 PPP) on much higher volume.
During this stretch, that number has risen to 1.018 PPP &mdash; a below-average mark.&nbsp;
It's inherently a higher-risk style of defense, which was covered <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-examining-the-denver-nuggets-poor-defense-nikola-jokic-michael-malone-bruce-brown-michael-porter-jr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earlier this year</a>. The margin for error is smaller because of the rotations required. It's even harder to pull off if Jokic doesn't do&nbsp;his&nbsp;job by getting to the level on time and serving as a deterrent to the ball-handler, or if he takes his sweet time recovering.
Possessions like this can't happen:
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On top of the timing and rotations being off, teams have also attempted to mess with Denver's rotations by sprinkling in cuts and relocations as the ball screen occurs.
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The slippage at the level feels worse because of how vulnerable they've been with Jokic in a drop this season. He's shown growth within that coverage over the past two seasons, but still remains a negative overall. His contests don't bother attackers all that much &mdash; and that's if he's actually contesting shots versus swiping down in hopes of getting a strip.
It's worth noting that, surprisingly enough, the drop with Jokic has been much better statistically (0.887 PPP) during this stretch of games. I'd attribute that more to the point-of-attack defense perking up over the past three games than anything Jokic is doing. That's not to say he's made no adjustment &mdash; it feels like he's picking up ball-handlers a little higher within the drop, for example &mdash; but he's getting real help up top.
Bruce Brown, in particular, has stepped up.
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It's unlikely that Denver's drop is as good as the numbers reflect during this stretch &mdash; one littered with teams without elite&nbsp;pull-up chops. But it's at least encouraging that the point-of-attack defense has looked a little better.
There also seems to be more intention with insolating Jokic.&nbsp;
The Nuggets have seen their "ICE" or "weak" calls &mdash; forcing the ball-handler down the sideline (ICE) or shading them towards their off-hand (weak) &mdash; increase from 12.3 picks per 100 possessions (18th) before this run, to 15.5 per 100 over the past seven, a mark that would rank fifth in the NBA if extrapolated across the entire season.
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Keeping things 2-on-2, with Jokic picking up the ball-handler around eight feet or so, is Denver's way of trying to limit the amount of shots they give up from the corners and directly at the rim. It's worth keeping tabs on.&nbsp;
WHAT'S UP WITH THE OFFENSE?
It's&nbsp;mostly&nbsp;been business as usual here. They've logged a 116 offensive rating over the past seven games &mdash; off their world-beater path, but a mark that would still rank seventh in the league.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The largest issue doesn't involve Jokic. Literally: this team is scary (derogatory) without Jokic on the floor.&nbsp;
They've gotten very little from their midseason additions, Reggie Jackson and Thomas Bryant. Jackson hasn't been able to knock down shots, while Bryant's defense has been harmful enough for head coach Michael Malone to call on Jeff Green's number more consistently.&nbsp;
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Jamal Murray has been tasked with spearheading non-Jokic lineups, but it's a lot of pressure on him. And as my Dunker Spot cohost Steve Jones has noted, the Nuggets don't have pressure points aside from Murray in those lineups to truly bend&nbsp;defenses. It turns into "Murray save us" too frequently for my sensibilities.
There are adjustments to be made, like flanking Murray with another starter whenever Jokic gets rest. They're already doing that by keeping Murray and Aaron Gordon together &mdash; I'm a little intrigued with Gordon-at-5 minutes. Maybe keeping Murray and Michael Porter Jr. together would work. It could have the secondary benefit of unlocking Brown as a screener again.
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Ultimately, the goal should be to take some pressure off Murray. The Nuggets need his shotmaking once playoff time comes; they can't afford for wear-and-tear to get to his knee while trying to carry second units during the regular season. It's concerning that he's only made 39.7% of his shots over the past seven games, with only 23% of those coming at the rim.
If there's a Jokic-related thing to poke at, I'd keep an eye on who&nbsp;gets the Jokic assignment moving forward. It's something that really popped for me during the Sixers-Nuggets showcase game late in January, but PJ Tucker drew the Jokic assignment, allowing Joel Embiid to lurk around the rim and muck things up.&nbsp;
Other teams have tried it. The Wolves have given Kyle Anderson that assignment. The Raptors, as they tend to do, tossed OG Anunoby on Jokic with Jakob Poeltl nearby. The Nets threw forwards at Jokic in their first meeting, with Nic Claxton roaming around.&nbsp;
There's no way to&nbsp;stop&nbsp;Jokic, really, but using mobility to stifle some of the juicy stuff he creates on the perimeter is worth trying. Per Second Spectrum, the Nuggets have seen a dip in efficiency with dribble handoffs and ball screens when Jokic is defended by a forward instead of a center.
<ul>
<li class="p1">Jokic handoffs (center defender): 541 handoffs, 1.073 PPP</li>
<li>Jokic handoffs (forward defender): 241 handoffs, 1.058 PPP</li>
<li>Jokic PnR screener (center defender): 722 picks, 1.12 PPP</li>
<li class="p1">Jokic PnR screener (forward defender): 354 picks, 1.026 PPP</li>
</ul>
Not everyone has the personnel to pull it off, but the Nuggets may want to find counters regardless. It may be as simple as&nbsp;Gordon knocking down enough shots, or creating enough openings as a handoff hub or screener, to render the crossmatch obsolete. We'll have to see.

Nekias Duncan breaks down the Denver Nuggets' recent struggles and how Nikola Jokic and Co. can get back on track.

What's up with the Denver Nuggets, and should we be concerned?

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Oscar Tshiebwe kept battling for position, pushing his way to daylight and grabbing seemingly every loose rebound with a rugged relentlessness.
No one was going to stop him, either.
When it was over, the two-time Associated Press All-American had turned in the best rebounding performance in the NCAA Tournament in nearly a half-century &mdash; and Kentucky was free to move past last year&rsquo;s one-and-done showing.
Tshiebwe pulled down 25 rebounds and Antonio Reeves scored 22 points, helping the Wildcats beat Providence 61-53 in Friday night&rsquo;s first round.
Tshiebwe&rsquo;s rebounding output represented the most in any tournament game since 1977. Eleven of his rebounds came on the offensive glass &mdash; a big factor in the sixth-seeded Wildcats (22-11) staying in control as both offenses grinded to a halt after halftime.
&ldquo;I told (my teammates), I said, &lsquo;This year we come in and fight, last year doesn&rsquo;t matter anymore,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Tshiebwe, who entered as the nation&rsquo;s leading rebounder at 13.1 per game.
The &ldquo;last year,&rdquo; of course, was the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-saint-peters-upsets-kentucky-b0fdd8fbd0ea432a9b6150f0cd8e6b22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shocking first-round exit against 15th-seeded Saint Peter&rsquo;s</a> that had hung over the program all season. Now the Wildcats are moving on to face the Montana State-Kansas State winner Sunday in the East Region.
&ldquo;Yeah, it was a big relief obviously,&rdquo; forward Jacob Toppin said.
When the horn sounded, guard Cason Wallace let out a scream before giving a chest bump to Reaves. And Tshiebwe soon emerged from a postgame TV interview by gleefully skipping his way off toward the locker room.
His rebounding total was the most in the tournament since Michigan&rsquo;s Phil Hubbard had 26 boards against Detroit Mercy in 1977.
Behind Tshiebwe, Kentucky finished with a 48-31 rebounding advantage, controlling the offensive glass (plus-10) and dominating in second-chance points for an 18-2 edge.
That was vital considering shots weren&rsquo;t falling; Kentucky shot 36.5% overall but just 7 of 28 (25%) after halftime.
Reeves hit five 3-pointers to lead the offense, while Toppin had his own big game with 18 points. Tshiebwe managed eight points, but he was still an indomitable force that the 11th-seeded Friars (21-12) just couldn&rsquo;t manage.
&ldquo;Sometimes you just have an &lsquo;it,&rsquo; a la Dennis Rodman, Ben Wallace,&rdquo; Providence coach Ed Cooley said. &ldquo;Those guys just have an &lsquo;it&rsquo; for it. Some guys have an &lsquo;it&rsquo; to score. Some people have an &lsquo;it&rsquo; to pass. He has an incredible &lsquo;it,&rsquo; an elite &lsquo;it&rsquo; to rebound.&rdquo;
Ed Croswell scored 16 points for Providence, which shot just 36.2% while making 5 of 24 3-pointers. The Friars matched the Wildcats&rsquo; second-half troubles, making just 8 of 27 shots (29.6%).
&ldquo;You can say you wish you could win this game and all that,&rdquo; Friars guard Jared Bynum said, &ldquo;but you have to embrace the moment at the end of it.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Providence: The Friars have been to the NCAAs seven times in the past nine seasons under Cooley, including last year&rsquo;s Sweet 16 before falling to eventual champion Kansas. But they entered this game just 3-6 in NCAA games under Cooley.
Kentucky: The Wildcats got off to a successful though grinding start to March Madness &mdash; and that was good enough for coach John Calipari.
&ldquo;If in this tournament, winning is a relief, what the heck are you doing here?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This is joy.&rdquo;
KEY STRETCH
Tshiebwe came through in a tight game, starting with &mdash; what else? &mdash; his rebounding.
With Kentucky leading 50-46, he leapt to dunk home Wallace&rsquo;s missed drive. Minutes later, he came up with a steal, then an offensive rebound off his own miss before feeding Chris Livingston on the other side of the paint for the layup and a 54-46 lead with 2:43 left.
BUMPY REUNION
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-transfers-blake-hinson-bryce-hopkins-5bafaa08f771c7cb8e389f9fbe750213" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The game marked a reunion</a>&nbsp;between Providence star Bryce Hopkins and the Kentucky program he left behind. Hopkins came in averaging 16.1 points, but finished with just seven on 2-for-9 shooting in a tough night while being chased primarily by Toppin.
Hopkins fought back tears as he made his way through the postgame handshake line with Calipari and former teammates.
FULL STOP
The game&rsquo;s oddest moment&nbsp;came at the foul line.
With 8:36 left before halftime, Providence&rsquo;s Clifton Moore launched a free throw that hit the rim on the left side and rolled all the way around the inside of the rim before popping out and sitting on the back of the goal.
And then, it just stopped and stayed there.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
What are the odds? 😂<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a> <a href="https://t.co/XGCiyy9pVd">pic.twitter.com/XGCiyy9pVd</a>
&mdash; NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636875109322612738?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2023</a></blockquote>

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The 6-foot-9 Toppin stood next to an official under the net looking up at the ball, his hands on his hips, before jumping to tap it loose.
It went down as a miss. Moore made the second.
LOOK-INS
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/no-16-fairleigh-dickinson-stuns-no-1-seed-purdue-in-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The upset by 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson against No. 1 seed Purdue</a>&nbsp;in Columbus, Ohio, drew a captivated audience in Greensboro Coliseum for live look-ins being shown on the scoreboard.
During one timeout, with Fairleigh Dickinson up five in the final seconds, fans in Greensboro began chanting &ldquo;FDU! FDU!&rdquo; and booing whenever the game was taken off the scoreboard even when Providence-Kentucky had resumed on the court below.

Oscar Tshiebwe pulled down 25 rebounds, helping the Kentucky Wildcats beat Providence 61-53 in Friday night’s first round.

Tshiebwe’s 25 boards helps Kentucky top Providence in NCAA opener

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; D&rsquo;Angelo Russell had 28 points and nine assists in his dynamic return from a six-game injury absence, Dennis Schr&ouml;der added 23 points and seven assists and the Los Angeles Lakers won for the seventh time in nine games, 122-112 over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.
Austin Reaves scored 18 points while Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt added 16 apiece as the Lakers extended their impressive recent surge even with little contribution this time from Anthony Davis.
The superstar big man had only eight points and nine rebounds while struggling against Toronto&rsquo;s defense, but Russell and his teammates took charge before Davis sealed the win on his only field goal of the second half with 46 seconds to play.
Russell was the centerpiece of the Lakers&rsquo; activity at the trade deadline, but the point guard appeared in only four games to begin his second stint in Los Angeles before spraining his right ankle. He returned to the starting lineup with a spring in his step, hitting five 3-pointers and making a series of high-difficulty plays that had the Lakers&rsquo; home crowd roaring repeatedly.
Scottie Barnes scored 20 of his career-high 32 points in the second half, and O.G. Anunoby made his first 11 shots while scoring 31 points in the Raptors&rsquo; fourth loss to complete a tough five-game road trip. Toronto had won seven consecutive road games against the Lakers since 2014.
The Lakers moved into ninth place in the Western Conference three days ago with a win over Memphis, and they are excelling even in the middle of the lengthy absence of LeBron James.
Russell and Schr&ouml;der led an outstanding effort against Toronto, and the Lakers surged away to their sixth win in eight games since the All-Star break. Los Angeles also went 19 for 19 at the free throw line. Russell racked up 12 points and seven assists in the first half while the Lakers erased an early 15-point deficit.
The Lakers managed just four field goals in a nightmare third quarter, but took a nine-point lead midway through the fourth with a 26-8 run.
TIP-INS
Raptors: Will Barton scored five points in his return from a one-game absence with a non-COVID illness. ... Jakob Poeltl had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Lakers: Coach Darvin Ham said they haven&rsquo;t decided whether to sign a backup center with new acquisition Mo Bamba possibly sidelined until the postseason by a high left ankle sprain. ... Davis turns 30 on Saturday.
UP NEXT
Raptors: Host Denver on Tuesday night.
Lakers: Host New York on Sunday night.

D’Angelo Russell had 28 points and 9 assists as the Lakers won for the seventh time in nine games, 122-112 over the Raptors on Friday.

D'Angelo Russell scores 28 points in return, Lakers beat Raptors

♪ Your time is up, my time is now ♪ 
♪ You can't see me, my time is now ♪ 
The beat is booming, trumpets blaring. The crowd is hyped &mdash; anticipation of something amazing will do that to you.
Normally, this would be the paragraph where John Cena is described. How he plays to the crowd, the message he gives to the camera conveniently zoomed in on him <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7cqG9wQxLU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">before he flashes the "Never Give Up" towel and runs to the ring</a>.&nbsp;
Instead, the music just happens to be playing during the fourth quarter of the Toronto Raptors-Los Angeles Clippers game on Wednesday night.&nbsp;
Kawhi Leonard trots up the left side of the floor with OG Anunoby, the best perimeter defender in the league by many (read: my) accounts, waiting for him near half-court. Eric Gordon steps up to set an early drag screen, but Leonard rejects it to continue his leftward path.
Leonard gains inside leverage &mdash; doing that a lot, these days &mdash; and meets Jakob Poeltl at the rim. Well, more accurately, he gets to the rim and Poeltl just happens to be in his way. It sucks for him, because he wasn't stopping the funk coming his way.&nbsp;
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"You can't see me, my time is now" works for Cena. Try as you might, you're not on his level. You're distant. He's better and he knows it. He's better and his fans know it. He's better and you probably know it, deep down inside.
Leonard is different. You can see him; he just doesn't care that you can. It may be more accurate to say he can't see&nbsp;you.&nbsp;Is this the face of a man that thinks he's overcome insurmountable odds?
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2023-03-09-at-1-14-42-pm.png" alt="" width="657" height="369" />
Absolutely not.
If a dunk like that is the Attitude Adjustment (the old name was better, cowards), his middy might be the shoulder charge before the Five Knuckle Shuf &mdash; okay, I've done enough with the wrestling analogy.
(Psst, he's knocked down 50.1% of his mid-range shots this season, per Cleaning The Glass. That feels like a typo, especially when you factor in how contested they've been.)
Anyway...
What shouldn't be lost in all the hoopla surrounding the Clippers &mdash; Russell Westbrook talk, rotation talk, <a href="https://twitter.com/PodcastPShow/status/1630946315659251713?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">podcast talk</a>, Western Conference standings talk &mdash; is the metronomic, inevitable nature of Kawhi.
He's both a source of friction and a reason for optimism. The Clippers aren't here without him being on the recovery plan he's been on; conversely, the Clippers wouldn't be a reasonable playoff pick without his two-way dominance.
The further we get away from his initial return, the more terrifying he looks. Just look at his season in 10-game intervals.
First 10 (8 starts): 13.7 points on 51.7% True Shooting, 5.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists in 26.0 minutes
Next 10: 23.2 points on 61.1% True Shooting, 6.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.5 steals in 33.4 minutes
Following 10: 29.2 points on 63.2% True Shooting, 6.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2.0 steals in 37.1 minutes
Last 10: 27.0 points on 67.6% True Shooting, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.5 steals in 36.9 minutes
You can't erase portions of the season for a player &mdash; at least not in good faith &mdash; but a 30-game sample of 26.5 points on 64.0% True Shooting, 6.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists (1.8 turnovers) and 1.7 steals per game certainly qualifies as elite production. It's nasty stuff, even.
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I often find myself cackling at the casual nature of Leonard's approach. No matter the arena &mdash; isolating, posting up, running ball-screens, bringing the ball up in transition &mdash; it feels like he's in total control of what's happening.
Different defenders are tossed at him. Opponents oscillate between aggressive ball pressure, switching to flatten two-man actions and all-out traps to get the ball out of his hands. Their helpers do what they can to crowd the middle of the floor.
None of it matters, really.&nbsp;
Wednesday night's "revenge game" against the Raptors felt like one of those "it doesn't matter" games. His stat line was good enough: 24 points on 15 shot attempts, a season-high 12 rebounds, 4 dimes and three gimme-dats with the Clippers winning his minutes. But how he accumulated some of those? It's like, what do you do with him?
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You can see him; he just doesn't care that you can.
To the versatility point on offense: The Clippers have scored at an elite level when Leonard is involved in the action.&nbsp;
On trips featuring a Leonard-led ball screen, the Clippers are generating 1.085 points per possession (PPP). Among 96 players to run at least 500 ball-screens this season, that ranks No. 5 in the NBA. With Leonard setting an on-ball screen, that number rises to nearly 1.12 PPP &mdash; seventh among 209 players to set at least 150 picks.
Related: Keep an eye on the Leonard-Westbrook partnership. The sample must grow, but Westbrook screening for Leonard (1.82 PPP) and Leonard screening for Westbrook (1.00 PPP) has been pretty fruitful so far. The latter scenario has mostly been used for mismatch-hunting to get to isos or post-ups &mdash; "reverse-engineering" as expertly stated by <a href="https://twitter.com/stevejones20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Jones Jr.</a> &mdash;&nbsp; but there's real juice behind inverting the action.&nbsp;
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We can keep going. He's sixth in post-up PPP (1.18) among 37 players with 100 reps under their belts; seventh in PPP (1.13) among 51 players with at least 200 isolation possessions.
It simply has not mattered.
Flip the court, and the efforts to best Leonard have also been futile. He's not 2014 Kawhi anymore as an on-ball defender. The screen navigation isn't the same, nor is his lateral quickness at this stage. He remains incredibly difficult to deal with, though.&nbsp;
It's hard to move him. His prep work before the screen gets set is still superb. Even quieter, his sense of when to pursue after getting screened vs. when to peel-switch and take away a passing window is still strong.&nbsp;
At this point, it's less about what Leonard can do defensively and more about his opponents fearing what he's capable of. If he's in your face, you have your work cut out. If you get him off of you, you still have to be wary of where he is.
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It's been 40 games, which puts him a little behind the 8 Ball in terms of award talk. He isn't winning MVP. He's not winning Defensive Player of the Year, nor should he. An All-Defensive Team may also be out of the question, considering how deep the class is.
I'd keep an eye on his All-NBA case, though.
It feels like three spots are written in pen (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, Julius Randle), and another two are in pencil (Kevin Durant and LeBron James, who would easily be inked without their injuries, and still might be). Between Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Lauri Markkanen, Pascal Siakam and Kawhi's co-star Paul George, we may be in for a furious debate.
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Leonard is No. 10 in the league (+6.1) in DunksAndThree's Estimated Plus-Minus (EPM) metric, which estimates a player's total impact per 100 possessions. That would place Leonard sixth among forwards, trailing Butler (third, +7.1), Durant (seventh, +6.6), Giannis (eighth, +6.2) and LeBron (ninth, +6.2). Markkanen trails behind in 23rd (+4.8).
The cumulative version of the metric, Estimated Wins, places Leonard outside of the top 30 because of minutes played, putting him on par with Anthony Edwards (8.2) and slightly ahead of Siakam (8.0).
Of course, those are just two metrics out of the many in the public sphere. The most important thing is that Leonard looks like a two-way force getting close to peak form. That should terrify everyone.

Nekias Duncan analyzes how Kawhi Leonard is back to being a two-way force who is nearing his peak form with the Clippers.

His time is now: You can see Kawhi Leonard, but he doesn't care

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Fred VanVleet tried to take a double breath before addressing reporters. But the Toronto Raptors guard was unable to suppress his frustration with referee Ben Taylor and his crew.
VanVleet was extremely critical of Taylor after the Raptors&rsquo; 108-100 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night &mdash; not only for being called for a technical foul, but for the disparity in fouls and free throws.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind it. I&rsquo;ll take the fine. I don&rsquo;t really care. I thought Ben Taylor was terrible tonight,&rdquo; VanVleet said while using profanity. &ldquo;I think that most nights, you know out of the three, there&rsquo;s one or two that just (mess) the game up. It&rsquo;s been like that a couple of games in a row. Denver was tough, obviously.
&ldquo;You come out tonight, competing pretty hard and I get a (lousy) tech that changes the whole dynamic of the game, changed the whole flow of the game.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Fred VanVleet went OFF on referee Ben Taylor and NBA reffing in general in his post-game after the Raptors loss. Haven't heard anything like this. <a href="https://t.co/VcMkGTh0k3">pic.twitter.com/VcMkGTh0k3</a>
&mdash; Faizal Khamisa (@SNFaizalKhamisa) <a href="https://twitter.com/SNFaizalKhamisa/status/1633715635988332544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2023</a></blockquote>

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VanVleet, who is in his sixth year in the league, was called for his eighth technical of the season with 7:02 remaining in the third quarter. Paul George made the free throw to put the Clippers up 65-57.
VanVleet said the reason he picked up the technical was because he was imploring his team to play through what he thought were some questionable calls, albeit with more colorful language. He also said he understood there is a fine line on what he can say, but thought Taylor didn&rsquo;t give him enough leeway.
Toronto was called for 23 fouls to Los Angeles&rsquo; 18, but the Clippers were 24 of 31 from the line while the Raptors were 13 of 14.
&ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t getting our money&rsquo;s worth on a lot of those,&rdquo; Raptors coach Nick Nurse said of the fouls. &ldquo;Probably a little bit of contact. We didn&rsquo;t adjust (to the style of play) because we were back in the same situation.&rdquo;
VanVleet and the Raptors were already in a foul mood about officiating before Wednesday&rsquo;s game. They lost Monday night at Denver 118-113 after Scottie Barnes was ejected by Scott Foster with 28.3 seconds left and the Raptors trailing by one.
The technical came after Toronto&rsquo;s Jakob Poeltl was called for a foul. Denver made the three subsequent free throws to ice the game.
Of VanVleet&rsquo;s eight technicals, three have been assessed by Taylor with one other coming from another official on a game Taylor was working. Taylor is in his 10th season as an NBA official.
&ldquo;At a certain point as a player, you feel it&rsquo;s personal and it&rsquo;s never a good place to be,&rdquo; VanVleet said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not why we lost tonight, we got outplayed, but it definitely makes it tougher to overcome.&rdquo;
VanVleet was already facing a $3,000 fine for the technical. He will face a bigger one for going off on officiating.
&ldquo;I think the jurisdiction and the power trip that we&rsquo;ve been on this year with some of our officials in this league is getting out of hand and l&rsquo;ll take my fine for speaking on it,&rdquo; VanVleet said. &ldquo;Most of the refs are trying hard, I like a lot of the refs, they&rsquo;re trying hard, they&rsquo;re pretty fair, and communicate well. And then you got the other ones who just want to be (idiots) and just kind of (screw) up the game. And no one&rsquo;s coming to see that. They come to see the players.
&ldquo;And I think we&rsquo;re losing a little bit of the fabric of what the NBA is and was, and it&rsquo;s been disappointing this season.&rdquo;

"I thought Ben Taylor was terrible tonight,” Fred VanVleet said while using profanity following Toronto's loss to the LA Clippers.

Raptors’ VanVleet heavily criticizes officiating after loss

WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; Kyle Kuzma scored the game&rsquo;s first 10 points and finished with 30, Kristaps Porzingis added 25 points, and the Washington Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors 119-108 on Thursday night in the opener of a two-game set between Eastern Conference playoff contenders.
Daniel Gafford scored 18 points and Delon Wright had a season-high 11 assists for the Wizards (30-32), who moved within percentage points of the ninth-place Raptors (31-33) in the East standings.
O.G. Anunoby scored 26 points and Jakob Poeltl had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Raptors, who had won five of their previous six games.
Washington beat Toronto at home in the regular season for the first time since Feb. 1, 2018, ending a six-game winning streak for the Raptors at Capital One Arena.
Kuzma essentially put the game away early in the fourth quarter when he found Corey Kispert for a 3, buried a step-back 3 of his own and drove for a layup to conclude a 12-2 run that made it 99-80. The Raptors made a late push but did not get closer than eight points.
The Wizards had a 59-50 lead at halftime that could have been bigger if not for a couple of lulls. Kuzma made two 3s and had an emphatic dunk during his game-opening burst, but Toronto responded with an 18-2 run. The Wizards went on a 12-2 run for a 50-36 lead in the second quarter; Toronto countered with a 10-0 flurry.
The Wizards had more explosiveness and outside shooting touch throughout, shooting 46.7% from 3-point range to the Raptors&rsquo; 27.3% and finishing with 16 fast-break points to the Raptors&rsquo; four.
Pascal Siakam had 13 points and 11 rebounds for Toronto. Scottie Barnes and Fred VanVleet had 14 points apiece, but VanVleet was 2 of 11 on 3-pointers.
TIP-INS
Raptors: This is the first of two five-game trips remaining for Toronto, which has only eight home games left. The Raptors are 20-13 at home and 11-20 on the road. ... G Will Barton, waived by the Wizards on Feb. 21 and signed by the Raptors on Tuesday, played seven minutes and didn&rsquo;t score.
Wizards: Bradley Beal had 15 points. ... Corey Kispert finished with 10 points and two 3-pointers, becoming the first Wizard to make 100 3s in his first two seasons. ... Wright started at point guard in place of Monte Morris (lower back), who had an epidural injection on Wednesday, missed his third straight game and is considered week to week. ... Washington signed F/C Jay Huff to a two-way contract. The 7-foot-1 Huff had been playing for the South Bay Lakers of the G League, averaging a league-leading 3.4 blocks per game. Huff was previously with the Wizards in the 2021 Summer League after going undrafted out of Virginia. ... Washington has 13 home games left and only seven on the road, with no trips longer than one game.
UP NEXT
The teams conclude their two-game set at Washington on Saturday.

Kyle Kuzma scored 30 points, Kristaps Porzingis added 25, and the Washington Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors 119-108 on Thursday.