Pioneers

The NBA announced the 76 players who are expected to attend the 2022 NBA Draft Combine, which is scheduled for May 18-20 at Wintrust Arena and the Marriott Marquis in Chicago.
The 2022 NBA Draft Combine is an important step in the draft process for NBA prospects, leading up to 2022 NBA Draft on June 23.&nbsp;
Players will have interviews with NBA teams and participate in five-on-five games, shooting drills and strength-and-agility drills from May 18-20. Coverage of the 2022 NBA Draft Combine begins Thursday, May 19 on ESPNews from 3-5 p.m. ET and transitions to ESPN2 from 5-7 p.m. ET. The coverage continues on Friday, May 20 from 1-2 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and 2-5 p.m. ET on ESPNews.
Additionally, a select number of standout players from the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-announces-field-of-44-draft-prospects-for-g-league-elite-camp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 NBA G League Elite Camp</a>, which takes place May 16-17 at Wintrust Arena, will be invited to participate in the 2022 NBA Draft Combine.
Here is the complete list of expected attendees for this year's NBA Draft Combine (and check out <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's 2022 NBA Mock Draft</a> to see where each player is projected to go):&nbsp;
<table style="font-weight: 400;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" width="832">
Player (College/Club)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Ochai Agbaji (Kansas)
</td>
<td width="442">
Jake LaRavia (Wake Forest)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Patrick Baldwin Jr. (Milwaukee)
</td>
<td width="442">
Justin Lewis (Marquette)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Paolo Banchero (Duke)
</td>
<td width="442">
E.J. Liddell (Ohio State)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Dominick Barlow (Overtime Elite)
</td>
<td width="442">
Bennedict Mathurin (Arizona)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Marjon Beauchamp (G League Ignite)
</td>
<td width="442">
Matthew Mayer (Baylor)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Hugo Besson (New Zealand Breakers)
</td>
<td width="442">
Bryce McGowens (Nebraska)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Malaki Branham (Ohio State)
</td>
<td width="442">
Leonard Miller (Fort Erie Intl. Academy [Canada] )
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Christian Braun (Kansas)
</td>
<td width="442">
Josh Minott (Memphis)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Kendall Brown (Baylor)
</td>
<td width="442">
Aminu Mohammed (Georgetown)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
John Butler Jr. (Florida State)
</td>
<td width="442">
Iverson Molinar (Mississippi State)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Julian Champagnie (St. John&rsquo;s)
</td>
<td width="442">
Jean Montero (Overtime Elite)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Kennedy Chandler (Tennessee)
</td>
<td width="442">
Wendell Moore Jr. (Duke)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Max Christie (Michigan State)
</td>
<td width="442">
Keegan Murray (Iowa)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Kofi Cockburn (Illinois)
</td>
<td width="442">
Andrew Nembhard (Gonzaga)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Dyson Daniels (G League Ignite)
</td>
<td width="442">
Scotty Pippen Jr. (Vanderbilt)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Johnny Davis (Wisconsin)
</td>
<td width="442">
Gabriele Procida (Fortitudo Bologna [Italy] )
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
JD Davison (Alabama)
</td>
<td width="442">
Orlando Robinson (Fresno State)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Moussa Diabate (Michigan)
</td>
<td width="442">
David Roddy (Colorado State)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Ousmane Dieng (New Zealand Breakers)
</td>
<td width="442">
Ryan Rollins (Toledo)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Khalifa Diop (Gran Canaria [Spain] )
</td>
<td width="442">
Dereon Seabron (North Carolina State)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Jalen Duren (Memphis)
</td>
<td width="442">
Shaedon Sharpe (Kentucky)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Tari Eason (LSU)
</td>
<td width="442">
Jabari Smith (Auburn)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Keon Ellis (Alabama)
</td>
<td width="442">
Terquavion Smith (North Carolina State)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Michael Foster Jr. (G League Ignite)
</td>
<td width="442">
Jeremy Sochan (Baylor)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Collin Gillespie (Villanova)
</td>
<td width="442">
Matteo Spagnolo (Cremona [Italy] )
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
AJ Griffin (Duke)
</td>
<td width="442">
Julian Strawther (Gonzaga)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Jaden Hardy (G League Ignite)
</td>
<td width="442">
Dalen Terry (Arizona)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Ron Harper Jr. (Rutgers)
</td>
<td width="442">
Drew Timme (Gonzaga)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Chet Holmgren (Gonzaga)
</td>
<td width="442">
Jabari Walker (Colorado)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Harrison Ingram (Stanford)
</td>
<td width="442">
TyTy Washington Jr. (Kentucky)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Jaden Ivey (Purdue)
</td>
<td width="442">
Peyton Watson (UCLA)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana)
</td>
<td width="442">
Blake Wesley (Notre Dame)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Nikola Jovic (Mega [Serbia] )
</td>
<td width="442">
Alondes Williams (Wake Forest)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Johnny Juzang (UCLA)
</td>
<td width="442">
Jalen Williams (Santa Clara)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Ismael Kamagate (Paris [France] )
</td>
<td width="442">
Jaylin Williams (Arkansas)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Trevor Keels (Duke)
</td>
<td width="442">
Mark Williams (Duke)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Walker Kessler (Auburn)
</td>
<td width="442">
Trevion Williams (Purdue)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Christian Koloko (Arizona)
</td>
<td width="442">
Fanbo Zeng (G League Ignite)
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

The NBA announced the 76 players who are expected to attend the 2022 NBA Draft Combine, which takes place May 18-20 in Chicago.

NBA announces 76 prospects who will attend 2022 NBA Draft Combine

After the Utah Jazz were eliminated by the shorthanded Los Angeles Clippers last June, the rumors swirling around Donovan Mitchell and his potential departure from the team began in earnest.
Following an ugly five-game losing streak earlier this year, the rumors picked up more steam. In late January, NBA analyst <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nba/is-grayson-allen-a-dirty-player-nba-insiders-weigh-in" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ric Bucher of FOX Sports reported</a> that the "incessant buzz around the league is that there are those in Mitchell's circle who believe he is too big of a star for Salt Lake City."
The league-wide gossip has only intensified, as the Jazz have imploded over the past three months and descended down the Western Conference standings in the process.&nbsp;
Utah was 26-9 over its first 37 contests this season and trailed the West-leading Suns by just a game on New Year's Day. However, the Jazz are four games below .500 (18-22) over their last 40 games. And things have gone from bad to worse as of late.
Not only have they lost 6 of their past 7 contests, but they've also somehow managed to blow massive leads in back-to-back defeats (bungling a 25-point advantage to the Clippers and a 21-point lead in a loss to the Golden State Warriors). On the season, the Jazz have lost 15 games in which they've held double-digit leads. During this current seven-game stretch, Utah's defense has been non-existent, allowing a whopping 123.2 points per 100 possessions.&nbsp;
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The Jazz currently find themselves sitting in the No. 6 spot out West, just one-and-a-half games ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves, which means Utah could potentially slip into the Play-in Tournament.
The relationship between the star duo of Mitchell three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert has been notoriously rocky in years past, and it appears to be wobbly once again.&nbsp;
Mitchell not sharing the ball with Gobert has become a topic of conversation. On the season, Mitchell has passed the rock to the big man just 151 times, or on average, <a href="https://twitter.com/DustinT_NBA/status/1510492258063163393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">less than twice per game</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Donovan Mitchell's full response at shootaround this morning when he was asked about the number of times he passes to Rudy Gobert per game: <a href="https://t.co/OTez0jURfz">pic.twitter.com/OTez0jURfz</a>
&mdash; Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) <a href="https://twitter.com/andyblarsen/status/1511390020136964102?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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After Utah choked away a massive lead to the Clippers last week, Gobert was brutally honest in his postgame presser.
"Nobody hits nobody. We don't get our hands dirty. We never get our hands dirty," <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/sports/jazz/2022/03/30/triple-team-jazz-lost/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gobert told reporters</a>. "We're a very good basketball team, but I get f***ed up every night, and guys are literally beating me up every night, as they should. It's basketball; it's a physical game. But we have to get to the point where we do that to the other team too. But teams don't really expect that from us."
Mitchell was later asked about finger-pointing while the team was struggling.
"That's childish, in my opinion,"&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sltrib.com/sports/jazz/2022/04/01/utah-jazz-vow-not-fall/">Mitchell replied</a>. "If we do that, then we've got some big problems."
Three days later, Utah blew another double-digit fourth-quarter lead in Golden State. "I don't know how many times it's gonna happen," Gobert said afterward. Jazz beat writer <a href="https://theathletic.com/3226333/2022/04/03/jazz-blow-another-big-lead-and-seem-to-have-no-answers-to-some-troubling-questions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tony Jones wrote</a> that the Jazz "play as if they have zero trust in each other, and that's the hard truth."
If the Jazz flame out in the playoffs later this month (they are just 10-17 in the postseason over the last three years), Utah's front office will have some tough decisions to make. And many NBA insiders believe Mitchell may force the organization's hand.&nbsp;
Appearing as a guest on the "The Lowe Post" podcast last Friday, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/schwartz-and-macmahon/id986595124?i=1000555962078" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN's Tim MacMahon proclaimed</a>:
<blockquote>
The idea that Donovan Mitchell is going to spend his entire career in Utah is absolutely ridiculous. That's one of the things that's staring them in the face this summer. That's also one of the things that has been looming over this franchise all season long. 
</blockquote>
MacMahon added that "other teams have been planning to make a run at Mitchell" for quite some time.
On a podcast in February, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trade-deadline-megapod-part-2-the-losers/id1078713316?i=1000550747046" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated</a> also painted a grim picture of the situation in Salt Lake City:
<blockquote>
I think they're in trouble because this thing has run its course, and we know there are some tensions that are in that locker room. And I've been told recently that they might be a little worse than we've even been led to believe. And so, if this doesn't end well this postseason, and there's no reason to think that it will... Those "Donovan Mitchell wants out" rumors are going to be starting, like, as soon as the season is over.
</blockquote>
However, Mitchell signed a five-year, $163 million contract extension in November 2020, which includes a player option worth $37 million for the 2025-26 season. Thus, he is still under contract in Utah for at least three more years.
Despite some ups and downs as of late, Mitchell is undeniably one of the most dynamic and productive young players in the entire league. This season, at the ripe age of 25, he is producing 26.1 points and 4.1 rebounds to go along with career-high averages in assists (5.4), steals (1.5), made three-pointers (3.5) and field goal percentage (45.4%).
Mitchell has already tallied over 8,000 points, 1,500 assists and 1,400 rebounds in his young career (343 games). The only players to exceed those totals in these statistical categories in fewer career contests are LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Michael Jordan, Pete Maravich and Oscar Robertson. That's decent company.
And although the Jazz have stumbled in the playoffs, it's unfair to pin those defeats on Mitchell. He has played some of his best basketball when the spotlight shines brightest. In the 17 postseason games Utah has played over the last two years, Mitchell's averaged a whopping 33.9 points and 4.9 treys per contest. Kevin Durant and Luka Doncic are the only other players averaging more than 30 points per game in the playoffs since 2020.
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So, to make a long story short, the Jazz will only consider trading away their three-time All-Star if he demands to be moved.
Should Mitchell inform Utah he wants out, plenty of pundits predict that New York will be his preferred destination.&nbsp;
There is plenty of connective tissue between Mitchell and the Big Apple. For starters, Mitchell was born and raised in New York. His father, Donovan Mitchell Sr., is a former minor league baseball player who works for the Mets as the club's director of diversity, equity and inclusion. The younger Mitchell spends much of his offseasons in New York and <a href="https://twitter.com/spidadmitchell/status/1494377515300786176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1494377515300786176%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcsports.com%2Fwashington%2Fnationals%2Fson-mets-exec-donovan-mitchell-makes-pitch-juan-soto-go-queens" target="_blank" rel="noopener">often tweets about his favorite MLB team</a>.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The only time we&rsquo;re happy to have a 🕷 in the house. <a href="https://twitter.com/spidadmitchell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@spidadmitchell</a> <a href="https://t.co/G4J7Lb2a2F">pic.twitter.com/G4J7Lb2a2F</a>
&mdash; New York Mets (@Mets) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mets/status/1131326274834763776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2019</a></blockquote>

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Mitchell also has a very close relationship with Knicks assistant Johnnie Bryant, who mentored Mitchell during his days in Utah before joining head coach Tom Thibodeau's staff. Marc Berman of the <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/03/20/knicks-hopes-of-landing-donovan-mitchell-could-hinge-on-assistant/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Post has reported</a>, "Bryant is a key figure in the Knicks' long-term hopes of Mitchell tiring of playing in one of the NBA's most obscure markets in Salt Lake City." In addition, New York team president Leon Rose served as Mitchell's agent before leaving CAA to join the Knicks' front office.
"Some say it&rsquo;s only a matter of time before he joins former Creative Artists Agency agent and current New York Knicks president Leon Rose," <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nba/is-grayson-allen-a-dirty-player-nba-insiders-weigh-in" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ric Bucher wrote</a> earlier this year. He added that an Eastern Conference scout told him: "They're a first-round exit from Donovan being in New York."&nbsp;
While Utah has not lived up to expectations thus far this season, their struggles pale in comparison to the dissatisfaction New Yorkers have dealt with. The Knicks have, once again, failed to advance to the playoffs coming off last season's first-round postseason exit. The franchise has won a grand total of one playoff game over the last nine years. Yes, one.
New York has not been shy about courting superstars in the past. And coming off a disappointing and unsuccessful season, the pressure will be ramped up on Rose and Co. to make a major move. A native New Yorker with All-NBA talent about to enter the heart of his prime seems like an ideal target.
So, while Knicks fans won't be able to cheer for their favorite team in this year's playoffs, you can rest assured they will be rooting very hard for one club in the first round &mdash; whichever team is matched up against the Jazz.&nbsp;
In terms of assets involved in a potential blockbuster, the Knicks have several promising young players on their roster, including RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley (who has been <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-stats-notebook-immanuel-quickleys-unusual-shot-diet-can-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener">playing at a high level since the All-Star break</a>), as well as Cam Reddish, Quentin Grimes and Obi Toppin. New York also owns six first-round draft picks over the next five years. And if Utah were interested, the Knicks would certainly be willing to send Julius Randle (who struggled this season, but was named to the All-NBA Second Team a year ago) packing in a package deal for Mitchell.
Yet, it's important to note that even if Mitchell demands a trade and wants to relocate to New York &mdash; and whether the Knicks are willing to push all their chips into the middle of the table to bring him home &mdash; the Jazz are going to do what's best for their organization. That means canvassing the league and looking for the best possible offer.
And, make no mistake, several teams will gladly surrender a king's ransom for a young superstar under contract for three more seasons.&nbsp;
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Tommy Beer explores the timeline of Donovan Mitchell's frustration in Utah and how it could lead to a change of scenery.

Expect the Knicks to make a real run at Donovan Mitchell this summer

After an eventful start to the 2022 NCAA Tournament, the Sweet 16 tips off on Thursday. While some top 2022 NBA Draft prospects have already been eliminated &mdash; such as Auburn's Jabari Smith, Iowa's Keegan Murray and Memphis' Jalen Duren &mdash; there are still quite a few upcoming draft picks worth watching.
Our Sr. NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock has been scouting these players for years, so he helped put together this guide of 2022 NBA Draft prospects to watch in the Sweet 16. This list only includes prospects who are expected to enter this year&rsquo;s draft and who are currently included on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's 2022 NBA Draft Big Board</a>.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/jaden-ivey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jaden Ivey, Purdue &mdash; No. 2 ranked prospect</a>
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This season, Ivey shot career-highs across the board and propelled himself into top-3 consideration. Ivey is a phenomenal athlete and a promising on-ball defender who has flashed great potential on the defensive end of the floor. His offense has taken a huge leap, as he's shown the ability to create space for himself, score on multiple levels and attack the rim at an elite level. Purdue is one of the best teams in America, and Ivey is a huge component of their success. He's one to keep an eye on near the top of the 2022 class.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/chet-holmgren" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chet Holmgren, Gonzaga &mdash; No. 3 ranked prospect</a>
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At 7-foot tall with a 7-foot-6 wingspan, Chet Holmgren is a playmaker on both ends of the floor. He is comfortable with the ball in his hands, is a reliable shooter, and he can score on all levels. On the defensive end, Holmgren greatly affects the game as a rim protector. He will need to add weight to maximize his potential, as he is rail-thin, but he is one of the most unique prospects we've ever seen nonetheless. Holmgren is projected to be a top-five pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/paolo-banchero" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paolo Banchero, Duke &mdash; No. 4 ranked prospect</a>
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At 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds, Paolo Banchero is incredibly versatile. He excels in the post, can create off the dribble and continues to improve as a face-up shooter from deep. He lacks elite athleticism on the defensive end, but has flashed a great feel and discipline to counter that. Players with his build and skill set don't come around very often. Banchero is widely considered as a top-four pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/aj-griffin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AJ Griffin, Duke &mdash; No. 7 ranked prospect</a>
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AJ Griffin is 6-foot-6 and possesses a 7-foot wingspan. He is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/2022-nba-draft-prencaa-tourney-look-at-dukes-aj-griffin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a powerful and versatile wing</a> with a tremendous physical profile and promising skill set. Griffin has also shown the ability to create for both himself and others. After missing the early part of this season due to injury, he has solidified himself as one of the best shooters in the country. AJ is the son of former NBA player and current Toronto Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin, and he has made a case for himself to become a top-10 pick.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/bennedict-mathurin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bennedict Mathurin, Arizona &mdash; No. 9 ranked prospect</a>
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After a strong freshman campaign for the Arizona Wildcats, Bennedict Mathurin has made a jump in his second year in Tucson. Mathurin's size, athleticism, defense and shot-making ability make him an intriguing NBA prospect. Standing at 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds, he is an explosive athlete and a capable slasher and finisher. Mathurin has solidified himself as one of the best wings in the 2022 NBA Draft and continues to make his case as a top-10 selection.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/ochai-agbaji" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ochai Agbaji, Kansas &mdash; No. 14 ranked prospect</a>
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Ochai Agbaji is a versatile wing who has shown promise as a defender, slasher and shooter. Early in his career, he was known for his athleticism and defense. However, this season, he has emerged as one of the best shooters in America, making giant leaps as a scorer in both volume and efficiency. Agbaji has solidified himself as a viable 3-and-D option at the NBA level and is a candidate for National Player of the Year.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/mark-williams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Williams, Duke &mdash; No. 18 ranked prospect</a>
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Mark Williams is one of the best shot-blockers and inside scorers in the country. Utilizing his size, length and interior presence, Williams shows flashes of dominance on both ends. This season, he has been solid for Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils, which could lead to him being a first-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/wendell-moore-jr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wendell Moore Jr., Duke &mdash; No. 31 ranked prospect</a>
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Moore is having a breakout season, finally coming into his own during his junior year. At 6-foot-5, he has good positional size, strength and athleticism at guard. While Moore remains streaky as a three-point shooter, he has proven to be a reliable three-level scorer this year for the Blue Devils. He will still be 20 years old on draft night with more room to develop, making him a solid option this June.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/trevor-keels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trevor Keels, Duke &mdash; No. 33 ranked prospect</a>
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A physical and slashing guard capable of shooting the ball from outside, Trevor Keels came to Duke after being a consensus five-star high school recruit. His physicality and natural ability to score the ball should generate interest from NBA teams. Although he can be streaky as a shooter, he has a beautiful release and has proven to be a tough shot-maker. With positional size and a knack for scoring, Keels is one to follow.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/christian-braun" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christian Braun, Kansas &mdash; No. 35 ranked prospect</a>
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At 6-foot-6, Braun has positional size and has shown the ability to score from anywhere on the floor. He has a smooth release from three and can pick his spots off the dribble. He is reliable on and off the ball on offense, while providing intelligent defense on the other end. Braun is a well-rounded player and makes a strong case for the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/christian-koloko" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christian Koloko, Arizona &mdash; No. 36 ranked prospect</a>
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One of the best rim-protectors in the country, Christian Koloko can anchor a defense in the half-court. As much as his 7-foot-4 wingspan helps on defense, it also allows him to be effective on the other end. His hands, post moves and awareness continue to improve, and he is an efficient finisher in the dunker spot. While his role won't ever be to carry a large load on offense, he can still make a significant impact as a rebounder, shot blocker and rim runner.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/trevion-williams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trevion Williams, Purdue &mdash; No. 42 ranked prospect</a>
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Trevion Williams may be the best low-post scorer in the country. He has incredible footwork and craftiness at the rim, and he is always thinking a step ahead with the ball in his hands. He is also an impressive athlete at 255 pounds, as he's quick off the ground and runs the floor well. Williams is old-school in the way he provides points, but he does the little things well. He has good vision out of the post, plays with a great motor and is the kind of player you want in your locker room. Williams has a great chance of earning a shot at the NBA level.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/johnny-juzang" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Johnny Juzang, UCLA &mdash; No. 47 ranked prospect</a>
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After a stellar NCAA Tournament run last season, Johnny Juzang tested the NBA Draft waters, but ultimately returned to UCLA for his junior season. At 6-foot-7, Juzang is an exceptional outside shooter, especially off the dribble in the half-court. He has continued his efficient scoring as a shot creator and cutter this season. He projects as a wing shooter and capable facilitator at the next level, and will be considered a solid option for teams picking in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/jaime-jaquez-jr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA &mdash; No. 49 ranked prospect</a>
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Jaime Jaquez Jr. is intelligent and crafty, using defensive manipulation and footwork to create for himself and others. He excels in the post against smaller defenders, and can stretch the floor as a reliable shooter from three-point range. In addition, Jaquez is a hard-nosed competitor, and also provides adequate defense and rebounding. He continues to build on the momentum he established last March during UCLA's impressive tournament run, and he's proving to be a consistent three-level scorer and a viable option in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/drew-timme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drew Timme, Gonzaga &mdash; No. 53 ranked prospect</a>
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If there's anyone who can give Trevion Williams a run for his money as the best-low post scorer in the nation, it's probably Drew Timme. With tremendous footwork, touch and an ability to manipulate defenders, Timme was dominant last season and has been highly effective again as a junior. He needs to improve his lateral quickness and pick-and-roll defense, as he can often get taken out of the play with ease on the perimeter. If he is able to address some of those concerns, he could solidify himself a solid draft pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/collin-gillespie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Collin Gillespie, Villanova &mdash; No. 58 ranked prospect</a>
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Collin Gillespie will enter the 2022 NBA Draft as one of the more accomplished college players in the class. He already has three Big East Championships and a national championship on his resume, and he'll look to duplicate that success at the NBA level. At 6-foot-3, he is intelligent on and off the ball, and is a reliable scorer at multiple levels. He's also disciplined and instinctual on defense, providing real value on both ends of the floor. Gillespie has the tools to be a backup point guard at the next level, so it will be interesting to track if an organiziation gives him that opportunity.
Be sure to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">check our complete 2022 NBA Draft Big Board and click each prospect's name for more info</a> (including their highlights, measurements, projected role and more).
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Who are the notable 2022 NBA Draft prospects to watch during the Sweet 16? Here is a guide, with a scouting report for each player.

March Madness: 16 NBA Draft prospects to watch in the Sweet 16

Hey yo. You know exactly what time of year this is. Now, for the purposes of this adventure, let&rsquo;s clarify a few things.
<ol>
<li>This is not a top-10. The headline does not read Top-10 &ndash; just 10.</li>
<li>Additionally, this is not necessarily a ranking of said 10. Just 10 awesome moments that&rsquo;ll make you nostalgic for previous NCAA Tournaments that may project what we we&rsquo;re about to endure with this month&rsquo;s March Madness. Not everything needs to turn into a Twitter-replies-section debate for us to have a good time.</li>
<li>If your favorite moment isn&rsquo;t here, it&rsquo;s gonna be OK. Life will go on.</li>
</ol>
Good? Good! Now, let&rsquo;s play with some emotions.
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March 20, 2010: Ali Farokhmanesh💦 It&rsquo;s been 11 years since Northern Iowa (+11) took down Kansas to reach the Sweet 16! &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t be serious with that shot!&rdquo;<a href="https://t.co/Qf3MWNY4xH">pic.twitter.com/Qf3MWNY4xH</a>
&mdash; PointsBet Iowa (@PointsBetIA) <a href="https://twitter.com/PointsBetIA/status/1373262014554894339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t be serious with that shot!&rdquo;
Kansas has made literally every NCAA Tournament since 1990, and every single time, they&rsquo;ve been the higher seed in round one. As a result, they&rsquo;ve had some embarrassing losses, and because they&rsquo;re a blue blood, some of us laugh at them every time. Arguably the best and ballsiest example of this came in 2010.
Kansas was a No. 1 seed in their region &ndash; as they normally are &ndash; facing ninth-seeded Northern Iowa in round two. Northern Iowa led 63-62 while breaking Kansas&rsquo; press with 42 seconds to go. Northern Iowa quickly broke said press, landing the ball in the hands of a senior guard named Ali Farokhmanesh.
As 37 seconds remained &ndash; with 30 on the shot clock &ndash; you&rsquo;d figure he&rsquo;d hold and either get fouled or just milk the clock. But his eyes made love to the net about 24-feet-away, and once Kansas realized he was actually going to take the shot, it was too late. Northern Iowa won 69-67, reaching the Sweet Sixteen for the only time in program history.&nbsp;
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Five years ago today, RJ Hunter knocked his dad (and coach) off his stool with a game-winning three 🔥 (via @MarchMadness)<a href="https://t.co/XpbMLrFxVM">pic.twitter.com/XpbMLrFxVM</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1240712661957931008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 19, 2020</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;What are they doing?&rdquo;
Baylor led Georgia State 56-54 with 14.1 seconds to go in 2015. Ron Hunter, Georgia State&rsquo;s head coach, tore his Achilles while celebrating the team's Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship days before the NCAA Tournament, so he had been coaching from a stool. His son, RJ Hunter, was the best player on the team and, naturally, had the ball in his hands for the team&rsquo;s last possession. It was an objectively terrible possession, which caused the commentator to ask aloud, &ldquo;What are they doing?&rdquo;
Hunter basically pulled a near 30-foot three-point-attempt with around four seconds left, and made it, giving the 14th-seeded Panthers an upset win over the third-seeded Baylor Bears in round one. More importantly, the stool-sitting Ron Hunter fell on his face in celebration on the sideline.&nbsp;
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On this day 24 years ago, No. 16 Harvard upset No. 1 Stanford. This was the first major upset in tournament history!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a> <a href="https://t.co/ij0qnl4oiz">pic.twitter.com/ij0qnl4oiz</a>
&mdash; NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessWBB/status/1503434534854926336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The Real First Time
Before UMBC stunned Virginia in 2018, becoming the first No. 16 to defeat a No. 1 in the men&rsquo;s tournament, the Harvard women&rsquo;s squad made history 20 years earlier. The Crimson went 22-4 during the regular season, and ran into a Pac-10 heavyweight in Stanford, who had been in the previous three Final Fours and won two national championships earlier in the decade.
The win was not only impressive because Harvard matched Stanford blow for blow all night long, but they won in Stanford.
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Craziest comeback in March Madness history? In 2016, Texas A&amp;M rallied back from down 12 with 36 seconds left to force OT vs Northern Iowa Final: Texas A&amp;M 92 UNI 88<a href="https://t.co/awYiihgB9K">pic.twitter.com/awYiihgB9K</a>
&mdash; Barstool Bench Mob (@stoolbenchmob) <a href="https://twitter.com/stoolbenchmob/status/1443291894302318593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
Alright, let&rsquo;s play for real
As great as Northern Iowa&rsquo;s win over Kansas was in 2010, their 2016 loss against Texas A&amp;M was equally as impressive. Northern Iowa, as the No. 11 seed, led third-seeded A&amp;M 69-57 with 44 seconds to go en route to another Sweet Sixteen. And then, an A&amp;M squad, led by a couple seniors you may recognize named Alex Caruso and Danuel House, made the most ridiculous comeback you may have ever seen in such a short span, forcing overtime, and eventually winning 92-88 after multiple OTs.
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DUNK CITY! 8 years ago today No. 15 Florida Gulf Coast made its <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a> debut &amp; beat No. 2 Georgetown! <a href="https://t.co/HL83ubO7qm">pic.twitter.com/HL83ubO7qm</a>
&mdash; Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ballislife/status/1374026020756537344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2021</a></blockquote>
Dunk City
The first time some of us heard of Florida Gulf Coast was during their 2013 NCAA Tournament run, which earned them the nickname Dunk City. Why? Because these dudes were catching bodies on a seemingly improbable run to the Sweet Sixteen. FGC wasn&rsquo;t even a Division I school until 2007, but as a 15-seed in 2013, they tomahawked their way to a 78-68 victory over No. 2 Georgetown &ndash; Otto Porter&rsquo;s last college game &ndash; and continued raising hell against No. 7 San Diego State, alley-ooping their way to an 81-71 win.
They lost to No. 3 and inner-state foe Florida 62-50, but made a memorable enough run that people still call them Dunk City to this day. They even pissed off Joakim Noah, who was in attendance, before bowing out gracefully. Thankfully, Kevin Harlan was the perfect broadcaster to take us on this experience. If there&rsquo;s anything to bring in the casual observer, it&rsquo;s a bunch of dudes you&rsquo;ve never heard of just unexpectedly yamming on people.
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Three years ago today, Mississippi State stunned unbeaten UConn in overtime at the Final Four. The Huskies had won 111 straight games 🤯 <a href="https://t.co/D39SdrhdnW">pic.twitter.com/D39SdrhdnW</a>
&mdash; ESPN (@espn) <a href="https://twitter.com/espn/status/1244991741431857153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
No room for 112
UConn had 111 straight wins heading into the 2017 Final Four, including the previous four-straight NCAA titles. A team including future WNBA&rsquo;ers Kia Nurse, Gabby Williams, Katie Lou Samuelson, Napheesa Collier, Crystal Dangerfield and Saniya Chong led UConn to wins of 116-55, 94-64, 86-71 and 90-52 heading into their match-up with Mississippi State. The Bulldogs had just gotten by Baylor in overtime in their Elite Eight game.
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Mississippi State &ndash; highlighted by future WNBA first rounders Teaira McCowan and Victoria Vivans &ndash; not only kept it close, but dragged UConn into overtime for the first time all season. Tied at 64 with 12 seconds left, Dominique Dillingham brought the ball up the floor, and when met with a double team, found guard Moran William around 30-feet from the basket at the top of the key with less than five seconds left. William faked a pass left, quickly knifed toward the right elbow, pulled up from outside the paint and splashed the game-winner, ending UConn&rsquo;s streak and sending Miss. St. to the national championship, where they lost to South Carolina.&nbsp;
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A GAME FOR THE AGES! Jalen Suggs drains a heave for No. 1 Gonzaga to take down No. 11 UCLA and advance to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NationalChampionship?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NationalChampionship</a>! (via <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBSSports</a>) <a href="https://t.co/j5IYwYHZsL">pic.twitter.com/j5IYwYHZsL</a>
&mdash; Sports Illustrated (@SInow) <a href="https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1378546005839282183?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Insert your bad bank pun here
Last year&rsquo;s tournament had a different vibe due to the lack of crowds, but one of the most memorable moments came in the Final Four. No. 1 seed Gonzaga and No. 11 seed UCLA were in overtime during their national semifinal matchup. Johnny Juzang, who is back with UCLA this season, made a game-tying layup with 3.3 seconds left, putting this at 90 each.
Current Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs quickly got the inbound, sprinted the ball up the floor, pulled from a couple steps beyond half-court and banked in the game-winner to send them to the National Championship game with a 31-0 record. Like Mississippi State, they lost in the title game, but hell, at least they got there.
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Kris Jenkins called game 🤯 Four years ago today, Jenkins gave Nova its first national championship since '85 <a href="https://t.co/B1uopP2I84">pic.twitter.com/B1uopP2I84</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1246463363539963905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2020</a></blockquote>

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Okay, maybe this is &ldquo;The Shot&rdquo;
If anything deserves to be dubbed &ldquo;The Shot,&rdquo; it might be this one. It was so good and timely that we&rsquo;ve forgotten how sick Marcus Paige&rsquo;s was seconds before.
Villanova and North Carolina faced off in the 2016 National Title game, which had one of the illest finishes ever. Paige, with nine seconds left, barely received a pass while on the right wing. With seven seconds, he rose up, while double teamed, and double clutched, making a game-tying three, forcing a 74-74 score.
Villanova, with 4.7 seconds left, inbounded the ball to Ryan Arcidiacono, who found Kris Jenkins open at NBA-range above the key, and drilled home a game-winning three as time expired to win the title. Additionally, we got the best-timed confetti shot in sports history (PTSD warning).
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March 30th, 2018 🗓 Two years ago today, Notre Dame's Arike Ogunbowale hit this CLUTCH game-winner with 1 second left in OT to end UConn's undefeated season 🔥 (via <a href="https://twitter.com/espn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@espn</a>) | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OTD?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OTD</a><a href="https://t.co/X3IoK4dvw0">pic.twitter.com/X3IoK4dvw0</a>
&mdash; FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) <a href="https://twitter.com/FDSportsbook/status/1244655717929357313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2020</a></blockquote>
Mamba Mentality&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s really hard to have a better Final Four than Arike Ogunbowale did in 2018.
Many of the same UConn women mentioned earlier were back for their 2018 run, which included a match-up with Notre Dame in the Final Four. Ogunbowale missed a free throw in overtime to make it a 90-86 game, allowing for Crystal Dangerfield to hit a game-tying three. Notre Dame struggled to find Ogunbowale due to UConn&rsquo;s pressure, but eventually did with eight seconds left. She dribbled right, got the mismatch with the bigger Naphessa Collier, crossed over, had enough space and sunk the game-winner with one second to spare. Notre Dame won 91-89.
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ARIKE OGUNBOWALE CALLED GAME. FOR THE TITLE. (via @ncaawbb) <a href="https://t.co/EtY7HHq41z">pic.twitter.com/EtY7HHq41z</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/980600569373982720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Then, in the National Championship, Notre Dame drew Mississippi State. Tied 58-58 with eight seconds left, Ogunbowale forced a turnover and began pushing up the floor before Notre Dame regained possession with five seconds left, and called a timeout with three seconds to go. Off the inbound, the Fighting Irish found Ogunbowale, who hit the game-winner as time expired from a very similar spot to the one from two days prior. It&rsquo;s one of the coldest weekends a ballplayer could ever have.
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Lorenzo Charles' game-winning dunk gave <a href="https://twitter.com/PackMensBball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PackMensBball</a> a National Championship and left Jim Valvano looking for a hug. <a href="https://t.co/lXyyNyyiUS">pic.twitter.com/lXyyNyyiUS</a>
&mdash; CBS Sports (@CBSSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSports/status/1503404336524668929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2022</a></blockquote>
The Dunk
Younger generations might be more familiar with Jimmy V the week as opposed to Jimmy V the coach, but Jim Valvano and the North Carolina State Wolfpack shocked the world around this time nearly 40 years ago. NC State was a sixth-seed and opposite of a top-seeded Houston team that was engineered by Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.
Tied at 52, NC State was dribbling out the clock to hold for the final possession. As Houston inched closer to forcing a turnover, guard Dereck Whittenburg had to heave one with three seconds left well beyond 30-feet. Noticing it was going to be an airball, Lorenzo Charles got into position, rose up, caught and dunked the ball as time expired, giving NC State their first and only title.&nbsp;
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As basketball fans get pumped for March Madness, Bryan Fonseca looks back at some epic moments from past NCAA Tournaments.

March Madness: 10 historic moments you'll want to watch again

Who are the notable prospects to keep an eye on during the 2022 NCAA Tournament? Here's a complete guide with scouting reports.

NBA Draft guide to March Madness: Notable prospects to watch

With the 2022 NCAA Tournament right around the corner, it's time for conference tournaments to begin so teams can begin punching their ticket to The Big Dance in March.
Mid-major tournaments have already gotten underway, on Wednesday, five Power Five tournaments will have begun theirs to join the club.
(Editor's note: Check out our breakdowns of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/top-2022-nba-draft-prospects-acc-tournament" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ACC</a>, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/top-2022-nba-draft-prospects-big-12-tournament" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Big 12</a>, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/top-2022-nba-draft-prospects-pac12-tournament" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pac-12</a> and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/top-2022-nba-draft-prospects-sec-tournament" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SEC</a>.)
Since everyone will have their eyes on the best players in these conferences over the next few weeks, BasketballNews.com has highlighted each Power Five and its top 2022 NBA Draft prospects.
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Here are the names to look out for in the Big Ten.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/jaden-ivey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jaden Ivey</a>
Guard | Purdue
Height: 6-4 Weight: 195 Wingspan: 6-9
Class: Sophomore Draft Day Age: 20.4 Nationality: USA
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For the Boilermakers this season, Jaden Ivey is shooting career highs across the board and has propelled himself into top-three consideration. Ivey is a phenomenal athlete and a promising on-ball defender who has flashed great potential on the defensive end of the floor. His offense has taken a huge leap, as he's shown the ability to create space for himself, score on multiple levels and attack the rim at an elite level. Purdue is one of the best teams in America, and Ivey is a huge component of the team's success. He's one to keep an eye on near the top of the 2022 NBA Draft class.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/keegan-murray" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Keegan Murray</a>
Forward | Iowa
Height: 6-8 Weight: 225 Wingspan: 6-11
Class: Sophomore Draft Day Age: 21.8 Nationality: USA
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At 6-foot-8 with a 6-foot-11 wingspan, Keegan Murray has a high motor and does a lot of the &ldquo;little things'' that contribute to winning, and he is a terrific defender. Despite shooting an inefficient 29.6% from deep last season, Murray has shot and scored the ball at a much higher rate this season. In addition, his ability to attack closeouts and score from multiple levels has allowed him to carry a greater offensive load. Murray is a candidate for National Player of the Year and has played himself into top-10 consideration in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/johnny-davis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Johnny Davis</a>
Guard | Wisconsin
Height: 6-5 Weight: 194 Wingspan: N/A
Class: Sophomore Draft Day Age: 20.3 Nationality: USA
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​​At 6-foot-5, Johnny Davis carries positional size and has become one of the most reliable scorers in the country. He can take his defender to the rim, is comfortable operating in the mid-range and has shown consistency from deep. He isn&rsquo;t flashy, but is incredibly effective and decisive, which has resulted in a large jump in his free-throw rate. His combination of physicality and quick decision-making brings good versatility to his game. Davis has established himself as one of the best shooting guards in the country, and is a candidate for National Player of the Year. (Unfortunately, Davis was injured on a flagrant foul in Wisconsin's loss to Nebraska, but he <a href="https://wisconsin.rivals.com/news/wisconsin-s-johnny-davis-updates-his-status-following-ankle-injury?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvLw&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGfnOvaHXMefZwK-Y1qixNRNWpcHZ58_iJZsW9xE-84bC3sW0LEE36tg26SbjL96eCm0KsX0lm9lVA0Wg2JKsB8aFO9nKAyIi0GHqnnPEOwxHkdSBjPGq9PFpcrVpqwN748XKy993U5BRQWbprUoYY04QXy4SDQ5_rCUw95XWaAg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">believes he'll be ready to play</a> in the conference tournament.)
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/max-christie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Max Christie</a>
Guard | Michigan State
Height: 6-6 Weight: 190 Wingspan: 6-9
Class: Freshman Draft Day Age: 19.4 Nationality: USA
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A former five-star recruit, Max Christie came to Michigan State as one of the top-ranked freshmen in the country. At 6-foot-6 and 190 pounds, Christie possesses the ability to shoot and score the ball at a high level. It&rsquo;s also worth noting that he has some experience playing on the ball as a point guard. And although plays mostly off the ball for Michigan State, it is a good example of his versatility. Christie is a strong candidate to be a one-and-done prospect.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/ej-liddell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">E.J. Liddell</a>
Forward | Ohio State
Height: 6-7 Weight: 240 Wingspan: 7-0
Class: Junior Draft Day Age: 21.5 Nationality: USA
Although he is a bit undersized for the position, the Buckeyes often use E.J. Liddell as a 4/5 in their lineups. He is physical and versatile on both ends of the floor, scoring both inside and out. He appears more comfortable in the mid-range and paint, which works well for his college system, but raises questions in regards to his translatability to the NBA. Liddell continues to fill up the box score and play with great effort and toughness. He has certainly carved out a spot for himself in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/malaki-branham" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Malaki Branham</a>
Guard | Ohio State
Height: 6-5 Weight: 180 Wingspan: 6-10
Class: Freshman Draft Day Age: 19.1 Nationality: USA
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Malaki Branham was ranked 35th in the 2021 RSCI recruiting class and, after a slow start, burst onto the scene in conference play. At 6-foot-5, he plays with patience, and is a smooth three-level scorer. He is comfortable operating in the pick-and-roll and mid-range, and has shown promise as a spot-up shooter. Branham is full of potential, and is hitting his stride as a scoring threat. He's certainly one to watch down the stretch.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/bryce-mcgowens" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bryce McGowens</a>
Guard | Nebraska
Height: 6-7 Weight: 179 Wingspan: 6-9
Class: Freshman Draft Day Age: 19.6 Nationality: USA
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​​Possessing positional size and length, Bryce McGowens has flashed space creation as a shooter with pull-up craft, ball-handling and the ability to elevate over defenders. Although he can be a bit streaky, the fluidity with his shooting mechanics are special. He is also a solid defender due to his length, athleticism and instinctual play. With his combination of great athleticism, shot-making and finishing craft at the rim, McGowens has been the go-to scorer for the Huskers this season.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/moussa-diabate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moussa Diabat&eacute;</a>
Forward-Center | Michigan
Height: 6-11 Weight: 210 Wingspan: 7-3
Class: Freshman Draft Day Age: 20.4 Nationality: France
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Standing 6-foot-11, 210 pounds and possessing an impressive 7-3 wingspan &mdash; while also being capable of moving fluidly &mdash; Moussa Diabat&eacute;&rsquo;s physical tools jump off of the page. While he is still a work in progress on the offensive end, Diabat&eacute;&rsquo;s talent and versatility on the defensive end stand out. Since Diabat&eacute; has been able to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/moussa-diabate-michigan-wolverines-on-the-rise-2022-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">properly showcase his talent and make the necessary steps in his development</a> throughout the season, he is a strong candidate to be a one-and-done prospect.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/caleb-houstan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Caleb Houstan</a>
Forward | Michigan
Height: 6-8 Weight: 205 Wingspan: N/A
Class: Freshman Draft Day Age: 19.5 Nationality: Canada
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Caleb Houstan, a five-star recruit for head coach Juwan Howard and the Michigan Wolverines, is a high-level outside shooter and a marksman who possesses positional size at 6-foot-8. Houstan's size, mechanics, shot-making are special, but there are questions about his versatility and consistency. He is one to monitor as the season wraps up, and is a viable floor-stretching option in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/trevion-williams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trevion Williams</a>
Forward-Center | Purdue
Height: 6-10 Weight: 255 Wingspan: N/A
Class: Senior Draft Day Age: 21.8 Nationality: USA
Trevion Williams may be the best low-post scorer in the country. He has incredible footwork, craftiness at the rim and is always thinking a step ahead with the ball in his hand. He is also an impressive athlete at 255 pounds, as he's quick off the ground and runs the floor well. Williams is old school in the way he provides points, but he does the little things well. He has good vision out of the post, plays with a great motor and is the kind of player you want in the locker room. Williams has a great chance of earning a shot at the NBA level.&nbsp;
Others worth noting:
Kofi Cockburn | Illinois
Hunter Dickinson | Michigan
Zach Edey | Purdue
Ron Harper Jr. | Rutgers
Trayce Jackson-Davis | Indiana
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Matt Babcock highlights the top 2022 NBA Draft prospects in the Big Ten Tournament.

2022 NBA Draft: Top prospects in the Big Ten Tournament

It was the slap heard around the world.
Juwan Howard was involved in a verbal altercation with Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard following the Badgers' 77-63 win over the Michigan Wolverines on Sunday.
From the video, it appeared as though Howard was grabbed and stopped by Coach Gard as he attempted to walk by him in the handshake line, which set off a series of events &mdash; including Howard slapping Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Some context with Juwan Howard and Joe Krabbenhoft <a href="https://t.co/lHNeJOklCQ">pic.twitter.com/lHNeJOklCQ</a>
&mdash; ᗩᑎT ᗯᖇIGᕼT (@itsAntWright) <a href="https://twitter.com/itsAntWright/status/1495552481836912640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

There have been a lot of questions and speculation as to what Krabbenhoft said to provoke Howard that has not been confirmed as of yet.&nbsp;
But looking at the slow motion video, you can clearly see that Krabbenholft did in fact push two Michigan players &mdash; sophomore Terrance Williams II and senior forward Jaron Faulds. Not excusing his slap, but it appears as though Juwan was coming to his players' defense.
However, Monday night, the verdict was handed out. Howard will be suspended for the remainder of Michigan&rsquo;s regular season (which equates to five games) and was fined $40,000. Conversely, none of the Wisconsin coaches have been suspended and Coach Gard was only fined $10,000.
Coach Howard issued this statement:
<blockquote>
After taking time to reflect on all that happened, I realize how unacceptable both my actions and words were and how they affected so many. I am truly sorry. I am offering my sincerest apologies to my players and their families, my staff, my family and the Michigan fans around the world. I would like to personally apologize to Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft and his family too. Lastly, I speak a lot about being a Michigan man and representing the University of Michigan with class and pride. I did not do that, nor did I set the right example in the right way for my student athletes. I will learn from my mistake, and this mistake will never happen again. No excuses!
</blockquote>
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Juwan Howard accepted the punishment, took full responsibility for his actions, made no excuses and apologized to everyone who was involved.&nbsp;
I caught up with his former Fab Five teammate Ray Jackson to discuss the incident, the callings for him to be fired, the punishment handed out and the public backlash by Dick Vitale and others, as well as who Juwan Howard is as a coach and a person.&nbsp;
Etan: What were your thoughts after seeing what took place after the Michigan/Wisconsin game? I saw your Facebook post saying you definitely supported your former Fab Five teammate, but what was your reaction to seeing so many people calling for Juwan to be fired immediately?
Ray Jackson: "People calling for him to be immediately fired definitely wasn&rsquo;t surprising. I always felt that they never loved us and we had no room for error. But, they never look at what&rsquo;s prompting us. There has always been something attached with the presence of the Fab Five and what Juwan Howard brings, what he stands for, what he represents, his knowledge, his experience, and they&rsquo;ve let that boil over way past common respect. To be honest, the entire way they approach the game is different when they coach against Juwan.
"I&rsquo;m not saying Juwan&rsquo;s reaction was right, let me be clear, but the other coach (Greg Gard) should have never put his hands on him in the first place; he should&rsquo;ve never grabbed him or stopped him. He should&rsquo;ve walked past him, gave him the brush by, said he&rsquo;s gonna remember that and kept it moving. They are going to suspend Juwan, but Coach Gard definitely needs to be held accountable for his role in this too."
Etan: So, let&rsquo;s talk about this for a minute, because I agree. there is no reason for a coach to grab another coach like he&rsquo;s a child. Like you said, he grabbed him and stopped him. Juwan was walking past him. He initiated everything.
Jackson: "But here is the issue, E &mdash; a big Black man putting his hands on a white man in America is one of the scariest things white America can see. And it&rsquo;s always been like that. So, no matter what they do to us, how wrong they are in whatever they do, we can not be aggressive back as a response. They want us to always remain passive. No matter what. When I saw how he grabbed Juwan, the first thing I thought was, 'I wonder how many of his players he grabs like that regularly? Is there a reason why Wisconsin only gets a certain kind of Black players? But Juwan is not a boy, he&rsquo;s a full grown man, and you can&rsquo;t approach a man like a boy period."
Etan: And then, the assistant coach (Joe Krabbenhoft) came over, and it didn&rsquo;t look like he was trying to de-escalate anything. I would&rsquo;ve thought the assistant coach would&rsquo;ve come over and been more concerned with pulling his players back, but it looked like &mdash; at least from the angles of the video &mdash; not only was he talking smack to Juwan, but he actually put his hands on some Michigan players.&nbsp;
Jackson: "You are absolutely correct in your assessment. You saw what I saw, E. And I&rsquo;m going to keep saying it: Juwan has these white coaches feeling a certain type of way about him. He was one of the only Black coaches for awhile; he came in getting recruits, all of the praise, all of this notoriety. They didn&rsquo;t feel he was qualified for the position in the first place. Remember, a few media people simply echoed publicly what many of the actual coaches were saying privately and amongst themselves. So that all was a problem for him.
"Yes, he&rsquo;s put five guys in the NBA. But more than that, he has developed a culture where he cares about the players beyond what they can do on the court, so they have a different level of respect for him. Not to mention all he has done for the program as a whole. So no, one situation or reaction, I'll say, from Juwan doesn&rsquo;t put a black eye on the totality of Juwan Howard, nor should it."
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Etan: Glad you brought up the black eye, because it&rsquo;s interesting how this keeps coming back up. I interviewed all of you for my book, "<a href="http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/we-matter-athletes-and-activism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">We Matter: 'Athletes And Activism</a>.'&rdquo;
You all talked about how much the media was always coming down on y&rsquo;all. Saying that you all were putting a "black eye" on the University of Michigan as a whole, on the alumni, on the entire NCAA; that expressed sentiment kept coming up in all of your interviews. So I know how much that bothers y&rsquo;all. And now, I&rsquo;m hearing that kind of talk again after this situation, so i&rsquo;m thinking... there was this doctor at Michigan who was charged with sexually abusing students.
Jackson: "You&rsquo;re talking about Dr. [Robert E.] Anderson."
Etan: Yes, and Michigan had a $490 million settlement for thousands of student-athlete victims that were abused &mdash; not allegedly abused, but actually abused &mdash; by this cat who was the athletic team doctor for decades, between the years of 1966 and 2003. And they hardly talked about that. So that&rsquo;s not a "black eye" to the university, but y&rsquo;all wearing baggy shorts and black socks was a "black eye?" This situation with Juwan coming to the defense of his players, of being accosted by this coach &mdash; this is a "black eye?"
Jackson: "I see you&rsquo;re going there today. But you&rsquo;re absolutely right again. They hardly talked about that. They paid the lawsuit and swept it all under the rug and just didn&rsquo;t really talk about it. There was one little series that came on TV, but that was really it. And for it to be as egregious of a crime as it was? Yeah, I can&rsquo;t disagree with anything you said. No Michigan student, nobody&rsquo;s child should&rsquo;ve ever been exposed to a clown like that. He preyed on children. That whole situation was just disgusting.
"But yeah, that seed of resentment toward us, that seed was planted when we were 17, 18-year-old kids at Michigan. So they always couldn&rsquo;t wait for us to do something wrong so they could pounce on us. We weren&rsquo;t allowed [to make] mistakes, we had to be perfect. Juwan should&rsquo;ve never been put in that position to have to control his emotions. A coach grabbing you? Pushing your players? That just doesn&rsquo;t happen, and they can&rsquo;t pretend that that&rsquo;s normal activity."
Etan: You know it&rsquo;s interesting, a few people on Twitter &mdash; and I suspect they were Michigan State fans &mdash; but they tweeted me an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/apr/06/tom-izzo-aaron-henry-abuse-michigan-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener">old article I wrote back in 2019 about Tom Izzo abusing and bullying a player on his team</a>, Aaron Henry. And they were saying mockingly, "If Tom Izzo is a bully and a coward, what does that make Juwan Howard?" And saying, "Are you going to publicly condemn Juwan&rsquo;s actions?" Etc.
Jackson: "I remember that article, and yeah they were pissed when you wrote that, but those are two completely different situations. One is with a coach in a power dynamic over a teenage college player, and the other is man-to-man. You can&rsquo;t even compare the two. Besides you writing that article, I don&rsquo;t think Izzo received an enormous amount of criticism after that happened. But this is what it boils down to: They&rsquo;re okay with old, white men doing exactly what Izzo did to Aaron Henry. They can verbally abuse, mishandle our babies [and] chastise our young men or young women."
Etan: They were definitely okay with Bobby Knight&rsquo;s abuse for years.&nbsp;
Jackson: "Right! But that image of a Black man doing anything aggressive toward a white man, that&rsquo;s why you see the reactions that we were seeing to immediately fire Juwan. I even saw some on social media say arrest him. Then use language like, 'He physically assaulted him,' or 'attacked' him. First of all, if Juwan wanted to, he could&rsquo;ve laid Coach Gard and Krabbenhoft completely out. He opened his hand, so let&rsquo;s not put too much on this. He slapped him. Not saying it was right, but that&rsquo;s what he did."
Etan: And, I didn&rsquo;t want to say anything about Dick Vitale &mdash; and everyone has been praying for him with his battle with cancer, and his emotional videos so we&rsquo;re all pulling for him &mdash; but his immediate tweets were so targeted and his language was so menacing. I was like, "Is he tweeting this from the hospital bed?" I just commented on one of his posts that I was keeping him in my prayers a week or so ago as he was showing himself going into surgery. I don&rsquo;t know, I was just shocked seeing his tweets.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
It&rsquo;s sad thinking about what I watched in that handshake line as the coach of a gr8 Univ. ala UM could not control his temper &amp; nearly set off a full blown riot. INEXCUSABLE behavior by Juwan Howard MUST LEAD TO SEVERE PUNISHMENT. UM President &amp; AD should take ACTION NOW!
&mdash; Dick Vitale (@DickieV) <a href="https://twitter.com/DickieV/status/1495503996051722245?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
Then, after Juwan did his initial address to the media explaining what happened and why he was upset, Vitale followed up with another tweet.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Pls Juwan defend yourself from a guy half your size who wanted to explain y he called an ABSURD T/O. with 15 sec. Say what u want but be a REAL MAN &amp; admit ur action representing one of the great State Universities was INEXCUSABLE .
&mdash; Dick Vitale (@DickieV) <a href="https://twitter.com/DickieV/status/1495542363485315072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
And I was just like "Whoa, be a real man?" Juwan Howard&rsquo;s actions must lead to severe punishment? Mocking him saying he was defending himself? Why all that, and from the hospital bed, Dickie V?&nbsp;
Jackson: "Well, going back to our college days, Dickie V and Bill Walton were two of the first ones to call us all thugs. All of us. Me, Jimmy [King], Juwan, Chris [Webber], Jalen [Rose]. They labeled all of us. Our mothers and fathers and grandparents and family had to hear that. We were thugs? Because we had a different style and swag with us? So that came as no surprise to hear him say that now. And I haven&rsquo;t heard anyone call him out on it and don&rsquo;t expect to. So thank you for saying something.
"But Juwan owned up to everything &mdash; apologized for his reaction, took all responsibility &mdash; but none of the other parties involved, who caused the chain of events to take place, were held accountable? Why was Juwan the only one who got suspended?&nbsp; Gard&rsquo;s little $10K fine isn&rsquo;t a punishment. Why didn&rsquo;t they suspend the other coaches like you suspended Juwan, especially when he was coming to the defense of his players? Gard and Krabbenhoft didn&rsquo;t even apologize like Juwan did. People wanna talk about being men and owning up to what you did, but that only pertains to one side?
Etan: That&rsquo;s ridiculous, and people are still saying Juwan got off light and should&rsquo;ve been fired.
Jackson: "I see it too. I was reading a few articles this morning, and yeah, that&rsquo;s just absurd. That's why I appreciate what you do. There are so many folks still calling for Juwan to be fired, and to be honest, I was worried. I spoke to C-Webb the night it happened and he was worried too, because we know they&rsquo;re waiting for any reason to throw the book at Juwan, and we know why. But hopefully, everyone can put this story and this issue behind them and we can move on, and Juwan can get back to continuing to do an amazing job as the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines. But he shouldn&rsquo;t have been the only party held accountable for what took place."
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/violalogo1_lg.png" alt="" width="652" height="326" />
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Ray Jackson and Etan Thomas share passionate thoughts on Juwan Howard and the double standard regarding people's reactions.

Ray Jackson: Juwan Howard shouldn't be the only one held accountable

Most Improved Player awards don't go to guys like Grant Williams. They're typically reserved for players making the leap to stardom, and Williams is still a bench player in a healthy Boston Celtics rotation.
So when I say that Williams is one of the NBA's most improved players, don't think of it in the same context. Williams has completely transformed his NBA impact this season on a Celtics squad that desperately needed some in-house transformation. His fit on the roster, and in the larger-league sphere, has gone from a question mark to a grinning smiley emoji.
A year ago, no one knew who Williams could be as an offensive piece. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/five-battles-to-watch-during-boston-celtics-training-camp-and-preseason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I even thought Juan Hernangomez would replace him in the rotation</a>. Now, he's everything the Celtics need him to be, and might have even <a href="https://theathletic.com/3117052/2022/02/08/milwaukee-bucks-pursuing-celtics-grant-williams-what-im-hearing-about-the-nba-trade-deadline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taken himself out of run-of-the-mill trade talks.</a>&nbsp;
According to Cleaning the Glass, Williams averaged 109.5 points per 100 shot attempts in 2020-21, a dismal number in the 22nd percentile for his position. This year, he's at 133.4, in the 88th percentile among all bigs. That's nuts,&nbsp;especially for a big with less of a paint presence, and worth exploring.
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Obviously, we have to start with Williams' 44.6% three-point clip, which is currently second in the league behind PJ Tucker. He's maximizing on the gravity of guys like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown; 44.9% of Williams' field goal attempts are "wide open" threes (when a defender is at least six feet away), and he's hitting 48.8% of those looks. The 23-year-old has canned over half of his corner threes and also cranked up his above-the-break success from 33% (42nd percentile) to 39% (82nd percentile).
Williams is making quicker decisions to shoot. Over 85% of his field goal attempts come without holding the ball for more than two seconds, up from 72.6% last season. That seems partially due to confidence and more of a defined role as a corner spacer. He's averaging 1.51 seconds per touch when he gets the ball, which is the second-fewest in the main Celtics rotation behind only Robert Williams III.
To top things off, Williams' 89.8% free-throw clip represents an enormous 31% boost from last season. The shooting improvement appears to be here to stay.
But Williams' isn't just evolving as a shooter. I've been floored by his improved poise when he attacks closeouts. Look at this progression, courtesy of Second Spectrum/NBA Stats (note: mobile readers should scroll right).
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">Season</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">Drives/Game</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">FG%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">Pass%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">AST%</td>
<td style="width: 14.8128%;">TOV%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">2019-20</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">0.4</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">46.7%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">19.4%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">0.0%</td>
<td style="width: 14.8128%;">19.4%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">2020-21</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">1.1</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">37.9%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">34.7%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">13.9%</td>
<td style="width: 14.8128%;">11.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">2021-22</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">1.2</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">55.0%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">51.5%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">12.1%</td>
<td style="width: 14.8128%;">7.6%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Williams has hit the sweet spot. He's finishing tough on drives and is an equal threat to throw a quality pass out of an attack. Williams has made 75.0% of his overall at-rim attempts, per Cleaning the Glass, which is in the 84th percentile among bigs. His overall turnover rate is down from a ghastly 17.6% to a league-average 12.7%. Here are some of his high-level drive-and-assists, just for fun:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/s11x8m" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
This newfound offensive arsenal almost distracts from why Williams is in the rotation in the first place: his defense. According to BBall Index, Williams ranks in the 99th percentile for "positional versaility" and the 92nd percentile for "role versatility." Those metrics estimate how evenly Williams guards various positions and player types on the court. He's a key cog in coach Ime Udoka's switch-heavy scheme, and it reflects in these numbers.&nbsp;
Boston has searched for this type of versatile, low-usage stretch forward for years dating back to the Jae Crowder days. The Celtics drafted Semi Ojeleye and added Marcus Morris, but neither of those moves worked out. Ex-president of basketball operations Danny Ainge <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-boston-celtics-danny-ainge-looking-to-use-trade-exception-shooting-with-size" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly said</a> he was looking to add "shooting with size" at the 2021 trade deadline.&nbsp;
If you buy the sample size of this season, Grant Williams appears to have fit the bill.
THE OUTLIERS (a.k.a. other random interesting numbers I find in the void):
<ul>
<li>This one comes from Nekias Duncan, who just <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-celtics-are-coming" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote a really fantastic piece</a> about Boston's recent surge: The Celtics average 1.23 points per possession when Marcus Smart is used as a screener. That's the best number among 164 players who have set at least 75 picks. It's been a super creative way to utilize a strong, physical guard.</li>
<li>Davion Mitchell is shooting 40% on pull-up threes over the past 10 games. That's an encouraging stretch for the Kings rookie. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/davion-mitchell-is-finding-balance-and-thriving-on-the-margins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Go learn more about him</a> from Mark Schindler.</li>
<li>Jackson Frank whipped out this impressive stat in his <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/brandon-ingram-has-evolved-his-game-to-become-the-best-version-of-himself" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deep dive on Brandon Ingram:</a> "In 27 games since Dec. 3, he has an assist rate of 27.9% (96th percentile among forwards, according to Cleaning The Glass) and a turnover rate of 9.9% (59th percentile), both of which would be career-bests across an entire season. Throughout his first 17 games, those marks were 22.1% and 14.0% respectively." That's some growth.</li>
</ul>
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Grant Williams has gone from a negative on offense to one of the best low-usage players in the league.

Stats Notebook: Grant Williams has flipped the script

As we near the end of the NCAA regular season, let's take a dive into college basketball's Power Five conference standings, remaining matchups, and teams to watch as we come down the stretch.
Earlier this week, we addressed the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/state-of-the-conference-evaluating-the-sec" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SEC</a> and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/state-of-the-conference-evaluating-the-big-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Big 12</a>. For this article, we'll dive into the Pac-12.
Here are the current Pac-12 standings, with conference wins and losses to the left and overall record to the right (<a href="https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/conferences/pac-12/2022.html">table via CBB Sports-Reference</a>):
<table dir="ltr" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 112.547%;" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><colgroup><col width="47" /><col width="138" /><col width="58" /><col width="58" /><col width="58" /><col width="58" /><col width="58" /><col width="58" /><col width="58" /></colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Rk&quot;}">Rk</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;School&quot;}">School</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;W&quot;}">W</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;L&quot;}">L</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;W-L%&quot;}">W-L%</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;W&quot;}">W</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;L&quot;}">L</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;W-L%&quot;}">W-L%</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;SOS&quot;}">SOS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:1}">1</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Arizona&quot;}">Arizona (3)</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:12}">12</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:1}">1</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.923}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.92</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:22}">22</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:2}">2</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.917}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.92</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:6.1}">6.1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:2}">2</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Southern California&quot;}">USC (17)</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:10}">10</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:4}">4</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.714}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.71</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:21}">21</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:4}">4</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.84}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.84</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:4.7}">4.7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:2}">2</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Oregon&quot;}">Oregon</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:10}">10</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:4}">4</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.714}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.71</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:17}">17</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:8}">8</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.68}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.68</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:6.9}">6.9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:4}">4</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;UCLA&quot;}">UCLA (13)</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:9}">9</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:4}">4</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.692}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.69</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:17}">17</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:5}">5</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.773}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.77</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:8.3}">8.3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:5}">5</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Washington&quot;}">Washington</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:8}">8</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:5}">5</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.615}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.62</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:13}">13</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:10}">10</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.565}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.57</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:5.5}">5.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:6}">6</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Washington State&quot;}">Washington State</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:7}">7</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:6}">6</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.538}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.54</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:14}">14</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:10}">10</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.583}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.58</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:4.7}">4.7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:7}">7</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Colorado&quot;}">Colorado</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:8}">8</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:7}">7</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.533}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.53</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:16}">16</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:9}">9</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.64}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.64</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:5.2}">5.2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:7}">7</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Stanford&quot;}">Stanford</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:8}">8</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:7}">7</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.533}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.53</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:15}">15</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:10}">10</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.6}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.60</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:8.3}">8.3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:9}">9</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Arizona State&quot;}">Arizona State</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:4}">4</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:9}">9</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.308}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.31</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:8}">8</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:15}">15</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.348}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.35</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:10.8}">10.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:10}">10</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;California&quot;}">California</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:4}">4</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:11}">11</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.267}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.27</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:11}">11</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:15}">15</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.423}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.42</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:6.6}">6.6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:11}">11</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Utah&quot;}">Utah</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:2}">2</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:13}">13</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.133}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.13</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:9}">9</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:16}">16</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.36}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.36</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:6.1}">6.1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:12}">12</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Oregon State&quot;}">Oregon State</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:1}">1</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:12}">12</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.077}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.08</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:3}">3</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:20}">20</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:0.13}" data-sheets-numberformat="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;0.00&quot;,&quot;3&quot;:1}">0.13</td>
<td data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:7.3}">7.3</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
FRONTRUNNERS: ARIZONA
A favorite for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Arizona Wildcats have set themselves apart as one of the best units in the entire nation. They rank second in Adjusted Efficiency and have the eighth-fastest tempo, which is a combination that makes them extremely difficult to beat. Bennedict Mathurin and Christian Koloko are solidifying their respective places in the upcoming 2022 NBA Draft, while Azuolas Tubelis and Kerr Kriisa are reliable scorers in their own rights. Arizona has the conference all but locked up, and will be predicted by many to win the NCAA Tournament.
Notable games remaining: USC (Feb. 28)
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_17614860_lg.jpg" alt="" width="648" height="423" />
ON THE HEELS: OREGON, USC, UCLA
Oregon sits only two-and-a-half games back from Arizona, but the Ducks' remaining schedule is brutal. While that is scary, it&rsquo;s a tremendous opportunity to get some big wins and raise the stock in both Pac-12 play and regarding the NCAA Tournament. Will Richardson is having a tremendous season at 15.1 points per game, and will look to carry the offense during this stretch.
Ranked No. 30 nationally in Adjusted Efficiency, the USC Trojans are led by Isaiah Mobley and Boogie Ellis. They are a quiet force to be reckoned with, and just secured a huge victory against UCLA. The final two games of the year will be crucial to seeding, so the supportintg cast of Chevez Goodwin, Drew Peterson and Co. will need to fire on all cylinders. The Trojans currently project as a No. 7 seed for March Madness.
UCLA is ranked No. 13 nationally, yet sits fourth in the Pac-12 standings. The Bruins have lost 3 of their last 4 contests, and need to get back on track quickly. Tyger Campbell had a huge 27-point effort against USC, and will need to continue producing alongside Johnny Juzang if UCLA wants to climb back into a top-two seed for the conference tournament.&nbsp;
Notable games remaining:&nbsp;
Oregon: Arizona (Feb. 19), UCLA (Feb. 24)
USC: Arizona (Feb. 28), UCLA (Mar. 5)
UCLA: Oregon (Feb. 24), USC (Mar. 5)
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_17691010_lg.jpg" alt="" width="648" height="423" />
SLEEPER: WASHINGTON STATE
I listed the Washington State Cougars as a sleeper because they rank top-45 in Adjusted Efficiency and have favorable matchups to close out the final five games of the season. Michael Flowers, Tyrell Roberts and Noah Williams are a formidable backcourt, and Wazzu has an opportunity to climb late before the Pac-12 Tournament.
Notable games remaining: USC (Feb. 20), Oregon (Mar. 5)
THE REST: 
Washington, Stanford, Colorado, Arizona State, California, Utah, Oregon State
2022 NBA DRAFT PROSPECTS TO WATCH
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/bennedict-mathurin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bennedict Mathurin, Arizona</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/harrison-ingram" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Harrison Ingram, Stanford</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/christian-koloko" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christian Koloko, Arizona</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/johnny-juzang" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Johnny Juzang, UCLA</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/jabari-walker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jabari Walker, Colorado</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/jaime-jaquez-jr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/isaiah-mobley" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Isaiah Mobley, USC</a>
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
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Nekias Duncan thoroughly grades every NBA trade from 2022 Deadline Week.

Grading every move from 2022 NBA trade deadline week

Since breaking the NBA's all-time three-point record on Dec. 14, Stephen Curry had been averaging a modest 24.1 points while converting a paltry 33.6% of his threes. He kept flinging 'em (11.4 attempts), and kept missing 'em. It didn't matter if they were <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/shots-closest-defender/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateFrom=12%2F15%2F2021&amp;DateTo=01%2F30%2F2022&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*Stephen%20Curry&amp;CloseDefDistRange=2-4%20Feet%20-%20Tight" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contested</a> or <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/shots-closest-defender/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateFrom=12%2F15%2F2021&amp;DateTo=01%2F30%2F2022&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*Stephen%20Curry&amp;CloseDefDistRange=6%2B%20Feet%20-%20Wide%20Open" target="_blank" rel="noopener">open</a>.&nbsp;
Was it the new rotation pattern? A quarter-step lost in terms of burst? His Morey-ian shot profile? Excluding his five-game campaign in 2019-20, this is the heaviest <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/season-stats/nba?EntityType=Player&amp;EntityId=201939" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three-or-rim shot diet</a> he's lived on since the 73-win season.
All of those factors were present to varying degrees, but the most pressing answer was probably the boring one: shooters just miss sometimes.
So, of course, Curry blew the roof off the building on Monday night.
40 points while converting 6 of his 9 two-pointers, and 7 of his 14 (!) three-pointers. But it wasn't just the 40, it was also the 9 assists (with a single turnover). The Warriors had a 128.2 Offensive Rating <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/vs/advanced/#!?TeamID=1610612744&amp;VsPlayerID=201939&amp;Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateFrom=01%2F31%2F2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in his 38 minutes</a>, and scored just 104.8 points per 100 possessions in the 10 minutes he sat.
He was simply unguardable. And because he was unguardable, so were the Golden State Warriors.
If we want to get nerdy, the Warriors absolutely&nbsp;ate while operating from the wing &mdash; especially in actions that led off with Curry as a screener. It gave the Rockets two distinct problems: tracking Curry across a pick without losing track of him, then worrying about help principles on the back side of it.
The Rockets have been bad at (help) defense all year. They rank dead last in Defensive Rating, and bottom-five in points allowed against pick-and-rolls. Only two teams &mdash; the Lakers and Blazers &mdash; have allowed more points per possession on empty corner ball-screens than the Rockets this season, per Second Spectrum.
You had to think the Warriors, with their heightened <a href="https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/how-the-warriors-use-data-analytics-to-engineer-more-wins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emphasis on analytics</a>, knew all of that coming into the game. So away they went, putting strain on the Rockets early on.
Curry's first bucket was a pick-your-poison affair. He runs off the screen from Juan Toscano-Anderson to receive the ball, then attacks off the bounce with one help defender (Christian Wood) present. The general rule is that you don't help off a shooter from the strong-side corner, so Wood gives a swipe on the drive without fully committing to help.
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Early in the second quarter, the Warriors set up a similar look. They go with "Flex" action between Curry and Klay Thompson in an attempt to cause a miscommunication. The Rockets switch it, though that gives Garrison Mathews the Curry assignment. Curry swims and leads him into the screen, this time forcing Rockets rookie Alperen Sengun to switch out onto the demigod.&nbsp;
It's just tough sledding from there.
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You can quibble about the blocking call if you want, but the design of the action put the Rockets in a terrible spot. Toscano-Anderson rolls into the empty side, giving Curry an outlet if he wants it. Curry pulls it out and goes iso, but you'll notice at the end of the play that the kick to the corner was wide-the-heck-open.
Let's move to the second half, shall we?
With Curry in data collection mode that first half, he knew just how terrified the Rockets were of giving him a sliver of space. The Warriors set up some screening action with him and Thompson on the right wing this time, but it's mostly a decoy before Thompson clears the side. This sets up a Curry-Kevon Looney ball-screen, and you can see just how tough that setup is to deal with.
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If you're the Rockets, you have to be frustrated. Kevin Porter Jr. is a millisecond late to react to Curry lifting from the corner, and that's all she wrote. The Rockets don't want to switch (yet), so Wood steps up in order to prevent an easy pull-up three attempt. Curry times the pass perfectly from there. Heck, Jalen Green rotates on time and gives a solid contest, but there's only so much he can do with that size/weight disadvantage.
For those keeping track at home/work/the dentist/grocery store/church, the Rockets have tried to stay at home. They've attempted a late switch. They've shown a big at the level with a weak-side rotation behind it. None of it has worked particularly well.
In the fourth quarter, they decide to switch it all. Keep that sucker in front, force Curry to boogie and hope for the best.
Well...
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Yeah. 21 points in the fourth quarter. A barrage of stepback jimmies. Heady drives. And an F-you shot to cap it off.
What the heck are you supposed to do with that?&nbsp;
Appreciate it. Hate it. In my case, write about it.
There aren't great answers for Curry without elite personnel&nbsp;and&nbsp;a little bit of luck. The Rockets, unfortunately, had neither of those things.
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Nekias Duncan breaks down how Stephen Curry shook loose for 40 points against the Rockets.

How Steph Curry flipped the switch, became unguardable in Houston

With 16 days until the NBA trade deadline, the Boston Celtics &ldquo;have been extremely active in trade talks,&rdquo; league sources <a href="https://heavy.com/sports/boston-celtics/nba-trade-deadline-brad-stevens/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Heavy.com&rsquo;s Steve Bulpett.&nbsp;
At 24-24, the Celtics are the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. Boston currently has the NBA's fifth-best defense (allowing 105.1 points per 100 possessions) and 17th-ranked offense (scoring 107.4 points per 100 possessions).
Bulpett <a href="https://heavy.com/sports/boston-celtics/nba-trade-deadline-brad-stevens/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> that the Celtics are &ldquo;looking to reconfigure the pieces around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.&rdquo; Boston also wants to &ldquo;clear a path for Payton Pritchard, Aaron Nesmith and Romeo Langford to get more playing time&rdquo; as well as &ldquo;unload some salary cap burden,&rdquo; per Bulpett.&nbsp;
Last week, the Celtics traded Juancho Hernangomez&rsquo;s $6,907,815 contract in a three-time deal with the San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets, bringing in Bol Bol and P.J. Dozier.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be interesting to see if something like [their 116-87 win over Washington] yesterday makes them back off a little or makes them patient,&rdquo; one rival GM <a href="https://heavy.com/sports/boston-celtics/nba-trade-deadline-brad-stevens/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Bulpett</a>. &ldquo;But they&rsquo;ve definitely been looking to get something done.&rdquo;
It'll be interesting to see who the Celtics target (and who they're willing to part with) over the next two-and-a-half weeks.

With 16 days until the NBA trade deadline, the Boston Celtics “have been extremely active in trade talks,” according to Steve Bulpett. 

Celtics have been 'extremely active in trade talks' ahead of deadline

BOSTON (AP) — LaMelo Ball had a triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Charlotte Hornets to a 111-102 victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.
Terry Rozier led Charlotte with 28 points against his former team. Miles Bridges scored 22 and Kelly Oubre Jr. added 18 for the Hornets, who won for the ninth time in 12 games. 
“To come in here and get a win — we want to make a statement,” Rozier said. “We want to get to where they're at as an organization.”
Dennis Schröder paced Boston with 24 points. Jaylen Brown scored 21 and Al Horford had 13 points and 10 rebounds.
“I thought we had a lot of good looks and we moved the ball really well,” Brown said. “They made a lot of tough baskets. They came and outplayed us.”
Boston star Jayson Tatum was hampered by foul trouble and finished with just 12 points on 5-of-19 shooting in 35 minutes. The Celtics had won five of six.
“I thought part of the foul trouble affected him overall as well as some other guys,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “That was my message to the team: Impact the game when the shot's not falling.”
The Celtics were just 14 of 46 on 3-point attempts.
Boston sliced a 12-point deficit to 88-84 early in the final quarter but Charlotte scored 10 of the next 14 points, pulling ahead 98-88 on Oubre’s 3-pointer from the left wing with 4:55 to play. Ball had nailed a 3 from the left corner two minutes earlier.
“The competitiveness and resiliency was there in the fourth quarter,” Hornets coach James Borrego said. 
The Celtics cut it to 102-96 on Horford’s 3 with 2:48 left, but Ball nailed a 3 from in front of Boston’s bench and Rozier followed with one on the Hornets’ next possession.
Boston trimmed the margin to six one more time, but Rozier nailed another 3 to seal it in the final minute. 
Ball grabbed a rebound with 0.2 seconds remaining to complete his triple-double. He said Bridges reminded him how close he was.
“He was like: ‘Box out and you'll get that last rebound,’'' Ball said, pointing to Bridges sitting next to him at the postgame news conference. ”I said, ‘Oh, you’re right!'''
Rozier hit three from beyond the arc in a 62-second span of the third quarter, pushing the Hornets’ lead to 75-61. They were up 86-74 entering the fourth.
“To be the best, you've got to beat the best,” Rozier said. “We just want to keep going. We're not satisfied. We've got to stay humble and keep on having fun and playing out there. That's the main thing.”
TIP-INS
Hornets: Oubre returned from COVID-19 protocol after missing four games and had 10 points by early in the second quarter. … Gordon Hayward took just one shot in the first half and finished with five points. 
Celtics: C Robert Williams missed the game due to the birth of his son, named Hendrix. … G Marcus Smart missed his fifth straight game. He was out of virus protocol but sidelined for conditioning. ... G Aaron Nesmith has a sprained right ankle and also was sidelined. … Tatum picked up his third foul early in the second quarter and stood on the court near Boston’s bench, so the Celtics got a delay-of-game warning. He was whistled for his fifth early in the final quarter.
OH, NO
Mason Plumlee shot a free throw that appeared to miss the rim short by a few feet, bringing a loud reaction from the crowd.
TAKE A SEAT
Ball fell backward into the front row of seats after taking a 3 early in the third quarter, spilling drinks on a pair of fans.
EASY TO SEE
Ball wore bright mismatched sneakers; the left was lime green and the other bright pink.
NEW FACES
The Celtics acquired a pair of injured players from the Denver Nuggets as part of a three-team deal that included San Antonio. Boston received 7-foot-2 center Bol Bol, who is expected to have foot surgery and be sidelined for 8 to 12 weeks, and guard P.J. Dozier, who is out indefinitely after tearing his ACL this season.
Boston sent forward Juancho Hernangomez to the Spurs in a trade that helps the Celtics get under the luxury tax. 
UP NEXT
Hornets: Host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday. 
Celtics: Host the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday. 
___
More AP NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LaMelo Ball recorded a triple-double, and the Charlotte Hornets beat the Boston Celtics.

Ball's triple-double carries Hornets past Celtics, 111-102

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 30 points and had his third triple-double of the season to help Milwaukee rout the Golden State Warriors 118-99 on Thursday night in Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer's return from the NBA&rsquo;s COVID-19 protocols.
Antetokounmpo had 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his 28th career triple-double.
Budenholzer missed four games while in the health and safety protocols, with assistant Darvin Ham taking over as acting head coach. The Bucks went 1-3.
Khris Middleton added 23 points, Bobby Portis 20 and Grayson Allen 15.
Milwaukee never trailed and raced to a 77-38 halftime advantage. Antetokounmpo had 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in the first half.
The Bucks were just two points shy of their largest halftime lead in franchise history, a record they set this season. Milwaukee led 77-36 at the half in a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-jrue-holiday-milwaukee-orlando-magic-cca123beab7b2a2d7d0be57c01fc484e">123-92 victory over Orlando </a> on Nov. 22.
Golden State outplayed the Bucks in the second half and reduced the deficit to 18 on Juan Toscano-Anderson&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 9:39 left, but that&rsquo;s as close as the Warriors would get.
Andrew Wiggins led the Warriors with 16 points. Jonathan Kumginga had 15, Stephen Curry 12 and Klay Thompson 11.
The Warriors didn&rsquo;t have Draymond Green due to left calf tightness, which also kept him out of a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-memphis-tyus-jones-ziaire-williams-e45d50f0b6ee3d42ccfc61854140f7d0">loss at Memphis</a> on Tuesday night and caused him to play less than a minute Sunday in a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-toronto-cleveland-canada-84d5a7b3f78c214a6856cc87a7f56add">victory over Cleveland.</a>
Milwaukee was missing guard Jrue Holiday for a fourth straight game. Holiday sat out a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-nba-sports-health-kevin-durant-9f7541377b275165020db3300626599c">Jan. 2 victory at Brooklyn </a> while in the NBA&rsquo;s health and safety protocols and has since sat out three games with a sore left ankle.
The Warriors have suffered lopsided losses during each of their last two trips to Milwaukee.
Last season, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-new-york-milwaukee-bucks-khris-middleton-boston-celtics-cddf29a6cb23b934fdcb38dd8a1e5f77">Bucks beat the Warriors 138-99 in a Christmas Day matchup </a> in front of no spectators at Fiserv Forum.
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TIP-INS
Warriors: With the Warriors playing on back-to-back nights, they planned to rest Thompson on Friday night at Chicago. Thursday marked Thompson&rsquo;s third game back after being out for over 2 1/2 years because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament and an Achilles tendon injury. &ldquo;Part of the process of his recovery is he&rsquo;s not going to play back-to-backs early on,&rdquo; Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. &hellip; Gary Payton II played less than five minutes before lower back tightness knocked him out for the rest of the game. ... Assistant coach Kenny Atkinson entered health and safety protocols and wasn&rsquo;t on the bench Thursday.
Bucks: George Hill returned after missing four games while in health and safety protocols. ... The Bucks signed guard Lindell Wigginton to a two-way contract and requested waivers on guard Javonte Smart, who averaged 2.4 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 12.3 minutes while appearing in 13 games. &hellip; Budenholzer said he feels great now but there were a few days that he didn&rsquo;t feel well while in the protocols. &ldquo;I think everybody goes through a little different experience,&rdquo; he said.
UP NEXT
Warriors: At Chicago on Friday night.
Bucks: Host Toronto on Saturday.

Giannis scored 30 and had his third triple-double of the season to help the Milwaukee Bucks rout the Golden State Warriors 118-99.

Antetokounmpo has triple-double, Bucks rip Warriors 118-99

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Ja Morant scored 29 points, including five in the final minute, and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Golden State Warriors 116-108 Tuesday night for their 10th straight win.
Ziaire Williams and Tyus Jones had 17 points each for Memphis. Jones keyed a fourth-quarter rally that put the Grizzlies ahead for good. He finished 6 for 8 from the field, including connecting on all five of his 3-point attempts.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 27 points, while Klay Thompson finished with 14 points. Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton II scored 13 each.
The teams had a closely played game in the second half until consecutive 3-pointers by Jones gave Memphis a 109-100 lead with 3:33 left to play. That was enough of a buffer for the Grizzlies to keep their franchise-record win streak going, Memphis holding Golden State to 18 points in the fourth quarter.
The Grizzlies were the ones connecting from 3-point range in the first half hitting 8 of their first 13 from outside the arc. That allowed Memphis to build an 18-point lead in the second quarter.
Morant had 18 points in the half, but Golden State trimmed the deficit to 59-51 at halftime. Despite missing his first five shots in the game including all three of his 3-pointers in the half, Curry had 12 points at the break.
The Warriors then turned up the defensive pressure, particularly with Payton shadowing Morant, to open the second half. Curry got untracked from 3-point range and the Warriors defense contributed to four early Memphis turnovers and the Grizzlies starting 1 of 7 after halftime.
Then it settled into a playoff-type atmosphere with intensity on the court and the loud Memphis crowd on its feet and deeply involved. The teams exchanged leads, neither getting much more than a one-possession advantage and Golden State led 90-87 entering the fourth.
TIP-INS
Warriors: Wiggins' 3-pointer in the second quarter allowed him to pass Donyell Marshall for 19th in franchise 3-pointers. Marshall had 238. ... Draymond Green was out with left calf tightness. Juan Toscano-Anderson started in Green’s spot. ... Injured C James Wiseman had his high school jersey retired Monday night at Memphis East. Several of his Warriors teammates attended the ceremony. Wiseman has not played this season recovering from a right knee injury. ... Payton and Otto Porter Jr., both listed as questionable before the game with injuries, were available. ... Golden State was the last team to defeat the Grizzlies with a 113-104 win on Dec. 23.
Grizzlies: C Steven Adams missed his third game under health and safety protocols. ... Assistant coach Darko Rajakovic served as interim coach against the Warriors with coach Taylor Jenkins still in health and safety protocols. Assistant Brad Jones served in the interim role the previous three games as Jenkins and Rajakovic, the lead assistant, were in protocols. 
UP NEXT: 
Warriors: At Milwaukee on Thursday night to continue a four-game trip,
Grizzlies: Host Minnesota on Thursday night in the second of a four-game homestand.

The Grizzlies won their 10th game in a row, beating the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night.

Morant scores 29, Grizzlies beat Warriors for 10th straight

When Michigan had Hunter Dickinson, a center, earn All-American honors as a freshman last season, finding another young big to pair with him was likely not in the mind of Wolverine fans. However, head coach Juwan Howard has brought in the most talented players irrespective of position.
That is seemingly the case with a consensus five-star recruit from IMG Academy, Moussa Diabate, who has become one of the biggest risers in scouting circles and is consistently climbing up analysts' draft boards this season.
So if you had your hopes up that your favorite NBA team could snag the 6-foot-11 center in the second round, you might want to begin tempering those expectations. Diabate is a long, surprisingly skilled big man with a 7-3 wingspan who has been on the radar of NBA scouts dating back to his time in France.&nbsp;
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Of Malian and Guinean descent, Diabate was born in Paris, where he began his youth basketball career at 12. He quickly opted to come to the United States at 14, and he joined perhaps the most vaunted high school basketball program in the country, Montverde Academy. After one year at Montverde, Diabate spent time bouncing around prep schools before eventually landing in Bradenton, Florida with the prestigious IMG Academy.
The move to join the Ascenders came on the heels of a successful FIBA stint with France. As an underaged player at the 2019 European U18 championship tournament, Diabate averaged 13.1 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks over seven games against the best players from Europe in his age group en route to a fifth-place finish.
Diabate's move to Bradenton helped reload a squad fresh off a championship at GEICO Nationals. During his junior season, Diabate found plenty of room to operate to the tune of over 14 points and 7 rebounds per game. This was in spite of playing with prominent big men Mark Williams (Duke), Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (Tennessee) and Zach Edey (Purdue). The Ascenders ran their way to a 19-7 record, and it looked like another GEICO national championship was on the horizon. That, however, would not come to fruition, as COVID-19 wiped out the season.&nbsp;
Headed into his senior season at IMG, Diabate penned his National Letter of Intent to head to Michigan, headlining the No.1 recruiting class in the country alongside fellow five-star recruit Caleb Houstan. Diabate chose the Wolverines over Kentucky, Arizona, Florida State and more. The Ascenders enjoyed another wildly successful season last year (21-3 overall) before falling to Sunrise Christian Academy (KS) in the semifinals of the GEICO Nationals. For his efforts, Diabate was named both a McDonald's All-American and Jordan Brand All-American, despite neither game being played due to COVID.
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Along with perhaps the most heralded Michigan recruiting class since the "Fab Five," Diabate arrived in Ann Arbor to an NCAA preseason top-10 team that returned Dickinson, an All-American. With such an accomplished team staple entrenched in Diabate's natural position, playing time was hard to come by early in the season.
In his first five games, Diabate only crossed the 20-minute threshold once. Over his last seven games, however, Diabate has averaged 24.0 minutes per game despite only logging 7 minutes against San Diego State before getting injured. Diabate has shown just what makes him so intriguing during those six healthy games.&nbsp;
I spoke with our Sr. NBA Draft Analyst, Matt Babcock, to get his thoughts on what the French big man could bring to the next level.
&ldquo;I watched Diabate last season when he was in high school at IMG Academy. I was most impressed by his physical profile, mobility and motor. This season, I&rsquo;ve watched a lot of film, and had the opportunity to see Diabate in person when Michigan played at North Carolina. I still like everything about him that I did before. However, I&rsquo;ve been pleasantly surprised, as he&rsquo;s shown me that he has more upside on the offensive end of the floor than I had initially thought. I think he has a chance to be a good NBA player.&rdquo;
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Rim-running, shot-blocking prowess and overall defensive versatility make Diabate a compelling prospect. I was able to see Diabate up close in Michigan's loss to the UCF Knights, and he flashed more skill than I had expected. He hit a three-pointer and a mid-range fadeaway in the post, and defensively, he switched onto guards often.
Watching Diabate during warmups was also very insightful, as I was able to get a better idea of who he is as a person. Diabate seems highly outgoing just by watching him do his post-up routine. Speaking with some folks around the team, there was nothing but positive reviews for Diabate.&nbsp;
It has been a meteoric rise up draft boards thus far for the 19-year-old from Paris. Diabate is certainly a prospect for the scouting community to watch. We look forward to continuing to track his progress here at BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;
Moussa Diabate is currently ranked No. 22 on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's 2022 NBA Draft Big Board</a>.

Grant Aqui outlines Moussa Diabate's recent success with the Wolverines and his journey to this point.

2022 NBA Draft: Michigan's Moussa Diabate is on the rise

Thus far this season, Golden State Warrior losses have been a lot like blue moons &mdash; seldom seen, and as a result, quite conspicuous.
Notwithstanding the team&rsquo;s 89-86 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night, the Dubs have been the NBA&rsquo;s best team this season. They enter play on Dec. 29 with the league&rsquo;s top record of 27-7 and the second-best plus-minus (+10) among their peers. They also happen to lay statistical claim of being the best defensive team in the league, as they allow the fewest points per game (100.9) and yield the fewest points per 100 possessions (102.1).
Offensively, they&rsquo;ve been led by Steph Curry, who, in case you haven&rsquo;t noticed, is doing big things.
With the other half of the Splash Brothers lurking in the shadows, one can&rsquo;t help but to wonder whether the Warriors have been so good that they&rsquo;ve created a Klay Thompson conundrum.
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The assumption has always been that Golden State would become a better team once Thompson returns to the lineup, but, in the words of Jay-Z...
How you gon' upgrade me?
What's higher than number one?
Nothing immediately comes to mind.
That the Warriors have arrived here is a surprise &mdash; at least to yours truly. Their championship window <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/dynastic-demise-warriors-have-far-to-go-to-become-contender-out-west" target="_blank" rel="noopener">seemed to be closing</a> as their core aged out, but a reinvigoration of youth and their development has changed everything.
A combination of an improved Curry and a rejuvenated (and effective) Draymond Green have anchored a team that has seen auxiliary pieces like Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole and Damion Lee become fairly efficient shot-makers who compete defensively. 
Wiggins, in particular, has found his game in California.&nbsp;
A career 44.8% shooter from the field, he is knocking down a career-best 48.7% of his attempts, including a blistering 42.5% from three.
With players shuttled in and out of the lineup, Golden State&rsquo;s appreciable depth has been on display. Otto Porter Jr., Andre Iguodala, Gary Payton II and Juan Toscano-Anderson have each played impactful minutes when called upon, and the recurring theme for the Warriors has been finding ways to win.
And again, all of this has occurred without Thompson.
As a player &mdash; assuming he can revert to form &mdash; Klay should be expected to regain his place in the rotation and help the Warriors on both ends of the floor. At least on paper, adding a talent like him, with his specific gifts, could make the Warriors virtually unbeatable.
Nonetheless, it&rsquo;s interesting to comprehend just how good the team has been without him, and why.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Keeping Up With The Canadians 🇨🇦 Andrew Wiggins | vs. Denver 21 POINTS 3 THREE POINTERS 8 REBOUNDS 2 STEALS<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DubNation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DubNation</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/warriors?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@warriors</a> <a href="https://t.co/SYkr43VM9d">pic.twitter.com/SYkr43VM9d</a>
&mdash; NBA Canada (@NBACanada) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBACanada/status/1476203855046086656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2021</a></blockquote>

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According to <a href="http://www.82games.com/2122/2122GSW2.HTM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">82games.com</a>, the team&rsquo;s best five-man unit is Curry, Poole, Wiggins, Green and Looney. The quintet has played 264.5 minutes together, boasting a net-rating of +21 and outscoring opposing five-man units 65% of the time.
The second-best combination replaces Looney with Porter. The group has played only 36.6 minutes together, but has a net rating of +15 and has outscored opposing five-man units 55.5% of the time. Others deployed by Kerr have smaller sample sizes, meaning that these two lineups are the ones he relies upon most heavily.&nbsp;
What becomes evident from these two, however, is that both Poole and Wiggins have been instrumental to the Warriors&rsquo; success &mdash; and that is a pair whose minutes will be reduced most dramatically once Thompson returns.
Klay is best as a catch-and-shoot player, so it&rsquo;s easy to imagine scenarios where he&rsquo;s playing alongside Poole. It&rsquo;s also easy to imagine five-man units where Green plays center with Curry, Poole, Thompson and Wiggins.
Still, reincorporating a piece &mdash; especially one who&rsquo;s expected to play starter&rsquo;s minutes &mdash; is going to cause rotational demotions. Young players don&rsquo;t always handle those well.
The last time Thompson played in an NBA game, Kevin Durant was still his teammate. Wiggins was in Minnesota, and had only recently been separated from Tom Thibodeau and Jimmy Butler. Poole was a sophomore Wolverine at the University of Michigan whose hoops dreams had yet to fully materialize.
Lots has changed.
Assuming he is able to take the floor at some point before the All-Star break, it will have been nearly three years since Thompson last set foot on an NBA court. Many things, including those he will call teammates, will have changed. So too may be the extent upon which the Dubs will rely on him.
There&rsquo;s no reason to believe that either Thompson or the Warriors will have any issue reincorporating the other, but there&rsquo;s no question that Klay will be hungry to prove that he is still as capable a player as he was when we last saw him.&nbsp;
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When he takes the court for the first time, Klay will have seen all but five of the teammates he last played with replaced. Curry, Green, Looney, Lee and Iguodala will be the familiar faces.
There will only be one constant &mdash; the Warriors will still be the bully on the NBA&rsquo;s block.&nbsp;
Only this time, they will have attained that status without Klay.
Sure, Poole, Wiggins and the rest of the team&rsquo;s pieces may willingly yield back the reps and shots they earned by scratching and clawing their way through the rotation. But just as they will have to get used to the idea of yielding to Klay, he too will have to accept the fact that 2019 was a long time ago.&nbsp;
Despite his absence, the Warriors haven't stopped being the Warriors.
In some ways, it&rsquo;s good. In most ways, in fact.
But in others, it&rsquo;s a conundrum.&nbsp;
The Klay conundrum &mdash; perhaps the league&rsquo;s most interesting storyline as we head into 2022.

After nearly three years, Klay Thompson is inching toward his return. Both he and the Warriors will need to adjust to a few changes.

The dominant Warriors may have created a Klay Thompson conundrum

BOSTON (AP) — Joel Embiid scored 17 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter, hitting three jumpers in the final minutes and three free throws in the last four seconds to ice it as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Boston Celtics 108-103 on Monday night.
With both teams fighting COVID-19 outbreaks, Embiid also had 10 rebounds and a steal on the Celtics’ last-chance inbound pass while playing 40 minutes, 14 seconds — a season high for a game that didn’t go to overtime.
Seth Curry scored 26 points and Tobias Harris had 25 for Philadelphia.
Jaylen Brown scored 30 points, Jayson Tatum had 17 and Enes Kanter Freedom had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Celtics, who had seven players in COVID-19 protocol, with Robert Williams III a late scratch for personal reasons.
After trailing the entire first half, the Celtics took an 80-75 lead into the fourth quarter and went ahead 97-90 on Brown's 3-pointer with 4:14 left. Matisse Thybulle hit a 3-pointer and then Embiid made a pair of foul shots. 
Boston led 98-96 when Danny Green made a 3-pointer, and then Embiid made three straight mid-range jumpers to hold the Celtics at bay. 
WHERE THERE’S SMOKE
The game was delayed for seven minutes after the national anthem and before the introduction of the Celtics players when a fire alarm went off in the building, accompanied by an announcement telling the crowd it may need to evacuate. After a few minutes of people nervously looking around, the Celtics mascot began waving his arms to pump up the fans; the pregame festivities resumed soon after.
A TD Garden spokesman said the problem was a malfunctioning sprinkler head in a concession area in the balcony level and set off a fire alarm. Building operations coordinated with the Boston Fire Department before giving the all-clear.
IN AND OUT
The Celtics’ pregame injury list required a three-tweet thread to list everyone, with Al Horford, Jabari Parker, Josh Richardson, Brodric Thomas, Grant Williams, Juancho Hernangomez and Sam Hauser all in the COVID-19 protocol. Robert Williams III was also listed as out for personal reasons. 
Tatum (ankle), Romeo Langford (neck) and Dennis Schroder (non-COVID illness) were questionable but cleared to play. To fill out the roster, the Celtics signed 15-year NBA veteran C.J. Miles, who hadn’t appeared in a game in more than two years, to a 10-day contract.
The Sixers were without Andre Drummond, Shake Milton and Georges Niang because of COVID protocols, along with Tyrese Maxey (thigh bruise), Furkan Korkmaz (non-COVID illness), Jaden Springer (concussion protocol) and Ben Simmons, who hasn’t played all year while awaiting a possible trade. 
THROWBACK
The Celtics celebrated ’60’s night, looking back on the decade when they won 9 NBA titles — going through the Philadelphia Warriors twice and the 76ers four times. (The Sixers were the only team to beat them, in the 1967 Eastern Division finals. 
Satch Sanders, Mal Graham and Rick Weitzman were honored on the court, and ’60’s music was played throughout the night. 
UP NEXT 
Sixers: Host Atlanta on Thursday. 
Celtics: Host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Joel Embiid scored 41 points, and the 76ers beat the Boston Celtics 108-103.

Embiid scores 41, 76ers beat Celtics 108-103

Nekias Duncan previews the Pacific Division for the 2021-22 NBA season.

2021-22 NBA Season Preview: Pacific Divison

The Boston Celtics enter the 2021 NBA preseason with one of the deepest training camp rosters they have fielded in recent years.
While the preseason remains as meaningless as ever for team projections, the closed training camp practices and four preliminary contests should help sift through an experienced group. Only one Celtic is a rookie (two-way player Sam Hauser), and 17 of the 20 players have at least two years of NBA experience.&nbsp;
The competition should be fantastic throughout the depth chart. But some battles take on a higher importance as new head coach Ime Udoka finalizes his squad and shapes his team's identity. I have five groupings I'll be particularly interested in as opening night inches closer.
Robert Williams III vs. Al Horford &mdash; Who opens the season as the starting center?
This is the highest-profile "question mark" for the Celtics entering training camp. They just gave Williams a four-year, $54 million contract extension, and he finally started to string together healthy games in his third season. Horford, however, has more experience and notoriety given his last run in Boston. None of this is going to matter because Udoka will play whoever best complements Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.&nbsp;
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Who had the NBA&rsquo;s highest FG% inside the restricted area last season? Per NBA Stats (min. 100 attempts): 1. Giannis Antetokounmpo 💪 - 80.7% 2. DeAndre Jordan - 79.9% 3. Robert Williams III - 78.0% 4. Michael Porter Jr. - 77.5% 5. Daniel Gafford - 76.7% <a href="https://t.co/QjL19obD94">pic.twitter.com/QjL19obD94</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1437056999569637383?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Is that Williams, who was one of the most efficient interior finishers in the entire NBA last season? He's an eye-popping lob threat who can move the ball well for a paint presence and protect the rim at a high level. Horford, in contrast, can stretch the floor, pass the ball well and open up more versatile defensive approaches. He can theoretically play power forward as well, though I'm skeptical of that as a realistic option.
We'll see how Udoka deploys Tatum and Brown as playmakers. Perhaps the spacing with those two, Marcus Smart and Josh Richardson clicks, and Williams can finish plays as a roller or dunker spot threat. Or maybe the Celtics need a stretch big as they have in past seasons. Either way, both should receive heavy minutes regardless of their place in the starting lineup.
My prediction:&nbsp;Williams starts, barring injury.
Dennis Schr&ouml;der vs. Payton Pritchard &mdash; Who runs the bench offense and when?
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Which rookies led the NBA in &ldquo;deep&rdquo; threes made (&gt;27 feet) last season? Per Sportradar: 1. Immanuel Quickley - 34 (38.6 FG%) 2. Payton Pritchard - 32 (40.5 FG%) 3. LaMelo Ball - 28 (34.1 FG%) 4. Saddiq Bey - 21 (35.6 FG%) 5. Anthony Edwards - 20 (27.4 FG%) <a href="https://t.co/Ti8afYE0mS">pic.twitter.com/Ti8afYE0mS</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1436075090555310084?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Smart should be penciled in as the starting point guard and Richardson (more on him soon) appears to have the edge as a shooting guard. Schr&ouml;der would then come off the bench as a starting-caliber point guard, while Payton Pritchard looks ready for a larger load after his dominant summer league.
What responsibilities would they each have? The 28-year-old Schr&ouml;der is a seasoned lead guard who can attack off the dribble and finish at the rim. Pritchard doesn't have the same explosiveness, but instead has impressive range as a perimeter shotmaker. He orchestrated the Celtics offense in Las Vegas and became a backup point guard by default as a rookie. Is that enough to take responsibility off of Schr&ouml;der &mdash; and how will each fare without the ball in his hands?
My prediction: Schr&ouml;der gets more lead-guard run as a capable veteran.
Josh Richardson vs. Aaron Nesmith vs. Romeo Langford &mdash; Who capitalizes on available minutes?
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Josh Richardson on getting vaccinated: "That subject is pretty personal. I talked about what I'm going to do ... with my family and my circle. I'm not really sure. I think it's good that people are still educating themselves on the subject. Going forward, I'm not sure."
&mdash; Souichi Terada (寺田惣一) (@SouichiTerada) <a href="https://twitter.com/SouichiTerada/status/1442536533135970304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2021</a></blockquote>
Richardson should be starting for the Celtics as a two-way wing due for some positive regression. But the vaccine situation matters, from a public health and player availability perspective. Yes, he does not say he is unvaccinated outright, but this is a pretty loud hint that Richardson could miss opening night against the New York Knicks, and potentially more games.&nbsp;
In the possible absence, is Aaron Nesmith <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/aaron-nesmith-is-ready-for-whatever-else-the-boston-celtics-throw-at-him" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ready to step up</a>? The second-year wing flashed off-dribble attacking ability in summer league and is a known three-point threat. But Nesmith has an injury history, as does third-year guard Romeo Langford. The No. 15 pick from the 2019 draft has played just 50 games in his NBA career and is still a relative unknown. Who will we see in what roles, and when?&nbsp;
My prediction: Absolutely no idea.

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Grant Williams vs. Juan Hernangomez vs. Garrison Mathews &mdash; Who is the stretch 4 off the bench?
Boston brought aboard Hernangomez, Mathews and Hauser this summer, and each slots into that hyper-specialist, sharpshooting forward role. With context, Hernangomez would seem to have the edge as the primary piece of a trade from Memphis, while Mathews is currently on a non-guaranteed contract and Hauser is signed on the two-way deal. But they'll ultimately have to fit with the incumbent in Williams.
The Celtics' other 2019 first-round pick has been... interesting through his first two seasons. He is woefully streaky as a shooter, registering three months over 40% from three last season along with two under 32%. He's also a 6-foot-6 forward who works really hard on the defensive end, but can be outmatched due to his size.
It would be surprising to see Williams out of the rotation entirely, but Udoka could drastically alter his role depending on how he gets going this fall.
My prediction: Williams and Hernangomez stick in the rotation, but Hernangomez has more offensive responsibility.
Which veterans hang onto the end of the roster?
Jabari Parker, Theo Pinson, Ryan Arcidiacono, Juwan Morgan and Mathews are all signed to non-guaranteed training camp deals or partially-guaranteed contracts. The Celtics only have one active roster spot and one two-way contract available. Five veterans are essentially fighting for two spots, and that does not even include Bruno Fernando, who is on a fully-guaranteed deal as the fourth center on the depth chart.
That's a pretty serious battle for six veterans. The NBA G League website says that players in their fourth season or earlier are eligible for a two-way contract. This would make Fernando, Pinson, Morgan and Mathews eligible two-way players, though I would be suprised if a 24-game starter in Mathews were to opt to stay on a two-way deal.&nbsp;
Do the Celtics want steady guard depth in Arcidiacono and his 5.6 assist-to-turnover ratio from last season? Or do they opt for a scoring forward in Parker or Mathews? What about keeping the guaranteed-contract player they have in Fernando? And what about that last two-way slot?
Ultimately, these will be the most pressing questions during preseason action since all of these players should get quality playing time.
My prediction: Fernando and Mathews get the final active roster spots. Pinson gets the two-way.
Boston may not have a title-contending roster on paper. But it's clear that Udoka and Brad Stevens are building for the present and searching for the best complements to Tatum and Brown. As the two young stars creep towards their primes, it's becoming time to open the Celtics' window of opportunity.

Ethan Fuller takes a look at five competitions that could break out during the Celtics' preseason process.