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Nets

Back injuries are incredibly common in professional sports, particularly in the NBA. But just because they&rsquo;re common does not make them easy to overcome &mdash; and Ben Simmons can attest to that.
Simmons is a big, dynamic playmaker whose defensive versatility and speed set him apart from the vast majority of guards in the NBA. And, right or not, the Brooklyn Nets were relying on Simmons to contribute in their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics.
After a number of reports suggested a Simmons comeback was imminent, we now know that was not meant to be.
The media didn&rsquo;t help, as rumblings surfaced that Simmons was pain-free following a practice and could return to the team as early as Game 3. Simmons didn&rsquo;t help his case either, and at one point beckoned to ESPN's Nick Friedell to film him <a href="https://twitter.com/YahooSports/status/1515377280129806340?s=20&amp;t=dhtvXHosNXvt8FuOZ4T1kg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dunking the basketball</a> after a recent practice.
We don&rsquo;t necessarily know why Simmons didn&rsquo;t play in the Nets&rsquo; first-round series. Maybe he suffered a setback, or maybe he wasn&rsquo;t as healthy as we were led to believe. Per The Athletic's Shams Charania, his mental health <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/shams-ben-simmons-did-not-return-because-of-mental-block" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was also a major factor</a>.
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But while reports about his potential availability misled many of us, <a href="https://rahulshahmd.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Rahul Shah</a>, a world renowned, board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon, cautioned against getting too excited from the very start.
&ldquo;Simmons received a shot a few weeks ago,&rdquo; Dr. Shah told BasketballNews.com in a Zoom interview in late March. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not seeing him practice, warming up with the team, 3-on-3s &mdash; if he&rsquo;s not doing that, you can be pretty certain he&rsquo;s not getting the relief he needs.&rdquo;
We last saw Simmons on the floor in the 2021 Eastern Conference semifinals, but he sat out of this season's training camp in hopes of pressuring the Philadelphia 76ers to trade him. The Sixers didn&rsquo;t relent... at least not quickly.
Simmons' hold-out cost him 54 games (and approximately $20 million, over which he filed a grievance in early April), and on Feb. 10, he was finally traded to Brooklyn.
As mentioned earlier, Simmons dealt with mental-health issues for the entirety of the 2021-22 season and possibly longer. It was initially <a href="https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne/status/1491841027153412096?s=20&amp;t=johir1tYZUwQ_s5HLqg4-Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported by ESPN&rsquo;s Ramona Shelburne</a> that Simmons &ldquo;will continue to work with his therapist to get mentally ready to play in Brooklyn.&rdquo; But there was no mention of a back injury &mdash; at least not initially.
One of the main challenges in understanding where Simmons was in his recovery as of a week ago was that the injury wasn&rsquo;t proactively reported. Even Nets head coach Steve Nash seemed unclear on his status for much of the time following the trade.
Nash referred to Simmons&rsquo; back injury as &ldquo;a little soreness&rdquo; in late February. In mid-March, he had &ldquo;extremely high hopes&rdquo; that Simmons would return in the regular season. But in late March, Nash finally conceded that &ldquo;someone&rdquo; had reported that Simmons had a herniated disc.
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Was Nash being intentionally coy? Or was he truly unaware of the extent of Simmons&rsquo; back issues?
It&rsquo;s worth mentioning that Simmons has a mostly uneventful injury history as it relates to his back. The most recent occurrence was when he missed nine games with a nerve impingement in February 2020, but there have been no reported complications since.
Something clearly happened between June 2021 and February 2022.
<a href="https://rahulshahmd.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Shah</a> told BasketballNews.com that herniated discs typically require three-to-six months for a full recovery. Could Simmons have really injured his back after being traded? Or just before?
It&rsquo;s possible, but not relevant.
Regardless of when it happened, we can probably blame Simmons' hold-out for much of it. Training camp and the preseason are important to warm up for a relatively long season. Getting back into shape after skipping training camp and preseason and missing months of a season is nearly impossible &mdash; even for someone as athletic as Simmons.
Even worse, Simmons&rsquo; injury could have long-term implications for the Nets.
With Simmons having received an epidural shot in mid-March, Dr. Shah walked BasketballNews.com through the process and timeline of a typical recovery from a herniated disc.
&ldquo;Shots are one step before surgery, and that&rsquo;s why Simmons was having shots,&rdquo; Dr. Shah explained. "If that doesn&rsquo;t work, why not? It can be because it&rsquo;s the wrong problem, but it can also be that more has to be done. Typically, with surgery &mdash; when you go to that area &mdash; you identify where the disc is pressing on that nerve. You go in and basically trim down the area; you just remove a small portion. But if you&rsquo;re torquing on that area, there&rsquo;s a chance that more disc can come out.
&ldquo;So, you want to limit risk as much as you can. You want to always take the least amount of risk, but sometimes it&rsquo;s not enough. This operation is very effective but there is a 5-to-15% chance of more disc coming out in the future.&rdquo;
Dr. Shah also explained that, while surgery is generally successful, the risk it presents leads many people to try rehab and shots first.
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&ldquo;People return to twice as many games and play for twice as long with the surgery than without it,&rdquo; Dr. Shah explained. &ldquo;But there is a risk with it. And that&rsquo;s why most people don&rsquo;t go with it immediately.
&ldquo;So, for Ben Simmons, the likelihood of him needing this kind of surgery is probably reasonable, maybe 60% or 70%. And the real question is, &lsquo;Can he return back and play at the highest level with the shot?&rsquo; If he can&rsquo;t, you have your answer.&rdquo;
While the Nets&rsquo; season is done, Simmons could have decisions to make that will directly impact his ability to play next season. Granted, Simmons&rsquo; mental health is at least equally important as his physical health, especially to him; but if Simmons&rsquo; is to be successful, his back must be healthy.
According to the Mayo Clinic, a diskectomy &mdash; a surgical procedure to remove the damaged portion of a herniated disk in your spine &mdash; requires at least 6-to-8 weeks of recovery time. For context, Dwight Howard was expected to miss <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-basketball-nba-was-howard/wizards-howard-says-hes-pain-free-after-surgery-idUSKCN1OI2K4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2-to-3 months</a> following a microdiscectomy in late 2018, and Mike Dunleavy was projected to miss <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2015/09/25/chicago-bulls-mike-dunleavy-back-surgery-injury-update" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8-to-10 weeks</a> in 2015 following the same procedure.
Simmons and the Nets have about five months until the start of training camp. So, while he technically has some time, Simmons should make a decision regarding how he'll proceed sooner than later.
In a recent <a href="https://hoopshype.com/lists/nets-rumors-kyrie-irving-kevin-durant-ben-simmons-steve-nash-bruce-brown-nicolas-claxton/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HoopsHype podcast with the Daily News' Kristian Winfield</a>, Mike Scotto said the Nets hope Simmons can guard an opposing team&rsquo;s best player on any given night, regardless of position. In other words, in a given (hypothetical) week, Simmons will be expected to guard the likes of LeBron James, Ja Morant, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and more.
That is a very tall task for any player, but it&rsquo;s downright impossible if said player has a lingering injury &mdash; especially in his back. And given what was given up to get Simmons to Brooklyn (and the fact that most teams around the league want nothing to do with him at the moment), the Nets have to hope he'll bounce back to his old self.&nbsp;
It might seem crazy, but Ben Simmons is still only 25. He truly could have a decade or more left in the NBA. Hopefully he's able to overcome all of his challenges &mdash; physical and otherwise.
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Dr. Rahul Shah says there was a 60-70% chance that Ben Simmons needed back surgery in late March. Could the Nets have known?

Ben Simmons' Brooklyn no-show was more predictable than we thought

The Brooklyn Nets' offense was mostly humming in Tuesday's 115-108 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers to kick of the NBA Play-In Tournament. Kyrie Irving dazzled with 34 points on 12 of 15 shooting. Kevin Durant had his <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/appreciating-kevin-durants-other-skills" target="_blank" rel="noopener">long arms involved in almost every play</a>, and Bruce Brown sliced his way to a near-triple-double.
Nicolas Claxton's name didn't carry the same overall buzz, but I couldn't stop thinking about his place in the victory. The 22-year-old (Happy Birthday on Sunday, by the way!) totaled 13 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks in just under 29 minutes. Other than his long two to beat the first-quarter buzzer, Claxton didn't really create any highlight moments, but then you look at the box score and see he drilled all six of his shot attempts.
And then, you &mdash; "you" being I &mdash; check NBA.com and see Claxton finished seventh this season with a 67.4% overall field goal percentage (min. 800 minutes played). He sports a sparking 80.0% clip within 4&nbsp; feet of the basket, ranking second in the NBA, per Cleaning the Glass.
So at a very base level, Claxton has established himself among the most efficient players in basketball. Of course, it's more complicated than that. How does he benefit from Brooklyn's unique assembly of creators, and how does he set up for success?&nbsp;
Let's start with his Tuesday buckets.
Claxton's aforementioned buzzer-beater ranks as an extreme outlier. It's not just about the play context; Claxton attempted all of&nbsp;nine shots further than 8 feet from the basket in the entire regular season. Four of his five other makes in the game were dunks off assists from Brown. This one stuck out to me:
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This looks pretty easy for Claxton. Brooklyn sends two defenders to Durant on the flip pass from Brown, who ghosts the screen and short-rolls to the basket. Durant finds him, Brown has tons of space and Kevin Love is forced to help, which means an open lob for Claxton is coming. This happened three separate times (with minor differences) in the game to give the center easy dunks.&nbsp;
I want to credit Claxton too though. He anticipates what's going to happen even as Brown is rolling. In fact, Claxton points for the lob before Brown even comes down with the basketball. It's super quick, but here's a mid-quality screen-grab of what I mean:
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Brown hasn't even landed on the court yet, and Claxton already has his finger raised as he prepares to receive the pass. These small anticipations cut down the time between offensive decisions, and keep defenders from rotating to help or recovering back. Claxton likely had tons of room for error here; there's no weak-side defender to rotate over, and Love doesn't have the length or agility to cover so much ground. In other situations, however, this awareness benefits Claxton and the Nets' passers.
Claxton appeared in just 46 games this season as he battled injuries, but he went a pristine 88 of 94 on dunks, per NBA Stats. He shot 72.4% from the field off of Durant passes, 73.9% off passes from Patty Mills and 76.9% off passes from Brown. These are relatively small sample sizes, but they do reinforce what we saw on Tuesday.
The 6-foot-11-inch center averaged 1.39 points per possession (PPP) on cuts, ranking 12th among 43 players with at least 100 cutting possessions. Nearly 31% of his total plays involved cuts, which can range from circling up to the restricted area or catching a lob from the dunker spot, to more complex actions. Claxton placed sixth among the group with a 73.6% field goal rate on cuts.
According to the BBall Index, Claxton averages 5.7 points per 75 possessions on cuts and off-screen plays, putting him in the 97th percentile of bigs.
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There's just so much good minutiae in these plays. In the first clip, Claxton hands the ball off to a full-speed Mills and turns around to cut before the Pacers even realize what's happening. In clip No. 2, Claxton flips to the other side of Evan Mobley right as Brown receives the bounce pass from Durant. It opens up a passing lane, and Mobley can't quite recover to contest the dunk.&nbsp;
Opposing bigs have to account for Claxton at all times.&nbsp;
Brooklyn faces a Boston Celtics roster in the first round that plays a very different defensive style compared to Cleveland. The Celtics typically will single-switch 1-through-4 (sometimes 1-through-5), and appear to have landed on the two-big combination of Al Horford and Daniel Theis to fill the gap left by Robert Williams' current injury. Grant Williams is also capable of battling most non-bruiser bigs.
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The last time Claxton made less than 50% of his shots? March 6 against the Celtics. He finished 1 of 4 attempts. Claxton shifted around in the paint and was an active interior presence, but as shown in the first clip, Boston was ready with its help. Drawing fouls is no good; Claxton shot a dismal 58.4% from the charity stripe this season and was 1 of 6 on Tuesday.
When Brooklyn can't create driving lanes, Claxton then can't set himself up for a lob or cut. When the team can &mdash; as Seth Curry does in the final clip &mdash; Claxton knows where he needs to be to get a head of steam and throw it down.
One game-within-the-game will be: Can Claxton outsmart a Celtics defense that has locked down just about every team this calendar year? Can Brooklyn's facilitators create advantages that open up lobs and dunks? Can the Celtics stick with some of the most dynamic playmakers in today's game and keep possessions from unraveling, leading to easy Claxton chances?
One of the most dynamic lob threats in the NBA can help sway a competitive series if he finds his quality scoring chances. This doesn't even account for Claxton's budding prowess as a defensive rim-protector. He'll be involved in the figurative and literal center of the Nets' first-round brawl.&nbsp;
THE OUTLIERS (a.k.a. other random interesting numbers I found in the void):
<ul>
<li>Interesting graphic here from SIS Hoops, and while I'd want more specifics based on matchups, it underscores that Toronto's defense has been sweet this season:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Most defensive stats focus on outcomes where shots occur despite much of defense being about the shots that don&rsquo;t happen. Whether through lockdown defense or schematic concessions, teams yield shots least frequently in isolation when these players are the primary defender: <a href="https://t.co/R1UfzKVjUb">pic.twitter.com/R1UfzKVjUb</a>
&mdash; SIS Hoops (@SIS_Hoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/SIS_Hoops/status/1512463227329859586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

<ul>
<li>More SIS Hoops since they're awesome: Can we talk about the Pelicans?!</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The regular season is officially behind us. Check out how teams waxed and waned over the course of the year via their rolling net ratings: <a href="https://t.co/Mt1iLfMY6F">pic.twitter.com/Mt1iLfMY6F</a>
&mdash; SIS Hoops (@SIS_Hoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/SIS_Hoops/status/1513559896876363776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

<ul>
<li>Simply a banger as usual from our Nekias Duncan, but <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/deandre-hunter-and-the-value-of-playing-fast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his article on De'Andre Hunter was extremely interesting to me</a> and ties in somewhat to my thoughts on Claxton's processing. Hunter averaged just 2.04 seconds per touch in last night's Play-In victory, which is down nearly three tenths of a second from his average over the first 18 games of the season. That's more significant than you might realize, so I highly recommend you read the breakdown.</li>
</ul>
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Nic Claxton has emerged as one of the league's best lob threats by thriving off of Brooklyn's playmakers.

NBA Stats Notebook: How is Nic Claxton's interior efficiency so high?

Kyrie Irving had 34 points and 12 assists, Kevin Durant added 25 points and 11 assists, and the Brooklyn Nets took the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-108 on Tuesday night in the play-in opener.
The Nets raced to a 20-point lead after one quarter and turned the Cavaliers away time and time again to earn a matchup with No. 2 seed Boston in a series that begins Sunday.
Irving made his first 12 shots before a 3-pointer rimmed out in the fourth quarter. He finished 12 for 15.
A preseason NBA Finals favorite who sputtered through a turbulent season and were in 10th place entering the last week of the regular season, the Nets have run off five straight wins. With Durant and Irving, they are far more dangerous than the usual No. 7 seed.
And both are willing to give the ball to teammates who are capitalizing when they get it. Bruce Brown had 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, while Andre Drummond scored 16 points.
Darius Garland scored 34 points for the Cavaliers, who have another chance to earn the No. 8 seed. They will host the winner of the Atlanta-Charlotte game on Friday, with the winner moving on to face No. 1 seed Miami.
Brooklyn and Cleveland both went 44-38 but the Nets clinched the tiebreaker by beating the Cavs at Barclays Center last Friday to finish 3-1 against them. Cleveland was confident it could come back to Brooklyn and win, though it was clear quickly just how difficult that would be.
The Nets made nearly 71% of their shots in the first quarter &mdash; Irving and Durant combined to make all eight of theirs &mdash; and closed the period with a 15-3 spurt that made it 40-20. It was a bigger lead than Brooklyn had in any first quarter during the regular season.
The offense sputtered, as it usually does, when Durant went to the bench to start the second and Cleveland went on a 9-2 run to cut it to 13. The margin stayed right around there the remainder of the half, with the Cavs missing a number of open looks before Irving's jumper at the buzzer made it 57-43. That made him 9 for 9 at the break.
The Cavaliers, trying to extend a surprising season that saw them double their win total from a season ago, kept chipping away in the second half. But they would too often miss an open 3-pointer or give up an extra possession on an offensive rebound that the Nets would take advantage of.
Nic Claxton had 13 points and nine rebounds for Brooklyn.
TIP-INS
Cavaliers: Evan Mobley scored 19 points and Kevin Love had 14 points and 13 rebounds. ... The Cavaliers remained without All-Star center Jarrett Allen because of a broken finger.
Nets: Irving's 9-for-9 first half wasn't even his best for Brooklyn. He was 10 for 10 against Chicago on Jan. 31, 2020. ... Brooklyn went 1-3 against Boston during the regular season. The Nets beat the Celtics 4-1 in the first round last season. ... Goran Dragic returned after missing the end of the regular season in health and safety protocols. He had three points in 10 minutes.
SUBWAY SHOOTING
The Nets and the New York Liberty Foundation announced before a moment of silence that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-nba-sports-steve-nash-5fbbe485d9c340bd7c7a44160317dffc">they were donating $50,000 </a> to help those who were injured after at least 10 people were shot on a subway Tuesday. The shooting occurred at the subway stop closest to the Nets' training facility.
SIMMONS STATUS
Nash said Ben Simmons is moving better and doing more shooting, but there still was no timetable for when he could finally play for the Nets. Simmons, who sat on the bench wearing a matching green jacket and shorts, has battled back problems since not long after being acquired from Philadelphia in February.
&ldquo;So definitely positive signs, improving and moving and all those things, but like I said he hasn&rsquo;t been running full speed or playing against anybody,&rdquo; Nash said. &ldquo;So still a lot of markers to meet.&rdquo;
CENTER OF ATTENTION
Allen seemed poised to return for the play-in game, but the Cavaliers&rsquo; big man isn&rsquo;t quite ready.
Bickerstaff said the All-Star, who came to Cleveland from the Nets in a trade last season, did individual drills the past two days, when the team&rsquo;s focus at practice had to be on the available players to get ready for Brooklyn.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s doing well,&rdquo; said coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who has been without Allen for more than a month. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s working out; he&rsquo;s starting to do more with both hands. We&rsquo;re just kind of in a wait-and-see.&rdquo;

Kyrie Irving had 34 points and 12 assists, Kevin Durant added 25 points and 11 assists and the Nets took the No. 7 seed in the East.

Irving, Durant lead Nets past Cavs in Play-In for No. 7 seed

Kevin Durant scored 18 of his 34 points in Brooklyn's dominating first half in the Nets' 129-100 blowout victory over the 76ers on Thursday night in Ben Simmons&rsquo; much-hyped return to Philadelphia.
Seth Curry added 24 points, and Kyrie Irving had 22 for the Nets. They entered in eighth place in the East, but looked like a legitimate conference contender while badly outplaying the third-place 76ers.
Joel Embiid had 27 points and 12 rebounds for the 76ers, and James Harden finished with just 11 points. It was the first loss for Philadelphia in six games with Harden in the lineup.
The game was dubbed as &ldquo;Boo Ben&rdquo; night, but the raucous fans instead turned their displeasure on the home team when the 76ers went to the locker room trailing 72-51 and again when Brooklyn built a stunning 32-point lead in the third quarter.
Simmons, wearing a designer hockey jersey and flashy jewelry, watched from the bench, likely taking delight in the vitriol deflected away from him. The three-time All-Star is continuing to recover from a back injury that has sidelined him since being swapped for Harden in a blockbuster deal at the trade deadline.
While Simmons hasn&rsquo;t taken the floor yet, Harden had been a boon for the 76ers unlike his time in Brooklyn, where the so-called Big 3 of Harden, Durant and Irving managed to play just 16 games together following Harden&rsquo;s trade to Brooklyn last January that was billed as a potentially championship move. Harden exchanged fist bumps with Nets staff members just before tip before a shockingly poor performance from the 10-time All-Star and former MVP.
Harden missed 14 of 17 field-goal attempts.
The only shot Simmons took was a dunk during pregame warmups that drew derisive cheers from the Philly fans.
The boos started early, as Simmons was met with catcalls while boarding the team bus to shootaround from the Nets&rsquo; downtown hotel. Simmons did oblige one fan for an autograph, with another being heard on a video widely circulated on social media yelling, &ldquo;Why the grievance? Why spit in the face of Sixers fans? We did nothing but support you for five years, Ben. You know that.&rdquo;
The heckling continued when Simmons was at the arena. He entered the court 55 minutes prior to tip, wearing a sleeveless Nets warmup shirt and sweats and spent 20 minutes passing for Patty Mills' warmup shots. He didn&rsquo;t embrace any of his former teammates, though he did walk the length of the court to hug a 76ers official.
A large security presence closely watched the crowd and cell phones captured every Simmons move.
TRAINER&rsquo;S ROOM
Nets: LaMarcus Aldridge (hip) missed his second straight contest.
76ers: Danny Green sat out after injuring his left middle finger in the first half of the 76ers&rsquo; 121-106 win over the Bulls on Monday.
TIP-INS
Nets: Improved to 21-15 on the road, where Irving is only allowed to play due to his vaccination status. &hellip; Curry and Andre Drummond, who also were part of the Simmons for Harden trade, were cheered during introductions, Curry made 10 of 14 shots, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range. Drummond had seven points and seven rebounds. ... Durant also had 14 rebounds and seven assists.
76ers: Paul Millsap returned after missing Monday&rsquo;s game against Chicago due to personal reasons but didn&rsquo;t play. &hellip; Former Sixers and Hall of Famers Allen Iverson and Julus &ldquo;Dr. J&rdquo; Erving were in attendance. Erving rang the ceremonial Liberty Bell before the contest. &hellip; Harden passed Reggie Miller for third on the NBA&rsquo;s all-time 3-point list when he made his 2,561st trey with 6:47 left in the first quarter.
UP NEXT
Nets: Host New York on Sunday.
76ers: At Orlando on Sunday.

Kevin Durant scored 18 of his 34 points in Brooklyn's dominating first half in the Nets' 129-100 blowout victory over the 76ers.

Durant, Nets rout 76ers in Simmons' return to Philadelphia

The Raptors have searched for a center on the market and expressed interest in trading for several centers, including Jakob Poeltl, Myles Turner, Robert Williams, Nicolas Claxton and Jusuf Nurkic.
Source: <a href="https://hoopshype.com/lists/nba-rumors-cj-mccollum-anfernee-simons-robert-covington-dorian-finney-smith-danilo-gallinari-jakob-poeltl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Scotto of HoopsHype </a>
ANALYSIS: Scotto added that, "Toronto has all its first-round picks looking ahead, which can be dangled as trade bait for a potential starting-caliber center. The Raptors have flirted with the idea of moving a first-round pick to re-acquire Poeltl, HoopsHype has learned."
Yesterday, NBA insider Marc Stein <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/bulls-raptors-have-shown-interest-in-jakob-poeltl-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the San Antonio Spurs want a first-round pick and a quality player in exchange for Poeltl, who has also drawn interest from the Chicago Bulls.
Scotto also reported that "Indiana is seeking two first-round picks or a promising young player and a first-round pick in exchange for Turner."
The Raptors have also shown interest in Hawks veteran forward Danilo Gallinari, per Scotto.

The Toronto Raptors are showing interest in acquiring Jakob Poeltl from the Spurs.

Raptors pursuing centers; Poeltl, Turner, Nurkic high on their list

If there&rsquo;s one thing the Brooklyn Nets aren&rsquo;t short on, it&rsquo;s basketball talent. For the team, that&rsquo;s a good thing.&nbsp;
For Paul Millsap personally? Not so much.
Now in his 16th year, after just 24 games in Brooklyn, the 36-year-old veteran big man is looking for a new opportunity.&nbsp;
Since he signed on in Brooklyn last summer, the Nets have seen Nicolas Claxton and Day&rsquo;Ron Sharpe become reliable role players and LaMarcus Aldridge return from retirement. Meanwhile, 32-year-old Blake Griffin has maintained his place in the rotation, effectively leaving Millsap as the odd man out.&nbsp;
Of the five, he averages the fewest minutes per game (11.3 &mdash; a career low) and is the only one who hasn&rsquo;t started a single contest. Considering his pedigree, his unhappiness should come as no surprise.&nbsp;
Millsap effectively lost his job with the Denver Nuggets after the team acquired Aaron Gordon, and he chose to sign with Brooklyn because the team was perceived to have a shallow front court.&nbsp;
Surprisingly, though, it is Millsap who has drowned in the rotation.
With the NBA&rsquo;s Feb. 10 trade deadline approaching, there are a few teams which could both afford Millsap the opportunity to play meaningful minutes and contend for a championship. Whether the Nets trade him or buy him out, Millsap will eventually find a new home this season. If he&rsquo;s fortunate, it&rsquo;ll be with one of these clubs&hellip;
Milwaukee Bucks
After starting 70 games for the NBA champion Bucks last season, incumbent starter Brook Lopez hasn&rsquo;t appeared in a game since October. Currently recovering from back surgery, the Bucks are hopeful that Lopez can return before the playoffs begin, but as of now the team is rather thin up front.
Bobby Portis has filled in admirably since Lopez has gone down, and he&rsquo;s played well enough as a starter for head coach Mike Budenholzer to wonder whether Portis should retain the starting job even after Lopez returns. On the season, Portis is shooting a remarkable 41.4% from three-point territory. Although it&rsquo;s an appreciable decrease from the 47% he shot last season, that he&rsquo;s come close to maintaining his proficiency is an accomplishment, considering he&rsquo;s taking nearly twice as many attempts per game (4.5 this season compared to 2.4 last season).
It&rsquo;s not difficult to imagine a scenario where Millsap is able to give coach Budenholzer some minutes up front, especially considering the gaping hole that&rsquo;s been left in the team&rsquo;s rotation with Lopez&rsquo;s injury.
Phoenix Suns
Over the past 15 years, one of the constants in the NBA is that Chris Paul is going to find a way to maximize the players and the talent around him. We&rsquo;ve seen it since CP3 was suiting up in New Orleans, and we&rsquo;ve seen it most recently with Bismack Biyombo.&nbsp;
Unfortunately for the big man, Biyombo&rsquo;s career story &mdash; at least before arriving in Phoenix &mdash; has mostly been one about unfulfilled expectations. He was not re-signed by the rebuilding Charlotte Hornets after his contract expired last season and went unsigned for the first-half of this season.
Because of injuries to Deandre Ayton and JaVale McGee, the Suns found themselves with a need in the frontcourt and, without fail, Biyombo has experienced quite the resurgence. Through nine games in Phoenix, he is averaging what would be a career-high 10.8 points per game on 70.2% shooting from the field. He&rsquo;s benefited greatly from playing alongside Paul, as well as with units that share the ball and play relatively fast.
According to Basketball-Reference.com, approximately 67% of Biyombo&rsquo;s field goal attempts come within three feet of the basket, with another 30% coming from 3-10 feet.&nbsp;
In other words, he&rsquo;s excelled by providing the team with an inside presence that the Suns are sorely missing without Ayton, and it&rsquo;s conceivable that Millsap could provide a similar interior offensive presence.&nbsp;
Dallas Mavericks
After hovering around .500 for the early part of the season, the Mavericks are 10-3 in 2022. Both Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis have missed a fair share of games this season, but recent reports suggest that the Mavericks &mdash; who want to continue to build around their duo &mdash; are open for business.&nbsp;
In recent weeks, there have been reports citing Myles Turner and Dennis Schroder as players the Mavericks have some level of interest in, but Turner recently suffered a stress reaction in his left foot that may sideline him until after the trade deadline.
To make matters worse, Tim Hardaway Jr. fractured the fifth metatarsal in his left foot and is expected to be out for an extended period of time. Millsap won&rsquo;t necessarily help absorb any of the available minutes in the Mavericks&rsquo; backcourt, but he would help the team by providing another serviceable body who can help replace the 14.2 points per game they&rsquo;ll lose with Hardaway out of the lineup.
Along with Porzingis, Dorian Finney-Smith, Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber have played most of the available big man minutes for Jason Kidd&rsquo;s team. It&rsquo;s difficult to imagine Millsap, even at 36 years old, not being able to provide value to a front line featuring those three.&nbsp;
With Turner potentially off the board and Hardaway on the shelf, Dallas will certainly have to find help elsewhere, especially with the team finally beginning to click after its season got off to a rough start.
Chicago Bulls
Patrick Williams was lost for the season back in October, and in January the Bulls have had players dropping like flies.&nbsp;
Zach LaVine only missed five games and returned to the lineup on Monday night after suffering a minor left knee injury, but neither Alex Caruso nor Lonzo Ball were as fortunate. Ball and Caruso will each miss the next 6-8 weeks, with Derrick Jones Jr. out for a similar time frame. Meanwhile, Nikola Vucevic is battling left knee soreness.
The Bulls need bodies, and it would help if they happened to be big.
Enter Millsap.
Although there probably won&rsquo;t be many shots available for Millsap, he would provide immediate help to a Bulls front line that ranks 28th in the league in rebounds.
DeMar DeRozan has spent some time at power forward for Chicago this season, which isn&rsquo;t ideal. DeRozan &mdash; who has slowed down in recent weeks after being mentioned among MVP candidates earlier this season &mdash; would be better served by having another big in the lineup.
Although Chicago will be without Ball and Caruso for the foreseeable future, the team will need another big body or two if it hopes to challenge the likes of Milwaukee and Brooklyn for the Eastern Conference. Millsap could help.
Utah Jazz
Rudy Gobert and Hassan Whiteside have proven to be a formidable tandem patrolling the paint for the Jazz, and they&rsquo;ve also proven that a team can still find success in today&rsquo;s NBA by playing traditional big men.
Although Millsap wouldn&rsquo;t provide the same spacing as Bojan Bogdanovic or Rudy Gay, he would provide the team with some needed insurance in the event that Gobert or Whiteside went down for an extended period of time.&nbsp;
Aside from the fact that Millsap began his career in Utah, he would also facilitate some offensive balance for the team &mdash; according to NBA.com, the Jazz score 38.6% of their points from three-point territory, which ranks third in the league. With respect to points scored in the paint, they rank 16th, with just 42.4%.
Millsap still possesses a back-to-basket game and could help Utah in one of the areas they need to improve.
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Moke Hamilton examines some of the teams that should take a close look at acquiring Paul Millsap from the Nets.

Five teams that could benefit from a Paul Millsap trade

With hubris, he declared victory before the first battle.&nbsp;
Intoxicated by his hopes and aspirations, on that day in Miami, LeBron James defiantly counted, laughing at five and scoffing at six.&nbsp;
With Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh flanking him, he envisioned two hands worth of championship rings and predicted that the actual games would be &ldquo;the easy part.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Eventually, though, the young King would learn the valuable lesson that many of his predecessors did: assembling the talent is the easy part. Convincing Lady Luck and Father Time to bless you at the same time &mdash; that&rsquo;s the true challenge.
The Brooklyn Nets are learning that, firsthand.
It&rsquo;s been a long 30 months since Kyrie Irving walked across the Brooklyn Bridge with Kevin Durant in tow. Remarkably, it&rsquo;s already been a full year since James Harden found his way to Barclays Center to join them.
And just as remarkable is the fact that the trio has played together a grand total of just 15 times &mdash; eight times during the 2020-21 season, five games in last year&rsquo;s postseason and a grand total of twice in 2021-22.
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It&rsquo;s not exactly a good sign.
Whether it be a busted Achilles, a hamstring, an ankle, an MCL or refusal to get vaccinated, Brooklyn simply hasn&rsquo;t been able to consistently field its trio.&nbsp;
In pro basketball, chemistry and the ability to work together is just as important as talent. Maybe the tide will turn and Durant, Irving and Harden will have the opportunity to develop the cohesion necessary to thrive and accomplish something great. But it&rsquo;s far from a given at this point; there just always seems to be something standing in their way.
The latest bump in the road is a sprained MCL suffered on the part of Durant, who the team has only declared to be out &ldquo;indefinitely.&rdquo; While it&rsquo;s entirely possible that Durant could return to action soon, it&rsquo;s equally possible that he could be sidelined for as many as six weeks, according to <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/01/17/nets-have-no-timeline-on-kevin-durants-knee-injury/">the New York Post</a>. And considering Durant&rsquo;s age and the Nets&rsquo; conservative approach with its star, we&rsquo;d be wise to take the over.
Six weeks from the day Durant suffered the injury would bring us to Feb. 26, the date on which the Nets coincidentally happen to be in Milwaukee to take on Giannis Antetokounmpo and his Bucks.
Including that game, the Nets will have just 10 road games remaining. That&rsquo;s obviously important considering Irving remains ineligible for home games because of his vaccination status. And he&rsquo;s not any closer to getting jabbed now than he was at the beginning of the season.
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Said differently, it&rsquo;s entirely possible that Brooklyn&rsquo;s Big 3 will enter the 2021-22 postseason having played together about 25 times, and that&rsquo;s essentially a best-case scenario based on what we currently know.&nbsp;
At this point in their partnership, we&rsquo;re somehow still able to easily keep count of the number of games that they&rsquo;ve played together, and teams that end up winning championships don&rsquo;t typically have that problem. If anything, it&rsquo;s the opposite.
Sure, there will always be teams like the 2008 Boston Celtics, but most other teams who manage to win-out are teams like the Bucks, the Toronto Raptors and the pre-Durant Golden State Warriors. Champions typically are built, brick-by-brick and one day at a time. Guys don&rsquo;t typically show up to the gym, build a bomb squad and then achieve at the highest level. It just doesn&rsquo;t usually work like that. Teams scratch and claw their way to championships.
The Nets are trying to glide their way there.
Obviously, Brooklyn has enough talent to buck the trend, but the other things that are required &mdash; chemistry, cohesion, synergy and good fortune &mdash; have simply been missing from their equation. And it&rsquo;s a shame.&nbsp;
Through the first half of the 2021-22 season, Kevin Durant has somehow managed to make us all forget that he&rsquo;s human. At 33 years old, with the mileage on his odometer and an injury that&rsquo;s caused the sun to set on his predecessors, he&rsquo;s had no problem helping us forget.
Ironically, as he, Harden and Irving have been cycled in and out of the lineup, Sean Marks has managed to find difference-making supporting players. Whether it be Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert or Joe Harris and Nicolas Claxton, the Nets always seem to have the infantry ready. They&rsquo;ve been missing the captains.
Perhaps what&rsquo;s most frustrating is the fact that no amount of basketball talent will carry you through if the stars don&rsquo;t align for you. And after so long, it&rsquo;s fair to wonder whether they&rsquo;ll ever align in Brooklyn. Especially as Durant heals and Irving and Harden each play out what could be &mdash; in theory &mdash; their final season in Brooklyn.
When it was all said and done for LeBron in Miami, the Heat had won the Eastern Conference four consecutive times and had two championships to show for it.&nbsp;
It wasn&rsquo;t seven, but on the route from pre-championship pep rally in Miami back to Cleveland, LeBron learned a valuable lesson: winning in the NBA is no accident. Getting talented teammates is the easy part.&nbsp;
Everything else &mdash; including the things you can&rsquo;t control &mdash; is what makes it really tough.
Sadly, through the lens of Kevin Durant and his star-crossed union with Kyrie Irving and James Harden, the Brooklyn Nets are learning that firsthand.

Moke Hamilton discusses the fortune (or lack thereof) of the Brooklyn Nets' Big 3, who can't manage to stay on the court.

Star-crossed: In Brooklyn, good fortune remains missing ingredient

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 31 points in his return from a one-game absence, Khris Middleton added 15 of his 20 in the third quarter and the Milwaukee Bucks blew out the Brooklyn Nets 121-109 on Friday night.
Bobby Portis scored 20 of his 25 in the first half to help the Bucks snap a two-game skid. The last loss came without Antetokounmpo, who didn't play Wednesday night against Toronto because of an illness unrelated to COVID-19.
The Bucks are without coach Mike Budenholzer, point guard Jrue Holiday and a number of other key players because of coronavirus health and safety protocols, but got big games from some who did play. Antetokounmpo had nine assists and seven rebounds, and Portis grabbed 12 boards.
Kevin Durant had 29 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Nets, who have lost five straight home games. James Harden finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Brooklyn won Wednesday night in Indiana with Kyrie Irving making his season debut. He wasn't in the building Friday, ineligible to play home games because he hasn't been vaccinated against COVID-19 as mandated for New York City's professional athletes.
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Back on the court where they won Game 7 in overtime in last season&rsquo;s Eastern Conference semifinals, the Bucks made clear early this one wouldn&rsquo;t be going down to the wire.
Portis scored 10 points in the first quarter, though it should have been 12. He missed a breakaway dunk with no Nets player anywhere near.
He had 10 more in the second, sending Milwaukee to the half with a 60-49 lead even though Antetokounmpo played just 2 1/2 minutes of the period before going to the bench with a third foul.
Middleton took over from there, making three 3-pointers &mdash; one while being fouled &mdash; during a 19-4 spurt in the third that extended a nine-point lead to 87-63 at the midway point of the period.
TIP-INS
Bucks: Milwaukee signed guards Langston Galloway and Jeff Dowtin to 10-day hardship contracts Friday. Galloway recently finished a stint with the Nets, appearing in four games during two 10-day contracts. ... Acting coach Darvin Ham, on being back at the site of the playoff thriller: &ldquo;Great memories, but it&rsquo;s 2022,&rdquo; he said.
Nets: Durant moved ahead of Patrick Ewing (24,815 points) into 23rd place on the career scoring list. ... Nicolas Claxton and Cam Thomas each scored 14 points.
PATTY'S PLACE
Patty Mills shot 1 for 8 for three points. He returned to his reserve role when Irving played Wednesday, but was back in the starting lineup again Friday. Coach Steve Nash said the Nets need to keep Mills in the lineup at home while starting swingman Joe Harris is recovering from left ankle surgery.
&ldquo;I think the Kyrie situation hopefully helps Patty,&rdquo; Nash said. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve seen him kind of almost be overused and over-depended on, and I think it&rsquo;s been difficult for him at times to be able to continue his level of play because we&rsquo;ve overburdened him. So, can Kyrie keep his minutes in a sweet spot where he can keep it consistently high level?&rdquo;
COACH'S CHAIR
Ham, on what it feels like to in the head coach's seat:
&ldquo;It feels weird and feels intense and I like it, but I also like not being in it at this point in time. Bud makes it look effortless man, but I've seen what he goes through being with him since Day 1.&rdquo;
UP NEXT
Bucks: At Charlotte on Saturday night.
Nets: Host San Antonio on Sunday.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 31 in his return from a one-game absence and the Bucks blew out the Nets 121-109.

Giannis returns, Bucks blow out Nets 121-109 in Brooklyn

After rolling out my<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ranking-the-top-150-nba-players-for-fantasy-basketball-in-2021-22" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Top-150 NBA Fantasy overall rankings</a> last week, I have broken down each position into tiers.
It is important to state that these rankings are based on a nine-category roto format (points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks, three-pointers, field goal percentage, free-throw percentage and turnovers). Also, please note position eligibility is based on Yahoo&rsquo;s fantasy settings and, as a result, many players qualify at multiple positions.
Guards
The two biggest question marks among all guards reside in Philadelphia and Brooklyn. Ben Simmons has (awkwardly) returned to Sixers, but it is still unclear whether Big Ben plans to "merely report to the team or truly rejoin the team," <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ben-simmons-arrives-in-philly-takes-covid19-test" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN</a>. Thus, Simmons is arguably the biggest boom-or-bust fantasy pick in the NBA this season.
Irving, on the other hand, is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/itll-be-difficult-for-kyrie-and-the-nets-to-come-back-from-this" target="_blank" rel="noopener">persona non grata in the borough of Brooklyn</a>. Although Kyrie is eligible to participate in the Nets' away games, Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks said Tuesday that Irving will not be allowed to play or practice with the team at all until he gets vaccinated. &ldquo;He has a choice to make, and he made his choice,&rdquo; Marks <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nets-say-kyrie-irving-cant-play-or-practice-with-team-while-unvaccinated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told reporters Tuesday</a>. &ldquo;And my job here is to make what we deem is the best choices for the organization moving ahead and as a whole.&rdquo; There is certainly still a chance Irving gets his jab and is cleared to play, but it&rsquo;s too much of a risk to roll the dice until late in the draft, in my opinion.
Tier 1: James Harden PG, SG (BKN)&nbsp; Luka Doncic PG, SG (DAL) Stephen Curry PG, SG (GSW) Damian Lillard PG (POR)
Tier 2: Bradley Beal SG, SF (WAS) Trae Young PG (ATL) Jimmy Butler SF, PF, SG (MIA) LeBron James PG, SG, SF, PF (LAL)
Tier 3: Fred VanVleet PG, SG (TOR) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander PG, SG (OKC)
Tier 4: Jrue Holiday PG, SG (MIL) Chris Paul PG (PHO) &nbsp; Zach LaVine SG, SF (CHI) Donovan Mitchell PG, SG (UTAH)
Tier 5: Khris Middleton SF, PF, SG (MIL) Jaylen Brown SG, SF (BOS) De'Aaron Fox PG (SAC)&nbsp; Devin Booker SG, SF, PG (PHO)
Tier 6: LaMelo Ball PG, SG (CHA) CJ McCollum PG, SG (POR) Russell Westbrook PG (LAL) Kevin Porter Jr. SG, SF, PG (HOU)&nbsp; Dejounte Murray PG, SG (SAS) Malcolm Brogdon PG, SG (IND)&nbsp; Terry Rozier PG, SG (CHA)
Tier 7: Mikal Bridges SG, SF (PHO) Lonzo Ball PG, SG (CHI) Gordon Hayward SG, SF (CHA) Ja Morant PG (MEM) Bogdan Bogdanovic SF, PF, SG (ATL) Darius Garland PG, SG (CLE) Anthony Edwards SG, SF (MIN) DeMar DeRozan SF, PF, SG (CHI) Kyle Lowry PG (MIA) Tyrese Haliburton PG, SG (SAC) Derrick White PG, SG (SAS)
Tier 8: Mike Conley PG (UTAH) Jalen Suggs PG, SG (ORL) Spencer Dinwiddie PG, SG (WAS) Cade Cunningham PG, SG (DET) Ben Simmons PG (PHI) Caris LeVert SG, SF (IND) D&rsquo;Angelo Russell PG, SG (MIN) Collin Sexton PG, SG (CLE) Marcus Smart PG, SG (BOS) Jordan Poole PG, SG (GSW)&nbsp;
Tier 9: Andrew Wiggins SG, SF (GSW)&nbsp; Nickeil Alexander-Walker SG, SF, PG (NOP) Devonte&rsquo; Graham PG, SG (NOP) Evan Fournier SG, SF (NYK) Buddy Hield SG, SF (SAC) Norman Powell SG, SF (POR) Kemba Walker PG (NYK) RJ Barrett SG, SF (NYK) Reggie Jackson PG, SG (LAC) Dennis Schroder PG (BOS) Jordan Clarkson PG, SG (UTAH) Joe Ingles SG, SF, PF (UTAH) Joe Harris SG, SF (BKN)&nbsp; Malik Beasley PG, SG, SF (MIN) Kyrie Irving PG, SG (BKN)&nbsp;
Tier 10:&nbsp; De&rsquo;Anthony Melton PG, SG (MEM) Jalen Green SG (HOU) Klay Thompson SG, SF (GSW) Dillon Brooks SG, SF (MEM) Matisse Thybulle SG, SF (PHI) T.J. McConnell PG, SG (IND) Derrick Rose PG, SG (NYK) Tim Hardaway Jr. SG, SF (DAL) Kelly Oubre Jr. SG, SF, PF (CHA) Eric Bledsoe PG, SG (LAC) Kevin Huerter SG, SF (ATL) Josh Giddey PG, SG, SF (OKC) Tyrese Maxey PG, SG (PHI)
Forwards
Looking for a potential sleeper at forward? I&rsquo;d suggest highlighting Pascal Siakam or Evan Mobley on your cheat sheet.&nbsp;
After a phenomenal 2019-20 campaign, in which he was named to the All-NBA Second Team, Siakam failed to live up to expectations last season; his scoring average, three-point makes and effective field goal percentage all decreased. In addition, Pascal is still working his way back from surgery on a torn labrum, which has forced his ADP (Average Draft Position) to plummet. However, earlier this week, Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said his star forward has been &ldquo;going 100%&rdquo; without contact for about 4-6 weeks, and could return later this month.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Evan Mobley is going to be a special defender in the NBA. GMs believe that Mobley will be the best player from his draft class in five years 👀 (🎥 <a href="https://twitter.com/Mike_Schmitz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Mike_Schmitz</a>) <a href="https://t.co/iPiaabn2Gu">pic.twitter.com/iPiaabn2Gu</a>
&mdash; NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1446161049753882629?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

Mobley&rsquo;s stock is soaring after impressive performances and extended usage for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the preseason (he&rsquo;s leading his team in playing time, logging 28.4 minutes per game). Mr. Mobley is probably worth the gamble, as his upside is emarkably enticing.&nbsp;
Tier 1: Nikola Jokic PF, C (DEN)
Tier 2: Jayson Tatum SF, PF (BOS) Giannis Antetokounmpo PF, C (MIL) Kevin Durant SF, PF (BKN) Joel Embiid PF, C (PHI) Anthony Davis PF, C (LAL)&nbsp; Bradley Beal SG, SF (WAS) Paul George SF, PF, SG (LAC)
Tier 3: Jimmy Butler SF, PF, SG (MIA) LeBron James PG, SG, SF, PF (LAL) Domantas Sabonis PF, C (IND) Bam Adebayo PF, C (MIA) Michael Porter Jr. SF, PF (DEN Zach LaVine SG, SF (CHI)
Tier 4: Khris Middleton SF, PF, SG (MIL) Jaylen Brown SG, SF (BOS) Julius Randle PF, C (NYK) Devin Booker SG, SF, PG (PHO) Myles Turner PF, C (IND) OG Anunoby SF, PF (TOR)&nbsp; Tobias Harris SF, PF (PHI)
Tier 5: Richaun Holmes PF, C (SAC) Brandon Ingram SF, PF (NOP) Christian Wood PF, C (HOU) Kristaps Porzingis PF, C (DAL) John Collins PF, C (ATL) Kevin Porter Jr. SG, SF, PG (HOU)&nbsp; Zion Williamson PF (NOP)
Tier 6: Pascal Siakam PF, C (TOR) Mikal Bridges SG, SF (PHO) Jaren Jackson Jr. PF, C (MEM) Chris Boucher PF, C (TOR) Gordon Hayward SG, SF (CHA) Bogdan Bogdanovic SF, PF, SG (ATL) Anthony Edwards SG, SF (MIN) DeMar DeRozan SF, PF, SG (CHI) Robert Williams III C, PF (BOS)
Tier 7: Draymond Green PF, C (GSW) Jerami Grant SF, PF (DET) Caris LeVert SG, SF (IND) Robert Covington PF, C, SF (POR) Miles Bridges SF, PF (CHA) Kelly Olynyk PF, C (DET) Buddy Hield SG, SF (SAC)&nbsp; Isaiah Stewart PF, C (DET) Andrew Wiggins SG, SF (GSW)&nbsp;
Tier 8: Nickeil Alexander-Walker SG, SF, PG (NOP) Evan Fournier SG, SF (NYK) P.J. Washington PF, C (CHA) Norman Powell SG, SF (POR) Kyle Anderson SF, PF (MEM) Jonathan Isaac SF, PF (ORL) Evan Mobley C, PF (CLE) Larry Nance Jr. PF, C (POR) Harrison Barnes SF, PF (SAC) Mason Plumlee PF, C (CHA) Bobby Portis Jr. PF, C (MIL) De&rsquo;Andre Hunter SF, PF (ATL) Daniel Gafford C, PF (WAS)
Tier 9: Thaddeus Young PF, C, SF (SAS) Joe Ingles SG, SF, PF (UTAH) Lauri Markkanen PF, C (CLE) Joe Harris SG, SF (BKN)&nbsp; Keldon Johnson SF, PF (SAS) Malik Beasley PG, SG, SF (MIN) T.J. Warren SF, PF (IND) Jae'Sean Tate SF, PF (HOU) Daniel Theis PF, C (HOU) Brandon Clarke PF, C (MEM) Saddiq Bey SF (DET)\ Klay Thompson SG, SF (GSW) Derrick Favors C, PF (OKC) Al Horford PF, C (BOS)
Tier 10: Kyle Kuzma SF, PF (WAS) Matisse Thybulle SG, SF (PHI) Nicolas Batum SF, PF, SG (LAC) Derrick Rose PG, SG (NYK) Marcus Morris Sr. PF, C, SF (LAC) Dillon Brooks SG, SF (MEM) Alperen Sengun PF, C (HOU) Tim Hardaway Jr. SG, SF (DAL) Montrezl Harrell PF, C (WAS) Kelly Oubre Jr. SG, SF, PF (CHA) Nerlens Noel PF, C (NYK)&nbsp; Isaiah Roby C, PF (OKC) Kevin Huerter SG, SF (ATL) Khem Birch PF, C (TOR) Aaron Gordon SF, PF (DEN)
Centers
Centers take on added importance in fantasy hoops due to the scarcity. That&rsquo;s part of the reason why Jokic is viewed as the near-unanimous top overall selection in drafts this year.&nbsp;
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Last season, Jokic authored a season for the ages. Not only did he score a career-high 26.4 points and rip down 10.8 rebounds per game, but he also dished out an average of 8.3 dimes each night, joining Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA history to average at least 25 points, 10 boards and 8 assists over a season. Incredibly, Jokic tallied a total of 599 assists in 2020-21, which was the third-most in the entire league. Wilt Chamberlain, who led the NBA with 8.6 APG in 1967-68, is the only center to post a higher assist-average over a full season. As a fantasy cherry on top, the Joker proved incredibly durable, appearing in every game last season.
Tier 1: Nikola Jokic PF, C (DEN)
Tier 2: Karl-Anthony Towns C (MIN)
Tier 3: Giannis Antetokounmpo PF, C&nbsp; Joel Embiid PF, C (PHI) Anthony Davis PF, C (LAL)
Tier 4: Nikola Vucevic C (CHI) Domantas Sabonis PF, C (IND) Bam Adebayo PF, C (MIA) Rudy Gobert C (UTAH)
Tier 5: Myles Turner PF, C (IND) Clint Capela C (ATL) Julius Randle PF, C (NYK) Richaun Holmes PF, C (SAC) Deandre Ayton C (PHO) Christian Wood PF, C (HOU)&nbsp; Kristaps Porzingis PF, C (DAL) John Collins PF, C (ATL)
Tier 6: Jaren Jackson Jr. PF, C (MEM) Jusuf Nurkic C (POR) Pascal Siakam PF, C (TOR) Chris Boucher PF, C (TOR)&nbsp; Robert Williams III C, PF (BOS) Jonas Valanciunas C (NOP) Draymond Green PF, C (GSW) Robert Covington PF, C, SF (POR) Jarrett Allen C (CLE) Kelly Olynyk PF, C (DET) Isaiah Stewart PF, C (DET)
Tier 7: P.J. Washington PF, C (CHA) Evan Mobley C, PF (CLE) Mitchell Robinson C (NYK) Larry Nance Jr. PF, C (POR) Jakob Poeltl C (SAS) Wendell Carter Jr. C (ORL) Brook Lopez C (MIL) Mason Plumlee PF, C (CHA) Bobby Portis Jr. PF, C (MIL)
Tier 8: Daniel Gafford C, PF (WAS) Thaddeus Young PF, C, SF (SAS) Lauri Markkanen PF, C (CLE) Daniel Theis PF, C (HOU) Brandon Clarke PF, C (MEM) Ivica Zubac C (LAC) Derrick Favors C, PF (OKC) Al Horford PF, C (BOS)
Tier 9: Marcus Morris Sr. PF, C, SF (LAC) Mo Bamba C (ORL) Montrezl Harrell PF, C (WAS) Thomas Bryant C (WAS) Nerlens Noel PF, C (NYK)&nbsp; Alperen Sengun PF, C (HOU)&nbsp;
Tier 10: Khem Birch PF, C (TOR) Isaiah Roby C, PF (OKC) Andre Drummond C (PHI)&nbsp; Steven Adams C (MEM) Serge Ibaka PF, C (LAC)&nbsp; James Wiseman C (GSW) Naz Reid C (MIN) Marvin Bagley III PF, C (SAC) LaMarcus Aldridge PF, C (BKN) Nicolas Claxton PF, C (BKN) Kevin Love PF, C (CLE) Hassan Whiteside PF, C (UTAH)

Tommy Beer divides the top NBA fantasy guards, forwards and centers into 10 tiers each based on their value.

2021-22 NBA Fantasy Basketball Rankings: 10 tiers for each position

Nekias Duncan breaks down all five teams in the Atlantic Division for his 2021-22 NBA season preview.

2021-22 NBA Season Preview: Atlantic Division

The Brooklyn Nets had all the shooting and scoring any team could ever want.
They just didn't have the health that every team needs.
Kevin Durant was spectacular in his first postseason in Brooklyn, but by the end of it a Big Three was down to 1 1/2. Kyrie Irving was on the bench and James Harden probably should have been.
That's the way it often went for Brooklyn after putting together its three superstars. On paper, it looked unstoppable.
On the court, it just wasn't seen all that much.
&ldquo;We gave it everything we had,&rdquo; Harden said. &ldquo;Just having to deal with injuries throughout the course of the year set us back.&rdquo;
That contributed to an ending far earlier than the Nets anticipated. Brooklyn was eliminated with a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-milwaukee-bucks-nba-sports-7c1e79825d167e686b9c132c0c8634e0">115-111 overtime loss </a> to the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Irving missed the final 3 1/2 games of the series with a sprained right ankle. Harden played only 43 seconds of Games 1-4 because of right hamstring tightness, then came back without much mobility to play the final three.
Things like that happened plenty for the Nets. Just as one All-Star would come back, another would go out. Durant, Irving and Harden played in the same game only eight times during the regular season and got only one round together in the postseason.
&ldquo;So much adversity this year,&rdquo; coach Steve Nash said. &ldquo;First year together. So many changes to the roster. So many injuries. COVID protocols. They couldn&rsquo;t have given us anything more.&rdquo;
The Nets went 48-24, the best winning percentage in franchise history and the second-best record in the East. They were second in the league in scoring and 3-point percentage, led the league in field goal percentage and reached 120 points 34 times, nearly half their games.
But that firepower was gone by midway through the second round. All the Nets really had left was Durant, and that was almost enough. He had 49 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists in Game 5 and then 48 points, most ever in a Game 7, while playing all 53 minutes.
The plan was for him to have more help and win more games.
&ldquo;We want to win,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;We want to win every game we play. We want to win a championship every year, just like every team.&rdquo;
They didn't get nearly close enough.
Things to know about the Nets as they begin their offseason:
DAZZLING DURANT
After missing a season recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon, Durant looked just as good as he did while winning four NBA scoring titles. He averaged 26.9 points and set career highs by shooting 53.7% from the field and 45% from 3-point range.
HURTING HARDEN
Harden said after Game 7 he was playing with basically a Grade 2 hamstring strain. He wasn't in shape to begin the season in Houston and perhaps that led to an injury-plagued finish in Brooklyn, where he missed 20 of 21 games in the second half with hamstring problems.
MANNING THE MIDDLE
The center spot is probably the biggest need for the Nets. DeAndre Jordan lost his starting role and eventually his place in the rotation entirely, LaMarcus Aldridge had to retire because of a heart condition and Blake Griffin ended up having to start despite being undersized. The Nets will have to determine if second-year big man Nicolas Claxton is the answer or if they need to look outside.
NASH'S STAFF
The Nets gave their rookie head coach an experienced staff. But there are currently seven teams looking for new coaches and some of Nash's assistants, such as two-time Coach of the Year Mike D'Antoni and Ime Udoka, could be candidates.
ROUNDING OUT THE ROSTER
With Durant, Irving and Harden all under contract, the Nets have made all their big moves and should need only to build around them. Veterans such as Griffin and Aldridge were happy to sign on cheap for a chance at a ring and the Nets should be able to interest more players like them.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Kevin Durant was spectacular in his first postseason in Brooklyn, but by the end of it, a Big Three was down to one-and-a-half.

Nets had the shooting and scoring, but needed more health

Just a short time after appearing to exorcise their playoff demons by sweeping the Miami Heat, the Milwaukee Bucks have suddenly reverted back to their old habits, and they find themselves in a 2-0 hole following drubbings by the shorthanded, yet unflappable, Brooklyn Nets.
Sure, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are doing the heavy lifting without their third amigo James Harden, who's been sidelined by an awfully-timed hamstring injury, but it's been a reborn Blake Griffin, jack-of-all-trades Bruce Brown and confident reserves Mike James and Nicolas Claxton who truly have Brooklyn playing as one.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Bucks are <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/passing/?Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;sort=PASSES_MADE&amp;dir=1&amp;PORound=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not moving the basketball</a>. Through two games, they're averaging just over 208.0 passes per game. Though smaller sample sizes are noisier by nature, it's the lowest amount in the semifinal round thus far, and a far cry from their 258.3 passes per game in the postseason's opening round. Related to that fact, Milwaukee is not racking up consistent assists in any way, shape or form.
Though understanding they've got to make shots, the Bucks have gone "one and done" all too many times, settling early and often against a Nets team that can be beaten if you get them off balance. According to NBA.com, Milwaukee is shooting a ghastly 32.8% on pull-up field goals in this series. When that is the case, there should be no reason to <a href="https://go.nba.com/hnnm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">take over 33 of them</a> per contest.
Stating the obvious, Giannis Antetokounmpo is not a point guard, nor should he be Milwaukee's primary playmaker. He is a force to be reckoned with when playing without the ball, cutting to the rim and attacking using angles off the catch. That was evident in the Bucks' beatdown of the Heat! Now, the Nets have done a solid job of walling off the restricted area -- a la the 2019-20 Heat -- and he's been trying to make them pay with jumpers; however, that's not exactly his strength (he's 8-of-21 on jump shots and 3-of-13 on field goals outside of the paint).
He's been too timid and indecisive in the half-court. Post-up fadeaways aren't the answer, either, and making free throws would be quite helpful to a now-struggling offense (he's shooting 20% from the charity stripe on five attempts per game).
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Of course, Giannis' teammates need to be much better if the Bucks expect to win a game, much less this series. That starts with Khris Middleton, who has been nothing short of disappointing after torching Miami for four games. On the surface, it's missed attempts and, like many of his teammates, poor-shot selection. Playtype numbers tell a story that takes it a step further.
According to InStat, Middleton has failed to generate more than 0.65 points per possession as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, and even worse, has created a lowly 0.29 PPP on seven post-ups. Those are <a href="https://basketball.instatscout.com/players/9020/playtypes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his two most frequently used roles within the Bucks offense so far</a>. To compare, in the Heat series, he had double the frequency on catch-and-shoot possessions and he was posting up six percent less.
Defensively, Middleton has been toasted by Irving, Durant and James (Mike, not Harden). Against Middleton, the Nets are scoring 1.88 points per possession on catch-and-shoots, 1.75 PPP on handoffs, 1.75 PPP with pick-and-roll handlers and 1.25 PPP in isos, per InStat. Again, noisy numbers with just a two-game sample size, but the offensive shortcomings are clearly leading to defensive slipups.
To be frank, this is not a version of Middleton that the Bucks can overcome to beat a title favorite that's just hitting its stride (especially since Brooklyn should only better once they get back Harden and a key glue guy in Jeff Green).
While Jrue Holiday is doing his best at taking care of the ball and has clearly been Milwaukee's best bet as a playmaker, he's still not being aggressive enough, especially on the fastbreak. He hasn't driven with a purpose off misses or turnovers; instead, he's had a more methodical pace and has been fine with attempting threes before most of his teammates have even gotten set in their spots.
Defending in transition, Holiday has been no match for Brooklyn's speed when its players have momentum or use their trickery. To be fair, he's done a decent job against Irving, especially since we all know how elusive and crafty Uncle Drew can be.
The final piece to the puzzle is Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer. We're not going to dig into the rotations all that much because most people see the perplexing all-bench lineups, and we've had this conversation many times before. The confusing thing is that the lineups improved in the Miami series, and then Coach Bud went right back to square one. It's like Budenholzer got a random bout of amnesia and forgot everything he successfully tried over the last year, regressing back to the 2020 version of himself.
It's as simple as this: the seat temperature is going to increase fast if he doesn't change his ways. There was a moment in Game 2 when the Nets came out of the gate and took a 17-point lead in the first quarter. Sticking to his ways, Budenholzer pulled Giannis out for a rest... with Milwaukee down double-digits and Brooklyn going for the early kill.
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This decision coming off of a <a href="https://twitter.com/eric_nehm/status/1401364036600713227?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Game 1 postgame quote from Coach Bud</a> that really caught some attention (and flack):
"I think our guys left it all out on the court. They all want to play 48 minutes," Budenholzer said. "So we just gotta keep them competing, keep them where they can execute. Giannis never wants to come out, Khris, Jrue. But we got a deep team and we gotta take advantage of it. Keep them ready. Keep them fresh, but they want to be out there."
Budenholzer's playoff reputation precedes him, and even with the exception of the first round, he hasn't shown a willingness to change or adapt on the biggest stage (or in a series with all eyes on his team).&nbsp;
Get the rock out of Giannis' hands and put him in position to thrive away from the ball, fall back to the drive-and-kicks, don't settle, be decisive, stay disciplined as best as possible against Brooklyn's stars and scrap for loose possessions the way that Griffin has done.
Across the board, Game 3 is going to be the most important 48 minutes the team has played all year long. It's probably the most pivotal game the team has played since Milwaukee was in the Eastern Conference Finals in Bud's first year.
It's time to put up or shut up. If they fail to do the former, Giannis and the Bucks won't have to bother packing their bags for a trip back to Barclays Center.

Spencer Davies looks at why the Bucks have had such a difficult time with the Nets in the first two games of their series.

How the Bucks can avoid more disaster against striding Nets

Think about how much things in the NBA have changed in the past week. Last Monday was Memorial Day, and the following teams were still alive: the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies.
Danny Ainge, Steve Clifford and Terry Stotts still had jobs, LeBron James and Anthony Davis still had die-hard believers, many folks considered Trae Young a flash in the pan, James Harden had what we thought was a healthy hamstring and Luka Doncic was arguably the one player who could single-handedly lead his team into the second round.
Well, here we are one Monday later with a whole bunch of stuff changed.&nbsp;
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We are down to eight teams in the NBA playoffs, Young is now a villain in Philadelphia as well as New York, Kawhi Leonard is Mr. Postseason Dangerous again, Nikola Jokic is about to go up against Deandre Ayton in what could be the biggest postseason positional mismatch we are going to see, and the Utah Jazz and Clippers are about to ignite a debate on whether taking a combined 100 three-pointers in a single game (or something close to that) is what the NBA in 2021 has become.
We are still a month away from the start of the NBA Finals, and the Olympics are drawing nearer with a whole bunch of nations still hoping to qualify&hellip; if the Japanese do not bail on the event. Japan has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the world, and reporters who are going to cover the Olympics are learning that they will be banned from public transportation in Tokyo.&nbsp;
Yes, 2021 remains exceedingly complicated, and every day or night that we turn on NBA playoff games, we are reminded that the league remains stuck in COVID-avoidance mode despite the pandemic drawing to a close in the United States. The coaches have lost the masks, but the players on the bench, the fans in the stands, the actors in the Heineken commercials, the cardboard cutout fans at Staples Center and the sideline reporters being 18 feet away (instead of six feet away) all serve as a reminder that some people remain mentally stuck in March 2020.
Progress on that front is glacial despite a dearth of positive COVID tests around the NBA. &nbsp; So we enter the week with the Brooklyn Nets holding a 1-0 lead on the Milwaukee Bucks despite losing James Harden after he re-aggravated his hamstring injury in the first minute of Game 1. Now, we have to start wondering whether we have seen the last of him for this season, and if so, midseason signee Mike James &mdash; who left CSKA Moscow in the Euroleague midseason &mdash; is going to become suddenly relevant.
Joel Embiid did not look 100% healthy as he played through a partially torn right meniscus on Sunday at home against the Hawks, who nearly blew the game in the final minute of the fourth quarter as they struggled to get the ball past halfcourt. Nate McMillan will likely be drilling the Hawks on breaking the press at practice today.
Chris Paul and Devin Booker will be back on the national radar tonight as the Suns open at home against the Nuggets, and two players that will become especially relevant for the second straight postseason will be Jae Crowder, who spent last season with the Heat, and Michael Porter Jr., who spent most of the 2019-2020 season recovering from a second back surgery.&nbsp;
Role players tend to have a bigger role in the postseason than folks previously expected, which serves as a reminder that Rajon Rondo is still around and still carries the "Playoff Rondo" nickname. If Patrick Beverly remains sidelined, that removes a terrific defender against Paul, and we shall see if Reggie Jackson, Rondo or someone else can fluster CP3 into one or two extra turnovers per night.
The Clippers-Jazz series figures to be an epic three-point shootout. Los Angeles led the NBA in three-point percentage at an astounding 41.1%, while the Jazz shot 38.9% but made 1,205 threes over the 72-game regular season. That was third-most in NBA history. Their average of 16.7 threes per contest was an NBA record, and they were the only team to hit 10-plus threes in every game in a single season.&nbsp;
In Sunday&rsquo;s games, the Hawks made 20 of 47 three-pointers while the Sixers were 10-for-29, and Philadelphia missed 11 free throws to Atlanta&rsquo;s one. Yes, sometimes it just comes down to the little things like shooting free throws.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is shooting 58.3% from the foul line and just 14.3% from three-point range. Giannis, Brook Lopez, Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis give Milwaukee a major size advantage against Brooklyn, but the Nets can burn fouls and send these guys to the line if they are going to continue to get jittery from 15 feet away.
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Brooklyn is shooting 91.1% on free throws to Milwaukee&rsquo;s 72.2%, and in the other East series, the Hawks are at 85.5% on foul shots through six playoff games compared to Philly&rsquo;s 70.1% &ndash; the worst average among the 16 teams that made the postseason. The Bucks have been the NBA&rsquo;s best offensive rebounding team in the postseason, but those extra possessions are not translating into converted three-pointers. The Bucks are at 30.7% from behind the arc. Only the dearly departed Lakers (29.9%) and Wizards (28.9%) have shot worse from long range.
Last year&rsquo;s finalists, the Heat and the Lakers, are off starting their summers. In hindsight, the Heat probably never should have traded Kelly Olynyk for Victor Oladipo, and the Lakers were victimized by injuries to Davis and James more so than anything else &ndash; although if Rob Pelinka had to do it all over again, he probably would have found a way to get Kyle Lowry from the Raptors in what was a surprisingly busy trade deadline. They did get Andre Drummond, but he is Exhibit A in how a one-trick pony with a monster contract can become more of an albatross than an asset. The front offices in Detroit and Cleveland already learned this the hard way.
The Nets are learning that Blake Griffin still has some game left, but the LaMarcus Aldridge signing netted them nothing, and it may turn out that the signings of James from CSKA Moscow and Alize Johnson from the G-League may have huge implications. The Pacers and Raptors both had Johnson, who is an energy and rebounding machine. They both let him walk. Props to Sean Marks for recognizing his talent, and we may see more of him if the Bucks&rsquo; size advantage needs to be neutralized by someone other than DeAndre Jordan (DNP-CD in Game 1) or Nicolas Claxton.
Marks signed James after he had a falling out with his coach at CSKA Moscow, and after getting 30 minutes of playing time in Game 1, it will be interesting to see whether Nash makes James the de facto replacement point guard for Harden or gives that role to Kyrie Irving instead.
The Bucks are dealing with postseason adversity for the first time this spring after sweeping Miami in the first round, and they are going to need better three-point shooting from someone &mdash; Lopez, Bryn Forbes, Middleton or P.J. Tucker &mdash; if they hope to keep up with what Brooklyn is capable of offensively.&nbsp;
Who would have guessed that losing Donte DiVincenzo to a torn ankle ligament would be such a big factor. Milwaukee had George Hill a year ago for moments such as this, but Hill is with Philly now and went 0-for-2 in 11 inconsequential minutes on Sunday as the folks in Philly learned firsthand that Trae Young is as strong of a villain as he is as a scorer. Are the Sixers really the better top-to-bottom team? Or has the national audience been sleeping on the Hawks since they were kept off national television for most of the NBA season?
We have a whole bunch of basketball still in front of us as the second round kicks into high gear this week, and let&rsquo;s not forget that teams that sometimes look dead can come back like Lazarus. The Nuggets did it last season in becoming the first team ever to recover from a pair of 3-1 deficits, and the Clippers did it against the Mavs after losing Game 1 and Game 2 at home and falling behind 30-11 in the first seven minutes of Game 3 at Dallas.&nbsp;
Leonard, Paul George and Playoff Rondo are now 0-0 against the Jazz, and the Nuggets have the same series score against the Suns. Mike Conley is dealing with a hamstring issue that may or may not be worse than Harden&rsquo;s, and if it keeps him out, Jordan Clarkson is going to have his hands full. For Denver, we shall have to wait and see who gets the assignment on Booker, who dropped 47 on the Lakers (with 11 defensive rebounds) in the clincher. The Suns, though, were just 1-2 against the Nuggets in the regular season, while the Jazz were 2-1 vs. the Clippers.
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Should be an interesting week. And month, because the draft lottery is just a couple weeks away.
Here&rsquo;s hoping that it is, because many of the familiar faces we have grown accustomed to seeing at this stage of the postseason are either finished or injured.&nbsp;
Trae, the stage is yours if you have another bow in you. Kawhi, we have not forgotten what you did for the Raptors two years ago. Kyrie, we are as mesmerized by you as we are perplexed by you. Ben and Joel, y&rsquo;all have a bit of a playoff meltdown history that Doc Rivers needs to get you past. Giannis: Make a free throw. Joker: Your job is to put a finals MVP trophy next to the regular season MVP trophy you will be getting soon. CP3: How&rsquo;s that shoulder, old man?
Good luck to everyone, and may the drama this June be a launching pad for what we are going to see in the Finals next month and in the Olympics in late July and August.

In the NBA Playoffs, one week can change everything. There are tons of questions that will be answered as the second round begins.

NBA first-round brought surprises, will there be more this week?

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; James Harden won't be back for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Milwaukee Bucks believe their shooting touch will.
So the Bucks have plenty of reasons for optimism heading into the game Monday night. Yet there's also still plenty of cause for concern.
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are still out there for the Brooklyn Nets, who spent all season working around injuries and proved another point about themselves after shaking off Harden's loss 43 seconds into Game 1.
&ldquo;That we have the capability of rising to the occasion,&rdquo; Irving said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a very mature basketball club because we play selfless and we trust each other, so in any situation in a game I feel like we have the talent, we have the preparation, we have the coaching staff to be able to go out and execute.&rdquo;
They did that on both sides of the floor in their 115-107 victory in Game 1. Durant scored 29 points, Irving had 25 and the Nets held the Bucks to 6-for-30 shooting from 3-point range.
The Phoenix Suns host the Denver Nuggets in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/az-state-wire-los-angeles-lakers-portland-trail-blazers-denver-nuggets-phoenix-suns-6a7a4fedc492f40120bc4d0be9cfd942">Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series</a> in the other game Monday.
The Nets ruled Harden <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wi-state-wire-brooklyn-nets-milwaukee-bucks-nba-sports-0b9acaeac3014b3c9f5ad1f8c1a33b1a">out for Game 2</a> because of right hamstring tightness. Coach Steve Nash said Harden's recent trouble with the hamstring, which caused him to miss 20 of 21 games late in the season, made his availability for the remainder of the series difficult to gauge.
&ldquo;For James, we obviously are desperate for him to return and he's a huge piece of what we do on our team, but at this point I think it would be all guesswork to really understand,&rdquo; Nash said. &ldquo;He's had such a little up-and-down recent history with it that it's really hard to predict, so let's hope for the best.&rdquo;
The opener of the East series between the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds was the first loss of the postseason for the Bucks. After making a franchise-record 14.4 3-pointers per game during the season, they also struggled from the perimeter in Game 1 of the first round against Miami before winning in overtime. But they knew then they could rely on their defense to hang in until the NBA's highest-scoring offense came around.
&ldquo;But the talent level wasn&rsquo;t the same,&rdquo; Giannis Antetokounmpo said. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re playing against Kyrie, KD, Joe Harris, one of the best shooters in the league, so it&rsquo;s a little bit different.
"It&rsquo;s a little bit more hard, but at the end of the day we love the challenge. We&rsquo;re going to stay together, we&rsquo;re going to play together and hopefully we can give ourselves a chance to win Game 2.&rdquo;
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That will be much easier if Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday shoot better. Middleton was 6 for 23, Holiday 7 for 19, and they combined to go 2 for 12 behind the arc.
The Bucks have significant size advantages up front. They had big margins in points in the paint (72-48) and second-chance points (20-4), with Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez combining to shoot 24 for 35.
&ldquo;But when it comes to kind of the guards and myself, I've got to finish better,&rdquo; Holiday said. &ldquo;There was a couple of them in there that I should have made and I didn&rsquo;t and next game we&rsquo;ll turn that around.&rdquo;
BUCKS AT NETS
Game 2, 7:30 p.m. EDT, TNT
&mdash;NEED TO KNOW: After unprecedented stability for this team, the Nets will have to use a new lineup for the first time this postseason. They used a franchise-record 38 different starting lineups during the regular season before going with their Big Three plus Harris and Blake Griffin for all six games. That was the most consecutive starts for any unit this season and made that already the second-most used starting five this season.
After having Durant, Harden and Irving play together only eight times during the season, Nash was hopeful for a good stretch of health.
&ldquo;I think I was there prior to last night but that&rsquo;s just not our reality,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and so you have to accept it and you have to enjoy the opportunity we have regardless of the adversity we that face.&rdquo;
&mdash;KEEP AN EYE ON: Harris and Griffin, who provided significant support for Durant and Irving Game 1. Harris scored 19 points and made five 3-pointers, while Griffin hit four and finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds while playing as Brooklyn&rsquo;s undersized center.
&mdash;INJURY WATCH: Nash said Jeff Green would miss his fifth straight game with a plantar fascia strain of his left foot, but believed the forward will play in the series.
&mdash;PRESSURE IS ON: Milwaukee's bench. Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer seems committed to trusting his subs, playing Antetokounmpo just 35 minutes while Durant and Irving surpassed 40. But none made anywhere near the impact of Mike James, Bruce Brown or Nicolas Claxton off the Nets' bench. Bryn Forbes was 1 for 5 on 3s after making 49% of them and averaging 15 points in the first round.
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More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

James Harden won't be back for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Milwaukee Bucks believe their shooting touch will.

Harden won't be back in Game 2, Bucks hope their shooting is

The second round of the NBA playoffs kicks off Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. when the Milwaukee Bucks hit the road to take on the Brooklyn Nets in Game 1. Currently, the point spread in this game sits at +/- 4 with the Nets listed as the favorite. Keep reading below to get caught up on how both teams got to this point, and find out which way <a href="https://betql.co/nba/odds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BetQL&rsquo;s NBA model</a> is picking this game.
Both of these teams made easy work of their first round opponents, and now as fans and bettors, we are lucky to get one of the best head-to-head matchups in the league for round two. The Bucks have been a hot pick for years, but haven&rsquo;t been able to make it over the hump, while the Nets are the newest super-team on the block looking to win a championship in their first year together.
Game Preview
The Nets are the higher seed in this matchup and will get home court advantage. They finished the year with the second-best record in the East, and are now looking to get by the No. 3 seed Bucks. In their first-round matchup, the Nets made light work of a struggling Boston team that was only able to take one game at home in that series. Other than Jayson Tatum being a human highlight reel, the Nets didn&rsquo;t face any real adversity in the series.
Like in many years past, Kevin Durant absolutely dominated the series, while Kyrie Irving and James Harden were more than happy to be the second and third option. In the series against the Celtics, the Nets were lucky enough to be able to avoid playing a traditional center and utilized mid-season pick up Blake Griffin in that role. They won&rsquo;t be that lucky in this series against the Bucks, and one of the biggest questions for Nets fans and bettors is: Who will protect the paint against this huge Bucks lineup?
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The Bucks finished this regular season with the third-best record in the East, and are well on their way to avenging their underwhelming performance in the playoffs last season. Last year, the Bucks stood no chance against the Miami Heat in the Bubble. When playoff seeding was finally settled this season, and the Bucks and Heat were matched up for a Round 1 series, everyone thought it would take five or six games. Fortunately for Bucks fans, Milwaukee was able to sweep the Heat and avenge its loss last year. Other than an overtime win in Game 1, the series was never all that close. The Bucks completely overpowered the Heat on both ends of the floor. They will need to do the same to the Nets if they have any real hopes of advancing in this series.
Looking at the series odds at FanDuel, the Nets are the overwhelming favorite to advance in the series at (-200) to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. On the other side, the Bucks are (+160) underdogs in this series to advance. Although the odds are great for the Nets to advance in this series, can Milwaukee do what it takes to steal Game 1?
BetQL Model Predictions &amp; Picks
Against The Spread Pick:
BetQL&rsquo;s NBA model has run 10,000 simulations of this game to provide insight on how the game will pan out, and after all those simulations, the model leans Bucks +4.
It is very hard to bet against the Nets after their dominant performance against the Celtics, but the BetQL team may be with the model in this Game 1 matchup.
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The Nets were not challenged at all against Bostonm and more importantly, they weren&rsquo;t challenged physically. The Bucks are a much larger and physical team that plays legitimate NBA bigs. The Nets are going to be forced to play either DeAndre Jordan or Nicolas Claxton in heavy rotation against the Bucks when they have a center on the floor.
Giannis will most likely pick up Durant throughout the series, and he will be able to challenge KD much more than the 32-year-old star was in the Celtics series. The Bucks even have Jrue Holiday to defend either Kyrie or Harden -- depending on how they strategize in the series. The Bucks' defense may not last throughout the series, but in Game 1, the physicality could have a big impact on the Nets' offense.
Pick: Bucks +4
Over/Under Pick
The over-under line for Game 1 is currently set at O/U 239.5 total points and BetQL&rsquo;s model is loving the over. The line is set high here, and higher than any line both teams had in their round one series.
The Bucks were 2-2 O/U in their series against the Heat, but part of that can be attributed to the Heat scoring over 100 points in regulation once in those four games. On the side, Brooklyn was 3-1 O/U against the Celtics.
The Nets' high-powered offense, coupled with the fact that Brooklyn doesn&rsquo;t exactly play defense, would make you think this game will go over. The only fear would be that the Bucks' defense will cause real issues for them, and they may look out of sorts in Game 1 with rookie coach Steve Nash. Either way, we are going to ride with <a href="https://betql.co/nba/odds/totals-spread" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BetQL&rsquo;s over-under computer pick</a> and bet over 239.5.
Pick: Over 239.5 total points
Prop Bet Spotlight
BetQL&rsquo;s prop model is still running simulations, so you will have to check out <a href="https://betql.co/nba/game-predictions/brooklyn-nets-vs-milwaukee-bucks-06-05-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">their game prediction page here</a>, but one prop the BetQL team has taken a close look at is Blake Griffin over-under 6.5 points. This may not be the sexiest prop on the board, but it has a great chance of hitting the under. The bookmakers even think the under is the play here because Under 6.5 points is at (-132) odds on FanDuel. Griffin&rsquo;s over-under line has stuck at 6.5 throughout the Celtics series, where he only reached the over once in five games.
Against the Bucks, BetQL's team believes Griffin will see his playing time reduced, and it will be more and more difficult for him to find easy buckets. Check back with BetQL to see which props their model loves right before tip-off.
Pick: Blake Griffin Under 6.5 Points (-132)
As a Basketball News reader you can get access to BetQL for 30% when you use the code BBN30, check out BetQL and win the rest of your bets for the playoffs.

Here's a betting guide for Game 1 between the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks.

Everything you need to know ahead of Nets-Bucks Game 1

Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton.
Two elite offenses. A pair of defenses where timely switches may determine their success or failures. A pair of head coaches with questions to answer.
I do not need to sell you on why this year's Bucks-Nets series may be the most anticipated gathering of the postseason. Star power, tactical intrigue and sweet, sweet #narratives will be on full display for however long the series goes on.
My job is a simple one: cut out the fluff, figure out what matters and give my best guesses on what you'll see.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR -- TRANSITION/EARLY OFFENSE
The Bucks and Nets were elite transition teams, ranking fourth (14.5) and sixth (14.3), respectively, in fast break points. Both got <a href="http://stats.inpredictable.com/nba/ssnTeamPoss.php?season=2020&amp;po=0&amp;frdt=2020-12-22&amp;todt=2021-06-01&amp;view=off&amp;sort=aoeffdr&amp;order=DESC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">busy after missed shots</a>, with the Nets (1.18 points per possession, 3rd) edging out the Bucks (1.15, 8th) in that metric.
Both squads look to space properly around their stars, though they tend to attack in slightly different ways. Giannis prefers to go middle. With spacers trailing to either side of him, it's difficult to build a wall on the fly while also accounting for those shooters. You have to pick a poison, basically.
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You may get a slightly different flavor from Brooklyn, particularly when Harden gets the outlet. He can rumble in -- he's drawn shooting fouls on 15.2% of his transition attempts since joining the Nets, per Synergy -- but often elects to turn down the speed dial and utilize early (drag) screens.
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About those drag screens: the Nets love to run them with an empty corner. Making their ball screens a 2-on-2 endeavor is typically trouble for their opponents. They'll get an unfavorable switch, or some sort of advantage in which the defense can't provide help in good conscious.
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The Bucks will also mix in those empty corner looks, particularly when Giannis is operating as the screener. For the most part, they prefer to keep things middle with their ball screens. They'll oscillate between five-out spacing and their dunker spot-infused setup depending on the lineup on the floor.
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WHAT TO WATCH FOR -- OUT OF BOUNDS
The Nets have a clear emphasis with their baseline or sideline-out-of-bounds plays: force the defense to make a quick, uncomfortable decision.
One of their most common sideline plays -- and one of the most common actions throughout the NBA -- is a quick-hitter in which the inbounder passes it to a big above the break. The inbounder will then receive a back-screen; the player that sets the back-screen will then lift above the break to flow into a dribble handoff or pick-and-roll with the big.&nbsp;
This ultimately isn't going to lead to anything, but here's an example of the set-up.
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Now, that's Mike James and Landry Shamet hooking up before flowing into a dance with DeAndre Jordan. There's a pocket for a pull-up middy that James opts not to take.
Imagine that same action with two of Harden, Irving, Durant or Joe Harris doing the initial exchange.&nbsp;
Now imagine&nbsp;that&nbsp;with counters, because the Nets have them. These aren't all scoring plays, but this gives you an idea of how the Nets can stress you out.
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If there's anything to keep an eye out for on the Bucks side, it's this screening action for Middleton if he's operating as the inbounder. He can be hit on a cut if it's there, a post-up on the opposite side (especially if there's a switch) or a clear out on the opposite wing if he's tracked all the way through.
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KEY QUESTIONS
1) Can either team afford to play drop coverage?
This could be referred to as the Brook Lopez Question. It could also be referred to as the DeAndre Jordan Question.&nbsp;
From my view, this is a more pressing question for the Nets. Jordan hasn't played a second during the postseason, and has only appeared in three games (44 minutes) since the beginning of May. It's clear they've leaned into a center rotation of Blake Griffin, Jeff Green and Nicolas Claxton -- with a little Durant mixed in there.
There are two issues with that.
Green is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/jeff-green-out-for-at-least-10-days-with-plantar-fascia-injury" target="_blank" rel="noopener">currently out</a> with a strained plantar fascia. There's no telling when he'll be back, or how effective he'll be when he returns. The other issue is that, from a size and physicality standpoint, Jordan is the only player on the Nets roster with a prayer of defending Giannis.
If Jordan does get the assignment again, he'll have a simple job: hang back in the paint, dare Giannis to shoot jumpers and absorb blows at the rim if he attacks.&nbsp;
That was a sound plan in the first half of their first meeting, but Giannis <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-brooklyn-nets-deandre-jordan-milwaukee-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo-playoff-preview-defense-center-key-nekias" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found utility</a> operating as a handoff man or screener in the second half of that game. Over the next two meetings, Giannis scored 85 points while shooting 52% from two and 40% from three.&nbsp;
Here's Giannis' shot chart with Jordan as his defender in those two meetings, per InStat tracking data.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/field-goals-giannis-antetokounmpo-1_lg.png" alt="" />
Giannis found his comfort zone in the second meeting. He brought the funk to Jordan, mixing in shoulder charging-drives, jump hooks, turnaround jumpers... you name it, he did it. If he can get to his spots and do what he wants against the Nets' best option, what do you do?
On the flip side, the Bucks have their own questions to answer in regards to Lopez. This isn't the Miami Heat, with all due respect.
For all the hoopla about Lopez hanging in a drop and the exploits that could come into play, the Heat ultimately didn't have the pull-up chops to make him (and the Bucks) bend. The Nets do, so Lopez in space could be problematic for Milwaukee.
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To that point: Brooklyn scored roughly 1.1 points per possession in the pick-and-roll when the Bucks were in drop coverage during the season series, per a source with access to Second Spectrum tracking data. That number was nearly cut in half (0.53 PPP) when the Bucks switched, though the sample (17 picks) is pretty small.
The Bucks will need Lopez if he can hold up, though. Not only is his rim protection value essential, but he's also been a security blanket on the other end of the floor.
He's figuratively and literally a large part of the Bucks' ability to clean the glass; their rebound rate drops nearly four percentage points with Lopez <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/vs/advanced/#!?TeamID=1610612749&amp;VsPlayerID=201572&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on the bench</a>.&nbsp;
Teams also have to be a bit careful about stashing smaller or worse defenders on Lopez. He's been more than willing to punk dudes on the block. He's generated nearly 1.2 points per possession when shooting out of the post against guards or forwards this season, per the Second Spectrum source.
2) How will the Bucks match up?
Donte DiVincenzo may not be a household name, but his ability to slither over screens will be missed. He <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/203925/head-to-head/?Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;Matchup=Offense" target="_blank" rel="noopener">got the Harris assignment</a> during the regular season meetings and did a decent job of tracking him. With DiVincenzo out, the Bucks are going to have some decisions to make.
Will they roll with Pat Connaughton in his place? There isn't a great matchup for him. Looking through his Brooklyn film, he looked more comfortable using his body to absord blows than he was navigating screens. His best flashes came when matched up against Green on stray possessions.
I think back to the first meeting where Durant or Harden were able to isolate him. Let's just say things did #not #go #well.
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He could be an innings eater of sorts against Harden. Harden would win that matchup, but maybe the gamble would be baiting the Nets into a heavier-than-they'd-like dosage of isolation play. That would allow Middleton (fresh off the Duncan Robinson assignment) to track Harris, Holiday to defend Kyrie and Giannis to take the Durant matchup from the jump.&nbsp;
The Bucks could opt to size up, inserting PJ Tucker in place of DiVincenzo and switching everything 1-through-4. I'd worry about what that would do to the Bucks on offense; both Tucker and Lopez can knock down open shots, but defenses don't defend them like true scoring threats. There's a reason that lineup only saw <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced/?Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TeamID=1610612749&amp;sort=MIN&amp;dir=1&amp;CF=GROUP_NAME*E*holiday:GROUP_NAME*E*middleton:GROUP_NAME*E*antetokounmpo:GROUP_NAME*E*lopez" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five minutes together</a> in the regular season.&nbsp;
3) How effective will Giannis be in pick-and-roll?
If the second half of the first meeting was any indication, the Bucks should be able to get good looks out of Giannis-as-screener actions. Allowing him to rumble into open space is a problem; switching a small onto him is a problem.
The Middleton-Giannis pick-and-roll, in particular, has been effective all season long. The Bucks scored 1.1 points per possession on trips featuring a ball screen between the two, per the Second Spectrum source.
What I'm curious about is the inverse. There were roughly a handful of possessions in which Giannis had a smaller player screen for him, with most of those coming in the second meeting. A quality (for Giannis) look was created every time.
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Very quietly, Giannis generated 1.23 points per possession as the pick-and-roll ball handler (passes included) this season, the best mark among 146 players to initiate at least 150 pick-and-rolls per Synergy. That number rose to 1.3 points per possession when a guard set the screen for Giannis.
I'm curious to see how often the Bucks work that wrinkle into the plan. With the Nets being a switch-heavy as they are, Milwaukee may be able to mismatch-hunt a bit.
STRAY THOUGHTS
<ul>
<li>It's a bit of a hat tip to the "drop coverage" section, but keep an eye on the way the Nets utilize Harris. He's mostly the beneficiary of the Big Three, spotting up and relocating when necessary to cash in on catch-and-shoots. The Nets have a bevy of stagger plays built in to get him easy looks, though. This one popped on film.</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>As was the case in the first round, Bryn Forbes minutes are going to be a barometer of the series. If he has a sizable role, it'll be due to him shooting well enough to do so. But also... these Nets are a lot more predatory than the Heat. The show-and-recovery sequences will have to be on point, because he simply won't survive on switches.</li>
<li>To that point, keep an eye on the Harden-Bruce Brown connection. The Nets scored over 1.2 points per possession when Brown screened for Harden this season, per the Second Spectrum source. Brown seems like a natural hiding place for a second unit guy like Forbes, but that could be fool's gold.</li>
<li>Even if the Bucks don't start this way, this has to be the series we see the Tucker-Giannis frontcourt to close things out. The Holiday-Middleton-Tucker-Giannis quartet has played 43 total minutes to this point; they have a plus-17.5 net rating in that time frame. The fifth will probably be the better of Connaughton or Forbes, though I guess you can never count Jeff Teague out of these things, amirite?</li>
<li>Very quietly, the Nets were a middling team against zone (0.97 PPP, 18th, per Synergy). The Bucks experimented with some zone in the second half of the season. I wouldn't be shocked to see them mix it in against Brooklyn's second unit.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Speaking of second units, Claxton vs Bobby Portis is going to be an under-the-radar battle that could swing a quarter, which could swing a game, which could swing the series. There are avenues (Portis' ineptitude in drop, Claxton's jumpiness or middling physicality) in which either guy could get played off the floor. This is a matchup to keep an eye on.</li>
</ul>

Nekias Duncan breaks down all the film, key matchups and numbers necessary to prepare for Brooklyn and Milwaukee's second-round clash.

NBA playoff primer: What you should look out for in Nets-Bucks

Kyrie Irving scored 22 points while playing with Kevin Durant and James Harden for the first time in three months, leading the Brooklyn Nets to a 105-91 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.
The eighth appearance of the season for Brooklyn's Big Three wasn't particularly pretty, with the Nets falling quickly into a 12-0 hole. But they had some sharp stretches and won their fourth straight, improving to 6-2 with their three All-Stars in the same game.
Durant shot just 4 for 17 but finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Harden had seven assists, five points and five rebounds while playing 25 minutes in his second game back from a hamstring injury.
But Brooklyn got 19 points and five 3-pointers from Jeff Green, while Bruce Brown had 16 points and 12 rebounds. The Nets ensured they would remain second in the Eastern Conference heading into the final day of the regular season.
Patrick Williams scored 24 points for the Bulls, the highest total of his rookie season. Thaddeus Young added 19 points and 13 rebounds in Chicago's first game since being eliminated from contention for the play-in tournament Friday when Washington beat Cleveland.
Durant, Irving and Harden hadn't played together since Feb. 13, in a victory at Golden State. Durant began a 23-game absence with a left hamstring injury in the next game, and Harden just returned earlier this week from his own right hamstring injury that sidelined him 18 games.
They were far from their best, with Durant missing his first five shots and never really finding his stroke. The Nets then scored just 18 points on 8-for-22 shooting in the third quarter, when Durant and Irving were a combined 3 for 10.
The Bulls trailed by only four after a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter while the Big Three all rested, but the Nets promptly put it away with a 15-2 response, the last seven after Durant and Harden re-entered, to make it 100-83.
The Nets rebounded from their slow start to get within one point after the first quarter, then used a 15-4 spurt late in the second to open their own 12-point lead. They were ahead 61-51 at the half, with Brown getting their final two baskets on follow shots.
TIP-INS
Bulls: Chicago played without Zach LaVine (right knee patellar tendinitis), Daniel Theis (right hip), and Troy Brown Jr. and Tomas Satoransky (sprained left ankles). Coach Billy Donovan said LaVine had been feeling pretty sore and the team wanted to be protective of its leading scorer.
Nets: Joe Harris missed his second straight game and won't play Sunday because of a left gluteal strain. Coach Steve Nash said it was a slight strain and Harris was expected to fully recover in time for the playoffs. ... Nicolas Claxton had 10 points and eight rebounds.
DELAYED DEBUT
It was the first time the Big Three played in front of its home crowd. Fans were not allowed inside Barclays Center until Feb. 23.
UP NEXT
Bulls: Host Milwaukee on Sunday.
Nets: Host Cleveland on Sunday.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden hadn't played together since Feb. 13, in a victory at Golden State.

Nets finally get Harden, Irving and Durant back together, beat Bulls 105-91

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; James Harden had 18 points and 11 assists in his return from an 18-game absence to help the Brooklyn Nets beat the San Antonio Spurs 128-116 on Wednesday night.
Coming off the bench in an NBA game for the first time since he won the league&rsquo;s Sixth Man award for Oklahoma City in 2011-12, Harden also had seven rebounds after the longest layoff of his career, missing more than a month because of a strained right hamstring.
Landry Shamet scored 21 points and Nicolas Claxton had a career-high 18 for the Nets. They won their third straight and pulled within 1 1/2 games of Philadelphia for the Eastern Conference lead.
Kevin Durant had 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. The Nets played without Kyrie Irving after he left their victory in Chicago on Tuesday with a facial contusion. They still have had their three superstars play together just seven times.&nbsp;
But they put eight players in double figures and shot 60.8% to wrap up a league-best 22-8 record against Western Conference teams.
DeMar DeRozan scored 21 points for the Spurs, who missed a chance to secure a spot in the play-in tournament. Dejounte Murray had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Brooklyn improved to 28-7 when Harden plays. He had missed 20 of the last 21 games and the Nets were only 12-9 in that span.
He had only two baskets through three quarters and did a little dance after the second, when he was fouled while making a 3-pointer for a 95-78 lead with 2:33 left in the third.
The Spurs were coming off a 146-125 victory over MIlwaukee, scoring a franchise-record 87 points in the first half. They didn&rsquo;t hit that total until the final period Wednesday.
The Nets jumped to a 35-20 lead after the first quarter. The Spurs had trimmed it to six by the time Harden checked in with 8:06 left in the second and that&rsquo;s where it was at halftime, after Harden&rsquo;s miss in the lane at the buzzer left Brooklyn leading 57-51.
The Nets pulled away in the third, with Harden&rsquo;s first basket, a 3-pointer, starting a 7-0 spurt that extended a nine-point lead to 80-64 midway through the period.
TIP-INS
Spurs: The Spurs opened a two-game stay in New York. Their Feb. 20 game against the Knicks was postponed and rescheduled for Thursday. ... Patty Mills scored 15 points.
Nets: Joe Harris sat out with a sore left hip. He had been the only Net to appear in each of the first 69 games. ... With Mike James nearing the end of his second 10-day contract, coach Steve Nash said he couldn&rsquo;t reveal whether the team plans to sign him for the rest of the season, but said he imagined the guard would remain with the team.
LINE THEM UP
The Nets used their 36th different starting lineup of the season, extending the franchise record they set this season. James became the 19th Nets player to start a game, setting a franchise record.
CLAXTON ACTION
Claxton&rsquo;s previous career high was also against the Spurs. He had 17 points in the Nets&rsquo; victory in San Antonio on March 1.
UP NEXT
Spurs: Visit the Knicks on Thursday.
Nets: Host Chicago on Saturday.

James Harden scored 18 points in his return to action as the Nets knocked off the Spurs, 128-116.

James Harden scores 18 in return, Nets cruise to 128-116 victory over Spurs

The NBA trade deadline is now nine days away, and while we can safely assume that all 30 teams want to get better, we must proceed expecting two teams --the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks -- to play big roles in dictating what the market will look like.
There are lots of big men available, and anybody who tells you that Andre Drummond or Hassan Whiteside or JaVale McGee would not make a difference in an Eastern Conference playoff series has not been paying attention. Or as Gregg Popovich would say: &ldquo;Living in a phone booth.&rdquo;
Also, those who assume the Knicks (with $15.7 million in cap space) are not in win-now mode do not understand Tom Thibodeau. The guy is married to a basketball, and he is anxious to do in New York what he was unable to do in Minnesota and, to a lesser degree, in Chicago.
And then we have the Celtics, who are sitting on the largest trade exception ($28.5 million) in NBA history and are worse off that they were a year ago when they made the Eastern Conference Finals. Danny Ainge cannot stand pat and expect to get past the Nets, Sixers, Bucks or Heat.
The rumor mill will be churning between now and March 25, and every contending team in the East will be scheming to make an addition that attacks the weaknesses of Brooklyn and Philadelphia, while every Western team will try to find a way to compete with the three-point shooting of the Utah Jazz and the depth and experience of the Los Angeles Lakers.
So let&rsquo;s go through the league alphabetically and assess each team&rsquo;s needs, expectations and expendables.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
ATLANTA HAWKS: Nate McMillan is 5-0 as head coach, and the most active team in the weeks leading up to training camp remains built (if fully healthy) to advance if all of the pieces can fit together with almost zero practice time. John Collins is entering restricted free agency and is not as productive as he was a year ago, but he makes just $4.1 million. Put him in a deal with Tony Snell, though, and those combined salaries equal $16.3 million, which can get you a nice player.
BOSTON CELTICS: What made them special a year ago was the ability to get offensive production from three All-Star caliber starters: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward. But Hayward is gone, Enes Kanter is doing big things in Portland (remember how he was a game-changer for Boston in the postseason a year ago?) and Kemba Walker is shooting 38% in his 10th season. Standing pat is not an option.
BROOKLYN NETS: At some point they will need a third center to join DeAndre Jordan and Nicolas Claxton, but the buyout market or the China market (the CBA season ends before the NBA playoffs) may be the easiest way for Sean Marks to add an extra big body if they cannot get a big man whose contract fits into their $5.7 million disabled player exception. Spencer Dinwiddie is the only superfluous player on the roster, but he is out for the remainder of the season, and the Nets have no future draft picks to throw into a deal. They used them all in the Harden trade.
CHARLOTTE HORNETS: Michael Jordan&rsquo;s team is 100-1 to win the East despite having the lock for Rookie of the Year, a four-game winning streak and a roster chock full of young and hungry players who, for the most part, lack postseason experience. At a certain point, they have to realize they could have done better than Cody Zeller ($15.4 million) with the fourth pick of the 2013 draft. It might be time to sacrifice a future first-round pick or two to upgrade at center. Malik Monk has been playing well lately, otherwise, we would predict his imminent departure. The Hornets have an open roster spot and $4 million in cap room.
CHICAGO BULLS: It would be delusional of them to think they can advance beyond the first-round of the playoffs, which is why they have to consider getting a good young player from a contender in exchange for Thaddeus Young ($13.5 million), who is the leading candidate to finish a distant second to Jordan Clarkson in Sixth Man of the Year voting. &nbsp;Tomas Satoransky ($10 million this year and next year) is 29 years old and could be combined with Young to bring in a good young player. Here is an idea:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Who says no? <a href="https://t.co/Pc61DX8jQV">pic.twitter.com/Pc61DX8jQV</a>
&mdash; Chris Sheridan (@sheridanhoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/sheridanhoops/status/1371826941804883973?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: Aside from the inevitable Drummond and McGee moves (best offers arrive at 2:59 p.m. on deadline day), Koby Altman will probably keep quiet after acquiring Jarrett Allen from the Nets and sending Kevin Porter Jr. to the Rockets. Kevin Love is going to be dead money for two more seasons and Cedi Osman is looking like he will be in the same category, though not quite as expensive. It&rsquo;ll be a long road back.
DALLAS MAVERICKS: They should be better than their record (20-18), but the West is tough. Dwight Powell ($11 million this season and the next two) is not worth what he is being paid and could be packaged with more future No. 1 picks (the Mavs can&rsquo;t trade their own first-round draft pick until 2025 because they owe the Knicks their 2021 and 2023 picks), if mortgaging the future is something Mark Cuban is cool with. Powell and James Johnson for Drummond works cap-wise.
DENVER NUGGETS: A rumor is out there that the Nuggets have spoken to the Magic about acquiring Aaron Gordon, and the price would include Bol Bol. They currently do not look like they have enough to come out of the West, and JaMychal Green has not been an adequate replacement for Jerami Grant. To a lesser degree than Boston, standing pat does not seem like the most prudent option. They have a $9.6 million trade exception, so expect them to make some sort of acquisition that improves the roster. They are one player away from being one player away.
DETROIT PISTONS: Troy Weaver might have already made his &ldquo;deadline deal&rdquo; in getting Hamidou Diallo from the Thunder. Wayne Ellington is superfluous, and one would think teams might like a 14-year veteran who shot 42% from three-point range with a manageable $1.6 million salary&hellip; But the Knicks couldn&rsquo;t find a taker for him a year ago.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: Limbo sucks, but Klay Thompson will be back next season. In the meantime, the best they can do is hope that the Wolves&rsquo; pick is not top three and they can get another high lottery pick to put next to James Wiseman for the years ahead. Kelly Oubre Jr., Kent Bazemore, Brad Wanamaker and Marquese Chriss are all on expiring contracts. Their combined salaries total $20.6 million. The Warriors can acquire a player into Thompson&rsquo;s $9.25 million disabled player exception.
HOUSTON ROCKETS: We are seeing a flurry of Victor Oladipo trade rumors, which is strange because he was the biggest piece they got in the Harden trade. If they are disappointed in him (and his expiring $21 million contract) they must not have been watching Pacers playoffs games the past few seasons. Kevin Porter Jr. was a nice pickup, and Rafael Stone is probably on the hunt for another player who has worn out his welcome for non-basketball reasons. P.J. Tucker is headed somewhere. Dante Exum (expiring $9.6 million contract) didn&rsquo;t quite work out for a fifth overall pick, eh?
INDIANA PACERS: Acquiring Caris LaVert for Oladipo as part of the Harden trade will go in Kevin Pritchard&rsquo;s trophy case, so the question now becomes &ldquo;What next?&rdquo; aside from waiting for T.J. Warren&rsquo;s broken foot to heal. They are in 10th place, which wasn&rsquo;t exactly what they had in mind for this season. Still, Indiana has a nice mix of players in their mid-to-late 20s. Doug McDermott (expiring $7.3 million) and T.J. McConnell (expiring $3.5 million) could be a useful shooter and pest duo for a playoff team willing to give up a draft pick and a matching expiring salary. Indiana is probably better off keeping both and rolling the dice in the play-in postseason.
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LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS: They have everything they need except the Lou Williams they had gotten used to over the past three seasons. His scoring average is down almost six points. Serge Ibaka (scoring average down 4.5 points) is showing his age at 31 and has a 15% trade kicker. Both still have plenty of playoff experience, but Jerry West likes to make trades when he can find the right ones. The Clippers are an interesting team to watch at the deadline because they have an open roster spot, but they are also within a $500,000 of the hard cap, which limits their options.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS: They need nothing except for Anthony Davis to be healthy, so the Lakers are the winner of the &ldquo;Most Unlikely To Make A Trade&rdquo; award. They are option No. 1 for pretty much everybody getting a buyout after the deadline.
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES: More than a year later, we are still trying to figure out the Justise Winslow acquisition. Taylor Jenkins&rsquo; rotation goes 10 deep, not including the team&rsquo;s highest-paid player in Gorgui Dieng -- $17.2 million. They are young and they are not a good team, yet they are still in contention for a play-in spot, so that incentivizes them to get creative.
MIAMI HEAT: The rule of thumb used to be &ldquo;Pat Riley hates making midseason trades,&rdquo; but he went out and got Andre Iguodala and Jae Crowder last season and built an NBA Finals team. So you would think they would be predisposed to tinker despite their recent run of 11 victories in 12 games. Kelly Olynyk ($12.6 million) and Moe Harkless ($3.6 million) are on expiring deals, and Avery Bradley is gathering dust. They can take on long-term money if the incoming player is worthy of it, but that would likely involve trading a starter (Olynyk). They also have a $7.5 million trade exception but owe Oklahoma City two first-round picks.
MILWAUKEE BUCKS: Veteran Bucks writer <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-sheridan-show/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-16-gery-woelfel-on-milwaukee-bucks-chances,-possible-trade,-other-east-contender">Gery Woelful said on my most recent podcast</a> that he fully expects the Bucks to try to find an upgrade from Donte DiVincenzo at shooting guard. The salaries of DiVincenzo and D.J. Wilson add up to $7.5 million, and it is hard to see Jon Horst moving anyone else on this roster. They are not last year&rsquo;s Bucks, but they theoretically have enough to get to the NBA Finals. They are very close to the hard cap and cannot trade any more picks after using so many in the Jrue Holiday acquisition.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES: The team is for sale, so do not expect Gersson Rosas to take on any long-term money. They have already changed coaches, and they have nothing anybody would want except for Karl Anthony-Towns, who isn&rsquo;t going anywhere. Okay, they have Ed Davis, who may be somebody&rsquo;s consolation prize as contending teams search for bigs. Nominations for the Dumpster Fire Award are now closed.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram are not available. You can safely assume that everyone else is, and David Griffin does not need to hold anybody else up because he already did that to Horst. This was not supposed to be a throwaway season, but it is. The Pelicans would like to get J.J. Redick closer to his family, who live in Brooklyn. Exactly how close? Well, when Redick played for the Sixers, he commuted to Philadelphia. So &ldquo;close&rdquo; is a relative term. Boston is drivable from Brooklyn.
NEW YORK KNICKS: As mentioned above, they are the team to watch most closely. They can take on long-term money if the incoming player is someone who can tolerate Thibodeau&rsquo;s coaching style, and they would bring in a player on an expiring contract if they believed that player&rsquo;s Bird rights would be of value over the summer. Leon Rose is one year away from having a top-three team in the East if he plays his cards right a week from Thursday.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER: Sam Presti likely has George Hill, Trevor Ariza and Mike Muscala available to the highest bidders. Hill was an important piece of the Bucks last season and could help a playoff team needing a bench shooter and veteran voice in the locker room. At a certain point, Presti is going to have to package together some of the 20 extra first and second-round picks he has accumulated through trades, but that point is probably a couple of years away as the rebuild runs its course. Important: If Houston&rsquo;s pick is in the top four, the Thunder get it. Also, Presti has three trade exceptions; the largest is $27.6 million.
ORLANDO MAGIC:&nbsp; Aaron Gordon trade rumors are everywhere, which makes sense because the time to cash in on their seven-year investment is now. They need to get younger and acquire assets to build around Markelle Fultz, Nikola Vucevic and Jonathan Isaac. Their ceiling should not be the kind of first-round exits they have been producing the past two seasons, and they have not won a single playoff series since 2009-10. So, it would be shocking to see them keep Gordon, who is only 25 years old and can bring a lot in return. Gordon is a good guy who needs a change of scenery and deserves one. Same goes for Evan Fournier.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: They wanted James Harden and did not get him, and Doc Rivers still somehow kept Ben Simmons committed to the team. That is pretty huge, because players who know they have been shopped usually resent it. They are in first place in the East and have a roster with the proper pieces to match up with Brooklyn. Mike Scott&rsquo;s expiring $5 million deal and the Knicks&rsquo; 2021 second-round pick are Elton Brand&rsquo;s most movable trade assets, but Scott has been playing well lately. Terrence Ferguson, Vincent Poirier and Tony Bradley are on expiring contracts but would bring little in return.
PHOENIX SUNS: Acquiring Chris Paul checked the &ldquo;monster trade&rdquo; box, and the NBA&rsquo;s most overachieving team will likely abide by the &ldquo;If It Ain&rsquo;t Broke, Don&rsquo;t Fix It&rdquo; rule. That being said, if an on-the-ball defender capable of defending LeBron James is out there somewhere, you kick the tires on just about anything that does not include Devin Booker, DeAndre Ayton and Chris Paul. Ariza would seem to be a fit.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS: Like Dallas, they should be better than their record&hellip; and would be if C.J. McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic had not gotten injured. At full strength, they are going to be a tough out in the postseason. Gary Trent Jr. is on an expiring contract and they may fear losing him, so keep that in mind with these guys. They are sleepers.
SACRAMENTO KINGS: What they can get for Whiteside will be interesting to see, because he was killing it for the Blazers last season. Then, Nurkic returned in the bubble. Whiteside does not exactly have the best reputation around the league, which is why he played in Lebanon and China before resurrecting his career. There are also a lot of Harrison Barnes rumors out there, and like the Magic and Gordon, it may be time for the Kings to cash in on the three-year investment they made in Barnes after acquiring him from Dallas. He makes $22.2 million. Does Nemanja Bjelica have any value? Same question has to be asked of Jabari Parker.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS: The LaMarcus Aldridge era is in its final days, and you have to wonder if the Patty Mills era is, too. Derrick White is signed long-term and Dejounte Murray is damn good. The expiring contracts of Aldridge and Mills add up to $37.2 million, and if you include Rudy Gay&rsquo;s expiring deal that number becomes $51.2 million. They are 20-16, yet, as currently constituted, not good enough to do much in the postseason. R.C. Buford wins the award for the league executive most overdue to make a trade.
TORONTO RAPTORS: The name that is out there now is Kyle Lowry, who has spent nine seasons of his 16-year career playing for the team that now calls Tampa its home. Having lost five in a row and sitting in 11th place in the Leastern Conference, Masai Ujiri must determine whether it is time to turn Lowry&rsquo;s expiring $30.5 million contract into something of value. At 35 years old, Lowry can still play and, percentage wise, is hitting threes, twos and free throws better than he has over the past four seasons. But this would not be a giveaway, and a sign-and-trade in the offseason is still possible.
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UTAH JAZZ: Like Phoenix, the &ldquo;If It Ain&rsquo;t Broke , Don&rsquo;t Dix It&rdquo; rule applies. They are in first place in the West, are making threes better than anybody and have Rudy Gobert finding new and incredible ways to never, ever be mentioned in the MVP debate. None of their nine rotation players is going anywhere, and no one else on the roster has either a big contract or much trade value. Still, someone on the team could be a giveaway because the Jazz are $1.9 million over the luxury tax line. They have already traded five of their next seven second-round picks (they don&rsquo;t have one until 2025).
WASHINGTON WIZARDS: You&rsquo;ve got to feel bad for Tommy Sheppard, one of the best guys and better GMs in the league -- he was able to turn John Wall into Russell Westbrook but then lost Thomas Bryant and had his team put on ice because of COVID issues. They are now playing the busiest second-half schedule of any Eastern Conference team, and they theoretically have a puncher&rsquo;s chance against practically anyone in the conference if Westbrook keeps triple-doubling (he leads the league with 11). But they have lost four in a row and rank 12th. Robin Lopez and his expiring $7.3 million contract is their best trade asset. If they combined Lopez with Ish Smith&rsquo;s expiring contract, that totals $13.3 million.

With one week before the NBA's trade deadline, Chris Sheridan previews what could be in store for all 30 of the league's teams.

What to expect from all 30 NBA teams ahead of the Trade Deadline

Ethan Fuller resets the NBA landscape at the season's midway point.