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Don&rsquo;t look now, but Kobe and Jordan are back in the NBA spotlight.
No, not that Kobe. Not that Jordan either. But for the Los Angeles Clippers &ndash; quietly authoring one of the league&rsquo;s most surprising turnaround seasons &ndash; those names suddenly matter again in a very real AND tangible way.
Enter Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller.
Two names that carry impossible historical weight. Two two-way players who, on paper, were never supposed to matter this much to a playoff-aspiring team. And yet here they are: logging real rotation minutes, swinging games, and forcing Ty Lue and the Clippers&rsquo; front office into uncomfortable but revealing conversations about rules, limits, and necessity.
Because when the Clippers needed answers, they didn&rsquo;t come from pedigree or reputation. They came from hunger: they came from Kobe and Jordan.
<h3>A season rewritten from the margins</h3>
The Clippers&rsquo; resurgence hasn&rsquo;t followed a traditional script when teams push for a splashy midseason trade or a sudden superstar awakening in the middle of the season. Instead, it&rsquo;s been a slow burn &ndash; a recalibration rooted in defense, versatility, and trust. Trust, especially, has defined this group.
As the season unfolded, Lue began digging deeper into his bench, searching not just for production but for players who could hold the line on both ends of the floor: defend multiple positions, make quick reads, and play within the ecosystem without hijacking it.
That search led him to Sanders and Miller, two players drafted by the Clippers front office in the second round.
Two two-way players, but also two forwards who bring exactly what modern playoff basketball demands: length, feel, and competitive edge. Their minutes weren&rsquo;t just gifted but they were earned and taken.
And once Lue went to them consistently, something shifted. &ldquo;We need them,&rdquo; he said in a postgame interview in one of the Clippers&rsquo; wins.
The reality of their impact became so undeniable that it forced an awkward truth into the open &ndash; one that Lue himself admitted candidly.
When asked about Sanders&rsquo; and Miller&rsquo;s two-way limits approaching, Lue didn&rsquo;t bother with coach-speak.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know the rules, but we need them [Kobe and Jordan],&rdquo; Lue said. &ldquo;Lawrence [Frank] can navigate it. I&rsquo;m not. When they&rsquo;re out there, they&rsquo;re gonna play. &hellip; We&rsquo;ll see what happens, but we need them.&rdquo;
That says everything about the Clippers&rsquo; fondness of both guys.
In a league where two-way contracts are designed for flexibility and development &ndash; not reliance &ndash; the Clippers crossed a threshold. Sanders and Miller became necessities instead of contingency plans.
And in doing so, they exposed a truth about this Clippers team: its identity isn&rsquo;t top-heavy, instead it is layered among a rotation of players.
<h3>Kobe Sanders: The connector who stabilizes chaos</h3>
Sanders doesn&rsquo;t dominate the ball. He doesn&rsquo;t hijack possessions, and he rarely demands attention. Yet his fingerprints are everywhere.
A hybrid forward with the instincts of a guard, Sanders has become one of the Clippers&rsquo; most reliable connective pieces. He can initiate offense when needed, keep the ball moving when things stagnate, and punish defenses that lose track of him from the perimeter.
What separates Sanders though, is feel. He understands tempo, understands spacing, and understands when to create &ndash; when not to.
Sanders&rsquo; presence has been stabilizing. He reads defenses a step ahead, makes the extra pass, and defends with discipline and length. He also has developed a nice three-point shot that is a weapon and a reliable in-between shot for whenever defense loads up on him.
He plays like someone who knows he does, like a seasoned vet, and that confidence has quietly elevated the Clippers&rsquo; second units.
<h3>Jordan Miller: Scoring without panic</h3>
If Sanders is the stabilizer, Miller is the disruptor.&nbsp;
Miller&rsquo;s scoring profile doesn&rsquo;t scream traditional. His handle isn&rsquo;t flashy, his footwork isn&rsquo;t textbook, and yet defenders struggle to keep him out of the paint.
That&rsquo;s because Miller plays at his own rhythm. Lue has taken particular notice of that trait &ndash; especially his ability to get downhill and finish through traffic.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of unorthodox, the way he gets to the paint and gets to the basket,&rdquo; Lue said. &ldquo;He does a great job of drawing fouls, plays at his own pace, never gets sped up, and he knows how to use angles in getting to the basket.&rdquo;
That poise matters in high-leverage moments, when benches often bleed leads, Miller doesn&rsquo;t rush. He probes, leans into contact, and forces defenders into decisions they don&rsquo;t want to make. And when defenses collapse, he&rsquo;s proven capable of making them pay from the outside as well.
For a Clippers team desperate for downhill pressure beyond its stars, Miller&rsquo;s scoring versatility has been invaluable.
Size, versatility, and modern playoff utility: Together, Sanders and Miller check boxes every playoff team covets.
They&rsquo;re forwards who can guard multiple positions, space the floor, put the ball on the deck, and compete physically.
More importantly, they allow Lue to toggle lineups without sacrificing identity.
With them on the floor, the Clippers can stay big without becoming slow. They can switch defensively without bleeding mismatches. They can survive non-star minutes without hemorrhaging leads.
And it&rsquo;s why their emergence feels less like a nice story and more like a structural shift.
<h3>From afterthoughts to tone-setters</h3>
There&rsquo;s something about the Clippers &ndash; long defined by stars, expectations, and heartbreak &ndash; finding renewed life through two players who arrived without guarantees.
Sanders and Miller weren&rsquo;t handed rotation spots. They earned them through effort, adaptability, and trust. They play like every possession matters because, for them, it does, with that two-way contract deadline looming. And that urgency has been contagious.
The Clippers&rsquo; turnaround isn&rsquo;t solely about scheme or health. It&rsquo;s about buy-in and about players at the margins setting standards that ripple upward.
In that sense, Kobe and Jordan are defining something. Their names will always be familiar but this isn&rsquo;t about chasing ghosts or living up to legends: It&rsquo;s about redefining what impact looks like in today&rsquo;s NBA.
For the Clippers, Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller represent something powerful: proof that winning seasons aren&rsquo;t built solely by stars, but sustained by those willing to fill gaps, absorb contact, and play roles with conviction.
They may not dominate headlines and may not dominate usage, but right now, they&rsquo;re helping dominate outcomes &ndash; by helping the Clippers win games and stage this turnaround.
And for a Clippers team surging toward relevance again, that makes Kobe and Jordan feel familiar in the most unexpected way.

Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller have emerged as unlikely difference-makers for the Clippers, helping the Clippers' turnaround.

Kobe and Jordan: The unlikely yet familiar duo fueling the Clippers’ surge

Watching from the hallway,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/DoingItDodson/status/1717370045167198267" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/DoingItDodson/status/1717370045167198267&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1698516889209000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3jZoBngDtk4kH95MIfVfP8">&ldquo;Happy with it, not satisfied with it&rdquo;,</a>&nbsp;was overheard as the New Orleans Pelicans marched away from the FedEx Forum with a victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
The divisional rivals were both missing key pieces but Zion Williamson finished off the hosts with 12-straight points to close out the Game 1 win. New Orleans head coach Willie Green admitted there were some frustrating moments but &ldquo;it is easier to teach off of a win than a loss.&rdquo;
The postgame locker room message ended with Coach&rsquo;s understated, &ldquo;81 more to go.&rdquo; Everything wasn't going to come together all at once for a team trying to shed unflattering narratives from the last few seasons.
&ldquo;The biggest discussion that we'll have is it&rsquo;s going to be hard," Green said. "We should expect that night-in and night-out. The NBA is going to be hard, and teams aren't going to let us just come down and execute. We have to be the team that's more forceful, and we did that tonight.&rdquo;
Memphis might have been missing Stephen Adams and Ja Morant, but New Orleans has dealt with those issues for years. No one shows mercy in the NBA and the Pelicans' Big Three did their job. C.J. McCollum poured in 24 points, Zion added 23, and Brandon Ingram&rsquo;s 19 points made 66 points from the team&rsquo;s stars. It took Williamson a while to get going, scoring only 7 first-half points on two made shots, but the highlight dunk at the end of the second quarter might&rsquo;ve awakened a monster season.
&ldquo;It helped,&rdquo; Williamson admitted, &ldquo;For me, I think it's going to be a few games, just getting that in-game flow back. No matter how much I train, workout, play pickup, it&rsquo;s nothing like a real NBA game. [I] give Jaren [Jackson Jr.] his respect. I think it actually worked out for me, just playing against the Defensive Player of the Year in the first game and just kind of feeling out how he&rsquo;s going to jump for shots, how certain teams will try to guard me. The second half was more so just kind of feeling the game.&rdquo;
Ingram needed 18 shots to notch 19 points but McCollum was &ldquo;elite,&rdquo; according to Green. McCollum felt Williamson &ldquo;settled in and got more comfortable as the game went on. Kind of felt out the defense and obviously how they were, how they were calling the game, and you got to get more aggressive. We did a better job of getting the ball in spots where he&rsquo;d be successful, and he finished plays and did what he does.&rdquo;
&ldquo;A couple of times we got ahead of ourselves to turn the ball over and things of that nature," added McCollum. "I just have to make sure I keep us settled, but I can score the ball. I can get to certain spots, and I'll continue to develop and get better as we play together more. I think that'll be helpful for all of us, the spacing, play calling, when to make the pass and when to cut. All of those things we'll continue to get better at, but I like the steps that we made from Sept. 28 to now."
There are still a lot of wrinkles to work out with this roster. Overlooked addition turned Twitter-trending star enjoying his first postgame podium Matt Ryan shared, &ldquo;There really hasn't been much time to get acclimated with everybody off the court. I flew in Monday morning to New Orleans and tonight is Wednesday, so I've been with the team for... this is like the third day I've been with the team. They kind of knew who I was. Everybody at this point knows what I'm looking to do out there, and again I just got to thank the front office and coaches for giving me this chance.&rdquo;
I asked Coach Green if there was anything they could take away from Opening Night that had long-term value. He replied, &ldquo;The biggest clarity that we have is that we want to be a mentally tough team. We did that tonight. Coming on their floor and carving out a win with different lineups. Throwing zones at them, switching one through five... all the things that we've been working on in practice. It was great to see us come to somebody's home floor and have toughness, execution and communication and to do it with joy.&rdquo;
There are always frustrations during the NBA's first 10-game feeling-out process. Next up is Josh Hart&rsquo;s return with the New York Knicks. A 2-0 start while showing the same resiliency would go a long way in the effort to win back skeptical fans.
&ldquo;Look at the teams that win the championship; they&rsquo;re consistent with the small things on a day-to-day basis," Williamson said, echoing Green. "So, if we can get to a championship level, with the small things, I think we got a good chance.&rdquo;

The New Orleans Pelicans marched away from the FedEx Forum with a victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Pelicans play through frustrations in opening-night win vs. Grizzlies

BOSTON (AP) &mdash; Jayson Tatum scored 51 points &ndash; the most in a Game 7 in NBA history &mdash; and the Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 112-88 on Sunday to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight year.
One game after missing 14 of his first 15 shots only to awaken in the fourth quarter, Tatum got off to the fast start the Celtics needed. He scored 25 in the back-and-forth first half and 17 more in Boston&rsquo;s 33-10 third quarter that turned a three-point lead into a runaway.
The Celtics, who lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals last year, will face the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals, which begin on Wednesday in Boston.
Tatum added 13 rebounds and Jaylen Brown scored 25 points for the Celtics, who rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the best-of-seven series to keep alive their hopes for an unprecedented 18th NBA championship. Tatum was subbed out of the game with three minutes left to a standing ovation from the crowd, which soon broke out in a &ldquo;Beat the Heat!&rdquo; chant.
Newly crowned NBA MVP Joel Embiid scored 15 points on 5-for-18 shooting, and Tobias Harris scored 19 for Philadelphia. The Sixers lost in the conference semifinals for the third straight year, and the fifth time in six seasons; they have not gotten any farther since reaching the NBA Finals in 2001.
Tatum started 0 for 6 in a Game 5 loss and missed 14 of his first 15 shots overall from the floor in Game 6 before erupting for four 3-pointers in the final 4:14 to force the decisive seventh game.
He picked up where he left off, scoring Boston&rsquo;s first basket and 11 points in the first quarter, 14 more in the second and outscoring the Sixers on his own, 17-10, in the third. The 33-10 edge in the third was the most lopsided quarter in a Game 7 since at least 1997.
BANGED-UP BROWN
Brown began the game with the black mask he has worn since breaking a bone in his face before the All-Star break. He took it off and soon absorbed an elbow to the face from James Harden, who was assessed a flagrant foul.
Brown continued without the mask but finished the half with cotton in his left nostril. He also played with an edge, making both foul shots and following it with a steal and layup as Boston went on a 9-0 run to erase a 35-26 deficit.
Brown also dove into the Sixers bench to save a ball, then had words with the bench after Georges Niang grabbed his leg and kept him from getting back on the court. Both players were given technical fouls.
Williams followed the commotion with a layup that tied the score 35-all.
WHAT&rsquo;S UP, DOC?
Sixers coach Doc Rivers is 6-10 in seventh games. The 10 defeats are five more than any other NBA coach and three more than the NHL&rsquo;s Mike Babcock and Bruce Boudreau. His teams are 6-16 in their last 22 chances to close out an opponent in a playoff series.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an honor to keep getting teams to these places,&rdquo; he said before the game. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s people, your friends who look at you like, &lsquo;Why do you like this?&rsquo; And this is what it&rsquo;s about. You put yourself out there because you want to win. And you know if you do that you have to put yourself in these situations over and over and over again. And it&rsquo;s worth it. It&rsquo;s worth it. And that&rsquo;s what I tell my guys.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Tatum is the sixth player since 1997 to score 25 points or more in the first half of a seventh game. The last was Luka Doncic, who had 29 against the Clippers in the first round of the 2021 playoffs. Paul Pierce scored 26 for the Celtics against Cleveland in the second round in 2008. &hellip; The 10 points Philadelphia scored were tied for the fewest in any Game 7 quarter in the shot clock era.

The Celtics beat the 76ers 112-88 on Sunday to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the second year in a row.

Tatum sets Game 7 record with 51 points, Celtics beat 76ers 112-88

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) &mdash; The best story in this NCAA Tournament is a fairly ridiculous one.
For years, outsiders and even some of Fairleigh Dickinson&rsquo;s proud alumni have called the private, commuter school in Teaneck, New Jersey, by another name &mdash; an inside joke and pet moniker suggesting a reputation for partying.
Fairly Ridiculous. You bet.
That would certainly describe what the Knights, college basketball&rsquo;s smallest squad which includes some Division II players brought to FDU by Tobin Anderson, the team&rsquo;s fast-talking, first-year vagabond coach, have accomplished in a few days.
From underdogs to overnight sensations. March madmen.
Only in the NCAA field due to a technicality, Fairleigh Dickinson, which went 4-22 last season, won a First Four game in Dayton before the Friday night stunning 63-58 win over top-seeded Purdue. It was just the second No. 16 seed win over a No. 1 seed in men&rsquo;s tourney history.
The Knights awakened Saturday to a new world.
&ldquo;Life changing,&rdquo; said FDU forward Sean Moore, who scored 19 points and blocked a layup in the final seconds to help seal the win over Purdue. &ldquo;That whole game has changed everybody on our team, staff, students, everybody who goes to Fairleigh Dickinson University.
&ldquo;Everything is different now. Phone has been going crazy, still is.&rdquo;
Same for Anderson, who spent much of his morning doing national TV interviews following an upset that reverberated across the sports world.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got, like, 1,200 unanswered texts right now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The problem each time I look at my phone it&rsquo;s more and more. My message, if anybody&rsquo;s listening, stop texting right now. Give me a chance to catch up.&rdquo;
Using their superior speed and quickness at both ends of the floor to fluster the Big Ten champion Boilermakers, FDU&rsquo;s players brought Purdue 7-foot-4 star center Zach Edey down to their level and advanced in the East Region.
On Sunday, the Knights (21-15) will face No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic (32-3), which nipped Memphis 66-65 in the final seconds late Friday night, for a spot in next week&rsquo;s Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
That possibility is almost too much for the 51-year-old Anderson to fathom.
&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t have to fly back to Jersey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I could jog back, take off running, be like Forrest Gump or something. That would be incredible.&rdquo;
Incredible may have already happened. FDU&rsquo;s feel-good story seems to have been pulled from a Hollywood movie script.
Over the past few days, Anderson, who was born in Iowa, played college ball in Connecticut and started his coaching career bouncing from one small college to another in upstate New York, has referenced &ldquo;Hoosiers&rdquo; several times. There are indeed parallels to the famous Indiana high school hoops miracle and what FDU is doing.
In May, Anderson took over a program in need of a massive renovation. Just hours after he was hired at Fairleigh Dickinson, he held his first practice and quickly realized the job would require patience along with an influx of talent.
He knew just where to find some, convincing four players on his team at St. Thomas Aquinas College, a Division-II power about 15 miles from New York, to join him at FDU.
One of them to make the leap was 5-foot-8 guard Demetre Roberts.
&ldquo;Coming out of high school, not having no D-I looks, I didn&rsquo;t pout,&rdquo; said Roberts, who had 12 points, four rebounds and four assists against Purdue. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t sit around and mope all day. I trusted coach. I trusted him all the way and I&rsquo;m still with him. And five years later, I&rsquo;m still here.&rdquo;
Not only did Anderson&rsquo;s sales pitch to enroll at FDU work, so did his proposal to the Knights on how to beat Purdue. They took the floor fully confident they could contain Edey despite being outsized, a 23 1/2 point underdog and a statistically deficient team.
&ldquo;We felt we could beat them ever since we were watching film, trying to prepare for them,&rdquo; said 6-foot-6 center Ansley Almonor, FDU&rsquo;s tallest player. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re all close. We&rsquo;re like brothers. That was just a regular game for us.
&ldquo;We felt we could go out there and beat them, and that&rsquo;s what we did.&rdquo;
The fact that the Knights are even in the tournament is another twist in their captivating tale. By all rights, they&rsquo;re a No 17 seed.
FDU lost the Northeast Conference tournament title game 67-66, but still received the league&rsquo;s automatic bid because champion Merrimack remains ineligible for postseason play after moving up from Division II to Division I.
Now, the Knights, who opened the tourney with an easy win over Texas Southern in Dayton, are 40 minutes and one win from being one of the last 16 teams standing.
Beating FAU, a team with a similar playing style and swagger to FDU&rsquo;s, will be tall task. But after taking out one of the nation&rsquo;s top players &mdash; a literal giant &mdash; nothing seems too big for this group.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re not huge,&rdquo; Anderson said of the Owls. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re still bigger than us. Who is not bigger? There&rsquo;s five guys in the hallway bigger than us. But we&rsquo;ve got to box out, rebound, be tough, be scrappy.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to play really, really well, compete our tails off and hope they&rsquo;re maybe not quite as sharp. That&rsquo;s just the way it is. And it worked last night. We&rsquo;re hoping that it will help us tomorrow.&rdquo;

Only in the NCAA Tournament due to a technicality, Fairleigh Dickinson, which went 4-22 last season, has shocked the world.

FDU goes from underdog to overnight sensation with NCAA wins

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) &mdash; Just over 20 years ago while on a recruiting trip to Pittsburgh, Bob Huggins collapsed at the airport while catching a flight home, awaking to find himself surrounded by strangers who were lifting him into an ambulance.
Then the coach at Cincinnati, Huggins drifted in and out of consciousness on the ride to the hospital, where doctors told the future Hall of Fame coach that he&rsquo;d suffered a massive heart attack. Huggins wound up having a device implanted to help normalize his heartbeat, and he was told to make some lifestyle changes &mdash; exercise more, watch what he was eating, lose some weight and try to lower his stress level.
That last one? That might have been the toughest one.
Long days and longer nights, coupled with the increasingly high stakes of major college basketball, naturally put the health of coaches in peril. Huggins is just one of many who have dealt with issues over the years.
So when Huggins, now the coach at West Virginia, learned Thursday that longtime friend and Kansas counterpart Bill Self had gone to the emergency room ahead of the Big 12 Tournament &mdash; and subsequently admitted to the hospital for an undisclosed illness &mdash; he could relate in a way that struck him close to home.
&ldquo;It comes to there are times when you don&rsquo;t have any choice (but to slow down). And I went through that. I had no choice,&rdquo; Huggins said, shortly after his Mountaineers were beaten by Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals.
&ldquo;I was in the hospital with a whole bunch of tubes and somebody coming in, seeming like every 15 minutes, and sticking me with something,&rdquo; he recalled. &ldquo;You know, I want Bill to get well &mdash; I want to say as soon as he can, but really, I think what I need to say or mean to say is, I want him to come out of there the way he&rsquo;s always been.&rdquo;
Officials from Kansas have been short on details of what led Self to be admitted to the hospital late Wednesday. Dr. Steve Stites, the chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System, said in a statement that Self did not suffer a heart attack, which some outlets had reported, but that he had a procedure done.
The school initially said Self would miss the Jayhawks&rsquo; postseason opener with an illness, then announced Thursday night that he would miss the remainder of the Big 12 Tournament as well. The defending champion Jayhawks were due to play Iowa State on Friday night for a spot in the championship game.
Longtime assistant Norm Roberts intends to lead Kansas for as long as Self is out. Whether that will include the NCAA Tournament, where the Jayhawks are a likely No. 1 seed and also the defending champions, is entirely unknown.
&ldquo;Coach is doing good,&rdquo; Roberts said Thursday night. &ldquo;I talked to him on the phone (after beating West Virginia). He&rsquo;s doing well. He already wants to watch film and all of that. He&rsquo;s doing well. He&rsquo;s doing better.&rdquo;
Whether the stress of the season &mdash; and playing in arguably the toughest league in college basketball &mdash; contributed to Self&rsquo;s health problems is purely conjecture. But there have been plenty of examples that drive home the point that the profession, by its very nature, puts at risk those that demand the most from it.
Huggins is one of them. So is Skip Prosser. The Wake Forest coach suffered his own heart attack after taking a midday run in 2007, and was found slumped on his office couch and unresponsive; he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The stressful lifestyle isn&rsquo;t exclusive to basketball, either. Football coach Urban Meyer has said on several occasions that the strain of the job has contributed to his health issues and accompanying leaves of absences and retirements.
&ldquo;It brings to reality how short life is,&rdquo; Baylor coach Scott Drew said.
Self is expected to make a full recovery, his doctors said, and the 60-year-old Hall of Fame coach could be in charge of the Jayhawks for years to come. His rolling contract basically gives him the freedom to decide when he hangs it up.
Only he knows when that will be. And what factors he will take into consideration.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure at some point in time we&rsquo;ll talk,&rdquo; Huggins said. &ldquo;He and I talk. I&rsquo;ve been through those things and it&rsquo;s not any fun. Especially, I think it would be really hard for Bill this time of year, because of them trying to make another run at a national championship, and him being in the state he&rsquo;s in now. I think that would be very difficult for him.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great competitor,&rdquo; Huggins said. &ldquo;A tremendous competitor.&rdquo;

Kansas said Self would miss the team’s postseason opener with an illness, then announced he'd miss the rest of the Big 12 Tournament.

Kansas coach Bill Self sidelined after medical procedure

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; D&rsquo;Andre Gholston hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Missouri a stunning 86-85 victory over No. 6 Tennessee on Saturday night.
With 4.2 seconds left in the game and the Volunteers (19-6, 8-4 Southeastern Conference) leading 85-83, Santiago Vescovi missed a free throw. His second attempt was waived off when Tobe Awaka committed a lane violation, setting up a final chance for the Tigers (19-6, 7-5).
Gholston took the inbounds and dribbled up the court before taking an off-balance contested 3-pointer from about 30 feet that swished through the net at the buzzer for the win. He was mobbed by his teammates after hitting the shot.
Tennessee came back from a 17-point deficit early in the second half and led the last 7:11 of the game.
NO. 3 ALABAMA 77, AUBURN 69
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Rylan Griffen scored 16 points, Mark Sears added 15 and Alabama held off a big challenge from its in-state rival Auburn.
The Crimson Tide (22-3, 12-0 Southeastern Conference) remained the only Power 5 team without a league loss. Sears and Griffen helped Alabama overcome an off shooting performance from star Brandon Miller, who had 13 points but missed all seven 3-point attempts.
Wendell Green Jr. had 16 of his 24 points in the second half for Auburn (17-8, 7-5).
STANFORD 88, NO. 4 ARIZONA 79
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Spencer Jones scored all 18 of his points in the second half for Stanford and played a key role in neutralizing Pac-12 leading scorer Azuolas Tubelis, as the Cardinal stunned Arizona.
Stanford (11-14, 5-9 Pac-12) beat a ranked team for the first time this year and a top-five team for the second time in two seasons. Arizona (22-4, 11-4), hoping to stay a half-game behind UCLA for the conference lead, had a seven-game win snapped.
Courtney Ramey scored a season- and game-high 26 points for Arizona. Tubelis was held to four points and did not have any rebounds.
Stanford&rsquo;s Michael O&rsquo;Connell scored a team-high 22 points, helping the Cardinal outshoot the Wildcats 61% to 46% from the field.
NO. 5 TEXAS 94, WEST VIRGINIA 60
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabri Rice scored 24 points in just 17 minutes in Texas&rsquo; win over West Virginia.
Texas (20-5) remained in first place in the Big 12 at 9-3, while West Virginia (15-10, 4-8) lost for the sixth time in its last seven games against the Longhorns.
Rice, a guard who transferred this season from New Mexico State, was nearly perfect. He converted 5 of 6 field-goal attempts, including 4 of 5 3-pointers and all 10 free throws.
Emmitt Matthews led West Virginia with 13 points.
NO. 8 VIRGINIA 69, DUKE 62, OT
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Armaan Franklin scored 23 points, including a 3-pointer with 39 seconds left, to lift Virginia over Duke in overtime.
Kihie Clark added 16 points and Ben Vander Plas 13 for the Cavaliers (19-4, 11-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won despite a 9 for 22 performance from the free-throw line.
Duke (17-8, 8-6) seemed poised to win when Kyle Filipowski drove on the final play of regulation and two defenders contested his shot. The officials initially whistled a foul, but waved it off after a lengthy review. Jeremy Roach led the Blue Devils with 16 points.
NO. 9 KANSAS 78, OKLAHOMA 55
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Wilson scored 18 points, and Kansas rolled past Oklahoma.
Wilson, who entered the day leading the Big 12 with nearly 21 points per game, bounced back from a two-point outing against Texas on Monday.
Dajuan Harris scored 16 points and Kevin McCullar added 13 for the Jayhawks (20-5, 8-4 Big 12).
Jalen Hill scored 14 points and Otega Oweh added 11 for the Oklahoma (12-13, 2-10). Grant Sherfield, who leads the Sooners with nearly 17 points per game, was held to 10 on 4-for-14 shooting.
NO. 10 MARQUETTE 89, GEORGETOWN 75
WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; Kam Jones, Oso Ighodaro and Tyler Kolek each scored 14 points to lead a balanced scoring attack for Marquette in its win over Georgetown.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper had 11 points and Chase Ross added 10 for Marquette (20-6, 12-3 Big East), which moved into first place in the conference.
Jay Heath scored 18 points to lead last-place Georgetown (6-20, 1-14), which has lost five straight after ending their league record 29-game conference losing streak on Jan. 24.
OKLAHOMA ST 64, NO. 11 IOWA ST 56
AMES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; John-Michael Wright scored 19 points and Oklahoma State rallied past Iowa State.
The loss was the Cyclones&rsquo; fourth in five games.
Bryce Thompson added 12 points for the Cowboys (16-9, 7-5 Big 12) in their fifth straight win.
Aljaz Kunc scored 13 for Iowa State (16-8, 7-5).
TEXAS TECH 71, NO. 12 KANSAS STATE 63
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) &mdash;De&rsquo;Vion Harmon scored 20 points, including a crucial driving basket in the final minute, as Texas Tech upended Kansas State.
The Red Raiders (13-12, 2-10 Big 12) held the Wildcats to two field goals in the game&rsquo;s final four minutes.
Kansas State (19-6, 7-5) edged as close as one point throughout the second half, but Tech answered with key baskets to maintain the lead. The Wildcats were led by Markquis Nowell&rsquo;s 18 points. Desi Sills added 12 points.
NO. 14 BAYLOR 72, NO. 17 TCU 68
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) &mdash; Adam Flagler scored 28 points, with 16 in a row for Baylor during the stretch when the Bears overcame a 10-point deficit in the second half and then held on to beat TCU.
LJ Cryer had 23 points for the Bears (19-6, 8-4 Big 12), who on Jan. 4 at home against TCU blew a 17-point lead in an 88-87 loss. They have won nine of their last 10 games.
Damion Baugh had 16 points and 10 assist for TCU (17-8, 6-6).
NO. 15 SAINT MARY&rsquo;S 81, PORTLAND 64
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Logan Johnson had 34 points, six rebounds and six assists as Saint Mary&rsquo;s handled Portland on the road.
Alex Ducas added 18 points and six rebounds for the Gaels (22-5, 11-1 West Coast Conference) and Aidan Mahaney contributed 10 points and five assists.
Kristian Sjolund led the Pilots (13-15, 5-8) with 12 points, and Juan Gorosito and Tyler Robinson each added 10 points.
NO. 18 INDIANA 62, MICHIGAN 61
Trayce Jackson-Davis had 28 points and 11 rebounds, Jalen Hood-Schifino scored 21 points and Indiana held on for a win over Michigan.
Freshman Jett Howard was short on a 3-pointer just before the buzzer, leaving the Wolverines without a point for the final 5:12.
The Hoosiers (18-7, 9-5 Big Ten) trailed by 11 in the first half and for much of the second, but went ahead for good with 2:58 left when Hood-Schifino made two free throws for their last points.
Michigan (14-11, 8-6) fell to 0-4 against teams in the AP Top 25, losing each game by five or fewer points.
Hunter Dickinson scored 16 points, Kobe Bufkin had 14 points and Howard added 12 for the Wolverines.
NO. 19 MIAMI 93, LOUISVILLE 85
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Nijel Pack scored 22 points in Miami&rsquo;s win over Louisville.
Five days following its dominant 22-point home win over Duke, Miami (20-5, 11-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) could not shake off the conference&rsquo;s last-place team until Pack&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 2:44 remaining made it 82-72. Pack shot 8 of 14, including 4 of 9 on 3-pointers.
Isaiah Wong and Norchad Omier finished with 21 points each and Jordan Miller added 10 for the Hurricanes, who are 14-0 at home.
El Ellis scored a career-high 33 points and had five assists while Jae&rsquo;Lyn Withers finished with 18 for the Cardinals (3-22, 1-13).
ST. JOHN&rsquo;S 73, NO. 20 PROVIDENCE 68
NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; David Jones scored 16 points and AJ Storr added 15 for St. John&rsquo;s, which beat Providence.
Joel Soriano had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Red Storm (15-11, 5-10 Big East).
Bryce Hopkins equaled a career best with 29 points for the Friars (18-7, 10-4).
NO. 22 NORTH CAROLINA STATE 92, BOSTON COLLEGE 62
BOSTON (AP) &mdash; Jarkel Joiner scored 26 points and D.J. Burns Jr. added 18 with 10 rebounds to lead North Carolina State over Boston College.
Terquavion Smith scored 17 points for the Wolfpack (20-6, 10-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), giving him 1,000 points for his career.
Quinten Post scored 20 points for Boston College (12-14, 6-9).
NO. 23 CREIGHTON 56, NO. 21 UCONN 53
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) &mdash; Trey Alexander scored 17 points to lead Creighton past UConn after the Huskies had what would have been a tying 3-pointer erased on video review in the final seconds.
Creighton (17-8, 11-3) is a half-game behind Big East-leading Marquette with its eighth straight win. The Huskies (19-7, 8-7) lost for the first time in four games.
Adama Sanogo had 17 points and 10 rebounds for UConn.
ILLINOIS 69, NO. 24 RUTGERS 60
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) &mdash; Coleman Hawkins scored 18 points and Illinois held Rutgers scoreless for more than 10 minutes in the second half to rally for the win.
Illinois (17-7, 8-5 Big Ten) trailed 47-41 with 14 1/2 minutes left before Hawkins&rsquo; 3-pointer started a 19-0 run. Hawkins hit four consecutive shots &mdash; including a 3 &mdash; and gave the Illini the lead for good at 48-47.
Rutgers (16-9, 8-6) missed 15 straight shots during its drought.
NO. 25 SAN DIEGO STATE 82, UNLV 71
SAN DIEGO (AP) &mdash; Adam Seiko scored all 18 points on 3-pointers and Matt Bradley added 17 points for San Diego, the Mountain West Conference front-runner that beat UNLV for its third straight win and seventh in eight games.
The Aztecs (20-5, 11-2 MWC) buried the Runnin&rsquo; Rebels in a blizzard of 3-pointers and slam dunks, including during a 14-0 run midway through the first half, to sweep the season series and top UNLV the fifth straight time. Keshad Johnson scored 11 of his 14 points in the game&rsquo;s first 6 1/2 minutes and Nathan Mensah had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Elijah Harkless scored 24 for UNLV (16-9, 5-8) before fouling out with 2:05 to go. Keshon Gilbert added 19 for the Runnin&rsquo; Rebels, who didn&rsquo;t get their first assist until two minutes into the second half.

A recap of Saturday's action in men's college hoops includes numerous upsets in the top-15.

Three-pointer at buzzer lifts Missouri over No. 6 Tennessee

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Emanuel Sharp came off the bench to score 18 points and No. 3 Houston bounced back from a loss that knocked it from the top spot in the rankings, beating UCF 82-71 on Wednesday night.
Jarace Walker added 17 points, Jamal Shead had 14 points and 10 assists, and Marcus Sasser also scored 14 for the Cougars (19-2, 7-1 American Athletic Conference), who lost 56-55 at home to Temple on Sunday.
Ithiel Horton scored 18 points and Taylor Hendricks had 17 for UCF (13-7, 4-4). Hendricks&rsquo; three-point play capped a 6-0 run that pulled the Knights within 67-62 with 7:02 remaining.
NO. 2 ALABAMA 66, MISSISSIPPI STATE 63
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Jahvon Quinerly scored 14 points and Alabama rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half to beat Mississippi State.
The Crimson Tide (18-2, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) had to climb out of a hole and then hold on two days after reaching the program&rsquo;s highest ranking since rising to No. 1 in the 2002-03 season. The result was a ninth straight win and the first real scare during that stretch.
Quinerly had four assists for the Tide and scored nine in the second half. Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney both scored 13, and Clowney had eight rebounds.
Tolu Smith led Mississippi State (12-8, 1-7) with 15 points and seven rebounds. Dashawn Davis added 14.
NO. 4 TENNESSEE 70, GEORGIA 41
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Zakai Zeigler had 11 points and seven assists and Tennessee held its 10th opponent to 50 or fewer points.
Tobe Awaka came off the bench to score 10 points. Santiago Vescovi had six rebounds, four assists and six steals to go with his eight points as Tennessee (17-3, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) got its first win at home since having its 25-game home winning streak snapped by Kentucky more than a week ago.
The Bulldogs (13-7, 3-4), who managed just 29% shooting from the field, were led by Terry Roberts with 11 points.
NO. 13 XAVIER 82, NO. 19 UCONN 79
STORRS, Conn. (AP) &mdash; Souley Boum scored 21 points, Colby Jones added 20 and Xavier won its 13th in 14 games.
Jack Nunge had 12 points and Jerome Hunter added 11 for Xavier (17-4, 9-1 Big East), which led by 17 in the first half and 39-24 at halftime.
Jordan Hawkins scored 26 of his 28 points in the second half for UConn (16-6, 5-6), leading a comeback that fell just short. Tristen Newton added 23 points for the Huskies.
TEXAS A&amp;M 79, NO. 15 AUBURN 63
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Tyrece Radford had 30 points and nine rebounds and Texas A&amp;M ended the nation&rsquo;s longest active home winning streak at 28 games.
The Aggies (14-6, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) used a strong offensive start to hand Auburn its first loss at Neville Arena since Feb. 23, 2021.
Wade Taylor IV finished with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting for the Aggies.
Johni Broome and Wendell Green Jr. each scored 16 points for the Tigers (16-4, 6-2), who had won five straight games overall.
NO. 23 PROVIDENCE 79, BUTLER 58
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) &mdash; Bryce Hopkins had 16 points and seven rebounds as Providence dominated Butler inside.
Devin Carter added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Friars (16-5, 8-2 Big East), who have won two straight since back-to-back losses at Creighton and Marquette. Providence had a 42-24 rebounding edge and outscored the Bulldogs 48-20 in the paint.
Eric Hunter Jr. had 12 points and Jayden Taylor scored 10 with a team-high five rebounds for Butler (11-11, 3-8).&nbsp;

A recap of Tuesday night's action in men's college hoops includes a bounce-back victory for the Cougars and an upset at Auburn.

Sharp scores 18 off the bench, leads No. 3 Houston over UCF

Dating back to when he was 9 years old, Malcolm Brogdon has made plenty of trips to Africa, a place he <a href="https://www.nba.com/pacers/news/brogdon-helps-bring-clean-water-joy-east-african-communities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">truly loves and is passionate about</a>. This past week marked yet another visit with the NBA for Basketball Without Borders, where he along with several players and coaches from around the league played a part in grooming the next generation of basketball youngsters &mdash; on and off the floor.
&ldquo;I just have a heart for it over here, a heart for the continent and developing these guys and giving them a real opportunity,&rdquo; Brogdon told Basketball News via Zoom.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think it's always an amazing opportunity when I get to come over here and work with the young talent, because there's a wealth of it in Africa. They don't have the resources and they don't have the nutrition and the development that we have, but once they do, these kids are gonna take off. So I definitely applaud the NBA for being over here and giving them an opportunity.&rdquo;
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(Photos via NBA Africa)
Held in Cairo, Egypt, for the first time since the program expanded into Africa, Basketball Without Borders returned after a brief hiatus. (The last event occurred in Dakar, Senegal, in 2019, which Brogdon also participated in at the time.) BWB Africa 2022 brought together over 60 of the top men and women&rsquo;s prospects under the age of 18 to learn and compete.
The camp featured a variety of activities, including movement efficiency drills, offensive and defensive skill stations, three-point contests and 5-on-5 games, plus sessions about life skills and leadership development. In addition, everybody involved was able to explore the country &mdash; most notably seeing the pyramids and going to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.
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Finding himself coaching for the second consecutive time, Brogdon quips that such a responsibility &ldquo;is a whole different monster than playing.&rdquo; With that being said, the 29-year-old envisions he&rsquo;ll continue to be involved in developing the future talent that comes from Africa.
&ldquo;It's up to guys like myself in the NBA that have a platform and have a name that can come over [to] encourage these guys, shine some light in their life, work with them and learn from them, and allow them to learn from you,&rdquo; Brogdon said.
With BWB Africa coming to a close on Wednesday, Basketball News spoke with Brogdon about his foundation, the Boston Celtics&rsquo; upcoming season and more.
You&rsquo;ve long talked about how important your platform as an NBA player is and how it can be used to help people. Could you speak about your clean water initiative in East Africa and your <a href="https://www.brogdonfamilyfoundation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brogdon Family Foundation</a> that started two years ago?
Brogdon: "For sure. I have a foundation, the Brogdon Family Foundation. It focuses on two things. One side is education domestically and the other side is clean water internationally. Especially on the clean water side, we've seen a lot of progress over the last couple of years. We're building clean water wells in East Africa &mdash; Tanzania and Kenya. We have over 20-to-25 wells in the ground in those two countries. We're doing a lot of really good work and really impacting people's lives."
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/brogdon1.png" alt="" width="560" height="448" />
It&rsquo;s got to be cool to be able to spend time with Grant Williams out there, especially now that you&rsquo;re teammates with him. Have you gotten the chance to get to know him better and talk ball?
Brogdon: "Yeah, we've talked a lot of basketball. We've spent a lot of time together. We've talked business, we've talked life. I got to meet his mom, she's here. Grant's a great guy. He's a smart guy. He takes the game serious, takes life serious. He's an impressive guy, so I've really enjoyed my time with him."
I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;re stoked for camp to start in a few weeks. You seem thrilled to be playing in Boston now. What makes that organization stand out to you?
Brogdon: "Their history, right? I mean, they're the most winning organization in the league, and I think they're more hungry to win than anybody. You can see that with the move they made for me and [Danilo] Gallinari. They want to improve. They want to win a championship. It's all about Banner 18 for 'em. Now that's all it's about for me as well, and I'm excited to be a part of that."
Have you had the chance to talk to Gallo after <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/danilo-gallinari-diagnosed-with-meniscus-tear-no-ligament-damage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his injury</a>?
Brogdon: "I reached out to him. I sent him a text that just said, 'Hey man, praying for you. Get healthy, we need you this year.' He said, 'I appreciate it, brother.' It was short. When you get injured, it's frustrating. You want people to check on you, but a lot of the time, you don't want to talk a lot about it, so I just sent a text out to let him know I was thinking about him and I was praying for him."
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How do you feel you can complement Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown best?
Brogdon: "I think I can just relieve pressure. Whether that's touching the paint, getting 'em easy shots. Whether that's guarding players that they need a break on the defensive end [against] so they can focus on offense.
"But [mostly], being a steady presence on the floor that can help control the end of games, that can help control the flow of the game to make sure that they're getting the ball in their spots, [so] they're never having to overdo it to get a look or run their bodies into the ground. I want to be that guy that can create for 'em."
You're joining a guard room with Marcus Smart, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard. It feels like the lineup combinations could be very fun.
Brogdon: "Yeah. We're talented, we're deep. A year ago, people were talking about, 'The Celtics didn't have depth.' Well, that's not gonna be an issue. I think this year we'll have a wealth of talent coming off the bench, and I'm excited about it. I'm excited. I think we've got smart, more-than-capable guys coming off the bench that are versatile on both sides of the ball, and we can really be dangerous."
What do you admire most about Ime Udoka? What have your conversations with him been like?
Brogdon: "I admire his authenticity, his realness. He's a straight shooter, he's very direct. There's not a lot of gray area with him. You can have coaches that don't want to tell you the truth, that sorta beat around the bush. He's far from that, so I really appreciate that about him. It's hard to find. I've had maybe two conversations with him. I can tell he's a player's coach. He was in the league for a while, he knows how to talk to you, he knows how to relate to you, but he also knows how to coach."
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Background on Basketball Without Borders Africa
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">The first Basketball Without Borders Africa camp took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2003.</li>
<li aria-level="1">In total there have been 18 BWB Africa camps, with the most recent camp taking place in Cairo, Egypt, from Aug. 28-31, 2022.</li>
<li aria-level="1">More than 1,400 men and women from more than 30 African countries have participated in BWB Africa.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Camps have been attended and supported by more than 150 NBA and WNBA coaches, players and NBA team personnel.</li>
<li aria-level="1">BWB Africa camps have been conducted in South Africa (2003-2009; 2011-2015; 2017-2018), Senegal (2010, 2019), Egypt (2022) and Angola (2016).</li>
<li aria-level="1">Twelve former BWB Africa campers have been drafted into the NBA: Khalifa Diop (BWB Africa 2018), Christian Koloko (BWB Africa 2017), Pascal Siakam (BWB Africa 2012), Joel Embiid (BWB Africa 2011), Kostas Antetokounmpo (BWB Africa 2015), Chukwudi Maduabum (BWB Africa 2010), Gorgui Dieng (BWB Africa 2009), Christian Eyenga (BWB Africa 2005), Hamady N'diaye (BWB Africa 2004), Solomon Alabi (BWB Africa 2004), Mouhamed Saer Sene (BWB Africa 2004), Luc Mbah a Moute (BWB Africa 2003)</li>
</ul>
Background on Basketball Without Borders
<ul>
<li aria-level="2">Basketball Without Borders (BWB) is the NBA and FIBA&rsquo;s global basketball development and community outreach program that was launched in 2001.</li>
<li aria-level="2">The first-ever BWB camp took place in Europe in July 2001: Vlade Divac (Serbia) and Toni Kukoc (Croatia), together with former teammates from the Yugoslavia national team, reunited in Treviso, Italy, to work with 50 children from the former Yugoslavia.</li>
<li aria-level="2">The NBA and FIBA have staged 65 BWB camps in 40 cities across 30 countries on six continents.&nbsp;</li>
<li aria-level="2">BWB has hosted more than 3,800 participants from 133 countries and territories.</li>
<li aria-level="2">More than 310 current and former NBA/WNBA players have joined more than 240 NBA team personnel from all 30 NBA teams to share their expertise and knowledge with participants.</li>
<li aria-level="2">The NBA typically hosts four regional BWB camps over the summer (Africa, Europe, Asia, Americas), and in 2015 created the BWB Global camp, which is held annually at NBA All-Star for the top prospects from the previous summer&rsquo;s camps</li>
<li aria-level="2">There have been 105 former BWB campers drafted or signed by NBA or WNBA teams, including a record 41 players on opening-night rosters last season.
<ul>
<li aria-level="2">Notable former BWB campers include Deandre Ayton, Josh Giddey, RJ Barrett, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lauri Markkanen, Joel Embiid, Danilo Gallinari, Marc Gasol, Rui Hachimura, Jonas Valanciunas, Jamal Murray, Nicolas Batum, Pascal Siakam and Awak Kuier.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

Spencer Davies chats with Malcolm Brogdon about his involvement with BWB Africa, his foundation, next year's Celtics and more.

Malcolm Brogdon Q&A: Fit with Celtics, BWB Africa experience

Mat Issa raves over Jordan Poole regarding his three-level scoring and how his ceiling may be higher than once thought.

Jordan Poole is even better than we could've imagined

When canvassing the Western Conference standings, an overall ideology is beginning to crystalize on potential deep postseason runs. At the moment, it looks like a one-team race with a few others having an outside shot. (For our Eastern Conference outlook, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/betting-the-east-possibilities-are-endless-for-nba-finals-contenders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a>.)
From a betting perspective, sportsbooks are in consensus that the Phoenix Suns are far and away the best team in the West. And when you see the odds discrepancies, it&rsquo;s really not even close. Thanks to the odds, we&rsquo;re able to break down the West into four realistic tiers for who will come out on top and represent the conference in the NBA Finals.
Tier 1: Phoenix Suns +115
If all goes to plan for the Suns, this should be a relatively easy repeat run back to the NBA Finals. Somehow, some way, national pundits actually believed Phoenix couldn&rsquo;t build off last year&rsquo;s jaw-dropping postseason performance. On the way, the Suns&rsquo; chemistry has blossomed alongside adding much-needed depth pieces to fortify the second unit.
When looking through the Suns&rsquo; roster, it&rsquo;s honestly hard to find any holes. Devin Booker and Chris Paul have proven to be a historically lethal backcourt, especially when the game is on the line. Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson have taken leaps to form a seamless wing duo and complement each other well. Deandre Ayton is proving yet again that he&rsquo;s an anchor to Phoenix&rsquo;s system providing plus-two-way efficiency on both ends of the court.
Injuries (knock on wood) are the only roadblock standing in front of Phoenix. Loaded to the gills with championship-level contributors, betting on the Suns is a wise investment in the West.
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Tier 2: Golden State Warriors +440, Memphis Grizzlies +600
At this point, it&rsquo;s surprising that Tier 2 hasn&rsquo;t seen the odds flip between both teams represented. After a red-hot start to the season, the Warriors have fallen off a cliff thanks to injuries and overall inconsistencies. No surprise, but Golden State looks lost without Stephen Curry on the court. Thanks to Curry, Vegas still believes the Dubs have the second-best odds to make the 2022 NBA Finals, but do they really hold multiple advantages against a resurgent Grizzlies group?
Even without Ja Morant, the Grizzlies continue to prove they are a legit force to be reckoned with. Armed with a young superstar and ideal complementary pieces across the board, Memphis looks the part of a finally awakened sleeping giant. Morant should be able to go toe-to-toe against Curry if Memphis and Golden State square off in the playoffs. Also, I favor the Grizzlies&rsquo; depth compared to the Warriors.
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Curry is the ultimate trump card, which shows in the odds, but the Grizzlies feel like the perfect flier at +600 odds to be this year&rsquo;s version of the 2021 Suns. All of a sudden, Memphis feels like a strong championship contender.
Tier 3: Utah Jazz +950, Dallas Mavericks +1000, Denver Nuggets +1100
Now we&rsquo;re entering into the portion of the conference where odds really begin to dwindle. Phoenix, Golden State and Memphis all have the goods to make a Finals push. Outside of those three teams, many questions loom around the West.
Doesn&rsquo;t it feel like the title window has already closed on the Jazz? A regular-season juggernaut over the last few years, Utah&rsquo;s inconsistencies are beginning to raise serious long-term roster questions. Will Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert be traded if the Jazz have an early postseason exit? That idea feels more plausible than skeptical, which says a lot about where Utah&rsquo;s mindset currently is.
Luka Doncic is single-handedly carrying the Mavericks to the postseason, this time without a secondary star alongside him. After Dallas traded Kristaps Porzingis, Doncic has taken on a James Harden-esque usage level and thrived. Fatigue will surely play a factor down the road with Doncic, but, in the meantime, it&rsquo;s an uneasy feeling to wager against Dallas. If Doncic catches fire in the playoffs, who&rsquo;s to say the Mavericks can&rsquo;t make a shocking run to the West Finals?
Denver is in the exact same position as Dallas, but instead it&rsquo;s Nikola Jokic once again proving why he should be the back-to-back MVP. Without Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., Jokic is putting up historic numbers keeping the Nuggets afloat. It&rsquo;s unlikely either of Denver&rsquo;s co-stars return to help Jokic, but what happens if they draw a favorable postseason matchup? Denver feels like a team who could make some early noise, but fizzle out once they run into the West&rsquo;s top tier.
Amongst this group, throwing a dart on Denver at +1100 odds because of Jokic&rsquo;s brilliance seems like the wisest strategy.
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Tier 4: Minnesota Timberwolves +2200, Los Angeles Clippers +2500
Rounding out the West&rsquo;s most realistic postseason contenders, the Timberwolves and Clippers feel the same. No wonder why they&rsquo;re odds are nearly identical, especially in the bottom tier of the West&rsquo;s true title hopefuls.
It&rsquo;s been awesome to watch Minnesota this season, especially when the team gets cooking on both ends of the court. Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards and D&rsquo;Angelo Russell is a fun trio, plus complementary pieces like Jarred Vanderbilt and Jaden McDaniels have shined at different portions of the 2021-22 campaign. Poised for the Play-In Tournament, how will Minnesota function being on the doorstep of the postseason for the first time since the Tom Thibodeau/Jimmy Butler era?
Paul George is back for the Clippers, which should honestly change the whole calculus here. As we saw last season, Los Angeles can more than hold its own in the postseason &mdash; even without Kawhi Leonard. If George gets hot again, the Clippers could truly shock the world in the first round with an upset; it&rsquo;s probably not wise to bet on that though. Still, with more postseason experience where live bullets are flying, the Clippers feel like the safer choice here.
As you can see, the Western Conference feels like it&rsquo;s settling in, and we're getting a better vision of how the postseason could play out. Phoenix as the heavy favorite, almost at even odds to make the Finals, honestly feels right on the money. Golden State and Memphis are the two sleepers, but this is truly the Suns&rsquo; conference once again.
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With the NBA postseason drawing near, which teams have the best odds to come out of the Western Conference?

Betting the West: Suns favorites to represent conference in NBA Finals

Picture this. You&rsquo;re in your early 20&rsquo;s, fresh out of college, living in the big city. It&rsquo;s the first time out on your own, so trivial tasks feel as insurmountable as Hunger Game trials &mdash; meal-prepping in lieu of busy days, keeping up with the bills (ugh, so many bills!) and, wait&hellip; how often do people typically do their laundry?
New York itself can be a daunting place. Smooth travel is but a game of misguided faith; subway lines go down at a moment&rsquo;s notice, there&rsquo;s almost always traffic if rideshare is your transit of choice, and you better learn how to use that Maps app... it&rsquo;ll be your closest ally in a hectic time crunch. Silence &mdash; heck, even just a solitary second to gather one&rsquo;s thoughts amidst the kinetic busyness on the avenues and boulevards &mdash; is fleeting in a city that&rsquo;s ritualistic about pulling all-nighters, its citizens moving in cohesion at the pace of the Road Runner on a 24 oz. Monster Energy drink.&nbsp;
For most of us who migrated into the five boroughs from outside lands, the first six months are a rude awakening. Take it from me, now four years into living in NYC &mdash; all of this can be a lot to deal with initially.
Now, imagine balancing everything I just mentioned while acclimating to the unforgiving rigors of the NBA&rsquo;s travel schedule (and lordy has it been relentless yet again), and all the while getting thrown out to the famished wolves on a contender with a Prospect Park-sized target on its back.&nbsp;
Oh, and let&rsquo;s just add in the outlandish challenge of guarding the likes of MVP-candidate DeMar DeRozan in your ninth NBA game, no biggie. That is what the Nets&rsquo; rookie 3-and-D forward Kessler Edwards &mdash; now six months into his Brooklyn tenure &mdash; was staring at with a mere 128 professional minutes under his belt.
He didn&rsquo;t balk.
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That&rsquo;s been a trend for Edwards, who is no stranger to feeling like the odds against him are stacked like Jenga towers, with one false move causing a swift collapse. Ranked as just a 3-star prospect in high school by 24/7 Sports, he committed to Pepperdine University and spent three full seasons expanding his skill set. Still, Edwards didn&rsquo;t hear his name called until the middle of the 2021 NBA Draft's second round last June; he was taken at No. 44 due to concerns about his creation prospects. His role was anything but a given on a Nets team that&rsquo;s never been more "title or bust."
COVID-19 protocols forced Brooklyn&rsquo;s hand to play the kiddos, and after some impressive play in the middle of December, Edwards was eventually given his shot with the full squad on Jan. 10. There, he earned a start alongside Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden against the best team in the Eastern Conference, the Chicago Bulls, and his assignment was to thwart the Bulls' incendiary wing tandem. Stuck inside what most would consider a pressure cooker, Edwards emerged from the steam and mist to serve up a truly scrumptious feast for fans to sink their teeth into.
Brooklyn&rsquo;s rookie stopper held DeMar DeRozan to just <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1630556/head-to-head/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1-of-3 shooting</a> that night. Three days later, he bothered Brandon Ingram into an uncharacteristic 2-of-8 showing. Then, it was Evan Mobley, who mustered a mere 3-of-7 outing while defended by the Glendale, California native.&nbsp;
So what has allowed the rookie to hang ten with such a vastly different cast of opponents?&nbsp;
Well, for one, his 6-foot-8 stature and 8-foot-10 standing reach provide him with the requisite length to ace the standardized test of becoming a wing-stopper. He&rsquo;s proficient at flipping his hips and moving backward to track drivers as they bob and weave to the rim, his calves, quads and hamstrings laced with a not-too-shabby 37-inch vertical to wipe away airspace on his contests. Moreover, Edwards has noticeably bulked up since being drafted by the Nets, allowing him to absorb and rebuke opponents&rsquo; jabs in the post with Tempurpedic sponginess. Altogether, he&rsquo;s blocking 1.5% of his enemies&rsquo; shot attempts, good for the <a href="https://www.cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4907#tab-defense_rebounding" target="_blank" rel="noopener">81st percentile</a> at his position.
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Yet, in spite of adding all that weight, Edwards is still able to navigate screens with the malleability of a 6-2 slender guard. Seriously, it&rsquo;s highly unusual to see a player of his build tactically evade screens, especially at such a young age. But Kess doesn&rsquo;t just figure skate over and under picks like a seasoned vet; he&rsquo;s also well-versed with his routes of recovery to <a href="https://www.polygon.com/mario-kart-8-deluxe-guide/2017/4/28/15458834/tips-drifting-ultra-mini-turbo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">turbo-drift</a> to the front of his assignment and contest.
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Kess isn&rsquo;t without his flaws as a defender. He&rsquo;s prone to biting hard on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJOtKVfjkh4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ball fakes and pump fakes</a>. He&rsquo;ll get a little too eager when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MurV0ZwFmIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digging down on post threats</a>, opening up space for his man to tiptoe out of the picture. He&rsquo;s also gotten his wires crossed on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50Uot7PhcBU&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pick-and-pops</a>, unsure if he&rsquo;s supposed to switch or stay glued to the trigger-happy screener. His <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRjsVhgx_Qc&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">closeouts will vary in diligence</a>, and frenetic fly-bys tend to crop up against threatening long-range detonators. Wholistically, he needs to trust his length more &mdash; it&rsquo;ll help him avoid crowding his assignments and should reduce shooting fouls.
None of these areas for improvement are anything out of the ordinary. The precision of NBA offense is an exhaustingly-daunting learning curve for many young players. If he applies himself, there&rsquo;s All-Defense potential sitting in there somewhere.
Oh, but it gets more enticing.
We&rsquo;ve thoroughly covered the &ldquo;D&rdquo; part of his 3-and-D billing, it&rsquo;s time we take a look at what the 21-year-old can do behind the arc. Edwards entered the draft as a 39.5% specialist from the college three-point line, though his shooting portfolio wasn&rsquo;t without its faults. He had this strange habit of splaying his legs on his release &mdash; his feet basically perpendicular upon landing like he was hitting yoga poses. It was unclear if this mechanical quirk would affect Edwards&rsquo; capacity to relocate and shoot on the move.&nbsp;
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After some time with Brooklyn&rsquo;s G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, Kessler&rsquo;s idiosyncratic landing mechanics appear to have been wiped clean. Now, his feet travel in unison throughout the entirety of his jump shot. His release point is high, and he shoots on the way up. The elevation on his jumper is majestic; he seemingly hovers for a second with hawk-like composure as the ball leaves his hands. There&rsquo;s a sense of solidarity in Edwards&rsquo; energy transfer, a common goal of producing highly-efficient marks.
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&ldquo;It feels like he&rsquo;s refined his mechanics,&rdquo; Nets head coach Steve Nash told me and fellow Brooklyn reporters. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what my eye says. It had quite a pronounced motion to it ]before], and now, he seems to have really streamlined the motion and taken a lot of that out. Most importantly, he looks confident.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Confident&rdquo; is definitely one way to describe it. Edwards has nailed 43.2% of his big-league threes, good for the <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4907#tab-shooting_accuracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">96th percentile at his position</a>. Leaving him alone on the perimeter is basically a death wish &mdash; he&rsquo;s 12 of 23 on uncontested long balls. Canning <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HQ3PM3GRuM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transition threes</a> after a full sprint is certainly within Kess&rsquo; wheelhouse.&nbsp;
Brooklyn&rsquo;s confidence in the 21-year-old&rsquo;s shooting acumen appears to be growing by the game. Against the Pelicans, the Nets ran a set play in the second quarter to have Edwards scamper from the left corner to the left slot by means of a stagger screen. The rookie passed his first pro-level relocation test with flying colors, catching, turning and squaring up to the rim for an all-twine connection.&nbsp;
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Edwards is also one of the few only wing-sized players not named Kevin Durant who can proficiently execute a pick-and-pop. Kess and Irving have showcased early chemistry, in particular. Thanks to his refined mechanics, he&rsquo;s far more apt at shooting while moving to his left. (Popping to his right is obviously a more natural motion). Again, it&rsquo;s early, but he&rsquo;s graded out as <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/roll-man/?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*edwards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">88th percentile roll man</a> without really, well, ever rolling to the rim. I guess that&rsquo;s what happens when you average 1.5 points per pick-and-pop possession (according to Synergy).
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Kessler&rsquo;s true ceiling will be dictated by how much he can ascend beyond that 3-and-D label. Self-creation remains a point of emphasis for the 21-year-old, though he&rsquo;s shown some competence when run off the line. He&rsquo;ll rise up for two-dribble pull-ups after aggressive closeouts (which he warrants!), and he&rsquo;s yet to miss from outside 14 feet. He&rsquo;s also flashed a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpvR1o5IpMc">rather nifty runner</a> at 42% accuracy, placing him in the 65th percentile at his position from the short mid-range. Just 12 games in, Edwards appears ready-made with a pair of built-in counters for when defenses force him to put it on the floor.
Things get a little harrier when he&rsquo;s forced to make decisions in the restricted area; like, Chewbacca or Cousin Itt hairy. Edwards&rsquo; handle is rigid... no, better yet, it can appear almost arthritic. He&rsquo;s prone to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5QnsVyUWiw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">swipe-down</a> steals due to his high dribble, and he&rsquo;s mostly a straight-line driver. When he does attempt moves that are even slightly complex, the results... erm, you&rsquo;ll see for yourself.
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Kess doesn&rsquo;t have to transform into The Professor overnight to be clear, but some ball control must be cultivated in order to transcend into the Mikal Bridges <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4447#tab-shooting_accuracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">realm of operations</a>. For now, Edwards is a big wing-sized player shooting just <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4907#tab-shooting_accuracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">45% at the rim</a>, a paltry fifth-percentile ranking. Sheesh.
It&rsquo;d help if he could produce literally any force at the basket. As such an explosive two-foot leaper on his closeouts, it&rsquo;s strange to see him hop off one leg with such frailty on his drives. Springing off two would generate actual power, allow him to play through contact and increase his body control. He&rsquo;d have more ease changing directions to evade shot-blockers and a higher likelihood of successfully stretching out for finishes. Most of all, it&rsquo;d slow him down. For now, he works at 2.75-times the usual player's speed on his layups, his brain outpacing his body&rsquo;s ability to function.
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To say that Edwards has had some nice moments for the Nets would be quite the understatement, like calling He-Man a &ldquo;pretty strong dude with decent hair.&rdquo; Kess can already shoot the dang ball at an elite rate while guarding opposing stars at an NBA level, and he&rsquo;s got plus-size at his position. He&rsquo;s basically the exact type of player the Nets have long been searching for, dating all the way back to the D&rsquo;Angelo Russell days.&nbsp;
Expectations have never been higher in Brooklyn. There are <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/report-james-harden-open-to-relocating-this-summer-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">murmurs of Harden wanting out</a>, and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/breakingnews/nets-star-irving-steadfast-on-vaccine-despite-durant-injury" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Irving&rsquo;s vaccination status remains a dark, ominous cloud</a> that hangs over Brooklyn&rsquo;s season, ready to rain on the championship parade. The Nets' rotation feels diverse, yet still unfinished. Far too often do Nash&rsquo;s amalgamations of players feature the spacing of a mall parking lot on Black Friday.&nbsp;
Kessler Edwards offers something different than his contemporaries. On one end, he&rsquo;ll fill the corners while Harden runs the pick-and-roll; on the other, he&rsquo;ll screech around screens like Tokyo Drift to bother brash scorers that dare try him.
Altogether, the Nets have stumbled upon a very special player. They&rsquo;d be foolish to not put him to the test in the playoff crucible.
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Matt Brooks details how Nets rookie Kessler Edwards has been a bright spot for the team and the ways he's impacted the game.

The Nets may have stumbled on something with Kessler Edwards

The Indiana Pacers are at rock bottom. Ten games under .500 and on track for their first single-digit draft pick in the lottery since 1989, all signs have pointed to a much-needed reset with their core players.
And to be clear, that&rsquo;s still what should be Indiana&rsquo;s top priority before next month&rsquo;s trade deadline. Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner, Caris LeVert and T.J. Warren should all be more than available in discussions around the league to start rebuilding around 2021 draft picks Chris Duarte and Isaiah Jackson, plus whoever they select in the lottery this summer.
However, a spark has at least ignited in Indiana to make the Pacers an entertaining watch recently. Stunningly, it&rsquo;s Pacers folk hero Lance Stephenson, who hasn&rsquo;t played for the organization since his second stint with the team in 2017-18.
Indiana signed Stephenson to a 10-day contract earlier this month. Immediately, Stephenson&rsquo;s energizing ways helped galvanize the slumping Pacers to a competent stretch of basketball where they recently defeated the Utah Jazz, one of the NBA&rsquo;s hottest teams as of late.
Over the last two games, Stephenson has transformed into a legitimate piece to the Pacers&rsquo; puzzle, averaging 23.0 points, 9.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds. In back-to-back games, Stephenson put together career-best performances for the Pacers in scoring (30 points vs. Brooklyn) and facilitating (14 assists vs. Utah). The synergy with Sabonis in pick-and-roll situations was immediate, allowing the Pacers&rsquo; big man to pour in a career-high 42 points against the Jazz on Saturday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
WHAT A PASS FROM LANCE STEPHENSON 👏 <a href="https://t.co/vAu42VOIaW">pic.twitter.com/vAu42VOIaW</a>
&mdash; NBABet (@nbabet) <a href="https://twitter.com/nbabet/status/1479997639584268291?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The Stephenson-Sabonis duo actually played together a little bit during the 2017-18 season.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s great. He&rsquo;s my guy,&rdquo; Sabonis said of Stephenson after his 42-point explosion versus Utah. &ldquo;Me and him have great chemistry in the pick-and-roll. He does a great job reading in the game.&rdquo;
Stephenson was not even on NBA radars for multiple seasons prior to attempting an NBA comeback &mdash; first with the G League's Grand Rapids Drive, then on a 10-day hardship deal with the Atlanta Hawks. Now, after this eye-opening stretch, Indiana has decided upon keeping its longtime fan favorite with a season-long contract. Even Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle has acknowledged the impact Stephenson has made within the organization.
&ldquo;Lance has given us a different vibe as a team,&rdquo; Carlisle said. &ldquo;The spark that he has provided, the personality. There&rsquo;s a change in our team. A change in the disposition, the body language, the enthusiasm. It&rsquo;s great to see.&rdquo;
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The jolt of energy Stephenson has provided, awakening Pacers fans from their season-long slumber, all leads back to the same road to drive down. To be quite honest, Stephenson leading a tanking Pacers team over the final few months of the season would make everyone in Indianapolis happy.
The Lance Stephenson show has finally brought back much-needed attention to Pacers basketball for their own fan base. Indiana now has its presumed tank commander in place if the team finally decides to blow it up.
Small market teams have to hit big in the draft to have sustained, long-term success. In Indiana, that has alluded the franchise for years. the Pacers' only successful top picks over the last decade are Paul George and Turner. One decided enough was enough and left Indiana, and the other <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/mavericks-knicks-lakers-hornets-showing-interest-in-myles-turner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could soon be Indiana&rsquo;s best trade chip</a> to finally accept bottoming out for the greater good.
It&rsquo;s been over 30 years since the Pacers had a premium lottery pick. My stance hasn&rsquo;t wavered once. Go ahead and blow it all up.
Popping up out of nowhere, Stephenson is ready to take command of the operation for a few months and make for at least an entertaining on-court product in Indy while the team sinks further into the reality of praying for lottery luck.

Lance Stephenson has finally provided entertainment for the Pacers. However, there's another fun idea to explore in Indy with him.

Lance Stephenson could be the perfect Pacers tank commander

Luka Doncic is a 6-foot-7, 230-pound guard. You'd probably expect him to have an advantage with his size around the basket.
But with all of Doncic's dazzling dribble moves, pinpoint passes and stupefying stepbacks, it often gets lost that he is one of the most terrifying attacking players in the entire NBA. Doncic drives to the basket more than almost anyone else, and finishes with top-notch efficiency. His ability to get downhill and threaten defenses in turn allows him to whip out some of those highlight-reel dishes.
The Dallas Mavericks send everything through their young superstar &mdash; Doncic leads the NBA in usage rate by a wide margin at 40.5%, per Cleaning the Glass. He shoulders arguably the greatest offensive burden of any player, and he's only 22 years old. Doncic has earned that trust not only because of his electric (albeit streaky) perimeter game, but also because he has thus far been nearly unstoppable as a driver.
Let's dive in.
According to the league's player tracking data, Doncic averages 20.3 drives to the basket per game, which is second among all players behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's mark of 25.2. Within those drives, Doncic averages 8.4 field goal attempts and 8.8 passes per game, so a fairly even decision-making split.
What separates the Slovenian star is his high-level success going both ways. Doncic averages 12.2 points per game on drives &mdash; good for fourth in the NBA &mdash; and makes a scorching 59.2% of his shots (second behind Giannis Antetokounmpo). Then, he turns around and averages 2.3 assists per game off of drives &mdash; fifth-most among all players &mdash; with only a 6.4% turnover percentage, which is 28th among 54 players averaging 10-plus drives per game (a pretty regular turnover rate).&nbsp;
That's a lot of numbers, so in short: Doncic scores a ton on drives, at an esteemed clip, and creates a relatively high assist total without heaving turnovers in the process.
More generally, Dallas' franchise player was elite at his position around the rim. Doncic finished 68.9% of his attempts in the restricted area, putting him in a virtual tie for first among guards with De'Aaron Fox (min. 200 attempts). Step out a tad to what the NBA calls the "In The Paint (Non-Restricted Area)" zone, and Doncic is seventh-most effecient among guards with at least 100 attempts, making just over half of his shots.
All these buckets come with a mix of impressive vision, body contortion and touch. Look at the combination of moves in which Doncic has to get his looks, and then, the effortless nature in which he gets them to fall:
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In this short montage, we see Doncic show off runners, floaters and fadeaways off of a pivot. He does an excellent job of pinning guards behind him and using that contact to gain separation. Doncic also utilizes a legal, softer swim move of sorts to lower his shoulder and power past defenders. No, he's not an Fox-type of explosive athlete &mdash; but he's as good, if not better, at using his craft to move where he wants.
And Doncic isn't just picking on guards. Watch as he catches Kevin Durant dancing and takes the bump to separate from one of the longest, toughest defensive matchups in the game. Against Bam Adebayo, Doncic isn't afraid to get physical, but can also fade back and finish with soft touch over the Miami Heat big man. The 22-year-old is a phenomenal finisher through contact, as emphasized in the clips below.
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Look at the hang time on some of these shots. Doncic is levitating with the ease of a small guard despite his aforementioned 6-foot-7, 230-pound frame. The way he finishes is uniquely unorthodox; it's not with the grace of Kyrie Irving or the power of LeBron James. It's somewhere awkardly in the middle, but just as effective.&nbsp;
Together, Doncic's bag and body control warp defenses, allowing him to unsheath his all-world court vision.
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These passes are insane.&nbsp;Try pausing the clip when Doncic is about to throw the ball. I genuinely could could not tell if he was planning to shoot or dish it off. He freezes weak-side defenders because they don't expect anything coming their way. How can you when Doncic is such an elite short-range shooter while giving no tells as a passer?
The Mavericks did not revamp their roster this offseason, so outside of re-signing Tim Hardaway Jr., they failed to bring aboard a secondary playmaker. But to be honest, I think it's an overblown need when Doncic is such a significant weapon with the ball in his hands. He held it the most of any player per game last season (8.9 minutes on average) &mdash; and he should. To be this impactful and this durable with this much of an offensive burden &mdash; again, at 22 years old &mdash; is extremely rare.
Instead, Dallas should be focusing on reinventing an atrocious defense that continuously bogs the team down in both the regular and postseason. Let Doncic be the aggressive offensive engine, because when he is, he's unstoppable.
This is the second installment of Ethan's Superstar Secrets mini-series. If you missed it, check out his breakdown of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-superstar-secrets-james-harden-post-defense-and-physical-strength" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Harden's underrated post defense</a> and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/superstar-secrets-jimmy-butler-the-precise-passer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jimmy Butler's precise passing</a>.

Ethan Fuller breaks down how Luka Doncic has become one of basketball's elite finishers.

Superstar Secrets: Luka Doncic attacking the basket

If there's one thing I can definitively say about LeBron James&rsquo; latest foray into the box office, it's that the sincerity in his performance as LeBron James is endearing. It&rsquo;s not convincing, but it is endearing.
From beginning to end, James is engaged and invested into the script of "Space Jam: A New Legacy," which made the irregular-heartbeat-inducing pace of its editing tolerable for the length of the film. Yes, the wacky cartoon sound effects awakened a conditioned sense of peace that I&rsquo;m sure my inner child experiences every Saturday morning, so that&rsquo;s something Warner Bros. nailed.
Between the erratic scenes held together by a surprisingly sound storyline and awkwardly integrated special effects, there were a couple of spectacles that I found fun &ndash; magic robot Damian Lillard being one of them. As an NBA writer that embraces the entertainment aspect of basketball on the court to satisfy my past as an art kid, I didn&rsquo;t know that Dame Time personified would be so satisfying to see on the big screen. Had "Space Jam 2" explored the more captivating moments as a storyline instead of saving it as the film&rsquo;s dazzling peak, there would've been some fun possibilities... However, that may have been a little too ambitious for the target audience.
Instead, James and the supporting cast give us a simpler, classic journey of how parents should nurture their children and allow them to become whoever they wish to be &ndash; whether that is a basketball superstar or a computer savant (apparently, that&rsquo;s the opposite of hooper). The film is full of choppy scenes meant to keep us captivated, and the final cut felt like it was broken up into a couple of hours of TikTok scrolling &ndash; the kind where you come out of the binge confused and craving Warner Bros. studio films. Some minute-long clips will be worth a second watch, while others will need to be eliminated from your "for you" page. A very effective approach.
The commercial-like vibe didn&rsquo;t end there. The frenzied Warner Bros. cross-promotion in "A New Legacy" has become a running meme from the movie on social media. The famed studio used quite a bit of the production to boost brand recognition without any of the meta humor present in the first movie. At times, these ad placements can take away from the awesome design in "A New Legacy." There was a successful effort to keep the Looney Tunes true to their original characters, so perhaps WB believed this genuine effort to keep Bugs Bunny and the gang allowed for them to sprinkle in references to a host of Warner backdrops.
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Famed film critic Robert Ebert once said, &ldquo;You will find something profound, no matter how silly the film may seem,&rdquo; and it rings especially true with the "Space Jam" series. Instead of panning "A New Legacy" to flex knowledge in cinematic excellence (which I don&rsquo;t have since I frequently watch and enjoy garbage), or even protect it from any criticism as a film for children, not grown ups, let us appreciate these films for what they&rsquo;ve become &mdash; a chance for a kid from Akron and another raised in North Carolina to leave their fingerprints on popular American culture.
Alongside the Looney Tunes, a staple of TVs in every household, both Michael Jordan and James have put exclamation marks on the mountaintops of their careers. Both have used "Space Jam" as an opportunity to place their name next to everything from the legendary cartoons themselves, and in the case of James: "Harry Potter," "Casablanca," "A Clockwork Orange," DC comics and more.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The strength of familiar faces carrying the cameo-packed climax was obvious; every time a character we all know popped onto the screen, the theater burst into whispers. This film was made to appeal to everyone. Every line is written to be quotable. Every scene is shimmering and over-the-top and gaudy. Every highlight is made worthy. From the NBA&rsquo;s most talented player to the cheesy storyline imploring us all to let people be themselves, LeBron James&rsquo; passion project makes for an easy, glitzy watch.
Much to the dismay of the veteran&rsquo;s "&lsquo;haters," he <a href="https://deadline.com/2021/07/space-jam-a-new-legacy-black-widow-weekend-box-office-1234794982/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared a Deadline link via Twitter</a> that stated, &ldquo;Warner Bros.&rsquo; long awaited sequel to the 25-year-old family classic 'Space Jam' -- 'Space Jam: A New Legacy' -- had a four-point shot at the box office yesterday, with $13.1M at 3,965 theaters, for what will be a $32M opening weekend.&rdquo;
And that&rsquo;s mission accomplished for James. He sees himself immortalized for a little bit longer toward the twilight years of his NBA career. We get an original, post-pandemic feature that brings on some welcomed nostalgia for preferable times.

"Space Jam: A New Legacy" came out several days ago, so Yasmin Duale reviews the sequel that stars LeBron James.

LeBron put himself in the history books with 'Space Jam: A New Legacy'

Etan Thomas speaks with Obinna Ekezie on Nigeria's massive win over Team USA over the weekend and the rise in talent in the nation.

OBN Academy founder, former Terp Obinna Ekezie Q&A on Nigeria beating U.S.

In this series, Matt Babcock shares his experience growing up around the Milwaukee Bucks organization since his dad, Dave Babcock, has been an executive with the team for 23 years. He also provides an inside look at the rise and fall of the Bucks during the late 1990s and early 2000s. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/breakingnews/growing-up-a-buck-millewahque-milwaukee-bucks-nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">If you missed Part 1, read it here</a>.
The 1998-99 season would prove to be a very interesting season for the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks, and especially, me.
To start, in June of 1998, the NBA and the Players&rsquo; Association failed to come to a consensus on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. This caused the owners to lock out the league in July, with no end in sight.
In late August, Senator Herb Kohl, the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, decided to part ways with the head coach, Chris Ford. Shortly after, George Karl inked a four-year contract to become the new head coach. Just a few years prior, George had coached the Seattle SuperSonics to the 1996 NBA Finals where they faced Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. The Sonics featured star players Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, and Detlef Schrempf. That Sonics team took the Bulls, perhaps the greatest team of all-time (with the greatest player of all-time), to six games. 
There&rsquo;s a saying that goes, &ldquo;A team takes on the personality of their head coach.&rdquo; In hindsight, there&rsquo;s no better example of this than that Sonics team. Led by Payton, this team was competitive, fearless, chippy, aggressive and visibly passionate about the game, with a tendency to &ldquo;stir the pot&rdquo; &mdash; just like Karl.&nbsp;
Needless to say, I was excited that George was our coach and that I&rsquo;d have the opportunity to be around someone of his stature. I say &ldquo;our coach&rdquo; because, remember, my dad was serving as director of scouting for the Bucks&rsquo; front office at this time. Little did I know how well I would get to know George Karl...
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Not long after George was hired by the Bucks, I was introduced to him and his son, Coby, who happened to be the same age as me. Since I spent the previous season in Milwaukee hanging around my dad&rsquo;s office and the practice facility, while also serving as a ball boy for the team, I showed Coby the ropes. Although my dad was not a former NBA player or a celebrity head coach like Coby&rsquo;s, it was apparent from the get-go that he and I were &ldquo;cut from the same cloth&rdquo; &mdash; we were true basketball guys. It was in our blood and we lived for the game. We were at the Cousins Center, the Bucks&rsquo; practice facility, where our dads&rsquo; offices were, all the time. All we wanted to do was be on the court or around our dads&rsquo; offices. 
One time, we went to the Cousins Center on a weekend when no one was there and we didn&rsquo;t have a key... so we broke in and the cops were called. We tried to justify it by saying we had to get shots up. We thought our dads would understand. Anyway, we were instantly great friends, brought together by basketball, in this new place called Milwaukee, Wisconsin.&nbsp;
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Now, we just needed the lockout to end and the Bucks&rsquo; season to start.
The lockout ended in January and once the Bucks&rsquo; season got into full swing, every security guard and staffer in the Bradley Center knew us. We had full access before, during, and after games. I&rsquo;m sure some people thought the access we were given was ridiculous, but I wasn&rsquo;t complaining and I certainly wasn&rsquo;t going to pass up on those opportunities. We shot around with the players before games during the informal warmups and I routinely played one-on-one with Glenn &ldquo;Big Dog&rdquo; Robinson before each home game. If you were a Bucks fan during this time, you will remember the &ldquo;Big Dog Yank&rdquo; &mdash; this was Big Dog&rsquo;s step-back crossover move. He embarrassed me with this move many times. Coby and I were regulars in the locker room during pre-game pep talks conducted by George, or pre-game video preparation done by one of the assistant coaches: Terry Stotts or Ron Adams. We heard George rip the team, on occasion, at halftime or after a tough loss and we were also there celebrating with the team after big wins.
That year, our high-school spring break came at the right time. The Bucks were scheduled to play the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat in Florida that week, and I was invited to join. Although the access I had that year was on an entirely different level than it had been in years past, I had still been around plenty of NBA players and exposed to a lot of the behind-the-scenes scenarios within the NBA through my family. However, I had never flown with the team on a road trip.
Before I knew it, I was boarding the team&rsquo;s private plane. I sat near the front with Coby and his dad. I was a 15-year-old kid traveling with the Milwaukee Bucks &mdash; I couldn&rsquo;t believe it. The first stop was Orlando; it was pretty late when we landed. Coby and I slept on cots in George&rsquo;s hotel room. We woke up the next morning, had a quick breakfast, and got on the team bus to head to practice. On the way to the arena, George let Coby and I know that we would be participating in the team&rsquo;s practice. Although practice on the day of a game, commonly referred to as &ldquo;shootaround,&rdquo; is generally very laid back and casual, we would still be doing organized drills led by one of the most famous coaches in sports and with NBA players like Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, Dell Curry, Vinny Del Negro, Glenn Robinson, and Tim Thomas. I thought it was a pretty big deal &mdash; I was nervous. We went through the shootaround, doing different drills with the team, and I did fine. In hindsight, what an amazing opportunity for a young kid.
After the shootaround, we had lunch and took pregame naps. We were on the team&rsquo;s schedule and that&rsquo;s just what you do the day of a game. The first bus was scheduled to leave a few hours before tipoff. There are multiple team buses that go to the arena from the hotel before each away game. Young players that didn&rsquo;t play much would usually go on the first bus to get some extra pre-game work in on the court. Star players that played major minutes didn&rsquo;t go over to the arena as early. Coby and I always got on the first bus so we could get extra time on the floor before the game. I then played my regular one-on-one game with Big Dog whenever he arrived. Once the games started, we didn&rsquo;t have tickets or assigned seats &mdash; we sat on the court next to the team&rsquo;s bench. When players would be substituted out of the game and walk back to the bench we would give high fives along with the rest of the players. It felt as if we were a part of the team and living the NBA equivalent of the movie &ldquo;Almost Famous.&rdquo;
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Unfortunately, the Bucks lost both games on that trip. The first game was versus the Magic and Penny Hardaway, who had 26 points that night. In the second game, Alonzo Mourning&rsquo;s Miami Heat edged the Bucks by a few points in a close game. &ldquo;Zo&rdquo; was a really impressive player to see in person; he was so strong and played with an intensity unlike any player I had ever seen before. I am really grateful I was able to see him up close during his prime. He certainly made a huge impression on me.
So, our spring break was coming to an end. We were on the flight home to Milwaukee after the game in Miami. It was the trip of a lifetime, but I was exhausted. I fell asleep as soon as I sat in my seat on the plane. Halfway through the flight, I was awakened by a nudge. I opened my eyes and it was veteran player, Armon Gilliam, nicknamed &ldquo;The Hammer.&rdquo; He politely asked me if I had the Bible, and I told him I did not. A few seconds later, once Armon returned to the back of the plane, a few of the players chuckled. They were pulling a prank on me by hiding the Bible from &ldquo;Hammer&rdquo; and telling him I had it. I suppose I was being hazed. I felt like I belonged.
George led the Bucks to 28 wins in that lockout-shortened season. That meant they were going to the playoffs to face Reggie Miller, the Indiana Pacers, and their coach, my childhood hero, Larry Bird.&nbsp;
The Bucks were ascending rapidly, and I was along for the ride.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/growing-up-a-milwaukee-bucks-its-reggie-miller-time-indiana-pacers-nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read Part 3 of this series: "Growing up a Buck: It's Miller Time." </a>
Also, check out Matt Babcock and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's latest 2021 NBA Mock Draft</a>.

Matt Babcock, who grew up around the Bucks organization, provides an inside look at the team's rise and fall during the late '90s and early 2000s.

Growing up a Buck: George Karl arrives in Milwaukee

Some bask in the spotlight, while others prefer to hide in the shadows.
Attention is the friend of many; solitude the companion of choice for a few.
In today&rsquo;s day and age &ndash; particularly with the advent of social media and the 24/7 news cycle &ndash; it&rsquo;s difficult for a neophyte to maintain his anonymity. But, it&rsquo;s possible that, for a 20-year-old with promise, avoiding the radar may not be as difficult as we once thought.
All he has to do is play for the New York Knicks.
From Michael Sweetney to Channing Frye and Iman Shumpert to Jordan Hill, one of the few commonalities between the Knicks&rsquo; first-round draft picks over the past 20 years have been dashed hopes and disappointment.
The theme actually persists throughout every facet of the organization.
But alas, even the Hudson River&rsquo;s tide turns twice a day, so in this instance, the failures of regimes past don&rsquo;t necessarily provide evidence of future performance. New York isn&rsquo;t given the benefit of the doubt, because just as it did with Kristaps Porzingis and his predecessors, somehow, the Knicks will find a way to ruin it.
At least, that&rsquo;s the prevailing sentiment.
So here we are, the 2020-21 season. Believe it or not, the Knicks have surpassed last season&rsquo;s win total, enter play on April 2 at .500, and have managed to not resemble a dumpster fire behind the raspy bark and serious demeanor of Tom Thibodeau.
On the court, Julius Randle has rightfully received the credit and praise for the Knicks arriving to this point. A playoff shot is not a fate that many would have predicted, and although the national media has slowly bestowed some credit on Randle and Thibodeau, it&rsquo;s been much slower to recognize the obvious &mdash; RJ Barrett has given the franchise something to hold onto.
Almost 20 years later, one would be hard-pressed to argue that the 2003 NBA Draft class isn&rsquo;t one of the best in history. But sometimes, we got so fixated with the cream that rises to the top that we don&rsquo;t pay enough attention to what lies beneath.
When you think of 2003, you think of LeBron James and remember Dwyane Wade. Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh also certainly come to mind, while scores of others &mdash; including former All-Stars such as David West, Mo Williams and Kyle Korver &ndash; aren&rsquo;t even thought of.
Obviously, three of those are unlike the others. But it&rsquo;s quite possible to walk away from the craps table a winner even without bankrupting the casino.
In other words, Barrett may not have had anywhere near as immediate an impact as Zion Williamson or Ja Morant, but in the case of Anthony and the 2003 class, in this case, there&rsquo;s no shame in bronze.
As a sophomore, Barrett has shown appreciable growth. A throwback big guard, the defining characteristic of his game &mdash; so far &mdash; has been an understanding of how to use his body, strength and girth to get to precisely where he wants to on the floor. A soccer player before he decided to focus full-time on basketball, his light footedness and agility, at least for a second-year player whose body is still developing, is world class. If you tried hard enough, you could poke holes in Barrett&rsquo;s offensive repertoire; his handle isn&rsquo;t elite, and for a big guard whose size is among his best attributes, his back-to-basket game is fairly weak.
Yet still, the inroads he&rsquo;s made in terms of his sheer effectiveness on the floor are impressive. Be that as it may, what&rsquo;s been equally impressive for the young Canadian has been the strides he&rsquo;s made from Year 1 to Year 2 in an area critical to success in the modern NBA &mdash; spacing the floor.
Along with Randle, Barrett completes an effective duo. Unsurprisingly, the pair are together in four of the team&rsquo;s top-five offensive units in terms of points per possession, with Barrett dramatically (yet somehow, quietly) becoming a much more credible mid-range threat.
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As a rookie, Barrett connected on just 28% of his shots from 10-to-16 feet, and just 29% of his looks from further. This season, he&rsquo;s shown marked improvement, improving those same percentages to 36% and 38%, respectively. In terms of the percentage of shot attempts from those areas, they have also increased, though marginally. Nonetheless, combined with his overall improvements across the board &mdash; his scoring, rebounding and assists are significantly higher along with his shooting percentages &mdash; the simplest conclusion to draw is that he&rsquo;s improved. That&rsquo;s pretty obvious.
What&rsquo;s even more important than an increase in numbers, however &mdash; and something you could never understand without actually watching the game &mdash; is an understanding of how to be effective when advanced scouts and opposing assistant coaches begin planning for you.
It&rsquo;s typical for an NBA team to employ three or four assistant coaches, with other members of the organization invited to assist with reviewing tape and offering input into how to stop a team&rsquo;s featured players. It&rsquo;s commonplace for the support staff to spend days analyzing their opponents and building game plans to take away strengths. That&rsquo;s where the phrase &ldquo;appeared on the scouting report&rdquo; derives.
Due to relatively small sample sizes in some instances or just a lack of time, it&rsquo;s not always possible for a team to go into every contest with a complete understanding of what their opponent has been up to the past week, so there&rsquo;s a necessary prioritization; the higher a player&rsquo;s profile, the more resources dedicated to getting him on the scouting report.
Knicks fans probably remember all too well the rude awakening that Jeremy Lin encountered at the hands of the Miami Heat, but if you have a long enough memory, you&rsquo;d recall that this fate wasn&rsquo;t unique to him. There are a number of players who peak as rookies or sophomores, but it&rsquo;s not always due to any fault with the player.
As one&rsquo;s profile increases, so does the priority with which the opposition scouts him. Most often, it&rsquo;s a young player&rsquo;s ability to adapt his attack and improve his weaknesses that separate, say, Tyreke Evans and O.J. Mayo from Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell.
A relatively small sample size it may be, but at a minimum, Barrett has already proven a few things: first, he&rsquo;s someone who takes his craft and the obligation of diligently improving seriously, and second, he at least hasn&rsquo;t peaked as a rookie.
If you were curious as to why the Knicks didn&rsquo;t approach the trade deadline with the type of urgency that one would have thought a newly installed front office would, aside from the team&rsquo;s favorable cap situation, at least some within the organization believe that the duo of Barrett and Randle have earned the opportunity to continue to develop together.
Together, Zion and Ja have lived up to the expectations, and then some. But when a young player such as Barrett improves in the way he has &mdash; and when those improvements yield wins &mdash; that means something.
In the case of Barrett, at a minimum, it means that we should continue watching.
The young Canadian is onto something, and it&rsquo;s only a matter of time before everyone else figures it out.

RJ Barrett's impressive strides this season have helped put the Knicks in the playoff hunt. Moke Hamilton believes credit is due.

It's about time we talk about the improvement of RJ Barrett

Everything is different in 2020&hellip; until it isn&rsquo;t. Is it fair to say, as we all awake, that some things just never change? The sun always rises in the East, political news always riles people up and LeBron James wins big basketball games with phenomenal flair.
A year that began Jan. 1 with the death of former NBA commissioner David Stern and then brought the tragic end to Kobe Bryant&rsquo;s life on Jan. 26 is going to include a trip to the NBA Finals for the Los Angeles Lakers and the superstar we have watched in awe and bewilderment all the way to the championship round for the 10th time in his career.
We are all sitting home every night wondering when normalcy will return, and on Saturday night it did.
James was brilliant. Again. The Denver Nuggets were resilient. Again. And when clutch shots were needed to stave off a team that cheated basketball death so many times in the bubble, we all watched the old man with the gray-flecked pandemic beard knock down shot after shot after shot after shot.
The guy has been mesmerizing since he was a rookie. And he was the same way on Saturday night, especially in the fourth quarter - when he scored 16 points and made his final six buckets unassisted to finish off a virtuoso 27th career postseason triple-double, this one featuring 38 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists. When it ended, it was both amusing and surreal to see purple and gold confetti falling from the rafters of the bubble just like what would have happened if this game was played at the Staples Center.
LeBron sat on the court, taking in the moment in front of a crowd of dozens instead of thousands.
&ldquo;I was thinking about some of my teammates who this is their first appearance to the Finals. Obviously, AD (Anthony Davis) had a lot on my thought process,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;This is the reason why I wanted to be a teammate of his and why I brought him here. I wanted him to see things that he had not seen before in this league. To be able to come through for him meant a lot for me personally.
&ldquo;Then I started thinking about the next opponent. Boston had a few moments in my head. Miami had a few moments in my head as well. How challenging that's going to be, whoever wins that series. Then, I just started thinking about my journey as well. All that was just going through my mind as the confetti was on the floor, was coming down, landing on my shoulder and things of that nature.&rdquo;
The Finals will begin Wednesday night if the Miami Heat finish off the Boston Celtics tonight or Friday night if the Celtics force a Game 7. So, LeBron will have downtime. He will be fresh. He will be motivated. In the meantime, he will probably be political. There&rsquo;s sort of an important presidential debate on Tuesday night that is going to change the tone of civility in the United States one way or another.
No matter who comes out of the East, the Lakers are going to be prohibitive favorites to win the franchise&rsquo;s 17th championship. We would all be talking about it around the water cooler if we were living normal lives, which we are not. The new normal is not always normal, as the saying goes.
But there is another saying that is fitting today, too. The more things change, the more things stay the same.
LeBron James is a player I have covered in several American cities and several major metropolitan cities around the world. I first met him at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan when he was getting ready to be the first overall pick of the 2003 NBA Draft, and I watched with his first agent, Aaron Goodwin, as James posed for the cameras at a photoshoot and appeared uncommonly comfortable in front of a camera for an 18-year-old.
&ldquo;See that watch he&rsquo;s wearing? That&rsquo;s a $100,000 watch,&rdquo; Goodwin told me as we waited. I got to spend some alone time with him thanks to the efforts of former NBA PR executive Teri Washington, and I asked him why he seemed so comfortable in front of a camera. He told me he had only been frightened by cameras once, in his sophomore year of high school when one of his games for St. Vincent-St. Mary&rsquo;s High School in Akron, OH was being televised for the first time.
His maturity was already off the charts. I subsequently watched him up close as he endured the growing pains of being harshly introduced to the alternate basketball universe known as FIBA basketball when he first represented Team USA at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. He was playing under Larry Brown, who refused to start him, and the Americans&rsquo; first game of that Olympic tournament was a 19-point loss to Puerto Rico. Every time Brown would put James into the game, good things happened. And then LB would yank him.
Brown was stubborn. He refused to play James more than a few minutes here and there. Losses to Lithuania and Argentina followed. LeBron left Greece with a bronze medal, and it is safe to assume it is not in his trophy case at home. More likely it&rsquo;s in his sock drawer.
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More of the same came two years later in Japan at the World Championship when the Americans lost to Greece in the semifinals. But then came the 2008 Beijing Olympics two years later, and James teamed up with Kobe for the first time on what came to be known as the Redeem Team. A very, very close gold-medal game against Spain ended with Team USA winning the gold medal. Another gold came four years later in London, and another may be forthcoming next August if the Tokyo Olympics actually happen. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-team-usa-olympics-lebron-james-jerry-colangelo-adam-silver-schedule-conflict" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As reported on this site a couple days ago, James wants to play</a>.
But first things first. Another trip to the NBA Finals is upcoming, the ninth time in 10 years we will all watch this freak of nature cement his status as one of the greatest athletes of our time. The obstinate among us will turn their heads away, upset that the intersection of politics and sports has made athletes spokespeople for the folks in America who do not get a fair shake and must live every day in fear.
Some people will wallow in their misery and hatred and fear, and there is nothing the rest of us can do about it. Those folks live empty lives, as far as I am concerned. But they are our neighbors and our fellow citizens, and we have no choice but to tolerate their ignorance and loathing. It comes with the territory in this crazy year of 2020; and it will endure the years ahead.
But we can all take solace in the fact that James is not going anywhere anytime soon. His brilliance will be on display for at least four more games, hopefully for seven more games. He has not won the championship yet, and you can bet your bottom dollar that he will not see from Erik Spoelstra or Brad Stevens the amount of single coverage that he saw in Game 5 against Denver.
Spoelstra, in particular, has some insight into what works and what doesn&rsquo;t work when it comes to all things LeBron. Spoelstra and Pat Riley played a major part in making James what he is today, a three-time NBA champion. They probably know a thing or two about how to get into his head, and we will find those things out if the Heat are the team coming out of the East.
In the meantime, we wait.
And we wonder what type of craziness awaits us next.
And we&rsquo;re trying to get though life one day at a time, hopefully staying safe and healthy and smart and sane. We are living in a year in which fear and anger surrounds us. Incompetence and idiocy have become normalized. Nobody is quite sure what any day will bring, but not many people expect it to be anything good.
But you know what? As we all get a day older, James remains somewhat of an ageless wonder. What he did on Saturday night is what is has been doing for 16 seasons&hellip; and there will be more to come. Kobe played for 20 seasons.&nbsp; LeBron is not hanging up his sneakers until he fulfills what he has described as the goal of his life: To play in an NBA game alongside his son, Bronny.
So life has its blessings. LeBron isn&rsquo;t going away. He isn&rsquo;t going to shut up and dribble. He is stubborn and stunning and stupefying. He brings joy to those of us who are not too pigheaded to turn away. He is mesmerizing. He makes you run out of superlatives.
He has seen his jersey burned by the fans in Cleveland whom he spurned&hellip; before he returned. He was embraced in Miami much the same way LakersNation is caressing him now. He clearly has a ton of basketball left in him, and today we celebrate the joy and wonder and rapture he can bring into all of our lives, even in the toughest of times.
&ldquo;I've never said, &lsquo;OK, I want to cast myself as a superstar or whatever the case may be.&rsquo; I just want to travel my own journey, because it is my journey,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;I've appreciated everything that's happened along the way. I mean, throughout -- the ups, the downs, the ups on the court, the downs on the court, the wins and losses&hellip; But I've been able to, I guess as Frank Sinatra would say, &lsquo;I did it my way.&rsquo; At the end of the day and at the end of my career, I just hope that I inspire enough people. At the end of the day, all you have is your respect.&rdquo;
He has earned everyone&rsquo;s. Again. Thanks, LBJ.

Chris Sheridan, who has covered LeBron James since he was drafted in 2003, marvels at James' continued dominance at 35 years old.

LeBron James' greatness continues to be on display

After NBA players decided collectively to use their voices and platforms to take a unified stand against police brutality following the horrific police shooting of Jacob Blake, praise came from across the nation. Politicians, actors, musicians, journalists and many others expressed their support for NBA players and commended them for demanding justice.&nbsp;
ESPN&rsquo;s Stephen A. Smith <a href="https://twitter.com/stephenasmith/status/1298731743395147789?s=21" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joined in on this</a>, saying that he was so proud of the players.&nbsp;
While Smith is praising the players now, let&rsquo;s not forget that just two months ago, he said that Kyrie Irving, Dwight Howard and Avery Bradley &ldquo;sound foolish&rdquo; for even suggesting that players should take a stand against police brutality and refuse to enter the bubble. He went on one of his overdramatic rants and ridiculed them <a href="https://youtu.be/OcNEqq-U0Nk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on First Take</a>, acting as if he was personally offended that they had the audacity to suggest something so &ldquo;utterly ridiculous.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Here were Smith&rsquo;s exact words:&nbsp;
&ldquo;I absolutely do not agree with them. As a matter of fact, I&rsquo;ll go so far as to say that their position has been foolish, as far as I am concerned. I respect the fact &mdash; and I want to make sure that I&rsquo;m clear about this &mdash; I am not talking about if you&rsquo;re not going back to work because of the coronavirus; I totally understand that. If you choose to make that decision for the well-being of yourself and the family members who you are near, then obviously that has a profound impact and I totally respect and understand that. But that&rsquo;s not what Kyrie Irving and Dwight Howard are talking about. What they are talking about is [not playing] because of the protests&hellip; Well, I'm sorry, if that's a reason not to go to work, black folks wouldn't have been employed for centuries now. That is utterly ridiculous. The fact that racial oppression or racial inequality, brutality on the part of police officers and all of that stuff exists is not an excuse not to show up to work&hellip; 
"If you have the LeBron James&rsquo;, the Kyrie Irving&rsquo;s and others playing their role in bringing attention to these issues, then you hand it off to people that know what to do with that attention and that elevated level of awareness to really provoke the kind of change that we&rsquo;re talking about here. We seem to think that, excuse me, just protesting and raising holy hell is going to get done what we need to get done. That is not the answer, and certainly it&rsquo;s not refusing to show up because of that issue. &hellip;&nbsp; It makes no sense for somebody to sit up there and say, 'Don't show up to work because of that.' No! I totally disagree with Dwight Howard and Kyrie Irving and I suspect that I&rsquo;m not alone, that a lot of people agree with what I&rsquo;m saying.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Max Kellerman tried to break it down for Smith, showing him the error of his ways, but he still wouldn&rsquo;t budge. How ironic is it that a white man tried to explain to a Black man the significance of what Irving, Howard and Bradley were trying to do? Kellerman talked about how this was connected to the bigger picture of Black entertainment being used in the history of this country while conditions for Black people were not improved, specifically as it relates to police brutality. He said that he respected their position that they didn&rsquo;t want to be a distraction and take away from the movement gaining momentum across the country after the gruesome murder of George Floyd.&nbsp;
A white man shouldn&rsquo;t have to break that down for Stephen A. Smith. But after Kellerman made his eloquent points, he still didn&rsquo;t get it. Smith immediately pivoted to discussing the money that they were giving up and seemingly missed the entire point. He repeated that what Irving was doing just &ldquo;didn&rsquo;t make sense,&rdquo; despite Kellerman&rsquo;s detailed explanation.&nbsp;
Then, Smith attempted to shift the focus to Irving somehow undermining Chris Paul and LeBron James by forming a separate Players Coalition and not going along with the Players&rsquo; Association vote to start the season. Because Smith disagreed with Irving&rsquo;s position, he attempted to pit him against his NBA brothers.
Then, Smith said (<a href="https://youtu.be/KgQV0khEOnA?t=310" target="_blank" rel="noopener">and I quote</a>): &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about making sure you know what you&rsquo;re talking about before you open your mouth.&rdquo;&nbsp;
When you disagree with someone, that is the most insulting response you can give. It&rsquo;s demeaning. Belittling. Rather than acknowledging that they just have a different opinion than you, this suggests that they need to be educated so that they can fully understand how ridiculous their position is. How dismissive and insulting was that?&nbsp;
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/SAS1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="AUTO" />
But it wasn&rsquo;t just you.&nbsp;
Charles Barkley is also guilty of publicly ridiculing Irving and Howard for their stance.
&ldquo;I think it would be stupid to not play,&rdquo; Barkley said on <a href="https://twitter.com/getupespn/status/1272558639241445377?s=21" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN&rsquo;s Get Up</a>. &ldquo;LeBron [James] is probably the most famous athlete in the United States. He won&rsquo;t be visible anywhere [if they don&rsquo;t play]. So out of sight, out of mind. Also, these guys have got to realize, this money ain&rsquo;t gonna come back and they&rsquo;re gonna lose billions of dollars that the players can use to go into their own communities and do some great stuff. It&rsquo;s not good on any front. I have no idea what Kyrie and Dwight are talking about, but it&rsquo;ll be a catastrophic mistake not to play.&rdquo;
Many others were completely dismissive of their positions and used specific language to drive home the point that this stance was misguided, ridiculous and absurd. These people didn&rsquo;t say &ldquo;shut up and dribble&rdquo; like Laura Ingraham did to LeBron, but the dismissiveness was similar.
Before the 1968 Olympics, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar elected to not play. When Abdul-Jabbar recently joined me on <a href="https://www.fli.tv/rematch-w-etan-thomas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my show, The Rematch</a>, he specifically explained why he chose to not participate in the Olympics and instead opted to work and save money for school.
"I was going to pursue my goals and I wasn't going to pursue the goals of a country that, at that point, still didn't respect my citizenship," Abdul-Jabbar told me. "I wanted to get my degree and I had a job, so I made the money that I needed to have a comfortable year at school. That was my agenda and that's what I pursued. And I left UCLA with a degree in my pocket."
Would Smith or Barkley have criticized him for that?&nbsp;
John Carlos and Tommie Smith participated in the &lsquo;68 Olympics and made a statement that resonates even today, raising their Black Power fist on the podium after their race. They chose different ways to send a message, and both are equally deserving of respect.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s important to note that past NBA players (who were activist pioneers) utilized boycotting as a way to push the NBA to use its collective power to adopt policy change and recognize the players&rsquo; union, so there is a precedent here.
Prior to the 1964 NBA All-Star Game, players threatened to boycott. This was the first All-Star Game to be televised, so Hall Of Famers such as Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Jerry Lucas, Tommy Heinsohn, Hal Greer, Sam Jones, Chet Walker, Jerry West, Bob Pettit, Elgin Baylor, Walt Bellamy, Wilt Chamberlain and Lenny Wilkens recognized the leverage that they had.&nbsp;
The players took a vote on whether they would refuse to play if the NBA didn&rsquo;t recognize the players&rsquo; union and implement a pension plan. The vote was reportedly 11-9 in favor of a strike.
&ldquo;Fifteen minutes before tipoff, NBA commissioner Walter Kennedy agreed to the pension demands, and pro sports had its biggest union victory by far,&rdquo; <a href="https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/1856287-181/1964-stars-threatened-to-boycott" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> Robert Rubino of The Press Democrat.
These are the footsteps the players are following in.&nbsp;
The NBA has scheduled a special Board of Governors meeting on Thursday morning, <a href="https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1298778627669143558?s=21" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to ESPN&rsquo;s</a> Adrian Wojnarowski.
What if the NBA players - now that they have everyone&rsquo;s attention - demanded that NBA owners like Marc Lasry, Wes Edens and Jamie Dinan (Bucks), Ted Leonsis (Wizards), Steve Ballmer (Clippers), Jeanie Buss (Lakers) and even James Dolan (Knicks) use their influence to pressure cities to threaten to cut the funding of police departments if they don&rsquo;t adopt tangible police reform and police accountability measures? I bet you would see results immediately. If they can pressure cities to fund the building of new arenas, I&rsquo;m sure they can do this. That would create tangible change through the power of the NBA that Congress hasn&rsquo;t been able to bring about, that no politician has been able to bring about. That would change the entire country.&nbsp;
I respect Kyrie Irving, Dwight Howard and Avery Bradley for what they expressed then, and I respect what the NBA and WNBA players are doing now. And, no, they didn&rsquo;t sound foolish and their idea wasn&rsquo;t &ldquo;ridiculous&rdquo; or &ldquo;absurd.&rdquo; No, they weren&rsquo;t looking for a reason not to show up to work like you disrespectfully claimed, and their suggestion definitely wasn&rsquo;t &ldquo;stupid&rdquo; (like Charles Barkley said). They simply didn&rsquo;t want to divert attention away from everything that was going on. This is a special movement that&rsquo;s taking place right now. It&rsquo;s an awakening. And they wanted (and want) the focus to remain on that.&nbsp;
With everything going on, basketball was the furthest thing from their minds. LeBron James recently admitted the same thing.
&ldquo;I got half my brain locked on the playoffs, the other half on how I can help Black people,&rdquo; James <a href="https://twitter.com/melissarohlin/status/1298115880610435072" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
You can see why Stephen A Smith suddenly praising NBA players for boycotting can be seen as problematic.&nbsp;
He and Barkley (and everyone else who publicly ridiculed them) owe Irving, Howard and Bradley a public apology. Not a personal text or call; be as loud and demonstrative on your national ESPN platform with your apology as you were with your criticism.&nbsp;
And PS: Stephen A. Smith, you also owe Colin Kaepernick an apology for <a href="https://youtu.be/_y7fzEHKI9Y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly lambasting him</a> and saying that he wants to be a martyr and doesn&rsquo;t want to play football after the tryout hoax put on by the NFL.

Stephen A. Smith praised NBA players for boycotting games. Now, he owes Kyrie Irving, Dwight Howard and Avery Bradley an apology, writes Etan Thomas.