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The 2023 NBA Draft could go down as a special class, with talented prospects such as Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson, Brandon Miller and the Thompson twins as well as some interesting depth pieces.
But will it ever be considered one of the best draft classes in NBA history? That remains to be seen.
Today, we're going to identify the cr&egrave;me de la cr&egrave;me of NBA draft classes.
The 2003 NBA Draft
The 2003 NBA Draft featured multiple generational talents that would come to define the NBA for the next two decades. Led by LeBron James, this class also included household names such as Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Not only did this draft have star power, it was also very deep. Twenty-seven players from the 2003 class played at least 10 seasons in the NBA: James, Wade, Anthony, Bosh, Kyle Korver, David West, Zaza Pachulia, Nick Collison, Boris Diaw, Kendrick Perkins, Leandro Barbosa, James Jones, Chris Kaman, Kirk Hinrich, Dahntay Jones, Steve Blake, Mo Williams, Luke Ridnour, Willie Green, Matt Bonner, Travis Outlaw, Keith Bogans, Darko Milicic, Mickael Pietrus, Sasha Pavlovic, Josh Howard and Luke Walton. This class featured nine All-Stars and plenty of quality role players.
The 1984 NBA Draft
The 1984 NBA Draft stands as a legendary class, and some might argue that it's the greatest draft of all-time. Two of the top three picks &mdash; Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon &mdash; would ultimately etch their names in the annals of basketball history and redefine greatness. In addition to Jordan and Olajuwon, players like Charles Barkley, John Stockton and Alvin Robertson showcased their immense talent as well. This class produced five Hall-of-Famers and seven All-Stars.
The 1996 NBA Draft
The 1996 NBA Draft changed the landscape of the league, heralding the arrival of future Hall-of-Famers and icons. Led by the legendary Kobe Bryant and the enigmatic Allen Iverson, this class boasted an array of talent that reinvigorated the game. This class also featured Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Jermaine O'Neal, Ben Wallace, Stephon Marbury, Peja Stojakovic, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Antoine Walker, Marcus Camby, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Derek Fisher. The 1996 NBA Draft was deep, producing 10 All-Stars and five Hall-of-Famers. Jon Finkel recently revisited this star-studded class in his book "1996," and he <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/revisiting-the-starstudded-1996-nba-draft-kobe-bryant-ray-allen-steve-nash-allen-iverson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ran a terrific excerpt on Basketball News</a>.
The 1985 NBA Draft
The 1985 NBA Draft was certainly special. This class featured 10 All-Stars including Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Joe Dumars, Detlef Schrempf, Xavier McDaniel, Charles Oakley, &nbsp;AC Green, Terry Porter and Michael Adams. The class also featured Arvydas Sabonis, an overseas legend and terrific Portland Trail Blazer. Like the 1996 NBA Draft, this class has the star power and depth to be considered one of the best drafts in NBA history.
The 2009 NBA Draft
While not as immediately illustrious as some of the other classes on this list, the 2009 NBA Draft proved to be a treasure trove of talent. This class exemplified the importance of patience and player development, as Stephen Curry, James Harden, Blake Griffin, DeMar DeRozan, Jrue Holiday and Jeff Teague would all go on to become All-Stars. Griffin missed his rookie year with an injury, but dominated as soon as he stepped on an NBA court. Curry battled injuries early in his career, but would become a four-time champion and two-time MVP. Harden went from being an elite sixth man to an MVP once he got the opportunity in Houston. This class also featured Brandon Jennings, Ricky Rubio, Tyreke Evans, Darren Collison, Ty Lawson, Patty Mills, Danny Green, Taj Gibson and Patrick Beverley among others.
Which class is the greatest in NBA history? <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tweet us your thoughts</a>!&nbsp;

Basketball News examines the crème de la crème of draft classes throughout NBA history.

Exploring the 5 best draft classes in NBA history

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) &mdash; South Carolina is keenly aware that everyone remaining in the women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament field is coming after the undefeated Gamecocks &mdash; and hard.
That conviction has been boosted after two of the top four seeds in Indiana and Stanford were ousted &mdash; something that hasn&rsquo;t happened since 1998. If they didn&rsquo;t before, each of the Sweet 16 teams believe they can knock out the defending national champions, no matter how dominant the Gamecocks have been.
It makes for good theater &mdash; which is good for the sport.
Rebecca Lobo, the former UConn star turned ESPN analyst, calls South Carolina&rsquo;s dominance combined with Sweet 16 parity &ldquo;an interesting dichotomy.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like parallel paths, you have this overwhelming favorite to win it all, yet you have UConn losing to Marquette or Stanford losing in the second round,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an interesting time for women&rsquo;s basketball.&rdquo;
South Carolina with its 40 straight victories isn&rsquo;t concerned about history, ratings or if the Gamecocks&rsquo; drive for a second straight championship is good for the game.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just about basketball,&rdquo; coach Dawn Staley says with admiration. &ldquo;We really are.&rdquo;
Women&rsquo;s basketball is thriving even with the Gamecocks&rsquo; dominance in the midst of rarely seen tournament chaos. South Carolina&rsquo;s four-team pod in Greenville, South Carolina, is all chalk. The top-seeded Gamecocks (34-0) play No. 4 seeded UCLA on Saturday with No. 2 seed Maryland taking on third-seeded Notre Dame.
South Carolina has three-time All-American Aliyah Boston, high-scoring Zia Cooke and a bench full of players who could start for most NCAA Tournament teams. That&rsquo;s helped the Gamecocks show a relentless push toward a third straight Final Four.
If they run the table, South Carolina would be the 10th undefeated Division I women&rsquo;s champion. The men have had just one in D-I: Indiana in 1976.
Analyst Debbie Antonelli believes women&rsquo;s basketball fans love the new faces and schools still alive in this tournament. She isn&rsquo;t sure how fans would react if the Gamecocks&rsquo; seemingly inevitable championship run gets derailed short of the national title game.
&ldquo;As someone who cares about ratings, I&rsquo;d be curious,&rdquo; Antonelli said.
South Carolina is trying to join an exclusive club. The nine undefeated champions hail from just four schools: Texas, UConn, Tennessee and Baylor:
&mdash; UConn, which has gone undefeated an unprecedented six times. In 1995, the Huskies went 35-0 with Lobo leading the way. UConn went 39-0 in 2002, 2009 and 2010 with a slew of All-Americans, including Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Swin Cash. UConn followed those title runs by going 40-0 in 2014 and 38-0 in 2016.
&mdash; Texas was the first perfect champion, going 34-0 in 1986.
&mdash; Tennessee finished 39-0 in 1998 with the three &ldquo;Meeks&rdquo; in Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings and Semeka Randall.
&mdash; Baylor and Brittney Griner went 40-0 in 2012.
Coaches and players say there are no shortcuts for going undefeated.
Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti and Kara Wolters anchored the 1995 UConn team. There had only been one team prior to the Huskies as undefeated champions, so Lobo and her teammates never discussed that possibility.
&ldquo;It was fun winning, it was fun not losing, but I can honestly tell you the undefeated portion was not something we thought about,&rdquo; she said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
Kellie Harper agrees. She was part of Pat Summitt&rsquo;s Tennessee team that was the first to go 39-0.
Harper said coaches don&rsquo;t enter seasons telling their players, &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s be perfect this year.&rdquo; However, as the point guard on that 1997-98 team, having star players can be a difference-maker.
&ldquo;Going down the stretch with three All-Americans, that made my job a lot easier,&rdquo; Harper, now coaching her alma mater, said before adding, &ldquo;but it gave me a lot of confidence that we can do anything.&rdquo;
Staley&rsquo;s not sure all undefeated seasons are created equal. She recalls other perfect runs celebrated more than her team&rsquo;s current streak.
&ldquo;My player, Aliyah Boston is not the one that&rsquo;s being talked about on men&rsquo;s games, OK? She&rsquo;s not,&rdquo; Staley said.
Iowa&rsquo;s Caitlin Clark has taken some of the national attention away from the perfect Gamecocks with her barrage of long-range jumpers and triple-doubles.
The Gamecocks have overcome several challenges this season.
They trailed by 10 through three quarters at Stanford last November before pulling out a 76-71 win in overtime. UConn held an 11-point first-half lead in February before South Carolina rallied for an 81-77 victory.
The Gamecocks advanced to their 10th Sweet 16 in 11 tournaments with a 76-45 win over feisty South Florida, which trailed by just 33-29 at the half. There was also an 64-57 overtime win at Ole Miss, which knocked off Stanford.
Yes, there is pressure to stay perfect.
&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s also a lot of fun,&rdquo; sophomore reserve Bree Hall said.
South Carolina&rsquo;s experienced roster &mdash; including Boston, Cooke and fellow senior Brea Beal &mdash; knows what it takes to win. They&rsquo;ve started since their freshman year in 2020, when their first title run was canceled by COVID-19. South Carolina was No. 1 in the rankings at 31-1 and on a 26-game win streak.
The Gamecocks will need that experience as the pressure ratchets up.
In 1995, UConn&rsquo;s two closest contests was a 67-63 win over Virginia in the Elite Eight and in the championship win, 70-64, over Tennessee.
Both UConn and Tennessee, that pesky Ole Miss squad and the rest of the Sweet 16 field would welcome a shot at South Carolina &mdash; which is nothing new for the Gamecocks.
___
AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker in Knoxville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.

South Carolina is keenly aware that everyone remaining in the women’s NCAA Tournament field is coming after them.

March Madness Mix: Dominant Gamecocks amid Sweet 16 parity

BOSTON (AP) — Even from atop the NBA standings, the Boston Celtics remember the losses.
Three weeks after absorbing their worst one of the season in Los Angeles, the Celtics turned back the Clippers in Boston 116-110 on Thursday night, getting 29 points apiece from Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. 
“We definitely wanted to play better than we played last time,” Brown said. “Those guys beat us up pretty bad in L.A. So we wanted to change the narrative tonight on our home floor and come out and get a win.”
The Celtics (26-10) have the league's best record, but things didn't go so well on a West Coast road trip earlier this month. After losing to the Warriors in an NBA Finals rematch, Boston went down to Los Angeles and got pummeled by the Clippers. 
The 113-93 defeat was their biggest of the season, and it was the first time this year they were held under 100 points. The back-to-back losses also kicked off a slump in which they lost five of six; they are 25-5 over the rest of the season.
“None of us enjoyed what happened in L.A.,” said assistant coach Damon Stoudamire, who was filling in for interim coach Joe Mazzulla while he recovers from a corneal abrasion. “We’re all very prideful. So I knew they were going to come back and have an edge to them.”
Tatum grabbed 11 rebounds, Marcus Smart had 17 points and nine assists, and Grant Williams added 11 points and 10 boards for Boston, which won its fourth straight game. Derrick White scored 15 points and had two blocked shots, one of them on Paul George's attempted layup with 33 seconds left and Boston leading by three. 
Brown hit two free throws down the stretch and Tatum made one to ice it. 
Kawhi Leonard scored 26 for the Clippers, George had 24 points and Ivica Zubac had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Los Angeles had won four of its last five games, sweeping a back-to-back against Detroit and Toronto earlier this week.
Boston led 112-102 with under 3 minutes left before the Clippers scored eight of the next nine points, making it 113-110 on Leonard’s pullup jumper in the lane with about a minute left.
But White came from the weak side to block George the next time down, and then Brown and Tatum each grabbed an offensive rebound to run out most of the last 30 seconds. 
The Celtics (26-10) opened their seven-game homestand with three straight losses but won their last four to retain the best record in the league. 
“Losing three games in a row, it was humbling,” Stoudamire said. “And I think that we knew we had to have better performance the next few games. The guys responded.” 
Boston led by as many as 13 in the second quarter and 11 at the half, but Reggie Jackson and George hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the third. The Celtics led 67-62 when Marcus Morris Sr. sank a 3, and then Zubac made a turnaround hook shot in the lane to tie it. 
By the end of the quarter, the Clippers led 85-84. 
SHOOTING
With his first 3-pointer of the night, Tatum moved ahead of Antoine Walker and into second on the Celtics’ career list. Tatum finished with three in the game and now has (941) in his career. Paul Pierce is first, with 1,823.
Brown was 0 for 8 from 3 point range. 
SUBBING IN
Mazzulla missed his second straight game with a corneal abrasion that he sustained during a pickup game. Stoudamire, who also filled in for Tuesday’s victory over the Rockets, said Mazzulla is expected back when the road trip begins on Sunday.
“Coach undefeated,” Smart said when he passed Stoudamire in the interview room.
UP NEXT 
Clippers: Wrap up a five-game road trip on Saturday in Indiana. 
Celtics: Begin a four-game road trip at Denver on Sunday.

The Celtics turned back the Clippers in Boston 116-110, getting 29 points apiece from Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

Tatum, Brown score 29 each and Celtics beat Clippers 116-110

Detroit Mercy guard Antoine Davis has a chance to end his career as one of the most prolific scorers and 3-point shooters in college basketball history.
Davis is more concerned with earning the NCAA Tournament berth that has eluded him thus far.
The 6-foot-1 Davis entered the transfer portal during the offseason but opted to play one more season for his father. Mike Davis took over Detroit Mercy after reaching the NCAA Tournament four of his six seasons at Texas State, but he still hasn&rsquo;t earned a bid at his current school.
&ldquo;I experienced it for myself as a spectator but not as a player,&rdquo; Antoine Davis said as he recalled those years watching his father coach Texas State. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been rough, but I look forward to this season. We&rsquo;re all on the same page. Everybody wants to do the same thing. I think we can make it happen.&rdquo;
Reaching the NCAA Tournament is just about the only thing Antoine Davis has failed to accomplish in his stellar college career. He enters the 2022-23 season as one of the most noteworthy players from mid-major or low-major programs.
Davis has scored 2,734 career points to rank 22nd in Division I history. He was the third-leading Division I scorer last season with 23.9 points per game, and that was actually the lowest average of his career. Davis averaged 26.1 points in 2018-19, 24.3 in 2019-20 and 24.0 in 2020-21.
If Davis matches his output from last season, when he scored 694 points, he would end his career second on the all-time list. Pete Maravich owns the record with the 3,667 points he scored in his three-season career at LSU from 1967-70.
His 429 career 3-pointers put him just 80 away from the Division I record. Fletcher Magee made 509 3-pointers at Wofford from 2015-19.
Davis has scored in double figures in 111 consecutive games. The Division I record of 115 is shared by Campbell&rsquo;s Chris Clemons (2016-19) and La Salle&rsquo;s Lionel Simmons (1987-90).
The extra season of eligibility Davis received due to the pandemic has helped him approach those records. It also gives him an opportunity to become a five-time, first-team all-Horizon League selection. Davis already is the first player ever to earn first-team all-Horizon League honors in four separate seasons.
Davis committed to Houston in high school but changed his mind and opted for Texas State to play for his father, who owns a 397-310 career record and coached Indiana to an NCAA Tournament final in 2002. When his dad took the Detroit Mercy job, Davis ended up enrolling there instead.
&ldquo;He knows my game better than anybody else,&rdquo; Davis said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been working me out for years and years. He just knows what I can do and everything. It wouldn&rsquo;t have to be anything different. I knew his system for the most part, and I really wanted to play for him, at the end of the day.&rdquo;
He thought about leaving Detroit Mercy and the Horizon League this year. Davis entered the transfer portal and strongly considered BYU and Kansas State before choosing to finish his college career where he started it.
&ldquo;It would feel a little off playing somewhere else or ending my career somewhere else,&rdquo; Davis said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what ultimately made me come back.&rdquo;
Some other players from mid-major or low-major programs who bear watching:
MAX ABMAS, ORAL ROBERTS
Abmas burst onto the scene in 2021 when he averaged 26.7 points in three NCAA Tournament games to help Oral Roberts beat Ohio State and Florida before falling to Arkansas in the Sweet 16. He led Division I with 24.5 points per game that season. Abmas followed that up by averaging 22.8 points last season to rank fifth. His 3.8 3-pointers per game ranked third.
SINCERE CARRY, KENT STATE
Carry, a Duquesne transfer, was the Mid-American Conference&rsquo;s player of the year in his first season at Kent State. The 6-1 guard ranked second in the MAC in assists (4.8) and fifth in scoring (17.9) and made the MAC&rsquo;s all-defensive team.
AARON ESTRADA, HOFSTRA
The Oregon transfer was the Colonial Athletic Association player of the year last season in his first year at Hofstra. Estrada led the CAA in scoring (18.5) and assists (5.0) and also had 5.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.
TOSAN EVBUOMWAN, PRINCETON
Although he&rsquo;s a 6-foot-8 forward, Evbuomwan actually led the Ivy League in assists last season with 5.1 per game. He was named the Ivy player of the year. Evbuomwan, who is from Newcastle, England, also ranked fourth in the league in scoring (16.0), rebounding (6.7) and steals (1.4).
DARIUS McGHEE, LIBERTY
McGhee has been named ASUN player of the year each of the last two seasons. He averaged 24.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 2021-22. He led all Division I players with 142 3-pointers and ranked second in points per game.
JORDAN &ldquo;JELLY&rdquo; WALKER, UAB
After starting his career at Seton Hall and playing two seasons at Tulane, Walker has found a home at UAB. Walker ranked eighth in Division I in 3-pointers per game (3.41) and 16th in points per game (20.3) last season while leading Conference USA in both categories. He was named Conference USA player of the year.

Antoine Davis of Detroit Mercy is one of many players from mid-major programs to keep an eye on in 2022-23.

NCAA records within reach for Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis

Season 2 of Athletes Unlimited Basketball is coming relatively soon — with new players.

Allisha Gray, NaLyssa Smith headline Athletes Unlimited new additions

The Washington Wizards are planning to hire James Posey as an assistant coach on Wes Unseld Jr.&rsquo;s staff, sources confirm to Basketball News.
Posey will return to the NBA sidelines for the first time since 2019, when he ended a six-season tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers as an assistant coach. In Cleveland, Posey worked closely with head coach Tyronn Lue and played a pivotal role in the Cavs&rsquo; four-straight Finals appearances, including the team&rsquo;s championship run in 2016.
Last season, Posey served as an assistant coach under Tina Thompson with the University of Virginia women&rsquo;s basketball program. He also coached NBA Draft prospects at the Tampa Bay Pro Combine over the last two years, going undefeated in back-to-back years.
Prior to coaching, Posey played 12 seasons in the NBA and won two championships as a player &ndash; with the Miami Heat in 2006 and Boston Celtics in 2008.&nbsp;
In addition to the Heat and Celtics, Posey had stints with the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets and Indiana Pacers. Over the course of his career, he averaged 8.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.2 threes and 1.1 steals across 864 games.
In recent years, Posey has also had success in the media space, becoming a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/news/authors/james-posey">podcast host and columnist with Basketball News</a>. His podcast (<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-posecast-hosted-by-james-posey/id1529937541">"The Posecast"</a>) features great conversations with notable guests such as Ray Allen, Clyde Drexler, David West, Antoine Walker, Zach Randolph, Chamique Holdsclaw, Charles Oakley, Bonzi Wells and more.

The Washington Wizards are hiring James Posey as an assistant coach on Wes Unseld Jr.’s staff, sources confirm to Basketball News.

Washington Wizards hire James Posey as assistant coach

The 2001-02 NBA season was Michael Jordan&rsquo;s first with the Washington Wizards, a time when he decided to unretire and return to the league for the second time in his career.
Some would have you believe that MJ&rsquo;s Wizard years &ldquo;diminished his legacy," while others feel that he was still the best shooting guard in the league. Wherever he actually stood, Jordan was clearly still exceptional given his age, production and general persistence.
In that '01-02 campaign, there were plenty glimmers of &ldquo;old&rdquo; Jordan &mdash; as well as old Jordan, who turned 39 that February &mdash; but were they enough to make him a Most Valuable Player candidate at one point? It was at least discussed.
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Around this time 20 years ago, Jordan had just returned from a chronic knee injury that had <a href="http://www.espn.com/nba/news/2002/0225/1340423.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly been bothering him throughout the season</a>. He even came off the bench upon being reinserted to the lineup for the final seven games of the season, and he scored more than 14 points just one time. But before missing 12 games of action between Feb. 27 and March 18, Jordan&rsquo;s comeback season had been a successful one.
When Jordan went down, <a href="http://www.shrpsports.com/nba/stand.php?link=Y&amp;season=2002&amp;divcnf=div&amp;month=Feb&amp;date=23">the Wizards were 27-27 and in the playoff chase</a>, tied for seventh in the Eastern Conference with Allen Iverson&rsquo;s Philadelphia 76ers and Baron Davis&rsquo; Charlotte Hornets. Washington was also just three games behind Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker and the Boston Celtics, who were sitting in fourth. Jordan had been averaging 24.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game on 41.9% shooting from the field and 78.8% from the free-throw line at the time of his injury, which forced an extended absence.&nbsp;
(Just days before the setback, the Wizards were 27-23 and fifth in the East, and that was about three months following a 2-9 start to the season).
There's at least one notable story regarding Jordan&rsquo;s MVP candidacy that you can still find on the internet. Here's an excerpt of an article <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/13/sports/pro-basketball-inside-the-nba-jordan-lifts-wizards-and-his-mvp-bid.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">written by Mike Wise in the New York Times</a> on Jan. 13, 2002, for example.
<blockquote>
Who else besides Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett has been more important to his team? O'Neal and Chris Webber have been injured, and neither Tracy McGrady nor Vince Carter has elevated his team to the top of the Eastern Conference. Allen Iverson, the reigning MVP, is muddling through a disappointing season in Philadelphia.
</blockquote>
By that point in the season, the Wizards were 18-16 and on track to not just make the playoffs, but also match the 19-win mark that the team recorded the previous season that same week. (That's how D.C. ended up with 2001 No. 1 overall pick Kwame Brown).
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Just two weeks earlier, Jordan dropped 51 points against the Hornets and 45 points (plus 10 rebounds and 7 assists) against the first-place (and soon-to-be East champion) New Jersey Nets in consecutive blowout victories. Those were his two highest-scoring totals of the season &mdash; though he did have back-to-back 40-point games in late January in wins over the Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns.
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More importantly, that two-game, 96-point outburst against the Hornets and Nets stemmed from an uncharacteristic 6-point effort against the Indiana Pacers just days earlier. It's a time that our own Etan Thomas, then a rookie teammate of MJ's on the Wizards, specifically recalls.
&ldquo;I remember the media was ripping him to shreds,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;After that, they were like, 'He&rsquo;s too old, he shouldn&rsquo;t have come back, he&rsquo;s tarnishing his legacy,' yadda, yadda, yadda. So I remember going into the locker room, and he was sitting in this chair reading the papers. I remember seeing him rockin&rsquo; and, like, humming and biting his lip, and he was like, 'Uh huh.' So I guess he was just reading it over and over again. He was very intense.&rdquo;
On the 51-point eruption in particular, Thomas highlighted: &ldquo;In that game, it was like magic. It was electrifying, like every move, and he was on fire!&rdquo;
In Wise's aforementioned story, then-Miami Heat center Alonzo Mourning had his own <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/13/sports/pro-basketball-inside-the-nba-jordan-lifts-wizards-and-his-mvp-bid.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thoughts on Jordan's aging process</a>.
<blockquote>
"Every player reaches a point in their career where their game starts to decline. Some earlier than others. Look at Michael. He's 38. He's not averaging 30-something points a game like he used to. He's in the low 20's now. Is he still effective? Yeah, he's very effective. Is he the old Michael? Hell no. Far from it, even with those 50-point games now and then.
"I played against the old Michael. I've seen him at that level. But he's made the adjustment. He's learned to cope with his body playing at a certain level and not expecting to play at the old level. He's raised his game in other areas."
</blockquote>
Thomas, though, explains that people didn&rsquo;t realize the severity of Jordan's ongoing ailments. Beyond nearing 40 years old, MJ was simply overcoming more than the public knew.
&ldquo;This is the part that people don&rsquo;t understand: how injured he was. I saw it firsthand,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;Somehow it leaked that he was getting his knee drained, and I was sitting there like, &lsquo;I see him do that every other day!&rsquo; Literally, his knee would swell up like the Elephant Man! I was sitting in the training room getting some treatment or whatever, and he was on the table next to me. I saw it! They came in, and they pulled out this needle and drained his knee. They drained it and this black-tar goo stuff came out and he was in excruciating pain and it looked terrible!
&ldquo;I asked him, &lsquo;Why are you even doing this?&rsquo; He didn&rsquo;t need to prove anything to anybody. And when I said it, the whole training room got quiet, and he just looked at me and kinda shook his head. He didn&rsquo;t give me an answer, he just kinda shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. He was really in pain, he just didn&rsquo;t tell nobody.&rdquo;
In the NYT piece, Sacramento Kings general manager Geoff Petrie &mdash; who won NBA Executive of the Year in both 1999 and 2001 &mdash; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/13/sports/pro-basketball-inside-the-nba-jordan-lifts-wizards-and-his-mvp-bid.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said Jordan had a shot at MVP</a>, albeit a fringe one, saying he&rsquo;d vote for Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal and Kobe Bryant instead, who then had the Lakers at 26-8.
<blockquote>
"I'd say Shaq and Kobe, who are almost indistinguishable because both are so good. Then [Jason] Kidd, [Tim] Duncan and maybe [Kevin] Garnett. But if the Wizards keep going the way they are, Michael would have to have a shot.
"There is another reservoir of talent there with [Jordan]. He's so driven. I was reading something Grant Hill said recently, about the fact that it's so easy to get caught up in Jordan's athleticism. The level of athleticism has dropped, but the skill level is so high."
</blockquote>
Thomas adds that, while Jordan was nearing 40, you&rsquo;d still often get those glimpses of his true game in practices &mdash; and his competitiveness on a daily basis.&nbsp;
&ldquo;You saw the flashes of him being MJ MJ,&rdquo; Thomas assured. &ldquo;But his game was different, so now, it wasn&rsquo;t that explosive game that you&rsquo;re seeing on all the highlights with him coming down dunking on everybody. He started working the mid-range. And I saw him torch people with that mid-range. We had that little drop play to 'em &mdash; kinda semi-triangle &mdash; but he would work off the elbow and he would just be torching cats with it. So his game changed.
&ldquo;I was there seeing all of that. I was like, 'Man, he&rsquo;s still MJ!' It was just different. It wasn&rsquo;t like, 'Oh, come down the lane and dunk on everybody,' it was just killing everybody with the mid-range. It was like he had everybody on a string! He was making these moves and they could not stop him! They kept going for all of the fakes! And these were all top defenders!&rdquo;
Jordan subsequently finished 13th in MVP voting with 16 voter points. His finished with averages of 22.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game on 41.6% shooting from the field and 79.0% on free throws. He led the team in points, assists and steals per game through 60 appearances.
The Wizards finished the season 37-45, but they were 7-15 in the games that MJ missed.
Tim Duncan <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_2002.html">wound up winning the MVP that year in a close race over Jason Kidd</a>. Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Tracy McGrady, and Kobe Bryant rounded out the top five.
But when healthy, Jordan was far better than people would have you believe that season.
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Bryan Fonseca revisits Michael Jordan's comeback season with the Wizards, with insight from MJ's former teammate Etan Thomas.

Did you know Michael Jordan was an MVP candidate with the Wizards?

BOSTON (AP) &mdash; Jaylen Brown scored 32 points and Jayson Tatum had 31 to help the Boston Celtics stop a rare late-season stumble and beat the Indiana Pacers 128-123 on Friday night.
It was the eighth time this season that &ldquo;The Jays&rdquo; each scored at least 30 points.
&ldquo;We're not trying to take turns. Just playing the game the right way,&rdquo; Tatum said. &ldquo;If he takes six good shots in a row, that&rsquo;s fine with me.&rdquo;
The Pacers lost their sixth straight game despite getting 30 points from Tyrese Haliburton before he fouled out early in the fourth quarter with Indiana trailing 103-101. The Celtics led 124-120 with 40 seconds left when <a href="https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1510075050048688135">Al Horford found Tatum coming down the lane </a> for a dunk that all but sealed Boston's win.
Horford scored 17 points with 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who had won 24 of 28 games before losing to Toronto on Monday night without four of their starters. They followed it up with a loss to Miami on Wednesday &mdash; the first time they lost back-to-back games in two months as they climbed from below .500 to the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
But a loss to the Pacers, a non-playoff team with the fifth-most losses in the league, would have been more concerning.
&ldquo;Credit to them for making it tough on you,&rdquo; Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re playing loose and free with nothing to lose right now. You can tell. At the same time, we&rsquo;re aiding them.&rdquo;
Oshae Brissett and Jalen Smith scored 17 points apiece for the Pacers.
The Celtics scored 11 of the first 13 points in the game before giving up the next nine to tie it. Boston took a 37-28 at the end of the first quarter and led by as many as 10 points in the second.
FOULED OUT
Haliburton had 22 points at halftime and had 30 points on 10-for-11 shooting &mdash; including 6 for 6 from 3-point range &mdash; before picking up his fifth foul with 4:27 left in the third quarter on a collision with Boston&rsquo;s Derrick White while going for a loose ball.
Haliburton complained about the call, and got coach Rick Carlisle to challenge it, but it was upheld. Haliburton sat out the rest of the third and the first 3:33 of the fourth, then lasted just 14 seconds before fouling out, drawing jeers from the crowd.
INJURIES
The Celtics, who lost center Robert Williams III to a meniscus tear on Sunday, had a few injury scares against Indiana, but Udoka said everyone is OK.
Brown appeared wobbly after getting hit in the face by teammate Grant Williams but he returned. Williams is OK after stepping on someone's foot. Guard Marcus Smart limped off to the locker room at the end of the first half after a collision with Daniel Theis but returned for the third quarter.
&ldquo;I reaggravated an injury in my right ankle. It scared me for a moment as well,&rdquo; Smart said. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t need to be going down at this time, getting close to the playoffs. But I&rsquo;m fine. Checked it out. I&rsquo;ll be all right.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Before the game, the Celtics honored longtime Pacers director of media relations David Benner. Celtics vice president Jeff Twiss presented Benner, who has worked for the Pacers for 28 years, with a piece of the Boston Garden parquet floor. ... Celtics swingman Nik Stauskas missed the game with a right ankle sprain. ... Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon missed his seventh straight game. ... For '90s night, the Celtics brought back 1991 slam dunk contest winner Dee Brown. ... Tatum had three 3-pointers, giving him 222 for the season, tying Antoine Walker's 2002 mark for the second-most in franchise history.
UP NEXT
Pacers: Host Detroit on Sunday.
Celtics: Host Washington in regular-season home finale on Sunday.
&nbsp;

Jaylen Brown scored 32 points and Jayson Tatum had 31 to help the Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers 128-123.

Brown, Tatum pair up to lead Celtics past Pacers 128-123

The&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/gilbert-arenas-brilliantly-spent-his-entire-rookie-salary-before-the-draft-it-wasnt-fun/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/giannis-antetokounmpo-shares-why-he-doesnt-associate-or-practice-with-other-nba-players-in-the-offseason/" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">following article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="http://basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://BasketballNetwork.net" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">BasketballNetwork.net</a>:
Even when a guy like Antoine Walker writes a book about making $108 million and then going broke, you still wonder how that&rsquo;s possible, right? Well, Gilbert Arenas shared a story about his rookie year that will paint a perfect picture.
Every player gets an estimate of where he should expect to get drafted. After checking which teams are expected to pick at those spots, the very next thing is to check the rookie salary in those ranges. Being told he&rsquo;d be a top 10 draft pick was music to Arenas' ears. Agent Zero got himself an expensive chain and a souped-up Escalade with five TVs and a suede roof.
When Joe Johnson got selected with the 10th pick in the 2001 Draft, Arenas was still waiting to hear his name. He would wait a bit longer, all the way to the 31st pick, falling to the second round. Suddenly, his $845,000 rookie salary wasn&rsquo;t enough to cover everything he had bought.
&ldquo;When they did my budget, I can only spend $500 a month," Arenas said in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrkHqFjmaZQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview with DJ Vlad</a>. "That&rsquo;s gas money, girlfriend, two dogs. I couldn&rsquo;t even drive back and forth to the arena. I had to say at the arena sometimes. I slept in the arena.&rdquo;
This was a sobering moment for Agent Zero. Sleeping in the gym because he couldn&rsquo;t afford gas, too proud to ask teammates to give him some money, the reality of being a professional kicked in for Arenas.
&rdquo;You&rsquo;re on you&rsquo;re own, and you have all the time in the world not to get in trouble,&rdquo; he said.
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Arenas also pointed out that, at the time, you couldn't return to school.
&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t fun. I even said then, &lsquo;I wish I could come back to college. I took a pay cut coming here," Arenas <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrkHqFjmaZQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
Pay cut? But players aren&rsquo;t paid in the NCAA, right? We already covered Al Harrington sharing his experience, openly <a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/al-harrington-they-offered-me-cash-and-a-truck-to-join/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying a college offered him&rdquo; a truck and cash&rdquo; to join their program</a>. They even went so far as to offer to hire his mom and give Harrington $450,000.
So for a lot of prospects in that era, joining the NBA meant a pay cut and suddenly not being the best guy in the gym. Arenas said the biggest lesson he took from his rookie year was realizing he wasn&rsquo;t nearly as good as he thought he was. As hard as it was to accept that fact, the reality of his debt fueled his fire to watch film and warrant a bigger contract.
We know the story from there. Arenas retired with earnings over $160 million, so he&rsquo;s set for life. But the story about his rookie year gives us a fascinating insight into the lives of pro athletes. They can spend it as quickly as they can make it.
Check out more articles from BasketballNetwork.net&nbsp;<a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Gilbert Arenas shared a story about how thinking he'd be drafted higher in 2001 ended up costing him more money than he had.

Gilbert Arenas spent money he didn't end up having before 2001 draft

The&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/karl-anthony-towns-proclaims-himself-the-greatest-3-point-shooting-big-man-of-all-time/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/giannis-antetokounmpo-shares-why-he-doesnt-associate-or-practice-with-other-nba-players-in-the-offseason/" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">following article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="http://basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://BasketballNetwork.net" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">BasketballNetwork.net</a>:
If you are a big man in today&rsquo;s NBA, a three-point shooting stroke is no longer a bonus. In fact, it should be a part of the standard package. Among the perimeter shooting bigs in the NBA, Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns has arguably the smoothest stroke of them all.
So much so that KAT declared himself as the best three-point-sniping big man to ever grace an NBA floor in a <a href="https://theathletic.com/3006124/2021/12/16/karl-anthony-towns-anthony-edwards-and-the-conversations-that-spur-a-partnership/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sitdown with The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski</a>.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m the greatest big man shooter of all time. That&rsquo;s a fact," Towns <a href="https://theathletic.com/3006124/2021/12/16/karl-anthony-towns-anthony-edwards-and-the-conversations-that-spur-a-partnership/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Athletic in a recent interview</a>. "You can see the stats. I ain&rsquo;t got to play like no one else. Everyone trying to find themselves to be the second version of me when I&rsquo;m the first version. I don&rsquo;t got to be the second version of someone else. I&rsquo;m already an original. I don&rsquo;t have to be a duplicate of someone else.&rdquo;
Stats back up Towns&rsquo; claims. Not counting the ongoing 2021-22 NBA season, KAT has knocked down a total of 629 threes on a 39.4% clip in his first six years in the NBA. In that same amount of time, Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki had 667 makes on 37.2% shooting from deep. Over his entire career, Dirk tallied 1,982 triples on 38.0% shooting from distance.
To further test out Towns&rsquo; argument, we checked out other three-point shooting bigs and their numbers in their first six years in the NBA.
Antoine Walker: 724/2160 (33.5%)
Kevin Love: 440/1215 (36.2%)
Rasheed Wallace: 117/397 (29.5%)
To be fair with the likes of Love and Wallace, they were able to boost their three-point shooting numbers later on. Currently, Love has cashed-in a total of 1329 3-pointers on 37.1%. Wallace picked up his shooting during his tenure in Detroit, and ended his career with 1,086 threes on 33.6%.
Nikola Jokic is making his way into increasing his numbers beyond the arc, and has shot over 38% from downtown over his last two seasons. Joel Embiid is on a similar track over the last couple of campaigns (37.4%), and Nikola Vucevic is firing them up at a high clip in recent years as well.
But getting back to Towns, the young man sure does his research before saying anything. It wasn&rsquo;t just oozing self-confidence or lack of respect to his elders that made him utter such a bold declaration. He&rsquo;s really on pace to be the most lethal of them all.
If he manages to remain healthy and knocks down 75-to-150 long-rangers per season for the rest of his career, he might be able to overtake Nowitzki as the most proficient shooting big man of all time. But being the greatest is a tough task.
So far, KAT has drained his shots in regular-season games. Dirk dropped his in many playoff series, and led the Mavs to one of the most improbable NBA titles in recent history.
Stats are great for quantity, but let&rsquo;s not forget the quality as well.
Check out more articles from BasketballNetwork.net&nbsp;<a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

In an interview with The Athletic, Karl-Anthony Towns was more than confident to proclaim he's the best big-man shooter in NBA history.

Karl-Anthony Towns says he’s the best shooting big in NBA history

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
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At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2006-nba-champions-miami-heat_1xmxx9x7enf2b10ltxnugv0a83_lg.png" alt="" width="650" height="325" />
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice, once in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-2, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
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And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miami and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

James Posey recalls when he won an NBA championship with Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton on the Heat.

Thanks to 3 legends, in Miami, I learned how to become a winner

The following article first appeared on <a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNetwork.net</a>:
It&rsquo;s a story we&rsquo;ve heard too many times: A successful NBA player filed for bankruptcy. Then, you Google his career earnings and wonder, "How the hell do you make so much money and go broke?&rdquo; It turns out <a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/nba-players-who-managed-to-lose-their-massive-fortunes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it&rsquo;s easier than you think</a>.
That&rsquo;s why Chris Paul <a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/chris-paul-says-nobody-among-nba-players-talks-about-money-and-thinks-players-should-be-more-financially-educated/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started speaking up about it</a>, Tracy McGrady <a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/tracy-mcgrady-is-starting-a-program-to-help-young-athletes-from-getting-broke-after-their-career-is-over/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started a program</a> to help young athletes, Charles Barkley <a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/you-got-a-better-chance-of-being-a-doctor-than-playing-in-the-nba-barkleys-advice-to-black-kids/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tells young kids</a> they&rsquo;ve &ldquo;got a better chance of being a doctor than playing in the NBA," and Antoine Walker <a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/antoine-walker-explains-how-he-lost-110-million-after-his-nba-career-was-over/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote a book</a> about his story.
So, why do some NBA players have these financial issues, especially after retirement? Professional athletes often provide for a large number of people and take care of their livelihoods. Add a lack of education, particularly when it comes to financial literacy, and things get under you quickly.
But part of it is human nature. It&rsquo;s the same thing that caused the housing bubble. You buy stuff you can&rsquo;t really afford right now because you believe you&rsquo;ll get that promotion, that pay bump &mdash; that next contract. Jose Calderon says he saw this far too often during his playing days.
&ldquo;The problem with some of the guys is they think too much about the second contract. &lsquo;When I sign the second contract, I&rsquo;ll be set,&rsquo;" Calderon said. "You have to be living by what you have in your first contract. That&rsquo;s all you have. There is nothing else signed.&rdquo;
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Just think of Isaiah Thomas. In Boston, he was The King of the Fourth, putting up monster numbers and receiving <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_2017.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MVP votes</a>. Thomas was expecting to sign a max contract and talked about how the Celtics "better bring out the Brinks truck." However, injuries hurt his value and he&rsquo;s currently out of the league with career earnings of $31,309,253 (though he's still <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/isaiah-thomas-to-work-out-for-golden-state-warriors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">working out for teams in hopes of resuming his NBA career</a>). Future contracts are fool's gold.
The NBA and NBPA have done a great job of helping their players learn about the traps of debt and how to properly manage their money. Veteran players have also done a lot by openly talking about their mistakes and mentoring young players.&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s how you get guys like Jayson Tatum, <a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/tatum-hasnt-spent-a-single-nba-dollar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who doesn&rsquo;t spend the money from his contract with the Celtics</a> and instead lives solely off of what he earns through endorsements and similar gigs. Calderon did the same thing.&nbsp;
&ldquo;That was my key &ndash; I was always low profile, trying to save as much money as I could,&rdquo; Calderon said.
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Check out more articles from BasketballNetwork.net <a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Jose Calderon explains why some NBA players have issues taking care of their finances after their playing days come to an end.

Jose Calderon explains why NBA players go broke post-career

The following is an excerpt from "1996: A Biography &ndash; Reliving the Legend-Packed, Dynasty-Stacked Most Iconic Sports Year Ever" by Jon Finkel. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/1996-Reliving-Undefeated-Undisputed-Greatest/dp/1635767504/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The book is available now on Amazon.</a>
To borrow a song title from Green Day (the perfect mid-90s band), picks seven through 12 of the 1996 NBA Draft were a boulevard of broken dreams for NBA executives. They contain a collection of men that run the gamut from &ldquo;solid pro&rdquo; to &ldquo;absolute bust&rdquo; and no matter how defensible the selection was at the time, within 24 months it was clear that, to be blunt, these six franchises missed. This isn&rsquo;t 2021 revisionist history. This is 1997-1998 near-immediate regret.
It&rsquo;s one thing as a general manager to look in the mirror and know that taking Allen Iverson or Marcus Camby or Shareef Abdur-Rahim or Stephon Marbury or Ray Allen or Antoine Walker with one of the first six picks of the &rsquo;96 draft was the right basketball call at the time. They all made the &rsquo;96-&rsquo;97 All-Rookie Team (1st or 2nd) and there were two bona fide Hall of Famers (Iverson and Allen) several all-stars (Abdur-Rahim, Marbury and Walker) and Camby was a 4x All-Defensive Team player.
It&rsquo;s quite another thing to know that from the seventh through 12th picks, you took one of these half-dozen guys:
<ul>
<li> Lorenzen Wright &ndash; L.A. Clippers</li>
<li> Kerry Kittles &ndash; New Jersey Nets</li>
<li> Samaki Walker &ndash; Dallas Mavericks</li>
<li> Erick Dampier &ndash; Indiana Pacers</li>
<li> Todd Fuller &ndash; Golden State Warriors</li>
<li> Vitaly Potapenko &ndash; Cleveland Cavaliers</li>
</ul>
Over Kobe Bryant. Or Steve Nash. Or Jermaine O&rsquo;Neal. Or even Peja Stojakovic. That&rsquo;s a clean 35 All-Star selections from picks 13 to 17 versus none from picks seven to 12.&nbsp;
Ooooof.
Even in the moment, there was a lack of, let&rsquo;s say, sexiness, to picks seven through 12. In person, Kittles was the fastest coast-to-coast player in basketball (my opinion but I&rsquo;m right) and showed flashes of excellence, but few projected him as an All-Star-caliber talent. Wright, Walker, Dampier and Potapenko became serviceable, and in some cases, solid NBA players. But as they came off the draft board, Hubie Brown and other 1996 NBA draft analysts used phrases like &ldquo;will help shore up the defense&rdquo; and &ldquo;this helps them get bigger&rdquo; and other vague, roster-rounding-out terms, rather than things like &ldquo;game changer&rdquo; and &ldquo;potential superstar&rdquo; and &ldquo;special talent&rdquo; which he, and other draft gurus, reserved for the man picked after all of these guys: Kobe Bryant.
It&rsquo;s worth noting here that just because Bryant wasn&rsquo;t discussed as a #1 overall pick, it&rsquo;s not as if nobody knew how good Bryant could be. In fact, a lot of people suspected he could be the prize of the draft: they just didn&rsquo;t have the guts to put their jobs on the line for a high school kid, or they got talked out of it, or bullied out of it, or both.
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John Calipari really, really, really wanted him. He worked him out three times, each time becoming more and more convinced that Bryant was going to be special. So why didn&rsquo;t he take him with the eighth pick? There are three versions: one of them involves Calipari, a first-time NBA head coach, pleading with ownership to take him, but getting turned down. He described the scenario like this:
&ldquo;I had the eighth pick in the draft, and everyone thought I was nuts,&rdquo; Calipari said. &ldquo;A 17-year-old kid, a high school kid who&rsquo;s just now getting to the NBA? It shows you don&rsquo;t know what you&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo;
Version two was described in Jeff Pearlman&rsquo;s excellent book, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-shaquille-oneal-shaq-los-angeles-lakers-best-teammate-jeff-pearlman" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Three-Ring Circus</a>, and it involves Kerry Kittles&rsquo; agent strong-arming Calipari and telling him that if he didn&rsquo;t take Kittles&rsquo; (instead of Bryant), he&rsquo;d never let any other clients sign with the Nets.
Version three involves Kobe Bryant&rsquo;s agent, Arn Tellem, talking to Calipari and telling him that if he drafted Bryant, the teenager would never suit up for the Nets.
&ldquo;It was a calculated gamble," Tellem <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/charlotte-hornets/article239760573.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The</a><a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/charlotte-hornets/article239760573.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&nbsp;Charlotte Observer</a>.&nbsp;"I remember meeting with John Calipari and John Nash, pressing them not to take him if he fell. I left not knowing if they would pass. I thought they would pass, but didn't know.&rdquo;
In the end, it really doesn&rsquo;t matter which version is right, or even if it&rsquo;s a combination of all three. Calipari and the Nets didn&rsquo;t select Kobe Bryant and neither did the next four teams in line or any of the top-12 teams in the draft. It was only at Jerry West&rsquo;s urging, after a trade involving Lakers center Vlade Divac, that Kobe went off the board and found his way to the Lakers.
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West coveted Bryant like card collectors covet the Honus Wagner T206 and he planned to do whatever it took to land him. He worked with Tellem to limit Bryant&rsquo;s&rsquo; workouts. He massaged Vlade Divac&rsquo;s hesitation about going to Charlotte (Vlade once threatened to retire if traded).&nbsp;
As Bryant fell in the draft, West realized that his plan was coming to fruition when the Hornets selected him. And then the whole thing almost fell through because, well, someone on the Hornets said, &ldquo;Holy sh*t, we just got Kobe Bryant.&rdquo;
&ldquo;There was such excitement about the pick that Charlotte didn&rsquo;t want to go through with the deal,&rdquo; Mitch Kupchak, Los Angeles&rsquo; assistant general manager in 1996, said. &ldquo;There was a time there, whether it was Vlade (Divac threatening to retire) or just pressure on the franchise, where the deal was actually in jeopardy.&rdquo;
But it got done.
And instead of Bryant joining Anthony Mason, Glen Rice, Dell Curry and Muggsy Bogues in Charlotte, he teamed up with Shaq in Los Angeles and you know the rest.
***
With 25 years having passed since that epic day in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the legacy of the draft has been solidified.
Looking back on his class, Ray Allen says, &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to remember where our mindset was. We&rsquo;re walking into a league with Jordan, Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Reggie Miller, Hakeem Olajuwon, Scottie Pippen. There were some horses in this league that we were stepping into that we had been watching forever. We didn&rsquo;t think we were the next coming or next generation, but we were excited to be there.&rdquo;
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Allen explains that the toughest part about being drafted is balancing your excitement with any inclination to sit back and say, &ldquo;I made it." Guys who do that don&rsquo;t go far. He goes on to say that one thing that &rsquo;96 draft class shared was the mentality to keep pushing yourself and to self-motivate like you&rsquo;re on a mission.
&ldquo;When you look at myself, Nash, Kobe, Iverson, Marbury, Camby, Shareef, Jermaine, Peja, [Derek] Fisher, Walker, all these guys, they were all good to great in college [or high school] and scored a lot of points,&rdquo; Allen says. &ldquo;But they weren&rsquo;t in it to be famous or liked by everybody. It was evident in someone like Steve Nash, a white kid from Canada out of Santa Clara, he was on a mission. Kobe came in from high school and he was on a mission. Marbury wanted to prove what the legacy of New York City ballers could do, and he was on a mission. I came from meager beginnings and I was on a mission.&rdquo;
That was the big differentiator between past &ldquo;great draft classes." Rather than two or three or even five guys with the mindset to chase greatness, the &rsquo;96 class had a dozen.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the reason the &rsquo;96 draft class is thought of as one of the best,&rdquo; Allen says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the mentality we had. We were all on a mission to be better than we were. For all of us, there was a constant search to win. Every year, the championship was a carrot we were chasing. I didn&rsquo;t win until my 12th season. It comes down to watching basketball in June or playing basketball in June. This class had a lot of guys play in June. We knew what it took.&rdquo;
<a href="https://twitter.com/jon_finkel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Follow Jon on Twitter: @Jon_Finkel</a>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/1996-Reliving-Undefeated-Undisputed-Greatest/dp/1635767504/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buy this book on Amazon: 1996: A Biography &ndash; Reliving the Legend-Packed, Dynasty-Stacked Most Iconic Sports Year Ever.</a> 
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Jon Finkel looks back at the 1996 NBA Draft, which included Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Ray Allen, Jermaine O'Neal, etc.

Revisiting the star-studded 1996 NBA Draft: 'We were all on a mission'

If there&rsquo;s one piece of advice I&rsquo;d give anybody about the Eastern Conference and the 2021 NBA playoffs, it's to not count out the Miami Heat.
I wore that Heat uniform for a couple years, won a championship under Pat Riley, and even though that was way back in 2006, nothing has changed down there.
As long as Riley is pulling the strings, the Heat are gonna have a shot. It&rsquo;s the Riley way, and Alonzo Mourning warned all of his teammates &mdash; including me &mdash; of that back in 2005.&nbsp;
&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t want that man upstairs to come down here to coach,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;
&ldquo;If you think it&rsquo;s hell now, wait until he comes down... This won&rsquo;t be tolerated.&rdquo;
&lsquo;Zo was hot. We had a pretty rough November, losing some games to some bad teams and just having a tough time putting it together. He pulled a few of us aside in a team meeting and gave us that warning.&nbsp;
We all respected him, and he knew what he was talking about. After all, Riles was his coach for seven years.
I was new in town, so was Jason Williams, Gary Payton and Antoine Walker. We were some of the new faces the team brought in after losing in the Eastern Conference Finals the season before.
The pressure was on Stan Van Gundy to lead the team, and when we sputtered out the gate, everyone began speculating about his future -- even the players. That&rsquo;s what made &lsquo;Zo so outspoken.&nbsp;
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We thought we had some time to pull it all together, but the next thing we knew, after about 20 games, Stan and Riley were having a joint press conference. Stan announced he was stepping down.
Riles took over and led us to the championship. And although I didn&rsquo;t last too long in Miami, I learned some valuable lessons there, and I carry them with me to this day.
I played in Miami over 15 years ago, but based on what I&rsquo;ve seen and what I know, ain&rsquo;t nothing changed down there. Heading into the 2021 NBA playoffs, that&rsquo;s the exact reason why I wouldn&rsquo;t count the Heat out.&nbsp;
No matter what, with Riles leading that front office, the team will always end up with the kind of tough, gritty players it needs to excel playing that special brand of Heat basketball that he brought from New York way back in 1995.
Players who suited up for Riles are like a special little club, and I know that because, on top of playing for Riles himself, I had the opportunity to play for Doc Rivers and Byron Scott. It was obvious that they took some lessons from Riles. They were both tough guards who weren&rsquo;t afraid to challenge you, and they both had their own little fables and stories and techniques that they'd use to teach you and motivate you.
They had nothing on Coach Riley, though. I remember the very first lesson he taught us. He wasted no time.
We had one of those brutal four-game, five-night road trips. Tuesday night at the Bulls, Wednesday night at the Bucks, day off, Friday night at the 76ers and Saturday night at the Cavaliers. Stan resigned at that press conference the Monday beforehand, Riles took over and his first game as our coach would be on the first game of the trip, against Chicago.&nbsp;
We beat the Bulls, and then won against the Bucks the next night. Winning back-to-back games on the road in the NBA is tough, and after that, most coaches would reward their teams by giving them a day off, especially since we were playing four in five.
Not Riles, though. Or so we thought.
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After the Milwaukee game, we got to Philly in the late-night hours, and were told that we had a bus leaving the hotel in the morning and that we had to be ready by whatever time it was &mdash; maybe 11:00 a.m.
So we wake up in the morning, get dressed, get our ankles taped and all that. ALL OF US were grumpy and tired because, especially after winning those first two games on back-to-back nights, we felt like we earned the day off, you know?&nbsp;
Instead, we had to wake up, get dressed and head to the bus.
None of us knew what our new coach had in store for us. Remember, he&rsquo;d only been on the job officially for a few days.
After driving for a few minutes, the bus parked. We ended up at a movie theater &mdash; nobody knew what was going on.
Riles pops up and tells everyone to head into the theater and find a seat. We do, and next thing we knew, we were watching the basketball film &ldquo;Glory Road.&rdquo;
The movie was about the 1966 NCAA-champion Texas Western Miners. The team was coached by Don Haskins, and the reason why it was historically significant is because in that game, Texas Western became the first team to win the national championship with an all-Black starting lineup.
Of all teams, it was Kentucky that Texas Western beat in the championship game, and even back then, Kentucky was a powerhouse. They had an incredible starting lineup that was led by a young guard named Pat Riley.
Yeah. So that was quite the introduction to our new coach.
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Of course, back in those days, everyone knew what Riles&rsquo; reputation was. People thought of him as a drill sergeant and as a no-nonsense type of coach. If he were a high school teacher, he&rsquo;d be the teacher who walked in the classroom five minutes late and made all the students stop talking, sit up straight in their desks and face the board.
I took a few things away from Riles taking us to watch that movie. First, I knew he had connections, because we saw the film a full month before it was released in the theaters. But more important was the fact that it just let you know that he was a basketball lifer.&nbsp;
I think what he wanted us to take from seeing the film, though &mdash; and what I did take away &mdash; was that he knew what it felt like to be on the wrong side of history. Riles knew that our team was capable of succeeding like Texas Western, and that even if nobody gave us a shot, we had the power to control our own destiny. Riles told us that from the opening tip of the title game, he knew they were in trouble. He knew what it felt like to be surprised by his opponent, and wanted to do all he could to make sure that never happened to him again.
The same attitude and teachings were passed down to Doc Rivers and Byron Scott, and although I never played for Erik Spoelstra, many people refer to him as Riles&rsquo; prot&eacute;g&eacute;, so I know he&rsquo;s cut from the same cloth. That&rsquo;s why I wasn&rsquo;t surprised that the Heat won the Eastern Conference last season.&nbsp;
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And to be honest with you, I wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised if they managed to do it again. &nbsp;
The Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks are probably the teams that most people mention when they talk about the contenders, but the Heat should never be counted out. That&rsquo;s really what Riles&rsquo; legacy is, to me, anyway.&nbsp;
Talent-wise, Miami hasn&rsquo;t been considered among the top teams, but the discipline and the way they approach being prepared is always gonna put them in position to win any game. That&rsquo;s the kind of team that executes well, makes smart decisions with the ball, takes good shots and is physical with you. They&rsquo;re not the kind of team that beats themselves. Whoever they face, it&rsquo;s gonna be one of those series that&rsquo;s gonna be very physical and very exhausting.
The Los Angeles Lakers can tell you.
From the day Riles took over, it was the dawn of a new day in Miami. And almost 20 years later, even though he stopped coaching long ago, he still has his fingerprints all over that team. Toughness. Grit.
As long as Riles is in the building and can get his eyes and hands on that franchise, every player who walks through those doors in Miami quickly realizes the importance of mentally and physically being ready to play at a high level.&nbsp;
Believe me when I tell you, nobody who knows Pat Riley will ever count his team out. I know what&rsquo;s being preached down there every day, because I heard those messages.&nbsp;
The Heat are preparing to win it all, and when the 2021 playoffs come, just like they were last season, they&rsquo;re gonna be ready.

James Posey tells the story of Pat Riley taking over as head coach of the Heat in 2006 and how he has affected the franchise since.

As long as Pat Riley is in the picture, the Heat have a shot

Spencer Davies catches up with Will Bynum to discuss his unconventional journey and recent pivot to training NBA draft prospects.

After unconventional journey, Will Bynum is passing his wisdom on to next generation

On this week's episode of BasketballNews.com's <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-posecast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"The Posecast,"</a> James Posey was joined by guests Kendrick Perkins, Antoine Walker and Etan Thomas to share their thoughts on the Brooklyn Nets acquiring eight-time All-Star and former MVP James Harden.
Perkins, an analyst for ESPN, brought to light one of the reasons why Westbrook demanded a trade from the Houston Rockets this past offseason:
"A lot of people don't know this, but this is why Russ wanted to bounce," Perkins said. "The Rockets didn't want to trade Russ, he requested a trade because of all things that were transpiring last year. Say they would play on a Saturday and they don't play again until Thursday [If they had some days off], James was on a private [jet] to Cabo! On Tilman Fertitta's private [jet] at that! And Russ like, &lsquo;Hold on, I ain&rsquo;t come here for all this shit.' Russ is coming from Oklahoma City, and Oklahoma City is... [about] the culture and getting your work in and no shortcuts. Russ is sitting there saying, 'Hold on, James, what you doing? I ain't with all of this partying... I came to the H because we're supposed to be on the title chase.'"&nbsp;
Here is the clip below:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/KendrickPerkins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KendrickPerkins</a> says James Harden's partying led to Russell Westbrook's trade request. "[If they had some days off], James was on a private [jet] to Cabo! On Tilman Fertitta's private [jet] at that! Russ is like... 'I ain't with all the partying.'" 🎧: <a href="https://t.co/QEROFRt8Rj">https://t.co/QEROFRt8Rj</a> <a href="https://t.co/gKh5EMRgTi">pic.twitter.com/gKh5EMRgTi</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1350233947360415745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Check out the complete conversation about the Harden trade, Kyrie Irving's absence, Brooklyn's Big Three and more:
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&nbsp;

Kendrick Perkins says that James Harden's partying led to Russell Westbrook wanting out of Houston.

Perkins: James Harden's partying led to Russell Westbrook's trade demand

Antoine Walker discusses his Chicago roots, his training sessions with Michael Jordan, how he overcame financial missteps and more.

The Posecast: Antoine Walker on training with MJ, party stories, more

Ray Allen discusses his legendary career, his battles with Kobe Bryant, his Jordan Brand deal, his titles, social injustice and more.

The Posecast: Ray Allen on battling Kobe, today's top shooters and more

The Toronto Raptors faced a sizable early deficit. They trailed in the fourth quarter. And again in the first overtime. And again in the second overtime.
Exhausted and on the brink, the reigning NBA champions rose to the moment.
Next up: Game 7, for a spot in the Eastern Conference finals against Miami.
OG Anunoby &mdash; the hero of Game 3 with a buzzer-beating 3 &mdash; put the Raptors ahead to stay with a 3-pointer with just under a minute left in double overtime, Kyle Lowry got an acrobatic jumper to fall with 11.7 seconds left and the Raptors beat the Boston Celtics 125-122 in Game 6 on Wednesday night.
&ldquo;Game 7 to go to the Eastern Conference finals," Toronto guard Fred VanVleet said. &ldquo;All you can ask for is a chance."
Lowry scored 33 points in 53 minutes for Toronto. Norman Powell had 23, including a three-point play with about 39 seconds left and a pair of free throws to help finish it off. VanVleet scored 21 points for the Raptors, and Anunoby had 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Lowry was on his back, laying on the court, breathing fairly heavily and with his fists thrown high in the air when Powell had the three-point play.
That's about when he realized the Raptors weren't flying home Thursday.
&ldquo;Thank you, Norm. ... That was cool. We needed that," Lowry said.
Jaylen Brown had 31 points and 16 rebounds for the Celtics, who had their starters on the floor &mdash; without a single sub &mdash; for the final 22-plus minutes.
Jayson Tatum had 29 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. Marcus Smart had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, and missed a 3-pointer that would have tied it with about 3 seconds left in the second extra session.
&ldquo;We had a lot of opportunities down the stretch and we didn&rsquo;t take care of the all as good as we needed to," Brown said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s fine. We&rsquo;re heading into a Game 7. We feel good about ourselves."
It was the first time that a team went multiple overtimes and won to stave off elimination in a best-of-seven series since April 30, 2009 &mdash; when Chicago forced Game 7 by beating Boston 128-127 in triple OT. The Celtics went on to win Game 7.
Daniel Theis had 18 points for the Celtics. Theis played 47 minutes &mdash; the other four Boston starters, Tatum, Smart, Brown and Kemba Walker (who was held to five points, in large part because of the box-and-one that Toronto used at times), all logged at least 50. And tempers flared when it was over, everyone getting a few extra words in before Game 7 on Friday.
The numbers were ridiculous: Boston shot 44 for 100, Toronto 44 for 101.
&ldquo;Great basketball game," Boston coach Brad Stevens said.
Boston led 52-48 at the break, after both teams had no shortage of offensive struggles in the opening half. Toronto started 9 for 32 from the floor, then finished the half on a 9-for-15 spurt to build some momentum.
It carried over, with the Raptors taking their first lead of the second half on a six-point possession from VanVleet.
He was flagrantly fouled when Smart closed out too aggressively as he tried to land on a 3-point try, made all three foul shots, then connected on a 3 when the possession continued. He then got another 3 on the next Toronto trip down the floor, giving him a personal 9-0 run that took all of 38 seconds, and the Raptors were suddenly up 67-62.
With that, it became a chess match. The Raptors didn't score a single point in the final 4:24 of regulation. Boston led by three in the first overtime, four after back-to-back baskets to open the second OT &mdash; but couldn't finish the champs off.
&ldquo;We'll look at what we can clean up," Stevens said. &ldquo;Throw some ice on your legs and get ready for Friday."
TIP-INS
Raptors: Lowry played the entire second half again, the third time that happened in the last four games. He needed three stitches postgame to close a cut after he got struck in the second quarter. ... The Raptors, even with everyone logging big minutes, shot 6 for 7 in the second OT.
Celtics: Brown took 18 shots in the first half, the most by a Celtics player in the first 24 minutes of a game since Antoine Walker took 18 on Nov. 29, 2002 &mdash; also against Toronto. ... Boston fell to 17-22 since 2008 when it has a chance to clinch a series.
GAME 7 HISTORY
The Celtics will be in a Game 7 for the 33rd time; they&rsquo;re 23-9 all-time &mdash; but have lost four of their last seven ultimate games. The Raptors are 3-2 in Game 7s.
ROAD, SWEET ROAD
Technically, home and road classifications still apply for record-keeping purposes in the bubble &mdash; so now, both teams are 0-3 &ldquo;at home&rdquo; in the series. Game 7 will be considered a Toronto home game.
UP NEXT
Game 7 is Friday.

The Toronto Raptors defeated the Boston Celtics in a double-overtime thriller, forcing a Game 7.