Lobos

Dreamstyle Arena

I'll open with a bit of transparency: I don't know if I'll have more fun writing a piece than I will with this one.
It's easy to get lost in Xs and Os talk, rotation suggestions, or transaction rumors. It can be easy to be bogged down by off-court nonsense &mdash; looking at you, Josh Primo, and the Brooklyn Nets, as a concept. But there are certain teams, certain players and certain stories that bring me back to the ground floor.&nbsp;
At its core, basketball is a beautiful game. It is art; it is music. It's poetry. It's freakin'&nbsp;fun,&nbsp;man. Watching players make the impossible look mundane is what drew me to the sport. I wouldn't care about the intricacies of Spain pick-and-rolls without having "whew, what a fun/easy bucket" as my foundation.&nbsp;
There isn't a player in the league that breaks my "whew" scale &mdash; or makes me laugh uncontrollably &mdash;&nbsp; quite like the Orlando Magic's Bol Bol does.&nbsp;
He's broken my brain virtually; you're not having fun in an online 2K league without having him on your roster. The flashes he showed at Oregon broke my brain in real life. A guy that tall isn't supposed to have the shooting touch and handle capabilities that he does.&nbsp;
There were always valid concerns. The frame was an issue, as were the injuries he's had to work through because of it. There were questions about the motor, among other things. He slid to the second round of the 2019 draft due to a combination of those questions.
But my word, the Bol Experiment may be working in Year 4.
Through eight games, Bol is averaging career highs in points (11.1), rebounds (7.4), and blocks (2.6, 4th in the NBA) in a shade under 22 minutes a night. This has been more than the occasional flash that I freak out about on Twitter; he legitimately looks like a productive rotation player.
Injury and opportunity have thrusted Bol into the Magic's starting lineup over the last three games. He's responded strongly, averaging 13.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks in 29.1 minutes per contest.
HOW IT'S WORKING
Honestly, "opportunistic" may be the best way to describe Bol's play to kick off the year. He's averaging nearly 2 offensive rebounds a game. Overall, 48.5% of his two-point attempts &mdash; that he's converting at an absurd 71.7% clip by the way &mdash; have been unassisted. You can think a combination of putbacks and grab-and-go sequences for that.
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The grab-and-go possessions really stand out. One, it's just wild to see someone like him bringing the ball up. Beyond that, the drives have actually been fruitful. The sample isn't large; the good folks at Second Spectrum have him pegged for 17 drives on the season. But the Magic have generated over 1.3 points per possession (PPP) on trips featuring a Bol drive.&nbsp;
The real fun is that the drives have featured some kick-outs. If he shifts from one-track minded to 1.3-track minded, you consider that a win if you're the Magic. These aren't Luka-like reads, but this is growth worth keeping an eye on.
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Defensively, I find myself in awe of Bol's length and range.&nbsp;
You will often see Bol in an off-ball role, either defending a weaker opponent or defending an area as part of Orlando's zone. If he isn't directly involved in the action, he's able to sink down to disrupt drives and spray back out to bother (or dissuade) catch-and-shoot opportunities. Even when he isn't in great position (more on that shortly), his massive wingspan allows him to alter or block shots anyway.
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Among 77 players that have defended at least 75 shot attempts, Bol's contest rate (92.59) ranks 12th on the list, per Second Spectrum. That puts him right behind players like Anthony Davis (93.59) and slightly ahead of guys like Giannis Antetokounmpo (92.51).
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Aside from the grab-and-go potential, the shooting was the primary calling card for Bol offensively entering his draft year. He hasn't knocked down triples at a high clip (33.3%) or with much volume (1.1 attempts).
To the volume portion, a lot of that is because of Bol's limitations. Because of his struggles to deal with physicality, opponents are comfortable stashing perimeter players on him. What would be pick-and-pop situations are typically switches, negating much of the benefits for Bol.
There's a ton of room to grow as a screener. Again, the frame limits him from being a Steven Adams-esque bully, but it still doesn't feel like he has a firm handle on timing or angles to pry guys loose. I've been on a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-screen-time-vol-1-steven-adams-best-worst-screeners-anthony-davis-fred-vanvleet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">screening kick lately</a>, and it should come as no surprise that Bol grades poorly in terms of contact rate &mdash; meaning how often he generates contact on his screens.
It's not a situation like Brandon Clarke, where he's good at screening but ranks low in generating contact because he's so good&nbsp;at slipping; Bol just has to get better at screening as a concept.
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If he's able to do that, more scoring opportunities should rise. Pick-and-pops will open up. The Magic could further explore his usage as a handoff hub if he generates contact better; he already has enough of a handle to fool opponents with fake handoffs. But before that can be a present threat, he has to be able to pry his handoff partner open and force rotations.&nbsp;
On the other end, Bol's spatial awareness still needs work. While his length can help cover his mistakes, it's still worth noting some of the mistakes he makes, particularly when he's tasked with tracking multiple actions at once.
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Bol is often stashed on weaker perimeter players, and that weakness speaks to that player's scoring prowess&nbsp;and&nbsp;literal strength. Bol simply doesn't have the strength to deal with 5s. Even some guards have been successful in getting into his chest on drives and pushing him backwards.
He still struggles sliding laterally, and has bigger issues flipping his hips and changing direction. That's led to some pretty ugly "contain" sequences from him. It's telling that he's among the league leaders in blocks, but opponents have converted nearly 67% of their shots at the rim against Bol to this point of the season.
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But for now, the positives are outweighing the problem areas for the first time in his career. The Magic have a plus-4.6 net rating in Bol's 173 minutes, and have been dusted (minus-13.8) in their 211 minutes without him. The split looks even better if <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612753&amp;Season=2022-23&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;PlayerIds=1629626&amp;Leverage=VeryHigh,High,Medium" target="_blank" rel="noopener">you remove garbage time</a>.
Cheers to Bol for producing, and an even bigger hat tip to him for being fun while doing it.

Nekias Duncan breaks down, and celebrates, the fun and productivity of Bol Bol with the Orlando Magic.

Magical start: Celebrating Bol Bol's early productivity in Orlando

Nekias Duncan previews the Mavericks, Rockets, Grizzlies, Pelicans and Spurs ahead of the 2022-23 NBA campaign.

2022-23 NBA Season Preview: Southwest Division

Nekias Duncan previews the Hawks, Hornets, Heat, Magic and Wizards ahead of the 2022-23 NBA season.

2022-23 NBA Season Preview: Southeast Division

Spencer Davies recaps Donovan Mitchell's introductory press conference in downtown Cleveland with the Cavaliers.

Donovan Mitchell ecstatic to bring experience to young, 'fun' Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz for Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen and Ochai Agbaji in a sign-and-trade, multiple sources confirmed to Basketball News. Sexton and the Jazz agreed to terms on a four-year, $72 million contract agreement, per Yahoo's Chris Haynes.
The Cavs will also send three unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, 2029) and two future pick swaps (2026, 2028) in the deal. The news was first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. 
Sources told Basketball News that the deal "all came together in the last 24 hours." This is a swing-for-the-fences type of move by the Cavs, who clearly believe that they had to add another superstar to complement their up-and-coming star in Darius Garland, along with the team's promising two young bigs in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. With a majority of the Eastern Conference improving with huge offseason moves &mdash; such as Dejounte Murray heading to the Atlanta Hawks and Malcolm Brogdon going to the Boston Celtics &mdash; Cleveland joined the party by bringing in a bona fide superstar in Mitchell.
Fit shouldn't be too much of an issue for "Spida," as he'll slide into the 2-guard role that Sexton occupied for the last two seasons (before getting hurt early last year). For a number of months now, the Cavs have discussed taking some of the playmaking burden off of Garland so he can get loose and work away from the ball. Mitchell's ability to create for others has improved year-by-year, and there's no worrying about him creating space to get his own shot off. We definitely know how well Garland and his new backcourt partner can score the ball, but watching them work in sync could be poetry in motion. And while delegating between the two might be shaky at first, once some cohesiveness is established, it'll be on.
If you're into simple counting numbers, Mitchell adds about 26 points per game to this roster that was missing. (Sexton's absence was very much felt last season.) Donovan's True Shooting percentage was the highest of his career to boot (57.2%), and he also contributed a career-high 27.7% assist rate.
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Defensively, we know Mitchell had his flaws last season; however, the personnel Cleveland has in place with Mobley and Allen should take some of that pressure off of him. They are both rim-protecting (and switching, in Evan's case) monsters in their own unique way, which should cover for both smaller guards if they get beat, as we've seen in the past.
It will be interesting to see what Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff does with his rotation, as Cleveland lost its starting small forward in this deal as well. Will he elect to try Mobley at the 3 and possibly go back to Kevin Love at the 4 to keep "big ball" going? Will there be a three-guard lineup between Garland, Mitchell and Caris LeVert? Does the team trust Isaac Okoro enough offensively to give him his starting spot back?
Those are likely the most prominent questions on everybody's minds with Cleveland.
As for the Jazz, they have slammed the reset button. It started with the Rudy Gobert trade to Minnesota, and ended by sending Mitchell packing to Cleveland. Now, they've got some intriguing young pieces to work with.
Kudos to Utah general manager Justin Zanik and executive Danny Ainge for bringing in two solid starters and a lottery-pick rookie in this move. Sexton is a straight-up dog as a scorer, an intense competitor and one of the best culture pieces the Jazz could bring in. He's improved as a three-point shooter, has become a better passer over the years and will never shy away from crunch time. While he must improve defensively, the desire and ball pressure are there.
Markkanen is a stretch 4 who can spread the floor, attack off the dribble in an unorthodox manner and is long enough to be disruptive on defense. His biggest issue to overcome is his inconsistency. Agbaji hasn't even stepped foot on the floor yet, but at Summer League in Las Vegas, he had a pair of games where he was lights out from distance and was well balanced with his shooting form.
We'll see how the new-look Jazz operate under head coach Will Hardy. Utah also recently brought in Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson, while also trading for Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley. One thing is for sure, Zanik and Ainge retooled this roster in a big way, and with all of those guards and veterans, they're probably not done. It'll be intriguing to see how this team comes together at the end.
Even with Cleveland growing organically, step-by-step, the team obviously felt this was an opportunity it couldn't pass up. This front office is quite meticulous when it comes to the importance of chemistry and not messing with a good thing, and that showed last season by how fun this locker room truly was.
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Cavs president Koby Altman and general manager Mike Gansey have shaken things up with a colossal blockbuster, and were successful in keeping their core three pieces together. For that, they should be commended. Mitchell and Sexton are similar in some aspects of their game and their stature; with that said, the former is further along into his career with plenty of memorable playoff moments and experiences, as well as three All-Star appearances.
On paper, Cleveland is boasting a deep, talented roster with some solid balance. Barring any health setbacks, the 26-year-old Mitchell should fit like a glove offensively. Yes, Garland's usage will take a bit of a hit; maybe that's a good thing. He was out of gas when the Play-In Tournament came around. Honestly, the whole team was.
But adding a talent like Mitchell to the fold means you can trust two incredible ball-handlers and stagger them, if need be, and let the chips fall where they may.
Mitchell is locked in for the next three years of his contract, with a player option in 2025-26. Garland just inked a rookie max extension. Allen is in it for the long haul. You'll have to imagine Evan Mobley will be in line to sign the dotted line. The Cavs are not messing around and have a loaded core going forward.
Maybe that'll finally quiet the LeBron James rumors, huh?

Spencer Davies offers his instant reaction to the shocking trade of Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Instant reaction: Cavs swing for fences with Donovan Mitchell trade

Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals will be played on Thursday, June 2. Remarkably, that date is the exact one-year anniversary of the Boston Celtics' announcing Brad Stevens had stepped away from head coaching duties to assume the role of president of basketball operations in place of the departing Danny Ainge.
Let's have a look back at what has been an extraordinary and almost unimaginable 12 months&hellip;
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During his eight seasons on the sidelines in Boston, Stevens was viewed as one of the league's better head coaches. He was regarded as an elite tactician and considered an important part of the Celtics' sustained success. Under his stewardship, Boston advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals three times in four years.
So when the club announced that its long-time top executive in Ainge was retiring and that Stevens would be promoted to team president last June, it came as a shock to most. Would Stevens be able to replicate the regular-season success he enjoyed as head coach? Could Boston get over the hump and advance all the way to the NBA Finals?
Although Ainge left a roster stocked with a budding superstar in Jayson Tatum, his All-Star caliber sidekick in Jaylen Brown, veteran stalwart Marcus Smart and a few promising youngsters, Stevens took control at a precarious juncture. Boston entered last summer capped out (with a directive from ownership not to incur a costly luxury tax bill) and lacking excess draft capital.&nbsp;
Stevens' first order of business was parting ways with Kemba Walker and his cumbersome contract. With two years and $73 million remaining on his deal, Walker was the team's highest-paid player. When healthy, the four-time All-Star Walker was highly productive on the offensive end for the C's, but his balky left knee had robbed him of his quickness. Some suggested the Celtics sit tight, hoping that an entire offseason of rest would allow Kemba to re-establish himself as a quality starter. If Boston wanted to trade Walker, Stevens would have to get creative.
The week before the 2021 NBA Draft, Stevens dealt Boston's first-round pick (16th overall) and a 2025 second-round draft pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Al Horford and a 2023 second-rounder.&nbsp;
At the time, Stevens' first significant move as team president was considered highly questionable.&nbsp;
Following the 2019-20 season, when Horford posted career-worst numbers for the Philadelphia 76ers after signing a monstrous four-year, $109 million pact, the veteran big man's contract was viewed as one of the worst in the league. In December 2020, the Sixers were forced to attach a future first-round pick and the draft rights to Vasilije Micic (who just won his second EuroLeague Final Four MVP) in a trade with OKC just to get out from under Horford's contract.
During his lone season in Oklahoma City, Horford appeared in just 28 games for the Thunder. After the trade deadline passed in February 2021, the Thunder shut him down for the rest of the season. At the time, it felt like Stevens was trading for a potentially washed-up 35-year-old center with two years and $53.5 million left on his contract ($41 million of it guaranteed).
But after struggling at times to find his groove in the regular season, Horford has been a crucial cog in the Celtics' run to the Finals. During these playoffs, he is averaging 11.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.9 three-pointers,1.6 blocks and 0.9 steals per game, all while shooting 50.0% from the floor, a scorching 43.2% from downtown, and 83.3% from the free-throw line.
Per Basketball-Reference, Horford is just the third player in NBA history (joining Draymond Green and Rasheed Wallace) to average more than 1.5 blocks and more than 1.5 made treys in a postseason (minimum 15 games played). Horford is also the first player ever over the age of 35 to tally more than 25 blocks and more than 25 three-pointers in a single postseason.
To say the Walker/Horford trade has worked out well for Boston would be a dramatic understatement.&nbsp;
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After acquiring Horford, Stevens' next critical decision would be choosing a new head coach. After interviewing several candidates, Stevens zeroed in on Ime Udoka and officially hired him in late June. Udoka was a bit of a gamble, as he had never been a head coach, having spent the previous nine seasons as an assistant with San Antonio (2012-13 to 2018-19), Philadelphia (2019-20) and Brooklyn (2020-21).&nbsp;
Udoka's job was made that much more difficult when the C's stumbled out of the gates this season. By the turn of the new year, there was some finger-pointing in the locker room with the Celtics losing too many winnable games. Three weeks into January, Boston was still below .500 with a 23-24 record.
However, Udoka remained stoically stern, providing a calm and reassuring presence in the locker room and on the sideline. His ability to outcoach opponents and his command of the X's and O's gained him the trust of his team. Over the second half of the season, Boston ranked in the top three in Defensive Efficiency, and led the league in Offensive Efficiency (122.6) and Net Rating (plus-12.7) by a wide margin.
Udoka earned Coach of the Month honors on multiple occasions, and would go on to finish fourth in the NBA Coach of the Year voting. The league-wide respect he's garnered has only increased as he's helped guide his team to the championship series.&nbsp;
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When the free agency frenzy commenced in July 2021, Stevens had to decide what to do with shooting guard Evan Fournier. Ultimately, Boston opted to let Fournier leave for New York.
The Celtics' only free-agent addition of note last summer was inking Dennis Schroder to a team-friendly, one-year deal for $5.9 million. However, Stevens signed Marcus Smart (four years, $76.5 million) and Robert Williams III (four years, $48 million) to lengthy extensions.
The Smart signing, in particular, looks genius in retrospect.&nbsp;
It had been rumored that Ainge was seriously considering trading away Smart in different deals in years past. However, Stevens made it clear that he was committing to Smart for the long term. Just as importantly, Stevens let it be known he would entrust Smart with the team's primary point guard duties. This may seem like an easy decision with the benefit of hindsight, but it's important to point out that entering this season, Smart had started in just 228 of the 449 games he had appeared in. And a large percentage of those starts were alongside point guards such as Kemba Walker, Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas.&nbsp;
The C's flourished with Smart installed as the floor general, especially on the defensive end. Smart, as we know, would be named NBA Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first guard to win the award since Gary Payton in 1996.
Starting in each of the 71 regular-season games he played, Smart finished the season ranked seventh in the NBA in steals per game (1.68), ranked fifth among all guards with a Defensive Rating of 105.2, and led the NBA with 1.1 loose balls recovered per contest. He was also near the top of the league in deflections, charges drawn and defensive rebounds. On the offensive end, he averaged a career-high 5.9 assists per game and posted an Effective Field Goal percentage above 50% for the first time.
Had Stevens not locked up Smart last summer, he would undoubtedly have been one of the most highly sought-after players on the free-agent market next month.&nbsp;
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Before being sidelined by a knee injury late in the season, Williams had also been enjoying a breakout 2021-22 campaign, averaging career-highs in points (10.0), rebounds (9.6), blocks (2.2), steals (0.9), field-goal percentage (73.6%) and free-throw percentage (72.2%). Like Smart, Williams' value now exceeds his salary.&nbsp;
In February, Stevens recognized Boston's backcourt needed an upgrade. Hence, he sent Josh Richardson and Romeo Langford and a top-four-protected 2022 first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Derrick White at the trade deadline. Udoka, who was familiar with White having spent time as an assistant in San Antonio, asked him to sacrifice some of his offense. White would serve as a reserve, which meant fewer field goal attempts and fewer minutes. White embraced the role, supplied solid defense on the perimeter and knocked down a handful of big buckets during Boston's run to the Finals.
Ironically, of all the trades and signing Stevens has made over the past 12 months, arguably the most important and impactful are the ones he did NOT agree to. It sounds outlandish now because the C's are four wins away from the franchise's 18th championship, but plenty of pundits and fans in New England had been calling for the Celtics to break up the duo of Brown and Tatum.
While there was no denying their collective talent, many argued the roster was unbalanced, and that the skill sets Tatum and Brown brought to the table were a bit duplicitous. Thus, some folks contended that the best path forward was trading Brown (possibly in a package with Smart) for a pure point guard (such as Damian Lillard).
Pressure and the corresponding rumors reached a fever pitch in the dark days of December and January.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Damnit I&rsquo;m holding everybody in Boston accountable, from the front office, to the coaching staff and down to Jaylen and Tatum. It&rsquo;s time to break them up! Carry on&hellip; <a href="https://twitter.com/FirstTake?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FirstTake</a> <a href="https://t.co/2fNHMFavfd">pic.twitter.com/2fNHMFavfd</a>
&mdash; Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/KendrickPerkins/status/1479494503765524483?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2022</a></blockquote>

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As noted above, Boston was below .500 for much of the season. On Jan. 15, the Celtics had a worse record than both the Knicks and Washington Wizards. Boston was 11th in the East, on the outside of the Play-in Tournament looking in.&nbsp;&nbsp;
But Stevens never budged, trusting in the roster he helped construct. And the results speak for themselves. Twelve months after he was hired, Stevens's squad is preparing for the NBA Finals.&nbsp;
Earlier this month, the NBA announced Memphis Grizzlies General Manager Zach Kleiman as the winner of the 2021-22 Basketball Executive of the Year Award. Stevens came in sixth, receiving only one first-place vote. However, that award is based on regular-season accomplishments.
Given how well Boston has performed in the playoffs, there is little doubt about which executive's moves have looked best in the postseason.&nbsp;
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Tommy Beer reviews Brad Stevens' first season as Celtics president with his one-year anniversary coinciding with NBA Finals Game 1.

Brad Stevens deserves massive credit for the Celtics' success

Nekias Duncan breaks down the 2022 NBA Finals between the Celtics and Warriors from a multitude of angles.

2022 NBA Finals Scouting Report: How the Celtics and Warriors match up

The Eastern Conference field is set, as the Boston Celtics are set to take on the top-seeded Miami Heat for the second time in three years.&nbsp;
This series will have everything you want. Superstar power (Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler) and star power (Bam Adebayo, Jaylen Brown).&nbsp;Former All-Stars that can still give you moments &mdash; hello Al Horford, Victor Oladipo and, if healthy, Kyle Lowry.
It also includes fearless role players who can win you a game. For Boston, that's primarily Marcus Smart, Grant Williams and Robert Williams III. Miami has the Sixth Man of the Year in Tyler Herro, an unrelenting PJ Tucker, as well as a stable of undrafted guards in Max Strus and Gabe Vincent.
On the sidelines, Celtics head coach Ime Udoka has been pressing buttons as well as anyone since the turn of the calendar year. Erik Spoelstra has had a strong argument as the NBA's best coach for nearly half a decade. That battle should be a pleasure, especially on the defensive end.&nbsp;
I&rsquo;m not a coach &mdash; I'm just a pun-loving basketball fan with a hankering for film breakdowns. But instead of a traditional series preview, I decided to go into the basketball trenches and devise game plans for both teams. The tone of this two-part series will be a little more informal, but it will still be informative (at least I hope).
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Without further ado, here is what to look for in the East Finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics.
Miami's Defensive Matchups
Gabe Vincent &mdash;&gt; Marcus Smart
Jimmy Butler &mdash;&gt; Jaylen Brown
PJ Tucker &mdash;&gt; Jayson Tatum
Max Strus &mdash;&gt; Grant Williams
Bam Adebayo &mdash;&gt; Al Horford
Boston's Defensive Matchups
Jayson Tatum &mdash;&gt; Gabe Vincent
Marcus Smart &mdash;&gt; Max Strus
Jaylen Brown &mdash;&gt; Jimmy Butler&nbsp;
Al Horford &mdash;&gt; PJ Tucker
Grant Williams &mdash;&gt; Bam Adebayo
We saw these matchups in the most recent outing (March 30). I'd say it's a pretty safe bet this holds to start the series.
Boston's cross-matching intrigues me more than the inverse. Tatum taking Vincent allows him to roam a bit &mdash; unless/until Vincent bombs away from three. Putting Smart on Strus is a great way to take advantage of his screen navigation while eliminating Miami's opening script on offense. The Heat tend to open things up with movement sets to get Strus going early.&nbsp;
Keep an eye on the Williams-Adebayo matchup. Grant has taken on Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo in consecutive rounds, and has done so with success. His blend of mobility and strength could bother Adebayo, and those same traits can turn any pick-and-roll involving Adebayo into a switch.
The Battleground: Paint Touches
At their cores, the Heat and Celtics are switchy groups. In fact, they were&nbsp;the&nbsp;switchiest groups in the NBA &mdash; the Celtics ranked first in on-ball switches per 100 possessions (28.8), while the Heat ranked second (28.7), per Second Spectrum. It will be their primary method of flattening out each other's offenses, hoping to bring the game down into the mud.
With neither team playing drop coverage that often &mdash; the Heat and Celtics ranked 26th and 25th in drop rate, respectively &mdash; it'll be interesting to see who can create openings downhill.&nbsp;
If there's a difference between the two, it's Miami's willingness to dial up the pressure. They'll bust out a full-court press. They're not afraid to trap, particularly if there's only one star on the court. The help is&nbsp;aggressive. That leads to a ton of three-point attempts &mdash; the Heat ranked dead last in three-point rate allowed &mdash; but eighth in opponent rim rate.&nbsp;
The Celtics&nbsp;can&nbsp;do that stuff, but generally don't have to thanks to their collective size and screen navigation up top. They effectively cut off the rim (No. 2 in opponent rim rate) and&nbsp;they're able to force opponents into more mid-range shots. Only the Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards allowed a larger share of mid-range shots than the Celtics this season.
Can the Heat find enough cracks to get into the paint and generate good looks from there? Can the Celtics hit enough threes &mdash; because they will be there &mdash; to loosen things up inside? We shall see.
Celtics' Team Stats (and Boston's stats vs. Miami)&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Offensive Rating: 113.6 (108.6)</li>
<li>True Shooting Percentage: 57.8% (56.7%)</li>
<li>Assist Percentage: 60.9% (60.9%)</li>
<li>Turnover Rate: 13.9% (12.2%)</li>
<li>Pace: 97.26 (96.33)</li>
<li>Free-Throw Attempts: 20.9 (23.3)</li>
<li>Free-Throw Percentage: 81.6% (74.3%)</li>
<li>Three-Point Attempts: 37.1 (40.0)</li>
<li>Three-Point Percentage: 35.6% (35.8%)</li>
<li>Offensive Rebounds: 9.8 (9.0)</li>
</ul>
Celtics' Play Type Breakdown
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2022-05-15-at-7-13-51-pm_lg.png" alt="" width="1113" height="242" />
Heat's Team Stats (and Miami's stats vs. Boston)
<ul>
<li>Offensive Rating: 113.0 (95.8)</li>
<li>True Shooting Percentage: 58.4% (51.0)</li>
<li>Assist Percentage: 64.4% (70.0%)</li>
<li>Turnover Rate: 14.9% (19.1%)</li>
<li>Pace: 96.53 (96.33)</li>
<li>Free-Throw Attempts: 21.4 (18.0)</li>
<li>Free-Throw Percentage: 80.8% (68.5%)</li>
<li>Three-Point Attempts: 35.8 (39.7)</li>
<li>Three-Point Percentage: 37.9% (32.8%)</li>
<li>Offensive Rebounds: 10.5 (9.3)</li>
</ul>
Heat's Play Type Breakdown&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2022-05-17-at-9-02-05-am_lg.png" alt="" width="1114" height="241" />
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: EARLY OFFENSE
Lowry's absence looms large for the Heat.&nbsp;
He was the catalyst for their elite transition attack. His touchdown outlet passes put pressure on opponents to get back immediately after possessions end. Early clock pull-up threes became a staple during his time in Toronto; much of that carried over in Miami. Lowry converted 48.0% of his transition threes, including a ridiculous 57.1% clip on pull-ups per Second Spectrum.
With him out for at least Game 1, I'd expect Miami to be even more selective with its pushing. Expect a heavy dose of early-clock dribble handoffs.
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The Celtics weren't a team that ran often either; they ranked 21st in transition frequency (14% of possessions), not too far behind the Heat's middling mark (14.5%) per Cleaning The Glass. The issue is they didn't come close to the Heat's efficiency when they did push. The Heat led the NBA in transition scoring (1.33 points per possession), while the Celtics were 26th (1.21 PPP).
Boston is more likely to feed one of its bigs early as part of the team's Delay series. In those, Horford (or Williams III) will receive the ball in the middle of the floor while the other Celtics screen for each other. This is a very pindown-heavy group.&nbsp;
The tell is when their center (Horford or Williams III) gets an early pass above the break and acts as a handoff hub. It can be as simple as a pair of pindowns &mdash; Tatum receiving one on a side, Brown getting one on the other &mdash; to stretch the defense thin.
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The Celtics can flow into Chicago action &mdash; a pindown into a handoff. It may be a single pindown from the wing to get one of the Jays an early shot or, if the three isn't there, to set up an empty-corner ball-screen.
It'll be important for the Heat to be locked in.
KEY QUESTIONS
1) Who will win the zone battle?
Not to rehash the top, but we know how both teams want to operate defensively. Switch just about any screen; keep the ball in front. Shade off of (perceived) non-shooters to help cut off driving lanes. Bring the game into the gutter.
Both teams have creation-plus-shooting combos that can bend things if they're clicking. The Celtics may be okay giving up mid-rangers, but that's typically where Butler wants to operate. The Heat may be okay trading rim attempts for threes, but how safe of a bet is that with Horford and Williams shooting a combined 21 of 47 (44.7%) on corner triples?
If either team catches a rhythm, the zone will be broken out.
(Quietly, the Heat weren't a good zone offense during the regular season [0.96 PPP, 19th] either.)
As beautiful as the Heat offense looks when they're screening and cutting all over the place, they have possessions where ill-timed cuts can make life easier for an opposing defense. That's exacerbated when teams go zone &mdash; you want to force a zone defender to choose between two players, so improper spacing allows the defense to muck things up without much work.
It's odd to watch the Heat go haywire in the middle of the floor. When a zone is run against their second unit, you feel the lack of playmaking with Dewayne Dedmon at the 5 in place of Adebayo. But with the starters, you sometimes get weird bouts of passiveness.&nbsp;
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That's a darn good counter to a 2-3 zone. Butler gets right into his comfort zone with minimal pressure and... kicks out of it? Huh?
On the flip side, this could be a real problem area for Boston though, a team that ranked 27th in zone offense (0.9 PPP) during the regular season per Synergy. And the Heat don't just&nbsp;go zone; they go to all kinds of zones.&nbsp;
A traditional 2-3, a 3-2, a 1-2-2. They'll go full-court press, then drop into a zone. There are exotic looks, and then there's the Miami Heat defense.
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Much like the Celtics had to quickly adapt to Milwaukee's physicality after their matchup with the Brooklyn Nets, there may be an adjustment period when the Heat throw out their zone. Per Second Spectrum, the Celtics have seen just five (5) zone possessions in the postseason. You might get that in the first six minutes of Game 1.
2) Who&nbsp;can&nbsp;beat drop coverage when they get it?
This can be somewhat of a Tatum question considering his struggles against the Bucks in Round 2. The numbers weren't great &mdash; the Celtics generated a shade under 0.9 PPP on trips where Tatum saw a drop &mdash; but the film was more key.
He'd often pass up more fruitful mid-range attempts, instead opting to string out ball-screens and isolate against a late switch. He's a good enough shot-maker to make that work, but it's a tough diet to live on. And against a team like Miami, I'm not sure how many pockets he can afford to pass up. I've written about his <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-miami-heat-boston-celtics-eastern-conference-finals-playoffs-breakdown-preview-how-stop-defend" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lack of a floater before</a>; per Synergy, he's converted just 2 of his 10 runners this postseason, and I'm not sure which number is more concerning.
But this is really a Heat question. Tyler Herro struggled against the Celtics when faced with drop coverage. Between Smart and Derrick White at the point of attack, Herro couldn't consistently shake free. And even when he did, Boston did a good job of providing help at the nail to at least make Herro uncomfortable.
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This is an obvious thing to say, but the Heat are going to need him to get going. Aside from (this version of) Butler, Herro's their best shot-creator in the half-court. He'll need to take pressure off Butler, and carry some of the load when he's heading the second unit.
Whenever Lowry is back, he'll need to channel the same aggression from the last meeting (23 points, 16 shot attempts, 12 threes) if the Celtics drop against him. Ditto for Vincent, whose jumper has quietly fallen off a cliff during the postseason.
3) Derrick White or Victor Oladipo?
At the risk of sounding reductive, these may be the true X-factors of the series.
Both players offer fiesty on-ball defense across multiple positions. Both can juice their offenses in the pick-and-roll, particularly with their downhill chops. And both will likely be ignored when they're stationed off the ball, adding a layer of difficulty for their teammates to generate efficient offense.&nbsp;
White hounded Herro when matched up against them, and found enough utility as a ball-mover for the Celtics to win his minutes +11 in 32 minutes during his lone outing vs. Miami).&nbsp;
Oladipo missed all of the regular-season meetings, but he'll likely see Boston's third-best defender when sharing the court with Miami's other creators. His rim pressure is valuable, but his three-point shooting (27.3% this postseason) can swing things.
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STRAY THOUGHTS
<ul>
<li>Butler vs. Tatum is gonna be a freakin'&nbsp;battle&nbsp;in this series. Before either of these guys have an off night against an elite defense, let's commend them for the production they've shown in the playoffs so far. Studs. Superstars.&nbsp;</li>
<li>I touched on it some during the matchup section, but man do the Heat need an aggressive Bam Adebayo in this one. Horford and both Williams pose different issues than Daniel Theis did during the 2020 series. But, in theory, Adebayo should have a size, strength or quickness advantage against anybody he faces. He can't afford to short-circuit with the ball in his hands. His regular-season averages (14.0 points, 9.7 shot attempts) will not cut it.</li>
<li>This could be yet another Jaylen Brown series. He ripped the Heat during their three-game series (25/6/3, 47.8% from three on 7.7 attempts). And aside from a putrid Game 1 against the Bucks, he's been a metronome for Boston this postseason. If the Heat tilt too much attention to Tatum, Brown should have some cracks to attack.</li>
<li>With Williams III expected to proceed without a minutes restriction, I don't think Boston needs to trot Theis out there. Between Horford and the two Williams, they should have more than enough at the 5.</li>
<li>Speaking of 5s, I wonder how much of a leash Dedmon gets in this series. He hasn't given Miami much offensively &mdash; he's not nearly the same roll threat, and there's even been an uptick in illegal screens for him &mdash; but there's value in his rebounding. If this truly turns into a muck fest, extra possessions will be more valuable than usual.</li>
<li>On the bench guard front, let's see how much burn Payton Pritchard gets. He's arguably Boston's best (pull-up) shooter and zone-breaker. He's also going to have the largest target on his back defensively &mdash; especially if he's on the floor at the same time as Butler.</li>
<li>After an 18-perimeter-shot-attempt game from Williams &mdash; in a Game 7! &mdash; I wonder if the volume has gotten to the point where the scouting report officially changes with him. He's shot well from three all season long, but the volume was low enough for teams to feel comfortable helping off of him and daring him to beat them. Let's see if the Heat become the first team to really blink.</li>
<li>Sign me up for all of the defense in this series, man. This is what it's all about.</li>
</ul>
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Nekias Duncan breaks down what to look for in this year's Eastern Conference Finals matchup between the Heat and Celtics.

NBA Scouting Report: What to look for in Heat-Celtics series

Nekias Duncan thoroughly grades every NBA trade from 2022 Deadline Week.

Grading every move from 2022 NBA trade deadline week

It's #DeadlineSZN in the NBA, which opens up the possibility of a host of players -- ranging in role and status -- could be on the move.&nbsp;
The big names are well known: Ben Simmons* and James Harden*, CJ McCollum, Jerami Grant, Domantas Sabonis and others have seen their name tossed around the rumor mill. As fun as those guys are to track, it's generally the under-the-radar names that swing things in terms of mid-season deals.
A prime candidate for this distinction is Magic guard Gary Harris. Bleacher Report's Jake Fischer dropped this nugget in his latest intel piece:
<blockquote>
League personnel expect Orlando will find a new home for Terrence Ross in a similar deal structure that saw the Magic part with Evan Fournier for two second-round picks last season. Meanwhile, Gary Harris has been painted as a potential buyout candidate if he is not moved.
</blockquote>
Harris originally made hay as an off-ball merchant in Denver -- flying down the court in transition, knocking down triples, and back-cutting unsuspecting defenders for buckets -- while doubling as a sturdy on-ball defender. His 2017-18 campaign -- 17.5 points (55/40/83 splits), 1.8 steals -- firmly cemented him as one of the best young two-way guards in the sport.
Injuries and a sputtering shot -- he converted 33.7% of his threes on 3.9 attempts over the next three seasons -- led to a decline in prominence in Denver and the eventual trade to Orlando (as part of the Aaron Gordon trade).
Harris has bounced back a bit this season, averaging 11.6 points (51/38/84 splits) in a shade under 30 minutes. He can still get loose off the ball, and has shown some springiness when attacking closeouts.
He isn't the same guy defensively. Once a sticky point-of-attack guy, physical decline has made screen navigation more of a chore for him. His pick-and-roll film is littered with late/peel switches after losing contact with the ball-handler.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing; it just means expectations need to be realistic.
He remains active as a help defender, makes solid off-ball reads, and has experience punching above his weight class on switches. Even at the point-of-attack, he's fine against non-elite ball-handlers and can still flow between pressing the handle and dropping back to give a cushion.
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There's utility for Harris in a scheme that doesn't make his screen navigation the end-all, be-all -- think a two-to-the-ball scheme like Minnesota or Milwaukee, or a heavy switching style like the Celtics or Clippers employ.
BUYOUT CANDIDATES
You know who's a hand-in-glove fit for what Harris provides on both ends? The Denver Nuggets.
He established great handoff and random-nonsense chemistry with Nikola Jokic earlier in his career; the Harris-Jokic handoff generated over 1.08 points per possession during the 2017-18 campaign, per Second Spectrum. His shooting and cutting would be welcomed to that injured guard room.
The Celtics have been trying to get consistent production from their backup guards/wings all season long. Peyton Pritchard, Romeo Langford, and Aaron Nesmith have all taken turns showing flashes; a vet like Harris could help solidify that spot.&nbsp;
The Lakers could use ... just about all the help they can get in the backcourt. With their half-court attack being built around the interior (or mid-post) play of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, having Harris as a spacer or cutter in some of their more intricate sets could be a solid fit.
STRAY THOUGHTS
<ul>
<li>The Raptors need a ball-handler more than anything, but Gary Trent Jr. is their only (movement) shooter. There's room for Harris, if for no other reason than the Raptors' 6.5-man rotation.</li>
<li>The Cavs just made a swing with the Caris LeVert deal, but it'd be fun to watch Harris play off of Evan Mobley in the high post.</li>
<li>The Nets desperately need shooters, especially in light of Joe Harris potentially needing a second surgery. If Paul Millsap ends up getting bought out, Harris could take that roster spot pretty easily.</li>
</ul>

Nekias Duncan breaks down potential landing spots for Magic guard Gary Harris.

Examining possible landing spots for Gary Harris

With rumblings surrounding the availability of Atlanta Hawks big man John Collins, BasketballNews.com's Evan Sidery and Nekias Duncan teamed up to come up with possible destinations prior to the NBA's Feb. 10 trade deadline.
John Collins is growing increasingly frustrated with his role. Carrying his lowest usage rate since his rookie campaign in 2017-18, Collins feels <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/stats-notebook-has-john-collins-role-with-the-hawks-really-changed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he's more than deserving of being a more featured piece within the Hawks&rsquo; offense</a>. Even with Collins still only holding a 19.9 USG%, he&rsquo;s averaging an impressive stat line of 17.0 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 blocks at an above-average efficiency clip.
Collins is excellent at what he does for Atlanta, but would he look like in a different role elsewhere away from Trae Young?
He is only on the first year of his new deal, which drew lines in the sand during a tough restricted free agency period last offseason.
With extremely high expectations in Atlanta following its Eastern Conference Finals surprise, the team has been unable to clear the first bars. The Hawks already dealt promising young wing Cam Reddish to the New York Knicks in order to avoid paying him a big-figure contract. Meanwhile, if Collins is indeed available to the highest bidder around the Association, Atlanta could receive an extremely high amount of resources.
Below, Nekias and I dove into the film room, as well as five destinations that make the most sense for Collins in a trade scenario.
WHAT COLLINS BRINGS
Collins has become one of the NBA's most versatile pick-and-roll partners. Because of his speed, soft hands and impressive vertical pop, Collins is able to sky for just about anything you throw his way after he rolls to the basket. And because of his improved shooting ability &mdash; he's converted north of 40% of his above-the-break threes in each of the past three seasons &mdash; you can't afford to completely sell out against rim attempts.
It's that combination of skills that makes him deadly. Pairing that with Young &mdash; a guy that can pull from 30, make every pass in the book, and #FloaterGang you to death &mdash; is patently unfair. It's unsurprising that trips featuring a Young-Collins ball screen has generated over 1.05 points per possessions over the last three seasons, per Second Spectrum.
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Collins' quick-leaping ability also makes him a menace on the offensive glass when he's allowed to hover around the paint. The gradual decline in offensive rebounding has more to do with his positioning within the offense than some lack of instinct or physicality.
LIMITATIONS&nbsp;
There are some questions defensively.
There are fewer questions to answer than in years past, to be fair. Collins' activity level and awareness have improved throughout his career. You could especially sense a shift from him during last year's playoffs, and that has seemingly carried over into this year.&nbsp;
Collins looks a little more comfortable on the perimeter, holding his own in switches and in the rare times the Hawks have asked him to trap this year. He has the feel needed to clean up messes as a weak-side helper, especially if he's allowed to roam against a non-shooter.
It's still largely unclear if Collins has made enough strides to serve as a primary rim-protector for extended periods of time. Among 75 frontcourt players that have defended at least 150 picks in drop coverage this season, Collins ranks in the bottom five in points allowed per Second Spectrum.
The added activity is nice, but he's still suffering from the too-little-too-much problem. Sometimes he's giving up too much of a gap, which allows the ball-handler or roll man (if he receives a pass early enough) to build momentum and launch into Collins' chest. Other times, he's playing the gap a little too high, which allows the big to get behind him for easy lobs.
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It's fair to question how much of that is Collins trying to figure things out, and how much of it is him not trusting the point-of-attack defenders he's had to play with over the past couple of seasons. Let's be kind and say Young and Lou Williams leave quite a bit to be desired.
The boring answer: Collins has clear strengths and weaknesses, and a stronger defensive infrastructure could bring the best out of him.
Sacramento Kings
Rumors <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/kings-making-buddy-hield-richaun-holmes-harrison-barnes-available" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continue to billow out of Sacramento</a> right now pointing towards a massive roster overhaul soon in store. Everyone on the Kings, except reportedly De&rsquo;Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton, is available in trade talks. It shows the urgency is rising in Sacramento, and someone like Collins could be the perfect remedy.
Kings receive: John Collins
Hawks receive: Harrison Barnes, Davion Mitchell
This feels like a very fair trade for both sides, especially if Collins malcontents his way out of Atlanta. Barnes would provide beautiful floor-spacing acumen for the Hawks&rsquo; guards, plus Mitchell would be a bulldog defender who'd had heavy spot minutes alongside Young.
For Sacramento, it&rsquo;s easy to sell yourself on the idea of switching things up and inserting a potential 20-and-10 machine in Collins. Haliburton would be spoon-feeding easy looks for Collins, plus Fox provides a steady scoring partner as well.
Resetting around a trio of Fox, Collins and Haliburton in Sacramento could actually be a fun scenario to watch unfold. And from Atlanta&rsquo;s standpoint, this feels like a win-win deal in the short and long-term.
Charlotte Hornets
An intra-division trade, huh? With the way the Hornets have played lately, showcasing a complete turnaround on the defensive end, could they be positioning themselves to make a big push at February&rsquo;s trade deadline. Don&rsquo;t rule it out, because Charlotte&rsquo;s upside is already massive with a young superstar like LaMelo Ball running the show offensively.
Nabbing Collins from Atlanta would cost significant assets, but the payoff could be absolutely massive. Could you imagine Collins and Miles Bridges catching lobs from Ball with reckless abandon?
Hornets receive: John Collins
Hawks receive: Kelly Oubre Jr., P.J. Washington, James Bouknight
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For Atlanta, Oubre would fill a similar energizer role as Collins, but with much less consistency and pop. Oubre has flashed at times brilliance this season we saw from him during his years with the Phoenix Suns; could that jump be intensified playing with Young as his point guard?
Washington and Bouknight are two former lottery picks for the Hornets who simply haven&rsquo;t been able to carve out a consistent role. If Charlotte decides the time is now, relinquishing these two enticing prospects likely is the going rate to seriously upgrade. Bouknight would provide a promising young building block who could turn into a 20-plus point-per-game scorer. Washington has the makeup similar to Collins where he can feast around the rim and pick-and-pops in Atlanta&rsquo;s scheme.
I would grade this one as doubtful on the potential scale of realism, but the construct of this certainly makes plenty of sense on paper.
Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves are so much fun to watch when they&rsquo;re clicking on all cylinders. Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns have been the dynamite scoring duo Minnesota had hoped for. D&rsquo;Angelo Russell is also finding his footing with the Timberwolves, showcasing a strong ability to bounce-back and fit within what&rsquo;s required of him.
It&rsquo;s long been known the Timberwolves have really been one more piece away from taking another serious jump in the Western Conference hierarchy. That&rsquo;s why Ben Simmons has been floated around Minnesota for months now.
What about Collins landing in Minnesota to play alongside Towns, Edwards and Russell? It wouldn&rsquo;t provide the defensive security blanket Minnesota is in desperate need of, but he makes an already scary offense absolutely terrifying.
Timberwolves receive: John Collins
Hawks receive: Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, Malik Beasley, draft compensation
The Hawks check plenty of boxes in this scenario where they send Collins off to Minnesota, bringing back an immediate impact scorer in Beasley, a super versatile rebounder with flashes of elite defense in Vanderbilt; plus, they would get a potentially beautiful backcourt fit with Bolmaro as a jumbo-sized playmaker. Throwing in some picks to the equation makes this so enticing for Atlanta as well.
This would be one to watch out for as a real fit for Collins, if it reaches that point in Atlanta anytime soon.
Portland Trail Blazers
Portland is in an odd spot right now. Damian Lillard is out indefinitely due to an abdomen injury that has plagued him for a while. With the Trail Blazers far out of competing for a serious playoff push, especially with no Lillard, now is the perfect time to reset a little bit and try something different.
The pressure is on for the Blazers to find another competent scoring punch to keep Lillard happy in Oregon long-term. Could Collins be the answer here? It&rsquo;s a very intriguing fit for both player and team.
Hawks receive: Larry Nance Jr., Robert Covington, Nassir Little
Trail Blazers receive: John Collins
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I have to admit, Collins teaming up with Lillard would be so much fun for everyone to watch. Instantly, Collins would provide an inside scoring jolt that&rsquo;s been missing for the Blazers. Also, Collins would be feasting consistently playing off the gravity of Lillard and CJ McCollum.
For the Hawks, they would receive three pieces to insert into their frontcourt to replace Collins&rsquo; production. Nance would be a strong bounce-back candidate playing with Young as his point guard in Atlanta. Covington isn&rsquo;t who he used to be, but can still provide winning attributes on a hopeful contender. Little is the wildcard who provides real intrigue here. Beginning to flash more consistently this season, could Little&rsquo;s rise become a full-on ascension with the Hawks?
Another scenario where this feels like a win-win for both sides. Maybe Portland throws on some draft compensation to make the return more eye-opening for Atlanta.
San Antonio Spurs
The dots have already been connected around Collins to San Antonio. As Collins entered restricted free agency, the Spurs were the one team we continuously heard as a team who was seriously interested in pursuing him for a lucrative offer sheet.
San Antonio&rsquo;s core has been overachieving a little bit this season, thanks in large part to Dejounte Murray becoming a key building block. It&rsquo;s really almost a blank slate for the Spurs, so maybe Collins could be the piece to really augment another era of strong basketball in San Antonio?
Hawks receive: Derrick White, Lonnie Walker IV
Spurs receive: John Collins
White has been thrown around in trade rumors throughout his career, but his fit next to Young is nothing short of excellent. White&rsquo;s all-around ability would cover up a lot of holes and help strengthen Atlanta&rsquo;s backcourt depth. Walker is a home-run swing, but an athlete like that to catch lobs every game from Young could lead to some magic happening.
San Antonio has been floating around as a potential shocking buyer at the trade deadline, including its name being thrown into the Simmons sweepstakes. Collins would boost up a Spurs core in desperate need of another strong piece.
Collins would cause a feeding frenzy in the NBA, if the Hawks are indeed shopping him around to the highest bidder anywhere. The Hawks&rsquo; big man has displayed he&rsquo;s deserving of a bigger role. Whether it&rsquo;s in Atlanta or elsewhere, Collins would change the dynamics of a lot of organizations.
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John Collins is growing increasingly frustrated with his role in Atlanta. If the Hawks decide to move on, where could he end up?

Examining potential trade destinations for John Collins

After a dismal 1-16 start followed by a 9-4 stretch&nbsp; &mdash; sandwiched with rumors of cutting loose head coach Stephen Silas midseason &mdash; the Rockets have gone awry yet again. They're sporting a 2-10 mark since then. Houston is young, they're certainly imperfect, and they're in store for significant change during the season if they maintain their current trajectory.
To stop and take stock of the youth movement during the first full rebuilding year post-James Harden, <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mat Issa</a> and I teamed up to gauge the development and future of the young players on the roster.&nbsp;
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Jae'Sean Tate
There are few players in the NBA I enjoy watching more than Tate. At 26, it's hard to necessarily consider him part of the young core and rebuild, but complementary role players are an absolute must in developing high usage players.&nbsp;
Tate possesses stellar defensive versatility and efficacy &mdash; many players can do a lot of things, but doing a lot of things well is where Tate manifests his value on both ends, whether it be:
Playing the passing lanes.
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Holding his own in isolation.
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Rotating in help.
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Or hounding ball-handlers at the point of attack.
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Tate is on the shortlist of players who are in a "when" not "if" category when looking to future All-Defensive team ballots. He can still clean up his off-ball defense, and he overshoots at times on switches, but many of these issues can be linked to communication &mdash; which this Houston team strongly lacks.
His offense requires more digging, as his box score doesn't leap off the page and understates his impact. He's one of only four Houston players that rates as a positive in Offensive Estimated Plus Minus, and the only Rocket who rates positive in both offensive and defensive EPM.&nbsp;
Tate is a solid finisher, but a poor shooter on low volume. He derives the majority of his positive play on offense through his decision-making and court vision. The Rockets at times take advantage of his frame and ability to bully smaller guards in the post, in order to create passing opportunities or easy scoring looks if he doesn't draw a double team.
He's excellent when grabbing and going, with timely kick-ahead passes and pacing to jumpstart the break. He's a really solid screener, which opens up intriguing small-small ball-screen actions that allow him to operate as a dribble-handoff facilitator and occasional roll man.
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Was going back through my notes and realized I forgot to clip this. One of my favorite little plays from the week Jae'Sean Tate's been awesome <a href="https://t.co/FIdwDa28US">pic.twitter.com/FIdwDa28US</a>
&mdash; Mark Schindler (@MSchindlerNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MSchindlerNBA/status/1474041808363655171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2021</a></blockquote>

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He just does everything to an extent.
His lack of shooting does hold him back from becoming one of the truly elite role-players in the league, but make no mistake, finding Tate last season has proven a vital building block for the Rockets.&nbsp;
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Kenyon Martin Jr.
KJ Martin was another pleasant surprise for the Rockets last year, far outplaying his draft value and contributing at a relatively high level much earlier than expected as a professional. That's what made his start to the season all the more perplexing. He started the year mostly out of the rotation and accruing a DNP before being reinserted to the regular rotation, albeit in a smaller role than last season (non-coincidentally, that fact can be linked with Houston's first losing streak). Fortunately, his minutes have evened back out (23 minutes per game in January) and he's played productively.
KJ has shown the foundation to become an elite play-finisher, part of what makes him so tantalizing alongside the burgeoning high usage creators on the team. He's 6'6, but one of the best leapers in the NBA &mdash; his verticality has&nbsp;boosted his gravity as a roller and cutter.&nbsp;
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He has solid counters already around the rim, with some touch on his hook shots. He's a quality passer on the roll already and makes quality decisions, although I'd even like to see him attempt some more risky passes.
To make the most of himself as a margins-based prospect, he'll need to improve as a screener and get a little stronger, but that describes almost any young player.
He's still coming along as a shooter (34.9% on threes for his career) and that's perhaps the biggest area for his improvement. If he was more willing to take his open shots, and some contested ones as well, he'd be able to flex with more opportunities as a ball-handler from the perimeter. He's not yet comfortable coming off of screens or operating with much movement, and has room to improve his footwork and shot preparation overall.
Part of what's so difficult in evaluating KJ is trying to perceive the upside he has. He's had some bright flashes as a ball-handler, primarily off of cuts where he gets room to gather himself, or attacking close-outs, but the results have been fairly mixed. His handle is quite clunky right now, but if he's able to make some real improvement there &mdash; along with his shot &mdash; he'll be cooking with grease.
KJ has some creases to work out defensively, but offers legit weakside rim protection and makes quality vertical plays at the rim &mdash; he's already a solid rotational defender with room for improvement that would be bolstered by additional strength and reps. I love his game and can't wait to see what the future holds for him, he just does good things on court!
Alperen Sengun
I cannot say enough positive things about Alperen Sengun's rookie season. I saw it with him offensively during the draft cycle, but I have been quite impressed with how he's adapted to the NBA game defensively already &mdash; and in a way I wasn't sure he'd be able to.
He's shown himself capable of playing more aggressive coverages, utilizing his wingspan and solid lateral quickness in ICE coverages to prevent drives, and using quick hands to stifle them altogether and force steals. His hands around the rim are extremely active, and in spite of some of his back-foot leaping limitations, he has a knack for tips and deflections in the paint. I absolutely love his ability to use his hips to force defenders into his contests as well. He certainly has limitations, but his ability to toe the line and expand on the margins has been tremendous to see.
Playing straight-up drop pick-and-roll defense or more in centerfield has given him some issues, if he's not able to force the defender to gather or hesitate. Straight-line bursts can hurt him due to his hip fluidity. However, that just doesn't matter very much to me. He's already shown some coverage versatility and his offensive abilities make playing a more aggressive defense worth trying.
Where do I even begin with Sengun as an offensive player, man.
Quite frankly, I've felt that Sengun is underutilized by the Rockets. I need him to start expeditiously! He's currently out with an ankle injury, so just getting back to playing at all will be a win, but the point remains: start Alperen Sengun, I beg of you.
The Rockets lack a true primary ball-handler. Kevin Porter Jr., Starting Point Guard, has been rough. Jalen Green is ideally an off-ball creator who flows into actions with his movement skills (more on that later). Sengun is pretty easily the best passer on the Houston Rockets who isn't currently sidelined by the organization (I just want to see John Wall play somewhere please).
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Like I wrote about with <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/trevion-williams-thinking-outside-the-box" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trevion Williams recently</a>, playing five-out doesn't really mean that you are getting guarded five-out. So often, Sengun is spaced to the slot or above the break, and while he has shown flashes as a shooter and has indicators to hint at future growth there, he is not guarded like a floor-spacer the majority of the time he's tasked with being one in Houston's offense.
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I'm not saying those need to be cut out entirely, as he's intrigued me with his loping drives off the catch.
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Sengun is so fun man. He's had some really impressive moments this season <a href="https://t.co/WiCAG1KbAl">pic.twitter.com/WiCAG1KbAlf</a>
&mdash; Mark Schindler (@MSchindlerNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MSchindlerNBA/status/1460384809964953612?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2021</a></blockquote>

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What he could be if he opens up his game as a shooter and from the perimeter is part of his intrigue. However, he could be better optimized if used more often in the middle of the floor, or more regularly being tasked with running dribble-handoffs.&nbsp;
He's shown dynamic ability as a stout screener and as a roller. Affording him more opportunities where the offense flows through him could open up even easier scoring avenues for Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. Screening and handoffs are a form of creation, even if they're not often considered as such, due to the levels one has to hit as a screener and passer to actually make them viable forms of self-creation. Sengun surpasses the marks required to create in those areas, and making him a larger part of the offense is something I really hope to see once he returns from injury.
Sengun does have limitations as a finisher that currently hinder his upside as a scorer &mdash; and therefore his gravity &mdash; but his craft shown in the post and on touch shots in the paint but outside the restricted area are encouraging. I'm not sure what the ceiling is for him, but his improvements as a finisher and eventually a shooter are essential to maximizing his potential.
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Jalen Green
Jalen Green had a very rough start to his rookie season, understandable given his environment and the woes of the Rockets early on. However, his efficiency from the floor has greatly improved after a 14-game absence due to a hamstring injury: 49.8% True Shooting in his first 18 games, compared to 58.2% across his last 10, a remarkable uptick.
He's starting to get a better grasp on the finer aspects of becoming a higher usage offensive player, going through the growing pains of on-ball development. I particularly have enjoyed some of the subtleties he's started to develop in pick-and-roll.
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Green stares down the oncoming screen from Christian Wood and rejects it as soon as Russ shifts ever so slightly onto his right foot in anticipation. Jalen's downhill burst and first step were second to none in the 2021 draft class, and this play is a showcase.&nbsp;
He hasn't yet consistently unearthed some of the low hanging fruit, like using his handle in conjunction with the screen to lull his man into it, or to set up a dribble-drive that opens him an even wider lane. He uses slight screen set-up and devastating power to draw a quick foul here (4.9 FTA per game over his last 10, that's good folks!). Imagining what he'll be able to do to the rim and opposing defenses as he starts to develop more on-ball counters and craft is ridiculous to think about.
Finding easier buckets as he develops counters at the rim and on drives would be beneficial as well. Green has the essential tools that allow him to get there, but his frame and relative lack of craft around the rim has been an issue thus far. While he's shooting pretty well at the rim this season (60% per Cleaning the Glass), he's only shooting 34.8% on layups per InStat, and has really struggled when tasked with converting against good rim protectors &mdash; and against contact and length in general.
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That's partially why I want to see even more with Jalen flowing off the ball. His gravity largely comes from his athleticism and ability to leverage it. Optimizing him more in a Bradley Beal mold (think from prior years before the mid-30s usage you see today), coming off pindowns, floppy actions, staggered screens, Iversons, etc. to get the most out of his quickness, and then work his way into easier isolations or secondary pick-and-rolls, would do him wonders. Especially for younger ball-handlers, making things easier &mdash; to simplify reads and what's required of them to create offense &mdash; is ideal.
Working in tandem with Sengun's gravity from the middle of the floor could get the most out of Green as a cutter and allow the gravitational pull between the two to warp defenses. He still has a great deal to learn as a passer &mdash; honing his vision, his progressions through reads, as well as ball placement.&nbsp;
The Rockets aren't in a great place this season, but their outlook moving forward is full of intrigue due to the young talent on the roster. I'm not sure how it all fits together yet, or if it does at all. Nevertheless I'm greatly encouraged by the individual players who comprise their core and what their development has looked like even in a sub-optimal situation. I'm cautiously optimistic about the future in South Texas and what it could hold for Rockets fans moving forward.
Read <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/rocket-revival-evaluating-houston-rockets-young-core-part-i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Part 1</a> of Rocket Revival, where Mat Issa broke down the rest of Houston&rsquo;s young core.

Mark Schindler breaks down four of Houston's brightest talents in Part II of his Rocket Revival series with Mat Issa.

Rocket Revival: Evaluating Houston's promising young core — Part II

Nassir Little spoke to Alex Kennedy about his development, his breakout season, Neil Olshey's firing, Portland's struggles and more.

Q&A: Nassir Little on Blazers' struggles, his development, GM change

For 15 consecutive seasons, the Sacramento Kings have missed the playoffs. The last time Sacramento was a postseason squad, Mike Bibby, Ron Artest and Brad Miller were their primary contributors.
Far and away the longest streak in the NBA, Sacramento has become the proverbial cellar-dweller. Stuck in a rudderless cycle of mediocrity, how can the Kings finally escape this position? With how loaded the Western Conference currently is, it&rsquo;s going to be a massive task to break through as a top-eight team in the 2021-22 season.
However, the cupboard isn&rsquo;t totally bare in Sacramento. De&rsquo;Aaron Fox&rsquo;s five-year rookie max extension officially kicked in this offseason. Tyrese Haliburton immediately proved to be an integral piece to their core as a rookie, averaging 13.0 points, 5.3 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals while converting 40.9% on three-pointers. Richaun Holmes, who proved to be a legit starting center in the Association, is now locked in on a new four-year, $55 million deal. Davion Mitchell, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft from Baylor who was lauded as one of the most pro-ready prospects, will slot in as the Kings&rsquo; third guard.
Outside of those four pieces, there are questions about the rest of Sacramento&rsquo;s rotation and whether they are actually in the team's long-term plans.
Buddy Hield was almost traded on draft night to the Los Angeles Lakers for Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell, proving he&rsquo;s more than available in discussions this offseason. Marvin Bagley III, who was drafted No. 2 overall in the 2018 NBA Draft ahead of Luka Doncic and Trae Young, has not fared well in his first three seasons due to injuries and inefficient play. Rumors have also circulated around Bagley III being floated in trade talks entering into the final year of his rookie-scale contract. Harrison Barnes is a very solid, reliable two-way wing who has revamped his career in the purple and white, but will he be in Sacramento once his contract expires after the 2022-23 season? The rest of Sacramento&rsquo;s roster is filled with unproven young players yet to make a dent in their rotation.
So, the Kings are truly in an interesting spot. What direction should they go in? Do they make an aggressive push in an attempt to reach the seemingly impossible playoff threshold or continue playing the waiting game for years to come?
The Kings should try to find the best fits to surround their backcourt duo of Fox and Haliburton. If that&rsquo;s a win-now move or continuing to add young prospects, it&rsquo;s the best bet to make this longstanding postseason drought rewarding once it ends.
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Bringing back Holmes on a long-term deal was a great start, because he was the only player in three-man lineup combinations to carry a positive net rating (+5.8 NetRtg) alongside the budding young backcourt throughout last season. In a career-best season for Holmes, the 27-year-old big man averaged 14.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in only 29.2 minutes per game. When Fox, Halliburton and Holmes shared the floor in 43 games, Sacramento&rsquo;s record was close to .500 at 20-23.
Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the spectrum, swapping out Holmes for Bagley III alongside Fox and Haliburton caused their lineup metrics to plummet. Sacramento was outscored by 20 points per 100 possessions when this trio shared the floor, over a 25-point swing in the wrong direction compared to Holmes. Sacramento would be wise to move off Bagley III to open up more minutes elsewhere, but his value is at an all-time low. Simply salary dumping Bagley III is a possibility, but there&rsquo;s a better way to maneuver this tumultuous situation.
Hield and Bagley III&rsquo;s 2021-22 salaries combine to be $33.7 million. With both players in trade talks, Sacramento can slyly become a sleeper team in the Western Conference by making one big swing for the fences: Ben Simmons.
Sacramento is missing more defensive versatility and playmaking to help anchor an already promising foundation led by Fox and Haliburton. Insert Simmons into the mix and Sacramento is cooking with gas on, immediately taking a huge leap forward. Simmons and Haliburton would become one of the most entertaining one-two playmaking punches in the NBA, while Fox takes on a primary scoring role with the easiest buckets he&rsquo;s been fed throughout his career. Barnes would be a terrific floor-spacer, while Holmes&rsquo; efficient rim-rolling will excel while being tossed picture-perfect lobs.
Sacramento becomes a playoff contender, potentially even a lock to make the big dance, if they were to land Simmons. The No. 1 overall pick from the 2016 draft has needed a situation where he can run the show with optimum spacing around him, similar to the ecosystem Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is thriving within. The Kings present an intriguing situation to make those dreams a reality. Fox and Haliburton can play off the ball with no issue, which we saw throughout last season as they shared playmaking duties.
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NBA insider Marc Stein reported last month that Sacramento is one of five teams to have expressed interest in acquiring Simmons from Philadelphia. The Sixers' asking price for Simmons is quite simply outrageous &mdash; four first-round picks and an All-Star player. Nobody is going to send Sixers GM Daryl Morey that much in return for the 25-year-old point-forward, but Sacramento does stand out as the one team desperate enough to cobble together an enticing package to make it happen.
In the organization&rsquo;s current state, no star-caliber free agent will ever consider making their next long-term home in Sacramento. Making an aggressive trade is the only way to make it happen. Rolling the dice is tough, because it could all blow up in their face down the road, but risks need to be made in order to break the curse in Sacramento.
If the Kings refuse to go all-in, they will continue to stay in neutral. Eventually, the button needs to be pushed in order to become a well-respected playoff threat.

The Kings have missed the playoffs since 2005-06. What can Sacramento do to break their longstanding postseason drought?

How will the Kings successfully escape the abyss?

What Kevin Love did was unprofessional, inexcusable and frankly, immature.
Unless you&rsquo;ve been living under a rock or aren&rsquo;t a fan of the NBA, chances are you&rsquo;ve come across the viral clip of Love angrily batting a ball inbounds after a referee tossed it over to him. That&rsquo;s where we&rsquo;re going to start.
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That's some high IQ ball right there, <a href="https://twitter.com/iAmSJ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@iAmSJ</a> <a href="https://t.co/Y5N6ckYCgS">pic.twitter.com/Y5N6ckYCgS</a>
&mdash; Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) <a href="https://twitter.com/Raptors/status/1386850611593990149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2021</a></blockquote>

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It&rsquo;s no secret that the louder national outlets and the talking heads are going to make this into something it&rsquo;s not, so let&rsquo;s provide some context as to why Love was fired up in the first place.
On the possession prior to the meltdown, the 32-year-old was attempting to box out ever-so-active Toronto Raptors big man Khem Birch, which resulted in a foul and Love&rsquo;s knee hitting the floor hard; he actually ended up with quite a floor burn. About a minute later, the equally-as-active Freddie Gillespie bumped him on a similar play, and his force sent Love into the stanchion underneath the basket as Malachi Flynn got a layup out of it. Love glanced over at the official on the baseline and was unhappy with a lack of a loose ball foul call. So to vent his frustration, Love decided to hand-deliver a free three points to Toronto by punching the ball in bounds, giving Stanley Johnson the easiest steal (and assist) of his professional career.
Now, let&rsquo;s lay out the reasons that this act was selfish and wrong. For starters, Love is the oldest, most seasoned player on this mostly young Cleveland Cavaliers team. He and Matthew Dellavedova are the only ones that are left from the championship years, and are considered the dependable veterans of this group to guide those inexperienced players and set an example. With that decision, Love showed that it is okay to pout and cost your team points and momentum when you don't get your way.
Speaking of which, that&rsquo;s the second point to make: the Cavs were *in the game*. With fewer than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Raptors were clinging to a six-point lead in a game where they had to stave off a feisty Cleveland bunch that was missing seven players, including Collin Sexton. That advantage ballooned to nine, and then 11, to close the period because of Love&rsquo;s mistake. One would think he&rsquo;d have a little more emotional maturity to center himself in a two-possession contest.
But that kind of leads to the third thing: this is not the first time Love has lashed out. This has been a pattern since he and the Cavs decided to continue their relationship post-LeBron James, when the two parties came to a four-year, $120 million extension agreement in the summer of 2018. While hindsight is 20-20 in both cases, that deal has not amounted well to either -- on the cap sheet or on the floor.
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Let&rsquo;s make this perfectly clear: Love hurting his toe in that preseason and having to step away four games into that contract absolutely sucked, and it was just the beginning of an incredibly unfortunate trend that he&rsquo;s dealt with since. Through no fault of his own, the veteran simply has not been able to stay on the floor. Anybody can imagine the mental toll that can take on somebody&rsquo;s psyche, especially if you&rsquo;ve played the game for as long as he has. He even talked as recently as March about how difficult this latest calf injury was to heal, strictly from the impact it had on his mind more than the physical aspect.
However, the situation is what it is. Love has played 96 games out of a possible 208, which equates to 46% if you&rsquo;re wondering. If we&rsquo;re being honest, that could be what he&rsquo;s frustrated about, which is understandable.&nbsp;
Still, getting into a shouting match with then-head-coach John Beilein and general manager Koby Altman in a practice wasn&rsquo;t the way to handle that. Throwing up your hands mid-game, clapping at a then-20-year-old Collin Sexton and chucking a ball for a &ldquo;pass&rdquo; to Cedi Osman wasn&rsquo;t the way to handle that. Showing up your teammates and head coach and deliberately turning the ball over in a winnable game because you got pushed around, even if you might&rsquo;ve been justified in your aggravation, is not the way to handle that.
(According to a <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-kevin-love-apologized-to-the-cavaliers-after-inbounds-play-161921633.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvLw&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAN2xZ1KlOb25Q-73M0qf-qQbJ06Guw3Y7UkYv-TlNAwEIq9BLCNefOrDBoXRfIYCaT068yp_7fakV_jtV1wceA9emYXbK1PmfEjEK8y12BZk8xjwWA0bu5xiRXgJonGuzQwL16wJgIlLj_wxUh2vcW6YjlHYrUSlAfXW1zHaRIO9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report from Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports</a>, "Love&rsquo;s intent wasn&rsquo;t to slap the ball inbounds, sources said. Love was frustrated with officials and not his team&rsquo;s performance, sources said.")
Cleveland.com&rsquo;s Chris Fedor reported that a <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2021/04/kevin-love-is-supposed-to-be-one-of-cleveland-cavaliers-leaders-which-is-why-his-behavior-is-unacceptable-chris-fedor.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">source texted him that the behavior was "unacceptable."</a> Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff relayed that he apologized to his teammates; Love did not speak to the media following the game. It might&rsquo;ve been a good time to clear the air, however, cooling down before addressing the matter could have been a smart decision.
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In terms of discipline, the Cavs and general manager Koby Altman can&rsquo;t be soft here. They <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiKkqPa2p7wAhWoTN8KHdx0DtcQFjAFegQIAhAD&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.com%2Fnba%2Fstory%2F_%2Fid%2F25332090%2Fjr-smith-away-cavs-team-seeks-trade&amp;usg=AOvVaw1LupbzCDqCFFWfbY_VYii5">sent JR Smith home in 2018</a> due to his discontent. They came down hard on Kevin Porter Jr. with suspensions and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-cleveland-cavaliers-expected-to-move-kevin-porter-jr-locker-room-outburst" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ended up trading the blossoming guard following a heated argument</a>. They recently <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-andre-drummond-trade-possibilities-destinations-no-contract-buyout-toronto-raptors-dallas-mavericks-brooklyn-nets-sacramento-kings-new-york-knicks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">kept Andre Drummond away from the team</a> to try and find a new home for him (though that was less of a punishment and more of a situation). The point is, with these examples: What should make Love immune from paying the price?
There&rsquo;s no demand to sit him down or release him; that would be way too reactionary. But a few games of an in-house suspension or DNP-CDs would be appropriate at the least. Haynes reported late this morning that the team is taking care of the matter internally, yet <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/1387064877789765635?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"focused on turning the page"</a> after Love's apology.
If Cleveland wants to create the culture it desires, it needs to address this elephant in the room. Love has meant a great deal to this franchise, has stuck through thick and thin and continues to be important for the next generation of wine-and-golders. On the floor, the difference he makes is legitimate.
That being said, something has to be done to stop this juvenile pattern of habits. Every time Love has an episode like this, the immediate response is, &ldquo;Damn, he really hates Cleveland,&rdquo; or &ldquo;he doesn&rsquo;t get along with Sexton.&rdquo; Both are hardly anywhere near the truth, and guess what? He signed the contract, a fruitful one at that.
Instead of constantly looking for a reason why these things are happening, maybe we need to realize that there&rsquo;s only been one constant.
It&rsquo;s time to be the adult in the room.

Spencer Davies breaks down Kevin Love's latest incident, why this pattern is unacceptable and how the Cavs should handle it.

Something's got to give with Kevin Love

Nekias Duncan dissects every detail of the moves that went down at Thursday's NBA trade deadline and gives them grades.

Grading every move from the 2021 NBA trade deadline

LaVar Ball, the boisterous father of Lonzo and LaMelo Ball, found himself in the news again.
While doing a radio interview with ESPN LA last Thursday, he was asked about Lonzo&rsquo;s play and future in New Orleans. He didn&rsquo;t hold back, <a href="https://lonzowire.usatoday.com/2021/03/18/lavar-ball-lonzo-trade-new-orleans-pelicans-rumors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expressing his displeasure</a> and ultimately stating his hopes for a trade.
To be clear, this was LaVar calling for movement, not Lonzo. But that interview did nothing but add fuel to the trade-rumor fire. Lonzo has been mentioned in the rumor mill for most of the season, and those rumblings have picked up over the past couple of weeks. Most recently, The Ringer&rsquo;s <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinOConnorNBA">Kevin O&rsquo;Connor</a> reported some of the offers the <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/3/21/22343488/nba-trade-deadline-rumors-kyle-lowry-lonzo-ball-john-collins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pelicans have received</a> for the fourth-year guard.
In a vacuum, LaVar&rsquo;s comments should be taken with a grain of salt. He doesn&rsquo;t really speak for his sons, at least not in the way that he wants to. While the &ldquo;I hope he&rsquo;s traded&rdquo; portion of his comments understandably got the most traction in the media, I do think there&rsquo;s another portion of his comments that are worth digging into.
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WHO IS LONZO BALL? 
We know what Lonzo brings on the defensive end. He&rsquo;s able to defend 1-through-3 and can wreak havoc on the weak side of actions due to his feel and length. Offensively, there seems to be a split in thinking.
&ldquo;Lonzo&rsquo;s always been a playmaker,&rdquo; LaVar said during the interview. &ldquo;Why are you trying to change him into a defensive specialist that stays in the corner and shoots threes? And you&rsquo;re trying to change Zion [Williamson] and Brandon Ingram who, all through their careers, have never been playmakers. [They&rsquo;ve always been] scorers! Now you want to put the ball in their hands and be playmakers?&rdquo;&nbsp;
The frustration makes sense on the surface. Lonzo was one of the most electrifying college guards in recent memory, flipping full-court darts, tossing lobs and making advanced reads against shifting defenses. His play style drew comparisons to Jason Kidd, though Kidd himself <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/jason-kidd-not-buying-comparisons-between-lonzo-ball-and-himself" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushed back against those</a>.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s... more than fair to say that Ball isn&rsquo;t on a Hall-of-Fame trajectory right now. And there is a reason Lonzo has shifted to more of an off-ball role during his NBA career, and especially in New Orleans.
In order to earn primary initiator reps, you have to bend defenses in some way. You can stress defenses with the threat of deep pull-ups -- think Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, Trae Young. You can stress defenses with constant rim pressure -- think Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Russell Westbrook, De&rsquo;Aaron Fox. The best players in the sport can do both, but you need at least one of those skills to warrant a lead role.&nbsp;
Lonzo hasn&rsquo;t done that to this point of his career. He&rsquo;s averaging 5.8 drives per 36 minutes, according to NBA.com&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives/?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*lonzo&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;PerMode=Totals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tracking data</a>, down from his 6.5 average attempts in the same category last season. He&rsquo;s never converted higher than 37.5% of his field goal attempts on drives in a season, which is problematic for obvious reasons.
The threat of the pull-up isn&rsquo;t there yet. Though his percentages have risen over the past couple of seasons -- Lonzo ranks in the 65th percentile in dribble jumpers this season, per Synergy -- teams still largely guard him the same way, ducking under picks and daring him to shoot. It&rsquo;s a positive that he&rsquo;s gotten better at knocking those shots down, but defenses are dictating that shot for him, not the other way around.
Compare that to the growth of his off-ball shooting -- he&rsquo;s drilled 38% of his threes on nearly seven attempts over the past two seasons -- and it&rsquo;s easy to see why a secondary role makes sense for him. When you have rim threats like Zion and Ingram forcing rotations, Lonzo is able to feast on easier catch-and-shoot looks or &ldquo;one-more&rdquo; passes.
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At this point, Lonzo is more of a play connector or finisher (on the perimeter) than he is an initiator. That makes him a great fit alongside the Pelicans&rsquo; franchise pillars, but it&rsquo;s understandable for them to be a bit squeamish about paying him north of $20 million per year. Any team looking to pry Lonzo out of New Orleans will need to be willing to shell out that kind of dough, but also have a true primary guy on the roster to fully maximize what Lonzo can do.
WHO COULD USE HIM?
Per <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/3/21/22343488/nba-trade-deadline-rumors-kyle-lowry-lonzo-ball-john-collins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">O&rsquo;Connor&rsquo;s report</a>, the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks have sent in offers. Both teams have a dynamic lead guard (Zach LaVine, Trae Young) that Lonzo could play off of. There are other teams that could, or at least should, toss their hats into the ring too.
The Memphis Grizzlies have the picks and young players needed to make a real run at Lonzo, though they&rsquo;d have to think pretty hard about the contract this offseason. Still, it&rsquo;s fun to imagine what a Ja Morant-Lonzo backcourt would look like. Something like De&rsquo;Anthony Melton, Gorgui Dieng (who is available, per O&rsquo;Connor), and the 2021 first-round pick they received from Utah could be a package worth building on in order to land Lonzo and JJ Redick for a playoff push.
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The Miami Heat have been linked to guards all year long. They were in the hunt for James Harden, though the seriousness of those talks has been debated. They&rsquo;ve been linked to Victor Oladipo for what feels like two years now. They&rsquo;re currently in talks with the Raptors for Kyle Lowry; heck, Yahoo&rsquo;s Chris Haynes recently reported that they could be a landing spot for Spencer Dinwiddie.
It&rsquo;s clear the Heat want to add to their guard room to complement the Jimmy Butler-Bam Adebayo duo. Why not aim for Lonzo, someone who can shoot, make quick decisions and give them more &ldquo;oomph&rdquo; at the point of attack defensively? A package headlined by Duncan Robinson, one of the NBA&rsquo;s best shooters, could be of intrigue. The Pelicans have already experimented with inverted pick-and-rolls with Zion and JJ Redick; swapping out the older (and likely to be gone at some point) Redick with Robinson would be a solid long-term play.
The Knicks have two players in Julius Randle and RJ Barrett that make their living at the rim. What the Knicks don&rsquo;t have is a multitude of spacers; Lonzo could be a fit there. They&rsquo;re also equipped with cap space to absorb Lonzo into, as well as plenty of pick capital. Tossing in one or both of the Dallas first-rounders from the Kristaps Porzingis trade -- an unprotected 2021 first and a top-10 protected 2023 first (that extends to 2025) -- could be a framework worth exploring.

Nekias Duncan looks at Lonzo Ball's season with the Pelicans to this point and where he could fit if he's traded to another team.

Where does Lonzo Ball go from here? On his development, possible destinations

On a night when LeBron James became just the third player in NBA history to score 35,000 career points, the Los Angeles Lakers released news that could greatly alter the trajectory of their season.&nbsp;
On Thursday, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel told reporters that Anthony Davis will be out for at least a month as a result of his injured Achilles&rsquo; tendon and calf strain.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We want to try to put this fully behind him and be conservative with it, just to make sure that it's fully healed before he's back," Vogel said after the Lakers&rsquo; 109-98 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, who were also without Kevin Durant.&nbsp;
When asked how L.A. will survive for a month without Davis, James tried to downplay the situation.
"I really haven't even thought that far, to be honest," James told reporters. "I'm taking it day by day. We play every other day. I don't have the opportunity to look four weeks ahead. ... I have to stay in the moment ... Stay low and keep firing. I have not even thought that far down of what it looks like four weeks from now."
That sounds good and is definitely the mentality every player must take when one of their stars goes down for an extended period of time. They can&rsquo;t act like the world is coming to an end. They have to, as LeBron said, &ldquo;take it day by day&rdquo; and figure out a way to keep pushing while an important piece of their collective puzzle is out of the equation.&nbsp;
But, on the other hand, it has to be in the back of LeBron&rsquo;s mind - and, quite frankly, everyone&rsquo;s mind - that if Davis is not fully healed by the time the playoffs are here, that greatly decreases their chances of repeating as champions this year.&nbsp;
Anybody with eyes can see that the Lakers are a different team without Davis on the floor. Without him in the lineup, their questionable decision to not re-sign Dwight Howard or retain JaVale McGee will be magnified even more. This is when their roles would&rsquo;ve increased, and their production would&rsquo;ve helped ease the pain of losing a player of Davis&rsquo; caliber. Howard and/or McGee would&rsquo;ve provided interior defense, easy baskets inside, as they are athletic seven-footers who run the floor, catch easy lobs and block shots. They would&rsquo;ve been able to stay afloat and take an even more conservative approach with Davis if they still had those two (or even if they had just kept one). But now, they don&rsquo;t have those options to turn to.&nbsp;
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At halftime of last night&rsquo;s Lakers-Nets game on &ldquo;Inside The NBA,&rdquo; Ernie Johnson asked about the likelihood of this being an NBA Finals preview. After Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal and Kenny Smith shared their thoughts, Charles Barkley asked if this was with or without Anthony Davis and proceeded to proclaim (very loudly) that the Lakers have &ldquo;zero chance&rdquo;&nbsp; of repeating if Davis is not in the lineup due to his injured Achilles.&nbsp;
Now, we know that Charles is&hellip; Charles. But does he have a point on this one? Without Davis, what are the Lakers&rsquo; chances of defeating whichever team comes out of the East? Hell, would they even make it to the NBA Finals if Davis is sidelined longer than initially expected?&nbsp;
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Every upper-echelon team in the Western Conference has to be licking their chops right now. The red-hot Utah Jazz look outstanding. The Los Angeles Clippers seem to be on a mission to bounce back from last year&rsquo;s dismal performance in the bubble, and they were rumored to be searching for ways to upgrade their roster even before AD&rsquo;s injury. The Portland Trail Blazers have been bit by the injury bug, but they&rsquo;ve looked great when they were at full strength. Even the Phoenix Suns, who sit in the West&rsquo;s fifth seed, are playing a great brand of basketball since the acquisition of Chris Paul (who is averaging 8.0 assists per game, which is fifth in the NBA). In addition to CP3&rsquo;s playmaking and leadership, what makes Phoenix so scary is the continued stellar play of Devin Booker and their balanced attack from role players like Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder and Co.&nbsp;
Going forward, all eyes will be on Davis and this situation with his Achilles. 
I asked my former Washington Wizards teammate (and former L.A. Lakers guard) Laron Profit to share his thoughts on Davis&rsquo; injury. Laron is more than qualified to weigh in on this topic being that on December 21, 2005, he suffered a season-ending ruptured Achilles&rsquo; tendon after substituting into the game for Kobe Bryant (who had just scored 62 points in three quarters against the Dallas Mavericks).
&ldquo;That injury is no joke; they need to be super cautious, especially with them saying he has a calf strain,&rdquo; Profit said. &ldquo;The correlation between the two isn&rsquo;t just random to me. Plus, with the workload he has had, his body is feeling the effects. I had a calf strain in training camp in Hawaii. I rested it. Came back, felt great. But I had tendinitis in my calf for a few weeks before the [Achilles] tear happened. I felt it really bad in the mornings - in hotels, when I would walk on the floor. I was in a game and started back-pedaling and planted my foot to push forward and boom... Yeah, it&rsquo;s a huge risk for [the Lakers]; if they try and force it, their future and present could be in trouble. But they have Judy Seto on their staff [as Director of Sports Performance] and she is amazing, so he is under the watch of the best medical people.&rdquo;
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I agree 100% with Laron. Here&rsquo;s the bottom line: It would behoove the Lakers to listen to their medical staff and be patient with Anthony Davis as he recovers from this Achilles issue. Fortunately, it sounds like that is what they are going to do, judging by Vogel&rsquo;s comments.&nbsp;
Unfortunately, I&rsquo;ve watched too many athletes try to come back too soon or play through injuries because they wanted to help their team. Look at Robert Griffin III back in the day with the Washington Football Team. He was limping around in visible pain and attempting to play because of playoff implications, only to suffer a serious injury. And, of course, the team refused to take responsibility even though they ruined his career.
Hopefully, the Lakers don&rsquo;t rush Davis back. They should be ultra conservative with him as he rests and rehabs the injury, even if it means he has to sit out longer than the initial timeframe. The Lakers want to try to win back-to-back championships and Davis is one of their most important players, but mishandling this injury could have long-term consequences that negatively impact AD for the remainder of his career.

The Lakers should be extremely careful with Anthony Davis' Achilles injury, writes former NBA veteran Etan Thomas.

Lakers should be patient with Anthony Davis, let his Achilles fully heal

In what was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-cleveland-cavaliers-expected-to-move-kevin-porter-jr-locker-room-outburst" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a hectic day</a> for the organization, the Cleveland Cavaliers received some good news with the likes of Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Dylan Windler all returning to practice and participating in full contact drills as they return from injury. The team was also able to finally incorporate its newcomers, Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince, into the session.
Allen and Prince arrived to Cleveland last week as a part of the blockbuster four-team trade that sent James Harden to Brooklyn, but nobody could step foot on the court until Saturday&rsquo;s early-evening clearance of the deal. Now, having met their new teammates, the former Nets are ready to move forward.
&ldquo;It feels good," Allen said. "I&rsquo;m kind of getting &lsquo;17-&rsquo;18 and &lsquo;18-&rsquo;19 Brooklyn Nets vibes [from this Cavaliers team], where we&rsquo;re not the Lakers or what the Nets were when I got traded or not one of the top-three teams. [But] we&rsquo;re all competing for something, we&rsquo;re all trying to have a common goal, working our hardest in practice, staying late and trying to grow not only as basketball players but as human beings.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s the first time Allen has been traded. Both players are appreciative to have each other throughout this process.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It's been great to have somebody not only from the Brooklyn Nets, but another Texas guy,&rdquo; Allen said. &ldquo;We both are from Texas, just to bounce different things off of. I feel like going through this alone would have been a little more difficult. But having him around, we get to kind of express how we were feeling about the trade and just everything that was going down, so having him has been great.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Coming over with J, it gives a sense of comfortability," Prince added. "Because you always kind of go through the things in your head, of not necessarily fear, but you just think about the unknown and what could be. So having somebody that you know and are familiar with come into a situation with you like this brings a lot of comfort to you. And I feel like moving forward with this group, I can bring a lot of leadership. I have some experience playing-wise and being around some of the best players to play the game, so I'm just trying to bring what I've learned and the knowledge I possess and some gems that I've taken from different coaches, different players and kind of just shed them on a group, how they may be.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cavs</a> introduced the newcomer pair of Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince to the media today. Although the former Nets have a desire to keep learning, they also bring a wealth of experience to a young team they want to lead. Story for <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a>: <a href="https://t.co/6CLWDDoOkT">https://t.co/6CLWDDoOkT</a> <a href="https://t.co/tm8L7t9iQ9">pic.twitter.com/tm8L7t9iQ9</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1351376006817472513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

Before sending him to Cleveland last week, Brooklyn brought Prince in from the Atlanta Hawks in July of 2019 to bolster its core at the wing position. With the return of Kevin Durant, the acquisition of long-time veteran Jeff Green and the likes of Joe Harris and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot rising to the top of the depth chart, his minutes diminished.
It&rsquo;s not an unfamiliar feeling for Prince, who has consistently had his role changed and has now played for six different head coaches since entering the league with the Hawks in 2016. Asked how he&rsquo;s viewed these adjustments from his own perspective -- and how he foresees fitting in the Cavs with those experiences -- Prince had a lengthy response.
&ldquo;Man, well you're talking to a guy whose life has kind of been so inconsistent, up and down, as far as good, bad situations growing up,&rdquo; Prince said. &ldquo;So I've always learned to kind of adapt to what's thrown my way. So with the new coaches, Coach [Mike] Budenholzer leaving when I was in Atlanta, from then going to an option offensively to now kind of like just a shooter. And then going to Brooklyn switching my position to the four, and having to guard bigger guys, gaining weight a little bit to kind of sustain those loads and then now I'm back to a lighter weight. Now I'm back at the three.
&ldquo;So there's just taken that sacrifice and do whatever the team needs me to do. But at the same time, kind of molding into the player I want to be at the same time. But that&rsquo;s what life&rsquo;s about: sacrifice. So just trying to do anything to stick around and continue to be the great-minded player I feel like I am.&rdquo;
Prince and Allen come to Cleveland with more of a seasoned presence about them, despite still being young players with room to improve.
&ldquo;[It&rsquo;s] a chance to bring out some of my leadership skills again,&rdquo; Prince said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a four-year guy that came out of Baylor, so I was able to kind of go through growing steps and then become a leader. And then when I got in the league, I was drafted to a veteran team, so I kind of went back a little bit and it was more on the soak-it-in-and-be-a-sponge type of curve. And now it's just getting the opportunity to kind of give off some of the knowledge and experience I've had over my five years to the one-year, two-year guys.
&ldquo;By no means do I know everything. I'm still trying to get better as well. I don't think I've scratched the surface or even really reached close limits to what my skill set and abilities are. But I'm glad I'm with a group that for one, wants me, and for two, that's willing to get better and better, coachable and that's why you asked from the young guys."
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/allen33_lg.jpg" alt="" width="777" height="AUTO" />
That goes especially for Allen, who is just 22 years old and is now in his fourth NBA season.
&ldquo;I was thinking about it: [I&rsquo;m] just as young as them, and I don&rsquo;t want to knock on them -- but I feel like I have more experience playing in the playoffs and playing with some Hall-of-Fame players, so I kind of know a little more in that aspect in terms of coming to practice and knowing what it takes on that level to play and just keep reminding what to eat," Allen said. "I&rsquo;m happy to guide them, but I don&rsquo;t want to come in and overstep my welcome. I don&rsquo;t want to try to overpower anybody. I want to try to know where I can fit in and see if I can help in any way.&rdquo;
The two voiced excitement when Collin Sexton was mentioned. The third-year guard known as Young Bull made a massive impression on both just from past encounters as adversaries.
&ldquo;When you guys call him Bull, that&rsquo;s a good nickname because he&rsquo;s always ready to play. He&rsquo;s always head first, going down and playing hard,&rdquo; Allen said. &ldquo;I see us working together well, especially in the pick-and-roll. Playing against him, I especially realized that he draws a lot of attention. Like for me, even still I was trying to help him like off (of when he had) Tristan Thompson on the side. I would kind of leave Tristan and go towards Collin. So I think once the roles are switched, once I'm the one rolling to the basket, one that he's looking for lobs, they're going to have to help off of him and he's going to have me down below.&rdquo;
&ldquo;The number one thing that sticks out to me about him is his intensity on the defensive end. I plan to match that 100 percent,&rdquo; Prince said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the type of stuff that gets me going. And then obviously, his ability to score the ball and be creative in the lane and get others involved, it&rsquo;s a plus. So I&rsquo;m excited to see what he does when he comes back. Definitely excited to get along with him and DG [Darius Garland] in the backcourt and see how I can help them out.&rdquo;
The 26-year-old Prince reiterated that he is nowhere near a finished product, and he agrees that Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and his mindset could help him unlock the defensive potential he knows he has in him. Allen is looking forward to learning from a two-time All-Star in Andre Drummond and a three-time NBA champion in JaVale McGee, joking that the Cleveland big man duo has &ldquo;almost 50 years in the league combined.&rdquo;
There are a lot of things that change when a trade happens, and the logistics aren&rsquo;t easy. Allen and Prince are temporarily staying in a local hotel until their living situations are figured out. The former is apartment hunting, while the latter would probably look for a bigger place because he has a family to take care of.
So while they&rsquo;re trying to get settled in Cleveland as players, Prince and Allen are also having to get used to their new surroundings in Northeast Ohio.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s slow motion, and that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m used to, being from Texas,&rdquo; Prince said. &ldquo;I can walk outside and get in my vehicle and not have to go to a parking garage. I like snow, I like the weather here. It&rsquo;s cool. I&rsquo;m enjoying it. Now, it&rsquo;s time to get to the basketball part."
&ldquo;[We&rsquo;re] trying to learn all these new plays and just watching the team and finally being able to be out there with them today,&rdquo; Allen added. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a lot. So far, everybody has been friendly, the team has brought me in with open arms and I just can&rsquo;t wait to play with them.&rdquo;
In their debut game with the wine-and-gold, Allen and Prince will be able to close a chapter of their basketball careers -- because the Nets are the first team on the schedule, and they&rsquo;re set to play two consecutive games in Cleveland on Wednesday and Friday.
No hostility. Just a little weirdness.
&ldquo;I don't want to say it's emotional. It's a little awkward, I'm not gonna lie to you,&rdquo; Allen said. &ldquo;It's like they just traded me away. No hard feelings, but now like the actual first game is going to be against them. I think it's gonna be good. It's gonna be good to see the guys again. It's gonna be a final send-off.&rdquo;

Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince talk about getting traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, how they'll fit with their new team and more.

Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince prepared to lead and grow in Cleveland

Nekias Duncan previews the Southeast Division (the Hawks, Hornets, Heat, Magic and Wizards) ahead of the 2020-21 NBA season.

2020-21 NBA Season Preview: Southeast Division

Views are the author&rsquo;s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the website.
The 2023-2024 NBA season has wrapped up and the race for the league&rsquo;s annual awards has officially ended. Here&rsquo;s a look at my picks of the NBA's award winners.
Most Improved Player: Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers
(Runner-ups: Coby White, Jalen Johnson)
Notes: In the end, Tyrese Maxey takes the award with the amount of burden and responsibility in a Philadelphia team reeling from the loss of James Harden to become a true No. 2 option behind reigning MVP Joel Embiid. White improved a lot this year, increasing his averages both numbers and his shooting percentages. Johnson, like White, has also increased his usage and averages by a lot, featuring as the third option behind DeJounte Murray and Trae Young, or even as the second option without one of those two. A jumbo playmaking forward, Johnson showed improvements in his playmaking as well as his ability to score and had increased numbers in shooting as well. Ultimately, Maxey wins this award out because he was a guy who increased his usage and his role while playing most of the season without Embiid.
Sixth Man of the Year: Naz Reid, Minnesota Timberwolves
(Runner-ups: Malik Monk, Bobby Portis)
Notes: Naz Reid has been the best player off the bench this season with the way he has been an offensive spark plug for the Timberwolves this season. He&rsquo;s had a phenomenal season, and he had to start and fill in for Karl-Anthony Towns when he went down while still being an efficient scorer as he is. If you factor in all the stuff for these awards, you could actually make a case for Monk, for Portis, maybe even guys like Norman Powell for the Clippers and Bogdan Bogdanovic for the Hawks. But with Minnesota going 56-26 and having the second most wins in franchise history &ndash; ultimately ending up atop the three best teams in the West, this gives a little bit of boost to Naz Reid due to his importance to the team.
Defensive Player of the Year: Rudy Gobert, Minnesota Timberwolves
(Runner-ups: Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Davis; Honorable mention: Bam Adebayo)
Notes: One of the hardest awards to figure out. Minnesota had the best defense in the league for a reason, and based on that Rudy Gobert would be a deserving winner of the award. When he&rsquo;s off the floor, the team does not perform defensively the way it does when Gobert is on the floor. This was hard because Wembanyama had a legitimate case, being the generational defender that he was. Davis also had a strong case with how he carried single-handedly the Lakers&rsquo; defense, while Adebayo had the immense burden of playing all the defensive schemes in Miami. Ultimately, it ended up with Gobert with the way he lifted a good defensive team to the best in the league, manning that paint and being that anchor that holds all of the pieces together.
All-Defensive Team:
1st Team - Rudy Gobert, Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Herb Jones
2nd Team - Derrick White, Jalen Suggs, Jaden McDaniels, Alex Caruso, Jonathan Isaac
Notes: Starting this year, the NBA&rsquo;s All-NBA teams and defensive teams were positionless so I had to cheat a little bit here, putting 4 bigs in the 1st team. Gobert, Wembanyama, Davis, and Adebayo are no-brainers considering their defensive impact for each of their teams, while Jones takes the last spot in the 1st team for his ability to disrupt offenses as well as guarding each team&rsquo;s best player night in and night out for the Pelicans.&nbsp;
The second team features White (most blocks for a guard), Suggs and Isaac (best defensive players for the 4th best defense in the league, helping to lead the Magic back to the playoffs), McDaniels (best wing defender for the best defense in the league), and the perennial all-defense player Caruso who brings it in defensively every game.
Rookie of the Year: Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
(Runner-up: Chet Holmgren)
Notes: Despite Holmgren having far and away the better team success, there&rsquo;s no denying Wembanyama&rsquo;s greatness in his rookie year. The French phenom has transcended the game both figuratively and on the eye test &ndash; he is simply a generational talent who is going to take over the league soon. Holmgren got off to a hot start in the first two months of the season but since January, Wembanyama has locked up the award for himself with out-of-the-world numbers for a rookie. He was dubbed as the best prospect since LeBron James and now he is well on his way to being one of the greatest of all time if he remains healthy after a historic rookie season.
All-Rookie Team:
1st Team - Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren, Brandon Miller, Jaime Jaquez Jr., GG Jackson
2nd Team - Ausar Thompson, Amen Thompson, Keyonte George, Brandin Podziemski, Trayce Jackson-Davis
Notes: There were several names to choose from here, and it felt hard to cut some of them here. Jordan Hawkins of the Pelicans has had a good start to the year when the team had all those injuries paving the way for him to play early into the season but has seen the bench since as NOLA got healthier and players came back; Cason Wallace had such a good shooting year off the bench for the No.1 seeded Thunder despite shooting being labeled by scouts as his biggest weakness coming into the NBA; Dereck Lively II being center that Luka Doncic needed and fit well with by catching all those lobs and helping the Mavs&rsquo; defense this season big time; No.2 overall pick Scoot Henderson had a good close to his rookie year.
All in all, these 10 rookies have felt like the best rookies in terms of production, opportunity, and narratives surrounding them. Of course, Wembanyama and Holmgren are automatic locks; Miller has been the best player in Charlotte without LaMelo Ball and Mark Williams; Jaquez is a vital piece off the bench for Erik Spoelstra&rsquo;s playoff-bound Heat team; and GG Jackson becoming a legit NBA scorer despite being the youngest player in the league to round out the first team.
The Thompson twins have just been defensive monsters ever since stepping foot in the league; George playing point guard at Utah has turned some heads and he has stepped up with the opportunity given to him; while Podziemski and Jackson-Davis have arguably been rotational pieces to the Warriors despite being rookies and has contributed a lot to them finding a way to fit in a complex team.
Coach of the Year: Mark Daigneault, Oklahoma City Thunder
(Runner-ups: Chris Finch, Jamahl Mosley)
Notes: There have been so many good coaches this season that have elevated their teams to good records, say Ime Udoka of the Houston Rockets and Tom Thibodeau from the New York Knicks. But my Coach of the Year pick goes to Mark Daigneault of the OKC Thunder because this award tends to favor the expectations set for a team before the start of the season. The Thunder weren&rsquo;t supposed to be this good this season, but Daigneault catapulted them into one of the best teams not just in the West but the entire NBA. The evidence is written on the wall: No.1 in the West despite being the second youngest team in the league; having a top 5 ranking on both offense and defense and no.2 overall net rating. Finch and Mosley take the runner-up spots with the work they had to lift both the Timberwolves and the Magic to being top 4 seeds in their conferences as well as having top-rated defenses in the league.
Clutch Player of the Year: Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
(Runner-ups: DeMar DeRozan, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)
Notes: Another tough and close race, but ultimately it goes to Curry. Despite the Warriors&rsquo; so-so record, Curry had the most clutch time points, shot 50% from the field, and 46% from three in clutch time. Curry had the most threes than anyone in crunch time &ndash; being just the incredible clutch-time performer that he is &ndash; and always been.
All-NBA Team:
1st Team - Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum
2nd Team - Jalen Brunson, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards, LeBron James
3rd Team - Stephen Curry, Domantas Sabonis, Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker, Tyrese Haliburton
Notes: With Jalen Brunson carrying the Knicks to a second seed in the East playing without Julius Randle since January, it was incredibly hard to leave him off the 1st team. However, by the slightest of margins, I gave the nod to Tatum for being the best player on the best team in the league by a wide margin.
All the other picks were pretty explanatory, with the top 4 in the MVP race in Jokic, Doncic, SGA, and Giannis all expected to be first-teamers. The second team kind of got tougher besides Brunson, with legends Durant and James making the list because of the seasons they had leading their team as well as playing their most regular season game in years. Rounding out the second team were Edwards and Davis, two stars with the biggest impacts on their teams in the tough Western Conference.
The third team is actually a toss-up with a lot of good cases from the league all around, but ultimately I went with Curry, Sabonis, Leonard, Booker, and Haliburton.
Most Valuable Player: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander&nbsp;
(Runners-up: Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic; Honorable mention: Giannis Antetokounmpo)
Perhaps the closest race out of all the awards, all three players here are each deserving with their narratives and the numbers that support each of their cases. You can never go wrong picking one over the other, so it came down to personal opinion on who I thought had the strongest case this season. His case?
-Leading the second youngest team in the league to No.1 in the West
-3-1 series vs Denver
-3-1 series vs Dallas
-First player since Steph and MJ to average 30/5/5 in a season with 2+ steals
-Second in defensive net rating for guards
One could make the argument for Nikola Jokic being the best player in the world having better numbers than his two MVP seasons while Luka Doncic had one of the best seasons statistically in all facets of the game, but there&rsquo;s no denying SGA&rsquo;s strong case as well given the expectations for this young Thunder team.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is my MVP.

The 2023-2024 NBA season has wrapped up and the race for the league’s annual awards has officially ended.

OPINION: Picking the 2023-2024 NBA Awards winners

Following a slow start to this season, the Los Angeles Clippers have had an incredible turnaround.
 Immediately after acquiring star guard James Harden, the Clippers lost seven of 10 games, leading to some questions about Harden's fit and whether the team could right the ship.
However, since Harden&rsquo;s infamous &ldquo;give us 10 games and we&rsquo;ll figure it out&rdquo; statement, the Clippers have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA. They have the best record in the NBA since Dec. 1, and they have won 15 of their last 18 games and 20 of their last 26.&nbsp;
Los Angeles has the fourth-best record in the Western Conference (23-13), while boasting the NBA's seventh-best offense (scoring 116 points per 100 possessions) and ninth-best defense (allowing 110.4 points per 100 possessions).
The Clippers have been rolling as of late, and here are several reasons for their recent success.
Kawhi Leonard is healthy again and having an MVP-caliber season
The Clippers&rsquo; undisputed best player is currently having his healthiest season in years, playing 31-of-35 possible games. Leonard is currently shooting a career-best 52% from the field and is the biggest reason for Los Angeles' surge. The Clippers have registered 12-straight wins with Leonard in the lineup, and he ranks 10th in the league in scoring over that stretch. Leonard's numbers &ndash; 28.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists &ndash; are impressive, and he recently became the first player in NBA history to shoot 60% from the field, 50% from three-point range and 90% from the free-throw line over a 13-game span &ndash; an astounding demonstration of his dominance and efficiency this season.
Paul George is playing as a second &lsquo;Batman&rsquo; rather than being a &lsquo;Robin&rsquo;
Rather than being Robin to Leonard&rsquo;s Batman, Paul George has proven he&rsquo;s more than just a second fiddle this season. The 6-foot-9 forward has a solid All-Star case so far, averaging 23.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.4 threes and 1.6 steals, while shooting 45.8% from the field, 40.8% from three-point range and 92.4% from the free-throw line. George has taken it upon himself to carry more of the offensive load thus far even when Leonard is playing, scoring at least 20 points in nine-straight outings. This aggressive approach has done wonders for the Clippers.
James Harden is playing efficiently and making sacrifices
With the Clippers, James Harden isn't in a primary-scorer role. Although his resume speaks for itself, the 10-time All-Star and three-time scoring champ has deferred the scoring duties to Leonard and George. Instead, Harden&rsquo;s main job is to distribute the ball and keep the offense running, which makes scoring a secondary goal at this stage of his career. Also, he's constantly finding center Ivica Zubac for lob opportunities and even Norman Powell off catch-and-shoot actions.
This has led to one of Harden's most efficient seasons, as he's shooting a career-best 42% from three and a True Shooting percentage of 65%. Harden has been at his best when he's playing alongside the Clippers&rsquo; All-Star forwards, as the three-man lineup of Harden, Leonard and George has a net efficiency rating of plus-17.8 and has outscored opponents by 143 points.
Furthermore, the trio ranks first among the NBA's three-man lineups in several different categories including net rating (25.6), offensive rating (131.7), defensive rating (106), three-point percentage (43%), True Shooting percentage (65%) and turnovers (10.6).
Tyronn Lue finally playing bigs and shying away from center-less lineups
But perhaps the biggest difference between this year&rsquo;s Clippers and previous versions of the team might be Tyronn Lue finally playing his centers and using them to their full extent. His usual obsession with small-ball lineups &mdash; with wings at the 4 and 5 spots &mdash; has been non-existent this season, particularly since the team moved Nicolas Batum and Marcus Morris as part of the trade that netted Harden.
In previous seasons, Lue would close out games with Batum at the 5, or even at times playing George or Leonard there (which was kind of outrageous). Now, he utilizes his centers much better. On offense, Harden uses Zubac as a roller and rim threat for lobs, with Zubac catching and finishing easy buckets. Also, Russell Westbrook has good chemistry with backup center Daniel Theis in the second unit. Defensively, the Clippers no longer have a size disadvantage that leads to offensive rebounds by opposing players, as Zubac and incoming Mason Plumlee command minutes and bring physicality.
Using bigs has certainly changed the way Los Angeles plays. Everything seems to be going right for the Clippers, who will try to continue their strong play and contend for a championship.

The Los Angeles Clippers have been rolling as of late and Anthony Valmoria breaks down several reasons for their recent success.

The Los Angeles Clippers are rolling, and here are 4 reasons why

This article was originally published on Jan. 16, 2021.
We&rsquo;ve all been here before.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s a random Wednesday. Full slate of games, hard to keep track of everything. Maybe you&rsquo;re peeping an ESPN matchup. Perhaps you&rsquo;re watching your favorite team on the local channel if you&rsquo;re in the market, or you&rsquo;re streaming it LEGALLY ON NBA LEAGUE PASS BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY WAY YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO IT. WINK.&nbsp;
But anyway, you&rsquo;re watching a game. You&rsquo;re roaming Twitter. And then a tweet catches your eye: PLAYER X HAS DUNKED ON LEBRON JAMES.
Your brow raises. You see a few tweets from your online pals big-upping the play. You&rsquo;re really interested now. You click on the video from a Big Social Media Account. And this is the dunk:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/brr.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
The excitement drops a little bit. That&rsquo;s a nice dunk from Wendell Carter Jr. LeBron James is underneath the basket, and there&rsquo;s a challenge. But something doesn&rsquo;t feel right about it.&nbsp;
Then you see a different angle of the Dunk Heard &lsquo;Round The World.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/wendell-w-lebron-in-the-area.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
You feel betrayed. LeBron didn&rsquo;t get dunked on; LeBron&rsquo;s arm got dunked on as he jumps out of the darn play! This isn&rsquo;t <a href="https://youtu.be/xtOUpybXmzo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scottie Pippen on Patrick Ewing</a> or <a href="https://youtu.be/6kBWO82HUa4?t=28" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vince Carter on Alonzo Mourning</a>! I can yell at these clouds if I want to!
If you&rsquo;re anything like me, you&rsquo;re tired of being misled. If I hear or read that a player got baptized, I want to see some Holy Water coming out of the rim after the aerial duel. And if you are like me, this is the piece for you. This is the guide of all guides, breaking down the different types of dunks. A universal standard of slams, if you will, so we can finally get on the same page about poster dunks.
A brief note before digging in. I am using a tier system so it&rsquo;s easier to separate the types of dunks. Like many things in life, the scale can slide on a case-by-case basis. For example, breakaway dunks are generally uncontested, which makes them the lowest tier of dunk for me. However, a breakaway dunk from 360-enthusiast Zach LaVine is different -- and much cooler -- than the two-handed flushes we see from Jimmy Butler. Each dunk is still its own thing.&nbsp;
Disclaimer: Alley-oops can fall under virtually all of these categories, with the obvious exception of put-backs.
TIER 10: BREAKAWAYS
Break-away dunks are pretty self-explanatory. There&rsquo;s a long rebound after a miss. A player leaks out early, and gets a dunk with no resistance. They&rsquo;re pretty basic with a few exceptions. LaVine, Paul George or Glenn Robinson III may bust out a 360 or windmill on occasion. LeBron has made the one-handed tomahawk a staple of his repertoire.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lebron-tomahawk.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
It&rsquo;s basic, but it&rsquo;s so darn cool. Power, a little bit of flair, the hang time. All that good stuff.
TIER 9: TIP SLAMS
I like the timing, positioning and coordination it takes to pull off a putback slam. The lower-level ones are uncontested, but can be rated higher depending on the work a player puts in before the ball comes off the rim. Take this multiple-effort possession from Larry Nance Jr. as an example:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/larry-nance-jr-putback.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
TIER 8: BUSINESS DECISIONS
The OG: Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal
Also popularized by: LeBron James, Blake Griffin, Zion Williamson
This is for the power dunkers. Whether it&rsquo;s in transition, flowing off of a broken play or rumbling down the lane after a high-ball screen, it&rsquo;s hilarious to watch players actively decide, &ldquo;Nope, I don&rsquo;t get paid enough for this.&rdquo; Take this play from the 2016-17 season, featuring Blake Griffin:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/willy-hernangomez-business-decision.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
The key actor here is Willy Hernangomez (No. 14). He is watching this snug pick-and-roll all the way through. His man, noted three-point marksman DeAndre Jordan, is chilling above the break. Not only can Hernangomez make the rotation to cut off Griffin at the rim, he should make that rotation because Jordan is not a threat at all. Instead, he begins to load up, quickly realizes that Griffin will put him in the gulag, and decides against challenging the shot.
Hilarious sequence.
TIER 7: FLY-BYS
This is where having a discerning eye is important. When you think about it, this kind of dunk -- and the praise that these types of dunk typically generate -- is about deception.
A defender jumps across a player to make it look like he&rsquo;s legitimately challenging the dunk. There&rsquo;s no real threat of a block or swipe. The dunk happens because, again, there&rsquo;s no real threat to it otherwise. And somehow both players end up looking good. The dunker gets &ldquo;poster&rdquo; equity they don&rsquo;t deserve; the defender gets a slight pat on the back for giving effort instead of making a business decision.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/hhh.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
It&rsquo;s all a darn farce. A cool-looking farce at times, but a farce nonetheless.&nbsp;
TIER 6: SELF-LOBS
We&rsquo;ve reached the coolest of the non-contact dunks. It doesn&rsquo;t get much better than throwing the ball to yourself for a slam, man. Look at Jamal Murray getting himself out of trouble.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/jamal-murray-self-lob.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
TIER 5: &ldquo;IN THE VICINITY&rdquo; SLAMS (Also known as ITVs)
Folks, the rubber is starting to reach the road. The ITVs involve actual attempts at a contest and/or a little contact, a step up from the Fly-bys. This is where I&rsquo;d say the Wendell-on-LeBron dunk falls, though I wouldn&rsquo;t be mad at anyone that would classify it as a Fly-by. A better example would be this slam from Matisse Thybulle last season.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/mfff.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
There&rsquo;s an attempt at a challenge, but Thybulle still gets the better of Mason Plumlee. But Plumlee doesn&rsquo;t get dunked on. There isn&rsquo;t enough contact to call it a poster of the highest order.&nbsp;
This is also where failed chasedown blocks come in. With guys flying in from behind, the dunk-on element just isn&rsquo;t there most of the time. Take the famous Kobe-on-LeBron dunk from the 2011 All-Star game.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/kobe-on-lebron.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
TIER 4: PUTBACK POSTERS
I&rsquo;ve always gone back and forth with myself about where to place these types of dunks. On one hand, the blindsided nature of it makes it a bit unfair to defenders. You can&rsquo;t defend against what you can&rsquo;t see. However, there&rsquo;s enough contact at play, and a player Mossin&rsquo; a dude and flushing it down is generally some high level stuff.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/gerald-green-putback-poster.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
Yes, that is the #BASED and #RARE Gerald Green in a Celtics uni. And yeah that&rsquo;s Mason Plumlee again. Sorry, man.
TIER 3: DUNK-ONS/CHARGE CRUSHERS
We&rsquo;ve reached the portion of the program where dudes are getting legitimately yammed on, but there are a couple of factors that keep it from ranking higher.
First, the level of contest still matters. A lot of these dunks feature dudes sliding over in an attempt to take a charge (hence the alternative name). The higher level posters feature someone trying to actually block the dunk. Sure, a charge and blocked dunk are functionally the same in terms of the result the defense wants -- taking away two points -- but we&rsquo;re talking about highlights here.&nbsp;
Secondly, and I admit we&rsquo;re splitting hairs a bit, size also matters. The first dunk I thought of was Nuggets-era J.R Smith yamming it over Gary Neal:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/jrs.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
Objectively a good dunk, but Gary Neal is ground bound and short. You have to dock some points there. I&rsquo;m sorry. The famous DeAndre Jordan-on-Brandon Knight flush, while iconic, also falls in this category.
The higher end of this would be another classic involving the Spurs: LeBron dunking on Tim Duncan.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lebron-on-tim-duncan.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
That&rsquo;s more like it.
TIER 2: THE THROW-IN
THE OG: Blake Griffin
ALSO POPULARIZED BY: Derrick Jones Jr.
DUNK TRUTHERS DON&rsquo;T READ THIS!
***
***
***
***
***
***
***
Dunk Truthers are stupid poopyheads.&nbsp;
Yes, we&rsquo;re well aware that dunks that involve the rim being grabbed -- or at least touched -- are more pure, whatever the heck that means. But you look at Blake Griffin embarrassing the life out of Timofey Mozgov and tell me it isn&rsquo;t one of greatest athletic feats you&rsquo;ve ever seen.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/blake-over-mozgov.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
Derrick Jones Jr. has some gnarly ones in his bag as well, highlighted by this lob he converted against the Raptors that still doesn&rsquo;t make much sense to me.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/hyyy.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
TIER 1: THE PURE POSTER
Pippen on Ewing. Carter on &lsquo;Zo. <a href="https://youtu.be/tYpwjB0IzoU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baron Davis on Andrei Kirilenko</a>. Michael Jordan on, well, name almost any big man you can think of that played in the '90s.&nbsp;
We can go more modern, like Larry Nance Jr. doing this to pre-DPOY-candidate Brook Lopez:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lrrr.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
Another hidden gem: young DeMar DeRozan throwing the hammer down over Rudy Gobert:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/derozan-on-gobert.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
The constant for these dunks: full-on, body-to-body contact with a legitimate attempt for a contest. You&rsquo;ll know it when you see it.
BONUS TIER: THE VINCE CARTER
Yeah, this is still the best dunk I&rsquo;ve ever seen.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/vince-carter-dunk-of-death.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
You clear a seven footer, you get your own dunk tier. Those are the rules.

Nekias Duncan has put together the guide of all guides, breaking down the different types of dunks and rating them on a tier system.

The Dunk-tionary: The official guide to ranking dunks

The NBA&nbsp;today unveiled the official courts that teams will play on throughout the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament, which tips off on Friday, Nov. 3 with a doubleheader on ESPN as the Knicks visit the Milwaukee Bucks at 7:30 p.m. ET and the Denver Nuggets host the Dallas Mavericks at 10 p.m. ET.&nbsp;
The courts, which will be used for Group Play and the Quarterfinals, showcase a bold and distinctive design scheme leaguewide, making it instantly clear to fans when a game carries NBA In-Season Tournament implications.&nbsp;
The unified look represents the first time that the league has implemented an alternate court for all 30 teams and the first time that any NBA team has played on a fully painted court with no woodgrain details.&nbsp; This will also mark the first time that the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers will play on an alternate court in the history of the franchises.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
NBA DEBUTS IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT COURTS FOR ALL 30 TEAMS <a href="https://t.co/OHmOA8LYGL">pic.twitter.com/OHmOA8LYGL</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1719020363252629808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2023</a></blockquote>

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

The courts, featuring vibrant and bold colors, share the following design details:
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>A fully painted court, edge-to-edge</li>
<li>A larger-than-life NBA Cup at center court, prominently displaying to players and fans the new trophy that will be awarded to the champion</li>
<li>A contrasting wash of color from lane-to-lane, creating a 16-foot wide &ldquo;runway&rdquo; across the court</li>
<li>NBA Cup silhouettes in the lanes</li>
<li>Team logos across the NBA Cup at center court and on the baselines</li>
</ul>
The inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament will tip off with Group Play on Friday, Nov. 3 in NBA team markets. The single-elimination Knockout Rounds begin with the Quarterfinals (Dec. 4 and 5), also played in team markets, before the tournament culminates at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with the Semifinals (Dec. 7) and Championship (Dec. 9).&nbsp; Broadcast partners ESPN and TNT will combine to air 14 games during Group Play.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The NBA unveiled the official courts that teams will play on throughout the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament.

NBA debuts custom in-season tournament courts for all 30 teams

The 2023 WNBA Playoffs tip off tonight, and every game will be televised on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.
The Connecticut Sun and Las Vegas Aces will take the court on Wednesday night to open the best-of-three first-round series for their respective Game 1 matchups.
The league&rsquo;s all-time triple-double leader Alyssa Thomas and the Sun will host three-time All-Star Napheesa Collier and the Minnesota Lynx (the sixth seed) at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2.&nbsp;&nbsp;
At 10 p.m. ET, reigning MVP and Defensive Player of the Year A&rsquo;ja Wilson leads the top-seeded Aces on their quest to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001-02, when they host 2021 WNBA Finals MVP Kahleah Copper and the Chicago Sky (the eighth&nbsp;seed).&nbsp;&nbsp;
The action continues on Friday when five-time All-WNBA selection Breanna Stewart and the New York Liberty (the second seed) begin their quest to win the franchise&rsquo;s first WNBA championship, hosting the Washington Mystics (the seventh seed) at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The Liberty, one of the league&rsquo;s super-teams, will face a tough first-round opponent in the Mystics &ndash; a team that defeated New York on opening day and again on the final day of the regular season.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Arike Ogunbowale, a top-five scorer in the WNBA over the last five seasons, and the Dallas Wings (the fourth seed) will host 2022 WNBA Rookie of the Year Rhyne Howard and the Atlanta Dream (the fifth&nbsp;seed) at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Game 2 matchups are scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 17 and Tuesday, Sept. 19, across ESPN and ABC. If necessary, the series-deciding Game 3s will be played Wednesday, Sept. 20 and Friday, Sept. 22. The semifinal series begin Sunday, Sept. 24, and the 2023 WNBA Finals will tip&nbsp;off Sunday, Oct. 8 on ABC.&nbsp;&nbsp;
ESPN&rsquo;s commentator team for the WNBA Playoffs will be led by the main crew of Ryan Ruocco, Hall-of-Famers Rebecca Lobo and Holly Rowe, with analysts LaChina Robinson, Carolyn Peck and Andraya Carter among others to be featured.&nbsp;&nbsp;
In addition to airing every game of the WNBA Playoffs, the Disney platforms will feature WNBA Countdown studio shows, as well as&nbsp;Hoop Streams&nbsp;WNBA digital pregame shows. Hosted by Robinson, the first Countdown special is a 60-minute edition on Wednesday, Sept. 13, on ESPN2 leading into the Mystics-Liberty game. The Hoop Streams&nbsp;playoffs show will be hosted by&nbsp;Terrika Foster-Brasby&nbsp;and&nbsp;Christine Williamson and stream on the first day of each round.
Here's a complete schedule of the first-round games and where you can watch them:
<table style="font-weight: 400; width: 579px; height: 1628px;" width="871">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 72.2014px; height: 54px;">
Date
</td>
<td style="width: 96.2222px; height: 54px;">
Time (ET)
</td>
<td style="width: 234.417px; height: 54px;">
Matchup
</td>
<td style="width: 120.139px; height: 54px;">
Network
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 115px;">
<td style="width: 72.2569px; height: 313px;" rowspan="3">
Sept. 13
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
</td>
<td style="width: 96.2847px; height: 115px;">
7 p.m.
</td>
<td style="width: 234.542px; height: 115px;">
WNBA Countdown
LaChina Robinson, Carolyn Peck and Chiney Ogwumike
</td>
<td style="width: 120.194px; height: 115px;">
ESPN2
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 99px;">
<td style="width: 96.2986px; height: 99px;">
8 p.m.
</td>
<td style="width: 234.59px; height: 99px;">
Minnesota&nbsp;Lynx at Connecticut Sun &ndash; Game 1 Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe
</td>
<td style="width: 120.215px; height: 99px;">
ESPN2
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 99px;">
<td style="width: 96.2986px; height: 99px;">
10 p.m.
</td>
<td style="width: 234.604px; height: 99px;">
Chicago&nbsp;Sky at Las Vegas Aces &ndash; Game 1 Tiffany Greene, Monica McNutt, Ros Gold-Onwude
</td>
<td style="width: 120.229px; height: 99px;">
ESPN
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 76px;">
<td style="width: 72.25px; height: 251px;" rowspan="3">
Sept 15
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
</td>
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 76px;">
7 p.m.
</td>
<td style="width: 234.604px; height: 76px;">
WNBA Countdown&nbsp; Robinson, Peck, Ogwumike
</td>
<td style="width: 120.243px; height: 76px;">
ESPN2
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 99px;">
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 99px;">
7:30 p.m.
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 99px;">
Washington Mystics at New York Liberty &ndash; Game 1 Ruocco, Lobo, Gold-Onwude
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 99px;">
ESPN2
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 76px;">
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 76px;">
9:30 p.m.
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 76px;">
Atlanta Dream at Dallas&nbsp;Wings &ndash; Game 1 Pam Ward, Andraya Carter, Angel Gray
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 76px;">
ESPN2
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 92px;">
<td style="width: 72.25px; height: 267px;" rowspan="3">
Sept. 17
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
</td>
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 92px;">
12:30 p.m.
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 92px;">
WNBA Countdown
Robinson, Peck, Ogwumike
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 92px;">
ESPNEWS
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 99px;">
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 99px;">
1 p.m.
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 99px;">
Minnesota Lynx at Connecticut&nbsp;Sun &ndash; Game 2 Ward, McNutt, Gold-Onwude
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 99px;">
ESPN
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 76px;">
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 76px;">
3 p.m.
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 76px;">
Chicago Sky at Las Vegas&nbsp;Aces &ndash; Game 2 Ruocco, Lobo, Rowe
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 76px;">
ABC
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 92px;">
<td style="width: 72.25px; height: 299px;" rowspan="3">
Sept. 19
</td>
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 92px;">
6:30 p.m.
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 92px;">
WNBA Countdown&nbsp;
Robinson, Peck, Ogwumike
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 92px;">
ESPN2
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 115px;">
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 115px;">
7 p.m.
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 115px;">
Washington Mystics at New York Liberty&nbsp;&ndash; Game 2
Ruocco, Lobo, Rowe
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 115px;">
ESPN
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 92px;">
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 92px;">
9 p.m.
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 92px;">
Atlanta Dream at Dallas Wings &ndash; Game 2
Greene, Carter, Gray
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 92px;">
ESPN
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 92px;">
<td style="width: 72.25px; height: 222px;" rowspan="3">
Sept 20
</td>
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 92px;">
TBD
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 92px;">
WNBA Countdown&nbsp;
Robinson
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 92px;">
ESPN
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 54px;">
TBD
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 54px;">
Las Vegas Aces at Chicago&nbsp;Sky&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Game 3*
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 54px;">
ESPN
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 76px;">
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 76px;">
TBD
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 76px;">
Connecticut Sun at Minnesota Lynx &ndash; Game 3
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 76px;">
ESPN
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 92px;">
<td style="width: 72.25px; height: 222px;" rowspan="3">
Sept 22
&nbsp;
</td>
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 92px;">
TBD
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 92px;">
WNBA Countdown&nbsp;
Robinson
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 92px;">
ESPN2
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 76px;">
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 76px;">
TBD
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 76px;">
New York Aces at Washington&nbsp;Mystic &ndash; Game 3*
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 76px;">
ESPN2
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 96.2917px; height: 54px;">
TBD
</td>
<td style="width: 234.597px; height: 54px;">
Dallas Wings at Atlanta Dream &ndash; Game 3*
</td>
<td style="width: 120.25px; height: 54px;">
ESPN2
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
* Game 3 (if necessary) *** WNBA Playoffs semifinal series begin Sep. 24; WNBA Finals begin Sun., Oct. 8 on ABC

The 2023 WNBA Playoffs begin today, and every game will be televised on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.

2023 WNBA Playoffs guide: How to watch, game schedule, more

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Erik Spoelstra has preached about the value of adversity for months, not shying away from saying that it helped the Miami Heat get to these NBA Finals.
And now Denver is dealing with a little taste of it as well.
Game 3 of the NBA Finals is Wednesday night in Miami, the series between the eighth-seeded Heat and top-seeded Nuggets is knotted at a game apiece. It got that way after Miami <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-2023-heat-nuggets-jokic-382683d300ee31327a39bbb477b5981a">rallied to win Game 2 in Denver 111-108</a>&nbsp;on Sunday night, an outcome that prompted Nuggets coach Michael Malone to openly share frustrations &mdash; primarily over a lack of discipline on a lot of possessions.
&ldquo;We had a really good film session this morning,&rdquo; Malone said Tuesday. &ldquo;I gave an opportunity for everybody on our team to speak and talk about what they saw on the film. It was a very honest conversation. Guys owned what they needed to own. We have to learn from Game 2 to use it to our advantage.&rdquo;
In other words, Denver needs to do what Miami did coming out of Game 1.
The Heat faced significant deficits in both games in Denver &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-2023-heat-nuggets-jokic-278674ca5c096db5880b812c7cc348dc">24 points in Game 1</a>&nbsp;and 15 points in Game 2. And while there was a comeback try in the opener, getting within nine late, the Heat managed to erase the whole deficit and then some in Game 2.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re in the finals,&rdquo; said Spoelstra, seeking his third championship as coach of the Heat. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to be dealing with great players, great teams. You have to find a way to overcome it and make it difficult and do a lot of things that are tough.&rdquo;
Wednesday&rsquo;s winner obviously gets the upper hand with a 2-1 series lead, and history will tip in that team&rsquo;s favor as well. When a finals is tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner has gone on to eventually claim the title 80% of the time (32 times in 40 past instances). And 2-1 series leaders, regardless of whether they won Game 3 or not, have taken the title 79% of the time (49 times in 62 past instances).
The Heat are in the finals for the second time in four seasons, but are playing their first finals game actually at home since 2014 &mdash; the 2020 appearance was in the bubble, with no fans in the buildings for most of that experience and only a few family members for the finals.
&ldquo;No matter what, they are going to be behind you,&rdquo; Heat guard Kyle Lowry said. &ldquo;They are going to give you energy. You know, if the other team is on the run, they are going to give you a little boost. If you&rsquo;re on a run, there&rsquo;s going to be a crazy boost. The overall energy for your team and your group, it will give you a little bit of a lift &mdash; but it won&rsquo;t win you the game, because you&rsquo;ve still got to go out there and hoop.&rdquo;
Hooping at the end of games hasn&rsquo;t been an issue for Miami in this series. The Heat are outscoring Denver 66-45 in fourth quarters in this series, shooting 64% to the Nuggets&rsquo; 44% in the final period and holding a 33-9 edge in points off 3-pointers.
But the first three quarters, they&rsquo;ve trended big-time toward Denver. The Nuggets have outscored Miami 167-138 in those periods, outshooting the Heat 53% to 39%. Miami has outscored Denver 57-48 on 3s in those quarters, but that&rsquo;s nothing like the unmanageable margin the Nuggets have dealt with in final quarters.
&ldquo;Just don&rsquo;t get them wide-open looks,&rdquo; said Denver&rsquo;s Nikola Jokic, who is averaging 34 points, 10.5 rebounds and nine assists in his first two finals games. &ldquo;Yes, we know they&rsquo;re going to score. Yes, we know they have talented players. But we cannot give them open looks, and that was the main key.&rdquo;
There wasn&rsquo;t a lot of worry coming from either side Tuesday, when the teams had to go through the obligatory public workouts as part of the NBA media off-day slate. The Nuggets were loose, smiling a lot. The Heat were doing much of the same.
Moods will change by the end of Wednesday night. One of the teams &mdash; either the big pre-finals favorite Nuggets, or the eighth-seeded, nothing-to-lose Heat &mdash; is going to be two wins away from a title.
&ldquo;When we&rsquo;re working we still like to have fun and keep it loose,&rdquo; Heat forward Kevin Love said. &ldquo;It keeps us loose out there on the court starting the game and throughout 48 minutes. But it&rsquo;s not without intention and the willingness to do whatever it takes.&rdquo;

Game 3 of the NBA Finals is Wednesday in Miami, and the series between the eighth-seeded Heat and top-seeded Nuggets is tied 1-1.

Entering Game 3 of NBA Finals, Heat are loose and Nuggets facing adversity

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Since breaking his hand in the first round of the NBA playoffs, Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro has been relegated to offering his teammates support in conspicuously gaudy outfits &mdash; topics of much conversation &mdash; from the sidelines.
The Heat would much rather have their 20-point scorer on the court. But, his return is still pending, and though Miami is holding out hope that Herro could play basketball again this season, he is running out of time and games.
The NBA Finals head to Miami on Wednesday with the series against the Denver Nuggets tied 1-1. Miami&rsquo;s Eric Spoelstra said Herro was to do a full-contact workout Tuesday, but the veteran coach remained noncommittal on the player&rsquo;s possible return. Herro hasn&rsquo;t yet been cleared to play.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to be Nostradamus right now. We&rsquo;re taking it one day at a time,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;I know that sounds like a clich&eacute;. He did the practice with the group ... we&rsquo;ll meet with the training staff later on today and probably tomorrow, and we&rsquo;ll just continue this process. He has not been cleared yet, so that&rsquo;s where we are, but we&rsquo;re encouraged by the work that he&rsquo;s been doing."
Herro was diving for a loose ball late in the second quarter of the Eastern Conference playoff opener against the Milwaukee Bucks when the injury to his right hand occurred. He re-entered the game, but was leaning forward in obvious pain in front of Miami&rsquo;s bench in the final minute of the first half.
&ldquo;I feel like I had some things to prove this postseason,&rdquo; Herro said in April. &ldquo;It was a tough moment. I still can&rsquo;t believe it.&rdquo;
He had surgery on April 21 for the fracture, with a four-to-six week recovery timetable, making a finals return possible.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s another guy that provides so much shot-making, playmaking ability,&rdquo; forward Kevin Love said. &ldquo;You saw in Game 1, we got cold from the 3-point line, didn&rsquo;t shoot the ball particularly well from the field. He&rsquo;s just one of those guys that provides so much firepower.&rdquo;
Losing such a pivotal piece of their offense &mdash; their third-leading scorer behind Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo &mdash; seemed like a blow that would prematurely end the Heat&rsquo;s postseason run.
But they just keep winning.
They eliminated the top-seeded Bucks in five games, handled the New York Knicks in six, and recovered from blowing a 3-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals against Boston to advance to the championship series for the second time in four seasons.
Players like Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent and Max Straus, have delivered in Herro&rsquo;s absence.
Vincent is Miami&rsquo;s third-leading postseason scorer with 13.9 points and 3.9 assists in 31.6 minutes. And Martin, undrafted out of college with a stint in the G League, was the breakout star of the conference finals with 19.3 points on 60% shooting, including a playoff career-high 26 points at Boston in Game 7.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m so happy for the city of Miami,&rdquo; Butler said Wednesday. &ldquo;This organization, they deserve to be in the finals. They deserve to win the finals and win a championship, and we will do everything in our power to make that happen.&rdquo;

Tyler Herro did a full-contact workout on Tuesday, but Erik Spoelstra remained noncommittal on his possible return.

Tyler Herro’s return remains a waiting game as Heat keep winning

DENVER (AP) &mdash; The highlight of Game 1 for Jamal Murray came when he dribbled into the paint, put all his weight on his surgically repaired left knee, made a full clockwise turn, then faded away and swished a mid-range jumper.
His most important contribution to Denver&rsquo;s first win in the franchise&rsquo;s first appearance in the NBA Finals &mdash; well, take your pick.
Murray&rsquo;s 26-point, 10-assist night in&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-2023-heat-nuggets-jokic-278674ca5c096db5880b812c7cc348dc">the 104-93 win over Miami</a>&nbsp;on Thursday almost seemed incidental for a team that features a player averaging a triple-double in these playoffs in Nikola Jokic, a one-of-a-kind big man who has the skills to make every player on the roster a threat.
And yet, anybody following the Nuggets for a while knows it has been Murray&rsquo;s return to full health &mdash; and his return to the playoffs for the first time in three seasons &mdash; that has been a catalyst in the run they&rsquo;re on.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a three-level scorer. He can shoot the 3. He can pull up and get to the rim,&rdquo; said Heat guard Haywood Highsmith, describing the grueling challenge of trying to slow Murray. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a crafty player, has a good handle. He&rsquo;s in good condition.&rdquo;
All those points and assists aside, it&rsquo;s arguable Murray&rsquo;s most important contribution in this game came during a 106-second stretch after Miami had cut a 24-point deficit to 10. It&rsquo;s somewhat remarkable &mdash; and oh-so typical of the impact the seventh-year guard out of Kentucky can have on a game &mdash; that during those 106 seconds, Murray didn&rsquo;t record a single stat.
It started at the 9:02 mark of the fourth quarter when he made a snap throw to Jokic, which loosened the Heat defense and allowed Jokic to find Jeff Green for an uncontested layup.
A few empty possessions later, Murray found a sliver of open space in the middle to hit Jokic, who missed the easy layup but got fouled and made both free throws.
The possession after that, Murray scooped up the ball after Bruce Brown picked Highsmith&rsquo;s pocket. Murray wove down court, dribbled around his back, through his legs, then flipped it to Michael Porter Jr. who, with the court now wide open, found Jokic for a layup.
Denver&rsquo;s lead was back to 16.
&ldquo;Loved his pace tonight, just the pace that he played all night long,&rdquo; Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said. &ldquo;The tempo that he played at, controlling the game and controlling the flow of the game was great.&rdquo;
For the record, Murray&rsquo;s turnaround fadeaway over Highsmith &mdash; the jumper of the night &mdash; came with 6:26 left to re-raise the Denver lead to 16 and all but put to rest any doubt about the outcome.
It also served as yet another reminder that if they Heat are going to have any chance of containing the Nuggets over the rest of this series, they&rsquo;ll have to account for the player who has never made an All-Star game and never received an MVP vote but is every bit as key to Denver&rsquo;s success as the player who has, Jokic.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a dynamic scorer. He poses threats in different ways and he&rsquo;s relentless,&rdquo; said Miami guard Gabe Vincent. &ldquo;It will be a tall task, and we&rsquo;ll continue to work at it.&rdquo;
Murray went down in a game at Golden State and tore up his knee late in the 2020-21 season, an injury that&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-jamal-murray-nikola-jokic-d092a1736eaa4f5f986bf6464b636fca">forced him to miss</a>&nbsp;the &rsquo;21 playoffs and all of last year. Even with Jokic winning the MVP in both of those seasons, the Nuggets got swept out of the &rsquo;21 conference semifinals by the Suns and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/memphis-grizzlies-denver-nuggets-golden-state-warriors-nba-sports-488752728c6f8e53b1cd104027cac159">beaten in five by the Warriors</a>&nbsp;in the first round in &rsquo;22.
By then, the phrase &ldquo;Bubble Murray&rdquo; &mdash; an homage to his breakthrough during the 2020 playoffs in the COVID bubble in Orlando &mdash; was becoming popular. He has grown tired of that label, and of the question of whether &ldquo;Bubble Murray&rdquo; would ever show up again once he returned to full health.
Answer: Yes.
He has averaged 27.6 points and 6.2 assists over 16 playoff games this year, surpassing his regular-season numbers by 7.6 and 1.4. Counting 2019 and 2020, Murray has increased his scoring by 33% and his assists by 13% in the postseason. He is, in short, building a reputation as one of those special players who come up biggest when the lights are brightest.
True to form, Murray was more than happy to spread the credit around after the Nuggets made it 1-0 as a franchise in the NBA Finals.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to guard everybody, instead of just one or two guys,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;I think tonight was just a great example of how it could be anybody&rsquo;s night and anybody&rsquo;s quarter, maybe not your quarter. That&rsquo;s just Nuggets basketball.&rdquo;

Jamal Murray's 26-point, 10-assist performance was huge in the Nuggets' 104-93 win over the Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Nuggets get an NBA Finals gem from difference-maker Jamal Murray

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Maybe Kevin Garnett was right. Maybe,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZYPzhBf0mc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">as he screamed in celebration</a>&nbsp;of Boston&rsquo;s 2008 NBA championship, anything truly is possible.
Even the impossible.
The Celtics are halfway to history, and that alone has gotten them entry into a very small club. Of the first 150 teams that trailed a best-of-seven series 3-0 in NBA history, just 14 &mdash; 9.3% &mdash; found a way to extend the matchup to Game 6. None of them have won the series, and most are usually eliminated by now.
Not the Celtics. They have cut the deficit in the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat to 3-2, simultaneously trailing the series yet seeming to have all the momentum going into Game 6 in Miami on Saturday night.
&ldquo;Obviously, we didn&rsquo;t imagine being in this position, being down 3-0, but when adversity hits, you get to see like what a team is really made of,&rdquo; Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said. &ldquo;I mean, it couldn&rsquo;t get no worse than being down 3-0, but we didn&rsquo;t look around, we didn&rsquo;t go in separate directions. We stayed together. We doubled down on what we&rsquo;re good at on defense, and now I think it&rsquo;s a series.&rdquo;
Only three teams have gone from down 3-0 to tied 3-3; the Celtics could be the fourth with a win on Saturday. No NBA team has ever fully escaped the 3-0 hole, but a win on Saturday would give Boston a chance to change that in Game 7 &mdash; which would be Monday on its home floor.
&ldquo;One of our assistants put it in great perspective: The seasons are like nine months long, and we just had a bad week,&rdquo; Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. &ldquo;Sometimes you have a bad week at work. We obviously didn&rsquo;t pick the best time to have a bad week, but we did, and we&rsquo;re sticking together and fighting like hell to keep it alive.&rdquo;
Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets are waiting for an opponent. If Boston wins the series, the Nuggets will visit the Celtics for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. If Miami wins the East, the Heat are headed to Denver for Game 1. Either way, the title series starts June 1, somewhere.
&ldquo;We have to shore up who we are and address the areas that we have not been maybe good enough or areas that we can clean up,&rdquo; Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Friday, after the team&rsquo;s first real practice since sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers for the Western Conference title. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s really hard to keep your rhythm when you&rsquo;re not playing NBA games.&rdquo;
The Heat had a nine-point lead in the third quarter of Game 4, in position to perhaps win in a sweep. The lead was gone 2-1/2 minutes later and the Celtics haven&rsquo;t trailed since.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/celtics-heat-eastern-conference-2023-nba-playoffs-5e85ae90fa8d41cb67bdde88dd142082">An 18-0 run in Game 4</a>&nbsp;put Boston on top of that game for good, a 12-0 run by the Celtics later in that game ended all doubt, and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/heat-celtics-nba-playoffs-2023-6a8a1e06d6defdd571e45f76654418ba">then they started Game 5</a>&nbsp;with a 20-5 burst.
Add that all up, and from the start of the third-quarter run in Game 4 to the end of the start-of-game spurt in Game 5, the Celtics outscored the Heat 84-43 in a span of 27 minutes.
&ldquo;The last two games are not who we are. It just happened to be that way,&rdquo; Heat forward Jimmy Butler said. &ldquo;We stopped playing defense halfway because we didn&rsquo;t make shots that we want to make. But that&rsquo;s easily correctable. You just have to come out and play harder from the jump. Like I always say, it&rsquo;s going to be all smiles and we are going to keep it very, very, very consistent, knowing that we are going to win next game.&rdquo;
At least the confidence isn&rsquo;t ailing. Everything else is.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra flatly shot down the notion that Miami has an excuse for the way it played in Game 5 &mdash; &ldquo;there&rsquo;s no excuses. Not at all,&rdquo; he insisted &mdash; even though the training room is as crowded as a scrum for a loose ball under a basket right now. The Heat have been shorthanded in the backcourt for the entirety of the playoffs after injuries to shooting guards Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo, plus they didn&rsquo;t have starting guard Gabe Vincent for Game 5 and watched Kyle Lowry play through some sort of hand issue.
Miami&rsquo;s starters were outscored 95-44 in Game 5, and since the start of Boston&rsquo;s comeback-sparking burst in Game 4 the Heat have been outscored 75-33 from 3-point range, allowed the Celtics to shoot 54% from the field, 44% from 3-point range while committing 26 turnovers to Boston&rsquo;s 12.
Pick a number. They&rsquo;re all bad for the Heat, except the one that matters most &mdash; 3-2, the series score that means Miami is still only one win from capping its own improbable run of being a No. 8 seed that found its way into the NBA Finals.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a competitive series,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;You always expect things to be challenging in the conference finals. One game doesn&rsquo;t lead to the next game. &hellip; We beat them by whatever in Game 3. It just doesn&rsquo;t matter. It&rsquo;s about collectively preparing and putting together a great game. We&rsquo;ll play much better on Saturday. That&rsquo;s all we just have to focus on right now.&rdquo;

Of the first 150 teams that trailed a best-of-seven series 3-0 in NBA history, just 14 found a way to extend the matchup to Game 6.

Heat still lead East finals, but Celtics roaring back with eye on history

BOSTON (AP) &mdash; Derrick White had 24 points, including six 3-pointers, and the Boston Celtics dominated the Miami Heat 110-97 on Thursday night in Game 5 to extend the Eastern Conference finals.
Marcus Smart had 23 points and five steals. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown finished with 21 points apiece as the Celtics claimed their second straight win and trimmed Miami&rsquo;s series lead to 3-2.
It keeps alive Boston&rsquo;s hopes of becoming the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a series. Teams previously in that position are 0-150 all-time.
Game 6 is Saturday in Miami.
A day after the Florida Panthers punched the franchise&rsquo;s first ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals since 1996, for the second straight game the Heat were denied a spot in the NBA Finals.
Duncan Robinson led the Heat with 18 points. Bam Adebayo added 16 points and eight rebounds. Jimmy Butler had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists but sat out the final 9:47 of the game. Caleb Martin finished with 14 points.
It was Butler&rsquo;s lowest-scoring game of the playoffs. He had 16 points in Game 3, a blowout win by Miami.
Miami never led and had 16 turnovers.
Boston entered the day just 4-5 at TD Garden this postseason. But with a raucous home crowd behind them, the Celtics thrived on their energy.
They dove for loose balls, outfought Miami for rebounds and found each other for layups and dunks in transition as they built as much as 20 points in the first half.
The Heat cut into it, but Boston kept knocking down 3s and grew its edge as high as 96-72 in the fourth quarter.
Boston&rsquo;s fans reignited a &ldquo;Beat the Heat!&rdquo; chant that hadn&rsquo;t been prevalent since Game 1.
The Heat started Kyle Lowry at point guard after Gabe Vincent was ruled out with a sprained left ankle earlier in the day. It was Lowry&rsquo;s first start since Feb. 2.
Vincent, the Heat&rsquo;s third-leading scorer this postseason, got hurt late in Miami&rsquo;s Game 4 loss when he landed awkwardly while trying to save a loose ball near the Heat bench.
His presence was missed as Miami struggled early on the offensive end, swarmed by a Celtics&rsquo; defense that forced the Heat into 10 first-half turnovers that led to 17 Boston points. Lowry played 31 minutes, scored five points and finished with four turnovers.
TIP-INS
Heat: Were outscored 13-0 in second-half points in the opening 24 minutes.
Celtics: Al Horford added six points and 11 rebounds. &hellip; The Celtics took a 61-44 edge into halftime. &hellip; Boston&rsquo;s first turnover of the game didn&rsquo;t come until the 8:16 mark of the second quarter.
FAST START
The Celtics got the fast start they had hoped for in front of their home crowd.
Smart stripped Adebayo on Miami&rsquo;s opening possession, igniting a fast break and layup on the other end by Tatum.
Then, with the game tied at 4, Tatum got free in the lane for a monstrous two-handed dunk. He hung on the rim afterward and continued his celebration when he landed, leading to a technical foul.
It didn&rsquo;t stop the Celtics&rsquo; momentum, as their first-quarter lead grew as high as 23-7. Boston ended the period with a 35-20 lead, punctuated by a 3-pointer by White at the buzzer.
Tatum had 12 points in the opening 12 minutes, with the Celtics outscoring the Heat 21-6 from beyond the arc. Boston hit 7 of its 12 attempts.
VIP WATCH
Celtics Hall of Famer Paul Pierce, NCAA president Charlie Baker and New England Patriots Matt Slater and Devin McCourty were among several celebrities in the Garden.

Derrick White had 24 points, including 6 threes, and the Boston Celtics dominated the Miami Heat 110-97 on Thursday in Game 5.

Celtics thrive on 3s, beat Heat 110-97 in Game 5 to extend East finals

BOSTON (AP) &mdash; Jimmy Butler scored 35 points, including 23 after halftime, and the Miami Heat rallied in the second half to beat the Boston Celtics 123-116 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night.
Miami trailed by nine at the half before turning it around with a franchise playoff-record 46 points in the third and outscoring Boston 66-50 over the final two quarters. It was Butler&rsquo;s fifth game with 30 or more points this postseason and he added seven assists, six steals and five rebounds.
Bam Adebayo added 20 points and eight rebounds. Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent and Max Strus all added 15 points apiece. The Heat went 16 of 31 from the 3-point line.
The No. 8-seeded Heat have opened all three playoff series with road victories. Game 2 is Friday in Boston.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 30 points, but didn&rsquo;t take a shot in the fourth quarter. Jaylen Brown finished with 22 points and nine rebounds. Malcolm Brogdon added 19 points.
The tip-off of Wednesday&rsquo;s series marked the third time in four seasons that the Heat and Celtics have met in the conference finals. Boston won last year&rsquo;s matchup in seven games.
Wednesday&rsquo;s opener felt every bit like a continuation of that most recent meeting. Boston dominated inside early on and led by nine at halftime.
Miami took a page out of the Celtics&rsquo; book and used a 13-1 run to quickly erase that gap and then nudged back in front in the third quarter, as Butler penetrated to create opportunities for his teammates.
The Heat outscored the Celtics 46-25 in the period and took a 103-91 lead into the fourth, prompting a few boos from the TD Garden crowd.
Boston responded, scoring the first seven points of the final period before a 3-pointer by Vincent ended the run.
Miami led 114-109 with just over three minutes to play when Brogdon was fouled by Butler. But he connected on just 1 of the 2 free throws. Butler was trapped on the next Miami possession before finding Martin for a corner 3.
Tatum travelled, giving the ball back to the Heat. A Miami miss gave the ball back to Boston, but Tatum was called again for travelling.
Miami wound the shot clock down before getting a 3-pointer to rattle in with 1:03 remaining.
The Celtics let Butler get loose early and he made them pay with 12 first-quarter points.
Boston&rsquo;s defense tightened in the second and Butler didn&rsquo;t take another shot until the 5:45 mark, an airball resulting in a shot clock violation. His second attempt of the quarter a few minutes later had the same result. He went into intermission with 15 points.
Meanwhile, the Celtics attacked the rim, outscoring the Heat 40-16 in the paint in the opening 24 minutes &ndash; the most allowed by Miami in a half this season. Boston also held an 11-2 advantage in second-chance points.
TIP-INS
Heat: Miami&rsquo;s previous high in the playoffs was 43 points against Charlotte in 2016. &hellip; Lowry hit 5 of his first 6 shots, scoring 13 points in his first nine minutes of action. &hellip; Butler (12) and Adebayo (6) combined for 18 of Miami&rsquo;s 28 points in the first quarter. It marked the seventh time Butler has reached double figures in the first period this postseason.
Celtics: Marcus Smart finished with 13 points and 11 assists. &hellip; Led 66-57 at halftime. With the score tied at 47, Boston outscored Miami 19-10 over the final 5:26 of the half. &hellip; Brown wore his black protective mask after going without it for the final two games of their semifinals matchup with the 76ers. He fractured a facial bone late in the regular season. &hellip; New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick was in attendance.

Jimmy Butler and the Heat rallied in the second half to beat the Celtics 123-116 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Butler scores 35, Heat rally to beat Celtics 123-116 in Game 1

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Nikola Jokic recorded his sixth triple-double of these playoffs with 34 points, 21 rebounds and 14 assists, powering the Denver Nuggets to a 132-126 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the opener of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday night.
Behind Jokic&rsquo;s sizzling start and strong finish, and Jamal Murray&rsquo;s 31 points, Denver beat the Lakers in the opener of the West finals for the first time ever.
After a slow start, Anthony Davis had 40 points and 10 rebounds, and LeBron James finished with 26 points, 12 boards and nine assists. Austin Reaves chipped in 23 points and fueled L.A.&rsquo;s desperate fourth-quarter run that nearly erased Denver&rsquo;s 14-point cushion after three.
The Nuggets led by as many as 21 but the Lakers pulled within three points twice in the fourth quarter, once on Reaves&rsquo; 3-pointer at 124-121 and again on James&rsquo; pair of free throws that made it 129-126 with 1:12 remaining.
After Jokic sank two free throws with 26 seconds left to give Denver a 131-126 lead, Murray poked the ball from James as he was about to take it to the hoop and Jokic gathered the loose ball before being fouled with 10.9 seconds left. He sank one of two and James misfired from 3 as the seconds ticked off.
Game 2 is Thursday night at Ball Arena, where the top-seeded Nuggets are 7-0 in the playoffs and 41-7 overall, the best home record in the league this season.
Jokic said a day earlier that the Nuggets desperately needed to avoid following in the sneaker-steps of the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors, both of whom dropped their home opener to the Lakers and wound up losing in six games.
Moreover, James has won his last 20 playoff series in which his team has won the opener.
The Nuggets hadn&rsquo;t taken Game 1 against the Lakers since 1979, when they won the opener of the best-of-3 series only to lose the next two. That&rsquo;s the closest the Nuggets have ever come to eliminating the Lakers, who have beaten Denver three times in the West finals, including in the Florida bubble in 2020.
Flashing his MVP credentials in a stunning display of power in the first quarter, Jokic pulled down a dozen boards and dished out five assists to go with eight points. That made him the first player since at least 1997 to have a dozen or more boards and at least five assists in any quarter of an NBA playoff game.
The Lakers used an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to 11 points before Jokic responded with an off-balance 3-pointer over the outstretched arm of Davis that barely fluttered the net at the buzzer, leaving Davis to trudge back to the bench in disbelief.
The &ldquo;Joker,&rdquo; who missed out on his third consecutive NBA MVP award this year when he was edged by Philadelphia&rsquo;s Joel Embiid, had 19 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks by halftime as the Nuggets took a 72-54 lead into the locker room.
PLENTY OF POINTS
With 258 combined points, it was the highest-scoring conference finals game that didn&rsquo;t go to overtime since 1987, when Detroit beat Boston 145-119.
CLOCK SHOT
A malfunctioning shot clock was fixed and restored to its rightful place above the baskets in time for the second half. A malfunction forced officials to place a timer on both ends of the Ball Arena floor in the first half. It made for a different sort of gaze for James, Jokic and the rest of the players, who usually glance slightly up from where they&rsquo;re shooting to know how much time is left. In the first half, they had to look toward the right side of the baseline.
TIP-INS
Lakers: L.A.&lsquo;s only lead came on James&rsquo; bucket to open the game. ... The Lakers lost to the Nuggets in the playoffs for just the ninth time in 34 tries. ... Los Angeles coach Darvin Ham lost a late challenge, the second one of the fourth quarter that took an inordinate amount of time for the officials to rule on.
Nuggets: Denver grabbed 20 of the first 23 rebounds in the game. ... The only player since 1997 to do what Jokic did in the first quarter was Cleveland&rsquo;s Anderson Varejao, who blitzed the Wizards for 12 rebounds and five assists in a regular-season game in October of 2012. ... The Nuggets called timeout just before the 10-minute mark in the fourth quarter and actually lost a point when it was determined a 3-pointer by Murray was actually a 2, cutting Denver&rsquo;s lead to 108-100.

The Denver Nuggets got a 132-126 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the opener of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday night.

Nikola Jokic leads Nuggets past Lakers 132-126 in West opener

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Nikola Jokic had a triple-double after&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nikola-jokic-suns-owner-ishbia-nuggets-68825fb1632f87930fe30ec72ae5c94f">making up</a>&nbsp;with Suns owner Mat Ishbia and Michael Porter Jr. sank five 3-pointers to help the Denver Nuggets beat Phoenix 118-102 on Tuesday night for a 3-2 series lead.
Joker had 29 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists for his 10th career playoff triple-double, breaking a tie with Wilt Chamberlain for most by a center in NBA history.
&ldquo;To be honest, I just like to win the game, so whatever it takes,&rdquo; said Jokic, who was coming off a career-best 53-point performance in Game 4.
Game 6 is Thursday night in Phoenix.
&ldquo;If we play the way we did today,&rdquo; Jokic said, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re going to have a chance&rdquo; to close out the series and advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since the NBA bubble in 2020.
The Suns are confident they can shake this one off just like they did in bouncing back from two losses in Denver last week.
&ldquo;Yeah. I&rsquo;ve been in here a couple of times now,&rdquo; Phoenix star Devin Booker said. &ldquo;I love it. Every game has is its own character. Every game is its own movie, its own different preparation and everything to go with it. We&rsquo;re going watch over film, see how we can be better for Game 6.&rdquo;
The home team has won every game in the series. If that holds true again, the decisive winner-take-all clash will come Sunday back in Denver, where the top-seeded Nuggets own the NBA&rsquo;s best home record at 40-7, including 6-0 in the playoffs.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone devised a five-point plan for the Nuggets to regain control of the series after losing two in Phoenix: patch up their transition defense, slow down Booker, get more from his bench, unleash MPJ and knock down open 3s.
Check, check, check, check and check.
Porter bounced back from a quiet night in Game 4 with 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting from long range. Denver outscored Phoenix 31-23 in fast-break points; Booker scored 28 points but missed 11 of 19 shots; Bruce Brown boosted the Nuggets&rsquo; bench with 25 points and the Nuggets sank 13 of 27 from long range.
Jamal Murray added 19 points for Denver, and Kevin Durant chipped in 26 points for Phoenix but also had an uncharacteristic five turnovers.
The Nuggets turned a three-point halftime lead into a 91-74 cushion with a domiinant third quarter in which Jokic made seven of eight shots for 17 points and Booker was just 1-for-8 for 3 points.
The chippiness of the series reached a new level in the final minute of the third quarter when Nuggets swingman Brown antagonized the Suns as they huddled up on the court and Durant gave Jokic a forearm shiver. A double technical was assessed on Durant and Brown.
&ldquo;Just to see what they were drawing up,&rdquo; Jokic said when asked why he and Brown were spying on the Suns.
Durant called the dust-up &ldquo;absolutely nothing, it wasn&rsquo;t anything serious. They were excited, they were up big and we were trying to draw up some stuff. So, it was nothing.&rdquo;
So, no need for a hug and a handshake next time they play.
Before this game, Jokic shared a warm pregame embrace &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MichelleTuckner/status/1656099830685663232?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">and the basketball</a>&nbsp;&mdash; with Ishbia 48 hours after their kerfuffle over a loose ball in Phoenix in Game 4 resulted in a technical foul and a $25,000 fine for the Nuggets big man.
&ldquo;I was hoping he was going to pay my fine,&rdquo; Jokic cracked after the game.
&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s just making light of a situation that was way overblown,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;The NBA handled it the right way and I give their owner, Mat Ishbia, a lot of credit when he came out after the game and said, &lsquo;Listen, I don&rsquo;t want anyone to be suspended. Let&rsquo;s let the players decide this on the court.&rsquo; So, kudos to him for that.
&ldquo;But yeah, I think it just speaks to Nikola&rsquo;s personality and him being a little bit of a smart (aleck).&rdquo;
The NBA had stickers placed on the first several rows of seats &mdash; including Ishbia&rsquo;s &mdash; reminding spectators, especially those close to the action, of its&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/arniestapleton/status/1656074725368668162?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fan code of conduct policy</a>&nbsp;and a reminder that violations could result in ejection and revocation of tickets.
TIP-INS
Suns: Seated courtside alongside Ishbia was Michigan State football coach Mel Tucker, derisively known in much of Colorado as &ldquo;Midnight Mel&rdquo; for his departure from the Buffaloes job only hours after telling boosters he was in Boulder to stay.
Nuggets: This marked the first game in the series that the leader after one quarter held on to win the game. ... Among the VIPs in attendance was Broncos new head coach Sean Payton, his quarterback Russell Wilson and John Calipari, who coached Booker and Murray at Kentucky.

Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets beat the Phoenix Suns 118-102 on Tuesday night for a 3-2 series lead.

Nuggets beat Suns 118-102 in Game 5 to regain series lead

PHOENIX (AP) &mdash; Devin Booker had 36 points and 12 assists, Kevin Durant also scored 36 points and the Phoenix Suns beat the Denver Nuggets 129-124 on Sunday to even their Western Conference semifinal playoff series at two games apiece.
Backup guard Landry Shamet made four crucial 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to keep the Suns ahead. Denver lost despite a huge game from MVP runner-up Nikola Jokic, who poured in 53 points on 20-of-30 shooting.
Jokic used his physical play to knock down several big buckets, even&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nuggets-suns-jokic-ishbia-technical-a2c83b6bc613666925579917ddbaecf9">ripping the ball away from Suns owner Mat Ishbia</a>&nbsp;at one point after the ball went out of bounds, which earned the Nuggets All-Star a technical foul.
The series returns to Denver for Game 5 on Tuesday.
The Suns took a 98-92 lead into the fourth quarter after a scoring flurry from Booker, who had 17 points in the third. Phoenix wouldn&rsquo;t trail in the fourth, though Denver didn&rsquo;t go quietly.
The Nuggets trailed 116-106 with 4:55 remaining but never panicked, slowly cutting into the lead. They pulled within 123-120 with 22.4 seconds left but TJ Warren made two free throws to push the margin back to five.
Booker &mdash; averaging 36 points on 60% shooting in these playoffs &mdash; was hot once again, shooting 14 of 18 from the field, including 3 of 4 on 3-pointers. Shamet finished with 19 points, shooting 5 of 8 on 3s.
Jamal Murray added 28 points and seven assists for the Nuggets.
Suns point guard Chris Paul missed his second straight game with a strained left groin suffered during Game 2.
The Suns took a 63-61 lead by halftime. Jokic had 24 points for the Nuggets before the break while Durant had 21 for the Suns.
JOKIC VS ISHBIA
Jokic was assessed a technical foul in the second after a bizarre altercation with Ishbia.
Late in the period, Suns guard Josh Okogie crashed into the seats while trying to save a loose ball. He landed in a group of fans on the baseline that included Ishbia, who grabbed the basketball.
Jokic was trying to get the basketball quickly &mdash; apparently so the Nuggets could start their offensive possession &mdash; when he tried to take the ball away from Ishbia. The ball flew backward into the crowd, and then Ishbia was knocked backward by Jokic&rsquo;s elbow.
There were a few minutes of confusion as officials sorted out the weird scene, and then Jokic was assessed a technical foul.
Ishbia told The Associated Press at halftime that he was &ldquo;fine&rdquo; and more worried about the game than the altercation. He was back in his usual seats in the second half.
AYTON&rsquo;S BIG OVATION
Suns center Deandre Ayton was the subject of scorn from media and fans following his subpar performance in Game 3.
Ayton had just four points and nine rebounds in Game 3 and the former No. 1 overall pick was benched in the fourth quarter in favor of Jock Landale.
But the big man got the fans back on his side during the first offensive possession of the night, grabbing three consecutive offensive rebounds before Booker hit a short jumper as the crowd roared. Ayton finished with eight points and eight rebounds.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. each scored 11 points.
Suns: Booker scored 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting in the first quarter. He scored 18 points in the first quarter of Game 3.

The Phoenix Suns beat the Denver Nuggets 129-124 on Sunday to even their Western Conference semifinal playoff series at 2-2.

Booker, Durant both score 36, Suns even series with Nuggets

PHILADELPHIA (AP) &mdash; Scrambling for a loose ball late in the fourth quarter and the outcome of Game 3 still in the balance, Grant Williams was accidentally stomped&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1654667918641340416?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">face-first into the court</a>&nbsp;by Joel Embiid&rsquo;s wayward foot.
Much like the Celtics after their Game 1 debacle, a bloody, shaken Williams absorbed the beating and came back to help stick it to the suddenly shaky 76ers.
&ldquo;That was kind of nasty,&rdquo; Celtics guard Jayson Tatum said.
So, too, is what the Celtics have done to Embiid, James Harden and the rest of the Sixers while seizing control of the series.
Tatum scored 27 points, Jaylen Brown had 23 and Boston spoiled Embiid&rsquo;s MVP coronation, beating Philadelphia 114-102 Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.
Williams didn&rsquo;t score a point in 23 minutes, but his toughness in shaking off the sneaker to the back of his head symbolized the way Boston has continued to fight after a Game 1 embarrassment.
&ldquo;I was like, &rsquo;Dang, I really got curb-stomped,&rsquo;&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just thankful he didn&rsquo;t like fully just lean his weight onto it. He definitely got me pretty badly. But then I think he felt that he landed on something, so he picked his foot up. It hurts a little bit.&rdquo;
Embiid had 30 points and 13 rebounds in his second game back from a sprained right knee after receiving his MVP trophy in a pregame ceremony.
Boston gave 76ers fans little reason to cheer again.
The Sixers pulled within five on De&rsquo;Anthony Melton&rsquo;s 3-pointer to get the crowd back into the game for all of 20 seconds before Malcolm Brogdon countered with a 3 to give Boston a 100-92 lead. Al Horford crushed the Sixers again &mdash; as he has most of his career &mdash; when he buried a 3 for a seven-point lead.
Embiid, forced to try and win it alone without any serious offensive help, missed a pull-up 18-footer and Tatum drained a jumper that all but put the game away. Tatum hit one more 3 for good measure and the Celtics won their second straight.
&ldquo;We just held the ball too long, too much,&rdquo; Embiid said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t start our actions fast enough. That&rsquo;s why it looks so slow. We&rsquo;re not scoring the ball. We&rsquo;re not making shots.&rdquo;
Embiid was flanked by his parents and teammates as he received the MVP trophy from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver before Game 3. Sixers fans roared as Embiid hoisted the trophy high over his head. Then the moment turned touching. Embiid&rsquo;s young son, Arthur, ran onto the court and into the arms of his father.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1654634059199393792?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Embiid held his son</a>, who wore a &ldquo;My dad is the MVP&rdquo; T-shirt, and wiped tears from his eyes as fans chanted &ldquo;MVP! MVP!&rdquo;
&ldquo;Honestly, he&rsquo;s the main reason why I&rsquo;m really here,&rdquo; Embiid said. &ldquo;Becoming a father really changed my whole life. I just wanted to show him a good example.&rdquo;
The good times didn&rsquo;t last long.
Boston spiked any emotional carryover from the ceremony and raced to a quick 10-point lead.
The Sixers spent the rest of the game playing catch-up. All the energy spent to come back and take brief leads quickly evaporated and the Celtics snagged them right back.
Embiid gamely tried to carry the Sixers on one good knee, but got almost no help from Harden and Tyrese Maxey. Harden&rsquo;s 45-point effort in a Game 1 upset in Boston seemed more an aberration than a sign of things to come. Harden followed his 2 of 14 in a Game 2 loss with 3-for-14 shooting for 16 points.
Harden&rsquo;s 5-for-28 shooting the last two games is the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/1654675131971563520" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">worst for him over any two-game span</a>&nbsp;in his career, regular season or playoffs, in which he&rsquo;s attempted at least 20 field goals.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just trying to make him work as much as we can,&rdquo; Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. &ldquo;Trying to keep him off the free-throw line. Guys are just working to take away those details.&rdquo;
Harden failed to pick up the Sixers in the third, when he could have changed the game.
He did hit P.J. Tucker for a 3 that pulled the Sixers to 74-72. Harden then missed two straight jumpers and fouled Brown on a tough layup. Brown made the free throw and the Celtics were back up by eight.
Harden oddly passed up plenty of easy looks and layups and also committed five turnovers.
Embiid had scored 53 points against the Celtics in an early-April matchup, but could never get cooking in Game 3. The Celtics double-teamed Embiid from the jump and he looked gassed by the end of the third. Without a teammate he could trust to make shots, Embiid took the scoring load on himself and scored 12 points in the third when he played the entire quarter.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t get the ball enough,&rdquo; Embiid said. &ldquo;Not to score, but also to make plays for my teammates. They had a tendency of doubling quite a bit tonight, so I thought we could have used that to our advantage. When we did, we also missed a lot of wide-open 3s.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Celtics: Tatum added 10 rebounds. ... Boston 16 of 45 3-pointers.
76ers: Made 12 of 12 free throws in the first quarter. ... Made 16 of 37 3s.

Jayson Tatum scored 27 points, Jaylen Brown had 23 and Boston spoiled Embiid’s MVP coronation, beating Philadelphia 114-102.

Tatum, Brown spark Celtics past 76ers 114-102 in Game 3

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) &mdash; After yet another big basket, Klay Thompson scurried toward the fans sitting courtside opposite the Warriors bench and raised his arms in the air to ignite an entire arena behind him. It didn&rsquo;t take much the way his shots were falling.
He has been waiting his entire life to shine against his father&rsquo;s Los Angeles Lakers on the big stage.
Thompson scored 30 points with eight 3-pointers, Golden State limited Anthony Davis while allowing LeBron James 23 points, and the defending champion Warriors evened their Western Conference semifinal with the Lakers at one game apiece with a 127-100 win Thursday night.
&ldquo;I was just trying to get the crowd going,&rdquo; Thompson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s always fun when you shoot the ball well, it&rsquo;s even better when you couple that win a win.&rdquo;
Stephen Curry added 20 points and 12 assists as Splash Brother Thompson got hot to help Golden State make 21 more 3-pointers &mdash; giving the Warriors an NBA record for most in the first two games of a playoff series at 42. James&rsquo; Cavaliers hit 40 against Atlanta in the 2016 second round.
&ldquo;They made their adjustments. We knew they were going to do that, that&rsquo;s what a championship team does,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;They held serve on their home court tonight.&rdquo;
Coach Steve Kerr switched things up and inserted JaMychal Green into the starting lineup for Kevon Looney, who had a career-high 23 rebounds in Game 1 but has been dealing with an illness. Kerr aimed to give a different look with scoring options and more free-throw chances by going hard with a physical presence against Davis in the paint &mdash; where Golden State got thoroughly outplayed in a 117-112 loss in the opener.
Thompson&rsquo;s basket with 7:48 left in the third gave Golden State its biggest lead at 82-64 and the Warriors rolled from there.
&ldquo;Klay got it going and our defense was kind of fueling our offense,&rdquo; Kerr said.
The Warriors had more fast-break points and points in the paint. JaMychal Green matched his playoff career high with 15 points, while Draymond Green contributed 11 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists after insisting he had to get more aggressive.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been waiting on this moment, just wanted to show that I could help,&rdquo; JaMychal Green said. &ldquo;They always tell me to stay ready, my time will come.&rdquo;
The best-of-seven series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Saturday. Back home in Southern California, Thompson said he would play in the memory of &ldquo;my biggest inspiration&rdquo; Kobe Bryant and daughter, Gigi.
&ldquo;I have so much respect for just the opportunity ahead for me,&rdquo; Thompson said.
James shot 6 for 8 in the first with a pair of 3s for 14 points as the Lakers led 33-26. He retrieved a loose ball and let it fly for a pretty 3 with 7:47 before halftime but the Warriors were too much.
Davis followed up his brilliant Game 1 performance &mdash; 30 points, 23 rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots and 11-for-19 shooting &mdash; with 11 points while shooting 5 for 11, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks.
&ldquo;We played with more force,&rdquo; Draymond Green said.
Golden State outscored the Lakers 84-47 over the second and third quarters &mdash; recording two 40-point quarters in the same playoff game for the first time in franchise history.
&ldquo;It was hard for us to guard four shooters,&rdquo; Lakers forward Rui Hachimura said. &ldquo;Defensively they were more aggressive I feel like. They had all the loose balls and the rebounds and everything.&rdquo;
Looney received huge roars as he came off the bench for his first action with 3:41 left in the first. He grabbed eight rebounds and scored six points playing just less than 12 minutes &mdash; and the Warriors still outboarded the Lakers 55-40 without its best rebounder.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re capable of playing a lot of different ways, I&rsquo;m capable of playing a lot of different ways,&rdquo; Curry said.
Kerr was hardly worried ahead of Game 2, pointing to how Golden State lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals at home to Boston last year before winning it all.
The Warriors also rallied from a 2-0 deficit in their first-round series to beat Sacramento, the first defending champion to do so.
&ldquo;You could tell, they came out just ready to try to secure a game,&rdquo; Lakers coach Darvin Ham said, &ldquo;and again not go back to our place down 0-2.&rdquo;
KLAY&rsquo;S DAY
Thompson shot 11 for 18 and 8 of 11 from deep. His 19 points in the first half were his most in a postseason contest since he scored 21 in Game 6 against the Rockets in 2019.
KEY SEQUENCE
The Warriors challenged an offensive foul call on Andrew Wiggins with James defending at the 2:50 mark of the second quarter. The call was overturned and a block assessed to James, and a Lakers assistant received a technical during the review process &mdash; and the Warriors converted all three free throws to lead 60-50 before Thompson&rsquo;s 3 the next time down.
TIP-INS
Lakers: James was -27 through three quarters. The only time he had a worse plus-minus through three in a playoff game was Game 1 of a second-round series against the Pistons in 2006. ... In a big change from Game 1, the Lakers didn&rsquo;t take their first free throws until 1:03 before halftime and their four attempts matched their second-fewest in a first half this season.
Warriors: Moses Moody added 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench and Gary Payton II seven points and five boards as Golden State controlled the glass all game. ... JaMychal Green earned his first playoff start since April 26, 2019, for the Clippers against the Warriors in Game 6 of the first round. &ldquo;Two hours before game time Loon came down pretty ill,&rdquo; Kerr said. ... Golden State improved to 20-6 in Game 2s dating to the 2014-15 title run.

Klay Thompson scored 30 points, and the Warriors evened their series with the Lakers at 1-1 with a 127-100 win on Thursday night.

Klay Thompson scores 30, Warriors adjust to beat Lakers 127-100

The Memphis Grizzlies have no plans to bring Dillon Brooks back to the team when he hits free agency this summer, a person with knowledge of the situation said Tuesday.
Brooks was offered an extension last year but turned it down. The Grizzlies have since decided that he won&rsquo;t be in their future plans, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the team nor Brooks released details publicly.
The Athletic first reported the Grizzlies&rsquo; decision, and it was subsequently confirmed by ESPN.
Brooks just completed a three-year contract that paid him $35 million. He led the NBA with 18 technical fouls this season, earning a pair of one-game suspensions for surpassing the league threshold for technicals.
He also was fined $35,000 for shoving a camera person on the sideline while chasing a loose ball in Miami in March, which he apologized for later. He was suspended a game in February for hitting Donovan Mitchell in the groin in February, costing him $78,621 in pay, according to Spotrac.com.
The NBA fined Brooks on Sunday $25,000 for not talking to the media after some of Memphis&rsquo; losses in its first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA says Brooks violated league rules for &ldquo;media interview access.&rdquo;
That included Brooks bolting the Memphis locker room after the Game 6&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/lakers-grizzlies-lebron-morant-nba-playoffs-2023-0e29c52f85372c3f4580832c328ebe10">series-clinching loss</a>&nbsp;before reporters were allowed inside. That 40-point loss was the biggest in franchise history for Memphis, which came in as the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/memphis-grizzlies-nba-playoffs-2023-df246a8daaf3223b66433693a35953a5">West&rsquo;s No. 2 seed for a second straight season</a>.
Grizzlies general manger Zach Kleiman was asked about Brooks&rsquo; future with Memphis on Sunday. Memphis acquired the 6-foot-6 Brooks, who was the 45th pick overall out of Oregon, in a draft-night trade from Houston in 2017. Brooks had started 318 of 345 regular-season games in his career.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll hit on DB another day, but nothing I could comment on for now with him going into free agency,&rdquo; Kleiman said then.

The Memphis Grizzlies have no plans to bring Dillon Brooks back to the team when he hits free agency this summer.

Grizzlies have no plans to bring back Dillon Brooks

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Jimmy Butler scored 42 points and the Miami Heat staged a second straight stunning fourth-quarter rally before winning 128-126 in overtime on Wednesday night in Game 5 to complete an upset of the top-seeded Bucks in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
Two nights after outscoring the Bucks 30-13 in the final six minutes of a 119-115 victory in Miami, the Heat produced another huge comeback and tied the game on&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1651441852153835520?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Butler&rsquo;s layup with half a second left in regulation</a>.
Miami went on to become the sixth No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 seed. The last time it happened was in 2012, when a Philadelphia 76ers team featuring current Bucks guard Jrue Holiday capitalized on Derrick Rose&rsquo;s knee injury to beat the top-seeded Chicago Bulls.
The Heat advanced to a second-round series with the fifth-seeded New York Knicks, who completed their 4-1 series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier Wednesday. Game 1 is Sunday in New York.
&ldquo;Because we&rsquo;ve been in so many of these close games in the fourth quarter, our guys take pride &mdash; a lot of pride &mdash; in our mental toughness and physical toughness going down the stretch, particularly in close games,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;We had to show that. We had to show that in all four of the wins.&rdquo;
Bam Adebayo put the Heat ahead for good by dunking in a putback of Butler&rsquo;s missed driving layup attempt with 4:44 left in overtime. The Bucks trailed 128-126 and had the ball in the closing seconds, but the clock ran out before Grayson Allen could take a shot as he drove to the basket.
Adebayo had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Gabe Vincent added 22 points.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 38 points and 20 rebounds for the Bucks, though he shot just 10 of 23 on free-throw attempts. Khris Middleton added 33 points.
Milwaukee led 102-86 after three quarters but shot just 5 of 25 from the floor in the fourth quarter and overtime.
The Heat tied the game on two occasions late in the fourth quarter before Middleton made two free throws to put Milwaukee back ahead with 27.8 seconds left.
Then things really got interesting.
After calling a timeout, the Heat got the ball to Butler, whose 3-point attempt missed with 18 seconds left. Holiday made two free throws with 14 seconds remaining to make it a four-point game, but Vincent&rsquo;s 3-pointer cut the lead to one with 8.4 seconds left.
The Bucks had the ball in the backcourt when Holiday threw an errant pass that eluded Middleton. Miami&rsquo;s Kyle Lowry initially was called for a foul as he chased the loose ball, but the Heat successfully challenged the call and it was ruled a jump ball.
Brook Lopez tipped the ball to Antetokounmpo, whose pass nearly went out of bounds before Middleton saved it to Holiday. After getting fouled with 2.1 seconds left, Holiday missed his first free throw before sinking the second to make it 118-116.
After the Heat called timeout, Vincent stood in front of the Bucks bench and threw an inbounds pass to Butler, who was waiting under the basket to make the tying score.
&ldquo;Just get the ball to Jimmy,&rdquo; Vincent said. &ldquo;The game plan was simple: Get the ball to Buckets and let him do what he do,&rdquo; Vincent said. &ldquo;Max set a great screen, Jimmy created some space and went up and got it.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Heat: Udonis Haslem picked up a technical foul from the Heat bench after exchanging words with Milwaukee&rsquo;s Bobby Portis during a second-quarter timeout. &hellip; Erik Spoelstra earned his 100th career playoff coaching victory. The 100th win enabled him to tie Larry Brown for fifth place on the all-time list Spoelstra&rsquo;s 99 wins put him in a tie for sixth with Red Auerbach. &hellip; The Heat improved to 3-1 in postseason series against the Bucks. The Heat won first-round series in 2013 and 2020 and lost a first-round series in 2021.
Bucks: Wesley Matthews returned to action for the first time since straining his right calf in Game 1. &ldquo;Tough is probably a gross understatement,&rdquo; Matthews said after a Wednesday morning shootaround as he discussed the pain of missing three playoff games. &hellip; The Bucks went out in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2018, when they lost in seven games to Boston as a No. 7 seed.

Jimmy Butler scored 42 points and the Heat won Game 5 to complete an upset of the top-seeded Bucks.

Heat rally again to win in overtime, eliminate top-seeded Bucks

PHOENIX (AP) &mdash; Load management is a big topic across the NBA these days.
One great way to make sure players get rest in the playoffs is to end the series early.
The Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics all have that opportunity on Tuesday night when they host Game 5s with a 3-1 lead in the series.
&ldquo;Closeout games are always the hardest,&rdquo; Suns center Deandre Ayton said. &ldquo;We expect it&rsquo;s going to be a battle. We&rsquo;re just gearing up.&rdquo;
The Western Conference top-seed Nuggets already had one opportunity to end their series, but the feisty Timberwolves managed to extend it with a Game 4 win in overtime on Sunday.
&ldquo;We really wanted to come out and have a sweep under our belt. Didn&rsquo;t happen,&rdquo; Nuggets guard Jamal Murray said. &ldquo;They fought. They fought like hell, all game long. Even when we put a scare in their heart a little bit, they kept fighting, kept playing, and the crowd was into it.&rdquo;
The Suns-Los Angeles Clippers series has been shaped by Kawhi Leonard&rsquo;s knee injury. Leonard has missed the past two games with a sprained knee, which has helped tip the series in favor of Phoenix.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely hurt. It&rsquo;s not load management where he&rsquo;s taking time off,&rdquo; Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s shown in the past that he&rsquo;s played through injuries in the playoffs and so if it&rsquo;s something he can&rsquo;t play through, then it has to be pretty serious.&rdquo;
L.A.&rsquo;s Paul George has been out since March 21 with the same injury as Leonard.
HAWKS AT CELTICS
Boston leads 3-1. Game 4, 7:30 p.m. EDT, TNT.
&mdash; NEED TO KNOW: The Celtics have never lost a best-of-seven playoff series after building a 3-1 lead. They are 27-0 in those situations over their storied history.
&mdash; KEEP AN EYE ON: Jaylen Brown&rsquo;s facial wear. The Boston star had been using a protective mask since February, when he sustained a broken bone in his face. But he ditched the mask in the second quarter of Game 4 after making just 1 of 7 shots. He went 11 of 15 the rest of the way to finish with 31 points in a 129-121 victory. Presumably, he won&rsquo;t be wearing the mask anymore in these playoffs. &ldquo;As soon as I took it off, things started to turn around a little bit,&rdquo; Brown said.
&mdash; INJURY WATCH: Boston G Marcus Smart looked just fine in Game 4 after falling hard on his tailbone in the previous contest. He said they were times when his lower back tightened up, and he&rsquo;ll have to remain diligent in his treatment to make sure the pain doesn&rsquo;t keep him off the court. &ldquo;Throughout the game, it got a little tight on me. It flared up. But once I got it stretched out again, got it loose, got some heat on it, it was pretty good,&rdquo; Smart said.
&mdash; PRESSURE IS ON: The Hawks. It looks like another brief playoff appearance unless they can pull of a win in Boston, and the challenge got even tougher when guard Dejounte Murray was suspended for Game 5 after bumping and verbally abusing an official after the end of Game 4. Murray is averaging 25.3 points in the series. Atlanta has lost five straight at TD Garden since its last victory on Feb. 17, 2021, including a pair of 13-point defeats in the first two games of this series. If the Hawks lose, it would be the second straight year they&rsquo;ve gone down in five games in the opening round and could signal major changes heading into the offseason.
TIMBERWOLVES AT NUGGETS
Denver leads 3-1. Game 5, 9 p.m. EDT, NBA TV.
&mdash; NEED TO KNOW: The Nuggets closed the last 2&frac12; minutes of the fourth quarter of Game 4 on a tying 12-0 run, but the Timberwolves recovered with an 18-point overtime on 6-for-8 shooting for a 114-108 victory. It denied Denver a first playoff-series sweep in franchise history and keep the first-round matchup alive despite Nikola Jokic&rsquo;s playoff-career-high-tying 43 points.
&mdash; KEEP AN EYE ON: Anthony Edwards. Minnesota&rsquo;s All-Star guard has 129 points in four games, the second-most in the NBA playoffs behind Phoenix&rsquo;s Devin Booker (139). He delivered a wide array of clutch baskets down the stretch for the Wolves in Game 4, including a pull-up 3-pointer from the wing with 11.5 seconds left in overtime to push their lead to four. He&rsquo;s the first player in Wolves&rsquo; history with 100-plus points over three consecutive playoff games. Only LeBron James (eight) had more 30-plus-point playoff games before age 22 than Edwards does (five). Still, Edwards was aiming for a higher bar after his 12-for-27 shooting performance.
&ldquo;I played terrible, if you ask me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I took three bad 3s, three terrible possessions, and I damn near shot us out the game.&rdquo;
&mdash; INJURY WATCH: Wolves sixth man Kyle Anderson was inadvertently struck by a stray arm from Edwards during a leap for a rebound late in the third quarter and did not return after suffering what the team announced as a left eye and facial contusion. Coach Chris Finch said Anderson went to see an eye specialist. ... Nuggets coach Mike Malone on Jokic&rsquo;s aggression with 12 free-throw attempts in Game 4 after zero in Game 3: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s banged up. He&rsquo;s playing hard.&rdquo;
&mdash; PRESSURE IS ON: Jamal Murray. After scoring 40 points in Game 2, Denver&rsquo;s standout point guard missed 26 of 43 shots over the two games in Minnesota. He had 19 points in Game 4, with Nickeil Alexander-Walker frequently picking up his defense before half court and making him work hard for every shot, drive and pass.
CLIPPERS AT SUNS
Phoenix leads 3-1, Game 5, 10 p.m. EDT, TNT
&mdash; NEED TO KNOW: The Suns took control of the series with two wins in Los Angeles and now return to Phoenix to try and close it out. The Suns have taken advantage of the absence of L.A. star Kawhi Leonard, who missed both Games 3 and 4 because of a sprained knee.
&mdash; KEEP AN EYE ON: Three-time All-Star Devin Booker is cooking for the Suns, averaging 34.8 points on 57.1% shooting. The 26-year-old isn&rsquo;t just scoring, he&rsquo;s averaging 5.5 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 1.3 blocks.
&mdash; INJURY WATCH: All eyes are on Leonard to see if he can return. The Suns have been without backup point guard Cam Payne, who hasn&rsquo;t played in the series because of a sore back.
&mdash; PRESSURE IS ON: Russell Westbrook. If Leonard can&rsquo;t play, the Clippers almost certainly have to have another massive game from Westbrook, who has played well in the series. He&rsquo;s improved his scoring total each game, rising from 9 points in Game 1 to 28 in Game 2, 30 in Game 3 and 37 in Game 4. L.A. might need a 40-spot from him on Tuesday to extend the series.

The Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics all have an opportunity to advance on Tuesday night when they host Game 5s.

Suns, Nuggets, Celtics can all advance with Game 5 wins

ATLANTA (AP) &mdash; Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum each scored 31 points and the Boston Celtics led nearly the entire way, holding off the Atlanta Hawks for a 129-121 victory Sunday night and commanding 3-1 lead in the opening-round playoff series.
The Celtics can deliver the clincher Tuesday night when the series returns to Boston for Game 5.
Tatum and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1650310469616541696">Brown</a>&nbsp;combined to score Boston's final 16 points.
<div id="tncms-region-article_instory_top" class="tncms-region hidden-print"></div>
Brown, who has been wearing a protective mask after sustaining facial contusions in February, took off the device after making only 1 of 7 shots. He went 11 of 15 the rest of the way.
Boston never trailed after grabbing a 4-3 lead on Derrick White's basket just over a minute into the game.
Tatum delivered a huge 3-pointer off a loose ball with two minutes remaining, pushing the Celtics to a 118-106 lead.
After Trae Young swished a long 3 to provide Atlanta's last gasp, Brown knocked one down from beyond the arc seal it for the Celtics.
Marcus Smart added 19 points and Derrick White 18 for the Celtics.
Young had another big game for Atlanta with 35 points, but it wasn't enough. De'Andre Hunter chipped in with 27 and DeJounte Murray had 23.
Hunter ripped off eight straight points, including a couple of 3s, and then delivered a thunderous dunk that brought the Hawks within 53-49.
But Boston closed the first half on a 12-4 spurt, capped by Smart's 3-pointer that sent the visitors to the locker room with a 65-53 lead and sapped a lot of energy from the home crowd.
The Celtics tenaciously protected their edge throughout the third period.
Young hit a long 3-pointer that brought the Hawks within three, but Boston got the last shot and put the ball in Smart's hands. The Celtics cleared the middle of the court so he could blow by Bogdan Bogdanovic, laying it in for a 92-87 lead heading to the final quarter.
<a href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1650305380743016448">Smart</a>&nbsp;was in the Celtics lineup and looked just fine after a hard fall near the end of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-playoffs-celtics-hawks-b1bad21fe5037dc5302acca397777122">Game 3</a>.
He landed on his tailbone while battling for a rebound, prompting Boston to list him as a game-time decision. But coach Joe Mazzulla&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-playoffs-celtics-hawks-marcus-smart-57ce5b2a6513ecda63ec158026f87cb9">declared his guard "good to go&rdquo;</a>&nbsp;well ahead of tipoff.
KEEPING IT CLEAN
The first week of the playoffs has been marred by flagrant fouls, ejections and suspensions.
There have been no major issues in the Celtics-Hawks series, though Young did pick up a flagrant foul for grabbing Tatum's arm on a drive through the lane in the third quarter.
&ldquo;I think it's been a clean series,&rdquo; Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. &ldquo;Physicality isn't necessarily wrong. It's part of the game. You can be physical. I think the word is &lsquo;aggressiveness&rsquo; as much as anything. Both teams have done that.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Celtics: After getting outrebounded 48-29 in Game 3, Boston came out much more determined on the boards. They held a 19-9 edge at the end of the first quarterback, 32-20 at halftime and finished with a 53-52 edge.
Hawks: Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins missed his second straight game as commentator on the Hawks regional telecast because of an illness. He is expected to return for Game 5.

The Boston Celtics led nearly the entire way, holding off the Atlanta Hawks for a 129-121 victory Sunday night and commanding 3-1 lead.

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