The Phoenix Suns are on the verge of being swept out of the first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves, whose suffocating blend of perimeter pressure and rim protection is making Kevin Durant’s life miserable. Durant finished Game 3 just 8-for-18 from the field. He’s missed 19 of his last 33 shots in this series. For Durant, this damn near constitutes a crisis.
The Suns, who move about as much as cement and aim to survive on just about the unhealthiest shot diet known to man, don’t make it any easier on him. But this is a brand of basketball Durant prefers to play. And it’s not working.
Unless the Suns become the first team in history to recover from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, Durant will move to 2-4 in six playoff series since leaving the Golden State Warriors in 2019 — point at which he began trying to superteam his way to post-Stephen Curry validation.
Durant, individually, has acquitted himself just fine. Shock-jock hot takes notwithstanding, he never had anything to prove in that regard in the first place. He was sensational before teaming up with Curry, and he’s been sensational after. But the playoff losses are piling up because, even for a scorer as gifted as Durant, basketball becomes very difficult when you’re going at it largely alone.
It’s not to suggest Durant doesn’t have help in Phoenix, and he certainly had help in Brooklyn when the Nets were healthy, which, to be fair, was never fully the case in the playoffs. But the particular players that Durant has chosen to partner with are mostly smaller versions of himself. Devin Booker and Kyrie Irving are bucket getters who create largely for themselves. Bradley Beal is an overqualified spot-up shooter but isn’t good enough to command equal creative rights in Phoenix.
Booker, in particular, is midrange obsessed. He and Durant together can only add up to their own scoring totals, which is to say, other than the obvious fact that they draw attention away from one another as any two superstars do, they don’t necessarily make anything easier for each other. The Warriors, talented as they were individually, added up to more than the sum of their parts with their ball and player movement. The Curry factor was, is and forever will be exponential.
For Durant, basketball has never been easier than that first year he arrived in Golden State, when his 68% true-shooting clip in the playoffs was by far a career high. In fact, the five best single-series shooting clips of Durant’s playoff career all came with the Warriors, and the 130.1 points per 100 shots that he averaged over three playoff seasons with Golden State, per Cleaning the Glass, trumps any single-year playoff mark of scoring efficiency he has achieved with any other team.
That isn’t by chance. His shots with the Warriors, pretty simply, were easier. Never before, and never after, has Durant not been the full-game focal point of the defense. In Golden State, Curry, more often than not, shouldered that burden, and Golden State’s impromptu movement made it nearly impossible for defenses to drill down on Durant’s trademark scoring spots.
One example: Isolations only accounted for 10% of KD’s playoff possessions during that 2016-17 playoff run, per Synergy, and 56% of his buckets were assisted, which means he didn’t have to create them for himself. Compare that to Durant’s first playoff run in Brooklyn, when isolations accounted for 25% of his scoring possessions and only 44% of his buckets were assisted.
That trend has continued in Phoenix, where he isolated on 25% of his playoff possessions last season and is doing so 26% of the time so far against Minnesota. It goes without saying that Durant is a lethal one-on-one scorer, so he’s going to get his numbers (24.7 PPG on 50% shooting through the first three games of this series on the strength of a an 11-for-17 showing in Game 1), even if the degree of difficulty is greater than it might need to be.
Again, Durant pretty clearly prefers this harder, old-school brand of contested, midrange basketball, even if joining forces with Curry, on a macro level, made it seem like he fancied the easy way out.
Even in his second season with the Warriors, 2017-18, you could tell that Durant wanted to play his way after spending his first season completely acquiescing to Golden State’s system. During that playoff run, Durant’s isolation rate jumped 17% from his first postseason with the Warriors, and not coincidentally, his efficiency suffered. Durant shot 49% overall in those playoffs, including 34% from 3, down from 56% and 44% the year prior.
It didn’t matter. Durant still averaged 29 points in those playoffs and the Warriors won the title. But he’s not 29 years old anymore, and he’s not on the Warriors. Now he’s 35, and though he still played at a First-Team All-NBA level this season, the toll continues to climb.
Over three postseasons with the Warriors, Durant averaged just under 38 minutes per game. In four playoff runs since, he’s averaged just under 42 minutes. I suppose the silver lining is Durant hasn’t been past the second round with Brooklyn or Phoenix, so the total playoff minutes have gone down. But that, of course, has been the problem. He’s not winning.
Over 36 playoff games since leaving the Warriors, Durant has gone 16-20. I want to be clear: None of that is his fault, unless you want to blame him for the hand he had in the initial Kyrie and Booker partnerships and the subsequent additions of James Harden in Brooklyn and Beal in Phoenix. His GM resume might not look too good.
But his basketball resume is spotless. None of what I’ve written here is meant as an indictment on Durant as an all-time great player, and this is surely not an attempt to opine on his decision to either join or leave the Warriors. He had his reasons for both. He’s entitled. I am merely saying that basketball has become a more difficult endeavor for Durant since leaving the Warriors.
He may have wanted it that way. The challenge appeals to competitors. If you’re going to critique the guy for joining an already all-time great team in the Warriors, then you have to at least acknowledge that he’s chosen to embrace a decidedly uphill grind these last five years when he could’ve just resigned with the Warriors and continued shooting fish in a barrel.
It must be noted that the Warriors have found life after Durant to be pretty difficult, too. They’ve missed the playoffs three of the last five years. But the 2022 championship made all the struggles worthwhile. Durant’s still missing that payoff. He hasn’t even gotten close. Kyrie and Harden sabotaged his time in Brooklyn and the sun is about to set in Phoenix.
Next year Durant will be 36. The Suns don’t have any real avenue to improvement. He can do the trade-demand thing again, but where has that gotten him? Durant’s post-Warriors ambition is admirable, and never in a million years would he concede to any regret. But as winning and the game itself continue to demand more and more of his talent and energy, he can sit back and think about how good he used to have it.
The No. 2 seed Denver Nuggets and the No. 7 seed Los Angeles Lakers collide for a Game 4 in Los Angeles on Saturday. The Lakers need to give the Nuggets their best shot to keep their season alive, but L.A. has lost 11 straight games to Denver. On Thursday, the Nuggets defeated the Lakers 112-105 to go up 3-0 in this 2024 NBA playoffs series. Reggie Jackson (ankle) is questionable for Denver, while Anthony Davis (wrist) is questionable for Los Angeles.
Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Denver is a 3.5-point favorite in the latest Nuggets vs. Lakers odds, per SportsLine consensus. The over/under for total points is 219. Before making any Lakers vs. Nuggets picks, be sure to see the NBA predictions and betting advice from SportsLine’s proven computer model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past five-plus seasons. The model enters the second week of the 2024 NBA playoffs on a sizzling 90-58 roll on all top-rated NBA picks this season, returning more than $2,800. Anyone following the model has seen huge returns.
Now, the model has set its sights on Nuggets vs. Lakers and just locked in its picks and Game 4 predictions. You can visit SportsLine now to see the picks. Here are several NBA betting lines and trends for Lakers vs. Nuggets:
Nuggets vs. Lakers spread: Los Angeles +3.5 Nuggets vs. Lakers over/under: 219 points Nuggets vs. Lakers money line: Denver -159, Los Angeles +134 DEN: The Nuggets have hit the money line in 70 of their last 96 games LAL: The Lakers have hit the 1H money line in 30 of their last 47 games Nuggets vs. Lakers picks: See picks at SportsLine Why the Nuggets can cover Forward Michael Porter Jr. is a knockdown shooter on the outside who is also able to put the ball on the deck. The Missouri product is averaging 20.3 points, nine rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game in the 2024 NBA playoffs. He’s scored 20-plus points in two straight games, and in his last outing, Porter Jr. had 20 points and 10 boards.
Forward Aaron Gordon is an athletic difference-maker. Gordon is an all-around playmaker with the bounce to soar above the rim. The Arizona product also plays defense with plenty of energy, and in this series, Gordon is averaging 18.3 points, 11, rebounds, and 4.3 assists. In his previous matchup, he totaled 29 points and 15 boards. See which team to back at SportsLine.
Why the Lakers can cover Forward LeBron James has played so much playoff basketball that he should never be counted out. James is a barreling force attacking the lane and is a streaky shooter from beyond the arc. The 39-year-old threads the needle as a playmaker as well. In this 2024 NBA playoffs series, James is averaging 26.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and a team-high 9.7 assists. During Game 2, he had 26 points, eight boards, and 12 assists.
Davis (questionable) is a commanding two-way threat. The former Kentucky standout uses his top-shelf awareness to be an elite rim protector but also dominates offensively. Davis has a soft touch from the low post with a nice mid-range jumper. He leads the team in scoring (32.3), rebounds (13.3), and blocks (1.7) in the playoffs. In Game 3, Davis put up 33 points and 15 boards. See which team to back at SportsLine.
How to make Lakers vs. Nuggets picks SportsLine’s model is leaning Under on the total, projecting the teams to combine for 217 points. The model also says one side of the spread has all of the value. You can see the picks only at SportsLine.
So who wins Lakers vs. Nuggets, and which side of the spread has all of the value? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Nuggets vs. Lakers spread you need to jump on, all from the model on a 90-58 roll on top-rated NBA picks this season, and find out.
The opening-round matchup between the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers has a strong argument for the most entertaining series of the NBA playoffs thus far. Between the Knicks’ incredible Game 2 comeback, Joel Embiid dropping 50 points in Game 3, and all of the rugged physicality along the way, we’ve seen pretty much everything — and we haven’t even gotten to the fourth game yet.
Much of the discussion entering Sunday’s matchup revolves around Embiid’s Game 3 flagrant foul in which he grabbed the legs of an airborne Mitchell Robinson. Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo called the play “dirty,” while New York head coach Tom Thibodeau felt Embiid had multiple questionable plays throughout the game. A social media uproar insisted that Embiid deserved an ejection, and possible suspension, for the act.
Joel Embiid received a Flagrant 1 after this foul on Mitchell Robinson 😳 pic.twitter.com/2ygeQh8gMG
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 26, 2024 Coming to Embiid’s defense, however, was teammate Kelly Oubre Jr., who spoke with the media on Saturday. Oubre doesn’t feel that the foul was as big of a deal as people are making it, saying that it’s all part of the ebb and flow of a physical series.
“At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s dirty,” Oubre said on Saturday. “Jo has to protect himself. But at the end of the day, I’m not gonna comment on what they’re commenting on because at the end of the day, they’re gonna hit, and then we hit back, then they cry, and then vice versa or whatever the case may be.
“It’s like, let’s just hoop, let’s go out there and play hard. Nobody finna fight, — this ain’t WWE. At the end of the day, stand on the stuff that y’all say, so we’ll see tomorrow how they react.”
Kelly Oubre pushed back on the claims from New York that Embiid’s foul on Robinson was a dirty play, saying he’s been fouled the same way.
“They’re gonna hit, and we’re gonna hit back, and they’re gonna cry, and then vice versa or whatever the case may be. Let’s just hoop,… pic.twitter.com/yRgGyi1pgX
— PHLY Sixers (@PHLY_Sixers) April 27, 2024 We’ll see, indeed.
Recovering from a knee injury that kept him out for a large chunk of the season and now dealing with a case of Bell’s palsy, Embiid has averaged 38 points, nine rebounds and five assists per game this series. He did much of his damage from the perimeter during his 50-point outburst on Thursday, as the Knicks continue to try to push him off his spots in the post.
The 76ers will be as close to “must win” mode as possible on Sunday, hoping to tie up the series and avoid a 3-1 series deficit heading back to New York.
The 76ers managed to get one in the win column in Game 3 against the Knicks behind 50 points from Joel Embiid, but of course, it wasn’t without controversy. The Knicks accused Embiid of a “dirty” foul on big man Mitchell Robinson, which led him to leave the arena after the game in a walking boot. Robinson is a game-time decision for Game 4, so we’ll see if he is able to play after suffering a left ankle sprain.
That aside, the Knicks got much better production out of their All-Star guard Jalen Brunson, who almost eclipsed the 40-point mark, but it wasn’t enough as Philadelphia managed to close the gap in this series.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of Game 4.
Knicks at 76ers — Game 4 info Date: Sunday, April 28 | Time: 1 p.m. ET Location: Wells Fargo Center — Philadelphia TV channel: ABC | Live stream: fubo (try for free) Odds: 76ers -5.5, O/U: 209 Knicks at 76ers storylines Knicks: After holding the Sixers to 104 and 101 in the first two games of this series, the Sixers exploded for 125 points, as Embiid got whatever he wanted, including an endless amount of trips to the free throw line where he went 19 for 21. The Knicks will need to tighten up defensively, especially with how it defends Embiid because he had no issue getting to his spots. The Sixers also shot nearly 50% from 3-point range, another key factor in this game, so New York will need to do a better job defending the perimeter if they want to get a win in Game 4.
76ers: Embiid put on a clinic, but the Sixers can’t rely on him to keep putting up those numbers, it’s just not sustainable. Maxey put up 25 points, but we’re still waiting for Tobias Harris to show up in this series. Kelly Oubre had a better showing — 15 points on 6 of 8 from the floor — and he’ll need to continue that kind of production if the Sixers want to even up this series. They also need better production out of their bench, which ranks second-to-last in scoring in the postseason so far.
Game 3 prediction I’m going with the Knicks to take a commanding 3-1 lead. If it weren’t for Embiid going supernova in Game 3, the Sixers likely would’ve lost that game. The Knicks have just been more consistent, and now that Jalen Brunson is starting to click on offense, I think New York will come out even stronger. The Pick: Knicks +5.5
New York Knicks forward Julius Randle hasn’t played since Jan. 27 because of a dislocated shoulder, and, in his first public comments since the injury, the All-Star said Wednesday that surgery has not been ruled out.
“I mean, we’ll see,” Randle told reporters, via SNY. “There’s still, like, necessary steps, and it’s a process to everything. I have to weigh out everything, ultimately, and decide from there. But right now I’m just focused on trying to avoid that, obviously, and get back on the court as soon as I can.”
Asked if he’d need surgery eventually, even if he were able to come back and play the rest of the season without it, Randle said, “I’ve heard many different opinions.”
Randle said that he knew his shoulder was dislocated as soon as it happened. While he’s been sidelined, he has been “diving into the film” with coach Tom Thibodeau, he said, in order to “see how I can get better and apply it when I’m able to really get out there on the court.”
Last week, SNY’s Ian Begley reported that the Knicks were optimistic about Randle’s progress and the chances of him being able to return this season without surgery.
“Every day I’m getting stronger, I’m getting better,” Randle said. “So just taking it a day at a time, just continuing to try to just stay locked in on what I have to do to continue just to get healthy. Not just physically but mentally as well.”
The Knicks are “taking it step by step” with Randle, Thibodeau told reporters Wednesday, via SNY.
“Right now, he’s preparing to come back to play,” Thibodeau said. “He’s putting a lot into it, he looks good, he’s got a great spirit about him, he’s working out twice a day. So all things are good right now.”
The previous day, Thibodeau told reporters that Randle is “meeting all the markers” and “moving around pretty good,” but hasn’t been cleared to practice yet.
This season, Randle has averaged 24 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 46 games. He was named to his third All-Star team, but was unable to participate because of the injury.
New York lost four straight games and five of six entering the All-Star break, but it was extremely shorthanded during that stretch. The Knicks will still be without its entire starting frontcourt – OG Anunoby, Randle and Mitchell Robinson – when they visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, but forward Bojan Bogdanovic, center Isaiah Hartenstein and wing Donte DiVincenzo are all expected to return to the lineup.
On the season, New York is 33-22 and fourth in the East, with only a half-game lead on the fifth-place Sixers. The Knicks rank eighth in the NBA in offensive rating, ninth in offensive rating and sixth in net rating. With Jalen Brunson, DiVincenzo, Anunoby, Randle and Hartenstein on the court, they have outscored opponents by 16.6 points per 100 possessions, but that lineup has logged only 180 minutes in 10 games.
SAN FRANCISCO — Here it was. The moment we’d all been expecting, for better or for worse.
After weeks of abiding by the rules, biting his tongue and suppressing his urges, Draymond Green was met with a fork in the road as he and Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic battled, both physically and verbally, for multiple trips down the court. Down one road was retaliation, aggression, intimidation — we know where that road leads, to a suspension even longer than the most recent one he served. Down the other road: inaction, humility, pacifism — the road most Golden State Warriors fans were probably hoping Green would take.
True to everything we know about the man, the basketball player and the competitor, Draymond Green chose to dismiss both paths, instead carving his own road right down the middle.
Green walked the proverbial line that the Warriors organization continually references when it comes to their emotional leader — getting in Nurkic’s face but not taking a swing. Dishing out trash talk without earning a technical (he would later receive one for arguing with the refs, not Nurkic). Going at the Suns center without taking himself or his team out of the game. It was a masterclass in what Green needs to be, both as a player and a leader, in order for Golden State to be successful.
“We did not want him to be Mr. Goody Two Shoes. We wanted him to be himself, but not go over the line,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said of Green. “We want him to be on the officials, but not yell profanity at the official. That’s what he’s doing. He’s himself, but he’s not crossing the line.”
Green’s behavior is so important moving forward because of how essential he’s been to the Warriors’ recent resurgence. Since Kerr inserted Green as the starting center at the end of January, Golden State has gone 8-3 with a net rating of plus-8.6 — fourth in the NBA over that stretch.
The offense, dead in the water at times during the season, has been revitalized by Green’s energy and playmaking. It’s no coincidence that Stephen Curry’s best shooting stretch of the season has come with his longtime teammate alongside him. The synergy they’ve developed over 12 seasons is evident the second they step on the basketball court. Green ranks in the 94th percentile in offense including assists, according to Synergy Sports, and the eye test backs up the numbers with the way he orchestrates action and finds teammates.
Watch here as Green reads Curry’s off ball movement, dribbling toward him to create a passing angle before subtly blocking Vince Williams Jr.’s lane to defend Curry’s shot.
“Nobody understands how to get shooters shots better than Draymond Green,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said. “Whether it’s bullet passes to the corner playing the [dribble hand-off] game with these guys. … One of the best ever do it.”
The uncharacteristically slow Warriors pace to start the season has skyrocketed with Green at center. Prior to Jan. 27, Golden State played at a pace of 99.7 possessions per game — 13th in the league. Green has ratcheted that up to 102.4 (fifth in the NBA) over the last 11 games.
His presence has also unlocked the forward pairing of Andrew Wiggins and emerging star Jonathan Kuminga. On paper the Wiggins-Kuminga duo seems ideal, presenting long rangy defenders who can also score in a multitude of ways, but prior to Green’s return from suspension lineups featuring Wiggins and Kuminga had a catastrophic net rating of minus-25 in 171 minutes. In the 13 games since Green came back, when he’s on the floor with Wiggins and Kuminga the Warriors have a plus-18.3 net rating. It’s hard to overstate how crucial Green has been to allowing Golden State to play the way they want to play, with athleticism and force.
Defensively, Green’s work speaks for itself. His communication, positioning, verticality, switchability — those traits make him one of the greatest defenders in NBA history, so it’s no surprise that Golden State’s defense has gone from 24th to seventh since his return from suspension.
Put it all together, and the Warriors have a top-five offense and a top-five defense over the past 11 games — much closer to what Kerr expected than the mediocre start to the season. Chris Paul is on his way back, Klay Thompson thrived in his first game off the bench and rookie Brandin Podziemski has shined as a starter. All of those things help, but for Warriors to continue their momentum through the stretch run and into the playoffs, Green — because he’s so invaluable on the court — must continue to gracefully walk the line between passion and chaos.
In the past, Green has been able to do it — and the result is four titles. But the frequency of his indiscretions over the past couple of years has to at least have the Warriors questioning whether Green can be trusted to keep his cool when the next tussle presents itself.
“It’s been a delicate situation and he’s trying to figure that out and not let it spill over, because we can’t have that and he knows that — can’t afford to let it get out of control,” Curry said of Green. “But it fuels him because he lives for those moments … and you’ve seen that in the best of moments, for sure. So I want to encourage him to keep doing that.”
MILWAUKEE — I was standing in my kitchen chopping a pepper when a text came in from my sister. “Bucks guy got fired?” And that’s how I learned that the Adrian Griffin era had come to an end.
The move was at once stunning and unsurprising. As a rule, coaches don’t get fired when their team has the second-best record in the league. But then, the Bucks’ situation was unique and their success was in spite of Griffin and his sometimes baffling tactics, not because of him.
From training camp, when he butted heads with assistant coach Terry Stotts, who later resigned, it was clear Griffin struggled to get everyone on the same page. Just a few days into the regular season, the veterans held an intervention with him to get him to change the defense. During the In-Season Tournament, Bobby Portis challenged him in the locker room after the loss to the Pacers, and early in January, Giannis Antetokounmpo told the media “we have to be coached better.”
The Bucks have a short window to maximize the Antetokounmpo-Damian Lillard pairing, and Griffin wasn’t going to be the coach to do that. A midseason change is a bold move, but the Bucks were willing to take the risk rather than potentially let this season go to waste.
The Doc is in Almost immediately, it became apparent that the Bucks wanted to hire Doc Rivers to replace Griffin. Convincing him to come out of retirement and sorting out the details of a contract was going to take time, however, and no one knew exactly when the process would be complete.
The fallout from Griffin’s sudden ousting and the mystery surrounding the expected Rivers appointment set the stage for a whirlwind week. While all of the off-court drama was swirling about, the Bucks were set to play three games in four nights at home against strong competition.
Up first were the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers, who a week earlier had embarrassed the Bucks by 40 in front of their new co-owner, Jimmy Haslem. Before the rematch in Milwaukee on Jan. 24, just 24 hours after Griffin had been let go, general manager Jon Horst took the podium during what is usually the pre-game press conference for the head coach.
He acknowledged what everyone else had been seeing: despite their place in the standings, the Bucks’ defense was a disaster and they didn’t look like a championship team. The front office wanted someone more experienced, who could tighten things up and get the necessary buy-in from the players. Rivers fit the bill.
Until he was ready to take over, the Bucks handed the reins to Joe Prunty. Unknown to most fans, Prunty is the type of NBA lifer that makes the league tick. Straightforward, hard-working and carrying a true passion for the game, he’s beloved by players and the media. This was to be Prunty’s second stint as interim head coach with the Bucks, and his return to the role was a real treat for those of us who have been covering the team since his last spell in charge in 2018.
The entire Bucks roster put on a dance routine that night, then went out and cruised to a win behind another triple-double from Antetokounmpo. Even Prunty was on his A-game, giving us a classic digression during his post-game interview in which he started naming off the entire Cavaliers coaching staff.
😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/mF2Xx0SWRC
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) January 25, 2024 Two nights later on Jan. 26, the Bucks were set to face the Cavaliers again, still without a permanent resolution to their coaching situation.
Prior to that game, I swung open the doors separating the media workroom and media dining room at Fiserv Forum and was greeted by Rumble the Bison, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s mascot, filming a TikTok. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep or the sudden appearance of Jazz Bear, but I thought for a moment I had lost my mind.
Thankfully, I hadn’t. Those two were in town to celebrate Bucks mascot Bango’s birthday, and his party looked like it was going to be the most entertaining aspect of the night, as the Cavs controlled the second half. Then, with just a few minutes remaining, a press release hit the inbox of every media member: Doc Rivers had officially been hired as the 18th head coach in franchise history.
Suddenly, the result was irrelevant. While Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Khris Middleton all left without speaking to the media, other players did talk. They revealed that Rivers had actually met with the team earlier that day at shootaround. His first message, according to Pat Connaughton, was “teams should be a little bit more afraid to play us.” Across the board, there was excitement about playing for Rivers and the wealth of knowledge he brought.
Fourteen hours later, everyone crowded into the press conference room at Fiserv Forum to hear from Rivers and Horst, while Marquette, Rivers’ alma mater, prepared to play Seton Hall in the background. All in attendance were in a great mood as Rivers cracked jokes and explained why he was willing to come out of his recent retirement to take the job.
“I mean, c’mon. You know the answer,” Rivers said. “Giannis, Dame. Really, that’s the answer. Like, you look at their team. You know, I don’t ever know the list, right? What is it, eight teams that have a legitimate shot? And I don’t know if it’s that high, but the Bucks are one of them, right?”
Of course, Rivers was always going to “win” the press conference. His genial nature and sense of humor are a reporter’s dream. The real challenge was going to be winning on the court after arriving midseason.
“I’ve never done this. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” Rivers said. “It’s going to be a challenge.”
Later that night, the Bucks were scheduled to take on the Pelicans, but though Rivers was now officially the team’s head coach, he was not ready to actually coach. Instead, Prunty got one last ride, and delivered a comfortable win over the Pelicans. And when Naji Marshall missed two consecutive free throws in the fourth quarter, he provided free chicken to every fan — and a star player who wanted in on the action.
Giannis scanning the QR code to get his free wings after the Pelicans miss two free throws pic.twitter.com/J2ZTQxCmLB
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) January 28, 2024 Unfortunately, Antetokounmpo missed out. “I didn’t get my chicken. I wasn’t fast enough, I couldn’t get the barcode,” he lamented in the locker room afterward.
In the span of five days, the Bucks fired one coach, hired another, held two press conferences and played three games. At long last, everyone had a chance to relax — but not for long.
The most encouraging 1-4 road trip ever Two days after plunging head-first back into the coaching world, Rivers was on the sideline in Denver for a matchup with the defending champion Nuggets. A five-game West Coast road trip was not an ideal way to begin his tenure.
The Bucks lost that first game in competitive fashion, then fell to the lowly Trail Blazers in Damian Lillard’s return to Portland, came back from a 25-point deficit to stun the Dallas Mavericks, collapsed in the fourth quarter against the Utah Jazz and never had much of a chance versus the Phoenix Suns in a game they played the majority of without three starters.
On paper, the trip was a disaster. When it began, the Bucks were 32-14, all alone in second place in the Eastern Conference and three games behind the Boston Celtics. Nine days later, they were 33-18, tied for third with the Cavaliers and six games back of the Celtics.
And yet, the vibes were tremendous.
“I feel like, from practice, because we’re adding stuff and everybody’s excited and everybody sees what we’re trying to accomplish here and, they’re excited for the things that we can do as a team and how better we can get,” Antetokounmpo said after the Bucks blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter to the Jazz.
“And like in practice, people are going faster and running up and down. And obviously, you know, having a new coaching staff you gotta kind of show what you’re made of and what you can do. In shootarounds, guys are more aggressive, shoot more, cut more, play harder. We have a longer shootaround because we’re adding stuff, and then you go to the game and you’re kind of a little bit gassed, I’m not going to lie.
“But, at the end of the day, you find that happy balance. Right now, it doesn’t matter and I hope everybody in this locker room feels the same way that I feel. It does not matter. There’s so many things that we’re doing right now that we are getting better. And the moment everything clicks and our legs are there and our minds are there and guys are healthy and everybody is locked in, I think it’s going to go very well. I really do believe.
“It’s a very, very hard, schedule, but when everything settles down, we are going to be very, very fine. I really do believe. I believe we are trending towards the right direction.”
Hello, Patrick Beverley; goodbye, Robin Lopez Shortly before the trade deadline on Feb. 8, Patrick Beverley broke some news on a live episode of his podcast: he was being traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Bucks. Thirty-six hours later, after finishing with six points and four assists in a 36-point win over the Charlotte Hornets, Beverley ended his on-court interview by urging fans inside Fiserv Forum to subscribe to said pod.
If Beverley’s desire to play immediately — he sent a tweet begging Cam Payne to take his physical so the trade could be completed in time for the game against the Hornets — and his hard-working, defensive-minded style wasn’t enough to endear him to Bucks fans, he then showed up to his postgame interview drinking a Miller Lite.
Robin Lopez, who was also traded at the deadline, took the opposite approach. He logged on to Twitter and fired off a series of self-deferential jokes, including a wish that he’d have his jersey retired by the Sacramento Kings, who waived him immediately once the trade with the Bucks went through.
Robin Lopez reading a book at Bucks game after they traded him today 😂 pic.twitter.com/3WFHYezvBH
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 9, 2024 He was in the building when the shorthanded Bucks were crushed by the Minnesota Timberwolves the night of the deadline, but didn’t seem to have much interest in the game. Instead, he sat courtside in a Groucho Marx t-shirt reading Backstory 2: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s by Patrick McGilligan. It was a fitting end to his second tour with the Bucks considering he began the season by killing time at media day with a biography of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
The Bucks are back… With a few minutes remaining in the Bucks’ win over the Hornets, Thanasis Antetokounmpo sized up JT Thor, hit him with a “Shammgod” and a “Smitty,” then finished at the rim, sending the Bucks’ bench into euphoria. That’s all you need to know about that game.
Go to work, Thanasis! pic.twitter.com/vxcKBE8Yv4
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) February 10, 2024 The Bucks’ stress-free win in a rematch with the Nuggets a few nights later was much more impressive. By the second half of that game, Jamal Murray and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had been shut down, and I was sitting up in the nosebleeds with my parents and sister, who had come to watch Nikola Jokic.
Yes, the Nuggets had missed a bunch of open shots that night, but it was the second game in a row that the Bucks had held an opponent under 100 points. Finally, the results were matching the internal progress the Bucks had been touting in the first few weeks under Rivers, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
“Our intensity, we were flying around, we were into bodies, we’re running guys off of shots, we’re pulled in,” Rivers said. “A lot of deflections, that’s a thing that’s rose over the last four games. You can see the deflections rising, which means we’re actually close to a guy and guarding him, playing more physical, and that’s what we have to do.”
…Or maybe not Everything was set up for the Bucks following the Nuggets win. Their final two games prior to the All-Star break were against a Miami Heat squad missing Jimmy Butler, Terry Rozier and Josh Richardson, and the Memphis Grizzlies’ “C” team. Take care of business and you could ride a four-game winning streak into the hiatus.
Or, you could drop both games and revert back to square one, which is what the Bucks did. The loss to the Heat was one thing, considering it was the second night of a back-to-back and Miami went 2023 playoffs mode from 3, but stumbling against the Grizzlies was inexplicable.
Doc Rivers summed it up by saying “we had some guys here, we had some guys in Cabo.”
Antetokounmpo was more expressive, and his utterances carried the same exasperation as the ones he was making regularly prior to Griffin’s firing.
“There’s so many things that we have to do in order for us to be better,” Antetokounmpo said. “And it starts with, we have to want it. We have to want it. We have to want it. Like, what can I — what else should I say? Do we want it? Do we really want to win? Do we want to win?
“We have to want it, man,” Antetokounmpo continued. “Like enough with the talking. Enough with the, ‘our shit-don’t-stink’ mentality. Do we really want it? Are we putting in the work? Are we going to put in the effort? Are we going to fight for what we think that we deserve or what our goals are trying to accomplish? That is the most important thing.
“Guys are tired, that’s an excuse. New coach, excuse. New system, excuse. New defense, excuse. All of it, it’s excuse. At the end of the day, you’re going to go out there and try to play basketball, try to compete and they competed harder than us today. They competed harder than us two days ago. We are not on track of what we are trying to do and I feel like the team feels it. The team feels it. I feel it.”
Hey now, you’re an All-Star MVP The Bucks’ win over the Mavericks on Feb. 3 meant they maintained second place in the Eastern Conference by the cut-off date to determine All-Star Game coaching honors. With Boston’s Joe Mazzulla ineligible because he could not perform the duties two years in a row, that meant Rivers would be on the bench for the East squad in Indianapolis despite having the Bucks job for less than a month.
Rivers, to his credit, called the situation “hilariously bad” and said he would give his All-Star ring and bonus to Griffin. Nevertheless, he would be in Indy with the rest of the coaching staff, Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Malik Beasley (who was in the 3-point Contest).
As the only team with multiple starters in the All-Star Game — Antetokounmpo and Lillard were the first pair of Bucks teammates to pull off that feat since Bob Dandridge and Brian Winters in 1976 — and multiple contestants in the 3-Point Contest, the Bucks were already set to be front and center during the annual showcase. And that was before Lillard made history by becoming the first player to win the 3-Point Contest and All-Star MVP in the same weekend.
“I did come into the weekend, when I knew I was going to do the 3-Point, I was like I’m going to try to win,” Lillard said, after draining a pair of halfcourt shots en route to 39 points, and getting booed by the Pacers fans during the MVP trophy presentation. “I’m not going to be casual and cool about it. I’m going to try to win again. And I’m going to come into the All-Star Game, my first start, I know I’m going to be on the floor a lot. I’m a vet in the game at this point. Why not go and try to get an MVP?”
This has been a frustrating and inconsistent season for Lillard based on his sky-high standards. Could a historic All-Star Weekend be what gets him back on track? Perhaps, perhaps not. But a major confidence boost certainly doesn’t hurt.
What’s up, Doc? The All-Star break was not all excitement and positivity for the Bucks, thanks to comments Rivers made during his press conference in Indianapolis, and then later during an appearance on Sirius XM Radio’s The Starting Lineup with Frank Isola and Ryan McDonough.
Here’s Rivers during the NBA’s All-Star Media Day:
“Taking a job when you’re about to go on the toughest road trip of the season is not the smartest decision. I even told them that: ‘Can we wait ’til All-Star break?’ You know, it would have been a lot nicer, Rivers said.
“The end game is what we’re playing for. And the organization felt strongly that a change needed to be made defensively and things like that, and that’s what we’re doing. The problem is, while you’re doing that, you’re in the middle of the season on the toughest trip. I’ve been in Milwaukee [for] four days. I’ve had the job for three weeks.”
Though not incorrect, many viewed those remarks as a series of excuses for why the team is 3-7 record since he took over. So much so that they sparked a multi-day media frenzy that led to a war of words between JJ Redick, Beverley and Rivers’ son, Austin.
That saga also overshadowed what he told Isola and McDonough.
“I’ll be honest, I told our owners when they called, ‘I don’t understand why you’re doing this,'” Rivers said of his first conversations with the Bucks. “One of the things they said to me was, ‘Well it doesn’t matter, we’ve done it now and we want you.’ So that was a tough one, that’s where you have the hesitation.”
The Bucks’ poor record and slide down the standings since Rivers took over is disappointing, but at least somewhat explainable. His press tour, on the other hand, is not. In recent days he has called out his players and questioned his front office and ownership. He was brought in to steady the ship, but has done exactly the opposite.
We’ve seen a handful of rookies have significant impacts on their respective teams as we hit the midway mark of the 2023-24 NBA season. Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren are the obvious first two names that come to mind. But one guy who should also be top of mind is Mavericks rookie Dereck Lively II. I wrote earlier this week about how Lively is quickly becoming one of the Mavericks’ most important players, so much so that when he’s on the bench Dallas’ defense falls completely flat.
That might not be saying much given the fact that the Mavs rank toward the bottom of the league in that category, but when Lively’s on the floor Dallas operates like a near top-10 defense. That’s a stark difference, and while he’s still raw in his skillset, primarily limiting fouls and staying in front of faster guys when he’s switched onto them, he’s playing at a level that makes the Mavericks need him on a nightly basis.
You could argue that the Mavericks’s defensive capabilities shouldn’t rest on a 19-year-old rookie, but that’s the case right now. When you watch him on the court he’s always communicating on defense, anchoring down in the middle and hunting rebounds on both ends of the floor. He won’t get as much attention as others in his class because his counting stats are limited most nights, but his impact transcends how many points he’s scoring every night.
Now let’s move on to this week’s rankings. Keep in mind that these rankings will reflect a rookie’s performance on a week-to-week basis only, not the collective season. These aren’t Rookie of the Year standings, but rather a reflection on what the player has done over the past week. With that straightened out, here is a look at the top five performers from the NBA’s freshman class:
The current stretch Victor Wembanyama is going through is kind of absurd. If you haven’t been watching, you should really tune in to a game. Not because the Spurs are winning, because those are very few and far between, but because of Wembanyama’s complete control of a game. In the last 10 games he’s averaging 24.1 points on 54.1% shooting from the floor. That efficiency is a stark improvement from how he started the season, which was to be expected but doesn’t make it any less impressive.
It’s been really cool to watch Wemby slowly come to the realization that he’s basically unguardable, and you see that as he gets more creative with the ball. He’s catching a lot of lobs, sure, but his confidence is growing in his ability to put the ball on the deck and show his handle off a bit. Like he did here against the Hawks:
It’s mesmerizing to watch someone of his size have such control of the ball, because we’ve truly never seen anyone with his frame do this stuff. And even in a traditional post-up, he covers so much space that when someone does do a good job of fronting him, he takes one ginormous step and he’s already laying the ball into the rim.
It’s been a rough couple weeks for the Grizzlies. Ja Morant needs shoulder surgery and was ruled out for the remainder of the season, Marcus Smart is expected to be sidelined for six weeks with a finger injury and Desmond Bane is also now out for six weeks with an ankle sprain. It’s only January and Memphis may consider waving the while flag on the season. With all those injuries that means it opens up opportunity for younger players to get a shot to show what they’ve got.
That’s where GG Jackson comes in. Jackson’s the youngest player in the NBA at 19 years and 31 days old, and through Dec. 17 he was averaging a total of 4.6 minutes over four games. Until Jan. 11 he was spending more time in the G League, where he was averaging 19.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and two assists. Then he got his first major minutes on Jan. 12 against the Knicks, where Jackson showed out with 20 points, six rebounds, two blocks and an assist. The very next day he outdid himself with 23 points, six boards, two assists and two blocks to help the incredibly shorthanded Grizzlies beat a free-falling Warriors team.
Jackson did most of his damage 3-point territory, where he went 5 of 8 from deep, and given his dominant performances this week — and Memphis lengthy injury list — we should all get used to seeing Jackson more often this season.
Jaime Jaquez missed two games recently, but despite that he still managed to put together a solid week worthy of making this list. You could also tell in the Heat’s loss to the Raptors on Wednesday that they missed Jaquez’s creation and scoring. Jaquez has really stepped up in Jimmy Butler’s absence, and the reason he’s been such a valuable asset for the Heat is that he can fit into whatever mold you need him to. He’s not just a spot-up shooter, or a guy who moves well without the ball and thrives off well-timed cuts to the basket. He can also create for himself.
He showed that against the Magic, especially in the second quarter where he scored 12 of his 19 points. With Chuma Okeke guarding him, Jaquez backed him down, spun and got an easy layup.
On the very next possession Jaquez — on the exact same play — did the same thing to Cole Anthony, who did his best to keep him from scoring. But Jaquez bumped and spun and eventually found himself with another two points.
The Heat have to hope he won’t miss a ton of time, because he’s proven to be an incredibly valuable piece in this rotation.
Jordan Hawkins single-handily beat the Mavericks this week. OK maybe not by himself, the six other Pelicans players who scored in double digits certainly helped, but the rookie did rack up 34 points, a season high for him on a ridiculous 6 of 12 from 3-point range. Dallas didn’t have an answer for Hawkins all night, and Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said as much after Hawkins stunning performance.
“He was good — he’s been good,” Kidd said. “He shoots the ball. He got going there in the third [quarter]. We lost him a couple times. When you’re comfortable, you’re going to make shots and he was comfortable tonight.”
That’s understating what Hawkins did honestly, because he was cooking the Mavericks even when they did get a hand in his face.
Duop Reath has become the starting center in Deandre Ayton’s absence, and his floor spacing has been great for the Blazers, especially for Scoot Henderson who will benefit greatly from Reath’s ability to stretch the floor out to the 3-point line. It’s completely different from what Ayton offers, and Reath has really thrived with the bigger opportunity. He can fill it up from outside, but he can also get down in the post and go to work, both of which he did against the Suns, a game where he had 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor. He followed that up with another 17-point performance this week against the Nets, where he knocked down 3s, fought for putback layups and dunks and moved incredibly well without the ball to make himself open for scoring opportunities.
The Toronto Raptors already made one major trade this season when they dealt OG Anunoby to the New York Knicks for a package built around RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, and on Wednesday they made their second significant move of the season. Two-time All-Star forward Pascal Siakam is headed to the Indiana Pacers in a deal built around three first-round picks. Here is the trade in its entirety:
Pacers receive: Pascal Siakam, 2024 second-round pick (via Pelicans) Raptors receive: Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, Kira Lewis Jr., 2024 first-round pick (via Pacers), 2024 first-round pick (lesser of picks from Jazz/Clippers/Rockets/Thunder) and 2026 first-round pick (via Pacers, protected 1-4) Pelicans receive: Cash considerations The Raptors and Pacers have been sensible trade partners for quite some time. Indiana has had a desperate need at forward for several years, and with all of their first-round picks at their disposal, they had the capacity to make the Raptors a bigger offer than other suitors like the Warriors, Mavericks, Kings and Hawks, who all owe at least one pick to other teams. As such, both the Pacers and Raptors grade reasonably well in the deal.
Raptors: B Let’s start with the obvious hang-up here: the Raptors didn’t get the sort of premium asset they netted with Quickley in the Anunoby deal. It seems fairly clear at this point that such an asset was not available to them. That makes sense. Siakam is an impending free agent. He had a significant degree of control over his destination as a result, and no team was going to give up a cornerstone young player for a 29-year-old who doesn’t make 3’s and could walk after the season. All things considered, the Raptors did all right from a volume perspective.
The 2024 pick they got from Indiana is currently slated to fall somewhere between 17th and 19th, depending on tiebreakers. The pick coming from Oklahoma City is a bit less enticing—currently slated for 27th, and because of the heavy protections on it, it almost certainly won’t get much better. Indiana’s 2026 pick will likely fall somewhere between those two slots. With Tyrese Haliburton in place, the Pacers should be reasonably competitive so long as he stays healthy. Essentially, this means the Raptors are getting three mid-to-late first-rounders.
Fortunately, the Raptors have drafted exceedingly well in that range under Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster. Between 2015 and 2017, they landed Delon Wright at No. 20, Siakam at No. 27 and Anunoby at No. 23. Their recent draft history isn’t as strong, but their only late first-round pick in that window was No. 29 Malachi Flynn in 2020. Overall, their track record in that area of the draft is strong enough to suggest they’ll at least hit on one of those picks. More pressingly, they’ve increased their chances of having another first-rounder, and a far higher one at that.
Toronto owes its 2024 first-round pick to San Antonio, but it’s top-six protected. Right now, the 15-25 Raptors are tied with the Grizzlies for the No. 6 slot in the lottery. The injuries Memphis has endured suggest that the Grizzlies are likelier to finish in that No. 6 slot than the Raptors, but by moving Siakam, the Raptors have taken enough of a step back that finishing in sixth is at least somewhat feasible. Even if they land at No. 7, a bit of lottery luck isn’t out of the question. After all, they moved up to No. 4 from the No. 7 slot in 2021 and landed Scottie Barnes.
And as matching salary goes, the Raptors could have done far worse than Bruce Brown. His $22 million salary is obviously a bit extreme for his production, but his team-option for next season gives the Raptors the choice to either get off of his salary entirely next season or work with him on a longer-term extension at a lower figure. They could even conceivably flip him at the deadline for a couple of second-round picks to another team with a big expiring deal. All in all, that makes this a decent return for Toronto. They didn’t get a headliner in the deal, but they get three bites at the apple late in the first round without taking on any negative long-term salary.
Pacers: B The Pacers had two critical needs coming into the trade deadline. The first was simply a natural forward. Aaron Nesmith (6-foot-5), Bennedict Mathurin (6-foot-5) and Buddy Hield (6-foot-4) have all played more than half of their minutes at forward this season, according to Basketball-Reference, despite being undersized for the position simply due to Indiana’s roster construction. The second major need here was a No. 2 scorer. Eight Pacers average in double figures this season, but No. 2 scorer Myles Turner scores just 17.2 points per game. Championship contenders simply have more reliable secondary scorers.
Siakam obviously checks both boxes, and Indiana is uniquely positioned to maximize him. The Pacers rank seventh in 3-point attempts, 11th in 3-point percentage and second in pace. They have the spacing to mitigate his poor shooting and play so fast that he’ll spend less time off of the ball in half-court settings than he would anywhere else. Siakam is not exactly the defensive stopper the Pacers hoped they were getting when they signed Brown, and he isn’t even where he was a few years ago when he got All-Defense votes, but he’ll immediately become one of the best defenders on the team. That’s pretty significant for Indiana’s No. 26-ranked defense. On the court, this is a good fit. It’s going to make a good team better.
The bigger questions here relate to opportunity cost. From a pick perspective, that’s small but possibly significant. By sending out two picks in 2024, Indiana’s only Stepien Rule issues will come through the 2026 pick they’ll owe Toronto after this. Owing a future pick limits the number of picks you can trade down the line, and with Haliburton in place, there will be other big-name players down the line that are interested in playing for the Pacers. Indiana could simply wait out that obligation and prepare to have a full complement of tradable picks starting in the summer of 2026, but things change fast in the NBA, and the Pacers aren’t an especially aggressive organization. It’s fair to assume for the time being that the Pacers have assembled the majority of the team that they plan to field for the next few years. Is this core championship-caliber? It’s hard to say at this stage. How good will Mathurin be? Will any of the other youngsters pop? How much longer will Siakam’s prime last?
The financial implications here are meaningful as well. Before this trade, the Pacers had roughly $100 million committed to nine players for next season against a projected $142 million cap. Assuming they were willing to let go of their own free agents, that would have positioned them for max cap space in free agency. In theory, they could have tried to sign Siakam outright over the summer. Getting him now allows Indiana a bit more flexibility in keeping role players like Hield, Obi Toppin and T.J. McConnell if they choose, but most teams would choose the three first-round picks over those players. Of course, Indianapolis has never exactly been a destination city in free agency, so the Pacers may not have been prepared to take that risk. Had he been traded to another contender, he almost certainly would have re-signed there.
Now he’ll likely remain in Indiana on a new deal that approaches his max. The Pacers won’t have much leverage here. Philadelphia is still slated for max cap space over the summer, and Detroit, another team with previous reported interest, just cleared extra cap space by trading Marvin Bagley. He will have other big offers if he actually does reach free agency. The Pacers are going to have to pay up to keep him. How will that deal age? It’s hard to say, but a four-year pact would cover Siakam’s age 30-33 seasons. That’s a scary proposition for a scorer that doesn’t make 3’s.
Ultimately the deal accomplishes what the Pacers wanted to accomplish. They are a better team today than they were yesterday. The cap space they’re sacrificing by going in for Siakam now probably couldn’t have been spent in better ways when you consider how weak this summer’s projected free-agent class will be, and they’re only slightly encumbered from a draft pick perspective by making this deal. But there are risks built into this trade that prevent the Pacers from getting an “A” for their efforts. It’s a smart risk, but a risk nonetheless.
Pelicans: B Before the season began, we ranked the 10 players in the NBA likeliest to be traded this season. We’ve now seen four of those players moved before the deadline: Siakam, James Harden, P.J. Tucker and our surprise No. 1 pick, Kira Lewis Jr. Why was Lewis such an obvious trade candidate? Because the Pelicans entered the season roughly $3 million above the luxury tax line and Lewis makes roughly $5.7 million. He was their only way of getting below the line without touching their rotation, and doing so was necessary considering how expensive this team could get in the coming years. The Pelicans needed to duck below the tax line and they did so for a single second-round pick. That’s a good, simple piece of business.
NBA players have missed games for plenty of unusual reasons. Former Sacramento Kings forward Lionel Simmons once hurt his wrist and missed two games because he played too much Game Boy. Dennis Rodman infamously missed time in the middle of the 1998 season because he wanted to take an impromptu trip to Las Vegas. On Wednesday, we added another unusual absence to the list. Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton missed his game against the Brooklyn Nets because of ice.
Yes, ice. Frozen water. Portland has been dealing with brutally cold weather for most of the past week. There is currently a giant sheet of ice leading out of Ayton’s neighborhood. Ayton has missed the past 11 games due to injury, and during his pre-game press conference, Blazers coach Chauncey Billups explained that while Ayton was healthy enough to play, he hadn’t yet arrived at the arena. Casey Holdahl reported that Ayton spent hours trying to find a way to combat the ice, but could not find a solution that would get him to the arena. So he sat out.
The Blazers ultimately started Duop Reath in Ayton’s place, as they have done for the past six games while Ayton has been injured, and it ultimately worked out for them. The Blazers overcame an 11-point deficit to win in the closing seconds thanks to an Anfernee Simons runner. Even if they’d lost, the stakes of the game were fortunately somewhat minimal for the Blazers. At 10-29 entering the game, the Blazers aren’t exactly in the thick of the playoff race, so the absence of their starting center wouldn’t have meant much in the grand scheme of things. If anything, this incident could help the Blazers plan for future ice-related issues.
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