Law Murray
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
And it started early. I think he missed his first shot, but he drove so hard to the basket. And I think Kirsten Brown got the rebound. Nuggets got some second chance points out of it off of free throws from Aaron Gordon. I just knew what it was. Jamal was not good in game four, but the shots he made were very important.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
They helped stave off them losing that 22-point lead just enough, you know, to where by the time the Clippers did take the lead, they didn't quite have enough to run through the tape, right? That's what David Adelman pointed out when I asked him about Jamal's series going into Game 5. I'm like, you know, how do you feel like he's progressed? What do you expect from him?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
Because this is now a best-of-three. And the last thing David said in his response was something to the effect of, I expect... at home for him to have a really good performance. And that's wound up being an understatement. Like Jamal packed these dudes up from the jump. He maintained it through the whole game. He was better as the game went along. And I know he enjoyed every moment of it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
Like Jamal, if you watch Jamal play basketball, if you are in the building when Jamal is playing basketball, that dude talks a lot. This is a dude who is to do, I think, his first 50 ball. Kyrie Irving got so ticked off at him that he took the damn game ball away from Jamal. Yeah, I remember that. Like Jamal, he's a playoff riser and the jump shot was working for him tonight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
That's that sometimes Dave, that's, that's, that's how it goes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
Well, you got to remember, Russ didn't play after halftime of game three. Right. So if anybody who was in any rotation for either one of these teams was going to be fresh, you would hope it would be Russell Westbrook. Jamal said something after the game where he was like, Russ is, you know, allows me to not be the only one yelling at the crowd, you know, in terms of giving that energy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
And I thought Bogdan Bogdanovich, we talk about Clippers death. Well, Bogdan is the guy who's supposed to be the best player off the Clippers bench from a scoring standpoint. Derek Jones might be a little bit better overall overall. But for everything Bogey was given, he was taken away on the other end of the floor. Russ went through Bogey for and ones in the first and the second quarters.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
And the thing is with Russ, I feel like people just need to respect Russell Westbrook. I hear... Not just Clipper fans or, you know, anybody. Obviously, Russ was on the Clippers the last two playoffs, right, before this year. People love to say stuff to the effect of, oh, you want Russell Westbrook to play because, you know, that'll help your team. And it's like...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
don't give that dude extra gas because he doesn't need anything to be motivated. Like he's always going to be confident in himself. And you've heard let Russ be Russ for how many years now? Right. Like if like that dude's going to play hard, he's going to play with a certain level of physicality. And to be honest with you, if he's making shots,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
Yeah, it's a bonus, but also it empowers everybody else around him, you know, especially at home. And and so like even even though, you know, I mean, Russ making shots is one thing, but I mean, it was an attitude to how he was playing. And I really felt like Jamal played off of that. Right. That's what I'm thinking.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
I don't think it's a figure out thing. I think James needs to look at game six and get up off the mat. I think I said something similar after game four, but you saw what happened tonight. He took even fewer shots in this game than he did in game four. James Harden's field goal attempts has decreased every single game of this series. Everything won. He took 22 shots in game one. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
17-2, 14-3, 11-4. He didn't even reach double-digit shot attempts. He had more turnovers than buckets. I know fatigue was a factor because he missed three free throws. All right? And they just – I hope James gets home, gets his rest, and comes out and – you know, puts this team on his back. They need a James Harden game in game six more than they needed from anybody else on this team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
I think you wanted Kawhi Leonard to get through a season, but you know, I think that this is the, this is the James Harden can't go out like this. He's had too good of a season, not just going to court, but off the court, leading these dudes, waiting for Kawhi to get back, waiting for Kawhi to get to the level that he, that he's at.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
james needs to empty the clip um yeah pun intended damn it uh for game six and and um you just can't let like maybe denver is taking him out of this series with how it's christian it's defense is a five-man game right so like it's it's christian brown with guys helping him if the ball's out of james hands you know james isn't moving that much but again i just feel like james is not getting to his step back he tells
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
up to two threes and miss both of them. One of them was perfect process when the Clippers had some momentum going and it was a catch and shoot opportunity. And he just missed it. He missed it short. I turned to BT Brad Turner, a hall of famer. You know, I was like, James doesn't have his legs. Yeah. And maybe that's because the Clippers got to Denver, uh, 48 hours after the Nuggets got to Denver.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
I don't know. All right. Again, I hooped in Denver in the morning. My first two games weren't too great either. So, you know. That elevation, man, gets you every time. Hey, they let you know. Kyle Speller, shout out to Denver PA, Kyle Speller. He'll let you know how many feet that elevation is in Denver. Yeah. Throughout the game. That ain't an excuse coming home.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
Get home and get this team back on the plane back here for Saturday.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
league well I'll say this the Denver only they were up 22 in game four they wound up scoring their hundredth point on that buzzer beating dunk very true yep To your point, Zena, the Clippers have only given up 130 points one time all season long, and that was way back in November. First half of November, okay?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
That was with Terrence Mann starting, and the game after that, Terrence Mann never started with Zoo and James Harden again. They completely shifted and leaned into Chris Dunn being a core starter for them for the rest of the year after they got... They allowed 134 points to that OKC team. By the way, that OKC team was playing on the second night of the back to back with no centers.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
So completely different situation. Denver looks different. And honestly, there were parts of the defense that were OK tonight. You know, Denver is a paint heavy team that scored only 46 points in the paint. Jokic missed nine out of 13 shots. Those are some defensive successes. What went wrong? If the jump shots went up for Denver, they went in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
Denver made 25 shots outside of the paint in game five. The average, because this is something that I look at over the course of a year, when you add up the threes and mid-range for the entire league in the regular season, the league averages 17.2 made field goals outside of the paint per game. So if you're hitting 25, that's well over average, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
It was the Pleasantville offense. I think Denver took as many shots outside the paint as they did inside the paint, which, again, that's just not how Denver really goes about it. But if you're going to make 25 out of 47 shots outside the paint, I mean, that sounds like what Denver would make inside the paint for a game. Especially in this series.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
The Clippers would have taken a flip of those numbers. We're fine with you making 25 in the paint. Obviously, you're not going to want 23 shots outside the paint as much, especially if 17 of those are threes. That's where it feels like this was an outlier game, but if you're the Clippers... you're going to obviously have to make it not just hard on Jamal, but respect Russell Westbrook.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
You can't keep saying we're not worried about Russell Westbrook and then watching this dude get confidence and retain his confidence as a scorer. Russ had one assist the whole night. Yeah. This was not like, I'm going to make my other play.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
Russ was like, I had time off. I'm getting these buckets. And if you let that happen on your home floor, you get what you deserve. So you can chalk this up as an outlier game. The Clippers had an outlier game. That was game three. They had a bunch of dudes who made shots. A bunch of dudes who have since not made shots. You know, I'm not even talking about Chris Dunn. Chris made his shots.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
But, you know, the thing with Chris is Chris is going to get open shots because they're not respecting him. You know? Yeah. And it's good that Chris made those shots. He's going to have to make them early when the game counts. Chris had a couple of possessions to start the game where he missed the open three. He had a near turnover. He he got a four minute start.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
And then that was the quickest leash I've seen on Chris Dunn in a long time that had nothing to do with foul trouble. Chris needs to make those shots to start the game. And if that's not the case, then I think the Clippers are in a world of hurt in one of these next few games. It's still going seven? Yeah, I expect.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
I wrote, I wrote at the athletic Clippers in seven. I'm not the type to change things just because I saw some team gets smacked, you know, one game or another. I know a lot of people like to do that. They'll make their predictions. And then, well, you got to back those up.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
My professionalism is talking to Zena and Dave from a hotel room after midnight local time.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
Even without Kawhi, even without Norm, they are confident in their development to put guys like Jordan Miller, a guy on a two-way contract, he's in the second year of that thing, and say, hey, look, we were going to run some of the same actions, get to your money, you know? Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
If a guy plays well in the G League and he plays well in summer league and then he comes to a second professional training camp, plays well there, you're probably going to have some confidence that, hey, if we're shorthanded, we can go and keep the chains on the tracks for the most part.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
They have a front office that added a bunch of guys like that, guys who is like, hey, we are no longer, you know, a. three star team. That's what they were last year, but they've been a two star team for years. And now they were smart about in the short term, get guys who are going to play hard consistently. You know, they don't play very smart.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
That's where the turnovers come from the blown leads, whatever, but they play hard. And if you're going to play hard and then have enough coaching to set guys up for sex, have a guy like Harden who has been in the playoffs every year of his career and has been a part of top offenses every year of his career, you're probably going to be able to give yourself a chance to win games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
And that's really where it comes down to. A lot of these games are close. Recently, they've been starting to blow some teams out. They got blown out tonight. The CMBA.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
They got the Washington Wizards Wednesday night. That's right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
I mean, listen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
You know, there are parts of the game where I thought he looked really good. And then I watched – I just listened to Porzingis talk after the game and referred to his vertical as a flat tire. Yeah. They were throwing him some – those were wishful thinking on a couple of those lobs. Yeah. Hey, I mean – you, you go and throw a wishbone to a seven, three dude.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
If you got the chance to, I mean, being these dudes, uh, I mean, no disrespect to Quaid and Cornette and Al Orford, but you know, for Zingas is like, Oh shoot, he there, he going, he going to bring it down somewhere. The great thing about throwing a lob to a guy is that you can throw the most horrible pass. It's either going to be a highlight or it's going to be a dead ball set to defense.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
I throw a lob all the time. There's no footage of me ever throwing a successful lob to anybody I've ever hooped with. You know, that's got to be how it felt to have Porzingis out there. And I mean, when Porzingis was on the bench, like Boston smacked the Clippers, that's where the game was. I felt like this was a game where it's like, hey, Christos Porzingis is playing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
He's a guy who can shoot and he can go inside. It's like Dave Chappelle talking to his kids, preparing them to watch Sesame Street. You know what I mean? Like they were prepared for that. And when Brazilians went to the bench and they started just, you know, not giving the ball to tall people, that's when the Clippers got lit up.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
So I think the best thing, my favorite play, and I think Boston's favorite play after listening to Jalen Brown, favorite play was Jalen working his tail off defensively, keeping the ball on the same side of the floor. The ball never hits the second side. They hit this, you know, the, the balls in the corner. I think Chris Dunn was the one who tried to drive and finish.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
And there's this dude looking like one or, you know, Rocky's adversaries just come in there and protect the rim for a shot clock violation. I think that is, That was the best play that I saw Chris Stapps make. Everything else was gravy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
Him, you know, fail jumping his way to some alley-oop finishes is cool, but the Celtics give up a ton of point points, and they gave up a ton of paint points tonight, but they were also playing against a team that had an incredibly stale, stagnant offense. If those guys are going to be more empowered to defend their ass off because they've got that guy back behind them,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
That's why that team is capable of just, you know, terrifying by 30. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
Look, NBA record, NBA record. Every game. So here's the thing. You bring that up. Yeah. You know, I mean, threes, they attempted in the first quarter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
17 it's the same number they attempted in the second quarter now the difference is they go from hitting only four to 17 threes in the first quarter to hit to 12 to 12 12 the the dozen and like when it's about the attempts like well it's the math when in the run that that the clippers went on they they started out the celtics started out the third quarter oh and six Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
You know, they cut a 29-point lead. Mind you, the Clippers had to travel on the back-to-back. Souths were on the back-to-back, but they played earlier and didn't have to travel. They played home against Minnesota. And so, you know, the Clippers looked like they weren't sharp defensively. Some of the threes that the Celtics were getting, the Clippers made baskets.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
And one of the moments where I was like, this ain't going to be the Clippers' night was – they get a bucket and here Peyton Pritchard is racing up and Terrence Mann and Kevin Porter Jr. Take the same man. And, you know, Peyton's behind them in the corner. He gets a three after he had just made a three timeout game was never really competitive after that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
Like guys were going to the sideline chirping at each other. That's when, you know,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
what is happening here the thing that the celtics do that people are like you know i feel like people just look at the end of the quarter or the end of the game it's like oh they just took more threes or whatever they do all the other stuff that make the margins count they take care of the basketball they don't value and then when they have opportunities to run they're not your your classic fast-paced team but when they have opportunities to beat you with pace and your sleep
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
They beat you that way as well. They defend the three. The Clippers didn't even get 30 attempts up. You know, like they only made 10 jump shots. I'm including the mid range. They only made 10 jump shots the entire game. So, yeah, if a team is going to hit 12 threes, that's the offense. But a 30 point result comes because they lock your ass down as well.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
And the Clippers were too stagnant to compete tonight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
I think they just got a bunch of dogs, you know, to be honest, like I hate to be cliche about it, but you know, they were at, and referred often to their preseason expectations externally. And what people dismiss or discount or head coach knows what he's doing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
He's got a defensive coordinator, Jeff Van Gundy, who is very motivated to do what he hadn't done in almost two decades, which is coach day in and day out. They have a guy in James Harden who he's going to absorb incredible levels of inefficiency, but he's also going to elevate the guys around him. James is having a really rough year from a percentage and a turnover standpoint, but
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
there are a bunch of dudes around him that are hoping because, and that's stuff that doesn't come with just roll the ball out and have a bunch of name tags. You have to get to know guys. You have to, you know, work on details. And you have to be like, these are shots that we can get if we actually take care of the basketball. Norman Powell, he didn't play tonight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
He hasn't played for a week now because of the hamstring. But Norman Powell, he knew that he could kind of accept Paul George's role
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
He has absolutely done his part. Like Norm's always been a bucket. And the question is always, can you maintain your efficiency with the increase in volume and the increase in attention? And Norm, for the most part has done both, you know, and, and, they are deeper than people give them credit for.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
James Harden, this guy who has been to the playoffs every year of his career, he's won an MVP, he's heard his own share of BS. He was very effusive in saying that he doesn't think Kawhi is appreciated nearly enough just for playing, let alone playing at this level. So I think that the team, on one hand, they want to understand this is a series.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
It will be a long, hard-fought series, probably the hardest of the eight quarterfinals series, and that you can't get too high, you can't get too low. It's now a best of five. But at the same time, you have to appreciate what you're seeing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
You have to celebrate the greatness, and you have to just be happy for a guy in Kawhi who not only got himself back to just be able to play, but to play at this level. He can't take it for granted.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
yeah uh zoo's got a chip on his shoulder and it's not because of what people from the outside said or or any quote unquote underrated like he has a chip on his shoulder from five years ago uh he should have been playing more when these scenes were matched up in the bubble Because he played Nikola Jokic well there, too.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
The Clippers were better on the floor in 2020 when Nikola Jokic and Zuer matched up. That's not how the series played out, unfortunately. He watched a lot of these comebacks that the Nuggets had to get to the conference finals that year. Yeah. Nikola Jokic is an all-time great player and arguably the best player in basketball right now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
He's got a pretty good foil in Zoo, and there's a lot of mutual respect there. Jokic loves Zoo's game. He compliments him all the time. Jokic used to say, a guy like Zoo has to just play in his role, but he... He knows that he's capable of more. And he applauded Zoo because he knows how hard that is.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
And I know Nikola knows how hard that is because this dude, Nikola, was splitting starts with Yusuf Nurkic. Right. Okay. So the thing with Zoo is he's a phenomenal defender. Because he's had to be. He's been hooked in playoff series. He's had to be on an island guard of guys like Luka Doncic. He's been drilled by an outstanding coaching staff. And, like, he's ready for this moment.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
Zoo had zero fouls at halftime. He ended the game with five. Like, Nikola wins battles. I called Nikola Jokic a dolphin to a friend that I had lunch with in Denver yesterday. While I was here. If you know anything about dolphins, they're incredibly smart and they're jerks. Okay. Like, like Nicole is going to get his licks in, but you got to give it back to him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
And zoo is again, that that's one of the best parts of this series. Like Nicola can do it by himself and dammit, the Clippers would rather him try. They, they don't want the high assist. They don't want Nicola picking the Clippers apart when they try and double or, you know, finding cutters or, They want Nicola to do it all on his own.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
I think Nicola is trying to fight that balance of how much do I go against Zoo? How much do I pass it? How much, how aggressive should I be? And, you know, Nicola won that in game one. He absolutely lost it in game two.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
I'm not even sure if we're at the stage of – I mean, this was the adjustment game. You know what I mean? When you lose like the Clippers lost in game one, obviously there's adjustments. But Denver had to adjust within game one. Yeah. Russell Westbrook played Michael Porter Jr. 's minutes in game one. And David Adelman doubled down, drilled down and challenged Michael Porter Jr. to be better.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
And you know what that dude was? He had 15 rebounds, six of them on the offensive end. Michael Porter Jr. had a three that tied the game in the fourth quarter. I thought Michael Porter Jr. had some bad luck because he had a lot of efforts, some tips, some times where he was falling out of bounds trying to save possession for the team, and it didn't work out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
The one bad turn over there at the end, you know? Yeah, like we I feel like we throw that adjustment word. It's a great word to use in the playoffs, but it gets overused a lot. Sometimes you just have to play better. Right. And so you have two teams now that fought. They landed the first punch and weren't able to sustain it. That's what you've had from both of these teams now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
Let me tell you something about Intuit Dome. Ballmer wanted to have a little plaza there to have a championship thing. And obviously the Clippers haven't had the roster in the spring, certainly in the other seasons, but not in the spring worthy of such an occasion. They had their fans there in game one and game two. And now it's going to be lit in game three. And they have Kawhi Leonard playing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
They have James Harden playing. They have an opportunity. Honestly, just enjoy game three. Game three is just whatever. It's a setup for game four. That's the game that matters. And that's going to be a quick turnaround. But you know what? Everybody in L.A., they can, you know, find a place to park, get a get a ride share or whatever. And the result doesn't matter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
It's going to be a celebration of basketball and a venue that you've never seen before at this time of the year. And that's what game three is. It's not going to be the angst riding on that game if the Clippers would have lost it, lost game two and have that be a must win. It's not a must win. It's a you'd like to win it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
I think in terms of that, I think game three kind of is like just appreciate, you know, basketball being in a new setting in the NBA in twenty twenty five. And whatever the result of game three is, that's what places the importance in terms of game four.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
well first of all shout out seth uh he's the og and i'm not just talking about the athletic like me and him uh we did clipper blog together you know i remember when i first got a chance to even be on the video and all those great people that have ever contributed to that to that site you know kevin arnovitz man um you know really put us in position to have some really cool opportunities in the you know in this space so shout out seth shout out ka um
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
i am not seth uh i wanted to establish that early um i don't have the resources the experience the background um and the process frankly that's that seth did so i needed to kind of get that out the way quick and then you know i looked at those guys that played in the olympics in 2024 and it was like there's no way they're going to be in my top 10 and and damn it all of them were
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
i'm talking lebron steph and katie i'm like there's no way and it's like but they're they're that good i didn't want lifetime achievement awards i literally use that term but i also was like what do i value in basketball players in in terms of you know where they are now and where they might be just in a year and specifically going into these playoffs and i'm just like
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
Let these young guys knock them off. Let these guys who are playing maybe a little bit better but still need to establish themselves at this time of year, let those guys play in a way that knocks those guys off. And, you know, I was surprised I didn't have Jalen Brunson or Donovan Mitchell or, you know, those guys in my top ten. But I was comfortable with it because I was like, you know what?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
everyone's flawed those old guys are flawed those guys are flawed my my top of the top nicola shea yannis they are all flawed we're all going to be like you know i mean shea had a game one like like he had yeah yannis doesn't make a whole lot of shots um outside the paint or from the free throw line um nicola has games like this seven turnovers and they're picking them trying to pick them apart trying to keep them in the action but that's why i love basketball like it's yeah it's
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
It's relatable to me because as great as these guys are when it comes to size and skill, they have to figure this thing out, too. They get exhausted. They get mentally challenged. And this stuff hurts or is exhilarating for them. And so I try to keep a human element to these to these tears. And I hope that they have legs. If you didn't catch it, don't worry.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
The playoffs won't be on for another two months.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
Yeah, I've seen it before, man. I mean, I remember watching a lot of 40-point Kawhi games on TV, including my time as an athletic beat reporter because it was the middle of the pandemic. So there's that. Honestly, when I thought about how he came out, it reminded me a little bit of his Game 6 performance. where he dropped 45 to drag that series back to L.A.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
But the difference was he started that game six playing defense. Reggie Jackson was actually doing the first quarter scoring, and then Kawhi just took the game over from there. Kawhi was not waiting, okay? Kawhi was waiting. Just automatic early, aggressive early. And his team was still down by nine points or eight points. You know, it was the game that Denver played Saturday in game one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
That's the game the Clippers played today. But the difference was Kawhi was...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
just sublime and i mean from hitting the three-pointer to end the first half the first half where it looked like the clippers were reeling the entire time uh from even i knew it was coming that's the thing about me watching kawaii now he only took two shots in the third quarter he sat for five and a half minutes and i was like he's going to do everything he can to finish this game in a way that he did not in game one and that's what happened he
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
He actually missed three of his four shots in the fourth quarter. Yeah. But what else did he do in the fourth quarter?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
Man, he was so good. He capped the game with a steal. Yeah. Nikola Jokic threw it away. It was Nikola's seventh turnover. Ask how many turnovers did Kawhi have in game one? Six turnovers. Seven turnovers in game one for Kawhi. Oh, seven turnovers. There you go. All right, yeah. It was 20 turnovers for the Clippers in game one. That Kawhi steal was the 20th Denver turnover.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
And that, it was a role reversal. That's what is up on the athletic right now. And... For Kawhi, it's never about just scoring. He wants to win the game and you can't just win the game with the points. The points obviously are what we count at the end. But what are you doing to impact all of your teammates and what are you doing to affect the other team?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
He played a complete game and that's why it was one of the best performances I've ever seen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
Man, that's a great question, S. And I've got two sides of answering it. I ran into Patty Mills, who is a salt of the earth dude. Yeah. I was like, yo, let's talk because, you know, Patty saw Kawhi as a rookie. Kawhi saw Kawhi on a team that lost arguably one of the most heartbreaking finals to lose. And then to come right back, respond and be a finals MVP as a defender. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
Patty told me something really cool. He was like, you got to celebrate moments. Right. You can't just go and say, all right, on to the next one. Good job, Kawhi. That dude has lost time playing at an elite level. Yeah. And he's had to listen to clowns retire him. Dudes who've never done what he's done. Both professional athletes and professional journalists.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Did Kawhi and the Clippers solve Jokić and the Nuggets?
They've told him, stop playing so we don't have to talk about you anymore. And so Kawhi is never going to be the type to say that. He's just going to be appreciative for being able to play and he wants to stay healthy. That's really where Kawhi is at. But his teammates... are rooting for him. They played their ass off to get him to the point where his season mattered when he finally got healthy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
That's right. when Russell Westbrook was with the Clippers his first season and they go into the playoffs, Paul George is already out for the season, which, you know, we might talk about that later. And Kawhi Leonard didn't play after game two because he tore his meniscus.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
Remember that year in the middle of the year, there are people saying Russell Westbrook's time in the NBA was coming to an end because of his toxic time with the Los Angeles Lakers. And what they didn't realize was that put Russell Westbrook in position to succeed and he's going to do something.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
He might not win you the game, but he's going to produce and put other people in position to produce as well. And we saw that in 2023 playoffs against the Suns. We went to Phoenix last year towards the end of the season when they needed to clinch a playoff spot. And Russell Westbrook put up a big time triple double, a historic triple double for him in Phoenix.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
That was a late season performance quite like this one. Guy's not playing, right? And everyone has this thing where it's like, I'm going to watch a game because the star is playing. And if the star doesn't play, you think it's not worth watching that game. If you miss the game because of that... on Monday night, then shame on you.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
And you have a month to make up for it because there's going to be a lot more games where you don't know what's going to happen. I was very interested in seeing the game. I saw how the game Saturday night ended in Denver when the wizards, Jordan pool, former warrior pulls up in front of Russ and games them. Right. And Michael Malone was upset. Nicole was like, ah, you know,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
We're not good at certain aspects of the game. And then he doesn't play. Guys who are playing, that's where the focus needs to be. We always say, without this guy, without that guy, shorthanded, whatever. Who's playing? Who's lining up and who's got to actually play well? Because these guys are all pros. I thought their energy was awesome.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
Well, you mentioned playing, you know, flat. I mean, I don't think the Nuggets play particularly smart in this game. I mean, A.G. They also threw the 14 turnovers between them. You're supposed to lose a game if you give up 27 points off turnovers on the road, no matter who's playing. But the Warriors just got outworked like crazy. Denver had 18 offensive rebounds.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
I think a lot of it just came down to Denver. Their defense has been embarrassing, and they finally played with some pride on that, and they made things hard. You know, like Steph missed 10 out of 14 threes. The rest of the Warriors, man, they made only four out of 19 threes, and jump shots are a little bit harder to come from when you got guys making your catches tough.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
They're bumping you off the ball. Again, Denver, I don't think, played with any sense of we need to be smart about things. Like they sent the Warriors to the line 27 times. But the shooting wasn't just limited. The poor shooting wasn't just limited to the field. I mean, Golden State missed 12 free throws as well. Four of those mystery throws were by Jimmy Butler, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
So I think when it comes down to it is Denver, they outworked Golden State. But I think any team that's going to play the Warriors, whether it's a regular season or a playoff series or a play-in game, you never know. Your MO to play that team is to not be intimidated. Don't be intimidated by Draymond Green. Jimmy Bullard is going to go to his way into fouls. He's a foul merchant too, damn it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
And we all know how Stephen Curry gets his. He is a guy who continuously works off the ball to get to where his – Best spots are if you turn the ball over against Golden State, it's usually instant death because of their ability to hunt threes off of the fast break. You have to be locked in enough to not be intimidated and play physical.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
And now that they have Jimmy, not send them to the line a bunch of times. And I think that's what Denver did. They started big. And if you're going to have Russ, Russ is going to play at a 10 all the time. And if you can withstand the mistakes, the one way you withstand mistakes is to make mistakes hard too. Go after those offensive rebounds. Some of those fouls might turn into turnovers.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
And that's kind of how they won along with Aaron Gordon going back to Archbishop Mitty for a night. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
They're not a spectacularly good shooting team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
Yeah, it's about depth. I wrote a story last week at The Athletic, and some of y'all might have seen it in print, the New York Times, about the Indiana Pacers. This is a team that was like the Minnesota Timberwolves in the conference finals last year. We don't talk about it because they're the Pacers and because there's other teams in the East that you'd rather talk about.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
But the Indiana Pacers are a good team. They're in the middle of a 5-7, so that's one of the reasons why they massively rested or sat guys. I mean, and those guys, there, there have been guys who have been banged up. I mean, exactly. Albert missed a bunch of games last week, TJ McConnell. He had 13 assists in this game. I think he assisted all the threes. Shout out to Thomas Bryant.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
Cause Thomas Bryant made one three all game. And it was in that left corner before topping was fading in that same corner to, to, to win the game. But the, McConnell hit those guys for assists. And McConnell also got himself to the rim against Jaden McDaniels to force overtime. This is after they smoked the league. And that's what is tough about the Pacers. They can have guys missing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
We saw it in the conference finals. Even though they lost to Boston, they kept those games close, short-handed. Halliburton missing games. Mathurin obviously didn't play in the playoffs because they have, one, a lot of guys playing. Two, they have a style of play that you have to adjust to.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
Yeah, and this is what the Wolves do, to be honest with you. The win streak was great. They needed it. And I don't apologize for win streaks against teams that aren't exactly murderers. I think the only team with a winning record that the Timberwolves beat was during the streak was when they went to Denver and blew those guys out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
So I think you got to give credit for just being consistent enough to win games for two and a half weeks straight, which is what Minnesota did. Give Minnesota credit tonight for coming back from down 15, you know, giving themselves a chance to win this game. They were up with a minute to go, but yeah,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
this is the kind of loss that makes it clear how tight things are in the West with the playing situation with that six seed that everybody wants just to, you know, not have to deal with a one or two game, you know, a scenario that could end your season. And yeah, Minnesota, they missed Rudy Gobert down the stretch.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
You don't have that drive that McConnell had if Rudy's in the game protecting the rim and possibly forcing a jump shot when you're shorthanded. They're not the deepest team, especially if Chris Finch is literally not going to play the guys he was playing while certain guys like Dante DiVincenzo, Gobert, and Julius Randle were out. And so... That's a tough loss.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
I don't think they brought it defensively tonight consistently, and it's going to be interesting. The team we're not going to talk about because they didn't play is the Clippers. The Clippers really needed those results.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
They're stuck right now in eighth, and they need losses by the Warriors and Timberwolves, and it didn't look like those losses were coming with the strength that those respective teams were on. Now you look at the standings, and you're like, well, Let's see what happens in four weeks because the Clippers, they don't have tiebreaker over Minnesota, but they're closer in the loss column.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
And they do have the tiebreaker against the Warriors and played in the last week of the season. All these games matter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
Yeah, I think the Rockets are a little scarier than they get credit for because not only will they defend every now and again. I mean, obviously, tonight was not a night for defense for the most part. But I'll tell you what, I'll give them credit for the defense they played in the third quarter. They were down 25 with 10 minutes to let go in the third quarter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
And they tied it by the end of that quarter. Yeah. Found time to be down 10 in the fourth quarter. Forced overtime and then survived in overtime. If the Rockets make shots... Like Jalen Green's going to be inefficient. He's going to take a bunch of shots. It's going to be nasty looking, whatever. But if someone like Jabari Smith Jr.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
is going to get hot and play with confidence, I like Jabari Smith Jr. He's tall. He can shoot. He defends. He rebounds. He just doesn't do it consistently. And he doesn't have the ball skills that make you think his ceiling is going to be high enough. Not on this team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
But if that dude can make shots and play with some, you know, just some hair on his damn chest, then he's going to be a problem in an X Factor, especially considering he's coming off the bench. Like, I think that... You know, he has determined that he's not going to start. Jabari is not going to start under any circumstances.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
A man Thompson took his starting job and then a man Thompson sprays his ankle and he's not going to start Jabari Smith. Terry Eason is going to start. And you know what? If Jabari Smith Jr. can accept that role and determine he's going to crush whoever is in the second unit opposite him, that's going to be a difference maker because the Houston Rockets have good players in that starting lineup.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
And they're going to have good players when a man comes back. And then Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr., they need one more reserve to really make you feel like they're going to win more than one playoff series. I think the Rockets, out of a lot of teams in the West that are quite mid-
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
they're going to make a case to, I mean, they might be the two seed if they handle their business over the last four weeks. And they have the head coach who's going to keep them accountable to do those things over these last, you know, just remainder of the month at the very least.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
they're in the seat right now um uh quickly you mentioned it a little bit earlier paul george out for the season give me 30 seconds what's happening with him this summer just your guess um my guess is that paul's probably played his last game there i mean i saw daryl morey give a contract to chris paul that he probably didn't want to give him running back tweet and everything and then
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
James Harden said, we'll figure it out when they couldn't beat the Warriors in round two. And Chris Paul was sent with a first round pick in Russ or for Russ to OKC just to get off of that deal. This was a deal that we probably could have saw coming. I mean, it was a matter of really not even Paul staying healthy. It was Joel and both of those guys. They didn't even make it past St. Patrick's Day.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Nuggets shock Warriors without Jokić + Knicks surviving without Brunson
I have no, you know, no disrespect to Paul because that dude is year 15, you know, but his body and those years, that mileage is not going to look, make that contract look good for whoever has it for the remainder of the deal.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Everybody's thinking about 2026. Everybody's thinking about 2026. Sam Amick, thank you very much. I know you're going to have a busy week. We're going to get you back next week to set up the trade deadline itself. Guys, stick around after the break. Zena and I are going to catch up with Law Murray. Clippers are in San Antonio. And he just released his midseason power rankings.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
The Clippers have been on a run lately. Kawhi Leonard's back. He looks good. He's playing fourth quarter. So we had to get Law Murray in here ahead of the trade deadline, figure out where the Clippers are, where they've been, where they're going, where their heads are. Law, they survived Wimby. What'd you think?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
He had 54, what was that, last week? So it's his second 50-point game. They mentioned on the broadcast that he's only got seven. He only has seven games of 40 or more points this season. Do more, Shay.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
But look, let's talk about the Warriors side of this. Because the second half, it was like... A little bit of Jekyll and Hyde. You know, the Thunder get out to a nice lead. Steph Curry scores four points in the first half. And you start thinking, hey, this is – maybe they're going to be waving the white flag kind of early. But Steph got hot.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
He's one of a handful of guys that in a potential run to the finals, he could be the best player in every single series, right? Like, you can't say that about more than five or six guys. And Kawhi, I mean, as good as he looks now, I mean, he looks just as good as he did right before he got hurt, where we were saying, hey, maybe Kawhi's still one of the five or six best players in the world.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
So this run, I mean... they don't get to this point where they're this competitive without all the other guys. I mean, you know, James Harden, we talked about him extensively on the show and how great he's been, that 40-point game he had the other day.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
You know, Norm Powell making a strong all-star case, in my opinion, because, I mean, that scoring load that he's taken on in Kawhi's absence has been huge. He was, you know, big in the game last night against Spurs. But how about Ivica Zubac? You mentioned him as a high floor player. I don't know, man. I think this guy has a higher ceiling than maybe we knew.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
And so hot, he hit a 35-footer after the buzzer kind of out of rhythm toward the end of this game. Like, it was one of those things. I wonder if the Thunder – None of the players remember what it was like to be in those battles, but I wonder if there's people in the Thunder organization that just every time they see Steph touch a basketball, they get flashbacks. It's like PTSD.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
20-20 against Wemby, you know, 21 points, 22 rebounds. But he's been putting up these sorts of numbers consistently, you know, basically his entire Clippers tenure. And in particular, his pick and roll stuff with James Harden, is like if that's different it's very hard to guard i mean if this is zubat just turned into sort of like this very important piece i think for the clippers success
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Yeah. You got any names you want to throw out before we get out of here?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
something's got to give um and i'm i'm willing to just you know i can't wait to analyze it instead of keep on prognosticating it well we will uh definitely going to talk to you on trade deadline day i think we're going to do a big stream and law is going to come hang out at some point during the day so hopefully the clippers make a move or maybe they look
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
at Kawhi and they say, hey, he's our big in-season move and we got him healthy and we get to see this thing play out. Either way, you can go and read Law Murray over at The Athletic. He's got the Clippers covered. He's got more than just that. Mid-season power rank has just dropped. Who was number one? The Oklahoma City Thunder for now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Are they still number one now that they lost to the Warriors?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
They're number one until next week. All right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
That's going to do it for today's show, folks. Thank you, Law and Murray, for hanging out. Thanks to Sam Amick, who hung out with us as well and updated us on DR and Fox. For Zena Keita, I'm Dave Dufour, and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Yeah, it was a great game from Andrew Wiggins. I mean, they just got a little, they got enough from everybody. You know, it was another one of these games where, you know, Steve Kerr rolls out 11 guys and none of them are stars except for Steph. And somehow they win this game. And this is why we're all thinking, oh, the trade deadline.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
If they could just get a guy, if they could just get a guy, if they could somehow manifest, I don't know, Cam Johnson even.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Well, health will help them for sure. And to get into what other teams might do, here's my little sit down with Sam Amick from earlier today. The trade deadline is a week away, so we had to get our workhorse in here, Sam Amick, the Athletics National NBA Insider, our NBA Insider. Sam, De'Aaron Fox has just thrown a wrench in the entire trade deadline for everybody.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Well, the Spurs shouldn't necessarily be in any rush to make a move like this, right? Like it's a little bit early in their process. But I can understand if you're De'Aaron Fox wanting to get there, especially with the ramifications of the contract extension that he would be entitled to.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
But outside of the Spurs, are there other teams that are, you know, an option to go and get Fox that you've heard of?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for January 30th, 2025. Coming up, the Thunder lost to the Warriors. Come on, man. I got Sam Amick to update us on De'Aaron Fox and his whole trade situation. And we got Law Murray to talk about the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard, Zubach, and if they're going to make a trade.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
I was just going to ask, do you feel like this is a thing? I mean, again, we're a week from the trade deadline. Yeah, I understand De'Aaron Fox wanting this to happen before the deadline. But is this something where maybe the Kings just they're starting the process now and this plays out in the summer when they're probably going to have.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
I mean, even though I think he's the best player available right now for long term.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
good morning everybody good morning zena um cena we watched the end of the thunder and warriors game and It struck me funny that we were watching the Warriors win this game. It makes no sense that they won. There's no Draymond Green. Steph Curry is kind of banged up. He scored four points in the first quarter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Yeah. If they wait till the summer that that Jeopardy music starts playing. Right. Like just you got to you got to run up against it. All right. Well, let's talk about Jimmy Butler. I mean, is there a chance he winds up in Sacramento? I mean, like it seems like the sun's pursuit is cooling off from from what I've been reading. What's the latest that you know on Jimmy Butler?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Yeah, and Jimmy Butler, another guy that really wants to get moved for a contract extension that is going to make him a lot more money. I guess before I let you get out of here, I mean, the Milwaukee Bucks seem like they are trying to do something. I have heard Zach Levine as an option. I'm interested in both of those things.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
I'm interested in the Milwaukee Bucks and their plans and what you think might happen with Zach Levine.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
This is the best this team is going to be, Sam. It's only going to get older. They don't have any sort of high-impact young players that you expect to break out in any significant way. They've got young players who are contributors, but I just feel like they're, they are the team. There's a few teams maybe, but I feel like they are the team in most desperate need of a move.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
That is very surprising. That would be a good one-week trivia question. Because I would have never guessed that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
We'll see. Favorite player this week, my favorite player... Oh, Mann. Er hat drei Tore gespielt. Er hatte einen riesigen Dumpf auf einem Pass von Bozelews. Er hatte einen wirklich athletischen Steal mit zwei Minuten übrig. Er hat also drei Tore gespielt, hat die Bullen auf zwei. Er ist auf der anderen Seite der Schale.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
In other injury news, the Sixers released a statement this week saying that the team and Joel Embiid had consulted with specialists about his troublesome knee and determined that he is medically unable to play and will miss the rest of the season. The team and Embiid are working on a treatment plan with the hope that he will be able to return next season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Er springt auf die andere Seite der Schale, schießt den Pass aus, schießt ihn zurück in die Bühne, als er auf der Orlando Magic Bench geht. Ich genieße es wirklich, Kobe White zu sehen, weil ich denke, er ist ein unterwerteter, lustiger Typ, den man zu sehen hat, wenn er auf einem Heater ist. You know, Steph ist natürlich der König davon.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
You know, Steph auf einem Heater ist das größte Ding in der NBA. Aber Coby White, ich denke, er ist ein wenig unterwertet, wenn er auf einem Heater ist. Er ist einfach sehr lustig zu sehen. Er ist ein emotionaler Typ. Ich genieße es einfach wirklich, Coby White zu sehen. Und ich war so glücklich, dass ich einfach dieses random Bulls-Magic-Spiel hatte, das ich meistens halb aufmerksam war.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Dann kam das vierte Quartier und es war einfach so, oh Mann, er hat noch einen Schuss gemacht und da ist noch einer. Und dann lockst du dich ein und es war einfach ein Blast.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Ja, du hast Steph Curry erwähnt.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Ich glaube, wir sollten ihn haben. Der Leap von Steph Curry. Hör mal zu.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
The Sixers are in full tank mode, having dropped 12 of their last 14. You literally cannot escape. Bad news for the Mavericks, because those two Sixers wins over that stretch were a win over the Mavs and a win over Golden State, a game in which former Mav Quinton Grimes scored a career-high 44 points. Meanwhile, Caleb Martin has still not suited up for the Mavericks.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Ja, ich hatte nicht wirklich darüber nachgedacht. Ich dachte, okay, sie werden jetzt in der sechsten Runde sein. Sie sind jetzt in einer schönen Runde. Aber jetzt fangen wir an, in der fünften Runde zu schauen. Und es gibt noch drei Spiele zurück. Aber die zwei Teams vor ihnen, Houston und Memphis, haben sich nicht gut gemacht. Memphis ist in den letzten zehn. Houston ist in den letzten zehn.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Keiner dieser Teams hat einen super hart oder super einfachen Schedule. Sie sind alle in der Mitte. Ich bin interessiert, was Golden State tun könnte. Selbst ein Spiel wie gestern Abend. Sie haben zwei Punkte über Brooklyn gewonnen. Es war nicht so, als wären sie super beeindruckend.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Aber sie verbleiben diese Gewinne weiter, außer dem Verlust gegen Philly, welches eine wirklich schreckliche Verletzung war. So they've got some tough ones coming up. They would be a great team to get on Wheel of Fandom. Because their next week is Detroit, Portland, Sacramento, Knicks and then Denver. That would be a nice little run. And then the Bucks.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
So yeah, I'm really interested to see how real is this team. Because they're racking up the wins. But some of these games where I'm kind of expecting them to fully dominate. I'm not seeing it quite yet. Like in that Nets game. Letzte Sache ist unser Lieblingsmoment. Und mein Lieblingsmoment diese Woche, außer dem Ende von Lakers-Knicks, was ziemlich unglaublich war, war das Ende von Raptors-Magie.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Für jeden Fan, der für ein Team gegründet ist, das tankt, weißt du, dass du dich für einen dieser Momente aufsetzen musst. Sobald du in dein Team eingestiegen bist, musst du verlieren. Du hast deine Frieden damit gemacht. Unmöglicherweise erlebst du einen seltsamen Moment, wenn du Du willst deine Mannschaft verlieren. Es scheint ziemlich klar, dass deine Mannschaft deine Mannschaft verlieren will.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Und sie gewinnen immer noch. Für mich war es ein Spiel vor ein paar Jahren zwischen den Thunder und Blazers in Portland, wo Isaiah Roby ein 3 gespielt hat, um dieses schmerzhafte Spiel in den Overtime zu senden. Ein Spiel, das weder Mannschaft noch Mannschaft gewinnen wollte.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Wenn ich mich richtig erinnere, am Ende des Overtimes, die Blazers könnten den Ball inbounden und versuchen, einen tiefen Schuss zu schießen. Und sie haben es einfach gemacht. Ja. Ja, es war unglaublich.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
It was genuinely the funniest game I've ever attended. Because I went with a Blazers fan who similarly wanted his team to lose. I wanted my team to lose. So we're rooting for each other's teams. And the way that game ended was just very funny. So I was alerted to this Raptors game by Blake Murphy. He posted that the Raptors were closing with Jared Roden, who was recently signed to a two-way.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Orlando Robinson, just converted to a standard contract. AJ Lawson, who's on a two-way. And then two rookies, Jacoby Walter and Jamal Shedd. Now this was a close game. Emanuel hat schnell in diesem Spiel gespielt, Jakob Pertl hat in diesem Spiel gespielt, Scotty Barnes hat in diesem Spiel gespielt, R.J. Barrett hat in diesem Spiel gespielt.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
All diese Spieler waren theoretisch bereit, dieses Spiel zu beenden, aber das ist, mit wem Toronto ging. Also habe ich das Post gesehen, ich wusste, dass ich locken musste, und dann ist das beste, was je geschehen ist, nämlich, dass Rookie Jacoby Walter ein Spiel-Winner-3 schießt, als die Zeit abhängt, den Raptors ein 1-14-1-13-Win-Loss, abhängig von deiner Meinung nach.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Ich habe mir vorgestellt, dass die Raptors diese Saison einfach spielen würden, da Masai in der Vergangenheit nicht so gerne Tanks liebte. Aber aufgrund dieses Spiels sind sie sehr offen auf die Idee, was mir lustig ist, weil ihr End-of-Saison-Schedule das stärkste Schedule je ist, wenn ihr Ziel ist, Spiele zu verlieren. Der übrige Gewinn-Programm ihrer 20 restlichen Gegner ist 3,57.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Die Sixers haben aktuell den gleichen Rekord wie die Brooklyn Nets, die zusammengekommen sind. Sie haben sechs Mal verloren, obwohl sie fast die Warriors am Donnerstagabend gewonnen haben.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Das ist das Äquivalent zu einem 29-Winn-Team, das sie jeden Abend spielen. Das macht keinen Sinn. For context, the opponent's winning percentage for this second easiest schedule, which is Atlanta, is 434. 357 versus 434. Now, I know some people hate tanking. It's bad for the game, whatever.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
But if the Raptors somehow pulled this off and don't pass Philly and Brooklyn in the standings, I personally would rank this second to the 2019 title when listing Masai's accomplishments, because there's no way this is going to work. They have a better chance of being the 10 seed than staying in their current draft position.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
But I really hope they go for it, because this end of season schedule is setting up some epic tank battles. And if Toronto is going all out, too, this could be some of the worst March basketball we've ever seen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Hot auf beiden dieser Teams Hüllen sind die Toronto Raptors, die nur ein Spiel zurück von Philly und Brooklyn sind und, wie wir später besprechen werden, auf dem höchsten Niveau an Schwierigkeiten im NBA-Historie-Tankjob aufstehen werden. Now from the bottom of the East Standings to the top, the Cleveland Cavaliers have now won 12 games in a row.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Es ist wirklich frustrierend zu sehen, besonders, ich fühle mich fast, als wäre es ein Mandela-Effekt, wo ich hätte gezwungen, dass Draymond gut war, als er zuerst begonnen hat, wie TNT zu bekommen, wie in meinem Kopf, ich erinnere mich daran, oh Mann, er ist so gut, aber jetzt weiß ich nicht, ob das wahr ist oder nicht, ob das tatsächlich passiert, weil es fühlt sich so an, als wenn er jetzt den Podcast macht, er ist mehr oft auf TNT gewesen, er ist einfach einer dieser Leute geworden,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
He's just becoming another one of those guys. And we all think that Draymond's really smart. Like, I know that he could be a good analyst. But it does feel like he's just become another one of the type of guy that we have thousands of. We have thousands of these guys. Yeah. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
None more impressive than a 123-116 win over the Celtics in Boston last Friday night. Within five minutes of the game starting, the Cavs were down 25-3. While they would close that gap, the Celtics' lead ballooned back to 17 with eight minutes left in the third. From that point on, however, the Cavs outscored Boston 53-29, led by Donovan Mitchell's 44th.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Alright Andrew, it is time for the Wheel of Fandom. The weekly segment where we spin a wheel, it lands on a team and that team loses the majority of its games. This week, the wheel landed on the Los Angeles Clippers. And the Clippers lost their first three games of the week, two against the Lakers and one against the Suns. A game in which the Clippers led by 19 entering the fourth quarter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
The week ended on a high note, however, as the Clippers got a much needed win at home against the Red Hot Pistons, 123-115. James Harden scored a season-high 50 points in the game, his first 50-point game since December 2019. Despite the win, the Clippers have only won two of their last eight. They currently sit in eighth place in the West at 33-29.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Per cleaning the glass, the Clippers have the 21st ranked offense and the 4th ranked defense. Andrew, if the Clippers are our favorite team, who is our guest?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Das ist viel. Countst du die Lakers Spiele als Abwechslung?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Jason Tatum hatte auch ein tolles Spiel, er hat 46-16-9 gespielt, aber das war letztendlich nicht genug und die Saison-Serie ist nun 2-2. Die Celtics würden in der nächsten Saison wieder zurückbauen, mit einem Home-Win über den Denver Nuggets.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
In der Runde für das beste Rekord und Home-Court-Vergleich in einem möglichen Finals-Match-Up, hat die Thunder weiterhin Zeit mit Cleveland, die ihre letzten fünf gewonnen haben und nur ein Spiel zurück von den Cavs sitzen. Einer dieser OKC-Winne war eine 120-103-Winne über die Memphis Grizzlies. Die Verluste war die Grizzlies viertes Mal in der Reihe, ihre längste Verluststrecke der Saison.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Yeah, I think if people haven't been following it, you know, you hear 14-24, you're like, yeah, James Harden's done that before. Those three previous games that we watched this week, he was 14-50 in those three games combined. And then comes that fourth game and gets 14-24.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
So the Clippers felt like they were kind of locked into that top six spot for a really long time, really large part of the season until this recent downturn. Hat sich diese Runde von irgendwelchen wichtigen Problemen ausgesprochen, außer von der Tatsache, dass nur Norm Pal viele dieser Spiele verpasst hat? Ist das nur ein Faktor von Norm Pal, der weggegangen ist?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Aber hey, zumindest war es nicht so schrecklich wie die ersten drei Verluste in dieser Verluststrecke. In konsequenten Spielen gegen die Knicks, Spurs und Hawks, verlor die Grizzlies mit einem großen Total von fünf Punkten und verlor alle drei auf der letzten Sekunde Buzzer-Beatern. Against the Knicks, it was a three from OG Ananobi with five seconds left.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Yeah, it's kind of wild to think back the conversation around Kawhi at the beginning of the season and consider that he played 37 minutes plus in these last three games. I know he sat out the second night of the back-to-back against Detroit, but I just would have never guessed that even if he was going to come back, the fact that, I mean, that second Lakers game, he's playing 40 minutes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Against the Spurs, it was De'Aaron Fox hitting a jumper with two seconds left. And against the Hawks, it was Karis LeVert getting a layup as time expired. It was so bad, I almost wondered whether the Wheel of Fandom had actually landed on the Grizzlies last week.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Das macht mich auf den Kopf und sieht besser aus. Ich wollte dich über Bogdanovic fragen, weil er in Atlanta nicht so gut aussah. Er hatte seine schlechteste professionelle Saison. Er hat jetzt zehn Spiele für die Clippers gespielt. Er hatte seine beste Spielzeit als Clipper. Er hat seine hohe Saison mit 23 Punkten gegen die Pistons gespielt.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Was hast du über seinen Spiel so far und über seine Fähigkeit mit diesem Clippers-Raster gedacht?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Die Verluste haben den Grizz in den Westen zu vierten geschlagen, nur eine Halbzeit mehr auf den Rockets, die drei Spiele mehr auf den Warriors bleiben.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Letztendlich diese Woche ist die berühmte Nachricht von den Mavs nochmals unvergleichbar, weil die Lakers ihren gewinnenden Streak weitergegeben haben, einen achten consecutive Sieg am Donnerstagabend über den Knicks in einem unglaublich lustigen Overtime-Spiel in L.A. Luca und LeBron haben 63 Punkte im Sieg kombiniert, geben L.A. eine Halbzeit-Liege über Denver für den zweiten in den Westen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Die Knicks haben zwei Mal verloren, aber mehr wichtig ist, dass sie Jalen Brunson für ein bisschen verloren haben. Er hatte eine schreckliche Halsschmerze spät in diesem Spiel. Er ist nicht nach dem Spiel zurückgekommen, nachdem er seine zwei Freethrows gesungen hat. Am Freitagmorgen, wir wissen nicht, wie lange er draußen sein wird, aber es sah nicht gut aus.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
LeBron hat auch diese Woche die Geschichte gemacht, indem er der erste Mitglied des 50.000-Punkt-Klubs wurde. Das ist alles wunderschön für einen Marquis-Showdown am Samstag zwischen den Lakers und den Celtics in Boston auf ABC. Es wird nicht viel besser als das. Und das waren die Top-Storys dieses Wochenende, Andrew.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Well, Law, thank you for answering all of our Clippers' questions. But now it's time to play Andrew vs. The Beat, our weekly trivia show where Andrew goes head-to-head against a beat writer. And this week... It is Law Murray, Clippers Beat Writer for the Athletic. Law, you've played this before. I've come up with eight questions related to the Clippers. Some are easy, some are hard.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
You're going to give me a number between one and eight. If you get it right, you'll get at least two points. If you get it wrong, Andrew will have a chance to steal for one. And we'll go back and forth until all the questions have been asked and answered. So, Law, to start us off, all I need is a number between one and eight. Let's go to eight. Question number eight, the final one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
The Clippers take 32.8% of their shots from the midrange, the sixth highest percentage in the league. Name two of the five teams that take a higher percentage of their shots from midrange than the Clippers. So Clippers are number six. There's five teams ahead of them. So mid-range Kings. You got to give me two of those five teams.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Das ist richtig, Law. Du hast es nicht gemeint. Law, hör mal.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Somebody on Blue Sky asked me if I could give him the overall records from the last three years. I was like, no, I cannot do that. I could theoretically go back and find out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Any guesses on the other three teams? Just for fun? Anyone? Anyone? Mid-Range Teams? Andrew, you can throw out a name. You're not getting any points, but you can throw out a name.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Oklahoma City, they're like 7 or 8. The other teams, Indiana, Memphis, and Dallas. Oh. Dallas. Interesting. Okay, Andrew. Board is yours. You're already down. Number one. Question number one. James Harden had a 15 assist game this week against the Suns. Who were the last two Clippers before James Harden to have a 15 assist game? And you get one point per correct answer. Last two.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Last two before James Harden. Chris Paul? Andrew, that is incorrect! Law, you can steal two points here. See, that was too easy of an answer to be correct. So it is the last two Clippers before James Harden to have a 15 assist game. And Chris Paul was incorrect. Chris Paul was incorrect. It kind of gives you a hint.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
That is correct for two points. Wow. Andrew, it's not looking good so far. You're down 4-0 after two questions. And Law has control of the board. And on Shaq's birthday. This is terrible. Oh no, Andrew, I had no idea.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Question number five. There are 19 two-man lineups that have played at least 500 minutes together for the Clippers. Which two players are in the worst of those 19 lineups with a minus 3.6 net rating? And you do get one point per correct name.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
19 2-Man-Lineups und das ist im Grunde das Schlimmste von diesen 19 2-Man-Lineups. Wer sind die zwei Spieler in dieser Lineup?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Das ist falsch. Gehen wir mit deinem ersten Namen, Andrew. You can steal two points here, Andrew.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Anyone who's played on the team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
That is also incorrect, Andrew. Correct answers. Now, Law's second answer was correct, mere coffee. But unfortunately, your first answer was incorrect. So you didn't get the points. The other name, James Harden. James Harden, a mere coffee. Wow, just a mere coffee. Just one little coffee.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Andrew, du hast das Board kontrolliert, du bist bei vier, du musst anfangen, Andrew, oder es wird ein Ausbruch sein. Du kannst dich nicht überraschen an Shaqs Geburtstag. Ich weiß. Evita Zubats hat so far 133 Dunks dieses Jahr. Wer war der letzte Clipper, außer Zubats, der so viele Dunks in einem Jahr hatte? 133... So it's gonna be a big dunker. That's a lot of dunks. It is a lot of dunks.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Especially in this part of the season. You still got 20 games to go.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Oh, there you go, Andrew. Two points. That is correct. Wow. I didn't want to be an idiot and say Blake Griffin. Oh, I thought you were going to say DeAndre.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Okay, Law, you now have to protect your lead. Andrew has cut it in half. Let's go to seven. Question number seven. In his fourth season with the Clippers, Norm Powell is already eighth on the franchise's all-time list for three-pointers made. We're going to name the seven Clippers who are ahead of Norm.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
And how this works, Law, you're going to give me a name, then Andrew will give me a name, and we'll go back and forth till one of you stumbles. So Law, we're talking Clippers all-time franchise history, most three-pointers made, the top seven. What name would you like to start with?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
JJ Reddick is number three on the list. Over to Andrew. Podcast P. Podcast P is number one on the list. All time. Back to law. Jamal Crawford. Jamal Crawford, number four on the list. Wow. Andrew, Andrew, Andrew. What about Chris Paul? Chris Paul, Andrew? Did he hit a lot of threes? He sure did. Number five on the list. So back to law. We only have numbers two, six and seven remaining.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Nummer zwei auf der Liste.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Nummer sechs und Nummer sieben.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Es ist so gefährlich. Aber du lebst auf der Ecke an Shaqs Geburtstag. Und Andrew... Es hat gekostet, weil Kawhi Nummer 6 auf der Liste ist. Was bedeutet, dass Law die Punkte bekommt. Ihr müsst das auslösen. Es ist nur noch ein Name übrig. 7. auf der Liste. Wenn Law es bekommt, bekommt er die Punkte. Wenn er es nicht bekommt, bekommt Andrew einen Punkt.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Lou Williams. That is... Correct! Number seven on the list! Hey, congrats to you guys! You got all seven! Very impressive. That's rare. So rare. Now, unfortunately for you, Andrew, you are now down six to two. But you do have control of the board.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Number three. You accomplished an entertaining answer for the rest of us. Oh, this is great news for you, Andrew. You could get three points on this question. Okay, so listen closely. Okay. Who are they? You get one point per correct answer. Oh boy. And these are Los Angeles Clippers, so no San Diego Clippers, no Buffalo Braves. Los Angeles Clippers. DeAndre? DeAndre is one. For one point.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
What about Elton Brand? Elton Brand, Andrew, that is incorrect. Which means, Law, you have a chance to steal two points. No, no.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Yeah, I thought Malik Beasley could maybe make a run, but then Peyton Pritchard went out and dropped 43 in a win over Portland. And it's just like, yeah, it's probably him. He hit 10 threes in that game, 10 of 16 from three point range. So, yeah, I think he's a deserved favorite for six man of the year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Give me the question again. So, there are three other Clippers, other than Zubats, who have averaged at least 12.5 rebounds per game for a full season. One of them is DeAndre Jordan. There are two more.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Sven Nader? Entschuldigung? Das ist bereits eine schlechte Seite. Ja. That is incorrect. Andrew, you're going to beat yourself up over this. No, please don't. The first name, one of our faves, the caveman, Chris Cayman.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
And the other one, Andrew, this might have professional ramifications for you the next time you show up to a Thunder game. Because of course, it is Michael Cage. Michael Cage. Michael Cage. Ja.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Das ist die beste Geschichte. Du hörst das am letzten Tag der Saison, um den Scoring-Titel zu bekommen. Aber es gab das eigentlich für den Rebound-Titel, was ich so lustig finde.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Okay, Law, du hast das Board kontrolliert, du hast das Spiel kontrolliert, um ehrlich zu sein. Zwei Fragen. Vier. Frage Nummer vier. Was ist Nikolas Batoums career high in points? Nun, du kannst wählen, wer zuerst antwortet. Du kannst Andrew zuerst antworten und dann höher oder niedriger gehen. Oder du kannst zuerst antworten und Andrew höher oder niedriger gehen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Wenn beide genau korrekt sind, bekommst du einen Bonuspunkt. Also etwas zu betrachten, wenn du weißt, was Nikolas Batoums career high ist.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Andrew, this is a big one. You could get a bonus point if you nail this. I'll say 33. Andrew has set the bar at 33. Law, would you like to go higher or lower? I'm going to go lower. Andrew, you were within two points of Batum's career high. Und die richtige Antwort ist... 35! Was bedeutet, dass Andrew den Punkt bekommt. Nun, das ist große News, denn das macht das Spiel 6-4.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Gehen wir zur letzten Frage. Andrew hat das Spiel kontrolliert, was bedeutet, Andrew, wenn du das bekommst, wird es ein Tie-Game sein und ich werde mit einer Tiebreaker-Frage auf den Spot kommen. Wow. Also, hier gehen wir. Bist du bereit? Ja. Okay. Oh mein Gott. 2010-2011. Total Turnovers.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Oh, wir gehen in den Overtime, weil das absolut richtig ist. Game is tied, 6-6. Wow, it was Blake Griffin. I thought I might throw you off with a Baron Davis. You know, he was there half the season. I think they traded him that season. Okay, so we are going to go with a new question. Oh, you know what? This will be great. How about we just do franchise record, top 10, for most turnovers.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
And I'll give away the number one. It's Blake Griffin. Okay, Blake Griffin has had the most amount of turnovers in Clippers franchise history. So we're going to name the other nine. So, Law, why don't you start us off with a name?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
That is correct. He is number nine, which is pretty impressive. Okay, Andrew... What about Elton Brand? Elton Brand, number six. Yes. Back to law.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Paul George ist nicht auf der Liste für die meisten Turnovers, was bedeutet, dass Andrew die Woche gewonnen hat. Now, Andrew, can you name anyone else who's going to be your next name?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
He's number eight on the list. The other names, number 10, Ron Harper. Nummer 7, Danny Manning. Nummer 5, Benoit Benjamin. Nummer 4, Chris the Caveman Cayman. Nummer 3, Gary Grant. Wir haben Gary Grant-Fans. Und Nummer zwei, Corey Maggette. Corey Maggette. Oh mein Gott. Er war eigentlich sehr nah an Nummer eins. Ich bin sicher, dass es für ihn schwer war, ihn zu verlieren.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Blake hat ihn nur mit 13 Turnovers übernommen. Wow. Das ist wild. Was für ein Spiel. Andrew versus The Beat.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Alright, Andrew, that was Clippers Week. Another week where a team generally didn't have a good time while being on the wheel of fandom. So we're... And this is bad news for whoever's picked this week, because next week we're going to have Sam Vecini on. Das bedeutet, dass diese nächste Mannschaft in den nächsten zwei Wochen eine Weile der Fandom-Aufmerksamkeit erzielen wird.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Wir werden immer noch eine schöne Mischung von Mannschaften haben, die wir sehen wollen, und Mannschaften, die wir nicht interessiert haben. Ich hoffe, dass wir eine gute Mannschaft bekommen, obwohl es diese Mannschafts-Saison zerstören könnte. Lass uns sehen, wer wir bekommen. Lass uns die Runde drehen. Unsere Mannschaft in den nächsten zwei Wochen wird... Die San Antonio Spurs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Wir haben die Spurs ohne Wimby. Wir haben die Spurs ohne Wimby. Wir hätten sie, oh, ich weiß nicht, vor einem Monat und einem halben Jahr bekommen. Und es sah so aus, als ob sie einen Rund zu dem Spiel machen würden. Aber wir haben sie jetzt. Also wir werden Steff Kassel sehen. Er ist der Rookie of the Year Favorit. Ja, wir können darüber sprechen. Was noch? Darren Fox. Okay. Sohan.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Ist das dein Mann? Ja, das ist mein Mann. Das ist gut. Lass mich mal sehen, ob sie irgendeine lustige Spiele spielen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Ich mag es. Bevor wir zu den Favoriten dieser Woche kommen, Andrew, haben wir etwas zu beantworten. Manche nennen es den größten Skandal in der Geschichte von Slam & Jam. Letzte Woche. Auf Andrew vs. The Beat. Die gewinnende Antwort von dir, Andrew, war, dass Dwight Powell einer der Spieler war, der mehr als 500 Spiele mit nur einem Team gespielt hat.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Hör auf, was die Spiele sind. Okay. Oh, nein. In Sacramento. Okay, solid. Das könnte lustig sein. Dann zwei Spiele, Montag und Donnerstag gegen die Dallas Mavericks.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Oh boy. Alright, so two weeks. Oh yeah, I only gave you a week. Yeah, we get another week of games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Excited to see that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
dass Dwight Powell seine Karriere in Boston begonnen hat. Und er hat fünf Spiele für die Celtics gespielt, bevor er in den Raishan Rondo-Betrieb eingeladen wurde, way back in the day. Wir hatten solche Fehler vorher, aber ich glaube, es hat nie das Ergebnis beeinflusst. This is a clear one. This win should have gone to Sam. So we've taken some steps.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
First of all, I fired the unpaid intern who came up with that question. They won't work in this industry again if I have my way. And then also as as a olive branch to Sam Cooper, the next time he's on the show. He gets a free complimentary point. Wow. He's going to start out with a one point lead. That's pretty good. You know, that is pretty good. Points are expensive.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
You know, they're hard to come by and that's a free one. We'll just give away so that he doesn't shun us forever. So on to the favorites, Andrew, on to the favorites, on to the favorites, starting with our favorite quote this week.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
And my favorite quote was from Katie, who after a genuinely miraculous home win, considering what this team has looked like over these Clippers, where the Suns erased a 19 point deficit in the fourth quarter. Somehow one of the quotes in Katie's postgame press conference was, quote, Ja, genau. Honestly, I don't really care about the quote.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Katie says a lot of stuff, and most of it I find very funny. But I did want to bring it up as an excuse to talk about that win, because we had the Suns as our Wheel of Fandom team last week, and frankly, it was miserable. And things didn't seem like they were getting much better this week.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
John Gambadoro out in Arizona reported that inside the Suns organization, Coach Budd is miserable to deal with. We saw an argument, a verbal altercation between Katie and Budd on the sidelines during a game. But hey, for one night against a good Western Conference team, this Suns team played legitimately hard after Stan Van Gundy had been complaining about their defensive effort the entire night.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
They got their fans into it. KD was on fire. I'm sure Suns fans will have... Ample opportunities to follow Katie's instructions and leave a Suns game early the rest of the season. But it was nice to see Suns fans have this one moment of respite, a moment to just enjoy a fun basketball game and ignore the impending doom that is hanging over this franchise.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
While the Dallas Mavericks are unlikely to be raising a championship title banner anytime soon, they are closing in on an improbable run to win the title of most tortured fanbase.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
While it's fun to talk about sports curses, Curse of the Bambino, Curse of the Billy Goat, the Madden Curse, if a team was actually cursed, would it look any different than what is currently happening to the Dallas Mavericks?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Ich glaube, er ist ein Hooper. Das ist ein Hooper-Quote. Das ist ein Hooper-Quote. Ich liebe das. Das wäre schockierend, wenn nach dem All-Star-Break Cam Thomas sechs Assists pro Spiel aufbaut. Sechs und ein halbes Assist. Ja, natürlich sind es nur zwei Spiele, aber das wäre schockierend. Und ich würde mich schockieren, wenn ich ihn nicht wählen würde.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Okay, jetzt kommen wir zu unseren Lieblingsstatten. Ich habe eine große diese Woche. Das ist eine Statte, die mit dem Schießen des Gegners zu tun hat. Wenn du diese Saison bemerkt hast, dann weißt du, dass die OKC eine sehr gute defensive Saison haben. Aber in den letzten Tagen hat diese gewohnte Defense nicht so gut ausgesehen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Per Clean of the Glass, over the last two weeks, the Thunder had the 17th ranked defense. Now that's a far stretch from being the number one overall defense and number one overall by a mile for the majority of the season. Now they've still gone 7-1 over that stretch in part because they've had the second ranked offense during those eight games. But the defense hasn't been quite as good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
So what's going on? Ein Teil davon ist, dass sie versucht haben, Chet zurück zu integrieren und ihn mit Isaiah Hartenstein in diesen Double Big Lineups zu spielen, die er ehrlich gesagt noch nicht wirklich gespielt hat. Ich meine, selbst letztes Jahr hatten wir etwa 40 Minuten mit J Will in diesen Double Big Lineups. Ich erinnere mich nicht genau, was das war, aber es war eine sehr geringe Anzahl.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Also ist das wirklich sein erster Mal, dass er in einem Double Big Lineup einen extremen Rennen bekommt. Und in diesen 114 Minuten bis jetzt, super kleine Anzahl, hat OKC einen Defensive Rating von 117 veröffentlicht. Nicht das, was viele OKC-Fans erwarteten. Aber ein Teil davon, und OKCs größter Defensiv-Schlumpf, war, dass ihre Gegner ihre 3s gemacht haben.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
This week's top story is that Mavs All-Star Kyrie Irving tore his ACL on a drive to the rim, knocking him out for the rest of this season and likely a large chunk of next season as well. In the very next game, a 137-107 loss to the Bucks, the Mavs were only able to suit up eight players.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Vor den letzten 2 Wochen schießen OKCs Gegner 32,9% von 3 und 35,3% von wide-open 3s. Das ist, wenn der Defender mindestens 6 Meter entfernt ist. Beide Marken waren die niedrigsten in der Liga. Wow. Nun, wir wissen, dass es ein bisschen Glück im 3-Punkte-Schießen gibt. Und in den letzten zwei Wochen hat das Glück gegen OKC gewechselt.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Während dieser Strecke schießen Thunder-Opponenten 37,6 Prozent von 3-Punkten insgesamt. Und mehr wichtig, 42,5 Prozent von weit öffnenden 3-Punkten. Als Side-Note, Andrew. Welche Teams-Opponenten schießen das Schlimmste von weit öffnenden 3-Punkten in den letzten zwei Wochen? Weißt du? Könntest du antworten? Ist es die Lakers?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Es ist die Lakers, die Los Angeles Lakers, deren Gegner ein sehr nachhaltiges 30,4 Prozent auf weit öffnen Drehen schießen. Ja, das ist ein verrückter Punkt. Und ich habe es seit dem nächsten Spiel nicht geschaut, aber ich denke, dass Nick 25 Prozent von drei schießt. Also glaube ich, dass das Nummer runterging. Es ist so, als ob es runterging.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
All of this isn't to say that the Thunder defense isn't a great defense, just that they have gotten some shooting luck so far this season, and that has shifted over the past couple weeks. I wouldn't totally dismiss the double big lineup just because the defensive numbers haven't looked good, because it may have more to do with some shooting luck so far.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
In those early Chet Hartenstein minutes, teams are shooting just under 40% from three overall. One last thing. Wenn du denkst, okay, siehst du, das Gegenteil von 3-Punkten-Schießen war glücklich. Warte, bis du hörst, was in Boston dieses Jahr passiert ist. Weil auf Schüsse, die NBA.com klassifiziert als open threes. Also das ist, wo der Defender 4-6 Meter entfernt von dem Schütter ist.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
Celtics Gegner schießen momentan. 29,9% this season on over 13 attempts per game. Now for context, the Charlotte Hornets, who are number two on that list, are holding opponents to 31,7% on open threes. That 29,9% mark would be the lowest since the 2014-15 season when the Houston Rockets held opponents to 28,1% on open threes. The only other time a team has held opponents under 30% on open threes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
And to add insult to the many injuries in Dallas, the Mavs franchise announced this week that season ticket prices would be going up next season, a continuation of their new strategy to do the dumbest possible thing they can think of.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Lakers Shooting Luck? + Clippers SNEAKY Contenders? | Slam N Jam
So, you know, if you're a Celtics fan and all of a sudden the Celtics are in more close games or maybe they're dropping a few, it might be because the shooting luck has just turned a little bit on those open threes. So those are my favorite stats this week. Wow, that's wild.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
It would only be a lot of points if it was in a small amount of time.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
This dude is just compiling all the numbers. I mean, the triple-double numbers. Last night, the triple-double Saturday. So the Lakers didn't come into last night's game unaware of Josh Giddey's performance and, most importantly, confidence level. I mean, he had eight steals Saturday. And he didn't get his second steal until that LeBron inbounds pass that led to Kobe White's three.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
I feel like it's something involving BET. Okay. It's the only time I think 106.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
Well, I'll just say that this is your standard Cleveland game when you look at their offense, when you look at what they average for the season. You look at that, and you look at nothing else, and you think, well, you know, they did what they needed to do. I think the Spurs, they gave themselves a chance, and the way you have to play, and we're going to see this in the playoffs,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
Spoiler alert, I hope to have something on this sometime in the spring. The possession battle matters. So you're going to see a Spurs team that had 19 offensive rebounds. That is a weakness for the Cavs, even with Evan Mobley and Jared Allen both being available. Obviously, Evan wasn't available.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
Dean Wade's a pretty good guy to have playing, but you're playing Tristan Thompson enough minutes to get ejected. That's probably going to be a commentary on your lack of depth. That's something that we're going to have to look at for
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
in battle advantage they shot 40.6 from the field so that speaks to some of the offensive rebounds a lot more available they were bricking you know castle did have 22 but he missed 14 to 23 shots i think he'd like to be more efficient than that uh he missed four out of six free throws that kind of hurts when a game gets to be the way it went last night the spurs they took care of basketball i will give chris paul a shout out that dude is 40 years old this year and has not missed a game
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
that I'm not going to be the one to jinx it. I really hope he gets to 82.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
He might have impacted... The Grizzlies are used to playing without him. They've had better performances. But again, just like what we were talking about with Spurs-Cavs, I'm going to look at the And the Thunder got their guys back. Like, it's not just, you know, Shea getting buckets, you know, recovering from one of his worst games of the season when they beat the Clippers Sunday.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
I mean, the fact that they're finally whole again, Jalen Williams playing for the first time in a long time, that lineup with those two bigs together, Hartenstein and Holmgren. I think that is significant. And so I think when you look at it, the Oakley Sea Thunder, they're just that team. They're the hottest team in the league again, eight straight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
The Grizzlies, this would have been a nice win for them. But I think, again, we go into the playoffs. I think what's going to be critical for them is their offense thrives in the flow of the game. They're fast-paced. They don't run a lot of stuff. They will catch you napping. But I think if a team is focused, I don't feel like playing D right now. It's like, no, it's winning time.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
And I know OKC can defend. I don't know if the Grizzlies, when it matters the most, are going to be able to come up with a performance where the job's playing or not.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
Damn. We could have had one for the night before Indiana. Shoot.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
For Indiana, that's all it is for me. Great job. Y'all scored more points than anybody this season. You alluded to this time of the year, March. This is the first game all March. We're into Friday is the 28th. It's the first time that someone has won by 50 points in the month of March. I just feel like For both teams, it was a reaction to their last game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Giddey Game Winner + March Badness
Indiana should have been able to secure a win. They didn't get the stop they needed at the buzzer. For Washington, they won a game, and it was like, nah, so many wins. We have to reestablish. Y'all don't get more losses by losing by 50, just so y'all know, Washington. It only counts as one loss.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Like, again, if Norm's going to be inefficient, that gives you a chance to win. Denver won game one. They had a chance to win game two. Norm just – Norm, I think, was woken up by Jamal Murray picking him up like he was a child at the playground. Time to go home. Now Norman Powell's locked in, like the champion that he is. You know, Norman Powell is the kind of player who understands sacrifice.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
He understands that, hey, like, you might not be in the role that you were in before Kawhi got going. You know, Norm got hurt. Norm just missed an all-star, you know, selection. Everyone was questioning if he was going to make the right plays and understand that you got to do different things. You can't just shoot every shot. Well... Norm is cutting. Norm is defending.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Norm is getting his hands in the passing lanes. He's finishing in transition. Like Norman Powell playing well is the difference between a close game and a blowout. I think Denver saw that. There are weaknesses. And I think it's always a weakness when you're like, man, this guy playing well is the difference between winning and losing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
The Clippers have a lot of those guys, and you just have to keep playing them hard. And I'm very interested to see how Saturday goes because the Clippers are not always sharp in afternoon games. They made it a point not to have afternoon games on their schedule at home in the first year of Intuit Dome. So we're going to see if those guys have the same energy come Saturday. It's a quick turnaround.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Shout out to David Adelman, I guess. He warmed the crowd up, and I'm not sure they needed it. But when you get called out in any way, shape, form, or fashion by the opposition... you know, the onus is on you to back it up, come through. And I thought the fans were great. Both high profile fans, great visibility fans, as well as the people who had to take an elevator to get to their seats.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I like that. You talking to the MC of the power, you know what I'm saying?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Shout out to my editors for not having me do that during the playoffs, by the way.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
They won. That was my... Impressive win, like you two on the road. You can say I will take the three one lead later. I mean, I mean, look, that that was that was impressive to me. So. Yeah, going down 29 is a concern. Making all that up in the same game is, yeah, I think that team has not given me a reason to think that they're not going to win the title yet.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Again, I'm very loyal to what I say in October. It's April now. I have no reason to change up.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Man, uh... It's slim pickings at this point, as far as I'm concerned. I'm going to split the difference here. I'm going to go with Golden State.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
And I'm going to go with Minnesota.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
What was funny is I'm the type where it's like, you get me going and it's like, I'm probably going to be like this the rest of the day. So shout out to you, Andrew, you are a responsible host, Alex. Thank you again for having me. And I hope y'all enjoy this time that we have because we're about to start eliminating teams at this point.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
You know what I'm saying? I thought that building was locked in. And then their basketball team, was locked in as well. This was the second game in a row where it looked like the Nuggets had the advantage with both team starters out on the floor. And I'm telling you, man, I mean, it was a quick turnaround from up seven to down seven.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Thank you, guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
That's where Denver found themselves in the second half of the first quarter. And it was a route from there. Like, the Clippers... You know, I think the Clippers are actually just above average offensively. But to hold that Denver team under 90 that they did. I mean, again, the Clippers were no sloshes defensively. They were a top five defense all year. But the Nuggets were a top five offense.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
And they have Nicole Jokic, who, you know, is playing with a playoff riser in Jamal Murray. They just took every bit of breathing room away. They made everything hard. Honestly, they made the Nuggets look like the worst version of themselves you could possibly ask for. They already don't take threes. Attempted a few threes in the league. They held them to seven threes made for the game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
They kept them off the line. They turned them over. Even when the Nuggets got offensive rebounds, they didn't automatically lead the points. I think the Clippers outscored them on second chance points. It was a thorough beatdown, and you just got to see if any of that rolls over to Saturday.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Honestly, they made shots, and if the Clippers make shots, they're so much more difficult to deal with. Again, they're already good defensively. What will fuel Denver is if you turn the ball over against them and miss shots. And here's what's funny. Denver's not really good at either one of those things.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
They're not very good at forcing you to miss, and they're not very good at forcing you to give the ball away. Um, the Clippers donated game one. I mean, they were up 15 and then they wound up with 20 turnovers, all of them, which mattered, you know, the 20th turnover was when Russell Westbrook jumped around and overtime while the Clippers are trying to inbound.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Down three, you know, so the Clippers cleaning that up. It just takes away what Denver wants to do as a running team. If the games are going to be relatively slow, even as much as Toronto might want his team to pick up the pace. The reality is Denver thrives on the fast pace. But if you don't give them a reason to run, those guys aren't really running.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Nicola's a give me the ball ref so I can inbound it. That's his version of pace. You know, he gets the ball up and advances it and outlets it when he has the opportunity to do so. Jamal Murray is not one of the faster point guards in the league, you know. Russell Westbrook is, but Russell didn't play. I don't think Russell even reached 10 minutes because his foot was bothering him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
It's a style of play thing. What are you going to do to put Denver in situations where they have to play a different style of basketball? And Denver wasn't up running the floor last night. Denver was trying to figure out how the heck to get the ball to Nikola Jokic, who put up The numbers that you'd want a guy to put up, 23, 13, 13, only two turnovers, better than 6% in the field.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
But that's why it's a five-man game. And the rest of them dudes weren't really helping him, especially once Aaron Gordon cooled off after his great start to game three.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
It looks like if it's a zoo bots, damn it. That dude is a, he, he was my pick for defense player of the year. Like, and when I say my pick, like I actually got the vote this year, you know what I'm saying? Like beautiful. And, and that, and, and I just felt like, you know, shout out to Evan Mobley. He won, uh, And, you know, he's he he absolutely deserves it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
One of the youngest ever to win that award. I was just looking at it from the aspect of look at who Vince Azubas for most of the season was playing with. Look at what made the Clippers as good defensively as they were. And just the fact that he plays so many minutes without getting in foul trouble. He's a fairly decent rim protector, and he's not asked to just be a drop bid.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
He's asked to actually guard guys, you know, and he does that. He communicates effectively. I thought the Clippers were just not on the same page in game one, and if Nicole is going to score efficiently and find his teammates and pick you apart, that's usually a bad thing. Again, that's usually a bad thing in game three, but – Nikola's volume has been compromised in this series.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
He's not running these dudes over because this isn't one of those bony little teams. The LA Clippers are a big team, and it starts with Zoo. Zoo has played Nikola Jokic well for years. He absolutely should have played more in the bubble in 2020. That's one reason why Toronto Lou is the head coach of the team now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
You know, I mean, this is an opportunity for that dude of his Zubats to show everybody that he's capable of playing some of the best basketball, his position in the league. Everyone knows how good Nikola Jokic is. Not everybody understands and appreciates how good Zubats is.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I think a lot of it is that former Alex. I'm trying to mentally think about these dates. March 4th, May, Murray and I have been James Harden dropping 50 points on the Pistons on the second night of the back-to-back with Kawhi out of the lineup. That's what started their great stretch to end the season because they lost six out of seven coming out of all-star break.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
That's what put them in a spot where they had to play playoff basketball from the first week of March on. And yeah, it turns out that Kawhi Leonard playing like the best version of himself is going to greatly help your offense. And the reason why it helps your offense, Kawhi is a high floor player as well as a high ceiling player. So we see the high ceiling, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
He can get to his spots and score at will. But when I say high floor, he doesn't make mistakes while being a first option kind of player, a player who's got the ball in his hands a lot. And that helps a guy like James. Like James still, I believe James turned the ball over more than any player in the league after the All-Star break.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
However, if he's the only dude turning the ball over at a high rate, you'll live with it. And that was the biggest difference between the Clippers that were bottom 10 in the league offensively through most of the first 70% of the season to the Clippers being one of the very best offenses in the league.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
You know, James isn't turning the ball over as much as he was, and he's the only guy who has probably a porous turnover ratio. You got guys like Zoo. He's improved. You know, Zoo used to be a fairly unreliable player when it came to catching passes, short roll, decision-making, all that. making passes out of the post.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
He's gotten so much better at that, you know, and James gets a lot of credit, but Zoo, you got to credit the actual player making the improvements as well. Chris Dunn as a starter next to James Harden. I mean, it just fits because now James doesn't have to worry about overhandling the basketball. Chris Dunn, he can, you know, kind of caretake and get the ball over half court and,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
James can come off a screen or post himself, situate himself at the elbow or something like that and direct the offense that way. It's just they have complementary pieces that fit. They always had guys who can put the ball in the basket. The Clippers don't shoot a lot of threes either, like the Nuggets, the second fewest in the league.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
And the Clippers shoot the fewest catch and shoot threes in the league. The issue with that is. If those dudes are catching and shooting, they're making those shots. They have complimentary pieces around stars. And Kawhi is going to play like a star. I mean, it's just different. And I think teams have had to reconcile with that over most of the last few months.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
They're a championship team, but they're thin. I think this is what happens when you got guys who know how to win and and know why they're not winning. They don't have enough guys. It's really as simple as that. DeAndre Jordan is your backup center. Julian Strother and Jalen Pickett are the last guys in your rotation. Peyton Watson is your most reliable backup big.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
Russell Westbrook is in year 17, and he's your sixth man. And none of those guys that I mentioned are – the kind of pieces that were playing when they won the title just two years ago. Bruce Brown watched a game in Denver, you know, earlier this week says after the game, man, I miss playoff basketball. I bet you Bruce Brown don't miss that bag that he got as a result of basketball.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
None of the dudes playing in Bruce Brown's stead are getting that bag. Yeah. Okay. Like maybe Christian Brown. And, you know, again, Christian was my MIP pick because it wasn't just volume. You know, it was efficiency. He got better across the board. Now, most improved player does not mean most valuable player. It doesn't mean you are all of us. I just did tears, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
I spent a whole week rolling that out. Yep. You can see where I put Christian Brown. That dude – When I say improved, he went from not being on the list to, okay, you're on the list, not, you know, in the last tier of the selection, particular selection. Like... They don't have enough dudes. You know, you get five guys, the starters I don't think are playing poorly.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
When they break them starters up, that's when it goes bad. And, you know, everyone understands that things are great when, you know, you're winning, when you're scoring, when guys are finding it easy. This is hard. And now you're traveling and losing, and the losses, you already saw your GM get replaced.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
You already saw your head coach get let go at a time no one lets their head coach go, especially going into the playoffs. It just means more when you feel the end of an era coming. Michael Malone was out here last year talking about they want to be like the Spurs win every other year. And Michael not even there anymore. So it just hits different when your mortality as a unit is showing itself.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
You know, the blowouts are harder than the close games. I'm just going to say that without context. Good morning, guys. Good morning.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
And I think the Nuggets are just trying to deal with that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
you still got to play them hard. I feel like this is an old team and this is a team that, you know, when it comes to Kawhi, everyone's going to hold their breath until that dude keeps getting up and, and, you know, uh, keeps, keeps putting the uniform on. Like we just, we've, that's what you've seen in the, in the surround Lou era.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
You've seen these guys not finish playoff series, uh, with their best team. Um, I think that there are still plenty of guys who just not playing their best right now or haven't quite found their rhythm. Bogdan Bogdanovich hasn't had a good game in a couple weeks now. And he's their sixth man. Ben Simmons is a guy who... I literally wrote a story earlier this week.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
It's like that dude has one bucket, and that one bucket was like, yeah, that bucket mattered. I mean, when you're talking about if this series is going to be close, they need guys to hit those shots. Derrick Jones Jr. hit shots last night. That was a big difference. Derrick Jones Jr. outscored the entire Denver bench by himself.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kawhi the best in the NBA? + The Pistons are here | Slam N Jam
If Derrick is going to score, then that's a big thing, but Derrick isn't going to score every game. Chris Dunn, he's another one where it's like you're going to play some exotic defenses almost predicated on leaving Chris Dunn open or being okay even if he makes a shot or two. And that's a gamble, but it's like that's where you're playing. And I think the final piece is Norm.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
I don't think there's shot profiles diverse at all. Like, I think we know the Celtics as the team that takes a lot of threes. What the Celtics aren't is a team that is elite from an accuracy standpoint. They hurt you because of their volume, but their volume hurts you in two ways that we don't discuss as much.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
We always talk about the Celtics as this elite three-point shooting team because of how many guys in their rotation are three-point shooters. We don't talk about them as a team that is literally in the middle of the league in three-point accuracy. They're 15th in a 30-team league. They are in the bottom 10 in the mid-range.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
Now, when I did these rankings last year, Boston wasn't number one in the shooting rankings. They were in the top 10. They were like seventh, I believe. And it was like they were a whole lot more accurate shooting threes, but they were also a little bit better in the mid-range. They have mid-range players or players who should be good in the mid-range who aren't at that level this season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
And I feel like that is something that needs to be considered. Now, what does Boston get credit for? They do make more threes than you. But the reason they do that is because they defend. So they take away the three at a level that, again, we don't talk about. Everyone's like, oh, you got to be in a three-point shooting contest.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
Well, the part of the three-point shooting contest that Boston is good at is they take your threes away.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
We just want to focus on the offense. And then the other part is Boston makes sure that they don't beat themselves. They take care of basketball. That adds to your volume as well. So you're looking at Boston and it's like, oh, man, the Boston Celtics,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
make there's a game where they'll make 10 more threes than you and we'll just talk about the offensive part of it and the shot making part of it we don't talk about the process of it so um that's why it's like hey like we can't just look at they make you know three-point attempts for instance are you making shots are you making them efficiently are you getting them from different areas of the floor and there's actually room to improve for even a team like boston
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
Well, you brought up Mike Brown. You brought up the mid-rains. I think one thing that coaches have always kind of said, well, the coaches that actually want their teams to take mid-range shots, because there are those coaches. There are coaches in the league who, like, and off the top of my head, I think of Memphis. I think of Minnesota. I think of Utah. Those are your shot desert teams.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
They want threes. They want the paint. They don't really like the mid-range as much because of how they want their ball handlers to approach things, their shooters to approach things. But there are a lot of coaches who, even if their teams aren't taking the mid-range as much, they value it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
The Clippers are a team where, I mean, Toronto Lou has said twice in the last week about his team and about a team like the Dallas Mavericks. the value of three level scoring, how they want their guys to take more of those shots.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
Exactly. Kawhi coming back adds a part of the shot profile that the Clippers are missing right now. Like they would love James Harden, a player who used to be on those Rockets teams leading the way. And James used to say, I was allowed to take mid-range shots. No one else was. And that is a funny statement because it's true. He had the choice. He had the options.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
And, Z, I think what's your point you're getting at? We are in a place where players who are not primary ball handlers, players who get their shots created for them, right? You got your cooks, and then you got the guys that eat. Hey, that's real. And a lot of guys that eat cake.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
And so what we're talking about is those guys in the corner. Those are the guys who it's valuable if that guy can get clothes out, take that one dribble, pull up. Some guys have that, some guys don't. Some guys are really in organizations and they're being told that you know, bring that thing all the way to the rim, you know, and that's great if you can get there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
It's not as great if you don't have that in your bags. And so, you know, Kyrie Irving, for instance, like Teron Liu, who he coached in Cleveland. And again, you look at those Cleveland teams, they shot a lot of threes, especially Relative to their era, right? Totally. But one of the reasons he's as efficient as he is is because he is a, as T. Lou describes him, a three-level scorer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
He can play off the ball, especially with Luka, catch and shoot threes. He can get to the paint. He has the floater, which again, that's a star shot more than anything else. But he has the in-between game. And so... You are not going to hear that as much in the regular season. We're going to hear a lot of the noise that we're hearing now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
But every time that it becomes a conversation in the regular season, you don't hear it as much in the playoffs. Because it changes. Yes. Right. And what changes? The defenses are trying to take things away because they know, all right, you're a three-point shooter. We're going to close you out. We're going to meet you at the rim. Oh, you're a team that doesn't take the mid-range.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
So we can actually, as a defense, leave that alone. But the players who understand that, they have advantages. We saw two years ago in the playoffs, Jamal Murray, where did he eat as a primary ball handler, as Nikola Jokic's pick-and-roll partner? He was getting to that elbow, Chris Paul style, and looking like a dude who's going to make multiple All-Star games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
Don't ask me why that hasn't happened yet. Breaks my heart, Law. Breaks my heart. The playoffs, that is a key differential for a lot of these guys, and mid-range is a part of it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
The vibe has been energizing for everyone involved. Everyone's in a better mood. They're not even playing that well. You know, it's like they got something to look forward to.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
They are. I mean, the thing with the Western Conference is ask me in 24 hours. Right. This show going to go up and you're going to see something that you didn't see before we started taping this. That's how that's how the West is right now. But. That's the exciting thing is you have a player that's been with you.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
It's not like Kawhi's been somewhere behind the curtain, Wizard of Oz style or Wicked style. I haven't seen the genre yet. I can't really make that. It's a good movie. It's a good movie.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
I need a chaperone to watch that movie. But the thing is he's been around. So when you get a guy like that, Now, ramping up, you know, your team's on the road. He's not on the road trip, but you know he's, you know, getting himself ready with whoever is back in the facility with him. It's like, okay, there's a step. And then you see him shooting. There's a step.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
Then he gets to be in practice at a limited capacity. You've got the red jersey on. Don't contact him. But he's there. That's a step. The step that they got before this road trip is you can touch Kawhi. God.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
He's a real basketball player now. You know what I'm saying? Five on five, full contact. You're excited about that. It's like, oh, this is really happening. He's able to participate, and the knee is not having issues, and that's a big part. It's like if anybody who does any activity, the first time they do it, they're like, yeah, I ran a 5K. And then the next morning, it's like...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
I ain't doing a 5K next week. Can't do it. Can't do it. It's like, all right, all right, there's a step. He's on this road trip, which means that they play in the game. He's not playing the game. But in between the game, it's like, all right, Kawhi's getting work in on the road with the team. No, that's another step. And so you have tangible, you know, you're feeling good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
You're allowing yourself to feel good. Fans talk about this all the time, but damn it, organizations the same way. They, you know, I am prepared to be hurt again. Like, damn, put them something to do where it's like, all right, This guy is, you know, they've done everything right. They buy Kawhi. You know, Kawhi probably would have wanted to play a month ago. Okay?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
Because, again, you think, I'm good. Like, my knee's fine. I've played through everything. We've seen Kawhi play hurt. Toronto Raptors. S, how many times did you look at that Eastern Conference Finals? Exactly, and Kawhi, he plays through stuff, and that's a problem a lot of the times.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
They were like, we're going to take extra time, we're going to make this team play however many games it takes so that that team has an identity, that you're not worrying about the in and out with Kawhi to get to this point. They've earned a chance to get Kawhi back. Kawhi's earned himself a chance to get back, and...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
Friday night, you know, I don't want to say that's definitely the night just yet, but it's trending in that direction for sure. Against Steph.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
I will say this. I really like doing the shooting rankings almost because I want to show that the game is not just a make or mislead. That's my favorite part about it. And that's really ironic, I know. People get excited about... the ability to put the ball in the basket, especially to do it from distance, to do it frequently, to do it consistently.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
Those are, that's part of the reason why a lot of us watch basketball because they do things that we're happy to do once, right? But I mean, I remember watching the Warriors and the Rockets 10 years ago, and I use both because of how different those two teams in particular a decade ago, what they showed us about shooting in particular, the frequency of it, the star players especially.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
Steph got his threes different than James Hardy got his threes. Right. And when you see those teams clash in the playoffs, it's like they're both shooting a lot. But you can't possibly tell me that they do it the same way, that their teams get their shots the same way, that they approach offense the same way.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
And so I wanted to do these rankings because even though you're evaluating the same thing, you can basically show how different every team approaches the shot chart, how different their success is and how different the... ability to shoot correlates to, are they a team that can win games or not?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
And so that's the thing that I wanted to, I always like having that conversation of, okay, this is how I evaluate shooting across the league. I try and keep it basic, you know, but even as digestible as this is, what does this tell us? Why does this matter? And that's, that's really the basis for these rankings every year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Stomps Wolves | Shooting Rankings
Well. that's what I thought when I was going to put this together. It's like, I went to Boston and talked to Joe Mazzola. I asked JJ Redick a completely open-ended question and he winds up bringing the Celtics up. And I'm like, well, that's going to be the quote that actually, I hope my editor is keeping the article. And what I learned to be honest with you, I disagree. Yes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
They were having to be really patient and keep the energy up. And I think that was one of the negatives of this game was that there was a lot of production on TV that we didn't get to experience in the arena that didn't meet the hype of what people, I think, experience outside. So I did hear that a lot of people enjoyed the actual production of the game. I'm glad for them.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
Let's stay on that topic. I think one of my highlights of the whole weekend in terms of the products on the All-Star Court. Mack McClellan's dunk compilation. It is insane that he decided to dunk over a Kia for not the dunk, but his first dunk.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
I was the first thing that came out of my mouth when I saw that car. When I saw that car come out, I was like, I'm legitimately scared for his health. Like I was legitimately scared that he might not clear it and we might see something gruesome because it just seemed crazy. He had barely warmed up. Like that was his very first dunk.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
He clears the car, and then he goes on to go do multiple acrobatic, core-inducing type of dunks that I'm just like, this man just lives for this. Mind you, I covered Mack McClung in the G League. He's a hard worker. He's a scorer, etc. But... Clearly, his money is in the dunk contest.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
That's where he's making his money.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
I was almost like this shaming a little bit of like, this is what it's not been for so many years. This is what it could have been or could be, but you won't do it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
Correct. You need a foil. You need character development. And if Mac is out here just bodying dudes with no competition, it's not as fun. What was really cool about this year's competition, I think, was other stars were watching and were like, wait... I want to do this. They were like, oh, I want to do this. I can do this. It was almost like motivation for other people to get back involved.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
The rest of those guys were... He's now the most winningest dunk contest... Contestant? I'm not sure what you meant.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
Oh, okay, got it. Okay, thank you for that clarity. Okay. Well, all right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
Ant did not play. That was kind of a bummer. But I agree with you being able to see two Bay Area kids in the sense of Steph is a Bay Area kid from a playing perspective, having come here, spent 16 years here. And then Dame Lillard being from Oakland. It was dope to see them be able to shine in their hometown and the incorporation of both Oakland. And the city in San Francisco.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
It's that locked in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
I got to ask you to close it out. Any thoughts for like next year? How can you make this better? I think San Francisco did a great job of showing up. Brands showed up. The players showed up. They were, I saw them all across the city doing so many events. How can this get better in terms of like a basketball product next year?
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
Agreed. Right. NBC is taking it over next year. It's going to be in L.A. this year. I mean, next year. But as of now, we are going to sign out from San Francisco. Shout out to me holding my camera up on my arm for longer than you thought you would. Way longer than I thought I could survive. So, Law Murray with The Athletic. Go read his stuff. Thanks for joining me.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
All right, we are here live at Chase Center right when the new format of the 2025 All-Star Game has finished up. We're literally on the court so everyone can see. I got Lon Murray here. Known for covering the entire league, but really Clippers, of which there was one represented during the All-Star game. Overall, let's just be real.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
What were your expectations while coming into this All-Star game?
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
Like, I feel like I heard Steph say that when he talked to Kyrie Irving, when they were coming into this, like, hey, are we going to ball? Are we going to play ball? Like, are we actually going to compete? And they're like, yeah. And so you saw aspects of Kyrie. You saw Steph MVP of the game, like, turn up a little bit. You saw Dane Lillard getting a tie up, get a jump ball even.
The Athletic NBA Daily
All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP
So it's like, all right, a little bit of competition here, particularly when the young guys were going with the old guys. But overall... it still felt a little dead in here. What was the atmosphere like to you?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
And again, LeBron actually needed, you know, there was medical, right. So, of course, the communication and messaging was murky, which might have been on purpose or intentional. There's always some extra drama going on with the Lakers that they obviously...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
low-key love because it's a distraction you know to how they might be playing or whatever else you could talk about like if they could have just said hey lebron's taking a week off we've had conversations and go from there and said it's like i don't know where lebron's coming back i don't know where he is you know like he's ted lasso or somebody in the middle of a damn trippy episode so instead you know you get lebron coming back and it's like yeah it's
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
some time off to get himself together physically mentally whatever like he had to do Christmas shopping whatever it was the point is he's back and guess what he might need some more time at some point you know like at the end of January or after the trade deadline or right around All-Star after he gets announced as he'll start in that game and you know he's going to get maximized that time in the middle of February I don't know just be prepared for it like the Lakers need the best version of him to do anything and
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
They needed it tonight. Like, him getting a week off led to a win tonight. Let's just put it that way.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
You just started Max Christie.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
Yeah, I think Max Christie's starting tonight was a big sign of progress for what the Lakers want to be. Max, you look at his box score, it doesn't jump out. If you look at his impact, he gave John Morant hell. He like that was his assignment. Jha didn't make a single basket inside the three point line in the first half. That was huge.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
It's about establishing what kind of game you're going to play. And he's Max is a guy who he's not the same player as he was when he came out of school. He's gotten stronger. He's got more experience. He's gone through a coaching stint. He signed multiple contracts. His attention to certain things has taken the steps that it needs to take for a player who's been in the league.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
You know, he's still a young, developing player, but obviously he's not a rookie anymore. And he completes that starting lineup as of right now. Like, Austin's their point guard. LeBron is a guy that they play through, but they're not playing through him as much as they are playing through Anthony.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
and Marie's out there to make things happen so Max is there to make shots and to defend his ass off and he did that he did his job to begin this game and you see the Lakers didn't play a single one of their reserves 20 minutes tonight not D'Angelo Russell not Gabe Vincent who got some starts not Dalton Connects who was an option to start not Cam Reddish who somehow always is relevant to the Lakers rotation no matter what else is going on like
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
My man, my man came reddish. That dude is a survivor.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
He made a difference Sunday night in this game. Like, why? Because, and this is the same thing. Same thing for Max Christie. If you can make a shot, run a little bit, jump a little bit, and just be competitive defensively at the wing position, you will have relevance to a coaching staff, period. As long as you don't do dumb stuff and lose that trust, you're going to be relevant.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
Max Christie earned some rope tonight. And I argue that Cam Reddish did too. And that's the way there's rotation. They need guys to play hard and to be assignment sound. Everything else you leave up to guys like AD and LeBron for the most part.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
I think big picture, things are looking pretty nice. They're safely over .500. They played well enough to be able to take and absorb this poor stretch of play that they've had for almost two weeks now. Kawhi coming back to practice in a limited capacity, being on the floor, getting his hair done, like all that stuff matters. You know what I mean? Like everything for them, this isn't,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
Nah, that stuff matters, man. He ain't messing around with the box flats no more. Like he's actually looking like he is planning on playing basketball games. And that's, and that's huge. You know, this isn't last year's team where that team was on a 66 win pace for 41 games due to Matt that's half the season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
And guys were still tripping as if to say like, you know, it's 10 different guys doing their own thing, you know? So, um, they need Kawhi because they need him, but they also need to start the clock on several things. You got to get Kawhi on the floor so that Kawhi can go through his ramp up in NBA games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
As we saw with Joel Embiid, Chris Middleton, and some of these other dudes who have delayed their start of their season, you know, they're going to, you're not getting all NBA. You're not going to get all NBA Kawhi in his first week back because You know, here's why that's relevant. The Clippers are always open for business.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
There's not a single season that Lawrence Frank has been in charge of the front office that they have not completed a trade in between October and the February deadline. And I would expect that to be no different. But for them to fully evaluate what they need and how they are going to go about pursuing what they need, they need to see Kawhi play with these guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
They need to see who stays in the rotation, who's out the rotation. You know, he's going to make the guys who have been doing way too much right now better and more efficient. Okay. Like how do we proceed? So that's the most interesting thing to me.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
It's the domino effect of a guy who's capable of being a star player, but you have to take the steps, especially with a guy in Kauai who is susceptible to setbacks. You have to take the steps and you're going to probably need more time to do that than to say, do what golden state did and complete a deal just because guys are available immediately. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
Your hunch. Yeah, I feel like he wants to get back on the floor before the end of December. Like I said, like, he is back in a limited capacity and a good time in the Clipper schedule. They were the only team in the league. I believe that went the entire month of November without a single game where they had more than a day of rest, you know? And you know what? I think they benefited from that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
I feel like the Clippers played well and got through those games. They won 10 of those games. And so now with some time off, you're starting to see the effects of complacency, not playing sharp basketball. Guys are getting hurt. They're Jones juniors out. Terrence man is out. They had to play their first games without James Harden. Like they are wasting the roster spot on PJ Tucker right now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
Who's not even with the team. You know, there's some attrition there. So I feel like Hawaii is motivated to get back on the floor as soon as The team feels like he's ready. There are steps to it. He hasn't taken contact yet there. That progression hasn't happened. So I don't think this week is happening.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
But, you know, I would target that Warriors game on the 27th right after Christmas, or it'll be interesting to see if he's on the road trip to New Orleans and San Antonio to end the calendar year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
I thought that he looked fantastic when it mattered, which was as soon as the game started. Like, I mean, he had one, a sequence of, where, uh, he just, it was, it was early in the game. And I feel like he had a bucket, um, came down with a chase down block, uh, of Desmond Bain. And then, um,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
Rui Hachimura got out in a fast break, and he didn't finish it, but LeBron tipped it in, and that forced a timeout. That bucket, by the way, it was a dunk. It was LeBron going hard. I had to recall what happened, but... That sequence right there, it's like it gave the Lakers energy because obviously energy has been a big thing missing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
It's not a great sign that you need that energy from a dude who's literally turning 40. In a couple of weeks, man. Yeah. Yeah. Like, how is it already mid-December? But that's, you know, you get... you know, this man, like wins don't come in the mail. Like you gotta, it's hard to win any NBA as cliche as that is.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
If you actually see how much effort it takes to get in and out of these games, especially against good teams, especially when you're in a rut, like the Lakers have been, then that, that look, that jolt, is significant. It does matter. The Lakers never trailed tonight. And that's again, saying a lot. The Grizzlies, I think one, what nine out of the last 10 or something like that coming in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
It was like, that's what, that's what he looked like overall. LeBron had a pretty pedestrian game. He turned the ball over. He didn't, he didn't dominate the game with the scoring, but you know, who did Anthony Anthony Davis. And so like when you have the when you have the big plays, LeBron made on both ends of the floor in transition in the half court.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
And then you have Anthony actually imposing his will on a game the way that he can at a peak level. That's the Lakers needed that. It's all it. They needed every bit of it to hold on to that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Mavs & Warriors shoot the lights out | Lakers & LeBron reunite
I thought it was much ado about nothing. Like I'm old enough to remember when LeBron had to take a lot of time off his first year after leaving the Miami heat in Cleveland, right. Cavaliers team was off to a pretty, you know, shaky start because, you know, they had always played shaky basketball since LeBron left the first time and LeBron comes back and he was rejuvenated.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
Yeah, I always remember that quote that's kind of become a favorite here on the podcast where Chauncey Billups called his team basically losers if they slept after a three-game losing streak, and then they answered back by being an awesome team for the rest of the season. So maybe they do respond to what he has.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
I am curious they didn't go out and try to do a search for someone else in a Mark Jackson, Steve Kerr type of way. Is there another coach that can take us to that next level? Because I really do think this Blazers team – can get to that next level. But I guess they just trust in Chauncey to be able to do it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
That's my opinion that the Celtics can be any of those teams with the first round without Jalen Brown. That's how confident you should be and how good this Boston Celtics team is. Give him the first round off. Get him ready for round two versus New York or whoever it ends up being.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
Oh, man, I will say, I think despite all of the hoopla and narrative about how the game should change and how there should be this adaption and adoption of some kind of new version of basketball, the basketball was great. We saw it with the final game of the regular season. We saw it throughout the 82 games that we watched. We were privy to all of it, basically. It was great basketball throughout.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
And I just I loved it. It was awesome. That's the that's the only thing I wanted to mention. Good basketball.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
combinations that they had in front of them because parody is real and most likely in order to get these guys paid or to get these guys rings they're not going to be together for very long and that is the state of the nba today that's the that's the beauty of it because everybody thinks they can win every single team going into the postseason right now thinks they have a shot at winning and yeah gonna be a good playoff and we didn't even mention oklahoma city 68 wins
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
Yeah. Yeah, I thought it was great. I thought like every single star on both teams showed up. Kawhi Leonard, surgical in the way that he carved up this team. I mean, he had 33 on 20 shots. He was just a robot. No wasted steps. James Harden, the way he took over and over time. I thought that was just like special compared to, you know, he's having an all NBA level season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
And I thought that was kind of the cream, you know, cherry on top, if you will. Steph Curry, the way that he turned up in that fourth quarter to get the Warriors back in the game because it looked like it was over for a little bit.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
Yeah. So generally, I thought the stars showed up. It was awesome. It was the exact game we wanted.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
Yeah. I mean, look, Moody still played 30 minutes and you, you think like the way that he was guarding at the point of attack to start in that first half was awesome. It was enough to keep you afloat. And so I think he brings similar things that Gary Payton does defensively.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
I think some of the things to your point, Zena about the athleticism and kind of springing into action, GP two is just a little bit better at recognizing certain moments to get the ball and Moody, on the other hand, though, is a much more willing offensive player. And so I think about that final possession where Gary Payton Jr. is in the short roll.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
He passes it to Draymond Green, but it's a little delayed. I think in those type of moments, having Moody as a guy who's a little bit more offensively adept, that's the type of guy you want in those situations. And Draymond misses that shot. So, you know what I mean?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
Steve Kerr is really right that it doesn't work.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
12 top 10 sure top eight and you get a guy like that in a playoff series man the Clippers are dangerous bit of a rhetorical question here but like how many players are you taking over Kawhi Leonard in a elimination type of game I don't think there's I don't think you can get to five before mentioning Kawhi's name so like that's the level of player that the Clippers are getting uh I have to issue a bit of an apology to the Clippers in general because to start the year
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
I was not that high on this team. I think consensus in general was not very high on this team that thought people would be falling out of the plane. Wouldn't get to that point, especially with how competitive the West was. This team, Harden has continued to play all NBA basketball. The guys in Norm Powell and Evita Zubats and Derek Jones Jr. have stepped into larger roles.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
Their defense has been electric. We saw it tonight. And like you said, Dave,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
I'll just go ahead and mention it because it's crazy in its own right. Pat Connaughton dropped 43 points, had 11 rebounds and had five assists, made five threes in the overtime win for the Bucs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
First players in NBA history also to do it 20th season or later, which is just... That goes to show you, we talk about LeBron and Steph and all the longevity. Chris Paul got to be up there, man.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
Hey, is he back? Do you guys think Chris Paul comes back next year? You know what? I hope so. I don't know.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
If the Wizards get the sixth pick somehow and it's all Bob Carrington's fault, that's funny.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
It's a perfect match of hate. That's where it is. Luka hates these dudes. He always has. His first two playoff experiences in the bubble in 2020 and then in 2021, he put up historic numbers. We all... There are some people who, you know, if you don't watch games or anything like that, just watch highlights. You thought that Luca won one of those in 2020. It's like people.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
That's how I used to walk through the halls of the American Airlines Center that they have there in Dallas. Right. And they still, you know, obviously, I haven't been there since the trade. But he had that image in 2020 of Lucas Stepak over Reggie Jackson. You know what I mean?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
It's probably a hologram now, you know, but that's that's what that's what it was. Actually, it's probably a hologram of Anthony Davis from his one game on the team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
all that aside um this is a part of a seven game road trip for the clippers um they are coming home after playing four games in the midwest i'm laughing because it's actually funny the clippers build a new arena and they still get the short end of the stick with the scheduling they get to come home sleep in their own beds and then play in someone else's arena for two games but
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
We're heading out for yet another road game. So that dynamic I'm excited about. I've been the staples because I refuse to call it by its sham name. Now, um, a few times.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
So, um, my, my editors for the most part are cool and they don't insert the name in my stories. Right. Uh,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
if you've ever ever since they changed the name i think it was what december of 2023 um i don't even remember the year because i don't care yeah um sure like i refuse to to write crypto.com on social media i would just say redacted right because i just felt like who's going to this website like I don't even like Staples that much. But, like, it was iconic because of, you know, the arena.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
We'll call it Top Shot Arena and everybody will get the joke.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
Well, you know, the haters do a good job of giving me stuff to write about. So shout out to people hating on national platforms. Yeah. I always sell the story. A couple of years ago, I saw somebody criticize Paul George for an Instagram comment that he left on his great friend, Carl Anthony Towns page, you know, related to, you know, the vaccine. And I was like, you know what?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
I should write a story about Paul George and Carl Anthony Towns friendship. Yeah. That wanted to be one of my best stories the following season. So it's the same thing here. It's like a lot of people get off on talking about what they don't like about the game that we're all here to enjoy. And so with me, I'm never, I'm not the best general manager typewriter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
I've learned to be a pretty good coach writer, which I'm not Dave. Dave Davis has literally coached, you know, the country of Georgia. You know, I'm not at that. I'm not at that. You're pretty good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
Hey, man, I'm available from August 1st to August 31st. You know what?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
yeah so i was i've always kind of wanted to evolve my way of understanding the game right but to do so in a way that's digestible that i can communicate effectively all the basic stats out there you need to you know complement that with watching the game and you can watch a game but you want to contextualize it you want to It's like when you're taking the SATs, you know what I'm saying?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
Everybody in the country takes the SATs or whatever that random test is in the South that they take that I was never a part of. I think the ACT. Exactly. I don't know anything about that. But, you know, it's all standardized. Everybody gets grouped in the same thing and you can evaluate from there. You know what I'm saying? Those tests say a lot. They don't say everything. You need to interview me.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
You need to see what kind of student I am in high school. Talk to my guidance counselor if I have one. Right. Shout out to the schools that have guidance counselors still. So it's the same thing with basketball. It's like we have all these numbers, all this information, but which are the ones that you can digest and say, okay, I can see this happening on the floor, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
And so I wanted to put all that in one place. And then I wanted to say, look, the game is simple. Put the damn ball in the basket more than the other team does. But from there, it's like... How are these teams doing it? And that's what the fun part is of watching.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
That's why we watch thousands of games every season, because even though we have an idea of how the thing might end, we want to see how. Right. We can look at a game between the Hornets and the Thunder and say the Thunder probably will win. But you want to see how the game turns out. I just saw the Hornets beat the damn Lakers just a week ago. How the hell did that happen?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
And so that's what this story was about. The story was about saying, hey, look, there are things that teams do every game. Of course, it's one ball in four quarters. Five guys are playing on each team. But how those teams actually play and the consistency of them, we can say that you're not going to get a team that plays the same way all the time.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
Even the teams that copycat because it's a copycat league. how they copycat is going to be a little different.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
Well, I will say this. A lot of the data that made up this piece, especially in the tables, I didn't want to focus on who's good. I didn't want to focus on just... Obviously, you're going to lead. The NBA is led by the great players and the great teams, the champions of the past.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
Those are the teams that get remembered and the teams that when you're putting teams together, you're saying, is there a blueprint? Is there something to say that there's a precedent for success as to why you're doing the way you're doing these things? Like pretty much everything that I wanted to show as far as data was not a ranking of they're great at this. They're terrible at this.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
It's a matter of just tendencies, you know?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
A fast paced team can be really good offensively or a fast paced team can be the bulls or the wizards. All right. A slow paced team. We think of a slow paced team and we think that's a negative connotation. But honestly, there are a lot of teams that say we're going to slow it down and we're going to beat you.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
Yeah, if you are watching, because look, I do this a lot too. If I'm watching one game, I'm seeing things through one game. I'm literally in arenas watching the process of things that worked in the first quarter not work all of a sudden in the third quarter. Guys that are getting hot early or struggling early, it flips. That's why you see four quarters. That is the context of a game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
The games are what matter in the standings. But we'll remember different things. We'll remember if LeBron James dunks on somebody that he's old enough to be their father. You know what I'm saying? That's just how we are. You brought up football. I love Red Zone. I used to work in NFL. You know, I know Scott Hanson are great friends of mine that I've literally handed notes to during live telecast.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
I know how that stuff goes. You know what I mean? And so like if you watch in Red Zone from if you're on the West Coast, 10 in the morning until five in the afternoon, you're seeing a different experience of football. It's the same thing if you're at the airport. And you can't watch a game, but you can see the conversation on social media develop.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
It's like, yeah, you're getting bits and pieces of things. You're getting things taken out. You're not seeing teams clip entire highlights, unless it's the Pacers. The Pacers love doing that stuff. You're not seeing entire possessions and stuff like that. You're not seeing what actually wound up creating advantages all the time. So...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
That's what we don't... We don't talk about those things unless we have pull-out stories that The Athletic provides a space to do.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph drops 56 | LeBron and Lakers keep rolling
I guess. I've seen Luke and the Clippers plenty of times, and I've seen the Lakers and the Clippers plenty of times. I'm just happy to be allowed in the building, dude. It's like I'm going to sit and I'm going to let the game speak for itself. So if it's an incredibly boring game, then I'm going to enjoy my Friday night one way or the other. So that's where I'm at.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Yeah, I went to French Central School. That's my response. There you go.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Well, this was their first win in a week. They had a really rough ending to Tuesday night in Indiana. So if you want to read about the Pacers, that's my first cheap plug of the show.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
But I know Eric was talking to you guys about the fact that Milwaukee's defense has been ahead of the offense this year and there's nothing a mid-offense would like to see more than Luka Doncic feeling like he has to do too much on offense. I mean, this was like a
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
throwback clippers mavericks game to be honest with you looking at luca absolutely empty the clip and then watching all of his other works be out there For all those who want to actually pay attention to that stuff. So yeah, you guys are going to look and be like, well, it's the highest scoring Luka game or a short scoring point game or whatever as a Laker. And I hit you.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
I was like, oh, this dude is dropping 50. And he would have dropped 50 if this game was either more competitive or if they didn't have to go and catch a flight to Denver today. So the bottom line is, if you're Milwaukee,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
luca uh is a guy that you target and i felt like there were guys that targeted him uh with success gary trent jr had a pretty good night anytime luca was on him um and i i just felt like the bucks if they can get that kind of a knife from their sporting cats that was the biggest thing this was a game that they needed to win especially given how they lost on national tv on the road against a potential first round opponent in indiana and i think the biggest thing that you will
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
I don't know if excitement is the right word, but I think you're happy anytime you get a game like that from Kevin Porter Jr., a guy who comes in, speaking of Clippers, a guy who comes in in only 17 minutes. Not only does he score 22 points, but every field goal he made was a three-pointer. This is a guy who he shot horribly to begin the year. He's had some very productive games for the Bucs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Ich glaube, er ist komfortabel als Torwart. Und er hat den ganzen Lakers-Bench selbst ausgespielt. Das ist eine Art Performance, die ich nicht als nachhaltig nennen würde, aber du wirst es nehmen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
If we're being real. I think the Lakers, that third quarter was, they looked like The best team in the league almost. I say almost because I am not going to disrespect the Oklahoma City Thunder or Cleveland Cavaliers. Those teams played like the Lakers did in that third quarter from the jump. And they've maintained that success.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
I have not seen two teams in opposite conferences play this well in probably the entire 2020s. okay so big shout out to those teams those are the teams we should be talking about all the time beginning of shows middle shows and the shows but i understand people are excited about the los angeles lakers and it's the defense for me the way that jj i'm very impressed with jj reddick and
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
his ability not just to come up with schemes with his coaching staff, but to communicate them and have his players execute them on a consistent basis. You play well for a quarter of the season, that is significant. You can't be like, oh, this is a small sample size. Look, a small sample size was what the Dallas Mavericks did
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
von der frühen Mitte des Märzes, kurz nach der Verhandlung im letzten Jahr. Und sie haben das Momentum durch die normale Saison gespielt. Und dann haben wir gesehen, welches Playoff-Team sie waren. Die Lakers sollten als diese Version des letzten Jahres Mavericks gesehen werden. Besonders, weil sie diesen Jungen, Luca, haben. Das heißt, sie sind nicht das tiefste Team. Sie sind es nicht.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Sie sind tief, so weit es geht, dass du dich fragen kannst, um den Basketball zu handeln, um Spiele zu machen und ihre eigenen Schüsse zu machen. Aber Nach einiger Zeit ist es so, dass wenn du in Jackson Hayes verpasst wirst, wenn du einen Mann in Rury verpasst wirst, den du anrufen solltest, um größere Bord zu haben, um in diesem Bereich ein Winger zu sein.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Ich weiß nicht, wer sonst auf meinem Kopf verpasst wurde, aber... In addition to not having LeBron, whose effort defensively has been critical, that dude is able to do things athletically and he's still just... Physically a 1% guy, you know, he's able to, when you're missing that many guys and yeah, it's going to, it's going to leave a dent. It doesn't matter what your scheme is.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
You can draw up some great stuff. You're not going to be able to execute it against the kind of talent that Milwaukee has. And again, I just felt like Milwaukee was locked in, even though they were giving up bucket after bucket to Luca. They realize it's a team game, five on five.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Luka nicht zu scoren, bedeutet, dass andere Jungs nicht so viele Möglichkeiten hatten, weil Luka zweimal so viele Turnouts und Assists hatte. Wenn Luka ein großes Assists-Spiel auf dem Topf des Scores hatte, würde das wirklich deine Defense schaden. Wenn die Lakers stoppen würden, würde das wirklich dich schaden, wenn ein anderer Typ 40 plus droht. Das ist nicht passiert.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Und das größte Ding, das du schauen musst, und das ist etwas, was die Lakers lernen müssen, während sie mit Luka und LeBron spielen, Lukas scoring a lot of points is not always a great thing. Because it frees his guys out. But also, there's going to be a lull. And it doesn't have to be when Lukas is on the bench. There's going to be a lull
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Und du wirst sehen, dass wenn Lukas anstrengend wird oder ein bisschen wegfällt, dann bist du bei diesen Jungs. Ich habe es in den Playoffs gesehen. Ich wette, Patrick Dumont ist wahrscheinlich gerade an dieser Stelle, um herauszufinden, wie er in den guten Räumen zurückgeht. Also, du weißt, ich werde ihm kein weiteres Material geben und ich werde es direkt ausmachen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Man, these dudes are in each other's post-game huddles. I don't know how much higher the chemistry could possibly be. Mark Dagnall is going to show up in one of them jobs one day. That's going to be their top level, their next level. I love... This team is special because... All those dudes were there when they were ashy or in college. So this is not a team of mercenaries.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
This is a team that they really grew their team, taking advantage of, you know, other teams desperation in previous eras. So the thing about their offense getting so much better is it wasn't like it was bad to start. Ja. Ja. Ja. Ja. Ja. should be scary. There are people, maybe even people who cover the Oklahoma City Thunder, that were just assuming that
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
We're bi-coastal. That's how we were doing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
The Thunder were just going to, you know, run back what they were doing last year with their lineups. You know, like they trade for Alex Caruso. A lot of people probably thought Caruso was going to start, even though they gave that dude Isaiah the whole bag. I'm like, they have so many guys, you know, pay a dude like that and not start him. At least give it some real, a real chance.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
And the fact is, it's not going to work against everybody. But what lineup is, you know, proof? against every single team. They diversify.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Yeah, and let's not lose track of the main idea with that team. Shea Gilles Alexander is that guy. If you don't have that guy as a centerpiece of what you do, it makes the coach's job easier, it makes those bigs job easier, it makes your bench and all those other guys who have to start around the all-stars, it makes their job easier. And Shea, everyone talks about what he doesn't do.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
You know what he doesn't do, Dave? He doesn't turn the ball over. Das ist etwas, was ich wirklich hoffen muss, bevor dieses Monat vorbei ist. Wenn es um den Possession-Battel geht, wissen wir alle, dass die Thunder, ein großer Teil der Defense, den Ball von dir entfernt, aber sie geben den Ball nicht zurück. Das ist ein großer Vorteil.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Wenn wir über die Make-or-Miss-Liege sprechen, haben sie gute Schützer. Ich würde nicht sagen, dass sie groß sind, aber sie haben eine großartige Idee, wie man Possessionen kontrollieren kann. Und sie erinnern sich, Just letting Shego's Alexander finish the possession with some kind of shot. They do a really good job of that. They don't beat themselves.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
And that's already, that's something that a lot of these teams are going to make the playoffs and they're going to have issues with that. You just watch how many games that Shego plays where he doesn't have a high turnover number. I think that's honestly the best part of anything they do offensively. What's your favorite thing about the Cavs this year?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Das Wichtigste bei den Cavs ist, dass all diese Züge ein Threat sind. Ich bin ein Fan von DeAndre Hunter. Ich meine, das war die perfekte Edition. Ja, wir sind in der gleichen Hochschule gegangen. Ich war bereits für ihn gebeten. Ich habe nicht viele Leute, die das sagen. Also Shoutout zu der französischen Schule. Aber dieser Wettbewerb war einfach ein Talent-Upgrade.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
Sie sind nicht so tief, aber wenn man sich darüber nachdenkt, haben sie bereits eine sehr unikale Line-Up. This is a team that has two bigs, one who is just now comfortable shooting threes, but still, Evan Mobley hurts you more inside than outside. We see that. And they have two all-star level guards. And just because they're small guards...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
They still are tough on the defensive end, and on offense, it's a struggle to match up with that level of talent. I think Darius Garland is a guy who, if he's going to be efficient in the playoffs, then they can beat anybody. Because they have shooters, they have interior size, they move the ball just enough, they run a ton of pick and roll, and... Ja, genau.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
I mean, look, the basketball gods are not going to be good enough to us to give this a finals matchup. We're only going to get... I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know. I'm telling you, today is March, whenever this pod comes out. Come back to me, you know, at the end of May.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Steph Curry first to 4,000 3-pointers
You can be hopeful. I'm just telling you, I have no reason to be hopeful. The basketball guys have not been good to me and we are not going to get blessed with this.