Kyrie Irving participated in part of the Cavaliers’ practice yesterday.
He did so again today, but the talk is not exactly encouraging.
Rick Noland of The Chronicle-Telegram:
The Cavaliers might be able to get away with a limited Irving by leaning more on LeBron James.
But LeBron can’t do everything himself, not against a team as good as the Warriors. He’ll need help from Irving.
The question: How much and how much will Irving be physically capable of providing?
LOS ANGELES — It’s the second game of the season and players reaction like it was May. Or June.
Emotions were running high between the Lakers and Rockets all night. Los Angeles’ Brandon Ingram was particularly frustrated with James Harden drawing foul calls (welcome to a big club, Brandon) and after Harden drew another with 4:13 left in the game Ingram let his frustration go and pushed Harden. That was a quick technical, there was jawing, and Lance Stephenson stepped in to pull Ingram out and protect him from himself (yes, Stephenson was the level head… it was weird to type that).
Usually in an NBA “fight” that’s when things calm down.
Instead, that’s when things went crazy.
Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo, two guys who don’t like each other much, were jawing after the play when CP3 took his finger and pushed Rondo in the face — and Rondo responded by throwing a punch. Paul said later Rondo spit on him (you can’t see that in the initial video).
At that point, everyone was in.
That’s when Ingram came sprinting back into the scene and threw another punch. He was quickly pulled out of the pile, but the damage was done.
Once everything settled down, the ejections came — Ingram, Rondo, and Paul were all gone. Each of them can also expect a suspension to come down, Rondo and Ingram will certainly get multiple games for throwing punches.
The Rockets went on to win the game, 124-115.
Bryn Forbes was going to be the third-string point guard for the Spurs, but injuries to Dejounte Murray and Derrick White thrust him into the starting lineup.
Saturday night, C.J. McCollum schooled him. Broke Forbes ankles then drained the three over the top of him.
But the best part of this is the bench reaction.
Damn, that’s cold.
McCollum had 24 and Damian Lillard had 29, and the Blazers beat the Spurs 121-108.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — JJ Redick hit a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to lift the Philadelphia 76ers over the Orlando Magic 116-115 on Saturday night. You can see the video above.
Redick had his best game since moving to Philadelphia’s bench at the start of the season, scoring 31 points on 10-of-20 shooting, including eight 3-pointers.
Aaron Gordon had a chance to tie it with 10 seconds remaining but missed his second free throw, and a desperation heave by Terrance Ross missed the net entirely.
Joel Embiid had 32 points and 10 rebounds for the 76ers, including 19 points by halftime. He did it with an outside game in the first half but was more of a force down low after intermission.
Dario Saric scored 13 points and Robert Covington had 12 as the 76ers improved to 2-1 this season.
Evan Fournier had 31 points to lead Orlando. Nikola Vucevic added 27 points and Gordon had 20.
Ben Simmons left the game after the first quarter with a tight back, meaning Philadelphia had to lean that much more on Embiid and Redick.
With Simmons out, Markelle Fultz was given an opportunity to play extended minutes and run the offense. Fultz finished with eight points on 4-of-11 shooting and added seven assists with only one turnover.
However, with the game on the line, 76ers coach Brett Brown opted to use T.J. McConnell at the point and kept Fultz on the bench.
High scores have been common in the early part of the NBA season as teams are pushing the pace and trying more shots, especially from deep.
Both teams shot lights out from 3-point territory. The Sixers, paced by Redick, shot 17 of 34 (50 percent) while the Magic, led by Fournier’s six 3-pointers, shot 16 of 29 (55.2 percent).
Thirteen players attempted shots from beyond the arc, eight for Orlando and five for Philadelphia.
When the team’s young star goes down, or heads back to the locker room mid-game with a hitch in his step, an entire fan base holds their breath.
That happened tonight in Philadelphia with Ben Simmons and New York with Kevin Knox, but fortunately neither seems to be serious.
Simmons had hit a couple of layups but ran back up the court gingerly, like he was in pain, before asking out of the game at the 4:19 mark of the first quarter. He is not returning.
Simmons has been tearing it up for Philadelphia, averaging 16 points, 14 rebounds, and 9.5 assists per game through the Sixers first two. Philadelphia is off until Tuesday when they start a back-to-back in Detroit then head to Milwaukee.
New York’s Knox went down after Boston’s Terry Rozier tried to cut Knox off in transition and fouled him.
The Knicks announced it was a sprained ankle.
Knox drags that ankle behind him in an awkward way after the collision, let’s hope it’s nothing more than a mild sprain.
Both a tight back and a sprained ankle are things that can be worse the next day, keep your eyes out for updates on these guys.
