Grizzlies forward Matt Barnes responded to rumors he and Rihanna are dating by implying they’re dating.
TMZ:
It didn’t take Rihanna long to shoot that down:
Report: All-Star fourth quarter featured more than 15 minutes of gameplay
One overlooked feature of the NBA’s new All-Star game format: It seemed designed to shorten the game.
Sure, the league wanted to add an interesting wrinkle to a game that had grown stale. The exact details were tweaked to honor Kobe Bryant.
But – in the era of load management – shaving a few minutes off the exhibition game should be taken as a feature, not a bug.
This year’s game ended when a team scored 24 more points than the leading team had entering the fourth quarter. The last time a team had scored 24 or fewer in All-Star quarter: 2010, when the East scored just 23 in the fourth quarter. In the decade since – including the first three quarters Sunday – All-Star teams averaged 24 points every seven minutes.
But Sunday’s fourth quarter took a while longer than the standard 12 minutes for LeBron James‘ team to outscore Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s team, 33-22.
Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today:
I’m told the fourth quarter was just a tad longer than 15 minutes of game time compared to a regular 12-minute quarter and it was 43 minutes, 10 second of actual time. https://t.co/UPVDjtb8rD
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) February 17, 2020
Defenses really turned up in the fourth quarter. Here’s how the teams’ shooting percentages changed from the first three quarters to the fourth quarter:
- 2-pointers: 73% to 46%
- 3-pointers: 34% to 23%
More shots being contested also led to more fouls. After attempting just 13 free throws in the first three quarters, the teams took 26 free throws in the fourth quarter.
In The Basketball Tournament, which first introduced the Elam Ending, the target score is eight more points than the leading team has at the first whistle inside four minutes. By turning off the game clock later, there’s less room for variance in gameplay length.
I suspect the NBA would have also turned off the clock later if not using the target score to honor Bryant. Because Bryant wore No. 24 last, the league has generally used that – not his other number, No. 8 – in tributes, including the All-Star jerseys.
With All-Star MVP now named for Bryant – a perfectly fitting lasting tribute – the league can alter the ending format next year.
The concept is sound. The exact execution just needs tweaking.
Bulls’ starting point guard Kris Dunn may be out for season with knee injury
Mike Stobe/Getty Images
Bulls starting point guard Kris Dunn missed the last four games before the All-Star break with a sprained knee.
He could miss a lot more — like the rest of the season.
From K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago:
But sources said there’s a growing belief that Dunn will miss the remainder of the season with the injury, which occurred when Thaddeus Young took a charge and inadvertently crashed into Dunn’s knee on the first possession of a Jan. 31 road game against the Nets. When Dunn suffered a similar injury last season, he missed 23 games…
“Dunn still has some swelling in that knee,” coach Jim Boylen said before the Bulls lost to the Wizards on Feb. 11 in Washington, their final game before the break. “Once his swelling goes down, he will get re-scanned and re-evaluated. But he had a lot of swelling.”
That’s less than ideal for Dunn as he heads into restricted free agency. He has averaged 7.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, however, his most significant contribution has been quality defense for Chicago this season.
This is the latest in a string of injuries for the Bulls. Otto Porter has only played nine games due to a broken foot. Big men Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. are currently sidelined due to injuries, although Carter could return after the All-Star break and Markkanen by early next month. Now Dunn.
Rui Hachimura gets destroyed by kid in Pop-A-Shot-like game (video)
Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images
Rui Hachimura got kicked so hard in the groin by a teammate, the Wizards rookie needed surgery.
That’s pretty awful. Yet, there’s still a new contender for the worst moment of Hachimura’s season.
At All-Star Weekend in Chicago for Rising Stars, Hachimura faced a kid in a Pop-A-Shot-like game. It didn’t go well for Hachimura.
Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News:
This kid just smoked Rui Hachimura 3 times in a row in Pop-A-Shot in front of Allen Iverson. Rui thought there was something wrong with his hoop, and made the kid switch sides.
Sometimes it’s just not your day. pic.twitter.com/t0LWzN74mF
— Kristian Winfield (@Krisplashed) February 15, 2020
An NBA player losing to a kid is bad enough. Twice, we’re entering troubling territory.
But claiming the game is cheating, demanding to switch sides and still getting routed?
That’s a ROUGH look.
Orlando Magic to build new practice/health facility
AP Photo/John Raoux
Last week, before the NBA world headed off to Chicago for the 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend, the Orlando City Council voted to approve the sale of a plot of land to the Orlando Magic.
That land, located between the Amway Center (home of the Magic) and Exploria Stadium (home of Major League Soccer’s Orlando City Soccer Club) will become the site of the Magic’s new practice facility. The building will also house a community health center an orthopedic center. The Magic hope to have the facility ready in time for the 2021-22 NBA season.
When the Magic moved into the Amway Center in 2010, it was a state-of-the-art building. Not only is the Amway Center the home of the Magic for games, it’s the center of their entire basketball operation. The backside of the building is entirely dedicated to the Magic practice facility, including weight room, therapy and training space, and offices for the basketball staff.
The challenge with this setup is that there is little to no room to expand. For example, there is just one full court, as was seen during the Orlando Summer League, which ran from the building’s opening through 2017. In addition, there are two shorter courts, which run horizontally across the main court.
Magic CEO Alex Martins said the Magic and AdventHealth (who will run the community health center and orthopedic center) “will build a world-class practice and health facility”. Martins and Magic President of Basketball Operations, Jeff Weltman, have toured other facilities around the NBA to gain insights and ideas in what Orlando should be looking for in a new facility.
The new building is expected to include at least two full courts, and likely additional baskets for drills and shooting work. In addition, as NBA teams invest more in health and physical science, the new facility will have space for equipment related to those advances as well. That type of addition to a facility allows a team to keep all of it basketball training and medical rehabilitation all under one roof.
When Kevin Durant signed with the Brooklyn Nets, he commented that one reason was the Nets practice and training facility. Multiple players have commented that Brooklyn went all out when building the facility and regularly uses it as a recruitment tool in free agency. While facing a lengthy rehab from a torn Achilles’, Durant is able to work out and get treatment in the same building as his active teammates. In recent years, the Philadelphia 76ers, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, and others have upgraded their facilities.
NBA players desire simplicity when off the court. By keeping medical and practice facilities in the same building, it allows for them to go to one location. Where the Magic will build their new facility is right around the corner from the Amway Center, which allows players to commute to the same general vicinity as they do today.
The Orlando Magic already have some built in advantages when it comes to recruiting players. Central Florida has beautiful weather year-round, there is no state income tax, plus there are major players in the entertainment business and a growing technology sector in the Orlando area.
The Magic have used those benefits in the past to lure free agents like Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady. Adding a shiny new practice facility to the list, just as a banner crop of free agents hits the market, is something Orlando hopes can get it back in the superstar mix once again.