Smith, Love lead Cavs to 6th straight win over Wolves

Associated PressJan 9, 2016, 1:00 AM EST

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Kevin Love was back in Minnesota again, and this time the boos he heard were half-hearted and faint from the Target Center crowd.

Timberwolves fans have moved on, enamored with the player they got in return. And Love is settled in with the Cleveland Cavaliers, happy that he doesn’t have to carry the load all by himself anymore.

J.R. Smith scored a season-high 27 points and Love had 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists to help the Cavaliers to their sixth straight win, 125-99 over the Timberwolves on Friday night.

LeBron James added 13 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, Iman Shumpert had 23 points and the Cavaliers outscored the Timberwolves 22-5 in transition to win for the 12th time in 14 games. Smith made 5 of 6 3-pointers in just 19 minutes and Cleveland was 13 of 27 from long range to top 120 points for the third straight game.

“It is nice. A lot of different guys can carry the load on this team,” Love said. “It’s not just one or two guys and that makes for a pretty formidable group.”

Andrew Wiggins scored 35 points, Shabazz Muhammad had 22 and Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 for the Timberwolves, who have lost five in a row and nine of their last 10.

“J.R. can go 7 for 9 or he can go 1 for 9, it depends on the night,” Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell said. “You’ve got to pick your poison.”

Love spent his first six seasons in Minnesota before he was traded last summer in a package that brought Wiggins to the Wolves. Love’s pouty demeanor over the last half of his final season here didn’t endear him to the fans who once adored him, and they booed him lustily in his return to Target Center last year.

They booed again on Friday, but it seemed like they were doing it more out of obligation rather than genuine distaste.

“This will be a place that will always be one of my homes and a place I hope I’ll always be able to come back to,” Love said.

Love only made 4 of 11 shots, but unlike the undermanned Wolves teams he played for, the Cavaliers don’t need him to carry the scoring load – especially when Smith is shooting the lights out like he has been recently. He scored 49 points and hit 13 3s over his previous two games and kept raining them from deep against the Wolves.

Wiggins averaged 30 points in his two games against the Cavaliers last year and came out firing again on Friday night. But Smith matched him shot for shot, consistently drilling 3s over Wiggins’ outstretched hand. Twenty-one of Smith’s points came in the first half, the same output for Wiggins and Minnesota did not have near the scoring depth to keep pace with Love, James and the rest of the Cavs.

The Wolves led 17-13 early after a flurry from Wiggins, but Cleveland outscored the Wolves 22-10 to finish the first quarter and never looked back.

Kyrie Irving had 13 points in 26 minutes in his eighth game back from a knee injury he suffered in the NBA Finals and the spacing he has created has made all the difference for Smith.

“At the end of the day when I catch the ball, nobody’s coming to help,” Smith said. “Nobody’s coming. It’s just me and my man on an island, so I can pretty much do what I want. But nine times out of 10 the catch and shoot is already open and that’s when I’m at my best.”

YOUNG GUNS

Wiggins and Towns – the last two No. 1 overall draft picks and both just 20 years old – topped 20 points in the same game for the fifth time this season. Only Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook (12) in 2008-09 and Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury (7) in 1996-97 stand as duos 21 years old or younger that have done it more times in a season.

NO MO

Cavaliers point guard Mo Williams again did not play. His minutes have been drastically reduced since Irving returned from his knee injury, in part because of Irving’s quick return to form and in part because of an injured right thumb.

TIP-INS

Cavaliers: Cleveland scored 35 points in the first quarter, its highest-scoring opening period of the season. … Smith moved past Eddie Jones for 20th place on the NBA’s career 3-pointers made list. … The Cavs turned 13 turnovers into 24 points.

Timberwolves: Steve Kaplan, the minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies who is working with Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor on a succession plan to eventually take over the franchise in a few years, sat next to Taylor and his wife, Becky, courtside.

UP NEXT

Cavaliers: Visit Philadelphia on Sunday.

Timberwolves: Host Dallas on Sunday.

Jokic scores 31 points with 11 assists, leads Nuggets past Bucks 129-106

Associated PressMar 26, 2023, 7:30 AM EDT

DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic had 31 points and 11 assists, Jamal Murray finished with 26 points and nine assists, and the Denver Nuggets beat the Milwaukee Bucks 129-106 on Saturday night in a late-season showdown of the NBA’s conference leaders.

Michael Porter Jr. scored 19 points for West-leading Denver (50-24), which outscored East-leading Milwaukee 68-40 in the second half.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 31 points — just seven in the second half — and grabbed nine rebounds for the Bucks (53-20).

“It’s better to win games, but our goal is to do something in a playoffs,” Jokic said.

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1639823102891761664

The battle of the top teams in each conference — and two strong MVP candidates — was more competitive than the teams’ first meeting, won by the Bucks 107-99. Then, the Nuggets held out four starters — Jokic, Murray, Porter and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — in the game in Milwaukee on Jan. 25. Denver had played the night before in New Orleans and opted to rest its stars.

The circumstances were reversed, with the Bucks having played in Utah on Friday night.

“We still play, still got to be better, there’s no excuses about that,” Khris Middleton said. “But I’m sure for a lot of fans, a lot of people out there, they’d love to see healthy teams, or not coming off back to backs.”

Antetokounmpo scored 24 points on 11-for-14 shooting in the first half, with all but one of those field goals coming at the rim. Murray (20 points) and Jokic (17 points) kept Denver within three at the break, and then the Nuggets outscored Milwaukee 34-19 in the third quarter to take a 97-85 lead.

Jeff Green dunked on Antetokounmpo to open the fourth as the Nuggets’ lead swelled to 15 points. Grayson Allen hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 103-91 with 9:54 left, but Milwaukee went scoreless for 4:10 while Denver built a 111-91 lead.

“It was an amazing dunk,” Jokic said of Green’s dunk. “I didn’t think he was going to do it. He almost fell down, so it was a really nice dunk.”

Antetokounmpo went to the bench with 5:54 left and didn’t return.

The Bucks lost some composure in the third quarter. Bobby Portis Jr. was called for a take foul on Jokic and, immediately after, a technical. Denver hit both free throws and Bruce Brown hit a 3-pointer for a 84-76 lead. Minutes later, Brook Lopez got a technical while sitting on the bench.

Antetokounmpo picked up Milwaukee’s third technical with 6:41 left in the game.

“It was a night where we were grumpy, and it happens,” coach Mike Budenholzer said.

Denver coach Michael Malone got a technical late in the first quarter, and it was to prevent Jokic from getting one. Jokic was frustrated by the physical play, so during a timeout Malone told him he would get the technical.

“I can get kicked out, he can’t. I understand the pecking order here,” Malone said.

Watch Trae Young get ejected for launching ball at referee

By Kurt HelinMar 26, 2023, 1:31 AM EDT

Trae Young screwed up and he knew it.

“It’s just a play he can’t make,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said via the Associated Press after the game. “I told him that. He knows it.”

With the score tied at 84 in the third quarter, Young had a 3-pointer disallowed and an offensive foul called on him for tripping the Pacers’ Aaron Nesmith. A frustrated Young picked up a technical foul for something he said.

Then walking back to the bench, Young turned and launched the ball at the referee with two hands. It was an instant ejection.

Trae Young ejected after throwing the ball at the Ref 😳 pic.twitter.com/4f4Tj7vHlM

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 25, 2023

“There wasn’t a single part of him that tried to rationalize what happened,” Snyder said.

Young can expect a fine for this. It also was his 15th technical of the season, one more and he will get an automatic one-game suspension.

The Hawks went on to win 143-130, improving Atlanta to .500 at 37-37 and keeping them solidly as the No. 8 seed in the East.

Report: ‘Strong optimism’ Anthony Edwards could return to Timberwolves Sunday

By Kurt HelinMar 25, 2023, 3:19 PM EDT

Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images

What looked so bad when it happened may only cost Anthony Edwards three games.

Edwards rolled his ankle last week but could be back Sunday when the Timberwolves travel to Golden State, reports Chris Haynes at Yahoo Sports.

There’s strong optimism Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards (ankle) could make his return Sunday against the Golden State Warriors, league sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) March 25, 2023

Edwards is averaging 24.7 points and 5.9 rebounds a game this season, and he has stepped up to become the team’s primary shot-creator with Karl-Anthony Towns out for much of the season. The Timberwolves have been outscored by 3.4 points per 100 possessions when Edwards is off the court this season.

Towns returned to action a couple of games ago, and with Edwards on Sunday it will be the first time since November the Timberwolves will have their entire core on the court — now with Mike Conley at the point. With the Timberwolves tied for the No.7 seed in an incredibly tight West (they are 1.5 games out of sixth but also one game out of missing the postseason entirely) it couldn’t come at a better time. It’s also not much time to develop of fit and chemistry the team will need in the play-in, and maybe the playoffs.

Nets announce Ben Simmons diagnosed with nerve impingement in back, out indefinitely

By Kurt HelinMar 25, 2023, 1:11 PM EDT

Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Ben Simmons — who has been in and out of the Nets’ lineup all season and often struggled when on the court — is out indefinitely due to a nerve impingement in his back, the team announced Friday.

Ben Simmons Medical Update: pic.twitter.com/kRcxsjrHLG

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) March 24, 2023

A nerve impingement — sometimes called a pinched nerve — is when a bone or other tissue compresses a nerve. Simmons has a history of back issues going back to his time in Philadelphia, and he had a microdiscectomy about a year ago, after he was traded to Brooklyn.

With two weeks and nine games left in the season, logic would suggest Simmons is done for the season. Coach Jacque Vaughn said Thursday that Simmons has done some individual workouts but nothing with teammates, however, he would not say Simmons is shut down for the season or would not participate in the postseason with Brooklyn.

Simmons had not played since the All-Star break when he got PRP injections to help deal with ongoing knee soreness. When he has played this season offense has been a struggle, he has been hesitant to shoot outside a few feet from the basket and is averaging 6.9 points a game. Vaughn used him mainly as a backup center.

Simmons has two fully guaranteed years and $78 million remaining on his contract after this season. While Nets fans may want Simmons traded, his injury history and that contract will make it very difficult to do so this summer (Brooklyn would have to add so many sweeteners it wouldn’t be worth it).

The Nets have slid to the No.7 seed in the West — part of the play-in — and have a critical game with the Heat on Saturday night.

Check out more on the Nuggets

Check out more on the Hawks

Check out more in the Timberwolves

Check out more on the Nets