Horford, Millsap lead Hawks past Bulls 120-105

0 Comments

ATLANTA (AP) Al Horford thinks the Atlanta Hawks are finally showing how good they can be.

“Moving the ball, hustling on defense and trying to do it consistently – as a team I feel like we have some lapses in those areas,” Horford said. “When we’re able to be more consistent on the defensive end, we’re just a totally different team.”

Horford scored a season-high 33 points and had 10 rebounds, Paul Millsap added 18 points and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Chicago Bulls 120-105 on Saturday night.

Jimmy Butler scored 14 of his 27 points in the third quarter and Nikola Mirotic had 24 points for Chicago, but the Bulls ended a six-game win streak.

Mike Scott had 14 points and Dennis Schroder and Kyle Korver each scored 13 to help the Hawks lead throughout. Atlanta has won two straight after dropping three of four.

“We kind of get it going and then we lose a couple, that type of thing,” Horford said. “I think we need to just focus on the next game. We can’t look too far ahead. I feel like when we start having success then maybe we do that a little bit and then we get in trouble and lose a couple in a row.”

For the first time since beating Oklahoma City on Nov. 30, Atlanta finally got a signature win entering a three-day break.

The Hawks improved to 23-15 and are tied for the second-most victories in the Eastern Conference, but they haven’t been able to play consistently at the high level that pushed them to a No. 1 seed last season.

At least for one night, they did.

Atlanta led by 19 points in the second quarter on Scott’s 3-pointer and stayed up by 13 early in the third on Kent Bazemore‘s free throws.

“We got up and down, guys were running the floor, we rolled to the basket, got easy lobs and things like that,” Jeff Teague said after finishing with 12 points and six assists. “That’s how we have to play for us to be a good team.”

Thanks in part to Butler’s prolific third quarter, the Bulls went on a 22-11 run to pull within two on a pair of free throws by Derrick Rose at the 3:38 mark of the period, but the Hawks went back up by 17 on Schroder’s jumper with 9:20 left and the game essentially decided.

“For whatever reason, right now we’re coming out with more energy in the third quarter than we are in the first,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “That’s got to change. We’re giving up 30 regularly now in the first quarter. We have to find a way to stop that.”

Chicago dropped to 22-13.

TIP-INS

Bulls: F Joakim Noah didn’t make the trip, missing his ninth straight game with a left shoulder sprain, but the team hopes to get him back by Monday. “We’ll get him doing some live stuff tomorrow,” Hoiberg said. “Hopefully he’ll get through a full practice.” … The Bulls dropped to 6-8 on the road.

Hawks: Horford added six assists and four blocked shots. … F Thabo Sefolosha couldn’t play after falling during a win Thursday at Philadelphia and hurting his right wrist. Coach Mike Budenholzer described the injury as “a little bit of a problem” and hopes he won’t miss much time. … The Hawks improved to 13-7 at home.

DISCREPANCY AT THE LINE

Atlanta was called for 22 fouls. The Bulls were whistled just 10 times before Mirotic fouled Millsap on a three-point play to make 111-96 with 4:35 to go. Chicago outscored the Hawks 26-12 at the free-throw line.

 

Damian Lillard says Trail Blazers shut him down, talks loyalty to Portland

0 Comments

Players feel the wrath of fans for load management in the NBA, but more often than not it’s a team’s medical and training staff — driven by analytics and the use of wearable sensors — that sit a player. Guys don’t get to the NBA not wanting to compete.

Case in point, Damian Lillard. The Trail Blazers have shut him down for the rest of the season, but he told Dan Patrick on the Dan Patrick Show that it was a team call, not his.

“I wouldn’t say it’s my decision at all. I think maybe the team protecting me from myself… Every time that I’ve had some type injury like that kind of get irritated or aggravated or something like that, it’s come from just like a heavy load, and stress, and just, you know, going out there and trying to go above and beyond. So, you know, I would say just; there is something there, and also them just trying to protect me from myself as well.”

Maybe it’s a little about protecting Lillard at age 32 — who played at an All-NBA level this season — but it’s more about lottery odds.

Portland and Orlando are tied for the league’s fifth and sixth-worst records. The team with the fifth worst record has a 10.5% chance at the No.1 pick, the sixth worst is 9%. More than that, the fifth-worst record has a 42% chance of moving up into the top four at the draft lottery, for the sixth seed that is 37.2%. Not a huge bump in the odds, but the chances are still better for the fifth seed than the sixth, so the Trail Blazers as an organization are going for it.

Lillard also talked about his loyalty to Portland, which is partly tied to how he wants to win a ring — the way Dirk Nowitzki and Giannis Antetokounmpo did, with the team and city that drafted them.

“I just have a way that I want to get things done for myself… I just have my stance on what I want to see happen, but in this business, you just never know.”

Other teams are watching Lillard, but they have seen this movie before. Nothing will happen until Lillard asks for a trade and he has yet to show any inclination to do so.

But he’s got time to think about everything as he is not taking the court again this season.

Seven-time All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge officially retires

Indiana Pacers v Brooklyn Nets
Mike Stobe/Getty Images
0 Comments

LaMarcus Aldridge retired once due to a heart condition (Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome), back in 2021. That time it didn’t take, he came back to the then-a-super-team Nets and showed there was something in the tank averaging 12.9 points (on 55% shooting), 5.5 rebounds and a block a game. However, the Nets did not bring him back this season (leaning into Nic Claxton) and no other offers were forthcoming.

Friday, Aldridge made it official and retired.

Aldridge had a career that will earn him Hall of Fame consideration: 19.1 points a game over 16 seasons, five-time All-NBA, seven-time All-Star, and one of the faces of the Portland Trail Blazers during his prime years in the Pacific Northwest. Teammates and former coaches (including Gregg Popovich in San Antonio) called him a consummate professional after his initial retirement.

This time Aldridge got to announce his retirement on his terms, which is about as good an exit as there is.

 

 

Report: NBA minimum draft age will not change in new CBA, one-and-done remains

0 Comments

While the NBA — representing the owners — and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) continue last-minute negotiations on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) before an opt-out deadline Friday night at midnight, one point of contention is off the table:

The NBA draft age will not change in the new CBA, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The NBA one-and-done rule will remain in place.

The NBA one-and-done rule is unpopular with fans and college coaches (and, of course, players coming up). NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had worked to eliminate that restriction saying it was unfair, but he could not get it done.

There wasn’t much motivation from either side to make a move. From the players’ union perspective, lowering the draft eligibility age to 18 would bring more young players in to develop in the league and take away roster spots from veterans (and the union is made up of those veterans, not undrafted players). The union has suggested ways to keep veterans on the roster (possibly a roster expansion) as mentors, but a deal could not be reached. As for the teams, plenty of GMs would prefer an extra year to evaluate players, especially with them going up against better competition in college/G-League/Overtime Elite/overseas.

There are other impediments to a CBA deal, such as the details around a mid-season NBA tournament, the configuration of the luxury tax, veteran contract extension language, a games-played minimum to qualify for the league’s end-of-season awards.

If the sides do not reach a deal by midnight, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league would likely opt out of the current CBA, meaning it would end on June 30. The two sides would have until then to reach a deal on a new CBA to avoid a lockout (although they could go into September before it starts to mess with the NBA regular season calendar and not just Summer League).

 

Timberwolves big man Naz Reid out indefinitely with fractured wrist

Minnesota Timberwolves v Phoenix Suns
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images
0 Comments

UPDATE: Naz Reid had surgery on that fractured wrist and will be out six weeks, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

That means he is not only out for the rest of the regular season but likely the first couple of rounds of the playoffs, if the Timberwolves can make it that far.

——————

This sucks for a Timberwolves team finding its groove.

Part of that groove was the offensive spark of big man Naz Ried off the bench, but now he will be out indefinitely with a fractured wrist, the Timberwolves announced. From the official release:

An MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) taken yesterday at Mayo Clinic Square by Dr. Kelechi Okoroha on Reid revealed a left scaphoid fracture. He will be out indefinitely and further updates on his progress will be provided when available.

A scaphoid fracture involves one of the small bones at the base of the hand that connects the wrist and fingers. Reid injured his hand on this dunk attempt against the Suns, he instinctively used his left hand to help break the fall and it took the weight of the landing.

Impressively, and despite being in pain, Reid played through the injury.

Reid developed into the sixth man, spark plug roll for the Timberwolves behind starters Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns. In his last five games, Reid averaged 18.8 points on 59.1% shooting (including 45% from 3 on four attempts a night) and grabbed 5.2 rebounds in his 22 minutes.

Reid is a free agent this offseason. The Timberwolves want to keep him and have had talks with him, but he will have plenty of suitors.

His loss will be a blow to Minnesota, especially heading into crucial games down the stretch — starting with the Lakers Friday night (a team Reid had some big games against) — and into the postseason. Expect coach Chris Finch to stagger Towns and Gobert a little more, and he can turn to Nate Knight or Luka Garza off the bench, but their role would be limited (especially come the playoffs).