Three Things to Know: James Harden does Wesley Johnson, Clippers wrong

By Mar 1, 2018, 8:54 AM EST
Associated Press
1 Comment

Every day in the NBA there is a lot to unpack, so every weekday morning throughout the season we will give you the three things you need to know from the last 24 hours in the NBA.

1) James Harden does Wesley Johnson, Clippers wrong. NBA Twitter loves it. This filthy move by James Harden is all anybody is talking about out of Wednesday night’s games. It’s not so much the move, it’s the staredown and taking a few seconds to take his three that’s savage. RIP Wesley Johnson.

NBA Twitter had a field day with this one.

By the way, there was a basketball game played, one with playoff implications. The Rockets controlled it pretty much from the start — the Clippers were on a back-to-back, looked flat early and never got out of the hole — and Houston cruised to its 14th straight win, 102-95. Houston remains half a game up on the Warriors for the best record in the NBA. The Clippers, on the other hand, fell out of the eight seed and are now half a game back of Denver for the final playoff slot in the West (the teams are tied in the loss column).

2) Kyrie Irving goes off and Celtics smash Hornets (but Raptors win, too). There were other basketball games played Wednesday. For example, in the battle of 10-game losing streaks highlighting the tankapaloza that is the bottom of the NBA right now, the Suns beat the Grizzlies 110-102 behind 34 from Devin Booker. The Pelicans beat the Spurs for New Orleans’ sixth straight win behind 26 and 15 from Anthony Davis.

The other big night of note was Kyrie Irving went off for 34 points in 24 minutes as the Celtics easily handled the Hornets, 134-106. That keeps Boston just half a game back of Toronto (which also won Wednesday) in the race to avoid Cleveland in the second round for the top seed in the East. That loss also puts the Hornets 4.5 games back of Miami for the Final playoff spot in the East with 20 games to go — Charlotte is going to need a lot of help to have any playoff dreams.

3) Coaching carousel update: David Fizdale to Suns? Maybe. To Lakers… don’t bet on it. Coaching rumors are ramping up around the league as we head down the final stretch of the season and some teams are focused on tanking their way to a high lottery pick next season. Three coaches were fired during this season —Earl Watson in Phoenix, David Fizdale in Memphis, and Jason Kidd in Milwaukee) and at least a couple more are expected once the season ends — Frank Vogel in Orlando’s should be calling a mover and realtor (even if the problems with the Magic are more about roster construction than coaching), and Jeff Hornacek’s job in New York is rumored to be in danger.

Despite the fact Jay Triano has done a respectable job as the interim guy, who is the hot name the Suns want to go after this summer? David Fizdale (according to Mitch Lawrence at The Sporting News). The guy Memphis fired. Which would be a great hire. The long-time Heat assistant coach did well trying to turn the Grizzlies into a modern NBA team, there was just pushback from the star player and within the organization and Fizdale lost the battle. Put him with the young core in Phoenix, get him a point guard, and the Suns will take some steps forward and be on the right track.

Lawrence’s report gets into another rumor floating around some corners of the league: The Lakers would dump Luke Walton and bring in Fizdale if it would land them LeBron James as a free agent. Remember, Fizdale was in Miami when LeBron was there and there is a lot of respect both ways. LeBron defended Fizdale on social media when Memphis dumped him this season. While it’s fun to connect those dots, I’ve heard not to bet on it. Forget the fact the Lakers like Walton and the job he’s done, and have backed him at every turn. The bigger problem is I keep hearing LeBron is not coming to the Lakers — even with he and Paul George (and Fizdale), that team is at best third in the West. Maybe fourth. That’s not what LeBron wants. His post-basketball life is in L.A., but he’s not done establishing his legacy and chasing MJ. Not sure where LeBron does end up this summer — maybe Cleveland, maybe Houston, maybe a lot of places — but I keep hearing Los Angeles is not going to be the landing spot.

As for who the Knicks would get to replace Jeff Hornacek… it’s James Dolan’s team. Literally anything is possible. He could hire Don Henley from the Eagles and I wouldn’t be shocked. I’m not about to venture a guess.

Bucks’ Middleton reportedly has knee scoped, should be ready for camp

By Jun 8, 2023, 1:24 PM EDT
2023 NBA Playoffs - Milwaukee Bucks v Miami Heat
Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images
0 Comments

The Bucks said an MRI of Khris Middleton‘s knee just before the start of the playoffs was clean even if his play made observers question that news.

Turns out, maybe it wasn’t totally clean.

Middleton had his knee scoped after the playoffs, but he will return to his offseason training in July, reports Shams Charania and Eric Nehm of The Athletic.

The report said the surgery was to clean up “an issue that plagued him this past season,” and it was scheduled before the Bucks’ playoff run began. So, they knew, as did most anyone who watched Middleton and didn’t see the same burst as he had in the past, especially on the defensive end. He looked a step slow.

This minor surgery shouldn’t change Middleton’s or the Bucks’ off-season plans. Whatever those may be. Middleton has a $40.4 million player option, something he reportedly is considering opting out of to re-sign a longer deal with Milwaukee — or elsewhere — likely at a lower per-season salary but with more total dollars (the team may also reach an extension with him). At age 31, Middleton may want the security of years.

Milwaukee needs Middleton and his shot creation, plus his two-way play, if they are going to compete at the highest levels. However, they need the healthy Middleton who was an All-Star and All-NBA player, not the one that only played in 33 games last season due to wrist surgery and knee issues.

It will be an interesting offseason in Milwaukee with 35-year-old Brook Lopez a free agent and Jrue Holiday becoming extension eligible in the fall. The Bucks had the best record in the NBA last season, but the roster is getting old and expensive fast, and a pivot is coming. At some point. But maybe not this summer.

Here is more on the Bucks

New York Knicks v Toronto Raptors
It’s not just Harden, Rockets reportedly eyeing VanVleet, Lopez, Brooks
Denver Nuggets v Los Angeles Lakers
Coach, front office updates from around NBA: Fizdale headed to Suns bench
2023 NBA Playoffs - Cleveland Cavaliers v New York Knicks
Edwards, Brunson, Reaves reportedly among commitments to play for USA at...

Nuggets’ Christian Braun on verge of history, NCAA and NBA titles in consecutive years

By Jun 8, 2023, 9:24 AM EDT
0 Comments

MIAMI — Only four players have ever done it: Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Henry Bibby and Billy Thompson.

Christian Braun could become the fifth player to win an NCAA title and an NBA championship in back-to-back seasons.

Last season he was the second-leading scorer on the Kansas Jayhawk team that won the NCAA tournament, with Braun scoring 12 points and grabbing 12 boards in the title game against North Carolina.

Braun isn’t just riding the Denver bench to his piece of history, he scored a critical 15 points in Game 3 to spark the Nuggets win. Braun scored 11 points in a stretch at the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth when Denver pushed its lead to 21, then held off the early fourth quarter charge from Miami that had defined the Finals for two games.

Braun’s cuts to the rim — not to mention his steal and dunk — were things of beauty.

“I told him, you won us the game…” Nikola Jokić said of Braun (which was generous considering Jokic’s 32-21-10 triple-double). “He won us the game, and he was really good tonight.”

“Tonight, man, I could just feel the confidence kind of oozing out of him,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “The physical, aggressive drives, making plays for guys against their zone. It was really fun to watch a young man step up like the way Christian did tonight.”

Denver drafted Braun with the No. 21 pick and it was a perfect fit for the Kansas native (who led his high school team, Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, to three state titles). Braun was drafted onto a contending team and was given a clearly defined role by Malone. Braun took that and earned his minutes with hustle and defense all season long, and sometimes the points come with that.

“Those guys make it really easy,” Braun said of playing with Jokić and Jamal Murray. “Playing with those guys, they make the right play every time. My job is just to be ready when my name is called…

“Like I said, my job is not very hard; I’ve just got to come in, play with energy, and they find me in the right spots on offense and the defense just give effort. So those guys have trusted me all year and put me in the right spots and my job is to deliver.”

Braun was ready to deliver and it showed.

If he and the Nuggets can deliver a couple more wins, he will be part of a select group in history.

Here is more on the Nuggets

DENVER NUGGETS VS MIAMI HEAT, NBA PLAYOFFS
Three things to know from Denver dominating both ends, taking 2-1 series...
2023 NBA Finals - Game Three
Historic Jokić, Murray too much, Denver handles Miami in Game 3
DENVER NUGGETS VS MIAMI HEAT, NBA PLAYOFFS
Four things to watch in Game 3, starting with who wins the fourth quarter

Three things to know from Denver dominating both ends, taking 2-1 series lead

By Jun 8, 2023, 8:14 AM EDT
0 Comments

MIAMI — That looked like the Denver team that rolled through the West. The one that — on paper — Miami would have trouble matching up with.

The Nuggets’ best game of the Finals and maybe their best of the playoffs, was led by Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray becoming the first teammates in any game to have 30+ triple-doubles.

“By far their greatest performance as a duo in their seven years together,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.

In our takeaways, we will focus on things other than Jokić and Murray’s greatness to start, but make no mistake, their dominance was the foundation on which this Nuggets win was built. Their play sparked Denver to a 109-94 win on the road to take a 2-1 series lead in the NBA Finals. Game 4 is Friday night in Miami.

Here are three takeaways from the Nuggets’ Game 3 win.

1) Denver’s size advantage was too much

The Heat knew it was coming and couldn’t do anything about it.

“I think that was their objective, to get in the paint, get inside and use their size and physicality,” Kyle Lowry said. “And, yeah, that’s what they did tonight.”

“They just pummeled us in the paint,” Erik Spoelstra added. “They didn’t really have to shoot threes. They had, whatever, 60 [points] in the paint. They probably shot over 65% in the paint at the rim there [69% in the restricted area]. Wasn’t a need to space the floor. We didn’t offer much resistance.”

There’s an old basketball saying that tall and good beats small and good. That was in evidence on both ends of the floor on Wednesday night in Miami.

On offense, the Nuggets’ big adjustment was they changed the screening angles for Murray and that — combined with a determination on his part to get downhill at the rim — changed the game. Behind Murray the Nuggets scored 20 of its first 24 points in the paint. As noted above, the Nuggets went on to get 60 points in the paint.

Size showed on the Nuggets defense in the Heat shooting 38.2% within eight feet of the basket. While some of that had to do with better low-man help rotations from the Nuggets, their size with the guys making those rotations flummoxed the Heat.

“Yes, you do have to credit their size and everything like that, but we have proven that we can finish in the paint when we’re at our best,” Spoelstra said. They didn’t in Game 3 and had better find a way to do it in Game 4.

2) Nuggets’ defense was dialed in

This was The Nuggets’ best defensive game of the series. But don’t take my word for it, just ask their coach, Michael Malone.

“I thought our defense was fantastic tonight,” he said. “You hold that team to 94 points, 37 [percent] from the field, only 11 threes, that really helped us out tonight. The defending and rebounding at a high level.”

As Malone noted, the Nuggets held Denver to 37% shooting, or look at it this way, they held the Heat to a 102.2 offensive rating (12.8 below their playoff average).

Or, check out this stat from The Athletic’s Law Murray: The Heat were 17-of-46 (37%) on shots outside the paint, but they were also 17-of-46 on shots in the paint.

After Malone called out the Nuggets — publicly and privately — for their mental lapses on defense in Game 2, his team came out much sharper in Game 3. That showed in a couple of places, but first and foremost with effort and activity level — Denver was much more aggressive. They were taking swipes at the ball when Miami players would catch it, never letting them get comfortable.

The other area the Nuggets cleaned up was on low-man help rotations when Jokić had to show out on a pick. The Heat have thrived on little pocket passes to Bam Adebayo in this series, but the rotations from the Nuggets took the easy buckets away on those as players got in front of him. The confidence in his back line allowed Jokić to play out a little higher at points.

It’s on Spoelstra to come up with some counters, although what Miami needs to do in Game 4 doesn’t start with the coaching staff.

3) Butler, Adebayo need to be able to hang with Jokić, Murray

Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo have to be better. It’s that simple.

They don’t have to put up matching 30-point triple-doubles, but they can’t shoot a combined 18-of-45 (40%) with seven assists. They can’t combine to shoot 10-of-30 in the paint. They have to be more efficient and come close to matching Jokić and Murray on the night to have a chance.

“We didn’t play our best tonight,” Butler said of the Heat, sitting next to Adebayo in the press conference. “I feel like we just got to come out with more energy and effort, and that’s correctible. That’s on us as a group. No X’s and O’s can fix that.”

The Heat stars got outplayed on both ends. While their shooting woes are mentioned above, they were also the primary defenders on the Murray/Jokick pick-and-roll and they didn’t stop that either. Even in the second half when the Heat started blitzing the ball handler and consistently bringing a third defender early into the action, it didn’t matter, the Nuggets made the read and the play.

I don’t know. We’re going to get back to the film and figure it out, because we do have to be better guarding both of those guys,” Butler said. “One is the ball-hander and one is the guy that is setting the screen and popping and rolling. It’s not an easy task to do, but if we want to win, we are going to have to figure it out.”

Spoelstra thinks maybe the missed shots on the offensive end got in his team’s heads and impacted Miami’s defense.

“It felt like at times, some of those missed shots at the rim or in the paint, the makeable shots that we’ve made the last several months or weeks, that affected a little bit of our, whatever, going down the other end,” Spoelstra said. “And that hasn’t happened a lot.”

In addition to those two, the Heat roll players have to hit their 3-pointers, something they did in Game 2 and did not in Game 3. Max Strus was 1-of-4 from beyond the arc, Gabe Vincent 1-of-6, and as a team Miami was 11-of-35 (31.4%). The Heat’s 3-point shooting has been their bellwether all playoffs, and if they are going to hang with this Nuggets offense they have to knock those down at a better than 40% rate.

The one bright spot for the Heat was in garbage time, Udonis Haslem, at age 43, became the oldest player to appear in an NBA Finals game ever. He deserves that. Although you know he’d trade it for a win in a heartbeat.

Here is more on the Nuggets

2023 NBA Finals - Denver Nuggets v Miami Heat
Nuggets’ Christian Braun on verge of history, NCAA and NBA titles in...
2023 NBA Finals - Game Three
Historic Jokić, Murray too much, Denver handles Miami in Game 3
DENVER NUGGETS VS MIAMI HEAT, NBA PLAYOFFS
Four things to watch in Game 3, starting with who wins the fourth quarter

Historic Jokić, Murray too much, Denver handles Miami in Game 3

By Jun 7, 2023, 11:37 PM EDT
0 Comments

MIAMI — Denver can point to a lot of things it did right in Game 3.

This was the Nuggets’ best defensive game of the series, holding the Heat to 37% shooting and a 102.2 offensive rating (12.8 below their playoff average). The Nuggets held their own in the fourth quarter for the first time this series, winning it by one. Then Christian Braun came out of nowhere to have a night with 15 points, and the Nuggets scored 60 points in the paint.

But it all starts with Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray — they became the first teammates ever to have 30-point triple-doubles in the same game. Ever. Let alone in a critical Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

“By far their greatest performance as a duo in their seven years together,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.

They led Denver to a comfortable 109-94 win on the road to take a 2-1 series lead in the NBA Finals. Game 4 is Friday night in Miami, and it’s basically must win for the Heat.

Miami will have to come up with better answers for the Nuggets stars, which is what every team has been saying since the playoffs started.

Jokić finished with 32 points (on 21 shots), 21 rebounds and 10 assists — Jokić had the first 30-20-10 game in NBA Finals history. In fact, there have been five such games in NBA playoff history, and he has three of them.

“I don’t care, it’s just a stat,” Jokić said in maybe the most Jokić statement ever.

“What he does, man, he makes it look so easy,” Murray said of Jokic. “You know, you’ve got 21 boards and everybody talking about how he can’t jump, and he’s out there battling everybody, physically strong. They say he doesn’t want to doesn’t want to score, he gives you 32. And 10 assists. He just makes the game look easy throughout the game, and like I said, his free throws his touch, creativity, the no-look passes, his IQ. I could go down the line, he’s a special player.”

Then there was Murray, who led the Nuggets with 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. While he shot 3-of-6 from 3, the big difference was Denver changed their screen angles in this game, it threw the Heat off and Murray got rolling downhill early. He finished with 14 points in the paint plus he got to the line eight times. With Murray attacking and being deadly from the midrange, the Heat were overwhelmed.

“They just pummeled us in the paint,” Erik Spoelstra said. “They didn’t really have to shoot threes. They had, whatever, 60 in the paint. They probably shot over 65% in the paint at the rim there [it was 69% in the restricted area]. Wasn’t a need to space the floor. We didn’t offer much resistance.”

Murray was getting downhill from the opening tip. The result of that and Jokić being Jokić was Denver getting 20 of its 24 points in the paint. The game was tied 24-24 after one quarter despite the Nuggets missing all of its 3-pointers (0-of-5) and Miami shooting 9-of-23. Jimmy Butler was aggressive with 10 in the first quarter (he would finish with 28 points on 11-of-24 shooting).

The second quarter had little flow because of all the whistles — it was a Tony Brothers statement game at points — and the Nuggets’ defense.

Denver was just sharper on defense than they have been all series and that started with their activity level — it was extremely high. They were swiping at the ball, being physical and bothering the Heat. The Nuggets also were much better on their low-man help rotations, getting in front of Bam Adebayo more and taking away some easy buckets.

Miami was not making Denver pay from beyond the arc in this game, as it shot just 11-of-35 (31.4%) from 3 on the night.

The first 24 minutes were played on the Heat’s terms, but that didn’t knock Jamal Murray off his game. Murray shot 8-of-13 in the first half on his way to 20 points, including 3-of-5 from 3. Throw in 14 first-half points from Jokić and the Nuggets took a 53-48 lead into halftime. Jimmy Butler put up stats, 14 points, but on 6-of-16 shooting.

The third quarter was more Butler for the Heat — 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the frame — but he wasn’t getting help. The rest of the Heat in the third shot 3-of-14 and had just eight points. All those misses and a strong rebounding game from Denver had them running and in more of a free flow.

The Nuggets also got a significant contribution from Christian Braun off the bench, who had six points in the third, two on brilliant cuts to the rim and one on a steal and a dunk.

Denver led by as many as 19 and was up 14 entering the fourth… but that is when the Heat have dominated this series.

Not this game. Miami cranked up the defensive pressure and made some plays, but Denver was ready for the zone and the pressure. They were not rushed. They got the ball to Jokić and it settled them.

And with that, the Nuggets settled the game and took the series lead.

Check out more on the Nuggets

2023 NBA Finals - Denver Nuggets v Miami Heat
Nuggets’ Christian Braun on verge of history, NCAA and NBA titles in...
DENVER NUGGETS VS MIAMI HEAT, NBA PLAYOFFS
Three things to know from Denver dominating both ends, taking 2-1 series...
DENVER NUGGETS VS MIAMI HEAT, NBA PLAYOFFS
Four things to watch in Game 3, starting with who wins the fourth quarter