The legend of Alex Caruso — the bald mamba — continues to grow.
Friday night, Dallas big man Maxi Kleber became part of the legend — and a poster — when he tried to block a Caruso dunk.
How much as the legend of Caruso grown? Well, great recognizes great:
There is no stopping Alex Caruso. Just ask Kleber.
The Lakers went on to beat the Mavericks in overtime behind a monster game from LeBron James, one he needed to have to beat the monster game from Luka Doncic.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ben Simmons hit another 3-pointer, and his coach wants him to keep on firing.
Simmons hit his second career 3 and scored a career-high 34 points, and the Philadelphia 76ers didn’t need Joel Embiid‘s help to rout the Cleveland Cavaliers 141-94 Saturday night.
Simmons made 12 of 14 field goals, including his only 3-point attempt, and hit 9 of 12 free throws in 26 minutes to help Philadelphia improve to 11-0 at home.
“I was locked in,” Simmons said.
Simmons’ jump shot – or lack thereof – has been a hot topic in Philadelphia. He entered the season 0 for 17 from long range.
Coach Brett Brown has repeatedly said shooting is a part of Simmons’ game that will develop with time. After Saturday’s performance, Brown publicly upped the ante and called for more from his All-Star point guard.
“This is what I want,” Brown said. “I want a 3-point shot per game, minimum. … He will be liberated. His world will open up and, in many ways, so will ours.”
Embiid sat out with a left hip contusion.
Darius Garland had 17 points for the Cavaliers, who have lost six in a row and 12 of 13.
“They were going downhill on us all day long,” Cavaliers coach John Beilein said.
Philadelphia has been projected to be an NBA title contender, but the 76ers haven’t been able to consistently field its starting five of Simmons, Embiid, Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris and Al Horford. They have only started nine games together due to injuries and Embiid’s two-game suspension for fighting Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns.
The 76ers needed little more than Simmons in a dominant first half that ended with them ahead 77-36.
Simmons attacked the basket often and showed off a rarely seen mid-range game when he drained an 11-foot jumper with 6:04 left in the second quarter. That had 76ers fans cheering, but it was just an appetizer for Simmons.
With 3:41 left in the half, Simmons took a cross-court pass from Trey Burke and knocked down a 3 from the left wing. That send the sold-out crowd into a frenzy, and the roars continued when Simmons finished an alley-oop dunk from Burke on Philadelphia’s ensuing possession.
Simmons received a standing ovation at the next stoppage.
“I’m getting more comfortable learning my spots and just adjusting,” Simmons said. “I’m trying not to force it, trying to play the game I know how to play. Hard work pays off. Stay in the gym and keep working.”
Simmons finished the tremendous four-possession sequence with assists on Philadelphia’s next two trips, first to Horford for a 3-pointer and then to James Ennis III for a jumper.
Finally, Simmons ended the first half scoring with a 9-foot jumper for a 41-point lead entering the break.
DALLAS (AP) — With Kristaps Porzingis joining Luka Doncic in the Dallas lineup this season, the Mavericks expected to be better. But Boban Marjanovic?
Doncic scored 28 points in 26 minutes, Porzingis had 13 points and the 1,500th rebound of his career and Marjanovic had season highs of 15 points and 16 rebounds to help Dallas rout the New Orleans Pelicans 130-84 on Saturday.
Doncic also had nine assists and six rebounds.
Dallas led 64-52 at halftime. Doncic already had 20 points, and Marjanovic scored 11 points, nine in the second quarter.
“(Marjanovic) did a great job,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “The group in the second quarter really did a good job of giving us a 10-point lead. He was a big part of it, getting it to him with a smaller guy on him. He was doing a lot of damage.”
The Pelicans didn’t get within 10 points in the second half.
“The rest of the game was just a formality,” Porzingis said.
Last season, Doncic was the NBA’s rookie of the year and Porzingis was injured and didn’t play after being acquired in a trade with the New York Knicks.
Marjanovic, a 7-foot-4 Serbian, played for two teams before taking a 50% pay cut to sign with Dallas as a free agent. He was a force against the undersized Pelicans.
“When they elected to use (Jahlil) Okafor, that was an opportunity for us to use Boban,” Carlisle said. “It’s hard to use him against guys like (Jaxson) Hayes because of the quickness and shooting.”
Porzingis and his teammates were happy for Marjanovic.
“Can’t stop Bobie,” Porzingis said. “He played great on the boards. He’s so big, so strong. Once he gets the ball in the paint, they can’t do much out there.”
Marjanovic energized the crowd and his teammates.
“When you hear (the crowd) cheering for you, basically you warm up your body so fast. Blood keep going through the body, and you’re not too tight anymore.”
The 46-point margin was two shy of Dallas’ season high against Golden State.
Dallas has won five in a row to improve to 18-8. The Mavericks have won 10 of 11 for the first time since winning their only NBA championship in 2010-11.
New Orleans has lost eight in a row.
“A poorly played game, a poorly coached game,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said.
Doncic, Porzingis and the other starters didn’t play in the fourth quarter after the Mavericks ran up a 38-point lead at 104-66.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 14 points.
Off the bench, Jalen Brunson scored 14 on 6-for-6 shooting and Seth Curry had 11.
J.J. Redick led New Orleans with 15 points. Brandon Ingram and Jrue Holiday scored 14 each and Hayes had 11.
David Fizdale is out. Mike Miller is in, temporarily (unless he can work miracles with this roster over 60 games).
The big question now: Who will coach the Knicks next season?
The answer to that question starts with the answer to a different question: Who is the team president of the Knicks next season? Current head honcho Steve Mills is on the hot seat. Does he hold on to his job and get to pick the new coach? If Mills is let go, whoever becomes the new POBO should be allowed to hire his own coach. (Letting Mills hire a coach then forcing that hire on a new president would be a mistake, but not outside the realm of possibility.)
Just because we don’t know who will be making the choice has not slowed the speculation about who is next. Here are seven names being bounced around the league (just know this is far from a complete list):
Mark Jackson: This is a trip down memory lane for the franchise, one that would be a hit with casual fans and certainly would be a marketing success. Jackson’s backers talk about how he built the foundation of the Warriors (and Steve Kerr long credited Jackson for making the peak Warriors a defensive team). However, he was fired in Golden State for good reasons: His offense was old school and heavy on isolation, he was challenging to work with for the front office (Jackson created an “us” vs. “them” mentality in the locker room where them included the front office), he clashed with assistant coaches and asked them to do a lot (he refused to let Mike Malone be an associate head coach), he has a history of distracting personal life dramas (do that in New York and the headlines are much bigger), and the list goes on. There were enough red flags in Golden State that he hasn’t gotten a job since, do the Knicks want to break that trend?
Jeff Van Gundy: Another blast from the past — he was the last coach to get the Knicks to the Finals — and he whet his coaching chops again coaching Team USA’s G-League squads that qualified USA Basketball for the World Cup. He has coached under James Dolan before, he knows what he is getting into. Does he want to leave that cushy ESPN job to be in Madison Square Garden again? Is he a coach for the modern game?
Jason Kidd: Notice how there are a lot of former Knicks on the top of this list? Here’s another. He is currently on the Lakers’ bench, and if the Knicks goal is to once again get a coach respected by players they think can help recruit superstars to Madison Square Garden, Kidd becomes a viable option. Giannis Antetokounmpo credits Kidd for understanding how to be a pro. The knock against him? The performance of his teams in Milwaukee and Brooklyn on the court. He was let go in those places for good reasons.
Tyrone Lue: Another coach whose name comes up for every job, and he has a ring from Cleveland with LeBron James (where he was LeBron’s hand-picked guy). He’s well respected by players around the league and, unlike his reputation among some fans, was a solid tactician. However, when LeBron left and the Cleveland job became a development project, Lue was gone fast — and the Knicks are a development job. Lue is currently sitting next to Doc Rivers on the Clippers’ bench.
Darvin Ham: If the Mills/Perry front office remains, this becomes a name to watch closely. Ham has a championship ring from his playing days (the 2004 Pistons), Perry worked for the Pistons’ front office during that time, and the two have remained friends. Ham has been working at the right hand of Mike Budenholzer in Milwaukee (insert your “we can lure Antetokounmpo” conspiracy theory here) and has been one of the assistant coaches at the front of the line for a head coaching job, having been inconsideration in Cleveland, Minnesota, and Atlanta.
Ettore Messina: If James Dolan can lure Masai Ujiri away from Toronto (a very big if), then Messina becomes more likely. After years on the bench next to Gregg Popovich learning the NBA game, Messina decided to head back to Europe and is the head coach of Olimpia Milano in Italy. Messina is very well respected in coaching circles and it wouldn’t be a shock if he got a call.
Becky Hammon: Her name comes up a lot for this job around the league. The six-year Spurs assistant (and the woman most likely right now to get a head coaching job in the NBA) has New York ties as she played for the Liberty in the WNBA. San Antonio has been a factory of head coaches and Hammon has had several interviews with other teams. She would be the first woman to coach in the NBA, and that headline and marketing potential may appeal to the Knicks (if they decide to go with a first-time coach).
Other names to watch: Kenny Smith, Craig Robinson, Sam Mitchell, Mike Brown, and Nate Tibbetts.
CHICAGO (AP) — Referee Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling made NBA history Friday night when she became the first mother to officiate a league game.
Holtkamp-Sterling worked the Bulls-Warriors game in Chicago.
The game was the first for Holtkamp-Sterling since she gave birth to daughter Stoan this year. She missed last season with a knee injury that required surgery and the start of her 2019-20 season was delayed by abdominal surgery.
Her husband, Jonathan Sterling, worked the Los Angeles Clippers-Bucks game in Milwaukee on Friday night. The couple met at a college basketball referees event before they became the first married couple to officiate in league history.
“That’s amazing. They probably have a good nanny, I’m guessing. That cannot be easy raising a child with two NBA refs as parents. It’s a pretty incredible story. I’m happy for Lauren that she’s back on the court,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
In 2014, Holtkamp-Sterling became the third full-time female referee in league history.
