The Cavaliers rank near the top of the NBA by taking 19% of their total shots outside the restricted area while still in the paint. But Cleveland has converted just a middling 41% of attempts in that floater/runner range.
Maybe these uniforms will help the Cavs find a more feathery touch.
Though not in so many words, the Cavaliers actually stuck a feather on their jerseys and called it macaroni.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) β The way the NBA standings look right now, thereβs a reasonable chance that the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors could be slotted to see each other in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
And Celtics coach Brad Stevens is already making it clear β if that happens, a blowout win over the Raptors now wonβt mean anything then.
Jaylen Brown scored 20 points, Jayson Tatum added 18 and the Celtics never trailed on the way to an emphatic 122-100 win over the Raptors on Friday night. Kemba Walker scored 17 points in 23 minutes for the Celtics, who led by 40 at one point and kept slim hope alive of catching the Raptors for the No. 2 spot in the East race.
βThis game will mean nothing if we get that opportunity again,β Stevens said. βTheyβre a really good team. I thought they missed a lot of open looks and it just wasnβt their night. Our guys played well, but it wonβt mean anything in a couple weeks.β
Boston also won the season series against Toronto, taking three of the four meetings. The Celtics also won back-to-back games for the first time in the bubble.
βWeβre enjoying each other and building chemistry,β Tatum said.
Fred VanVleet scored 13 for Toronto, which got 11 from Kyle Lowry and 11 more from Pascal Siakam. The Raptorsβ starters β VanVleet, Lowry, Siakam, Marc Gasol and OG Anunoby β combined to shoot 16 for 45 (36%) from the field, 3 for 19 (16%) from 3-point range.
βOne thing about this team, we always bounce back and we always stick together,β Torontoβs Norman Powell said. βIβm not too worried.β
Torontoβs biggest deficit in its first three games in the bubble was six points against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Raptors trailed Miami by three, then didnβt trail Orlando at any point in their game on Wednesday.
But only five minutes into this one, the Raptors were down eight.
And it would only get worse from there for the reigning champions.
The biggest deficit Toronto had faced this season was a 30-point hole against Dallas on Dec. 22, a game where the Raptors rallied to win. The Celtics didnβt allow anything close to a rally on Friday β after the Raptors closed within 10 early in the third, Boston went on a 36-12 run over the final 9:39 of the quarter.
It was 91-57 entering the fourth, and the Raptors went with subs the rest of the way. Making the night even worse for Toronto: forward Serge Ibaka left early in the fourth after getting hit in the face on a drive by Bostonβs Gordon Hayward.
βI hate to say it, but thereβs nothing really I learned,β Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. βThe only thing I probably did learn is weβve got to get a couple of our guys playing a little better.β
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) β The NBA playoff picture is getting a little clearer, and the Eastern Conference field of qualifiers is now set.
Brooklyn and Orlando clinched the last two remaining East spots Friday, meaning no play-in series β a new wrinkle added to the rules of the NBAβs season restart at Walt Disney World β will be needed on that half of the bracket.
Brooklyn secured its trip by defeating Sacramento 119-106. Orlandoβs spot was clinched when Washington lost to New Orleans 118-107 later Friday, eliminating the Wizards from contention.
The Nets and Magic will be No. 7 and No. 8, in some order, in the East playoffs. The No. 8 seed will face the Milwaukee Bucks in the opening round of the playoffs, which begin Aug. 17. The No. 7 seed could meet the reigning NBA champion Toronto Raptors, who currently hold β but have not secured β the Eastβs No. 2 spot.
For the Nets, the clinching comes as something to savor in a topsy-turvy season.
Kevin Durant couldnβt play at all because of his recovery from Achilles surgery β yet still got a $1 million contract bonus because Brooklyn made the postseason. Kyrie Irving missed much of the year because of injury, the Nets had several regulars opt out of participating in the restart, changed coaches in March and have used 24 players so far this season.
βItβs great to punch our own ticket into the playoffs,β Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said. βI joked with the guys: I like my laundry being done, but nothing like doing your own laundry.β
Orlando could have clinched with a win Friday, but lost to Philadelphia 108-101. The Wizards lost about an hour later, falling to 0-5 in the bubble. Washington was one of nine teams from the East who qualified for the restart, but has since fallen behind Charlotte into 10th place in the conference.
Philadelphiaβs win tightened the race for No. 4 in the East. The 76ers (42-27) are tied with Indiana for the fifth-best record in that conference, one game behind fourth-place Miami (43-26).
The race for the last unclaimed playoff spot in the Western Conference remains close, with teams vying to grab the No. 8 spot and play the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. If the eighth- and ninth-place teams are within four games of one another when the seeding game schedule ends next week, there will be a two-game series to determine who gets the last playoff spot.
Should that series take place, the ninth-place team would have to go 2-0 in a best-of-two series to advance.
Memphis remained alone in eighth out West, after the Grizzlies snapped a four-game bubble losing streak by beating Oklahoma City on Friday 121-92. The Grizzlies are one game ahead of Portland in the West standings.
βWe channeled what weβve done all season long,β Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. βWe played Grizzlies basketball. Grizzlies basketball equals Grizzlies wins, more often than not. We hadnβt done that in the first four games.β
San Antonio leaped idle Phoenix into 10th in the West by beating Utah 119-111, with the Spurs improving to 3-2 in the bubble. The Spurs (30-38) are one game behind Portland in the standings.
βAt the end of the day, we canβt control what theyβre doing,β Spurs center Jakob Poeltl said. βWe can only control what weβre doing. Weβre going to take every game as it comes. Weβre going to try to win every game.β
Phoenix, Sacramento and New Orleans remain in the mix for a West play-in series spot. The Suns, who are 4-0 at Disney, play Miami on Saturday.
Whether the eight teams not invited to the NBA restart will have training camps and get together for scrimmages depends on who you ask. There are some teams adamant they will be at a massive disadvantage if their young teams go nine months without playing competitive NBA basketball. The problem is bringing teams together creates coronavirus issues that are not easily eliminated.
Which led to an idea: Why not bring those eight teams into the Orlando bubble on the Walt Disney World Resort campus and let them practice/play there?
It’s being talked about as an option reports Sam Amick of The Athletic.
What if those eight teams joined the rest of their colleagues inside the Walt Disney World bubble for training after the eliminated teams departed? Sources say the NBA has been exploring that possibility for quite some time now, and that the idea was raised most recently on the aforementioned governors’ call. And in some ways, it makes perfect sense.
As NBPA executive director Michele Roberts has made clear all along, the union has been skeptical of any basketball setting that doesnβt match the Orlando approach in terms of precautions and protocol. But starting on Aug. 17, when six teams go home and the 16-team playoffs begin, space will be opening up inside this three-hotel, three-court, (seemingly) COVID-free community they have created.
More space will open up in the bubble as more teams are eliminated from the postseason, although some of those rooms were to be used by family of team staff still in the bubble. It’s a delicate balancing act for the league.
The eight teams in question are Golden State, Minnesota, Cleveland, Atlanta, Detroit, New York, Chicago, and Charlotte.
Putting together a second bubble for the “delete eight” was never likely to happen, it’s a logistical nightmare, and it’s expensive (but without the television money payoff of the actual bubble). There is some logic to inviting those eight teams to Orlando.
Whether it happens or not remains to be seen.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) β Dillon Brooks scored 22 points, and the Memphis Grizzlies claimed their first win since the restart with a 121-92 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.
Jonas Valanciunas had 19 points and 11 rebounds and Ja Morant had 19 points and nine assists for the Grizzlies.
Mr.Perfection: 6-6 for 12 points for @brandonclarke23 #MemphisVsErrrbody pic.twitter.com/X7Wo2jGYx8
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) August 7, 2020
Memphis lost its first four restart games and would have fallen into a tie with Portland for eight place in the Western Conference standings with a loss.
βAs a whole, we never doubted ourselves, doubted what we can accomplish as a team,β Morant said. βBut like, we all was very confident in our team and feel like tonight, we just went out and played freely and we were able to come out with a win.β
Chris Paul scored 17 points and Luguentz Dort added 16 for the Thunder. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma Cityβs leading scorer this season, finished with 10 points on 3 for 13 shooting.
The Thunder looked nothing like the team that rolled past the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday. Oklahoma City missed a chance to move into a tie with the Houston Rockets for fourth place in the West.
Oklahoma City led by 18 in the first quarter, but the Grizzlies rallied to take the lead in the second. The Thunder made 7 of 13 3-pointers in the first quarter but 6 of 30 the rest of the way.
βI thought it was a little bit of foolβs gold in the first quarter,β Thunder coach Billy Donovan said.
Memphis led by nine in the final seconds of the first half. Danilo Gallinari hit a 3 for the Thunder with 4.6 seconds left, then Paul got a steal and hit a corner 3 to cut the Grizzliesβ lead to 63-60 at halftime.
The Grizzlies outscored the Thunder 32-18 in the third quarter to go up 95-78 at the end of the period.
βThey started making shots,β Paul said. βWe never really made them feel us all game long. They were just so comfortable. They got a little bit of everything. They got floaters, they got the threes, they got to the free-throw line. Our defense was just bad today.β