Kevin Durant looks like Durant of old, which should scare the East, NBA

By Kurt HelinDec 19, 2020, 3:00 PM EST

Kevin Durant was the best player on the court Friday night in Boston.

That should scare the hell out of the rest of the East and the NBA.

It was his second game back after missing 18 months and an entire season with a torn Achilles, and while he was not moving at pre-injury speeds, Durant is still a 7-foot sharpshooter with a release over his head covers up any step he may have lost. And he may not have lost that much, against Boston (and against Washington earlier in the week) Durant showed he still has the skill and enough explosiveness to get to the rim.

Kevin Durant put that all on display against Boston as he both shot over the top of some defenders and blew by others to get to the bucket. Durant shot 9-of-16 from the floor (56.3%) and 2-of-5 from three.

KD (25 PTS) showed out in Brooklyn’s #NBAPreseason finale 🔥 pic.twitter.com/1yrrxpuQyU

— NBA TV (@NBATV) December 19, 2020

It’s just preseason, so take everything with a grain of salt, but that Durant would make the Brooklyn Nets serious title contenders.

And Durant said he was not all the way back yet, via the New York Daily News:

“I was out for 18 months not playing an NBA game, not playing against that physicality, the speed of the game,” Durant told The Daily News. “So it’s gonna take me some time to get my feet up under me, get my legs right.”

The question with Brooklyn was never talent, it was the health of its stars.

Kyrie Irving played just 20 games last season and had shoulder surgery, part of a long injury history in his career, but he has looked healthy through two preseason games. His league-best handles are still there — Irving can create space either for a three or to get to the rim against the best defenders. Plus, he’s an underrated playmaker.

Brooklyn also has fantastic talent around Durant and Irving. Caris LeVert dropped a 51 spot last season (against those very Celtics) and was considered a fringe All-Star level player — and he is coming off the bench. Spencer Dinwiddie is another near All-Star at the guard spot, Joe Harris is as good a sharpshooter as there is in the game (and he just got paid like it), and the Nets have two quality rim-running bigs in DeAndre Jordan and Jarrett Allen. (Some or much of that talent may be shipped to Houston in a James Harden trade, but right now that deal is nowhere close to getting done.)

Kevin Durant, however, was the lynchpin to Brooklyn’s title dreams.

Durant was the best player walking the face of the earth for the two years before his injury — he had stared down LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the Finals and outplayed him. KD has two rings and two Finals MVPs. Could Durant get back to that level or close to it after suffering the most devastating injury a basketball player can face and missing more than a year of hoops?

The answer, after just two preseason games, appears to be yes, he can.

Against Washington in the first game, Durant came out and shot right over the top of Rui Hachimura. We saw that a lot in the last two games, Durant pulling up and shooting over the top of a defender, or backing a defender down then using a little fadeaway to create enough space to get his shot off — and draining it. It was vintage Durant from before his injury on display again.

KD gets to his SPOT. pic.twitter.com/k4aWqeCn2a

— NBA (@NBA) December 19, 2020

How good can these Nets be? Against Washington, in their first shift together, Durant and Irving combined for 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting — they outscored the Wizards for the quarter. With Irving and Durant, the Nets will have a devastating starting five — as long as they play good defense — and they will bring Dinwiddie and LeVert in with the second unit.

Brooklyn is a championship contender.

So long as the Durant that showed up in Boston on Friday night can keep it rolling all season and into the playoffs.

Lakers’ LeBron James says he could need offseason foot surgery

By Kurt HelinMar 27, 2023, 9:11 PM EDT

LeBron James wanted back on the court. He saw the glimpses of what this current roster can do when healthy and focused — the same glimpses that have Laker exceptionalism running strong in Los Angeles — and he sees a West without a dominant team. Together those things mean opportunity.

LeBron could have shut it down when he felt something pop in his foot last month, admitting that two doctors told him to get surgery. However, the “LeBron James of foot doctors” told him he could be back this season — and he made that return Sunday. Still, LeBron admitted he could need off-season surgery.

"When the doctors told me I was healing faster than anybody before they've seen with the injury." @KingJames' response to when he knew he would return from his foot injury. pic.twitter.com/YU0nqhkobj

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 26, 2023

“I don’t know. Right now, I don’t need it, so we’ll see what happens. I’ll probably get another MRI at the end of the season and go from there. But if I end up having to get surgery after the season, you guys won’t know. I don’t talk to you guys in the offseason, and by the time next season starts, I’ll be fine. I’ll be ready to go.”

As for what motivated him to get back on the court this season and not shut it down.

“Now we sitting at a chance to be able to… to hell with the play-in, we actually can be a top-[six] seed. That definitely changed my mindset on me coming back and trying to be a part of this, obviously, so — well, I don’t really want to say changed my mindset, it just enhanced what I was trying to do as far as my workouts, as far as my treatment and everything”

The Lakers sit tied for 9/10 in the West, one game below .500. While LeBron can say, “to hell with the play-in,” his Lakers would need help from the Clippers or Warriors to climb into the top six even though they are only 1.5 games back (time is short for L.A., if the Warriors or Clippers go 4-3 the rest of the way, the Lakers need to go 6-2 over their last eight). Los Angeles also is just a game up on Dallas for the 11 seed, and if the losses pile up they could fall out of the play-in completely.

With LeBron back, missing the play-in is unlikely. But having him back (and eventually a healthy D'Angelo Russell, who was out Sunday with a hip issue) also is no guarantee of wins — the Lakers still need peak Anthony Davis to compete. When he has a solid game of 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists (as he did Sunday), they lose. The Lakers need bubble Davis every night, or even if they make the postseason it will be short-lived.

Dončić dodges suspension, NBA rescinds 16th technical

By Kurt HelinMar 27, 2023, 4:32 PM EDT

Brock Williams-Smith/NBAE via Getty Images

This was unexpected, especially after crew chief Kevin Scott said after the game last night: “Doncic was assessed a technical foul for his use of profanity directed at the officials in protest to a no-call that was correctly judged in postgame video review.”

The NBA league office reviewed the incident (as it does with all technicals) and rescinded what would have been Luka Doncic’s 16th technical.

Luka Dončić’s (DAL) technical foul (7:51, 3rd qtr) from the game on 3/26/23 has been rescinded upon league office review.

— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) March 27, 2023

That 16th technical would have triggered an automatic one game suspension. With it rescinded, Dončić is clear to play Monday night when the Mavericks take on the Pacers.

Sunday night in Charlotte, Dončić was given a technical when he didn’t get a call on a leaning baseline jumper and said something to the nearby official.

Luka Dončić got his 16th technical foul of the season, resulting in a one-game suspension. pic.twitter.com/K3X0Np47dA

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 26, 2023

This incident comes days after Dončić was fined $35,000 for making a money gesture towards a referee in frustration after a Mavericks loss.

Through all this the Mavericks have lost four straight, 7-of-9, and have slid back to 11th in the West, outside even the play-in. Their team is disintegrating and if they don’t pick up some wins fast they have less than two weeks until they are on summer vacation.

MVP showdown off: 76ers to sit Joel Embiid due to calf tightness

By Kurt HelinMar 27, 2023, 2:32 PM EDT

Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images

Recently Joel Embiid said,” ‘If I win MVP, good. If I don’t, it’s fine with me.” Today’s news plays right into that narrative.

Embiid has been playing through calf tightness for a few games now — he only played a half against the Bulls last Wednesday — but still putting up numbers (46 points against the Warriors, 28 and 10 against the Suns). However, there had been some concern in the organization about not pushing things and making sure Embiid is healthy for the playoffs. Which is why they will rest him on Monday night, short-circuiting an MVP-race showdown against Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets. Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN broke the news and John Clarke of NBC Sports Philadelphia has confirmed it.

Joel Embiid is out tonight. His calf is still bothering him. https://t.co/SqRdaoBRmg

— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) March 27, 2023

Embiid did go through part of the 76ers’ shootaround this morning. The decision was made after that point.

Undoubtedly this will spark the load management discussion around the league again, and Embiid is going to take heat for this — but this is a situation where the team’s medical staff made the call, likely over Embiid’s objection.

From the 76ers perspective what matters is having Embiid healthy during the playoffs — they are going nowhere without him — and there is no reason to take undue risks with the team all but locked into the No. 3 seed in the East.

James Harden is still expected to make his return to action Monday from a three-game absence.

But it robs fans — including those who bought tickets in Denver — of one of the great showdowns in the league, and one of the more anticipated games of the season’s final weeks. The NBA has to find a way to balance player health with having their best players on the court for the biggest games. Keep telling fans the regular season doesn’t matter and they will start treating it like that.

Joel Embiid not stressing about MVP: ‘If I win MVP, good. If I don’t, it’s fine with me.’

By Kurt HelinMar 27, 2023, 1:44 PM EDT

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Joel Embiid is the MVP betting favorite — -160 at our partner PointsBet — heading into Monday’s showdown with the reigning two-time MVP Nikola Jokić (+180 at PointsBet).

Embiid campaigned for the MVP award the past couple of years but came up second to Jokić. This season, Embiid is not stressing about it. Or at least trying not to stress about it. Here is what Embiid told Shams Charania of The Athletic.

What matters — it’s just about winning, winning, winning. I’ve been focused on that. We’ve been doing that. Whatever happens, happens. If I win MVP, good. If I don’t, it’s fine with me.

Why hasn’t Embiid won the MVP? Outside of Jokić also being deserving and the complaints of Antetokounmpo and others that the criteria for the award are constantly changing (which suggests there are criteria for the award, but there are none officially), Embiid thinks it’s because he is not well-liked.

People always thought that I was crazy when I said this — I really believe that I’m not well-liked. And it’s cool with me, that’s fine. I’ll be the bad guy. I like being the a–hole anyway. I like being the underdog. So that’s fine with me. My thing is … when I leave the game, I want to make sure that they say: No one was stopping him offensively and defensively, and he was a monster.

There’s no doubt he will leave the game remembered as one of the great 76ers and a “monster” on both ends when healthy. However, resume matters with legacy and an MVP award helps with that. Just not as much as being the best player on a championship team, something more difficult to pull off because it requires a lot of help (it’s up for debate whether Embiid has the help he needs around him to win it all, and if they can stay healthy enough to make that run).

This season the MVP race is a tight three-way contest between Embiid, Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo (+450 at PointsBet). There are legitimate cases to be made for each member of this trio. However, with the Sixers surging (and the Nuggets stumbling a little), things may break his way this season.

Another dominant performance against Jokić with just a couple of weeks left in the season would stick in voters’ minds and help his cause.

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