Three things to know: Jonas becomes Dirk Valanciunas, drains seven 3s in first half

By Nov 30, 2021, 9:00 AM EST
New Orleans Pelicans v Los Angeles Clippers
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Three Things is NBC’s five-days-a-week wrap-up of the night before in the NBA. Check out NBCSports.com every weekday morning to catch up on what you missed the night before plus the rumors, drama, and dunks going that make the NBA great.

1) Jonas becomes Dirk Valanciunas, drains seven 3s in first half, Pelicans upset Clippers

“The guys were calling him Dirk Valanciunas.”

That was coach Willie Green after the game, where Jonas Valenciunas went 7-of-7 from 3 in the first half and finished with a career-high 39. Green wasn’t the only guy impressed, a former teammate of JVs noticed.

The Pelicans have found a little groove with different players stepping up — remember Devonte' Graham draining a game-winning three in Utah just a few days ago — and have won three-of-our. That includes splitting a pair with the Jazz and now beating the Clippers, and they have a +6.4 net rating in those four games with a potent offense leading the way and some solid defensive moments. It’s a start — the Pelicans are still in the hole they created to start the season, but at least they stopped digging. With the return of Zion Williamson looming, there are reasons for optimism in the Big Easy.

Meanwhile, the strong Clippers defense can’t bail out a 25th-ranked offense forever — and the Clippers O has been four points per 100 possessions worse the past eight games. The biggest problem is the Clippers are not getting enough easy buckets in transition — they run a fair amount (11th in pace, 17.4% of plays start in transition), but they are 27th in the league in points scored per play in transition (stats via Cleaning the Glass). The Clippers keep trying to win grind-it-out low-scoring games, their shooting hasn’t been good enough for that, and it is coming back to haunt them.

2) Porter, Harris, Suggs: injuries mount up around the NBA

If, like my grandmother used to say, bad news comes in threes, the NBA got the injury bad news cycle all out of the way in one day on Monday.

First came the news that the Nuggets’ Michael Porter Jr. is likely done for the season due to back surgery — his third before age 24. Fate is taking out its frustrations on the Nuggets, who have a title-contending team if healthy but lost Jamal Murray a season ago to an ACL and now this. Denver just gave Porter a five-year, $172 million max extension, they are all in on him and will bank on his return, but he fell down the draft because of red flags about his back and this is a troubling long-term sign.

Brooklyn will be without sharpshooter Joe Harris for at least a month, maybe two, after he had his ankle scoped to remove a loose body. Harris had missed six games because of a sprained ankle already, but it turned out to be more than that. The fact the Nets keep on winning despite guys being out — including one key guy keeping himself out — is impressive. Brooklyn is still a contender, it just has to get everyone on the court at the same time.

Finally, Magic rookie Jalen Suggs will be out for an “extended period” after fracturing his thumb Monday night against the 76ers. Suggs has shown flashes of potential as a rookie but has struggled to find his shot — he’s got a lot of development to do. Which is why time off to recover is not ideal, but hopefully he can use the time to step back, watch games and film with coaches/veterans in his ear, and it will all slow down for him a little and he will come back better. Suggs has a lot of potential.

3) Jokic Brothers come to Miami and… watch their brother win

The last time Nikola Jokic faced off against the Miami Heat, bodies went flying — specifically the body of Markieff Morris (who remains out due to whiplash from that hit… how did Jokic only get a one-game suspension again?). That led to the Jokic brothers starting a social media account just to troll Markieff’s brother Marcus.

The Heat and Nuggets were back at it in Miami Tuesday, and the Jokic brothers were in the house.

Of course, nothing was going to happen — the players are professionals, they move on. Same with the LeBron James/Isaiah Steward rematch Sunday. The Heat fans booed Jokic when he touched the ball, but Jokic had moved on and the players did their jobs.

Jokic returned to the court after missing four games with a sprained wrist and was instantly back to his MVP level — 24 points, 15 boards, 7 assists, 7-of-8 shooting in the first half.

However, the story of the game was the Heat fell behind because they could not make a bucket early (35.4% shooting as a team in the first half) and never could get out of that hole. Denver’s defense was solid, but Miami just looked dead-legged after a four-game road trip and seemed a little short, including the clean looks they were generating. It was one of those nights, and no Jimmy Butler on top of it.

Highlight of the Night: Kevin Porter Jr., get that triple-double

Rockets second-year point guard Kevin Porter Jr. got his first-ever triple-double Monday — but only because teammates made him come back and grab a rebound to get him there.

Porter finished with 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds.

Don’t look now, but the Rockets have won three straight after a 102-89 win over the Thunder.

Last night’s scores:

Philadelphia 101, Orlando 96
Denver 120, Miami 111
Chicago 133, Charlotte 119
Houston 102, Oklahoma City 89
Minnesota 100, Indiana 98
Cleveland 114, Dallas 96
San Antonio 116, Washington 99
Utah 129, Portland 107
New Orleans 123, LA Clippers 104

Three things to Know: Mavericks slumping way right out of playoffs

By Mar 27, 2023, 9:44 AM EDT
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LOS ANGELES — Three Things To Know is NBC’s five-days-a-week wrap-up of the night before in the NBA. Check out NBCSports.com every weekday morning to catch up on what you missed the night before plus the rumors, drama, and dunks that make the NBA must-watch.

1) Mavericks slumping way right out of postseason

This is how bad things look for the Mavericks: If the postseason started today, not only would Dallas miss even the play-in, but their No.11 pick in the draft would go to the New York Knicks, the team that took Jalen Brunson from them last summer (the pick heads to NYC as part of the Kristaps Porzingins trade from four years ago, but it is top-10 protected).

Things are bleak in Dallas — the Mavericks dropped their second game in a row to the tanking Charlotte Hornets (without LaMelo Ball) on Sunday, making it four straight losses and 7-of-9 for a team that took a big swing at the trade deadline landing Kyrie Irving.

Irving has not been the problem — the Mavericks have a +4.8 net rating when Irving is on the court (and +4.6 when he and Dončić are both on), and the reports out of Dallas are he has been a model citizen in the locker room. And Dončić is not the problem, he dropped 40 on Sunday (he started 0-of-6 shooting but found his groove).

The problem is the Mavericks were a too-small, 24th-ranked defensive team before they sent their best defenders to Brooklyn to land Irving. Now they can’t stop anybody, particularly inside — even lowly Charlotte scored 22 more points in the paint than Dallas, and the Hornets had 20 more rebounds, including 11 more offensive rebounds.

The Mavericks started Dwight Powell (he only played four minutes) and Josh Green at the 4/5 and they combined for five points.

Now Dallas faces Myles Turner and Indiana on a back-to-back, and will do it without Dončić, who picked up his 16th technical on the season — triggering an automatic suspension — when he complained a little too much after not getting a call on a leaning baseline jumper.

At 36-39, the Mavericks are a full game back of the Thunder and Lakers, who currently are tied for the 9/10 seeds in the West, and Dallas has the hardest remaining schedule of those three. No wonder Dončić is frustrated.

They will not choose this path, but should the Mavericks pack it in and tank to get into the top 10 of the NBA Draft and try to keep their pick for this season? That seems the smarter franchise-building move as opposed to trying to salvage this season by making the bottom of the play-in and trying to win a couple of games to be the No.8 seed. It’s also not something Dallas would do with Dončić and Irving on the roster.

In which case, the Mavs had better find a way to get a few more stops and improve their play in the paint, because it’s more that than their stars keeping them out of the postseason.

2) LeBron returns from foot injury, scores 19 off bench, Lakers still lose

LeBron James said the first two doctors he spoke with suggested he get surgery after his foot injury last month. However, he went and saw the preeminent foot doctor in Los Angeles and he said not to go under the knife and came up with a treatment plan. A month later, LeBron James was back on the court Sunday, scoring 19 points for the Lakers off the bench in his return.

It was not enough Sunday.

Even with LeBron, the Lakers remain a team with no margin for error and Zach LaVine carved Los Angeles up for 32 points on 13-of-19 shooting, while DeMar DeRozan added 17 points and 10 assists back home in L.A., and the Bulls picked up the 118-108 win.

Patrick Beverley even too-smalled LeBron.

And the Bulls won despite Nikola Vucevic getting a quick-trigger ejection, although he didn’t fight it so he must have said some magical words.

The Bulls have quietly gone 10-5 since the All-Star break and have the second-best defense in the NBA over that stretch. They have climbed up to the No.10 seed in the East and are tied in the loss column with the 8th-seeded Hawks — the Bulls making it out of the play-in to the playoffs is not a crazy idea.

The Lakers may only be one-game back of the Warriors in the loss column for the No.6 seed in the West, and now they have LeBron back in the lineup, but this is still a below .500 team whose margin for error is too small. The Lakers look like a play-in team. For more than 70 games the Lakers have struggled to string together consistent play, do we really think they will start doing it now?

Play-in or not, with LeBron and Anthony Davis, you know that Denver and Memphis — the likely top two seeds in the West — are looking down at the play-in and thinking they want no part of the Lakers in the first round.

3) Anthony Edward returns, KAT is clutch and Minnesota beats Golden State

Could the Timberwolves pass the Warriors and move into the top-six in the West, sending the defending champs to the play-in?

That looked much more realistic Sunday when the Warriors got sloppy when it mattered — they turned the ball over 11 times in the second half — and Karl-Anthony Towns knocked down two critical 3-pointers down the stretch, and the Timberwolves beat the Warriors 99-96. This play pretty much sums up the key moments of the second half.

The Timberwolves deserve credit — they played tough, opportunistic defense when it mattered. Jaden McDaniels doesn’t score much but he has become critical for them. Naz Reid led Minnesota in scoring with 23 off the bench. Edwards, in his return from a sprained ankle, looked rusty early but found a groove late and was a team-best +12 on the night.

Minnesota is the No.7 seed in the West, half a game back of the Warriors but tied in the loss column. Their schedules are pretty even down the stretch.

It’s hard not to pick the defending champs to hold on to the top-six seed, but after a frustrating season where they have not consistently stood out on either end of the court, it’s hard to picture them flipping the switch for the final six games as well. Maybe this is not their year… which we might have guessed back in training camp when Draymond Green punched Joran Poole.

LeBron scores 19 off bench in return, Bulls spoil party with 118-108 win

Associated PressMar 26, 2023, 9:28 PM EDT
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James scored 19 points off the bench in his return from a monthlong injury absence, but Zach LaVine scored 32 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 118-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.

DeMar DeRozan added 17 points for the Bulls, who easily overcame James’ return for their seventh win in nine games. LaVine hit 11 of his first 14 shots to lead an offensive effort that snapped the Lakers’ three-game winning streak despite the return of the NBA’s career scoring leader.

James sat out 13 games with right foot soreness, missing four weeks during the Lakers’ run at a playoff berth. The team provided few updates on his recovery, and his return came with little advance warning.

“I felt confident in the workouts that I had this week,” James said. “And the day after the workouts, when I woke up, stepped out down off the bed, I could possibly play today. And after my workout early before the game today, I knew I could play.”

For only the second time in his 20-year, 1,958-game NBA career, James wasn’t a starter. He came in as a reserve midway through the first quarter, doing his standard pregame chalk toss while receiving a standing ovation from Lakers fans. James got a field goal in every quarter, and he finished with eight rebounds, three assists and five turnovers in 30 minutes.

“You could see him getting his rhythm, his timing, his finishes, all of that,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “He’s a savvy veteran, one of the greatest ever to do it, so it’s not going to take all that much.”

Chicago largely controlled play despite James’ return, streaking to a 20-point lead in the second quarter. Los Angeles briefly got the lead down to single digits down the stretch, but got no closer.

“There are going to be swings, and that was the encouraging part,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “I’m seeing a response back competitively.”

Patrick Beverley had 10 points and five assists in his first game against the Lakers since they traded him last month. Beverley has been outspoken about his desire to hurt the Lakers’ playoff hopes during this home-and-home series between the teams, but Davis and the other Lakers just smiled at his provocative talk.

When Beverley made a little hook shot with 1:12 left to boost Chicago’s lead back to double digits, Beverley slapped the floor and made the dismissive “too small” gesture sometimes used by NBA players to taunt their opponents, in this case James.

“I was just playing basketball,” Beverley said. “Obviously it’s good to see some old teammates, old coaching staff.”

Troy Brown Jr. and Malik Beasley scored 18 points apiece, but Anthony Davis managed just 15 points and nine rebounds as the Lakers (37-38) failed to get above .500 for the first time since Jan. 9, 2022.

The Lakers were without D’Angelo Russell, who missed his second straight game with a right hip injury. Los Angeles went 8-5 in James’ absence, but his return will force an adjustment of the chemistry built by his teammates in his absence.

“We came out a little flat, turned the ball over early, just weren’t aggressive enough, physical enough,” Ham said.

The Bulls largely controlled Davis even after Nikola Vucevic was ejected in the second quarter with two quick technical fouls when he argued what appeared to be a good call against him. Donovan jokingly wondered how Vucevic could be ejected when he was arguing in his native Serbian.

“Obviously it was a bad decision by me to react the way I did,” Vucevic said. “My mistake. I’m just glad my teammates came through for us. I obviously overreacted, for sure.”

Check out more on the Lakers

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Three things to Know: Mavericks slumping way right out of playoffs
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Watch Dončić pick up 16th technical, will result in one-game suspension

By Mar 26, 2023, 5:01 PM EDT
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Luka Dončić barks at the referees more than any player in the league, and with that he does not get the benefit of the doubt when he’s flirting with the edge of a technical foul.

That caught up with Dončić on Sunday, when he didn’t get a call on a leaning baseline jumper, said something to the nearby official, and racked up his 16th technical this season. That will mean an automatic one-game suspension unless it is rescinded (which is unlikely in this case).

Dončić likely will have to sit out Monday when the Mavericks play the Pacers on the second game of a back-to-back.

This suspension comes on the heels of Dončić being fined $35,000 — but not being given a technical foul at the time — for making a money gesture towards a referee in frustration after another recent Mavericks loss.

Dončić went on to have 40 points Sunday but the Mavericks lost again — their second time in a row to the tanking Hornets, their fourth in a row overall and they have now dropped 7-of-9. That has dropped them out of even the play-in to 11th in the West. The Mavericks need to rack up wins over the season’s final two weeks to even make the postseason.

And they must get that next win Monday without Dončić in the lineup.

Check out more on the Mavericks

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Three things to Know: Mavericks slumping way right out of playoffs
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Frustration rising within Mavericks, ‘We got to fight hard, play harder’
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Luka Dončić fined for money gesture toward referee after loss

 

UPDATE: LeBron “active,” will make return to court Sunday vs. Bulls

By Mar 26, 2023, 12:54 PM EDT
Celebrities At The Los Angeles Lakers Game
Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images
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UPDATE: LeBron James has officially been upgraded to active and will make his return to the team on Sunday against the Chicago Bulls.

—————————————————-

A couple of days ago, reports said LeBron James hoped to return and play the final few games before the season ended and he said there was no timeline for his return.

In less than 24 hours the Lakers have moved LeBron from “out” last game to “doubtful” and now — as of Sunday morning — questionable for the Lakers game against the Bulls. While nothing is confirmed, these are the steps a team takes before a player returns from injury. LeBron is going to test his foot pregame and make a decision.

LeBron had been pushing to return from a foot tendon injury that had sidelined him for 13 games. The Lakers have gone 8-5 in those games behind the second-best defense in the league over that stretch. What has struggled during those games has been the offense (23rd in the league) and LeBron instantly fixes that. He has averaged 29.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game this season and the Laker offense has been six points per 100 possessions better when he has been on the court.

The Lakers currently sit tied for the No.7/8 seeds in the West, with an outside shot at climbing into the top six (they are 1.5 games back of the Lakers and Clippers who are tied for sixth, but if those teams go 4-3 the rest of the way the Lakers need to go 6-2 over their last eight just to tie them). The Lakers are also one game ahead of the 11-seed Dallas Mavericks and missing out on the playoffs entirely.

The Lakers need wins the rest of the way to secure a playoff spot, and some time to build chemistry heading into the playoffs. Having LeBron James helps with all of that.

Check out more on the Lakers

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Charlotte Hornets v Dallas Mavericks
Frustration rising within Mavericks, ‘We got to fight hard, play harder’