Three Things to Know: That is the Nets team that strikes fear in the rest of the NBA

By Jan 13, 2022, 9:40 AM EST
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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) That is the Nets team that strikes fear in the rest of the NBA

The Nets were the betting favorite and the choice of most pundits to win the NBA title before the season tipped off because everyone envisioned nights like this:

Kevin Durant had 27 points on 7-of-10 shooting, plus nine assists. James Harden had 25 points and 16 assists. Patty Mills, back in his comfortable sixth man role, scored 21. Blake Griffin was diving on the floor for loose balls and was +34 on the night.

Brooklyn went into Chicago Wednesday night and routed the East-leading Bulls, 138-112.

Never read too much into a regular-season NBA game when trying to project a potential playoff match-up. There are always too many variables to say that is an apples-to-apples comparison (for example, Alex Caruso is out for the Bulls due to health and safety protocols).

However, this is the version of the Nets team that makes the team so scary — a team that can put up a 146.8 offensive rating on a night Kyrie Irving plays but looks just okay (maybe it’s the ankle issue that kept him out last game). Down two at the half, the Nets put on a statement in a third quarter that included a 30-8 run. Brooklyn’s stars were elite, their role players stepped up, and there was nothing the Bulls could do.

We could list everything that went right for the Nets, from the play of their rookies through a solid defense, but you get the point.

The Nets have their big three intact, and on nights like this they look inevitable.

2) Another frustrating night for LeBron, Lakers

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: LeBron James had another strong game, the kind that gets you on MVP ballots, and scored 34 points. However, he didn’t get enough help, Los Angeles’ defense was a mess, and the Lakers lost to a team that had dropped five straight coming in and wouldn’t even make the play-in if the postseason started today.

Sacramento 125, Los Angeles Lakers 116

The Lakers are 21-21, and only five of those wins have come against teams over .500. There’s still a feeling around the team they can figure it out and flip the switch — ala the 2021 Tampa Bay Buccaneers — but watch them on the court and there’s little evidence the Lakers know where the switch is.

De'Aaron Fox had 29 points and Harrison Barnes 23 to lead the Kings.

Both the Lakers and Kings will be interesting to watch at the trade deadline.

The Lakers need to make plays for guys who could change their season — Jerami Grant of the Pistons would be a perfect fit — but they really only have one trade option, some combination of Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn, and a 2027-28 first-round pick. That may not be enough to get it done.

The Kings have finally put everyone up on the trade block, including Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. However, while the Lakers need to think short-term with a 37-year-old LeBron on the team, the Kings need to think bigger picture and longer term. They need to build something that works, because what they have does not.

3) Damian Lillard is having abdominal surgery and is out indefinitely

Damian Lillard has not been himself this season, even dating back to the Tokyo Olympics. He’s suffering from lower abdominal tendinopathy, and he has tried rest, playing through it, and a cortisone shot. Nothing worked.

Now he goes under the knife — Lillard will have surgery to repair his abdominal issue and will be re-evaluated in a couple of months. At that point it will be March, and the currently 16-24 Trail Blazers will have to ask if it’s worth it for him to return so they can make a play-in push.

Hopefully for Lillard, this fixes the issue and next time he does step on a court, whenever that is, we get to see the dynamic top-10 in the league player again. We all miss watching that Lillard.

The question now is what does this mean for the Trail Blazers heading into the trade deadline? Will interim GM Joe Cronin be aggressive in retooling the team and trade CJ McCollum or Jusuf Nurkic? Does he have the backing of ownership to be that aggressive, or is he more of a caretaker until a new GM is hired? Nobody knows the answers to those questions outside Portland, and everyone is watching to see what they do.

Highlight of the Night: Tyler Herro was one second away from triple-double

Miami continued to show off its depth and strength of culture, going into Atlanta and thrashing the Hawks 115-91 despite no Jimmy Butler or Bam Adebayo.

Tyler Herro continued his Sixth Man of the Year campaign with a team-high 21 points off the bench, plus 11 assists and nine rebounds. Herro wanted the triple-double, and if there had been just one more second on the clock…

Last night’s scores:

Boston 119, Indiana 100
Charlotte 109, Philadelphia 100
Washington 112, Orlando 106
Miami 115, Atlanta 91
New York 108, Dallas 85
Houston 128, San Antonio 124
Cleveland 111, Utah 91
Brooklyn 138, Chicago 112
Sacramento 125, LA Lakers 116

Watch Davis score 38, Lakers move up to No.7 seed with win against Timberwolves

Associated PressApr 1, 2023, 9:01 AM EDT
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Anthony Davis scored 17 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter and had 17 rebounds to lift the Los Angeles Lakers past Minnesota 123-111 and leapfrog the Timberwolves on Friday night in the crowded Western Conference playoff race.

“You’ve got to have that one pivotal force that’s leading the charge, and in our case with this particular team here in the moment it’s AD,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “When he comes out and he’s aggressive and we’re feeding him and he’s not settling and he’s putting pressure on the paint, putting pressure on the rim, we find ourselves having a lot of success.”

LeBron James added 18 points and 10 rebounds and D'Angelo Russell had 12 points and 10 assists against his former team as the Lakers (39-38) won for the fifth time in six games to move into seventh place. They’re even with New Orleans, owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Pelicans.

“We’ve made some huge climbs, but we’re not finished,” said Davis, who had 38 points Wednesday in tthe win at Chicago. “We’re hungry to not only make the playoffs but make some noise.”

The Lakers improved to 9-4 since losing at home to the Wolves on March 3.

“We jumped on AD’s back, and he brought us home,” James said.

Mike Conley had 25 points on 7-for-11 shooting with seven assists before fouling out, and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 23 points for the Timberwolves (39-39), who tumbled into ninth place. They entered the evening one game behind Golden State and the cut to avoid the play-in tournament, with the Warriors tipping off later at home against San Antonio.

Davis scored 12 straight points for the Lakers over a 3:52 span late in the fourth quarter to seal the steely comeback from a deficit that hit 13 points shortly after halftime. He made five baskets in a row with Wolves center Rudy Gobert on the bench, dominating on the glass, in the post and at the rim.

“He’s playing at a super high level right now,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said.

The Lakers took charge earlier with a 24-2 spurt over a 6:49 stretch of the third quarter with their defense on lockdown mode. Conley’s turn to rest on the bench during that run was ill-timed. Davis rolled his left ankle around the start of the Lakers surge, a breath-holding sequence that only seemed to energize the visitors.

“We started to turn the ball over, and the ball started to stick much more,” Gobert said. “We kind of lost our flow offensively, and it really affected our defense.”

The Wolves, whose bench was shortened without center Naz Reid and his broken wrist, went 2 for 14 from 3-point range in the third quarter and were outscored 35-18 in a discouraging stretch for a fired-up crowd that included local sports superstars Justin Jefferson and Kirill Kaprizov in floor seats.

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Watch Jalen Brunson score 48, Knicks top Cavs in possible playoff preview

Associated PressApr 1, 2023, 8:20 AM EDT
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CLEVELAND (AP) — With All-Star Julius Randle back in New York, the Knicks needed someone to step up.

Jalen Brunson did that, and more.

New York’s point guard scored a career-high 48 points and the Knicks moved closer to a playoff berth while waiting for Randle to get healthy, outrunning the Cleveland Cavaliers 130-116 on Friday night.

“There is nothing that Jalen does that surprises you,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He’s so mentally tough. He’s nicked up a little bit, but he’s a machine. He just keeps going.”

Brunson credited his Knicks’ teammates and coaches for his big night, which included seven 3-pointers and nine assists. He finished 18 of 32 from the floor.

“They had confidence in me and the ball just went through the hole,” said Brunson, who scored 44 in a loss to Milwaukee on Jan. 9. “I just kept shooting with confidence and that’s just how it went.”

The Knicks reduced their magic number to one in their first game without Randle, who sprained his left ankle Wednesday and will miss the rest of the regular season. New York hopes he’ll be back for the postseason and a potential first-round matchup against the Cavs.

New York won the season series 3-1 and denied Cleveland a chance to lock up home-court advantage in the first round.

“This loss hurts,” said Donovan Mitchell, who led Cleveland with 42 points. “We need to feel it and be ready to use it when the time comes. Obviously, we control our destiny and we’ll probably see these guys in two weeks.

“There is a lot of film to go through. But if we let this affect us, we have no chance in the playoffs.”

Leading by three, the Knicks outscored the Cavs 14-2 to open the fourth and get some breathing room in a game played at a frenetic pace. The teams combined for 89 points in the first quarter and 151 in the first half.

The Cavs got within 123-116 before Brunson put the Cavs away with a layup following a timeout and then a 3-pointer. He missed a floater in the final seconds that would have given him 50 points.

Did he want 50?

“Who wouldn’t?” he said. “I was going to hold the ball out, but they doubled and I guess that means keep playing. No disrespect to them. They played to the buzzer. I have the most respect in the world for that coaching staff. You got to keep playing.”

Brunson, who averages 23.6 points, scored 33 in a wild first half without much defense.

The teams combined for 89 points in the first quarter, tying the third most in the first 12 minutes of a game in NBA history. The record of 91 is shared by Utah and Denver (1982), and Miami and Washington (2021).

Also, Cleveland’s 47 points in the first quarter were the most in the franchise’s 53-year history.

The Cavs were without two of their top defenders, center Jarrett Allen (groin) and Isaac Okoro (knee).

The Knicks had a moment of drama.

During a timeout in the third quarter, New York starters RJ Barrett and Obi Toppin got into a shouting match and had to be separated.

Thibodeau downplayed the conflict.

“The cameras are everywhere and it probably happens more than people realize,” Thibodeau said. “It was the heat of the moment. Sometimes, there is a difference of opinion, but those guys are fine with each other. These things happen.”

Later, in the locker, Toppin had his arm around a smiling Barrett.

“This is my brother,” Toppin said. “We’re good.”

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NBA, players union agree on new seven-year CBA

By Apr 1, 2023, 3:32 AM EDT
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Labor peace will continue in the NBA through the rest of this decade.

The sides had to push back the deadline twice — then miss the latest deadline by a couple of hours — to get it done, but the NBA owners and the National Basketball Players Association have come to terms on a new seven-year Collective Bargaining Agreement, a story broken by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and confirmed by the NBA (at 3 a.m. Eastern).

While votes of both the owners and players need to ratify the new deal, it is expected to pass quickly and without controversy. The NBA continues to grow rapidly (particularly internationally), and is in the midst of negotiating a new national television and streaming deal expected to more than double television revenue flowing into the league (money split between the owners and players). Ultimately, nobody wanted to risk killing the golden goose with a labor stoppage.

Here are some of the reported key points of the new CBA:

• There will be a new mid-season tournament, mostly played before Christmas. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has pushed for this, looking to add interest and put more meaning into regular season games.

• Players must take the floor in at least 65 games to be eligible for postseason awards, such as MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and All-NBA. The idea is to motivate players (and teams) to get their best players in more games and limit load management. This rule will not kick in until next season (at the earliest) but if in place this season it would keep Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Ja Morant and others off an All-NBA team.

• The one-and-done rule remains as the NBA is not changing its minimum age requirement to be drafted (one year after a player’s class graduates high school).

• Players will no longer face discipline from the league for marijuana use. It had already been taken out of the league’s drug testing program.

• There are changes to the luxury tax, particularly for the highest-spending teams, something detailed first by ESPN. It will involve adding a second tax apron — 17.5 million over the tax line — and teams above it will no longer have access to the taxpayer mid-level exception. This rule is targeted at the highest-spending teams (the Clippers and Warriors this season, the Nets were on that track before blowing up the roster.

• However, teams in the middle and on the bottom of payroll spending will have expanded opportunities (to spend more) in free agency, or to generate larger trade exceptions for other deals.

• Veteran contract extensions will be able to start at 140% of the last year of the existing contract, up from 120% in the current CBA. That will allow more teams to offer larger extensions and keep key players.

• Teams will gain a third two-way contact slot.

 

 

Kevin Durant drops 30, Suns win fourth straight beating shorthanded Nuggets

Associated PressApr 1, 2023, 2:41 AM EDT
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PHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix Suns are starting to string together some wins now that Kevin Durant is healthy.

Even so, they’re far from a well-oiled machine.

Durant scored 30 points, Devin Booker added 27 and the Suns won their fourth straight game by beating the short-handed Denver Nuggets 100-93 on Friday night.

The Suns improved to 5-0 with Durant in the lineup despite nearly blowing a 27-point lead. Phoenix traded for the 13-time All-Star in a deadline deal back in February.

“I like how we played in the first half, but it was a bad second half for us,” Durant said. “We just let our foot off the gas a little and they were playing extremely hard. … We’ve just got to do a better job of sticking with it.”

The Nuggets rested a big chunk of their starting lineup, including reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, guards Jamal Murray and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and forward Michael Porter Jr. But they still showed fight after trailing 60-40 at halftime.

“I am immensely proud,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “You are down 27 points on the road, second half, second night in a row. Every reason just to roll over and play dead and get ready for Sunday at home. Guys just wouldn’t do it.”

The Suns pushed their advantage to 27 midway through the third quarter, but the Nuggets pulled to 84-74 heading into the fourth quarter. Denver cut it to 97-93 in the final minute, but Josh Okogie nailed a corner 3 to seal it for the Suns. Okogie had 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including four 3-pointers, and Chris Paul had 13 assists.

Aaron Gordon had 26 points, nine rebounds and six assists to lead the Nuggets. Bruce Brown scored 16 points and Reggie Jackson had 13. The overmatched but feisty Nuggets got 22 points from the bench.

“It was our energy and our effort,” backup guard Peyton Watson said. “We know we were missing guys but that doesn’t change the culture here. We always want to play hard, get stops.”

Durant shot 11 of 15 from the field in a dominant performance two days after a rough shooting night in his home debut against Minnesota. The 34-year-old star has battled knee and ankle injuries over the past few months, but appears to be getting healthy as the Suns continue to cling to the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

The Suns scored just 16 points in the fourth quarter on Friday, but managed to hang on for the victory.

“We’re trying to find that rhythm and trying to get wins at the same time,” Booker said.

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