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Three things to Know: Draymond Green is honest, ‘Our defense isn’t very good’

By Feb 15, 2023, 10:29 AM EST
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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) Draymond Green is honest, “Our defense isn’t very good”

In the four years the Warriors won the NBA title, their defense was ranked first, second, 11th (but they were first in the playoffs, four points per 100 better than the regular season), and first.

This season the Warriors are 21st in the league in defense.

While injuries to Stephen Curry and others have certainly held the Warriors back this season (as has a championship hangover that doesn’t have them as focused during parts of the regular season), the fact of the matter is they have not defended near the level of NBA contenders. That includes Tuesday night, when the Warriors fell to the Clippers 134-124. After the game, Green was honest about the Warriors’ defense and what it needs to be to get them back to contender status, via NBC Sports Bay Area.

“Our defense isn’t very good. It’s kind of been the story all year and you got to do something to fix it,” Green said. “It has to come from within, defense is all about a will, a want to defend. Defense isn’t fun, you just got to want to do it if you wanna win, and we haven’t.”

Green was also honest about the Warriors turning things around and his role in that.

“It’s not just gonna come. Do I think we’re capable of doing it? Yes, but I don’t think it’s coming. You can go get it, but it’s not just coming…” Green said.

“I’m always gonna try on that side, but I can be better. I’m just as much of a culprit as anyone else, you know, so I’m not going to point the finger at anyone at a point by blame anyone else. If you’re a leader at something and you’re failing at it, it’s your fault, you don’t need to look any further so I’ll take that.”

Is this the Warriors needing to flip the switch?

“I don’t think it’s that. I don’t think it’s a championship hangover,” Green said. “It’s a will to want to defend, and you’re not hungover at .500 60 games into the season. You’re loser if you’re still hungover at that point, so there’s no hangover it’s a will to defend and stop and guards a man, and sink when you can help, and trap the box, and rotate. As defense are one to two steps extra. I’m gonna take that extra step to get there or not. And that’s all I will. And we don’t have that as a team.”

Something to watch with the Warriors after the All-Star break: What are the defensive numbers? Do they improve? Is the focus there? Because if they are not defending at a top-10 level in the second half of this season, they are not going to snap their fingers and do it in the postseason, they will not be sudden contenders to win it all.

2) Bucks win in overtime, but it was a good night for the Celtics

Joe Mazzulla will say, “there are no moral victories in the NBA.” But sometimes there are.

The Celtics lost on the road in overtime to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night, 131-125. Jrue Holiday matched a career-high with 40 points and made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 25.2 seconds left in overtime to get the Bucks their 11th straight win.

However, the Celtics hung in this game despite Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and Marcus Smart all sitting out — four-fifths of the Celtics’ starting rotation was in street clothes. But the rest of the guys stepped up, they defended Giannis Antetokounmpo well in the second half and OT, when he shot 6-of-18 (the Celtics did a good job of fouling him in the second rather than giving up easy buckets to him).

And when Boston needed a bucket, there was Sam Hauser.

“We expected to win that game,” the Celtics’ Malcolm Brogdon, (who scored 26) said postage, via the Associated Press. “We went into that game like we were going to win, like we were supposed to win. We believe we are the best team on the floor every single night.”

Boston may have lost that game, but they looked like the best team in the NBA.

3) All-Star Saturday night participants announced

It was getting pretty close, just five days out from the event, but the NBA announced the participants in the All-Star Saturday Night events.

Headlining the Skills Challenge will be Giannis Antetokounmpo and his brothers, Thanasis and Alex, who form one of the three teams in the contest, along with Team Jazz and Team Rookies.

Next up is the highlight of the night — the 3-Point Shootout. This contest is stacked

The Dunk Contest caps off the night, and there were no surprises in the foursome:

The Trail Blazers Shaedon Sharpe dropped out of the event, then on Tuesday night reminded everyone why we wish he were still in it.

All-Star Saturday night festivities begin at 8 Eastern and are broadcast on TNT.

Watch Austin Reaves score career-high 35, lead Lakers past Magic

Associated PressMar 20, 2023, 3:03 AM EDT
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Austin Reaves scored a career-high 35 points, D’Angelo Russell added 18 points and the Los Angeles Lakers hung on for a 111-105 victory over the Orlando Magic on Sunday night.

Anthony Davis had 15 points and 11 rebounds on another rough shooting night, but Reaves carried the Lakers to victory with 13 points in the fourth quarter, including Los Angeles’ last 10 points over the final 1:33. The undrafted second-year pro has earned a vital role his star-studded team, and Reaves factored in almost every big play down the stretch as the Lakers snapped a two-game skid.

Lakers fans serenaded Reaves with chants of “M-V-P! M-V-P!” as he repeatedly earned trips to the line in the fourth quarter. Reaves shot a career-high 18 free throws, while the Magic shot 17.

“For them to recognize what I do – obviously I’m not an MVP-caliber player, those guys are really good – but for them to do that is special,” Reaves said. “It means a lot to me.”

The Lakers entered this game off back-to-back losses to Houston and Dallas, imperiling their tenuous position in the playoff race. This win put Los Angeles (35-37) back in ninth in the Western Conference, tied with Minnesota.

“I thought it was (Reaves) being his normal self,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “What he’s been all year. Coming up in clutch moments for us, trying to make plays downhill, putting the defense in uncomfortable situations with his ability to attack the paint and draw fouls. He was great. He ended up with 35, and we needed all of them.”

Rookie Paolo Banchero scored 21 points for Orlando, but got an unwise technical foul with 25.3 seconds to play after repeatedly arguing with officials during the night.

“It just puts you in a hard situation when they’re calling it like that,” Banchero said. “You want to defend without fouling, but we keep getting called. We keep fouling, I guess. We keep getting foul calls against us, so it just makes it hard, but we still had a chance to win. You can’t blame it all on that.”

Franz Wagner also scored 21 points in the Magic’s sixth loss in eight games to wrap up a four-game road swing. Wendell Carter Jr. had 16 points and 11 rebounds, but Orlando couldn’t repeat the dominance of its 39-point fourth quarter in a victory over the Clippers one day earlier in the same arena.

“It’s difficult, because I think we’re an aggressive, attacking team,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We’ve got to just, I guess, continue to do a better job of defending without fouling, show our help early and earn the respect of being able to get those calls.”

Cole Anthony hit a tying 3-pointer with 2:37 left for the Magic, who had trailed throughout the second half. Banchero fouled Reaves on a 3-point attempt a minute later, and Reaves hit two free throws before Wagner tied it again.

But Reaves hit a mid-range jumper with 57 seconds left and then grabbed the long rebound of Wagner’s missed 3 before making two more free throws. Banchero missed a layup and got the technical foul that helped the Lakers to seal it.

The Lakers improved to 6-5 during the latest injury absence for LeBron James, who has been out for three weeks with a sore right foot. Ham reiterated before the game that Los Angeles expects James to return before the regular season ends in three weeks.

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By Mar 19, 2023, 8:47 PM EDT
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The Lakers have kept their heads above water in a tight bottom half of the West, going 5-5 since LeBron James went out with a tendon issue in his foot. However, if they are going to be any kind of postseason threat, the Lakers need peak LeBron back.

With rumors swirling he might be out for a while, Lakers coach Darvin Ham gave the most concrete update yet on a LeBron return.

“At some point” is vague, but at least it means the team expects him to return.

LeBron has hinted on social media he is close to a return and will come back recharged.

In a West without a dominant team, Lakers fans — and players — can dream of a playoff run despite their 34-37 record. They looked good for the five games this team was healthy after the trade deadline, and it’s not inconceivable if the Lakers could get everyone back they could beat any team in the West in a best-of-seven. Whether a team with no margin for error (even when healthy) and health issues could string together three series wins to reach the Finals appears too big an ask, but do you think Denver/Memphis/Sacramento want to see LeBron and Anthony Davis in the first round?

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Dillon Brooks, Klay Thompson beef gets fun as Grizzlies beat Warriors

By Mar 19, 2023, 3:44 PM EDT
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Dear basketball gods: We need another Warriors vs. Grizzlies playoff series this April. Please. (It’s lining up for a possible 2/7 or 6/3 matchup.)

Mainly because we need more of the Klay Thompson and Dillon Brooks beef, which was on full display Saturday.

The Grizzlies easily handled the Warriors — who have now lost 11 straight on the road — and Brooks was savoring the moment and talking trash, so Thompson went Kobe and reminded him about the ring count.

Brooks laughed it off after the game (hat tip Evan Barnes at the Commercial Appeal).

“He’s got four rings. That’s all he was saying. It’s motivation to us,” Brooks said. “We want a ring as well. Being able to go through the process of steps that we did last year, we keep going and learning from it all.

“It’s friendly trash talk, but I just hold a lot of real estate over there in San Francisco.”

Thompson responded:

“I don’t care about Dillon Brooks,” Thompson said. “When he retires, I don’t think anyone will ever talk about Dillon Brooks ever again. I promise you. It’s sweet right now, but wait 10 years.”

Brooks enjoys being the antagonist, particularly against the Warriors, he’s already got a beef going with Draymond Green. While Brooks can take it a little too far at points, he is at the heart of what NBC Sports’ Corey Robinson describes as the “punk rock” attitude of Memphis — which is both part of what fuels them and part of what can at times undercut their discipline.

As for the Warriors, the four in the past can’t help them this season if they can’t figure out how to win some games on the road.

Whatever the outcome, seven games between these sides is what we need this postseason.

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Celtics blown lead to Jazz, plus another Embiid-fueled 76ers win, drops Celtics to third in East

By Mar 19, 2023, 10:53 AM EDT
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The Boston Celtics led by 19 in the first half in Utah. They led by four with 1:19 remaining. But the Celtics have played lately like a team that is comfortable — plus they miss Robert Williams III — and that led to another loss, this time 119-118 to the Jazz on the road.

This one came dramatically when Grant Williams — who was hot and hit seven 3-pointers in the game — broke off a play designed to be a dribble hand-off for Jayson Tatum and went to the rim, only to get rejected by rookie Walker Kessler.

Despite the loss, the Celtics clinched a playoff spot with the Heat’s loss to the Bulls. Utah’s Lauri Markkanen was hot and led all scorers with 28.

Earlier in the day, the 76ers had little trouble with the Pacers and picked up their eighth-straight win while Joel Embiid scored 31 points — his ninth straight game with 30+ points as he makes an MVP push.

The 76ers’ win and the Celtics’ loss moves Philadelphia percentage points ahead of Boston into the No. 2 seed in the East.

The Celtics and 76ers are destined to finish as the two and three seeds in the East, setting up a second-round clash (barring any first-round upsets). The seeding matters mostly for home court in that series and that could make a difference in what will be a physical, intense match-up that likely goes at least six games.

Meanwhile, the Bucks sit as the top seed with a two-game cushion and would love to watch the Celtics and 76ers beat each other up in the second round before having to face either.

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