ReportWire

Tag: Kristaps Porzingis

  • Same teams. Different night. Same result: Hawks lose a second straight to Bulls, 126-123

    [ad_1]

    Hawks guard Vit Krejci shoots over two Bulls defenders during the first quarter of Tuesday’s game. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    The Atlanta Hawks hosted the Chicago Bulls for the second time in three days. The result of Tuesday’s game was the same as Sunday’s game: a loss.

    The final two seconds of this game told the tale. The Hawks gave up three free throws to the Bulls and lost, despite Chicago not having to make a basket.

    Final score: Bulls 126, Hawks 123.

    The Hawks were without guard Dyson Daniels, who was listed out of the lineup with a hip injury, and big man Kristaps Porzingis, who has missed the majority of the team’s 30 games this season. Nickel Alexander-Walker was back in the starting lineup for the first time since Trae Young (35 points and nine assists on Sunday) returned from injury. Alexander-Walker (20.3 points per game) gives the Hawks’ starting lineup that much-needed third scoring option after Young and Jalen Johnson (28.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game).

    “You have to learn from this for sure,” said Trae Young (above) after the 126123 loss to the Bulls on Tuesday. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    Following the game, Young said he and his teammates will have to learn from games like this. “We’re trying to figure out how to execute down the stretch, whether it’s me or Jalen,” Young said.

    The Hawks got off to a better start in this game, going ahead 7-0 before the Bulls eventually tied the game at 16. Atlanta would take and maintain a lead throughout the first quarter behind Young, who is on a minutes restriction at the moment. His three-pointer and floater, plus a foul, looked like vintage Trae Young baskets.

    The Hawks closed the first quarter with a 36-30 advantage, and led by as much as 13 in the second quarter after rookie forward Asa Newell dunked following a steal, and then hit a corner three on the next Hawks possession. Young found Johnson with a no-look pass to bring the lead up to 15 with less than five minutes to play in the first half. With less than a minute to play in the half, the Bulls closed the gap a bit, getting scoring from Coby White down the stretch, but a pair of free throws from Young gave Atlanta a 68-55 lead at the half. During the first half, Young, Johnson, and Alexander-Walker combined for 38 points.

    Trae Young (above at free throw line). Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    The first couple of minutes of the second half saw Chicago forward Nikola Vucevic score eight of the Bulls’ first 14 points to cut the Hawks’ lead to just eight points. The Hawks would put together a run that included a three-point play from Young and a three-pointer from forward Zaccharie Risacher to re-establish a double-figure lead and force a Bulls timeout with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter.

    With less than two minutes to play in the quarter, Newell, whose minutes have been up and down this season, connected on a pair of three-pointers that got the supporter section chanting his name and out the Hawks 102-87. Newell, an Atlanta native, played his single season of college hoops at the University of Georgia before being drafted by the Hawks in the first round of last year’s draft. Atlanta ended the third quarter ahead by 13 points.

    NBA basketball, more than any other level of the sport, is a game of runs. The Bulls had another run in them, and went on a quick 6-0 run to force Hawks head coach Quin Snyder to call a time out with the score now 105-98 with 9:41 on the game clock.

    Johnson has been the Hawks’ go-to man all season, and with the momentum about to shift toward Chicago like a wind off of Lake Michigan, Johnson drove to the basket, scored, and was fouled in the process. Atlanta maintained a 10-point advantage with 5:41 on the clock and an eight-point lead with 4:02 remaining in the game. The two teams were back-to-back in the standings coming into the game, and this particular affair was equally as close throughout.

    Chicago pulled within a point at 117-116 when White hit a three-pointer with a Hawks defender in his face. Johnson added another jumper to give Atlanta a 119-116 cushion with 1:43 left to play in the game. White’s free throws made it a one-point game again seconds later. Giddey’s jumper in the lane with 40 seconds left put the Bulls ahead 122-119.

    The last 40 seconds of this game tell the tale. With Chicago ahead 122-121, Bulls guard Coby White went to the free throw line and proceeded to make one of two free throws to give his team a two-point lead with six seconds in the game. Alexander-Walker’s layup tied the game at 123 with 1.9 seconds to play.

    The Hawks will play the day after Christmas, hosting the Miami Heat on Friday, December 26. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    Atlanta, off on Christmas Day, isn’t done with the home games. The Hawks will host the Miami Heat on Friday, December 26, and the New York Knicks on Saturday, December 27. Those games will be the first time the Hawks face the Heat and Knicks this season.

    The last home game of the year will take place on New Year’s Eve when the Minnesota Timberwolves and Atlanta native Anthony Edwards will be in town for an afternoon tip-off (2 p.m.). The new year will begin with a three-game homestand. The Hawks and Young will be in New York at Madison Square Garden to play the Knicks on January 2, and follow that up with consecutive games in Toronto against the Raptors on January 3 and 5.

    [ad_2]

    Donnell Suggs

    Source link

  • Mavericks fire GM Nico Harrison 9 months after widely panned Luka Doncic trade

    [ad_1]

    DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Mavericks fired general manager Nico Harrison on Tuesday, an admission nine months later that the widely criticized trade of Luka Doncic backfired on the franchise.

    The move came a day after Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont attended a 116-114 loss to the Bucks in which fans again chanted “fire Nico,” a familiar refrain since the blockbuster deal in February that brought Anthony Davis from the Los Angeles Lakers and angered the Dallas fan base.

    The Mavericks appointed Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi as co-interim general managers to oversee basketball operations.

    Dumont’s hope for goodwill with the fans never came even after Dallas landed No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg with just a 1.8% chance to win the draft lottery.

    There have been plenty of empty seats in the upper deck of American Airlines Center this season, something not seen consistently since 2018, when the Mavericks traded up to get Doncic with the third overall pick.

    Doncic was a 25-year-old generational point guard in his prime when Harrison unloaded him for the oft-injured Davis, who has missed 30 of 44 regular-season games since his arrival in February.

    Harrison was in his fourth season and had engineered three trades that helped the Mavs go on a run to the Western Conference finals in 2022 and the NBA Finals two years later.

    The Doncic trade and a slow start to the first full season without the young superstar led to a stunning downfall for Harrison, who declined to comment to The Associated Press. Dallas is 3-8, and Davis has missed six of the 11 games with a calf injury.

    “No one associated with the Mavericks organization is happy with the start of what we all believed would be a promising season,” Dumont wrote in a letter to fans. “You have high expectations for the Mavericks, and I share them with you. When the results don’t meet expectations, it’s my responsibility to act.”

    While Dumont didn’t directly mention the Doncic trade in the letter, he acknowledged the vitriolic reaction of fans, who protested after the shocking deal. The Las Vegas-based Dumont and Adelson families, who bought the Mavericks from Mark Cuban in late 2023, were targets of the criticism as well.

    “I understand the profound impact these difficult last several months have had,” Dumont wrote. “Please know that I’m fully committed to the success of the Mavericks.”

    Dumont approved Harrison’s decision to trade Doncic, which kept the Mavericks from having to commit to a $346 million, five-year supermax extension for the Slovenian star.

    Harrison tried to defend the deal by repeating a “defense wins championships” line. But with Davis sidelined by a calf injury and star guard Kyrie Irving still out after tearing the ACL in his left knee last March, defense hasn’t mattered much because Dallas has one of the worst offenses in the NBA.

    With Davis and Irving playing together for just part of one game last season, the Mavericks missed the playoffs a year after Doncic led them to the NBA Finals.

    The slow, injury-plagued start to this season for the Mavericks coincided with Doncic joining Wilt Chamberlain as the only NBA players to open a season with three consecutive games of at least 40 points.

    Doncic’s historic run was interrupted by a three-game injury absence, but the Lakers won twice without him and are 8-3.

    Harrison had spent 20 years with Nike and had close relationships with several NBA stars, including the late Kobe Bryant, when Cuban hired him in 2021.

    The hiring of Harrison was the first step in trying to restore stability after former general manager Donnie Nelson was fired, then Rick Carlisle resigned as coach a day later. Nelson and Carlisle had been together for 13 years.

    Harrison hired Jason Kidd as coach, and the Mavericks reached the Western Conference finals their first season together after Harrison’s first blockbuster trade.

    He broke up the European pairing of Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis and got Spencer Dinwiddie, who played a key supporting role with Doncic as the Mavericks stunned Phoenix with a Game 7 blowout in the second round before losing to Golden State in five games.

    A year later, Dinwiddie was part of the next blockbuster trade, which brought Irving from Brooklyn. The Mavericks faltered the rest of that season largely because of injuries, but they reached their first NBA Finals in 13 years in 2023-24, led by the pair of star guards. Dallas lost to Boston in five games.

    That deep playoff run came in the first six months after Cuban sold the team. He said then that he would maintain control of basketball operations, but that didn’t happen.

    Dumont quickly put full control of the basketball side in the hands of Harrison, who saw Davis as a championship-caliber player in the mold of Bryant. Davis won a title with LeBron James and the Lakers in 2020.

    Cuban criticized the trade of Doncic, saying he never would have approved it and adding that he didn’t think Dallas got enough in return. Months later, though, Cuban credited Harrison for his salary cap management.

    Finley, who was Harrison’s top assistant and has been in the Dallas front office for a decade, was a two-time All-Star for the Mavericks in the early 2000s when Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki was coming of age.

    Finley had moved on to San Antonio when Nowitzki led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals in 2006. Dallas lost to Miami that year but beat the Heat five years later for the franchise’s only championship.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NBA

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • ‘This is just game one of 82’: Atlanta Hawks lose home opener by 20

    [ad_1]

    The Atlanta Hawks opened the 2025-26 season like they closed the 2024-25 season, with a loss. The Hawks fell to the Toronto Raptors, 138-118, in front of a sellout crowd of 17,800 fans. 

    With five minutes remaining in the game and the Hawks behind by 25 points, that sellout crowd began to start heading towards the exit. The NBA season is a marathon and not a sprint, so Wednesday night’s loss shouldn’t be seen as a sign for the rest of the season. That said, it was as bad a start as one could imagine for a team projected to be better than last season.

    Trae Young (above) scored 22 points during the loss. Eleven of those points were from the free-throw line.
    Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    The Hawks took a 2-0 lead and never led the game again. Toronto guard RJ Barrett (game-high 25 points) and forward Scottie Barnes (22 points, six rebounds, and nine assists), arguably the team’s best players, along with veteran forward Brandon Ingram (16 points, nine rebounds), took charge of the game from the beginning. Atlanta couldn’t do anything to stop them.

    The Raptors outrebounded the Hawks by 20 (54-34) and scored 86 of their points in the paint. Toronto is a big team, but a 20-rebound advantage felt more like the Hawks’ lack of effort than the Raptors’ ability. After the game, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder said his team would have to do better going forward.

    Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder (above) credited forward Jalen Johnson and Zaccharie Risacher for playing hard the entire game. The Hawks were out-rebounded by 20 during the loss. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    “It’s hard to win games like that,” Snyder said. “There are a lot of things we need to clean up, and that’s stating the obvious.” 

    Snyder, Hawks guard Trae Young (5-14 from the floor, 22 points), and forward Jalen Johnson (team-high eight assists, 20 points, and seven rebounds) all said the loss was just one of 82 games and shouldn’t be a sign of the times in Hawks land.

    “Our team is going to be right, trust me,” Young said.

    Johnson, back on the court after a season-ending injury last season, was more straightforward about the loss. “We just got to be better,” he said.

    Johnson couldn’t have played much better. He ran the floor, led the team with seven rebounds, along with first-year Hawk Kristaps Porzingis (20 points), and did everything he could. 

    The two bench players brought in to help the Hawks’ depth, Nickeil Alexander-Walker (2-15 for 10 points) and Luke Kennard (1-5 from three-point land), weren’t much help tonight, but will need to be better if Atlanta is going to make the postseason without the help of a play-in game for the first time in years.

    Bright spot: Zaccharie Risacher scored 16 points and looked comfortable being a part of the Hawks’ offense. During his rookie season last year, he tended to shy away from the ball. Risacher, the runner-up for Rookie of the Year, took 13 shots, six of which were from behind the three-point line. 

    “He’s finding a good balance. You saw him attack the rim in transition,” Snyder said of Risacher. “He’s shooting the ball with confidence, and we need him to keep doing that.” 

    What’s next: The Hawks will travel south to Orlando to play a much-improved Magic squad on Friday, before returning to State Farm Arena to host the reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night.

    [ad_2]

    Donnell Suggs

    Source link

  • ‘Definitely looking forward to it’: Atlanta Hawks open preseason in Houston on Monday

    [ad_1]

    First-year Atlanta Hawks forward Kristaps Porzingis (right) works on his three-point form during practice on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    The Atlanta Hawks will begin the preseason away from home. The preseason opener will be in Houston on Monday night (8 p.m. tipoff).

    On Sunday morning, the Hawks practiced at the team facility in Brookhaven, putting in some work before heading to Houston.

    Newcomers Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Luke Kennard, and Kristaps Porzingis will play significant roles on this year’s team. On Sunday, Porzingis could be seen knocking down three-pointers during a drill. On the other side of the practice court, Kennard engaged in a three-point shootout with teammates like Vit Krejci, one of the team’s better long-range shooters last season. 

    Asked if they are looking forward to taking those three-pointers into an actual game, Lennard said, “Definitely looking forward to it.”

    “We have been pushing each other hard this last week of training camp. You’re going up against the same guys every day, so we’re excited to be all together as one team and compete as a group,” Kennard said.

    “I’m super-excited to compete wi
    th the new guys, and it’s going to be great. We have a lot of good people around here, and we’re just trying to put it all together,” Hawks reserve guard Vit Krejci (above) said. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    Krejci, who has been with the franchise since the 2022-23 season, said it has been a “long offseason” and he was ready to start playing in games again.

    “I’m super-excited to compete with the new guys, and it’s going to be great. We have a lot of good people around here, and we’re just trying to put it all together,” Krejci said.

    Monday night will be the start of a new season for Atlanta.

    “I’m sure it’s going to take a couple of games, a couple of practices, but you can see from the start till now that we are getting better and understand each other more as teammates,” said Krejci. 

    The Atlanta Hawks (above) will play the Houston Rockets in a home-and-away this preseason.
    Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    Last year’s runner-up for NBA Rookie of the Year, Zaccharie Risacher, returns to the court with added confidence and more experience. His role as one of the team’s scoring options will change with the return of Jalen Johnson from injury. And then there’s All-Star guard and the team’s leading scorer and assist man, Trae Young. 

    With one year remaining on his current contract and a player option for $48.9 million for the 2026-27 season, Young will be playing for more than a division title and playoff spot this year. He wasn’t available to talk to the media after practice on Sunday. Young was all smiles while hoisting three-pointers with his teammates when the media was allowed onto the practice floor.

    Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder after practice on Sunday. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    Hawks head coach Quin Snyder said there were certain things any team wanted to accomplish during the preseason and that these next four games were “an opportunity to put different lineups on the floor.”

    The preseason schedule, following the game in Houston, will include a game in Memphis against the Grizzlies on Saturday, Oct. 11, and a pair of home games against the Miami Heat (Monday, Oct. 13) and the Rockets (Thursday, Oct. 22). 

    The Hawks’ regular season begins at home at State Farm Arena against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, Oct. 22. Atlanta finished the 2024-25 season with a record of 40-42. It was the eighth consecutive season the Hawks finished with 43 or fewer wins in an individual season.  

    [ad_2]

    Donnell Suggs

    Source link

  • NBA trade deadline winners, losers: Did rest of league catch up with Denver Nuggets?

    NBA trade deadline winners, losers: Did rest of league catch up with Denver Nuggets?

    [ad_1]

    While the Nuggets didn’t change their 18-man roster at the 2024 NBA trade deadline, other contenders around the league made a variety of moves — mostly on the margins — in an effort to steal the throne from Denver.

    From the view at altitude, here are the winners and losers of the deadline:

    Winner: New York Knicks

    The leader of every other winners-and-losers think-piece is the leader of this one, too. New York landed Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks on deadline day at relatively low cost, but the Nuggets already got a close-up view of the new Knicks when O.G. Anunoby registered six steals against them at MSG. With Milwaukee reeling and Philadelphia hedging after Joel Embiid’s injury (Buddy Hield was a solid middle-ground acquisition), New York suddenly transformed into the most proactive win-now team in the East this deadline.

    Loser: Dallas Mavericks

    In arguably the highest-profile trade on actual deadline day, Dallas overpaid for P.J. Washington, whose 13.6 points per game felt somewhat like empty calories in Charlotte. The trade was simultaneously an admission of failure in the Grant Williams Experiment and a brand-new roll of the dice. More importantly, the Mavericks did what the Knicks avoided: They traded a precious first-round pick (2027). Future: mortgaged. Draft assets are close to extinct now for Dallas, a franchise throwing darts at the wall and hoping one will stick before it’s too late to salvage and extend the Luka Doncic era.

    Winner: Boston Celtics

    Is Xavier Tillman going to be a significant role player in Joe Mazzulla’s playoff rotation? Probably not. Will the Celtics feel a lot more comfortable having an affordable, playable backup big ready to aid the injury-prone Kristaps Porzingis and aging Al Horford? Absolutely. Especially if they’re dealing with six or seven games of Nikola Jokic. This was a depth move that felt tailored to fit a Nuggets NBA Finals matchup, but it cost Boston only two second-round picks to add a salary under $2 million.

    Loser: Oklahoma City Thunder

    The Thunder should have done what Boston did. Don’t get me wrong: Gordon Hayward seems like an outstanding veteran addition to a young team. A lot of teams would have pursued him if Charlotte had bought out his contract. But Oklahoma City’s biggest need still hasn’t been addressed. Back in October, I asked Michael Porter Jr. for his first impressions of Chet Holmgren after Denver won in OKC. “I think he’s very, very talented,” Porter said. “To me, he’s more of a four.” Holmgren, who has an even more injury-prone body type than Porzingis and already missed all of last season, is the Thunder’s starting five. Sophomore charge-taking specialist Jaylin Williams (6-foot-9) backs him up. The center position runs dry from there. For a team so small and with a rebounding weakness (No. 27 in the league), it seems neglectful not to dip into a horde of 10,000 picks and add a more traditional five to at least deploy in bench lineups. Without reinforcements, Holmgren is susceptible to getting worn down by Jokic in a long series.

    Winner: Monte Morris

    Congratulations to one former Nuggets backup point guard, who moved from the league’s most puzzling team (Detroit) to a Western Conference title contender. Smart trade for the Timberwolves, who needed more offense to support their top-rated defense. Minnesota’s two most common lineups involving point guard Mike Conley have net ratings of 9.6 and 7.6, respectively, in 635 combined minutes. The most common lineup without Conley on the floor is a minus-5.1 in 127 minutes (a lineup including Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns), and second-most common without Conley is a modest 4.9 in 100 minutes (using all four starters except him). Morris supplies 3-point shooting and an upgrade in turnover prevention for an offense that’s third-worst in the NBA at protecting the ball in clutch time.

    Loser: Bruce Brown

    Pour one out for a different former Nuggets backup point guard. Brown did the Reverse Morris three weeks ago, getting traded from a young playoff-caliber core in Indianapolis to a losing team. But the league-wide expectation was that Toronto would flip Brown. There was a market for his versatility and recent championship experience. So he waited and waited, until the deadline passed Thursday, leaving him temporarily stranded in Canada. Brown was just one bullet point on a list of head-scratching decisions by the Raptors, also including their forfeiture of a 2024 first-round pick among other assets for Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji.

    [ad_2]

    Bennett Durando

    Source link

  • Nets to face the ultimate litmus test against undefeated Boston Celtics

    Nets to face the ultimate litmus test against undefeated Boston Celtics

    [ad_1]

    The circumstances surrounding Saturday’s game against the Celtics couldn’t be tougher for the Nets.

    Fresh off a four-game road trip ending Friday in Chicago, the Nets will be playing on the second night of their first back-to-back of the season. Boston, meanwhile, comes to Barclays Center fresh, having last suited up Wednesday.

    The Nets are still nursing key injuries, with the calf strain Cam Johnson suffered in the first game of the season set to be re-evaluated next week. Nic Claxton, who sprained an ankle in the season opener, also hasn’t played since.

    That’s not to mention the reloaded Celtics are really, really good. They’re a legit 4-0 with their margin of victory increasing in every win — most recently with a 51-point blowout of the Indiana Pacers.

    It all adds up to Saturday being the ultimate early-season stress test for the new-look Nets.

    Now 10 months removed from the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving era, the superstar-less Nets have largely lived up to their manta of competing with effort and depth. They hung close in losses to the playoff-contending Cavaliers and Mavericks; cruised to a convincing win over the less-talented Hornets; and had unlikely heroes emerge in a comeback victory over the defending Eastern Conference champions, the Miami Heat.

    Boston is a different animal, boasting superstar talent at the top and enviable depth to supplement it.

    Jayson Tatum is off to another stellar start, averaging 29.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists. Fellow well-rounded wing Jaylen Brown is also playing at an All-Star pace, averaging 22.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and a team-leading 1.5 steals. Both are plus defenders, as is battle-tested point guard Jrue Holiday, the five-time All-Defensive Team selection whom Boston acquired right before the season.

    The Celtics’ other All-Star addition over the offseason, Kristaps Porzingis, has also made an immediate impact. The matchup-nightmare center is averaging 18.8 points and sank a game-winning three-pointer against his original team, the Knicks, in Boston’s season opener.

    How the rebuilt Nets, even in their undermanned state, hold up against the juggernaut Celtics will say much about their work-in-progress identity and how they measure up against the East’s elite.

    Kristaps Porzingis was one of the Boston Celtics’ big additions over the offseason. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

    Can they make life difficult for standout scorers like Tatum and Brown, who excel at getting to the basket and are both shooting above 40% from three? Throughout the preseason, the Nets preached their potential as a lockdown defense, with the lanky Mikal Bridges, Ben Simmons and Dorian Finney-Smith among those capable of guarding multiple positions.

    They’ve struggled thus far against opposing All-Stars, however, with Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell scoring 27 points on 11-of-21 shooting and Dallas’ Luka Doncic exploding for 49 points on 16-of-25. Both dominated down the stretches of their games and finished off victories with go-ahead three-pointers. Brooklyn fared better against Miami’s Jimmy Butler, who put up 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting and was held scoreless over the final four minutes.

    Can Cam Thomas deliver another offensive outburst? The 22-year-old sensation scored at least 30 points in each of the Nets’ first three games but came back to Earth against defensive-minded Miami, struggling to find any rhythm in an ugly 13-point effort on 4-of-19 shooting. It only gets harder against Holiday and company.

    The 6-3 Thomas’ defense could also prove a liability against capable backcourt scorers in Holiday and Derrick White.

    Will the Nets have an answer for Porzingis? They certainly didn’t against another uniquely talented — albeit very different — All-Star center in Miami’s uber-athletic Bam Adebayo, who scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds. The Nets repeatedly rolled out a small starting lineup without the 6-10 Claxton, with the 6-7 Finney-Smith suiting up as the de facto center. That won’t cut it against the 7-3 Porzingis, who is shooting 45% from three.

    Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum plays against the Brooklyn Nets during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, March 3, 2023, in Boston. (Michael Dwyer/AP)
    Jayson Tatum, pictured here in the Boston Celtics’ March 3 game against the Nets last season, is off to another strong start. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

    And can Bridges rise to the occasion and keep up with Boston’s stars? Bridges, who last season averaged 26.1 points in the 27 games after the Nets acquired him in the Durant trade, saw that mark drop to 20.8 through the first four games of this season.

    Bridges has spoken about his desire to emerge as the Nets’ go-to guy. After being held scoreless in the fourth quarter of the Dallas loss, Bridges stepped up as Brooklyn’s closer in the win over Miami, scoring nine of the Nets’ final 11 points and assisting on the other two.

    The schedule-makers did the Nets no favors to start the season, between the early four-game road trip and a downright brutal upcoming stretch in which they host the Celtics on Saturday, the Bucks on Monday and the Clippers on Wednesday before traveling to Boston for another bout with the Celtics next Friday.

    “I want us to embrace that,” Nets coach Jacque Vaugn said last month of the tough schedule. “It’s extremely important for us to be ready to play at the beginning of this year to kind of set an avenue, a tone, for us going forward.”

    Saturday marks his team’s greatest litmus test yet.

    [ad_2]

    Peter Sblendorio

    Source link

  • Antetokounmpo has career-high 55 points, Bucks beat Wizards

    Antetokounmpo has career-high 55 points, Bucks beat Wizards

    [ad_1]

    MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo says he wants to produce with so much consistency that it causes boredom.

    That’s the only respect in which the two-time MVP has fallen shortly lately.

    Antetokounmpo scored a career-high 55 points with a series of thrilling dunks and drives as the Milwaukee Bucks beat Washington 123-113 on Tuesday night, snapping the Wizards’ five-game winning streak. The spectacular forward also had 10 rebounds and seven assists to continue arguably the best stretch of his career.

    “I want to get in a position … that my game is boring,” Antetokounmpo said. “I just do what I do and people don’t talk about it because it becomes boring — I do it every single night. That’s what I want to do. I want other people to feel like my game is boring. But I don’t get bored. The greats — the best players — never get bored. They go out there and they always give their best any given night.”

    Antetokounmpo has at least 40 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in each of the last three games he’s played. He sat out a 118-95 loss to the Wizards on Sunday because of a sore left knee.

    The only other players in NBA history to have three straight performances of 40 points, 10 rebounds and five assists are Elgin Baylor in 1961 and 1963, Wilt Chamberlain in 1963 and Russell Westbrook in 2016. The only other Bucks players to score at least 40 points in three straight appearances are Flynn Robinson in February 1969 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in February 1972.

    “He’s been kind of playing with this kind of determination, this kind of just willing us in games,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Tonight we were able to win it. He’s just been phenomenal.”

    Bucks center Brook Lopez is in his fifth season of playing alongside Antetokoumpo. The 7-footer couldn’t recall a regular-season stretch in which Antetokounmpo has played better than this.

    “He’s just constantly improving,” said Lopez, who had 21 points and 12 rebounds. “When you think where else can he go and how else can he improve, he just improves again. We’re going to have to expand the English language in some way to come up with words (to describe him). I don’t know if I’ve said that before, but I’m sure he’s going to improve again. Who knows what he’s going to do next. He’s just so otherworldly.”

    Antetokounmpo’s previous career high was a 52-point effort against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 17, 2019. He just missed the single-game franchise scoring record owned by Michael Redd, who scored 57 points against the Utah Jazz in November 2006.

    Bradley Beal returned for Washington after missing three games with a sore left hamstring, but he played just 13 minutes. Beal scored eight points before the hamstring issue prevented him from playing at all in the second half.

    “Same area,” Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “We just have to get it evaluated.

    Kristaps Porzingis scored 22 points for the Wizards, and Kyle Kuzma added 20.

    Milwaukee’s Bobby Portis had 17 points and 13 rebounds.

    Jrue Holiday returned to action for the Bucks after missing three games with a non-COVID illness and scored six points in 19 minutes. Khris Middleton missed an eighth straight game with a sore right knee and also won’t play Wednesday at Toronto.

    TIP-INS

    Wizards: Taj Gibson missed a third consecutive game with a sore left groin. … Gaford had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. … Rui Hachimura, Deni Avdija and Corey Kispert had 12 points each.

    Bucks: George Hill missed a third straight game due to a non-COVID illness. … Portis has four consecutive double-doubles. … Grayson Allen shot 1 of 9 overall and 1 of 7 from 3-point range to continue his slump. Allen is 9 of 37 on 3-point attempts over his last four games. … Antetokounmpo was 15 of 16 on free throws.

    UP NEXT

    Wizards: At Oklahoma City on Friday night.

    Bucks: At Toronto on Wednesday night.

    ———

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Wizards cruise past short-handed Bucks 118-95

    Wizards cruise past short-handed Bucks 118-95

    [ad_1]

    MILWAUKEE — Rui Hachimura had 26 points, Kristaps Porzingis scored 22 and the Washington Wizards defeated the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks 118-95 on Sunday night for their season-best fifth consecutive victory.

    The scuffling Bucks played without Giannis Antetokounmpo, who sat out due to left knee soreness. Antetokounmpo is averaging 38 points and 14.6 rebounds over his last six games, which included a 43-point, 20-rebound performance in Friday night’s win over Minnesota that snapped Milwaukee’s four-game losing streak.

    Jrue Holiday also missed the game with an illness, and Khris Middleton sat out for the eighth consecutive game due to right knee soreness.

    “Your objective is to dominate whoever is in front of you,” Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma said. “If guys aren’t playing, you’re supposed to beat those teams.”

    Daniel Gafford had 17 points for the Wizards (17-21), who weren’t at full strength, either. They played without leading scorer Bradley Beal, who is dealing with left hamstring soreness.

    Bobby Portis led Milwaukee with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Jevon Carter had 14 points and Grayson Allen added 13 points and eight assists.

    Washington led 34-17 after the first quarter, paced by Gafford’s 13 points, as the Wizards exploited a two-center lineup with Bucks big man Brook Lopez on the bench early with foul trouble.

    “I was sticking with the flow of the game, having confidence and going up with the shots that I was taking,” Gafford said. “I felt comfortable taking those shots.”

    Milwaukee shot 26% overall and just 3 of 14 from long range in the period, while the Wizards connected on half their shots.

    “We took advantage whenever we had the chance,” Gafford said of the size advantage. “Whoever went to the basket, we got a bucket. They didn’t have too many shot blockers out there so we just attacked the basket.”

    Washington had 72 points in the paint.

    “That’s a little bit unusual, not the norm,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We usually protect the rim and protect the paint well.”

    Two quick first-quarter fouls on Lopez caused problems for the Bucks.

    “I think his early foul trouble threw us off a little bit,” Budenholzer said.

    Washington coach Wes Unseld Jr. said his team’s effort on defense set the tone.

    “We got the defense into the game early and that helped us get out to that lead,” he said.

    The Wizards led by 26 in the second quarter and held a 68-50 advantage at halftime. Washington shot 57.4% in the first half, while Milwaukee connected on just 34.6% of its shots.

    Washington remained easily in control throughout the second half as the cold-shooting Bucks failed to mount any sustained runs.

    TIP-INS

    Wizards: F Taj Gibson sat out a second consecutive game with left groin soreness. “We don’t want to push it to the point where this could be something that would last much longer than it should,” Unseld said. … Gafford, who came in averaging 7.1 points per game, scored Washington’s first eight points.

    Bucks: G George Hill also missed the game due to illness. … Joe Ingles was assessed a first-quarter technical foul after exchanging words with Porzingis, who also received a technical. … Milwaukee lost for just the fourth time in 19 home games this season.

    DISTANT MEMORY

    With five consecutive wins, the Wizards have been able to get past a 10-game losing streak that started in November and stretched to mid-December. “By not overreacting, now we’re back and we’re putting some wins together,” Porzingis said. “We have some pretty good rhythm.”

    UP NEXT

    The teams face each other again Tuesday night in Milwaukee.

    ———

    More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

    [ad_2]

    Source link