Author: NBA Basketball News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games

How Butler, Warriors can ‘protect' tired Steph moving forward originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Jimmy Butler has made Steph Curry’s life much easier on the court, but the NBA star believes he and his Warriors teammate still can do a better job.

Butler spoke to reporters in the Warriors’ locker room after Golden State’s 114-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday at Chase Center, and in response to Steve Kerr saying postgame that Curry is “exhausted,” agreed with his coach’s sentiment and challenged himself and his teammates to do a better job at “protecting” the 37-year-old Curry.

“It’s OK to be tired,” Butler said. “And that’s on myself and that’s on us as a unit to pick up the slack for him. As everyone wants to think he is superhuman, he is not. He is our leader and we must protect him at all times, I will tell you that. That’s on myself, for sure, but everybody else to make sure we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing and give my man a break.”

Jimmy Butler when asked about Steph Curry’s fatigue

“That’s on myself and that’s on us as a unit to pick up the slack for him…He’s our leader and we must protect him.” pic.twitter.com/L9GWnkuRqT

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 18, 2025

What can Butler and his Warriors teammates do to help Curry? Well, they can start by not turning the ball over 20 times, like they did in Monday’s loss to Denver.

“Make sure we don’t turn the ball over, one,” Butler stated. “Make sure we get a good shot on goal and execute. I think whenever you execute and get the ball where it needs to go, that’s [mine and Draymond Green’s] job more than anybody’s, his job is a lot easier.”

The Warriors are an eye-popping 14-2 in games Butler has played in since the blockbuster trade on Feb. 5, but despite Golden State and Curry’s overwhelming success since, the Warriors still can do a better job of keeping Curry fresh and energized throughout the stretch run of the 2024-25 NBA regular season and potentially into the playoffs.

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Kings sign Taylor to 10-day contract from G League Stockton originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Kings added some homegrown depth to their frontcourt, and they looked no further than their own backyard.

Sacramento is signing 25-year-old Stockton Kings forward Terry Taylor to a 10-day contract, his agent confirmed to ESPN’s Shams Charania on Tuesday morning. The team later made the signing official.

In 28 games (18 starts) with Stockton, Taylor is averaging 17.6 points on 46.2-percent shooting from the field and 39.9 percent from 3-point range on 5.3 attempts per game, with 8.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.2 blocks in 34.3 minutes.

The Sacramento Kings are signing forward Terry Taylor to a 10-day contract out of their NBA G League affiliate Stockton, his agent Darrell Comer tells ESPN. Taylor has averaged 17.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists for Stockton.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 18, 2025

Just last week, he had a season-high 33 points with 11 rebounds in Stockton’s 126-113 loss to the San Diego Clippers, and he has had a recent hot stretch in the month of March.

Terry Taylor erupted for a season-high 3⃣3⃣ points, posting a double-double with 1⃣1⃣ rebounds! The @StocktonKings player sunk 12 shots with 56% FGM. 👏 pic.twitter.com/l48W2DypkE

— NBA G League (@nbagleague) March 9, 2025

Terry Taylor = MONSTER 😤💪

He dropped 17 PTS on 7/13 FG in the first half for the @StocktonKings. Taylor is averaging 27.0 PPG over his last three games. pic.twitter.com/YSUNJqC7zY

— NBA G League (@nbagleague) March 13, 2025

Terry Taylor with the FLUSH!🚽

The @StocktonKings lead 20-18 on @Tubi. pic.twitter.com/Ve3YIsnJZk

— NBA G League (@nbagleague) March 9, 2025

After going undrafted in 2021, Taylor signed with the Indiana Pacers but was waived on Oct. 15. He later signed with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants as an affiliate player, where he averaged 19.5 points, 12.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 blocks in 11 games.

On Dec. 15, 2021, Taylor signed a two-way contract with Indiana, splitting his time between the Pacers and the Mad Ants, and on April 7, the Pacers converted his two-way contract into a standard one.

In 2023, Taylor was waived by the Pacers and signed a two-way contract with the Chicago Bulls that was later converted to a standard contract. However, he was waived by Chicago on April 4, 2024.

Sacramento signed Taylor last September but waived him shortly after. He then joined its G League affiliate in Stockton. He now will get a chance to help a playoff-hungry team stay afloat in the Western Conference for a difficult stretch of basketball.

And with Domantas Sabonis’ status unknown, he should provide some much-needed frontcourt help until there is more clarity.

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How Warriors made ugly NBA history in frustrating loss to Nuggets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Warriors made the wrong kind of NBA history in an aggravating 114-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets Monday night at Chase Center.

Golden State became the first team in league history to shoot under 25 percent from the 3-point line, under 60 percent from the free-throw line and commit 20 or more turnovers.

The Warriors tonight are the first team in NBA or WNBA history with…

– under 25% from three (on 30+ 3pa)
– under 60% from the line (on 25+ fta)
– 20+ turnovers

…all in the same game. pic.twitter.com/SlOOiNjkcA

— Automatic (@automaticnba) March 18, 2025

With three-time MVP Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray sitting in street clothes on the Nuggets bench, the Warriors blew a golden opportunity to steal a win from one of the best teams in the Western Conference.

Botched passes, poor shot selection and an inability to stop Russell Westbrook and Aaron Gordon from slicing up the defense led to a deflating loss. The turnovers gave Denver 24 free points, and with an exhausted Steph Curry unable to will himself to another strong game, Golden State squandered a chance to close the gap in the standings.

Instead of being within 2.5 games of the Nuggets for third place in the West, the Warriors now are 4.5 games back.

Golden State’s turnovers have been devastating this season. They are 0-5 when they commit at least 20 turnovers and 2-7 when they give away 24 or more points off turnovers.

Self-inflicted mistakes like those need to be rectified quickly if Golden State wants to secure a top-six seed in the conference and avoid the chaotic NBA Play-In Tournament.

With the regular season soon ending, the Warriors can ill-afford to make more dubious NBA history. Otherwise, another early playoff exit appears to be the most likely outcome.

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Will Celtics get a look at healthy rotation before playoffs arrive? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics have rarely been at full strength this season.

Boston’s preferred starting five of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday have played a little more than 300 minutes together over 20 games. Boston’s top six — adding in Al Horford — has been available just 16 times. The Celtics have had their top 10 — adding in Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet, and Neemias Queta — available just 12 times over 68 games.

And it doesn’t appear those numbers will grow by very much before the playoffs arrive.

Brown is set to miss Tuesday’s visit from the Brooklyn Nets due to a knee impingement. Boston hasn’t had its preferred starting five available since February 23, a rare day when the team had its entire top nine available and leaned on that playoff core in a triumph over the New York Knicks.

Thirteen games remain after Tuesday’s tilt with Brooklyn. But that includes two back-to-backs. Boston will almost certainly rest players on both ends of those sets, eliminating four more possibilities to see the full playoff rotation. What’s more, one of those back-to-back features Orlando and New York, two teams that are two of the more likely playoff opponents, so there might be a value in playing it close to the vest then, anyhow.

Boston closes out the regular season with a home-and-home against Charlotte on April 11 and 13. Last year, in a similar setup, Boston rested much of its veterans over its final two home games, even with nearly a full week off before the playoffs due to the play-in tournament.

If Boston elects to do the same this season, that would essentially leave seven games where the Celtics could potentially trot out their top nine bodies to the finish line of the regular season:

• March 21 at Utah
• March 26 at Phoenix
• March 29 at San Antonio
• March 31 at Memphis
• April 2 vs. Miami
• April 4 vs. Phoenix
• April 6 vs. Washington

There is only one surefire playoff team in that mix: Memphis (fifth in the West). And the Grizzlies will have to balance playing the front end of their own back-to-back with a visit from Golden State looming the following night.

All of which is our longwinded way of noting that Boston isn’t going to get many more playoff-like reps for its core group. But does it matter?

It feels mildly important for the starting five to get some additional run. Boston’s preferred five has logged just 307 minutes together and has a minus-1.6 net rating in that span. The numbers have improved from a rocky start after Porzingis first returned from offseason ankle surgery, but are not nearly as glitzy as the plus-17.3 net rating that Boston posted in 265 minutes with Horford as the starting center while Porzingis was rehabbing. What’s more, a lineup with Kornet starting in place of both Horford and Porzingis has a plus-11.5 net rating in 68 minutes.

A year ago, Boston’s preferred starting five had a plus-11 net rating in 623 minutes together over 37 games. Still, Porzingis appeared in only seven postseason games, so that group logged only 82 total playoff minutes. The Horford lineup ended up playing 305 minutes over 19 games.

Internally, there is great confidence the Celtics can find their full-health mojo on short notice, even if there’s not a lot of reps to the finish line of the season. The continuity from last season should aid this team, while one of Boston’s greatest strengths has been its ability to thrive regardless of availability.

Matchups could dictate how Boston ultimately deploys personnel in the postseason. There are teams that will force the team to lean heavier into the double-big lineups that have produced some of Boston’ best basketball this season.

Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Still, it’s undeniable that getting the starting five at least a couple more opportunities to find last year’s swagger could be valuable. Boston is virtually locked into the No. 2 seed — a 99.9 percent chance per NBA Reference daily simulations (and that 0.1 percent chance is catching the Cavaliers for the No. 1 seed, not slipping to No. 3).

There are a few side quests that Boston could entertain at the finish line of the season. Jaylen Brown needs nine more games to be eligible for All-NBA, and a loud finish could aid his chances to muscle back into one of those 15 spots. Payton Pritchard is steamrolling towards the Sixth Man of the Year honor and will get plenty of run to make sure Malik Beasley and Co. don’t catch him at the finish line.

Can Torrey Craig use late-season reps to earn Joe Mazzulla’s confidence? It’s easy to suggest Boston will lean solely on its top nine in the postseason but, last year, Xavier Tillman made a couple of important cameos during Boston’s NBA Finals run and there will be opportunities for deeper-depth guys to put their fingerprints on the Celtics’ quest to repeat.

Holiday is averaging 12.4 points while shooting 50 percent from the floor and 35.7 percent beyond the 3-point arc since returning from his mallet finger injury in the pinky on his right shooting hand. More regular-season reps with that ailment should help, even if initial returns have been encouraging.

Recent draftees like Baylor Scheierman and Jordan Walsh, along with all of Boston’s younger players, need to embrace whatever minutes are available at the finish line of the season with hopes of making an impression.

There’s not a lot to accomplish over the next month, and the schedule might conspire against the few things that Boston yearns to do. An occasional glimpse at the playoff rotation would be helpful but, ultimately, that might just have to wait until mid-April and beyond.

Celtics games now available on Peacock with NBC Sports Boston add-on subscription originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The NBA champions can now be watched live on Peacock.

The streamer is now offering in-market streaming of NBC Sports Boston, a regional sports network that includes live Boston Celtics games and other local sports programming, through add-on subscriptions to Peacock Premium and Premium Plus Plans. In-market blackouts may apply to certain games based on user location consistent with television availability and league policies.

The network stream will be available around the clock to users within its television territory via the add-on subscription priced at $14.95 per month. 

The Celtics are set for another deep postseason run as they aim for a second-straight championship. Led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics are all but locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference at 49-19 with 14 games remaining in the regular season.

NBC Sports Boston’s live-game Celtics coverage includes comprehensive pregame and postgame shows. The network also offers New England Patriots programming and gameday shows, as well as live coverage of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun and the NBA G League’s Maine Celtics. 

NBC Sports Boston also provides sports news, analysis and commentary programming, such as “Early Edition” and “Boston Sports Tonight.”  

Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service featuring an extensive library of movies, shows and original content, offers more than 8,000 hours of live sports and entertainment programming, including NFL games and WWE events.

Peacock will also add additional NBA games beginning with the 2025-2026 season when an 11-year partnership between the league and NBC is set to begin. That will include 100 national games each regular season, with approximately 50 Peacock-exclusive national regular-season and postseason NBA games, including national Monday night games and doubleheaders. 

Peacock’s in-market streaming add-on subscriptions for NBC’s regional sports markets are also available in respective television territories for NBC Sports Philadelphia ($24.95), NBC Sports Bay Area ($17.95 per month) and NBC Sports California ($17.95). 

Disclaimer: NBC Sports Boston and Peacock are both owned by Comcast.

‘I'm Back': Michael Jordan's two-word fax was sent 30 years ago today originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

It was long before LeBron James went on national television to say he was taking his talents to South Beach. Long before Kobe Bryant announced his retirement in an essay published on The Players Tribune. Long before Luka Doncic broke social media when news of his trade was tweeted.

Long before the existence of Twitter and TikTok, before the daily use of websites and e-mails, before the reliance on iPhones and Wi-Fi, Michael Jordan sent a fax 30 years ago today.

“I’m back,” it said.

The brevity of the two-word statement announcing his return to the Chicago Bulls after a 17-month retirement, and the now antiquated manner in which it was delivered, add to the legend of what transpired after the fax was sent. And, of course, after the confirmation page was received.

To active NBA players, the fax machine is as foreign as the peach basket. 

And for kids out there who have never dialed anything other than the touch screen of an iPhone, Jordan is to LeBron what fax is to e-mail.

Jordan’s fax is perhaps the most famous in the device’s history. And the day after it was sent, he was back on the court in an NBA game.

Jordan had unexpectedly retired in October of 1993 at the age of 30, just months after he helped lead the Bulls to their third consecutive championship. Citing a lack of motivation — and still mourning the death of his father James, who was murdered that July — Jordan announced that he would pursue a baseball career.

Jordan went on to play 127 games with the Double-A Birmingham Barons, hitting .202 with three home runs and 51 RBIs.

The Bulls, in the first season of the post-Jordan era, won just two fewer games in the regular season than the year prior at 55-27. Scottie Pippen averaged a career-best 22.0 points per game, finishing third in MVP voting. The Bulls swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round and then pushed the New York Knicks to the limit in the Eastern Conference semifinals, with a Game 7 road loss signaling the end of their dynasty.    

The following season, they were hovering around .500 in March when speculation of Jordan’s return intensified — practicing with his former team earlier that month was kind of a spoiler. The fax made it official.

It was sent on March 18, 1995.

To do so, a document was placed onto the fax machine, a phone number was dialed, the paper was scanned, the images were transmitted to its destination, a hard copy printed out for the recipient, a confirmation page was provided to the sender.

It has some similarities to e-mail, but the delivery process typically would take a few more minutes and require far more paper and patience — particularly if ink was low or if there was a dreaded paper jam. Still, at the time, it was the most efficient way to spread information.

Not much ink or paper was required for Jordan’s fax.

Jordan had looked over drafts of a news release prepared by his agent David Falk.  

“He didn’t like the feel of them,” Falk told ESPN. “He said, ‘I’ll do it myself.'”

The message was typed on Falk Associates Management Enterprises letterhead and opened with the agency’s standard press release introductory language:

WASHINGTON, DC. (March18, 1995) — The following statement was released today by Michael Jordan, through his personal attorney and business manager David B. Falk, Chairman of Falk Associates Management Enterprises, Inc. (“FAME”) located in Washington, D.C., in response to questions about his future career plans:

“I’m back.”

The following day, Jordan was back on an NBA court as the Bulls took on the Indiana Pacers, his first game since June of 1993. Indianapolis transformed into the chaotic center of the basketball world as national media and ticket scalpers descended upon the area.

“It was like David Stern (then the NBA commissioner) deciding the NBA championship would be a one-game playoff, and that one game is in your building and you’ve got 24 hours to prepare,” Pacers media relations staffer David Benner told the Indianapolis Star.

As Jordan took the floor with the Bulls starting lineup, he wore his familiar red Bulls jersey. Same name on the back, but different number. Jordan’s second chapter in the NBA began with him wearing not his familiar No. 23, but the No. 45 he wore on his baseball uniform.

As time passes, and reality fades to myth, it might be said that Jordan instantly returned to dominant form in his first game like a Hollywood movie. The truth is, his field goal percentage wasn’t much higher than his batting average.

Jordan’s first field goal wouldn’t come until just over four minutes remained in the second quarter and the Bulls trailed by 18. Chicago did come back to force overtime, tying the game on Pippen’s 3-pointer with 19 seconds remaining, but went on to lose 103-96.

Jordan finished just 7-for-28 from the field, recording 19 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals over 43 minutes.

Less than a week later, in the fourth game of his return, Jordan became Jordan. He hit a pull-up jumper at the buzzer to give the Bulls a 99-98 win over the Atlanta Hawks. In his following game, against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, he scored 55 points in what became known as the “double-nickel” game. 

Jordan, over the 17 regular season games he played that season, averaged 26.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.3 assists. The Bulls would go on to advance to the conference semifinals, where they lost in six games to the Orlando Magic.

It was the last playoff series Jordan would lose in his career.

The following season, he led the Bulls to what was a then NBA record 72-win season and the first of three straight championships.

Following his second three-peat, Jordan retired in 1998 for the second time. And, once again, returned years later.

Having served as part owner and president of basketball operations of the Washington Wizards, Jordan revealed in 2001 than he would be resuming his playing career with the team at 38 years old.     

This time, there would be no fax.

The formal announcement, which had been expected for weeks, ultimately was made just 13 days after the September 11^th terrorist attacks.  

The Wizards released a statement saying Jordan had signed a two-year contract with the team and would be donating his $1 million salary for the upcoming season to relief and victim-assistance efforts.

“Although I am energized by my impending return to the court, I am deeply saddened by the recent tragic events and my heart goes out to the victims and their families,” Jordan said in the statement. “Out of deep respect for them, I will not participate in media interviews before the start of training camp on October 1.

“I am returning as a player to the game I love because during the last year and a half, as a member of Washington Wizards’ management, I enjoyed working with our players, and sharing my own experiences as a player. I feel there is no better way of teaching young players than to be on the court with them as a fellow player, not just in practice, but in actual NBA games. While nothing can take away from the past, I am firmly focused on the future and the competitive challenge ahead of me.”

Warriors prove most dangerous enemy is themselves in loss to Nuggets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – In the wake of the most disappointing loss as a member of the Warriors, Jimmy Butler III divulged what haunted him but didn’t cast blame and point fingers over what taunted him most. He didn’t have to.

The box score provided all necessary explanation. Faced with a prime opportunity to create space for themselves in the crowded Western Conference playoff race, the Warriors gave it away, donating 24 unearned points.

The Denver Nuggets took the gifts and ran out of Chase Center with a 114-105 victory even they could not have expected insofar as they were without three starters, including three-time MVP Nikola Jokić and his most productive sidekick Jamal Murray.

“All I asked of our guys, going into it, I said, ‘Just compete. Have each other’s backs, just compete,’” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “And did they do that at such a high level.”

Denver outcompeted the sixth-place Warriors, who blew a chance to pull within 2.5 games of the third-place Nuggets but instead are now 4.5 games to the rear.

Being outhustled in defeat bothered every member of the Warriors, players and coaches, as it should. Butler, however, zeroed in one of his pet peeves. One he shares with Golden State coach Steve Kerr.

“Our care for the basketball,” Butler said. “We turned it over way too much. We were very loose with the basketball, careless with it. Got them into the open floor, and they saw the ball go in early and it never stopped.”

Denver’s B team, led by veterans Aaron Gordon (game-high 38 points) and Russell Westbrook (a 12-points, 16-assists, 12-rebounds triple-double), made a mockery of the Warriors’ lax defense, which too often was compromised by live-ball turnovers.

“It hurts me,” said Butler, who had two turnovers in 33 minutes. “I ain’t going to lie to you. I hate turning ball over. I hate when we turn the ball over. We’ve just got to be better at that. If we get shots on goal, we’re a very hard team to beat.

“But you ain’t going to beat many people in this league, no matter who’s on the floor, with 20 turnovers.”

The Warriors are 0-5 when they commit at least 20 turnovers. They are 2-7 when they give away 24 or more points off turnovers.

A high-turnover team in their dynastic seasons, these Warriors, with diminished overall talent, had managed their turnovers relatively well in the first 12 games with Butler on the roster. Over the last five, though, they have returned to an old habit, giving away 118 points off 101 turnovers.

Golden State’s most dangerous enemy is, as Butler implied, itself.

Stephen Curry, moving more carefully than usual due to back soreness, committed seven turnovers in 36 minutes. Draymond Green committed four in 33 minutes. Jonathan Kuminga and Gui Santos each committed three.

“Dumb plays all night,” Curry said.

The accuracy of that comment is pinpoint, which can’t be said of many of the passes the Warriors flung around Chase Center. The kind of passes that sabotaged Golden State’s fourth-quarter comeback.

“It’s hard to win an NBA game when you throw the ball to the other team 10 times,” Kerr said. “That’s what we were facing tonight.”

Trailing by eight with 2:35 remaining, Green hurled a 60-foot pass that was intercepted. Two possessions later, trailing by six, Curry’s underhand lob for Kuminga sailed wide – and led to a Denver bucket that pretty much sealed the outcome.

“I didn’t play great at all,” said Curry, who scored 20 points on 6-of-21 shooting from the field, including 4 of 13 from deep. “Whenever we have the amount of turnovers that we did – and not even the amount but type – that can’t happen. And obviously that starts with me.”

No need for Butler to point fingers. The story of this game was told in black and white. Curry knew it and didn’t try to hide his guilt.

The Milwaukee Bucks are up next, Tuesday night at Chase. A dangerous team, to be sure, but that’s true of any Warriors opponent when they conspire against themselves.

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Coach Steve Kerr said the Golden State Warriors were "awful" as their seven-game winning run came to an end against the Denver Nuggets in San Francisco.

Aaron Gordon scored a season-high 38 points in a 105-114 win for the Nuggets, who were without star centre Nikola Jokic.

It is Gordon's highest points haul since joining the Nuggets from the Orlando Magic in 2021.

"We played poorly out of the gate and never found rhythm and they played great," said Kerr.

"The right team won. We didn't deserve anything. We were awful."

Russell Westbrook, the NBA's all-time leader in triple-doubles, secured his 203rd by scoring 12 points with 11 rebounds and 16 assists.

Jimmy Butler III scored 23 points and Stephen Curry 20 in reply for the Warriors, who lost for just the second time in 14 matches.

Denver remain fourth in the Western Conference, with Golden State occupying the final play-off place in sixth.

• Basketball Scores & Fixtures

The Los Angeles Lakers, still without the injured LeBron James, are just behind the Nuggets in fourth after beating the San Antonio Spurs 125-109.

Austin Reaves top-scored with 30 points for the Lakers, with Luka Doncic adding 21 points with nine rebounds and 14 assists.

The Houston Rockets overturned a 25-point third-quarter deficit to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 144-137 in overtime and stay second in the Western Conference.

The Minnesota Timberwolves also needed overtime to beat the Indiana Pacers 132-130, with Obi Toppin scoring 34 points, 10 rebounds and two assists.

The New York Knicks won 116-95 against the Miami Heat to stay third in the East, while the Detroit Pistons are sixth after beating the New Orleans Pelican 127-81.

If you have been studying the Lakers’ offense microscopically since the team acquired Luka Doncic, if you have looked at the spacing, the movement, the efficiency and the organization rates, there’s only one question you possibly could have after Monday’s 125-109 win over the San Antonio Spurs.

Is it “butt naked” or “buck naked”?

Nearly a month ago, Dorian Finney-Smith introduced the phrasing into the Lakers’ lexicon after a rare practice, saying either “butt” or “buck” when describing the nudity level Doncic’s new teammates would need to be comfortable with.

No one plays near you when Doncic is on the court, Finney-Smith said, the opposing defense leaving you alone, exposed and uncontested in ways that just don’t happen in the NBA.

“I’m back getting wide-open shots where I feel like I gotta rush when I really don’t have to, I got plenty of time,” he said. “The last couple of years, I ain’t been playing with guys like Luka, so I’ve been getting hard closeouts, but now I got that time. You (butt? buck?)-naked wide open.”

That was clear — just the descriptor wasn’t.

“Excuse my language,” he said with a grin. “You wide open.”

Playing for the fourth time in five days and again without key starters LeBron James and Rui Hachimura, the Lakers’ offense operated with the kind of ease that just doesn’t happen in most games, the team creating the kinds of naked opportunities that would make anyone blush.

This was an NC-17 level of offense for the Lakers (42-25) against the Spurs (28-39), things looking easy even if Doncic had a rough shooting night, missing a two-pointer from the paint with his first shot.

The box score was awful, Doncic making only five of 20 from the field (a game he salvaged by making 10 of 13 from the line). But it hardly mattered, the attention centered on Doncic leading to easy nights for others.

“It’s just fun,” Finney-Smith said. “He’s going to create so many problems for people on the offensive end. So we just got to make it easy for him.”

After the game, Lakers coach JJ Redick noted that the Lakers took 48 threes — 34 uncontested.

The Spurs, the worst defense in the NBA over the last 15 games — most of that coming since star Victor Wembanyama’s season ended — certainly played a role, but Doncic is unlocking more scoring opportunities. Until the trade, it always seemed as if the offense would live in the shadow of the Lakers’ defensive identity.

Read more:Luka Doncic scores 33 and gritty Lakers beat Suns to end four-game losing skid

“Luka obviously causes so much havoc for teams’ defenses that the majority of the time you got to blitz him and then you’re playing four on three,” guard Austin Reaves said. “So, it’s just a fun brand of basketball and after a long road trip that we were really bad on, it’s good to get home and get back to winning.”

For most of the game the Lakers looked as though they had unlocked the code, cutting at the right times, flaring to the corners for open shots and filling the right lanes in transition.

Reaves feasted, the Lakers’ leading scorer getting wide-open looks at threes. He attempted a career-high 13, making five on his way to a 30-point game. Jordan Goodwin, starting again, hit three of six. Finney-Smith made four of eight and Gabe Vincent and Dalton Knecht combined to make five of 12 off the bench.

“Even in some of the games where we haven’t necessarily had a great offensive rating, you can kind of attribute that to turnovers and missing shots. I mean, even just the last two games, our rim efficiency was really poor,” Redick said. “So, I think it’s all going to come together where we’re finishing, we’re passing, we’re taking care of the basketball, we’re making threes. But pleased with how we’re able to generate good looks fairly consistently.”

Reaves, in particular, looked increasingly comfortable with Doncic and vice versa, the two linking up multiple times to create open looks for one another.

“This guy just scored 30 in his fourth game in five days,” Doncic said of Reaves. “That explains everything. He’s an amazing player. For him to go undrafted is unbelievable. And, it’s not easy to go undrafted and play at this level. It’s amazing just to be by his side.”

The Lakers, despite trailing by seven early, mostly controlled the game, save for some sloppiness in the fourth quarter when their energy significantly lagged.

Frustrated with San Antonio’s uptick in physicality as it tried to rally, Jarred Vanderbilt and Spurs wing Jeremy Sochan were ejected after Sochan threw the ball at Vanderbilt and the Lakers forward responded with a shove.

By then the Lakers already had established the terms, a game where they could get any shot they wanted seemingly whenever they wanted — the defense nowhere to be seen.

After the game in the locker room, when people crowding around him dispersed, Finney-Smith clarified what he said.

“Butt naked,” he said with a chuckle. “Butt.”

Butt or buck, the Lakers are showing that they can undress a defense. Wednesday they’ll face a tougher test in a key Western Conference game against the visiting Denver Nuggets.

“Look, I think the team that has [Nikola] Jokic on it is always dangerous,” Doncic said. “And it’s hard to play against him. He knows all the tricks. He’s an amazing basketball player. But that’s fun. That’s fun for us. That’s a challenge for us and it’s fun. We like challenges.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Throughout the first several months of the season, there was a slow drip of steady updates on progress and then stretches of nothing. Meanwhile, on the court, the Knicks experienced periods of solid play like nothing was amiss followed by moments when the team's balance appeared completely misaligned and the absence was apparent.

Mitchell Robinson, the reserve center whose health has been one of the Knicks’ biggest unanswered questions as injuries forced him to miss the first 58 games of the season, played for the eighth time on Monday night. And he looked like the player who caused New York fans’ hearts to grow fonder.

"I feel good," Robinson said after logging a season-high 24 minutes in a 116-95 win over the Miami Heat. "I'm finally getting the rhythm back a little bit, so that's great. Basically, just keep going."

Coming off the bench, he finished with 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting (with all his attempts coming right at the basket), nine rebounds (five offensive), two blocks, two steals, and an assist, and was a plus-8.

Of course, the 26-year-old center's biggest impact is on the defensive side. And now that Tom Thibodeau can finally put out lineups that feature two big men, with Robinson paired with Karl-Anthony Towns, the promise of a stout defense may be closer to realization.

“He’s such a huge factor,” the head coach said of Robinson. “And particularly when you have him and KAT out there together, you have two 7-footers. And then when OG [Anunoby is] on the frontline with them also, you’re just so long, the basket’s protected.

“I think the rim protection, [Robinson’s] ability to get out on the perimeter, defend pick-and-roll, challenge shots, cover a lot of ground, and make a second or third effort to be up on the pick-and-roll and then still get back to rebound and change shots.”

"Just his presence alone adds to our defense," said Towns, who played nine fourth-quarter minutes in a game that was already decided to get more time to mesh with the fellow big.

"It adds a lot to our team. He gives us a chance to get real versatile with our lineups,” he continued. “So today was a good day, too. We got that 4-5 with me and him. It caused, I think, some problems and allowed us to see how we can improve on that."

The extra time spent on the court together for the two big men should pay off as New York faces tougher battles than a languishing Heat team slumping to their eighth straight loss.

"I missed 10 months," Robinson said. "So, coming back… it's just got to build trust."

For the head coach, there’s a lot to like.

“You’re seeing more and more multiple-effort plays from him,” Thibodeau said. “I think his timing is coming around, so he’s moving great and he feels great.”

From slow start to no contest

The night may have ended perfectly, but it didn’t start that way. New York was down 12-0 just four minutes into the contest and trailed 29-18 after the first quarter, a period in which the home team shot just 31.8 percent (7-for-22). 

“Obviously we started the game slowly,” Thibodeau said. “I thought our bench gave us a good lift to get out of the hole. The way we played in the third quarter -- lotta energy, I thought the defense was terrific.”

In that third, the Knicks held the Heat to 15 points on 7-for-19 shooting (37 percent). And no matter how many timeouts Erik Spoelstra called, he couldn't cool off the home side as they exploded for 41 points on 16-for-23 shooting (70 percent). 

Mikal Bridges, who scored 10 in the first quarter, owned the run in the third with 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting. And Robinson, in just five minutes of action, was a plus-15 with four points and three rebounds.

“I thought Mitch was a huge factor and then the unselfishness,” Thibs continued. “I thought Mikal had a huge game for us and Josh was a monster. We had a lot of guys step up. 

“It was a tough game coming off the West Coast and to be ready to go. But I thought our team responded well.”

Of course, the Knicks wouldn't have been in such a good position to put the game out of reach after three quarters, had Towns not taken over in the second, scoring 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting (3-for-3 from behind the arc).

"He gave us life," Thibs said. "It got sparked by a couple hustle plays, OG made a couple of really big plays defensively, and sort of got us going. We got some easy baskets in transition and then we went from there."