The Golden State Warriors were already without one star. Now they’ll be without their Most Valuable Player candidate, Stephen Curry, for the short-term future, too.

The Warriors announced Thursday, Nov. 12 that an MRI confirmed Curry suffered an oblique abdominal tear and added that he would be reevaluated in two weeks. The injury took place Wednesday, Nov. 11 in an eventual 115-108 loss against the Houston Rockets.

Curry walked off the floor midway through the first quarter, clearly grimacing and favoring his right side.

The sequence took place just 5:35 into the game. Curry had scored 3 points on 1-of-3 shooting by that point. He did not return to the floor for the rest of the first quarter, and he was not back at the bench area to start the second period.

ANALYSIS: What does Curry injury mean for Warriors? Can they weather the storm?

The Warriors announced minutes into the second quarter that Curry would not return for the rest of the game with right abdominal soreness.

After the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said that Curry said he “tweaked something in his abdominal area,” which Curry told Kerr he had never done before. Kerr added that “concern is high” though he reiterated that he had no idea of the extent of the injury.

During the game, Curry did have a collision with Rockets forward Amen Thompson earlier in the game, when Curry had driven to the hoop on an attempted layup. Then, Curry had been fighting off a screen against Rockets center Alperen Şengün. As soon as that sequence ended, Curry once again grabbed his side.

Finally, just moments before he left the game, Curry curled around a screen and put up a 3-point shot. As soon as he landed and stepped backwards, he grabbed at his right side, near his hip.

Curry had been in the midst of a renaissance and had been elevating the play of the Warriors, who entered Wednesday night 8-3, which was tied for the third best record in the Western Conference.

Prior to suffering the injury, Curry was averaging 30.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game in nine appearances. He was converting 3-pointers at a blistering 45.7%, which would mark a career-high. His scoring total entering Wednesday night had ranked second in the NBA, behind only Luka Dončić’s historic 39.3 points per game, for all players with at least five games played.

The Warriors were already without Jimmy Butler, who has missed the start of the season as he rehabs the torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered in January 2026.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Warriors reveal Stephen Curry injury diagnosis after MRI on abdomen

CJ McCollum hit the game-winning shot in the Atlanta Hawks' Game 3 victory over the New York Knicks in the first round of last year's playoffs.

Not only does he remember that shot, but he remembers enjoying being a guest on Prime Video's "NBA Nightcap" postgame show where he appeared in his pajamas and the hosts joked he put the Knicks "to sleep." They all laughed about his role of villain as his son popped in to say hello.

The party doesn't have to stop there as NBA on Prime announced on Thursday, Nov. 12 that the 14-year veteran guard will be a player commentator for several programs this season starting with "NBA Nightcap" on Friday, Nov. 13.

"The conversation and team analysis that night was really fun," he told USA TODAY Sports of the postgame memories, "and I thought the chemistry was there, and I felt like it made a lot of sense (for me to join the Prime team). And I have a great appreciation for what NBA on Prime is doing, what the crew is doing, and how they educate and share authentic analysis."

McCollum, 35, majored in journalism at Lehigh University and has experience hosting his own podcast with "The CJ McCollum Show" and "Pull Up with CJ McCollum."

Among Prime's All-Star team of talent that he is joining is a mix of longtime broadcasters, including Kevin Harlan, and basketball greats like Udonis Haslem, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Candace Parker. McCollum said the team is "a really cool atmosphere, really great environment of people that I respect and admire."

"They're very honest. They watch the game. They're students of the game. They’re people who appreciate the game and they do a great job of describing why certain things are happening," he continued. "... When you have that group of professionals who have played the game, have talked the game, have lived the game, have been around it and seen it for so long, you get various impactful moments where viewers are able to really get a glimpse of what's actually happening, why it's happening, in an insightful way that they can digest."

McCollum appreciates the craft of journalism and how showing the human element of any story brings people together. As journalism continues to face industry challenges, the 2016 Most Improved Player has hope.

"Storytelling is vital. I think it makes the world a better place," he said. "Being able to hear people's stories, being able to see people's journeys not just in the sports world but in life, I think is something that we all can appreciate.

"And journalism isn't dying. It's just evolving. But I think the people who move with integrity, who do things the right way and really appreciate the craft are continuing to thrive for sure."

McCollum shared with USA TODAY Sports some thoughts about various NBA topics as a sneak peek of what fans can expect from him as a guest commentator on Prime Video.

CJ McCollum on Hawks' season so far, scoring 17k points, Jalen Johnson's success

McCollum re-signed with the Hawks this summer after joining the team from the Washington Wizards last season in the Trae Young trade. He remains a veteran leader even as he is coming off the bench and reached the 17,000 points mark when he scored 21 in Atlanta's loss on Monday, Nov. 9 to the Los Angeles Lakers.

"It means a lot," he said of reaching the scoring mark. "It's a sign of longevity, being able to be around for a long time and play at a high level. It’s a sign of hard work and appreciation for the sport. But it’s also a sign of playing with good teammates, good coaching staff, people that have been able to help me get the best out of my talent and utilize a lot of the resources that we have around us and turn that into some success on the court."

Jalen Johnson is a rising star for Atlanta who helped the Hawks get to a four-game winning streak before the loss. On Saturday, Nov. 7, the 24-year-old scored 30 points in his return from an ankle injury to help with a comeback win over the Brooklyn Nets.

"Obviously, the scoring speaks for itself," McCollum said. "His vision, I think, could be one of his best traits. He's a great passer, leading transition, elite on the break, great paint finisher, and a guy who rebounds at a high level as well. And I think he's a guy that really appreciates the game, is a student of the game, studies it, lives it, and I think the sky is the limit for him."

Atlanta was on full display last month when the Atlanta Dream made it to the WNBA Finals. Angel Reese and company lost the championship to the Golden State Valkyries, but made headlines with performances from Quavo, Big Boi and a heartwarming national anthem from T.I.'s daughter, Heiress Harris.

McCollum pointed out that, at the time of the interview, the Usher and Chris Brown tour was in town and the Atlanta Falcons were in the middle of the NFL season as extra reason that the city was the place to be.

"The energy is always high in Atlanta," he said. "... Atlanta's in a really great place. It's obviously a place of its own, where you have food, you have culture, you have people from different walks of life."

CJ McCollum on Damian Lillard's comeback

Something this season that NBA fans were anticipating was the return of Damian Lillard. McCollum was teammates with the nine-time All-Star on the Portland Trail Blazers, where they both started their careers. McCollum was there for eight seasons before being traded to the New Orleans Pelicans midway though the 2021-22 season.

Lillard tore his Achilles tendon in the 2025 playoffs with the Milwaukee Bucks and missed the entirety of last season after going back to Portland. In his comeback this fall, he's averaging 20 points per game, had two 25-point efforts and his jumpshot still looks like water.

McCollum was not surprised "at all."

"I think there was uncertainty from the outside. But for people that knew Dame, know his work ethic, his diligence, his approach to things, we knew he was going to have this type of comeback," he said. "He's worked extremely hard, and I'm thankful and happy to be his friend and have played with him for so long. And to see him be able to overcome something like this is not surprising at all.

"I've seen how he's worked. (We’ve) been in contact with each other consistently. That's my guy, spent some time together in Oregon when I was out there in the summer, and this is a guy who takes his craft very seriously. He’s a pro’s pro, takes care of his body, takes care of his mind, and he's in a great space being home again and being back in Oregon, where it all started, that I think is a match made in heaven for him, and I'm happy to see him thriving."

CJ McCollum on NBA apron conversation, Fred VanVleet as new NBPA president

Another hot topic of conversation in the NBA is the second apron, which was established in the 2023 collective bargaining agreement when McCollum was president of the NBPA. The rule creates what can be compared to a hard salary cap that has firm penalties if exceeded.

"The conception of this years ago was more about creating parity," McCollum said, "owners, teams, the union coming to an agreement that there needed to be some changes within the systems of how to strengthen some of the lower tier markets."

The second apron has been criticized for doing too much to squash superteams and breaking up championship rosters. Bruce Brown specifically said that he had trouble in free agency and teams were using the second apron as a reason not to sign him. Karl-Anthony Towns, who won the NBA Finals with the Knicks last season, also said he's had difficulties getting a contract he thinks he's worthy of.

McCollum said that only three years into the new CBA, it's too early to determine if a rule like the second apron is working.

"When you're creating something, you don't necessarily know how it's going to turn out, obviously," he continued. "And as you kind of go through something, you kind of figure out the amendments that need to take place, make sure that teams aren't being punished for drafting well.

"... We're only a few years into it. There's more things that need to be evaluated. It's hard to project what types of impacts something like an apron is going to have on the actual management and construction of a roster and how that affects contracts in the long run. But I think you need more data, more information to truly judge whether or not you're heading in the right direction."

Houston Rockets guard Fred VanVleet became NBPA president in 2025 and McCollum applauded his successor's handling of the role.

"He's doing a phenomenal job," he said. "A guy who's very mature, has continued to figure out ways to help build the business of basketball, collaborating with the NBA from a partnership standpoint. I think he's doing an excellent job. I think his leadership, obviously, on the basketball court, but his leadership off the court is something that people respect, his peers respect, and excited to see what he continues to do for not only our players but also for the league."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: CJ McCollum joins NBA on Prime crew, discusses role on Hawks, Damian Lillard's comeback

There’s this popular belief known as the Law of Averages. While it’s not a recognized theorem in the mathematical world, it’s a common saying that refers to the idea that if something happens more or less often than it should, logic says things will eventually balance back out and return to normal. It’s a fallacy in the gambling world; if you keep flipping a coin and it keeps landing on tails, that doesn’t mean the odds are better it will land on heads the next time because each individual flip is a separate event with no relationship to another. The same applies if you keep starting a card game over with a full or new deck — your odds of winning don’t improve just because it’s been a while since you last won, because this hand has no relationship to the last.

However, one place where averages and the “laws” that go with them do often apply is basketball. While still technically a mathematical fallacy, one thing about sports is more than anything, it comes down to talent, and across a large sample size, the numbers do in fact tell a story. Sure, each individual game is a separate event from each other, but it’s the same players with the same skillset going through the same motions, so there is in fact a relationship across the separate events, and more often than not, they will do close to what the numbers say they will.

Of course, there are always outliers and unexpected events — sports wouldn’t be any fun if everything always went as expected — and that’s exactly what happened last night in the first half between the San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls. The Spurs were on a nine-game winning against what we can all probably admit is not the most difficult stretch of schedule ever, but they were walking into a potential trap game considering it was against a team on a seven-game losing streak, and the Law of Averages says one of those streaks is getting closer to ending, right? It was also the end of a four-game road trip, things have been too easy on said-trip, and they may have been looking ahead to Friday’s Cup match against the Warriors (which may have lost some luster if Steph Curry is out after appearing to injure his abdomen last night night against the Rockets).

Other than a flurry from three and a hot start from De’Aaron Fox briefly keeping them in it, the Spurs quickly found themselves falling behind while the Bulls were insanely hot through the first 18 minutes of the game. They shot 17-20 (or 85%) from the field in the first quarter and at one point were shooting 83% from both the field AND three in the second. While the Spurs’ effort wasn’t what you’d call admirable, I was never too worried during the first half because I knew the Law of Averages would eventually take over.

No team, not even the Warriors of a decade ago, can keep up those types of numbers for an entire game, let alone a team as bad as these Bulls. They got the lead as high as 22 in the first half, but the Spurs weathered the storm and waited for their numbers to start averaging back to the mean while knowing they had a another gear they could turn on. They used a run before halftime to cut the deficit to a very manageable 14 points while the Bulls’ numbers starting dropping (they were “only” shooting 67% by the midway mark), took their presumed licking from Mitch Johnson in the locker room, then came out firing in the second half.

As the Spurs returned to their normal selves, the Bulls were understandably overwhelmed, knowing they had already given their best shot and the Law of Averages had now taken its hold. Victor Wembanyama went back to demoralizing teams with an unstoppable presence at the rim, balanced out by taking (and making) timely jumpers within the flow of the offense. By the end of the game, everything was as it should be: the Spurs won while shooting 50% from the field (38% from three), and while the Bulls still ended with impressive final numbers (58% and 52%, respectively) thanks to their otherworldly first half, they made five fewer field goals thanks in part to coughing the ball up 19 times compared to the Spurs’ 6. The Law of Averages was alive and well for the Spurs 10th straight victory.

Or, you know, maybe that had nothing to do with it at all and there was just something off with the Bulls’ court. You could have watched that game and simply concluded that, based on the massive swings in shooting each team took from half-to-half, “Right rim good, left rim bad.”

Takeaways

• “Oh, Wemby had 32 points on 13-18 shooting, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks? Ho hum, just another day at the office.” Yes, we have reached that point with him. His numbers have been so outlandish and even historical lately that I hardly even noticed him last night. And while it’s fun to see opposing fans oohing and awing, we’re just like, “He dunked from the free throw line? Nothing new.”
• You know how else you know someone has arrived at greatness? When the haters start hating. “He’s 7’7”, he should have a post game to be great!” Wemby starts dominating in the paint: “So what? He’s just tall!” The funniest “rage” tweet I saw recently was one dude complaining that he can “only” handle 25 minutes per game, so he must not be in good shape. No bro, that’s just a result of all the blowouts and him not needing any more minutes. And if he was playing into extended garbage time, you’d just accuse him of stat padding. As the old saying goes, “Haters gonna hate, Spurs gonna win”.
• I think it’s officially time that we put Fox’s poor finals performance behind us. We all know he was playing on one leg, and while he had a couple of massive gaffes, he wasn’t the only one who messed up or cost them the series; it was a team effort. (I even pointed out in a comment on a Feed post yesterday that had the Finals gone any further, Wemby would have a Draymond Green mark on his legacy because he more than likely would have been suspended for Game 6 for flagrant accumulation — and that was after he was lucky to avoid it after Game 3. The league wasn’t going to bail him out twice.) But back to Fox, he has been a tremendous steadying present for this still-young squad, with Stephon Castle in a bit of a funk right now and Dylan Harper playing very well overall but still streaky from quarter to quarter. It’s time we get back to remembering and appreciating the good Fox brings, which far outweighs a couple of bad plays on a bum ankle.
• The strength of schedule of the Spurs’ start to the season may not be the strongest, but it has been exhausting, at least for me. Three back-to-backs in the first 10 games, 12 of the first 20 with tip-off times at 8:00 or later — it’s been brutal for my sleep schedule. That’s why last night’s 7:00 tip-off time was the most amazing feeling ever. I watched, it ended, then I went to bed at my normal time (or what now feels early), and I’m relatively fresh for a Thursday morning. The good news is after game 20 — 8:30 against the Lakers on Black Friday — the Spurs won’t have another game with a tip-off time later than 7 until #42 on January 20: their first game back from the Europe trip.

I distinctly remember the 2022-23 Utah Jazz, the first season for current Head Coach Will Hardy, starting out the season 10-3, with Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson leading the recently blown-up roster that, for the first time in half a decade, did not feature Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert. There were conversations in NBA media — on podcasts, in blogs, in my college dining hall (NBA media is everywhere) — about if the Jazz would be able to tank properly, as they clearly had planned to coming into the season. Maybe Hardy was just too good a coach; maybe this would be a mid-2010s Celtics situation with Brad Stevens and that weird Jeff Green and Avery Bradley team, when it became clear that they had to compete because tanking was just off the table. Danny Ainge ran that team, and Danny Ainge runs this team. It was all lining up.

Nope! They figured out how to tank just fine. Hardy got his ducks in a row, and successfully tanked not just for the rest of 2022-23, but for 2024, 2025 and 2026, making the Jazz, by my calculation, the only team other than The Process 76ers that has unapologetically tanked for four consecutive seasons. And they get one-fifth the hate they deserve for it.

But they might be getting all the karma. The 2026-27 Jazz have kicked off their first USDA-certified “not tanking” campaign by going 1-11 in their first 12 games. Their single win was a one-point home victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, a disasterclass in their own right, and have since ripped off 10 straight losses despite finally putting out a roster that looks like it could do something other than intentionally lose. 

Maybe they’re just tanking again. Maybe Will Hardy, who coached zero winning seasons on his first contract but still signed a contract extension through 2031, will coach through all nine years of both contracts and maintain his illustrious .326 career winning percentage. Has all this tanking been for nothing? Has all this glorious “development” wrought by a half-decade so disgusting that the NBA had to change its lottery rules resulted in … this? Is the team really just injured? Are they actually tanking again? Or do they just suck?

Their main “hey we’re actually trying now” acquisition was Jaren Jackson Jr., who promptly tore his MCL and will be out 6-8 weeks from October 27, but the team isn’t bad enough on paper for that to fully explain what’s going on. Their roster has lots of premium talent … on paper, but that talent simply hasn’t translated to wins at any point in the last four years or in the first 10 games of this season. Their efficiency is horrendous, 28th in team shooting percentage, but look closer: they’re 29th in offensive rating, 29th in true shooting percentage and 29th in effective field goal percentage. Don’t know (or don’t care) what any of that means? Also fine! Their team point differential is currently -11.5, which is WORSE THAN LAST YEAR when it was -8.4. They were 22-60 last year.

Are any of these first-round picks actually going to pan out? Thus far, I have no clue if Keyonte George can put up numbers on any kind of good team, and top-10 picks Cody Williams and Taylor Hendricks never returned on their draft slots, the latter perhaps due to a horrific injury before his career ever got off the ground that wasn’t anybody’s fault. But you don’t get infinite shots at this, and Ace Bailey and Darryn Peterson must be elite players if the Jazz want to be anything more than a mediocre home for 90-second, not-even-that-cool Lauri Markkanan/Keyonte George highlight videos.

Perhaps Utah is just the NBA example of my rookie quarterback theory in the NFL of “you either have it or you don’t,” in that I don’t really care if a guy sits behind some veteran starter for a year or if he starts immediately; those who advocate for QBs sitting a year are simply hiding behind an undefeatable Catch-22, in which (stay with me now) successful QBs that sit must have succeeded because they sat … and unsuccessful QBs who didn’t sit should have sat … while unsuccessful QBs who sat were just always going to be bad. I reject this notion, and declare that all good QBs were always going to be good and all bad QBs were always going to be bad. Maybe the four years of horrendous Utah Jazz basketball were just evidence that they were always going to be bad.

Because truly, we had no evidence in the last four seasons that a Lauri Markkanan-captained team was a winning basketball team. He’s a fine player, but he’s inefficient and a big man who doesn’t really rebound or protect the rim or rebound while his 3-point numbers have deteriorated the last two seasons. And none of the basketball he’s played in his entire career has mattered. Ever. You’ll struggle to find the “playoffs” tab on his basketball reference page, because it doesn’t exist. Not in Chicago, nor Cleveland nor Utah — Markkanan has never appeared in a playoff game.

Institutionalized losing does things to players. It torpedoed an entire generation of 76ers draft picks, teaching them that playing was optional and winning was not the goal. Building was the goal, like they were simulating through an NBA2K MyLeague and could just keep getting better forever until they win the NBA Finals because the game’s code says they should. That’s not how the real world works. I’m worried the Jazz have four popped tires, a busted-up engine and no tail lights; they don’t even realize it, and just merged onto the highway. 

I wanted this team to be good. I loved Peterson in the draft and would have taken him number one, but this team is awful. Legitimately awful, and somebody better yank the steering wheel and course-correct soon. Otherwise … uh, they’ll have officially tanked for longer than The Process 76ers. Not a record you want to have.

Welcome to the Fawning or Warning?, a fortnightly feature where I muse on all things Milwaukee Bucks, however explicitly or tangentially related, and determine if they’re worth fawning over or if they’re a warning sign of something going awry.

NBA Lowlights

Just a few weeks ago—and for as long as I can remember—NBA.com enabled fans to see specific clips of every game’s action via its play-by-play section. You could even download these clips—it’s how so many content creators did their thing. Heck, it’s how we’ve been able to add footage to complement our writing. In a press conference following the NBA Board of Governors meeting in 2025, Adam Silver seemed to embrace it too:

There’s a huge amount of our content that people can essentially consume for free. This is very much a highlights-based sport. So, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter — you name it — any service, the New York Times, for that matter, your content is not behind a paid firewall. There’s an enormous amount of content out there — YouTube — another example, that is advertising-based, that consumers can consume.

Now, it seems, things have changed. Play-by-plays are no longer hyperlinked and other avenues, including accessing players’ “Video and Shot Charts,” like this one of Tyler Herro’s against the Indiana Pacers, are now strictly shot charts (and other data). Why the NBA has chosen this route is unclear. If it’s simply a matter of copyright, that’s completely fair. But that doesn’t explain the sudden change. If it’s a technical issue—the league rebuilding how it stores clips (or something similar)—why do it now, at the start of the season?

Either way, it’s the fan who suffers. Once again.

Verdict: Warning.

Veteran Privilege and Big Problems

Through the season’s first few weeks, Taylor Jenkins has leaned on his veterans as starters. Before the Lakers game, and excluding absences due to injury or rest, Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kyle Kuzma, and Myles Turner had started every game—the only players on the team to do so. They also occupy the top four spots in minutes per game, averaging four more per night than the next closest Buck (Ryan Rollins). On the one hand, this is understandable. As the team’s most tested players, they are positioned to fare better against other teams’ best players. Moreover, as the team’s elder statesmen, they are best equipped to demonstrate the on-court skill, intelligence, and habits you want the impressionable younger players to develop. That is, to lead.

At least, they should be.

So far, Herro and Jaquez get a pass. But Turner and Kuzma have been anything but consistently productive starters. Turner has regressed from last season’s lows, shooting just 32.9% from the field and 25.5% from three, and has been far more noticeable for what he’s not doing than what he is. To put it bluntly, he’s labouring out there—and not in the “hard work” kind of way. I won’t even get started on his rebounding. Kuzma has had his moments, including his recent 27-point explosion against the Boston Celtics, but even that was more fool’s gold than anything sustainable—and it didn’t take long before the quality shots that went in became heat checks that didn’t (and cost the team dearly on the other end). Against the New York Knicks, things only got worse; against the Lakers, he shot 2/8, had more turnovers than assists and rebounds combined, and “led” the team in plus/minus at -22.

Compounding the issue, it seems there are rules for some and not for others. Rollins was pulled after his poor play to start the year, moving to a bench role and seeing his court time drastically reduce: 26.0 MPG as a starter versus 18.8 MPG off the bench. Turner and Kuzma, however, have seen steady minutes regardless of how they’ve played. Regarding the latter, with Nate Ament impressing and Ousmane Dieng barely playing (just 75 total minutes in the first ten games)—and both of these guys inarguably a more significant part of Milwaukee’s long-term plans—you’ve got to ask, “Why?” Even with Jenkins’ changeup against the Lakers, it was the younger Jaquez who was shifted to the bench and not Kuzma.

In Turner’s case, the answer is a lot more complicated. His backup, Kel’el Ware, has been just as poor, posting similarly awful shooting splits (.392/.187/.800) and generally looking quite lost out there. Like Turner, who (mind the pun) turns it over 3.6 times per 100 possessions (fourth-worst on the team, per Basketball-Reference), Ware is also turning it over far too often—4.3 times per 100 possessions. Disaster meet disaster. Still, is this reason for Turner to have played 108 more minutes when both have been available?

Maybe the thinking is to showcase Turner for a trade? That’s certainly not working, and I’ve never bought that notion anyway—teams know who and what a 10-year veteran is. Maybe it’s a case of old dogs being unable to learn new tricks but young dogs having that ability (and therefore not getting rewarded until they’ve mastered it)? Certainly, that teaches a lesson. But is it the right one?

Verdict: Warning (alarms blaring).

The Little Things

Close your eyes and breathe—the full inhale/exhale cycle. Three times. Just to release the tension. Then go to your happy place. Is it the same as mine, watching Bucks’ rookies Brayden Burries and Nate Ament? Is Bango there too?

Amidst all the warnings, it’s imperative to find pleasure in the little things. Watching Burries sky for rebounds has been a joy, even if the juxtaposition between his and Turner’s effort on the glass is jarring. Seeing him find confidence in the mid-range against the Celtics was a thing of beauty too. But his positivity isn’t limited to on-court action. Watch closely and you’ll see Burries standing, waving the towel from the bench, celebrating others’ success—even when down 20. Culture building stuff.

Ament’s growth has also been a pleasure. Where he looked timid and uncertain to begin Summer League play, he now looks confident, nailing threes without hesitation—even in the Pat Connaughton variety! He’s also showing growth physically, attacking defenders—like he did against Jayson Tatum and Derrick White (even if the call was overturned)—and, more impressively, using his quicks and length to stay in front of and contest a whole range of offensive players. Like Burries, Ament has also shown signs of the good stuff. After nailing one of those Planet P threes in the second quarter against the Knicks, he pushed Kasparas Jakučionis to Miles McBride to ensure the matchups were right. I’d show you the clip, but…

Verdict: Fawning.

The Cavaliers did on Wednesday what they do best: win meaningless, regular-season games.

The Knicks, meanwhile, handed out a dub and ate a loss on purpose on their way to find their best-working lineups for when winning, you know, actually matters.

Here’s the latest from MSG on a rare off day.

Mike Brown

On Wednesday’s loss:

“We’ll learn from this game, and keep it moving.”

On why Bridges remains a starter despite his shooting slump:

“Mikal is a starter. And so it’s not a question of that. He’s like a lot of players: They’ve had their good moments and their not so good moments. And Mikal has a proven track record of playing at a pretty high level as a starter in this league.

“So, for me to make a quote-unquote ‘panic decision’ and change it right now — we’re 10 games in or whatever we are. I’m not feeling it. So I’m good.”

On the Knicks’ defensive physicality and ability to defend without fouling:

“Just our level of physicality. Our level of physicality without fouling. Because you can be over the top, grabbing and pushing and holding, but our guys, they’re doing their work early. They’re doing their work early and they’re being real physical about it without putting their hands on guys. When you do that and you do that for close to 48 minutes, you usually get good results. And our guys are doing it.”

On the defensive intensity of Landry Shamet and Miles McBride:

“I think our physicality on the defensive end of the floor is at a pretty high level. And they [are doing] it the right way. They’re doing it without fouling, which is a lot of fun to watch. The point of attack with Landry and Deuce, especially, on the ball, is unbelievable.”

On Josh Hart’s perimeter defense and the importance of his return:

“He’s tremendous on the ball. In pick-and-roll situations, we always want our point of confrontation, especially against guys that shoot the ball at the 3-point line, Josh is really good at that. He’s really good at leading with his chest. And he’s strong. He’s a strong guy that knows the league, he knows the players very well.

“His impact when it comes to guarding the ball, on the perimeter especially, is something that you always miss.”

On the Knicks’ defensive communication, rebounding and improved pick-and-roll coverage:

“Their level of communication is high. Their ability to box out is high. Their ability to get back in transition is high. We were hurting in the pick-and-roll game defensively, but we’ve done a better job because the point of attack has been good and our guy guarding the screener has been great, too.”

On Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart losing minutes to Shamet and McBride:

“It’s gonna be hard to find minutes at times for Mikal. And maybe even at times for Josh. Because those two guys [McBride and Shamet] are playing at a pretty high level.

“Part of it is we got two guys that are playing really well in Landry and Deuce. And so it’s hard. It’s going to be hard to find minutes at times for Mikal — and maybe even at times for Josh, because those two guys are playing at a pretty high level, and not just on the offense of the floor but defensively, too.”

On the Knicks’ defensive struggles against Cleveland and his decision to keep playing Shamet and McBride:

“I mean, this is one of our worst defensive games overall that we’ve had. In the past five or six games we’ve been playing really well at that end of the floor, but they got loose tonight.

“And Landry and Deuce have been a big part of what we’ve done defensively. So if they’re playing at a high level, I’ve? got to keep trying to find ways to get those guys on the floor.”

On taking responsibility for keeping the Knicks in their defensive blitz against Donovan Mitchell too long:

“We blitzed Donovan in the second half and that fourth quarter. Give Donovan credit, he did a nice job making the right play out of it. … I kept us in the blitz a little too long, and I should have taken us out of the blitz. That part is on me.

“I kept us in the blitz a little too long. I should have taken us out of the blitz. So that part is on me and I gotta be better helping our group in that area.”

On the Knicks’ curious lack of free-throw attempts:

“[Cleveland] had 14 more free-throw attempts than us, four more offensive rebounds than us and two less turnovers. When that happens versus a good team, it’s gonna be hard to win the game.

“At one time, the free-throw advantage was 18-3. That’s not why we lost the game, but you just hope to get a little bit better whistle when you’re playing a good team like that, because it’s already hard enough to go win a game.”

On Brunson receiving no free-throw attempts despite playing nearly 35 minutes:

“Jalen plays 34 minutes or almost 35 minutes and he has zero free-throw attempts. That’s pretty alarming. I’m not sure how or why it’s that way. I know at one time, the free throw advantage was 18-3. That’s not why we lost the game, but you just hope to get a little bit better whistle when you’re playing a good team like that, because it’s already hard enough to go win a game. That was part of the reason why we lost the possession game. … James Harden had a great game as well. James shot as many free throws as our whole team.”

On Andre Drummond helping replace Mitchell Robinson’s offensive rebounding:

“Andre’s done a fantastic job in that area, as an individual. He’s not Mitch, nobody would compare him to Mitch, but he’s brought a dimension to the table that we really like. He’s always been a great offensive rebounder, and he’s showing it now as an individual.”

On the Knicks’ assistant coaches emphasizing offensive rebounding and transition defense:

“They’re handling the offensive duties and they’ve been emphasizing the crash areas. And they’ve done a great job — a fantastic job — of coaching our group, in that area. So our guys have a really good understanding of when to go and when not to go and how to go so we don’t get beat in transition.”

Jalen Brunson

On the Knicks failing to execute in crucial moments against Cleveland:

“We were in it. But just timely stops and timely buckets were needed.”

On Cleveland’s defensive adjustments and his failure to respond quickly enough:

“You gotta give them a lot of credit. It’s something I’ll be a little more prepared for. I just didn’t adjust in-game as fast as I wanted to. I was still able to make plays, but not enough to win.”

On needing to be more aggressive even if it means making mistakes:

“From how we started the game to how we finished it, just from my end, I can’t be hesitant. I can’t be a little stagnant at times. It puts my team at a disadvantage, so I just have to be more aggressive in my mistakes, if I’m making any. I just need to have a little more aggression.”

On supporting Mikal Bridges despite his struggles and criticism from outside the team:

“No matter what’s going on, with what people are saying or anything, the people in this room have his back night in and night out. We see the work he puts into his game. We see the time that he puts in. When you’re doing the right things day in and day out, things will eventually fall in your favor. So just giving him support, giving him confidence every single day, regardless of what the noise is on the outside. That’s our brother, and we’re going to keep it that way.”

On controlling what he can after receiving no free-throw attempts against Cleveland:

“I just gotta control what I can control, and keep it at that.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On taking greater rebounding responsibility following Mitchell Robinson’s departure:

“When you lose a great offensive rebounder like Mitchell Robinson, you got to pick up the slack. Of course, we have one of the best rebounders of the generation in Andre Drummond. But I want to do my part, and one of the ways I can impact winning and help our team tremendously on a nightly basis is make sure they don’t get second-chance points and also we get second-chance points.”

Miles McBride

On the difficulty of defending James Harden after his 32-point performance:

“MVP, scoring champ. He’s a tough matchup for anybody in this league. You gotta tip your hat to him.”

On the uncalled goaltending on Peyton Watson’s block:

“I thought it was a goaltend. The guys behind the bench said that as well.”

Landry Shamet

On James Harden and Donovan Mitchell adjusting to the Knicks’ defensive blitz:

“James has been doing this a long time. Donovan’s been doing this a long time. They probably got a little comfortable. At the end of the day, it was a one-possession game, and we could have shored up a few things, probably, that would have helped us keep it a little tighter and given us a chance to win. But give them credit, because they knew what we were doing and took advantage of it.”

Jordan Clarkson

On his offensive rebounding prowess:

“I just got a knack for it.”

On the Knicks collectively replacing Mitchell Robinson’s offensive rebounding contributions:

“I think a lot of that is effort. And just doing it. A lot of us are crashing. You see guys like Deuce going in for those plays. Everybody, honestly. Picking up where we left off last year. We had a guy (Robinson) who was able to grab a lot of offensive boards, get us extra possessions. So all of us had to kind of step up and do that. But Dre has been doing a great job of rebounding, getting us extra possessions. Kicking it out and finding his way.”