Category: Basketball

Mark Pope is attempting to pull off the unthinkable, a feat Mark Stoops never had a prayer of achieving. He’s turning Kentucky into a football school.

Seriously, after Kentucky lost to Georgia inside Rupp Arena on Feb. 17 for the first time since 2009, spring practice can’t get arrive quickly enough in the Bluegrass State.

OK, so one look at the Rupp environment tells you Big Blue Nation remains ravenous for hoops — and particularly hungry for a team that plays better than this one did in an 86-78 upset loss that serves as the latest rebuke of Pope’s second season.

John Calipari once made sure everyone, including Stoops, knew Kentucky is "a basketball school," and Georgia is a football school.

Well, that makes this weird, then.

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Kentucky is unranked and not about to be ranked after a home loss to a bubble team.

“We feel like we got a beautiful Ferrari, and we can’t wait to take it for a spin,” Pope told reporters before the season.

Those mega millions bought a team that keeps stalling.

Mark Pope: 'Disappointing effort' in Kentucky loss to Georgia

What went wrong against Georgia?

“We were not good defensively,” Pope said.

Also:

“Disappointing effort.”

And:

“They got us on our heels.”

Yep, this too:

“We fell apart.”

One more:

“You cannot take plays off in this league. You can’t get distracted.”

Other than that, coach, how was the game?

Buck up, Kentucky. Will Stein's first season on the way

In Pope’s defense, multiple injuries haven’t helped Kentucky. Also, there’s no quit in these ‘Cats, at least. Kentucky nearly rallied past another double-digit deficit, just as it did in a pair of critical victories against rival Tennessee.

Kentucky is consistent. It’s perfected the art of falling behind by big margins and then furiously trying to erase the deficits.

Question is, why was Kentucky losing by double digits to Georgia in the first place?

Maybe, because Pope’s team had 13 turnovers. Or, because Georgia drilled 14 3-pointers.

Best thing you can say about this Kentucky season is it could be worse. These are tough times for basketball royalty. Take it from UCLA. The Bruins are a bubble team. After their latest loss, Mick Cronin said he could “give a rat’s ass” about Michigan State’s student section, as UCLA’s cantankerous coach popped off at a reporter. At least Kentucky’s coach isn’t a jerk.

Speaking of ass, the Bruins played like it in a 23-point loss to the Spartans.

This came on the same night North Carolina lost by 24 points to rival NC State.

Banners hanging inside historic arenas don’t carry the weight they once did. Just don’t tell blue-blooded fans that. Though the Wildcats are still pointed toward the NCAA Tournament, this is not the product Kentucky expects, and Pope knows that better than most. Heavy is the head that wears his alma mater’s crown.

Hey, it’s not all bad around Kentucky. The snow finally melted. How long ‘til fall?

New football coach Will Stein signed a top-10 transfer class.

As for Pope’s 2026 recruiting class, well, it doesn’t include a single commitment.

Not that Calipari is keeping score. Well, maybe he is. He’s got three five-stars lined up for Arkansas.

What day do the shoulder pads go on in Lexington?

Stoops, Stein’s predecessor, could tell you all about just how much Kentucky invested in basketball and how much he wished it invested in his football program. In Stoops’ final seasons, he bemoaned Kentucky’s football cheapness.

That didn’t stop Stein from lining up Notre Dame transfer Kenny Minchey, who’s got the potential to be Kentucky’s most exciting quarterback in years.

“We have plenty of (money) here,” Stein said after Kentucky hired him.

There’s a refreshing new energy at the head of a football program that badly needed it.

Used to be in Kentucky, Midnight Madness would provide a necessary distraction from the doldrums of football season. Times change. When’s the spring game?

Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: After latest Mark Pope loss, is Kentucky now a football school?

• Adam Silver says the league would “seriously consider” rookie free agency if it ends tanking.
• A draft-free system changes incentives for “poverty franchises,” but risks star clustering.
• Alternatives like post-elimination win incentives exist.

Is the NBA Draft on the chopping block? Commissioner Adam Silver said that he and his advisors would "seriously consider" replacing the rookie draft with free agency if it's the only definitive way to end tanking.

I am fully onboard with this idea!

With the 2026 tanking crisis reaching a fever pitch following record-breaking fines for the Jazz and Pacers, the league's "flattened odds" lottery experiment has officially failed to deter strategic losing.

As owners grow restless over plummeting ticket sales in rebuilding markets, the nuclear option of a rookie open market is no longer just a "think-piece" theory; it's a looming reality for the next NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Eliminating the NBA draft would actually help small market teams

Claiming small-market teams would be "cooked" is the wrong takeaway.

Players prioritize money, usage, and minutes, which are resources that are limited on every roster. A top rookie might choose the Charlotte Hornets over the Los Angeles Lakers if Charlotte can guarantee 35 minutes a night and the "keys to the franchise," whereas the Lakers might only have a bench role available.

Each team would actually land players who want to be there and are more loyal to the franchise. Players would choose teams based on coaching staff and training facilities rather than being "forced" into a bad situation. This shifts the burden onto front offices to be competent to attract talent.

I opened the debate up on TikTok and was immediately met with hundreds of hot takes as well as a few intriguing solutions. Here are some of my favorites, along with my personal responses.

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What NBA fans are saying

M.T.C||.vids: The NBA should NOT remove the draft. Players won’t willingly move to bad teams that have no chance of winning anything.

Metler: All the reason for those franchises to become competent and stop being rewarded with lottery picks.

M.T.C||.vids: How on earth do you expect a franchise to just “become competent”? This free agent format would make super teams stronger and weaker squads less talented, dealing with the bums the league doesn’t want. The draft allows bad teams to get good young players

Metler: It allows awful franchises to ruin the best young talent coming into the league.

buzz_master: Boston and LA would be good forever. It's everything they want.

Metler: It’s good for the league for those teams to always be good. Same as how it’s good for college hoops for Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky to always be good.

r08: Then the small market will always be at the bottom. The contender will always be the contender.

Metler: The same teams are already at the bottom anyways and are given false hope when they get a superstar for a rookie contract who then forces his way out. The solution is to build grassroots programs and connect with youth basketball in your state and city. Develop NBA talent in your hometown that you could sign in the future.

zacharydegraeve: I really think they should. I don’t think it’s the most popular opinion, but teams that build their organization top to bottom to lose so they can acquire a star prospect aren’t able to properly develop that prospect and build around that prospect in four years.

Metler: Why do we keep sending the best prospects to awful situations? If you want elite talent in your organization, earn it. Build better facilities, get better coaches, learn to develop players.

Cadie: I like what the PWHL does. Once you've been eliminated from the playoffs... every win after elimination gains points towards draft position. More points = higher draft position.

Metler: It’s way better than what we have now but NBA teams would still try and manipulate it.

Emorris984: Just use the NFL format!

Metler: They would tank even harder...

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It's time to abolish the NBA draft

I was shocked by the outcry about protecting organizations that don’t even try to win games. Why are we so concerned about the bottom feeders of the league? Do you think college basketball sits around trying to game-plan ways to improve Boston College and make them relevant?

Imagine if we sent all the best high school recruits to the worst programs. We don’t. Those players go to North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, Arizona, and Duke. So why do we suddenly stop caring about the development of the best young talent coming into the NBA and then send them into awful situations?

A lot of the argument is built on the idea that teams like the Hornets would never be able to land a superstar coming out of college. My response to that concern is the 2009 NBA Draft. Do you really think the Hornets wouldn’t have had a legitimate chance to recruit Stephen Curry out of Davidson to play for his hometown team - the same team his dad played for?

The Hornets’ NBA championship odds wouldn’t be +50000 every single season if they had successfully recruited Curry back in 2009.

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here

Kansas State basketball's attempt to fire Jerome Tang for cause has been widely derided by the basketball world. After a 90-74 win over Baylor with interim coach Matthew Driscoll on the bench, the Wildcats still mentioned Tang several times postgame.

Kansas State arguably looked more complete than it has all season, with PJ Haggerty and Nate Johnson putting up 34 and 33 points, respectively.

"We (came) more together as a team," Johnson told reporters postgame. "It just bonded us over that period of time, and it showed. His message still showed that we are still together and we're just going to keep getting better every day."

REQUIRED READING: Why Kansas State fired Jerome Tang: 'What he said about the student-athletes really concerned me'

"It's been some very difficult days," Haggerty added. "Every day, we all love Coach T (Tang), you know, as a coach and as a person. He just wanted us to be better men rather than just basketball players, too. But at the end of the day, we're just gonna keep playing and honoring him."

Haggerty also harkened back to a mantra of Tang's.

"'Crazy faith' is something he said every day, whether it was good days or bad days; he always stuck with faith," he said. "Either he had it on his shirt, or he said, 'crazy faith,' and that was the biggest thing that he always told us."

This support lingers even after Tang's firing for cause was justified by a press conference in which Tang derided his roster and said most of the players wouldn't be back next season.

"This was embarrassing," Tang said after a 91-62 loss at the hands of Cincinnati. "These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform, and there will be very few of them in it next year. I'm embarrassed for the university, I'm embarrassed for our fans, and our student section. It's just ridiculous."

Even with those harsh words, Kansas State's players are rallying behind him as he looks for the $18.675 million buyout he would be owed if Kansas State loses its case to fire him for cause.

Driscoll also sung Tang's praises following his first win as an interim coach. In a lengthy press answer, he said: "I did not come to Kansas State to be the head coach. Coach Tang is an amazing human being. He has always been there for me, he's always supported me, and he's an amazing human being, and he did amazing things at Kansas State."

Driscoll added: "Because of his leadership and because of what he did, that's why tonight transpired, and it's why everything came to fruition tonight. We went through a lot of things, but if you want to know something, there's nothing easy in life, and nothing's normal. Everyone wants it easy, and he said we're not doing that."

Clearly the players and new installation of coaches aren't hoping to bolster the university's case.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kansas State players react to first win since Jerome Tang firing

Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving will not suit up this season, as he continues to rehab from a knee injury, the team announced.

Irving tore the ACL in his left knee in a game against the Sacramento Kings on March 3, 2025, and he missed the last 20 games of the season. Irving, 33, is expected to return for the 2026-27 season.

"This decision wasn’t easy, but it’s the right one," Irving said in a statement. "I am grateful for the Mavericks organization, my teammates and our fans for their continued support throughout the process. I am looking forward to coming back stronger next season. The belief and drive I have inside only grows. And I wanted to send a huge shoutout to ALL of my brothers and sisters out there who’ve torn their ACL or gotten injured doing what they love to do every day. THANK YOU for the inspiration. No fear!"

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At the time of Irving's injury, the Mavericks were thought to be in the championship hunt after acquiring Anthony Davis from the Los Angeles Lakers for All-NBA guard Luka Doncic, a trade that stunned the basketball world.

But Irving and Davis appeared in one game together, and Davis only appeared in 29 games with the Mavericks before he was traded earlier this month to the Washington Wizards, part of a nine-player blockbuster deal.

Dallas entered the All-Star break at 19-35, good for 12th place in the 15-team Western Conference.

Irving, a nine-time All-Star, has averaged 23.7 points, 5.6 assists, and 4.1 rebounds during his 15-year career for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets and Mavericks.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kyrie Irving ACL tear ends season for Mavericks star

DALLAS (AP) — Kyrie Irving won't play this season as the star guard for the Dallas Mavericks continues his recovery from a knee injury sustained almost a year ago.

The nine-time All-Star and the team made the announcement Wednesday, two days before the Mavericks return from the All-Star break. Dallas is on a nine-game losing streak, its longest in 28 years, and out of playoff contention.

“This decision wasn’t easy, but it’s the right one,” Irving said in a statement released by the team. “I am grateful for the Mavericks organization, my teammates and our fans for their continued support throughout the process. I am looking forward to coming back stronger next season. The belief and drive I have inside only grows.”

Irving tore the ACL in his left knee on March 3. This will be the first time in his 15-year career that the 33-year-old has missed an entire season.

The most significant injury of Irving's career came a month after the Mavericks traded young superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package centered around older and oft-injured big man Anthony Davis. Just nine months earlier, Irving and Doncic led the Mavs to the NBA Finals.

Irving and Davis played together for just 2 1/2 quarters because Davis aggravated an abdominal injury in his Dallas debut and didn't return before Irving went down in a 122-98 loss at home to Sacramento.

The Mavericks converted a 1.8% chance to win the draft lottery and picked former Duke standout Cooper Flagg No. 1 overall. But Irving, Davis and Flagg never played together.

Dallas sent Davis to Washington before the trade deadline, a deal that signaled the Mavericks were moving on from the ill-fated Doncic deal less than three months after firing general manager Nico Harrison in part because of that trade.

The Mavericks appear set to build around Flagg with help from Irving, believing the older of the two one-and-done stars from Duke can complement the new face of the franchise.

“Kyrie has the ultimate respect for Cooper,” said co-interim general manager Michael Finley, who was a two-time All-Star with the Mavericks a quarter-century ago. “He loves the kid’s work ethic. He loves the kid’s love for the game. And I think Kyrie’s embracing the role as a mentor to Cooper.”

The team said Irving would remain “actively engaged” with the team the rest of this season. Dallas is on its way to missing the playoffs for the second year in a row since the five-game loss to Boston in the NBA Finals.

“And I wanted to send a huge shoutout to ALL of my brothers and sisters out there who’ve torn their ACL or gotten injured doing what they love to do every day,” Irving said in the team's statement. “THANK YOU for the inspiration. No fear!”

Before the injury, Irving thrived in two years with the Mavericks following a trade that ended a tumultous three-plus seasons in Brooklyn. There was plenty of drama in Boston before that. Irving was the No. 1 pick by Cleveland in 2011 and won a championship there with LeBron James in 2016.

Irving has averaged 23.7 points and and 5.6 assists per game over 779 games while shooting almost 40% from 3-point range and 89% on free throws.

___

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

Cheers to commentor 1130PAR for suggesting this topic. Keep ‘em coming!

We Celtics fanatics consume a ridiculous volume of Boston Celtics content and the large majority of the game coverage is fed to us by NBC Sports Boston as the Regional Sports Network for the team. So much so that they become like part of the family.

I have tremendous respect for the work that these individuals put into the coverage and appreciate their efforts. Just like the players, however, there are ups and downs and learning curves for everyone. So give us your thoughts on the job that they are doing.

• Brian Scalabrine and Drew Carter have the unenviable job of following legends Mike and Tommy (no last names needed). With that said, they’ve developed their own cadence and voice over the years.
• Abby Chin has been a been a popular, long-time sideline reporter for the team (which included a brief departure due to budget cuts).
• Eddie House, Tom Giles, Chris Forsberg, Kayla Burton, and Michael Holley others serve as Studio analysts and hosts.
• Behind the scenes there are countless people working on the look, feel, content, and flow of the coverage.

So how are they doing? What kind of feedback would you want to give them? What would you like to see more or less of in their coverage?

We didn’t see the best of Doug Moe in Philadelphia. Hell, we barely saw him at all. He lasted 56 games as the Sixers’ coach in 1992-93, the team’s first after Charles Barkley left town. Thirty-seven of them were losses, two by 56 points – including the last one, on March 6, 1993 in Seattle.

Too bad, because Moe, who died Tuesday at age 87, was funny and fiery and free-wheeling. Also a helluva coach, given the right circumstances, which he most certainly was not given that season.

It could even be said that he was something of a pioneer, since his previous teams, in San Antonio and Denver, favored a wide-open, high-scoring style that anticipated today’s game. He would laugh at that designation, though, because he laughed at a lot of things.

Writing on the Platform Formerly Known as Twitter on Tuesday, longtime NBA chronicler Peter Vecsey described Moe, a Brooklyn native, as “the kind of guy who never stopped hanging out in front of the neighborhood candy store” – always cracking wise, always playing things fast and loose.

When he was coaching the Spurs, Jeff Cohen of the San Antonio Light once wrote, Moe would allow dogs at shootarounds, his thinking being that when the canines did their business on the floor, he could immediately excuse himself to go play golf.

Also – Moe called his wife “Big Jane” and just about everybody else “stiffs.”

“There are good stiffs and bad stiffs,” he told me and the rest of the media corps during his lone training camp with the Sixers. “You always wonder.”

While he predicted that that edition of the team would win 50 games, he soon discovered that he had way too many bad stiffs. Hersey Hawkins was still around, and still a viable player. And Jeff Hornacek, over from Phoenix in the Barkley trade, could ball. But assorted injuries had curtailed Johnny Dawkins’ effectiveness, and the rest of the roster was the Land of the Misfit Toys.

A funnyman before tipoff, Moe turned into a wildman on game night, raging at officials and his team. (Woe to the young fan sitting within earshot of the Sixers’ bench.) But his histrionics had no impact on a team that was ill-equipped to execute his coveted motion offense – the idea was for players to think on their feet, to read the defense and each other – much less run up and down.

There was some levity, though. Bob Ford, then the Inquirer’s beat writer, noted on Facebook Tuesday that before a game one night in Denver, backup center Eddie Lee Wilkins approached him and said, “I wanna pop off.”

Ford discouraged that, as he had already filed his pregame notes and didn’t think it was particularly newsworthy to chronicle the complaints of a guy who was buried behind Andrew Lang, Manute Bol and Charles Shackleford on the depth chart.

Wilkins was shocked by Ford’s stance.

“Man,” he told the scribe, by Ford’s recollection, “when I played for the Knicks if you wanted to pop off there would be 10 dudes standing around you writing it down.”

(In other versions of the story, Wilkins uttered a four-syllable word beginning with “mother” rather than “dudes.”)

Anyway, Ford finally allowed Wilkins to pop off a few days later, and he complained that the team didn’t have any plays, and their practices were a joke. Moe didn’t disagree with any of that but told Ford (again by the writer’s recollection) that he wasn’t going to “beat up these guys trying to get them to play a way they can’t really play.”

Moe’s point being that if given a competitive roster, he could get the most out of it. His track record in Denver, where he went 432-357 over a decade, would suggest as much. Law Murray of The Athletic noted that five of the 31 teams in NBA history to average over 120 points a game were indeed Nuggets clubs coached by Moe.

That was topped by the 1981-82 club, which checked in at 126.5 a night and featured Dan Issel, David Thompson and Kiki Vandeweghe. Also Alex English, who scored more points than any other NBA player in the ‘80s. (And think about some of the others who played in that decade.)

So yeah, the man could coach, despite how it might have looked here. Moe’s 628-529 record over 15 seasons is further testament to that. (Only 18 coaches have ever won more games.) So too are his people skills.

“God bless you BIG STIFF,” former Nugget Bill Hanzlik typed on Twitter Tuesday.

Seems like as fitting an epitaph as any for Doug Moe, who never took himself too seriously, and never stopped hanging out in front of that candy store. 

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin wins gold in Olympic women’s slalom, breaks 8-year medal drought at Winter Games.

A potential Final Four contender may have suffered a major blow Tuesday night.

Texas Tech star JT Toppin left Tuesday's game against Arizona State with about 6 minutes left with an apparent leg injury,

Toppin, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year and projected first round NBA draft pick, had 20 points and eight rebounds before the injury. The Red Raiders (19-7, 9-4) would go on to lose to the Sun Devils, 70-67, but the defeat was far less concerning than Toppin's status.

Toppin was attempting to drive to the line in transition but lost his balance and had the ball blocked out of bounds. He stayed on the ground for a period, holding his right leg and asked for trainer Mike Neal to come over and help him.

Gut-wrenching.

You hate to see a guy like JT Toppin go down. He has been one of the absolute best players in the country this year.

You simply cannot replace that kind of impact.
Praying for him.

pic.twitter.com/7cGMXokDZ5

— Zach Schumaker (@ZachSchumaker) February 18, 2026

Coach Grant McCasland and Neal had to help Toppin off the floor as Toppin was not able to put his full weight on his leg.

After the game, McCasland provided no update on Toppin's injury.

"It's hard to say until we get it looked at closely," McCasland said. "But I just know he's really disappointed. He's such a competitor. We'll get back and get him looked at."

Texas Tech, a No. 3 seed in USA TODAY Sports' latest bracketology, can't afford to lose Toppin, who was on his way to an All-American season. Toppin was coming off a 31-point, 13-rebound effort in Texas Tech's win over then-No. 1 Arizona on Feb. 14.

Toppin is averaging 21.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season.

"Hate to see a guy go out of the game like that," ASU coach Bobby Hurley said afterward. "One of the best players in the country."

This story will be updated.

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reporter Nathan Giese contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: JT Toppin injury update: Texas Tech star may have serious leg injury

Things got so bad during UCLA's blowout road loss to Michigan State on Tuesday night that Bruins coach Mick Cronin apparently felt the need to eject one of his own players.

The incident occurred late in the second half of an eventual 82-59 loss on Feb. 17 when UCLA center Steven Jamerson II picked up a flagrant foul for hacking a Spartans player from behind on a dunk attempt.

Cronin explained afterward he didn't appreciate Jamerson's actions, especially coming with just 4:26 to go and the Bruins trailing 77-50.

"I was thoroughly disappointed," Cronin told reporters after the game. "The guy was defenseless in the air. I know Steve was trying to block the shot, but the game's a 25-point game. You don't do that."

Mick Cronin ejected his own player, Steven Jamerson II, after he was assessed a technical foul against Michigan State 👀pic.twitter.com/Zyisx8ys0d

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) February 18, 2026

Frustrations continue to mount for the Bruins, who lost to top-ranked Michigan by 30 points on Saturday after entering the weekend winning five of their last six.

Cronin also had a testy exchange with a reporter after the game. When asked about the Michigan State student section chanting the name of former Spartans player Xavier Booker − who transferred to UCLA last year after two underwhelming seasons in East Lansing − Cronin fired back angrily.

"I would like to give you kudos for the worst question I've ever been asked," he said. "You really think I care about the other team's student section?"

UCLA coach Mick Cronin's thoughts on the Michigan State student section. @ThisistheIZZONEpic.twitter.com/7pJJHEs7sQ

— Owen Oszust (@Owen_Oszust) February 18, 2026

The loss dropped UCLA to 17-9 overall and 9-6 in the Big Ten. Michigan State improved to 21-5 and 11-4 in Big Ten play.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: UCLA coach Mick Cronin kicks out Steven Jamerson after hard foul

At various points across January and February, the Atlanta Hawks looked like a team that needed the All-Star break. Heading into the break on the back of a three-game losing streak would be one such indicator that the break was a welcome one, and could use the team to rest, while also looking fondly at Jalen Johnson’s first All-Star game appearance, and subsequent triumph as part of the winning effort of Team Stars.

Now, the focus returns to the Atlanta Hawks, the team, as the second, unofficial ’half’ of the season looms large. So, with that said, let’s look ahead to the schedule that lies ahead for the Hawks, break it down month-by-month, and unpack the remaining schedule as the Hawks look to improve their place in the Eastern Conference standings; currently sat in 10th with a 26-30 record.

Starting with the remaining month of February:

Total games: 5

Home games: 4

Road games: 1

Back-to-backs: 1

Longest road trip: 1 game

Longest homestand: 4 games

Opponent winning percentage: 37.5%

The Hawks couldn’t have asked for much better in terms of an ease of schedule after the break. Yes, a difficult game against the Sixers on the road to return — and a much better than expected Sixers team since we last did this exercise in the preseason — is not entirely helped by the game being on the first night of a back-to-back with the Miami Heat in town the following night.

However, a game against the languishing, and openly tanking, Brooklyn Nets and, more notably, two fixtures against the Washington Wizards provide an ample opportunity for the Hawks to get a winning streak going. It’s never a guarantee; the Hawks have an unfortunate history of failing to beat the Wizards in seemingly favorable situations and expectations…

Of course, two Washington fixtures mean two meetings against former Hawk Trae Young for the first time since his in-season trade to Washington. However, Young’s injury status is currently unknown ahead of these two fixtures; the last update issued by the Wizards was that Young would be re-evaluated after the All-Star break.

That said, I’d be very surprised if he played in either of these games, with Washington objectives for the season pretty well-set. Still, there will be, undoubtedly, a tribute to the former franchise player and, hopefully, a kind reception for a player who, yes, was flawed, but provided a lot of memorable moments in his time as an Atlanta Hawk.

To March:

Total games: 15

Home games: 10

Road games: 5

Back-to-backs: 1

Longest road trip: 2 games (twice)

Longest homestand: 5 games

Opponent win percentage: 48%

The last ‘full-on’ month of the NBA season is on that is, again, pretty kind to the Hawks. They have a predominantly home-heavy schedule, with 10 of their 15 total games taking place at State Farm Arena. A mixed bag of opponents range from heavy-hitters such as the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons on the road, two games against the Boston Celtics, and a difficult road-tilt in Houston. You have a range of play-in teams such as Portland, Orlando, and Golden State, in addition to the play-in chasing Milwaukee Bucks.

Finally, you have a number of teams who have either actively given up — or very close to it — and these include the Nets, two games against the Dallas Mavericks, the Grizzlies, and the Sacramento Kings. Those two games against the Bucks could be critical to determining seeding, especially if Giannis returns for the Bucks. Similarly, the Orlando game may carry significant weight in the final standings among those play-in teams.

Recent acquistions/departees will be reacquainted in the month of March, with both Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield, and Kristaps Porzingis all facing former teams in March 21st’s meeting against the Golden State Warriors. The Atlanta meeting between these two teams is usually a boisterous affair, especially if Steph Curry is in action, and with everything surrounding the Kuminga trade, I’m sure this game will be one to circle. A homecoming at the beginning of the month for Vit Krejci, now with the Portland Trail Blazers, is sure to be a popular one as Krejci was very well liked by his teammates.

Finally, to April:

Total games: 6

Home games: 2

Road games: 4

Back-to-backs: 0

Longest road trip: 2 games (twice)

Longest homestand: 1 game (twice)

Opponent win percentage: 53.3%

A difficult stretch to finish, and an extremely important couple of games, most notably on the road in Orlando and in Miami. At least one of those games is very likely to be a rehearsal of a play-in fixture to decide a potential postseason berth, in addition to potentially determine seeding and, potentially, who plays at home in the play-in tournament, versus being on the road. All three teams would consider their scenarios this season as disappointing, and none will provide an inch of advantage over fellow Southeast Division rivals. Time will tell whether the decisions from Orlando and Miami to stand-pat at the trade deadline — compared to the very active Hawks — will pay off in comparison to each other.

Elsewhere, a ‘gimme’ against the Brooklyn Nets is about the only respite compared to two games against two Eastern Conference juggernauts in the New York Knicks, and the rolling Cleveland Cavaliers (twice). Whether the Cavaliers will still be rolling by this stage of the season remains to be seen, but they are absolutely improved following the James Harden trade, and likely to be fighting for seeding by this stage of the season, with any seed from two-to-fifth still reasonably plausible for the Cavaliers. In other words, the Hawks should not expect an easy pass in these spots, and that will include the Knicks game, too.

Per Tankathon, the Hawks have one of the easier strengths of schedule remaining in the NBA; while this is a guarantee of absolutely nothing, it does suggest — and as we’ve looked at now — that the Hawks have a favorable situation to end their season on a more positive note. With the additions of Kuminga and Hield, in addition to Corey Kispert and CJ McCollum a month prior, the Hawks will hope that time in practice and integrate further into the team will provide them with a higher ceiling than when Young was with the team, and when Porzingis absent more often than not.

Irrespective of to what degree of success the Hawks achieve doing this, if any, their end-of-season scenario is unlikely to change: they’ll, very likely, be playing the play-in tournament for the opportunity to enter the NBA postseason as a seventh or eighth seed…just as they for a number of years now. However, a look not-too-far-East to New Orleans may provide a greater sense of optimism heading out of this season than previous seasons…

Until next time!