Category: NBA

Welcome to Winners & Sinners, our new weekly feature that reflects on the week that was. With Giannis wearing enemy colours and a new, youthful Bucks corps leading the charge, this season presents the unique opportunity to see just who is the Most Valuable Buck (MVB). But that’s not the only “award.” Each week, we’ll hand out the following:

• Defensive Belt: Ring the bells, this one’s a fight! Want to take home the belt? Get stops. But it’s more than just that. The “Defending Champion” wears the belt until a “Contender” takes it.
• The People’s Champ: Awarded to the Brew Hoop commenter of the week. Win it because of a wry comment in a game thread, an insightful fan post in The Feed, or simply in acknowledgement of all your hard work posting. It’s our shoutout to you.
• Run That Back: If this was a magazine, Run That Back would be a tear-out poster. It’s the highlight of the week.
• Sinner(s): Think of this as Brew Hoop’s Razzies. It’s a chance for catharsis, calling out what needs it.
• If… Then…: A forward-looking conditional statement. If you continue to read this article, then you’ll see what I mean (please do).

Now that you know the categories, let’s see the recipients!

MVB

It’s got to be Jaime Jaquez Jr., right? Tyler Herro has certainly put up a great argument, posting 23.7 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 5.3 APG—and he’s quickly converting this writer into a fan. But after exploding against the Bulls he was relatively quiet against the 76ers. Meanwhile, Jaquez has been Milwaukee’s most consistent player. In addition to his 20.7 PPG (on 61% shooting!), Jaquez is contributing 8.7 RPG and 3.7 APG while playing with the sort of effort that Taylor Jenkins has preached all offseason.

Defensive Belt

Defending Champion: Vacant.

The Contenders: Kyle Kuzma, Jaime Jaquez Jr.

The Decision: Look, there haven’t exactly been any All-Defensive pushes to start the season, but the Bucks’ starting forwards have shown the most grunt (I’ll leave GRIT to retired janitor). Kyle Kuzma was the only semblance of a roadblock against Anthony Davis and has hit the glass hard, pulling down a team-leading 27 rebounds, including 21 on the defensive glass. He gets the nod.

The People’s Champ

naveed2000s takes the cake for this one, putting on a Woj Shams mask to drop news of the Golden State Warriors’ interest in trading Kristaps Porziņģis to the Bucks—before we could even think about getting a newser out. Kudos to you, naveed. Catch the scoop and join the conversation here:

Run That Back

Herro curls around a Myles Turner screen, catches and rises up—fluid, like Lake Michigan. Splash! And the harm. He converts on the two-to-make-one flagrant free throw too. It should’ve been the momentum moment to spur the Bucks to victory; the first of a long list in Herro’s Bucks lore. Instead, it’ll have to settle for this week’s highlight moment.

Sinner(s)

Meat Loaf said two out of three ain’t bad but in the NBA it’s a prerequisite—you need at least two of talent, smarts, or effort to truly succeed. At the moment, Ware has the talent. The know-how and the motor are works in progress. Thankfully, Jenkins is a teacher. Then again, so is Erik Spoelstra. The real question, then: does Ware know the difference between hearing and listening? If his performance against the 76ers is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding “Yes!”

Myles Turner, on the other hand, has been flat-out bad—7.7 PPG and 4.3 RPG, shooting below 40% from the field—to go along with 3.0 turnovers per game, while coming last on the team in plus/minus (-11.0) and offering little in the way of a paint presence. It’s time to hit the confessional.

Otherwise, the fourth quarters have been capital “R” Rough for the Bucks. Through three games, they’ve been outscored 98-73. Turn that around and they’d be sitting pretty.

If… Then…

If Ryan Rollins doesn’t start finding his offensive groove soon—which includes turning off the blinders so that he can run the team more effectively—then Taylor Jenkins might be wise to turn even more to Kasparas Jakučionis. The young Lithuanian has starting point guard written all over him.

Did I win the tip or am I running back on defence? Share your winners and sinners in the comments.

CONTINUATION OF THE “WHAT IF” WOLVES SERIES. IN THIS SERIES, I PLAY THE ROLE OF TIMBERWOLVES OVERLORD AND GO BACK IN TIME AND RIGHT SOME OF THE WRONGS OF OUR FAVORITE FRANCHISE. SINCE THIS IS THE TIMBERWOLVES, THERE ARE A LOT OF WRONGS. THIS SERIES MAY GO ON FOREVER.

“What If” Wolves Volume 5: From no playoff success to title favorites. This one crushed me.

With the addition of LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves, my fandom has gone to another level. A level that I have not experienced since the spring of 2004. Let’s take a trip down the old memory lane for a history lesson on how we could have prevented the biggest heartbreak in my life – well, the biggest heartbreak since I got turned down during the couples skate at CheapSkate way back in the early 90s.

The Timberwolves’ first season started in 1989. They were terrible and didn’t even make the playoffs for their first seven seasons. The Wolves’ best record during this stretch was 29-53. 29-53!

The first playoff appearance for this woeful franchise came at the end of the 1996-97 season. Kevin Garnett would go on to lead the Wolves to seven straight first-round exits. It was painful. Then the magical 2003-04 season happened.

The 2003-04 season was the best time to be a Wolves fan. They finished the season as the best team in the Western Conference with a record of 58-24. KG was named the NBA MVP in a landslide. The roster was much improved with key additions of defensive specialists Trenton Hassell and Ervin Johnson, key bench guys in Fred Hoiberg and Michael Olowakandi, the sharp-shooting Wally Szczerbiak, crazy wing Latrell Sprewell (editor’s note: name your kids after him and they’ll become editors!), and the motor that ran everything, point guard Sam Cassell.

Best record, MVP, solid role players, and Flip Saunders doing some coaching magic on a nightly basis. Rolled through the regular season and marched through the playoffs, this team was destined to raise the Larry O’Brien.

Then, Sam Cassell decided to do a little dance in honor of Perdro Cerano and share with everyone that he had the largest cajónes in the NBA.

Rumor was that the “Big Balls Dance” that Cassell performed led to a hip avulsion fracture. This “fracture,” along with a previous back injury, caused Sam to miss most of the Western Conference Finals versus the Los Angeles Lakers.

Wolves got rinsed 4-2. Title dreams gone. The team would then fall apart, leading to the Wolves missing the playoffs for the next 13 straight seasons.

I was absolutely crushed when the Wolves lost to the Lakers. But I can’t wait for Ant and Melo to lead us to the championship (even though they will win it all this year!), so the “What If” Wolves will right this wrong and take away Cassell’s dancing shoes.

Like the tiny town in Footloose, dancing is hereby outlawed for this franchise.

The real Timberwolves acquired Sam Cassell along with center Ervin Johnson from the Milwaukee Bucks for Anthony Peeler and previous “What If” Wolves subject Joe Smith. Spree was acquired from the Knicks for Terrell Brandon (who would never play ball again due to his knee issues) and Marc Jackson, who would be rerouted to the Philadelphia 76ers. To round out the roster, Trenton Hassell would be signed as a free agent after being waived by the Bulls.

This team was a monster. Nobody could score on this group. KG barked defensive orders, and everyone followed along. Hassell lived up to his defensive stopper moniker. Sprewell flew around the court grabbing steals that lead to vicious breakaway dunks.

Offensively, they were no slouches either. Cassell ran the show, KG hit turnaround jumper after turnaround jumper, and Fred Hoiberg came off the bench with his form-perfect jump shot.

They were top ten in both offense and defensive ratings. Again, this team was a monster.

The regular season was a breeze for this group despite a bunch of injuries to key players in Wally, Troy Hudson, and others. KG finished his MVP year with averages of 24.2 points, 13.9 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.5 steals, and 2.2 blocks. Cassell joined Garnett on the All-Star team. Hoiberg even got some Sixth Man of the Year votes.

Previous Wolves teams would have folded in the playoffs. But something about this group was different. The Wolves made quick work of the Denver Nuggets, beating them in 5 games. Cassell (20.6 pts), Sprewell (19.8 pts), and Garnett (25.8 pts, 14.8 rebs, 7 asts) could not be stopped.

The Wolves finally won a playoff series.

I cannot explain how it felt to finally get a playoff win. It wasn’t excited or joy, mostly just a type of relief.

The second round would turn into one of the greatest series in NBA history (don’t argue with me on this one). The Sacramento Kings were the fourth seed, but they were far better than that number suggested.

The Kings finished with a 55-27 record. A lot of NBA pundits even thought they could win the whole thing as their roster was stacked with All-Stars, an All-Defensive player, and a crazy solid bench. The series would go back and forth leading up to a historic Game 7. Do yourself a favor and go watch this game right now. KG had a career defining game with 32 points, 21 rebounds, 4 steals, and 5 blocks. KG would not be denied in this game. But the Wolves playoff run would be altered in the second game of this series.

With just under 30 seconds left in Game 2, the score is 89-88, Wolves up one. Cassell drives baseline against defensive stalwart Doug Christie, pulls up for his patented mid-range jumper, and nails it.

Wolves go up three with 24 seconds left. Sam Cassell is overjoyed and proceeds to do his dance. Cassell scored 59 points in the first two games against the Kings. After the dance, he averaged just 13.2 points per game, with his lowest total of three coming in Game 5.

Something wasn’t right with Sam. That’s what happened in real life. But we do revisionist history around here with the “What If” Wolves. Here is how it would have gone down if I was in charge.

During the routine physical to complete the trade for Cassell and Johnson, our medical staff discovered that Cassell is running a bit low on testosterone. Now don’t ask me how I know, but increasing your Guy Fuel can have some adverse effects. Cassell was already bald (like me), so no worry about hair loss, but injecting some Power Potion can shrink up your boys (again, don’t ask me how I know this). With Cassell on the gender-affirming treatment to return his testosterone levels to normal, he has been experiencing some shrinkage.

Now, of course, Sam still hits that baseline jumper. But instead of attempting his “big balls dance” and possibly causing an injury, Sam simply high 5’s Ervin Johnson and maybe gets a chest bump from KG. No big balls, no injury. Simple fix.

The players and coaches from this Timberwolves squad were all convinced that they would have beaten the Lakers if Cassell wasn’t hurt and I fully agree. The Wolves beat the Lakers three out of four times during the regular season (all wins were by at least 10 points) and had the size in Johnson and Michael Olowokandi to match up with Shaq, and Hassell could limit Kobe somewhat.

Conversely, there was nobody on the Lakers who could contain KG or Cassell. LA had Karl Malone and Gary Payton on the team, but both were shells of their former selves. When Cassell went down with his injury in real life, the Wolves were forced to play third-string PG Darrick Martin, or play Hoiberg out of position. The Wolves even had KG bring the ball up on occasion, which I am sure wore him down a bit. This was an absolute worst-case scenario for the Wolves, but since we have Cassell juicing, the injury from the “Big Balls Dance” never occurred.

With a healthy Cassell taking pressure off KG, the “What If” Wolves would defeat the Lakers in five games. Shaq would still have a great series against the Wolves, but he would be the lone bright spot for the Lakers. Kobe Bryant would struggle against the Wolves with Hassell and Sprewell hounding him all series long, plus I am sure that his sexual assault case in Colorado at this time would limit his effectiveness (Kobe would score 42 points against the Spurs after spending all day in court). This loss to the Timberwolves would end up being the true reason why the Lakers broke up the combo of Shaq and Kobe.

Lakers destroyed, on to the NBA Finals versus the Detroit Pistons.

The Pistons were a great defensive team (second-best in the NBA), led by Defensive Player of the Year winner Ben Wallace, but they truly lacked firepower offensively (18th).

I don’t want to dwell on this matchup too much because I believe that this series would have been over in five games. Plus, Coach Flip agreed with me. The lack of offense by the Pistons would be highlighted by the Wolves’ defensive game plan. This Wolves team was just too good on both ends to be denied. KG would go on to win Finals MVP, most likely by averaging a triple-double, and the Wolves would win their first NBA Championship.

After winning the first Championship, free agents would see that the Wolves are no longer the dregs of the NBA and start to see Minnesota as a great destination. The Timberwolves go on to win title after title. Sprewell still would leave in the offseason so he could “feed his family”. Cassell finishes his career with the Wolves and takes over as head coach when Flip retires. KG continues to dominate the league, finishes his career in “Minny”, his jersey gets put up in the rafters, and a statue of him dunking on the Kings’ Brad Miller from Game 7 sits outside of Target Center.

Hell, maybe a second statue of him yelling at a teammate gets put up at the practice facility. After all, he is the new owner of the Wolves, so he can do whatever he wants as long as nobody dances.

The game turned out to be more of an adventure than seemed likely when the Wizards took a 21-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but they prevailed in the end, outlasting the Chicago Bulls, 124-120, for their first road win of the season.

The Wizards built that lead with a heady third quarter blitz in which they outscored the Bulls 40-20. After falling behind by 21, the Bulls cut into Washington’s lead, but the Wizards maintained what seemed to be a comfortable double-digit advantage. Chicago rallied over the final three minutes. Washington’s lead dwindled to as little as three points with 23 seconds to play.

Trae Young and Anthony Davis made their free throws at the end to ice the game and escape the Windy City with a victory.

Thoughts & Observations

• It’s only three games, so it’s too soon to worry (or celebrate) just about anything, but…I have my eye on Davis’ inefficient offense. He’s been efficient throughout his career and almost certainly will be again. I don’t love the subpar shooting (which might be at least partly attributable to his shot selection) and turnovers.
• Last night’s game generated a pace factor of 112, which is pretty doggone high. Washington averaged 101.4 possessions per 48 minutes last season. The only game with more possessions was when Bam Adebayo went for 83 points, and there were shenanigans deployed to help him get there.
• This was the best game of the season for Kyshawn George because of 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 blocks. The offensive efficiency wasn’t there (101 offensive rating — about -10 points per 100 possessions relative to league average), and he did have three turnovers (too many). But he defended without fouling excessively and contributed all over the floor.
• Bilal Coulibaly is a menace to opposing ball handlers. Or passers. Or those who attempt to shoot near the basket.
• There’s a not small part of my brain that thinks when the team is playing its most important games this season, the guy who will be out there with Young, Davis, Alex Sarr, and AJ Dybantsa will be Justin Champagnie. He’s tough, physical, and relentless. Last night, he had 14 rebounds in 26 minutes.
• If Tre Johnson ever finds a magic lamp, I hope he uses one of his wishes on an all-around game. His offensive package looks good, and I think he’s going to be a helluva good shooter. I worry that his lack of non-scoring contributions will keep him nailed to the bench.
• This was Young’s most in-control and steady all-around game despite getting a technical for flopping. (Which he didn’t deserve, in my opinion. He did fall intentionally, but it looked to me like he was trying to be sure he landed safely with a defender close to him than foul grifting.) Still, 4-10 from deep, 4 rebounds, 9 assists, and just 2 turnovers.
• Caleb Wilson looks like he’s going to be terrific soon and have a great career. His score in my stat-based pre-draft analysis was consistent with being the No. 1 pick in nearly any draft. It just so happened that he was in a historically good draft, so he landed fourth. I can’t recall the last time I saw one player attempt so many dunks on opponents, and I loved his athleticism, effort, and joy. The biggest thought I had watching him: I can’t wait to see Dybantsa in action.
• The Chicago Bulls were -21 in Isaac Okoro’s 14 minutes.
• Just think: The Bulls were +14 in Wilson’s 38 minutes. A bit of math shows the team was -18 in his 10 minutes off the floor.

Four Factors

Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).

The four factors are measured by:

• eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)
• OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)
• TOV% (turnover percentage — turnovers divided by possessions)
• FTM/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)

Stats & Metrics

PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls).

PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. In PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples sometimes producing weird results.

POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.

ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average so far this season is listed in the Four Factors table above. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.

USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%. Median so far this season is 17.7%.

ORTG and USG are versions of stats created by former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified by me. ORTG is an efficiency measure that accounts for the value of shooting, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. USG includes shooting from the floor and free throw line, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers.

+PTS = “Plus Points” is a measure of the points gained or lost by each player based on their efficiency in this game compared to league average efficiency on the same number of possessions. A player with an offensive rating (points produced per possession x 100) of 100 who uses 20 possessions would produce 20 points. If the league average efficiency is 115, the league — on average — would produced 23.0 points in the same 20 possessions. So, the player in this hypothetical would have a +PTS score of -3.0.

Players are sorted by total production in the game.

In an effort most fans would be proud of, the Milwaukee Bucks fell to the Philadelphia 76ers, 127-116, in a game that was much closer than the final score suggests. In the second leg of their back-to-back, the Bucks went to Philadelphia and took it to a team many believe will contend for a title. Every time Philly looked to take control, Milwaukee made a huge play—offensively or defensively—to keep them in the hunt. In the end, though, the 76ers’ talent became too much to overcome. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast, Bucks In Six Minutes, below.

Player Grades

Ryan Rollins

25 minutes, 15 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, 4 PF, 6/14 FG, 2/5 3P, 0

Certainly trending in the right direction, but still not quite at the production level we expect from Ryan Rollins. Kudos to Rollins for getting into an aggressive mindset from the jump, though, with two early attacks on Tyrese Maxey to get him going. I also thought Rollins was pretty damn solid as Maxey’s primary defender, making him work for everything. He’s getting there.

Grade: C+

Tyler Herro

31 minutes, 13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 turnovers, 6/14 FG, 2/5 3P, -15

I mean, Herro still shot relatively efficiently, but his floor game was much worse in this one. Whether it was fatigue from the back-to-back—especially after spending so much energy getting the Bucks back into the game against the Bulls—or facing better defenders, Herro was pretty muted last night. The only reason I didn’t put Herro in the D-band is that he wasn’t forcing shots.

Grade: C-

Jaime Jaquez Jr.

27 minutes, 21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, 7/13 FG, 2/3 3P , 5/7 FT, -15

Jaquez did much of his usual work inside again, with another efficient night, but as we flagged in the offseason, his ability to make spot-up threes will determine his next contract—4/6 over his last two games. He also proved to be one of the Bucks’ best defenders on Jaylen Brown, even though he was at a speed disadvantage.

Grade: B+

Kyle Kuzma

35 minutes, 14 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 turnovers, 6/11 FG, 0/3 3P, -3

An OK game from Kuzma overall. In particular, I liked Kuz’s cutting; he made a really nice diagonal cut in semi-transition to get a layup off a drive by Herro in the first quarter.

Grade: C+

Myles Turner

20 minutes, 0 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 3 turnovers, 0/4 FG, 0/2 3P, -16

I mean, where do you even start with Turner? This was maybe the worst game I’ve seen Turner play in a Bucks uniform; he was actively detrimental to the team for most of the game. To sum it up, MT had a sequence late in the second quarter that went as follows:

1. Jaylen Brown missed from the right elbow, the ball bounced right in front of Turner, and he let Brown run in and grab his own rebound to put it in;
2. a minute or so later, Turner caught the ball on the left wing and telegraphed a pass right into the waiting help defenders;
3. Tyrese Maxey ran in front of him in transition, receiving the ball for the layup;
4. he telegraphed the ensuing inbound pass, which was stolen by the 76ers;
5. he fouled Jabari Walker, but not hard enough that Walker couldn’t get the and-one.

Suffice it to say, the big man found himself on the bench to close the half.

Grade: F

Kel’el Ware

29 minutes, 19 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers, 6/11 FG, 2/5 3P, 5/5 FT, +4

As Michael Corleone says in The Godfather, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” Ware had some great defensive moments containing drivers in the drop defence, along with blocking shots both in the half-court and in transition. He also ran the floor hard, set good screens, and I thought he took the right three-point shots. I also want to add that Ware sealed smaller players well multiple times, but his teammates didn’t get the ball to him, which was annoying.

Grade: B+

Kasparas Jakucionis

24 minutes, 12 points, 3 rebounds,2 assists, 3 turnovers, 4/8 FG, 0/3 3P, -15

Yet another strong game from Jakucionis, who is cementing himself as a key cog on this team. Showed some great craft and touch around the rim, and maybe most surprisingly, was not scared one bit of challenging Joel Embiid. That said, three turnovers for just two assists isn’t ideal.

Grade: B-

Brayden Burries

17 minutes, 10 points, 5 rebounds,2 assists, 3/7 FG, 1/4 3P, +6

A solid bounce-back game for Burries, who struggled the night before. When he can get a step on his defender and go to the hoop with a head of steam, good things usually happen—he also hit a nice transition three.

Grade: C+

AJ Green

19 minutes, 11 points, 2 turnovers, 4/7 FG, 3/6 3P, +5

Green made his open threes and mixed in some tough ones, but that wasn’t the news of the day. Did anyone see his hesitation move on the wing, where he exploded to the rim and finished with the same-hand-same-foot finish? Whewwww.

Grade: B-

Nate Ament

11 minutes, 1 point, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 5 PF, 0/1 FG, 1/4 FT, -6

Look, clearly this wasn’t the debut Ament was hoping for. He got called for three fouls in what felt like a minute, then two more for boxing out with the wrong technique. His minutes were just so choppy that it would have been tough to find a rhythm. Ament must learn that his size and length let him defend with a slight buffer and still contest shots; he doesn’t need to get so close to guys or try to steal the ball. That said, we should acknowledge that Ament was tasked with guarding Jaylen Brown, and he did have some nice possessions, including a steal (which was followed by a double-dribble, unfortunately).

Grade: D+

Taylor Jenkins

Again, there’s very little Jenkins can do about 22 turnovers. Maybe you could criticise his decision to throw Nate Ament out there against that team, but Ament needs to get experience somehow, and this season is about development over winning (also, it wasn’t like Ous was lighting the world on fire). Closing with Ware was absolutely the right move. Maybe Herro could have been more of a focal point; he did feel a little too much like an afterthought for my liking, but others may disagree. Overall, though, it’s incredibly impressive that Jenkins had the Bucks push Philly to the brink on the second night of a back-to-back—that’s the story.

Grade: B

DNP-CD: Ousmane Dieng, Caris LeVert, Bogoljub Markovic, Jericho Sims, Gary Trent Jr.

Inactive: Kam Jones, Cormac Ryan, Pete Nance

What We Learnt

The Bucks will win these games if they can just fix their damn turnover problem. They had another 22 in this game, currently ranking seventh-worst in the league.

Bonus Bucks Bits

• Jenkins: “Obviously, the record is the record, but we’re making progress on how we want to play. This was a better reflection of what we want to do defensively… I thought we got great looks, just missed some shots. Turnovers put us in a bind, but overall, I love the competitive juice. Just came up short in the end.”
• Finally, the Bucks won the paint battle, and did so in a major way, beating Philly 58-26. They also killed the 76ers in fast break points (31-13).
• Listen, I’m no Joel Embiid stan, but when healthy, that dude is legitimately unstoppable; easily one of the most skilled big men in NBA history.
• Tyler Herro seems to have a cap of around 30 minutes per game. So far, he’s played 32, 32, and 31 minutes. I suspect the Bucks might be doing what the Hornets did last season with LaMelo Ball, where you cap their minutes in the hope that doing so keeps them healthy, thus increasing their value, and then you trade them.

Up Next

The Bucks get a day off before returning Monday night at home to play the Indiana Pacers at 7:00 p.m. CDT. Catch the action on MY24.

A win is a win, and in the NBA, they can be hard to come by. You take them however you can get them, up to and including when the opposing team decides to sit the majority of its roster. That’s how the Phoenix Suns earned their first win of the season in their home opener, and it ended up being a pretty important one when you consider they have the Thunder and Nuggets on the schedule next week. Starting 0-2 and heading into those matchups would’ve added even more pressure to a team that’s still trying to figure out who it is.

Because that’s where we are right now, isn’t it? We knew who the Suns were last season. We don’t know who this version of the team is yet. While continuity remains, there’s still plenty of room for players to learn where their teammates are going to be and how they’re going to operate together on both ends of the floor. We witnessed that multiple times Saturday night against the Warriors.

Countless defensive rotations were missed, leading to wide-open shooters. Lackadaisical inbound passes resulted in turnovers. And rebounding? Oh boy, it appears that’s going to be a significant issue for this team throughout the season. When you’re surrendering 16 offensive rebounds to what essentially amounts to the Santa Cruz Warriors, that’s not a talent issue. That’s a size issue. The undersized Suns were getting owned on the glass by a team considered one of the smallest in the NBA. In fact, per Salary Swish, Golden State is the shortest team in the league, while Phoenix sits right in the middle at 17th. It certainly didn’t feel that way Saturday night.

They say you can’t truly know who and what a team is until 20 games into the season, and I believe that. But I also believe each game leading up to that 20-game mark serves as a little quiz, giving us another opportunity to understand the attitude and aptitude of a team.

The good news from Saturday night is that the Phoenix Suns won. Their star stepped up and performed like one, and the team shot the basketball well. Collectively, Phoenix shot 37.8% from beyond the arc and 58.1% from the field. For a team that was anemic offensively against the Portland Trail Blazers, that’s an encouraging sign and a step in the right direction. Defensively? Allowing 122 points to that version of the Warriors is concerning. Getting outrebounded 19–9 on the offensive glass is equally troubling, as is being outscored 26–9 in second-chance points.

So we’ll continue compiling the results of these little quizzes over the next 20 games until we have a clearer understanding of what this version of the Phoenix Suns looks like. Because we knew what last season looked like. And thus far this season? It ain’t that.

Bright Side Baller Standings

The season opener left us with but one real option as the Bright Side Baller. And true to form, the community stepped up and got the vote right. That winner? Mariah Carey. She has become our beacon when everything else is dark, for her 5-octave vocal range is that of a Hero. It’s no Fantasy that Anytime You Need a Friend, after dealing with a Heartbreaker like the Suns did against Portland, she’ll help with those Emotions.

Bright Side Baller Nominees

Game 2 against the Warriors. Here are your nominees:

Devin Booker
43 points (17-of-25, 2-of-7 3PT), 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 block, 4 turnovers, +2 +/-

Miles Bridges
16 points (6-of-11, 2-of-5 3PT), 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 0 turnovers, +1 +/-

Collin Gillespie
11 points (4-of-7, 2-of-5 3PT), 4 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, +16 +/-

Dillon Brooks
15 points (6-of-12, 1-of-3 3PT), 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 turnovers, -2 +/-

Khaman Maluach
9 points (2-of-3, 1-of-2 3PT), 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers, +8 +/-

Luke Kennard
11 points (4-of-6, 3-of-5 3PT), 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 0 turnovers, +15 +/-

It’s your turn now. Vote away!

In just the second game of the season for the Dallas Mavericks, former Duke star Cooper Flagg picked off a steal and headed downcourt for an easy basket. However, Indiana’s Aaron Nesmith was closing fast on Flagg, and caught up to him at the basket, where he dispatched a hard foul that sent the young Dallas star to the floor, holding his shoulder and grimacing.

Here’s the video of the play, which sparked a scrum that got pretty heated.

As it turned out, Flagg left the game and later got an MRI. It looks like he has a mild shoulder sprain, and will probably miss a few games.

Fortunately, it’s not all that serious, but he’ll join his former Duke roommate Kon Kneuppel on the sidelines. The runner-up to Flagg for last year’s Rookie of the Year Award, Knueppel is getting over a hamstring issue. He’s expected to return to the court fairly soon.

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CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers have lost the two fourth quarters they’ve played this season by a combined 24 points. Their poor late-game execution kept them from delivering a statement win over the Philadelphia 76ers on opening night, and it almost cost them again two days later in their home opener against the Brooklyn Nets.

The culprit behind both collapses was the same.

“We lost the possession game by 16,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said after his team narrowly defeated the Nets. “We got to clean up the turnovers.”

Turnovers lead to bad offense. Bad offense leads to bad defense. You combine those together, and 22-point leads can evaporate in a heartbeat, even against an inexperienced Nets team.

“Good offense [is important] because it really helps you guard the ball,” Mario Hezonja said. “Our rhythm is imposed onto the opponent, so it’s much easier to go both ways. The moment you start to have bad turnovers or bad possessions or even bad shots…that impacts a lot of the mental aspect for a player, and it impacts a lot of the defensive side.”

It’s easy to look at the poor fourth quarter in Game 1 last postseason against the New York Knicks and the start of this season, and believe that there’s a mental barrier keeping the Cavs from closing out games. Maybe there is, but at least in these first two games, the Cavs’ issues are very much basketball-related. As was the case in Philadelphia, the Cavs once again struggled to handle ball pressure.

It’s a copycat league. Teams see what works, and then try to replicate it. One wave we’re seeing now is a drastic increase in blitzing defenses. Defenses are more aggressive in how they’re sending doubles and jumping passing lanes than before. That is especially true late in games, when opponents are trailing and are desperate to get back into games. Hence the reason the Cavs are struggling with this so much down the stretch.

“There’s an unpredictability to it,” Donovan Mitchell said. “I think it’s random. The NBA has turned into that as a whole. Indiana really did a great job of it two years ago, and I think everybody followed suit. It was just like, just cause chaos and figure it out. … When you’re picking up full court and randomly trapping, there’s really no scheme for that. It’s like AAU basketball.”

Atkinson has emphasized the need to just “pass to the open man.” That sounds simple enough and is what needs to happen. The problems come when the team isn’t currently capable of doing that.

There are a couple of issues preventing the Cavs from doing so. First, their starting lineup only has two players they trust to operate in these situations with the ball in their hands. Second, there isn’t a good feel for where guys should be on the court when the traps come.

“It’s a different five,” Mitchell said. “[We’re] calling different plays.”

For as frustrating as these first two games have been, the sky isn’t falling — at least not yet. These are things that can be cleaned up.

“There’s no excuses, but we are working on it,” Hezonja said. “There are some new pieces that we added to the team, so this unfortunately takes a little bit of time, but we are working on it. Everything started to mesh better and better, and I hope [that] soon it’s going to look good.”

Time is on the Cavs’ side. The regular season is where you build habits and problem-solve for how teams are going to attack you.

Right now, the book is out on how to disrupt the Cavs: be physical with them at the point of attack and send random double teams at their guards. That is how teams will defend them until the Cavs show they can beat that kind of defense. And from a certain perspective, going through these struggles now instead of in April should benefit them.

“It’s not always going to be perfect,” Mitchell said, “but I think for us, having these first two games…similar but different ways, I think is definitely going to help us in the long run.”

The Atlanta Hawks took on the Houston Rockets in their first home game of the 2026-27 NBA season. Both teams entered the contest 2-0 and were on the second night of back-to-back. Both teams have done a great job of scoring, as Atlanta defeated Charlotte by 47 points, and Houston defeated the Spurs 114-110 the night prior. Fatigue was possibly going to be a factor, but both teams appeared fresh throughout the game. Here’s the breakdown:

Offensively: The Hawks had good looks for shots from the wing and deep, but they failed to be consistent. Shooting from three was a hindrance for them as they went 13/49 for 26.5%. They also went 15/21 from the free throw line, which isn’t bad, but not good enough to beat a team like Houston. Making the most out of offensive possessions is a key component and the Hawks didn’t quite do much of that.

Shooting was a struggle during the night, but they did well down in the post, getting the ball to open guys and capitalizing. Atlanta’s back court really kept them in the game with players such as Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexnader-Walker, Jalen Johnson and Aaron Wiggins in double figures. Johnson led the team in scoring with 26.

Defensively: The Rockets athleticism and size was an issue for the Hawks. Houston was able to get open looks from three, shooting 40 percent. Houston was also able to take advantage of matchups near the paint. Kevin Durant led the team in scoring with 22. Alperen Sengun was a problem as well, scoring 17 to go along with 10 rebounds.

Mainly the Hawks had issues with shooting from three, they had a few miscues that could have led to points. They struggled to defend the wing and get through screens.

Atanta will face the Houston Rockets again on Monday, October 26th.

After spending the greater part of four season with the San Antonio Spurs, Jeremy Sochan fell out of rotation and left the team that drafted him. Shortly thereafter, he joined the New York Knicks and won an NBA Championship.

Over the summer he signed with the Portland Trail Blazers, but was waived just before the season tipped off. Coincidentally, he was released on the same day Blake Wesley and Malaki Branham, his draft mates.

But Sochan has bounced back. He went #1 overall in the G-League draft on Saturday.

While the G-League may be a step down for a lottery pick with less than five seasons, staying in America with an NBA affiliate keeps him closer to the action. No telling where his career could go as the twists and turns of an 82-game NBA season rolls on.

For now, the former Baylor Bear will stay in Texas.

Best wishes, Jeremy.

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Joe Mazzulla has used 11 players in each of the Celtics’ first two games, which sounds democratic until you inspect the timecards.

Everybody has checked in, but that doesn’t mean everybody has a full-time job.

Jayson Tatum, Derrick White and Paul George have predictably played the most. Payton Pritchard is fourth in total minutes despite coming off the bench. Sam Hauser has logged more minutes than Jordan Walsh and Mitchell Robinson, two members of the starting lineup. Hugo González has played just 13 minutes.

Two games are not enough to settle Boston’s rotation, but they do give us some clues about how Mazzulla is sorting it.

The same five players started against Detroit and New York: White, George, Tatum, Walsh and Mitchell Robinson. Everything after that has been more fluid. The first week has already exposed a few levels of trust. Pritchard’s bench designation looks increasingly cosmetic. Hauser may be the cleanest solution to Boston’s spacing issues. Among the young wings, meanwhile, the minutes have not been distributed equally.

Here are my biggest takeaways from Joe’s rotations through the first two games.

Pritchard is a bench player in name only

Pritchard explained his definition of a starter after practice last Sunday.

“To me, a starter is the amount of minutes you play,” he said. “Do you finish games? Are you playing 30-plus minutes? Then you are a starter.”

By his own math, Pritchard is starting.

He has played 57 minutes and 56 seconds through two games. Only Tatum, White and George have played more. Against the Knicks, Pritchard scored a measly four points on 1-for-6 shooting, but still remained on the floor for more than 30 minutes.

I’m not going to try and spin his four points as a secretly great performance. He missed five of his six shots and never found an offensive rhythm. But cold shooting nights can reveal more about a coach’s confidence than another three-point avalanche. Any reasonable person would leave Pritchard on the floor while he’s setting fire to the net. Mazzulla stayed with him even when he wasn’t.

Single-game plus-minus can tell lies with a straight face, but Boston still outscored New York by eight points during Pritchard’s 30 minutes. It wasn’t Pritchard’s night, but it wasn’t a problem large enough to lose a game, which is probably the distinction Mazzulla cares about most.

The Celtics opened the second quarter with Pritchard, White, George, Hauser and Luka Garza. Tatum rested while George carried the star responsibilities. Boston started the fourth with almost the same construction, swapping Robinson in for Garza.

Pritchard was the constant. He is becoming the connective tissue between Boston’s different versions of itself.

His closing role was more situational. Mazzulla initially went with Tatum, George, White, Hauser and Queta during crunch time. Pritchard returned for Hauser with 1:11 remaining, giving Boston another ball handler and free-throw shooter. He made one at the line, then was replaced by Queta for the final defensive possession.

That wasn’t one permanent closing five we saw Friday night. Mazzulla was changing the group possession by possession, which is probably how this roster should work.

Pritchard may not always be standing on the court when the game ends, but he’s made it clear that he’ll be plenty involved in getting Boston there.

Hauser keeps solving lineup problems

Hauser has played 40 minutes and 52 seconds, six seconds more than Robinson. That isn’t a meaningful statistical gap, but it’s a pretty useful reminder of how little the starting label matters to Mazzulla.

He has made five of his first 10 three-point attempts after shooting 39.3% from deep last season, the worst mark of his career and still a percentage most players would happily tell their grandkids about down the road. His shooting stretches the floor in ways Boston needs, particularly when Mazzulla uses Queta or Robinson at center.

Those big men provide vertical spacing, offensive rebounding and rim protection. Neither one is naturally dragging a defender away from the paint. Hauser gives those groups oxygen.

The best example came against Detroit. White, Hauser, Tatum, George and Queta turned a 39-39 game into a 57-43 Celtics lead in roughly five minutes. That lineup produced a 172.7 offensive rating and a 136.4 net rating, which are hilarious numbers that should not be treated as remotely sustainable. The part worth taking seriously was the fit. Four shooters surrounding Queta gave everyone room to operate.

Mazzulla returned to the same idea against New York.

Hauser opened the fourth quarter alongside Robinson, Pritchard, White and George. Later, with the Knicks threatening, Mazzulla used Hauser next to Queta in a lineup with Tatum, George and White.

The shooting explains why Hauser fits, but his defense might be why Mazzulla can keep turning to him.

Hauser still gets hunted occasionally because opposing stars see a white guy with a sensible haircut and make certain assumptions. Those assumptions have not produced easy baskets as often as expected. According to NBA tracking data from last season, opponents shot 0.7 percentage points below their expected field-goal percentage when Hauser was the closest defender.

He is sturdy enough to survive switches, rarely wanders away from the scheme and has become good at forcing scorers into shots the defense can live with. Nobody is asking him to turn into Scottie Pippen. He just can’t be the loose thread every offense tries to pull.

That combination of competent defense and elite shooting allows Mazzulla to place him almost anywhere without creating an obvious problem at either end.

Queta did make his only three-point attempt against New York, so Hauser should probably keep an eye on his job. Queta is currently shooting 100% from deep, and I refuse to entertain any small-sample-size arguments at this time.

Until Queta starts receiving the same treatment behind the arc, Hauser gives Mazzulla a proven shooter without handing opposing offenses an obvious place to attack.

The young wings are not receiving equal auditions

Walsh, Scheierman, González and Ron Harper Jr. entered the season as Boston’s collection of young wings. The first two games have not treated them as interchangeable.

Walsh has started both games and played 33 minutes and 45 seconds. His offense remains a work in progress, but Mazzulla has given him difficult defensive assignments, including Cade Cunningham in Detroit and Jalen Brunson against the Knicks, and allowed him to play through mistakes. He also rewarded that patience against New York, hitting a three and scoring on a nice cut during Boston’s third-quarter run.

Scheierman has played 29 minutes and 22 seconds. He scored eight points in the opener, made both of his threes and already looks more willing to make a quick decision when the ball finds him. Mazzulla has used him in both halves of both games, including alongside Tatum during the third quarter Friday.

González has played just 13 minutes and 18 seconds. Only Garza has played fewer. Harper has yet to see the floor at all.

González checked in midway through the first quarter against New York, stayed on the court for three minutes and 35 seconds and never returned. His 13 total minutes are less than half of Scheierman’s and well below Walsh’s.

That isn’t a verdict on a 20-year-old two games into his second NBA season. González had a really encouraging preseason, and his size, defensive instincts and fearlessness should get him onto the court plenty as the season wears on. Boston’s first back-to-back arrives Monday and Tuesday, which may create an opportunity almost immediately.

For now, Mazzulla appears more comfortable with Walsh’s defense and Scheierman’s…Scheiermanning. The gap is worth noticing without declaring it permanent. These first two games show Mazzulla’s initial preferences with a healthy roster. They don’t tell us what the rotation will look like after a difficult back-to-back, an injury or the first time somebody ahead of González stops giving the Celtics what they need.

Garza provided a useful reminder that the bottom of the rotation can still change quickly. He entered against New York, scored eight points in three and a half minutes, made two threes, drew a charge and returned to the bench like a man who had broken into the game, emptied the register and disappeared before anyone could identify him.

Garzilla behavior.

Mazzulla will need those little bursts over 82 games, but every player producing one doesn’t suddenly move into the permanent rotation.

Right now, Walsh and Scheierman have the longer runway. González is waiting for his next opening. Harper is waiting for his first.

Tatum and George are sharing the floor, and the workload

The Celtics did not acquire George so he and Tatum could alternate isolations while everyone else watched. Through two games, Mazzulla has started working on a more useful kind of staggering.

Against the Knicks, Tatum rested to begin the second quarter while George played with Pritchard, White, Hauser and Garza. Tatum played the entire third, with George sitting for the final four and a half minutes. George then opened the fourth while Tatum rested.

At the 6:53 mark, Tatum replaced George. Just over two minutes later, George returned and the two stars finished the game together.

The basic rhythm is beginning to emerge. Tatum and George overlap at the beginning and end of halves, then take turns anchoring the middle. Pritchard moves between both groups. White can run the offense with either. Hauser gives each of them another outlet when the defense loads up.

The arrangement should keep Boston from living through too many possessions without a high-level creator. It also gives George stretches where he can operate as the primary option instead of trying to fit his touches around Tatum’s.

There will be nights when the rotation gets smaller. Injuries, foul trouble and matchups will rearrange all of this. If we have learned anything about Mazzulla, it’s that he will happily abandon Tuesday’s rotation by Thursday and seem mildly irate that anyone expected otherwise.

Still, his first two games have given us a working hierarchy.

Tatum, White and George are the foundation. Pritchard is a starter, his words, not mine. Hauser and the two centers give Mazzulla different ways to build around them. Walsh and Scheierman have received meaningful auditions. González, Garza and Harper are waiting for the game that calls for them.

There are still 80 games left. Roles will change, new lineups will emerge and Mazzulla may render half of this article obsolete by Thanksgiving. For now, we get to study two games far more closely than any reasonable person should, because Celtics basketball is finally back.

A basketball game can span over 200 shots with over 600 passes thrown and eighteen miles ran over 48 minutes. There’s a beautiful randomness to it all. But if you dig down and zoom in on every 24-second possession, there may not be anything more important than the point of attack and how it’s defended.

Jalen Brunson won Finals MVP last summer as the champs’ point of the spear, the head of their offensive snake. And in the Celtics’ first matchup against the Knicks, Jayson Tatum’s clutch play and 36 points in the home opener will deservedly grab all the headlines in the 107-103 win at TD Garden.

Jordan Walsh wasn’t even on the parquet when Tatum hit shot-after-shot-after-three-point-shot down the stretch. His work was already done.

Brunson didn’t exactly have a bad game: 19 points (7-of-17 from the field) and four assists. But he had to grind for it and sometimes, being able to just blunt the steel and defang some of the bite is a good day’s work.

“I thought he was special. He set the tone,” Paul George said of Walsh’s defense on the All-NBA Second Team point guard. “Jalen is a handful and for a young guy, he can be a lot. Jordan took the challenge. He did a great job of navigating being physical and not being overly physical. He gave him some good looks defensively to frustrate him and get him out of rhythm.”

Heading into training camp, Walsh wasn’t on many people’s bingo card as a possible starter. Some thought that Payton Pritchard would get the promotion or more of an offensive connector like Baylor Scheirman might join Tatum, George, and Derrick White. Now, through three preseason games and now two regular season games against Brunson and Cade Cunningham, it’s easy to see how the four-year player fits into the opening five’s ecosystem as the designated stopper.

After the game, George also remarked that because of Walsh’s on-ball presence on Brunson, that freed him up to be a free safety behind Walsh; including the preseason, he’s grabbed 14 steals in four games.

Walsh signed a three-year, $15 million extension over the summer. His only mistake so far has been telling head coach Joe Mazzulla that he felt like a vet in training camp. Otherwise, it’s in games and matchups like the one last night against the defending champs and Brunson that Walsh has shined in.

“[Brunson]’s a guy that can keep his dribble, he can create separation with multiple moves. I thought Jordan’s second half was important for us,” Mazzulla said. “He had a layup in transition, he had a catch-and-shoot three, he had some great defensive possessions. Even when he fouled, we need that type of physicality. I thought tonight, we saw a version of him at his best and that’s what he’s gotta be for us and he’s gotta continue to get better.”

After the game, Brunson noted that the 0-2 Knicks failed to impose their physicality on offense. Or maybe, just maybe, that’s just the Walsh effect.

The Knicks are catching an injury break.BOSTON — The Knicks are catching an injury break.

Paolo Banchero, the leading scorer for the Magic, will miss Sunday’s game at MSG after being diagnosed with a high ankle sprain.

Banchero, an All-Star power forward, sustained the injury in the fourth quarter of Friday’s loss to the Timberwolves.

In an opening-night loss to the Hawks earlier in the week, Banchero dropped 35 points on an efficient 10-for-12 shooting.

The Magic, like the Knicks, are 0-2.

In fact, the Knicks, who fell to the Celtics on Friday, are the first defending champs to lose their first two games since the Dallas Mavericks in 2011.

“We break the season into five-game segments,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said before New York’s comeback fell short in Boston. “There are marks that we like to hit in those five games and it kind of gives us a good feel of where you were, in a fair amount of games, and to see if you can make progress in the next five.

“Obviously you want to go 5-0, you’ll take 4-1, and then maybe you have to take 3-2. But if you’re doing anything less than that, you know that nobody is reaching their potential.”

Ringgate prompted another statement.

A day after the Knicks announced they were handing out 275 championship rings to employees at the cost of $3.7 million, an MSG spokesperson clarified Saturday that it was always the plan and not a response to the backlash of a report in The Athletic about empty ring boxes and callous cybersecurity tests.

As The Post reported Friday, the Knicks were always going to give out the rings — including to the entire assistant coaching staff.

“There is a great deal of misinformation regarding the championship rings,” Saturday’s statement read. “The plan has always been to distribute more than 275 rings and jewelry to the people in the organization who were part of last season’s success. As is common with many teams, the players were always supposed to get their rings as part of the opening-night ceremony and then everyone else will receive theirs in about four to six weeks.

“Regarding the phishing email, the process of securing and reminding our employees to protect our IP was not a mistake but the choice to use the ring to do so was a mistake and we apologize to our employees and the fans. Winning the championship was a great moment for all New Yorkers. Those who choose to focus on the negative are missing the joy that comes with the team’s accomplishment.”

CLEVELAND — This isn’t the first time the Nets looked to Julius Randle to be a floor raiser.

With their overt tanking over, Brooklyn traded for the soon-to-be-32-year-old forward this summer in hopes of being more competitive.

But sources told The Post that the Nets nearly brought Randle in years earlier, back in 2019.

Armed with an ocean of cap space that summer and intent on big-game hunting, general manager Sean Marks landed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

But had Durant not been sold on becoming Brooklyn’s franchise player, sources told The Post that they would have invested in a still up-and-coming Randle.

In the end, Randle got traded from New Orleans to the Knicks, where he actually hit his prime. He spent five years in the Garden and making all three of his All-Star berths, turning them from a lottery team into a playoff contender.

Now years later, he’s trying to do the same thing on the Brooklyn side of the East River as a grizzled veteran instead of a young riser.

Randle had 23 points, six rebounds and five assists in Saturday’s nail-biting loss at Cleveland. He joined James Harden as the only Nets with 20-5-5 in consecutive games to start the season.

“We just got to stay positive and connected as a group. Adversities are going to happen, there’s going to be bumps and bruises. But the last thing we can do as a team is separate,” Randle said. “So we just got stay connected, positive as a group. Find the positives in the game of how we can build on that. And just continue to go from there.”

Egor Dëmin and Mikel Brown Jr. finally got on the floor together, logging four minutes in the fourth quarter. They were a plus-5 and sparked a 14-2 run.

Brown is on a minutes limit that has kept him from starting.

Asked if he had seen enough to at least deploy the together within the constraints of that minutes limit, coach Jordi Fernández was noncommittal.

“If you’re coaching thinking you want to play certain guys together, it’s when usually you’re doing it for the wrong reasons,” Fernández said. “A lot of times you have to coach the game feeling the game. Obviously you have a preparation — you look at their matchups, their sub patterns, yours, your lineups — and you have an ideal way of how you want the game to go. But then when the game goes, there’s fouls, there’s guys that play better or worse. Then you have to start coaching the game, and see who can guard this guy or all these things. Then the game flows.”

“Mikel had a good moment of making a couple of shots. He was vocal. He felt like he was giving his energy. I had the starting group on the bench, then that’s when I felt like it was a good moment to play together. Did I plan it? No. But a lot of times it’s how basketball is, right? We have all this preparation, the coaches do a great job putting all these pages and film and so forth. But then at the end of the day, you have to react to a lot of things that are not controllable in the game.”

Former Boston Celtics teammates Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are both in agreement: there’s no beef, bad blood, or resentment to address.

On Friday night, most of Tatum’s nearly 13-minute-long postgame press conference was dedicated to responding to Brown’s “cap” emoji under an Instagram video clip from Tatum’s ‘Summer of Jayson’ docuseries — where he claimed he was caught off guard by Brown’s trade to the Philadelphia 76ers in July. He denied any existence of beef with Brown, noting several times it was beneath them.

Brown revealed he had heard all of Tatum’s comments after Philadelphia’s 127-116 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

“I didn’t see the full thing, but I saw that he said there’s no beef, and he’s right,” Brown told reporters on Saturday night, per NBC Sports Philadelphia. “There’s no beef. Jayson comes from a wonderful family. We’ve accomplished some great things. He’s a hell of a basketball player. He’s got a great PR team. There’s no beef, but it might be a little lamb chops and some gravy. He should stay ready at all times.”

Unlike Tatum’s approach at the podium, Brown seemed much more subliminal, which isn’t new.

For years, Brown would use similar messaging to vent whether it’d be directed at the NBA, officials, or ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. But this time it’s not a referee with a whistle or a loudmouth media figure. Tatum was Brown’s right-hand man for nearly a decade, going through 121 playoff games, five trips to the Eastern Conference Finals and two to the NBA Finals. They won a championship in 2024, raising Boston’s long-awaited 18th banner and were poised to ride their careers into the sunset together as one of the Celtics’ all-time duos.

That all changed over the summer.

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens tried to use Brown to bring Giannis Antetokounmpo from Milwaukee to Boston, and when that failed, it became time for a backup plan. So instead, Stevens shipped Brown to the rival Sixers in exchange for 36-year-old Paul George plus four future draft selections, officially bringing the Tatum-Brown era to an end.

“Like I said, it’s no beef,” Brown reiterated. “The PR and all that type stuff, it is what it is, but I think we’re both focused on what’s in front of us.”

Rather than getting to follow up on his career-best season — a year in which he finished sixth in MVP voting — Brown was forced to take his talents to the City of Brotherly Love to join forces with LeBron James, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

Coughing up a 3-1 series lead in Game 7 at TD Garden was Brown’s final game in a Celtics uniform.

Tatum sat on the bench with left knee discomfort, and the thousands of Celtics fans in attendance fled TD Garden both disappointed and under the assumption the team would run in back with both Tatum and Brown in 2026-27. And based on Tatum’s reaction in his offseason YouTube docuseries, the 28-year-old foresaw that too.

During the preseason, Brown and Tatum didn’t greet each other during warmups. They went about their pregame routines on opposite sides of the court and didn’t acknowledge one another before going back into the players’ tunnels.

If Brown does accept Tatum’s open invitation for a conversation, he’ll have plenty of opportunities, including four upcoming Celtics-Sixers matchups scheduled this season. The first is set for Nov. 10 in Philadelphia.

“At the end of the day, we gotta do what you gotta do for his team,” Brown said. “I gotta do what I do for my team.”

The Golden State Warriors fell to 0-3 on Saturday, after losing 131-122 to the Phoenix Suns in the second game of a back-to-back. Despite the result, you can easily make the case that it was Golden State’s most impressive game of the short season, given that they kept it close despite playing without Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Brandin Podziemski, and Al Horford.

But it was still a loss, and it still needs to be graded. As always, grades are based on my expectations for each player, with a “B” grade representing the average performance for that player.

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a scoring efficiency metric that accounts for threes and free throws. Last year, league-average TS was 58.1%.

Yaxel Lendeborg

36 minutes, 26 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 9-for-19 shooting, 6-for-11 threes, 2-for-3 free throws, 64.0% TS, +5

Was Lendeborg perfect? No. But should you be extremely excited that Golden State’s rookie dropped 26-9-5 with excellent efficiency in just his third career game? Absolutely.

With Curry and Podziemski out, Lendeborg was the team’s first option, and he handled the role brilliantly. He was both patient and aggressive on offense, and didn’t let the heavier workload on that end of the court impact his effort levels on defense or on the glass.

He’s really good. I think, after three games, we can conclude that. The question with Lendeborg — who, as has been discussed ad nauseam over the last few months, is already 24 — is how much better can he get?

Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points, tied for the team lead in assists.

Gui Santos

23 minutes, 7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 1-for-4 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 4-for-8 free throws, 46.5% TS, -13

Not the best Gui performance. His energy and hustle are always welcome in these sort of shorthanded games, where outworking the opponent is the lone path to victory. But he was struggling to score, and often got caught out of position on defense.

Grade: C

Graham Ike

26 minutes, 12 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 5-for-13 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, 43.2% TS, -6

Ike had an exciting preseason, and it’s clear the Warriors are high on me. But had you told me that the undrafted rookie, who is signed to a two-way contract, would register a double-double in just his third career game, I’m still not sure I would have believed you.

He wasn’t nearly as efficient as you’d like a center to be, but that was really the only thing you can criticize with his game. He led both teams in rebounding, and played solid defense. He fits within the system so well, and makes quick decisions with and without the ball. It’s pretty clear that he’s going to be a big part of the rotation this year.

Grade: A-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.

Will Richard

31 minutes, 11 points, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4-for-9 shooting, 3-for-6 threes, 61.1% TS, 0 +/-

Devin Booker had a true superstar game, scoring 43 points on 17-for-25 shooting. But he got off to a fairly slow start, in large part because of the great defense that Richard was playing on him. Eventually Booker found his rhythm and there was nothing that Richard — or anyone — could do to stop him, but still. Those early minutes were nice!

Richard also did some quality things on offense, with his usual great cutting, and it was nice to see him knock in some threes.

Grade: B

Brandon Williams

24 minutes, 20 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 5-for-10 shooting, 2-for-3 threes, 8-for-11 free throws, 67.4% TS, +5

Williams’ third game in a Golden State jersey was far and away his best. And while he was a starter in this game due to Curry and Podziemski not playing, it was the type of performance that showed you exactly why the Warriors brought him in to be a core member of the bench unit.

He can score. My goodness can he score. And he can score in a variety of ways, with a level of quickness and burst that is fairly foreign to the Dubs.

That was all on display in this game, as was a jump shot that he says he put a lot of work into this offseason; he entered this year having shot just 28.0% from deep in his career, so that’s been the one hole in his offensive game.

They’re gonna need this version of him in games they’re more equipped to win.

Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in assists.

Georges Niang

23 minutes, 4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 2-for-9 shooting, 0-for-5 threes, 22.2% TS, +6

Some solid veteran winning plays by Niang in this one, and I liked what he did on defense. But, for the role that he plays on this team, it’s hard to be productive when you shoot 0-for-5 from deep and turn the ball over three times.

Grade: C
Post-game bonus: Best plus/minus on the team.

De’Anthony Melton

27 minutes, 25 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls, 8-for-13 shooting, 4-for-8 threes, 5-for-5 free throws, 82.2% TS, -8

Melton was awful in the season opener and mediocre in the home opener. But he was absolutely magnificent in this game. He did a phenomenal job replacing the scoring that was lost in Curry’s absence, and while we shouldn’t expect that every time Steph sits, it’s certainly good to know it’s a possibility. Melton had struggled defensively in the first two games of the season, but looked much more like the defender we know in this one, and he controlled the offense with his quarterbacking. Just an awesome game from the veteran.

Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in assists.

Charles Bassey

13 minutes, 10 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 4-for-4 shooting, 2-for-3 free throws, 94.0% TS, +3

Bassey made his season debut and was absolutely excellent. I’m not sure what the Warriors would have done in this game had he not been able to play, because he was everything they needed. He patrolled the paint with rebounds and rim protection, used craftiness and strength to score, and made countless little winning plays. The first quarter completely shifted when Bassey entered the game, and it seemed to stay that way whenever he was on the court.

He’s going to play a big role this season.

Grade: A+

Gary Payton II

17 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 33.3% TS, -14

Just an entirely nondescript game from GPII. I can’t remember a single thing he did on the court, for better or for worse.

Grade: C-
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.

LJ Cryer

14 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 1-for-5 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 30.0% TS, -13

Not the best game for Cryer, though it’s always nice to see him get some extended non-garbage time run. He always looks better when his shot is falling, which it wasn’t in this game, and his defense wasn’t too sharp either.

Grade: C

Malevy Leons

4 minutes, 2 points, 1 steal, 1 foul, 1-for-2 shooting, 50.0% TS, -10

Despite all the maladies of his teammates, Malevy was only able to get a little bit of run in this game. He’s a nice player to have around, but right now he’s pretty clearly behind the other two players on two-way contracts (Ike and Cryer) on the depth chart.

Grade: Incomplete

Saturday’s inactives: Jimmy Butler III, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Al Horford, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski, Kristaps Porziņģis