Category: Basketball

Why LeBron likens Warriors' Butler trade to KD acquisition originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

LeBron James had plenty of praise for the new-look Warriors with Jimmy Butler, likening the mid-season trade to Golden State’s signing of Kevin Durant in 2016.

In the aftermath of Golden State’s 123-116 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, James gave his thoughts on facing the Warriors with Butler.

“I’ve been a part of them making big acquisitions that changed the dynamic of their team before,” James told reporters. “I had to go against them when they added Kevin Durant. So, Jimmy Butler is great. He adds toughness to them, and he adds championship DNA. It’s always the same; they always figure it out, and they always add someone that makes them dynamic.”

The Warriors sputtered through the first half of the NBA schedule, well on their way to another mediocre season, until making the trade deadline move for Butler on Feb. 5. Since then, Golden State is 20-5 and surging up the Western Conference standings.

Just like those golden years with Durant, Golden State now is brimming with swagger and confidence. Steph Curry continued his late-season scoring barrage, dropping 37 points on Los Angeles, who had no answer for the Warriors’ sharpshooter. The offensive explosion was enough to give Golden State its first win over Los Angeles this season.

With six games left in the regular season, the Warriors are one game back of the Lakers for the West’s No. 4 playoff seed. Moreover, the organization has a renewed sense that it can make a deep postseason run.

Still, challenges await in the next two games as they face the Denver Nuggets (47-30) and the Houston Rockets (50-27), two of the elite teams in the Western Conference.

Expect plenty of dynamic performances from Butler, Curry and the rest of the Golden State squad as they make their playoff push.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

Podziemski reveals season-long half-court competition with Steph originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Over the course of an 82-game NBA season, Warriors teammates Steph Curry and Brandin Podziemski have found a fun yet competitive way to keep things light.

The sharpshooters are partaking in a friendly half-court shooting competition that began at the start of the season and will continue for the six remaining regular-season contests.

And the standings are closer than some might have guessed — as in tied.

“Me and Steph have shooting competitions, half-court competitions all the time,” Podziemski told reporters Thursday night in Los Angeles after the Warriors’ big 123-116 win over the Lakers. “We’re actually tied, 24-24, right now on the half-court competition.

“Just a few shootarounds left, but I think we just try to have fun with it and understand that Steph’s the best shooter that’s stepped foot on Earth so to pick his brain, not only with shooting but that flow state that he gets into when he’s shooting lights out like he did in Memphis, just trying to pick his brain on that and try to get in that type of rhythm yourself. I’ve had two good shooting games on this trip, so just continuing to lean on that.”

Podziemski wowed the crowd at Crypto.com Arena after banking in a half-court shot as the shot clock expired just before halftime. But no one was as impressed as the Warriors’ bench.

PODZ FROM THE LOGO TO BEAT THE BUZZER 🚨 🚨🚨

pic.twitter.com/hvC61QT4UC

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 4, 2025

And per usual, leading that reaction was veteran teammate Draymond Green, who got on Podziemski for passing up a buzzer-beater opportunity against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.

“Him and Steph shoot half-court shots against each other every day,” Green told reporters in LA postgame. “I know you’d imagine the standings is Steph [winning]. I’m not sure what their count is but BP could be possibly leading. He hits those shots very frequently. So we get in the game in San Antonio and he’s at the buzzer and he threw it to Jimmy [Butler]. And we’re all like, ‘What’re you doing? No, you have to take that shot.’

“He took it tonight and he made it. So that’s why you seen everyone’s reaction from the bench going crazy. And he’s running off yelling, ‘Get me my money,’ because we shoot half-court shots when someone’s late for money and he’s yelling and running, ‘Get me my money, get me my money.’ So it was a great moment. It’s good to see him make that shot. It was a huge shot. Completely shifted the momentum going into the half back to us.”

Podziemski finished with 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field and a career-best 8 of 10 from 3-point range, with eight rebounds, six assists and one steal in 36 minutes.

After struggling early in the 2024-25 NBA season, the second-year guard appears to have turned things around. And it all starts with the good vibes behind the scenes with his star teammates.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

Draymond vs. Jokić is matchup to watch in Warriors-Nuggets game originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Draymond Green’s 2025 Defensive Player of the Year campaign, moribund before the All-Star break, now is conspicuous and impressive, gliding across the NBA sky like a comet.

Now that Green is close enough to almost touch the award, he faces a threat that can interfere with his flight. Denver’s redoubtable Nikola Jokić, three-time MVP and perhaps the league’s most skilled offensive player, is coming to town Friday night.

This is the daunting welcome-home greeting that awaits Draymond and the Warriors after a stirring two-week road trip. Coverage on NBC Sports Bay Area begins with “Warriors Pregame Live” at 6 p.m., followed by tipoff from Chase Center shortly after 7.

The Green-Jokić matchup is the backdrop of a game with serious implications. Golden State (45-31) is fifth in the Western Conference standings, 1.5 games behind the third-place Nuggets (47-30). Both teams are eager to remain in the top six, thereby avoiding the play-in tournament.

Jokić simply presents more problems for a defense than any other player in the NBA. He’s third in scoring (29.7 points per game), second in rebounding (12.8), second in assists (10.2) and is shooting a career-high 41.6 percent beyond the arc.

“I feel very confident that most centers in the NBA, I can outthink – maybe not Joker,” Green, who gives away five inches and about 50 pounds, said a few weeks ago.

Jokić is the exception to most every rule. Nobody “stops” him, but Draymond approaches the task by trying to bother the 6-foot-11, 280-pound superstar enough to disrupt rhythm. He’s averaging 21.6 points per game over his last 10 matchups with Green.

Considering Jokić in his last game produced 61 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds, Draymond – and the Warriors – would gladly take a 22-point night at Chase.

If the Nuggets prevail with Jokić dominating the action on Friday – he obviously has the capacity to do so – it could slow the momentum of Green’s DPOY campaign. One game, however, should not have a massive impact on voters.

But a Golden State victory, coupled with a defensively impactful game from Draymond, surely would impress voters still studying the work of other candidates, such as Cleveland’s Evan Mobley and Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort.

This is a night on which the Warriors have a chance to accomplish two important goals. Winning would snap a nine-game losing streak against the Nuggets that dates to March 10, 2022. And Green has a chance to clinch the second DPOY award of his 13-year career.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

How Steph made NBA history in Warriors' huge win over Lakers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Steph Curry made more NBA history in Thursday’s 123-116 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

With his 37-point outburst, the Warriors superstar became the oldest point guard to record back-to-back games of 35 points or more.

Steph Curry is the oldest point guard in NBA history to record back-to-back 35-PT games. pic.twitter.com/wfZtZqFEui

— StatMamba (@StatMamba) April 4, 2025

Curry’s stellar shooting from the free-throw line helped Golden State get a much-needed victory against Los Angeles. This followed his incredible 52-point performance in the previous game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

These two crucial wins have placed the Warriors in contention for a high playoff seed in the Western Conference.

Since trading for Jimmy Butler, the 37-year-old has experienced a scoring renaissance, averaging 29.2 points per game and ripping long-range shots like the good old days.

With six games left in the regular season, the Warriors are one game back of the Lakers for the fourth seed in the West.

Given Curry’s resurgent play and the continued development of the rest of Golden State’s lineup, the franchise heads into the postseason with plenty of positive momentum.

Still, the road to a favorable playoff seed won’t get any easier with two of the best teams in the Western Conference up next. Curry will need to channel more of his magical shot-making in the next two games if the Warriors want to beat the Denver Nuggets (47-30) and the Houston Rockets (50-27).

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

Stevens details how Tatum and Brown's growth has reached a new level originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

From acquiring Derrick White in 2022 to swinging trades for Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday in 2023, Brad Stevens made a number of masterful moves that helped the Boston Celtics win their 18th championship.

But the Celtics wouldn’t have raised Banner 18 last June without Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Tatum and Brown have blossomed into superstars in Boston. The former is a six-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA First Team selection who’s one of the top five players in basketball, while the latter is a four-time All-Star who earned MVP honors in both the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals.

While the Jays have shown steady improvement since entering the league, they both took significant leaps last season — particularly in the playmaking department, where their assists per game shot up from 4.9 to 5.9 for Tatum and 3.6 to 4.6 for Brown.

In an exclusive interview with Celtics Insider Chris Forsberg, Stevens detailed how he’s seen Tatum and Brown evolve, especially over the last few seasons.

“Jayson’s been special from Day 1,” Stevens said. “I think the strength that he’s put on in the last few years has been really beneficial, not only in finishing or holding his spot — he doesn’t get knocked off his spot like he did maybe in his early years — and then also defensively in his ability to play anyone from the point guard to the center.

“A lot of times in this day and age, you’re not getting posted by centers, so you can be a little bit more creative defensively, but you still have to block them out and you still have to engage physically down in the paint, and he does a great job of that.”

That physicality has helped Tatum average 8.7 rebounds per game this season, his fourth consecutive season averaging at least eight rebounds per game after he averaged 5.0 boards per game as a rookie. Stevens also is impressed by how Tatum’s court vision has evolved.

“The experience that you go through being double-teamed, seeing different coverages — you get to the point where you’re 27 years old and you’ve pretty much seen it all,” Stevens said.

“You can see that he plays the game — we always like to say that he plays the game unconsciously competent. He doesn’t need to think about it. He sees it, he makes the right read, and he’s just gotten better and better and better.”

As for Brown, Stevens marveled at the athletic wing’s ability to guard Luka Doncic full-court during the 2024 NBA Finals, all while averaging 20.8 points per game on the offensive end.

“He’s had great growth all the way through,” Stevens said of Brown. “Again, I go back to, if you would have told me his first year that he would have been guarding the point guard in the Finals and picking up full (court) and being able to navigate and handle all those screens and everything else, I’d say that he’s capable of doing that, but there’s a lot that goes into that. And those are things that you gain from experience, too.”

Tatum and Brown are both very gifted scorers, but earlier in their careers, they’d occasionally struggle to set up their teammates and make the right passes out of defensive pressure. They’ve both made huge strides in that department over the last two seasons, however — aided in part by an excellent supporting cast built by Stevens.

“Offensively, you just continue to see the growth and the ability to, again, when those guys draw two, just make the right play,” Stevens said. “It’s such a critical part of the game, and it’s not as easy as everybody makes it out to be.”

“There’s different ways that they have to get used to reading all this when you’re ‘the guy.’ The amount of coverages that they see and the reads they have to make are different than everyone else sees, because they’re not guarded that way.”

Check out the video above for more from Stevens on Tatum and Brown’s growth.

Why Windhorst claims Warriors are West's ‘secret No. 2 seed' originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Warriors have skyrocketed up the Western Conference standings after acquiring star forward Jimmy Butler in a blockbuster trade on Feb. 5.

With six games remaining in the 2024-25 NBA regular season, Golden State (45-31) currently is the West’s No. 5 playoff seed, with a handful of teams, including the Memphis Grizzlies (45-32), Minnesota Timberwolves (45-32) and Los Angeles Clippers (44-32) chasing them in the rearview mirror.

With matchups against Western Conference foes like the Denver Nuggets (47-30), Houston Rockets (50-27), Phoenix Suns (35-41) and the Clippers still remaining on the schedule, the Warriors’ playoff positioning could change drastically in the next nine days, but ESPN’s Brian Windhorst believes Golden State truly is one of the best teams in the West, regardless of where it finishes the regular season.

“The Warriors come out with, I think, their biggest win of the season,” Windhorst said Thursday night on “SportsCenter” after Golden State’s 123-116 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena.

“… They are sort of the secret No. 2 seed here, because when Draymond Green, Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler play together, they’re now 19-2. The lineup that started tonight, which included Brandin Podziemski, who had one of the games of his career, they’re now 12-0. So when this team gets together, they are an absolute beast.”

It’s no secret who the West’s true No. 1 seed is, as the Oklahoma City Thunder (64-12) have held down the top spot for the entire season and will have home-court advantage throughout the postseason.

And regardless of where the Warriors finish in the conference standings, Windhorst believes they are capable of beating just about any team.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast