Category: Basketball

LEEDS, England (AP) — Erling Haaland was left out of Manchester City's squad for the Premier League match at Leeds on Saturday after sustaining a “little injury” in training, manager Pep Guardiola said.

“Two days ago, he had in the last moments of training some problems,” Guardiola said ahead of the game at Elland Road.

“A little injury," Guardiola added, without disclosing the exact nature of Haaland's problem. "It’s not a big issue but not ready for today.”

City's next match is at home to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday. A week later — on March 11 — City travels to Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16.

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

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Daniil Medvedev won his 23rd ATP singles title at the Dubai Championships when Tallon Griekspoor withdrew from the final injured on Saturday.

Griekspoor hurt his left hamstring on Friday against Andrey Rublev and won their two-sets semifinal but couldn't recover in time for the final.

“I have been better that's for sure,” the Dutchman said at the trophy ceremony. “I went to the hospital this morning and had a couple of scans, which showed something serious. It kept me from coming on court tonight and will keep me from the court in the coming weeks.”

Medvedev won his second title of the year after Brisbane in January. It was also his second Dubai title after victory in 2023. Its the first time he's won the same event twice.

“That's what is crazy about it,” Medvedev said. “I never did it in any city in the world and the first time I do it, it's (via) a walkover.”

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

For those of us who grew up watching the NBA on NBC in the 90’s, Tuesday’s broadcast for the Philadelphia 76ers’ home game against San Antonio will be a shot of nostalgia straight to the heart. NBC announced they are doing a ‘Throwback Tuesday’ telecast to recreate the experience of a 1995-96 broadcast.

Just when you thought Doug Collins was out of our lives (timely given Shamus Clancy just wrote about how the Sixers didn’t shoot threes during Collins’ coaching tenure), he’ll be on the mic alongside Bob Costas, Mike Fratello and Jim Gray. As much as I don’t look back on him as a coach overly fondly, I’ve never minded Collins’ work as a TV analyst, and that’s a tremendous broadcast group. Having all those graphics and score bugs back for one night will be a fun trip down memory lane, and obviously, everyone knows the place of Roundball Rock in NBA history.

Although the Sixers’ 1995-96 season was only memorable because their 18-64 record allowed them to draft Allen Iverson first overall in the NBA draft, it will be a blast seeing footage from across the league from that season. That year was also the final one for Philadelphia in the Spectrum; I’ll always remember being a kid running around those sparsely-populated aisles chasing down coupons from the Lay’s blimp. The Sixers’ game against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs (currently riding an 11-game winning streak) was already going to be must-see TV, but this new broadcast twist is an exciting cherry on the top.

1. Dominant Shooting Display

Coming off of Boston’s lowest scoring output of the season against the Denver Nuggets at only 84 points, the Celtics came back home to TD Garden and set a new season-high in points with 148 against the Brooklyn Nets. Boston did this with some historic shooting, going 52-78 (67%) from the field and 22-34(65%) from three point range. This resulted in the highest effective field goal percentage in NBA History, at 80.8%. Looking at the shooting chart, it is all Celtics green.

2. More Incredible Ball Movement

Continuing the trend on the Celtics historic offensive night, Boston racked up 38 assists in their win over Brooklyn, a new season-high and the most they had in a game since the 2022 season. When asked about the Celtics ball movement postgame, Joe Mazzulla talked about how it was funny people equate assists to ball movement. He said, ““Sometimes you only need one pass for an assist. We’re making good reads we’re making shots. So we have to continue to be able to do that.”

3. Second Half Run

In the Celtics 97-81 win against the Phoenix Suns on February 24th, Boston used a 50-11 run between the second and third quarters to pull ahead and stay ahead to take the victory. In this game, Boston once again used long scoring runs to control the game, this time it was a 51-16 run from the 7:07 mark of the third quarter to the 6:56 mark of the fourth quarter.

Hard to believe by the final score, but this was a close game at halftime, where the Celtics led 66-57. You could tell that Boston was going to eventually win this game, but recent history has showed that Brooklyn does not go away quietly. However the Celtics outscored the Nets 43-26 in the third quarter and 39-28 in the fourth quarter to end it.

4. Nikola Vucevic Bounce Back

In the loss to the Denver Nuggets, Nikola Vucevic had one of his worst games with the Celtics, finishing with 2 points and 8 rebounds on 1-7 shooting. In his matchup against the Brooklyn Nets, Vucevic bounced back with his best game as a member of the Celtics, finishing with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists on 9-13 shooting from the field, 3-3 from three point range, and 7-7 from the free throw line. Vucevic is the third player in Celtics history to record 25+ points, 10+ rebounds and 85+ TS% off the bench alongside Kevin McHale and Payton Pritchard.

In the Celtics recent games, teams have started to pull the chair out from Nikola Vucevic when he gets the ball inside. To counteract this, Vucevic showed off some quick post moves tonight, getting the ball and putting up the shot before the defense had time to make their move.

Vucevic was also incredible when it came to trailing and rolling in the pick-and-roll in this game. He always ended up in the right place at the right time for a pass from Jaylen Brown or Derrick White on the roll and it was a masterful display.

5. Jaylen Brown the Net Positive

You might see people using databallr statistics to diminish the incredible season that Jaylen Brown is having. According to the numbers, Brown is a net negative according to his on/off rating at a -10.1. Boston is a +5.2 net rating when he is on the floor vs a +15.3 net rating off the floor. I have to quote the great Homer Simpsons of The Simpsons fame to give you my opinion on this stat: “People can come up with statistics to prove anything Kent. Forty percent of all people know that.” Brown showed he was a huge positive in this game against the Nets, finishing with 28 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block on 9-12 shooting from the field and 4-4 from three with a +25 +/-.

The Nets decided to put two defenders on Brown for most of this game and because of that, he was able to dissect the defense and find the shooter for a wide open shot.

Scoring wise, Brown was able to get to the basket at will and take advantage of very poor defensive play by the Nets. On most of these possessions he is able to get the switch on to a big and blow by them for an easy look at the rim. His three point shooting was very impressive to me as well because Brown doesn’t take a lot of threes and in this game he was able to knock down some pretty difficult step-backs on some solid contests.

6. Payton Pritchard Was Dialed In

Payton Pritchard was another player who had a tough game against the Nuggets and was able to bounce back in a big way. He finished with 22 points and 5 assists on 9-12 shooting from the field and 4-5 shooting from three. He was also a +40 in +/- in this game, the highest on the team in this game. Pritchard had a great run in the second quarter when he scored 8 straight points on Brooklyn but the fourth quarter is where he started to show out.

Not taking any chances, Pritchard scored 9 points on 4-4 shooting from the field and 1-1 from three, finishing as a +15 for this quarter alone. He utilized the jumper in this scoring run and used his handle to get his defender off the spot so he could splash the shot in their face and kill any potential momentum that Brooklyn tried to build.

7. Derrick White Playmaking

In his last 10 games, Derrick White is averaging 6.8 assists since becoming the Celtics starting point guard. I have raved about his ability to pass in another article but he once again showed these improvements of timing on his passes in this game. White finished with 12 points, 7 assists, and 2 blocks on the night and did an amazing job setting up his teammates. His most impressive passes in this game for me came along the perimeter. When the Celtics were swinging the ball around, White did a great job of finding the open man for the a wide open three.

8. Baylor Scheierman

In a game where 6 Celtics players ended up in double digit scoring, Baylor Scheierman finished with a very underrated great game. In 13 games in the starting lineup this season, Scheierman is averaging 8.7 Points, 6.3 Rebounds, 2.5 Assists 1.1 Steals on 42% shooting from the field and 37% shooting from three. In this game he had 10 points and 6 assists on 3-3 shooting but there was a sequence in the second quarter of this game that puts into perspective how good he has been.

In the second quarter, at the 3:43 mark, Scheierman had the ball on the wing with the shot clock running down. He then fired an incredible hook shot pass to Sam Hauser in the corner who splashed the three. Then on the next offensive possession, Baylor got into the paint, stopped on a dime, and hit a sweet fadeaway jumper.

This is the perfect sequence to show the improvements that Scheierman has made since his rookie season. Last year he was known for some flashy passes but not much more. This game proved that he knows when to make the right play. Last year there were times where he was timid when it came to creating his own shot. This game proved that his confidence is at an all time high.

9. Hugo Gonzalez Cutting

Hugo Gonzalez had a very good game coming off of the bench in this one, finishing with 8 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 blocks on 4-6 shooting. He didn’t hit a three in this game but the thing that made him so impactful was his ability to cut to the basket when the Celtics are looking for it. Two of his cuts came when Brooklyn decided to double the Celtics player with the ball. Hugo came streaking in from the three point line and was able to finish with an easy dunk. The other came on an alley-oop inbounds play from Scheierman where Gonzalez had a free lane to the hoop.

10. Josh Minott Revenge Game

At the trade deadline this year, the Celtics decided to trade Josh Minott to the Brooklyn Nets despite showing some flashes with Boston earlier this season. Despite only playing one game for the Nets since the trade, Nets coach Jordi Fernandez talked highly of the young wing’s character. Fernandez said, “Great personality. Just you could say that he’s been a teammate in the group for a long time the way he’s just blended in right away. He knew what we were about.” He also talked about Minott ramping up with the G-League team for this game.

In his second game with Brooklyn against the Celtics, he had a semi-Revenge Game against Boston, finishing with 9 points on 4-7 shooting in 16 minutes off the bench. The play he was able to exact his revenge came in the first quarter with a monster poster dunk on Hugo Gonzalez that had everyone in the crowd stunned.

Overall I think Brooklyn will be a great place for Minott to continue his development as a player. There are very low expectations for Brooklyn right now and if they end up getting another top pick, he could be a very nice insulating player behind the rest of the rookies. I am very high on Minott so I hope he has a very long and successful NBA career moving forward but tonight the Celtics got the better of him in this matchup.

During Nikola Vučević’s Boston Celtics debut, both sides struggled. Three weeks ago marked the beginning of Vučević’s acclimation, and since then, his synergy has begun to take shape.

It was a stark contrast on Friday night against the Brooklyn Nets. Vučević’s offensive instincts kicked in, and decisively; he wasn’t hesitant. He was constantly in motion, whether it meant rolling to the basket or hanging around the perimeter, ready for a catch-and-shoot three. The Vučević on the floor 21 days after debuting was exactly what the organization was looking for at the trade deadline.

Checking in after Boston’s 148-111 one-sided win over Brooklyn at TD Garden, Vučević admitted he’s felt the progress take form but knows there’s still work to do.

“It’s been pretty good,” Vučević told reporters, per CLNS Media. “I’m still getting used to the offense and my new teammates, and learning their tendencies — learning my ways. At times, I overthink a little bit, which makes me hesitant and takes away my aggressiveness. And I feel like tonight I was able to put it more together, just play off my teammates.”

The synergy between Vučević and the Celtics extended beyond his comfort zone. Boston came within inches of breaking the 43-year-old record set by the 1983 San Antonio Spurs for the best single-game field-goal percentage (70.7 percent). In the fourth quarter, the Celtics hovered around 70 percent, but a few misses down the stretch left them at 66.7 percent. Still, they set the all-time mark for effective field-goal percentage (80.8 percent), surpassing last season’s Milwaukee Bucks (80.4 percent).

Vučević provided 28 points and 11 rebounds off the bench in 25 minutes, notching his third double-double in a Celtics uniform.

“Just have to find the right balance of playing my game, being aggressive, using my instincts, but make it fit within what we want to run,” he told reporters.

Vučević shot a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc, pitching into a dominant night of Mazzulla-ball. The Celtics shot 64.7 percent, knocking down 22 of their 34 attempts from 3-point range.

In many ways, it looked as though Vučević had reached the final stages of his acclimation. There were no force-feeds to get him going, nor any need for patience from Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla. Vučević simply looked like himself, even though in Boston, that requires adjusting to a role off the bench rather than in the starting lineup. For many players around the league, that challenge could affect their ability to contribute.

However, Vučević has steadily turned each Boston appearance into a stepping stone — even as Mazzulla prefers not to let him get too comfortable for the team’s sake.

“I hope that he’s never completely comfortable because then we don’t get better,” Mazzulla told reporters, per CLNS Media. “But whether it’s walkthrough, whether it’s film session, whether it’s practice, we’re just constantly watching film, communicating — what do you see here? Where can we get better at? The thing with him is that because of his versatility, he’s going to see different stuff throughout, and we have to be ready to react to that as well as him.”

Vučević has functioned as something of an addition-by-subtraction acquisition. He isn’t as quick or crafty as Anfernee Simons, but he restores what the Celtics lost this past offseason: a true floor-spacing center.

Boston parted ways with Kristaps Porziņģis, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet — a trio that included two of the league’s best 3-point shooting big men. Substituting Simons for Vučević, though, reintroduces that element, while also allowing Mazzulla to slide Payton Pritchard back into his natural sixth-man role alongside Vučević, thus strengthening Boston’s depth and lineup balance.

“Every day is a day we get better,” Jaylen Brown told reporters, per CLNS Media. “So we’re continuing to find him in his spots, and allowing him to feel more comfortable is big time for our team. I think today was a great step forward. I like to see him aggressive. I think that’s a good sign for us, especially when teams are trying to double or take certain parts of the game away. I think he did a good job today.”

Mazzulla initially said that getting Vučević settled in would be a two-sided effort, required from both Vučević and his new Celtics teammates. So far, both sides have pulled their weight. Friday night’s victory reflected that effort coming to fruition, and Vučević noticed it coming together in real time.

“Tonight, everything clicked,” Vučević told reporters. “We took our time with our decisions. Everything was done with more attention to detail.”

Nikola Jokic popped to his feet and angrily confronted Lu Dort after the Thunder forward tripped him during the Nuggets’ overtime loss Friday night at rival Oklahoma City.

The three-time league MVP said afterward it was a “necessary” response to a play that earned Dort an ejection from the game early in the fourth quarter at Paycom Center.

“It’s an unnecessary move and a necessary reaction,” Jokic said after the 127-121 loss to the defending NBA champions. “There is no such thing — I think there’s not supposed to be those things on a basketball floor. “So, it was just an unnecessary move and a necessary reaction by me.”

Lu Dort was ejected after appearing to trip Nikola Jokic on this play.

Nikola Jokic and Jaylin Williams both received technical fouls. pic.twitter.com/ZFyNHpigsM

— ESPN (@espn) February 28, 2026

Jokic and OKC center Jaylin Williams also were assessed double technical fouls on the play in the confrontation between the sides that went to seven games in the second round of last year’s Western Conference playoffs before the Thunder eventually secured the NBA title.

It was ruled via review that Dort’s foul was a flagrant 2 — resulting in automatic ejection — after replays showed he backed into Jokic as they ran up the court and stuck out his right foot to trip the eight-time All-Star.

Jokic bounced up and angrily bumped chests with Dort before Williams stepped in and traded shoves and jersey grabs with the Denver center.

Coaches and officials then broke up the ensuing on-court scrum.

“Just competing,” Williams told ESPN. “Two teams competing, that’s it. That’s all I got.”

Crew chief James Williams told a pool reporter after the game that the refs deemed Dort’s contact “to be unnecessary and excessive with a high potential for injury.”

OKC coach Mark Daigneault seemed to suggest that the ruling was based on Jokic’s status among the league’s best players.

“I will say this: If [Williams] is running up the floor and gets tripped, we expect a flagrant 2 from this point forward,” Daigneault said. “That’s all. If that’s the precedent, if that becomes a malicious play and flagrant 2 is the line in the sand on that, we would expect that if it’s [Williams]. We would expect that if it’s anybody. And if that’s the case, we’re good.”

The game also featured the return to the Thunder lineup for reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 36 points and nine assists in 34 minutes after sitting out the previous nine games due to an abdominal strain.

The teams will meet again March 9 in Oklahoma City.

LONDON (AP) — Formula One ’s governing body has reached a compromise with manufacturers that changes the way the compression ratio will be measured midway through this season and in the 2027 season.

New engine rules set out a compression ratio of 16:1 — a measurement of how tightly the pistons squeeze the mixture of fuel and air before it ignites, and therefore how much power can be generated.

The regulations include a test to stop teams exceeding 16:1, but the checks happen at “ambient temperature.” Some rival teams have suggested Mercedes found a way for components to behave differently when they heat up during use, beating the test, though Mercedes says its engine is fully legal.

The compromise announced Saturday means the compression ratio will be controlled in both hot and cold conditions from June 1 and only when hot from the 2027 season thereafter.

There are seven F1 races before the June 1 test.

“The regulations introduced for 2026 represent one of the biggest changes in recent memory,” the FIA said. “All parties acknowledge that with the introduction of such significant regulatory changes, there are collective learnings to be taken from pre-season testing and the initial rounds of the 2026 championship.

“Further evaluation and technical checks on energy management matters are ongoing.”

Mercedes also supplies McLaren, Alpine and Williams.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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The Charlotte Hornets seek a fourth straight win as they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday afternoon.

Trail Blazers vs Hornets prediction

Trail Blazers vs Hornets best bet: Hornets -8 (-110)

After a slow start, the Charlotte Hornets have done a complete 180, and they’ll have no problem covering a modest spread at home. 

Trail Blazers vs Hornets same-game parlay

The Hornets are 1-6 to the Under across their last seven home games, while the Trail Blazers are 2-5 to the Under across their last seven on the road. Charlotte's defense will be able to put the clamps on a Portland offense missing its top scorer in Deni Avdija.

Trail Blazers vs Hornets SGP

• Hornets -8
• Under 229.5
• Miles Bridges Over 13.5 points

Our "from downtown" SGP: Knueppel keeps going

Kon Knueppel broke Keegan Murray’s single-season rookie 3-point record as he converted eight triples in his last game out. Across his last eight games, he’s splashed 5.1 triples, and he’s hit at least four treys six times in that span.

Trail Blazers vs Hornets SGP

• Hornets -8
• Under 229.5
• Miles Bridges Over 13.5 points
• Kon Knueppel Over 3.5 3-pointers

Trail Blazers vs Hornets odds

• Spread: Portland +8 (-110) | Charlotte -8 (-110)
• Moneyline: Portland -320 | Charlotte +260
• Over/Under: Over 229.5 (-110) | Under 229.5 (-110)

Trail Blazers vs Hornets betting trend to know

The Trail Blazers have hit the Under in 15 of their last 20 away games (+9.50 Units / 43% ROI). Find more NBA betting trends for Trail Blazers vs. Hornets.

How to watch Trail Blazers vs Hornets

Trail Blazers vs Hornets latest injuries

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

On Thursday, it was reported that Kyle Anderson will be reuniting with the Minnesota Timberwolves following a buyout with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Anderson signed a two-year contract with the Timberwolves during the 2022 offseason and ended up being one of the best free agent signings in the franchise’s history. He played an outsized role throughout the team’s playoff push in the 2022-23 season, as well as during the franchise’s first trip to the Western Conference Finals in 20 years in the 2024 Playoffs.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the most memorable moments of Slo-Mo’s previous stint in Minnesota.

#5: The Punch Heard Round the World

This one probably fits better in the dishonourable mention category.

In the final game of the 2022-23 regular season, the Wolves found themselves locked into the Play-In Tournament, leaving a matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans that would determine their seed and matchup. With a win, Minnesota would be the 8-seed and would need just one more win to clinch a playoff spot. A loss would have dropped them to ninth, meaning a date with the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder to save their season.

It had already been a difficult season to that point. The Wolves came into the game 41-40, underachieving some lofty goals following the trade for Rudy Gobert in the offseason. With Wolves down 12 in the second quarter, emotions finally boiled over when Gobert punched Anderson during a timeout.

Despite the fight and losing Jaden McDaniels earlier in the game when he punched a wall and ended his season, the Wolves turned the game around and won 113-108 in one of the weirdest games in Timberwolves history. Anderson finished the game with eight points, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and a steal.

With Gobert suspended for the team’s first Play-In Game, the Wolves went on to lose to the Los Angeles Lakers in overtime before defeating the Thunder to secure the franchise’s second straight playoff appearance, in which they lost to the one seed and eventual champion Denver Nuggets in five games.

#4: A Spin Move Past DiVicenzo and the Knicks

After the disappointing 2022-23 season, the Wolves decided not to make any major roster changes heading into the next season, believing in the twin towers pair of Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns that had struggled the season prior.

That decision proved to be the correct one as, after a 1-2 start to the season, the Wolves went 12-3 in November, setting the franchise record for wins in a calendar month. The winning streak took the Wolves from a bit of a laughing stock to a powerhouse in the Western Conference and stands as one of the best months in the history of the Timberwolves.

Anderson had one of his classic Slo-Mo moves during the Wolves’ tenth win of the season, hitting Donte DiVincenzo and the New York Knicks with a pretty spin move for a layup.

#3: Season-High Against His Former Team

Before joining the Timberwolves in the summer of 2022, Anderson spent four seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies, making the playoffs twice, including a six-game defeat of the Timberwolves in the 2022 Playoffs.

The next season with Anderson on the Wolves, Slo-Mo, against his former team, put together his highest scoring performance in a Timberwolves uniform, putting up 23 points on 9-16 shooting, including 4-7 from beyond the arc over 27 minutes while starting in place of Towns, who was injured.

The late-January win put the Wolves’ record at 26-25, putting them over .500 for the first time in over two months.

#2: Game-Winning Steal Against Golden State

It’s difficult to overstate Anderson’s importance to the Wolves making the Playoffs in the 2022-23 season. Slo-Mo provided phenomenal playing, defense, and leadership the entire season, often serving Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch’s safety valve off the bench when the game wasn’t going Minnesota’s way.

Anderson’s most clutch play of the season came in late March against the Golden State Warriors. With the Wolves down by one and only a four-second differential, Minnesota likely needed to foul to prolong the game. Anderson had other ideas as he deflected and stole a pass from Draymond Green before finding Towns for the go-ahead 3-pointer.

It was Towns’s just second game back after a 53-game absence. The previous game, KAT also had the go-ahead points as he knocked down two late free throws to put the Wolves up one over the Atlanta Hawks, leading to his famous “This is what movies is made of” quote.

#1 Navigating Traffic in the West Finals

The 2024 Western Conference Finals did not go as planned for the Timberwolves. Despite having home-court over the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks, the Wolves fell behind 3-0 in the series, eventually losing to the Mavs in five games.

In the Wolves’ lone win of the series in Game 4, Slo-Mo had a gigantic impact on the game. With the Wolves up two late in the game, Anderson motioned to Towns to stand in the left corner. When Edwards drove to the paint, Slo-Mo called for Towns to get the ball and screened off Kyrie Irving to give the Wolves a five-point lead.

The play is a perfect example of what Anderson brought throughout his time in Minnesota. His leadership both on and off the court became invaluable for a Wolves team learning on the fly about how to be a championship contender in the NBA, and he had countless plays like this one, where he took the young players under his wing and put the Wolves in a position to win games.

The Milwaukee Bucks couldn’t notch their third three-game winning streak of the month, losing to the New York Knicks 127-98. New York shot a staggering 21/41 from the three-point line, while the Bucks turned the ball over 16 times. 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

32 minutes, 13 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 turnovers, 5/9 FG, -30

Rollins had some decent moments during the first half, but the second half was a different story. He was held scoreless on 0/2 shooting and turned the ball over three times. 

Grade: D+

Kevin Porter Jr.

27 minutes, 11 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 turnovers, 4/12 FG, -16

One of the quieter double-doubles you’ll see all season. The Knicks’ defense did a great job of making KPJ a pass-first player. He made the right reads in those spots, but couldn’t get it going f0or himself. 

Grade: C-

AJ Green

30 minutes, 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2/6 3P, -17

The Knicks have always been a bad matchup for Green since he became a regular rotation player. He’s averaging 6.8 PPG in 10 career games against the Knicks, the fifth-fewest against Eastern Conference opponents, and last night was no different; the size of their wings seems to neutralize his ability to get good shots off. 

Grade: D

Kyle Kuzma

27 minutes, 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 6/11 FG, 4/7 3P, -16

Kuzma continues to feel it from three-point range. While Doc wasn’t happy with all of his attempts, at least they’re going in right now. Kuzma did a solid job of guarding Brunson once the switch was made, helping to limit him to two points in the second half on 1/4 shooting. 

Grade: B

Myles Turner

25 minutes, 19 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 4/7 3P, -20

It’s a shame Turner’s bounce-back game was wasted on a blowout like this. He did a great job limiting Karl-Anthony Towns’ offense when Doc opted to throw Kuzma (who was originally guarding Towns) on Brunson. Hopefully, these types of games will be more common for Turner down the stretch. 

Grade: B

Bobby Portis

17 minutes, 14 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 5/8 FG, 2/3 3P, 2/3 FT, -10

Portis provided consistent offense off the bench. It was an efficient game for BP on offense, but there were a few defensive lapses when he fell asleep and allowed a shooter to get wide open. 

Grade: B-

Cam Thomas

17 minutes, 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2/9 FG, 3/3 FT, -17

After an incredible start to his Bucks tenure, now we’re seeing the bad side of Thomas’ game. He forced several bad shots, and combined with the fact that he’s a non-factor on defense, it’s hard to keep him on the floor.

Grade: D

Jericho Sims

23 minutes, 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1/1 FG, -21

In a game where the Bucks needed another big game from Sims on the glass, he failed to deliver. Jericho really struggled against the taller Knicks bigs of Towns and Robinson. 

Grade: D-

Ousmane Dieng

12 minutes, 0 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 0/2 FG, -11

The usage of Dieng has been very confusing (more on that later). Despite that, Dieng failed to put points on the board and got beaten a few times on defense. He has to at least stand up as a defensive player for the Bucks as his offence develops. The two looks he did get were low percentage looks, taking a contested three over Diawara and a long step-back three that rimmed out. 

Grade: D

Doc Rivers

The usage of Dieng has to be investigated. Doc talks about how much they like him, yet against a team with a lot of big wings, he played four minutes and 27 seconds in the first half. That, combined with leaving Thomas out there too long, didn’t help matters. I do give him credit for switching Kuzma onto Brunson, but the game was so out of hand at that point, did it really matter? 

Grade: D+

Garbage Time: Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Gary Harris, Gary Trent Jr., Andre Jackson Jr., Pete Nance

Inactive: Alex Antetokounmpo, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Taurean Prince, Cormac Ryan

Bonus Bucks Bits

• A quick Giannis update: Doc said that he’s been progressing through individual work and live four-on-four play with no setbacks. He didn’t provide any indication of how close the two-time MVP is to returning.
• As I mentioned at the beginning of the rapid recap, Doc called out the Bucks’ need to take care of the ball. They didn’t do that, turning the ball over 16 times and allowing the Knicks to score 19 points off of those. It’s the 22nd time this season they’ve turned it over 16+ times. Their record in such games falls to 8-14. 
• It was easily one of the best shooting nights for the Knicks, hitting 51.2% from three-point range; that was the third-highest percentage they’ve posted this season. Yet for Doc, the issues the Bucks had on defense were that they didn’t match the Knicks’ physicality: 

“Some of the guys on their team we gave shots to, we’re fine with that, (but) we should’ve still went out and guarded it. I just thought they got everything they wanted, forget the threes for a second. Whenever they wanted to drive, they drove the ball. When they wanted to shoot, they shot the ball. I just didn’t think we met their physicality and their intensity. It’s a good lesson for them, you knew how this game was going to play, and we just didn’t meet the moment.” 

• It was another good shooting performance from Kuz from beyond the arc. Over his last three games, he’s shooting an even 50% (12/24). 

Up Next

The Bucks will kick off March on the road with a Sunday matinee against the free-falling Chicago Bulls. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Central at the United Center. You can catch the game on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin. 

In some NBA circles, Reed Sheppard has a nickname.

Rule of thumb: If Basketball Reference won’t print it, neither will The Dream Shake. Hmmm. How about Triple Espresso Curry? Why not I Ran Into A Jerk From High School, He Seemed Really Excited To See Me Even Though We Were Never Friends Curry?

To quote the ever-poignant Pusha T (which in itself is a hint), if you know, you know. The more significant point, of course, is that Sheppard has garnered comparisons to Curry.

Are they legitimate?

Rockets’ Reed Sheppard can be a historic shooter

Warning: This attempt at statistical comparison is riddled with flaws.

Firstly, it’d have been better to compare Curry’s sophomore stats. Unfortunately, NBA.com’s tracking data doesn’t go back that far. The furthest back we could get was 2013-14. By then, Curry was a fringe MVP candidate, even if not the direct descendant of Khrysos that Rockets fans have grown to loathe.

Secondly, the league has changed dramatically in the last decade-and-change. Curry is the best shooter of all time, but it’s fair to say that the NBA did not know how to defend him when his style of play was beginning to crystallize. Ironically, the Rockets were instrumental in introducing some coverages that kind of, sort of mitigated his impact for stretches. It’s fair to assume Sheppard is seeing those coverages more regularly.

Lastly, Steph Curry is the best shooter of all time. It stands to reason that he’s unlikely to be number two by the time Sheppard retires. This is the highest bar.

So, the fact that Sheppard comes close to meeting it is very encouraging.

On catch-and-shoot threes, Curry shot 45.8% on 2.6 attempts per game in 2013-14. Sheppard is hitting 40.7% of his 4.4 threes per game. On pull-up threes, Curry hit 40.3% of his 4.4 attempts, while Sheppard is hitting 38.1% of his 2.0 per game.

On face value, perhaps that’s not as comparable as you’d like. The pull-up shooting is the secret sauce. That’s the skill that allowed Curry to warp the geometry of the basketball court. It’s what separates him from the Klay Thompsons and Ray Allens of the world.

Two counterpoints. First, 38.1% is a very strong percentage on pull-up triples. For context, Anthony Edwards is hitting 34.0% of his 6.0 attempts per game. There’s a simple conclusion here: Sheppard should shoot more pull-up threes. He’s got considerable breathing room for his accuracy to decline and remain one of the most effective pull-up three-point shooters in the NBA. As of now, he shoots a higher percentage than anyone in the top-10 in volume besides Ty Jerome and – you guessed it – Steph Curry.

Second, Sheppard doesn’t have to be a Curry facsimile to be one of the most impactful shooters in the NBA. Let it be said that Curry never played with a big man with Alperen Sengun’s combination of interior gravity and passing acumen. Given the potential synergy there, Sheppard’s catch-and-shoot chops could mean more for the Rockets than Curry’s meant for the Warriors.

Once again, volume is a variable. This is a neat stat that shows how much the league has changed. In 2013-14, Curry shot 8.1 threes per 75 possessions. That ranked third in the league behind Miro Telotovic (a beautiful blast from the past, what a fun player) and Gerald Green* (you’re a Rockets fan, so you know what that’s about).

*Green is the only celebrity I ever played against in NBA 2K. Random Rec. The dude played exactly like his NBA self. Finished 4/10 from three, 4/10 from the field. Pretty sure he missed 5 straight before hitting three impossible triples in a row. Surreal.

Sheppard shoots 9.7 threes per 75 possessions. That’s 12th in the league. Regardless of shot type, he needs to shoot more three-pointers. That’s true on a per-possession basis, but it’s more broadly true in general, which is a roundabout way of saying Ime Udoka needs to give him more minutes.

Could that unlock his inner Curry-ness?

Rockets’ Reed Sheppard can be a star

For Udoka to play Sheppard more, Sheppard needs to improve on defense.

He’s been doing that lately. Sheppard is gambling less. All of the hand-wringing about his efforts on that end may have been no more than a reaction to watching a rookie/sophomore on a contending NBA team.

He won’t be Curry. Nobody will. That’s fine. If Sheppard can be, say, 80% of a Steph Curry offensively plus elite defensive playmaking (even if exploitable in certain matchups), that feels like a borderline franchise player. If he can hit 90%, that’s a certified franchise stud.

If you disagree, you might be on drugs.

PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka (AP) — New Zealand backed into the Twenty20 World Cup semifinals when Pakistan could only narrowly beat Sri Lanka in a gripping match on Saturday.

Pakistan had to restrict Sri Lanka's chase to 147 to advance from the Super Eights at New Zealand's expense.

It looked achievable when Pakistan reduced Sri Lanka to 101-5 in the 12th over. But its hopes were foiled when Pavan Rathnayake and captain Dasun Shanaka led Sri Lanka to 148 in the 16th over.

But then Pakistan found itself in danger of failing to defend its highest ever T20 World Cup total, 212.

Shanaka began the last over against Shaheen Shah Afridi by slamming 4-6-6-6. Sri Lanka could pull off a heist with six runs needed off the last two balls.

But Shanaka missed trying to scoop the fifth ball and left the sixth, a yorker, thinking it was wide. It was not.

Pakistan won by five runs and bowed out of the tournament on net run rate, -0.123 to New Zealand's 1.390.

“When I lost the toss it was always going to be challenging because of the dew,” Pakistan captain Salman Agha said. “It was a good pitch. Restricting (Sri Lanka) to 148 was going to be challenging — we tried.”

Tournament co-host Sri Lanka was already out of semifinals contention but finished its fourth straight defeat to applause from its home crowd after going down swinging.

“Sometimes as players we feel the pressure,” Shanaka said. I wanted to say sorry to all the fans because we fell down. It was a close game, I could've finished it. Well bowled to Shaheen."

England, New Zealand and South Africa have nailed semifinal spots. Defending champion India — the only Asian team left — and the West Indies meet for the last spot on Sunday in Kolkata. With Pakistan knocked out, co-host India will host both semifinals next week and the final on March 8.

Farhan breaks Kohli record

Pakistan was made to bat first and openers Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman combined for 176 runs, the highest ever partnership in men's T20 World Cup history. They eclipsed the 175 by New Zealanders Tim Seifert and Finn Allen on Feb. 10.

Farhan's blistering 100 off 60 balls also blew away Virat Kohli’s single tournament runs record of 319 in 2014. Farhan passed Kohli when he reached 40. He has 383 after two centuries and two half-centuries.

“The ton didn't work for the team, that's why I'm sad,” Farhan said. “I have been feeling well, that brings confidence. I knew I could hit whatever was in my arc.”

Zaman was promoted to opener for the first time in the tournament and the left-hander slammed 84 off 42 balls as Pakistan posted 212-8.

Sri Lanka could have broken their stand in the 11th over but didn’t go for a television referral when replays suggested Zaman edged behind on 46 and the partnership at 107-0.

Their stand of 176 finished in the 16th over when Zaman played onto his stumps. Sri Lanka fought back with eight wickets in the final 26 balls for 36 runs.

Farhan, dropped on 76, fell in the final over after htting five sixes and nine fours.

“We didn't bat well in the tournament,” Agha said. “It was only Sahibzada Farhan who batted exceptionally well. Our batting was always a concern, especially the middle order. It’s been an issue for a few years now.”

Fast bowler Dilshan Madushanka grabbed 3-33 and Shanaka took 2-42.

Sri Lanka's top order was rattled by Abrar Ahmed (3-23), one of three changes by Pakistan. But with the ball getting wet because of dew it became difficult for the bowlers to hit the right lengths.

Pakistan spinner Usman Tariq struggled with his grip and returned 0-43, ending his streak of consecutive T20 innings with a wicket at 26, two shy of the record.

Rathnayake anchored Sri Lanka with 58 off 37 and Shanaka almost achieved the miracle at the death. Shanaka smashed eight sixes and two fours in his unbeaten 76 off 31 balls.

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

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There are five games on tap this Saturday night in the Association, and all eyes should be on Lakers vs. Warriors.

A LeBron James player prop tops my best NBA picks for Saturday, February 28.

Read below for all my favorite NBA player props.

Best NBA player props today

Player	Pick
Kon Knueppel	Over 20.5 points	-110
Tyler Herro	Over 20.5 points	-105
LeBron James	Over 5.5 assists	+115

Prop #1: Kon Knueppel Over 20.5 points

-110 at bet365

Rookie Kon Knueppel has been sizzling of late, scoring at least 21 points in each of his last four games, with Charlotte winning three straight.

This run started with a monster 33-point outing in a loss to the Cavaliers. Knueppel followed that up with 28 against the Wizards, before ripping Indiana for 28 points on 10-for-17 shooting last game.

Portland isn’t exactly a defensive juggernaut, ranking 24th in scoring defense allowing 118.2 points per game.

• Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: KUNP, FDSN SE-CHA

Prop #2: Tyler Herro Over 20.5 points

-105 at bet365

Miami’s leading scorer Norman Powell is out for this one as he deals with a groin strain, but the Heat should be in good hands with Tyler Herro.

Just four games back from a rib injury, Herro seems to be picking up his pace. He shot 9-for-18 in a loss to Philadelphia en route to 25 points when last seen.

Houston is one of the tougher defensive teams in the league, allowing just 109.1 points per game (third overall), but Herro should be ready to carry a big-time scoring load in this one.

• Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Prime Video

Prop #3: LeBron James Over 5.5 assists

+115 at bet365

We’ll wrap with the NBA’s ageless wonder, LeBron James, who has a 5.5-assist line on Saturday against the Warriors. 

While that number might deter you, as he’s only topped that total once in his last six games, LeBron has been dealing against the Dubs.

LBJ has had 10 straight games against the Warriors with at least eight assists, and I like the plus odds he’s getting Saturday to just get to six.

• Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: ABC

These props are available now at bet365, one of our best betting sites.

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

Yours truly built a bracket around the most important question of the Two-Timelines era. It’s not about who was the best, but who did you believe in the most? Eight ex-Warriors drafted after Kevin Durant left. Three rounds. One crown. I seeded it by emotional gravity: draft expectations, peak belief, and how long you kept the faith. And now the voting starts.

First matchup: the #1 seed Jordan Poole against the #8 seed Alen Smailagic.

Current matchup: the #2 seed James Wiseman against the #7 seed Ryan Rollins

There is a version of this story where James Wiseman becomes the most important Warrior of the next decade.

Joe Lacob saw it. He called Wiseman a “once in a decade” kind of player in November 2020, barely a month after the draft. That is not a throwaway line from a man who does not throw away lines. That is a vision statement. Lacob looked at a 7-foot-2 athlete who was 19 years old, who had barely scraped together 39 college games before the NCAA shut the whole thing down on him, and decided this kid was the foundation of everything that came next.

Dub Nation believed it too, and that collective belief is exactly why he is the #2 seed in this bracket.

When you pick second overall you are not picking a rotation piece. You are picking a cornerstone. And from the jump, Wiseman had the physical gifts to justify every ounce of that faith. The dunks alone were an exhilarating experience. He led all NBA rookies with 84 slams in just 39 games, 20th in the entire league. He shot 51.9% from the field and 76% at the rim, landing in the 89th percentile per Cleaning the Glass. The 84% free throw percentage told you the shooting touch was real if you gave it room to grow. The transition upside and the lob threat. All of it was right there in Year 1, visible, pointing somewhere exciting. Sure he didn’t have a training camp or have people in the stands to watch him play which is pretty insane, but those were the pandemic times.

And then Year 2 didn’t happen.

An injured knee ended his sophomore season before it ever got going. He played zero games in 2021-22. The Warriors won a championship that year and Wiseman watched it from the bench in street clothes. No reps. No rhythm. No chance to build on what the rookie season started.

So when September 2022 rolled around and the Warriors took the team to Japan for a preseason exhibition against the Washington Wizards, the entire Dub Nation energy around Wiseman was basically: okay, this is it. Year 3. This would be his first full training camp with a healthy body. He’s finally going to show us what this whole thing was supposed to look like.

And for one night in Tokyo, he absolutely did.

He went 20 points, 9 rebounds on 8-of-11 shooting off the bench in 23 minutes. Five dunks. He delivered a poster so thoroughly that “WISEMAN SEASON 3 ACTIVATED” was being typed in capital letters across every Warriors forum on the internet. I wrote about that game with full optimism and zero apology because if you watched it, the optimism was mandatory. This was the guy. This was finally the guy.

Then the actual season happened. He played 21 games in a Warriors uniform that year, averaging 6.9 points in 12.5 minutes, and by February the front office was done waiting. The trade to Detroit came on February 9, 2023, Kevin Knox and draft picks heading out, Gary Payton II coming back through Portland. Monte Poole wrote the definitive autopsy in his NBC Sports Bay Area piece that day: Wiseman was the only center in the Warriors’ recent dynasty history whose best skill was his shot and whose weakest skills were orchestrating a defense and setting screens. Every center who thrived in that system before him was built around the opposite profile. The mismatch was not fixable within the championship window that remained.

Legendary DNHQ journalist and GSOM alumni Eric Apricot framed the bigger picture well in his farewell piece around the same time. The front office was running a high-variance portfolio strategy across all their young picks. You cannot look at one pick in isolation and call it a disaster. Big miss, Eric said, but not an incompetent one.

Steph Curry said his piece on it too, eventually. Reflecting on the Two-Timelines era with ESPN, he said: “I think the postmortem on some of the two-timeline stuff is not great. We picked Wiseman, who’s had a rough go. It’s not his fault, but we had an opportunity when we were at the bottom of the standings and had the No. 2 pick, and picked Wise. We thought there was going to be a way to bridge that gap, and it didn’t work out that way.”

In total we’re talking 60 games across three seasons and one championship he watched in street clothes as year 2 was completely missed. The Japan game resurrection that turned out to be a curtain call. That collective hope was enormous, and losing it slowly over three seasons hurt in a way most Warriors draft stories simply do not. That is why he is the 2 seed. The emotional peak of believing in James Wiseman was higher than almost anything else this era produced.

Let’s talk about Ryan Rollins.

The Warriors paid $2 million in cash to move up seven spots in the 2022 draft to take a youngster from Toledo. Joe Viray’s GSOM deep-dive at the time laid out what they saw: a potential three-level scorer with a 6‘10″ wingspan on a 6’3″ frame, passing lane instincts, and a physical profile that a coaching staff could shape into a real rotation piece. The organization liked him enough to spend actual cash to get him. That is not nothing.

He played 12 games in a Warriors uniform. Then a stress fracture in his foot ended his rookie season before it found any kind of footing. And when the summer of 2023 arrived and the Warriors needed to move Jordan Poole to Washington, Rollins got packaged into that deal as the salary filler that made the numbers work. He was not the story, rather he was a part of the fine print. Most of Dub Nation barely registered his name leaving because the Poole trade was the only thing anyone was reading that week.

Washington gave him 10 games before off-court issues ended his time there entirely.

This season with Milwaukee he’s opening eyes, but don’t take my word for it. That is the player who walked into Chase Center on October 30, 2025 with no Giannis to bail him out. Just Rollins, the 44th pick who got 12 games and a line in a trade announcement, laying the smackdown on the franchise and ex-teammates where his NBA story began. He dropped 32 points, 8 assists, and 5 treys as Milwaukee won 120-110. Rollins was the best player on the floor against the team that let him walk out the door as an afterthought.

Milwaukee Bucks blog Brew Hoop’s Jack Trehearne said it plainly this week: “Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t. This is a stone-cold killer.” He is averaging 17.2 points, 5.4 assists, and 1.5 steals on 42% from three. In clutch situations he is shooting 55.6% and ranks second in clutch shooting percentage among the 13 players with the most clutch attempts in the entire NBA.

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) — Marco Odermatt has taken a giant step towards retaining his World Cup downhill title this season, leading a Swiss sweep Saturday in the first men’s race since the Milan Cortina Olympics.

More good news for Odermatt was that his closest challenger, teammate and Olympic gold medalist Franjo van Allmen, was not part of the Swiss trio on the podium.

Odermatt just barely edged out Alexis Monney by 0.04 seconds, with Stefan Rogentin coming 0.98 seconds behind in third. Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr and Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni shared fourth.

Von Allmen had costly mistakes halfway through his run down the Kandahar course and finished 1.47 second behind in sixth.

The result means Odermatt increased his lead over von Allmen to 175 points in the season standings with two races remaining. A race win is worth 100 points.

It felt like redemption for Odermatt, who arrived at the Olympics as a gold-medal favourite in the downhill but finished fourth.

“It was certainly a bit of a revenge today, too,” said Odermatt, who won the World Cup downhill title the past two seasons and is also a strong favourite to win his fifth straight overall Crystal Globe this year.

The fascinating duel between close friends Odermatt and von Allmen has dominated the downhill season.

Odermatt started his campaign with back-to-back wins and later added a victory at the classic Wengen event, but von Allmen hit back with two wins, including the last race before the Olympics a month ago in Crans-Montana, where Odermatt failed to make the podium.

On Saturday, though, von Allmen could not keep up with his rival.

“I was a little bit too direct, also not central with my body, sat down in the back, and was pretty tired. In the end, too direct and not smooth enough,” said von Allmen, who was one of Alpine skiing's stars of the Olympics with three golds from the downhill, super-G and team combined.

Odermatt's 54th career win put him level with Austrian great Hermann Maier in third position on the men’s World Cup winners list. Only Ingemar Stenmark (86 wins) and Marcel Hirscher (67) won more races. The overall record is held by American standout Mikaela Shiffrin with 108 World Cup wins.

“My idol always was Didier Cuche when I was a kid,” Odermatt said. “But it’s incredible to get level with Hermann.”

Several skiers sat out the race a day after they crashed in the final training session Friday, most notably France's Nils Alphand and Finland’s Elian Lehto.

The French ski federation said Alphand sustained a right shoulder and rib injury and would be out for at least three weeks. Lehto suffered “injuries to the chest area and lower limb that require hospital monitoring” but “are not life-threatening,” the Finnish ski federation said on Instagram.

A super-G on the same hill is scheduled for Sunday.

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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing