Category: Basketball

NBA playoff scenarios: How Warriors can punch ticket Friday originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

After an up-and-down 2024-25 NBA season with many twists and turns, the Warriors officially can punch their ticket to the playoffs on Friday.

However, they will need plenty of help.

If Golden State (47-33) wins its game against the Portland Trail Blazers (35-45) on Friday at Moda Center, and both the Memphis Grizzlies (47-33) and Minnesota Timberwolves (47-33) lose their respective games to the Denver Nuggets (48-32) and Brooklyn Nets (26-54), the Warriors will secure one of the Western Conference’s six playoff seeds.

Postseason scenarios for Friday, April 11 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/zbQ5PZLa7I

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 11, 2025

The Warriors heavily are favored (-14.5 points) to beat the Blazers, and while Memphis has a tough game against Denver at 6 p.m. PT at Ball Arena, Minnesota is a whopping -20.5-point favorite over Brooklyn at 6 p.m. PT at Target Center.

This means even if Golden State takes care of business against Portland and Memphis loses to Denver, the Warriors would need the NBA Draft lottery-bound Nets to upset the Timberwolves at home.

That outcome is unlikely, but certainly not impossible …

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Why Young believes Daniels, not Draymond, is most deserving of DPOY originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young believes his teammate Dyson Daniels should win the 2024-2025 NBA Defensive Player of the Year over Warriors forward Draymond Green.

Young shared his thoughts on why Daniels is more deserving of the annual award given to the league’s best defensive player.

“Obviously, Dyson for Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved too, he should get those two awards,” Young told NBA insider Chris Haynes. “He’s been playing great this year. I think Draymond is in the running right now. I love Dray to death, but he’s not Dyson this year as far as what he’s been doing on defense. On the ball every game, he’s getting three, four, five steals. Just picking them by himself, no help.

“He’s doing stuff that no guard, no defender has ever done before.”

Atlanta Hawks star @TheTraeYoung says ROY, DPOY and MIP belong to two players, and that's Zaccharie Risacher and Dyson Daniels: "I love Draymond Green to death, but he's not Dyson as far as what he's doing on defense." #haynesbriefs

Full EP: https://t.co/m2XYkAdjTBpic.twitter.com/L1ivdWKHIv

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) April 11, 2025

Daniels emerged as a revelation on defense, with 226 steals this season, the most since Gary Payton had 231 in 1995-96. His stalwart play is one of the main reasons the Hawks are in contention for a postseason spot.

Green has powered the Warriors’ defense this season, with plenty of lockdown performances in arguably his best year since 2017, when he won his first DPOY award. Still, he has struggled with consistency throughout the season, particularly when he’s forced to guard larger players around the rim.

With Golden State and Atlanta still in the hunt for playoff positioning over the final two regular-season games, expect both Green and Daniels to put forth their best defensive efforts.

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Celtics make smart decision with Jaylen despite NBA award implications originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

With the Boston Celtics already locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, there aren’t many intriguing storylines as the regular season winds down.

But Jaylen Brown and his nagging knee injury is one of them.

The Celtics ruled Brown out for Friday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday afternoon, more than 24 hours before tip-off. The decision ensures that Brown, who has appeared in 63 games so far this season, won’t reach 65 games played, as Boston has just one regular-season game remaining after Friday (Sunday afternoon vs. Charlotte).

That’s notable because 65 games is the minimum threshold for players to be eligible for end-of-season NBA awards like the All-NBA and All-Defense teams, Defensive Player of the Year and more. After Friday night, Brown will be officially disqualified from those awards.

Whether Brown realistically would have made All-NBA is a separate discussion, but for a few days, it looked like the Celtics were attempting to give him a chance.

The league requires requires players to log at least 20 minutes those 65 games to be award-eligible, and Brown played 21 minutes in Boston’s rout of the Washington Wizards last Sunday despite looking slightly hobbled. He then labored through 21 minutes of Tuesday’s matchup with the New York Knicks before sitting out the entire fourth quarter and overtime of a close game.

Even when Brown didn’t play on the second night of a back-to-back in Orlando on Wednesday, it was worth wondering if he’d suit up Friday and Sunday to hit his minutes minimum before heading to the bench.

“Even though my team visibly can see maybe I’m in a bit of pain,” Brown said after the Celtics’ April 2 game against the Heat, “they trust me to go out there and I can control my body and still be able to make plays and mentally, be able to push through it.”

While there’s some value in learning how to manage pain, there’s more value in rest, and it appears Brown and the Celtics have made that calculation with two games left in the regular season. Assuming Brown doesn’t play in Sunday’s season finale, he’ll have had at least nine days of recovery time before Boston begins its first-round playoff series next Saturday (April 19) or Sunday (April 20).

How close the All-Star wing is to 100 percent by Game 1 remains to be seen, and it sounds like he’ll still have to manage the injury throughout the postseason. But the team’s decision leaves no doubt that he and the Celtics are prioritizing the playoffs over the opportunity to earn individual recognition.

Thursday night was a potential clinching game for the Knicks, as they took on the Pistons in Detroit.

New York needed to win just one game to capture the No. 3 seed but the Pistons turned up the defensive intensity in the second half and dominated the fourth quarter to beat the Knicks for the third time in four games this season.

Granted, the Knicks were without OG Anunoby and Josh Hart -- two starters -- and a key bench player in Mitchell Robinson but New York still held a lead as large as 13 points and led for most of the game.

“First half played pretty good,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game. “Third quarter got up 13. And then I thought our turnovers really hurt us. Tight score with probably six, seven minutes left in the game. But, again, turnovers really hurt us.”

The Knicks gave up an uncharacteristic 14 turnovers in the game, seven coming from Karl-Anthony Towns.

Towns, who was held down by foul trouble for most of the game, broke out in the fourth quarter. He scored 15 of his team-high 25 points in the final frame but also turned the ball over four times in the fourth.

“We said we gotta play 40, 48 minutes Including myself,” Towns said of the game. “Just got to be better and finish the game out, play all 48 minutes. We had a good first half just didn’t play the second half the way we needed to.”

The Knicks won’t have much time to dwell on Thursday’s loss, they are back in action Friday against the Cavaliers at MSG. The loss coupled with the Pacers' win means the No. 3 seed is still up in the air with two games remaining in the regular season.

One more win -- or one Pacers loss -- clinches the three-seed for the Knicks. Towns said they aren’t thinking about that, just worried about getting the next win, echoing his coach.

“We talked about it, we don't want to change our approach for anything,” Thibodeau said about the team’s pursuit of the No. 3 seed. “I'd say just take it step by step, and you go into the game to prepare to win and play as hard as you can. Fight to win every possession.

“And then you want to check as many boxes as you can. You want to be playing well and be the highest seed possible going into the playoffs.”

If the Knicks do take the No. 3 seed, a collision course with the upstart Pistons may be in New York's future. Detroit is close to keeping the No. 6 seed, which means both will meet in the first round.

This year’s Pistons team has become known for being a physical group, and it showed in Thursday’s game. Drives to the basket from Jalen Brunson or Towns were met with force, the Pistons crashed the boards with their myriad of bigs -- they outrebounded the Knicks 35-34 -- and forced those costly turnovers with their active hands

That physicality is something the Knicks will have to combat if they meet in the playoffs. But Towns is unbothered by the style of play and felt the game was still the Knicks’ to be had.

“That's Detroit basketball. They play physical basketball,” he said. “They upped their physicality in the second half, just didn't do enough to win the game, including myself. Take responsibility and move on to the next one, and get ready for that.”

The playoff seedings still need to be sorted out over the regular season’s final two games, but barring some very specific scenarios playing out, the Knicks and Pistons will meet in the first round, and New York will need to be ready.

Knicks fall to Pistons and Pacers beat Cavs tonight. If Pacers win their final 2 games (vs. ORL, @ CLE) and Knicks lose their final 2 games (vs. CLE, @ BKN), NYK would fall to the No. 4 seed. Any Pacers loss or Knicks win in the final two games would clinch the No. 3 seed for NYK

— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) April 11, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — Zaccharie Risacher scored a season-high 38 points as the Atlanta Hawks routed the Brooklyn Nets 133-109 on Thursday night.

The No. 1 pick in the draft shot 15 for 20 from the field, including 6 for 11 from 3-point range.

Trae Young added 24 points and 12 assists for the Hawks, who shot 57 percent. Dyson Daniels had 10 points, nine assists, nine rebounds and three steals to raise his NBA-leading total to 226.

Jalen Wilson finished with 20 points for the Nets. Tosan Evbuomwan added 18 points and six rebounds.

The Hawks never trailed and led 69-45 at halftime behind 23 points from Risacher.

Takeaways

Hawks: Atlanta is touting Risacher for Rookie of the Year and Daniels for Defensive Player of the Year. A good case could be made for both.

Nets: Brooklyn had won the season series every season since 2017-18, but the loss Thursday allowed Atlanta to win 2-1 this season.

Key moment

The Hawks made their first 12 shots in the second quarter, the first time they made that many consecutive field goals since hitting 15 in a row against Cleveland on Feb. 24, 2023.

Key stat

Risacher has scored 30 or more in four games, most among this season's rookies. He made at least five 3-pointers in each of them.

Up next

The Hawks visit Philadelphia on Friday.

The Nets are in Minnesota on Friday.

The Knicks held a 13-point third-quarter lead, but a poor-shooting second half and a turnover-filled fourth quarter sentenced the shorthanded side to a 115-106 defeat at the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night.

Playing without Josh Hart (knee), OG Anunoby (thumb), and Mitchell Robinson (injury management), New York didn’t have enough from Karl-Anthony Towns or Jalen Brunson to overcome the missing pieces and succumbed to a hot-shooting Detroit side that could be a tough matchup come playoff time.

The Knicks led for most of the game, leading by double-digits for long stretches, but the Pistons' physical play saw them by nine with two minutes to play. Brunson had a good look from three to cut the lead to two with 38 seconds to play, but he drew iron. The Knicks guard had just three second-half points as he went 1-for-8 from the floor and 0-for-2 from the free-throw line. Brunson missed a portion of the third quarter after rolling his left ankle.

Here are the takeaways...

- “Yup, two!” Brunson said before adding an emphatic toss of his thumb after Cade Cunningham picked up his second foul just five minutes into the game. But the foul trouble did not halt the Pistons’ leading scorer, who remained in the game and scored eight in the first.  Instead, it was Towns who was forced to the bench with three personals after he committed offensive fouls on back-to-back possessions early in the second quarter, which limited him to just 11 minutes of first-half action with six points, four rebounds, and three assists.

Cunningham, who picked up his third foul before the half, was able to thrive despite the fouls. The Detroit guard poured in 30 points (13-for-19 from the field) through three quarters and helped the home side with a 20-7 run to close the gap and tie the score entering the fourth. 

Towns appeared to come alive in the fourth, scoring six straight Knicks points. But he committed four turnovers in the quarter, and the Pistons soon led by six. He finished with 25 points (10-for-19) with 10 rebounds and five assists, but seven turnovers meant he was a minus-5 in 29 minutes.

Cunningham finished with 36 points (connecting on 9-for-13 in the second half alone) and was a plus-9 in 35 minutes.

- Brunson and Miles McBride each had 12 points in the first half, and that was it for their impact as they combined to go 1-for-18 from the floor in the second half. Brunson (5-for-15 for the game, 3-for-9 from deep) finished a minus-11 in 29 minutes. McBride (5-for-18, 2-for-10 from deep) was a minus-15 in 39 minutes.

- Precious Achiuwa, in the starting lineup, poured in 13 first-half points (10 in the opening quarter) with a few emphatic dunks. Achiuwa continued to shine in the third, including a special sequence blocking a Cunningham three, running the floor for a skip pass leading to an and-1 slam to give him 18 points (8-for-13) in the game.

But he didn't attempt a shot in the fourth. He had 10 rebounds, three assists, three blocks, two steals, and was a minus-7 in 39 minutes.

- With the Knicks shorthanded, it was P.J. Tucker, the first man off the bench. The second unit to close the first quarter was Tucker, Achiuwa, Landry Shamet, Cam Payne, and Delon Wright and that group helped give the Knicks a six-point lead after 12 minutes of play.

- The Knicks connected on 67 percent (16-for-24) from the floor in the first quarter and 50 percent (9-for-18) in the second for a 62-56 lead at the interveal. But Detroit hit 55 percent in the first half (23-for-42) to keep pace and limit the pace of the game, as well.

The home team kept the pace in the third (58 percent, 11-for-19), and the visitors did not connect on just 32 percent (9-for-28, including 2-for-11 from deep). That continued in the fourth, New York shot 40 percent (8-for-20) in the fourth as Detroit connected on 62 percent (13-for-21).

PRECIOUS ACHIUWA DETONATES ON ISAIAH STEWART pic.twitter.com/gtRGF8b3Pv

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 10, 2025

The Precious Achiuwa show! pic.twitter.com/jgkCWXfB59

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 11, 2025

PJ Tucker from the corner! pic.twitter.com/kRAXRGlvhg

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 11, 2025

Landry Shamet back-to-back triples! 👌👌 pic.twitter.com/GsUCEaLw9g

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 11, 2025

What's next

The Knicks return to New York for their final two games of the regular season, first playing the home finale Friday at 7:30 p.m. against the Cleveland Cavaliers before heading across the East River for Sunday's 1 p.m. tip at the Nets.

The Shaquille O'Neal-Dwight Howard beef appears to be over.

That's a sentence that seemed destined to never be written as recently as January, when the years-long feud between the two former NBA greats heated up yet again over comments Howard made on a podcast.

But last week, when Howard was revealed as a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2025, the former Orlando Magic and three-time NBA defensive player of the year posted on X that he wanted O'Neal and fellow Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kevin Garnett to take part in his induction in September.

"I want KG , Shaq, and Kareem to walk me out," Howard wrote.

On the most recent episode of "The Big Podcast with Shaq," which dropped Wednesday but was recorded last week, O'Neal was informed of Howard's request by co-host Adam Lefkoe.

Read more:'Do we need to throw hands?' Shaquille O'Neal-Dwight Howard beef still going strong in 2025

Shaq didn't hesitate with his response.

“I’ll do it," he said. "I’ll be there.”

Lefkoe spoke for us all when he responded, "Really?"

“Of course," Shaq stated. "That’s my guy.”

Surprisingly, the discussion went in a different direction after that, although O'Neal shed a bit more light on the situation a little later after a fan asked what was his favorite moment with former Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant.

O'Neal first indicated that there were "a lot" of moments that could qualify, then launched into a story that started with the sentence, "So me and Dwight finally met up the other day."

Read more:Dwight Howard will play basketball in L.A. again, not for the Lakers, but the BIG3's Riot

Lefkoe spoke for us all again when he asked, "Dwight Howard?"

O'Neal continued: "Yeah, Dwight Howard. In Orlando. And he asked me, ‘How come you don’t like me?’ And my response is, ‘What makes you think I don’t like you?’ He says, ‘Because you’re always hard on me.’ And then I say, ‘You don’t think I was hard on Kobe? You don’t think I was hard on [Dwyane Wade]? ... This is what I do to get my guys to go to that next level.

"As a leader, sometimes you have to push your guys. Sometimes they like it, sometimes they don’t. But I know what it takes and I know what I needed. I needed another absolute dog with me. So every time I pissed Kobe off, you guys know and you guys seen the product.

"So once [Howard] understood that — I think he understood ‘cause he was like, ‘Man, you never called me.’ I was like, ‘Why would I call you? If I was your teammate, all the stuff I said on TV, that’s exactly what I would say to you in your face.’ So my favorite moment with Kobe — I have so many, but I loved just pissing him off so he’d just go crazy.”

Read more:A tearful Shaquille O'Neal on Kobe Bryant's death: 'I’ve lost a little brother'

Both O’Neal and Howard are former No. 1 overall picks by the Orlando Magic (O’Neal in 1992, Howard in 2004) and NBA champions with the Lakers (O’Neal in the 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons; Howard in 2019-20). O’Neal, now an analyst on TNT’s “Inside the NBA," has used that platform to criticize Howard.

Many feel the feud originated when Howard took over O’Neal’s Superman moniker early in his career, wearing a cape and the superhero’s logo while competing in — and winning — the NBA’s slam dunk contest in 2008.

But now all seems well between the two former foes, with Howard on Thursday expressing gratitude toward O'Neal on X while also adding two other Hall of Famers — Dennis Rodman and Hakeem Olajuwon — to his list of players he wants to walk him onstage.

Shaq appreciate you man it will be an honor to have you KG, DROD , Hakeem and Kareem walk me into the Basketball Heavens #hof 🙏🏾

— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) April 10, 2025

"Shaq appreciate you man," wrote Howard, adding that "it will be an honor to have you KG, DROD , Hakeem and Kareem walk me into the Basketball Heavens."

None of the other former players appear to have publicly responded to Howard's request yet.

Read more:Why didn't Dwight Howard return to Lakers after 2020 title? He and Jeanie Buss clear the air

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Jonathan Kuminga, Draymond, Jimmy Butler don't fit together, Steve Kerr admits originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Jonathan Kuminga has struggled to regain his place in the Warriors’ lineup since returning from a sprained ankle on March 13.

The Warriors’ trade-deadline acquisition of Jimmy Butler III has taken some of Kuminga’s minutes, and the young forward still is trying to figure out where he fits in the rotations.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr joined 95.7 The Game’s Mark T. Willard and Dan Dibley on Thursday, where he was asked about Kuminga’s role and how he can co-exist with Butler and four-time NBA champion Draymond Green.

Kerr’s answer seems pretty revealing about what’s on the horizon for the Warriors and the 22-year-old.

“Every game is different and I think Jimmy’s arrival took away a lot of Jonathan’s minutes at the four,” Kerr told Willard and Dibley.”There’s no doubt that as soon as Jimmy arrived and we started winning, we leaned into the lineup combinations that enhanced Jimmy because we were winning and Jonathan was out for that whole stretch.

“We went like 17 and 3 or something, so we’re going to keep doing what’s been winning. But the lineup with Jimmy, Jonathan and Draymond doesn’t fit real well, frankly. It just doesn’t. We need more spacing. We’ve found other lineups that have clicked, and this is just part of the deal, being in the NBA, and you’ve got to adapt to whatever’s happening with the team.

“Jonathan’s done a great job of that. He’s working hard. He’s playing well when he’s out there. But I’m just going with the line of combinations that I think are going to give us the best chance to win, and there’s going to be nights where he’s absolutely part of that like the Lakers game, and then there’s there’s going to be nights where I go to Buddy or Moses or Gary Payton. It just changes every game based on what’s happening, and I have to read that as a coach.”

In 32 games before his ankle injury, Kuminga averaged 16.8 points in 26.0 minutes. But in the 14 games since he returned, he’s down to 12.4 points in 21.1 minutes.

To Kerr’s point, per NBA.com’s lineup data, when Kuminga, Butler and Green are on the court together, they have a minus-24.9 net rating in 38 minutes over 11 games.

But Kuminga is doing the small things to help the Warriors win games, including playing solid defense and guarding the opponent’s best players.

As Green noted after the Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers last week, that’s what the team wants to see from Kuminga.

“He was asking for those matchups,” Green told reporters. “That says a lot. We challenged him in private, we challenged him publicly to step up on the defensive end. And he did that. He was great offensively, but he was even better defensively.”

Right now, as the Warriors make an NBA playoff push, they need Kuminga to do the little things to help them win.

What the future holds for Kuminga, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, remains to be seen. But Butler and Green aren’t going anywhere for the next two seasons.

Green has been Kuminga’s biggest advocate, and the Warriors publicly have praised the former first-round draft pick every chance they get. But if he can’t play with two starters, his best shot at a prominent role next year might be elsewhere.

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How Warriors' NBA playoff seeding impacted by Timberwolves' win over Grizzlies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Warriors got the help they needed Thursday night.

Golden State moved back into the Western Conference’s No. 6 seed after the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 141-125, at FedExForum.

The Warriors (47-33), coming off a brutal 114-111 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night, entered Thursday half a game behind the Grizzlies and half a game ahead of the Timberwolves.

Minnesota’s win over Memphis, fueled by Anthony Edwards’ game-high 44 points, means all three teams have 47-33 records. That’s good news for Golden State, which holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over both teams.

The Warriors desperately want to avoid participating in the Western Conference play-in tournament for a third time in the event’s brief history. Golden State is 0-3 in play-in games, having lost to the Los Angeles Lakers and Grizzlies in 2021 and the Sacramento Kings last year.

So, entering the final two regular-season games, here’s how the Western Conference standings look:

1. Oklahoma City — 66-14 — Clinched No. 1 seed
2. Houston Rockets — 52-28 — Clinched No. 2 seed
3. Los Angeles Lakers — 49-31 — Clinched playoff spot
4. Denver Nuggets — 48-32
5. Los Angeles Clippers — 48-32
6. Golden State Warriors — 47-33
   **
7. Memphis Grizzlies — 47-33
8. Minnesota Timberwolves — 47-33
9. Sacramento Kings — 39-41 — Clinched play-in berth
10. Dallas Mavericks — 38-42 — Clinched play-in berth

If the Warriors take care of business in their final two regular-season games against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night and the Clippers on Sunday afternoon, they will secure the No. 6 seed.

Should Golden State win both remaining games and get some help, they could move up to the No. 4 seed or No. 5 seed.

But one stumble against the Blazers or Clippers likely means the Warriors are headed for a play-in game Tuesday night.

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Warriors' Steve Kerr explains trolling Buddy Hield in viral Steph Curry moment originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Warriors coach Steve Kerr always has a sense of humor, even as the pressure to make the NBA playoffs mounts.

During the Warriors’ blowout win over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday at PHX Arena, TNT’s social media accounts shared a tongue-in-cheek exchange between him, Steph Curry and Buddy Hield on Golden State’s bench.

“I was just having fun,” Kerr told 95.7 The Game’s Mark T. Willard and Dan Dibley on Thursday. “Buddy is the greatest guy of all time. This guy brings so much joy and laughter to our locker room every single day, and so he’s a guy who can laugh at himself.

“He missed Steph. Steph was wide open in transition for a corner three. Buddy launched one and during the next time out, I just wanted to have some fun with him and just remind him that when you’re playing with Steph Curry, it’s kind of a good idea to throw him the ball if he’s open.”

Kerr trolling Hield came after the first-year Warriors guard shot a 3-pointer instead of passing to a wide-open Curry in the corner.

Hield missed the first 3-point attempt, but the ball found its way back to him on the rebound and he made his second try.

But Kerr still preferred that Hield pass the ball to Curry, the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-pointers.

“Come here,” Kerr said during a timeout Tuesday. “Buddy. That’s Steph Curry. Steph, Buddy Hield. I want you guys to meet each other. Say hello to Steph. He’s the greatest shooter in the history of the world. He’s wide open.”

“He came open late,” Hield said.

“I love you, Buddy,” Kerr responded. “I love you.”

Curry eclipsed 4,000 career 3-pointers earlier this season, currently at 4,049 entering the final two regular-season games.

But Hield is no slouch from behind the arc, as he currently has 2,121 3-pointers.

Still, when Curry is open, his teammates know they must pass him the ball.

Kerr, amazingly, in Game No. 79, had to offer a friendly reminder to Hield.

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