Category: Basketball

Kevon Looney clarifies ‘they forgot about me' comments regarding Warriors exit  originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Kevon Looney’s first trip back to Chase Center in a different uniform brought a swirl of nostalgia — and a chance to clarify a comment that surfaced after his Golden State departure this offseason.

The longtime Warriors center — now with the New Orleans Pelicans — acknowledged previously feeling like Golden State had forgotten about him toward the end of his tenure, as he fell out of coach Steve Kerr’s NBA playoff rotation.

But before Saturday’s matchup against his former team, he made it clear there’s no resentment behind that sentiment.

“It wasn’t really difficult,” Looney said in the pregame press conference with Bay Area reporters. “Steve is the guy that changes lineups, and you kind of have to wait on your opportunity, and he does it to anybody on the team. He just wants to win. He puts the best lineups out there just to win games. And so, it was a real frustration. I kind of know how he thinks, and I know what he’s trying to do.”

Looney admitted that the competitor in him wanted to be out there helping against postseason matchups he has handled for years. But he understands how Kerr operates — and why decisions were made.

“As a player, you see the matchups, and you just want something bad to get out there, to leave an impact,” Looney explained. “It was more along that line, but it was no hard feelings. You know, 10 years, I had a lot of great memories. More great than bad. There were times when I probably didn’t deserve the opportunity, and the coaching staff put me out there, so it kind of all balances out.”

In July, a week after signing with the Pelicans, Looney spoke to The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson II on the “Warriors Plus/Minus” podcast and expressed his frustration with his role.

“I guess,” Looney said when Thompson II asked him if Post was the final straw for him. “I wouldn’t say it like that, but it was anybody but me it seemed like at this point. It wasn’t no one moment. Even this year, probably the playoffs. We going up against Steven Adams. This is what I do. They’re not really giving me the chance to really let me do what I do.

“It’s like, ‘All right, y’all don’t trust me? I thought y’all trusted me.’ They put me at the end in Game 7, it’s like why’d we have to wait for that point?”

Looney spent a decade anchoring the Warriors’ frontcourt with relentless rebounding performances during three NBA championship runs, and he earned a reputation as one of the franchise’s most respected locker-room voices.

Those will always outweigh the frustrations of his final season in the Bay.

“It’s all love — those guys are like my family,” Looney said. “When I come back here, all I think about is all the winning we did.”

Looney signed a two-year deal with New Orleans in June, taking on a new role with a young roster. But his long tenure and three rings ensure his Warriors chapter won’t be forgotten, no matter where he plays.

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Cooper Flagg became the youngest-ever player to score 35 points in an NBA game as he helped the Dallas Mavericks rally to a 114-110 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night.

The 18-year-old went 13 for 22 from the field in his 20th career game. The top pick in this year’s draft also grabbed eight rebounds. The only other 18-year-old to score 35 points in an NBA game is LeBron James, who did so twice in his rookie season. His first came when he was 18 years and 348 days old, five days older than Flagg was on Saturday.

“He’s only 18 years old, but he seems like he’s been in this league before,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “He did it all tonight. He had the ball. You can call it point guard or whatever, but he ran the offense for us. He drove the ball. The ball touched the paint. He got to the rim, got to the free throw line, stepped up and made free throws for us late. Just his composure on both ends [impressed me]. He competes at a very high level. You saw that tonight, but you saw that last night, too.”

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Flagg also impressed in Friday’s game, when he faced James’s Lakers. In that game, he had 11 assists, an NBA record for an 18-year-old. His 35-year-old teammate, Klay Thompson, is another admirer.

“Cooper’s upside is limitless,” Thompson said. “He has every tool to be great. Sometimes I can’t believe he should be a freshman in college.”

Flagg was aggressive all game against the Clippers, including a spectacular dunk over Ivica Zubac.

“Being aggressive right now is obviously right for me, and that’s what Coach has stressed to me,” said Flagg. “I’ve got to be aggressive, and we’ll live with some of the mistakes, but you just have to be aggressive and trust all the work.”

Thompson also had an impressive outing: he hit four three-pointers in the fourth quarter, his final one putting Dallas ahead for good with 1:51 left. He shot 6 of 10 from long distance overall as the Mavericks snapped a three-game losing streak. He finished with 23 points, 17 of which came in the final quarter.

Kawhi Leonard led Los Angeles with 30 points and eight rebounds. James Harden added 29 points, 11 assists and eight boards for the Clippers, who dropped their fourth consecutive game. John Collins scored 21 and Ivica Zubac had 19 points and 11 boards.

Los Angeles (5-15) have lost seven straight at the Intuit Dome since beating New Orleans 126-124 on Halloween night. The Mavericks (6-15) scored 20 points off 18 Clippers turnovers.

Buddy Hield hilariously trolls ‘foul-baiter' Jimmy Butler after Warriors' win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Jimmy Butler was ready to talk hoops after the Warriors’ 104–96 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday, but Buddy Hield was ready to talk trash.

As Butler spoke to reporters at Chase Center, Hield crashed the presser and jokingly called out his teammate’s foul-drawing ways.

“Stop foul-baiting, Jimmy,” Hield shouted.

Butler didn’t hesitate with a comeback.

“If you don’t got no haters, you’re not popping,” Butler joked. “Remember I told y’all that.”

“You’re not popping at all,” Hield fired back.

“Yes I am,” Butler responded. “It’s my number one fan over there.”

Despite the verbal sparring, Butler closed the night with 24 points with 10-of-14 from the free-throw line, while Hield chipped in eight points off the bench.

Later, Hield summed up what had everyone laughing in the press conference: Butler’s foul-drawing and free-throw craft aren’t just good for comedy — they’re game-winning tools.

“Jimmy’s able to control the game with him just foul-baiting and getting to the line and making plays for us,” Hield told reporters.

Butler’s performance at the stripe proved decisive as the Warriors closed out the win. Golden State will look to carry that momentum into Tuesday’s matchup with the NBA-best 19-1 Oklahoma City Thunder at Chase Center.

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Does Jaylen Brown have a legitimate gripe with lack of foul calls? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Is Jaylen Brown getting a bad whistle this season?

The Celtics rank dead last in the NBA in free throw attempt rate (18.7 per game) and are on pace for the league’s lowest output in that category in more than a half decade. Boston’s inability to consistently get to the line is further accentuated by the fact that the team ranks 27th in opponent free throw rate this season (27.6 per game).

Opponents have attempted 169 more free throws than Boston through the first 19 games of the season. The Celtics have not attempted more free throws than an opponent in any game this season (though they did match the Cavaliers’ output of 24 attempts on October 29).

The Celtics haven’t been a foul-generating team in recent seasons, in part due their 3-point loving ways. Boston ranked dead last in free throw attempt rate last season (19.1 per game) but it hardly hindered the team in winning 61 games. Boston ranked tied for 25th in free throw rate (20.2 per game) while winning 64 games during its 2024 title season.

But it does seem fair to wonder if Brown specifically is deserving of more whistles. While many NBA superstars get calls for the lightest graze on a drive to the basket, Brown is often left animated when he doesn’t get those calls despite drawing more obvious contact.

Referees most certainly missed an important call when Brown was tripped in a loss to the Jazz in October, and the league didn’t fine Brown for venting in the aftermath. Brown has expressed frustration about inconsistent whistles on multiple other occasions, including after Saturday’s loss in Minnesota.

The data seem to back up his frustration.

Brown ranks sixth in the NBA in drives per game (16.4) but gets fouled on just 9 percent of those treks. Among the 45 highest-volume-drive players in the league (10+ drives per game, 10+ games played), Brown ranks 22nd among that group in foul rate, per NBA tracking data.

On one hand, he’s one spot behind Detroit’s Cade Cunningham (who gets fouled on 9.4 percent of drives) and six spots behind the free-throw-line dwelling Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (10.4 percent). On the other hand, the league-leading Anthony Edwards gets fouled on a staggering 15.5 percent of his drives.

On Saturday night in Minnesota, Brown was credited with 21 drives leading to 10 shot attempts. He drew fouls on just 4.8 percent of those drives. By comparison, Edwards drove 15 times leading to eight shot attempts, but generated fouls on 26.7 percent of those treks.

Brown is drawing more fouls overall this season. He has been fouled on 13.9 percent of his shot attempts, which is up 1 percent from last season and 2.3 percent from his 2023 All-NBA season. What’s more, he ranks in the 99th percentile among all wings while getting fouled on 3.3 percent of plays when he’s on the court, per Cleaning the Glass data.

Brown’s 6.3 free throw attempts per game easily would be a career high, and he ranks eighth in the NBA in scoring at 28.8 points per game. Yet all seven players in front of him get to the line more frequently, with Luka Doncic (12.3 free throws per game), SGA (10.1), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (10.3) all averaging double-digit free throw attempts per game.

Brown generated his 10th 30-plus-point game of the season on Saturday in Minnesota. He has sometimes singlehandedly kept Boston competitive this year while teammates have struggled with their shots. Brown is a big reason Boston ranks sixth in the NBA in offensive rating.

The real question is, will referees ever give him the sort of whistle befitting his superstar play?

Seth Curry reportedly will re-sign with Warriors for remainder of season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Reinforcements are on the way for the Warriors.

Not only is De’Anthony Melton’s 2025-26 NBA season debut right around the corner, but Golden State will add a sharp-shooting Curry to the mix as well.

No, not that Curry, who currently is nursing a quad contusion.

Seth Curry intends to re-sign with the Warriors for the remainder of the season on Monday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Sunday, citing sources.

Curry originally signed with Golden State back in September on an Exhibit 9 contract and spent the entire training camp and preseason with the team before he was waived on Oct. 18 before the start of the season. The move was expected, and the Warriors intended to re-sign Curry once his veteran-minimum contract could be prorated, starting in November, to fit under the second apron of the league’s salary cap.

The 35-year-old Curry, in 11 NBA seasons, has averaged 10.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists on 47.1-percent shooting from the field and 43.3 percent from 3-point range, which currently is the eighth-best mark in league history and the better than his brother, Steph’s, 42.2-percent clip.

The younger Curry also led the league in 3-point shooting (45.6%) last season with the Charlotte Hornets.

Now he re-joins his brother in Golden State, where he should provide the team with elite shooting off the bench.

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Seth Curry re-signs with Warriors for remainder of NBA season after being waived originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Reinforcements are on the way for the Warriors.

Not only is De’Anthony Melton’s 2025-26 NBA season debut right around the corner, but Golden State will add a sharp-shooting Curry to the mix as well.

No, not that Curry, who currently is nursing a quad contusion.

Seth Curry officially re-signed with the Warriors on Monday after ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the news on Sunday.

Curry originally signed with Golden State back in September on an Exhibit 9 contract and spent the entire training camp and preseason with the team before being waived on Oct. 18, prior to the start of the season. The move was expected, and the Warriors intended to re-sign Curry once his veteran-minimum contract could be prorated, starting in November, to fit under the second apron of the league’s salary cap.

The 35-year-old Curry, in 11 NBA seasons, has averaged 10.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists on 47.1-percent shooting from the field and 43.3 percent from 3-point range, which currently is the eighth-best mark in league history and better than his brother, Steph’s, 42.2-percent clip.

The younger Curry also led the league in 3-point shooting (45.6%) last season with the Charlotte Hornets.

Now he re-joins his brother in Golden State, where he should provide the team with elite shooting off the bench.

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 29 points and topped the 21,000-point mark for his career on Saturday night as the Milwaukee Bucks snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 116-99 victory over the short-handed Brooklyn Nets.

Antetokounmpo, in his second game back after missing four due to a groin strain, became the 42nd player, and sixth-youngest, in NBA history to reach 21,000 career points when he hit a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter.

Antetokounmpo shot 12 for 15 in 19 minutes and had eight rebounds.

Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr. scored 13 points in his first game back since spraining an ankle in the season opener. Porter then injured his right meniscus working his way back and underwent surgery in early November. A.J. Green added 15 points and Bobby Portis Jr. 13 for Milwaukee.

Rookie Danny Wolf, playing in his fifth game, had a career-high 22 points for the Nets. Wolf shot 8 for 16, including 5 for 9 from beyond the arc. Jalen Wilson added 13 points.

The Bucks took control with a 39-24 scoring advantage in the second quarter and held a 71-53 lead at the half. The margin ballooned to 92-60 with just over five minutes left in the third quarter.

The Nets were without leading scorer Michael Cooper Jr. (24.3 points per game), who missed his second consecutive game due to lower back tightness. Starting guard Egor Demin was sidelined with injury management for a left plantar fascia tear.

Brooklyn already was without guard Cam Thomas (21.4 points), who has been sidelined since early November due to a left hamstring strain.

Antetokounmpo returned to the lineup Friday and scored 30 points in 118-109 loss to the New York Knicks that eliminated the Bucks from the NBA Cup.

Up next

Nets: Host the Charlotte Hornets on Monday.

Bucks: Visit the Washington Wizards on Monday.

Gary Payton II saves Warriors from considerable embarrassment vs. Pelicans originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – Injury-diminished New Orleans was the perfect opponent for the Warriors, who on Saturday were taking their first tentative step into the expected brief void created by the absence of Stephen Curry.

One of six teams destined to blow past the 60-loss mark, the Pelicans are profoundly vulnerable but were plucky enough to drag the Warriors into “clutch game” territory.

The Warriors emerged victorious, 104-96, but coach Steve Kerr and his staff will be blessed with plenty of video sure to leave various members of the roster palming their faces.

Three days after Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler III blistered the team for its polite approach to defense – which showed signs of improvement – their offense spent most of the evening trying to survive spells of self-suffocation. AKA, the No Steph Syndrome.

The Warriors on this occasion were rescued by Gary Payton II, who came off the bench and pulled his teammates to a win that spared them loads of embarrassment.

“He was amazing,” Kerr said. “Gary was one of the keys to the game, just his activity levels, his defense obviously working kind of underneath the basket, freeing himself up for some layups, and then obviously knocked down the three. That was kind of the killer, the killer shot.”

Payton, who left the game Wednesday night against Houston with a bum ankle, was cleared Saturday before tipoff and submitted the fourth double-double of his NBA career and first this season, with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and a dagger triple with 57.7 seconds that gave the Warriors a 99-88 lead with 57.7 second remaining.

Moreover, the 6-foot-2 utility man grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds and the displayed the level of smarts, spirit and determination Green and Butler were pleading for during their separate postgame harangues.

“Gary, he’s hella smart,” Butler said. “Gets the ball where a ball needs to go, guards at a high level, rebounds the basketball and just plays the right way. When he’s open, he shoots the ball when he’s not, he passes it. I think we all can learn a lot from him.”

It took a full half before the Warriors showed any ability to find buckets. They scored 17 points, shooting 24 percent from the field, including 7.1 percent from deep, in the first quarter, ticking up to 25 points in the second quarter, shooting 43.5 and 12.5 percents.

As bad as the offense was early, Golden State’s defense wouldn’t allow the Pelicans to take advantage. Both teams shot 33.3 percent from the field and nine percent from beyond the arc before halftime.

“If you take care of the ball and you get shots on goal, it just sets the game of your transition defense is better,” Kerr said. “It gives you a chance to get offensive boards. The game didn’t feel that rhythmic, but it felt clean. We weren’t turning it over, making mistakes, and that’s important, the shots will start going in.”

The chemistry between Payton and Butler, beginning late in the second quarter, was crucial to making the offense blossom in the second half. Payton scored 12 points in the quarter on 6-of-6 shooting, mostly working near the rim.

“Just playing behind the defense, being an outlet and making layups,” Payton neatly summarized.

“Jimmy draws a lot of attention when he’s driving to the rim, and Gary was able to find all the open spots in their defense,” Draymond Green said. “He was great cutting, rebounding the basketball, which was incredible. He did a great job of playing behind the defense, and Jimmy’s always looking for the open man. If you’re open, he’s going to throw that pass every time. And G was open, and he found him four or five times.”

Butler finished with a team-high 24 points and a game-high 10 assists, five of which were dimes to Payton. They were responsible for restoring the heartbeat of the offense, as the Warriors in the second half scored 62 points on 48.9 percent shooting from the field, including 40 percent from distance.

There was some defensive slippage by Golden State, but not enough to give the game to the Pelicans.

There will be at least two more games without Curry, beginning Tuesday at Chase against the obnoxiously good Oklahoma City Thunder, followed by Thursday in Philadelphia against the 76ers, who are 10-8 despite Joel Embiid and Paul George missing a combined 26 games.

The Warriors will be off on Sunday before coming into Chase to practice and study video on Monday. They’ll spend less time reviewing the Pelicans than previewing the Thunder, who give their every opponent reason to palm its collective face.

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What we learned as Jimmy Butler, Gary Payton II lead Steph-less Warriors to win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

• BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO – Warriors fans near and far showed Kevon Looney an immense amount of love Saturday night in his return to Chase Center as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans.

There wasn’t much else to cheer for, even in a 104-96 Warriors win.

Jimmy Butler was the main bright spot in a game where the Warriors badly missed Steph Curry, who is out because of a quad contusion he sustained last game. Butler was the Warriors’ offense. Making the Pelicans pay in the paint and at the free-throw line, Butler was a plus-22 and barely missed a triple-double, finishing with 24 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists.

Second on the medal stand for the Warriors was Gary Payton II. The Warriors’ best offense when they’d go completely stagnant was Payton sneaking behind the Pelicans’ defense, running the baseline and converting for two points. Payton played 25 minutes off the bench and was a plus-13 with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Draymond Green took nine shots and missed all nine, including seven 3-point attempts. His only two points came from two late free throws.

The Warriors as a team shot 40.9 percent overall and 25.5 percent behind the 3-point line.

Looney in his return to the Bay Area was a plus-8 in 10 minutes off the bench, scoring four points and securing five rebounds.

Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ win. 

Kuminga’s Return

The loudest ovation of the day belonged to Looney. The second-loudest was for Kuminga making his way back from knee issues that held him out for the last two weeks. 

How Kuminga scored his first two points of the game is exactly what the Warriors want from him. Kuminga screened for Brandin Podziemski on a dribble-handoff, got the switch, forced Derik Queen to jump on a pump fake and laid it off the glass for an easy bucket. Later in the first quarter, Kuminga rebounded a missed three and went straight up for his next two points. 

Kuminga then went scoreless in the second quarter, but was a plus-10 over a stretch of four and a half minutes where he had two assists. He was bad in the third quarter when he again was held scoreless and committed two rough turnovers.

Then in the fourth quarter, Kuminga made back-to-back 3-pointers with Looney guarding him. Those were his only shot attempts of the fourth quarter, and they proved to be big 3-pointers. Kuminga after missing the last seven games played 19 minutes and was a plus-2 off the bench with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting, but had just one rebound.

Offense Struggles Without Steph

Giving the Warriors’ offense a D-plus after 20 games felt generous with the product they put on the floor without Curry. The offense went missing like Will Byers early on, but the Warriors didn’t have their superhero to bail them out. The numbers don’t even do it justice to how bad the Warriors’ offense was to begin the game. 

They scored a lowly 17 points in the first quarter, going 6 of 25 from the field and 1 of 14 on 3-pointers. That means the Warriors in the first 12 minutes of the game made five of their 11 two-pointers but kept taking 3-pointers, and kept missing them too. Quinten Post was the only Warrior to make a three. 

The Warriors then missed their first five threes in the second quarter before Moses Moody snapped the streak halfway through the period. Moody’s three was the Warriors’ lone triple of the quarter, but they outscored the Pelicans 25-20 from second-chance points, points off turnovers and free throws to hold a four-point halftime lead. Both teams were shooting 33.3 percent from the field and 9.1 percent on threes in the first half.

Offense for the Warriors and Pelicans decided to show up in the third quarter. Podziemski scored 10 points in the quarter and Butler added eight, but the Warriors were outscored 34-31, cutting their lead down to one point entering the final 12 minutes.

Without a doubt, the sequence of the game for the Warriors happened with a little under four minutes left when Podziemski made a huge three to take back the lead, and Payton on the next possession threw down a dunk in traffic off a perfect pass from Butler. Starting with that Podziemski three, the Warriors outscored the Pelicans 17-8 the rest of the way.

Welcome Home, Loon

Former Warriors assistant, and now former Pelicans head coach Willie Green, did Looney wrong when he didn’t play him at all two weeks again in New Orleans against Golden State. Current Pelicans coach James Borrego knew better than that, putting Looney in for the final minute of the first quarter in front of Dub Nation.

Looney in the first minute of the second quarter stole a bad Buddy Hield pass and pulled up for an 18-foot jumper to a handful of “Looooon” chants. He played five and a half minutes in the first half and was a plus-9 with four points, three rebounds, one assist and one steal. Looney sat the entire third quarter before starting the fourth on the floor.

Forever a Warriors fan-favorite, Looney played the first five minutes of the fourth quarter where he came down with two rebounds. His Pelicans were outscored by one point in those five minutes. Whether he watches from the bench or plays 10 minutes in reserve like he did Saturday night, it always will be weird and feel wrong to see Looney playing for a team that isn’t the Warriors.

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