Category: Basketball

The feelings Luka Doncic kept private during the past two months started pouring out.

Literally.

Moved to tears by a two-minute montage that played on the video scoreboard at American Airlines Center on Wednesday night, Doncic later recalled thinking, “There’s no way I’m playing this game.”

He didn’t have a choice.

Luka got emotional watching his tribute video from the Mavs 🥹 pic.twitter.com/ySim9PqNUg

— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 9, 2025

Doncic wiped his eyes with a towel, walked by a gauntlet of high-fiving reserves and joined the Lakers’ other starters on the floor.

What followed was a performance described by Lakers coach JJ Redick as “superhuman.” Not even Doncic could explain what happened.

More than two months after the Dallas Mavericks traded him to the Lakers, Doncic returned to the arena he called his home for more than six years.

His line in the Lakers’ 112-97 victory: 45 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals.

This was the kind of moment in which Shohei Ohtani would have blasted a ball into the upper deck, and that’s what Doncic did.

What Doncic did on Wednesday was the basketball equivalent of Ohtani homering last month in the Dodgers’ season-opening series in Tokyo or homering three times last year on the night he became the first 50/50 player in baseball history.

On the most high-profile stage he’s played on in a Lakers uniform, with the eyes of the entire basketball world on him, Doncic delivered.

“He’s teary-eyed still as we walk out on the court for the tip ball,” Redick said. “To have the emotional resolve to then go put on that kind of performance, it’s superhuman.”

Little wonder why Doncic remains beloved here.

He is beloved in Dallas for the same reasons Ohtani is now beloved in Los Angeles. Because he is fearless. Because he delivers. More specifically, because he delivers when he is expected to.

Never was a performance like this from Doncic as anticipated as it was on Wednesday night.

Doncic’s trade to the Lakers has remained a source of controversy because of how stupid it was, pretty much everyone outside of Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison wondering why anyone would part ways with a generational talent who is still only 26.

Doncic didn’t want to be traded, and Mavericks fans didn’t want him to be traded, creating a strange dynamic in the arena in which fans of both the home and visiting teams were on the same side: Doncic’s side.

When James attempted free throws just four seconds into the game, “Fire Nico” chants started. The chants were heard throughout the game.

As obviously shaken as Doncic was by the emotionally-charged environment before the game, he looked entirely unaffected during it.

“You call that an out-of-body experience,” James said.

Doncic shot and shot and shot.

By the end of the first quarter, Doncic had 14 points. By halftime, he had 31. The 30-point half was his first with the Lakers and the 14th of his career.

“I thought he was gonna get 50,” Redick said, jokingly adding, “I was disappointed.”

Doncic finished the game 16-of-28 shooting, including seven of 10 on three-pointers. He acknowledged he was drained by the experience.

Asked what he was thinking when he checked out of the game and received a standing ovation from what used to be his home crowd, he replied, “Honestly, I don't really know. I wasn't even thinking.”

Doncic said he encountered trouble sleeping on Tuesday night, even though the Lakers had played earlier in the day in Oklahoma City. He said he woke up exhausted on Wednesday. Walking into the arena, Doncic said he was “a little bit of both, happy and angry.”

Nonetheless, he delivered.

Read more:'Everybody had my back.' Lakers forge tighter bond supporting Luka Doncic in Dallas

James explained what this could mean for the Lakers in the postseason.

“I mean, he’s battle tested,” James said. “He’s been in big moments, he’s played in big moments throughout his career. Literally less than a year removed from the NBA finals, so he knows what to expect. He’s special with it.”

Doncic was already an established star when he moved to Los Angeles, just as Ohtani was last year. Now, Doncic will have the chance to do what Ohtani did, to become a champion, to become a civic hero.

He just has to deliver again.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Tom Thibodeau just became the fourth-winningest coach in New York Knicks history, passing Pat Riley on Saturday as his team notched their 49th win of the season. But as has often been the case with Thibodeau’s coaching milestones, the moment wasn’t met with pure celebration. Instead, familiar questions around a controversial overtone of his NBA coaching career loomed – namely, Thibs Minutes Syndrome.

Thibodeau has long carried a reputation for running his starters into the ground, a narrative built on his unwavering reliance on his first unit and reluctance to tap into his bench. This year, Knicks starters lead the NBA in total minutes played by more than 500 minutes. And the concern isn’t new: last year, as New York’s best chance to make the NBA finals in decades unraveled amid a cascade of injuries, criticism of Thibodeau’s substitution patterns resurfaced with a vengeance.

Recently, the conversation was reignited when one of Thibodeau’s stars, small forward Mikal Bridges – one of the league’s most durable players – was uncharacteristically candid on the subject in an interview with the New York Post. “Sometimes it’s not fun on the body,” he told Stefan Bondy in March. “I think [Thibodeau] just gets in his ways and gets locked in. He just wants to keep the [starting player] out there.” Bridges followed that with a pointed call to give the bench more run: “We’ve got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away minutes. Which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there and giving up all these points. It helps just keeping fresh bodies out there.”

Thibodeau, for his part, has long dismissed the discourse. “I think sometimes people get caught up in the wrong stuff,” he said during a 2018 radio appearance in Minneapolis. “The most important thing is the winning.”

That philosophy has followed him for years – and so has the criticism. His reputation as a career-shortener is now accepted as near-gospel, a perception rooted in part in Derrick Rose’s devastating knee injury under Thibodeau’s watch in Chicago. But that perception, renewed by Bridges’ comments, prompted a deeper question: is there actual, empirical evidence that Thibodeau’s players are more prone to injury?

The short answer? Not really.

NBA injury data is, by nature, frustratingly opaque – injuries are often categorized alongside “rest” or “illness”, making it difficult to isolate meaningful trends. That’s why, in trying to answer the question of whether Thibodeau’s players are actually more prone to injury, we had to go deeper. That led us to Jeff Stotts of InStreetClothes – a longtime independent researcher who’s spent over a decade meticulously building his own proprietary injury database. The data isn’t public, and to our knowledge, it’s never been shared in this form before. Stotts was able to extract and isolate the specific data we needed, and after a month of obsessive digging, what we found was – while perhaps anticlimactic – illuminating: there’s no clear or consistent pattern showing Thibodeau-coached players are more likely to get hurt than anyone else.

Injury spikes during his Bulls tenure can largely be attributed to Rose and a lengthy absence from Richard Hamilton. But aside from those exceptions, there’s no continuous or notable trend. While it’s fair to wonder whether heavy minutes might have subtle or long-term effects – and while Thibodeau’s approach may still be out of step with evolving sports science – the data doesn’t support a definitive link between his coaching style and injury risk.

Still, the process of looking into Thibodeau’s record revealed a broader, perhaps more unsettling trend: injuries have been rising across the NBA for more than a decade, regardless of coaching style, playing time or load management.

CJ McCollum, NBPA president and guard for the injury-depleted Pelicans, sees it firsthand. He talked to the Guardian last week in Los Angeles about the somewhat alarming trend and whether he had any ideas as to what could be causing it. “I think guys are playing a lot more basketball before they get to the NBA: grassroots, high school, college,” he said. “Just a lot of basketball being played. So at 22, 24, their bodies have been through a little more than [players] in previous years.”

It’s a hypothesis others share. In a 2019 feature for ESPN, Baxter Holmes dove into the theory of how early single-sport specialization and the year-round youth hoops circuit have pushed young players’ bodies to the brink before they even reach the league. “These kids are ticking time bombs,” one expert said in the piece.

McCollum also pointed to changes in team routines. “Earlier in my career, we practiced a lot more. Training camp was longer, there were more preseason games,” he said. “Now, with efforts to reduce back-to-backs, we have more single-off-day breaks and fewer practices. Guys are coming in in shape because they’re playing year-round, but there’s not as much ramp-up. Sometimes it’s too much information. Paralysis by analysis.”

There’s also, of course, the unpredictable: luck. “Sometimes injuries just happen,” McCollum said. “You can do everything right and still get hurt.”

His head coach, Willie Green, echoed that uncertainty. “I do not have a good guess on what the reason is,” Green said. “But I think the best thing we can do is have depth – a deep roster to withstand injuries. That’s what we’ve done in the past. This year, we just didn’t have enough guys available to fill in when our main players went down.”

And that’s where the Thibodeau debate still has legs. Even if his players aren’t getting hurt more than others, the broader trend of rising injuries – especially among starters logging heavy minutes – suggests every team may need to embrace depth more proactively. High-end talent isn’t going to become less important in the NBA landscape any time soon, but Green is likely onto something: depth may just be the way of the future for teams looking to weather an increasingly inevitable injury storm.

An emotional Luka Doncic helped the Los Angeles Lakers clinch a seeded play-off spot as he hit 45 points during a 112-97 win against former side Dallas Mavericks.

The Slovenian completed a mid-season trade to the Lakers from the Mavericks in February in one of the most surprising moves in NBA history.

T-shirts with the message "Hvala za vse", which is Slovenian for "Thank you for everything", were given to fans in the American Airlines Center in recognition of Doncic's six and a half seasons in Texas.

Doncic was reduced to tears as the Mavericks played a pre-game video tribute to the 26-year-old, while his every touch was cheered by the home fans during the opening minutes of the contest.

He quickly put sentiment aside, putting up 13 points in the first quarter and 31 by half-time.

He finished with eight rebounds, six assists and four steals in his 38 minutes on court.

"Everybody saw me, the way I reacted to the video," Doncic told ESPN.

"All these fans, I really appreciate it, man. All the team-mates I had, everybody had my back. I'm just happy.

"I love these fans, I love this city, but it's time to move on."

LeBron James, 40, hit 27 points, including 13 in the final quarter.

The win means the Lakers are guaranteed a top-six seed in the Western Conference play-offs, and they can seal the third-seed spot with a win in either of their two remaining matches.

For any other road game, Luka Doncic would’ve arrived at the arena on the team bus. For this on, he pulled up in an Apocalypse Hellfire, a six-wheeled mini-tank.

See for Doncic, this wasn’t really a road game. It wasn’t really a home game either. It was just a 26-year-old star stuck in this strange in-between world after he was traded from a team and city he loved to the Lakers, his life upended in a single phone call that left no time to empty his garage.

So instead of riding the bus, he drove the tank.

Doncic pulling into Wednesday’s game in Dallas by himself was fitting.

The anticipation for the moment had been building since the blockbuster trade on Feb. 1, his return to a fan base that has openly mourned and protested his departure with a mixture of sadness, anger and abandonment of the Mavericks. Outside the arena, a bar served shots for $7.77 in honor of No. 77 while a runner took 77 laps around the American Airlines Center to raise money for Doncic’s foundation.

The shirts draped on the seats said Hvala za vse — “Thanks for everything” in Slovenian.

It was going to be all about him.

But something else happened Wednesday as the Lakers won 112-97 to clinch a top-six seed and playoff spot.

Doncic’s moment? It became about the Lakers as a whole, the group crying the same tears, fighting off the same emotions and celebrating with an exhale that can propel them into the playoffs.

Read more:Lakers star Luka Doncic scores 45 in emotional, winning return to Dallas

That feeling bubbled throughout the night, from the pregame tribute video to the final horn, and it was cemented after Doncic’s final basket, a flat-footed three-foot push shot that might’ve been the easiest two points of his 45.

As he walked to the bench after Dallas called time out to surrender, Rui Hachimura met him with a huge smile. Austin Reaves howled and bumped chests with Doncic. Dorian Finney-Smith and Doncic did their choreographed handshake.

And, finally, LeBron James met him with the biggest hug he could deliver.

“I've been in a lot of moments in my career. I've played against some former teammates. I've played against former teams. I've been booed, I've been cheered, I've been whatever. Everything. I've seen it all,” James told The Times. “And one thing you can't ever undermine is just the emotion behind a human. And, as much emotion that was going on tonight, as much hoopla was going on and how much the game of basketball wrapped around it, the human side kicked in.

“Not only for Luka, but for our ballclub and for me.”

It was no longer a Doncic moment; it was a Lakers moment.

That embrace had been building since the moments just prior to the game when the Mavericks played a two-minute tribute video on the scoreboard before they announced him as a visiting player for the first time.

Luka got emotional watching his tribute video from the Mavs 🥹 pic.twitter.com/ySim9PqNUg

— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 9, 2025

Doncic sat alone on the bench, looking from the video screen to the towel he used to hide his face. And while he watched, Lakers coaches and players watched Doncic, drawn into nakedly exposed emotions.

“Coach said after the game when he saw Luka crying, he started crying,” Reaves told The Times. “[Assistant coach Greg St. Jean] started crying. And to be honest, I didn't wanna look at him because I was over there looking up and I was getting chills. So I was like, ‘If I look at this man and I see the emotion, like I'm probably going to get upset.'

“So I think everybody in the locker room had the same feeling.”

James was there for a pregame embrace after Doncic was announced, another moment for him to share with his new teammate.

And then he brought apocalyptic hellfire, scoring 31 points in the first half.

“It's a beautiful moment,” coach JJ Redick said. “I thought the video was great, but I think just his ability to then go perform...

"Lights turn on. He's teary-eyed still as we walk out on the court for the tip ball. To have the emotional resolve to then go put on that kind of performance, it's superhuman.”

In their push for prime playoff position, the Lakers (49-31) have shown great moments of on-court connection, particularly in blowout wins in Denver and Oklahoma City. Those bonds seemed to only tighten Wednesday as they rode the emotional roller coaster with Doncic instead of leaving him to face it alone.

“Everybody had my back, from coaches to players,” Doncic said. “And we’re trying to build something special here and that was really, really, really nice to see.”

He had to have felt it after walking off the court in the fourth quarter, the crowd and his teammates all chanting his name as the Lakers’ huddle bounced with excitement. Redick said he and St. Jean noticed that embrace with James first.

Read more:'Imagine how I felt': Luka Doncic surprised he was traded to Lakers

“It can bring you together. It can bring you closer. You never know. NBA is a fickle thing. Greg and I were talking as that moment was happening, both kind of fighting back some emotions. And Greg said to me, 'This is gonna be awesome for our group to go through this with him, and for him to go through this with them.'

“Does that mean we're gonna win an NBA championship or get to the conference finals? I don't know. But it was an awesome moment for everyone.”

“I think it just, it shows in a short period of time, it shows how much that we care about one another,” Reaves said.

It wasn’t just a night for Doncic; it was one for his team days away from beginning a playoff chase for a championship. And it was a night for James and Doncic as they strengthen their partnership heading into their first postseason.

“For him to have the game he had,” James said, “for me to be a part of it, for me to be a part of helping him win the game — 'cause I know how important that was even more than anything — it was just another step in our journey.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

It didn’t matter to the Clippers that the Houston Rockets were resting their core players. It didn’t matter to the Clippers that they were playing the second game on back-to-back nights. It didn’t matter that they are starting to feel some wear and tear from a long NBA season that’s winding down.

What mattered was “being professional” Wednesday in their approach to their final regular-season game at the Intuit Dome.

The Clippers still are playing for something and that was enough motivation during a 134-117 win over the Rockets behind another masterful game from center Ivica Zubac.

Zubac registered his first triple-double of 20 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists. He became just the third Clippers center to post a triple-double.

He almost didn’t get that opportunity, because coach Tyronn Lue considered taking Zubac out with 1:06 remaining. But Norman Powell and Nicolas Batum kept telling Lue to leave Zubac in, so he did.

Then with 1:02 left, Zubac found Bogdan Bogdanovic (16 points) for a 28-foot three-pointer that gave the 7-footer his first triple-double.

“I wanted it,” Zubac said, laughing. “T. Lue wanted to sub me out, then everyone was like, ‘No, no, no.’ He asked me and I was like, ‘I’ll stay.’ I wanted it. I told Bogie 'I’ll get it to you and you got to shoot it no matter what,' and he did. Bogie is a big-time shot maker. So, I told him he’s never paying for dinner again. I’m glad he made that shot.”

The victory was the Clippers’ sixth straight and left them as the fifth-place team in the loaded Western Conference.

The Clippers have the same record as the fourth-place Denver Nuggets at 48-32. Though they split the season series (2-2), the Nuggets have the tiebreaker with a better conference record (30-20 to the Clippers’ 27-23) .

The Clippers have one more win than sixth-place Memphis and seventh-place Golden State with two regular-season games left — at Sacramento on Friday and at Golden State on Sunday. The Clippers can put themselves in position to get an automatic playoff berth and avoid the play-in tournament.

“We got to keep getting better,” said Kawhi Leonard, who had 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

James Harden had 35 points and 10 assists and Batum had 15 points, all in the first half. Batum was four for five from three-point range but didn’t play in the second half because of right groin soreness.

Powell missed the game because of right shoulder soreness, but the Clippers overcame his absence. Perhaps most impressive was that they didn’t let up despite the Rockets sitting starters Alperen Sengun, Dillon Brooks, Fred VanVleet and Amen Thompson and sixth man Jabari Smith Jr. The Rockets have clinched the No. 2 seed in the West and essentially had nothing to play for.

The Clippers, however, had far more at stake.

“I’m the kind of guy that [says] win every game that’s in front of us and see what happens,” Zubac said. “There’s nothing to be smart about. We got to win games. Whatever happens, happens.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Lakers fans and the Mavericks fans cheered. Because they were Luka Doncic fans.

The uniforms were Lakers purple and gold. They were Dallas navy and Mavericks retro green. They were from the Slovenian national team and a Spanish club.

All had the same name across the back.

They cheered when he touched the ball and erupted when he made his first shot. They booed when he traveled and stood and applauded when he checked out.

Even though he was now a visitor, the Mavericks crowd reminded Doncic at every opportunity that they felt this still should be home.

They showed it before Wednesday's game, lining the court to watch him go through his routine an hour before tipoff. They showed it during introductions, roaring as he was introduced as a Laker for the first time in Dallas after a two-minute tribute video.

And they showed it each time the Lakers went to the free-throw line early in the game by chanting “Fire Nico,” the words that have come to define the Mavericks' season after general manager Nico Harrison dealed Doncic to the Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a first-round pick.

Doncic repaid the fans with the kind of show they’d seen countless times, scoring 31 of his 45 points in the first half of the Lakers’ 112-97 win. The victory assures the Lakers of a top-six seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

After his final basket, Dallas called time out and Doncic embraced his new teammates, falling into LeBron James’ arms for the biggest hug. The fans chanted “Luka” while Lakers players urged them on.

It was the manifestation of what coach JJ Redick said the Lakers hoped to show Doncic, that they “got his back.”

Before the game fans held their phones up at American Airlines Center's giant scoreboard as the lights dimmed for a video of Doncic’s best moments with the Mavericks — a mix of big shots, magical passes and boyish charisma that enchanted the franchise’s fans. Doncic’s lip quivered as tears pooled in his eyes.

“I was, like, ‘There’s no way I’m playing this game,’” Doncic recalled thinking. “It was so many emotions and I just went out there and just played basketball.”

Luka got emotional watching his tribute video from the Mavs 🥹 pic.twitter.com/ySim9PqNUg

— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 9, 2025

After featuring him as their primary offensive option for two quarters, the Lakers turned to defense and transition offense to take control in the third quarter. And while Dallas briefly took the lead in the fourth quarter, a Christie two-handed slam nudging the Mavericks ahead, Doncic and the Lakers closed them out by playing their best all-around basketball while another round of “Fire Nico” chants bounced through the arena.

As he checked out, Doncic got one last standing ovation, turning to show his appreciation to the crowd. For the night, everyone had gotten what they wanted.

Tomorrow he will be focused only on the Lakers.

“It's over,” Doncic recalled telling himself after he checked out. “We won and I had a great time.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Warriors' haunting loss to Spurs recalls shades of pre-Butler days originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – The issue most responsible for the Warriors’ midseason mediocrity, patched masterfully for two months after the arrival of Jimmy Butler III, sustained its first tear Wednesday night.

For the first time since Butler arrived, the Warriors fumbled a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter when San Antonio’s Harrison Barnes drained a game-winning 3-pointer that sent the Warriors trudging into the locker room with a 114-111 loss to the Spurs that could haunt them the rest of the season.

The loss, the Warriors’ second in three games, dropped them from sixth place to seventh in the Western Conference standings with a 47-33 record. They are squarely in the pit they hoped to avoid: NBA play-in tournament quicksand.

“We know where we at,” Stephen Curry said. “We know that every game is important. It’s been important about the last two weeks, and we’ve done a lot to give ourselves a chance to climb pretty high considering where we were before trade deadline. And [losing] these last two home games sucks, like for different reasons.”

It quickly became apparent that another obstacle to victory that Butler had nullified suddenly resurfaced. When Curry sat, leads evaporated. It happened in the second quarter, when a nine-point lead disappeared in three minutes. It happened again in the fourth, when that 12-point lead was trimmed to four in less than three minutes.

“Couldn’t get a stop,” Draymond Green said. “Couldn’t get into nothing good offensively, couldn’t get a stop.”

Curry sat for six minutes in the first half and five minutes in the second half, and San Antonio was plus-16 over those 11 minutes.

“That was key to the game, top of the second, top of the fourth,” coach Steve Kerr said. “We played two great quarters, first quarter and third quarter. And then both of those quarters, top second, top four, they blitzed us.”

The Spurs in the fourth quarter torched Golden State’s defense for 38 points, on 72.2-percent shooting from the field, including 70 percent beyond the arc. Three turnovers in the final 2:11 gave San Antonio enough opportunity to close it out.

“It didn’t happen in the fourth quarter,” said Green, who committed two of the late turnovers. “It happened in the second quarter. End of the first quarter, second quarter we just started giving up straight-line drives. They found a rhythm; that’s what happened. We found a way to get the lead back but we never … don’t mess around with games.”

Curry finished with a game-high 30 points, with Butler right behind him with 28 points – his highest total as a Warrior – with 13 coming in the fourth quarter. Golden State’s offense was satisfactory enough, but its defense did not hold up.

This was a particularly painful setback, as it came against a 13th-place Spurs team relegated to playing spoiler after losing eight of its last nine games. Moreover, the Warriors took a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter before being clobbered 38-23 over the final 12 minutes.

The last time the Warriors kicked away a similar lead was on Feb. 5 – three days before Butler’s debut – when they lost an 11-point lead to the Jazz in less than three minutes in Utah. Both losses can be attributed to Golden State’s defensive shortcomings.

Mind you, the Warriors have been the league’s best defense since Butler came aboard.

“When you’re up 12 on to the fourth, your defense is really going to be the difference in maintaining that separation,” Curry said. “Who cares if you make or miss shots? You just can’t give a team life and give up 38 points.”

The Warriors still can lock up a top-six seed in the West by winning their final two games. If Minnesota wins at Memphis on Thursday, the Warriors move back into sixth place. If the Grizzlies win, Golden State is one game back of Memphis but holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Grizzlies then go to Denver to face the Nuggets on Friday on Part II of a back-to-back set.

Beating the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday and the Los Angeles Clippers would allow the Warriors to finish the season at 49-33. They would finish ahead of the Timberwolves, who already have 34 losses, and they would jump Memphis if its drops one of its last three games.

The Warriors no longer have full control of their destiny. They put themselves right where they don’t want to be, hoping someone above them tumbles back below.

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Kings must play ‘right way' in final stretch with NBA play-in looming originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO – All the math and calculations are over.

The Kings are locked into the No. 9 vs. No. 10 seed game and will be facing the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA play-in tournament bracket. The only question remaining is whether the game will be played in California at Golden 1 Center or in Texas at American Airlines Center.

While Sacramento has two games left on the regular-season schedule, interim coach Doug Christie had an inkling that this would be the way things played out, so he sent assistant coach Will Scott to scout Dallas last week.

The Kings already had a good read on the Mavericks, having won all three head-to-head matchups between the two teams this season. That gives Sacramento the tie-breaking advantage should it come down to that.

It probably won’t.

The Kings finish the regular season with home games against the playoff-bound Los Angeles Clippers and the Phoenix Suns, who have been in roll-over-and-play-dead mode for a while now.

Dallas closes out against a sub-.500 team in the Toronto Raptors before going on the road to play a hungry Memphis Grizzlies squad trying to improve its own playoff positioning.

Barring a complete meltdown, the Kings will play host to the Mavericks in that 9-10 showdown on April 16 at G1C.

While Christie has his staff already doing some advanced scouting, Zach LaVine said it’s important that the Kings focus more on themselves right now before turning their attention to the Mavericks.

“We understand we‘re going to play them, but we’re more worried about ourselves on how we can get in the right rhythm and continue to play good basketball,” LaVine told NBC Sports California after the Kings’ 124-116 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday. “Even tonight with the loss, we played good basketball, gave ourselves a chance. We’re going to see [the Mavericks], we’re going to play them, but these next couple of games, let’s make sure we play the right way.”

In spite of Wednesday’s loss, the Kings left G1C with a fairly positive vibe.

After a rocky first half when it fell behind 66-58, committed six turnovers and allowed Denver to shoot nearly 47 percent from the floor, Sacramento got going after halftime and made the Nuggets sweat out the final few minutes of the night.

“That was a tough one,” Christie said. “We’re gonna have to lick our wounds and come back and be ready to get it it because the Clippers are going to be coming.”

Christie lamented the Kings’ inability to sustain their attack against the Nuggets, so he didn’t get overly excited about Sacramento’s surge in the final minutes.

It basically was lipstick on a pig, and Christie knows it won’t be good enough in the postseason no matter who the Kings line up against.

“There is a level that I’m going to demand that we play at,” Christie said. “The consistency at which you play at that level in this league determines the altitude, how high you fly in this league. If you’re up and down constantly, you’re probably going to take a lot of losses. If you do not reach that level, you’re going to get the hell beat out of you.

“We’re not here for that.”

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What we learned as Zach LaVine's 27 points not enough in Kings' loss to Nuggets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

SACRAMENTO – Zach LaVine continued to rip it up offensively, pouring in 27 points with 11 assists in the Kings’ 124-116 loss to the Mike Malone-less Denver Nuggets on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center.

Malone, who previously coached the Kings, was fired by Denver on Tuesday, less than two years after guiding the Nuggets to their first and only NBA championship.

That might have lit a fire under the Nuggets, who had been spiraling down the Western Conference standings over the previous five weeks.

Denver led by 16, then held off a late Kings surge in the fourth quarter to complete the season-series sweep of Sacramento.

DeMar DeRozan had 22 points. Domantas Sabonis added 27 points and 11 rebounds while Keon Ellis had 20 points off the bench.

The Kings entered the day on a three-game winning streak. They conclude the regular season with home games against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday and the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.

Sacramento is locked into the Western Conference’s 9 vs. 10 play-in game against the Dallas Mavericks. The Kings hold a one-game lead in the standings and have the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Nuggets shot nearly 57 percent in the first half and had four players in double figures by halftime. Conversely, the Kings didn’t have anyone reach double figures in the first half but had four players with nine points apiece and went into the break trailing 66-58.

Here are the takeaways from Wednesday’s game:

It’s getting hot in here

With two regular-season games remaining, the Western Conference standings are tighter than a fat guy in skinny jeans.

Five teams are within two games of one another for the No. 4 seed in the playoffs. That is the final spot for homecourt advantage in the first round.

The Kings are locked into a play-in game and will play the Mavericks. The only remaining question is whether the game will be in California or Texas.

Keep it going, Z

It took a little while to find his rhythm, but LaVine got going once he warmed up and continued his recent scoring surge.

Since joining the Kings, LaVine has been a scoring machine. That was particularly true over Sacramento’s previous five games when he averaged 20.8 points while shooting a solid 47 percent from the floor. That included the last two games before Wednesday, when LaVine had 80 total points in wins over the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons.

The veteran guard started slow against the Nuggets, who limited LaVine to eight points in the first half. He finished minus-eight.

Doing the Dougie

Doug McDermott has played well off the bench this season and has had a few games where he provided instant and quick offense.

Wednesday was one of those games.

During a span of 150 seconds in the second quarter, McDermott canned a pair of deep 3-pointers and made a stellar alley-oop pass to LaVine from behind the 3-point arc.

The No. 11 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, McDermott has proven capable of getting things done quickly during his first season in Sacramento. He had a memorable night against the Utah Jazz in December when he dropped a season-high 18 points on six 3-pointers in eight and a half minutes. He also had 15 points in 11 minutes against the Nuggets in January.

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What we learned as Warriors suffer brutal loss on Barnes buzzer-beater originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Antonio Spurs are not the Phoenix Suns. 

Despite having nothing to play for in the standings, the Spurs weren’t going to back down. They also weren’t going to give up when Golden State led by as much as 14 points in the first quarter. What looked to be a blowout was a battle for all four quarters. 

Thursday night at Chase Center was a game of runs that wasn’t decided until former Warrior Harrison Barnes made a fadeaway game-winning 3-pointer to beat the buzzer as Golden State lost 114-111. In a season that has featured a handful of bad losses, this one tops them all for the Warriors.

SPURS WIN! SPURS WIN! SPURS WIN! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/MZcEqV193p

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) April 10, 2025

With the Warriors’ NBA playoff hopes coming down to the final day of the regular season, they couldn’t afford such a back-breaking loss. After outscoring the Spurs by 16 points in the third quarter, the Warriors were outscored by 15 points, 38-23, in the fourth.

Multiple miscues cost the Warriors down the stretch, including two turnovers in the final minute.

Steph Curry (30 points) and Jimmy Butler (28 points) carried the Warriors offensively, particularly in the second half. Draymond Green was one rebound and two assists shy of a triple-double, but two mental lapses defensively in the end were impossible to ignore. 

Curry was a plus-14, and no other starter had a positive plus/minus. The only other Warriors player to even have a positive plus/minus was Trayce Jackson-Davis, who was a plus-3 in three minutes.

Here are three takeaways from an inexcusable loss.

Up-And-Down Start

Playing the lifeless Suns one night prior, Warriors coach Steve Kerr commended his veteran stars – Curry, Butler and Green – for sending a message and setting a tone from the jump. On the second night of a back-to-back, the trio once again was locked in following the opening tip. 

The Warriors began the game on a 9-0 run, prompting a timeout from Spurs interim coach Mitch Johnson. Their lead was extended to 11-0 after the timeout. When Johnson first pressed pause and tried to collect his team, Green already had two points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal as he swiped down and knocked the ball away from veteran center Bismack Biyombo. 

At the end of the first quarter, the Warriors led by nine points. Curry and Butler each had seven points, and Steph also swiped two steals. Green stuffed the stat sheet with five points, four rebounds, five assists and a steal. Their movement and precision highlighted how important this game was.

Then, a lackluster start to the second quarter saw Green put an end to a 7-0 Spurs run with a three at the top of the arc. But the Warriors couldn’t get going. The Spurs held a 12-3 advantage when Curry came back in, and then moved to 19-3. Golden State got outscored 32-19 in the second quarter, turning a nine-point lead into a four-point deficit.

While the Spurs turned the heat up, the Warriors went ice-cold in the second quarter, shooting 27.3 percent from the field (6 of 22) and going just 4 of 15 (26.7 percent) on threes.

Third-Quarter Switch Flipped

Remember what a staple the third quarter used to be for the Warriors? It’s where dreams became nightmares for opposing teams. Well, those 12 minutes might not be as dominant as they once were, but they do remain a strength of the Warriors. 

They came into the day having the seventh-best third-quarter point differential in the NBA, and found whatever boost was required at halftime in the locker room. The Warriors raced out to a 6-0 run in the third quarter and never slowed down, enjoying a 37-21 advantage for the quarter. Feeding Curry certainly helped. 

Curry scored 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting and only connected on one of his five 3-point attempts in the first half. He found his rhythm in the third quarter. 

In just under 10 minutes, Curry scored 14 points, going 5 of 9 from the field, including 4 of 6 on threes. Rookie Stephon Castle was called for an off-ball foul from how much he held onto Curry, only for the greatest shooter the game has seen to then drain a trey right in front of him following the whistle.

End Of An Era? 

As Castle did his best to stick with Curry’s every move, Curry on the other side of the ball was in a matchup he has known his entire 16-year NBA career. He faced off against Chris Paul for the 40th time in the regular season, dropping to 23-17 in this rivalry between two point guards bound for the Hall of Fame. 

Paul is labeled as the pure pass-first point guard, as Curry’s unique style off the ball and shooting prowess makes him a whole other animal to handle. Through the first half, it actually was Paul who was the leading scorer of the two, 12-10, going a perfect 4 of 4 overall and 3 of 3 on threes. Curry’s huge third quarter, in which Paul went scoreless, seemed like it was going to change the script of this latest 48-minute movie. 

There were scenes of Paul goading Brandin Podziemski into an offensive foul and coaching his guys on the fly, as well as Curry igniting the home crowd with every 3-pointer that splashed through the nets. Some moments felt like flashbacks, others were a reminder of their long standing greatness to the game. Kerr said pregame he doesn’t expect Paul to retire after the season, and it’s easy to see why a team still would sign an undersized point guard who turns 40 years old in under a month. 

Just like when Curry plays LeBron James or any other legend, it was easy to appreciate what these two have meant to basketball for nearly two decades. And there’s another reason for Dub Nation to remember the days of loathing Paul.

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Celtics post best road record in franchise's history originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics fell to the Orlando Magic in their final road game of the 2024-25 season Wednesday night, but the defeat won’t keep them out of the franchise’s record books.

Their 33-8 road record this season is the best in franchise history. They came just one win shy of tying the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors for the best road record in the history of the NBA.

That’s quite a feat, especially when you consider that Warriors team won a league-record 73 games in the regular season before ultimately losing to LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals.

The Celtics also set a franchise record for the most road wins and best road win percentage in a season in franchise history.

1. 2024-25: 33-8, .805 win percentage
2. 1972-73: 32-8, .800
3. 1974-75: 32-9, .780
4. 2007-08: 31-10, .756
5. 1959-60: 23-9, .719

In addition to the records explained above, the Celtics also finished with a plus-9.3 scoring margin on the road, which currently ranks No. 3 all-time behind the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers and this season’s Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder have three road games remaining, so Boston could jump back to No. 2 all-time by season’s end.

1. LA Lakers, 1971-72: 11.3 road scoring margin
2. Oklahoma City Thunder, 2024-25: 9.6
3. Boston Celtics, 2024-25: 9.3
4. New York Knicks, 1969-70: 9.1
5. Chicago Bulls, 2007-08: 8.2

The Celtics did not secure homecourt advantage throughout the 2025 NBA playoffs. They’ll finish the regular season with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and the third-best record in the league. The C’s wouldn’t have homecourt advantage if they met the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals and/or the Thunder in the NBA Finals.

So it’s encouraging for the Celtics that they are such a good road team and can play at a high level without the tremendous boost the TD Garden crowd provides. They might need to lean on their road dominance at some point in the postseason.

3 observations after Dowtin's career-high performance leads Sixers over Wizards  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

WASHINGTON — The Sixers snapped their skid and enjoyed a win Wednesday night in their road finale.

The team ended its 12-game losing streak by earning a 122-103 victory over the Wizards at Capital One Arena. 

Jeff Dowtin Jr. scored a career-high 30 points and Lonnie Walker IV added 24. 

The 17-63 Wizards’ top scorer was Tristan Vukcevic with 24 points. 

Justin Edwards (rib contusion) remained among the Sixers’ injured players. Tyrese Maxey (right finger sprain) was officially ruled out for the season before the game. Alex Reese exited in the fourth quarter with a right Achilles tendon strain and did not return.

The 24-56 Sixers will host the Hawks on Friday night. Here are observations on their win over the Wizards:

Bona strong vs. Sarr

The Sixers started nicely, taking a 10-2 lead with two Walker three-pointers sandwiched between a pair of Adem Bona dunks. 

Bona was eager to do damage in transition and gave the Sixers an ultra-athletic, high-leaping pick-and-roll threat. The rookie big man finished the first quarter with nine points on 4-for-4 shooting.

He was also good defensively against No. 1 overall pick Alex Sarr, tightly contesting shots without fouling. Bona does have a habit of cutting it very close on goaltends, but the Sixers definitely don’t mind his hunger for blocks. 

He picked up two more rejections Wednesday, extending his run of consecutive games with at least one block to 14. 

Dowtin lights it up  

The Sixers’ usual go-to guy late this season was ice-cold in the first half. At intermission, Quentin Grimes was 0 for 10 from the field. 

With Grimes sitting, the Sixers’ second unit played well early in the second quarter. Dowtin got his first NBA action since the Sixers’ March 26 loss to the Wizards and served as the backup point guard. The Sixers’ other subs were Ricky Council IV, Reese and Colin Castleton. 

Dowtin was the standout, tallying 11 points in the second quarter. He looked to be coasting to 13, but Dowtin somehow missed a completely uncontested layup after sneakily swiping a steal from Sarr. 

That play was a blip for Dowtin, who kept on rolling in the third quarter, He exploded for 11 points in a span of 85 seconds, capping his flurry by draining a deep, heat-check three. The Wizards called timeout and Dowtin grinned on his way back to the Sixers’ celebrating bench. 

Finally tasting victory again

Seeking their first win in over three weeks, the Sixers entered the fourth quarter with an 89-79 edge.

They played decent zone defense early in the fourth and continued to run much of their offense through Dowtin. The 27-year-old reached his new career high by knocking down a confident baseline jumper.

Walker also scored steadily. Fifty-three points over his last two games is not shabby at all for a player looking to prove that he deserves a stable spot in the NBA.

In the end, the Sixers didn’t have to conquer any late-game obstacles. They pulled away from the Wizards and, for the first time in a long time, were decisively better than their opponent. The team’s nightmarish season won’t end with a 15-game losing streak.

3 observations after Dowtin's career-high performance leads Sixers over Wizards  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

WASHINGTON — The Sixers snapped their skid and enjoyed a win Wednesday night in their road finale.

The team ended its 12-game losing streak by earning a 122-103 victory over the Wizards at Capital One Arena. 

Jeff Dowtin Jr. scored a career-high 30 points and Lonnie Walker IV added 24. 

The 17-63 Wizards’ top scorer was Tristan Vukcevic with 24 points. 

Justin Edwards (rib contusion) remained among the Sixers’ injured players. Tyrese Maxey (right finger sprain) was officially ruled out for the season before the game. Alex Reese exited in the fourth quarter with a right Achilles tendon strain and did not return.

The 24-56 Sixers will host the Hawks on Friday night. Here are observations on their win over the Wizards:

Bona strong vs. Sarr

The Sixers started nicely, taking a 10-2 lead with two Walker three-pointers sandwiched between a pair of Adem Bona dunks. 

Bona was eager to do damage in transition and gave the Sixers an ultra-athletic, high-leaping pick-and-roll threat. The rookie big man finished the first quarter with nine points on 4-for-4 shooting.

He was also good defensively against No. 2 overall pick Alex Sarr, tightly contesting shots without fouling. Bona does have a habit of cutting it very close on goaltends, but the Sixers definitely don’t mind his hunger for blocks. 

He picked up two more rejections Wednesday, extending his run of consecutive games with at least one block to 14. 

Dowtin lights it up  

The Sixers’ usual go-to guy late this season was ice-cold in the first half. At intermission, Quentin Grimes was 0 for 10 from the field. 

With Grimes out, the Sixers’ second unit played well early in the second quarter. Dowtin got his first NBA action since the Sixers’ March 26 loss to the Wizards (he’d be sitting because two-way contract players can only be active for 50 games in a season) and served as the backup point guard. The Sixers’ other subs were Ricky Council IV, Reese and Colin Castleton. 

Dowtin was the standout, tallying 11 points in the second quarter. He looked to be coasting to 13, but Dowtin somehow missed a completely uncontested layup after sneakily swiping a steal from Sarr. 

That play was a blip for Dowtin, who kept on rolling in the third quarter, He exploded for 11 points in a span of 85 seconds, capping his flurry by draining a deep, heat-check three. The Wizards called timeout and Dowtin grinned on his way back to the Sixers’ celebrating bench. 

Dowtin, who’s from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, called it a “special” night. He had “30-plus” friends and family in attendance.

“Cousins, uncles, aunts, you name it,” he said. “Everybody wanted to show their support, and that’s big for me. I really appreciate them and I’m glad I was able to play a great game for them.”

Finally tasting victory again

Seeking their first win in over three weeks, the Sixers entered the fourth quarter with an 89-79 edge.

They played decent zone defense early in the fourth and continued to run much of their offense through Dowtin. The 27-year-old reached his new career high by knocking down a confident baseline jumper.

Walker also scored steadily. Fifty-three points over his last two games is not shabby at all for a player looking to prove that he deserves a stable spot in the NBA.

In the end, the Sixers didn’t have to conquer any late-game obstacles. They pulled away from the Wizards and, for the first time in a long time, were decisively better than their opponent.

The team’s nightmarish season won’t end with a 15-game losing streak.

“I feel like we’d been playing well lately,” Jared Butler said after posting 13 points, six rebounds and four assists against his former team. “I feel like we’d been playing the right way, playing with the right tenacity. It feels good to finally get a dub.”