Category: Basketball

Mitchell Robinson is an anomaly. The Knicks center is currently a backup who has never averaged double figures in scoring during his seven-year career.

In this year’s playoffs, Robinson’s 4.2 points and 6.8 rebounds are pedestrian at best. But when the center is on the floor, he is one of New York’s most important players.

As the Knicks start an Eastern Conference Finals matchup with the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Townswill get most of the attention. But Robinson’s play could propel New York to the NBA Finals for the first time in 26 years. That’s why he is the Knicks’ X-factor in the series.

In the second round against Boston, Robinson’s play was crucial. The seven-footer was a plus-46 in the series. His play made up for New York’s starting lineup, which was outscored by 9.5 points per 100 possessions against the Celtics in the six games.

Now, the Knicks face a tough opponent in the Pacers. After a 10-15 start to the season, Indiana went 40-17 over the final 57 regular season games and is 8-2 in the playoffs. The Pacers’ offense provides a significant amount of challenges for the Knicks -- Indiana ranks second in offensive efficiency during the postseason.

Where Robinson’s impact will be felt the most is on the defensive end. His ability to be a deterrent at the rim cleans up so much for New York’s defense. In 222 minutes with Robinson on the floor, the Knicks are allowing just 101.3 points per 100 possessions, which would rank first among all 16 playoff teams.

The Knicks can employ a drop coverage defending the pick-and-roll, but Robinson also showed at times that he can defend some perimeter players in isolation on switches. He’s also been able to cover a significant amount of ground, making him more than just a plodding rim-protector. There might be times we see Robinson switched on Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton.

Monster on the glass

Robinson is limited offensively, but the havoc the 27-year old causes on the offensive glass could shape this series. The Pacers were 18th in defensive rebound rate during the regular season. The rebounding issue reared its ugly head in Indiana’s lone loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round, when the Cavaliers had 18 offensive rebounds.

Robinson has feasted on offensive rebounds his whole career. In the Celtics series, he had 23 offensive caroms in 124 minutes. The big man draws so much attention from the opposition trying to box out, that it opens up extra opportunities for his teammates.

When Robinson was on the floor, the Knicks rebounded 40.2 percent of their misses. That’s a figure that would lead the NBA in both the regular season and the playoffs.

Both the Knicks and Pacers are low turnover teams. Robinson’s excellence in offensive rebounding can help New York win the possession battle and affect the pace of play. Indiana was seventh in pace during the regular season and ranks third in the playoffs.

If Indiana’s players place more effort to prevent Robinson from pursuing misses, the Pacers won’t be able to get out and run as easily.

Look for head coach Tom Thibodeau to go to lineups with both Towns and Robinson on the floor together. In 90 minutes during the playoffs, lineups with the two centers on the floor have outscored opponents by 14.8 points per 100 possessions, according to PBP Stats.

For the Knicks to defeat the Pacers, Robinson’s fingerprints will need to be all over the series as well as the basketballs he rebounds.

Do Steph, Warriors need more shooting after postseason struggles? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – Offense often took a backseat in the fifth chapter of Steph Curry and the Warriors being the Houston Rockets’ Grim Reaper in the playoffs. 

A seven-game series featured four in which a team failed to score 100 points, and only two where a team scored more than 110 points. The Warriors were outscored in both those games. Physicality became the featured word for the series, far more often than anything that had to do with shooting. 

Sure, there were big scoring nights like Steph Curry’s two 30-point games, plus his 29 points in Game 6. Jimmy Butler’s 25 points in Game 1 and 27 in Game 4 – both wins – were huge. Buddy Hield was the story of Game 7, catching fire early for 33 points and nine threes. 

In the Rockets’ Game 5 and Game 6 wins, Fred VanVleet made a combined 10 threes, giving Golden State flashbacks of Game 6 in the 2019 Finals. But the Warriors knew if they could take care of the ball and force the Rockets into halfcourt offense, they liked their odds. The Rockets shot more accurately from the field in the first round than the series, 44.6 percent to 43.3 percent, and from 3-point range as well, 37.4 percent to 35.8 percent. 

The Warriors made just six more shots than the Rockets. The real difference was playing today’s game, taking 104 more threes than them and making 34 more. There was a 36-point difference from deep in Game 7 when the Warriors made three times as many threes as the Rockets, 18 to six.

Playing the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round always was going to be a completely different challenge. 

“Look at Minnesota,” Steve Kerr said Friday at his final press conference of the season. “I thought we did a pretty decent job at times in the series of defending them, but they’ve got guys, both [Julius Randle] and [Anthony Edwards], who were able to break us down, and then all of a sudden they’re kicking out to three or four 3-point shooters, including a center in Naz Reid. That makes defense really, really tricky.” 

And then the Timberwolves proceeded to miss their first 16 threes in Game 1, right after bricking 17 consecutive in their Game 5 win against the Los Angeles Lakers. That was an anomaly, and the Timberwolves got an unfortunate confidence boost despite the Warriors opening the series with a win. The shift in shooting was about to be as evident as possible with Curry injured. 

The Timberwolves in the four games Curry missed, all four being wins for them, put up 136 threes, 17 more than the Warriors could get off. Minnesota made 20 more threes in those four games than Curry’s teammates, 58 to 38, and shot at a much better clip – 42.6 percent to 31.9 percent. Their guys weren’t just making shots, but were willing to even take them.

Reid’s ability to stretch the floor at 6-foot-9 and knock down threes has made him a Warriors problem for many years now. He isn’t alone. The Warriors were questioning if they needed to switch more to stay in front, chasing the Timberwolves’ shooters while searching for points themselves. 

The real questions were about the Warriors’ offense, looking not just like a shell of itself without Curry but a completely different system.

“Can we put more lineups together that can kind of feature both shot creation and shot-making and spacing?” Kerr asked. “It’s obviously a lot tougher to do than to say.” 

Looking in is the first step. The Warriors as they re-tool their roster around Curry, Butler and Draymond Green will have to ask if players like Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody and Quinten Post are trusted enough shooters. 

“Yeah, for sure it comes internally,” Kerr said. “We will continue to address that, and our players will continue to work on that. You see it, the modern game is about can you create shots, and then can you make shots? Can you surround those shot creators with spacing and at multiple positions? 

“That’s kind of the name of the game in the modern NBA.” 

Edwards led both sides with 19 threes. Reid made 10. The Timberwolves as a team, even with that historically bad Game 1 performance, attempted two more threes than the Warriors and made seven more. 

Curry played 13 minutes in the conference semifinals, scoring 13 points on five made shots and three 3-pointers. Podziemski only made four more threes than Curry all series, and that’s just because of the four he made in what was the season finale. Moody made four shots total in the series, and three 3-pointers, giving him five more points overall than Curry. Post was even more unplayable, and made two threes in the 26-plus minutes he was given. 

That’s also a trio that includes a second-year pro who starts in the Warriors’ backcourt and a rookie who wasn’t part of any preseason plans, but also a fourth-year pro (still 22 years old) who signed a three-year, $37.5 million contract extension last offseason. 

The playoffs weren’t perfect for Podziemski and Moody. It also has to be said that Podziemski shot 43.1 percent on threes the final 23 games of the regular season, all starts, and Moody was a 37.6 percent 3-point shooter over 48 games (30 starts) from the first of 2025 to the last of the regular season.

Next season, the Warriors’ starting five will begin with Curry, Butler and Green. Steph is the one real shooting threat. The other two around him, Podziemski and Moody or not, almost have to be for the Warriors to be up-to-date with the game.

Adding, subtracting and developing, the Warriors need more juice, understanding who they have and if it’s worth the squeeze.

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The waiting game? Five takeaways from Stevens' end-of-season debriefing originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

If you were hoping for hints on how the Boston Celtics might navigate a murky path forward, then Brad Stevens’ end-of-the-season debriefing provided little in the way of guidance.

Stevens opened his podium session by politely asking to table questions about roster construction, noting the team wanted to let things breathe a bit following a disappointing second-round exit. Cost-cutting changes are inevitable as the rent comes due for Banner 18. But Stevens wasn’t about to roll out the blueprint for what comes next.

So what did we actually learn about the team’s future? Here are five takeaways, including some nuggets from our exclusive chat with Stevens after his group session:

1. Celtics won’t rush Tatum’s Achilles rehab

The Celtics did not set a timeline for Jayson Tatum’s return to basketball activity after his Achilles surgery last week, and Stevens suggested that the team will err on the side of caution before Tatum is back on the court for an NBA game. 

“This is about full recovery,” Stevens said. “And helping him get back to feeling like himself ASAP. And ASAP can be as long as it takes.

“There is no timeline. There will be different steps along the way that we’ll then say, ‘OK, you can move on to the next step. You can move on to the next step.’ But, ultimately, I think that’s the most important thing. Let’s let this thing heal. Let’s rehab appropriately and it takes what it takes.”

Stevens offered appreciation for how quickly the team was able to get Tatum into surgery, and how being in New York allowed him to be operated on by Dr. Martin J. O’Malley — the same surgeon who did Kevin Durant’s Achilles repair — at the Hospital for Special Surgery,

Could Durant’s timeline offer a hint on Tatum’s recovery? Durant ruptured his Achilles in June of 2019. He sat out the entire 2019-20 season, including the pandemic Bubble restart. Durant returned to the court in December of 2020. Not rushing the process might have helped Durant come back looking much like his pre-injury self.

If Tatum were to sit out the entire 2025-26 season, his return at the start of the 2026-27 season would essentially be 17 months away from game action.

“We know he’s going to be stir crazy. He just loves basketball,” said Stevens. “He’d be stir crazy even though our season’s over and somebody else is playing. He hasn’t missed a summer of playing for [Team] USA since I can remember. The guy just loves to play. And so, yeah, that’s going to be hard for him and it’s going to be a challenge.

“I’m thankful we’re on the other side of the surgery and we are only up from here.”

2. Focus on apron, tax remains the top storyline

The big summer question as the Celtics chart a path forward is whether Boston will make moves with a goal of simply getting below the second apron, or whether the team might yearn to get out of the luxury tax entirely given the potential for a possible bridge season as Tatum recovers.

The Celtics are already $20 million north of the second apron line for next season, and that’s before deciding the future of free agents Al Horford and Luke Kornet. Asked in general how a GM might balance the penalties of the apron versus the tax, Stevens said his immediate focus will be on the apron, given the handcuffs it places on long-term roster building. 

🔊 Celtics Talk podcast: What did we learn from Brad Stevens’ debriefing following Celtics’ early playoff exit? | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube

“I start with the basketball penalties part, which is the second apron, and then you weigh those against your chances of being a championship contender,” said Stevens, who got ahead of the curve by both acquiring and extending both Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday in the summer of 2023.

Now, staring at not only a gaudy tax bill but limited in ways to tweak this roster, Celtics brass have acknowledged the inability to keep all their talent moving forward. 

But even if this core is overhauled, the Celtics like the potential with what should remain. 

“I think one of the best things that we have going for us is we have a lot of good players on good contracts,” said Stevens. “And guys that everybody knows, if we put all those guys out on the floor, you have a chance to win the next game, even without Jayson.

“It becomes a lot harder to be sustainably good without a guy of Jayson’s caliber, but I do think that we just have a lot of winners in our group. And so we’re lucky in that regard.”

3. C’s stung by missed opportunity

Stevens admitted there’s been a few restless nights in the aftermath of Boston’s second-round exit against the New York Knicks. The Celtics spent the season as favorites to repeat, and it hasn’t been easy to digest the early exit given the way the team fumbled away big leads in both Games 1 and 2 against New York. 

“Every year that you don’t end up on top it hurts, and especially when you have a great shot,” said Stevens. “Certainly it stings — we are all stung by it. But we’re all thankful for the journey that these guys did take us on. There’s work to do and that’s the way that you look at it when you’re in my shoes.”

Stevens was asked what he’d take from the past two seasons with this championship core, and even then he admitted it’s hard to get past the recent exit. 

“The loss stings way worse than the championship feels good,” said Stevens. “And that’s just the sick and twisted way I live.”

4. Vote of confidence for Mazzulla

Stevens repeatedly offered praise for third-year coach Joe Mazzulla and said the team is fortunate to have him as their coach. What guidance will Stevens given Mazzulla in the offseason?

“He did a good job,” said Stevens. “We love Joe and we’re glad he’s here. My thing with Joe will be the same as it is every year: We’ll see how [the roster] all shakes out, and then you’ll see what you can do to put everybody in the best position to go compete like hell.

“And that’s what we’re always going to try to do. We’ve got so many good players and so many good people that I trust that we’ll be in good shape.”

5. Eyes on NBA Draft, NIL impact

Asked to assess this year’s draft class, Stevens noted that the depth of this year’s available players could be impacted more by NIL money than any other in his tenure.

Stevens noted how the back half of the 2025 NBA Draft could be weakened if players elect to take lucrative NIL money that might be greater than what they can earn as an NBA rookie.

With his team slated to pick at No. 28 and No. 32, Stevens could have some interesting choices depending on which players elect to stay in the draft. If the talent pool is thinned, might the team try to shimmy up, or move out of the draft entirely in order to push those picks into more talent-filled drafts down the road?

Like the roster as a whole, we’ll have to wait for draft night for real answers.

Giannis remains intriguing, but Warriors seem committed to Butler originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Even as Giannis Antetokounmpo drops what some might consider subliminal hints on social media, logic dictates that the few remaining wishful thinkers dim their fantasies about him coming to the Warriors to join mutual admiration society member Stephen Curry.

Such a partnership was and is a longshot. Hope lingers because the ambition of Golden State’s front office is too infinite to dismiss the possibility.

But coach Steve Kerr and general manager Mike Dunleavy both expressed the sentiment that the Warriors have no plans to indulge in star-chasing this summer because they already achieved that on Feb. 6 when they snagged Jimmy Butler III.

“Jimmy Butler is one of the best players in the NBA,” Kerr said. “You put him next to Steph, next to Draymond [Green)], you saw the results.”

In the 32 games beginning with Butler’s Feb. 8 debut until the 2025 NBA playoffs, the Warriors were 24-8. They were No. 1 in the NBA in defensive rating (109.0) and No. 9 in offensive rating at 118.2. Before acquiring Butler, Golden State was 10th in defensive rating (112.2) and 18th in offensive rating (111.8).

The Warriors were 29-21 in what the NBA defines as “clutch games,” those within five points inside the last five minutes. They were 16-16 in such games before Butler arrived, and 13-5 afterward.

Those dramatic improvements launched a late-season surge that convinced the franchise that its investment – giving a two-year contract extension worth $111 million – paid off now and will do so for the future.

“We made a big jump adding Jimmy Butler,” Dunleavy said. “This time last year I was probably concerned about our ability to have like a No. 2 guy. We went out this year, and we got that.”

“Now I feel better going into next season having a guy like Jimmy on our roster. We’ll build around that with him, Steph, Draymond, some of the other players we have.”

Antetokounmpo is on the table and, after another first-round playoff flameout, might be willing to part ways with the Milwaukee Bucks. Bringing him to Golden State, however, would require moving either Butler or Green – for salary purposes – in the process and parting with considerable future draft assets.

The thirst for appreciable improvement is much lower for the Warriors than it was in early February when they were straddling the .500 line. Ever vigilant, they approached the trade deadline expressing interest in Kevin Durant, but the feeling wasn’t mutual. Antetokounmpo was fully committed to keeping the Bucks a force in the Eastern Conference. He might have had an interest in going elsewhere, but the Bucks surely did not.

Please understand, it’s not that the Warriors wouldn’t love to have Antetokounmpo. They would. But the path to reach him, while not completely blocked, has enough barriers and requires enough retooling that Dunleavy and Kerr seem more comfortable with their current plan.

Butler’s name long had been on the big board in Dunleavy’s mind. With Jimmy’s divorce from the Miami Heat going from imminent to necessary for the safety of all parties, the price dropped, and the Warriors swooped in.

Butler was and is the Warriors’ big-game prey. Their finances – even as they contemplate Jonathan Kuminga’s future – make it difficult to make another such pursuit this summer. That is, unless they begin by parting with Green and the $25.9 million due to him next season, as well as his $27.7 million player option in 2026-27.

It’s unlikely despite the curious advice of former Warrior Gilbert Arenas, who on his “Gil’s Arena” podcast last month criticized Butler for not being more aggressive on offense and this week said Golden State should make Green and Butler, both 35, available in exchange for younger stars to join Curry.

“If I’m Golden State,” Arenas said, “I’m looking at, all right, Steph plays young. [I’d have] Steph, Kuminga and then let me throw in some more young boys. And then let Steph have his farewell tour. Then when he leaves, I’d have 23- to 24-year-olds and we’re going to be good.”

In short, blow it up. Never mind that Curry wants no part of a blow up. Never mind that nothing the Warriors are saying publicly indicates they’d even pencil out such a deal. Never mind that privately, it’s a “consider the source” giggler.

Dunleavy and Kerr are circling next season, and a massive offseason makeover would force a restart. They’re considering tweaks that fortify the talent around the three vets, believing that and a training camp with Butler would be enough to make them a contender next season.

“All the data supports that,” Kerr said of Butler’s impact. “The offensive rating, the defensive rating, the impact on other players, what Brandon [Podziemski] and Moses [Moody] did. What [Quinten Post] did after we got Jimmy. The game just made sense again when we got Jimmy.

“He comes back next year, and we get Steph healthy, we feel like we can pick up where we left off. We definitely have to make some improvement both internally just with the way we’re doing things as a staff, and also roster-wise can we find a little more balance? I’m really excited about next year.”

Kerr, Dunleavy as well, would be excited about Antetokounmpo, too. It’s still an appealing thought. Less appealing to them would be a rebuild that like would leave Curry the only holdover from their glory years.

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Brad Stevens: ‘No timeline' for Tatum's return from injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jayson Tatum suffered a ruptured right Achilles tendon in Game 4 of the Boston Celtics’ second-round series against the New York Knicks. Less than 24 hours later, he went under the knife.

Tatum had his procedure at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, where doctors determined the Celtics superstar would benefit from taking swift action. Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens spoke about the process in an exclusive interview with NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg.

“I forget what the exact benefits were, because I’m not a doctor,” Stevens told Forsberg. “But whether it was blood supply and different swelling benefits early on in those first 72 hours was the timeframe that we were talking about. We were just fortunate to be there, as far as at HSS, and I thought they did a great job. And our team doc Tony Schena did a great job of helping organize it. … Everybody was quick to make that call, and I think there’s real benefit to that.”

An athlete’s return timeline from a ruptured Achilles can range from nine to 12 months. But by undergoing surgery so soon after the injury occurred, Tatum may have created the opportunity for a faster recovery.

Even so, Stevens made it clear the team will not rush Tatum back onto the court.

🔊 Celtics Talk: What did we learn from Brad Stevens’ debriefing following Celtics’ early playoff exit? | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube

“This is about full recovery, and helping him get back to feeling like himself ASAP,” he said. “And ASAP can be as long as it takes. There is no timeline.

“There will be different steps along the way that will then say, ‘OK, you can move on to the next step.’ But ultimately, I think that’s the most important thing is let’s let this thing heal, let’s rehab appropriately, and it takes what it takes.”

With Tatum sidelined, the Celtics rallied to win Game 5 against the Knicks at home before their season-ending Game 6 defeat. Now, they will enter a pivotal offseason filled with uncertainty as Stevens navigates a difficult financial situation that could break up the team’s championship core.

Watch Stevens’ full interview with Forsberg below, or on YouTube:

Thanks to an exhilarating six-game series win over the Boston Celtics, the Knicks find themselves back in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. And the only team standing in their way of a trip to the NBA Finals is a familiar foe.

The Indiana Pacers.

Yes, those same Pacers who have also been the Knicks’ opponent in their previous three trips to the conference finals. Those same Pacers that saw Reggie Miller become persona non grata at Madison Square Garden. And the same team that sent the Knicks home in a seven-game conference semifinals series just a year ago.

But these Pacers are obviously not the exact same team the Knicks have faced in playoff series past, and the Knicks are also a new squad. So when the two teams meet for Game 1 at The Garden on Wednesday night, the Knicks know you can throw past playoff history out the window.

“Half the team didn’t play last year, they were hurt,” Josh Hart said on Monday. “[Julius Randle] and Donte [DiVincenzo] aren’t here anymore. [Isaiah Hartenstein] isn’t here anymore. We’ve got [Karl-Anthony Towns], [Mikal Bridges], OG [Anunoby] was hurt.

“It’s a totally different team, a totally different situation, a totally different round of the playoffs. So we just have to make sure we’re ready. That’s an extremely talented team whose offense is clicking on all cylinders right now. So, it’s nothing about revenge or anything. It’s about the next series.”

The Knicks indeed were very banged up in last year’s seven-game series with the Pacers. Anunoby was not himself, Mitchell Robinson was sidelined, and Brunson fractured his left hand in the third quarter of Game 7.

The disappointment from last season’s ending is not lost on the Knicks, but as Tom Thibodeau explained on Monday, the key to recovering from a tough series like that is to take a good, long look in the mirror in the offseason, and come back better than ever the following season.

“I think you have to study your team. You have to study the strengths and weaknesses of your team,” Thibodeau said. “Each team is different, and I think that’s the challenge that you have every year. Whether it’s draft picks, trades, free agency, whatever it might be, or maybe you get back a player who was injured the previous year, and then the challenge is how do you put it together and you have to get on the same page as quickly as possible.

“Sometimes you fall short, and you have to make sure that you’re making your corrections and moving forward. You always want to be moving forward and you never want to be satisfied with where you are, and you always have to have the belief that you can do something better.”

While there will be plenty of difference for both teams come the start of the series, one thing remains true for the fourth-seeded Pacers: guard Tyrese Haliburton is the star of the show.

A two-time All-Star, Haliburton averaged 18.6 points and 9.2 assists during the regular season, and his playoff numbers have been about the same. The Iowa State product had a huge Game 5 to eliminate the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, scoring 31 points with eight assists and six rebounds, and the challenge of guarding Haliburton will be pivotal for the Knicks.

“Great player. He’s done a lot and quieted a lot of people,” said Brunson. “He’s obviously their engine. They go as he goes and he does a lot for their team, so it’s going to be a tough task. But I think as a team we need to stick together and do what we do and control what we can control. I’m happy, obviously, for his success, but this is a new challenge for us.”

That new challenge begins on Wednesday night, when the Eastern Conference Finals tip off at 8:00 p.m.