Category: Basketball

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How Steph served as model for Florida guard Clayton's game

How Steph served as model for Florida guard Clayton's game originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. isn’t shy about admitting Steph Curry’s impact on his playing style.

Fresh off a stellar performance in the NCAA Tournament, the 22-year-old gave his thoughts on being compared to the Warriors guard and Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard.

“It’s a little crazy to me just to hear that for me personally,” Clayton Jr. said Friday on ESPN’s “First Take.” “Those are two of the greats, and I’ve got a long way to go before I even get close to that. I’m just thankful for the recognition.”

Clayton Jr. then was asked if there was someone in particular that he modeled his game after.

“You obviously hear Steph Curry, Jamal Murray, multiple guys,” Clayton Jr. explained. “I just try to take bits and pieces of other players’ games.”

The young guard got hot at just the right time, helping Florida win its third NCAA championship in men’s basketball and winning Most Outstanding Player in the tournament. Between his elite shot-making ability and sound defense, Clayton Jr. now is expected to be a high pick in the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft.

Based on his recent heroics, Curry comparisons are expected to continue as the 22-year-old starts to make a name for himself in the NBA.

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High-Priced Suns Need Massive Changes After Missing Playoffs

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns sealed the fate of their miserable 2024-25 season with lopsided home losses to Golden State and Oklahoma City this week, eliminating them from playoff contention with two games left to play. 

Despite Spotrac ranking the Suns at No. 1 in the NBA with a season-ending payroll and tax bill of a whopping $366.6 million, they failed to even qualify for the play-in round in the Western Conference. Considering their big three of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal earn $150.6 million, the team is one of the most disappointing in recent NBA history.

“Just no winning habits,” Booker said Tuesday night after his team lost by 38 points to the Warriors on national TV. A 13-point loss to the Thunder the next night brought their losing streak to eight, with all the defeats coming by double-digits.

“I don’t feel good about any of it,” Booker said.

Tuesday’s loss wasn’t their worst of the season. The Houston Rockets beat them by 39 at home on March 30.

Embarrassed?

“Oh, for sure,” Beal said. “Losing by 30 or 40? We might as well not show up.”

The question is what to do about a downturn without a single fix. Suns owner Mat Ishbia’s problems go beyond his lineup; they also include his head coach, Mike Budenholzer, who took over a club that won 49 games last season under Frank Vogel and is currently at 35-45.

Budenholzer said after the debacle was complete Wednesday night that he hasn’t spoken yet to the owner about his future. “It’s raw,” he said. “We just lost. It’s been a tough season. There’s been no conversations.”

Pragmatically, Budenholzer has four years to go on his $50 million contract, and Ishbia is already paying off the final four years of Vogel’s five-year, $31 million deal after his firing last year. He also jettisoned Monty Williams two years ago.

In this era of multibillionaire NBA owners, eating the contract of a coach is not intolerable, said Golden State’s Steve Kerr, who, with San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich sitting out to tend to his health this season, is the de facto longest-tenured active coach in the league.

“We are more expendable,” Kerr said. “There’s so much money in the business now. I don’t think a lot of owners are that concerned with firing a guy and paying him off to go away. This is a business that we chose, and we all love it, but it’s not the most stable profession, that’s for sure.”

Budenholzer’s communication with some players—or lack thereof—became an episodic soap opera throughout the season. He went the month of January without talking to two of them: Beal and Jusuf Nurkić. He openly battled on the court with Booker and Durant, who once slapped the coach’s hand away during a time out.

“We’re competitive individuals,” Durant said at the time. “We both want to see things done the right way.”

There were plenty of ominous signs that a collapse was coming, including a lack of on-court leadership that “goes back to last season,” Beal said in an interview.

Because of NBA salary cap rules, the Suns are above the second apron and can’t easily move any of the big three without receiving players earning similar money in return. The contracts for the trio all go up next season.

The often-injured Beal, who has played in only 105 games in his two Suns seasons because of injury, is almost unmovable. He has two seasons remaining on his contract at $53.7 million and a player option of $57.1 million. Plus, he has a blanket no-trade clause he refused to wave at the last deadline. Beyond that, Beal’s agent is Mark Bartelstein, the father of Suns chief executive Josh Bartelstein. 

Durant, who will turn 37 before next season begins, has one year to go on his contract at $54.7 million. He’s missed 20 games this season, the last five with a left ankle sprain. Considering the circumstances, he’s done for the season and was in street clothes during Wednesday’s game, when the Suns blew a 15-point lead to the Thunder, who demolished their opponents, 43-26, during the third quarter.

Booker has made it clear he’s not going anywhere. He’s the face of the franchise, wants to finish his career here, and has three seasons to go on his max contract worth $171.2 million, $53.1 million for next season.

Considering all of that, the Suns already have $218.7 million committed to players for next season, $30.8 million above the cap. They need a complete restructuring, Beal agreed.

“I think we let things bother us in games,” he said. “When we hit adversity, instead of working our way out of it, we dug a bigger hole and got into a funk. It’s tough because we’d show signs of getting out of it. There are moments where we compete, but there are moments when we don’t compete, too.”

That inconsistency harkens back to an apparent coaching problem that manifested itself before the trade deadline.

Beal, despite the no-trade clause, was the constant focus of rumors in January, when Budenholzer dropped him from the starting rotation to the bench. At the same time, the coach stopped playing big man Nurkić. In hockey parlance he was a healthy scratch for a month and didn’t play a minute in 15 consecutive games.

Nurkić said at the time he had no relationship with Budenholzer and hadn’t talked to him in two months.

Beal said it would have been nice if Budenholzer had explained his benching to him. “He still hasn’t explained it to me,” Beal said back then. “He just told me I was coming off the bench.” 

Nurkić was traded to Charlotte, and Beal was never asked to wave his no-trade clause. Durant sat out the three key games through the Feb. 6 trade deadline for no announced reason. Beal missed four.

Near the deadline, rumors of a Durant return to Golden State also surfaced. When Durant nixed that, the Suns were forced to stand pat.

The damage, it seems, was done. The Suns were 25-25 at the deadline and are 10-20 since then with virtually the same roster, give or take a few fringe players.

Budenholzer scrambled his rotations as hope faded down the stretch: less court time for veteran point guard Tyus Jones, more for undrafted second-year pro Collin Gillespie; a return to favor for Ryan Dunn; an ill-fated gambit to start fan-favorite Bol Bol. Now Bol is back on the end of the bench.

Regardless of who took the floor, the Suns played from night to night with inconsistent energy levels, even from quarter to quarter within the same game, until flaming out completely the past few weeks.

In a postgame media session on Wednesday night, Booker blamed himself, but the team around him quit.

“I don’t think I shot the ball well this year,” said Booker, whose scoring dipped despite a shooting percentage roughly within career norms. “I needed to figure out ways how to win games at all costs and try to power my will on the other team and my team at the same time. Being a leader, using my voice more.

“Pretty much everything has just fallen short.”

The results speak for themselves.

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NBA playoff scenarios: How Warriors can punch ticket Friday

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

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

However, they will need plenty of help.

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

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

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

That outcome is unlikely, but certainly not impossible …

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Why Young believes Daniels, not Draymond, is most deserving of DPOY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Celtics make smart decision with Jaylen despite NBA award implications

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Nike Hoop Summit men’s rosters 2025: Kiyan Anthony, Cameron Boozer headline high school basketball event

There is one place in April where fans can see the NBA stars of tomorrow today — and it's not the NCAA Tournament.

It's the Nike Hoops Summit, which takes place this Saturday. It can be seen starting at 7 p.m. on the USA Network and streamed on Peacock. It's a USA vs. the World game featuring the best high school players from around the globe. The list of alums from the summit includes 15 former No. 1 picks and 94 top-10 picks, featuring such names such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum, Kyrie Irving, Nikola Jokic, Derrick Rose, Anthony Davis, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant and Kevin Garnett — and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Who are this year's participants? Here are this year's rosters for the Nike Hoops Summit men's teams.

MEN’S TEAM

USA roster

• Darius Acuff Jr., 6’2” guard. The Arkansas commit was the top-ranked point guard in this class. He was tournament MVP when the USA won gold at the 2024 FIBA Men's U18 AmeriCup, averaging 17.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4 assists a game.

• Nate Ament, 6’7” forward. He led his high school squad to the Virginia state championship three times, averaging 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game this past season.

• Cameron Boozer, 6’9” forward. The son of two-time NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer (and the twin brother of Cayden Boozer), Cameron is the early projected top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. The Duke commit won two gold medals and was named MVP for USA Basketball at the 2023 FIBA Americas U16 Championship and the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup.

• Cayden Boozer, 6’3” guard. The other son of former NBA player Carlos Boozer and the fraternal twin of Cameron Boozer, like his brother and father he is committed to Duke. He has won two gold medals with Team USA: the 2023 FIBA Americas U16 Championship and the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup.

• Mikel Brown Jr., 6’2” guard. The man can shoot the rock, he won the 2025 McDonald's All-American 3-point contest. Brown has committed to Louisville.

• Chris Cenac Jr., 6’10” center. The Houston commit was the MVP at the 2024 NBPA Top 100 Camp, averaging 18.6 points, 11.4 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks a game.

• AJ Dybantsa, 6’8” guard. He has been on this stage before: Dybantsa had a game-high 21 points in the 2024 Nike Hoop Summit playing for the World Team (his parents are from the Republic of Congo and Jamaica. He has committed to BYU for college.

• Jalen Haralson, 6’8” forward. He averaged 21.2 points per game last spring in the Nike EYBL circuit and was part of the gold medal-winning Team USA in the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup. He has committed to college at Notre Dame.

• Jasper Johnson, 6’4” guard. The bucket getter and sharp-shooting guard was always destined for Kentucky for college, his father, Dennis, and his uncle, Derrick, both played football at Kentucky (Dennis also played three seasons in the NFL). He and big man Malachi Moreno, also playing for the USA in Portland, will form an impressive freshman tandem for the Wildcats.

• Nikolas Khamenia, 6’8” forward. The Duke commit starred at Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles, the school that produced former NBA players Jarron and Jason Collins, as well as current NBA player Johnny Juzang (not to mention actors Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal).

• Trey McKenney, 6’4” guard. The big-bodied combo guard with a soft shot has committed to play for the Michigan Wolverines next season.

• Malachi Moreno, 6’11” center. Kentucky's Mr. Basketball for 2024-25, he is staying home and will play for Mark Pope and the Wildcats. He has shown some chemistry in Nike Hoops Summit practices with the other Kentucky commit here, Jasper Johnson.

WORLD ROSTER

• Shon Abaev (Israel), 6'7" forward. He recently led Calvary Christian Academy to a Florida Class 3A state championship, and he is committed to the University of Cincinnati for next season.

• Ikenna Alozie (Nigeria), 6’2” combo guard. He was the MVP of the 2025 Basketball Without Borders Global Camp at NBA All-Star Weekend in San Francisco.

• Kiyan Anthony (Puerto Rico), 6’5” guard. The son of Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony, he was a standout at Long Island Lutheran high school in New York and, following in his father's footsteps, is committed to Syracuse. He has Puerto Rican ties through his mother, Alani "La La" Vazquez, a well-known actress and producer.

• Tajh Ariza (Japan), 6'7" forward. He is the son of Trevor Ariza, who played 18 years in the NBA and won an NBA title in 2009 with the Lakers. He recently led Westchester High School in Los Angeles to its 16th City Section championship.

• Bogoljub Marković (Serbia), 6'11" forward. He has played professionally in the very physical and intense Serbian league for the past two seasons. He plays for KK Mega Basket, the team that produced Nikola Jokic, Ivica Zubac, Nikola Jovic and Goga Bitadze.

• David Mirkovic (Montenegro), 6'9" forward. He is playing professionally for SC Derby Podgorica in Montenegro but reportedly is interested in playing collegiately in the USA next season.

• Omer Mayer (Israel), 6'4" guard. Mayer currently plays professionally for Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv. At the 2024 FIBA U18 EuroBasket, he led Israel, averaging 18.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 5.1 assists a game.

• Jaion Pitt (Canada), 6'10" forward. Originally from Norwood, Ontario, he moved with his family to play his high school ball in Arizona, and now is committed to playing for Arizona State next season.

• Eric Reibe (Germany), 7'0" center. He was the top-ranked player in Maryland this last season and is committed to UConn for next season.

• Dame Sarr, (Italy) 6'5" guard. He is currently playing for FC Barcelona's top team (but has been linked to Illinois if he comes stateside for college). He was a member of the Italian national team for the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers.

• Tounde Yessoufou (Benin), 6'6" forward. He moved from the West African nation to California at age 15 but adjusted well on the court — he became California's all-time leading scorer in February, breaking DeMarcus Nelson's record.

• Boyuan Zhang (China), 6'8" forward. He plays professionally in China for Shanxi Fenju and has represented China in a number of international basketball events.

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Watch Anthony Edwards score 44, Timberwolves put up 52 in third quarter, beat Grizzlies

NBA: Minnesota Timberwolves at Memphis Grizzlies

Apr 10, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) reacts during the third quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves were hot, resulting in a still-tight Western Conference with two games to play.

Edwards poured in 44 points Thursday night, including 18 in the third to spark a 52-point quarter by Minnesota against Memphis.

The result was a 141-125 Minnesota win between two teams hoping to avoid the Play-In Tournament, but if the playoffs started today these two teams would face each other in the 7/8 game.

The West sees the Warriors, Timberwolves and Grizzlies all tied at 47-33, sitting as the 6/7/8 seeds. The trio is just one game back of the Clippers and Nuggets, who are the 4/5 seeds, and every team has two games left to play.

This was Minnesota's sixth win in its last seven games, and was also sparked by Julius Randle, who added 31 points and 10 rebounds.

Ja Morant led Memphis with 36 points, although what will make headlines is his new 3-point celebration: Pretending to throw a grenade into the crowd. Desmond Bane scored 28 and Jaren Jackson Jr. added 23 points.

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Knicks on pursuit of No. 3 seed: 'You want to be playing well and be the highest seed possible'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Jalen Wilson led the Nets with 20 points in 133-109 loss to Hawks

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

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

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

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

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

Takeaways

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

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

Key moment

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

Key stat

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

Up next

The Hawks visit Philadelphia on Friday.

The Nets are in Minnesota on Friday.

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Shorthanded Knicks crumble in second-half, fall 115-106 to Pistons

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

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

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

Here are the takeaways...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What's next

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

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What feud? Shaq agrees to walk Dwight Howard out at Hall of Fame induction: 'That's my guy'

Cleveland Cavaliers center Shaquille O'Neal, left, and Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard fight for position
Cleveland Cavaliers' Shaquille O'Neal, left, and Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard fight for position during a Feb. 21, 2010, game in Orlando. After years of feuding, O'Neal and Howard have patched up their relationship. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shaq didn't hesitate with his response.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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Jonathan Kuminga, Draymond, Jimmy Butler don't fit together, Steve Kerr admits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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How Warriors' NBA playoff seeding impacted by Timberwolves' win over Grizzlies

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

The Warriors got the help they needed Thursday night.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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