Category: Basketball

Basketball News

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Gilgeous-Alexander scores 40 points in Thunder win

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander holds up his arms
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named the Most Valuable Player last season [Getty Images]

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points to help the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 10th successive NBA win.

Listed as ill on Thunder's injury report, Gilgeous-Alexander starred in a 113-105 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA Cup at Paycom Center.

The 27-year-old has registered at least 20 points in 91 consecutive games - the third longest streak in NBA history.

Anthony Edwards recorded 31 points and eight rebounds for the Timberwolves, who have lost three games in a row.

Oklahoma are only the fifth team in NBA history to begin a season with 18 wins and one defeat, while they have won all three NBA Cup games to lead West Group A.

The NBA Cup is an in-season tournament where teams compete for a trophy, but results also count towards the overall season standings.

The Thunder host the Phoenix Suns on Saturday, while the Timberwolves welcome the Boston Celtics.

The Toronto Raptors qualified for the quarter-finals with a 97-95 home win against the Indiana Pacers.

Brandon Ingram scored in the last second to seal the Raptors' ninth victory in succession.

Reed Sheppard put in a career-best 31-point performance as the Houston Rockets beat the Golden State Warriors 104-100 in San Francisco.

The Detroit Pistons missed out on a franchise record 14th straight win as Jaylen Brown scored 33 points and made 10 rebounds to lead the Boston Celtics to a 117-114 home victory.

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No. 7 Michigan routs No. 12 Gonzaga 101-61

HOUSTON 66, NOTRE DAME 56 LAS VEGAS (AP) — Emanuel Sharp scored 17 points to lead Houston to a victory over Notre Dame in the consolation game of the Players Era Championship. Houston (7-1), which had its season-opening six-game win streak halted in the tournament's second round against No. Tennessee 76-73, opened with a 26-4 run against Notre Dame (5-3) and withstood a late comeback try by the Irish.

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Conwell excels for No. 6 Louisville in 104-47 rout against NJIT

Ryan Conwell scored 32 points and No. 6 Louisville hit 20 shots from 3-point distance, its most in 18 years, while overpowering NJIT in a 104-47 victory Wednesday night. Conwell did more than just score, too, as he finished with nine rebounds and six assists to go with 9-of-17 shooting. The Cardinals never trailed as they topped the century mark for the fourth time this season and enjoyed dominant stretches on both sides of the court.

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Josh Hart propels Knicks to big first half lead in 129-101 rout over Hornets

The Knicks had an offensive explosion on Wednesday night, beating the Charlotte Hornets, 129-101.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Things got off to a fast start as both offenses came out firing and shot the ball extremely well in the first quarter. Josh Hart, in particular, had a fantastic opening quarter in what was his second start of the season after he logged 38 minutes in a win against the Nets last time out. 

The 30-year-old looked like a man inspired and scored 11 points on a perfect 4-for-4 from the field in eight minutes on the floor. He also had a steal and an assist in what was a fast-paced and entertaining back-and-forth first quarter.

-- It wasn't just Hart, though, as every starter saw at least two baskets go through in the opening frame. Jalen Brunson (9), Karl-Anthony Towns (6), Mikal Bridges (6) and Miles McBride (5), along with Hart, combined to score 37 points and shoot 15-of-20 (75 percent) from the field. 

-- Mitchell Robinson led everybody with three rebounds in four minutes off the bench, while Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele also saw some minutes. 

-- The Hornets had a similarly successful first quarter with Collin Sexton leading the scoring charge with seven points off the bench. LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges each had five and after 12 minutes, New York was up 37-31.

-- Scoring slowed to start the second quarter as both teams began the period 3-for-11 from the field. Nevertheless, the Knicks continued to add to their lead and were up by 15 after Brunson completed an and-one with 3:35 remaining in the half as Charlotte struggled mightily on offense. 

-- Things exploded from there with New York ending the half on a 15-2 run to take complete control. The two daggers came in the final minute when Brunson and Hart each splashed deep three-pointers, with Hart's coming with 1.2 seconds left. The last-second triple was Hart's third of the half as he led all scorers with 19 points (7-for-9 from the field, 3-for-3 from deep, 2-for-2 at the free throw line) heading into the locker room with the Knicks up, 72-47.

-- Essentially over from there, New York did well to not let the Hornets get back into the game in the second half as Brunson carried the load offensively by scoring 16 points in the third quarter. It wasn't his most efficient night, shooting 14-for-28 from the field and 2-for-6 from three, but Brunson ended with a game-high 33 points.

-- After his incredible first half, Hart took a backseat to Brunson in the second and let the point guard cook. Still, Hart finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals in a do-it-all type performance. Towns had a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds), Bridges had 18 points and McBride added 19 to round out most of the Knicks' scoring.

-- New York shot an incredible 57 percent from the field, 52 percent from deep and 89 percent from the charity stripe in one of its most impressive offensive showings, especially on the road. It was enough to capture just the team's third road win of the season and they are now 3-5 away from MSG. 

-- The Knicks are now 2-1 in NBA Cup group stage play.

Game MVP: Josh Hart

Hart was everywhere in the first half and was a big reason why the Knicks got out to such a big lead at halftime.

Highlights

What's next

The Knicks return home after a five-game road trip to take on the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night in their final NBA Cup group stage matchup. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.

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Suns minority owners continue accuse Mat Ishbia of using team as 'personal piggy bank'

Anyone familiar with high-profile court cases, especially civil cases, knows two things are happening at once: a fight in the court through legal filings and the process, and a fight for the hearts and minds of the public who care about the trial.

That second part is why, when the attorney for Suns' minority owners Andy Kohlberg and Scott Seldin filed his latest brief with the court Monday — a response to Ishbia's countersuit to the duo's original lawsuit against him — a press release was sent to the media along with it. In the filing, Kohlberg and Seldin accuse Ishbia of mismanaging the NBA franchise and of using a capital call to pressure them to sell some or all of their shares in the franchise. They also insist that Ishbia and his legal team made a mistake that allows them to purchase a majority of the team and take over as the governor.

"We have now filed our claims for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract to expose the misconduct by Mr. Ishbia," said the duo's lawyer, Michael Carlinsky, Global Co-Managing Partner and Head of Complex Litigation, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, said in a statement sent to NBC Sports. "Among other things, we believe the evidence will show that Mr. Ishbia contrived a scheme to threaten our clients with massive dilution of their interests in the Suns if they failed to fund a capital call within ten days' notice, while at the same hiding his own failure to fund by the deadline. We believe this scheme backfired and will result in a substantial reduction of Mr. Ishbia's interest in the Suns. He has repeatedly abused his position as manager of the franchise to benefit himself — not the Suns. We look forward to moving forward on an expedited basis and presenting our case to the court."

The legal filing itself states (via Doug Haller and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic):

"The reality is that Ishbia is using the Suns as his personal piggy bank, including through a lengthy list of conflicted transactions — only some of which the Minority Owners are aware of."

Among the accusations the filing makes are that Ishbia made a loan to the Suns at an interest rate considerably higher than the prevailing market rate, and that he sold the naming rights to the Suns' arena to his own mortgage company, among other things.

Ishbia has pushed back from the start. A spokesperson for Ishbia released this statement to The Athletic.

"This isn’t a lawsuit; it’s a shameless shakedown dressed up as legal process," a spokesperson for Ishbia said. "From day one, Mat Ishbia was transparent that he was going to do things differently. Contrary to how the team was previously managed, Mat made it very clear he would invest significantly into the Suns and Mercury. He told all the investors that they could step up with him or sell their stake and step aside. Kohlberg and Seldin stayed in and now they're trying to freeload off the value Mat created.

"Kohlberg and Seldin want to drag the organization backward, and they openly admit in this filing that investing in the team and its fans 'makes no business sense.' They are advocating neglect. They are free to sell their shares in the open market and if they don't, they should be prepared to lose this lawsuit and participate in Mat's continued investments in the teams and community."

There was speculation at the time the initial lawsuit by Kohlberg and Seldin that it was just a ploy to gain leverage in talks for Ishbia to buy their shares. The Athletic story basically confirms this, saying Kohlberg went to Ishbia a year ago to buy him out, but Ishbia didn't respond and a few days later scheduled the capital call, which in the eyes of Kohlberg was seen as trying to squeeze him and dillute the value of his shares. Ishbia, obviously, denies this. All of that led to this charge from the lawsuit, again by The Athletic.

[Kohlberg and Seldin] later learned that more of the capital had not been funded and that Ishbia had used a debt-to-equity conversion to fill the financial gap. This maneuver, Kohlberg and Seldin say, was not the legitimate way to do that. The two minority owners also say that a July 8, 2025, capital call was also not fully funded on time. They argue that under the team’s operating agreement, they would be afforded to buy the shares Ishbia had not funded himself. If they did, they would then have a majority stake in the franchises.

This feels like it will ultimately be settled, Ishbia will buy out Kohlberg and Seldin, but first there is a this legal battle and a lot of lawyers making a lot of money.

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Doug Christie, Kings haunted by appalling first quarter in NBA Cup loss to Suns

Doug Christie, Kings haunted by appalling first quarter in NBA Cup loss to Suns originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO – Keegan Murray was fairly pleased with how the Kings played defense over the final three quarters on Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center when they limited the Phoenix Suns to 71 points despite their 112-100 loss.

The problem for Sacramento came in the first quarter of the night, when the game got out of hand before many fans had a chance to settle into their seats comfortably.

It was 12 minutes of absolute dysfunctional play on both ends of the court for Sacramento, a complete 180 from Monday’s game against Minnesota when the Kings rallied to stun the Timberwolves.

“Obviously when you lose a quarter 41-16, it’s hard to come back,” Murray told reporters. “We just dug ourselves too big of a hole. It was rough. It wasn’t our brand of basketball at all. The next three quarters, we started to figure it out a little bit, but it was just too late.”

That was the general sentiment everywhere in Sacramento, where fans, in evident frustration, booed the hometown squad for most of the night before heading for the exits with more than two minutes still on the clock.

Kings coach Doug Christie echoed sentiments of disappointment.

“About as disappointing as it gets,” Christie told reporters. “Probably should have called a timeout within the first six seconds with the very first turnover. You can’t dig a hole like that.

“Not only digging a hole that way, but it’s the confidence that you give another team that is just out of control. You can’t give NBA players that type of confidence. Just man for man. It can’t happen.”

The hole was dug, and, as a result, the Kings played from behind all night. The Suns got away with too many easy baskets inside, a result of star big man Domantas Sabonis not playing.

Sacramento was also without its backup point guard and one of its top defensive stoppers in Dennis Schröder.

Regardless of the situation, the first quarter was as bad as it’s been this season for the Kings.

“I guess we were just stuck in the mud tonight,” guard Malik Monk said. “They were hitting shots, we were letting them get open shots, but they were knocking them down. It’s hard to win, man, when you got a big deficit like that.”

It would be easy to shrug this off as one game, but Monk said it’s been a pattern for the Kings ever since he signed with the team before the 2022-23 NBA season.

“I wouldn’t say it’s surprising to me, because that’s been the story of my seasons (since) I’ve been playing here,” Monk added. “We start kind of flat sometimes, and sometimes we don’t. Super disappointing, man, because we know what we can do when we come out, play hard and compete for four quarters.”

The first quarter fiasco against Phoenix was definitely one for the books.

Sacramento scored just 16 points, its fewest in any opening quarter this season. The Kings shot 6 for 17 (1 for 7 on 3s), committed seven turnovers and failed to record a single assist.

For a squad that has been preaching about team identity all season, the Kings really don’t have one yet. If they do, it definitely was missing Wednesday.

“I don’t think we’re showing it right now,” Murray concluded. “I think you saw more in the Minnesota and the Denver game, but we just want to try and disrupt teams. Play fast, be the aggressor, have the other team be on their heels, and just keep punching them. But tonight, obviously, I think we only did that for one quarter.”

It was also just one quarter that proved to be the Kings’ downfall against the Suns.

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