Auburn guard Chad Baker-Mazara and Memphis star PJ Haggerty have entered the transfer portal, instantly making them two of the most productive players available before the college basketball portal closes next week.
NBA Finals predictions: Many experts picking one team to dethrone Celtics
NBA Finals predictions: Many experts picking one team to dethrone Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics are trying to become the first team to repeat as NBA champions since the Golden State Warriors accomplished the feat during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
The league has had five straight different champions, and the last time that happened was 1977 through 1981. Repeating is harder than it’s ever been, but the Celtics are well-equipped to end that streak, and their journey begins Sunday with Game 1 of their first-round series against the Orlando Magic.
For starters, the Celtics brought back nearly their entire team from last season’s championship. The C’s are mostly healthy, too. You could even argue Boston is a deeper team than last season given the improvements that Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet have made.
The Celtics are elite at both ends of the floor and finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in offensive rating and No. 4 in defensive rating.
Despite all of these factors, a lot of people are not picking the Celtics to repeat. Many people think they will get back to the NBA Finals only to lose to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Thunder are a fascinating team. They won 67 games and superstar point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander likely will win league MVP. Like the C’s, the Thunder ranked top-five in both offensive and defensive rating, and they have a deep and super talented roster.
However, the Thunder lack experience. This group has never played beyond the second round of the playoffs. This team also has never dealt with the enormous expectations that come from being the title favorite. The Western Conference has many more title-worthy challengers than the Eastern Conference, as well. OKC might have to go through the Grizzlies, Nuggets and Lakers/Warriors just to reach the Finals. That would be a very tough road.
What do the experts think?
Here’s a roundup of their NBA Finals predictions:
Kurt Helin, NBC Sports: Thunder over Celtics in seven
Kevin Pelton, ESPN: Thunder over Celtics in seven
Howard Beck, The Ringer: Thunder over Celtics
Rob Mahoney, The Ringer: Thunder over Celtics
Logan Murdock, The Ringer: Celtics over Lakers in six
Michael Pina, The Ringer: Celtics over Nuggets in seven
John Hollinger, The Athletic: Thunder over Celtics in six
Dan Devine, Yahoo! Sports: Thunder over Celtics
Dan Titus, Yahoo! Sports: Celtics over Thunder
Vince Goodwill, Yahoo! Sports: Celtics over “whomever”
Brad Botkin, CBS Sports: Thunder over Celtics
Sam Quinn, CBS Sports: Thunder over Celtics
Ricky O’Donnell, SB Nation: Thunder over Celtics
How the Warriors Became the NBA’s Most Valuable Team at $9.14 Billion
The Golden State Warriors punched their ticket to the NBA playoffs Tuesday night with a victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in the Play-In Tournament. As the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, they will face the No. 2 seed Houston Rockets in a series that tips off Sunday.
NBA rightsholders TNT and ESPN should be pleased, as the Warriors are a massive TV draw. The team’s bean counters are also happy with at least two home games, and potentially many more if Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler lead a strong postseason run.
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The transformation of the Warriors from a perennial money-losing franchise that rarely made the playoffs into a financial juggernaut should be a Harvard Business School case study. The club is now worth $9.14 billion, second highest among global sports franchises and trailing only the Dallas Cowboys ($10.32 billion). It is up 20x from what the current ownership paid.
In 2010, Joe Lacob and Peter Guber bought the Warriors for $450 million. The team was in a postseason drought that spanned 17 out of 18 years. It bled red ink playing in the NBA’s oldest arena with a third-quartile revenue ranking while missing the playoffs year after year.
Revenue rose with the long playoff runs on the backs of Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, and the club became Silicon Valley’s “It” team. A pair of moves then made the Warriors’ newfound success even more lucrative: Golden State opened its new arena and the NBA changed its playoff revenue structure.
In 2015, the Warriors started a run of five straight trips to the NBA Finals, including three titles. The timing was perfect, as it built momentum and interest in the Chase Center that opened in 2019 as the most expensive arena ever constructed to that point at $1.4 billion.
Companies and fans lined up to lock up long-term commitments for sponsorships and tickets. Sponsorship and premium seating revenue were in the single-digit millions when Lacob bought the team, but are now $150 million and $250 million, respectively. Total revenue is up sevenfold since 2010.
And even if the winning slows down, the Warriors are insulated to a degree. The average suite deal is 10 years, the average sponsorship deal runs eight years, and almost everything has annual escalators. The Warriors top the league in basically every revenue category outside of local media. They have $3 billion in contractually obligated revenues tied to Chase Center.
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Golden State’s sky-high value benefits from its multi-use development around Chase Center. The team has also expanded its related businesses with a new entertainment division—Golden State Entertainment—while landing a WNBA expansion franchise, the Golden State Valkyries, that begin play this year.
Out of all the major sports leagues, the NBA delivers the biggest financial rewards for its teams that make the playoffs. The league used to keep 45% of home ticket revenue in the playoffs versus 6% in the regular season. In 2016, the NBA reduced its playoff cut to 25%, providing a significant boost in the opportunity for postseason profits. Ticket demand in the playoffs is also elevated, which allows clubs to bump up prices. Games in the NBA Finals are often priced at least 200% higher than their regular-season equivalent. Cutting the NBA’s take of playoff revenue provided even more incentive for teams to maximize pricing.
The Boston Celtics’ sale document showcased how much the playoffs can goose revenue. Last year’s title run generated $102 million in gross revenue before the NBA took its cut.
The Warriors lost in their Play-In game last year, but they generated $55 million in gross revenue over six home playoff games in 2023, including concessions, merchandise and parking. That is $9 million per game before the Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals where teams have even more pricing power. The club’s last title in 2022 generated well over $100 million from its 12 playoff home games.
Another run to the NBA Finals would push gross revenue near $1 billion, rare air for sports teams. Only the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Dodgers, Real Madrid and Barcelona have hit the mark in a single season.
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The road so far: West Virginia basketball roster construction
West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge had the arduous task of rebuilding the West Virginia basketball roster. Hodge inherited a program that had lost basically all production from the 19-13 team a season ago due to either graduation or the transfer portal. Hodge made it clear that the Mountaineers would hit the ground running on the recruiting trail, and this is a look at all of the players that have elected to join him at this point in the off-season.
NBA Playoff Games Really Are Different, Data Shows
Jimmy Butler scored 38 points in the Golden State Warriors’ NBA Play-In Tournament win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night. Before then, Butler hadn’t eclipsed 30 points in any regular season game since he was traded to the Bay Area on Feb. 6.
Fans rejoiced at the arrival of “Playoff Jimmy”—a nickname minted during past playoffs with the Miami Heat.
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“You could just see a whole different intensity level and focus,” teammate Draymond Green said after the Grizzlies game. “There [are] a lot of nicknames out there—they’re not real. That one’s real.”
Butler led the Heat to the NBA Finals twice as a No. 5 seed or lower, and the Warriors acquired him hoping he could bring similar magic to Chase Center. Since his first All-Star appearance in 2015, he has upped his scoring average from 21.0 points per game in the regular season to 23.3 points per game in the playoffs—without sacrificing efficiency.
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Other players decline in the postseason. For example, Joel Embiid, the NBA’s 2022-23 MVP, has averaged three points fewer in the playoffs than the regular season, with a dip in true shooting percentage to boot.
Because the playoff schedule is spread out with days off between every game, players get more rest and coaching staffs more preparation time. Teams can build game plans to expose opponents’ weaknesses and hide their own, a luxury not afforded by the frantic regular season calendar.
If a player’s go-to moves on offense are scouted and taken away, they may not have sufficient counters. If a player can’t defend a certain action, they might get played off the floor and subbed out for a teammate who can.
In the postseason, the style of the game is distinct, too, in measurable ways. Here are a few examples.
1. Pace Slows
In all but two seasons since 1980, there were fewer possessions per game in the playoffs than in the regular season. In 2024, for example, teams had 98.5 offensive possessions per game in the regular season and only 92.6 in the postseason, one of the largest disparities in league history. Increased focus and effort limit opponents’ fastbreak opportunities, and tighter half-court defense leads to more drawn-out possessions.
As the postseason goes on, the intensity ramps up further, slowing down the game even more. Seventeen of the past 20 NBA Finals have been played at a slower pace than the rest of the playoffs.
2. Teams Shoot More 3s
Stingier playoff defense makes it more difficult for teams to generate open shots close to the basket. Indeed, paint touches have consistently declined in the postseason throughout the player tracking era since 2014. As a result, teams settle for more long jumpers.
In all but two years since the 1980 inception of the 3-point line, a higher percentage of shots were taken from 3-point range in the playoffs than in the regular season. The past few seasons, however, this trend has become much less pronounced.
3. Teams Make Fewer 3s
Teams choose to live and die by the 3-pointer in the playoffs, but shooting percentages go down when the pressure is higher. Of the 224 playoff squads since 2010, excluding those in the 2020 playoff bubble, nearly three-quarters (72%) shot worse from behind the 3-point line during the postseason than the regular season.
4. More Isolation Offense
As robust defenses shut down the plays teams have used throughout the season, superstars must rely on individual brilliance. Teams have relied more on isolation offense in every postseason since 2016. Relatedly, there are fewer passes and fewer assists during the playoffs.
5. More Fouls
The aggressive postseason defense that limits transition opportunities and shots around the basket while forcing teams out of their offensive sets does come at a cost: more fouls.
The notion that the refs “let ‘em play” in the playoffs hasn’t historically been true. The percentage of 2-point shots that yield free throws was higher in the postseason than the regular season in 19 of the first 22 years this century, per PBP Stats.
Notably, the past two years were exceptions. In the 2022-23 regular season, the foul rate on shot attempts inside the arc skyrocketed, as refs gave offensive players more leeway to initiate contact and “draw” fouls. In the 2023 playoffs, though, officials swallowed their whistles more and brought that rate back to normal.
Halfway through the 2023-24 regular season, after foul rates reverted to the previous year’s highs, the NBA responded to criticism by allowing more defensive physicality, and that carried over into the 2024 playoffs as well.
In the 2024-25 regular season, the foul rate has been much closer to the first half of 2023-24 than the adjusted post-All-Star break norm. We will see how the referees decide to officiate contact in this year’s playoffs, but either way, it will be a whole different ball game from the past six months.
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Adam Silver says expect expansion momentum to pick up this summer, Mavericks not moving to Vegas
Expansion is coming to the NBA. Adam Silver is too smart a lawyer and too wise a commissioner to put it that bluntly — ultimately he needs the votes of two-thirds of a fickle group of owners — but that's the reality.
Silver opened up about that on ESPN's Pat McAfee show Wednesday.
"We're just beginning the process of exploring the opportunity to expand..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 17, 2025
We're looking hard at it and there's no doubt that there's been interest in Seattle and Las Vegas..
We're looking at those markets and others"
Adam Silver #PMSLivepic.twitter.com/RQRpCdig0S
"What I've been saying for the last several years, we knew we needed to get a new collective bargaining agreement done. We did. We needed a new media deal to get done… We did that. We've locked in our television rights for 11 years...
"I think as we get into the summer, we'll get into a more formal process of how we go about doing it. I don't want to say it's a foregone conclusion that we're going to expand, but I also think over time, organizations tend to grow. And I look at the success of those markets for other major league teams, and so it's easy to present a scenario where you can see it working successfully for the league.
"But I don't want to jump the gun here," said Silver. "We have the 30 existing teams who all need to weigh in on this process, and also at some point need to have direct conversations with the people who are who are interested in those teams."
Silver also addressed the rumor that the motive behind the Luka Doncic trade was some sort of plot ripped from the movie "Major League" to move the Mavericks to Las Vegas. The dots are not hard to connect, Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont is president and COO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp.
"The Dallas Mavericks aren't going anywhere and that team is staying in Dallas..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 17, 2025
They're looking at building a new arena in Dallas"
Adam Silver #PMSLivepic.twitter.com/8gfWDQTLAY
It's not just Silver shooting the idea of a Mavericks move down, Dumont himself has said the plan is to build a new arena for the Mavericks in the Dallas area, part of a larger real estate investment, but that the team is not going anywhere.
Why Draymond is impressed by Steph's on-court growth, leadership
Why Draymond is impressed by Steph's on-court growth, leadership originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Draymond Green is amazed at Steph Curry’s leadership development during their time with the Warriors.
Green recounted a moment during Golden State’s 121-116 NBA play-in tournament victory over the Memphis Grizzlies where Curry offered a critique and play suggestion.
“I said in my press conference, ‘Steph, in a very nice way, told me not to shoot,’ ” Green said on “The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis.” “Steph would never say ‘don’t shoot,’ but that’s how I wanted to hear what he was saying.
“Pretty much what he was saying was, ‘I want you to get the ball in the same spot that you just got it.’ I don’t want you to take the shot, I want you to get me the ball so I can take the shot.’
“And we went right back to it, and he took the shot, and if you see when he made the shot, he turned to me and [screamed].”
The tandem has played together on the Warriors for 13 years, during which Green has noticed Curry become a much more vocal leader on the court.
“I was right here for that year where I felt like his career really started,” Green told Davis. “So to watch the growth from that point and for him to come to me and be like, ‘Yo all right so just boom boom,’ we need to like that’s the growth that I’m most impressed by.
“Obviously, the shot-making, like all of that stuff, is incredible, but for me, I’ve seen it from the inside the entire time. Because that growth right there encompasses so many different areas, it encompasses his voice. You know he didn’t always have that voice right there.”
The 37-year-old has become known for his incredible shooting prowess and his ability to weave through opposing defenses with ease, something that leaves Green in awe to this day.
“All these years, that’s something that he grew into and the ability to read the defenses and see the floor,” Green explained. “He’s always been able to see the floor, but he sees the floor at such an elite level now, it’s crazy and the timeliness.
“So those are the areas of growth where people will see we have a certain connection on the court, right? That’s one of the ones where I’ll be sitting back like, wow. I’m amazed because I can remember those situations even seven years ago, five years ago, and he wouldn’t have said that.”
Curry turned in a resurgent second half of the regular season, with the Jimmy Butler trade rejuvenating the 37-year-old. His ability to nail clutch shots was on full display against Memphis as his 15-point scoring barrage in the fourth quarter was enough to hold off the Grizzlies.
Now, Green and Curry will turn their attention to a first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets. Expect more vocal leadership and unreal shooting from one of the NBA’s all-time greats.
Arkansas the ‘best opportunity’ for Nick Pringle
The Razorbacks seemingly solidified their front court Tuesday when South Carolina transfer Nick Pringle announced his commitment to head coach John Calipari and Arkansas. Pringle brings with him three years of experience in Southeastern Conference play. The Seabrook, South Carolina, native talked to ESPN's Paul Biancardi on Thursday about his decision to transfer to Arkansas.
Why Kings hiring ‘real basketball mind' Perry as GM excites Draymond
Why Kings hiring ‘real basketball mind' Perry as GM excites Draymond originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
After missing the 2025 NBA playoffs, both the Kings and New Orleans Pelicans made major front-office moves in hopes of turning the page on their respective underwhelming 2024-25 seasons.
New Orleans hired Joe Dumars as executive vice president of basketball operations after the Pelicans finished the season as the No. 14 seed in the Western Conference with just 21 wins.
Sacramento (40-42) finished as the No. 9 seed and missed the playoffs for the 18th time in 19 years following a rollercoaster season. A change in leadership was needed, and the urgency was evident with former general manager Monte McNair and the Kings mutually agreeing to part ways shortly after the team’s season-ending loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night in the NBA play-in tournament. The following morning, it was widely reported that the Kings hired respected NBA executive Scott Perry as their next general manager.
Both hires are moves that excite Warriors forward and four-time NBA champion Draymond Green.
“Joe Dumars to the New Orleans Pelicans. Scott Perry to the Sacramento Kings as the general manager. It excited me, because what that said to me is people are ready to get back to basketball,” Green said on “The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis.” “Like, let’s bring back these real basketball minds. That’s what those two moves said to me.
“We ain’t even started the playoffs yet and those two moves being made [means] let’s get back to real basketball now. Congratulations to those two guys and those two franchises. I think those are some incredible hires.”
Dumars is a Naismith Hall of Famer and two-time NBA champion as a player and a title-winning executive with the Detroit Pistons. He replaces David Griffin as the head of basketball operations for the Pelicans.
Perry, who started his executive career in 2000 with the Pistons, spent three months with the Kings in 2017 before leaving for the New York Knicks. He also has worked in front-office roles with the Orlando Magic and the then-Seattle SuperSonics.
“To see the Joe Dumars and the Scott Perrys, you see people are qualified for the job,” Davis said. “I get excited because I’m like, ‘Damn, I’ll go work for Scott Perry. I’ll go work for Joe Dumars.’ I think it’s going to open up the door for a lot of other former athletes. You look at the Landry Fields and Kyle Corver, what they’re doing in Atlanta. There was a regime of James Jones. But now you’re looking at it and you’re like, oh there could be some new blood, some new intelligence.
“And to your point, the NBA is getting back to great basketball minds, finding great talent, and putting together great teams. The analytics will take you so far. … So I love the fact that Joe D and Scott Perry were the first hires, even before the season is over. I think that sets the tone for the summer, that sets the tone for free agency, and then we’ll see the Pelicans and the Sacramento Kings improve.”
Next on Sacramento’s offseason to-do list, which has plenty of items, is finding an assistant general manager to work alongside Perry since Wes Wilcox announced his midseason exit. Finding a head coach, or removing Doug Christie’s interim title, also is top of mind.
But Green believes Perry’s hire sets the tone the rest of the way.
“One thousand percent. There will also be coaching hires,” Green said. “I think this sets the tone for that as well. Time to get back to real basketball, guys.”
NBA scouts break down the Clippers-Nuggets playoff series
The Clippers enter the playoffs on an eight-game winning streak that helped them secure fifth place in the highly competitive Western Conference and a matchup with the Denver Nuggets, who won the 2023 NBA title behind three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
The Clippers do have size with 7-foot Ivica Zubac to combat Denver's all-world center as well as a healthy and once-again productive Kawhi Leonard, one of three players averaging 20-plus points along with James Harden and Norman Powell.
The Nuggets have recovered since a four-game losing streak cost Michael Malone, the franchise's most successful coach, his job. Denver has recovered under interim coach Dave Adelman, winning three in a row to close the season and secure the fourth seed.
The two clubs last met in the postseason during the 2020 bubble playoffs when the Nuggets rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to eliminate the Clippers.
Here's how two Western Conference scouts, speaking on condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to speak publicly about opponents, break down the series:
Scout 1
“I think it's probably gonna be one of the best series out there. Like, I don't know if a team is playing better than the Clippers are right now, and you're going against the best player in the world.
“I think it'll be it'll be a chess match, and I'm curious to see how Adelman does against arguably the best Xs and O's coach in the league [in Tyronn Lue]. I think they're gonna throw a lot a lot of different looks at Joker. But I think I think if I'm the Nuggets, the Clippers are one of the teams that I would not want to be playing because I think they can play you a lot of different ways. Like, they have size to go against Joker to keep them from just bullying. If they want to kind of speed up the game, they can go small at five and match up to him as a shooter.
"Yeah, the Clippers have got pretty good wing defenders in Kris Dunn and obviously Kawai and Derrick Jones that they can kind of stay with the movement of Denver off the ball. So, I think it's going to be a tough matchup for Denver. I think on paper Denver is the more talented team, but they've had so much turmoil this season. It's hard to pick against the team playing as well as the Clippers are with Kawhi playing like he is.”
Read more:How do the Clippers match up against the Nuggets entering their playoff series?
“I think with something like the Clippers’ defense, especially in the playoffs, it's all about can you take away what they really want to do and what Joker wants to do is get everybody else involved because when Michael Porter is hitting open threes, and Jamal Murray is getting his scoring and Christian Braun is cutting back door and doing all that stuff, they just become really, really potent. If you can kind of take them out of that — I don't know if it's the stay home on everybody and make Jokic score 50 method. I don't know if it's still like play one on one with with Zu down there and if he beats you over the top out of the post you live with it. But to me, I think it's both the initial look and you take away what they want to do and then what's your adjustment and that's where I think Ty is so good at like you know whether it's bringing a double team or doing something different in like the Joker-Murray two-man game. Like, I think there's just a lot a lot optional there because that group's been together in that group kind of knows what to do. I think they've done some different things throughout the season to experiment with some different stuff. So I think it's been a really good series.”
Scout 2
“The whole game plan is going to start with the Clippers dealing with Nikola Jokic. The one advantage the Clippers have that a lot of teams don’t is that they got the size with Zubac to matchup with Jokic. Like, Jokic can’t push him around or bully him under the basket because Zubac is just as big. So, I don’t think the Clippers will need to double team. I think they’ll be content with just playing him straight-up with Zubac. Because with Jokic, if you start double-teaming him, he picks you apart. So it’s almost like you want to play him one-on-one and have him score in the paint rather than getting everybody else involved. So, what I see with the Clippers is playing him straight up with Zubac and not really wanting to double-team him.
“Now when he steps out and shoots those threes, I think you come up and contest those threes. You don’t back all the way off him. You got to put a little bit of a contest, get your hand up. But you live with him making a couple a game.
“Now the Clippers have weapons with Kawhi, James, Norman and Zu. The Clippers have much more firepower than Denver, much more. They got four guys that can at any time score 20. They got two guys at any time could score 30. The Clippers create much more problems than Denver does for the Clippers on offense. The biggest concern is James has got to keep playing. He can’t revert back to 19 dribbles, one-on-one, all that stuff. There’s going to be spots in the game where he’s going to have to isolation, but he’s got to keep playing the way he’s been playing this last two or three months.
“It hurts Denver a little bit that Mike Malone got fired so late in the season. But the one thing that helps them is that the assistants have been there for a couple of years. The others guys have been there so they are real familiar with the players, they are familiar with the Clippers. So, it’s not as bad as some people think. Now, does it affect them a little bit? Sure, because Malone is a championship coach, like Ty Lue, who has been through it. But at least they have some continuity there with their assistants.
Read more:Clippers' Kawhi Leonard still has 'love' for the game of basketball
“So, when you look at Denver’s team, really the key is is Jamal Murray healthy and does Michael Porter make jump shots. Because if Porter is making jumpers, they are a whole different team. He’ll shoot from anywhere, anytime. The best play in the NBA, when Murray is healthy, is the Murray and Jokic two-man pick-and-roll game. It’s that tough to defend. When both guys are healthy and got it going, that two-man game with them, it’s a nightmare.
“The Clippers have the depth advantage. Denver does not have a good bench. They don’t have the bench that the Clippers have, not even close. That’s going to be a factor.
“So, even though the Clippers don’t have home court, I still think they are going to win the series."
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Warriors' four keys to four NBA playoff wins vs. Rockets
Warriors' four keys to four NBA playoff wins vs. Rockets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Breaking their NBA play-in tournament curse, the Warriors used an extra game as a gift to get back into the playoffs, earning a trip to Houston to play the Rockets. These two teams have a long history in the playoffs, too. The coach is new, as is the roster, but the bad blood remains.
The Warriors won the season series 3-2, and their core has much more postseason experience. They’ll be leaning on that to take down the No. 2-seeded Rockets, starting Sunday night. Will that be enough?
Here are four keys to the Warriors getting four wins in the first round against the Rockets.
Protect The Ball
Jimmy Butler blew a kiss and thanked the basket nearest the Warriors’ bench at Chase Center in Tuesday’s win against the Memphis Grizzlies after making back-to-back free throws. Butler hates missing free throws and had gone 1 of 2 at the line his previous four trips. It was obvious how annoyed Butler was with missing a total of six shots at the free-throw line, but it’s even more clear what part of the game frustrates him most.
Turnovers. Nothing compares for the 14-year veteran.
“I hate turning the ball over,” Butler says. “Free throws; but turnovers really irk me.”
A lack of turnovers had to make Butler happy after surviving the Grizzlies. The Warriors committed half as many turnovers as the Grizzlies – 20 to 10 – and scored 27 points off turnovers, compared to giving up 12. Nearly every player, along with coach Steve Kerr, said turnovers will be the main factor in the Warriors’ either moving on to the second round, or having to answer a long list of questions from a first-round exit.
They turned the ball over 20 times in their most recent game with the Rockets, a 106-96 loss, and that turned into 18 points for Houston. The Rockets in that game had 14 more fastbreak points than them, 16 more points in the paint and two more second-chance points in a win where they shot 33.3 percent from 3-point range. The equation is simple: Don’t give the Rockets more chances.
Their half-court offense can keep them out of games, but they make up for it by hitting the offensive glass and sprinting past you. The Warriors, in their three wins against the Rockets, averaged 11.7 turnovers and 14 points conceded off them. But in their two losses, they averaged 21 turnovers and 24 points conceded off them.
Ball security will either make or break the Warriors against the Rockets.
Freeing Steph
Like a phantom haunting him all over the court, nobody made Steph Curry look more human this season than Amen Thompson. The 22-year-old made his Defensive Player of the Year case in the final regular-season game between the Warriors and the Rockets. Thompson had three steals and two blocks, badgering Curry all game.
Here’s what an off-night it was for Curry: His four turnovers were more than the three points he scored. Curry was 1 of 10 overall and 1 of 8 on threes, making a heave at the end of the first half. Thompson was the main defender guarding Curry’s nine missed shots just once. A combination of Dillon Brooks and Fred VanVleet made up for the rest.
But it was all the off-ball trouble that Thompson caused. Curry played three games against the Rockets this year and averaged 16.3 points on 36.4 percent shooting (16 of 44) and 30 percent on threes (9 of 30), all being incredibly low numbers for him. The Rockets will force the referees to adjust to them, particularly with the physicality of guarding Curry.
He has scored just five points with Thompson as his primary defender this season, going 2 of 8 overall and 1 of 6 from deep. Curry’s 0 of 5 with Brooks as his main defender, all being 3-pointers, but 4 of 8 with VanVleet on him. Can Curry exploit Jalen Green or Alperen Sengun in the pick-and-roll? Can Butler’s early scoring recently allow Curry to cook when it counts most?
In the simplest of terms, this series can be decided on Kerr finding ways to free up his 37-year-old star. Curry is the king of adjusting throughout a series, and the opposing coach called him out for crying about fouls last game. Every “Steph Stopper” has eventually failed. The mental and physical toll of a renewed rivalry should be a treat.
Big vs. Small
Houston houses a starting backcourt of a 6-foot VanVleet and a 6-foot-4 Green, who plays even smaller. Then, there’s just a long line of players who are big, long and want to impose their size over you.
An Ime Udoka-led team can throw Tari Eason and Jabari Smith Jr. at you off the bench, and they’re sure to go to the two-big lineup of Sengun and Steven Adams. Those two played 162 minutes together this season and had a 29.9 net rating with a 122 offensive rating and 92 defensive rating. As Sengun had a 19-point, 14-rebound double-double last game against the Warriors, including seven offensive rebounds, Adams was a plus-7 with eight rebounds in 17 minutes.
Curry went 3 of 10 – 1 of 7 from three – when Sengun guarded him this season. Adams defended him for 11 seconds and forced a turnover. Sengun offensively has not been good in the post with Green on him. In the Warriors’ three wins over the Rockets this season, Sengun was a minus-36. That two-big lineup cannot work when Curry’s on the floor.
The biggest flare-up less than two weeks ago was with Draymond Green and Sengun. Watch the 22-year-old try to make a statement on the 35-year-old. And watch how the four-time champion responds. Against the Grizzlies, Green kept so many possessions alive, and he knocked numerous balls out from the scrum. The Warriors need him to contain Sengun on the offensive glass and remain out of foul trouble.
Will Kerr show his faith in Kevon Looney? How much of a factor can Quinten Post be as a stretch-five to pull the Rockets’ big men away from the rim?
Both Gary Payton II and Moses Moody can have major roles in small-ball lineups. Moody should have open shots the Warriors need him to knock down, and Payton was the Warriors’ best player against the Rockets last game with 16 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals. Then there’s the player who can match the Rockets’ youth, size and athleticism.
Is This The Kuminga Series?
His skill set would suggest yes. So would his numbers against Houston this season. But Jonathan Kuminga remains the biggest question mark for the Warriors’ playoff run, as well as the offseason.
Kerr essentially declined to answer a pregame question about Kuminga on Tuesday before the Warriors’ play-in tournament game, saying that conversations to maintain a player’s mental strength can’t be necessary at this stage of the season. But Kerr and the Warriors will have to hope Kuminga has stayed ready, mentally and physically, for a series he very well could be needed in.
“He’ll contribute,” Green said later that night. “He’s great. He’s getting his work in. That’s all you can do in that situation is get your work in.
“And he’ll be meaningful for us in that series. I have zero doubt about that. I think the challenge for him is to stay mentally engaged, as it is for anyone in that situation. But I have zero doubt in my mind that he’s going to help us in this series. He will, 1,000 percent.”
Kuminga played in four of the Warriors’ five games against the Rockets this season, missing their 105-98 win on Feb. 13 while still dealing with a badly sprained right ankle. The four games (two starts) he did play were a sample of why it could be hard for Kerr to completely ignore him. Kuminga averaged 21.3 points and 6.8 rebounds in 28.8 minutes per game against the Rockets.
In their first meeting, Kuminga led the Warriors to an overtime win as a plus-18 off the bench with 23 points and six rebounds, scoring six of their eight points in OT. He was even better the next time the two teams played each other. The Warriors’ former top draft pick dropped a then-career-high 33 points on 13-of-23 shooting, made three of his six 3-point attempts and skied for seven rebounds. On a night the Warriors didn’t have Curry or Green, Kuminga showed all the promise the franchise has invested in.
The Warriors have lost their last two games against the Rockets that Kuminga has played, but not because of him. He had 20 points and another seven rebounds in his third game against them, and then played just 19 minutes off the bench in the Warriors’ loss to the Rockets earlier this month, despite being a team-high plus-9 with nine points and seven rebounds. Everything shows the Rockets were Kuminga’s best matchup, by far, and he’s Golden State’s only player who is as athletic and long as Houston’s young and hungry roster.
It’ll be extremely telling where Kuminga’s present and future as a Warrior stand in the case he’s reduced to his warmups on the sidelines for however long the first round goes.
Podziemski out of Warriors playoff spotlight but on the spot
Podziemski out of Warriors playoff spotlight but on the spot originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – When the Warriors step into the NBA playoffs Sunday, the eyes of planet hoops will focus on Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler III and Draymond Green. Yet their youngest teammate, Brandin Podziemski, knows he’ll be in the corners of those eyes.
The haters will keep him in view, anticipating failure so they can say, “We told you he shouldn’t be on the floor.”
The believers will be vigilant, hoping for success, so they can say, “Maybe now you understand why he’s playing.”
Podziemski scans social media and is aware of the chatter, some of it rational, such as those signaling that he’s a bit too audacious for a 22-year-old in his second NBA season. Much of it, however, is from unnerved folks venting from afar behind a keyboard.
Taking advice from Paige Bueckers, the former UConn star who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, Podziemski insists he ignores the noise.
“She just told me never take criticism from someone you wouldn’t ask for advice from,” he says. “So, I kind of just took that. Seeing random people say things good or bad, if I wouldn’t ask for advice from them, why would I accept their criticism?
“I know my circle. I know the Warriors. They always have my best interests and are going to do things that are best for me.”
Golden State’s stance on Podziemski is solid. There is organizational belief. That he has started the last 24 games – usually alongside Curry, Green, Butler and Moses Moody – is strong testimony. That lineup is 17-3 and provided the boost that lifted the Warriors into position for the playoffs.
None of those 24 games were playoff games. Most of them, surely the last nine, were high-stakes affairs with playoff implications. Consider that stretch a primer of what’s to come beginning this weekend against the Rockets in Houston.
“I’ve been able to feel it since the Memphis game in Memphis (April 1),” Podziemski says. “Every game since then, except maybe Portland, has been like that. You can feel it. People have asked me, ‘Is there any pressure in those situations, knowing, you’re with Steph, Jimmy and Dray out there a lot of the time? For me, there’s no pressure if you don’t set an expectation for yourself in terms of making or missing a shot.
“You just go in there, open-minded and play instinctually, which I know I’m really good at. And just kind of live with the results. And so that just kind of cleared my mind of having any pressure.”
Coach Steve Kerr trusts Podziemski and has been willing to let him play through mistakes, mostly because he doesn’t make many of the mindless variety. Yes, he is prone to over-dribbling. Yes, he sometimes struggles to keep his man from exploding toward the rim; there is a reason Moody gets those assignments.
But the Warriors benefit from Podziemski’s general court awareness and grit. If he’s shooting well, it’s a welcome bonus; they’re 15-6 when he scores 15 or more points. He was fourth on the team in rebounding and seventh among all NBA guards. He tends to find ways to make a positive impact.
Podziemski has studied Kerr’s flexible coaching patterns in the postseason enough to know his starting role is not guaranteed. If he starts Game 1, he’ll have to earn it every game thereafter.
“I know it’s going to be, maybe not the smoothest ride to a championship in terms of my individual success,” Podziemski says. “But I know coach knows that he can count on me to make plays down the stretch and help us win games. So, I don’t really look too much into that. I just try to go out there and maximize my minutes.
“Making shots is a part of that. Any team that’s won a championship in the history of the game, every team has their stars that perform, and the teams that have the most consistent role players that step up every night from the playoffs win the championships.”
Podziemski’s task is offense-first, to balance playmaking with getting buckets. Defensively, he’ll be asked to stay solid enough to avoid being cooked repeatedly. The Warriors can live with mediocre offense if he holds his own defensively. He’ll have to go nuclear on offense to stay on the floor if he’s leaky on defense.
And don’t think for a minute that the keyboard gangsters will spare Podziemski if he shows any indication of being unable to meet the moment in his first foray into the playoffs.
“It’s just taking the matchup personally, whether I have Fred VanVleet or Jalen Green or whoever it is,” Podziemski says. “Knowing that I can kind of give it all now, and it’s the playoffs. It’s ‘go time.’ Since my back injury, I just been kind of not coasting through defense, but just being conservative with my back.
“And now that it’s playoff time, I’m just going to give it everything I have out there.”
If that’s enough to succeed, eyes will turn elsewhere. To Steph, or Jimmy or Draymond.
If that’s not enough, those eyes will turn toward Podziemski, no matter who else is on the floor.
John Calipari announces return of Wagner, Brazile, Richmond
Arkansas basketball fans got a clearer picture of what next year's roster will look like Thursday evening, as head coach John Calipari announced the return of three key players from last year's team. A video posted to Calipari's X account detailed the roster the Hogs have so far. Point guard D.J. Wagner, forward Trevon Brazile and wing Billy Richmond III all said they will be in a Razorback jersey for the 2025-26 season.
St. Bonaventure transfer forward Moore commits to West Virginia
The West Virginia Mountaineers basketball program has landed another commitment out of the transfer portal from St. Bonaventure forward Chance Moore.Moore, 6-foot-6, 210-pounds, entered the transfer portal March 19 and took an official visit to Morgantown April 17 which led to his commitment to the Big 12 Conference program which he announced on Instagram.
Luka Doncic had an epic playoff moment last year. Here's why it could happen again
On the night Luka Doncic returned to Dallas, the Mavericks condensed his American basketball career into an emotion-filled two minutes full of game-winners, highlight passes and trick shots that helped connect the Slovenian star to the Texas city.
As Doncic watched the footage, occasionally hiding his eyes behind a white tear-filled towel, one moment in particular stood out as most special.
It was Game 2 of the 2024 Western Conference finals, his team down by two points, the final seconds ticking off the clock. Rudy Gobert, the league’s four-time defensive player of the year, stood out at the three-point line attempting to stop the inevitable from happening.
Doncic, in one of the biggest moments of his career, moved Gobert to the left, to the right and then back toward the paint, opening a window for Doncic to make the big shot in the big moment.
Read more:NBA insiders break down the Lakers-Timberwolves playoff series
He celebrated with a scream, joy and anger combining for uncontainable passion and an image that’ll define Doncic.
“I like big games,” Doncic said with a half-smirk on Thursday. “Playoffs is a fun time.”
The Lakers are about to see if Doncic’s reputation as one of the league’s premiere big-time players carries over to their stage. After he was dealt from the Mavericks, some people wondered how Doncic would fit in Los Angeles, the star player living mostly in the shadows off the court. Would he even want the kind of stardom that Los Angeles could give him?
That was the wrong question. It wasn’t about being a star; it was about having the stage.
“Typically guys that love being on stage and love the performance aspect of it are typically elite players and great players,” coach JJ Redick told The Times after the Lakers' win in Dallas. “And like when I think about Luka, it’s performance art. He’s on stage. He’s, he’s in some ways ad-libbing… and there’s an element of art to it. The same way that an actor on a Broadway show goes on stage. It’s the live aspect of being able to perform and then feed off the energy in the building.”
And that moment with Gobert encapsulates how electric those performances can be.
Since Doncic is so big and because he’s so in control on offense, teams are forced to try all different kinds of defensive strategies to slow him down. Sometimes, teams will double team. Sometimes teams will blitz multiple players at him to force pass. And, sometimes, teams will surrender and switch, putting players like Gobert on an island against one of the NBA’s best one-on-one players.
“Always since I came to the league, I like to play pick and roll,” Doncic said. “I like to get a center on me. That's what I've been doing since I came into the league.”
Read more:How Austin Reaves earned his place among the Big 3 on the Lakers
Through experience and inherent intelligence, he’s become an expert on how to dissect the ways teams try to stop him.
“He thinks that there's not a person in the world that can guard him,” Redick said Wednesday. “So I think he takes that seriously.”
Ever since he was a rookie, Doncic has played with tremendous confidence when the moments were the toughest, Dorian Finney-Smith said.
“He always wants the ball in the big situations. He always wants that moment,” Finney-Smith said. “I’ve seen that from the beginning since his rookie year. You would’ve said like, Harrison [Barnes] probably was our go-to guy, but end of the game, it just magically became his time to shine.”
While the Timberwolves have one of the NBA’s best defenses and multiple players who they’ll use to try to stop Doncic, the Lakers have the luxury of spreading the offensive responsibility to an emerging star in Austin Reaves and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in LeBron James as complementary options.
After some rough minutes for the three on the floor, the Doncic-James-Reaves lineups are plus-10.8 points per 100 possessions over 103 minutes in their last five games of the season.
And the Lakers and Doncic understand that there are still ways for those three players to develop even more chemistry to the gains they’ve already made.
While Doncic was far from alone in taking down Minnesota in the Western Conference finals a year ago, he was in the center of the spotlight.
“It’s a different team,” Gobert told reporters Thursday. “But it’s still Luka Doncic.”
And it shouldn’t be a surprise if he ends up there again, another performance of his show and his favorite scenes, with everyone watching him try to take down a giant defender.
“At certain points in the game, he just feels like nobody can guard him. Even if Coach telling us to put certain guys in the action, Luka don't care,” Finney-Smith sad. “Sometimes he’s just yelling, 'Just bring ’em Doe.’ Don't care who it is.
“Sometimes he just gets in a mode where you know whoever in front of him is just a cone."
And sometimes, that cone has to hear Doncic celebrate with a scream.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.