Michigan State basketball's four captains — Jeremy Fears Jr., Coen Carr, Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper — are pivotal to Tom Izzo getting more titles.
Warriors can't wait to regain momentum after two tough losses to Bucks, Pacers
Warriors can't wait to regain momentum after two tough losses to Bucks, Pacers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
All momentum the Warriors built winning four of their first five games in an eight-day span was popped and deflated with two losses in three days against two undermanned teams.
These are the types of losses the Warriors have been trying to avoid. The kind that aren’t supposed to happen with Jimmy Butler on their side. The Warriors have been laser focused on starting strong to avoid sprinting through the end of the regular season. That team didn’t show up in Milwaukee or Indiana as the Warriors have now suffered their first losing streak of the young 2025-26 season.
First after finding out an hour before tipoff that the Milwaukee Bucks weren’t going to have Giannis Antetokounmpo, former Warriors second-round draft pick Ryan Rollins had the best game of his career with 32 points on 13-of-21 shooting and 5 of 7 on threes, eight assists and only one turnover to beat his first team. Steve Kerr joked the Warriors “are like 0-12 the last couple years when opponents sit their stars,” after the loss.
He didn’t have any comedic quips Saturday night after losing to the previously winless Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers weren’t sitting any stars. Tyrese Haliburton, their biggest star, is already out for the season after tearing his Achilles in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. But four other key Pacers were out to injuries, leaving Pascal Siakam, Aaron Nesmith and a point guard on a two-way contract who would be in G League training camp right now if Indiana was healthier to hand the Warriors a loss that had frustrations voiced in postgame press conferences.
Rollins’ career high was the opening course of putting a sour taste on the start of the Warriors’ mini road trip. The plate grew for the Pacers. Nesmith scored a career-high 31 points after averaging 11 going into Saturday’s game. The 25 points Quenton Jackson scored, an undrafted 27-year-old, were two fewer than he had totaled between his three previous games this season, and set a new career high. Plus, Jackson handed out a career-high 10 assists and didn’t record one turnover.
He and Rollins both had these kinds of dream-like performances while also guarding Steph Curry.
Kerr after the Warriors’ loss in Milwaukee used fatigue, mental and physical, as a reason for a bad night. His players didn’t agree. And the coach didn’t use anything that could be mistaken for an excuse after losing to what was an 0-5 Pacers team.
“We know the West is loaded, and it feels like we just gave away two games that if we are locked in and focused, playing the way we know we can play, then we should have won them,” Kerr said. “We got to pick those games up along the way, but at the end of the season, I mean, the last three years it’s the same thing. I mean, one or two games.
“We have to find a way to be sharper and to be better.”
Whatever’s on his mind, Kerr gets his point across. His words are deliberate and can feel purposeful getting messages across to his team. This loss felt like one of those moments.
“There’s going to be some tough nights. There are always tough nights during the season,” Kerr said. “This should not have been one of them. We had the day off yesterday. We didn’t do shootaround this morning. We had plenty of rest, but the execution down the stretch was awful. And it’s a shame because our young guys played their ass off.”
Calling the Warriors’ next game, which will be their eighth of the season, a must-win is prematurely pushing the panic button. Or is it? The tone is too heavy, sure. The intention must be as close to a gentler must-win as it can get, though.
The Warriors led by 11 points Saturday night, 104-93, after Curry made a three with just over six minutes left. As if a wave had crashed the Warriors’ sandcastle, everything came crumbling down over the final six minutes. The Pacers outscored them 21-5 until the final buzzer for their first win. In the clutch, the Warriors didn’t execute offensively or defensively, they fouled, they turned the ball over and the Pacers outplayed them in every category.
That three was the last shot Curry made. He missed six shots, five threes and a floater, had one turnover and even missed a free throw the rest of the game. The Warriors went from being down 73-67 when he was taken out at the 5:45 mark in the third quarter to having a nine-point lead when he came back at 6:26 of the fourth behind players like Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos and Moses Moody.
Curry was a minus-21 against the Pacers and had five turnovers for his second consecutive game.
“It’s the frustration of not being able to capture that momentum that we had and sustain the start that we had,” Curry said. “I know we can get it back. Long way to go. You start 4-2 and everybody has been talking about how hard the schedule has been and this and that, but these are two games that you really should have and wanted to have to show for our start.
“Hopefully it lights a fire in all of us to get back on the horse and figure out how we can win throughout a very difficult stretch coming up and show that we’re a very capable team.”
Again, going full must-win feels like a stretch. The Warriors themselves are teetering on the edges there.
The Phoenix Suns are another team they’re supposed to beat Tuesday at Chase Center. They’ll be favorites to beat the Sacramento Kings the next day too, even on the second night of a back-to-back. These are chances for bad habits to be corrected and momentum to be created again in time for a date in Denver against the Nuggets on Friday.
The Warriors can get revenge at home against the Pacers in a week on Sunday, and then it’s time for a six-game road trip that begins with games against the two best teams in the West right now: The undefeated reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder (6-0), and two against the undefeated San Antonio Spurs (5-0).
Last season’s spiral after early success hasn’t been forgotten. The Warriors want to create the identity of a champion now and build as the season evolves. There is no time to wait in getting back on track, and they know it.
Trae Young has right knee MCL sprain, will be re-evaluated in one month
This is bad news for a Hawks team still trying to find its footing after major roster changes last summer.
Trae Young suffered a right knee MCL sprain — although no additional structural damage — and will be re-evaluated in a month, the Hawks announced Saturday. Re-evaluation does not mean return, he could be out longer, but he has started treatment. While the Hawks did not announce a grade for the sprain, a Grade 2 sprain usually has players out closer to six weeks (a Grade 1 strain is generally closer to three weeks).
The injury happened against Brooklyn, when the Nets' Noah Clowney ran into the Hawks' Mo Gueye, who fell backward directly into the unsuspecting Young's knee, bending it awkwardly (if you're at all squeamish, do not play the video below).
Trae Young went to the locker room after an apparent leg injury on this play. pic.twitter.com/OtAeoQegFf
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 30, 2025
Look for Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard to get more run for Atlanta.
Young was averaging 20.8 points and 9.5 assists a game before the Nets game, but had been struggling with his 3-point shot (19.2%).
Atlanta (3-3) built a roster this offseason that, on paper, seems a perfect fit to capitalize on Young's strengths. However, we have seen very little of this group together, as Kristaps Porzingis, Jalen Johnson, and Zaccharie Risacher have all missed time due to injuries. The Hawks and Young did not agree to terms on a contract extension this summer (the same was true for Porzingis), because they wanted to see how this new investment would look on the court before committing to a path going forward. Now, it will be at least another month before we start to see how that comes together.
Grizzlies suspend Ja Morant for one game after his postgame comments challenging coaches
Ja Morant was frustrated after a rough shooting night (3-of-14) and scoring just eight points in a loss to the Lakers on Halloween. After the game, he threw the coaches under the bus.
The next afternoon, the Grizzlies suspended Morant one game for "conduct detrimental to the team."
Grizzlies statement on Ja Morant pic.twitter.com/0zk9VmADwn
— Grizzlies PR (@GrizzliesPR) November 1, 2025
Morant will miss Sunday night's game at Toronto.
After Friday night's loss to the Lakers, Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo reportedly challenged Morant's leadership and effort in front of the team, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. Following that, Morant appeared to blame the coaches when speaking to reporters. Check out this exchange (via Lopo on X).
Reporter: "What went wrong for you today?"
"Go ask the coaching staff," Morant responded.
Reporter: "From the outside... it didn't feel like you had your usual energy tonight."
"Go ask the coaching staff why," Morant replied.
Reporter: "What could have been done differently, other than asking the coaching staff?"
"According to them, probably don't play me, honestly," Morant said. "That's basically what the message was. It's cool."
Iisalo had a point. Morant has to shoulder at least some of the blame, he had a low-effort game, which Blake Griffin called Morant out on during the NBA on Prime broadcast. What separates the game's great leaders — from the veterans like LeBron James and Stephen Curry to the rising stars like Anthony Edwards — is that they bring it every night. Morant did not do that on Friday.
Morant is averaging 20.8 points per game this season(his lowest number since 2021) and is playing 28.5 minutes a game (the fewest of his career). However, the offense is running through him, he is averaging 75.8 touches a game, up sharply from the 67.7 a game he got last season (and very close to the 77.8 and 77 a game he got his All-Star seasons).
Kings mentally outlast Bucks in fiery win, end decade-long drought in Milwaukee
Kings mentally outlast Bucks in fiery win, end decade-long drought in Milwaukee originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
It wasn’t pretty, but the Kings, after a fiery 48 minutes, put an end to a decade-long drought in Milwaukee.
Yes, you read that right.
Behind star Zach LaVine’s fifth 30-plus-point game of a young 2025-26 NBA season, the Kings, for the first time since 2015, pulled off a 135-133 win over the Bucks on Saturday at Fiserv Forum.
Sacramento’s chances looked bleak early on after giving up a 15-2 lead to open the game. But, in an intriguing turn of events with less than six minutes in the first quarter, Bucks forward Bobby Portis, visibly upset over the previous possession, shoved Kings star Domantas Sabonis in the back.
Bobby Portis received a technical foul for this altercation with Domantas Sabonis 😯 pic.twitter.com/w74paEc8wA
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) November 1, 2025
Not only would the altercation foreshadow the physical game that was to come, but it would also light a fire under the same Kings team that gave up 47 points in the first 12 minutes.
“Yeah, we like that. At the end of the day, you guys know how I play,” Kings guard Dennis Schröder told reporters. “That’s just motivation. I think that brought us more together.
“Russell [Westbrook] having Domas’ back right away, making sure he’s right there. I think that shows that we want to become a team, and we’re getting there. I was really happy. I was on the bench. At that time, I couldn’t get on the floor because I would’ve gotten a suspension. But Russell had his back, and I think it fueled us.”
“Yeah, we like that.”
Schröder reveals how the Sabonis-Portis scuffle motivated the Kings in tonight’s win pic.twitter.com/xpjoYG80I4
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) November 2, 2025
Even though Bucks coach Doc Rivers admitted that the disruption on the floor started well before Portis’ exchange with Sabonis, he did acknowledge the energy shift it caused.
“The emotional, I agree with you, it definitely changed when Sabonis and Bobby, right,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers told reporters. “But I thought it even started before then …”
“… Again, I’ve always said that I’m fine with all the talking as long as you can play still. If you can’t then we got to keep our focus.”
The tension carried over into the second half, with Bucks’ Gary Trent Jr. picking up a technical foul in the third quarter and Cole Anthony being ejected with less than 11 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
Bucks guard Cole Anthony is ejected after receiving his second tech 😳 pic.twitter.com/6GD1YB63nV
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) November 1, 2025
Ultimately, the Bucks failed to keep their focus, making way for the Kings’ core to find their groove despite Milwaukee shooting 59.8 percent from the floor.
Sabonis put up 24 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, while Schröder notched up 24 points, five rebounds and seven assists. Westbrook, who started on the bench, posted 12 points and a season-high 10 assists.
On Saturday, the Kings won the mental game, snapped a three-game losing streak and, most importantly, waved a decade-long drought goodbye.
What we learned as Warriors' fourth-quarter collapse hands Pacers first win
What we learned as Warriors' fourth-quarter collapse hands Pacers first win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Salt meet wound.
After losing to the Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Milwaukee Bucks, the Warriors fell 114-109 against the previously winless Indiana Pacers on Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Pacers weren’t only without Tyrese Haliburton, but also a plethora of others. They didn’t have Andrew Nembhard, Obi Toppin, Bennedict Mathurin and TJ McConnell. And it didn’t matter.
Pascal Siakam and Aaron Nesmith combined to score 58 points, and they were joined by Quenton Jackson, who is on a two-way contract, scoring 25 points with 10 assists.
Steph Curry scored an ugly team-high 24 points. Curry was a minus-21, and the Warriors were better with him on the bench.
Jimmy Butler did a bit of everything, scoring 20 points with six rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks. Jonathan Kuminga provided 17 points and Brandin Podziemski scored 16. But the desperate Pacers were the hungrier team.
Though the Warriors cut their turnovers from 22 the previous game to 16 on Saturday, they still allowed the Pacers to score 17 free points. A number of live-ball turnovers hurt the Warriors. So did the Warriors fouling eight more times than the Pacers and shooting a lowly 27.3 percent from three, going 12 of 44.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ first losing streak of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Steph Struggles
As Curry struggled to find his shot and the Warriors were on the verge of losing to the winless Pacers, coach Steve Kerr called timeout and his biggest star took a seat halfway through the third quarter. The Warriors trailed 73-67 at time, and then were ahead by 10 when he came back in with six and a half minutes left in the fourth.
Kerr wasn’t going to let Curry keep watching from the bench, but maybe he should have.
Curry played the final six minutes and 26 seconds of the fourth quarter and was a minus-13. In his six-plus minutes of the fourth, Curry scored six points while making only two of his seven shot attempts, including 1 of 5 on threes and even a missed free throw. Curry failed to grab a single rebound and only had two assists as he turned the ball over five times for his second consecutive game.
The game’s greatest shooter was 8 of 23 from the field and 4 of 16 behind the 3-point line. Trying to get past the Pacers’ pressure-filled defense, Curry looked his age and will have to regroup for Tuesday’s game back at Chase Center against the Phoenix Suns.
The Siakam & Nesmith Show
Already down their biggest star, Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers also were without a handful of other key figures against the Warriors like Bennedict Mathurin, Andrew Nembhard, Obi Toppin, TJ McConnell and more. The stage was set for Siakam to be a star, and the Warriors were searching for answers early on.
Siakam scored 10 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting in the first quarter while doing work to the Warriors’ makeshift zone defense. All of Siakam’s five shots were around the rim, with his furthest being an 11-foot floater. He then opened the second quarter making a 16-foot jump shot before finally missing a shot, which was his first 3-point attempt of the night. That’s when Nesmith joined the party for the Pacers.
Nesmith scored six points in the first quarter and then really got going in the second, making two two-pointers, two 3-pointers and two free throws for 12 points. By halftime, he was the Pacers’ leading scorer with 18 points and Siakam was right behind at 16. The rest of the Pacers scored 19 points in the first half.
Jackson joined the party in the second half, but Siakam and Nesmith never slowed down. Siakam found his sweet spots around the paint — and hit a dagger three with 37 seconds left. Siakam scored 27 points on 12-of-23 shooting. The game, however, belonged to Nesmith. He went from averaging 11 points this season to scoring a career-high 31. Nesmith made five threes the previous two games combined and then made five on the Warriors.
Cleared For Takeoff
What’s the fastest path from Point A to Point B? A Kuminga dunk, apparently.
Sit back and pick your jaw off the floor.
Kuminga threw down a grand total of five dunks. He missed consistently from the mid-range and was 1 of 3 beyond the arc. What he did do was power his way to the rim.
On multiple occasions, Kuminga has said he won’t participate in the Slam Dunk Contest. In losing fashion, he showed how his in-game leaping ability can be such a weapon when the Warriors’ offense goes flat.
Injuries keep piling up for Pacers: Obi Toppin out months following foot surgery
On the bright side, Obi Toppin will have plenty of time to get over the strained hamstring that already had him on the sidelines.
Toppin has "a partial stress fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot," and will undergo surgery to repair it, the Pacers announced. When asked about it, coach Rick Carlisle said not to ask about it again until Feb. 1, suggesting he will miss at least three months (that timeline matches up with the average recovery time from this surgery for NBA players).
Obi Toppin has been diagnosed with a partial stress fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot.
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) October 31, 2025
He will travel to New York and have the injury surgically repaired. pic.twitter.com/sjqa0E19rO
This is what is known as a Jones fracture, and it's relatively common in the NBA. Players who have had it include Kevin Durant and, currently, Max Struss of the Heat.
Obi Toppin Injury News: Toppin is undergoing surgery to address a stress injury in his 5th metatarsal. 5th metatarsal fractures are relatively common in the NBA & can occur in variety of ways in multiple locations. Average time lost for in-season 5th metatarsal fractures in the…
— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) October 31, 2025
The list of injuries for Indiana is long: Tyrese Haliburton (Achilles tear, out for season), T.J. McConnell (hamstring), Andrew Nembhard (shoulder), Bennedict Mathurin (big toe), Kam Jones (lower back stress reaction), and Johnny Furphy (foot). Now, Toppin is on that list for an extended amount of time.
Because of all the injuries, the league has granted a hardship exception to the Pacers five games into the season, and they are expected to use it to sign forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl to a 10-day hardship exception contract, Shams Charania reports at ESPN.
Frustrated Ja Morant on his and team's early-season struggles, 'Go ask the coaching staff'
Ja Morant is frustrated.
He scored just eight points on 3-of-14 shooting in a loss to the Lakers on Halloween night, but his responses to questions postgame show just how bad the vibes have gotten in Memphis. After the game, Morant threw the coaching staff under the bus when speaking to reporters. Check out this exchange (via Lopo on X).
Reporter: "What went wrong for you today?"
"Go ask the coaching staff," Morant responded.
Reporter: "From the outside... it didn't feel like you had your usual energy tonight."
"Go ask the coaching staff why," Morant replied.
Reporter: "What could have been done differently, other than asking the coaching staff?"
"According to them, probably don't play me, honestly," Morant said. "That's basically what the message was. It's cool."
It's clearly not cool. Morant spoke in the locker room at the same time as coach Tuomas Iisalo, so he was not asked about Morant's comments. Iisalo was hired at the end of last season after coach Taylor Jenkins was fired, in part because he moved away from Morant's preferred pick-and-roll to an offense of cuts and player rotations (a less extreme version of what Miami is running this season). After trading away Desmond Bane this offseason, the expectation was that more of the offense would be run through Morant this season, but he is averaging 28.5 minutes a game (the fewest of his career), although the 75.8 touches he is getting a game is up from the 67.7 a game he got last season (and very close to the 77.8 and 77 a game he got his All-Star seasons).
It wasn't just the reporter in the locker room who noticed Morant's low energy while hounded by Marcus Smart all night, Blake Griffin called Morant out on the NBA on Prime broadcast:
"This is a guy who is insanely talented. Speed is his No. 1 weapon, and coming off a ball screen, passing the ball like this, kind of lazily cutting to the corner, that's just not what's gonna get it done for Memphis... For a guy that's making $40 million and needs to be the leader of this team, I just don't love it. I don't know if he was not feeling well, if he's hurt, but that to me is a very bad sign and something that has to change."
Something has to change. Things in Memphis are not good, although it's not a disaster. Yet. The Grizzlies are 3-3 with a bottom-10 offense in the league (and a -3 net rating overall). Memphis has gone a long way down the Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. path, and if things continue like this, the front office is going to need to conduct a serious assessment of what should come next.
How UCLA’s Mick Cronin lured Donovan Dent in pursuit of a banner season
The Bruins coach let the honorable mention All-American know that if he wanted to play in the NBA, his defense would have to improve and he'd be held accountable.
Tom Izzo: Michigan State basketball needs to amp up intensity before games get real
Tom Izzo wants Michigan State basketball to play grittier than it did in an exhibition loss at Connecticut with the season starting Monday vs Colgate.
Denver joining West Coast Conference, which is looking to expand to 12 schools
Christopher Callahan, the chair of the WCC’s presidents’ council, said that “we look forward to setting our sights on recruiting” a 12th school to the league.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few seeks to return the No. 21 Bulldogs to national title contention
Coach Mark Few wants to return No. 21 Gonzaga to the list of national title contenders, and he's assembled a loaded team to get there. Gonzaga went 26-9 last season, and finished 14-4 in the West Coast Conference, losing the regular-season title to archrival Saint Mary's. The Zags lost to top-seeded Houston in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the first time since 2012 they did not advance to the second weekend.
No. 5 St. John’s enters Pitino’s third season with highest preseason ranking in school history
Expectations are soaring for the Red Storm entering their third season under 73-year-old Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino.
As college basketball continues to change, how long will the game’s old guard of coaches press on?
There still is a distinct old guard in college hoops. The question is for how much longer?
As college basketball continues to change, how long will the game’s old guard of coaches press on?
The faces of college basketball players change from year to year these days, as name, image and likeness inducements and the explosion of the transfer portal force coaches to rework their rosters almost every season. Pitino, who led St. John's to a 31-5 record last season, turned 73 in September.