Category: Basketball

Basketball News

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Nets have no answers for Clippers in 132-100 loss

NEW YORK (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points and the Los Angeles Clippers overwhelmed the Brooklyn Nets 132-100 on Friday night for their second straight victory and 10th in 12 games as they fight to hold on to sixth place in the Western Conference.

Leonard was 5 of 6 from 3-point range, 10 of 14 overall from the field and made all six of his free throws. He also had six rebounds, four steals and two blocks in just under 27 minutes.

Ivica Zubac scored 21 points on 9-for-9 shooting and had 12 rebounds for Los Angeles. James Harden added 17 points.

Keon Johnson had 13 points for Brooklyn. The Nets have lost six straight and are 1-9 in last 10 and 2-16 in last 18.

Takeaways

Clippers: Los Angeles rebounded from a home loss to Oklahoma City to sweep the New York teams. The Clippers beat the Knicks on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

Nets: Drew Timme had 11 points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes after signing a multiyear contract Friday. The former Gonzaga player is averaging 23.0 points in 29 games this season for Long Island in the NBA G League.

Key moment

Down 27-26 after one quarter, the Clippers outscored the Nets 42-21 in the second and 37-21 in the third to take a 105-69 lead.

Key stat

Zubac passed Swen Nater for sixth place on the Clippers’ career rebounds list.

Up next

The Clippers are in Cleveland on Sunday.

The Nets are in Washington on Saturday night.

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OG Anunoby takes over in fourth quarter as Knicks defeat Bucks, 116-107

Without their top three point guards, some unlikely names, and OG Anunoby's 31 points, lifted the Knicks to a 116-107 win over the Bucks in Milwaukee.

The Knicks have swept the season series from the Bucks, a potential first-round opponent.

Here are the takeaways...

-With Miles McBride (groin) and Cam Payne (ankle) out, coach Tom Thibodeau went with veteran Delon Wright as the starting point guard. Wright, the 10-year vet, was in the lineup mostly for his defensive prowess, and he showed it early on. The Bucks were running on the fast break with Wright stuck defending Kyle Kuzma and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Wright made the savvy move to anticipate the pass from Kuzma and deflected it to himself.

Wright scored 10 of the Knicks' 25 first-quarter points. In 30 minutes, Wright scored 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting (2 of 5 from three) while dishing four assists, coming down with three rebounds and coming away with a steal.

-Tyler Kolek saw extended minutes in Wednesday's loss after Payne left with his ankle sprain, and he would tell you he needs to be more confident and aggressive when he's the point guard on the court, and he did Friday. Playing in the same arena he played in while with Marquette, Kolek made the right reads on breaks, and held his own defensively.

The rookie scored five points on 2-for-4 shooting (1 of 2 from three) while dishing five assists and not turning the ball over in 17 minutes. He was a game-high plus-18 on the floor.

-Turnovers were a bit part of this one. The Knicks scored 16 points off of 10 Bucks turnovers in the first half. Milwaukee took care of it better in the second, and that helped them cut the Knicks' 14-point halftime lead to three midway through the third, as the Knicks could not buy a bucket. But then Josh Hart took over, being the aggressor and pushing the pace, getting to the line three times in New York's 12-1 run to get their lead back into double digits.

Milwaukee had 16 total turnovers and New York scored 26 points off of them. The Knicks had eight, three in the second half. The Knicks also outrebounded the Bucks, 44-32, including on the offensive glass, 14-3.

-With the game in single digits in the fourth, the Knicks got a lift from an unexpected source. Landry Shamet made two huge threes to push the Knicks' lead to 16. Anunoby made two threes of his own in the fourth. Entering the final frame, the Knicks were 0-for-9 from three.

Shamet scored 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting (3 of 5 from three) off the bench.

-Karl-Anthony Towns picked up two quick fouls in the first quarter, and his third midway through the second. That limited the All-Star to just eight first-half points. It wasn't the best shooting night for Towns, who scored just 14 points on 6 of 16 shooting.

With Towns on the bench, Mitchell Robinson saw more playing time in the first half, scoring two points and coming down with 10 boards in his 14 minutes of play. The big man finished with two points, 10 rebounds, an assist and a steal in his 18 minutes.

-Damian Lillard (blood clot) is undergoing treatment, which took out a lot of firepower from the Bucks' offense, but Kuzma took on that responsibility. He scored Milwaukee's first six points, getting to the basket at will. But after his outburst to start, the Knicks held Kuzma to 20 points on 8-for-16 shooting. Antetokounmpo, however, would get into spurts where he was unstoppable, muscling his way to the basket. Whenever the Bucks saw the Knicks' lead get big, Giannis was there to get the buckets they needed.

Antetokounmpo finished with a team-high 30 points on 11 of 17 shooting. Ryan Rollins had a career-high 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting, including 3 of 4 from three.

-Anunoby scored 20-plus points in 10 of his last 13 games entering Friday but didn't get going in this one until the fourth quarter when he scored 20 of his 31 points. Overall, Anunoby was not efficient, he shot 9 of 21 (3 of 10 from three), but he did when it mattered most.

-Mikal Bridges was the aggressor on offense in the first half. He attempted 15 shots, the second most in a half for him this season, but Bridges took a backseat in the second half to Hart, Towns and Anunoby. He finished with 26 points on 12 of 24 shooting with five assists and two steals.

You could tell some of the Knicks players were unfamiliar playing with each other. Injuries and new floor combinations led to some early Knicks turnovers that allowed the Bucks to get back into the game in the first quarter, but they overcame the mishaps thanks to strong play

-Hart was on triple-double watch. He finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists. He also added two steals and a block.

Game MVP: OG Anunoby

This was a team win, but Anunoby took over in the fourth quarter to help the Knicks pull away.

Highlights

What's next

The Knicks return home to host the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday evening. Tip is set for 6 p.m. at The Garden.

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Pacers reportedly want to re-sign center Myles Turner this offseason

Around the trade deadline, a few teams called the Indiana Pacers to check on the availability of center Myles Turner, those teams knowing Turner is an unrestricted free agent after this season. Those teams were told Turner was not available and came away with the impression Indiana planned to re-sign Turner this summer, league sources told NBC Sports.

Brian Windhorst echoed that at ESPN but noted that doing that would raise some financial questions in Indiana.

Team sources told me the Pacers absolutely want to keep Turner, who is closing in on his 700th game for the franchise. But Indiana has to manage a cash crunch. They are currently projected to be about $22 million below next season's luxury tax without Turner, and he'll probably be looking for a significant raise on his current $19.9 million salary. The Pacers haven't paid the luxury tax since 2005, and there are no plans to go into it next season, sources said. Keeping Turner is going to require some negotiating and some maneuvering.

With the contracts of guys like Isaiah Hartenstein (three years, $87 million) and Alperen Sungun (five years, $185 million) setting the market, Turner is going to ask for $30 million or more a season. Signing him to a new deal in that range could mean moves with the role players the Pacers have — Obi Toppin, Aaron Nesmith, T.J. McConnell, Bennedict Mathurin — to clear out cap space and stay below the luxury tax. Indiana could play hardball — not many teams have cap space available and the teams that do, like the Nets, will not want to spend it on a veteran center — but the Pacers also want to keep a key player happy. It's a fine line to walk.

Turner averaged 15.5 points and 6.6 rebounds a game, he is shooting 40.2% on 3-pointers (5.5 a game) plus is a solid rim-protector as a big averaging almost two blocks a night. Most importantly, Turner is a natural fit with the Pacers' up-tempo system and point guard Tyrese Haliburton.

It's going to be a pretty dry free agency market this summer, and the biggest names on the board — LeBron James and James Harden (player option) — are expected to re-sign with their current teams. In the wake of that, expect some big trades to come down. Just not ones involving Myles Turner.