Insert third-year forward Noah Clowney, who came through with 19 points in Friday's 125-107 loss to the Detroit Pistons. It was Clowney's third straight 15-plus point game, as the 21-year-old has started the past three contests for head coach Jordi Fernandez.
After the game, Fernandez spoke highly of Clowney's recent stretch, while acknowledging there is still room for improvement, especially on the defensive end of the floor.
"Noah always takes positive steps. I need him to be better defensively and he knows it," Fernandez said. "His voice needs to grow, embracing the contact, they're playing with the two bigs. Whether you're the low man, whether your communication is on or off the ball, all those things.
"He's really smart, he's about the right things, he knows it. Like everybody else, need to grow into that fast. I know he will. I like his aggressiveness, how he shot the ball. Got to keep taking, like I said, positive steps."
Clowney went 5 of 13 shooting on Friday night, including 4 of 8 from three-point range with all four makes coming in the first quarter. Across his three recent starts (31 minutes per game), the Alabama product is averaging 17.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.0 steals per game on 44.4 percent shooting from the field, 40 percent from three, and 75 percent from the foul line.
The scoring is a big jump from what he was doing off the bench across the Nets' first six games. Clowney had scored just a total of 26 points (4.3 points per game) over 20 minutes per night prior to starting the past three games.
His hot stretch has also been helpful for rookie guard Egor Demin, who assisted on three of Clowney's four triples. The No. 8 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft believes Clowney can continue being a reliable option with his strong shooting.
"I love him. I think it's really important for me, personally, and for the team, to make sure that he has this confidence to keep shooting, and everybody knows that he can shoot the ball extremely well, as he did today," Demin said.
The Nets will need Clowney to continue scoring at the rate he has as they search for their second win of the season. Brooklyn will take on the crosstown rival Knicks on Sunday evening at MSG in the first of four matchups between the Atlantic Division two teams.
Xavier Booker scored 15 points to lead four players in double figures and No. UCLA pulled away in the second half to beat Pepperdine 74-63 on Friday night. Booker made 5 of 8 from the field, 4 of 4 from the free-throw line and had five blocks.
Xavier Booker finishes with 15 points, five blocks and five rebounds to lead UCLA to a 74-63 win over Pepperdine coming off a lackluster season opener.
Kylan Boswell scored a career-high 31 points and had 10 rebounds as No. 17 Illinois beat Florida Gulf Coast 113-70 on Friday night for its second blowout win to start the season.
Tarris Reed Jr. had 20 points and 12 rebounds and Silas Demary Jr. added 16 points and seven assists to lead No. 4 UConn to a 110-47 win over UMass Lowell on Friday night.
AP) — Tarris Reed Jr. had 20 points and 12 rebounds and Silas Demary Jr. added 16 points and seven assists to lead UConn to a win over UMass Lowell. Seven Huskies scored in double figures as UConn scored its most points in a game since a 2022 win against Long Island University. Malachi Smith and Solo Ball added 14 each for UConn, (2-0) which won its 19th consecutive game in Hartford.
Preseason AP All-America forward JT Toppin scored 31 points and had 14 rebounds in his season debut to lead five players in double figures for No. 10 Texas Tech as the Red Raiders beat Sam Houston 98-77 on Friday night. It was Toppin's 20th double-double in 34 games for the Red Raiders since transferring from New Mexico after his freshman season.
NEW YORK (AP) — Cade Cunningham had 34 points and 10 assists, Jalen Duren added 30 points and 11 rebounds and the Detroit Pistons beat the Brooklyn Nets 125-107 on Friday night in an NBA Cup group opener.
Cunningham was 13 for 18 from the field and made all six of his free throws to help lead Detroit to its fifth straight victory and a 7-2 record. The All-Star point guard has averaged 29.8 points and 11.2 assists while shooting 54 percent from the field during the streak.
Ausar Thompson had 14 points, and Caris Levert added 10 for the Pistons. They have won their last four meetings against Brooklyn.
Michael Porter Jr. scored 28 points for Brooklyn, and Noah Clowney added 19 as the Nets fell to 1-8. They were without Cam Thomas because of a strained left hamstring. He will be reevaluated in three to four weeks.
Detroit fell behind by 10 points in the first quarter and led by five at halftime before Cunningham took over in the third with 14 points as the Pistons had a 34-19 edge in the period.
Cunningham led a 7-0 run with five points to extend the lead to 72-57 with 9:05 left in the period as the Nets called a timeout. He then ignited another 7-0 run with a basket and a free throw before Duren’s dunk capped the spurt to make it 82-65 with 4:04 remaining in the quarter.
Malachi Moreno scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds to lead No. 9 Kentucky to a 107-59 win over Valparaiso on Friday night. The freshman forward led six Wildcats in double figures as Otega Oweh had 15 and Mouhamed Dioubate and Collin Chandler had 14 points each. Brandon Garrison and Denzel Aberdeen scored 12 points each for Kentucky.
Freshman Caleb Wilson had 24 points, big man Henri Veesaar added 20 and No. 25 North Carolina dominated the second half to pull away from No. 19 Kansas 87-74 in Friday night's battle of college basketball bluebloods. Senior Seth Trimble added 13 of his 17 after halftime, proving to be a catalyst for the Tar Heels (2-0) in taking control of the second-half tempo as UNC roared out of the break.
Lakers coach JJ Redick and forward Rui Hachimura meet on the sideline after Hachimura scored against the Spurs on Wednesday. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
JJ Redick was already preaching one type of Japanese philosophy, harping to his team about the concept of “kaizen” to improve each day. Off the court, the head coach found inspiration in another Japanese phrase.
Lakers players and coaches have used PechaKucha presentations to facilitate team bonding this season. The slideshows, which come from the Japanese word for chitchat, could be a secret to the team’s hot start as the Lakers (7-2) have won five consecutive games entering a five-game road that starts Saturday in Atlanta at 5 p.m. PST against the Hawks.
The Lakers have pieced together one of the NBA’s most efficient offenses despite injuries keeping LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic in and out of the lineup, relying on a strong team bond that’s developed quickly through an even faster form of communication.
PechaKucha presentations are traditionally 20 slides, each with a photo. The speaker has 20 seconds to explain each slide for a total presentation time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
The Lakers' version consists of five slides: where you’re from; favorite basketball memory; person, event or thing that has impacted your life; your non-basketball happy place; and dealer’s choice.
“A lot of times most of the interactions you'll have with your teammates is on the basketball court,” forward Jake LaRavia said. “So it's good to just kind of either learn some stuff about them outside of basketball, like hobbies and stuff like that, where they come from. And that just helps you kind of understand who the person is a little bit better."
Assistant coach Scott Brooks started his presentation with a photo of a walnut, symbolizing the walnut farm he worked on during the weekends to help his family make ends meet. LaRavia showed a photo of his driveway as the origin of his basketball journey. Doncic spoke about how his daughter Gabriela changed his life.
One coach and one player present, and then they each nominate the next coach or player to go. With about half of the players and coaches left, Redick said he’s already noticing the holdouts actively planning their presentations before their nominations.
“We're just constantly encouraging and empowering our guys to get connected,” Redick said. “I believe if you're connected off the floor, you're connected on the floor. You need buy-in to that. I'm not trying to take credit for my staff here. It's the guys on the team, they're bought into that.”
Doncic, for one, isn’t sold. He deadpanned that he doesn’t think the exercise helps.
Just the fact that Doncic made the joke meant it’s working.
Settled after last season’s jarring trade, the 26-year-old’s personality has started to emerge among his teammates. He is a sarcastic jokester who expresses love for his teammates by threading passes to them through pinhole-sized gaps in the defense and then trash talking them right soon after.
Lakers coach JJ Redick, with injured forward LeBron James next to him, questions a call along with guard Marcus Smart during the game against the Spurs on Wednesday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Doncic’s smiling antics, whether he’s trying to sit on Austin Reaves’ lap on the sideline or swishing halfcourt shots in a contest with Reaves, Maxi Kleber and staff members, show just how connected the superstar feels to the team.
“Honestly, the feeling is I'm enjoying, very much, playing with these guys,” Doncic said. “AR [Reaves] can’t play. We're still missing LeBron. So this team has a big potential. But everybody who steps on court, gives maximum, man, everybody. So it's very enjoyable to play.”
Reaves is present on the road trip but will miss a third consecutive game Saturday. The Lakers ruled him out after practice Friday as his right groin injury progressed to a strain after previously being categorized simply as soreness.
James did not make the trip to Atlanta. He progressed to on-court basketball activities this week after missing four weeks because of a sciatica on his right side. He was playing one-on-one with coaches, Redick said. A stint with the South Bay Lakers is on the table, but no decision has been made.
The NBA’s all-time leading scorer hasn’t played a single minute for the Lakers yet. Reaves, averaging 31.1 points and 9.3 assists, has missed the last two wins, and Doncic has played in only half of the games. But the Lakers are still fifth in the NBA in offensive rating.
“It shows how professional we are,” guard Marcus Smart said of the team’s chemistry despite constantly changing personnel. “I think a lot of people, especially who aren't in the brotherhood, they forget that you build a relationship with guys, and then one guy or a couple guys, you get traded and you got to rebuild another one. You don’t understand how tough that is, how much of a toll that takes.”
Just as Smart spoke, Doncic appeared behind the group of reporters, clapping loudly. Then Doncic made sure to put on the record that he would beat Smart at a team-building competition that night. Both smiled as they walked away.
