Category: Basketball

Warriors' Draymond Green shades Wizards while recalling courtside trash talk originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Draymond Green will never back down from a little trash talk.

In his latest episode of “The Draymond Green Show,” Green responded to some fan mailbag questions. One asked: “What’s the best back and forth you’ve had with a fan courtside?”

He pointed to one game at the Washington Wizards.

“I think one of the best had to be in DC a few years back. I was sleepwalking, and them guys got me going,” Green said. “I finished the game with 24 or something like that. We went on to win.”

Green said it was after the Warriors beat the Celtics in the Finals, so that would point to Golden State’s 127-118 win over Washington on Jan. 16, 2023. Green finished with 18 points.

Although his point estimate was a bit off, Green did turn it on in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of the Warriors’ 34 points in the final frame.

He made sure the Wizards’ fans who were talking to him knew he was grateful for the motivation in an arena that wasn’t giving him much in the first place.

“They were like, ‘Draymond, you’re a bum, you’re this, you’re that.’ Like, oh really? Thank you for getting me going in this dead ass gym – that is the Washington Wizards’ home arena,” Green explained. “Thank you, I’m about to bust y’all’s ass now, and I politely did, and they shut the hell up and they did not want to talk anymore.”  

“And it was absolutely incredible. I mean every play – offensively and defensively.” 

Even Warriors owner Joe Lacob chimed in on the trash talk. 

“That was right after we beat Boston in the Finals. And then Joe Lacob was like, ‘Alright, guys, we’re going to Boston next, I’m [going to] put you on a plane to Boston, let’s go,’” Green recalled. 

The Wizards had an eight-point lead with 9:30 remaining in the game, but the fans’ trash talk might have doomed their team by waking up Green and company.

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Hugo Gonzalez by the numbers: Inside the rookie's early impact with Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

With more than a third of the 2025-26 season in the rearview mirror, the Boston Celtics sit third in the Eastern Conference, outkicking most pundits’ expectations after the team’s summer overhaul to a championship core and with Jayson Tatum sidelined to start the new campaign.

But if you take a step back, perhaps the most important development through the first two months of the season has been the positive gains from Boston’s stable of young wings.

From third-year wing Jordan Walsh emerging as a starter-caliber lockdown defender, to second-year Baylor Scheierman making good things happening in small doses, to 19-year-old rookie Hugo Gonzalez being an absolute energy-shifter in his floor time, the three players drafted highest by Brad Stevens over the past three years all look like they can be contributors for Boston’s next version of a title chaser.

Walsh changed the entire tenor of the season while kicking down the playing time door early in the season, and Scheierman has played in 16 straight games after a rash of DNPs in early November.

Playing time is earned not given under Joe Mazzulla, but the rookie Gonzalez has basically demanded more time given the way his play has inspired some of Boston’s best basketball over the past month.

Let’s crunch the numbers on Hugo:

+19.9

That’s the team-best net rating the Celtics have posted during Gonzalez’s 305 minutes of court time. The number that pops: Boston’s defensive rating plummets to a team-best 103 with Gonzalez on the court, or 11.7 points per 100 possessions better than the team’s season average.

+111

That’s the raw number that Boston has outscored opponents by this season with Gonzalez on the court, which is best among all rookies. Gonzalez is comfortably ahead of Philadelphia’s VJ Edgecombe (+94) and San Antonio’s Dylan Harper (+80), both of whom were top-three draft picks.

3 percent

That’s the percentage of defensive plays that Gonzalez is generating steals on, which ranks in the 98th percentile among all wings, per Cleaning the Glass data. Only Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace and Sacramento’s Keon Ellis have higher rates at that position. Gonzalez ranks in the top 10 in steal percentage among all positions.

16.2 percent

That’s the percentage of opponent misses that Gonzalez is rebounding this season. He’s tied for seventh among all wings, with teammate Walsh. Gonzalez has tied or bested his season high in rebounds in each of the last three games, culminating with his first double-double of the year when he snagged 10 rebounds on Saturday in Toronto.

50 percent

That’s our crude estimate on the percentage of time that Gonzalez has defended a former — or soon-to-be — All-Star this season. His most-frequent matchups read like an Eastern Conference All-Star ballot: Cade Cunningham, Franz Wagner, Bam Adebayo, Brandon Ingram, Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Scottie Barnes, Tyrese Maxey and Donovan Mitchell. He’s also taken turns against West stars like Lauri Markkanen, Kevin Durant, and Austin Reaves.

Over at BBall Index, they have Gonzalez graded at an A- for overall matchup difficulty (62nd out of 501 players) and an A+ in defensive positional versatility (9th out of 501 players). Gonzalez has spent nearly as much time on centers (18.5 percent) as he has defending shooting guards (22.6 percent).

David Butler II-Imagn Images

1

Loud poster dunk produced by Gonzalez this season, when he threw down over Toronto’s Sandro Mamukelashvili on Saturday night. It ranked 11th in Dunk Score by a Celtics player this season.

2

Tommy Awards won by Gonzalez on consecutive nights during Boston’s weekend back-to-back. Gonzalez now has three Tommy Awards this season.

Warriors' Steve Kerr hilariously recalls emails from fan before 2025 NBA Draft originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Joe Lacob isn’t the only one in the Warriors organization getting emails from fans. 

Steve Kerr, during an interview on “The Tom Tolbert Show,” recalled a particularly ridiculous email he received from a fan before the 2025 NBA Draft. 

“I occasionally do [respond] but often do not. If something warrants a response, I will respond. I’m not gonna put anything out there, you know, that would be controversial,” Kerr said. “I remember last year, before the draft, I had a guy, he kept emailing me and saying, ‘just offer Dallas three firsts for Cooper Flagg.’” 

Imagine if trades were as simple as that. 

Nico Harrison, general manager of the Dallas Mavericks at that time, already had made a controversial trade sending Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in February. If Harrison approved the fan-proposed deal, he might have been fired much sooner than his Nov. 11 departure. 

But the fan in Kerr’s inbox was adamant. 

“The guy sent me like three of them, but he kept calling him Cooper Kupp,” Kerr recalled. 

The 32-year-old wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks would be an interesting fit for Golden State to say the least. 

Kupp does have some basketball experience playing for Davis High School in Yakima, Washington. In 2012, the now-Seahawks receiver held Sacramento Kings star Zach LaVine to four points in the first half of a state quarterfinal game. 

Nevertheless, it is unclear how sending three first-round draft picks to Dallas would help Golden State acquire Kupp. 

Aside from crazy trade proposals from fans, the Warriors could use a bit of a boost from a trade, just like the boost the acquisition of Jimmy Butler gave the team last season. Kerr applauded Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy for having the team primed to make such a move. 

“Mike has done an amazing job as GM. He’s signed guys who have helped us on the court. He’s signed guys to good contracts that are tradeable. He’s given us the flexibility to go out and do something,” Kerr explained. “There’s no doubt at 13-and-15; we’d be foolish to sit here and say we can’t get better. So, I’m for anything that helps us get better for sure.” 

The Warriors have added one more win since the time of the interview, but Kerr surely still would welcome any big improvements added via trade. 

But, for all parties involved, some realistic expectations are necessary to draw up a trade that actually works. 

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If you’re looking at the Knicks box score from Sunday, Jalen Brunson’s line (47 points, 8 assists, 0 turnovers) probably catches your eye. Maybe Mikal Bridges’ three-point shooting (6-for-7) gets your attention.

What about Josh Hart? 

Hart’s numbers (13 points, 10 rebounds and five assists against Miami) are solid. But they aren’t spectacular.

Judging Hart’s impact by a box score, though, is a mistake.

“His impact, you can't really tell from the stat sheet,” Brunson says. “But by the eye test, everyone knows that he's a competitor. He brings a winning style of basketball to this team."

The Knicks have done a lot of winning since they traded for Hart in 2023. 

In fact, they are 137-89 in the regular season with Hart in the lineup -- that includes a 10-2 record this season when Hart is in there alongside Brunson, Bridges, and Karl-Anthony Towns.

“I think he does a great job pushing the pace, and he presents a different... obstacle for the opponents to have to deal with,” Towns said after the Knicks’ win over Miami. “I think that he's done a great job of utilizing his game, what he does best, and maximizing our team’s chance to win.”

Entering Sunday's game against the Heat, New York had the No. 2 net rating in the NBA since Nov. 24, when Hart moved into the starting lineup. And they have a net rating of +16.1 with Hart on the floor since the lineup change.

They rank fourth in the NBA in rebounding percentage during that span.

“He’s a guy that just does everything well. If you’re not careful, you may look at it and say, ‘Well, he can’t really do (this).’ Nah, nah, he does everything well,” Mike Brown said. “He does a couple things at an elite level, and when you have a guy like that who’s pretty selfless, it can bode well to connecting the group, no matter who he’s on the floor with.”

Brown moved Hart into the starting group in late November after listening to feedback from his staff.

Credit Brown for keeping an open mind. Hart’s ability to push the ball in transition has changed the Knicks.

“Josh gets in (and) he's probably one of the fastest with the ball; he's going to the rim, or he's driving in the paint, trying to find guys,” Bridges says. “I think his ability to get in transition and push and create opens up a lot.”

Hart’s individual numbers as a starter are strong. He’s averaging 15 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists while shooting 52.6 percent from the floor and 40.7 on threes. And the Knicks have done a lot of winning with Hart in the starting lineup.

“He’s our Draymond Green,” one Knick staffer said recently.

The comparison is not far off.

In 2015-16, Green averaged 14.2 points, 9.5 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game prior to the All-Star break. The Warriors were 48-3 with Green in the lineup at the time. Opposing coaches recognized Green’s value by voting him to the Western Conference All-Star team. He joined teammates Steph Curry and Klay Thompson in the game.

If you looked at Green’s individual numbers that season, you wouldn’t think he’d make an All-Star team.  

Green’s All-Star bid was based on team success, not individual stats.

Just like Green in 2015-16, Hart is having a huge impact on his team’s success. Opposing coaches recognize his value.

“Right now, he’d definitely get consideration,” one opposing coach said of Hart and an All-Star bid. The coach cited Hart’s 'impact on' New York’s record and said he’s 'playing like’ an All-Star

It sounds like Hart will have a strong case for an All-Star spot if he continues to produce and the Knicks continue to win.

Perfect night

Brunson had an MSG career-high 47 points against Miami. But he was pleased with another stat from Sunday’s win: zero. Brunson had eight assists and no turnovers against the Heat. Brunson had nine assists and zero turnovers in a loss to Philadelphia on Friday. No turnovers in his past 75 minutes on the floor.

“That means a lot,” Brunson said late Sunday. “…. Obviously, no turnovers is what I strive for. Obviously, sometimes when you're aggressive, you make aggressive mistakes. I can live with (the aggressive mistakes), the passive mistakes, I can't live with. But yeah, just trying to hold the ball as much as I can and not give it to the other team.”

In the first half on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, three of the Knicks' starters had five points between them. But New York entered the interval up by four. How did they do it? 

Jalen Brunson poured in 27 points on an efficient 10-for-15 shooting en route to a 47-point outburst in the Knicks' 132-125 win over the Heat.

“Our guys, just, found a way,” head coach Mike Brown said after the win.

And while Mikal Bridges chipped in 18 of his 24 in the first half before OG Anunoby turned a scoreless first half into 18 points in the second, it all came down to Brunson.

“You’re struggling a little bit offensively, you want to have an MVP of the league on your side,” Brown said of Brunson. “For him to score 47, especially on 15-for-26, 6-for-13 from the three-point line, 11-for-11 from the free-throw line, while dishing out eight assists, again, I have to mention it, but that’s what he’s capable of, and that’s what MVPs are supposed to do on nights like tonight.”

And he did it all without turning the ball over once.

“No turnovers is what I strive for,” Brunson said. “Obviously, sometimes when you’re aggressive, you make aggressive mistakes. The passive mistakes, I can’t live with. But, just trying to hold the ball as much as I can and not give it to the other team.”

It was Brunson’s 20th 40-point game since he joined the Knicks and the most points he’s scored with the team at MSG.

“He’s a special player, I think we all know that,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “It doesn’t surprise me when he has nights like that.” 

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra called Brunson an “incredible competitor.”

“If you want to beat a great competitor, you have to do above and beyond,” Spoelstra said. “It is possible, but you can’t just play well, you can’t just compete well, you can’t just be there. You gotta put him away. You gotta put possessions away. And he’s gonna put his imprint on it. That’s what great players do. 

“He has a great knack for it. He’s relentless.”

Brunson did this while playing 38 minutes, which may seem low from his numbers last year, not something Brown is hoping to do regularly.

“You try to sit ’em as long as you can,” Brown said. “But if you feel the game slipping, it’s my job to help us win in the best way possible.

“... It’s just a matter of I know we’re in a little bit of that we got to keep fighting to get out of, get our feet back underneath us. And it’s me just throwing him out there, knowing we've got to get this game. I tried to sit him as long as I can. [But] ‘Let’s go get this game.’

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Porter Jr. scored 24 points, Noah Clowney added 19 and Brooklyn Nets beat the Toronto Raptors 96-81 on Sunday night.

Rookie Egor Demin had 16 points and Nic Claxton finished with 12 for the Nets, who led by 15 points in the third quarter, fell behind early in the fourth and then surged ahead again.

Brandon Ingram finished with 19 points and Immanuel Quickley added 17 points and 10 assists for the Raptors, who have lost six of their last nine games after starting the season 15-7.

Brooklyn outscored Toronto 29-16 in the fourth quarter. The Nets allowed their lowest point total of the season.

Brooklyn led 60-45 midway through the third quarter before the Raptors went on a 20-7 run to close the period. The Nets were 0 for 7 from the field and turned the ball over five times during that stretch.

Toronto opened the fourth quarter with consecutive baskets from Jamison Battle and Collin Murray-Boyles to take a 69-67 lead before the Nets called a timeout with 10:55 to play.

After Battle's dunk made it 73-72, Brooklyn responded and blitzed the Raptors with a 10-0 run, capped by Clowney's 3-pointer with 7:22 left.

Ingram hit a pair of free throws on the ensuing possession before Claxton scored three consecutive baskets to extend the lead to 88-75 and put the game out of reach with 4:42 remaining.

Toronto center Jakob Poeltl was removed from the game during the first quarter due to a back injury.

Up next

Raptors: Continue their three-game road trip in Miami on Tuesday.

Nets: Visit Philadelphia on Tuesday.