Category: Basketball

Longtime Warriors assistant Chris DeMarco reportedly named new Liberty coach originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

After more than a decade with the Golden State Warriors, assistant coach Chris DeMarco is headed to the WNBA.

The New York Liberty have agreed on a contract to hire DeMarco as their new coach, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Friday morning, citing sources.

It is unclear if DeMarco will finish the 2025-26 NBA season with the Warriors before moving to the Big Apple, or if he will head East right away.

It was reported earlier this week that DeMarco was among the handful of finalists for the gig, among several other NBA assistants around the league.

DeMarco now is the third NBA assistant to be named the head coach of a WNBA team over the past two seasons (h/t Yahoo! Sports). Per The New York Post’s Madeline Kenney, New York had prioritized candidates with NBA backgrounds, in addition to a blend of modern and innovative views on the game.

In addition to primarily running Golden State’s defense under Steve Kerr, DeMarco also has served as head coach of the Bahamian men’s national team since 2019.

DeMarco now will take over the void left by Sandy Brondello, for whom the Liberty didn’t renew her contract for the 2026 season.

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In wake of a miserable season, Maxey's taking another massive leap  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Tyrese Maxey had many valid excuses last season. 

The Sixers’ injuries were rampant all year. It’s not normal for young, 6-foot-2 guards to constantly save the day. Everyone endures shooting slumps. He struggled with a season-ending finger injury. 

Fifteen games into the 2025-26 season, all the bleakness seems to be behind him. Maxey, a fanatical worker and winner of the NBA’s 2023-24 Most Improved Player award, is taking another massive leap. 

The 25-year-old has played at an MVP level for a 9-6 Sixers team that’s already notched quite a few heart-pounding wins. He posted a career-high 54 points, nine assists, five rebounds, three blocks and three steals Thursday in an overtime victory over the Bucks.

Maxey’s co-stars have still been mostly unavailable. Joel Embiid’s played in six games and missed his sixth straight in Milwaukee because of a right knee injury. Paul George had a valuable 21-point performance against the Bucks, but he sat out the Sixers’ first 12 games as he ramped up following arthroscopic surgery in July on his left knee. 

So, Maxey’s barely been on the bench. He’s played an NBA-high 40.7 minutes per game and rookie teammate VJ Edgecombe is second with 37.4. No NBA player has averaged 40-plus minutes in a season since Monta Ellis back in the 2010-11 campaign. 

With 33.4 points per game, Maxey sits second in the league in scoring. Wilt Chamberlain’s 33.5 per contest in his 1965-66 MVP season are the most in Sixers history. Embiid averaged 33.1 in his 2022-23 MVP season. 

There’s many hard-earned nuances to Maxey’s vast scoring package. He routinely drops in lefty layups and floaters, shifts pace, surges downhill, draws free throws in crafty fashion. His range stood out in Milwaukee. No defense is equipped to guard dynamic drivers who also swish foot-on-the-logo jumpers. 

According to Cleaning the Glass, Maxey’s 124.6 points per 100 shot attempts would be the best mark of his career. He went 18 for 30 from the field and 12 for 14 at the foul line in Milwaukee. 

Maxey’s 7.9 assists per game and 33.0 assist percentage would easily be career bests, too. He’s had a good time running the Sixers’ offense and tossing up lobs to Edgecombe.

“Y’all said I couldn’t pass,” Maxey said with a smile on Nov. 8. “I had to work on my passing. I honestly did a lot in the summertime. Some of my friends helped me out just with trying to make reads. … This is my sixth year. Every year I’ve been trying to play a better floor game. (Player development coach Toure’ Murry) has been on me about how, if I’m going to score the ball a lot, I’ve got to be able to get my teammates involved, too. It helps me. It helps me be more aggressive.”

Through all the losses last season, Maxey’s defensive progress was a silver lining. He’s got quick feet and clever hands, and he’s continued to take pride in his effort. Maxey led the Sixers in both steals and blocks on Thursday.

Beyond the numbers, Maxey’s made tons of intangible improvements. 

He appears to have much more trust in his instincts as a leader —  what play to call in a crucial moment; when to encourage and when to correct younger players; how to play with both contagious joy and steely determination. 

“I think probably the end of my fourth year, I just remember Joel pulling me to the side and telling me that my voice is going to be needed,” Maxey said on Oct. 20. “People see how hard I work, how much I care about winning and the franchise. And Joel, he’s a more reserved guy. Of course he’s talented on the court — that’s what he does — but he was just telling me that’s a way for me to step up, leading and being vocal. 

“Last year I tried to start it at the beginning, but I didn’t really get going the way I needed to until probably toward the middle of the season. It’s just what I do now, I guess. I’m old.”

What's at stake for Celtics in NBA Cup standings entering Nets matchup originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics are down — but they’re not out.

We’re talking, of course, about the 2025 NBA Cup, the league’s third annual in-season tournament that began on Halloween and runs through mid-December. While the Celtics have played well of late — they’ve won three in a row to improve to 8-7 on the young season — they have a lot of work to do if they want to make up ground in Group B of the NBA Cup standings.

A quick refresher: Boston’s group consists of the Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons and Brooklyn Nets. The C’s play each of those teams once in NBA Cup group stage play and currently have a 1-1 record with a negative-12 point differential, having edged the Sixers 109-108 and lost to the Magic 123-110.

On Friday, they’ll play their first NBA Cup game at TD Garden against the Nets (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston). And if they want any shot at advancing out of the group stage, they’ll need to beat Brooklyn by a lot.

Below is a brief explainer on the NBA Cup format, followed by the Celtics’ schedule, the current Group B standings and what’s at stake for Boston on Friday night.

How does the NBA Cup work?

The tournament begins with the group stage. All 30 teams are competing in group play, having been placed into six groups of five teams within their conference. Teams face each of their group opponents once for a total of four group play games (two at home and two on the road).

Eight teams advance to the single-elimination knockout rounds: the top team in each of the six groups and a wild card team in each conference that’s awarded to the second-place finisher with the best overall record.

If two or more teams are tied within a group, the following tiebreakers are used:

• Head-to-head record in group play
• Point differential in group play
• Total points scored in group play
• Record from the 2024-25 NBA regular season
• Random drawing

The knockout rounds begin with quarterfinal games on Dec. 9 and 10 hosted by the higher seed, and then the semifinals and finals, which will be held in Las Vegas.

All Group Stage games count toward teams’ regular-season records. Teams enter the season with only 80 scheduled games, and the 22 teams that don’t advance to the knockout round will play two regular-season games during tournament off nights on Dec. 11/12 and Dec. 14/15.

Celtics’ Group B schedule

The Celtics’ four Group Stage games are being played across a 27-day span from Halloween until the day before Thanksgiving.

• Friday, Oct. 31: Celtics 109, Sixers 108
• Friday, Nov. 7: Magic 123, Celtics 110
• Friday, Nov. 21: Nets vs. Celtics, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC Sports Boston)
• Wednesday, Nov. 26: Pistons vs. Celtics, 5 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Group B Standings

Each team in Group B plays each other once during Group Stage play. If two teams have the same record in group play, the first two tiebreakers are head-to-head record and point differential. 

Here are the Group B standings, which we’ll update throughout group play:

What’s at stake for the Celtics

The Celtics trail the Pistons 39 points and the Magic by 32 points in the point differential department. So, they essentially need a 30-point blowout (or at least a win by 20-plus points) to close that gap. (Detroit and Orlando are both off Friday night.)

Orlando’s next NBA Cup game is next Tuesday in Philadelphia, while the C’s play their final Group B game Wednesday against Detroit. So, here’s what Boston fans should be rooting for:

• Celtics blow out the Nets on Friday.
• Magic lose to Sixers by a wide margin on Tuesday.

If both of those things happen, the Celtics might have a chance to sneak into the knockout round, but they’d need another lopsided win over the Pistons next Wednesday, as well.

So, yes, it’s a long shot. But a rout of Brooklyn on Friday would at least give Boston a puncher’s chance.

Why Warriors' upcoming homestand signals critical juncture in how season unfolds originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

There is no five-alarm fire surrounding the Warriors, but there are enough matches gathering that their upcoming five-game homestand, even in the first six weeks of the NBA season, can be a tipping point.

After playing 12 of 17 games on the road, the Warriors return to Chase Center on Friday to face the Portland Trail Blazers, whose ninth-place position in the Western Conference has them only one slot beneath eighth-place Golden State. Then come the 10th-place Utah Jazz, the third-place Houston Rockets, the last-place New Orleans Pelicans and the first-place Oklahoma City Thunder.

Houston and OKC present real challenges, but a loss to any of the other three would signal a troubling setback for the Warriors.

With perplexing chatter emanating from their semi-successful six-game road trip – comments regarding “agendas” and the usual agitation related to Jonathan Kuminga’s role and future – the Warriors surely know their work thus far invites legitimate skepticism. They are reeling, looking to Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler III and Draymond Green to make all the necessary corrections that, perhaps, can deliver them from the fate of the play-in tournament.

That’s what awaits, and what a failure it would be, if the Warriors can’t pull themselves together and begin climbing up the standings.

Coach Steve Kerr, who bemoaned the lack of practice time during their six-game road trip, the upcoming schedule provides enough time for at least two, maybe three, practice sessions. There will be ample opportunity to roll out video and offer constructive criticism.

“The schedule does turn our way,” Kerr told reporters Wednesday night in Miami, after a 110-96 loss to the Heat concluded the six-game road trip. “But we need to take advantage of it. We’ve got to get better.”

Turnovers continue to be an issue. Despite frequent imploring from the likes of Kerr and Butler, the Warriors’ 17.1 giveaways per game are more than only the Dallas Mavericks 17.2. Golden State is dead last in turnover ratio at 16.8, roughly one of every six possessions.

For the league’s least physically imposing roster, one that struggles to rebound (22nd in the league) and gain extra possessions, taking care of the ball is essential for any chance of contending.

To be clear, these Warriors are not built as the great teams of yore, when they offset turnovers by pounding the glass, defending like a pack of wolves and drowning opponents in a torrent of 3-pointers.

“We just got to get back to giving a damn about every single possession, which is easy,” Butler, who uncharacteristically committed nine giveaways in his last two games, told reporters in Orlando after a 121-113 loss to the Magic on Wednesday. “But it’s definitely going to start with me not turning the ball over.”

Yet even a cursory glance at the Warriors is enough to know their problems go beyond turnovers. All three victories on the recent road trip required magnificent performances, with Curry scoring 46 points in one game and 49 in the next, followed by a career-high 32-point outburst from Moses Moody – the third time in four-plus seasons he topped 25 points.

Where is the balanced offense? Curry and Butler combined for a highly efficient 67 points in Orlando and walked off the floor with a bitter L, largely because the bench missed 15 of 23 shots and was outscored 35-22 by Magic reserves.

Brandin Podziemski over his last 10 games shot 40.2 percent from the field, including 36.7 percent from deep. Buddy Hield over his last 10 shot 39.5 percent, including 29.1 beyond the arc. Quentin Post is at 45.8 and 31.3 over his last five games. Kuminga has come off the bench only once this season, playing only 12 minutes before sore knees sent him to the bench.

There is a lot that needs repair before the Warriors can emerge from the fog they’ve been for three weeks, losing seven of 12 games. From Kerr to Curry to Butler and Green, there is belief that who they have been does not accurately represent who they are.

“We’re a connected team,” Kerr said Wednesday night. “We’ve got a good vibe, a good group. (But) we’ve got some improvement to make on the floor and that’s the main thing.”

Both De’Anthony Melton and Seth Curry should arrive in the coming weeks. That should add a layer of proficiency to the roster.

If the Warriors can’t find their best, beginning with this homestand, they could slog into the same undesirable position they were in last February, when desperation forced a major trade in hopes a late surge could salvage the season.

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