The Oklahoma City Thunder (4-0) are the established Western Conference power with 132 combined regular-season wins to their credit over the last two seasons, functional depth all over their roster and a championship banner hung up in the Paycom Center to show for it. The Dallas Mavericks (2-2) and their fans are just happy to be taking the first few baby steps in a positive direction after two seasons in decline.

But Wednesday’s meeting between the erstwhile rivals at American Airlines Center takes on new layers of intrigue after news of two long-term injuries to key pieces in the Oklahoma City rotation and the Mavericks’ newfound penchant for punching above their weight to start the 2026-27 campaign. Tipoff between the Mavs and the Thunder is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.

The Thunder own a decided advantage over the home team in both recent results and proven talent throughout the roster, even after the injury prognoses recently announced for both Cason Wallace (torn labrum) and Jalen Williams (broken ankle). OKC beat the Mavericks in all three of the teams’ meetings a year ago, after Dallas played the role of thorn in big brother’s side in 2024-25. The Mavs won three of four against the Thunder that year, but it didn’t stop Oklahoma City from marching to a title, while the Mavs labored in the morass of the Great NBA Middle.

Here are three points of interest in preparation for what could be a closer game than you think to start the I-35 series this season.

No apologies for injury luck

The Mavericks are absolutely catching the Thunder at the right time on Wednesday. Not only are Wallace and Williams on the shelf indefinitely, potentially the entire season in both cases, but big thin man Chet Holmgren and versatile guard Alex Caruso are also listed as out on the Thunder’s latest injury report. Holmgren is day-to-day with patellar tendonitis, and Caruso is dealing with a right ankle sprain. Hey, at least it’s not broken.

Their absence means Oklahoma City will have to lean more on Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams, Kenrich Williams and rookie Aday Mara, who was a college teammate of Mavs rookie forward Morez Johnson Jr. at Michigan a year ago. Oh, and all-everything man and former league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, of course.

How much of an opening do the four injury absences create for these Little Mavericks That Could? If Dallas can frustrate Gilgeous-Alexander for more than a quarter, they have enough ammo for another uphill battle. You can squint and see the Mavericks at very least hanging around and making this a game.

For Dallas’ part, Naji Marshall, who missed Monday’s game at Miami with an illness, has been upgraded to questionable, but backup guard Sergio de Larrea is listed as out for the Thunder matchup with a right knee sprain. Kyrie Irving is back on the injury report as well, listed as questionable under the “injury management” heading.

SGA free-throw rate

Let’s dive a little deeper into one stat typified by Gilgeous-Alexander in particular. Last year, he got to the line nine times per game. Much has been made of the fact that through just four games this year, his free-throw rate has so far been cut in half. He’s shot just 18 free throws through the first four games of the year.

Many have inferred that one of the NBA officials’ infamous points of emphasis this year is the culprit. Yea, that pesky “off-arm push-offs” one. Gilgeous-Alexander has, through much of his rise to power in the Association, enjoyed a reputation for being something of a “foul-baiter.” Whether it’s the new and improved stance on off-arm push-offs or mere happenstance, he’s not getting the whistle he has grown accustomed to, albeit in a very short sample size so far this year.

It hasn’t affected Gilgeous-Alexander’s scoring average much, if at all. He’s averaging better than 27 points per game through the first four, and his 3-point percentage (28.6%) may have as much or more to do with that as his free-throw rate. Nevertheless, it’s something to keep an eye on. It’s one of those things that will probably even out as the season progresses, but while his whistle may not hold as much influence over the proceedings in this particular game, the Mavericks will endeavor to make themselves the beneficiaries of such things on Wednesday.

“We brought bodies”

Zaccharie Risacher with the clutch block on Davion Mitchell quick layup attempt, P.J. Washington strips the rebound away from Giannis and the Mavericks win in Miami.
The Heat go 0-4 to start the season.

pic.twitter.com/CSwF0SaCDI

— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) October 27, 2026

“We brought bodies to him,” Mavericks head coach Dusty May said of Dallas’ efforts to frustrate another similarly gravitational superstar in the fourth quarter of Monday’s win at the Miami Heat.

It’s almost all you can do against someone as gifted as Gilgeous-Alexander or Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 29 points and recorded a triple-double for Miami in Monday’s 113-109 Mavericks’ win. Double-teams. Different defenders showing different looks. Hands in passing lanes. Bring the bodies. Anything to interrupt the superstar from gathering all the momentum.

If the Mavericks look up at the end of the night and Gilgeous-Alexander has scored 30 points, it’s not the end of the world. What will matter is that he had a hard time getting there — maybe he had to force the issue a little bit to get there. That’s what bringing the bodies does.

One body we’d definitely like to see thrown in Gilgeous-Alexander’s direction is Zaccharie Risacher’s. He had a tough shooting night at Miami on Monday, but that didn’t matter, because he was busy throughout his 30 minutes on the floor creating chaos on the defensive end. He got in passing lanes, bothered Miami up and down the roster and ended the night with three blocked shots and two steals.

The Spurs blew out the Kings in the first game of a back-to-back to get their second win of the season and get back to .500. Victor Wembanyama had 29 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocks, while Julian Champagnie contributed 26 points off the bench.

An ideal start, with Wembanyama getting a couple of early dunks and Vassell an open three, foreshadowed how easy the game was going to be for the Spurs. The only thing that could keep the Silver and Black from scoring was themselves, in the stretches in which they played too much one-on-one basketball in the half court. The Kings’ defense had no answers, as helping inside resulted in open threes and not helping meant allowing good shots at the rim, but credit should go to San Antonio for taking the game seriously and executing well while also guarding with intensity.

As the minutes went by, and despite Domantas Sabonis’ efforts to stop it (at least on offense), the eight-point lead the Spurs had at the end of the first quarter started to grow steadily. Wembanyama was getting whatever he wanted inside, and the outside looks were falling. The shorthanded Kings couldn’t put together enough good lineups when their main guys rested to score enough to offset their glaring deficiencies on the other end. At the break, San Antonio was up 26 points after dropping 80 in total, and the game was effectively over.

The only thing left to be decided was whether the Spurs would be able to avoid a slump that forced Mitch Johnson to play his starters more than he wanted in the first game of a back-to-back. The answer was a resounding “yes,” as San Antonio kept playing hard and scoring at will. The Kings looked defeated, and while Zach LaVine poured in some tough buckets to make up for Sabonis slowing down on the offensive end, at no point did they look like a real threat. After three, the lead was 27.

The fourth quarter was garbage time. Only Dylan Harper played more than 30 minutes for San Antonio, which got to empty its bench early while securing an easy home win.

Observations:

• The Kings, missing several frontcourt players, simply have too many bad defenders to make any coverage work. The zone was a mess. Their switching was sloppy. The rotations were slow. They don’t have the rim protection to make the drop in the pick-and-roll work. Even some lineups that shouldn’t have worked on offense for the Spurs were able to put points on the board. The talent gap was just gigantic.
• Julian Champagnie made eight threes in the first half. His only misses were airballs. The “Champagnie has the hot hand” experience is amazing in part because it tends to feature some hilarious moments in which he gets so confident that he lets it fly, you think it’s going in, and it’s not even close. Then the next time around you prepare for a miss, and he swishes a tough look. He’s been such a fantastic find for the Spurs.
• Are the Spurs winning more challenges than in past years? It feels that way, and the broadcast made it a point to highlight the two successful ones from this game, so there’s probably some numbers to back it up. Every little thing helps, so if they have become better at challenging calls, that’s great.
• At the end of the third, when the rotation guys were on the floor, the Spurs’ bench was outscoring the Kings’ 30 to five. Even taking away Champagnie’s 24 points, they would have been up in that category. Sacramento is bad, but missing some important guys makes them awful.
• Devin Vassell finished with eight assists, the highest total in a game for him since the 2023/24 season. In the previous game, he had six helpers. Vassell has been adding to his game since he was drafted. Maybe this is the year he becomes a great passer for someone whose main role is to shoot.
• Kings rookie Darius Acuff Jr. is an exciting player taking full advantage of the bright green light he has in Sacramento. It took him 20 shots, but he finished with 19 points and five assists.
• It’s hard to take much away from games that are so lopsided, but it was good to see the Spurs play with effort and purpose even when up big. Hopefully that mindset will become a staple of the team this season.

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For the opponent’s perspective, visit The Kings’ Herald.

The Spurs will fly to Utah to face the Jazz on Wednesday in the second game of a back-to-back. Utah will be without Jaren Jackson Jr., who is expected to miss up to eight weeks with an injury. It’s a good opportunity for San Antonio to secure a winning record for the first time this season.

The 0-3 Brooklyn Nets came to Boston Tuesday night to face the Celtics on the second night of a back-to-back. The scrappy Nets came to play in this game as they forced overtime on the final play of regulation. They outplayed the Celtics for large stretches of rregulation and overtime but Jayson Tatum was the hero in the final second of the game.

Boston survived a big scare at home, to hang on in a tight overtime win that went down to wire, 125-124. Boston was paced by Jayson Tatum who had 40 points and 8 assists, Paul George had 20 points and Derrick White had 16 points.

Boston started the game with its regular lineup of Jordan Walsh, Derrick White, Jayson Tatum, Paul George, and Mitchell Robinson, who currently have the 2nd-best net rating in the NBA. For the Nets, they started with Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle, and Day’ron Sharpe.

Both teams traded buckets to start the game as the scores were tied 4-4 before Michael Porter Jr. splashed a triple with Jordan Walsh draped all over him. Mitchell Robinson snagged a steal on an attempted lob pass and went down the other end, grabbing an offensive rebound for the putback deuce.

Boston started the slower of the two teams, shooting just 4-11 from the field after a scoring barrage last night.

Payton Pritchard scored his first points of the game midway through the first quarter as he checked in for a scoreless Derrick White at the point. A few plays later, Pritchard took on Michael Porter Jr. in a switch driving into the lane for the layup, scores tied at 20.

Jayson Tatum got downhill and skied a lob to Neemias Queta, who got the easy score at the two-minute mark, with Tatum with 3 early assists in the game.

Former Celtic Mo Wagner was beasting the C’s interior; his energetic play propelled the visitors into the lead with six quick points in six minutes. The feisty Nets up by 5 points after 12 minutes of play, scoring 26-31.

Derrick White finally got on the scoreboard to start the second quarter with a cutting layup, with Payton Pritchard with the dime. The Nets were the more aggressive team to start the second quarter and took an eight-point advantage at the nine-minute mark. Noah Clowney and Mitchell Robinson needed to be separated as things were getting chippy in the second.

Paul George was struggling to get into the game as he had two turnovers and two fouls in his first nine minutes of game action. He finally hit a fade away for his 4th point of the game, as Mazzulla was encouraging his squad to play with more effort from the sideline.

Jayson Tatum returned to the game and immediately drove into the lane to score on an aggressive drive. On the next play, JT got the ball and attacked the mismatch, getting fouled on the play; he made both free throws as scores were once again tied at 45.

Boston was struggling from the three-point line in the first half; they were just 2-16 from downtown after they poured in the points last night. Tatum was the best player on the floor for Boston as he poured in 15 points and 4 assists in the half.

Queta was whistled for his fourth foul before the half and took a seat, as it was a heavy first half. Despite all the fouls, the reach-ins, the flopping, and the chippy nature of the game, things were competitive after two quarters. Brooklyn took a 5-point lead at the half.

Paul George finally hit Boston’s third three-pointer of the game to start the second half, his ninth point of the game. Walsh and Tatum also connected from downtown as Boston came out of the half time break looking to get more shot attempts from three.

Jordan Walsh drilled his second straight triple from the corner in front of the Nets bench, Boston down by one point. Julius Randle was excellent for Brooklyn on both ends, he had 7 points in the third quarter after just six minutes of play before heading to the visitors bench.

Boston’s continued to struggle shooting the three late into the third, they would go 6-26 before Sam Hauser hit his first triple of the night to get the crowd up and back into the game. Baylor Scheireman had the high catch and release three-pointer from the corner to cut the scores back to just one point, 78-79.

Jayson Tatum and Sam Hauser both hit deep three-pointers as the crowd erupted to finish off the third quarter, the Boston faithful back into the game, 86-82. The Celtics outscored the Nets in the third, highlighted by a 16-5 run to finish off the quarter with eight three-pointers in total.

Scheierman, White, Queta, George and Hauser opened things for Boston in the fourth. Derrick White dribbled into the key and stuck the two pointer to start, Boston up by 8 points. The Nets came racing back into itcutting it back to 2 points.

Baylor Scheierman grabbed an offensive rebound and pushed the pace, he twisted in mid air and made a terrific pass to Paul George who skipped it over to Sam Hauser for the open three-pointer.

Michael Porter Jr. hit a pair of threes for Brooklyn, as the Nets were staying close. That forced Joe Mazzulla to go back to Jayson Tatum for the close out.

Mikel Brown Jr. hit the visiting teams thirteenth triple as they retook the lead. Jayson Tatum was fouled by Chaney Johnson and hit a pair of free throes to tie the game once more, 99-99.

Tatum went to the line for his 18th free throw of the game, Hauser banked home a jumper, the scores were tied at 104. Brooklyn were 50% from the field and 40% from three, with 3 minutes to go in the game as they had a slim lead. The Celtics were in the bonus to finish off the game, Derrick White hit a pair to give Boston a two point lead, 111-109.

Mitchell Robinson had a chance to ice the game but missed two free throws with 3 seconds to go. Brooklyn had a final chance to force OT and Mikel Brown Jr. made a corner fade away.

Julius Randle scored the first four points in overtime, with Paul George and Derrick White on the bench. They returned to action with 3 minutes to go. Mikel Brown Jr. drilled another three-pointer in overtime as the Celtics were up against it. Jayson Tatum drilled a foul line two-pointer for the big win in the final second of overtime that wasn’t pretty.

Boston next host the Chicago Bulls for the second time in a week for the NBA Cup, game 1 of East group C, on Friday night at 7:30 pm EST.

When Klay Thompson was still with the Golden State Warriors, he had a tradition for every time a teammate went up against their former teams. As the team met to prepare for the opponent, Thompson would single them out and shout, “They didn’t want you!”

It didn’t matter how long it had been since the player left the team, the circumstances of their departures, or whether there was any actual animosity. Zaza Pachulia facing the Milwaukee Bucks three years after they traded him to the Dallas Mavericks? “They didn’t want you!” Andre Iguodala playing the Philadelphia 76ers, nine years after they traded him, having played on three teams in the interim? “They didn’t want to!”

Reportedly, Thompson tried to get assistant coach Mike Brown fired up to face the Denver Nuggets, over two decades after Brown left his job as video coordinator for the team.

“They didn’t want you!” may be what’s echoing through the head of Jonathan Kuminga as he prepares to face the Warriors for the first time as a Minnesota Timberwolf. Thompson may have used hyperbole in his motivating efforts, but Kuminga can quite confidently believe that the Warriors certainly did not want him, after five up-and-down seasons since he was the 7th pick in the 2021 NBA draft culminated in a trade for center/future medical case study Kristaps Porzingis.

Kuminga faced the Warriors in March as a member of the Atlanta Hawks, shooting 1-for-9 and logging two points, four rebounds, and two assists in a 126-110 Hawks win. It wasn’t the strongest Warriors squad, considering that Jeenathan Williams played over 28 minutes in the game. (Williams is now employed in the Japanese B League, as is Forever Warriors Eric Paschall.)

There’s no reason to re-litigate Kuminga’s time with the Warriors. Interested readers can look at probably 100 articles and 10,000 comments if they want to go through it again. But it’s clear that Kuminga, who signed a prove-it contract with Minnesota late in the summer, believes he had more to offer than the Warriors let him show.

He’s on a one-year deal for $6.1M, with a player option for next season. Kuminga is averaging 11.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 29.8 minutes per game as the Wolves’ starting power forward. He’s gone 7-for-15 on three-pointers, nabbed two steals per game, and turned the ball over only once in four games as Minnesota began the season with three blowout wins and a two-point overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday night.

They also lost Anthony Edwards in that contest. Edwards out up 47 points in 41 minutes, then he and the team decided his balky right knee needed arthroscopic surgery.

Just in: Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards will undergo an arthroscopic procedure on his ailing right knee and miss up to two months, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/HenrAY2APs

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 27, 2026

The All-Star guard and his 33.3 points per game will be out until December, meaning that someone needs to pick up the scoring slack. The most likely candidates are Ayo Dosunmu, who’s likely to join the starting lineup in place of Edwards, and one Jonathan Malangu Kuminga.

Edwards is averaging 26 field goal attempts this season, launching a staggering 11.3 threes per game. Kuminga isn’t going to match that outside shooting, but what he can do is provide at least a facsimile of Edwards’ unrelenting rim pressure. And he’ll never be more motivated to step into that kind of scoring role than he will when facing his former team and Steve Kerr, the coach he could never quite win over.

The drama only becomes more intense when you consider Kuminga’s primary defender might well be Yaxel Lendeborg, another Warriors lottery pick who almost instantly joined the rotation. Lendeborg is already rebounding, passing, and doing the little things Kuminga never quite mastered in five seasons with the Dubs — while also putting up points.

As for Lendeborg, he’ll have to wait until Nov. 18 when the Warriors visit the Dallas Mavericks for his own “They didn’t want you!” moment. Even though he’s a rookie, Yaxel can still get motivated after his old college coach, Dusty May, drafted Michigan teammate over him with the No. 9 pick.

And look out for a fired-up LaMelo Ball as well. Joe Lacob didn’t want you! And he deeply regrets it!

While Matisse Thybulle was playing for the Trail Blazers — the same team the Lakers hosted Tuesday night — he knew he needed to make a change to his shot. 

The results have not only led to a strong shooting stretch to kick off his tenure as a Laker but also a unique pregame shooting routine that’s paying off.

The eighth-year wing out of Washington has a unique twist to his pregame shooting routine: Thybulle cycles in “no-dip” 3s (when a player catches the pass and immediately shoots it from their chest or above their head without dropping the ball down around their waist) and one-handed 3s.

The origins of the No. 20 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft incorporating unorthodox shooting into his routine stems from working with Trail Blazers shooting coach John Townsend during 2024-25 as he was rehabbing from a preseason right knee surgery and sprained right ankle that sidelined him for the first 67 games that season.

“My shot has never been something I was confident in,” Thybulle told the California Post on Tuesday. “It was always an insecurity of mine.”

The most significant changes that were made to his shot: moving Thybulle’s right (shooting) arm more to the side and keeping his elbow more tucked in.

Townsend had Thybulle go through “platform shooting” to accommodate him not being able to always jump as he rehabbed from the lower-body ailments.

“And then I started to notice some differences,” Thybulle told The Post. “I was probably like a month out of being able to play again. And he’s like, ‘Well, you kind of have to decide now: Do you want to change your shot and stick to it and you can’t go back? Or keep shooting the way you’ve been shooting?’

“I was like, ‘But I want to change it.’ So then we just decided to just stick with the changes that we were doing, trust the work and not really worry too much about the results for a little bit.”

The changes yielded positive results.

After shooting 34.6% on 3s in 2023-24, Thybulle shot 43.8% from deep across 15 regular-season games in 2024-25 (albeit on small volume — 21 of 48) and 39.8% in 30 games in 2025-26 (37 of 93).

He entered Tuesday shooting 46.7% on 3s (7 of 15).

“So far,” Thybulle told The Post, “it’s worked out.”

The reason he incorporates the no-dip and one-handed 3s into his pregame routine is because it helps him maintain his shooting form. 

“It was a huge foundational piece of just having my hand under the ball next to my head and then shooting through it,” Thybulle said. “And it became something that we would go back to a lot if my shot started to float around or I wasn’t shooting the way I wanted to. And then it just became a thing of like, well, ‘Am I confident enough to shoot that in a game? Do I trust myself to shoot it?’”

The answer is yes, with Thybulle saying he took a “couple” of no-dip 3s with the Blazers last season.

He made his first no-dip 3 with the Lakers in the preseason during the Oct. 8 home win over the Kings. 

And he made his first of the regular season during the third quarter of Sunday’s road win over the Jazz.

“Having done it, I had gotten so many reps of it,” Thybulle told The Post, “I got pretty confident in that being a good shot.”

Thybulle’s taken enough no-dip 3s that he doesn’t consider it a unique shot.

“That’s just a part of my shot archetype and shot package,” he told The Post. “I actually prefer it at times.”

Thybulle added: “There’s less variables. When you catch a no-dip shot, you’re under the ball, you have to fully extend. Whereas when you catch a regular pass, dip the ball down sometimes, you catch it across your body, you bring it over. Gotta make sure your legs are under you. There’s just more pieces to it. Luka [Doncic] and [Austin Reaves] throw such good passes that if I put my hands up, I’m literally catching it in my shooting pocket and I can just finish it through.”  

Even though he doesn’t shoot the one-handed 3s in games, it’s also an important part of staying true to his modified shooting form.

“A bad habit I have in mind is my elbow gets out from underneath the ball,” Thybulle told The Post. “If you try to do that with one hand, you’re going to drop the ball. You can’t hold it. So it really forces you to be underneath the basketball. And then, you bring another hand and the carryover is really helpful.”

For Thybulle, the unconventional forms are all about “laying the foundation” for his shot: physically and mentally.

“It takes a level of confidence and not caring to shoot those shots in public,” he told The Post. “Because I’ll shoot one-handed shots to this day and just airball them. It’s the reason people shoot with two hands — it’s a hard shot. 

“For me, the willingness to shoot through those embarrassing moments and trust that this is something that helps me and can guide me to the way I want to shoot, that to me, more than anything … one part physical, another part mental. Just like getting that voice in your head that tells you like shoot the regular way so that you can make it. ‘Cause if you do it this way, you might miss and it’s going to be embarrassing. Just like free yourself of that and just like trust the process.”

The Washington Wizards play the Cleveland Cavaliers tomorrow night. Let’s preview this one.

Game Info

When: Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. ET

Where: Rocket Arena

How to watch: Monumental Sports Network

Injury Report

Wizards: Jamir Watkins and Tristan Vukcevic are out. AJ Dybantsa is questionable

Cavaliers: None

What to watch for

Washington is looking to get back above .500 after their loss to the Charlotte Hornets. Cleveland defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves, 127-125 yesterday in overtime at home. The Cavaliers will be tough for Washington to beat, but I’m looking forward to seeing the Trae Young vs. Donovan Mitchell battle. Go Wiz!

BOSTON — A year after the Nets’ much-scrutinized first-round draft class — an NBA-record five in all — Egor Dëmin has been its biggest saving grace.

One of those sophomores (Nolan Traore), who made his first start on Tuesday night, had been coming off the bench, another (Danny Wolf) is out of the rotation and two more (Drake Powell and Ben Saraf) were in the G-League on Tuesday as the Nets took on the Celtics.

Dëmin, 20, is carrying the huge class. But so far this season, he’s having a hard time even pulling his own weight.

Back at point guard with Mikel Brown Jr. still on a minutes limit, Dëmin has been wildly inconsistent, alternating between good and bad, with more of the latter.

“It’s going to be one of the most important parts for me,” said Dëmin.

“For me personally, I’m trying to figure it out. I’m a different type of player as I had been last year, so I’m just trying to figure out how to play within these players now, and everybody else is trying to play with me. That’s what teams go through. So, I’m not panicking. I’m excited for what’s coming next for us.”

Entering Tuesday, Dëmin was averaging 9.7 points, three assists and 2.7 rebounds on 30.8 percent shooting overall and 31.6 percent from behind the arc.

Every one of those stats was down from his rookie campaign.

Dëmin has been inconsistent, mustering just four points in the opener on 2-for-10 shooting and missing all five looks from 3-point range.

The young Russian bounced back in Cleveland, with 22 points on 5-for-10 from deep.

But Dëmin backslid the next night, managing just three points on 1-for-6 shooting to finish minus-20 in just over 19 minutes.

The greatest concern is Dëmin’s driving. After a rookie season that saw him get turned at the point of attack, he’s touching the paint more now. But he’s been ineffective once he gets downhill, going just 1-for-4 at the rim and missing his only dunk attempt.

That’s the next step for Dëmin.

“Yeah, effectiveness is important in the NBA in everything you do. You touch the paint, obviously you can spray it for your teammate to shoot a good shot, or you finish at the rim, dump off and so forth,” Nets coach Jordi Fernández said. “One of the conversations I’ve had with him is, last year I felt like everything went 1,000 mph. And right now, one year in, more games under your belt, now it feels like he has more control of what we can see or what he sees or doesn’t see. So again, we’re going to keep working with him and encourage him to keep doing the things that he does very well, but also keep improving in all those areas.”

Dëmin agreed that was the biggest area of improvement.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “That’s the ultimate goal for me, to be able to not just get there to get there but to get there to be efficient and score. And not just score, but create for others. That’s going to be the next step for me as a playmaker, being able to choose between finishing and finding someone else.”

The struggles aren’t limited to Dëmin.

The Nets dragged a winless mark into Boston, and looked disoriented on defense.

“Everybody was very excited for this season, and there’s certain expectations and goals. That’s [making] us a little too excited about it, a little anxious…which is not necessarily bad. We’ve just got to convert it into effort and into energy,” Dëmin said.

“I wouldn’t say pressure. … For us, it could be an inner pressure, just being able to be the best versions of ourselves. And how do you [improve]? Just by sticking together. That’s going to help us get on a deeper level of communication and understanding of each other. We just talked about it, being able to trust each other no matter what’s going on, what the game looks like. That’s gonna be the key.”

With a day of rest and the comforts of home, the Minnesota Timberwolves take on the fading specter of the Golden State Warriors. This mid-week game will be their third in four days, with another back-to-back to start Halloween weekend. Still smarting from their first loss of the season at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Wolves will look to get back on the correct side of the win/loss column.

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Game Info

• Who:Minnesota Timberwolves (3-1) vs. Golden State Warriors (1-3)
• When: Wednesday, October 28 at 7:00 PM CT
• Where: Target Center – Minneapolis, MN
• Local TV: DAZN-MN, Kare 11
• Radio: 830 WCCO

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Numbers on the Board

Minnesota continues to shoot below 70% from the charity stripe. Their second efforts to gather rebounds and run in transition like children bounding to the house that is giving out king-size candy bars might be sapping some of the energy from their legs.

The big highlight plays that fill up our timelines are fun and feel big and important. They can demoralize an opponent and lead to 20-point blowouts. And yet, leaving points on the board will come back to haunt the Wolves when they pour out their plastic pumpkin and find the weight of their haul misleading.

It’s the points here and there, the KitKat minis that fill in the spaces that will sustain the sugar rush.

The Wolves committed 42 turnovers combined in their back-to-back bouts. Their uptempo and loose play style will naturally lead to the ball flying around – sometimes errantly, sometimes snatched by a defender hiding just out of sight.

During the Golden State Warriors’ dynastic run, they were consistently in the top ten for average turnovers per game. The cost of creating havoc for defenses is that sometimes the havoc pulls you in.

All that said, there is at least one space that should be easier to clean up. The guards need to be better about how they give Rudy the ball in the post. He is not a player who can regularly catch it cleanly in traffic anywhere beneath his head. When he does get the ball at his chest while under the basket, he regularly puts his Ricky Bobby costume on and gives it away.

On the positive side of things, TJ Shannon Jr. is off to a roaring start of the season. He has more than doubled his average points per game and is currently shooting 50% on five attempts from beyond the arc. I don’t foresee the three-point percentage holding, but if he can stick in the upper 30s with the same shot frequency, he will have that much more space for his preferred method…

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Attacking the Rim

These Warriors are small. 6’6 Draymond Green is their starting center, while Al Horford at 6’8 is their backup. Both players are near the tail end of their careers, and neither is the tallest available player on the team. That honorific goes to Malevy Leons, who has seen roughly ten whole minutes of floor time this season. Kristaps Porziņģis is out indefinitely due to a chronic illness.

The Wolves attacking the basket or snagging offensive rebounds for putbacks is a recipe they should be able to go to again and again.

Jonathan Kuminga has also been thoroughly impressive in his start with the Wolves.

If the stories about infighting between JK and Warriors coach Steve Kerr are true, then this game will be a real test for Kuminga’s focus and consistency. He has the size and athleticism to make the Warriors pay on both ends of the floor, but it will serve him and his team best if he does so in the flow of the game and not looking to prove a point.

In his last game against the Warriors, Kuminga had only two points on one for nine shooting, four rebounds, two assists, and a steal in 22 minutes of action. The Hawks did win that game but lost the minutes JK was on the court. Now more ingrained in a team that believes in him, he should look to get to the hoop when the lane is there, shoot the open three, and find the next open man if neither option is available.

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No Guard to Change

The Golden State Warriors are not what they once were. They are not even the team that tussled with Minnesota in the second round of the playoffs in 2025.

The second timeline that promised a seamless change of the guard now plays for different teams. Only Moses Moody is still there from that initial youth movement that started with trading D’Angelo Russell to the Wolves (and he won’t even be playing in this game).

Stephen Curry still raises hell from the three-point line. Draymond Green can still play tricks on any offense looking for a sweet bucket. These moments are fewer, and much of the cast that props up these dynastic remnants is out with no clear timetable for return. Jimmy Butler, Porziņģis, and Moses Moody will look to suit up sometime in the winter if at all.

The freshest face the Warriors roll out is rookie Yaxel Lendeborg. At 24 years old, he’s the same age as much of the Wolves roster. He has shown flashes already and is able to make the reads that lead to open shots for his teammates.

If he gets the Anthony Edwards LaMelo Ball assignment, look for Yaxel to start chirping early, as he did against Luka Dončić. We have seen what happens when Ant feels a one-on-one competition brewing, and it rarely goes well for the opponent.

Prediction

The Wolves are still kicking themselves for letting the game in Cleveland slip away. Back in Target Center, they will jump out to an early lead on the back of Edwards LaMelo giving Yaxel all he can stomach. Jonathan Kuminga will drill a three in front of the Warriors’ bench and earn a technical as he stands staring at them for a full thirty seconds.

By the start of the fourth quarter, Kerr will wave the white flag, and his bench of broken-down Hall of Famers will resemble the waiting room in Beetlejuice.

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Our blogging buddies are over at Golden State of Mind. Be kind to our friends with sunny minds!

The undefeated Detroit Pistons will ride their 3-0 record into New York to face the winless Knicks (0-3) tonight at Madison Square Garden. No defending champion has begun the season 4-0 since the 1969-70 Boston Celtics. The Pistons last went 4-0 in 2018-19. If the Pistons win tonight, it gets really interesting. Detroit has gone 5-0 to start a season since 2005-06. That was the 64-win team in its first year under Flip Saunders coming off of consecutive trips to the NBA Finals. But first, they have to deprive the Knicks of their first win of the season, something you know the Knicks will be fighting like hell for.

Why are the Knicks winless? Nobody on their team, save for Karl-Anthony Towns, seems to remember how to shoot. They rank 30th in points, 30th in shooting efficiency, 29th in shooting inside the arc, and 27th in points in the paint. They are also surrendering 37% shooting from three, a bottom-10 mark in the NBA. The Pistons have started the season both hot and prolific from deep and hopefully that trend continues. Last season, the Pistons went undefeated against the Knicks in the regular season and Cade Cunningham averaged 27.3 points, and shot 51% from two and 41% from three. He also averaged 11 assists and four turnovers. Also, Ausar Thompson should be back in the lineup for the Pistons tonight after sitting out the team’s victory over the Philadelphia 76ers with an ankle injury.

Game Vitals

When: 8 p.m. ET
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Watch: TV: NBC | Streaming: Peacock
Odds: Pistons +4.5

Projected Lineups

Detroit Pistons (3-0)

Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, John Collins, Paul Reed

New York Knicks (0-3)

Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns

In a young NBA season that’s already been littered with bad injury news, the Timberwolves are the latest to be affected.

Anthony Edwards is set to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee that will force him to miss up to two months, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday night.

The star guard, 25, dealt with issues in both knees last season and notably played through right knee inflammation and a bone bruise and hyperextension in his left at the end of last year.

He was initially listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game against the Warriors over the right knee issue, which appeared to bother him in a weekend win over the Raptors. He did play Monday, scoring a team-high 47 points in a thrilling 127-125 win over the Cavaliers.

While the knee injury clearly got to a point where he needs surgery, he averaged 33.3 points (in 33.8 minutes per game) through the first four games of this season, with Minnesota off to a 3-1 start.

Edwards, an All-Star in four consecutive seasons, will be a tough player to replace for the Timberwolves, who have hopes of being a contender once again in the Western Conference.

Injuries have dominated the early storylines in the NBA season, as the Thunder have already lost Jalen Williams (dislocated his left ankle, fractured fibula) and Cason Wallace (torn left labrum) potentially for the rest of the season.

The Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard is also out indefinitely with a swollen knee.

The Knicks (0-3) have taken the loss of Mitchell Robinson so hard that they’ve started shooting like him. We admire the heart but question the logic of emulating a player who makes the same percentage with or without a blindfold. Tonight, the team whose offense got drunk and fell off a parade float will host the Pistons of Detroit (3-0) at Madison Square Garden. If New York shoots well from deep, their O-rating just might crawl out of last place. And if Mikal Bridges tops six points, everyone in the discussion thread wins a no-prize. Our budget can’t afford chicken sandwiches.

The Pistons are the last undefeated team in the east but are vulnerable without the services of Ausar Thompson and Jalen “Contract Diva*” Duren. Both are sidelined with injuries sustained while hooping or carrying giant sacks of money. Tip off is 8 p.m. EST on NBC. This is your game thread. This is Detroit Bad Boys. Please don’t post large photos, GIFs, or links to illegal streams in the thread. Honor your humanity. And go Knicks!

* Unofficial nickname

Welcome to the Game Thread. Veterans of the Game Thread know how we do things around here, but for all you newbies we have a few rules. Our community guidelines apply and basically say be cool, no personal attacks, don’t troll and don’t swear too much. The rule against trolling also applies to members of this site that visit other fan sites.

The Spurs got their first win of the season against a short-handed Mavericks squad on Saturday night, blowing them out 122-106 with a fourth quarter surge. They meet the Sacramento Kings tonight, who they destroyed 126-97 in their final preseason tuneup on October 16. Ben Simmons looked like the best player for the Kings in that game, but he’s now out for the season after tearing his Achilles tendon in practice before the season ever started. Zach Lavine seems to think the problem with the team is a lack of veteran leadership, which is a little ironic, since he’s a veteran and the highest paid player on the team. Doug Christie is on the hot seat, and this is pretty sad for a team that is just a few years removed from the ‘Light the Beam’ era in Sacramento.

On paper, this looks like an easy win for the Silver and Black at home, but they haven’t been playing all that great so far in the season, with just a 1-2 record so far, with Victor Wembanyama still in offseason mode. If they approach this matchup with appropriate fear, it could be over before halftime, but if they let the purple-wearing visitors hang around, it could be a long night for the good guys. Here’s hoping that they put this away early and we can see David Jones Garcia work on his game for most of the final quarter.

Let’s enjoy the game, and look for a dominant performance from the Silver and Black. Let’s GOO Spurs!!

Game Prediction:

De’Aaron Fox is ejected from the game after giving Damontas Sabonis a wedgie on court after dunking on him.

San Antonio Spurs vs Sacramento Kings
October 27, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT
Streaming: DAZN, League Pass
TV: DAZN, CWSA
Reminder: It is against site policy to post links to illegal streams in the comments.

The Cleveland Cavaliers clawed their way back from a 15-point first-half deficit to defeat the red-hot Minnesota Timberwolves127-125 in an overtime thriller on Monday evening. However, they may have gotten some help from the referees in completing the comeback. Based on the NBA’s Last Two Minute Report, the Cavs were the beneficiaries of two missed calls at the end of regulation and overtime that assisted in the victory.

The first incorrect call came at the end of regulation. The league says that Anthony Edwards should’ve been awarded free throws on a drive to the basket in the final seconds of regulation.

Peyton Watson made an impressive block on this play, but a shooting foul should’ve been called before then. According to the report, “[James] Harden initiates contact with Edwards’ arm, which affects his driving shot attempt.”

It’s difficult to see any foul on this particular angle. Harden helped from the corner and certainly reached in. Maybe a different angle would give you a clearer view of the alleged foul. Edwards did throw his palms up in frustration when he saw a foul wasn’t called, suggesting that there was some contact there.

If this was called according to the report, the Cavs would’ve likely needed to make a basket to tie or win the game in the final 4.2 seconds of regulation.

The second missed call came at another important moment. LaMelo Ball shouldn’t have been charged with a foul on a late tie-up with Donovan Mitchell at the end of regulation.

The report states that: “Mitchell dribbles the ball off Ball’s (MIN) foot, which causes Mitchell to lose control of the ball. The ensuing contact that occurs after the ball is deflected is deemed incidental.”

This is a much more obvious missed call than the first one. Here, Mitchell does seem to just dribble into Ball’s foot and lose the ball. Any contact that occurred was after Mitchell just dribbled straight into Ball. The whistle shouldn’t have blown, and play should’ve been allowed to continue. The closing seconds could’ve played out differently if this wasn’t called a foul.

The Cavs earned a hard-fought victory on Monday. These two missed calls don’t take away from that, but Cleveland is fortunate that these decisions went in their favor.

A day after Anthony Edwards dropped 47 points during the Minnesota Timberwolves first loss of the season, ESPN’s Shams Charania hit us with some devastating news.

Just in: Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards will undergo an arthroscopic procedure on his ailing right knee and miss up to two months, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/HenrAY2APs

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 27, 2026

There were murmurs about the health of Anthony Edwards’ knees heading into this season. After developing “runner’s knee” in his right knee last season, he had to miss a handful of games with the ailment. The All-NBA guard went into the postseason hurting, but then brutally hyperextended his left knee in the postseason against the Denver Nuggets. He worked his butt off to get back on the court in time for the second round matchup against the San Antonio Spurs, despite operating at suboptimal health.

Edwards was listed as questionable leading up to tip-off on Monday, but ultimately exploded for a season-high in points. However, he had already been seen wincing in pain and grabbing at his knee throughout the previous contests. He’s even missed postgame media availability all season due to getting treatment on that very knee. Ant is notorious for playing through injury, but despite averaging a career-best 33.3 points per game this season, the Wolves award-winning medical staff decided this was the best route to go. A more long-term fix instead of season-long management.

Still, this sucks.

The Wolves were one of the most exciting and fun stories early in this season. Their 3-1 start and blossoming chemistry on and off the court was the talk of many shows and podcasts. This is a stark reality check that things can be snatched away in an instant. No one knows that more than the 2025 NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who recently lost two starters in Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace to even more brutal and long-term injuries. There appeared to be a window for another Western Conference team to burst through.

That can still be the Timberwolves!

Luckily for Minnesota, President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly has built this iteration of the team to be deep at the guard position. Ayo Dosunmu, fresh off signing a new five-year contract, has been nothing short of awesome for the Wolves. He’ll likely get first dibs at starting for the next few months. Terrence Shannon Jr. has found his footing this season, providing a steady offensive punch that his team will desperately need. There are decent peripheral options to backfill the bench guard positions between Jaylen Clark and Bones Hyland.

Obviously no one can fill the big shoes of Edwards alone. The team’s chemistry will truly be tested now. If it wasn’t for his Herculean effort against Cleveland yesterday, Minnesota would have likely been throttled in regulation. LaMelo Ball and Jaden McDaniels will have to step up as leaders on the court.

As far as Ant’s recovery timeline, it’s always hard to tell with these things. History will tell you that he’ll beat the projected return date. Two months from now would be end of December and just about 30 games away. That would immediately put Edwards out of contention for regular season awards, thus a true supermax extension option would be off the table. Will this matter later?

I’ll take the blame for this one though, ya’ll. I had to ask the stupid question of what Wolves fans biggest fears was and of course, it came to fruition. My bad.

As their two days of rest ends, the Sixers released a pretty clean injury report for their nationally televised bout against the Indiana Pacers. VJ Edgecombe, who was a late scratch from Philadelphia’s previous game vs. Detroit with an abdominal contusion, is not listed at all. Neither is Joel Embiid for that matter, who missed the second part of that back-to-back with plantar fasciitis management, so the whole starting five will be good to go in Indy.

Jabari Walker will mis his second straight game with left knee soreness, and Dominick Barlow and Tacko Fall remain on the shelf as well. The Sixers did say at practice today that Fall was a full participant along with Edgecombe.

Indiana’s injury report is far more lengthy after falling to the Milwaukee Bucks two days prior. Ivica Zubac has already been ruled with an ankle sprain, and Tyrese Haliburton is questionable with left hamstring tightness. Haliburton has played in all four of the Pacers’ games so far since returning from his torn achilles.

Obi Toppin and Aaron Nesmith are at least probable. Andrew Nembhard is questionable after missing that Bucks loss with neck soreness. They have three more reserves already ruled out including former Sixer T.J. McConnell.

Injury Report for tomorrow's game against the 76ers:

Aaron Nesmith – Probable (left hamstring strain)
Obi Toppin – Probable (left hand sprain)
Tyrese Haliburton – Questionable (left hamstring tightness)
Andrew Nembhard – Questionable (neck soreness)
Ben Sheppard – Out (left… pic.twitter.com/Kdok5dcrkG

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) October 27, 2026

If the Pacers are down this many players, it lines up for plenty of opportunity for Kelly Oubre Jr. in his first game against the Sixers after spending the last three seasons in Philadelphia.