The Dallas Mavericks have seen a lot of the Utah Jazz over the past month, with their most recent faceoff just two days ago. Dallas repeated their success from Thursday night with a 138-120 win Saturday.
Let’s get to the grades!
Brandon Williams: A
22 PTS / 4 REB / 5 AST / 2 STL / 0 BLK – 28 MIN
Williams had a very nice game on both sides of the ball. He scored on efficient shooting (8-for-13), played solid defense and made some nice passes. His assist-to-turnover ratio (5:2) wasn’t mind blowing, but there isn’t much to complain about in respect of his overall performance.
Max Christie: A
22 PTS / 2 REB / 4 AST / 2 STL / 0 BLK – 26 MIN
Christie returned to action looking as though he didn’t miss a beat. He had himself a sound night in all respects, shooting well in his return (7-for-13). He took care of the ball and played sound defense without racking up fouls. Highlight play: cutting off a passing lane for a steal he took the other way for a layup in the second quarter.
Caleb Martin: C+
3 PTS / 6 REB / 5 AST / 0 STL / 0 BLK – 21 MIN
Martin’s near-flawless shooting was absent Saturday night, though he grabbed a few boards and dished some dimes. He didn’t hurt the Mavs, but also didn’t do a whole lot to favorably impact the game. Highlight play: on the opening tip Martin moved as though clairvoyant, getting to a spot before the jump ball was even touched, perfectly positioning himself to gain possession. It was a small thing, but pretty cool to see.
Naji Marshall: B+
16 PTS / 5 REB / 6 AST / 1 STL / 0 BLK – 29 MIN
Marshall had a hot hand and did a bit of everything, but his grade takes a hit for the high turnover (3) and high foul (4) totals.
Dwight Powell: A-
10 PTS / 8 REB / 3 AST / 3 STL / 0 BLK – 27 MIN
Powell was quietly Powell, grabbing boards, hitting his limited shot opportunities, and setting solid screens — one of which got him free throws when Keyonte George committed a flagrant foul by running him over and pushing him to the ground. His steal total gives his grade a boost beyond his other contributions.
Jaden Hardy: C+
12 PTS / 1 REB / 3 AST / 0 STL / 0 BLK – 17 MIN
Hardy can be streaky for sure, and on Saturday his shot could have been better (5-for-13). He did little else and his plus/minus was in the negative for most of the night. Still, he did what you’d want him to do — drop double-figure points in limited minutes.
Moussa Cisse: B-
9 PTS / 10 REB / 0 AST / 0 STL / 0 BLK – 21 MIN
Cisse was solid, though some of his stats came in garbage time. He also had the worst plus/minus on the team (-minus-17).
Klay Thompson: A
23 PTS / 0 REB / 3 AST / 0 STL / 2 BLK – 20 MIN
Thompson’s first half alone had him in the “A” range: 7-for-10 from the floor, 6-for-9 from deep, 3-for-3 from the free throw line, 23 points. He even dished two assists around his prolific shooting. He came back down to earth in the second half, but very few minutes played was a factor in that.
Final thoughts
If you’re on board with Team Tank, you might be a bit chapped to see Utah doing it better than Dallas by sitting players somewhat arbitrarily in both this, and the game Thursday night. Utah is just behind Dallas in the Western Conference standings, so the losses for them are wins from a certain perspective.
I’m not a big fan of intentionally losing, but I would be lying to say a better pick this summer isn’t highly appealing. With the win, Dallas and Utah now have two wins apiece in the season series, but there is a long way to go before game 82 decides the final standings. For now, Dallas continues to look engaged with two-way players and others that don’t get a lot of burn showing up with maximum effort.
I invite you to follow me @_80MPH on X, and check back often at Mavs Moneyball for all the latest on the Dallas Mavericks.
On a night where Jaylen Brown scored 41 points, it was Sam Hauser who stole the show. He scored 30 points making 10 three pointers, including 8 of his first 9 looks. The Celtics smoked the Hawks 132-106 as the Celtics advance to 26-15 at the midway point of the season.
The Celtics were without Jayson Tatum, Payton Pritchard, Josh Minott and Chris Boucher. They started Derrick White, Baylor Scheierman, Sam Hauser, Jaylen Brown and Neemias Queta. The Hawks were without Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Kristaps Porzingis and N’Faly Dante. They started C.J. McCollum, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Vit Krecji, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Onongwu.
This was the Hawks first game back home after a 4 game west coast swing. Those are always tough, if you remember the Celtics were 0-5 in the first game back coming off of long road trips last season.
It was 14-11 at the second timeout. Jaylen Brown took 8 of the first 14 Celtics shots, making 3 of them for 6 points. Joe Mazzulla came out of that timeout with 4 new players surrounding Brown, Anferenee Simons, Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez and Luka Garza.
The Celtics led the Hawks, 30-23 at the end of the first quarter. Jaylen Brown carried the Celtics, scoring 18 points while no else scored more than 3. Brown also had 2 rebounds and 2 assists. He took 13 shots.
It was in the 2nd quarter that the Celtics turned up the heat and it happened from three point range. They outscored the Hawks 37-20 in the first 9:23 of the quarter and were 9/12 from threes.
They did not slow down to end the quarter either, scoring 52 points in the period and 82 in the first half, a new season high. They finished the 2nd quarter 19/25 from the field and 11/15 from three.
Boston led Atlanta by 31 points at halftime, 82-51. Jaylen Brown had 29 points while Sam Hauser had 21 points going 7/8 from three point range.
The Celtics contained the, as NBC Sports Boston’s Drew Carter said, “vintage Mazzulla Ball barrage” in the third quarter, taking a 40 point lead at the 9:20 mark in the 3rd quarter. They hit the 100 point mark with just over 8 minutes to go in the period.
Jaylen Brown hit the 40 point mark in the first three quarters of the game. He had 41 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists through three quarters (he did not play in the 4th). He was 14/30 from the field and 2/9 from three in 29 minutes.
The Celtics led the Hawks 117-74 at the end of three quarters. Hauser had 24 points while Neemias Queta and Anfernee Simons had 14 points each.
The 4th quarter intrigue was whether or not Sam Hauser would break the single game three point record for the Celtics, which is 11 from Marcus Smart in 2020. He did not, he made 10 threes in the game, only making 2 of his last 12 three point attempts.
The Celtics shot 50% from the field and 42% from three while the Hawks shot 37% from the field and 32% from three. Boston’s next game is Monday night in Detroit against the Pistons at 8 EST.
The Utah Jazz were extremely successful in their tank lost to the Dallas Mavericks for the second time in a row 120-138.
In the Mavericks’ meaningless win, they showed that their depth is overall stronger than that of the Utah Jazz. Their reward? They jump two spots in the lottery standings and are closer to the play-in than they are to a top draft pick. Dallas now finds itself in a three-way tie with Milwaukee and Memphis, and is close to falling to 11th.
For Utah, they are now just two games up on the Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings. The Kings, who have won four games in a row, are on their way to passing up Utah with Domantas Sabonis coming back soon. Brooklyn is winning more than they want behind the play of Michael Porter Jr., and we’re also seeing Indiana win some more games. Finally, the New Orleans Pelicans have no reason to tank because they don’t own their pick and are definitely going to win some games this season, they don’t want to. Utah would be exceptionally successful if it lost all three of its upcoming games against the Pelicans.
But how about the game that they played today?
Utah lost for a few reasons. One, they have one of the youngest rosters in history playing, and they’re also in the midst of a brutal road trip. It’s not surprising they struggled, and that’s perfectly fine. Games like this show who is worth investing in and who may not have what it takes, for now.
Keyonte George continues to show that he’s a future star for the Jazz. In the third quarter, he was 6/6 and exploded to finish with 29 points and 6 assists. George is proving to be a core part of the future and a player you can depend on to finish games. What’s exciting is that he will likely continue to improve. And what happens when the Jazz add even more talent? Does that open up even more room for him? He has a chance to be really special next year as the Jazz will be going for the playoffs.
We’re also seeing some exciting stuff from Cody Williams, who is turning into a legitimate rotation player and potential starter for Utah. Williams had 11 points (5/8 FG, 1/2 3PT), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal in 27 minutes. The difference in Cody Williams is night and day from last season and even from a month or two ago. He plays with force on the offensive end and provides great length and athleticism on the defensive end. He’s also shooting the ball well from three recently, which is a great sign, even if it is on a small sample size. It’s something to watch as the season goes along, but Utah is looking like they drafted a good one in Cody Williams.
Brice Sensabaugh continued his latest scoring flurry with 25. He only shot 1/7 from three, but was 10/20 from the field. It’s nice that Sensabaugh can get this type of scoring when the Jazz need it, but it’s not translating to wins. Somehow, Sensabaugh has to figure out how to involve his teammates more and not just end up shooting it, no matter what is happening in the possession. That said, this scoring is a nice sign for the future, even if that future is a potential bucket getter off the bench.
Jazz fans have to be excited about the incremental steps that Ace Bailey is making. He had 18 points in this one with 8 rebounds and 1 assist. He is playing within the flow of the game and getting these points regularly. At some point in his career, he’s going to figure out his driving gam,e and it’s going to take him to another level. For now, we can be excited about all the small things he does, including the defense and the ball movement. Ace Bailey was a great pick.
It continues to be a little bit of a problem with what we’re seeing from Taylor Hendricks and Kyle Filipowski but for different reasons. Filipowski continues to be a pretty terrible defender and is allowing an insane rate of scoring at the rim. He does put up numbers, but it’s fair to ask if what he does on the offensive end outweighs what’s given up on defense. Taylor Hendricks is looking extremely slow. It’s probably related to the injury, and he needs grace, but it doesn’t look good right now. He doesn’t have the same quickness he had before and you can only hope it comes back. Right now, each minute is good because it must help his recovery, but it doesn’t help with winning games. It makes things tough for Will Hardy, who likely wants to allow some development, but things aren’t going very well while he’s on the floor. Let’s hope we start seeing him make steps towards becoming a rotation player. The benefit of what the Jazz are doing now is that it allows him to do that.
The Brooklyn Nets’ youth movement has been well documented this year. How could it not? In any conversation involving the team, you can’t get more than a minute or two without someone mentioning it. After all, Brooklyn made history seven months ago when it picked five players in the NBA draft, which we’ve since dubbed the Flatbush Five.
Indeed, the kids at the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush have received more attention than anyone this year. But while Brooklyn’s youth may start with the 2025 Draft class, it certainly doesn’t end there. Like the Flatbush Five, Noah Clowney is also on his rookie deal and that means this coming Summer, he’ll be eligible for an extensive and say sources, he’s likely get multiple offers and not insignificant ones. That of course is evident to Nets fans and the organization after games like Friday night when he had a double-double, 23 points and 11 rebounds, and some clutch moments..
Clowney, drafted by the Nets now two summers ago, entered this season at just 21 years of age. His birthday is in July. Danny Wolf, who the Nets drafted with their last pick this past summer, is also 21, though 70 days older that Clowney with a birthday in May.
But while Wolf may have extra months of life, Clowney has two NBA seasons on him, and it’s shown so far during Brooklyn’s 2025-26 campaign. Through 39 games, Clowney is averaging 13.3 points, 1.9 assists, and 4.1 rebounds per game. All clock in as career-highs, as do his 4.0 free throw attempts per game. Teams are also scoring less with him on the court for the first time in his career. Brooklyn is +9.3 point per 100 possessions better with him on the floor vs without.
But the “eye test” signals progress as well. For two seasons, he seemed to be nothing more than super-sized sharpshooter at the offensive end, but the Alabama product’s made an extra effort this year to put the ball on the floor, attacking closeouts and set defenders alike.
Noah Clowney REALLY making the leap (literally and figuratively) here.
He also appears to have put on more muscle. By all accounts, the improvement for Clowney has been no joke.
But for all that, there’s been little, if any attention to Clowney’s being eligible for an extension this coming summer. The basics are these: Brooklyn has him under contract until the summer of 2027. He’s eligible to sign a multi-year extension this July, which would kick in during the 2027-28 season. Clowney will be a restricted free agent meaning the Nets can match any offer.
Given his rise, a number of teams are likely to have interest in Clowney. A league source who’s familiar with their thinking has told NetsDaily that the San Antonio Spurs could be a part of that group, with an extension around $50 million over four years, an average of $12.5 million a year, a significant number in the Nets rebuild.
While Clowney has dramatically improved his offensive, some in the league think that his defense could hurt him when talks begin whether with the Nets or another team. That might be less of a concern for San Antonio who have Victor Wembenyama behind him.
While expected to compete in the Western Conference this year, the Spurs could be attractive. They represent one of the NBA’s surprise teams this year. They’re currently tied with the Denver Nuggets for the league’s third best record at 28-13 and are moving quicker toward title contention perhaps sooner than they intended.
If they have a gap anywhere in their rotation, its at the position Clowney plays as well. Harrison Barnes has started every game for San Antonio at the four this year, but is averaging his fewest points per game in over a decade. ESPN’s Kevin Pelton also recently named Jeremy Sochan as a trade deadline “player to watch.”
Historically, the Nets have not waited till to the last minute to negotiate. They signed Nic Claxton and Cam Johnson to extensions well before things got hairy. In both cases, the contract was front-loaded. In the case of Day’ron Sharpe last summer, they were able to use the lack of cap space in the NBA to negotiate a surprisingly team-friendly deal.
Of course, if Michael Porter Jr. stays with Brooklyn after the trade deadline and draft, he too will be eligible for an extension that will also kick in in 2027-28. Maximum: four years, $243 million. Would that complicate the Clowney negotiations? Unlikely … at the moment.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Nate Calmese scored 18 points, which included the winning jumper with 6.8 seconds left, and Wake Forest rallied for a 69-68 victory over Florida State on Saturday night for the Demon Deacons' first Atlantic Coast Conference road win this season.
The Demon Deacons used an 11-4 run to pull to 68-67 with 24 seconds left. Florida State called timeout after Calmese's floater ended the scoring, and the Seminoles' Robert McCray V missed a potential winning shot that hit the front of the rim to end it.
Calmese finished 8-of-19 shooting. Juke Harris and Myles Colvin added 15 points apiece for Wake Forest (11-7, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), which trailed 65-54 with 4:26 remaining.
Chauncey Wiggins scored 15 points to lead Florida State (7-11, 0-5). McCray finished with 12 points and five assists but committed 11 turnovers. Thomas Bassong chipped in with 11 points for the Seminoles.
Florida State scored the last four points of the first half to go up 34-31 at the break. Martin Somerville scored seven of his nine points in the first half for the Seminoles. Calmese scored 10 first half-points to pace Wake Forest.
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Filip Jovic scored a career-high 23 points and Auburn held off a last-minute rally by South Carolina, defeating the Gamecocks 71-67 on Saturday night.
Auburn led by six at halftime and held the lead throughout the second half. Back-to-back dunks by Sebastian Williams-Adams and Jovic gave the Tigers their first double-digit lead of the game, 60-49 with about 5 minutes remaining.
Two free throws by Mike Sharavjamts and a driving layup by Kobe Knox had the Gamecocks within 62-57 with 1:20 remaining before Kevin Overton's 3-pointer put Auburn up 65-57 with 53 seconds left. USC got within three points twice, the second time on a layup by Sharavjamts with 17 seconds remaining.
After a pair of free throws from Keyshawn Hall, USC's Meechie Johnson buried a 3-pointer to make it 69-67 with four seconds remaining. Overton then made two free throws to seal the win.
Jovic, a freshman from Bosnia & Herzegovina, made 9 of 12 shots and 5 of 8 free throws in his fourth double-digit scoring game of the season. KeShawn Murphy and Williams-Adams scored 11 points each for the Tigers (11-7, 2-3 SEC), who beat South Carolina for the 10th straight time.
Johnson scored 17 points, Sharavjamts 13, Knox 12 and Elijah Strong 10 for South Carolina (10-8, 1-4).
Although the Tigers missed seven of their first eight shots they still led 12-8 eight minutes into the game. A 3-pointer by Johnson had South Carolina within 21-19 but Tahaad Pettiford and Jovic converted three-point plays to push the margin to eight points. Auburn led 30-24 at halftime.
California led by 20 points in the second half of the game but North Carolina rallied late, although it wasn't enough to mount a comeback. The win was the Golden Bears' first victory over a top-15 opponent since 2016.
The Golden Bears were led by senior forward John Camden with 20 points. Dai Dai Ames and Justin Pippen, son of Basketball Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, each scored 17 in the game. Lee Dort had seven points and 12 rebounds.
Cal head coach Mark Madsen was grateful for the loud, raucous environment during their home game at Hass Pavilion.
"Just really want to thank the Cal coommunity, the students, the alums ... the donors and supporters. It was basically a packed house. We're trying to build something special here at Cal and it takes everybody and I can't say enough about the environment," Madsen told reporters after the game.
Madsen added: "Can't give enough credit to North Carolina. Late in the game they had us on our heels. They did a great job of trying to make us uncomfortable. Credit them and credit some guys of ours that stepped up and made plays late with no timeouts."
Tar Heels freshman Caleb Wilson had a team-high 17 points for North Carolina. Henri Veesaar and Derek Dixon each had 14. Veesaar grabbed 10 rebounds for UNC.
"I think there was a sense of urgency that wasn't there in the first 20, 25 minutes," UNC coach Hubert Davis told reporters after the game. "There were still mistakes that were made on both ends of the floor but it was done with an urgency, with an effort that allowed us to get back in the game."
Cal shot 50% from the field and even better from 3-point territory, shooting 54% from deep.
"It was great to see," Madsen said. "Everybody knows we put pressure on the rim with attacking the rim with different actions that we have. It was nice to see a few shots drop too, tonight, early, because we can also shoot it, we can do both."
North Carolina shot 46% from the field and 33% from 3. Additionally, the Tar Heels missed 11 free throws, going 61% (17-of-28).
Despite dominating the paint 32-18, the Tar Heels never led.
Cal advances its record to 14-5 (2-4 in the ACC standings), while North Carolina, 14-4, now has a 2-3 mark in the ACC.
The Tar Heels' next game is against Notre Dame on Jan. 21 on ESPN2. The Golden Bears visit the Stanford Cardinal at Maples Pavilion on Jan. 24 on the ACC Network.
Cal vs No. 15 North Carolina basketball highlights
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Rashaun Agee posted a double-double, and Texas A&M beat Texas 74-70 on Saturday.
Agee finished with 17 points on 6 of 14 shooting to go with 11 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season and seventh-straight game in double figures. Rylan Griffen added 17 points for the Aggies (14-4, 4-1 SEC). Ruben Dominguez had 10.
Jordan Pope scored 17 for the Longhorns (11-7, 2-3). Dailyn Swain also had 17 points and added six rebounds and two steals. Matas Vokietaitis had 14 points and nine rebounds. Tramon Mark scored 13 points.
The game went to halftime tied 29-29 after a 7-0 run from the Longhorns was answered with a 7-0 run from the Aggies.
The Aggies used an 11-3 run to open up a 10-point lead with 5:02 remaining, spurred by Griffen, who scored all 17 of his points in the second half. They allowed an 8-0 Longhorn run starting with 3:02 remaining before closing out the win.
The Aggies had a 20-6 advantage in bench points and turned an 8-6 turnover advantage into a 15-5 advantage in points off turnovers.
Up next
Texas A&M will host Mississippi State on Wednesday.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Treysen Eaglestaff scored 22 points, Honor Huff scored nine of his 14 points in the final seven minutes, and West Virginia blew a 12-point lead before beating Colorado 72-61 on Saturday.
Brenen Lorient had 12 points and nine rebounds for West Virginia (12-6, 3-2 Big 12) and Harlan Obioha added 10 points and nine boards.
Alon Michaeli and Barrington Hargress hit back-to-back 3s in a 12-2 run that made it 43-42 with 13:37 left in the game and gave the Buffaloes — who trailed by as many as 12 in the first half — their first lead. Jasper Floyd made a layup that put West Virginia in front for good 42 seconds later amid a 13-3 spurt, which included eight points by Eaglestaff, that made it 55-46 with nine minutes remaining.
It was at least a two-possession game the rest of the way.
West Virginia shot 52% from the field, limited Colorado to 39% shooting — 33% (10 of 30) in the second half — and outrebounded the Buffaloes 38-22.
Hargress led Colorado (12-6, 2-3) with 15 points, Isaiah Johnson had 12, Bangot Dak scored 11 and Sebastian Rancik added 10. The Buffaloes, who went in averaging 18.9 made free throws (No. 27 nationally) on more than 24 attempts per game, made 10 of 14 from the foul line.
Huff is second in the country with 68 3-pointers this season (Belmont's Tyler Lundblade, 70) and his 360 career made 3s are the third most amongst active players (High Point's Chase Johnston, 387; Oklahoma's Nijel Pack, 368). Huff, a 5-foot-10 senior, led the country with 131 3-point field goals made on 41.6% shooting for Chattanooga.
The Dallas Mavericks once again humiliated the Utah Jazz, this time by the score of 138-120. This is coming after Dallas trounced Utah on Thursday night, and the Maverick have done this all with a seriously constrained and short-handed roster.
Klay Thompson had another heather, the Mavericks made a bunch of threes, and the Jazz once again didn’t seem to care there was a basketball game being played. Dallas led wire-to-wire and mostly by double-digits.
Saturday’s game was the third time in nine days the Mavs and Jazz faced one another. This fourth and final meeting of the season did not feature Cooper Flagg, who was sitting out his second consecutive game with a left ankle sprain. Despite that, the Mavs held off the Jazz in a win that left the season series split 2-2.
For the third consecutive season, the Utah Jazz are making it increasingly obvious they are tanking. Jusuf Nurkic missed his third consecutive game to rest, Lauri Markkanen missed his second consecutive game due to illness, and the Jazz have a host of players who have been DNP’d in recent games. Meanwhile, a plethora of Mavericks rotation players were out including P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, Cooper Flagg, Anthony Davis, and D’Angelo Russell. Despite being shorthanded, the Mavs blew past the Jazz (again). Here are three key numbers from the weekend win.
3: Mavericks with 20-plus points
For the first time this season, the Mavericks had three players score 20-plus points: Klay Thompson (23) Brandon Williams (22), and Max Christie (22). Jaden Hardy also added 12 points off the bench, Ryan Nembhard with seven, and Miles Kelly with eight. Dallas’s quickness in the backcourt gave Utah fits all afternoon. The dribble penetration left Jazz guards scrambling on the perimeter, seemingly with no answers. Scoring wasn’t the only story, as the Mavs were distributing the ball well, notching 35 assists, tying their season high of 35 in Denver on December 1.
Dallas took care of the ball too, having only 11 turnovers. Utah had 15 turnovers, leading to 30 Maverick fast break points. When Dallas wins the turnover battle, they typically win and proved it tonight. A 3:1 ratio of assists to turnovers is a recipe for success.
6: Made 3-pointers for Klay Thompson
After making 19 threes on Thursday night against Utah, the Mavs had a curtain call and hit 18 on Saturday afternoon. Dallas shot 18-41 from three, 44%. Klay Thompson led the charge with six, all of them in the first half, going 6-of-11 from distance. There’s a reason he’s fourth on the all-time three pointers made list, behind only Stephen Curry, Ray Allen, and James Harden. The Klay Thompson arc of being continually better from three as a season progresses is a real thing. This time of year, as soon as the ball touches his hands, it’s going up – and probably going in. Thompson also became the 109th player in NBA history to score 17,000 points.
Three-point shooting has been the Achilles heel of the Mavericks, as they’ve sat in the bottom fourth of teams all season long in three-point efficiency, but you couldn’t tell against Utah. The Jazz are 30th in the NBA in defense and letting these Mavericks catch fire two games in a row from three probably isn’t a fluke. The Mavs were shooting into an ocean right out of the gate, going 7-of-12 from three in the first quarter. Dallas led 42-29 after the first quarter and never let off the gas. They scored at least 70 points by halftime for the second game in a row, which was the catalyst enroute to a 138-120 win.
16: Naji Marshall points
There are only a few certainties in life: death, taxes, and Naji Marshall hitting a paint floater. The nickname “the knife” is fitting since this man can do it all. After putting up 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists in Thursday’s game against Utah, he followed up with 16 points, six assists (team high) and five rebounds.
It’s been reported that the Mavericks prefer not to trade Naji Marshall and it’s easy to see why. In a season full of disappointment, Marshall has been a bright spot, averaging 14.0 points per game, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists on 54% from the floor. He’s also been the definition of durable in his time in Dallas, as he’s played in all of Dallas’s 43 games this season.
Marshall continues to stay steady amidst a wild season. His veteran leadership and competitive nature have kept the Mavs ship from completely sinking (for now).
It’s the existential question that will hover over the Knicks until proven otherwise.
Can a team win a championship with a small, less-athletic guard — like the Knicks with Jalen Brunson — as their best player?
“Tough. It’s tough. Even if you just took out the ‘not as athletic’ component, and you just said ‘at his size as your highest-volume shot-taker,’ just look historically how many teams have done that,” former NBA guard Tim Legler, now ESPN’s top NBA analyst, told The Post. “And the teams that have been led by, let’s take a smaller guard that won a championship. Let’s take an Isiah Thomas, for example; look at the balance on their scoring. You didn’t have the discrepancy that you have here where your leading scorer is seven points better than your next leading scorer. Then there’s another five-point drop before you get to your third leading scorer.
Jalen Brunson looks to make a move on James Harden during the Knicks win over the Clippers earlier this month. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“The teams that have done it and won it all with a guy that size as your top shotmaker have been more balanced teams. Chauncey Billups was a little bit bigger than that but still was a grounded player. He wasn’t a super athletic guy; strong base, all that kind of stuff. Look at the balance on that team.”
Entering Saturday’s 106-99 loss to the Suns at Madison Square Garden, Brunson averaged more than six more shots per game than the next closest teammate in Karl-Anthony Towns. In both championship seasons in 1988-89 and 1989-90, Thomas was around two more shots per game than any of his Pistons teammates.
And on the 2003-04 championship Pistons team, Billups wasn’t even the leading scorer or shot-taker; it was Richard Hamilton.
The only recent example of a smaller guard winning a championship as a lead scorer is Stephen Curry.
The reigning champion Thunder have a guard in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as their best player and top scorer, but he is much bigger at 6-foot-6 and much more athletic.
Unlike the Knicks, Oklahoma City was also an elite defensive team, similar to those Pistons teams.
“It’s not as easy,” former longtime NBA coach Stan Van Gundy, now an “NBA on Prime Video” analyst, told The Post. “Small guards in today’s game are not easy because you can’t switch as much. Steph Curry has shown us that certainly you don’t have to be a big guard to play on a championship-level team. One of the things that Steph has done throughout the course of his career is he has really improved at the defensive end. It’s one of the things in my preparation [for Warriors games]. Teams try to go at him, but it’s not that easy anymore. He has great pride in what he does at the defensive end. Can you have somebody that size on a championship team be the best player? Yep, you can. Is it easy? No.”
Jalen Brunson reacts after hitting a 3-pointer during a game earlier this month. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Across the past 10 years, the non-Warriors championship teams had LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown and Gilgeous-Alexander as their best player and top scorer.
The discourse became a national talking point when Becky Hammon, then an ESPN analyst, two years ago said Brunson is too small to be a “1A dude” capable of leading a team to a championship. Allen Iverson and Steve Nash were examples she used as precedent.
The Knicks have since added Towns, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges as depth around Brunson rather than using the resources they parted with to land a big fish like Antetokounmpo that could make Brunson more of a second option.
“It’s a smaller guy, highest usage rate, biggest shot taker, kind of know exactly what’s gonna happen late in games,” Legler said. “Being honest? It’s not easy, it’s very rarely been done in the history of the league. That’s what they’re trying to pull off and it’s not an easy thing to do. Now fortunately for them, most guys his size aren’t this efficient. Most guys his size that shoot that much do not shoot 48 percent from the field. They don’t shoot 40 percent from the 3-point line. They don’t do that. Most of those guys, in that size range that take a lot of shots, are in the low 40s. They’re 34 percent from the three. That’s way more typical than what Brunson does.”
Brunson has defied expectations pretty much his whole career. But the vast majority of recent NBA history is against him.
DALLAS (AP) — Klay Thompson scored all 23 of his points in the first half, including the 17,000th of his career, and six Mavericks scored in double figures in a 138-120 win over Utah on Saturday night as Dallas completed a two-game sweep of the Jazz.
The Mavericks were without Cooper Flagg (left ankle sprain) for a second straight game and the first injury absences of his rookie season. Dallas was also missing Anthony Davis (finger) and Kyrie Irving (knee) and forward P.J. Washington for personal reasons.
The rest of the Mavericks proved to be more than enough against the Jazz for a second straight game.
Thompson, coming off the bench, had a pair of 3-pointers and then hit a turnaround jumper in the lane with just under five minutes left in the first quarter to reach the 17,000-point plateau. He shot 7 for 12 overall and 6 for 11 from 3-point distance and led the Mavs in scoring for the second straight game in Flagg's absence after scoring a season-best 26 in Thursday's win.
Brandon Williams and Max Christie each scored 22 points, Naji Marshall added 16, Jaden Hardy pitched in with 12 and Dwight Powell had 10 for the Mavs, who entered Saturday with wins in just two of their last five games.
Utah's Keyonte George led all scorers with 29 points, Brice Sensabaugh had 25 and Ace Bailey scored 18. Kyle Filipowski contributed 13 points and 12 rebounds and Cody Williams scored 11 for the Jazz, who trailed 42-29 after one period and never recovered.
Lauri Markkanen, Utah’s scoring leader averaging 27.9 points, sat out a third consecutive game because of illness. Walker Kessler (shoulder) was also sidelined.
Up next
Jazz: At San Antonio on Monday in the finale of a five-game trip.
The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Utah Jazz yet again, this time 138-120Saturday afternoon in Dallas. It’s the Mavericks second-straight game, and second straight offensive explosion against a Jazz team that has mostly shown little interest in winning across the two games.
This was almost a carbon copy of the Mavericks win on Thursday night, except for the Jazz showing some semblance of shame in the third quarter. Outside of that third quarter, the Mavericks have absolutely embarrassed this Jazz team across the two games, despite the Mavericks missing numerous starters and key players.
Cooper Flagg and Daniel Gafford once again did not suit up due to ankle injuries suffered against Denver last week. PJ Washington is battling injuries as well, but was probable for this game before being a late scratch due to personal reasons. Dallas once again relied on lots of minutes from two-way players and even a 10-day contract player signed on Thursday. It didn’t matter — Dallas led from wire-to-wire once again.
Klay Thompson was the key igniter once again, scoring 23 points in the first half and torching the Jazz in a variety of ways. That instant offense off the bench basically carried the Mavericks to a double-digit lead and the team never looked back. Jazz guard Keyonte George finally decided to be the first Jazz player to realize that trying hard is important in basketball and scored 21 points in the third to prevent this from being a complete joke of a game. Utah cut the lead to nine early in the fourth, but the Mavericks stomped out that rally pretty quickly after that and the Jazz meekly conceded the game.
Here’s what we noticed from this one.
The Mavericks are professionals, and that should matter
Dallas’ season is effectively over. The team is 12th in the West, and two losses behind Memphis at 11. The teams in seventh, eighth, and ninth are all surging too and want to win — the Warriors and Trail Blazers are 7-3 in their last 10 and the Clippers are 8-2. Those teams aren’t slowing down anytime soon, so combine that with all the Mavericks injuries and Dallas doesn’t really have a postseason to look forward to in April.
Despite that, the team continues to play hard. I worried after Davis got hurt again and the Mavericks were blown out by Chicago that perhaps the team had finally reached a breaking point and would naturally let go of the rope after fighting so hard despite being so short-handed for the last three months. Instead the Mavericks have won three of their last four since that Bulls blowout loss, and even the loss was a mostly competitive game against the Denver Nuggets.
I’m not sure what all this means. Dallas, on paper, needs to lose as often as possible to secure the best draft pick they can later this June, the last first rounder Dallas has direct control over until 2031. But the Mavericks still have lots of pieces from the 2024 Finals team, they still have Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall, who were brought in to bring that 2024 roster over the hump and win that elusive title. Even with all the injuries the Mavericks just have too many good players to be totally hopeless, even with some brutal losses this season to bad teams like the Wizards and the Pelicans.
So say what you will about coach Jason Kidd, but he has instilled a culture of accountability and competitiveness within this organization. These guys play fucking hard. They don’t quit, even in the games they eventually lose. The Mavericks have played a zillion clutch games regardless of the quality of the opponent. They’ve beaten the Nuggets twice, the Rockets twice, and the Pistons once. They’ve lost 26 games but less than a handful of those were uncompetitive blowouts. They have more wins against teams at .500 or better than you’d expect for a team in 12th place.
Call me old fashioned but that means something. Losing is an awfully hard stench to clean off, and the Mavericks coaching staff has instilled a sense of purpose with this organization, even despite all the buffoonery happening off the court around this team in the last 18 months. The players didn’t trade Luka Doncic, they didn’t try to make Anthony Davis the centerpiece of the team. They didn’t alienate the fans, and they played hard through injuries even when the organization should have known better to keep them healthy. All they’ve done is play hard as hell, and win a few more games than anyone should reasonably expect from them considering the circumstances.
Whenever the Mavericks are good again, or at least playoff-bound, these moments will resonate. Dallas is laying the foundation of the next great Mavericks team. That matters.
The Jazz are an embarrassment and should be kicked out of the league
I’ve never seen a more embarrassing effort across two games like the Jazz just did on Thursday and Saturday, and this is coming from the same team that lost by 55 points to the Hornets a week ago.
Dallas should not have won these games. Ryan Nembhard, Moussa Cisse, and Miles Kelly are all two-way contract rookies and all three played heavy minutes due to the Mavericks injuries. Dallas signed Jeremiah Robinsin-Earl to a 10-day contract on Thursday before the game, and he played over 20 minutes in each one. Even with the Jazz shameless resting healthy players like Jusuf Nurkic, there’s still enough talent on this roster to not only stay competitive, but quite frankly defeat this limited Mavericks team.
Instead the Mavericks almost set their franchise record for points scored in regulation on Thursday, and followed that up with 138 points on Saturday. This is a Dallas team that even at full-health is one of the worst offensive teams in the league and the Jazz made them look like the Showtime Lakers.
This is a disgrace. The NBA can never really rid the league of tanking, but there’s tanking and then there’s whatever the hell this Jazz team did in the last eight quarters of basketball. They didn’t try, they were disinterested and they wasted everyone’s time. They wasted the 15 Jazz fans still watching these games, they wasted the time of the travel party and trainers and anyone else that had to work these games. They honestly wasted my time as well, since while it’s fun to see the Mavericks blow the doors off a team, these games were so shamelessly uncompetitive that it’s hard to really take anything real away from this game. It felt like a scrimmage or open practice.
The Jazz shouldn’t be allowed on television for the rest of the season. They’re on their fourth straight season of the organization not caring about winning and shockingly it appears the players don’t give a shit about winning either. They are developing losing habits and those habits will be extremely hard to break whenever the team feels like trying again. Honestly at this rate though we’ll probably experience the heat death of the universe before the Jazz feel like trying again.
Professional basketball is an entertainment product. It’s an entertainment product in an age where entertainment has never been so numerous and accessible. Go back 10 or 15 years, and watching your local basketball team on TV was one of the few things you could do. When I was in high school in the mid-2000s, I could watch the Mavericks, watch whatever was on cable, watch whatever movies or TV shows I had on DVD or play whatever video games I owned. Now I have access to virtually every movie and TV show ever made at instant speed, and I don’t even need to buy video games anymore — the most popular games in the world are persistent, free-to-play experiences. Good lord I haven’t even talked about all the shit you can do outside now. Have you been out there lately? There’s so much stuff.
So why the hell would anyone watch what we just watched today? The NBA has structured itself to basically ignore 75 percent or more of the product because you’re not missing much. The incentives to watch suck, the players regularly don’t care, and the orgs don’t care either. So many games have missing stars, injured regulars, or at least one team that could care less about the outcome. It’s horrible. And I don’t care about the NBA’s TV ratings or revenue numbers, I just care as someone that likes the NBA and wants to continue engaging with it. If these games don’t matter and the players don’t care, why should I? I can just quit doing this stupid second job and go spend my time outside or something.
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 Spurs finished up the first half of the season at 28-13 with an easy 119-101 win over the Bucks on Thursday night. Last season, the Spurs were at 19-22 at the halfway point of the season, so that’s a huge improvement so far. The Spurs played well for most of the game against the Bucks, but the Timberwolves will provide a tougher test for the Silver and Black, having won their two previous games against the Spurs, the latest being a comeback 104-103 win last week in Minneapolis, where the home team overcame a 19 point deficit by shutting down the Spurs offense in the fourth quarter with physical play, most notably by Julius Randle using his strength to push around Victor Wembanyama and keep him off balance.
The Spurs will have to come up with a strategy to handle that scheme, because you can’t count on fouls being called. That could involve moving the ball more on offense and some hard screens on Randle, matching physicality with physicality. Wemby played Gobert off the court in the last game, and the Spurs need to make them put him back into the game so he can miss some free throws. This is the third and final meeting of these two teams in the regular season, so the Spurs will want to get a home win to avoid being 0-3, and more importantly, a lead would help to keep ahead of them in the Western Conference standings.
The injury report has Stephon Castle listed as questionable with an undisclosed illness, hopefully he will be able to play to slow down Anthony Edwards, who is available tonight after missing a few games with a foot problem. Devin Vassell is still out, and he has been missed, but hopefully he will be able to return to the lineup sometime soon. The Spurs will play the Jazz on Monday at 4:00 PM in a MLK Day game, but that’s probably too soon.
Let’s all watch the Spurs start off the second half of the season on a positive note, and GO SPURS GO!!
Game Prediction:
Jeremy Sochan takes Julius Randle’s lunch money, and Randle gets a tech from the ref for complaining about it.
San Antonio Spurs vs Minnesota Timberwolves January 17, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT Streaming: NBA League Pass TV: FanDuel Sports Southwest Reminder: It is against site policy to post links to illegal streams in the comments.
ATLANTA — Payton Pritchard, who is dealing with ankle soreness, won’t lace up for the first time this season when the Celtics face the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. So, in his place, Baylor Scheierman will start for the third time this year, alongside Derrick White in the backcourt.
Scheierman is averaging 2.7 points and 1.7 rebounds in 11.7 minutes this season. He’s appeared in 35 of the Celtics’ 40 games, and started two so far. He also started in Monday’s game against the Indiana Pacers, when Sam Hauser was sidelined with hamstring tightness.
Joe Mazzulla has praised Scheierman for always being ready to impact winning when his (sometimes sporadic) opportunities come.
“He works really hard, so he’s always prepared,” Mazzulla said. “His confidence never wavers — whether he plays well or whether he makes a mistake, his confidence in his ability to impact winning is always there, and that helps a lot. And he can make an impact regardless of how many minutes he plays.”
Baylor Scheierman is starting for the second time this season, with Payton Pritchard sidelined.
It will be Baylor, Derrick White, Sam Hauser, Jaylen Brown, and Neemias Queta.
Fellow backcourt mate Derrick White has echoed that sentiment.
“He’s been amazing,” White said. “He’s always ready. It’s tough; you never know how many minutes or if he’s gonna play, but he’s always ready. And when he comes in, he just does a lot of things for us, and I feel like it’s always a positive segment when he’s out there with us.
The full list of starters when the Celtics face the Hawks
Derrick White
Baylor Scheierman
Sam Hauser
Jaylen Brown
Neemias Queta
Mazzulla opted to keep Anfernee Simons on the bench despite his recent hot play; Simons is coming off a 39-point game against the Miami Heat on Friday night. Over his last 8 games, Simons is averaging 18.3 points and 3.6 assists, while shooting 49.1% from the field and 51.6% from three.
It’s not unsurprising that Mazzulla has kept Simons on the bench; it seems he’s in a similar role to what Pritchard was in last year, when he was a perennial bench player even when the team was short-handed.
For the Celtics, Chris Boucher (lower back spasms) and Josh Minott (ankle sprain) are both out as well.
For the Hawks, CJ McCollum, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Vit Krejci, Jalen Johnson, and Onyeka Okongwu will start. Meanwhile, Dyson Daniels, Kristaps Porziņģis, and Zaccharie Risacher are all out.
The Celtics (25-15) face the Hawks (20-23) at 7:30pm.
