Category: Basketball

The play brought the entire Lakers bench to its feet. Austin Reaves’ sky-high lob pass and Bronny James’ two-handed dunk brought a roar from the crowd.

The emphatic dunk against Miami was James' first points of the season, but he saw them as just two more in what he hopes will be a long NBA journey.

“It was just a regular moment for me,” James said, not even having to conceal a smile after the Lakers’ shootaround Saturday, almost a week after the highlight. “... I want to continue to do that, but I just have to keep giving my all, keep playing hard, running in transition and getting stops on the defensive end for my team.”

James is trying to make his contributions, both big and small, regular occurrences for the shorthanded Lakers as they continue to dig into their bench.

Reaves will miss his third consecutive game Saturday as the Lakers begin a five-game road trip against the Atlanta Hawks. Imaging revealed a mild strain in Reaves’ right groin, coach JJ Redick said Saturday, but the guard’s pain is “really low,” and the team continues to hold him out as a precaution. Reaves is with the team on the road — and has a golf outing planned with James and Redick for an upcoming off day — and could return during the trip. 

James has played in each of the last three games with Reaves out, including 19 and 20 minutes in wins over Miami and Portland, respectively. He was trusted in pressure fourth-quarter situations in both victories and finished with three steals against the Heat. He delivered six assists with no turnovers the following night against the Trail Blazers while also scoring five points as the Lakers won without Reaves, LeBron James or Luka Doncic.

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“Ready to take advantage of the times that I get when our guys are out,” James said. “I'm going to stay aggressive.”

Each appearance is a step as the 21-year-old fights to become a regular rotation player. To get there, Redick said the former USC guard needs to start by pushing himself physically, being a disruptive defender and developing as a confident spot-up shooter.

James said his main focus is on “going out until I’m dead tired.” He earned Redick’s approval for playing hard.

When James first joined the Lakers last year as their second-round pick, Redick recalled the rookie would receive a pass during pickup games, pause, dribble or attempt unnecessary moves. It was “the opposite of point-five mentality,” Redick said, referencing the idea that players should decide to shoot, dribble or pass within 0.5 seconds of receiving the ball.

“He's now developed where he's got a great point-five mentality,” Redick said before the Lakers played Portland Nov. 3. “He's catch-and-shoot ready at all times.”

James made a critical three in the fourth quarter against Portland to put the Lakers up by five. He credited his time with the South Bay Lakers and working with player development coach Ty Abbott for helping him get comfortable with split-second decisions.

With fellow point guard Nick Smith Jr. on a two-way contract, it’s likely that Smith will handle more on-ball responsibilities during G League assignments this season, Redick said, giving James chances to develop his off-ball game.

That’s only if James, who is on a standard contract, ever goes to South Bay. The injured Lakers might need him more on their bench.

Guard Gabe Vincent has missed seven games because of a sprained ankle, but is progressing during on-court work with assistant coach Lindsey Harding. Vincent has not worked through contact or one-on-one drills; he was projected to be out for two to four weeks, but Redick estimated he will be out for closer to three, which could put him on track to return after the five-game trip wraps in Milwaukee on Nov. 15.

LeBron James will be reevaluated in one to two weeks after progressing to contact activity, beginning with one-on-one work with coaches. The 40-year-old did not join the team on the road for the start of the trip that next winds through Charlotte, Oklahoma City, New Orleans and Milwuakee.

South Bay roster set

The Lakers' G League team set its roster Saturday for opening night, featuring two-way players Smith, who scored 25 points in the victory over the Trail Blazers last week, Christian Koloko and Chris Mañon. Also on the squad are Jace Carter, Jarron Cumberland, RJ Davis, Luke Goode, Tevian Jones, Arthur Kaluma, Augustas Marčiulionis, Drew Timme and Anton Watson.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Observations after Watford's 1st triple-double helps Sixers top Raptors  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Sixers brought back their black jerseys and returned to winning ways Saturday night. 

The team earned a 130-120 victory over the Raptors at Xfinity Mobile Arena in the debut of its throwback uniforms honoring the 2000-01 Eastern Conference champion team.

The Sixers now sit at 6-3. Toronto is 5-5. 

Six Sixers scored in double figures. Trendon Watford recorded his first career triple-double with a tremendous performance, putting up 20 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. Tyrese Maxey had 31 points and seven assists. Joel Embiid tallied 29 points in 26 minutes.

The Sixers remained without Paul George (left knee surgery recovery) and Dominick Barlow (right elbow laceration). Johni Broome was unavailable because of a right ankle sprain. 

The Sixers will host the Pistons on Sunday night. Here are observations on their win over the Raptors:

Watford shines as starter 

Watford made his first start as a Sixer and scored the team’s first basket on a slam assisted by VJ Edgecombe. 

The Raptors and Immanuel Quickley were ultra-hot out of the gates. Toronto started 6 for 6 from floor and took a 15-7 lead on Quickley’s pull-up three-pointer.. 

The Sixers replied with a 13-0 run spurred by forced turnovers and open-floor attacks. Edgecombe and Maxey nabbed early steals. Watford jammed in a put-back dunk and assisted a Maxey corner three. 

Watford had been excellent as a backup point guard Wednesday in the Sixers’ loss the Cavs. He was awfully strong as a very versatile starting forward against Toronto. 

The Sixers ran tons of pitch actions with Watford on the court in the first quarter. Their perimeter players were often able to get a downhill head of steam off of both dribble handoffs and fake handoffs. Watford’s ability to read the defense and react sharply was a major help.

He posted 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting, three rebounds (two offensive) and two assists in the first period. 

Stars lead Sixers’ push back 

Despite that big run, the Sixers still had a rough overall start defensively. Toronto poured in 43 first-quarter points and had a 10-point advantage after 12 minutes.

The Raptors went up 51-37 early in the second quarter on a Ja’Kobe Walter corner three. They began a scorching 10 for 12 beyond the arc. 

Ultimately, Toronto’s shooters cooled off and the Sixers’ defense was much better in the second quarter. Embiid also played good, aggressive basketball in his second stint. A Watford high-low feed set Embiid up for a layup that cut the Sixers’ deficit to two points. Eventually, a short jumper from Kelly Oubre Jr. (19 points) gave the Sixers a 58-56 edge. 

With Embiid sitting, Maxey was stellar late in the second quarter. His lefty scoop layup with 1.9 seconds left in the first half put the Sixers up 68-63. 

Saving Embiid for the home stretch

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse used five players off the bench. Surprisingly, Jared McCain was not among them. The second-year guard was available to play (with limited minutes) for the second time since returning from a right thumb UCL tear. 

The Sixers’ starters had a few defensive lapses early in the third quarter. Brandon Ingram’s mid-range jumper knotted the game at 78-all. 

Watford and Maxey then fueled a fantastic stretch. Both played zealous defense, hustling back into plays to contest and block shots. They were also in the middle of fluid, highly effective offense. Watford dished a between-the-legs assist to Maxey, whose three put the Sixers up 94-82.

The Sixers fared badly with Maxey out late in the third quarter. Edgecombe had his third consecutive subpar shooting game, going 5 for 15 from the floor. A Quickley runner early in the fourth trimmed the Raptors’ deficit to 102-101.

Although the Sixers made an immediate 7-0 run, Toronto hung around. Nurse saved Embiid for the final minutes, calling timeout and subbing him in with the Sixers up 119-116 and 3:16 to go.

The tide swiftly turned.

Edgecombe converted a driving layup, Oubre slammed in a second-chance dunk and Embiid tipped in his own miss. Handling Embiid’s minutes restriction is often tricky, but having him on the floor down the stretch tends to make plenty of sense.

Steve Kerr reveals Warriors' ‘adapt-or-die' mentality in ever-changing NBA originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

At 5-5 on the 2025-26 NBA season following a 4-1 start, the .500 Warriors have some work to do if they want to contend in the Western Conference.

But despite the steep road ahead, coach Steve Kerr explained why there’s no point in feeling a sense of urgency at the beginning of a long campaign — especially in a league that now is so fast-paced, focusing on the little things is more important than ever.

“We’ve given a couple games away for sure, and there’s absolutely a focus on that,” Kerr told 95.7 The Game’s “Willard & Dibs” on Thursday, one day before Golden State’s blowout NBA Cup loss to the Denver Nuggets. “But you can’t just say, you know, ‘Hey, we got to get urgent here.’ There has to be a process that leads to the execution, that leads to the wins. And so right now, the focus is on the process. Take care of the damn ball, and we can help you with that as coaches with spacing and our offensive scheming, what we’re doing, that’s a collaboration.

“But ultimately, you know — adapt or die. I mean, the league has changed, and everyone’s playing with pace and 3-point shooting. I would say, seven or eight years ago, we could turn it over 18 times, and it didn’t matter, because we were going to shoot threes and play fast and out-talent people. Now you can play one of the worst teams in the league, and they will beat you by shooting, making 20 threes and playing really fast if you turn it over.”

The Warriors haven’t done a great job at taking care of the ball so far this season — they rank No. 20 in the league in turnovers per game with 16.0 and No. 22 in turnovers per possession (15.5 percent). In consecutive losses to the Sacramento Kings and Nuggets this week, Golden State allowed 28 points off 31 turnovers and has turned the ball over 15 or more times in seven of their 10 total games.

If the Warriors can limit their turnovers, Kerr believes the sky is the limit. But as he said, it’s truly do or die in an NBA that isn’t slowing down any time soon.

“And so our entire team needs to understand this message,” Kerr continued. “And obviously, I’ve given them that message. I’m not sharing it with you guys without sharing it with them, but I want them to hear this too on the radio like, you know, we have to adapt to what the league is doing right now, and that means take care of the ball, handle transition at both ends.

“And if we do that, I love our team. I think we’re going to go places.”

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With Cam Thomas sidelined due to a hamstring strain for the next three to four weeks, the Nets will need other young players to step up and fill the scoring void.

Insert third-year forward Noah Clowney, who came through with 19 points in Friday's 125-107 loss to the Detroit Pistons. It was Clowney's third straight 15-plus point game, as the 21-year-old has started the past three contests for head coach Jordi Fernandez.

After the game, Fernandez spoke highly of Clowney's recent stretch, while acknowledging there is still room for improvement, especially on the defensive end of the floor.

"Noah always takes positive steps. I need him to be better defensively and he knows it," Fernandez said. "His voice needs to grow, embracing the contact, they're playing with the two bigs. Whether you're the low man, whether your communication is on or off the ball, all those things. 

"He's really smart, he's about the right things, he knows it. Like everybody else, need to grow into that fast. I know he will. I like his aggressiveness, how he shot the ball. Got to keep taking, like I said, positive steps."

Clowney went 5 of 13 shooting on Friday night, including 4 of 8 from three-point range with all four makes coming in the first quarter. Across his three recent starts (31 minutes per game), the Alabama product is averaging 17.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.0 steals per game on 44.4 percent shooting from the field, 40 percent from three, and 75 percent from the foul line.

The scoring is a big jump from what he was doing off the bench across the Nets' first six games. Clowney had scored just a total of 26 points (4.3 points per game) over 20 minutes per night prior to starting the past three games.

His hot stretch has also been helpful for rookie guard Egor Demin, who assisted on three of Clowney's four triples. The No. 8 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft believes Clowney can continue being a reliable option with his strong shooting.

"I love him. I think it's really important for me, personally, and for the team, to make sure that he has this confidence to keep shooting, and everybody knows that he can shoot the ball extremely well, as he did today," Demin said.

The Nets will need Clowney to continue scoring at the rate he has as they search for their second win of the season. Brooklyn will take on the crosstown rival Knicks on Sunday evening at MSG in the first of four matchups between the Atlantic Division two teams.