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Can the surging Celtics make a play for No. 1 spot in the East? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics, winners of 14 of their last 17 games, have shimmied within 2.5 games of Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons with more than a month remaining in the regular season.

The lingering question: Can the Celtics make a play at the top spot in the East? And, maybe more importantly, should they want to?

Boston stands at 43-21 with 18 games remaining, while Detroit is at 45-18 after losing its fourth straight in Miami on Sunday. The Celtics would have to finish ahead of Detroit in the final standings after the Pistons won three of the four regular-season matchups to earn the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Stil, getting ahead of the Pistons won’t be an easy task.

Basketball Reference runs 10,000 daily simulations to produce their Playoff Probabilities Report. Monday’s simulations give the Celtics just a 5.6 percent chance of leapfrogging Detroit.

The big thing here is strength of schedule. Despite their stumbles, the Pistons are about to enter a soft part of their schedule. In fact, Detroit has the seventh-easiest schedule in the NBA the rest of the way with a combined opponent winning percentage of .476. Four of Detroit’s next six games are against lottery-bound teams (Brooklyn, Memphis and a double dip with Washington).

The Celtics, meanwhile, have the third-toughest remaining strength of schedule (opponents’ winning percentage at .539). That includes two road games this week against the two teams with the NBA’s best records in Oklahoma City and San Antonio. What’s more, a second game with the defending champion Thunder looms later this month, and the Celtics still have one more game each against the Knicks and Timberwolves, too.

Which is to suggest that, if Detroit can simply steady itself a bit moving forward, the Celtics are going to be hard-pressed to make a true push. The bigger concern might simply be trying to hold onto the No. 2 seed, which would ensure home court if Boston made it to Round 2 of the postseason.

“Boston is obviously a good team, but we’re not concerned about Boston,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters on Sunday. “Our biggest concern is making sure that we’re doing what we need to do to go out and be as good as we possibly can. We’ve got plenty of time to figure it out and we will.”

The one other wild card for the East’s top seeds is the play-in tournament. The Charlotte Hornets have been one of the league’s hottest teams, at least before a little stumble of their own after a big win in Boston last week.

There’s still a lot of volatility in the East play-in standings, but if the Hornets are not able to shimmy up to the No. 7 or No. 8 spot, they’d be out of play to earn the seventh seed in the play-in tournament (and play the No. 2 seed). The No. 1 seed would still be vulnerable to a Charlotte matchup if the Hornets were to land the No. 8 spot by emerging from the 9-10 bracket.

Boston’s bigger concern over its final 18 games should be the reintegration of Jayson Tatum and helping the All-NBA forward get comfortable again after missing nine-plus months while rehabbing from Achilles surgery. Early returns have been encouraging, but there’s still chemistry to rebuild on the court.

Surging to the No. 1 seed might help the cases for some of Boston’s award-eligible players and staff. Jaylen Brown’s MVP candidacy and Joe Mazzulla’s case for Coach of the Year would be strengthened by getting ahead of the Pistons. Alas, Mazzulla would be the first to balk at the mere mention of awards — at least his own — and will keep the focus on the games.

It will be interesting to take inventory on the East standings as the calendar flips to April. The Celtics play seven games in 13 days to wrap up the regular season and the standings could dictate just how hard they push to the finish line.

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Twenty-three players were shown a red card as a lengthy brawl requiring the intervention of military police marred the final seconds of a Brazilian soccer match between Cruzeiro and Atletico Mineiro.

Former Brazil forward Hulk was among the players sent off following the violence that lasted more than a minute and spread from one end of the field toward the other as substitutes, members of coaching staff and security also weighed in.

“We need to acknowledge our mistakes and learn from them,” Hulk wrote on Instagram on Monday. “What happened yesterday does not represent the values ​​that soccer should embody. Rivalry is part of the sport, but respect must always prevail over any emotion.”

It was sparked by a challenge by Cruzeiro midfielder Christian on Atletico goalkeeper Everson, who responded by rugby-tackling his opponent to the ground and dropping both knees into his head.

That led to a mass fight as players from both teams piled in, punching and kicking each other. In footage shared across social media, Hulk, who plays for Atletico, was seen punching an opponent on the back of the head then getting kicked in the chest.

“I apologize to everyone who was in the stadium, to those who watched it on television, and especially to the children who look up to football. What we saw on the pitch is not the example we want to set,” Hulk added.

According to statistics provided by the teams, Cruzeiro had 12 players sent off and Atletico had 11.

Cruzeiro wound up winning 1-0 in the Campeonato Mineiro final to become state champion in Minas Gerais.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Last week Luke Kornet made headlines by speaking out against the Atlanta Hawk’s “Magic City Night” theme. The ATL gentleman’s club has received shout outs in numerous rap and hip-hop songs. The hot spot is also known for lemon-pepper wings.

Jared Weiss of the The Athletic ran into Kornet as he was writing a post on his blog shortly after the Spurs loss in New York last month.

The former Celtics center started his blog during the 2022-2023 season. Kornet, a lifelong Catholic, decided to write about the churches he visited while on the road playing basketball.

On January 23, 2023, he introduced himself with the post “Don’t Pass the Rock: The Catholic Churches of the 2022-23 NBA Season” showcasing his wit, humor, and penchant for the pun.

Kornet posts three more “Don’t Pass the Rock” pieces in 2023 before going dark…until now.

On January 26, 2026, three years and three days after launching his initial post, he submitted “Don’t Pass the Rock: Back in the Saddle,” stating “I’m back trying to find my voice.”

And found it, he has.

Kornet’s self-effacing humor was apparent from the get-go in San Antonio. When signing with the Spurs he chose #7, stating his goal to become one-third the player Tim Duncan was. His fascination with places of worship came through an authentic tone, but his personal writing peels back layer after layer of his “self” and how that has played out in the basketball world.

Last month, Kornet released “Luke’s Declassified Spurs Survival Guide” after losing to the Chrlotte Hornets:

“The problems persist and our voyage seems increasingly destined for failure. Morale hangs by a thread and rations are low. Most notably the water pipe is frozen meaning no coffee and therefore no caffeine, the elixir of hope. Withdrawal headaches have led to infighting and I’m concerned factions are beginning to form. So fragile the human condition. At the first sight of death, fear manifests and people’s true colors are shown. We fear if conditions worsen and hunger grows certain….sacrifices may need to be made. I vote a rookie. Their offering will be remembered and a small donation to a food bank will be made in their memory.”

The trials and tribulations surrounding the Spurs snow-laden Charlotte game followed by the arduous journey home for the second night of a back-to-back told through a most humorous tone.

He followed up a few days later with a heartfelt proclamation of what the NBA trade deadline meant to many players as well as what it has meant to him in the past.

Next came some musings regarding the Super Bowl and Mike Vrabel.

On February 23, he posted his tribute to the Bus 1 Boys, the guys at the far end of the bench hoping to get their name called during the game so they can shine on the court.

And then, of course, his most recent — and least humorous share — “Concerning the Atlanta Hawks.”

Without Weiss crossing his path in the locker room and asking him what he was up to, Kornet’s disquiet for the event may have been limited to his 993 followers. Instead, he spoke on camera and was picked up by multiple news sources, including The New Yorker. He took criticism from players, pundits, and fans for his take. But it is of no matter.

If Luke Kornet has something on his mind he will say it, and say it well.

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Kentucky Basketball’s coaching staff continues to explore new recruiting avenues, and one potential addition to the roster in the future is G League guard Dink Pate.

According to Jacob Polacheck of KSR, Pate is expected to have a Zoom meeting with the Kentucky staff within the next week. The meeting comes after head coach Mark Pope recently traveled to Philadelphia to see Pate in person while he plays with the Westchester Knicks.

The 6-foot-7 point guard has expressed interest in transitioning to college basketball for the 2026 season.

“I’m going to college, but I’m not set in stone on any school,” Pate told Polacheck of KSR+ in January. “If UK likes me, that’s where I want to go.”

Pate has a connection with Kentucky through assistant coach Jason Hart, who coached him during the 2023–24 season with the NBA G League Ignite. Pate joined Ignite in 2023 and became the youngest professional basketball player in U.S. history.

This season with the Westchester Knicks, Pate has appeared in 27 games, averaging 16.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.6 assists, while shooting 37.7 percent from 3-point range.

One to watch for.

The Houston Rockets had a gut check game against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday and failed miserably, being dominated by the Spurs, who shot 58 percent from the field, to the tune of a 145-120 San Antonio victory.

The Rockets had no defense, as the Spurs got pretty much whatever they wanted, with Victor Wembenyama leading the way with 29 points, and they also got 23 from Stephon Castle and 20 each from Keldon Johnson and De’Aaron Fox, who also had 10 assists.

As for the Rockets, they got 23 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks from Kevin Durant on 7-for-12 shooting from the field, as well as 23 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists from Amen Thompson, who was 8-for-15 from the floor.

Reed Sheppard and Jabari Smith Jr. had 17 points each, with Reed going 3-for-10 from deep to go along with 3 rebounds and 3 assists, while Smith had 5 rebounds and 3 assists to round out Houston’s double-digit scorers.

The Rockets showed that they were not quite on par with some of the west’s best, as they lost the season series to San Antonio 3-1. They also fall to the fourth seed in the west with a 39-24 record, on pace for a slightly worse record than last season. If they playoffs ended today, the Rockeys would take on the Los Angeles Lakers, which is an admittedly good matchup for them, but do you have any real faith in the Rockets going anywhere this postseason? I know that I do not.

But it could also get worse. The Rockets are only two games ahead of the Phoenix Suns for a Play-In spot. Falling down to the Play-In is not out of the question.

The Rockets need to find an answer for the shooting discrepency. They were just 8-for-28 from deep, while the Spurs were 21-for-40. That’s almost a 40-point swing on three-point shooting alone. You’re not going to win much basketball that way.

Anyway, the Rockets will return to action on Tuesday with a home game against the Toronto Raptors. That’s a 7pm CST start.

The Wizards lost their eighth in a row — this time a semi-competitive that transmogrified into a New Orleans Pelicans blowout.

This game highlighted what different incentives does to teams. During the 2025 draft, the Pelicans traded this year’s first round pick in a deal to acquire Maryland center Derik Queen. New Orleans was terrible for a long stretch of the season — at times they sported the league’s worst winning percentage.

With the pick out the door, they have no reason to remain awful. And, as they’ve gotten healthier and adjusted the rotation to get minutes to better players, they’ve improved — postingt an 11-9 record over their last 20 games. Not exactly a juggernaut, but there’s at least an outline of a potentially decent team next season.

Washington has just six wins over their last 20, and they’re likely chiding themselves for winning even that much. They’ve treated games like exhibition season, sitting anyone with even the mildest of injuries, keeping healthy youngsters on tight minutes restrictions, and using what amounts to G-League lineups for long stretches of games.

This is smart. To increase their chances of being good in the future, the team needs to lose a lot now. I remind myself of these facts every game because…well…the actual basketball gets brutal to watch. One fun aspect of watching a young and rebuilding team is seeing those youngsters try hard, make mistakes, and learn. The imperative to lose games, which leads to curtailing minutes for kids who figure to be part of the rotation when the team is competitive again in the near(ish) future, which means a) we don’t get to see them as much, and (worse) b) they get fewer opportunities to learn and grow.

One other thing that intentionally losing sometimes does is cause players to play with lesser effort and mental focus. The “little things” just don’t matter as much when you know you’re going to lose. I think I see some of that in Wizards games lately, and I’ve been trying to convince myself it’s mostly coming from players who won’t be around next season.

But I’m also seeing some stuff from kids who should be around, so…yeah I’m a little concerned about it.

Thoughts & Observations

• Alex Sarr was back in the starting lineup. The offense was rusty, and his teammates kept him busy defensively.
• Last game, I wrote a bit about how bad Leaky Black was on defense. He was just as bad against New Orleans. His name shows up a lot in my notes from last night’s game.
• Lest anyone think I’m picking on Black, I have to say that Trae Young’s defense is shockingly awful. I mean, I’ve seen him play terrible defense in Atlanta. As an example, in the first quarter, he got switched onto Saddiq Bey in the post. I’d have been fine if Bey used his superior height to shoot over Young or strength to bully-ball him into the basket. But Young got out-quicked. Yikes.
• Speaking of Young, New Orleans repeatedly did the force a switch to attack Young thing, and it worked quite well for them. He’s a problem defensively the Wizards might be able to overcome with Sarr and Anthony Davis patrolling the paint — at least to the extent that opponent offensive scheming allows that to happen.
• Young is also a terrific passer, at least when he’s focused on making good passes instead of showboating. He produced eight assists, and set up teammates for several other open looks, which they missed.
• Want to see a bad defensive possession? At 6:41 of the first quarter, Zion Williamson drives on Bilal Coulibaly, who does an okay job of at least staying in contact with Williamson. Black was low man and should have been stepping up. He got there late and gave a classic “ole” effort. Tre Johnson was weakside low man and did absolutely nothing on the play.
• Throughout the night, Wizards bigs (JuJu Reese and Anthony Gill) were playing deep drop coverage in pick-and-rolls where Trey Murphy III was the ball handler. This baffled me because Murphy is a great three-point shooter. The Wizards were conceding open threes to one of the game’s better three-point shooters. Even if you’re playing drop and don’t want to switch, that big should still be at the level of the screen.
• Late in the first quarter, Sharife Cooper ran a 2-on-1 fastbreak I loved. The New Orleans defender kept giving ground, so Cooper kept the ball. When he got almost to the rim, the defender finally committed, and Cooper dropped the ball off to Will Riley for an easy bucket. I liked the patience Cooper showed — staying under control, forcing the defender to make a decision, and then giving a teammate a simple play to make.
• I think there’s some fairly low-hanging fruit that might help Jaden Hardy shoot more accurately. Even when wide-open from deep, he tends to twist a little and fade as he jumps. Better balance and a more controlled jump could boost his percentage.
• The Pelicans attacked the paint relentlessly and generated 47 free throw attempts as a result. They had 36 free throw attempts in the first half.
• With 4:20 left in the second quarter, the Wizards ran a pindown for Trae Young, which produced an open three. I liked them using Young off-ball. More please.
• Dejounte Murray was too athletic for any of the perimeter defenders the Wizards had available last night — Johnson, Young, and Bub Carrington are all too small, too weak, and too slow to guard him. The team’s best defender against a player like Murray is Coulibaly, but they had him on Williamson much of the evening.
• The third quarter contained some truly egregious defensive plays. Williamson drove on Black, who provided no resistance at the point of attack.
  • On the first, Reese was low man, and Johnson was in help position at the elbow. What should have happened was Reese helping hard, and Johnson dropping into a zone to cover the weakside corner and wing. What did happen was that neither Reese nor Johnson even moved.
  • On the second, it was Reese and Carrington not reacting to Williamson’s drive.
  • On the third, Riley helped hard from the weakside and Black fouled. While the result wasn’t great, Riley at least played the scheme correctly,
• One other defensive possession I didn’t like — Reese jogging back in transition and arriving too late to contest a Bryce McGowens dunk.

Four Factors

Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).

The four factors are measured by:

• eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)
• OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)
• TOV% (turnover percentage — turnovers divided by possessions)
• FTM/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)

Stats & Metrics

PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls).

PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. In PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples sometimes producing weird results.

POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.

ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average so far this season is listed in the Four Factors table above. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.

USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%. Median so far this season is 17.7%.

ORTG and USG are versions of stats created by former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified by me. ORTG is an efficiency measure that accounts for the value of shooting, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. USG includes shooting from the floor and free throw line, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers.

+PTS = “Plus Points” is a measure of the points gained or lost by each player based on their efficiency in this game compared to league average efficiency on the same number of possessions. A player with an offensive rating (points produced per possession x 100) of 100 who uses 20 possessions would produce 20 points. If the league average efficiency is 115, the league — on average — would produced 23.0 points in the same 20 possessions. So, the player in this hypothetical would have a +PTS score of -3.0.

Players are sorted by total production in the game.

Jaxson Hayes remembered the bruising the Lakers got at Madison Square Garden a month ago when the New York Knicks bullied them on the boards, outscored them by 14 in the second half and had six players score in double figures. Hayes was happy to return the favor Sunday in the Lakers’ 110-97 win at Crypto.com Arena.

“I just feel like we owed them that one,” the Lakers center said.

The wire-to-wire win over the Knicks (41-24) was only the second time since early November that the Lakers (39-25) recorded a win over a team with a record of .600 or better. They improved to 5-12 against such teams after losing 12 of their last 13 games against the league's upper echelon. With the win and a tiebreaker against Denver, the Lakers moved into fifth in the Western Conference. They play fourth-place Minnesota (40-24) on Tuesday.

Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s win:

Lakers show their playoff mentality

Hayes crawled across the floor for loose balls. Marcus Smart stepped in front of driving opponents. Jarred Vanderbilt leaped into the laps of front-row fans.

With energy and focus from every player, the Lakers delivered one of their best defensive efforts of the season despite circumstances that could have made Sunday's game a snoozer.

The Lakers were playing their third game in four days. Losing an hour of sleep because of daylight saving time had Rui Hachimura sleepwalking into the arena Sunday morning for a 12:30 p.m. tip. Hoping to wake himself up, the Lakers forward said he got into the hot tub when he arrived.

Players tried to hype themselves up in the locker room by blasting music. Instead of listing three defensive keys before the game, coaches whittled the game plan to one focus: multiple efforts.

Read more:Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves carry LeBron-less Lakers to win over Knicks

“It wasn't gonna be an offensive game,” coach JJ Redick said. “This was gonna be a gritty, tough game that we had to win with effort. And we did that."

Smart led that effort with a game-high plus-27 in 29 minutes and 17 seconds. He drew two charges. His signature moment didn't even show up in the game play-by-play. After Luka Doncic turned the ball over with 2.2 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Smart hustled back to force Jordan Clarkson to pass the ball at the buzzer, keeping the Knicks from getting a last-second layup attempt. Smart walked to the bench with his arms extended like a defensive back who had just broken up a touchdown pass.

The Knicks were held to less than 100 points for only the seventh time and had their fourth-worst three-point shooting performance of the season, going eight for 34. The Lakers went nearly five minutes without scoring in the fourth quarter, but held on by forcing eight turnovers.

“It was not a perfect game,” said Doncic, who led the Lakers with 35 points on 11-for-25 shooting. “But we fight at the defensive end. I think we did a great job. It says a lot about the team, bringing this much energy in a game like this.”

Deandre Ayton stands out in return

Returning from left knee soreness that kept him out for one game, Deandre Ayton had a quiet six-point, eight-rebound stat line, but he made a loud statement early by setting the tone with his activity in the first quarter.

Often criticized for his inconsistent effort, the 7-foot center scrambled for an offensive rebound to set up a second-chance three-pointer from Austin Reaves, combined with Hachimura to swat away a layup attempt from Josh Hart and blocked a shot from Karl-Anthony Towns all in the first three minutes. He caught a lob from Doncic that forced the Knicks to take an early timeout.

“I thought he played really hard tonight,” Redick said. “He was great."

Read more:Luka Doncic joins elite Lakers company with 44-point effort in win over Pacers

Ayton was limited to only four minutes and 30 seconds in Thursday’s loss to Denver after he felt discomfort in his left knee. Behind Ayton, Hayes has continued his career season. Not far behind Ayton’s 19 minutes and 55 seconds of playing time, Hayes played 16 minutes and 38 seconds off the bench Sunday with five points — all on free throws as he attacked the rim for high-flying dunk attempts — four rebounds and one steal.

LeBron James, who suffered an elbow contusion in the final minutes against Denver, did not play Sunday, missing his second consecutive game. Redick said Friday he expected James could return against the Knicks, but he was ruled out shortly before tip-off.

JJ Redick won't 'overreact'

With the Lakers having struggled against top competition all season, Sunday’s victory was the type of statement win they were looking for. In Redick’s previous career, it may have led him to serve up hot takes on a podcast or on television. If he were a fan, maybe he would be loudly celebrating only to turn around on the next loss and cry the way he did when he was a child watching Duke.

But not as an NBA coach.

“I'm not in a position where I can overreact,” Redick said when asked about the significance of a gritty win for a team that hasn’t accumulated many of them this season. “You guys do that. The fans, rightfully so, should always overreact. It's what makes fandom so awesome. ... My job is not to overreact.”

The Lakers are 15-9 in their last 24 games, Redick said matter-of-factly. They’re ranked eighth in offense and 14th in defense over that span.

Read more:LeBron James breaks another Kareem Abdul-Jabbar record, but hurts his elbow in loss

It’s close to what the Lakers envisioned for their team entering the season.

With 18 games remaining, the Lakers could still earn home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. They’re only one game behind third-place Houston (39-23) and play the Rockets twice next week. This week, they have two more games against Western Conference foes battling for playoff position with Minnesota (40-24) on Tuesday and Denver (39-25) on Saturday.

“Every game is going to matter,” said Hachimura, who had 13 points and seven rebounds while starting in place of James. “We gotta get one by one. We have a big week coming up too. So I think today's game was great. We needed it.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.