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Gotta admit: when I saw the lineups for this Wizards at Nets game, I set aside the notepad. There were two key numbers that jumped out at me before the game began. They were:

• Washington: 2
• Brooklyn: 1

Those numbers represent how many players each had available who’d be expected to be part of the team’s full-health rotation next season. For the Wizards, it was Bub Carrington and Will Riley. For the Nets, Nolan Traore. If you want to stretch to include either Drake Powell or Jalen Wilson, I wouldn’t squawk much, but the core point remains.

Both teams are committed to losing as much as possible to finish the season.

Despite that commitment, the Wizards blew a 17-point first quarter deficit to actually take the lead a few times in the fourth quarter. Then the Nets got a case of “competence” and closed the game on a 20-10 run to give Washington the loss.

This was an odd game in a few ways. The Wizards had just eight players available, yet head coach Brian Keefe barely played Sharife Cooper and Jaden Hardy.

No one from the Wizards was particularly impressive, though there were some positives. Riley led the offense throughout the afternoon, and closed with a flurry of pointless buckets to juice his final tally to 30 points. He got the experience of trying to attack a defense loading up to stop him, and acquitted himself decently, despite four turnovers.

JuJu Reese once again mashed a center-free opponent, this time with 16 rebounds in 44 minutes.

I’d caution against reading much into anything that happened in this game because of the dearth of genuine NBA talent on the floor for either team.

None of this should undermine enjoyment of the game itself. I had fun watching — Traore is super-fast and seems to be developing as a shooter. Chaney Johnson had some oomph to his game. Watching Reese battle on the boards is entertaining. And Riley hit some crazy fluky shots, including that one off the top of the backboard while getting fouled and falling out of bounds, and a banked in three. They count though!

Just four left in the 2025-26 season.

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.

Tommy Lloyd signed a new deal.

So did Nate Oats.

Dusty May is a "no" as well.

So where does North Carolina turn now for its open men's basketball coach position? Here are 10 names to consider:

Billy Donovan, Chicago Bulls

Donovan is the big fish still swimming in the pond. Can UNC hook him? Donovan has been linked since the Tar Heels fired Hubert Davis on March 24. The Bulls' season ends April 12, and they won't be in the playoffs. Is UNC willing to wait and miss out on the first week of the transfer portal? For the right fit, why not? Plus, the Bulls are reportedly set for a front office shakeup, so it may be time to jump ship.

After 11 years away from college basketball, is Donovan ready for a return to campus? College ball is basically pro ball, anyway now. He'd be the candidate most UNC fans are pinning their hopes on after other high-profile rejections.

NEW YORK (AP) — Nolan Traore hit five three-pointers and finished with 23 points and seven assists, Jalen Wilson added 19 points and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Washington Wizards 121-115 on Sunday.

The Wizards (17-61) have a two-game lead on the Nets (19-59) for the best lottery odds. Indiana is 18-58 entering Sunday’s game at Cleveland.

Washington has lost six in a row and 22 of its past 23. The Wizards had given up 305 combined points in back-to-back losses to Philadelphia (153-131) and Miami (152-136).

Brooklyn won for just the second time in its past 14 games.

Will Riley, who had a career-high 31 points Saturday against the Heat, scored 30, Jamir Watkins added 20 points, and Julian Reese had 17 points and 16 rebounds for the Wizards. Anthony Gill also scored 17 points and Bub Carrington had 13 points.

E.J. Liddell and Josh Minott each scored 15 for Brooklyn. Drake Powell added 13 points and Ochai Agbaji scored 12.

Watkins hit a three-pointer that gave the Wizards a four-point lead with 3:50 left in the game. The Nets answered with an 8-0 run that culminated when Traore made a layup that made it 109-105 with two minutes remaining and Brooklyn led the rest of the way.

Leaky Black responded with a three-pointer that cut the deficit to a point, but Wilson and Traore hit back-to-back threes before Trevon Scott’s layup made it 117-108 with 42 seconds to go.

Up next

Wizards: Host Chicago on Tuesday and Thursday.

Nets: Host Milwaukee on Tuesday.

The Washington Wizards lost to the Brooklyn Nets, 121-115 on Easter Sunday. This game was important for the upcoming NBA Draft Lottery! The Brooklyn Nets coming in a full game behind the Wizards in the standings, and if the Wizards managed not to lose, they would enlarge that gap to 2 full games!

Yes, the Wizards were standing at 17-60, and the Nets at 18-59.

Things started well for the Nets (and the Wizards’ Draft Lottery hopes) as the Nets stormed to a 35-24 lead at the end of the first quarter. Traore and Agbaji were hitting their threes, and on the other side the Wizards were kept in the game by their 6th man of the month, Will Riley, who would go on to score 15 points in 20 minutes of action in the first half alone.

Indeed, the second quarter shifted towards the Wizards, much thanks to Riley, and at halftime the scoreboard showed a close contest 59-54 in favor of the hosts in Brooklyn.

The Nets came strong out of the gates in the locker-room, pushing the lead quickly (within less than a minute) to double digits after two quick turnovers by the Wizards. Four quick buckets by the Wizards showed they are in this game, and the remainder of the third quarter remained close with several lead changes. Ultimately, the Nets took a one-point lead 85-84 heading into the final stanza.

The final quarter started with a couple quick buckets by Gil and Watkins, with Washington taking a small but quick lead 89-85. And, the contest remained close! The scoreboard showed 105-105, knotted up, with less than three minutes to go.

At that point the Nets made two quick buckets, by Powell and Traore (who is shaping up to be quite a player), but Leaky Black answered with a clutch three, 109-108 with 100 seconds to go. Traore then drew a couple defenders and sprayed out to Jalen Wilson who nailed a clutch three of his own from straight ahead, 112-108 in favor of the nets, with 92 seconds on the clock.

Timeout for the Wizards.

Whatever the ATO was, Will Riley turned the ball over in-bounding…. Jalen Wilson heat-check for a dagger three, missed, but after a rebound, Traore (who else) came up big with a three, 115-108 for the Nets, and the game was pretty much sealed.

Some stats to close: Anthony Gil played 40+ minutes. Black, Reese, and Watkins topped 42 minutes. Overall the Wizards were decent with 55 percent from the field and 36 from deep. But they missed a ton from the charity stripe (18-for-28). Will Riley led the Wizards in scoring with 28 in 35 minutes off the bench.

Traore led the Nets with 23 points including 5-for-11 from deep in 28 minutes. Nobody on the Nets actually played more than 29 minutes. Which makes sense.

The Wizards now return home where they will face the Chicago Bulls twice in the last stretch of the regular season.

BOSTON (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored 26 points, Jayson Tatum had 23 points and 13 rebounds and the Boston Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors 115-101 on Sunday.

Neemias Queta had 18 points and seven rebounds, and Payton Pritchard scored 17 points for the Celtics, who won their third straight to move closer to clinching second place in the Eastern Conference.

Ja’Kobe Walter led Toronto with 16 points, and Brandon Ingram and RJ Barrett each had 15.

Celtics center Nikola Vucevic returned after missing a month following surgery for a broken right ring finger. He looked a bit rusty, scoring just four points in 13 minutes with four rebounds.

Coming off consecutive games of putting up at least 43 points in the opening quarter, the Celtics looked a bit sluggish and were cold from long range early, missing 13 of their initial 16 shots from 3-point range. The teams were tied at 26 after one.

Fighting for a top-six spot in the Eastern Conference to avoid the play-in tournament, the Raptors were outscored 35-24 in the final quarter that was filled with their turnovers and breakdowns defensively. Walter even missed all three free throw attempts on one trip to the line.

BUCKS 131, GRIZZLIES 115

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Ryan Rollins scored 24 points and Milwaukee withstood a triple-double from Memphis’ Rayan Rupert to outlast the Grizzlies in an afternoon matchup of short-handed, lottery-bound teams.

Rupert established new career highs with 33 points and 10 assists, and he matched a career best with 10 rebounds. The 21-year-old Rupert entered Sunday averaging 4.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists.

Milwaukee snapped an eight-game skid in this series and beat the Grizzlies for the first time since a 126-114 decision on Jan. 19, 2022. The Bucks committed 20 turnovers but shot 60.2% overall and went 16 of 32 on 3-pointers.

The Grizzlies have lost four straight and 17 of their last 19.

Memphis had so many injury-related absences that it dressed four players on 10-day contracts (Dariq Whitehead, Toby Okani, Lucas Williamson, Adama Bal).

NETS 121, WIZARDS 115

NEW YORK (AP) — Nolan Traore hit five 3-pointers and finished with 23 points and seven assists, Jalen Wilson added 19 points and Brooklyn beat Washington.

The Wizards (17-61) have a two-game on the Nets (19-59) for the best lottery odds. Indiana is 18-58 entering Sunday’s game at Cleveland.

Washington has lost six in a row and 22 of its past 23. The Wizards had given up 305 combined points in back-to-back losses to Philadelphia ( 153-131 ) and Miami ( 152-136 ).

Brooklyn won for just the second time in its past 14 games.

Will Riley, who had a career-high 31 points Saturday against the Heat, scored 30, Jamir Watkins added 20 points, and Julian Reese had 17 points and 16 rebounds for the Wizards. Anthony Gill also scored 17 points and Bub Carrington had 13 points.

E.J. Liddell and Josh Minott each scored 15 for Brooklyn. Drake Powell added 13 points and Ochai Agbaji scored 12.

SUNS 120, BULLS 110

CHICAGO (AP) — Devin Booker scored 30 points, Jalen Green added 25 and Phoenix ended the game on an 11-2 run to top Chicago.

Dillon Brooks scored 15, and the Suns shook off back-to-back losses at Orlando and Charlotte.

The Suns led by 13 late in the third quarter before the Bulls went on an 11-0 run. They were clinging to a 109-108 advantage with about three minutes remaining when Brooks hit a turnaround jumper to start the decisive run and added a 3-pointer.

The Bulls missed four shots on their next possession, including three straight at point-blank range by Leonard Miller, before Booker made a 3 to make 117-108 with 1:33 remaining.

Chicago’s Josh Giddey (strained left hamstring) and Matas Buzelis (illness) missed the game. And with their two best players out, the Bulls lost their seventh in a row.

Tre Jones scored 29 for Chicago. Collin Sexton had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Miller scored 17.

In a very messy, stop‑and‑go kind of game that wasn’t exactly pleasant to watch, the Suns pulled out a 120–110 win against a courageous Chicago team. The matchup was defined by constant rhythm swings, sloppiness, and physical intensity. In short: a classic Sunday game at a European-friendly tipoff.

The night was highlighted by Booker and Green on the Suns’ side (54 points combined), and by Tre Jones (29 points) along with the Miller/Sexton duo (35 points and 20 rebounds between them) for the Chicago piece. Phoenix shot the ball relatively well (50% from the field, 40% from three), didn’t get crushed too badly on the boards (41 vs 46), and dominated in forcing turnovers: 18 turnovers created, 10 steals.

The win moves the Suns to 43-35 on the season.

Game Flow

First Half

Rough start, clearly. Tons of sloppiness on both sides: Chicago coughing up the ball, Phoenix stacking up short misses. It takes 2–3 minutes before Devin Booker finally gets the Suns on the board with a fadeaway. In the middle of this messy opening, Leonard Miller is already locked in: 8 points in 4 minutes, mixing it up perfectly (drive, corner three, transition).

First real turning point: as expected, the Bulls impose their presence on the glass and push the pace. Push it hard. As a result, Phoenix’s paint is under pressure, and offensive possessions become rushed and poorly constructed. After six minutes, Chicago is in control (12–19). Jordan Ott goes to his bench: Grayson Allen first, then Oso Ighodaro, Collin Gillespie, and Royce O’Neale.

End of the quarter is more encouraging for Phoenix. The defense ramps up, gets more aggressive, disrupts Chicago’s flow, and slows down transition, but at the cost of fouls. Offensively, though, it’s still very poor: little movement, lots of static situations, and points coming almost exclusively from individual creation. Despite that, the Suns manage to stay afloat and tie it up: 30–30 after one.

The main issue remains obvious: Chicago scores way too easily in transition. The Suns’ transition defense and overall floor balance are not good enough and need to be fixed quickly.

Start of the second quarter follows the same pattern: the Bulls keep hurting Phoenix in transition, and the Suns still struggle to match the pace. Offensively, it’s a bit cleaner, more fluid in stretches, but still heavily reliant on individual talent — mainly Jalen Green and Collin Gillespie. The point guard does a genuinely good job as a creator, repeatedly finding Oso Ighodaro on pick‑and‑rolls, helping Phoenix take the lead (39–38).

First real adjustment from the Suns: they play faster, but more importantly, they play smarter. Physical intensity rises, transition defense improves, and Chicago is gradually forced into half-court offense. Immediate result: bad decisions pile up for the Bulls, shots get tougher, and turnovers increase (already 10 with four minutes left in the half, shooting percentage dropping below 50%). Phoenix capitalizes and builds its first real gap (52–47).

But as has been the theme of this first half, the end of the quarter collapses into chaos again. Sloppy, choppy, poorly managed. Phoenix’s defense holds up, but the offense wastes possessions instantly: 5 turnovers in just a few minutes. Jordan Ott calls a timeout with 3 minutes left (54–49). Despite the messy stretch, the Suns limit the damage and head to the locker room up 63–56.

Worth noting: Grayson Allen already has 4 fouls, and Phoenix gave up way too many free throws (13 team fouls). On the bright side, they dominated the rebounding battle in the second quarter (15–6). Individually, Jalen Green is on fire: 18 first‑half points with a real impact on the offensive rhythm.

Second Half

Phoenix comes out of the locker room locked in. This time, they dictate the pace from the jump — and even outrun the Bulls. The offense is sharper, cleaner, and more decisive, and it shows immediately: +10. Billy Donovan has to burn a timeout quickly (69–59).

Phoenix stays in control afterward. The plan is clear and well executed: limit Chicago’s transition and force them to play in the halfcourt. And collectively, the Suns do a solid job. The Bulls remain dangerous whenever they can run, but overall, they’re contained. On the other end, Phoenix keeps producing and maintains a solid lead (82–69 with four minutes left in the quarter).

And then… another collapse. Again. The end of the quarter completely kills the momentum. Just when Phoenix seemed in control, the lead doesn’t grow — it evaporates. A 13–2 run allowed, with the offense going totally silent. No field goals in the last four minutes, only free throws. Instead of putting the game away, the Suns let Chicago right back in it.

86–84 heading into the fourth. Everything resets.

Start of the fourth is fairly balanced. Both teams score, but no real run emerges. The rhythm is constantly broken: fouls, turnovers, interference calls… the game never finds flow. Phoenix still holds a small edge (102–97) with seven minutes left.

Tension rises, but the Suns handle it reasonably well at first, especially physically. The tempo slows down — maybe too much. In trying to control the game, Phoenix lets Chicago hang around, giving up easy buckets both inside and from three. Jordan Ott calls a timeout with four minutes left (109–106), aware that the game could swing.

And then, individual talent takes over. Dillon Brooks, quiet until then, completely shifts the momentum: valuable connective play on offense, strong defensive impact, influence on both ends. At the same time, Devin Booker takes command in the clutch and punishes Chicago, pushing the lead to +9 with 1:30 left.

The Bulls fade on the final possessions, and Phoenix closes it out without trembling: 120–110.

Up Next

After this hard‑earned win, Phoenix will host the Rockets to kick off the final week of the regular season.

NEW YORK (AP) — Nolan Traore hit five 3-pointers and finished with 23 points and seven assists, Jalen Wilson added 19 points and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Washington Wizards 121-115 on Sunday.

The Wizards (17-61) have a two-game on the Nets (19-59) for the best lottery odds. Indiana is 18-58 entering Sunday's game at Cleveland.

Washington has lost six in a row and 22 of its past 23. The Wizards had given up 305 combined points in back-to-back losses to Philadelphia ( 153-131 ) and Miami ( 152-136 ).

Brooklyn won for just the second time in its past 14 games.

Will Riley, who had a career-high 31 points Saturday against the Heat, scored 30, Jamir Watkins added 20 points, and Julian Reese had 17 points and 16 rebounds for the Wizards. Anthony Gill also scored 17 points and Bub Carrington had 13 points.

E.J. Liddell and Josh Minott each scored 15 for Brooklyn. Drake Powell added 13 points and Ochai Agbaji scored 12.

Watkins hit a 3-pointer that gave the Wizards a four-point lead with 3:50 left in the game. The Nets answered with an 8-0 run that culminated when Traore made layup that made it 109-105 with two minutes remaining and Brooklyn led the rest of the way.

Leaky Black responded with a 3-pointer that cut the deficit to a point, but Wilson and Traore hit back-to-back 3s before Trevon Scott's layup made it 117-108 with 42 seconds to go.

Up next

Wizards: Host Chicago on Tuesday and Thursday.

Nets: Host Milwaukee on Tuesday.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba