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The Michael Jordan/LeBron James GOAT debate is heating up again, thanks largely to King James, who had a few things to say about it.

They’re very different players, as James rightly notes, but we’re in the Jordan camp for several reasons.

First, as Muggsy Bogues pointed out, consider their weaknesses. For James, it’s free-throw shooting, basic shooting mechanics, turnovers (it’s not generally understood that one of his records is that he is the all-time turnover king in the NBA. Part of that is due to his extraordinary longevity, but still), and his mid-range game is not really all that great. And he also doesn’t move a lot when he doesn’t have the ball.

Now, as Muggsy asked, what are Jordan’s weaknesses? His fundamentals are as sound as anyone who ever played the game. Shooting? Check. Rebounding? Check. Defense? Check+. Ballhandling was a weakness, but he attacked it and made it a strength.

You can absolutely argue that Jordan wasn’t a phenomenal passer, but he was a lethal weapon with the ball. And when he wanted to pass, he could dazzle. But who would you rather have shoot, Jordan or Dennis Rodman? Jordan or BJ Armstrong? Jordan or Horace Grant?

Of course you’d pick Jordan.

Jordan’s talent was off the charts, and he also has huge hands, which helped a lot. He was also arguably the best defender of his day.

However, Jordan’s greatest asset as a basketball player was his extraordinary competitive desire.

The Chicago Bulls would not let him lift weights with Horace Grant, because they were scared he would hurt himself trying to outwork the much bigger Grant. He also didn’t move from team to team in search of a better supporting cast. He elevated his own team instead.

None of this is to say that James is not a great player. He’s very, very good.

However, if they played in the same era, Jordan would have chewed his own leg off if it meant beating James. In every sense, he was on a different level.

Players we’d take ahead of James.

• Jordan
• Larry Bird
• Tim Duncan
• Hakeem Olajuwon
• Bill Russell

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How a former Celtic kept Jordan Walsh ready for his next opportunity originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

It’s late March when Jordan Walsh plops down in a director’s chair in a theater where we are taping interviews with the members of the Celtics. It’s one day before Walsh, who at times earlier in the 2025-26 season felt like he was finally on the path to consistent playing time, will log his sixth consecutive DNP.

Walsh started 20 consecutive games from Nov. 12 to Jan. 1, raising eyebrows around the league with his relentless energy and defensive potential. But his playing time slowly evaporated, culminating with this late-March dry spell.

As Walsh waited his turn in our chair, he was punching away at his phone. On the other end was former Celtics forward Xavier Tillman, who played sparingly here over two-plus seasons but never let a lack of floor time dictate his attitude and approach. Tillman was ready whenever called upon, including in key spots during the team’s 2024 NBA Finals triumph over the Dallas Mavericks.

Walsh learned a lot about what it means to be an elite teammate and a true professional by watching the way Tillman carried himself in Boston. Tillman got dealt to Charlotte in a series of cost-cutting moves at the February trade deadline.

But Walsh continues to lean on Tillman’s wisdom in the aftermath.

“We talk all the time, even if it’s not basketball-related,” said Walsh. “Sometimes it’s just me sending him Instagram reels of funny stuff and him sending something back. Or like food — we talk about food a lot, too. It’s just random stuff but I think that’s a big part, too.

“[Tillman is] a guy who’s removed from our organization and is technically competing against us now, [but he’s] still looking out for the best for me and trying to give his help as a vet. I think it’s huge.”

How ironic, then, that just a couple days after our chat, Walsh returned to the lineup, making a spot start against Tillman’s Hornets. In fact, Walsh made 10 straight appearances to close out the regular season (including five starts) while reaffirming his ability to help Boston with his defensive tenacity and energetic rebounding.

Being ready for the moment helped Walsh state a case for postseason playing time. He’s appeared in all five games for Boston in these playoffs, often being an early sub tasked with chasing All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey through a never-ending gauntlet of screens. But Walsh dutifully fights through every Andre Drummond and Joel Embiid pick as if staying attached to Maxey is the key to his survival.

Entering Game 6 of an Eastern Conference first-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers, and with the Celtics facing a second chance to close out an Atlantic Division rival Thursday night, Walsh leads Boston’s playoff regulars in defensive field goal percentage differential, holding his opponents to 9.5 percent below expected output.

Opponents are shooting 36.4 percent when Walsh is the primary defender, per NBA tracking. Chasing Maxey is a thankless and nearly impossible task. Maxey has generated 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting with two turnovers and a blocked shot while defended by Walsh. All other Sixers players are 2-of-9 shooting with four points when Walsh is the primary defender.

In December, players like Austin Reaves were raving about how Walsh could be “one of the best defenders in the league for many years to come.” After limited playing time in his first two seasons in green, Walsh finally seemed to be carving out a role.

But Walsh stayed engaged even when his playing time evaporated, as head coach Joe Mazzulla cycled through all of Boston’s young wings at various points during the 2025-26 season.

“I think a big part of it is understanding that, if you’re not playing, you’re still holding onto the rope,” said Walsh. “You’re still a kind of support beacon of hope, almost, you could say, for the team and for guys. At no point are you left out. At least in this organization, there’s never a point where I felt like I was left out, or not in consideration or not being thought of or protected.

“So just knowing that, at every point, you’re still a part of the machine, whether your cog is [big or small], you’re still a part of it and, with you, it moves the machine forward.”

And when his playing time became sparse, Walsh leaned on Tillman.

“Obviously it’s big because, like I told you, I never felt like I was given up on. A guy I talked to a lot is Xavier,” said Walsh. “He’s been in this situation. Obviously, it’s a little bit different, but he was here for two years, didn’t play most of the year, goes in the Finals against the Mavs, hits a really big shot.

“So hearing his point of view, and I’m talking to Al [Horford], talking to guys that are here, [Jaylen Brown] — JB and me [are] always going back and forth. It’s a big part of it. It helps you stay sane, you don’t lose yourself in the, ‘I’m not playing,’ or ‘I am playing,’ and these guys still support you. So it keeps you here, keeps you focused.”

The Celtics are outscoring the Sixers by 23.5 points per 100 possessions with Walsh on the floor this postseason. Boston’s defensive rating is 8.4 points per 100 possessions better during Walsh’s court time, with the team posting a 103.8 defensive rating in his 65 minutes.

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens, who selected Walsh 38th overall in the 2023 NBA Draft, knew Walsh would maximize his opportunities.

“I think Jordan has always been probably as talented a young player, physically — especially on the defensive end — that we’ve had,” said Stevens. “But he just got thrust into a team that nobody was going to play on. So it’s been good to see him take advantage of these opportunities. But you could kind of see that coming over time.”

Walsh has produced multiple highlight-worthy hustle sequences in the postseason, including one scramble for an offensive rebound in Philadelphia that ignited the entire Celtics bench.

It’s not easy to come off the bench and chase Maxey, but Walsh does what he’s asked. The Celtics have outscored the Sixers by 45 points in Walsh’s floor time in the three wins.

Tillman’s time in Boston might have ended in February, but his impact lives on in Boston through Walsh.

This season never really gave the Golden State Warriors a stable version of themselves. It kept shifting with players in, players out, lineups changing, roles stretching past where they were supposed to go. Some nights it looked functional, some nights it didn’t, and most of the time it felt like they were figuring it out in real time with no guarantee it would ever settle.

But every now and then, something cut through all of that.

A game where the chaos stopped mattering for a while. Where one player found a rhythm strong enough to pull everything else into place, even if it was only for one night. And nobody planned for a night like this. Not the team, not the player, and definitely not the guy who spends three quarters missing everything he normally makes.

Nikola Jokic was doing what he does, stacking up a 35-point, 20-rebound, 12-assist triple-double like it barely required effort, the kind of performance that usually decides the game by itself. The Golden State Warriors, meanwhile, were operating with nine available players and a starting lineup that felt more like a group project than a rotation, no Stephen Curry, no Jimmy Butler III, no Draymond Green, just whoever was upright and ready to go.

And for a while, it worked in a way that almost made you suspicious. They hit everything early, moved the ball cleanly, scored 76 in the first half with 15 threes, and built a lead that felt a little too functional for the circumstances. It looked like one of those nights where everyone does their job and the math holds up long enough to get you out of the building.

Then the third quarter showed up and reminded everyone what kind of team they actually were. Thirteen straight missed threes, a 34–19 swing, the lead gone, the rhythm gone, and Jokic starting to take the game apart in that slow, methodical way that makes it feel like there was never really a choice involved.

Somewhere inside all of that, Brandin Podziemski had one made field goal. He was 1-for-10 through three quarters, had more turnovers than baskets, and had spent most of the night doing the right things just in time to watch them not matter. The kind of game where you start thinking about fixing it instead of playing it.

He never really did that. He just kept arriving at the same spots and trusting that eventually the ball would cooperate. He scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, and the run that followed, 20–2 to close the game, didn’t feel like a burst as much as a slow takeover that nobody interrupted.

That’s phenomenal, especially after missing nine of your first ten shots. Most players spend a night like that searching for a different answer. He waited for the same one to start working. He finished with 18 points, a career-high 15 rebounds, and nine assists, one short of a triple-double, which is a funny stat line for someone who essentially couldn’t buy a bucket for three quarters and then played perfectly when it mattered. And those 15 boards from a guy with the body of a point guard?? That’s insane grit.

That’s the part that stays with you. Not that he got hot, because players get hot all the time, but that he did it at the exact moment the game stopped offering second chances. When the lead was gone, Jokic had settled in, and the Warriors looked like they had already used up whatever margin they had to work with, Podz delivered.

LOS ANGELES — Entering Game 5, the Lakers were still comfortably in the driver’s seat against the Rockets.

Now, the car is slowing down, making a funny sound and the hazard lights are on.

Houston took Game 5 in Crypto.com Arena and, suddenly, a matchup that was one game away from a sweep is just one more victory away from going the full seven games.

“It’s the first team to win four games in a series,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said postgame. “We happen to have won the first three. They happened to have won the last two. We’ve got to be better.”

After having the momentum firmly on their side after Game 3, the pendulum has swung the other direction.

Gone are the great games from Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart. The purple and gold rode the Kennard wave to a win in Game 1, where he had a playoff-high 27 points. In Game 2, he was equally brilliant with 21 points while Smart added 25 points to put LA in front 2-0.

However, the Lakers can’t score at all now — Smart and Kennard included — having failed to reach the century mark in either of these losses.

Even the return of Austin Reaves wasn’t enough of an injection to close out the Rockets. He came off the bench and immediately made a difference in front of a welcoming Lakers crowd. He got into the paint, drew fouls on frustrated defenders and looked mostly like his old self, minus the efficiency after going 4-16 from the field.

“I thought he was aggressive,” Redick said. “[He] did a nice job of driving. He’ll find his rhythm.”

The NBA is a make-or-miss league, so some of these offensive issues can be chalked up to luck. However, the turnovers are unacceptable and have been a growing problem throughout this series.

Los Angeles had 15 turnovers, which led to 18 Houston points. Somehow, both those stats are actually improvements from Game 4. Entering this contest, the Lakers were averaging 20 turnovers a game, the most of any playoff team.

The Lakers have also begun to struggle with their outside shot, which was a strength during the beginning of this series. In their wins in Games 1 and 2, they shot 23-47 (48.9%) from deep.

During their last two losses however, they have shot 12-49 (24.4%). Meanwhile, the Rockets have flipped their fate by knocking down 26-70 (37.1%) of their threes in Games 4 and 5.

Momentum is hard to quantify, but like art, you know it when you see it. When you see role players struggling to score in losses and Houston getting big performances in wins, it’s clear which side has it.

But the thing about momentum is that it swings back and forth. The Lakers don’t need momentum for long as one more win ends Houston’s season.

“It’s playoff basketball,” Smart said. “This is what every kid, every person, every player, every competitor dreams of, being in the highest moment on the highest stage with the highest stakes. We knew that they weren’t going to just lay down.

“They came out and they did their job and they extended the series for themselves.”

The Lakers now have just 48 hours to regain that momentum. If not, Game 7, and potentially a historic collapse, awaits.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.

The Golden State Warriors cycled through injuries, lineups, and versions of themselves that never quite stuck. Jimmy Butler III went down. Stephen Curry missed time. Moses Moody didn’t make it through the year. By the end, it felt less like a season and more like something that kept getting interrupted.

But even inside all that, there were nights where everything sharpened for a few hours. Where one player took control of the game and made it feel clean again, even if nothing else about the season was.

Let’s talk about Mr. Butler, in his last killer session of the season. Nobody knew it was the last one.

The New York Knicks came to Chase Center without Jalen Brunson, whose sprained ankle had kept him out the night before, and within the first three minutes they had jumped to a 10-point lead anyway. The Golden State Warriors were cold, the crowd was restless, and this had the early look of a team drifting into one of those nights where the energy never quite shows up. Then Jimmy Butler decided that wasn’t going to be the story.

What happened over the next three quarters was less about Butler’s individual brilliance, though 32 points on 14-of-22 from the field with eight boards, four assists, and two steals qualifies, and more about what his presence demanded from everyone else. Moses Moody went 3-of-3 from three in the first quarter alone and finished 7-of-10 with seven made threes for 21 points, the kind of shooting night that doesn’t happen unless the defense is already tilted before the ball even finds him. Brandin Podziemski came off the bench to shoot 8-of-9 for 19 points, including 10 in the second quarter that helped flip the game before halftime, 62-59. Stephen Curry, quiet early, found his rhythm in the third and finished with 27 points and seven assists, the kind of performance that looks inevitable once everything else has been pulled into place.

This was one of those nights where the offense didn’t feel like a series of plays so much as a chain reaction. Butler attacking downhill, the defense shifting a half-step too far, the ball finding shooters who were already set, already balanced, already expecting it. It wasn’t rushed, it wasn’t improvised, it was controlled in a way that made the game feel smaller, like there were fewer variables than usual.

When the Knicks tried to make it interesting late, Butler and Podziemski each scored nine in the fourth to close it. Butler’s nine weren’t loud. They didn’t need to be. They were the exact points the game required, delivered without urgency or hesitation, the kind of control that doesn’t announce itself but leaves no space for anything else to happen.

The Warriors walked out of that game feeling like something had clicked. Not solved or fixed, but defined. With Butler on the floor, the game had a shape to it, a pace that held, a sense that things were moving where they were supposed to go even when it got messy for a stretch.

Butler was making that possible. Less than a week later, a freak injury took that possibility away. We didn’t know it was the last one, and that’s what makes it worth remembering.

“You have to kill them.”

This was JJ Redick’s response when asked about the challenges of closing out a team in a playoff series. His team experienced it firsthand when the Houston Rockets staved off elimination in Game 4. Then, with a chance to deliver the death blow in front of their home crowd, the Lakers once again failed to get the job done, losing 99-93 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.

Houston is very much still alive.

What once seemed inevitable has suddenly become murky. The Rockets have found things that work. Shots are starting to go in, lineups are starting to click, and most importantly, they believe again. And that is what makes them dangerous.

Fortunately, the Lakers still have two more chances to move on. But if their performances in the last two games are any indication, they’re going to have to not only match the Rockets’ desperation but exceed it to advance to the second round and avoid being the first team in NBA history to blow a 3-0 lead.

Here are the biggest takeaways from the deflating loss.

Offense stuck in the mud

Before the series, many people fairly questioned how the Lakers would consistently generate points without their two leading scorers. They ended up doing so on the back of LeBron James and by getting surprising levels of production from Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard in the first three games.

However, with Smart and Kennard both falling back to earth, so has the Lakers’ offense. The team averaged 106.6 points per contest against the Rockets in the first three games. That has plummeted in the last two as the Lakers have only put up a measly 94.5.

There are a myriad of reasons why this occurred. For one, the Rockets deserve credit. They have upped their intensity, leveraged their athletic advantages and found strategies that are yielding better results.

As a result, it is time for the Lakers to adjust and also clean up what they can control.

Turnovers continue to be an issue, demonstrated by their 15 turnovers compared to just 19 assists in Game 5. They’ve also gone cold from the perimeter after scorching the nets earlier in the series. Of their last 49 attempts from beyond the arc, the Lakers have made just 12 (24.4%).

Austin Reaves’ return should hopefully help both of these areas. He was excellent in his first half back but faltered in the second. His uneven play was to be expected after missing as much time as he has, but as this series has extended, it has become evident how much the Lakers missed his dynamism and now need it more than ever.

It was not all bleak for the offense. Beyond Reaves’ encouraging first two quarters, James also proved he is still a problem for Houston as he met their force with his own in the form of his bulldozing drives. And perhaps the biggest bright spot was Deandre Ayton, who had arguably his best game as a Laker, scoring 18 points and pulling down 17 rebounds (10 offensive).

Although it’s clear where the Lakers’ improvements need to come from, doing so may be easier said than done if they can’t tap into what made them successful earlier in the series.

3-point defense

It only took a few possessions into the matchup to realize that JJ Redick wasn’t going to let Alperen Şengün be the one to beat him in the first round.

With the Lakers’ natural inclination to switch nearly everything, the Rockets have routinely sought out Şengün in the post whenever he got a smaller player defending him. The Lakers would respond by sending help to get the ball out of the big’s hands.

This same strategy was applied in Game 5. But unlike in previous contests, the outcome was different when the mismatch occurred.

Throughout the series, the Lakers have routinely dared the other Rockets to beat them, specifically from the perimeter. And for the most part, they have been unable to. This has allowed the Lakers to continue to show Şengün two defenders without fear of the open threes it would create elsewhere. In Game 5, that gameplan finally backfired.

Between the attention given to Şengün and the Lakers’ clear emphasis to shut off the paint whenever a drive occurred, the Rockets attempted 40 threes on Wednesday night as a result. It’s a staggering number given that the 3-ball accounted for nearly half of their total shots (48%), and considering Houston had the fifth-fewest 3-point frequency in the regular season (32.3%).

Between taking and making more, the Rockets ended up knocking down seven more threes than the Lakers in Game 5. Even if the Lakers were able to clean up other areas, that differential would almost always be too difficult to overcome.

Adjustments coming?

Although it may be easy to call for change given the recent results, it is important to note that Redick has shown a reluctance to react rashly to a small sample size.

That said, this is the playoffs. If there was ever a time to change course, it’s now. Between now and Friday, Redick and his coaching staff will likely return to their whiteboard and have to find the answers to problems that previously were hypothetical and now very real.

For example, will he trust his bigs to play Şengün more traditionally in Game 6 in an attempt to limit the open looks from the outside? Is there lineup tinkering to be done? How does he balance the usage distribution between Reaves and the players who played well in his absence?

Despite the Rockets’ recent surge, the Lakers are still in a good spot. But that does not mean they can approach Game 6 and beyond with the notion that they have margin for error. This is a series again, and the Lakers will have to treat it as such from top to bottom if they hope to avoid a historic collapse.

Pressure is mounting, and how they respond to it will be telling.

All stats courtesy of Cleaning the Glass unless otherwise stated. You can follow Alex on Bluesky at @alexregla.bsky.social.