Reporting Articles - Page 345

According to LeBron James, Anthony Davis, “analytics” guys, and a whiteboard in the locker room, the Los Angeles Lakers had a 0.3% chance of making the NBA Playoffs after beginning the 2022-23 regular season with a 2-10 record. Or, another way to look at it, to paraphrase Lloyd Christmas: So they were telling the Lakers […]

Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn is no stranger to strategy meetings ahead of a playoff series. Brooklyn’s first-round matchup with Philadelphia will mark the team’s fifth consecutive year in the postseason. Vaughn, who spent six years with the Nets as an assistant before being promoted this season, has played a role in the preparation for […]

CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers returned to the practice court together as they gear up for the 2023 NBA playoffs, starting with a matchup against the Brooklyn Nets. Legacies are on the line for Joel Embiid and James Harden, as is the future of the team itself. The two stars will obviously have to […]

Both the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies have some work to do before resuming basketball’s most heated rivalry under the playoff spotlight. The reigning champs are heavy favorites in the first round against the upstart Sacramento Kings, but hardly incapable of falling to DeAaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and company in a battle for Northern […]

CAMDEN, N.J. — As the Philadelphia 76ers prepare for the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the 2023 NBA playoffs, there are two key players on Brooklyn’s side to keep an eye on: Mikal Bridges and Nic Claxton. Those two can give the Sixers a heap of trouble in the first round. Bridges has […]

The Golden State Warriors aren’t only entering the playoffs playing by far their best basketball of the season. As the defending champions gear up for another title run, their veteran core is also poised to be as healthy and rested as possible—all Draymond Green needs to give him full confidence the Dubs will come out […]

The Los Angeles Lakers turned a 2-10 start into a 43-39 record and earned the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference. As a reward, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Co. will host the beleaguered Minnesota Timberwolves (42-40) in the Play-In game on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena. The Lakers are a conference-best 16-7 since the […]

Just because the Golden State Warriors, unsurprisingly, open as clear favorites in the first round of the playoffs hardly means the Sacramento Kings are pushovers. Mike Brown’s squad put up the highest offensive rating ever in 2022-23, its 118.6 points per 100 possessions racing past the rest of the league. DeAaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis […]

Doc Rivers sat down at the podium ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers’ regular-season finale Sunday in Brooklyn. He candidly joked about the irrelevance of the game given both teams would rest their top players ahead of the upcoming first-round matchup. The conversation shifted to a more serious tone when the head coach was asked how […]

Austin Reaves, an upcoming restricted free agent, says he hopes to re-sign with the Los Angeles Lakers. The second-year guard sat down with Stadium’s Shams Charania to discuss his breakout 2022-23 season, his early experiences scrimmaging alongside LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook, and his first foray into NBA free agency (not counting his […]

Paul George is actively working hard to return to the Los Angeles Clippers lineup, with the hopes of a deep playoff run hanging in the balance. While the eight-time NBA All-Star is still shelved, he’s certainly hoping to return soon enough to help the Clippers in their upcoming playoff series against Kevin Durant and the […]

PHILADELPHIA — Paul Reed is part of an important lineage for the Philadelphia 76ers. The team’s backup center is a glue guy known for hustle plays and doing the dirty work. Appreciation for those types of players has been a staple among Sixers fans for a while, due in large part to the Rights to […]

PHILADELPHIA — The final day of the 2022-23 regular season was eventful for Paul Reed. After he helped the Philadelphia 76ers secure a win over the Brooklyn Nets, he headed over to the Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast’s live event, where he was the headline guest. Spike Eskin and Mike Levin, who have painstakingly chronicled the last decade […]

The Boston Celtics are a storied franchise with no shortage of history, and this regular season Jayson Tatum added his own chapter. The four-time All-Star became the first player in franchise history to average 30 points per game in a season, something Paul Pierce, Larry Bird, and other Hall of Fame Celtics never even achieved. […]

The No. 7 seed Los Angeles Lakers (43-39), after closing out their regular season with a 128-117 win over the Utah Jazz, wilt host the No. 8 seed Minnesota Timberwolves (42-40) in the play-in game on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena. Following the regular season finale, various Lakers offered initial reactions to the Wolves matchup, which […]

The Golden State Warriors ended 2022-23 on a ringing high note Sunday, blowing out the tanking Portland Trail Blazers 157-101 to clinch a playoff berth. The defending champions have avoided the play-in tournament despite a topsy-turvy regular season, setting the stage for a highly anticipated battle with the Sacramento Kings in the first round of […]

Following a 52-point outburst in Boston Tuesday during which he shot 20-of-25 from the field, Joel Embiid has cemented his status as the MVP favorite over Nikola Jokic this season. Steph Curry and Damian Lillard recently pointed to the Philadelphia 76ers big man as their pick for the award, and Sixers head coach Doc Rivers […]

The Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets’ regular-season finalé was as inconsequential as any NBA game can get. The starting five and key bench players from both teams were resting with their playoff spots locked up. One key development from the end of the Sixers season is that Jalen McDaniels continued to play some of his […]

The Golden State Warriors needed a win in the regular-season finale to clinch a playoff spot in the Western Conference. Just 12 minutes into Sunday’s matchup with the tanking Portland Trail Blazers, the defending champions had already made sure they’d be finishing 2022-23 with a victory—even making NBA history in the process. The Warriors exploded […]

Klay Thompson entered Sunday’s regular-season finale needing five three-pointers to make more NBA history. His team facing the tanking Portland Trail Blazers, the Golden State Warriors star didn’t even need half of a full quarter before etching his name in league record books once again during the team’s 157 – 101 win. Thompson came out […]

Before facing each other in the first round of the playoffs, the Philadelphia 76ers (54-28) and Brooklyn Nets (45-37) closed out their regular seasons with an afternoon matchup. In a game that was basically 48 minutes of garbage time, the Sixers won 134-105. Let’s break down the Sixers’ final game of the 2022-23 regular season. […]

Andrew Wiggins is still working toward his long-awaited on-court return to the Golden State Warriors. As the postseason finally dawns, though, the importance of Wiggins getting some additional practice time by his team avoiding the play-in tournament still looms large. Steve Kerr updated Wiggins’ status on Sunday before his team’s regular-season finale against the tanking […]

One of the media members closest to New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick isn’t fully buying the report that he has shopped quarterback Mac Jones in trade talks this offseason. Mike Lombardi, who worked with Belichick on the Cleveland Browns in the early ’90s and again with the New England Patriots in 2014 and […]

Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers have a number of different playoff scenarios entering the final day of the season, but a win on Sunday means they’ll undoubtedly play the Phoenix Suns in the 2023 NBA Playoffs. The Suns are locked into the 4-seed, with the Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Golden State Warriors, and […]

The Nets locked themselves into a first-round matchup with the 76ers with a win Friday. Brooklyn will face off with Philadelphia in Sunday’s regular-season finale but is expected to rest nearly the entire rotation. Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Royce O’Neale and Seth Curry have already been ruled out. Nic Claxton, Spencer Dinwiddie, Joe Harris and […]

The Los Angeles Clippers have everything to play for on Sunday afternoon, the final day of the NBA regular season. Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns have nothing to play for, and it’s reflected in their decision regarding Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Chris Paul. With the fourth seed locked up, the Suns are resting Durant, Booker, and […]

The Golden State Warriors have more work to do before clinching a spot in the playoffs. If the defending champs beat the tanking Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, though, they’ll have survived a wild, up-and-down regular season to avoid the play-in tournament, finishing fifth or sixth in the Western Conference. The LA Clippers will decide […]

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Clippers are hoping to keep their playoff hopes alive long enough for Paul George to return from his knee injury. George made his return to the team on Saturday, April 8th, for the first time since suffering a knee sprain. George arrived to Crypto dot com Arena to support […]

Philadelphia 76ers guard Jaden Springer is embracing the spotlight. The second-year guard led the Delaware Blue Coats, the Sixers’ G League affiliate, to a title with a phenomenal performance in the championship round. His reward (aside from being named MVP of the series)? Turning right around to join the big club on a road game. […]

The final two days of the 2022-23 NBA regular season are here. While most of the Eastern Conference playoff bracket is set, there’s still a lot to play for in the Western Conference. Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook’s Los Angeles Clippers are currently knee-deep in the fight to avoid the Play-In Tournament. The Clippers are […]

Darvin Ham is riding high after the Los Angeles Lakers turned a 2-10 start to 2022-23 into a winning season. But the first-year head coach is craving a more intense euphoria. “I’m definitely happy that we were able to play through that adversity,” Ham said about the early season struggles after the Lakers supporting cast […]

There’s one game left in the 2022-23 regular season, and the Los Angeles Lakers still don’t know where they’ll finish in the standings and whether they’ll have to compete in the play-in tournament on Tuesday (they’re guaranteed a No. 7 or No. 8 seed, at worst). They also played far from their best basketball — […]

The Brooklyn Nets are heading to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. With their 101-84 blowout of the Orlando Magic at Barclays Center Friday, Brooklyn clinched the Eastern Conference’s sixth seed and a first-round matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers. Expectations never shifted within the new-look Nets following the trades of Kevin Durant and Kyrie […]

The Golden State Warriors still need to beat the Portland Trail Blazers in the season finale to clinch a playoff berth. Even if they somehow fall to the league’s most brazenly tanking team, though, relegated to the play-in tournament, Steve Kerr knows the defending champions must take better care of the ball come the postseason. […]

LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Los Angeles Lakers temporarily avoided being cemented into the NBA play-in tournament by defeating the Phoenix Suns, 121-107, at Crypto.com Arena on Friday. The Suns, already locked into the No. 4 seed, sat Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and DeAndre Ayton. Los Angeles played LeBron, AD, and D’Angelo Russell […]

The Golden State Warriors’ 119-97 win over the Sacramento Kings on Friday night wasn’t the potential postseason preview northern California basketball fans had been long anticipating after all. Essentially locked into the third seed in the West pre-tipoff, Sacramento sat its stars at Golden One Center, giving DeAaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and company some extra […]

Joel Embiid’s incredible 2022-23 season will most likely yield him the MVP award. The Philadelphia 76ers’ superstar center has pieced together a sensational body of work while putting the Sixers in a solid position to win in the postseason. His dominance has been solidified with an extremely rare statistical feat. Embiid has effectively clinched the […]

The Philadelphia 76ers (53-28) faced the Atlanta Hawks (41-40) simply trying to get to the postseason healthy, as evidenced by the number of guys they had sitting out. With Joel Embiid, James Harden and numerous other key players out, the Sixers stole an overtime win, 136-131. Let’s break down an insane game between the Sixers […]

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham provided a less-than-ideal update regarding point guard Dennis Schroder ahead of their matchup with the Phoenix Suns on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena. About 90 minutes before tip-off, the Lakers announced that Schroder was downgraded to questionable with neck spasms. Ham said Dennis is suffering from “extreme neck […]