Reporting Articles - Page 423

The league’s leading scorer will miss his first game of the season. Kevin Durant played in 35 out of 72 regular season games a season ago. He’s already nearly halfway towards his 2021 season total, having logged 16 games played so far. However, after appearing to tweak his shoulder back on November 8th in a […]

If everyone counting them out wasn’t enough, Paul George and the LA Clippers may have just gotten some more bulletin board material. The team lost to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night for the second time this season. Only this time, Dillon Brooks played after starting the season on the sidelines. Paul George scored 23 […]

We are now about a month into the NBA season, and the Philadelphia 76ers’ Ben Simmons saga remains a reoccurring topic among the basketball community. Even with the Sixers having a streak of ups and downs, most eyes remain on the situation regarding the former No. 1 pick. The three-time All-Star is not mentally ready […]

At different times throughout the season, the Brooklyn Nets (now 11-5 and tied for first place with the Miami Heat) have talked about finding their identity. They were pretty honest in saying they didn’t have one at first and didn’t know what theirs would be during the season’s early grind. But it does seem as […]

On the first night of a road back-to-back, the Golden State Warriors faced the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Warriors trailed most of the game and struggled offensively for three quarters, managing just 68 points. That was until Stephen Curry happened. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Warriors were down 81-68. Instead of taking his […]

After missing the past eight games, LeBron James (abdominal strain) is officially listed as questionable for the Los Angeles Lakers nationally-televised matchup against the Boston Celtics on Friday night. Get your popcorn ready. LeBron James remains out against Milwaukee but is getting his pregame work in with Phil Handy. This will mark the eighth straight […]

All summer long, Neil Olshey appealed to the strength of the Portland Trail Blazers’ starting lineup as a major reason for optimism in 2021-22. Chauncey Billups parroted those talking points almost immediately upon being named Terry Stotts’ successor. When Media Day finally came in early September, multiple players extolled the virtues of Portland’s opening quintet, […]

Jusuf Nurkic was instrumental to the Portland Trail Blazers’ thrilling 112-107 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night at Moda Center, playing arguably his best game of the season. The Bosnian Beast had 18 points and 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season, exploiting a Bulls squad that often went small while […]

16 games into the 2021-22 NBA season, it’s hard to deem the Los Angeles Lakers’ decision to swap their depth for Russell Westbrook as a success. Westbrook entered Wednesday averaging 19.4 points and 8.3 assists on .427/.292/.685 splits and leads the NBA in turnovers per game (5.3). His defense has been as maddening as advertised. […]

The Los Angeles Lakers — who opened the 2021-22 NBA season as favorites to win the Western Conference — are an underwhelming 8-8 through their first 16 games, despite 12 of those coming at home and mostly against lottery teams (they also went 0-6 in the preseason). For the most part, their performance has been […]

The Los Angeles Lakers (and Lakers fans) have not been happy about how they’ve been officiated this season. That’s been abundantly clear to anyone who’s watched their games or witnessed the “Refs you suck!” chants that have been a regular occurrence at Staples Center. It was no different on Wednesday night, in the Lakers hard-fought […]

Milwaukee Bucks superstar and GQ Man of the Year Giannis Antetokounmpo dominated the Los Angeles Lakers from wire to wire in the Bucks’ 109-102 win. He was brilliant from the jump. Antetokounmpo scored the Bucks’ first eight points and dropped 27 in the first half. Despite the Lakers’ shifting to a zone in the third […]

The Charlotte Hornets handily defeated the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night. The Wizards are sitting at the top of the east and are off to one of their franchise’s best starts in over 30 years. Despite that, the Hornets beat lock them down and secured a victory, 97-87. In their last game, they defeated the […]

One player who fans expected to play an important role for the Brooklyn Nets during the early portion of the 2021-22 season was Nicolas Claxton. The 31st overall pick in the 2019 draft was actually who Steve Nash tapped to fill in for Kyrie Irving (unvaccinated) in the starting lineup to begin the year. It […]

The Philadelphia 76ers have found themselves in a bit of a rough patch. After starting the season on a high note, health and safety protocols took out a portion of the roster, leaving Doc Rivers heavily undermanned. Between playing shorthanded and guys having to play longer stretches, they have struggled to get back in the […]

The Los Angeles Lakers were “gifted” 12 of their first 15 games at the supposedly-friendly confines of the Staples Center (er, Crypto.com Arena). The schedule looked relatively light: only four games against teams who qualified for the 2020-21 playoffs. They came out of that stretch 8-7 and, seemingly, without having figured anything out. Alas. Now, […]

Stephen A. Smith is not one to shy away from his feelings. He went in on Kevin Durant in his latest appearance on ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday after the Brooklyn Nets got stomped by the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night. He didn’t pull any punches against Kyrie Irving, James Harden or the Nets faithful either. Even […]

The Golden State Warriors’ early-season dominance continued on Tuesday. They defeated Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets in an impressive 117-99 win. Stephen Curry led all scorers with 37 points, but a group effort pulled off this satisfying victory. 13 players played, and nobody played for over 30 minutes. That was possible because of the […]

LOS ANGELES — It was just announced that the famous Staples Center, which has housed some absolutely historic moments in Downtown LA, will soon have a new name. Starting Dec. 25, the arena will be called Crypto.com Arena, and Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George has some reservations about the name change. The arena, which […]

The Philadelphia 76ers kicked off a season-long six-game road trip Tuesday night with a matchup against the Utah Jazz. Despite players slowly returning from health and safety protocols, they still find themselves without multiple key players. Utah took advantage of the depleted squad and won the game in blowout fashion, extending the Sixers’ losing streak […]

When the Philadelphia 76ers’ roster initially took a hit, the team did a good job remaining competitive. Unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worst in their recent stretch. While they’ve received some reinforcements in the form of Tobias Harris, the Sixers still find themselves on the wrong end of a four-game losing streak. […]

Damian Lillard is slowly but surely breaking out of the worst slump of his career. The Portland Trail Blazers superstar is averaging 24.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.8 assists in his last five games, shooting 47.1% overall and 39.1% on a high volume of threes. Maybe those numbers don’t reflect Lillard’s MVP-level peak, but they […]

The Portland Trail Blazers earned a much-needed 118-113 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Monday night, emerging from a furious, back-and-forth battle in the fourth quarter for an impressive victory on the second night of a back-to-back. A lot went right for the Blazers from the friendly confines of Moda Center when they needed it […]

When the Golden State Warriors drafted Jonathan Kuminga with the No. 7 pick, they knew they were getting a player full of potential. They didn’t know they would be getting a 19-year-old who could play right away. The one thing that has earned him playing time during crucial points of games is his defense. “We […]

Not long after the ball was tipped, it became readily apparent that the Los Angeles Lakers (8-7) were not going to beat the Chicago Bulls (10-4) on Monday at Staples Center. Not without LeBron James, and not with the game the Bulls’ three best players — all with notable Los Angeles roots — brought from […]

Anthony Davis was ejected from the Los Angeles Lakers’ blowout loss vs. the Chicago Bulls with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter. Lakers head coach Frank Vogel — along with the Staples Center crowd — was rightfully confused and peeved about the whole ordeal. Davis picked up his first technical midway through the first quarter […]

There have been a number of stats floating around about the New York Knicks’ starting lineup since their loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday. Take your pick: The starting lineup of Kemba Walker, Evan Fournier, RJ Barrett, Julius Randle, and Mitchell Robinson has played the second-most minutes of any five-man unit in the NBA […]

As the New York Knicks prep for their second matchup of the season with the Indiana Pacers on Monday night, apparently a good practice session on Sunday is providing some optimism internally. Take it from Derrick Rose, who spoke to the media after the session. “With the first group, they were doing a lot of […]

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry returned home to Charlotte to face the Hornets on Sunday. But his homecoming wasn’t the only reunion to take place on this day. NFL star Cam Newton also made his return to the Carolina Panthers to face the Arizona Cardinals. In his season debut with the Panthers, he scored […]

The Brooklyn Nets set sail for a long six-game road trip earlier this month. At the beginning of it, they were 5-3 overall, fifth place in the newly competitive Eastern Conference. There has been a rising middle class in the East with improved play overall. But after going 5-1 away from Brooklyn, the Nets now […]

Alex Caruso will make his shortly-awaited and profoundly bittersweet return to Staples Center on Monday, as his Chicago Bulls face the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers, of course, helped develop Caruso from an undrafted free agent and G-Leaguer into a fan favorite, All-NBA caliber defender, and starter in the title-clinching Game 6 of the NBA […]

Even though the Philadelphia 76ers find themselves on the wrong end of a losing streak right now, there is one glowing positive of their recent stretch: second-year guard Tyrese Maxey continues to flourish in his expanded role. Sixers head coach Doc Rivers gave Maxey a big challenge heading into this year, and he has started […]

The Portland Trail Blazers were outclassed in the early going against the lowly Houston Rockets on Friday. Three days earlier, they trailed the LA Clippers by double-digits less than three minutes after tipoff. And on Sunday versus the depleted Denver Nuggets, Portland fell behind 24-8 in the first quarter, never coming closer than nine points […]

Although the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak ended on Sunday, there was one positive takeaway from this game against the Charlotte Hornets. That positive was the play of their first lottery pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Jonathan Kuminga. His defensive abilities were on full display, and Draymond Green noticed some things and made […]

The Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak came to an end on Sunday night against LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets. It was the second and final meeting between the two groups, and it ended with a series split at one apiece. In Sunday’s Hornets victory, Ball finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, five assists, […]

LOS ANGELES – Paul George and the LA Clippers‘ seven-game winning streak came to an end on Sunday night at the hands of Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and the visiting Chicago Bulls. Sunday marked one the ugliest shooting game of the month for LA, shooting just 35.8 percent from the field and 32.4 […]

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Lakers earned their first win in regulation without LeBron James of the season, defeating the San Antonio Spurs 114-106 at Staples Center. Barring a couple of tight moments, it was a relatively comfortable afternoon for Los Angeles. In the short term, that was just what the doctor ordered for a […]

The Charlotte Hornets went from losing four straight on the road to now rattling off three straight wins. This time, they were able to take down arguably the best team in the league, the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors only had one loss coming into Spectrum Center. The Hornets stuck to their game plan, slowed […]

The Brooklyn Nets visited the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday. OKC, surprisingly, has rattled off four wins in a row, giving a little added intrigue to this contest–although Brooklyn is still favored to win. The city of Oklahoma will surely bring up some memories for Kevin Durant and James Harden. Both players played their early […]