Basketball Intelligence For 12/7/24
Bulls lose pace with Indiana, Sacramento deals a royal beating to San Antonio, Portland can't keep tempo with the Jazz, and more...
TEAM NEWS
ATL: The Art of the Steal: Hawks’ Dyson Daniels stars as ‘The Great Barrier Thief’
Lauren Willimas, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATL: Trae Young makes history as Hawks top Lakers in OT for sixth consecutive win
Lauren Willimas, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
BOS: Joe Mazzulla uses savvy tactic with Al Horford in Bucks win
Brian Robb, Mass Live
BOS: Celtics answer Bucks’ call to compete, win despite cold shooting
Jay King, The Athletic
BOS: Celtics finish off season sweep of Bucks as rivalry renewed
Tim bontemps, ESPN
BOS: Doc Rivers sees what his Bucks are missing in the championship-hardened Celtics
Gary Washburn, The Boston Globe
CHA: As injuries mount, there’s one constant for the Hornets: It’s all about Brandon Miller
Roderick Boone, The Charlotte Observer
CHI: Practice ... Billy Donovan's talking practice ... and Bulls need it
Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times
CHI: 4 takeaways from a Chicago Bulls loss to the Indiana Pacers, including a 2nd-quarter collapse and a masked Matas Buzelis
Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune
DEN: The good, bad and ugly from the Denver Nuggets' first quarter of the season
Vinny Benedetto, The Denver Gazette
The Nuggets have played a challenging schedule so far. Heading into Friday’s slate, Denver has played only six games against teams with losing records – the Raptors (twice), Nets, Jazz (twice) and Pelicans. Denver is 5-1 in those games with the exception being a seven-point loss in New Orleans without Jokic. Oklahoma City has the Western Conference’s easiest remaining schedule, per Tankathon, as the combined winning percentage of their opponents the rest of the season is .489. Denver has the second-easiest schedule in the West, as their future opponents have a collective .490 win percentage. It’s worth remembering the Nuggets were 13-7 with a few ugly losses through 20 games of the championship season.
GSW: Draymond Green, Steph Curry support Jonathan Kuminga’s leap to starter
Anthony Slater, The Athletic
GSW: On the concept of ‘kills’ and how the Warriors’ offense was killed by the Wolves’ defense
Joe Viray, Golden State Of Mind
GSW: Draymond accepts Warriors bench role to maximize Kuminga
Dalton Johnson, NBC Sports Bay Area
LAL: LeBron James misses shot at final buzzer in Lakers’ wild overtime loss to Hawks
Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times
LAL: Fact or Fiction: LeBron James' Lakers are stuck in the middle
Ben Rohrbach, Yahoo! Sports
LAL: LeBron says Lakers facing test without several 'big pieces'
Dave McMenamin, ESPN
MIA: The Culture Report: Shooting like the Celtics, Blowing out the Lakers, No Paint Defense vs Raptors
John Jablonka, Simply Ballin
MIA: From Heat starter to out of rotation, Nikola Jovic knows ‘I just have to be better’
Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald
MIL: Latest surge proves Bucks landed the steal of the offseason not once but twice
Franco Luna, Behind The Bucks Pass
MIL: Once-exorcised habit comes back to haunt Bucks in gut-wrenching loss to Celtics
Dalton Sell, Behind The Bucks Pass
MIN: Timberwolves beat Golden State 107-90 in turnover-filled first game of two
Chris Hine, The Minnesota Star Tribune
MIN: Anthony Edwards’ patience is paying off for streaking Timberwolves
Jon Krawczy
Just over a quarter of the way through this season, Edwards always seems to have a lot in his way. Opponents are double-teaming him, and sometimes even triple-teaming him, as he probes the defense looking for a crack to get to the basket. With Karl-Anthony Towns in New York, Edwards is facing more instances of multiple defenders than he ever has before.
MIN: Timberwolves win turnover-filled affair over Warriors
Jace Frederick, Pioneer Press
NYK: Analyzing how Precious Achiuwa can contribute for the Knicks
Rafael Canton, SNY
NYK: Jalen Brunson’s job description has changed, and it’s leading the Knicks to new heights
Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News
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