Storyline: Officiating Complaints
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Dei Lynam: The NBA L2M report came out a short while ago and said the offensivefoul on Embiid should have been a foul on Jokic with 1.2 on the clock #Sixers
Rick Bonnell: JJ Redick gets a T.
Keith Pompey: Joel Embiid on his controversial offensive foul on the #Sixers’ final possession. “I watched the replay, I didn’t really see any push off. If you want to call that foul, especially at that time of the game, I think that’s kind of BS, especially because he was hooking me ...
Marcus Smart fined
Tom Westerholm: The NBA announces Marcus Smart has been fined $15,000 for criticizing the officiating last night.
Ben Golliver: Blazers’ Damian Lillard points to refs after loss to Clippers: “It seems like everything we did was a foul tonight. It was a tough situation, I was living in the paint all night and I shoot two free throws. I feel like that was a major factor tonight: the free throw disparity.” pic.twitter.com/coI9ORaiJS
Rivers said he thought Bledsoe pulled a fast one on the officiating crew. “That was awful,” Rivers said afterward. “It was. They should’ve overturned it. That’s why I hate the rule. Nobody wants to be wrong. Let me just say that. You have to overturn that. Unless Bledsoe fouled Lou with his face, there was no foul on that play.”
Mark Montieth: Nate McMillan: “I didn’t feel that was a foul at all. He got two calls tonight our guys had our hands up, he’s initiating the contact. We did foul a lot this game but I didn’t think that was a foul.” Also points out Charlotte was the aggressor and his team failed to make plays.
Kevin Porter suspended
Brad Townsend: Carlisle, asked 48 hours later by @MFollowill about the biggest teaching point from Lakers loss: “Hopefully the officials call an obvious foul on the other team at the end. That’s the first thing. Other than that, I was proud of the way our guys competed.”
Dwain Price: The NBA Last Two Minute Report showed that Dwight Howard should have been whistled for an offensive foul when he held Seth Curry on the play where Danny Green hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send last night’s Mavs-Lakers game into overtime, where the LAL won 119-110.
Mavericks unhappy with officiating
Doncic said he didn’t even know who hit him from behind to cause his laceration but strongly believed a loose-ball foul should have been called. He also complained to referee Mark Lindsay about being hit in the face by James on a pass that resulted in a turnover in the opening minute of overtime, pointing to his face and the back of his head repeatedly during a conversation with the official while James shot the free throws that put the Lakers up nine points with less than a minute left. “I was just asking if I got hit in the head, how’s that not a foul?” said Doncic, who on multiple occasions showed referees scratches on his arms after drives that didn’t result in foul calls, once leading to a stoppage in play for infectious disease control because he was bleeding. “Just should have concentrated on the game and not talked to the refs. That was my fault.”
Coach Rick Carlisle agreed with his team’s 20-year-old star. “I was upset, too, but I’m not going to spend 50 grand to criticize,” Carlisle said. “It just doesn’t make sense. These are hard games. I don’t know what else to say. They’re hard games, and they’re very emotional. It’s tough. It’s tough when you think you’re getting hit and the whistle’s not blowing.”
Tim MacMahon: Seth Curry mentioned that Mavs blew two chances to foul on last possession of 4Q. “Even so, I knew what play was coming. … I’m still there to take away that pass, and then [Dwight Howard] grabbed me and it was a no-call right in front of the official. It’s just unfortunate.”
John Hollinger: The league has worked really hard to develop a pipeline of young refs via the G League, but the fact is that nobody went to college on an officiating scholarship — officiating is something a person tries to pick up later, and few turn out to be a natural at it. Finally, the faster-paced game that has developed over the past few years has created another issue — people who are NOT world-class athletes having to keep up with them from end to end. How do you feel, Seth, about adding additional officials and/or keeping one ref on each baseline the whole game?
John Hollinger: From the front office side during my time with the Grizzlies, we absolutely had times we wanted to show players and/or coaches that we had their backs. An awful game-deciding call went against us early in one coach’s tenure, and we made sure to howl about it with the league for that purpose. We also had a situation where a particular player felt like he wasn’t getting a fair whistle, and we made a big stink about that too. (But “take that for data” was the only time we did it publicly. Too often it just looks like sour grapes and whining. A lot of times that’s because it is.)
Royce Young: D’Angelo Russell just picked up back to back techs and is tossed. It almost looked like he was trying to get run. He went after ref James Williams very demonstrably after the first tech and may have even made some slight contact with him.
Kelly Oubre fined
Jeff Zillgitt: NBA fines Suns F Kelly Oubre $10,000 for directing inappropriate language toward a referee at the end of Phoenix’s 108-107 overtime loss to the Nuggets.
Mark Medina: Doc Rivers explains why he doesn’t like the new challenge rule pic.twitter.com/CpTYOoPKJQ
Salman Ali: James Harden on the NBA clearing up that his patented step back is not a travel: “It shouldn’t have been a point (of discussion) period. The moves that I do and I create aren’t travels or the referees get paid a lot of money and are the best at what they do would call a travel.”
Salman Ali: Mike D’Antoni on the new traveling rules: “[The NBA] made a point to tell every head coach that [James Harden’s step back] is not traveling… So hopefully, coaches will quit complaining and hopefully you guys in the news will understand that that’s not traveling.”
Donatas Urbonas: Andrew Bogut stormed out the mixed zone: “It’s a fu**ing disgrace”
Emiliano Carchia: Andrew Bogut after foul on Marc Gasol witth 8 seconds to play He “shows” money…
John Schuhmann: After Australia’s 2OT loss to Spain in the WC semifinals here in Beijing, Andrew Bogut cursed his way past all the reporters in the mix zone, griping about FIBA & clearly wanting to be heard.
Tim Reynolds: Andrew Bogut screaming postgame that FIBA is “a (bleeping) disgrace.” “Cheating bleep bleeper-bleepers” was also shouted.
Donatas Urbonas: Dainius Adomaitis when asked why three South American referees worked in a game where two great European teams played: “Thank you! Thank you for this question! You don’t have to be very smart for this: just give us three European referees! But you should ask this FIBA.”
“I think we have to learn how the game is officiated,” Harrison Barnes said. “I think there are some plays that we’re kind of used to how the NBA officiates things. We get the ‘no call’ but then at the other end it just looks like we’re fouling every single time. Whether it’s post defense, whether it’s coming off screens. Whether it’s bumping a guy after driving, so there’s a learning curve we’re getting better at, but tonight it was definitely evident.”
With Collins’ sneaky athleticism he had officials apologizing and admitting they, at times, had wrongfully called a foul. “There were a couple of plays where I’d block a shot and the ref would come up to me and apologize to me and say, ‘well, you were so far away from the play, we didn’t think that you’d be able to get there, so it was a foul’.” Collins went onto say, “which I understand… I don’t think it’s like a respect thing, but hopefully they’ll know me better and they’ll know that maybe I could get there this time.”
he NBA Board of Governors today unanimously approved two changes to the instant replay rules. The first change is the introduction of a Coach’s Challenge to trigger instant replay review of a limited set of matters. A version of the Coach’s Challenge that has been in effect in the NBA G League for the last two seasons and is being used at MGM Resorts NBA Summer League 2019 will be adopted in the NBA on a one-year trial basis during the 2019-20 season.
The second change enables the NBA Replay Center (in addition to the on-court referees) to trigger instant replay in certain circumstances. This process, which was successfully tested at MGM Resorts NBA Summer League 2018 and is being used again at this year’s event, will be implemented for the 2019-20 NBA season.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Sources: Besides approving coach’s challenge, Board of Governors approved replay center’s ability — in addition to game refs — to trigger instant replay. Approved circumstances include whether it’s a 2 or 3 point FG; and if a shot was made prior or after the shot clock expired.
NBA approves in-game challenge flags
Josh Lewenberg: As if last night’s officiating wasn’t already under fire, the NBA’s L2M report reveals that Steph Curry shuffled his feet and should have been called for a travel before making the pass that led to the Iguodala dagger on the final possession. Swell.
Patrick Patterson: So Curry just ran on the court to celebrate with Cook during live play.. what y’all gonna do about that? @NBA @OfficialNBARefs
Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard believed there was contact before Andre Iguodala’s strip that sealed the Golden State Warriors’ 114-111 win in Thursday night’s Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, but he didn’t blame the referees for not blowing the whistle. After the Warriors fouled with 10 seconds remaining, Lillard isolated against Iguodala on the left wing, attempting to create space to shoot a 3-pointer that would have tied the score.
Speaking of Tuesday’s GMs meeting: Multiple sources say the liveliest topic of discussion centered around the possibility of implementing a coach’s challenge at some point soon. Some in the room favored a more limited challenge system focused on black-and-white rulings: out of bounds plays, goaltending, and the like — but not fouls. Others argued coaches should be able to challenge foul calls. The league would likely favor the more restricted concept, if anything. Allowing coaches to challenge fouls is something of a Pandora’s box. Should they be able to challenge non-calls, too? There was also discussion of whether a challenge should cost a team one timeout regardless of whether the coach “wins” or “loses” the challenge. Some in the room were wary of coaches using the challenge to create an extra timeout. Also: What if a team is out of timeouts?
Also discussed, per sources: stationing a “replay official” at the scorer’s table who could make some determinations (was that shot a 2-pointer or a 3-pointer?) without stopping play, and flag other plays right away so that referees would not have to huddle up and decide whether to trigger review. Thumbs up!
Gary Washburn: Hearing Kyrie Irving will NOT be fined for his Game 3 postgame comments about the officiating. #Celtics #Bucks.
Harrison Wind: Stotts on the shoulder Jokic gave Kanter on the foul line box out in Game 3: “I have seen it and I think it was uncalled for. I don’t know if the league will review it or not. I certainly didn’t approve of it.”
Enes Kanter: Take a freaking look at this please @OfficialNBARefs @NBAOfficial
Ben Golliver: After Game 3 loss to Bucks, Celtics’ Kyrie Irving on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s free throw attempts: “He shot 22 on the game. It’s getting ridiculous at this point. It’s slowing the f—ing game down.”
“We know how many free throws [Antetokounmpo] has shot per game,” Irving said. “He’s a great player in our league. We know how many times he goes to the basket and gets contact. We also know how many times we go to the basket and get contact. “It’s a playoff game. Guys are playing very aggressive. When you get into the bonus with 8 minutes left in the third, it’s a shocker. It will put something in your mind where you don’t want to touch anyone.”
After everything that happened in the wake of Game 1, when the Rockets were incensed with the officials and The Athletic story that followed fueled so much worldwide disdain for their Beautiful Mind style system, one had to wonder: How did all of the reaction land with Morey, who built this program that is designed for players to play the probabilities on a basketball floor as if it were a craps table? “I mean, I’ve been dealing with it for a while,” Morey said before deciding not to go any farther.
Spend half an hour talking to NBA vice president of referee development and training Monty McCutchen about this week’s hot topic — a divide between players and officials overshadowing the start of the league’s highest-profile series — and you get the feeling that conspiracy theories so often floated by fans, players, coaches and even general managers are mostly laughable. “It really is,” McCutchen told Yahoo Sports by phone on Wednesday. “That’s often the case. What’s on the inside is much more normal and mundane than human. We’re trying to get plays right. We want to serve the game well. We have the same desires individually for success in our careers that other people do in their careers, and you do that by being impartial and upholding standards with a certain resolve and will. You most certainly don’t do that by being vindictive and living through your emotions. I’m proud of our group that they consistently do good work.”
Several themes ran through our discussion, none more than the constant battle against public perception to ensure the game he loves remains impartial. McCutchen is essentially tasked with molding the NBA’s referees into a robot army capable of upholding standards void of emotion. “It’s like a race-car driver,” said McCutchen. “If you and I start driving 75 or 80 miles per hour, we might start to feel really uncomfortable behind the wheel. Like, I don’t feel like I’m able to take in the necessary information that allows me to be a good decision-maker at higher speeds, and those aren’t even high speeds compared to a race-car driver, but because they’ve trained, they’re able to process that information in ways that you and I can’t. It’s the same for referees.”
“If people can’t remove themselves from those emotions, then they’re not capable of working this time of year or they expose that they’re not capable if given the opportunity and can no longer handle this, and they go backwards instead of forwards,” said McCutchen. “It’s all in the training. If we don’t train well, then we have to live with the results of giving into our emotions, but don’t mistake in my opinion the fact that refereeing is not the same as playing. “Playing is a much different emotional experience, because you’re banging, you’re playing a physical game. It’s much different as a referee, where your job is to rise above emotion and get to standards. If we can uphold standards, then we’ve had a successful night, which is sort of the antithesis of emotion. You’re saying to yourself, ‘It doesn’t matter what the situation is, I have a standard to uphold.’ Through our process of vetting who’s having the best years, we feel highly confident — not perfect — that we have the people to rise above and uphold our standards.”
A. Sherrod Blakely: Marcus Morris heard about Giannis Antetokounmpo accusing the #Celtics of excessive fouling. “Please! Borderline not fouling his ass, with him getting calls,” Mook said. “That just shows we’re probably getting to him by now.”
It did not match the extent the Rockets had at the beginning of this playoff series. Nonetheless, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the team plans to ask the NBA league office to rescind a double technical issued to Draymond Green and Nene late in the third quarter of the Warriors’ 115-119 Game 2 win over Houston on Tuesday at Oracle Arena. Green has four technicals, leaving him three shy of receiving a one-game suspension during the playoffs without pay. “Every time there’s an altercation, it’s a double technical. If you’re playing in the playoffs for a few rounds, those add up,” Kerr said. “If the way to handle it is to call a double technical, I think the league needs to consider that.”
It appears likely the NBA will rescind the double technicals based on recent precedent. Following Game 3 of the Warriors’ first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers, the NBA rescinded a double technical on Kevin Durant and JaMychal Green. After Green fouled Durant on a hard screen, the two players engaged with what appeared to be playful banter as the two walked toward the other side of the court. Both players looked perplexed after they were issued with double technicals. “It’s a competitive atmosphere out there,” Kerr said. “It’s a playoff game. Guys are going to get tangled up.”
“I think both teams just realized what the hell was going on the last two days,” Green said. “You can’t really turn a blind eye to anything in today’s day and age, with social media and all these things. So everyone was aware of all the talk about officiating and about foul calls — come out and play the game. And I think both teams did a great job of that. “They weren’t complaining about many calls, we weren’t complaining about many calls, because it’s kind of embarrassing for the game of basketball, how much has been talked about, about fouls and officiating. What about beating your man? What about stopping your man? No one talked anything about schemes the last two days. It’s all been about foul calls. I think both teams were locked in on coming out and playing the game to the best of their ability. You have to give credit to both clubs, both teams did that.”
After arguing with referees about many calls throughout Game 1, both teams showed noticeably less emotion toward the officials at the start of Game 2. Neither team had many complaints about the officiating after Tuesday night’s game. “I didn’t even notice the officiating,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I don’t think anybody did. I think that’s the best compliment you can give them. They did a great job. This game was just about basketball.”
“My brother is a referee,” Iguodala told Yahoo Sports. “He’s on the cusp of trying to get to the next level and I ask him a lot of questions. More times than not, he’s saying the referees are right. But my questions to him, and this is the one that gets him, is how do teams guard Steph and Klay [Thompson]? And he says, ‘Oh, they get hacked every time. He says Steph gets fouled 80 percent of the possessions that he’s in. He’s getting held, he’s getting pulled. They just hold him down.’ And teams are like, just get physical with him. We see all the memes where somebody is just knocking Steph down and it’s funny, right? But you never see it on the other side. You don’t see us knocking other people down and it becoming something because it’s just a foul. Foul, foul, foul, foul, foul.”
Sam Amick: Since the tallies from the NBA’s 48 minute report are now officially a thing, we have an update: Source tells @TheAthletic that the league’s report from Game 1 of Warriors vs. Rockets indicated 17 missed calls for Houston and 11 for Golden State
There’s been talk for years that the way to fix bad calls is to have robot or computer refs take the court over (seems terrifying), but when we got Gobert out he said all that ain’t necessary. “I think it would take something away from the game if you do that.” Gobert, one of the best defensive players in the league, says that carbon-based refs are fine, as long as the players are able to have honest talks with them. “Dialogue is the most important thing.”
Brian Windhorst: Veteran official Scott Foster has been assigned to Warriors-Rockets tonight. Chris Paul, James Harden & Rockets have a long-running feud with Foster. He hasn’t worked a Rockets game since February, when Harden was fined for criticizing him after fouling out of a game in LA.
No suspension for CP3
Daryl Morey: syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2676885-st…
Anthony Slater: Steve Kerr enters his presser, flops on a reporter and jokes it should be a foul. He then discusses the noise coming out of the Rockets camp at length. pic.twitter.com/KS0PC8DmvE
Mark Berman: Mike D’Antoni says he’s over being upset about the game 1 officiating: “Yesterday I should have invited u guys.I had a great pity party.I was by myself.Nobody showed up but me..It’s part of the game.I felt sorry for myself.Nobody really helped me out.I got thru it & I’ll be fine” pic.twitter.com/EP5LCvlM0o
Logan Murdock: Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni was asked about the L2M report. D’Antoni’s response: “Hey you know what, yesterday, I shouldn’t have invited you all to my pity party… it was all myself. Nobody was invited but me.. pic.twitter.com/JcPijrZ63t
Anthony Slater: Steph Curry’s response to Houston’s noise about the referees: “Sucks that that’s the narrative.” Said Warriors could find 10-15 missed calls on the other side and clip them together. pic.twitter.com/kQDjwn5dUy
The Houston Rockets believe officiating in last season’s Western Conference finals cost them an NBA championship, and in a report since sent to the league, tabulated the net result of 81 potential missed calls and non-calls in Game 7 of that series between Houston and the Golden State Warriors, according to the report and an accompanying memo, both of which have been obtained by ESPN. “Referees likely changed the eventual NBA champion,” says the memo, addressed to Byron Spruell, the NBA’s president of league operations. “There can no be no worse result for the NBA.”
The full report obtained by ESPN lists 81 total calls, non-calls and violations. It concludes that those 81 instances cost Houston a total of 18.6 points in that game. In its own reports, the league does not attach point values to missed calls and non-calls. “As we told the Rockets, we do not agree with their methodology,” Mike Bass, an NBA spokesman, told ESPN on Monday.
Mark Berman: Chris Paul says he has spoken with the NBA about getting the second technical/auto ejection, didn’t realize he made contact with the ref, considered it “incidental,” not concerned about further repercussions pic.twitter.com/lAlK8w9bwp
Drew Shiller: According to the Last Two Minute Report: 1) Chris Paul didn’t foul Kevin Durant 2) Draymond Green didn’t foul James Harden 3) Steph Curry fouled Eric Gordon pic.twitter.com/xPT5r62vHS
Rockets fuming about officiating
No, this was about the NBA’s most analytically minded organization deciding long ago that all the data in this heavy-hitter matchup proves their point: The Warriors, as they see it, are getting the kind of officiating edge that simply must be stopped. And Game 1 – which was refereed by Zarba, Josh Tiven and Courtney Kirkland – confirmed their fears that this playoff battle with the Warriors might be just as painful as the last when it comes to the officiating.
By the Rockets’ internal count from their video crew, there were eight attempted 3-pointers that should have been fouls in Game 1 – good for 24 free throw attempts that would’ve certainly decided the game. There was insult added to injury on that front as well, with D’Antoni and Harden both saying officials told them at halftime they had missed foul calls on four Rockets 3-point attempts.
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, the Rockets have been making a data-driven case with the NBA for quite some time that these Super Team Warriors are getting a major officiating advantage in these heavy-hitter matchups. And of all the specific examples that have been discussed with league officials, none has left them more suspect of the system than the 2018 Western Conference Finals. This series opener, more than anything, was salt being poured directly into that Rockets wound.
And after the Rockets went through every line, tallying all the missed calls for each team and adding up the potential points that were lost along the way, it wasn’t pretty: The Rockets, according to the sources, had a double-digit point deficit in six of the seven games (and a small edge in Game 2). In all, sources say, they were harmed to the tune of 93 points
“Call the game how it’s supposed to be called and that’s it,” Harden said. “And I’ll live with the results. … We all know what happened a few years back with Kawhi. That can change the entire series. Just call the game the way it’s supposed to be called and we’ll live with the results. It’s plain and simple.”
“To shoot a 3-and-1, get a tech, I mean, it’s tough,” Paul said. “But I gotta be smarter because that didn’t do nothing but hurt our team.”
Paul was ejected after receiving his second technical foul with 4.4 seconds remaining. He appeared to make contact with referee Josh Tiven. Asked about the incident, Paul said, “I ain’t seen it yet.” Team sources believe that any contact between Paul and Tiven was minimal and inadvertent and should not merit any discipline from the league office.
Jared Dudley: I don’t like the flop but that’s a foul.. look where Livingston jump from and land, then look at his hand that contested the shot.. The other camera view shows it all
Kristian Winfield: Draymond Green on James Harden complaining about landing zone fouls: “I’ve been fouled by James on a James three-pointer before. I’m not tryna hear that.”
November 13, 2019 | 5:03 pm UTC Update
Memphis plans to wait on a buyout with Iguodala until February’s trade deadline. The Grizzlies are still holding out hope that a trade can be worked out and have been holding firm on their asking price of a first-round pick. If not, Iguodala will be cut loose from Memphis and free to sign with whomever he chooses—around the league, that’s expected to be the Lakers.
But there are still teams in the mix. All, according to speculation from league executives, are in the Western Conference. “He’s got more value in the West,” one GM told Heavy.com. “I can’t see a team in the East moving for him. He has the experience guarding LeBron and that’s what you want out of him. That and you want to keep him off the Lakers, you want their bench to be a weak spot. He doesn’t have those same kinds of good matchups in the East. You don’t want to put him on Giannis (Antetokounmpo) in a seven-game series, for sure.”
But the Grizzlies have yet to show interest in that deal and whether the Mavs would revisit the offer is a question. Sources indicate that the Mavs’ intent as the season progresses is to hunt for a piece with the trade exception they hold from the Harrison Barnes deal, worth $11.7 million. The Mavs can take on a player with a contract less than that value without giving up anything in return.
Alykhan Bijani: The #Rockets have recalled forward Gary Clark and center Isaiah Hartenstein from their single-affiliation G League partner Rio Grande Valley.
The Milwaukee Bucks have assigned Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Dragan Bender to the Wisconsin Herd of the NBA G League. Antetokounmpo has appeared in one game for the Bucks this season while Bender has yet to play in a game for Milwaukee. Bender started the first two games of the season for the Herd and averaged 19.0 points, 6.5 points, 1.5 blocks, 1.0 assist and 1.0 steal in 29.9 minutes per game.
During an episode of ESPN’s “The Jump” on Tuesday, former Celtic Paul Pierce and longtime NBA reporter Jackie MacMullan touched on the difference in the team’s leadership. Specifically, the departure of Kyrie Irving and the arrival of Kemba Walker. “They got better leadership in there,” Pierce said. “Let’s just call it how it is.”
After ESPN reporter Rachel Nichols — the show’s host — offered a clarification that the leadership was simply “different,” Pierce jumped back in. “It’s better,” reiterated Pierce. “Kemba, he’s known throughout the league as being a great leader. I mean, he played on losing teams, he stayed positive. He went out and played hard every night, and that can be infectious. That can be the difference between losing and winning and chemistry. That’s what he’s brought to the Celtics.”
The entire article was brief, straightforward and, yet, extremely bold. Silver was the first acting commissioner of a major U.S. sports league to come out in support of legalized sports betting. In 437 words, he pivoted the NBA’s long-held public opposition to sports betting and ignited a discussion about a taboo subject for all professional leagues. “I think it was ground-breaking,” Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said of Silver’s op-ed in an email to ESPN. “Leagues for decades were hypocritical about gaming, pretending it doesn’t exist. Adam ended that hypocrisy.”
Behind the scenes, though, the leagues were studying the issue, preparing for the day when more states would offer sports betting. Former NBA commissioner David Stern believes Silver’s op-ed had an enormous impact on the other leagues’ approaches to the issue and was very influential overall in the movement toward expanded legal sports betting. “It indicated that the horse was about to leave the barn and it would be smart to jump on your own horse and follow along,” Stern said. “And they did.” “It was critical,” added Cuban. “Prior, those in favor of gaming expected pro sports to fight back. With the hypocrisy gone, the legal steps could move forward.”
Leonsis was on the forefront of the league’s shift on betting and was one of the owners Silver consulted with on the op-ed. “My notion was what are we afraid of, when we know all this money is being spent offshore [with bookmakers] in an unregulated, untaxed and unmindful way?” Leonsis said in a phone interview Tuesday. Today, the professional leagues’ opposition to sports betting has vanished. Their focus now is on how to monetize the growing regulated industry through data and fees based on the amount wagered on the games.
November 13, 2019 | 3:54 pm UTC Update
Through their first nine games, James had assisted Davis on 26 baskets, 10 more than any other teammate, per ESPN Stats & Information research. Compare that to his first nine games with Bosh, when it was 17 assists, and his first nine with Love, which produced only 11. Their pick-and-rolls have resulted in the highlight dunks that fans love and a schematic nightmare for opposing coaches. And even though they sometimes are caught a little out of position, there’s a natural flow that’s easy to see. “I think that’s part of [LeBron’s] genius that he’s able to morph into whatever he needs to be, to bring out the best out of the other players,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, whose team faced the Lakers last week. “His connection with [Bosh] was pretty natural, and I think this is, this just fits like a glove. … When both guys want to do it, commit to the process of getting better with it, you’re just going to see that improve dramatically as the season goes on.”
If he wanted to, Chris Bosh could coach up a different niche group: big men playing with LeBron James. “Playing with LeBron was like buying a Ferrari,” Bosh said. “You know it’s the best in the world. It looks amazing when you see it. But you have no idea how powerful it is once you try to drive it. You can go right off the road.”
Amid the ongoing debate about resting players in the NBA, count Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban among those openly willing to support load management. “The problem isn’t load management, per se,” Cuban told reporters in Boston on Monday. “I think teams have to be smarter about when to load manage. I’m all for load management. Worse than missing a player in a [regular-season] game is missing him in the playoffs.”
“It’s all data-driven,” Cuban said. “We’re not going, ‘OK, let’s just mess with the league and our meal ticket to fans to do something just because it might be interesting. We spend so much money, not just on analytics for predictive reasons, but also for biometrics so we know how smart we can be. “The dumb thing would be to ignore the science.”
Cuban said that while it might be frustrating to see players on the bench now, it all pays off in the postseason. “You actually get more of your stars [in the playoffs],” Cuban said. “You get shorter rotations of more of the guys playing in the playoffs, which is what you want to see anyway, right?”
“He had a tough couple of weeks before training camp,” Dunn said. “Most people, when I get at them and I see fear, they’re done. They’re outta there.” But White didn’t budge. He showed no fear, no quit. He refused to back down. He just kept coming. “Training camp came and he turned it on,” Dunn said. “That showed he’s still learning, but he’s going to bring it. He’s going to keep bringing it. He kept the same intensity. He kept the same energy. And I love it.”
Justin Kubatko: The @Jaryd Wilson Trae Young has joined LeBron James as the only players in NBA history to reach 10 career 30-point, 10-assist games before turning 22 years old. James had 11 such games before his 22nd birthday.
Though some of the feelings were foreign to him, he could recognize them as a threat to his well-being. “That kills more dreams, careers, on and off the court, basketball-related and just (in) regular life,” Brown says. “As soon as you start not believing in yourself, it’s over. So I had to quiet that voice that was in the back of my head. Everybody has it. It’s not something that, like, just Jaylen has been through it. I think everybody on this planet probably has that voice in the back of their head telling them to stop or to quit or not to keep going. And that voice had been louder last year than it had ever been. So I had to make sure to quiet that fucking voice because it was pissing me off.”
He found the best response was sometimes to detach from a situation, even if others did not always understand the tactic. He wasn’t doing it out of a lack of care, he says, but because he needed to preserve his positive energy and keep moving in the right direction. While he says he didn’t lean much on others for advice, his grandfather recommended a number of helpful books. “A lot of it had to do with astrology and stuff like that,” Brown says. “Finding out what you’re made of. I had to remind myself of who I was. That was good for me.”
Brown has a bigger role again. Head coach Brad Stevens inserted him into the starting lineup from Day 1. Through nine games, the Celtics lead the NBA with an 8-1 record and a plus-9.5 net rating. Brown is averaging 19.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game on 53 percent shooting. Those marks would all establish career highs. He has lived near the rim so far — which he called a conscious decision — but he does not want to pigeonhole himself into a slashing style. If teams start backing up, he says, he may need to start lacing 3-pointers again. “The media or analytics, they always try to put you in a box and say this is the type of player he is or this is the type of player,” Brown says. “I don’t think anybody knows what type of player I am. I can try to continue to grow and get better. In two years I might be improved at anything just because I work on my game that way.”
Brad Turner: After getting X-rays on his ribs (right side) after game Tuesday night that were negative, all signs point to the Lakers holding out Anthony Davis for Wednesday night’s game vs. Warriors at Staples Center, per source. Davis also been dealing with right shoulder issues.
November 13, 2019 | 8:14 am UTC Update
Knicks players back David Fizdale
Despite their frustrations following the loss at Chicago — one in which they turned the ball over 18 times and were outscored 52-46 in the paint — Knicks players were still adamant in their support of the second-year coach. “We’ve got 9-10 new guys? We’ve got 10 guys that have not played together at all and me who hasn’t even been in the league yet,” said rookie RJ Barrett. “You’re gonna have some challenges, but you’ve got to keep pushing, keep pushing through everything. That’s all I can really say. You’ve just got to stay together. “He’s up to the challenge. We believe in him,” he continued. “We’re staying together, and like we said, we’re all-in with him and are just gonna keep fighting together.”
Fizdale didn’t seem fazed by the speculation during Tuesday’s shootaround, telling reporters, “It’s always a media firestorm in New York, so for everybody else this is a big deal, but for us, it’s a normal environment. So, our guys are focused, they’re connected.”
Knicks owner James Dolan spoke with team president Steve Mills and others in management on Monday, the day after Mills and GM Scott Perry held an impromptu press conference to express their frustration with the Knicks. Dolan speaks with Mills and other top decision-makers regularly, just as most NBA owners do, but this conversation seemed to carry a little more weight. Sources familiar with the conversation told SNY that management came away with the impression that their jobs would be secure as long as the Knicks ‘showed progress’ this season.
Despite another defeat, there was a clear attempt to calm roiling waters surrounding Fizdale. Sources indicated Mills and Perry felt their unprecedented James Dolan-inspired press conference Sunday came off as too harsh in the form of pinning the blame on the coach.
Sources told SNY that, in addition to Fizdale, Mills and Perry are also ‘on notice’ in the wake of the Knicks’ slow start. Regardless of what happens with Fizdale, opposing executives expect Mills and Perry to be given the remainder of the season to show Dolan that the team they put together can be competitive.
Stadium: NBA Insider @ShamsCharania reports Dion Waiters will return to the Heat when his 10-game team suspension ends after “gummy” incident. “There isn’t a buyout on the horizon … he has to get back into the good graces of the organization”
Jeff Siegel: The Atlanta Hawks are now eligible to sign a 16th player to their roster, now that John Collins has been suspended for five games and can be moved to the Suspended List. When his suspension is up in late December, they would then have to make a cut to get Collins back.
The Houston Rockets made the signing-and-trading for veteran Chris Paul in the summer of 2017 the landmark move of their offseason, but the All-Star floor general only experienced two seasons in Clutch City before being quickly shipped off again on his career. Speaking to comedian and actor Kevin Hart on his cold tub show that we all knew existed before this moment, the 34-year-old Paul called his 2019 offseason trade to the Oklahoma City Thunder a “stab” in the back (via Dan Feldman of NBC Sports). Hart: Do you feel like there’s been times where, “Damn, that’s a little eye-opening. I got stabbed in the back”? Paul: Absolutely. This last situation was one of them. The GM there in Houston, he don’t owe me nothing. You know what I mean? He may tell me one thing but do another thing. But you just understand that that’s what it is.
James Ham: “F— the headband. No more headband. F— that s—. I’ll burn that s— up next time I see one.” -Buddy Hield after missing his first six 3-pointers while wearing a headband
David Levy is resigning as chief executive officer of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, abruptly walking away from the fast-growing sports operation owned by Alibaba Group billionaire Joe Tsai. Levy, a 33-year veteran of Turner Broadcasting, was named to the CEO job less than two months ago. Oliver Weisberg, head of J Tsai Sports, will now take over as interim Nets chief.
Turkish NBA player Enes Kanter, a vocal critic of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, teamed up with two Democratic U.S. senators on Tuesday as they introduced a bill to condemn the alleged violation of human rights in Turkey. As Erdogan arrived in the United States for a White House meeting on Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump, Senators Edward Markey and Ron Wyden held up Kanter as a victim of the Turkish government’s targeting of political rivals.
November 13, 2019 | 3:01 am UTC Update
Kyle Neubeck: Joel Embiid’s status for tomorrow will be updated by tomorrow’s 1 pm deadline, Sixers say. Read between the lines on that one
Kyle Neubeck: Brett Brown says Tobias Harris had a stomach virus and that he went through today not knowing if he was going to play.
Casey Holdahl: Sounds like Rodney Hood (back spasms) will not play tonight vs. Kings.
November 13, 2019 | 2:40 am UTC Update
Scott Agness: With five players in the rotation sidelined, Pacers improve to 7-4 entering a back-to-back at Houston, home vs Milwaukee on Fri/Sat. 111-85 over the Thunder, easily the Pacers’ largest win of the season. Sabonis had 18/16 vs his former team.
Derek Bodner: Kevin Love misses an open jumper at the top, scramble for the ball, time runs out and the #sixers, somehow, pull out a 98-97 win over the Cavs. Embiid (27 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists) played great, the Sixers shooters a little less so.
Fueled by the desire to make the Hawks regret trading him, Spellman, 22, shed 55 pounds from his 6-foot-8 frame since July. Able to give all-out effort for longer stretches, he has emerged as the Warriors’ primary backup at center.
Atlanta’s training staff wanted him to take accountability and ask for help, but he was too stubborn. The NBA lifestyle had messed with his priorities. Instead of focusing on his diet and cracking the rotation, Spellman did favors for friends and hobnobbed with celebrities. Today, he calls that dark period a “time of self-sabotage.” And injuries only worsened his depression. A hip issue, likely the result of his rapid weight gain, sidelined Spellman for seven games last winter. In early March, a high ankle sprain ended his season.
Those closest to him have seen a changed man. After slogging through a year-long depression, Spellman is finally finding reasons to smile again. “I have a great opportunity with the Golden State Warriors,” said Spellman, who had his third-year option of $2 million picked up two weeks ago. “They’re helping me every day. I’m losing more and more weight, and I can really get to whatever point they want me at. I know what I need to do.”
Dane Moore: Jeff Teague is questionable to play tomorrow against San Antonio (illness) Shabazz Napier (hamstring) and Jordan Bell (shoulder) are doubtful to play. If Teague can’t play, this again should mean more time for Jarrett Culver and Jordan McLaughlin at the point.
November 13, 2019 | 2:22 am UTC Update
An MRI provided answers to why Gordon had gotten off to such a slow start, even relief Gordon said. But the Rockets lose him when the schedule turns far more challenging. “I haven’t been able to do all I really want all year,” Gordon said. “I’ll be able to be more balanced, more athletic. I knew I wasn’t on balance all year. I’ll be able to get it right, now.”
James Ham: According to Luke Walton, Cory Joseph will start.
