Category: NBA

Warriors beat Cavaliers 131-112 snap five-game losing streak

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sfgate.com photo: Larry Nance Jr (22) of the Cleveland Cavaliers drives on the Golden State Warriors Eric Paschall (7) at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Saturday night

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors beat the Cavaliers in Cleveland Saturday night 131-112 to snap a five-game losing streak. The Warriors entered the contest with the worst record in the NBA 10-39. The Cavaliers owned the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference 13-36.

The Cavs and Warriors met each other in the NBA Finals for four consecutive seasons. The Warriors won three times. The Cavs lost Lebron James to the Los Angeles Lakers after the lost the Finals to the Warriors in 2018. The Cavs floundered last season and are rebuilding the club.

The Warriors made the Finals last year but fell to the Toronto Raptors. Injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson prevented the Warriors from winning a third consecutive NBA Championship. Durant went to the Brooklyn Nets in a sign and trade deal. He has not recovered from his torn Achilles tendon.

Klay Thompson is also out for the year. At the beginning of the season, the Warriors thought they had a chance to make the playoffs. They had Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and D’Angelo Russell. All three are All-Stars. Things quickly went south when Curry broke his hand in the fourth game of the year. He has not returned to action. He was evaluated Saturday in Cleveland and will be re-examined in four weeks. Curry is chomping at the bit as he wants to get back onto the court.

As for the game, the Warriors and Cavs played a very entertaining first half. The lead changed hands 11 times and was tied seven times. The Cavs started to pull away late in the first half 59-52. It was at this point that the Warriors went on a 9-0 run to finish the first half. The run was capped by Damion Lee’s three-pointer at the buzzer.

The third quarter belonged to Golden State. The Warriors, as they have done away in past seasons, played like champions. They outscored the Cavs 44-19 to blow open the game. The connected on ten 3-point shots. The Cavs’ coach Jon Beilein used his bench in the fourth quarter. They did outscore the W’s 34-26, but they could not overcome the 27-point deficit they faced starting the final 12 minutes of play.

Game Notes and Stats-

The Warriors’ Kevon Looney returned to action Saturday night. The young man from Milwaukee played 12 minutes and recorded 2 points and 4 rebounds. He missed the last 18 games played. Looney was an essential piece in the Warriors’ lineup the past four seasons. Steve Kerr was pleased to have him back.

Draymond Green had quite a night in 25 minutes of action. Draymond recorded 8 points, 7 boards, and tied a career-high with 16 assists. The Warriors had seven players in double figures. They moved the ball well and recorded 39 assists in the game.

Glenn Robinson pace the club with 22 points. D’Angelo Russell had 19. Russell made six threes and one free throw. Damion Lee knocked down 18. Eric Paschall had 16, Omari Spellman 12, Alec Burks 15, and Marquese Chriss 10.

Collin Sexton led the Cavs with 23. Kevin Porter, Jr. had 19, Darius Garland 15, Kevin Love 14, Larry Nance, Jr. 12, and Cedi Osman 10. Former Warrior, Alfonzo McKinnie played 18 minutes and had 5 points and 2 rebounds.

It was the biggest margin of victory for the Warriors this season. As mentioned above, the connected on 10 threes in the third quarter.

The Warriors Warriors improved to 5-22 on the road while the Cavs dropped to 6-21 at home. Overall, the W’s are 11-39, and the Cavs are 13-37.

The Warriors play game four of the five-game road trip Monday night in Washington against the Wizards. The game will start at 4 pm.

 

Kings defy the odds and beat the Clippers in LA 124-103

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
FoxClippers
@NBCBayArea

By Charlie O. Mallonee

After being blown out by the Oklahoma City Thunder on their homecourt in Sacramento on Wednesday night, the Sacramento Kings traveled to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers in the back end of a back-to-back on Thursday night. The Kings chances of winning were just 37.3 percent.

Sacramento has not been a team that has found their homecourt to be a huge advantage this season. In fact, they seem to be very comfortable in big games on the road. That was the case again on Thursday night.

No Kawhi

The Kings did draw the good luck card because Kawhi Leonard was held out of the game due to lower back tightness. That may have really translated to the “load management” card because the Kings have not been playing great basketball lately. If the Clippers took that chance, they played the right percentages.

The Clippers started strong

The Clippers came out of the gate strong scoring 33 points in the opening 12 minutes. They held the Kings to 28 points.

‘Sacramento held the Clippers to just 14 points in the second period. LA shot just 6-for-24 overall in the quarter and did not go to the free throw line once.

The Kings hit 13 of 22 attempts from the field and nine of those baskets were 3-pointers.

The Second Half

The Kings outscored the Clippers 60-56 in final 24 minutes.

Top scorers

  • De’Aaron Fox was the leading scorer in the game with 34 points to go with eight assists and three rebounds.
  • Lou Williams led the Clippers scoring attack with 22 points and he added six assists.

The Glass cleaners

  • Dewayne Dedmon was the top rebounder with 11 grabs. He made it a double-double game by scoring 11 points.
  • Ivica Zubac hauled in 10 rebounds to lead the Clippers.

Dropping dimes

  • De’Aaron Fox dropped a game-high eight dimes in the contest.
  • Lou Williams dished out six assists to lead the Clippers.

Up next

The Kings will host the Lakers on Saturday night.

The Clippers will welcome the Timberwolves on Saturday afternoon.

Celtics breeze to a comfortable win over Warriors 119-104

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photo from mercurynews.com : The Golden State Warriors Damion Lee (1) is held back from going after the basketball by the Boston Celtics Jaylen Brown (7) during Thursday night’s game at TD Garden in Boston

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Warriors lost for the 15th time in the last 16 games Thursday night in Boston. The final score was 119-104. The Celtics are now 19-5 at home for the season.

The Warriors knew that they would have to be at their best to beat the Celtics. They started well and had an early lead. The Celtics tied the game at 15 apiece early in the first quarter. They made two buckets to lead 19-15, and they never relinquished the lead from that point on until the end of the game.

The Celtics finished the first period leading 29-22. They went on a 12-2 run to gain the lead and were led by Gordon Hayward’s 15 points. The Celtics’ defense stifled the Warriors and held them to 22 points.

The Warriors offense just could not get anything going. At one stretch, they were three for 18 from the floor. The Celtics increased the lead to seventeen 46-29. The Warriors did respond, and behind D’Angelo Russell and Alec Burks, they cut the deficit to ten to finish the first half trailing 60-50.

Russell led the Warriors with ten, and Burks had nine. No other Warrior had more than five points in the half. Gordon Hayward finished with 17, and Jayle Brown had 13 to pace the Celtics.

The Celtics won the third period 31-29. The Warriors fell behind by fifteen and finished the quarter trailing by 12. The Celtics met every Warriors challenge. Alec Burks led the Warriors offense in the period. The Celtics defense held Russell in check.

Their scheme was to pressure Russell. The Warriors needed other players to step up. Alec Burks answered the call, but that was about the best the Warriors could do.

The Warriors could not close the gap in the final 12 minutes of the game. The Celtics outscored them by three to win 119-104.

Game Notes and stats- The Warriors shot 43% from the floor. They made 33 baskets in 77 tries. Their problem was that Boston took 88 shots and made 42. The Warriors hit 12 threes. The Celtics made 15. The Warriors were out rebounded 51-30. The Celtics had 19-second chance points. The Warriors had two.

D’Angelo finished with 22 points and was three for 11 from beyond the three-point arc. Burks had 18, and he made three threes. Damion Lee, who struggled with his shooting the last five games, regained his touch and added 11. Glenn Robinson had 11, Marquese Chriss nine, and Draymond green nine.

Gordon Hayward led the Celtic attack with 25. Marcus Smart had 21, and he connected on five threes. Jayson Tatum had 20, Jaylen Brown, who played at Cal, knocked down 18. The leading Celtic scorer, Kemba Walker, was held to 13.

The Celtics honored the memory of Kobe Bryant with a beautiful tribute before the game. Alec Burks also honored Kobe when he changed his uniform number from eight to 20.

The Warriors are now 10-38 fro the year. The Celtics improved to 32-15

The Warriors meet the Cavaliers in Cleveland Saturday night. The game will start at 5 pm.

Kings come back to earth on return to Sacramento in 120-100 loss to the Thunder

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By Morris Phillips

SACRAMENTO–Two segments of basketball–one exhilarating, one dreadful–separated only by the Kings’ successful, five-minute overtime on Monday in Minneapolis, go along way to explaining the lost 2019-2020 season for Sacramento.

In the final 5:42 of regulation on Monday, the Kings scored 33 points, making shots from everywhere, in belief they could overcome an insurmountable deficit against the Timberwolves. They did, tying the game in regulation, and winning it in overtime, 133-129.

The comeback would mark the first time in the previous 24 seasons that a team had overcome a 17-point deficit with less than three minutes remaining in regulation or overtime and won. Simply, on Monday the Kings accomplished what 8,000 plus teams over a quarter century could not: the comeback of comebacks.

Then on Wednesday back at Golden 1 Center–and after a stirring tribute to Kobe Bryant before the opening tip–the Kings reverted, scoring just 16 points in the first quarter on the way to a 20-point loss to the Thunder. The Kings were in it, tied at 14 with 3:58 remaining, then finished the quarter with only two more points, on their way to trailing for the game’s final 40 minutes in a sleepy loss tied closely to a substandard defensive effort that saw the Thunder guards feast on their Sacramento counterparts.

“They were more physical than us, they hit us, they outrebounded us, got the shots they wanted, and that can’t be acceptable for how we’re going to play the game of basketball.”

In Monday’s finish, the Kings hit seven 3-pointers, and got stops–a bunch of them. On Wednesday, the Kings were 1 of 9 from three in the first quarter and watched the visitors–especially from the guard’s standpoint–operate as if they were a basketball ballet troop.

Chris Paul, a close friend of Kobe Bryant, returned to action after missing the Thunder’s previous game to decompress and grieve. The break brought to light what a great season the veteran guard is having in Oklahoma City after his unceremonious dismissal from Houston. Paul’s absence was his first time he hasn’t played and started for the Thunder, a streak of 47 games. On Wednesday, with a heavy heart, it was back to work and the veteran was on top of his game, dissecting the Kings like a surgeon.

“He never really got into a flow from the standpoint of his own, personal offense, but he really managed to manipulate that game in the third quarter. He was finding guys, he was making the right decisions. He got guys open shots,” coach Billy Donovan said of Paul.

All four Thunder guards that saw significant minutes put up good numbers facing a Sacramento defense that didn’t fight through screens and wasn’t the least bit disruptive. Paul finished with nine points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. Luguentz Dort, the undrafted rookie playing in place of the injured Terrance Ferguson, put up a career-best 23 points with five 3-pointers. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the key, off-season acquisition with Russell Westbrook and Paul George departing, had 17 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. Dennis Schroeder came off the bench to add 24 points and nine assists.

Worried about the viability of the Kings’ core of Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovich and De’Aaron Fox going forward with all three likely to earn big deals to stay in Sacramento?

You should be. Defensively, the trio is nowhere near where they need to be. Picture a youthful Steve Nash getting beat at the point of attack and multiply by three. Not pretty especially with the Kings getting a look at Bogdanovich starting along Fox with Hield’s demotion. Again, all three put up decent offensive numbers on Wednesday, but their double-digit minus, plus/minus numbers said it all.

The Kings get a rough, back-to-back with the Clippers up next Thursday night at Staples Center, the first game at Staples Center since Bryant’s death.

 

 

 

Headline Sports with London Marq: Big fan push for changing NBA logo to Kobe; How Reid and Shanahan will coach to win on Sunday; plus more

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nypost.com photo: Simulated look at new Kobe NBA logo if switched from the current Jerry West NBA logo

On Headline Sports with London:

#1 Huge fan push to change NBA insignia from Jerry West to Kobe Bryant and the push is catching on

#2 The Super Bowl is normally one of sports biggest events but after the death of Kobe his death has overshadowed the big game.

#3 Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is looking for his first Super Bowl with the Chiefs while San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is looking to recover from the last Super Bowl he coached in. As an assistant coach Shanahan had the Falcons ahead in the Super Bowl only to cave and lose the Super Bowl. Shanahan is looking to get it done on Sunday.

#4 On ESPN Stephen A said there was no way that the 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo outplays the Kansas City Chiefs Pat Mahomes on Sunday

#5 How important is it that Dusty Baker hired by the Houston Astros who are trying to get away from the sign stealing scandal and Dusty is a player’s manager, doesn’t use technology or computers to manage a game or need to steal signs.

London Marq joins Sports Talk each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Warriors start road trip on sour note lose to Philadelphia 76ers 115-104

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photo from sfchronicle.com: Philadelphia 76ers’ Ben Simmons (25) is fouled by Golden State Warriors’ D’Angelo Russell (0) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, in Philadelphia.

By Jerry Feitelberg

It was a very emotional night Tuesday when the Warriors met the Philadelphia Sixers in a game they would lose 115-104. Kobe Bryant, who passed away on Sunday, went to Lower Merion High School in the Philadelphia Area. The teams in the NBA, the fans, and everyone who loves sports were saddened by Kobe’s and his daughter’s deaths, as well as the other seven people on the helicopter. Kobe’s high school number 33 was featured on the court. The Sixers had a 33 second moment of silence for Kobe before the start of the game.

The Sixers won the tap and kept the ball in the backcourt for eight seconds to honor Kobe. The Warriors got the ball in the forecourt, and they took a 24-second violation to remember Kobe, too.

After these emotional moments, the game started for real. The Sixers had their big center, Joel Embiid, back in the lineup. Embiid was recovering from a hand injury. Embiid changed his jersey number from 21 to 24 to honor Bryant. The Sixers had retired the number to honor Bobby Jones, who was on the 1983 NBA Championship team. Jones agreed, and Embiid was able to honor Kobe.

The Warriors gave the Sixers all they could handle for the first 36 minutes of the game. The Sixers big men, Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Al Horford, wore down the Warriors defense and put the game away in the fourth quarter to win 115-104.

The Warriors won the first quarter 27-26. They were led by Marquese Chriss, Glenn Robinson, and D’Angelo Russell. The Warriors led 27-19, but the Sixers finished the first quarter on a 7-0 run.

The Sixers regained the lead 37-34. The Sixers’ behind the Raul Neto’s hot shooting increased the lead to nine 55-46. The Warriors fought back and finished the first half trailing 59-54. Russell led the W’s with 14. Chriss had 11, Robinson, and Alec Burks each had six. The Sixers’ Neto knocked down a career-high 19 points in the first half. Joel Embiid had 13, and Tobias Harris had ten.

The Warriors won the third quarter 28-27 but still could not cut the deficit. They were down 86-82, and they were within striking distance of the Sixers. However, things fell apart in the fourth quarter. The Warriors had no answers to contain big Ben Simmons. They did an excellent job of holding him to just two points in the first half. Simmons showed the Warriors why he is an All-Star.

He drove to the basket and made several easy layups. Embiid also broke down the Warriors defense. The Sixers’ defense showed up in the fourth quarter as they held the Warriors scoreless for the first four minutes and 15 seconds of the period. Russell broke the spell when he made a three-pointer. The Sixers increased the lead to sixteen 111-95. The Warriors made a run, but it was not enough as they lost again 115-104.

Game Notes and stats- The Warriors lost for 14th time in the last 15 games and are now 10-38 for the year. The Sixers improved to 31-17.

D’Angelo Russell played well again. He finished with 28 points, five rebounds, and seven assists. Marquese Chriss had 15 points and five rebounds. Glenn Robinson added 20 points. He made three threes in five tries. Alec Burks, coming off the bench, had 12. Draymond Green just missed a triple-double with nine points, nine rebounds, and 12 assists. The Warriors shot 43% from the floor, and they made 15 threes in 40 attempts.

Joel Embiid led the Sixers with 24. Neto, who averages about four points a game, did not score in the second half to finish with 19. Simmons had 17, Harris 10, Al Horford 12 points and 11 boards. Shake Milton had 11.

The Warriors meet the Boston Celtics Thursday night in Boston. The game will start at 4 pm.

 

 

Headline Sports podcast with Barbara Mason: NTSB now left to figure out what went wrong with Kobe Helicopter; Cal shocked the Pac 12 world; plus more

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ap photo: Helicopter crash site of where Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant and seven others parished on Sun Jan 26, 2020  in Calabasas, Calif

Headline Sports podcast with Barbara Mason:

#1 Now the investigation of the helicopter model that Kobe Bryant was riding a Sikorsky S-76 a $13 million model. The NTSB sent 18 staff members to the copter crash site

#2 The S-76 that Kobe flew in was built in 1991 and was sold in 2015 to Jim Bagge an executive at Island Express holding company who is the license holder for the Kobe helicopter

#3 In other sports, the big surprise in college basketball in the Pac 12 action on Sunday the Cal Bears (9-10) upset one of the toughest teams the Stanford Cardinal (15-4) 52-50. Paris Austin’s two free throws put Cal in the winner’s circle.

#4 The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers kick off on Sunday for Super Bowl LIV in Miami on Sunday in preparation for the big game.

#5 Talk about how you see this match up with quarterback of the Chiefs Pat Mahomes and 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

Join Barbara each Tuesday for Headlines podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Sports community still processing Kobe’s death; A’s Fan Fest brought out a lot of baseball people; plus more

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sfgate.com file photo: The Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry (30) gets a hug from the Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant on March 6, 2016 at Staples Center in Los Angeles

On That’s Amaury’s podcast:

#1 Breaking: The Houston Astros have signed Dusty Baker as manager

#2 The shock of learning of the sudden death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter and seven other passengers was surreal for many people to process

#3 The Oakland A’s held Fan Fest on Saturday, you had a chance to work with your broadcast partner Mauricio Segura and Oakland A’s pitcher Frankie Montas at Jack London Square.

#4 Spring Training is just around the corner. How much will the sign stealing scandal dominate coverage in this upcoming pre season?

#5 For the Milwaukee Brewers Ryan Braun announced that this will be his last season. This is also the last year of his five year contract with the Brewers. Will his PED use in 2013 have an impact in his Hall of Fame candidacy?

#6 Kobe was called a renaissance man spoke three different languages, was involved in many different businesses and community efforts if you had to think of anyone else who was close to a Kobe Bryant persona would you say Stephen Curry of Golden State was a little like that?

Join Amaury for all the Oakland A’s home radio broadcasts in Spanish at KIQI 1010 and News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Kings-Wolves go back and forth in overtime

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The Minnesota Timberwolves Jarrett Culver (23) drives on the Sacramento Kings DeWayne Dedmon (13) on Monday night at Target Center in Minneapolis

On the Kings podcast with Charlie O:

#1 It went into overtime and the Kings (17-29)  pushed the envelope at the Target Center home of the Minnesota Timberwolves (15-32) and got over the hump in overtime victory 133-129.

#2 The Kings never gave up and broke away from two ties to get the victory from the Timberwolves.

#3 The Kings Buddy Hield has been a machine of late and last night in Minnesota Hield scored 42 points and everyone them counted to win this game.

#4 In a game like this Kings head coach Luke Walton might have had to change strategy several times but it seem in the overtime stanza he had it working

#5 Thunder and Kings on Thursday Charlie O sets up this contest at Golden One Center in Sacramento

Hield, Kings shock the Wolves with fourth quarter, overtime blitz

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By Morris Phillips

Buddy Hield coming off the bench? Yeah, that’s working quite nicely.

After shooting poorly over an extended period dating back to December which in part prompted coach Luke Walton to take his leading scorer out of the starting lineup, Hield put on a good face and took his demotion in stride.

But being a team player didn’t immediately perk up his game. That transformation came on Monday night in Minneapolis… in the fourth quarter with the Kings in a seemingly helpless place trailing by 19 points after a sleepy, defensive effort through three quarters.

Hield scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, part of his career-best 42-point night, as the Kings wiped out a 22-point deficit in the final 5:42 and shocked the Timberwolves in overtime, 133-129. The Kings’ comeback was so improbable, it hadn’t been accomplished previously in the next generation statistics era beginning in 1997. Over the final 2:49, the Kings wiped out a 17-point deficit to send the game into overtime, where they prevailed. Over the previous 24 seasons, and in well over 8,000 occasions, teams had trailed by 17 points with less than three minutes remaining in regulation or overtime, and lost each time.

Then the Kings came up with the comeback of comebacks on Monday.

“We should be able to play with a 15-point lead with a couple of minutes left. They made shots. We didn’t execute our defensive game plan. We didn’t get rebounds when we needed to. We didn’t make the needed plays,” said Wolves coach Ryan Saunders.

Over the final 5:42 of regulation, the Kings scored 33 points, in itself a once-in-a-generation accomplishment for offense in such a short period. Hield came up with four of the seven Kings’ 3-pointers in the final stretch, including a 29-foot bomb with 30 seconds remaining. Only one more three, from Nemanja Bjelica, came in overtime, as the Kings shot 18 of 40 from distance for the game.

But that was small bits compared to the Wolves, who made a franchise-record 23 (in 46 attempts) but still came up short. Minnesota lost for the 10th consecutive outing, which led to a locker room filled with disbelief after the game. Shabazz Napier, who missed a pair of critical free throws with 34 seconds remaining even invoked the memory of Kobe Bryant in relaying his disappointment in his and his team’s performance.

“The competitor he is, he would be upset with us, truly upset with us,” Napier said. “Today we did a dishonor to him , to the Minnesota Timberwolves organization, to the fans.”