Photo credit: @NBA
On the Golden State Warriors podcast with David:
#1 How important is it for Golden State to have Kevin Durant win the 2019 All-Star Game MVP?
#2 Durant made it look easy with his 31 points in the All-Star contest for Team LeBron and also he played against his Golden State teammate Stephen Curry on Team Giannis, who scored 17 points.
David Zizmor does the Warriors podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
~ (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
~ By Pearl Allison Lo
~ With the 2019 All-Star game hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina, Team LeBron overcame Team Giannis 178-164, which had Hornets ambassador Kemba Walker and Stephen Curry, who grew up in the city.
Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant received the MVP award for the second time. He finished with the second-highest point total in the game, scoring 31 points on 10-of-15 shooting with six threes on 6-of-9 shooting, 5-of-5 from the free throw line, seven rebounds, two assists, two turnovers, one steal and two blocks.
Team LeBron also won in 2018 in the inaugural All-Star format, beating Team Stephen narrowly, 148-145.
$350,000 was awarded to the screams of Right Moves for Youth, LeBron James’ charity and $150,000 to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s charity.
Damian Lillard said the talk during halftime was, “They (Team Giannis) were scoring too easy…We had to make them work a bit more…we got better shots.”
Antetokounmpo led all with 38 points on 17-of-23 shooting, two threes, 2-of-2 on free throws, 11 rebounds, five assists, three turnovers and one steal.
In the first quarter, Team Giannis tied a record with 53 points as they shot 66% from the field led the man himself with 16 points, as he went 8-8 from the field, followed by Milwaukee Bucks’ teammate Khris Middleton with 12 points. Durant led Team LeBron with 10 points and honorary All-Star Dirk Nowitzki went perfect with two three’s. Team Giannis established their lead that they would hold onto for awhile with Joel Embiid’s layup with 7:16 left in the opening quarter.
In the second, Team LeBron’s honorary All-Star Dwayne Wade had his first three and shot as he pedaled back grinning.
On the third possession after, Nowitzki finished 3-for-3 in the first half as he had another three. James Harden was unable to duplicate on the other end. Nowitzki then went back to the bench referring to his threes, saying “That’s what I do.”
Karl Anthony-Towns had two dunks within a minute, the second one a heavy-handed jam as he raced down the lane. “We were down 15, now down 13, gotta do something…Lot of money on the line,” commented Towns later.
Paul George had a reverse 360 dunk and a highlight replayed often, was Curry with a high bounce pass to Antetokounmpo with the high dunk, followed by airplane arms and flying reactions from both players. “I’m not sure anyone else on the floor could have finished that one,” noted Curry.
After missing his first five shots, Curry’s first field goal was a three with 5:36 left in the second.
During halftime, Embiid did not think the score would run up to 200 points because he said “at the fourth quarter, they’re going to start playing more defense.”
Team LeBron nearly matched Team Giannis’s total from the first in the third with 50 points.
Walker stole the ball from Durant and scored to start the third. Wade made a dunk 14 seconds later.
George gave Team Giannis three-digit points with 10:44 left to make it 101-87.
Former teammates connected in-game with Wade putting the ball off the backboard for James.
The game reached its highest 20-point deficit when Antetokounmpo made it 109-89 with 9:30 to go in the third.
Durant got the 99th point and after Harden, Kyrie Irving and James all missed threes, finally got Team LeBron’s 100th point with a free throw.
Durant’s two free throws were part of a 33-13 run as things got more competitive. Bradley Beal, Lillard and Klay Thompson combined for seven threes. Westbrook was particularly active for Team Giannis when he was subbed in the game, making four of his seven attempts.
With 3:17 left, Thompson made a three and Lillard made the 124-124 downtown bucket before Kyle Lowry took back the lead, followed by Lillard hitting a three again. Lowry tried to follow suit but missed.
Team LeBron made it 132-131 with 39.2 seconds left in the third on Ben Simmons’ hook, finishing the third with the advantage.
Curry kicked off his fourth with 9:18 left when Golden State’s Thompson ran into Curry before he Curry knocked down a three. “If I could have one shot out of the 23 I took, it’d be that one,” laughed Curry. He missed seven shots the rest of the quarter, the majority of them threes.
Starting with 7:39 left, Team LeBron went 13-0 to run up the score before Giannis said “No” with a driving dunk shot with under five minutes left.
11 of Durant’s 19-point second half came in the fourth.
One of his Warriors teammates was not done yet though, as Curry capped off the night alley-ooping to himself for a reverse slam with four seconds remaining. It was foreshadowed a bit, as Curry did the same in pregame warmups.
Up Next: Curry finished with 17 points on 6-of-23 shootings, four threes on 4-of-17 threes, one free throw, nine rebounds, seven assists and two turnovers. Thompson finished with 20 points, on 7-of-16 shooting, six threes on 6-of-12 shooting, eight rebounds, four assists and one steal.
The next All-Star Game is Feb. 16, 2020, in Chicago. The players return from All-Star break Thursday with the first games at 4 pm and Golden State slated to play the Sacramento Kings at 7:30 pm.
Photo credit: @warriors
On the NBA podcast with Jerry:
#1 Golden State were without Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and DeMarcus Cousins for Wednesday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers. How much of a load was it for the rest of the team in the loss to the Blazers 129-107?
#2 How exhausted is the team playing its fifth game in eight days?
#3 In the second and third quarters, neither team gave in. It was a tough bout, noting that the Warriors held a five-point lead at most and the Blazers had a six-point lead.
#4 Draymond Green had been hit with a flagrant foul, resulting in head coach Steve Kerr getting thrown out on two technicals.
#5 The Warriors host the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 21st and the Kings could be a handful at times this season.
Jerry does the NBA podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
By Morris Phillips
The Sacramento Kings may have run wild in the first half on Wednesday night, but the third quarter belonged to the Denver Nuggets–with Isaiah Thomas in his debut, without Coach Mike Malone who was ejected, and MVP candidate Nikola Jokic reaching into his bag of tricks.
The Nuggets overcame an 11-point halftime deficit in the first six minutes of the third quarter and held on for a 120-118 win over the Kings.
Both teams concluded play prior to the All-Star Break, with the Nuggets moving within two games of the conference-leading Warriors, and the Kings temporarily falling out of the eighth and final playoff spot by losing while the Clippers blew past the Suns, 134-107 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The Kings started the evening four games over .500 for the first time this season, and they hardly looked satisfied, shooting a high percentage from the start on their way to an 11-point lead after a quarter. Buddy Hield put up 11 of his team-high 25 points in the opening frame that end with Sacramento leading 41-30.
The Kings continued to roll into the second quarter, and with their lead holding at eight prior to the half, Malone was at his boiling point. When Malik Beasley took a physical path to the basket without a foul call, Malone went from coaching to observing instaneously. Two technicals sent the defensive-minded coach to the showers.
“I think our players know me, they know who I am,” Malone said of his ejection. “I am a fighter, I am a competitor. I didn’t like some of the calls that were not being called and I am going to stick up for my players.”
Denver’s third quarter response was an example of why and how quickly they’ve vaulted to the top of the Western standings this season. With Jokic the primary ballhandler, the Denver offense turned poetic, a parade of driving, cutting and passing with the 6’11” center as the hub. Jokic’s consecutive assists on baskets by Torrey Craig and Malik Beasley brought the Nuggets within 85-83 with 3:09 left in the third.
Isaiah Thomas got into the act later in the third with eight, quick points in the final two minutes plus that allowed the Nuggets to open the fourth period with a 93-91 lead. Thomas, seeing his first action in Denver uniform, missed the first 56 games of the season rehabbing his hip.
When asked what type of impact Thomas will have on the Nuggets and their post-season aspirations, Monte Morris, a player who likely will lose minutes to Thomas, was quick to chime in.
“13 minutes out there (and score) eight points quick.” Morris said. “That just shows you right there what type of player he is.”
Jokic tipped in the game winner with 0.8 seconds remaining, which allowed enough time for a desperation shot from the Kings. Hield got a shot off that would have counted, but it merely grazed the front of the rim.
The Kings open the post All-Star break portion of the schedule in Oakland a week from Thursday against the Warriors.
Photo credit: nba.com/warriors
By Jerry Feitelberg
The Warriors, playing their fifth game in eight days and the second in a row, fell to the Portland Trail Blazers 129-107 at the Moda Center in Portland. The Warriors were without the services of Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and DeMarcus Cousins.
For three quarters, it was a very entertaining game as neither team could pull away. The biggest lead the Blazers had was six points, and the best the W’s could do was five points. The Warriors finished the first quarter leading 33-31. Kevin Durant led the Warrior attack with 16 points. Oakland native Damien Lillard paced the Blazers with 13. The Blazers won the second quarter 33-28 and led by three 64-61 at the end of the first half. Durant led the Warriors with 20 in the first half. Steph Curry had 14. Draymond Green added 9, and Klay Thompson had 7. Lillard led the Blazers with 15. CJ McCollum had 9, Jusuf Nurkic 9 and Evan Turner 8.
The third quarter was more of the same. Neither team would give an inch. The Warriors managed to outscore the Blazers 34-30 and led by one point 95-94 heading into the fateful fourth quarter. Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr sent out Quinn Cook, Jonas Jerebko, Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney, and Alfonzo McKinnie to start and that enabled Curry and Durant get some rest. The Portland bench had other ideas as they played well on defense and were able to increase the lead to nine 110-101. Jonas Jerebko made a bucket to make it 110-103. It was at this point in the contest that things went south for the Warriors. Draymond Green was called for a flagrant foul on forward Zach Collins. There was no question that it was a hard foul. However, to this observer, it was a long way from a flagrant foul. Steve Kerr went ballistic and went after the refs as he felt the call was not appropriate. There were three technicals called on Golden State. Two were on Kerr, and he had to leave the arena. Lillard made all three for Portland. Collins made his two, and the ball went back to Portland. The Blazers made a three, and they expanded the lead to 118-103. The Warriors were toast at this point. The Warriors removed the Big Three from the game, and the Blazers coasted to a 129-107 win.
Game Notes and Stats: The Warriors’ 11-game road winning streak came to an end. They lost for the second time in the last 18 and finished 41-16 at the break for the All-Star game. Portland improved to 34-23.
Curry and Durant finished with 32 each. No other Warrior was in double figures. Klay Thompson and Draymond Green had 9. Thompson scored two in the second half, and Green did not score at all. The Warrior bench was outscored 52-23.
The Blazers had 8 players in double figure. Lillard led the club with 29. Jake Layman, coming off the bench, had 17 for Portland. Steph’s brother, Seth, added 11 to help his Blazer team beat his brother’s Warriors.
Up Next: The Warriors are off until February 21st. They face the Sacramento Kings at Oracle. Game time will be at 7:30 pm.
by Jerry Feitelberg
Oakland- The game between the Golden State Warriors and the Utah Jazz Tuesday night at Oracle Arena had the feel of a playoff game. Both teams came into the contest red hot. The Jazz had were 12-3 entering the game, and the Warriors were 15-1. The Warriors, who started slowly against Phoenix and Miami, were determined to get off to a good start against the Jazz. Both teams struggled to put points on the board in the early going. Both squads played excellent defense until late in the quarter. The Warriors finished the first 12 minutes with a 25-14 advantage. With the score 11-5, Klay Thompson left the game with an injured left hand. He went to the locker room and came back with his middle finger and ring finger taped together. Thompson suffered a sprained ring finger and was able to continue.
The Jazz won the second quarter 30-22 to finish the first half trailing the W’s 47-44. The Jazz’ Jae Crowder, who tormented the Dubs, when he was with Boston, made two threes to keep Utah in the game. As mentioned above, both teams viewed the contest like a playoff game, and neither team could get much offense going. The Warriors made just four threes in twenty attempts. The Jazz was slightly better as they connected five times in eleven tries. Kevin Durant and Steph Curry led the W’s with eleven each. Klay had six, and Andre Iguodala helped out with two three-point buckets. Leading scorers for the Jazz were Rudy Gobert, Roye O’Neale, and Jae Crowder with 8 each. Donovan Mitchell had 7.
Utah, feeling the shift in momentum, took it to the Warriors in the third period. The Warriors did score 34 in the period, but Utah scored 40. They grabbed their first lead of the game since they started the game 2-0. They led 67-66. The W’s fought back, but Utah was able to build a five-point advantage 78-73. The Warriors trailed 79-78 after Durant made a basket and free throw. Utah didn’t wilt and finished the quarter leading 84-81. The Jazz upped the lead to seven 91-84. It was at this point that the Warriors went on a 22-6 run to go ahead 108-97. The Warriors, who were one for fifteen on threes to start the game, started to hit them. Draymond Green started the run with a basket. Andre Iguodala followed with a steal and a dunk. Klay hit a three. Later in the spurt, Steph Curry made two threes in a row. The Warriors were able to maintain the lead, and they won another thriller 115-108.
Game Notes and Stats- With the win, the W’s are 16-1 in their last 17 games and are now 41-15 for the year. Utah drops down to 32-25. The Jazz, coached by Quin Snyder, may be the team that no one wants to face in the playoffs.
Leading scorers for the W’s were Kevin Durant with 27, Steph 24, and Klay 22. Klay didn’t play as many minutes as usual and was fresh when he started the fourth quarter. He tallied eight points that helped the Dubs stay close. He passed Dale Ellis with his 1720th three-pointer. Iguodala had 13 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, and made three 3s in 3 tries. DeMarcus Cousins had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Cousins, Kevon Looney, and Draymond Green kept Rudy Gobert in check all night long. The big Frenchman finished with 13. Donovan Mitchell found his game in the second half and led the Jazz with 25. He made three threes in eight attempts. Ricky Rubio had 16. Joe Ingles finished with five. Stopping Ingles had been a problem for the Dubs as the Jazz had beaten them five times in the last 7 games. Ingles was not able to damage from beyond the three-point arc Tuesday night.
The Warriors travel to Portland to pay the Blazers Wednesday night. Game time is at 7:30 pm. This will be the last game for the Warriors before All-Star weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina. Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson will represent the Warriors.
Photo credit: @SacramentoKings
On the Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie:
#1 Two players in the rotation and two players trade on the Kings.
#2 Kings head coach Dave Joerger said the win over the Miami Heat 102-96 in a word “discombobulated.”
#3 To show you how good the Kings are going, they scored their final six points to seal the victory at game’s end.
#4 Miami and Phoenix is having a tough time with their shooting was that an added advantage for the Kings?
#5 The Kings defeated the Phoenix Suns on Sunday 117-104. Marvin Bagley III led the way with scoring with 32 points in the win.
#6 The Kings are off to Denver this Wednesday night for a 6:00pm tip at the Pepsi Center
Charlie O does the Sacramento Kings podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: nba.com/warriors
On the Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor:
#1 The Phoenix Suns really gave the Golden State Warriors fits Friday night. It was a game that went into the fourth quarter and the Warriors finally broke away for the 117-107 win.
#2 The Warriors hosted the Miami Heat on Sunday night. Give us a look into what happened in that game.
David does the Warriors podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
by Jerry Feitelberg
Oakland- It appeared to be deja vu all over as the Warriors, as they did in Phoenix Friday night, got off to a slow start and trailed the visiting Heat until late in the third quarter. The Warriors could do nothing right in the early going, and the Heat did everything right as the visitors raced out to an early 34-24 lead after twelve minutes of play. The Heat have two players on their roster that have killed the W’s in the past. They are the big center Hassan Whiteside and guard Dion Waiters. It seems these two mark the calendar as to when they will be playing Golden State and salivate knowing they do well against the World Champions. The Warriors outscored the Heat 30-25 n the second quarter and finished the half trailing 59-54.
The Warriors made the necessary adjustments at halftime and scorched the Heat 36-23 in the third quarter. The W’s led 90-82 and the Big Three of Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Steph Curry led the team in scoring. The W’s started the fourth quarter with an 8-point lead but any team in the NBA can easily make up that deficit, and that is what the Heat did. The Warriors had a slim one-point lead 115-114, but the W’s turned the ball over twice in a row. Josh Richardson and Dwayne Wade had back-to-back steals, and that gave the Heat the lead 118-115. Kevin Durant connected on a three to tie the game. Durant recorded 11 straight points down the stretch for the Warriors. He missed a three-pointer that would have put the W’s in the lead. However, DeMarcus Cousins was able to snag the rebound. Cousins was fouled on the play, and he was able to make both free throws with just 5.4 seconds left to play. The Heat tried but failed to score, and the Warriors won the game.
Game Notes and Stats- The Warriors are now 15-1 in their 16 games and improved to 40-15 for the year. Miami drops to 25-29. Kevin Durant led the W’s with 39 points, 6 boards, and 4 assists. Draymond Green put 5 points on the board, but he corraled 7 rebounds and dished out 14 assists. Klay Thompson had 29, and he connected on six 3s. Curry added 25, and he made five 3s. The Warrior bench added just 15 points. Cousins had 7 points but his two free throws late in the fourth quarter won it for the Warriors. “I was really happy that he was out there at the end of the game,” coach Steve Kerr said of Cousins, playing his 10th game for Golden State. “It’s good experiences for him because he hasn’t been out there much since he’s come back to close games.”
Josh Richardson led the Heat Heat with 37. He made eight three-pointers. Dion Water had 24, and he made six three. Justisce Winslow had 24 including 4 threes, Hassan Whiteside finished the night with a double-double. He had 13 points and 14 rebounds. Dwayne Wade, who may have made his last visit to Oracle Arena as a player, ended the night with 10 points. The Warriors gave a nice tribute to Wade as they showed highlights of his career on the big screen and the fans gave him a nice round of applause.
Andre Iguodala was not able to play Sunday night as he tweaked hi left hamstring Friday night against the Suns in Phoenix. The Warriors resume play Tuesday night against the Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena. Game time is at 7:30 pm.
Photo credit: @SacramentoKings
By: Jeremiah Salmonson
SACRAMENTO — The last time the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings faced off it was not a pretty ending for the Kings. The Kings went from having a double-digit lead to losing the game to the worst team in the NBA this season. The Kings who were playing a rare day game in Sacramento were looking to flip the script from last time.
In the first quarter, the Kings were off to a good start offensively putting up 33 points in the first. Leading the Kings were Nemanja Bjelica with 8 points, Marvin Bagley with 8 points, and De’Aaron Fox with 5 points. The Suns, on the other hand, managed to score 23 points in the first. Leading the Suns in scoring at this point was Devin Booker with 8 points. The new Kings also were able to get time in the game in the first. Harrison Barnes played just over 9 minutes and Alec Burks played almost 3 minutes. After the first, the Kings led the Suns 33-23.
In the second quarter, the Kings continued the scoring narrative that put them up in the first. By the end of the second, the Kings would have three players in double-digit scoring. Buddy Hield and De’Aaron Fox had 10 points while Marvin Bagley led the Kings with 12 first-half points. The Suns’ leading scorer was Devin Booker who had 15 first-half points. Along with the Kings’ double-digit lead, they had a pair of flashy plays in the first half. De’Aaron Fox drove down the lane and slammed it home in the second quarter. Not to mention Marvin Bagley’s impressive alley-oop that he put down with authority. Going into the second half, the Kings were beating the Suns 63-44.
In the third quarter, the Kings didn’t seem to be firing on all cylinders. They were outscored by the Suns while putting up 24 points in the third. The Suns managed to put up 28 points in the third to inch closer to the Kings. In the third, the game began developing the feeling of slight deja vu from the game earlier this year against the Suns. We all remembered what happened in that game when the Kings blew a huge lead and lost. So going into the fourth with the Kings leading 72-87 they looked to stop that narrative.
In the fourth quarter, they stopped that narrative emphatically. They Kings scored 30 points in the fourth to secure their 30th victory of the season. For the Kings, the leading scorers were Marvin Bagley who scored 32 points, Buddy Hield with 18 points, and De’Aaron Fox with 17 points.
The Suns’ leading scorer was Devin Booker, who managed to drop 27 points in defeat. The final in the game was the Kings’ 117 and the Suns’ 104.
The Kings head to the Mile High City Wednesday to take on the Denver Nuggets. Tipoff set for 6:00 pm PT.
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