Caitlin Clark became the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 100 3-pointers in a season and finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for her second career triple-double as the playoff-bound Indiana Fever beat the Los Angeles Sparks 93-86 on Wednesday night.
Clark connected on her second 3 of the game and 100th of the season midway through the third quarter and added two more to reach 102 and finish 4 of 10 from long range. The No. 1 overall draft pick is the first rookie with 100 3s.
Their 6 reaming game will be available against top teams and those who are vying for playoff spot. It’ll be interesting how they will matchup against Lynx and Aces, who are the two of the top teams in the league.
Larry Bird has issued a statement about the passing of his teammate on the 1986 champion Celtics, and longtime friend, Bill Walton: pic.twitter.com/xF2T7zs9Cj
UCLA mourns the passing of two-time NCAA champion Bill Walton, a Naismith Hall of Fame inductee (1993) and charter member of the @UCLAAthletics Hall of Fame (1984).
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) May 27, 2024
We have lost one of the greatest players and personalities that this franchise, this sport and this region have ever known. Bill Walton is synonymous with Southern California basketball: a San Diego native, a UCLA phenom, a Clipper icon.
Bill Walton was one of the most consequential players of his era. A Hall of Famer, Most Valuable Player, and two-time NBA Champion, Walton could do it all, possessing great timing, complete vision of the floor, excellent fundamentals, and was of one of the greatest passing big… pic.twitter.com/AW1PIUxALk
I am sad today hearing that my comrade & one of the sports worlds most beloved champions & characters has passed. Bill Walton enjoyed life in every way. To compete against him & to work with him was a blessing in my life. Sorry for your loss Walton family. We’ll miss him too. Doc pic.twitter.com/GAEt1DRH8N
"[He reminded] you of how blessed you are just to be alive. [Bill] was one of those people." 👏 @stephenasmith on Bill Walton's life and legacy: pic.twitter.com/G5HVqvLAtT
Rest in peace to a friend, 2X NBA Champion, Hall of Famer, and one of the most skilled centers we’ve ever seen Bill Walton! His NCAA Championship performance as a UCLA Bruin against Memphis is by far the most dominate NCAA Championship performance ever – he shot 21 for 22 and had…
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 27, 2024
Sending our love to the Walton family and all the people who have been so lucky knowing Bill’s love and support over the years. We will miss that big smile and bigger infectious spirit! Bill will be greeted with a joyous guitar riff and big smiles as he arrives on the other side.… pic.twitter.com/x65giB1y2D
NBA Hall of Famer and Basketball legend Bill Walton, has passed away at the age of 71 after a prolonged battle with cancer. Walton, a two-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer, died on Monday surrounded by family in a statement released by the NBA.
Bill Walton is a two-time NBA champion; 1976–77 season with the Portland Trail Blazers, also named Finals MVP, and 1984–85 season with Boston Celtics, earning the sixth man award. Walton is a member of both the NBA’s 50th anniversary and 75th anniversary teams. For his college career, he is a two-time champion at UCLA and a three-time national player of the year.
Tributes are pouring in from across the basketball community. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called Walton “truly one of a kind,” while former teammate Larry Bird described him as a “great friend” and “a thrill to play with.”
The Los Angeles Lakers has officially hang the 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament (IST) Championship banner, the new banner will join the 18 NBA Championship banner, that can also be seen hanging from rafters of Crypto.com arena.
We now have the Final 4 teams for the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament, which will be held in Las Vegas this 7th of December.
FOUR TEAMS REMAIN… AND THEY ARE ALL HEADED TO VEGAS! 🏆
The NBA In-Season Tournament Knockout Rounds continue with the Semifinals on Thursday!
Be a part of NBA history! Get your tickets to the semifinals and championship games in Las Vegas this Thursday and Saturday, today.… pic.twitter.com/KQ56Kid5z9
For the West side, it will be between LA Lakers versus New Orleans Pelicans, then for the East Side, we have Indiana Pacers against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Finals
The two winners for games between; LA Lakers versus New Orleans Pelicans, and Indiana Pacers against the Milwaukee Bucks, will once again play for the NBA In-Season Tournament Championship, which the league is calling ‘The NBA Cup’. Games will also be in Las Vegas and will be on Dec. 9th.
The Denver Nuggets will advance to the 2023 NBA Finals as they sweep the Los Angeles Lakers and overcome a 40-pts game by Lebron James.
The Lakers which lead most of the 1st half and lead as much as 15 points before the Denver Nuggest put the clamp down on the Lakers to limit them to only 19 points in the 3rd qtr while scoring 39 points to take over the game.
Lebron James who played all but 4.3 seconds of the game at the end of the first half. James was flirting with a triple-double 21 points in the first quarter, finishing with 40 points, 10 rebs and 9 assists. Lebron James had the change to put the game to OT but was stopped by Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray as he drive to the basket in the closing seconds of the game.
Anthony Davis also sensational with his 21 points, 14 rebs, 1 steal and 3 blocks but did not get any help from the rest of the team aside from the 17 points from Austin Reaves.
Lebron James had nothing but praises to the Nuggets.
“Me and AD were just talking in the locker room (and) we came to the consensus this is one of the best teams, if not the best team, we’ve played together for all four years…Just well-orchestrated, well put together. They have scoring. They have shooting. They have playmaking. They have smarts. They have length. They have depth. And one thing about their team, when you have a guy like Jokic, who as big as he is but also as cerebral as he is, you can’t really make many mistakes versus a guy like that.”
Here is Lebron James full postgame interview.
Nikola Jokic lead the Nuggets with his eighth triple-double of the playoffs; Jokic had 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists, include the 3 blocks and 1 steal he made on the defensive end. Jamal Murray scored 25 points and 5 assists, helping Jokic overcome James’ 31-point first half and a 15-point halftime deficit.
This will be Denver Nuggets’ first trip to the NBA finals and first time sweeping a playoff series. Unless Boston Celtics made a miracolous run to win the next 4 games of the Eastern Conference Finals, Denver will host Miami Heat to open the NBA Finals, starting June 1.
Denver Nuggets are 1-win away for their first NBA Finals appearance after defeating the LA Laker in the game 3 of the Western Conference finals. This is the first home lost of the Lakers in the post-season. No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in NBA playoff history but Lebron James remain optimistic in his postgame interview.
For second straight games, Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 37 points, 7 rebs and 6 assists, followed Nikola Jokic scoring 24 points with 8 assists but was plague by foul trouble in the game. the Nuggets due received a lot of help from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who finished with 17 points, scoring 12 points in the second half, while Michael Porter Jr. chipped-in 14 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high of 6 assists.
Anthony Davis scored 28 points and 18 rebounds for the Lakers but was -12 in the plus/minus column, while James made 23 points with 12 assists and Austin Reaves added 23 points and 7 rebounds but they could not counter Nuggets balanced offence in the clutch. Five Nuggets players are in double figures which includes Bruce Brown’s 15 pts with 5 rebounds and 5 assists; Michael Porter Jr. with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists.
Game 4 will still be in LA which is a must for Lakers so they can extend the series to Game 5.
Denver Nuggets just took a 2 – 0 lead over the Lakers after defeating the LA Lakers in game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.
Nuggets got the win behind Jamal Murray’s explosion by scoring 23 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter. Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic was not as impactful in game 2 as he is in the opener even though he just registered another triple-double, scoring 23 points with 17 rebounds and dished 12 assists, his 7th triple-double in the post season and 4th straight.
The Lakers are not panicking even though they’re down 0 – 2, and James even said this in his postgame interview – “This is not the NCAA Tournament. It’s the first team to four wins.”
In the game, Lebron James was flirting with triple-double, scoring 22 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds, he was also 0 – 6 from beyond in the three-point line in the game and just 1 – 19 in the fourth quarter this postseason. Collectively, James and Reaves both scored 22 for Los Angeles, while Anthony Davis scored just 18 points after scoring 40 pts in game 1.
Game 3 of the WCF will be this Saturday at the crypto.com Arena, where the Lakers are still undefeated this post season.
NBA just announced the 2023 NBA All-Star Starters for the NBA All-Star Game this 19th Feb. in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Lebron James, of the LA Lakers and the leading vote-getter, will be one of the team captain and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and Eastern Conference voting leader, will be the team captain of the opposing team. This will be Lebron’s 19th All Star appearance and the 7th for Giannis.
Eastern Conference starters
Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks/ Captain)
Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets)
Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics)
Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Kyrie Irving (Brooklyn Nets)
Western Conference starters
LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers/ Captain)
Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans)
Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)
Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks)
Giannis and James will both choose the players for their respective team on the night of the game, a twist that the NBA announced last Wednesday and it is similar on how you play basketball in parks and pickup games.
The Starters — three frontcourt players and two guards from each conference — are chosen based on a combination of three different votes: fan balloting counted for 50%, media balloting was worth 25% and voting by the NBA’s players made up the final 25%.
Phoenix Suns defended their home-court by winning game two of the Western Conference Finals with the help of Deandre Ayton’s lob dunk with 0.9 secs left on the game clock. Prior to Ayton’s game winning dunk, Paul George missed two crucial free throws that could have given the Clippers a 3-point lead.
Here’s a clip of Ayton’s winning dunk in every angle via @NBA;
The series will now moves to Staple Center where the LA Clippers in a must win game 3.
Both the Phoenix Suns are the LA Clippers are without their superstars; Chris Paul is currently in NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocol, while Kawhi Leonard is out with right knee sprain.
Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat forces a game 6 by winning a very close game against the LA Lakers (111 – 108).
Jimmy Butler, who played all 47mins of the game is best player of the night, filling up the stat sheet with another triple-double, with 35 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, He out-duel Lebron James in what can be considered a classic game between future Hall of Famers.
“I left it all out there on the floor.” – @JimmyButler
Butler had a lot of help from the other Miami Heat players; Duncan Robinson contributing 26 points, Kendrick Nunn chipping in 14 points, Bam Adebayo had 13 points, Tyler Herro had 12 and Jae Crowder 11. The seventh player, Andre Iguodala, didn’t score but was a big defensive contributor in the game.
🏆🏀 GAME 5 FINAL SCORE 🏀🏆
Jimmy Butler's 35 PTS, 12 REB, 11 AST help the @MiamiHEAT win Game 5 and send the #NBAFinals to a Game 6 on Sunday at 7:30pm/et on ABC! (LAL leads 3-2)
The LA Laker got another big game from James with 40 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists but without Anthony Davis, who is already playing through a bruised heel and was limping down the stretch.
Game 6 will be Sunday night (4:00 AM, Monday, Riyadh time).
The LA Lakers are one win away to bring the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy back to Los Angeles and the franchise’s 17th championship.
Game 4 was a tight game until Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit a corner three then a block by Anthony Davis on a Jimmy Butler drive. Davis later sealed the game with a 3-pointer with 39.5 seconds left in the game.
⚡️ Recap Game 4 of the #NBAFinals presented by YouTube TV ⚡️ @Lakers take a 3-1 series lead behind LeBron James' 28 PTS, 12 REB, 8 AST in the win… watch Game 5 Friday at 9:00 PM ET on ABC!https://t.co/yrgdPTFkS5
Lakers take a commanding 3-1 lead in NBA Finals, the only team to come back from a 1-3 deficit in NBA Finals history, are the 2015 Cleveland Cavaliers, led by Lebron James, who is in a Laker uniform.
Doc Rivers will step down as coach of the LA Clippers, after the team’s second round exit against the Denver Nuggets.
The team announced that the split is a “mutual decision” between Chairman Steve Ballmer and Doc Rivers. “Doc has been a terrific coach for the Clippers, an incredible ambassador, and a pillar of strength during tumultuous times,” Ballmer said. “He won a heck of a lot of games and laid a foundation for this franchise.”
Considered as on of the most successful coach in the NBA, at 58, he is the most successful head coach in Clippers history, compiling a record of 356-208 over seven seasons. It’s unclear what’s next for Doc Rivers but is been reported that he received calls for 76ers and Pelicans for a Head Coach position. Doc Rivers have two years left on his contract.
You can the full text of LA Clippers announcement here.
