Month: November 2021

Joel Embiid thought he was not going to overcome COVID-19 to play in Saturday’s 121-120 double over-time defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves yet he returned with 42 points.

Embiid had missed nine games after testing positive to COVID-19 on November 8 but dominated with 42 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and two blocks upon his return on Saturday.

In Embiid’s absence, the 76ers struggled with a 2-7 record, with their latest defeat leaving them 10-10.

The 27-year-old center helped the 76ers haul in a 20-point deficit against the Timberwolves and had a chance to win the game in double over-time but failed to get a shot away under pressure from Anthony Edwards.

The defeat overshadowed Embiid’s return, yet he revealed the severity of his COVID-19 experience post-game including breathing difficulties and headaches, making his 42-point haul all the more remarkable.

“It hasn’t been good,” Embiid told reporters. “That jawn hit me hard.

“I really thought I wasn’t going to make it [to play against the Timberwolves]. It was that bad. I’m just thankful to be sitting here. I’m just glad I got over it.”

Embiid averaged 28.5 points and 10.6 rebounds last season, when he was runner-up for MVP honours to Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.

The 76ers center is averaging 23.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in the 2021-22 season.

Chris Paul is embracing the prospect of the Phoenix Suns matching their franchise record streak of 17 consecutive wins ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Golden State Warriors.

The Suns veteran, who reiterated that the ultimate goal is an elusive NBA title, had 22 points, eight rebounds and five assists as Phoenix beat the Brooklyn Nets 113-107 on Saturday.

The win over the Nets moved the Suns’ winning run to 16 games, within one victory of their franchise best, set in 2006-07.

“It would be nice,” Paul said during the post-game news conference. “Obviously everybody knows the ultimate goal is to win a championship but if you don’t enjoy the small victories throughout the regular season then what the hell are you doing?

“More than anything, we are having fun… We are going to keep taking it one game at a time and enjoy the moments because it’s all about the journey.”

The Suns, who were beaten in last season’s NBA Finals by the Milwaukee Bucks, have a 17-3 record this season, only bettered by Tuesday’s opponents Golden State (17-2).

“We know how good that team is over there,” Paul added. “They have identity. They’re led by Steph [Curry] and Draymond [Green] and now they’ve got Iggy [Andre Igoudala]. That’s a tough team anytime you play against them.”

Devin Booker top scored for the Suns with 30 points against the Nets, including four three-pointers along with four assists.

On the potential franchise-equalling game, he added: “I am looking forward to it. “Obviously [it is] not a make it or break it game. Not a playoff game. But we know it will be a high-energy game.

“Two best records in the NBA. It is going to be a high intensity fun game.”

James Harden admits he is still trying to figure out how to play his best basketball for the Brooklyn Nets after an ordinary display in the 113-107 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.

Harden registered his fourth triple-double of the season, but he had seven turnovers and shot poorly, going none-for-six from three-point range for his 12 points under close guarding from Mikal Bridges.

The 2018 MVP also shot four-for-16 from the field, finishing with 13 rebounds and 14 assists, as his up-and-down season continues.

Harden is averaging 20.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 9.2 assists per game this season, with his offensive output the most alarming decline on his 25.0 career average.

The 32-year-old averaged 24.6 points for the Nets following his January move from the Houston Rockets, with injuries impacting his continuity after the switch and into this season as well as developing cohesion with his new side.

“Honestly I’m trying to figure all that out right now,” Harden said at the post-game news conference. “I’m trying to figure it out.

“Trying to figure out when to score, when to be a playmaker when to run offense, when to do a little bit of everything.

“Just trying to figure it out it’s been a little difficult especially since you know, well whatever, but it’s been a little difficult but I’m just trying to figure it out.”

Nets head coach Steve Nash admitted it was a “tough night” for Harden, who was jeered by some fans at the Barclays Center upon his seventh turnover.

“It was a tough night for him,” Nash said during the news conference. “Some turnover issues. He didn’t get a lot of good looks.

“That’s part of our growth too, trying to figure out ways for him to be effective, even if he’s not getting to the rim.”

Klay Thompson has been assigned to the Golden State Warriors’ G League affiliate as the star continues his comeback from a two-season absence, the NBA franchise announced on Sunday.

Thompson – a key part of Golden State’s championship-winning teams in 2015, 2017 and 2018 – suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear during the Warriors’ failed ‘three-peat’ attempt in 2019 and then injured his Achilles tendon during recovery.

The rehabbing 31-year-old was cleared for contact almost a fortnight ago and participated in first team practice last week.

Thompson is now stepping up his return, with the five-time All-Star set to receive more practice time at G League level via the Santa Cruz Warriors, alongside Golden State team-mate James Wiseman (meniscus).

“Klay will be scrimmaging, and James will continue his work,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said before Sunday’s 105-90 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

“I don’t think [Wiseman] is scrimmaging yet, but Klay will be doing five-on-five.”

Thompson has not played since Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals before suffering an Achilles injury in November 2020.

Since entering the league as the 11th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, Thompson boasts a career average of 19.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, while shooting at 45.9 per cent from the field and 41.9 from three-point range.

The Golden State Warriors continue to set the pace in the NBA after Stephen Curry fuelled the league-leading franchise to a 105-90 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Curry put up a game-high 33 points and the red-hot Warriors celebrated their eighth consecutive victory on Sunday.

The two-time MVP also had six assists, six steals and five rebounds as the Warriors improved to 18-2 this season.

Golden State had 19 steals in total at Staples Center, where Paul George (30 points) and the Clippers shot just 40 per cent from the field.

The Warriors have held their opponents to under 50 per cent shooting in all 20 games this season – Golden State have the best defensive rating and opponent field goal percentage in 2021-22.

Lakers win grudge match

The Los Angeles Lakers outlasted the lowly Detroit Pistons 110-106 as the two teams renewed hostilities for the first time since LeBron James and Isaiah Stewart were ejected following a melee. James had struck Stewart in the face – drawing blood, sparking wild scenes as the Pistons big man repeatedly charged at the Lakers superstar on November 21. On Sunday, James scored 33 points and tallied nine assists to help the Lakers. Anthony Davis (24 points and 10 rebounds) and Russell Westbrook (25 points and nine rebounds) also contributed in LA.

Defending champions the Milwaukee Bucks eased past the Indiana Pacers 118-100 for their seventh successive victory. Giannis Antetokounmpo had a day out with 26 points and 13 rebounds.

Tatum overshadows Celtics triumph

The Boston Celtics left Canada with a 109-97 win against the Toronto Raptors, but it was a miserable outing for All-Star Jayson Tatum. While he had 10 assists and seven rebounds, Tatum finished with just eight points on two-of-16 shooting in a team-high 38 minutes. He also recorded four turnovers.

Angry and frustrated, Stephen Curry said a non-call fuelled him in the Golden State Warriors’ comprehensive victory at the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.

Curry posted a game-high 33 points to guide the NBA-leading Warriors (18-2) to a 105-90 win over the Clippers – Golden State’s eighth in a row.

The two-time MVP scored 13 points in a final quarter, which saw Curry lose his cool after not receiving a foul call at Staples Center.

Curry thought he had been fouled by Clippers small forward Terance Mann, leaving the Warriors superstar outraged.

“I thought I got fouled, so I let my emotions go,” Curry said afterwards. “And definitely fired me up, fired our team up — you have to be able to direct that energy into just putting the ball in the basket, obviously, after that.

“So that’s where I feel like we do it well, where you don’t let it become a distraction for the rest of the game, and it obviously helped open up the game.”

Curry is averaging 28.6 points, a career-high 5.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists (his best since 2014-15) per game in 2021-22, while shooting 46.6 per cent from the floor and 42.3 from beyond the arc.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr: “It was as upset as I’ve seen Steph in a long time. And it was as upset as I’ve been in a long time, too. It’s kind of a miracle that I didn’t get a technical, but it seemed to get him going.

“Whatever it takes, I guess … he clearly got fouled. Steph is a guy who, he’s just so competitive, and when he knows he got fouled — especially in a play like that in transition where it’s right out in the open, easy to see, and he doesn’t get the call, every once in a while he’s going to snap.

“He doesn’t do it often, but when he knows he’s right, the competitor in him comes out and he’ll kind of lose his mind a little bit, but it often spurs him, like it did in this instance.”

The New York Knicks have removed struggling star Kemba Walker from the rotation, head coach Tom Thibodeau announced on Monday.

Walker joined the Knicks on a two-year, $20million contract at the start of the season after being bought out by the Oklahoma City Thunder following a trade from the Boston Celtics.

The four-time All-Star, who struggled to reach his lofty heights with the Celtics, has been averaging career lows in points (11.7), assists (3.1), rebounds (2.6), field-goal attempts per game (9.8) and minutes per game (24.5).

Not only has Walker been removed from the starting line-up, but the 31-year-old guard is also not part of the rotation heading into Tuesday’s clash with crosstown rivals the Brooklyn Nets.

“It’s a tough decision to make, but you always have to do what you think is best for the team,” Thibodeau told reporters, with the Knicks turning to Alec Burks.

“I view Kemba as a starter, and so it’d be tough to play three small guards together. I gave it consideration, and I’ve got great respect for who Kemba is as a person and all he’s accomplished in this league.

“But I have to do what I think is best for the team.”

The Knicks have struggled for form since ending their playoff drought last season, 11-9 in 2021-22 – three games behind the Eastern Conference-leading Nets and one ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers in 11th position.

It is very early in the season to describe any game as being akin to a playoff matchup but Tuesday’s meeting between the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns has an extremely compelling case for receiving such a label.

The Warriors have been the class of the NBA to this point, their record of 18-2 the best in the league.

However, their title credentials will be sternly tested in Phoenix, where they will face a 17-3 Suns team looking excellently placed to go one better in 2021-22 after losing in the NBA Finals to the Milwaukee Bucks last season.

The matchup between the two Pacific Division rivals will mark the first time in NBA history that two teams with a winning percentage of 85 or higher after a minimum of 20 games have faced each other.

In that sense, it is big as stages get in late November in the NBA, and the Warriors boast a player born to dominate such arenas in Stephen Curry.

Curry is enjoying another remarkable year, compiling a superb MVP resume after finishing third in the voting last term.

He is tied for the league lead in points per game (28.6) with former team-mate Kevin Durant, while his season-long plus-minus of 283 is comfortably the best in the NBA. Reigning Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is a distant second on 197.

Curry’s 105 made three-pointers are 20 more than nearest challenger Buddy Hield of the Sacramento Kings, seven of those coming on Sunday in another spectacular showing to propel the Warriors past the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center.

He will be the lead protagonist in what is likely to be a fascinating encounter between two excellent backcourts. With Klay Thompson still yet to return after two seasons lost to injury, Curry has received magnificent support from the emerging Jordan Poole, who has averaged 19.8 points per game this month and is one of five Warriors in the top 10 in plus-minus for November, illustrating the depth at their disposal.

Three Suns also reside in the top 10 of that list, including their two guards Chris Paul and Devin Booker.

Eleven-time All-Star Paul continues to defy Father Time and is again the Suns’ chief creative force after helping them come within two wins of an NBA title.

Meanwhile, shooting guard Booker is hitting a career-high 41 per cent of his three-point attempts, perhaps setting things up for an absorbing back and forth between him and the man most regard as the greatest shooter of all time.

PIVOTAL PERFORMERS

Golden State Warriors – Draymond Green

With the vast majority of the attention on the enduring brilliance of MVP favourite Curry, it would be easy to overlook the contribution of Green, who has served as chief facilitator for the Warriors’ talisman.

Green has 106 assists to his name in the month of November. No other non-point guard has registered more.

Shooting a career-high 55.5 per cent from the field this season, Green is once again proving he can be a critical part of a potential championship team, and the Warriors will need him at his best on both ends of the floor to maximise their hopes of seeing off Phoenix.

Phoenix Suns – Chris Paul

From his time with the Clippers, through his prominent role in engrossing playoff battles between the Houston Rockets and the Warriors to his increasingly impressive spell with the Suns, matchups that see Paul go against Curry have long since been must-watch affairs.

The ‘point God’ has consistently been overshadowed by the shooting magic of Curry but, among your more conventional point guards, there is still arguably nobody better.

Paul leads the league with 10.1 assists per game this season, justifying the Suns’ decision to bring him back on a lucrative contract after their Finals agony of the previous campaign.

He must ensure the Suns’ offense outshines Curry and the Warriors this time around if Phoenix is to send an early message by knocking off Golden State.

KEY BATTLE – Can Warriors beat Ayton on the boards?

The Warriors have been among the best rebounding teams in the NBA this season.

Golden State have registered 47.1 rebounds per game, good for fifth in the league.

Meanwhile, the Suns rank 15th in the same category with 45.7, but do possess one of the top rebounders in the league in Deandre Ayton.

The Suns center is averaging 11.4 boards per game, the sixth-most in the NBA.

If the Warriors are to have the advantage on the glass in this one, they will need to find a way to mitigate Ayton’s impact.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

The Warriors prevailed 122-116 in the last meeting between the two teams, however, Golden State have won only one of their last four games against the Suns in Phoenix.

Nikola Jokic bounced back to Denver Nuggets duty as though he had never been away as the win at Miami Heat was described by coach Michael Malone as “a great pain reliever”.

The superstar Serbian, MVP in the NBA last season, had missed four successive games because of a wrist injury amid Denver’s six-game slide.

That was their worst such stretch since 2014-15 and saw them fall away after making a 9-4 start to the season, but prospects for Malone’s men are looking up now that Jokic is fit.

After sinking the Heat 120-111 in Miami, there was a warm mix of emotion and relief in the Nuggets’ locker room.

Jokic posted 24 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists, and seemingly that effort had changed everything.

Bones Hyland, the 21-year-old Nuggets point guard, shot a career-high 19 points including five three-pointers, and said: “It felt good going back into the locker room.

“I felt as though the guys were trying to win so bad just because Nikola was out. We know what he provides, and we were trying to fill his shoes and those are big shoes to fill.

“Him being back, everybody’s a team now, playing through him, and it felt good for sure.”

Malone had to search for the correct terminology to describe the post-game emotion.

“I don’t know if relief is the right word, but there was definitely some joy, some smiles, some hugs,” said the coach.

“As corny as that sounds, man, winning is a great pain reliever. We’ve all been down in the dumps and to get this win tonight kind of just stops all of that and allows us to get back to feeling good about ourselves.”

He said playing without Jokic had been “a little bit different” to losing any other player.

Quoted on NBA.com, Malone struck an upbeat tone, saying: “I love the guys in the locker room. I’ll go to war with them. Obviously, tonight was just one win. But after losing six in a row, by no means have we said, ‘We’re gonna change our goals now’. There’s 62 games left, so much basketball to be played. So, you move on and play another day.”

Jokic was not given an easy ride by the Miami crowd, facing boos every time he touched the ball due to the dust-up he and the Heat’s Markieff Morris had in a November 8 game. Morris has missed 11 consecutive games since the incident.

He is big enough to handle such hostility though, saying afterwards: “I played in Serbia, so I wish you guys could feel that.”

The 26-year-old Jokic is averaging 26.2 points, 13.7 rebounds and 6.4 assists this season, so ostensibly this was a par performance. How the Nuggets had missed him at his most routine though.

Jokic felt there was a collective improvement in the team, adding: “Everybody played well. We had seven players in double figures. So, everybody shared the ball. Everybody touched it.”

Nikola Jokic’s return proved the perfect tonic for the slumping Denver Nuggets after the reigning MVP helped snap a six-game slide in a 120-111 victory over the Miami Heat.

All eyes were on Jokic, who had missed four straight games because of a wrist injury amid Denver’s worst six-game stretch since the 2014-15 season.

There was also plenty of interest as the Nuggets and Heat renewed hostilities for the first time since Jokic and Miami’s Markieff Morris were involved in a dustup on November 8.

Jokic received a one-game ban after shoving Morris in the back as tempers flared – the Nuggets star reacting angrily after the Heat veteran came in with a hard foul, catching his opponent with a left elbow to the chest.

While the Heat were shorthanded in the absence of Morris – who has missed 11 consecutive games since the incident, Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro, Miami fans let their feelings known, booing Jokic every time he touched the ball.

Jokic, with his two brothers behind the Denver bench, was not fussed as he posted 24 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists.

Double-doubles from Bam Adebayo (24 points and 13 rebounds) and Kyle Lowry (17 points and 14 assists) were not enough for the Heat.

Doncic matches Robertson

Luka Doncic had 25 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds in the Dallas Mavericks’ 114-96 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He tied Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson for the most triple-doubles (38) before turning 23. Mavericks star Doncic celebrates his 23rd birthday in February.

Lonzo Ball earned family bragging rights after the Chicago Bulls outlasted the Charlotte Hornets 133-119. Up against brother LaMelo and the Hornets, Lonzo’s Balls prevailed thanks to Nikola Vucevic (30 points and 14 rebounds), DeMar DeRozan (28 points) and Zach LaVine (25 points). According to Stats Perform, Chicago are the first team to have a starting guard (LaVine), starting forward (DeRozan) and starting center (Vucevic) have 25-plus points, five-plus rebounds and five-plus assists in the same game since the Orlando Magic in January 1994. LaMelo Ball’s 18 points and 13 assists were not enough for the Hornets.

Seth Curry put up 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting as the Philadelphia 76ers held on to beat the Magic 101-96 at home. The 76ers are riding a five-game winning streak against the Magic – their longest such streak against Orlando.

Jonas Valanciunas nailed seven of his three-point attempts as he torched the Los Angeles Clippers in a 39-point and 15-rebound performance, the New Orleans Pelicans triumphing 123-104.

Lillard struggles in Blazers loss

Much was said about All-Star Damian Lillard heading into the season amid question marks over his future with the Portland Trail Blazers. Had he outgrown the smalltown market? Well, his topsy-turvy campaign continued after scoring just 11 points on four-of-12 shooting from the floor in the 129-107 defeat at the Utah Jazz.

Rookie of the Year candidate Josh Giddey had a game to forget as fellow strugglers the Houston Rockets eased past the Oklahoma City Thunder 102-89. In 25 minutes, Giddey made only one of his nine shots from the field, missing his five three-point attempts for two points in total.