Category: DunkWire

Pelicans vs. Rockets Preview: Can New Orleans go back-to-back?

The New Orleans Pelicans will look to start their first winning streak of the season with a win over the Houston Rockets on Monday.

Who: New Orleans Pelicans vs. Houston Rockets

When: Monday, Nov. 11, 8:00 p.m ET

Where: Smoothie King Center

How to watch: Fox Sports New Orleans

After snapping their three-game losing streak on Saturday against the Charlotte Hornets, the New Orleans Pelicans (2-7) will look to get their first back-to-back wins of the regular season when they host the Houston Rockets (6-3) on Monday.

Neither team has started the season the way they wanted but the Rockets are still firmly in the playoff conversation with their All-Star backcourt featuring Russell Westbrook and James Harden — each of whom has won the league MVP award within the last three years. The same can’t be said of the Pelicans, however, who are No. 13 in the Western Conference going into Monday night’s game — a team they don’t match up well with.

The Rockets are ranked sixth in the league in fast-break points led by Russell Westbrook, who is fourth among players in fast-break points per game (5.8). The Pelicans are also ranked sixth in fast-break points but they also allow the most fast-break points in the NBA (20.4). That’s not a recipe for success against any team, but especially not the Rockets.

It’s not just transition defense that the Pelicans struggle with, though — it’s defense in general. Through nine games, the Pelicans are ranked No. 29 in the league in defensive rating, allowing 113.3 points per 100 possessions. At No. 22, the Rockets aren’t much better. But Houston has the second-most efficient offense in the NBA behind the Dallas Mavericks.

New Orleans will have to be at its best defensively on Monday. But with Lonzo Ball — one of their best defensive guards — sidelined once again, their best might not be enough. Hopefully the new-look starting lineup continues to surprise people and helps the Pelicans start their first winning streak of the season.

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Frank Vogel says injured Rajon Rondo will return ‘hopefully soon’

Rajon Rondo’s return from a calf injury has been a slow and deliberate one, with no clear end in sight.

All things considered, the Los Angeles Lakers are having a great start to the season. When they hit the three-week mark on Tuesday, they will still be 7-2 heading into a game against the Phoenix Suns. But if you were hoping for them to get Rajon Rondo back in the lineup soon, his two-steps-forward-one-step-back recovery from a sore calf, has complicated it.

After being close to playing on Sunday, Rondo’s return was immediately called off after a 5-on-5 workout, according to Yahoo’s Chris Haynes. And the outlook for Rondo doesn’t look any clearer after Sunday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors. Coach Frank Vogel told reporters that it would be “hopefully soon” when Rondo returns but acknowledged that the soft tissue injury has been tricky to deal with.

According to Harrison Faigen for Silver Screen and Roll, Vogel said before the game on Sunday:

It’s tough to say. With a soft tissue injury, you never know how quickly those things are going to heal. You want to have the mindset where you can ramp up activity and get through it with no pain and no soreness. And if that doesn’t happen then it can be delayed. So it’s not that unusual in my mind.

Vogel doesn’t seem too concerned by the injury given its nature as a difficult injury to recover from, let alone for a veteran like Rondo. The Lakers are taking it slow, but their patience doesn’t make Rondo’s slow recovery any less concerning.

Matt Flinn shoots down rumors of early NBL exit for LaMelo Ball

With questions circulating about LaMelo Ball’s future with the club, Matt Flinn addressed the matters on Saturday following the Hawks’ win.

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Last week, questions began circulating about LaMelo Ball’s future with the Illawarra Hawks. Starting with a fairly innocuous statement made during a TV show, the reports swirled about whether Ball would stay with a struggling Illawarra side even through Christmas.

While the reports never had any true legs, Hawks head coach Matt Flinn was forced to address the matter in his post-game press conference after Saturday’s win over Cairns.

“As far as I’m concerned, he’s contracted for the season. He’s buying in like every other player we’ve got. I hear speculation but we just treat it day by day. You saw a guy tonight who’s really invested in his team. If you go down and sit in the locker room, you’ll see a kid who is really invested in his teammates. I can’t really comment on that.”

The belief is that, with the Hawks struggling mightily this season and Ball’s draft status set in stone, the risk of an injury could outweigh the benefits of hanging around in Australia for the rest of a lost season. Ball has drawn plenty of praise from DraftExpress in his short time in the National Basketball League.

The counter-argument would be that Ball is still growing as a player and, while his draft status may be more certain, he’s still a player learning while on the court. Ball started slow this regular season but has come on in recent contests, highlighted by his best outing of the season against the Taipans.

Even more, the perception of Ball would take another big hit if he bailed on the first true professional league he’s played in and the first true team environment he’s been apart of. While all the reports of Ball have been glowing, like in the quote above, having him leave halfway through the season would certainly be a public relations hit.

In the end, it’d be surprising if Ball left Illawarra prior to the end of the season. While the season has been a rough one for the team, Ball has been nothing but committed to the Hawsk the season from the outside looking in.

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LeBron on seeing his sons rundown from AAU tournaments: ‘This isn’t right’

LeBron James said that he sees the toll of AAU basketball first-hand, with his two sons, and says the status quo bothers him.

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When it comes to his own load management, LeBron James has a pretty simple approach. But when it comes to the well-being of his children and the thousands of kids that play youth basketball on the summer tournament circuit, James has many more thoughts as a parent of two hoops hopefuls.

In an interview with Yahoo’s Chris Haynes, James tackled the issue of youth players coming into the league rundown and with injuries. He discussed seeing his sons being forced to play three games in one session at an AAU tournament this year and how jarring it was for him to see his kids rundown, explaining:

Because a lot of these tournaments don’t have the best interest of these kids, man. I see it. It’s like one time, they had to play a quarterfinal game, a semifinal game and a championship game starting at 9 a.m., and the championship game was at 12:30 p.m. Three games. I was like, ‘Oh, hell no.’ And my kids were dead tired. My kids were dead tired. This isn’t right. This is an issue.

Over the summer, the issue of youth basketball wearing down the game’s most promising young players was the topic of a phenomenal expose by ESPN’s Baxter Holmes. And as if the topic didn’t need anymore support, No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson needed knee surgery days before the season began and No. 2 pick Ja Morant had a knee procedure over the summer.

The issue of players entering the league with chronic injuries is not one that will go away soon. And while LeBron can only influence the workloads of his two sons, it’s clear he doesn’t like the non-stop cycle that often chews up and spits out players before they get a chance to be fully-formed.

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Lonzo Ball ruled out again for Monday’s contest against Rockets

The New Orleans Pelicans will be without starting point guard Lonzo Ball for the second straight game on Monday against Houston.

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For the second-straight contest, Lonzo Ball will be out for the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday as they host the Houston Rockets. Ball continues to be out with an adductor strain, more commonly listed known and listed on the injury report as a groin injury.

Ball suffered the injury last week against the team’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets. After initially playing through the injury in Friday’s loss to the Raptors, Ball sat out Saturday’s game at Charlotte. Ball was held out of practice the week leading up Friday’s game.

Without him, the Pelicans picked up its second win of the season against the Hornets. Ball has been playing well this season, averaging a career-high 11.5 points with 6.1 assists and 4.5 rebounds while shooting a career-best 36.7 percent from three-point range through his first eight games of the season.

After Monday’s contest, the Pelicans will be off until Thursday when they host the Los Angeles Clippers.

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Anthony Davis admits he is still feeling discomfort in his right shoulder

Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis admits he is still feeling discomfort in his right shoulder following loss to the Toronto Raptors.

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The Toronto Raptors snapped the Los Angeles Lakers seven-game winning streak on Sunday. Playing without Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry, the Raptors used a 13-3 run with just over nine minutes left to help secure the 113-104 victory. LeBron James posted his fourth triple-double of the season with 13 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds during the loss, while Anthony Davis paced the Lakers with 27 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.

Following the game, Davis admitted that he’s still feeling the lingering effects of the shoulder injury he suffered on a dunk attempt earlier this season. He told Dave McMenamin of ESPN that he re-aggravated the injured shoulder on a block of Pascal Siakam during the Toronto loss which increased the level of pain that he played with throughout the night.

“There’s really never a play I don’t feel it,” Davis said of his injured right shoulder. “I’m going to go out there and play. I try not to let it affect my game. I just play through it and then worry about taking care of it after the game.”

A.D. hasn’t missed a game all season despite the ailing shoulder and is averaging 26.6 points and 10.2 rebounds in 35 minutes of work. He’s also been critical in helping to establish the Lakers interior defense while offering a career-high of 3.1 blocks per contest. His treatment for the aggravated shoulder includes wearing a compression T-shirt under his jersey and having a heat pack applied while he’s on the bench. Davis was not removed from the game due to injury on Sunday and logged 38 minutes in defeat.

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LeBron James becomes first Lakers to get 4 triple-double in 1st 10 games

LeBron James made more franchise history for the Los Angeles Lakers even in their first loss in eight games.

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Sunday night was the first time in two weeks that the Los Angeles Lakers felt what it was like to lose as the Toronto Raptors used a huge second half to end the Lakers seven-game win-streak. But even in the loss, LeBron James managed to make a small bit of Lakers history with his play.

With 13 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds, James recorded his fourth triple-double of the season. James became the first player in Lakers franchise history to record four triple-doubles in the first 10 games of the season. Interestingly enough, Dallas Mavericks forward Luka Doncic has also accomplished the same feat this season. The Lakers still have one game left before they get to 10 as they sit at 7-2 after nine games.

Although James gets into the history books for the Lakers, he had a particularly bad night in his attempts to score the ball against a rangy and athletic Raptors front court. James was 5-15 from the field on Sunday and an uncharacteristic 3-6 from the free-throw line.

LeBron and the Lakers will head to Phoenix on Tuesday for a quick trip before returning to L.A. on Wednesday to face the Golden State Warriors.

Savvy Raptors snap Lakers streak despite LeBron’s triple-double

The Raptors turned on the afterburners in the second half and showed their championship pedigree in the win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

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Anthony Davis had 27 points and four blocks while LeBron James recorded his fourth triple-double of the season with 13 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds but the defending champion Toronto Raptors snapped the Los Angeles Lakers seven-game win streak on Sunday, 111-102.

Pascal Siakam led the Raptors with 24 points, including a couple of huge transition baskets in the final seconds of the game when the Lakers had cut the Raptors lead to just four points in the final two minutes to seal the game.

After the Lakers jumped out to an 11-point lead in early in the first quarter, the Raptors showed their mettle by coming back to slice the Laker lead to just one point heading into the quarter. Energy plays and big shots by the Raptors bench helped neutralize what had been an otherwise terrible quarter.

The Lakers starters again asserted their dominance towards the end of the first half, with James coming close to a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds at halftime while Anthony Davis and Avery Bradley each scored nine points as well. In addition to the play of the starters, Troy Daniels broke out of a shooting slump to score 11 points off the bench in the first half. With the strong finish, L.A. led by eight at halftime.

The two teams continued to play to a standstill the fourth quarter when the Raptors showed their championship pedigree, going on a 13-3 run to go up by 10 with just over nine minutes left in the games. In addition to the strong play of VanVleet and Siakam, the Raptors got a major lift off the bench from Chris Boucher who had 15 points, three blocks and two steals.

The normally great Lakers bench didn’t make the same impact they have over the course of their seven-game win streak, even against a slightly depleted Raptors group missing both starting point guard Kyle Lowry and power forward Serge Ibaka.

Up next for the Lakers will be an interesting test against a surprisingly strong Suns team in Phoenix on Tuesday night.