Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to Trae Young’s performance against the Chicago Bulls in the play-in game.
Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks have been eliminated from the NBA’s playoff contention after losing to the Chicago Bulls 131-116 in the play-in game.
Despite finishing the game with a double-double (22 points, 10 assists), Trae Young struggled from the field, shooting 4/12, while he also turned the ball over six times.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to Young and the Hawks missing out on the playoffs.
Oh hello!
While most of the sports world was watching the Kansas City Chiefs dismantle the Miami Dolphins in the freezing cold Saturday night but there were other sports going on as well.
In San Antonio the Spurs were playing host to the Chicago Bulls and former Notre Dame basketball standout Blake Wesley thew down quite the highlight dunk. You can check it out below:
GOOSEBUMPS‼️ pic.twitter.com/952uAQtP7Z
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 14, 2024
Those were the only two points Wesley would score on the evening and the Spurs stumbled down the stretch as the Bulls outscored them 15-5 in the final six minutes. Final score Bulls 122, Spurs 115.
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I wish I could say I was surprised by this shameful behavior from fans
Well. The Diar DeRozan thing was fun while it lasted. But then Toronto Raptors fans had to go on and ruin it by harassing a 9-year-old for cheering on her dad.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Diar DeRozan stole headlines last week during the Bulls play-in matchup against the Raptors. Every time the Raptors went to the free throw line, she screeched. And, coincidentally, it actually seemed to work. The Raptors shot uncharacteristically poorly from the free throw line and lost the game.
Now, obviously, whatever help Diar DeRozan gave the Bulls that night was minimal at best. These are professional basketball players. People scream at them every night. A 9-year-old girl ain’t making a world of difference here. Sorry.
But some fans didn’t take it that way, for whatever reason.
Diar DeRozan actually had to be escorted out of the game because she received online threats after the game, according to reporting from Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes.
DeMar DeRozan’s daughter, Diar, was escorted out of Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday by Bulls’ security and led to team bus with her father after NBA notified team of severe online threats directed at the nine-year-old, sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) April 14, 2023
Listen, man. There’s not really much to say about this. There’s no need to really break it down. This is just shameful behavior by some fans looking for a power trip.
So what if your team lost? Or maybe your parlay didn’t hit because the team missed some shots. Diar DeRozan didn’t have anything to do with that. She was just there, supporting her dad the best way she could. Doing what we all should be doing — having fun. We’re all here to have a good time because — say it with me — it’s truly not that serious.
This is why some people don’t need sports. Nah — I’ll take it a step further. It’s why some people don’t deserve sports. What a shame.
Poor Jaden Ivey
In basketball, there’s never really one play that absolutely makes or breaks a game — that includes the plays in the waning moments of the game.
Yes, obviously, some plays feel bigger than others. But each moment and action builds and builds until we get to the final result. So it’s hard to say that one play impacts the game more than another.
With that being said, Jaden Ivey’s Chris Webber moment for the Pistons on Wednesday night certainly didn’t help the Pistons against the Bulls.
Detroit had the ball with a chance to pull ahead or tie the Bulls with just under 10 seconds left in the game. Ivey is inbounding the ball for Detroit and the team has no timeouts left. The Pistons have to inbound the ball.
But Ivey doesn’t like what he sees, so he calls a timeout. Normally, that’s the right thing to do. But in this case? It cost his team dearly.
The Pistons didn’t have any timeouts.
The Pistons had a chance to win the game or send it to overtime until Jaden Ivey called a timeout that the team did not have…
An excess timeout results in a technical foul and the Bulls went on to win the game 😬pic.twitter.com/7zIgFIsluT
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 2, 2023
Poor Jaden Ivey. You could tell immediately that he’d recognized his mistake after he made it.
The Bulls shot the technical free throw and got the ball back after this. The Pistons had to foul again. The Bulls made all 3 free throws to push the lead to 117-112.
That’s rough, man. It had to be a tough pill for Ivey to swallow knowing that this play put the game out of reach.
But, again, no one play makes or breaks a game. Dwane Casey said as much after the loss, writes ESPN.
“He panicked, but the game wasn’t won or lost on that one play…It was lost in the first quarter. With the laissez-faire approach we had defensively, they got whatever they wanted. It’s such a mountain to climb when you get behind in this league.”
And he’s right. Detroit gave up 38 points in the first quarter and then got outscored 32-18 in the second quarter. The Pistons played catch-up through the entire game and ti’s hard to come back from that.
Ivey shouldn’t hang his head on this. Though we rarely see this, it’s an honest mistake. And one that I’m almost certain won’t happen to him again.
Happy 60th to the GOAT!
The greatest basketball player to ever walk the earth is turning 60 today as Michael Jordan celebrates his birthday (sorry Kyle Hamilton). Jordan starred at North Carolina long before Notre Dame joined the ACC but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have connections to Notre Dame throughout his playing days.
Five of these connections were highlighted during the 2020 documentary series, “The Last Dance”. For a kid growing up in the ’90s, that documentary was a great walk down memory lane and incredibly informative for stories about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty.
What connections to Notre Dame did that documentary have? Let’s look back at just a few:
Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan praised forward Patrick Williams’ performance and viewed him as a consistent double-digit rebounder.
The Chicago Bulls extended their winning streak to three games following Monday’s home victory over the Atlanta Hawks. The win places the team back into play-in contention as the tenth-ranked squad in the Eastern Conference.
A standout performance from forward Patrick Williams as he finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds. The Bulls’ third-year player has recently shown improvement on the court as he battled on the glass all night. The exceptional play was lost on his head coach as Billy Donovan praised his performance during his post-game press conference with reporters.
“He’s really explosive with two feet. And when he gets in and makes those kinds of efforts to get on the backboard, he really is an elite rebounder, and we need him to do that. I think he ended up with whatever it was, 18 points and 10 rebounds, but he’s a guy that’s got to try to go get double-figure rebounds for us,” said Donovan. “I thought there were some opportunities for him offensively to drive it a little bit more. Where he may be settled a little bit, I think it’ll get better there. But overall, you can see his growth and his improvement over the course of the season.”
Williams was a lottery pick during the 2020 NBA draft after only one year at Florida State. He has progressed each year in adjusting to the pro-level speed and is committed to living up to his coach’s expectations as he responded to reporters after the game.
“Not necessarily talked about. But I think he’s pretty clear. That I can rebound the ball. I agree with him,” Williams said. “In terms of, I gotta be more consistent rebounds. I think we’re really good. When any of our wings grab a rebound, we can get up quicker. So I tell people, just put that on myself, accept the challenge.”
Williams will be essential to the Bulls’ success moving forward, as the team wants to finish the season’s first half on a high note.
Stay tuned to Bulls Wire. Follow us on Facebook!
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Draymond Green, forward de los Golden State Warriors, es uno de los jugadores con menos pelos en la lengua en la historia de la NBA y el sábado en la noche, no se mordió la lengua para dar una declaración muy fuerte. Green estaba viendo las NBA …
Draymond Green, forward de los Golden State Warriors, es uno de los jugadores con menos pelos en la lengua en la historia de la NBA y el sábado en la noche, no se mordió la lengua para dar una declaración muy fuerte.
Green estaba viendo las NBA Finals de 1998 cuando tuiteó que sus Warriors de 2017 hubieran vencido a los Chicago Bulls de 1998.
“No puedo dejar de notar que nuestro equipo de 2017 hubiera vencido a estos Bulls por 20 puntos”, fue lo que tuiteó Green.
El cuatro veces campeón de la NBA cree que su equipo de campeonato de 2017, que tenía a Stephen Curry, a Kevin Durant y a Klay Thompson, es el mejor equipo en la historia de la NBA.
Los Bulls de 1998 Bulls eran liderados por Michael Jordan y Scottie Pippen, quienes completaron su dinastía con su sexto campeonato en ocho años.
Con el cambio de las reglas a través del tiempo, muchos fans se preguntan cómo hubiera sido un enfrentamiento de este calibre.
A Green, quien en 2017 se llevó a casa el premio del Jugador Defensivo del Año, le sobra confianza en su equipo.
Esta no es la primera vez que Green hace declaraciones tan fuertes. En un episodio de abril de su podcast “The Draymond Green Show”, se sentó con Curry y discutieron las temporadas en las que ganaron sus campeonatos.
“Yo creo que ese equipo [de 2017] tomó el lugar del mejor equipo de la historia”, fue lo que dijo Green. “Fuimos el mejor equipo de todos los tiempos, no me importa lo que digan. No puedo ver a nadie derrotando a ese equipo de 2017”.
Curry, dos veces ganador del MVP y el líder de todos los tiempos en tiros de tres puntos, estuvo de acuerdo con la opinión de Green.
Muchos antiguos atletas se ofendieron por los comentarios de Green y muchos han respondido.
Richard Jefferson, analista de ESPN y veterano de la NBA por 18 años, se esperó menos de una hora para comentar sobre el comentario viral de Green.
“Hermano, tu equipo de 2017 es el segundo mejor contra el que yo he jugado, pero vamos a calmarnos”, dijo Jefferson vía Twitter. “Además, me gusta la onda de este texto en una tarde de domingo: todos los programas de mañana van a estar diciendo lo que dijo Draymond”.
En 2016, Jefferson y los Cleveland Cavaliers derrotaron a Green y a los Warriors en siete partidos. Los Warriors empataron el récord de la NBA a 73 victorias y se convirtieron en el primer equipo en las NBA Finals en perder tras ir 3-1.
Artículo traducido por Ana Lucía Toledo
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The NBA Draft is less than a week away, with more potential big trades on the horizon following the Christian Wood acquisition by the Dallas Mavericks, as noted throughout our new HoopsHype aggregate mock draft.
To get a better projection of where all of the projected top prospects stand currently, we compiled mock drafts from ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, The Ringer, Sports Illustrated, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, SB Nation, Yahoo, Basketball News, and USA TODAY’s For The Win.
The most notable risers within the projected lottery selections included Dyson Daniels moving up further within the top 10 picks, Ousmane Dieng becoming a projected lottery pick, and Jalen Williams vaulting into the Top 20 range. Jake LaRavia and Dalen Terry, two of the biggest risers throughout the draft process, have moved into the late first round.
Other risers in the second round include Ryan Rollins, Andrew Nembhard, David Roddy, John Butler, Michael Foster, Gabriele Procida, and Dereon Seabron.
The notable name that fell was MarJon Beauchamp, who now is projected outside the top 20 picks despite receiving a green room invite. Josh Minott and Jean Montero were among those whose stock fell in the second round.
NOTE: These rankings reflect the composite score to get a feel for the overall consensus, not our own opinion. For example, if a player was the first pick on a publication’s mock draft, he received 58 points. If a player was second, he received 57 points and so on. We then tabulated the total number of points for each player’s consensus ranking.
HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report
Following the withdrawals of several prospects, the aggregate NBA mock draft has shifted noticeably, and more intel on teams have surfaced with the draft nearing.
To get a better projection of where all of the projected top prospects stand currently, we compiled mock drafts from ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, The Ringer, Sports Illustrated, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, SB Nation, Yahoo, Basketball News, and USA TODAY’s For The Win.
The most notable risers within the projected lottery selections included Keegan Murray leaping Shaedon Sharpe into the top five range, Dyson Daniels entering the top 10, and Malaki Branham cracking the end of the lottery. Dalen Terry also vaulted 12 spots since our last aggregate mock draft and is currently positioned as an early second-round pick.
Some of the more notable names that fell slightly included TyTy Washington, Max Christie and Leonard Miller.
NOTE: These rankings reflect the composite score to get a feel for the overall consensus, not our own opinion. For example, if a player was the first pick on a publication’s mock draft, he received 58 points. If a player was second, he received 57 points and so on. We then tabulated the total number of points for each player’s consensus ranking.
HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report
The new front office of the Chicago Bulls took the path that often punishes teams if they fail. They surprised the league at the 2021 trade deadline by acquiring Nikola Vucevic, a move that nobody saw coming. That signaled that they were open to moving young players and draft picks for veterans with an intent to reshape the roster into a competitor overnight.
And it worked!
They followed that trade by sign-and-trading for Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan, as well as signing Alex Caruso to fill out their core. They also hit on drafting Ayo Dosunmu in the second round. Getting a young player like him cancels out some of the assets they traded away in the past year.
The Bulls were in first place in the Eastern Conference for a significant chunk of the season before injuries and defensive regression pushed them down to the sixth seed. They will now look to build off their success this offseason for a push into the second round. Their roster is set for the most part but still have some flexibility and moves to make improvements.
