Tag: Darius Garland

Texas ex Jarrett Allen helps lead Cavs trio to NBA Skills Challenge win

Former Longhorn Jarrett Allen already has one win from the NBA All-Star weekend.

The NBA All-Star weekend for former Longhorn Jarrett Allen got off to a hot start on Saturday.

The now Cleveland Cavalier is going to be participating in his first all-star game, and he helped “Team Cavs” which included Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, win the skills challenge.

This season there was a new format to spice things up, as rather than it being an individual based event, it consisted of three teams of three players. The other two teams “Team Antetokounmpos” consisted of Giannis and his two brothers Thanasis and Alex, and “Team Rooks” which had Josh Giddey, Cade Cunningham, Scottie Barnes.

The challenge consisted of four rounds starting with shooting, then going to passing, followed by a team relay, and finishing it off with a half court shootout.

While Garland and Mobley were more better suited for the event, Allen did contribute as he added five of their 44 points in the passing competition. Team Cavs would go on to win after Mobley hit the half court shot in 5.5 seconds to Team Rooks’ 9.9 seconds.

Both Allen and Garland were selected as all-stars for the first time, and will be suiting up for Team LeBron.

NBA Skills Challenge: Evan Mobley wins it for Cavs with half-court shot

Evan Mobley sank the half-court shot needed to send the Cavs to the title in the Skills Challenge on Saturday at All-Star Weekend.

Evan Mobley on Saturday drained the half-court shot needed to lead the Cavs to the win in the Skills Challenge at NBA All-Star Weekend in Cleveland, Ohio.

Mobley and the Cavs, which included teammates Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland, defeated the Rooks in the fourth and final round. The two teams were tasked with shooting half-court shots to win and the player that hit it fastest won as Mobley drained it in 5.5 seconds.

The Cavs came out of the gate fast, winning the first round to collect 100 points in the scoring. Teams attempted to make shots from five different locations on the court ranging from 10-30 feet. Each spot was worth between 1-5 points.

In the second round, the Antetokounmpos, featuring brothers Giannis, Thanasis and Alex, topped the three teams in a passing drill for 100 points. Players had 30 seconds to make as many passes as possible into three, oversized moving targets.

The Rooks took the third round and 200-point prize as Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham and Josh Giddey recorded the fastest time in a full-court relay. The three first-year players posted a winning time of one minute, 18 seconds to set up a showdown with the Cavs in the final round.

Cunningham and the Rooks went first in the final round as each player launched shots from the half-court line. The No. 1 pick last year sank one shot in 9.9 seconds, which was eventually beaten by Mobley and the Cavs on their second attempt.

The Skills Challenge tipped off the festivities on Saturday night and continued a busy weekend for the Rooks and Cavs. The four rookies on the court each participated in the Rising Stars game on Friday while Allen and Garland will compete in the All-Star Game on Sunday.

The 3-Point and Slam Dunk Contests were to follow the Skills Challenge.

This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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The NBA is healthier and more fun than ever in 2022

The NBA has never been better.

The NBA is a global league, but there’s no denying it’s had a limited scope. A few stars and great teams here and there in big markets. The occasional small town heartland enclave, San Antonio, inspires feverish fandom and joy, but that experience was otherwise a rarity.

Not everyone got in on the fun. Not everyone saw what NBA basketball could be about at its peak. It would be the league of Magic/Larry/Isaiah, the league of Jordan/Ewing/Miller, or the league of LeBron/Kobe/Duncan, and no one else truly mattered. No one else had a relevant stake in the game.

The times, they are a-changin’. Now that we sit at the 2022 All-Star break, it’s high time we appreciate where the league stands today:

One of the best places it’s resided in decades.

If I told you on Day 1 of this season that LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kawhi Leonard would all either be irrelevant, second (or third) fiddle to more interesting stories or out of the picture altogether, and the NBA was still humming along, without a care in the world–would you believe me? No, you’d have written me off. You might have even laughed in my face. But it’s the truth. The cold, hard, but delightful truth.

From coast to coast, seemingly every franchise has a delightful or dynamic centerpiece of a star.

In the West alone, there’s Warriors 2.0 with a reinvented Steph and Klay Thompson. A human triple-double machine Nikola Jokic in Denver’s mountains. The blistering Suns led by classic two-guard Devin Booker in Phoenix. The Grizzlies, and Ja Morant, are coming out of their hibernation in Memphis. Sweet, melodic Jazz spurred by Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert in Utah.

Veer East and the sport’s biggest star, Giannis Antetokounmpo, flashes a toothy grin at you every night while he makes Milwaukee — the great city of Milwaukee — an NBA stronghold. In Philadelphia, Joel Embiid constantly invokes the ghost of Wilt Chamberlain and the example of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with unfiltered dominance. The Heat shine with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, making the golden era of the early 2000s and early 2010s distant memories. Even Chicago and Cleveland, otherwise regularly frozen in place during the winter, are enjoying renaissances thanks to fun young squads led by DeMar DeRozan and Darius Garland, respectively.

Take titan matchups like Giannis vs. Embiid, for example.

That sort of game used to be the only appointment viewing the league would have only every couple of weeks. Now it’s a shared experience, whether your team is a title contender or not.

Venture outside of the relevant playoff picture, and the cavalry doesn’t stop. Luka Doncic is carving a path toward the most outstanding foreign player ever in North Texas already.  LaMelo Ball, looking more like a veteran than a little brother in Charlotte. Trae Young is putting himself in the legendary company of all-time point guards in Atlanta. Anthony Edwards slashing and dashing in Minnesota. Damian Lillard running and gunning in Portland. Dejounte Murray finding his stroke in San Antonio.

It seems everyone has something to look forward to. Everyone has someone they can refer to affectionately on a first-name basis as someone that brings them harmless joy outside of the 9-to-5 grind.

In terms of title odds over at Tipico Sportsbook, at least five teams (the Suns at +425, Warriors at +480, Bucks at +600, 76ers at +700, and Heat at +1200) have legitimate championship aspirations. You could easily argue and throw Memphis, Denver, and Chicago into the mix, and few would bat an eyelash.

Maybe it’s a sign of the times and being constantly connected to every happening, but I don’t ever remember the NBA ever being this healthy. I don’t remember more than two or three players and teams mattering in the grand scheme of things. It seems like every night brings about some sort of remarkable individual achievement — a 40-burger, an exemplary shooting performance, a defensive masterclass, incomprehensible skill off the dribble — that would’ve been hard to envision even half a decade ago.

The playoffs this spring, as a result? A true crapshoot.

The race to the title? A dead heat.

Basketball is the ultimate game of grace. It demands on-the-fly creativity and adaptability to the moment. Personality and little friendly trash talk are baselines of expectations thrown in. Its drama and melodrama of the highest order.

We are so lucky to have everyone finally experience this wonderful mix that the NBA can offer. The global league is finally a true global league. It’s about time.

Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO).

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Analytics MVP 3.0: Who are the best players based on advanced analytics and impact metrics?

As part of a new series at HoopsHype, we are examining who should win the NBA MVP award based on what we can learn from advanced analytics.

For this survey, each impact metric was included because it was considered among the most trustworthy by NBA executives when asked by HoopsHype during this past offseason.

The metrics pulled included Daily Plus-Minus (DPM), Estimated Plus-Minus (EPM), LEBRON (BBall-Index), RAPTOR (FiveThirtyEight), Regularized Adjusted Plus-Minus (RAPM), Player Efficiency Rating (Basketball-Reference), Box Plus-Minus (Basketball-Reference). We also added the model of Box Plus-Minus from Backpicks.com as well as the newest impact metric, Daily-Updated Rating of Individual Performance (DRIP).

ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus was not included because the data has not been published yet this season. However, if it’s publicly available by our next update, RPM will also be calculated.

Because all of these metrics (except PER) are graded on a per-100 possession scale, we adjusted for playing time by multiplying their impact contribution on each metric by the percentage of possible minutes they have played for their team so far this season.

As with the official vote, the top player received 10 points, the second received seven points, the third received five points, the fourth received three points, and the fifth player received one point. If a player finished outside of the Top 5, they didn’t receive any votes from that measurement.

Only players that made the Top 5 on least one of these nine metrics were included in our rankings below. Some of the most notable omissions include Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler, Jarrett Allen, Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, and Ja Morant.

To see who is performing the best based on HoopsHype’s Global Rating, click here. All stats are accurate as of Feb. 17, 2022. 

Analytics MVP 3.0: Who are the best players based on advanced analytics and impact metrics?

We need to talk about Nikola Jokic.

As part of a new series at HoopsHype, we are examining who should win the NBA MVP award based on what we can learn from advanced analytics.

For this survey, each impact metric was included because it was considered among the most trustworthy by NBA executives when asked by HoopsHype during this past offseason.

The metrics pulled included Daily Plus-Minus (DPM), Estimated Plus-Minus (EPM), LEBRON (BBall-Index), RAPTOR (FiveThirtyEight), Regularized Adjusted Plus-Minus (RAPM), Player Efficiency Rating (Basketball-Reference), Box Plus-Minus (Basketball-Reference). We also added the model of Box Plus-Minus from Backpicks.com as well as the newest impact metric, Daily-Updated Rating of Individual Performance (DRIP).

ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus was not included because the data has not been published yet this season. However, if it’s publicly available by our next update, RPM will also be calculated.

Because all of these metrics (except PER) are graded on a per-100 possession scale, we adjusted for playing time by multiplying their impact contribution on each metric by the percentage of possible minutes they have played for their team so far this season.

As with the official vote, the top player received 10 points, the second received seven points, the third received five points, the fourth received three points, and the fifth player received one point. If a player finished outside of the Top 5, they didn’t receive any votes from that measurement.

Only players that made the Top 5 on least one of these nine metrics were included in our rankings below. Some of the most notable omissions include Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler, Jarrett Allen, Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, and Ja Morant.

To see who is performing the best based on HoopsHype’s Global Rating, click here. All stats are accurate as of Feb. 17, 2022. 

5 NBA players who have a case for making their first All-Star Game

Making a pitch for five different NBA players to make their All-Star game

There’s so much that goes on in the entertainment business around this time of the year — the Grammys, Super Bowl and Pro Bowl, to name a few. Yet, the one that is often overlooked is NBA All-Star Weekend. It’s hyped up, without a doubt, but the actual weekend itself is usually overlooked thanks to boring All-Star games, below-average dunk contests and other events that are there to take up TV time. The lead-up to the weekend is what seemingly gets the most attention.

The unveiling of the All-Star selections happens throughout a process that plays out with weekly updates via TNT’s NBA coverage. From there, we spend weeks at a time discussing the voting returns, including who belongs in the game, which players should and should not be starting, etc.

Well, I’ve got some opinions of my own before the reserves are revealed on February 3rd. Here are the cases for five different players to make their first All-Star appearance.

The Cavs humbled Giannis’s Bucks (again). Doubt them at your own risk

Another feather in the cap for one of the NBA’s best young teams.

The Cavaliers (+3.5) weren’t supposed to be this good this season. They weren’t even supposed to be the best or second-best team in the Central Division. Those labels belonged to the defending champion Bucks and the new-look chic-pick Bulls, led by DeMar DeRozan. Fun basketball stories where young, well-balanced teams come out of nowhere are rare.

Let’s face the facts: Most often in the NBA, you either have a superstar, face-of-the-league, bonafide top-five player, or you don’t matter in the big picture. That player can shift games on a dime, by himself, and everyone else is left weeping.

Unfortunately, no one told the Cavaliers, who got their arguable (early) signature win of the year over those same defending champ, Bucks.

A 115-99 home victory where Milwaukee was never really within striking distance over a balanced and deep Cleveland squad. A clinch of at least a split of the season series between the two teams (currently 2-1 in the Cavs’ favor). Their ninth victory in their last 11 games. And, only a couple of games (30-19) behind for that vaunted Central Division’s first place where, as mentioned, Cleveland was supposed to be dead and buried.

At this point in the year, in late January, that’s significant. That’s something that furls your eyebrow and piques the ol’ interest.

What might have been even more impressive was that the Cavs managed to beat the Bucks with each of their best players, Giannis, Khris Middleton, and Jrue Holiday playing together.

Something that hasn’t happened often this year.

How do the Cavs do it?

It’s simple. Lean on their point guard, their bigs, and a strong bench.

A top-five pick only two seasons ago, Darius Garland has been a revelation in his third year in the NBA. The Vanderbilt product is not only averaging almost 20 points a game (19.7), but he’s facilitating a well-balanced offense (eight assists per). He’s the perfect floor general and plus-shooter any good team would center their entire operation around.

Meanwhile, center Jarrett Allen is a young and quiet All-Star-level player as a direct complement. He averages a nightly double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds) and anchors the NBA’s third-best defense by efficiency (behind only the Warriors and Suns). Next to him, Evan Mobley, a rookie top-five pick, looks like a monster early in his career. Most young big men aren’t averaging 15 points and eight boards and making it look easy like Mobley does. He’s a consensus bet (-250) to win Rookie of the Year, and no one is remotely surprised.

Throw in a bench led by former championship team centerpiece Kevin Love (who had 25 against Milwaukee), among others, and you’ve got the makings of a squad that can throw any variety of lineups at the opposition.

If they’re smart, no one in the NBA will overlook these young-buck (pun not intended) Cavs anymore. If they do, they risk another slick pass from Garland zipping by their head, an Allen or Mobley block on their shot, or a smooth Love trey drained in their face.

These Cavaliers might not have a true superstar, but they’re deep, they’re young they’re hungry, and it might only be a matter of time on the former prospect.

Cleveland’s got themselves an actual NBA team. And the world is still spinning.

Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO).

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Ranking the likeliest players to make All-Star debuts this season

HoopsHype ranks the 14 players who are likeliest to make their All-Star debuts in the 2021-22 season.

Being selected as an NBA All-Star is one of the highest honors a professional basketball player can attain, and as such, when a player makes their All-Star debut, it is seen as a huge deal by the player, his team and his fans.

There are a lot of players making strong cases to make the All-Star for the first time, so we decided to rank the 14 guys we believe have the best chances to earn that distinction this season.

Check it out below.

Ranking the likeliest players to make All-Star debuts this season

Being selected as an NBA All-Star is one of the highest honors a professional basketball player can attain, and as such, when a player makes their All-Star debut, it is seen as a huge deal by the player, his team and his fans.

There are a lot of players making strong cases to make the All-Star for the first time, so we decided to rank the 14 guys we believe have the best chances to earn that distinction this season.

Check it out below.

OKC Thunder player grades: Thunder fall short as Cavs mount 18-point comeback in win

The Thunder were not able to keep its 18-point lead as the Cavaliers were able to squeeze by with a close road win

The Oklahoma City Thunder were able to lose in entertaining fashion as the Cleveland Cavaliers manages to steal a road game with a 107-102 win. The Thunder led by as much as 18 points but the Cavaliers used a 15 point advantage in the second half to close this gap and complete the comeback.

The Cavaliers, who came into the game ranked third in the league in team defensive rating at 104.9, held the Thunder to 102 points. Now while the point total is low, I thought the Thunder shot the ball pretty efficiently against one of the best defensive teams in the NBA as they had a 43.4/ 37.0/ 90.9 shooting splits. The difference in the game came with turnovers, where the Thunder committed 15 compared to the Cavaliers’ seven total. This gave the Cavaliers four extra shot attempts and in a five-point loss, those extra possessions were extremely crucial.

For the Cavaliers, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley led the way. Garland finished with 27 points and 18 assists while Mobley finished with 20 points and five rebounds. Jarrett Allen also chipped in with a 13 point and 13 rebound double double.

Overall, this was a fun game that showed the Thunder were able to keep up with the most overachieving team in the league. The team has nothing to be ashamed about with its efforts and should not hang their head in losing an 18-point lead against the up and coming Cavaliers. With all that said, let’s take a look at player grades.