Things for going great for the Ivey family. First, [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] just coached the Notre Dame women’s basketball team to a huge win over USC. That bumped the Irish up to third in the latest Top 25 AP poll and even netted them three first-place votes.
Now, the good fortune is being passed down to the next generation. Jaden Ivey, Niele’s son, has hit a baseline buzzer beater to help the Detroit Pistons defeat the Toronto Raptors, 102-100. It capped a night in which he led the Pistons with 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field and led all players with eight assists.
Ivey is in his third season with the Pistons out of Purdue, and it’s his best one yet so far. Through 18 games, he is averaging 18.4 points and 4.4 assists a game. Whatever he does the rest of the season though or even the rest of his career, he’ll remember this:
Here’s hoping Ivey will have many more some clutch moments throughout his NBA career.
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Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Prince J. Grimes.
What’s up, hoops fans. Welcome back to Layup Lines. The NBA Cup got started Tuesday night with a little group play action, and several of the games delivered in the way of drama.
You already know about the Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors, who put on show in Klay Thompson’s first game back in the Bay. But there was also the Atlanta Hawks going on the road to stun the Boston Celtics with a one-point win, and the Detroit Pistons’ overtime win over the Miami Heat.
That last game was particularly interesting because it involved one of the greatest coaches of this generation making an incredibly uncharacteristic mistake at the worst possible time. With the game tied at the end of the extra period, Erik Spoelstra called a timeout — even though the Heat didn’t have any.
The blunder led to a technical foul that allowed the Pistons to shoot the game-winning free throws with a second left (and made for a great Jalen Rose meme).
A complete, uncharacteristic meltdown from Heat Head Coach Erik Spoelstra.
First: he gets burned by Detroit’s ATO.
Second: he calls a timeout in frustration, but he doesnt have any left. So he’s assessed a technical foul. Pistons take the lead at the line.
Now, look, I’m not here to necessarily defend Spoelstra. Yes, he’s human. Yes, he’s allowed to make mistakes. And there’s no guarantee the Heat would’ve won in the second OT. But he blew it. There’s no way around it. He even owned up to it after the game.
But isn’t blaming Spoelstra kind of just a convenient cover for how mid the Heat actually are and have been for what, more than two years now? They’re 4-6 on the season after losing a dog fight with the Detroit freaking Pistons. The same Pistons team that tied the record for the longest losing streak ever last season. Shouldn’t that be a bigger concern here?
I don’t know. It just seems like maybe that’s where the focus with this team should be. It’s not that Spo lost them a game. It’s that Heat management keeps forcing him to prove how great he is on a nightly basis by rolling out a team that isn’t actually very good. They’re worse than bad, because there isn’t some high lottery pick awaiting them for winning 40 games every year.
We forget because Miami made an improbable run to the finals two summers ago, but they’ve been an 8-seed each of the last two years. As mid as mid gets. And they’re only getting middier. Their star player, Jimmy Butler, is now 35 years old and hasn’t played at least 65 games — the league minimum for awards — since 2018-19. And by the way, he was out again Tuesday.
Sure, the Heat still have Olympian Bam Adebayo, but after him, it’s Tyler Herro, the potential of Jaime Jaquez Jr. and a bunch of dudes. And they’re supposed to compete with the likes of the Celtics, Cavaliers and Knicks? Please. That they aren’t as bad as the Pistons most nights is a credit to Spoelstra.
So you can go ahead and pin this one loss on the coach, but you’re probably missing the bigger picture. The Heat win more games because of Spoelstra than games they lose because of him. I can’t believe I’m saying this about a coach, but Pat Riley and the front office should do more to get the man some help.
Gregg Popovich health update
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
I used this newsletter last week to send well wishes to Gregg Popovich after learning the Spurs coach would be out indefinitely with an health issue. Today we learned exactly what that health issue was.
The Spurs announced Wednesday Popovich suffered a mild stroke at the team’s arena Nov. 2. They said he’s expected to make a full recovery after already starting a rehab program. A timeline for his return hasn’t been determined.
This news is both scary and relieving to hear all at once. Whether or not he coaches again — which it sounds like he will — it’s awesome to know he’s expected to recover. At the same time, it’s difficult anytime you hear about a stroke.
The important thing here is Pop seems to be OK. So, let’s just continue to keep him in our thoughts until he’s back with the team.
The NBA NEEDS Cooper Flagg in the Eastern Conference.
With all due respect to fans of woeful NBA teams like the Utah Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers, it’s time we have a frank conversation. And I apologize for how it will exclude your totally valid (but, to me, ultimately tertiary) needs as diehard supporters of your respective favorite teams.
The NBA’s latest truly generational draft prospect, Duke’s Cooper Flagg, must play in the Eastern Conference when he likely jumps to the league in the summer of 2025. Full stop.
There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it, either.
If we want to have a truly healthy and balanced NBA, throwing another potential franchise superstar like Flagg into an already-stacked West is a dire scenario for the league. The sheer talent disparity between the two conferences — the West has had more All-NBA players every season for 26 straight years — is already way too glaring.
The East’s embarrassingly slow start to the 2024-2025 season only confirms as much. It’s still a small sample size (less than 10 games into the year at the time of this writing), but here are some eye-opening early numbers to keep in mind if you’re one of those people who’d like to see Flagg play somewhere West of the Rocky Mountains:
Only two East teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, currently have a winning record. That’s right. Quite literally, everyone else outside of Cleveland and Boston in the East is straddling the line at .500 or lower. Yikes.
Eight of the NBA’s 10 best records so far belong to Western Conference teams. Eight. EIGHT.
The West, itself, is winning over 70 percent of its games head-to-head with the East so far. That’s roughly a 57-win pace over an 82-game season, by the way. A real ho-hum kind of dominance.
The East, itself, is also being heavily dragged down by the struggling Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks, who were supposed to be bellwethers as conference heavyweights. From injuries and age to good old-fashioned bad luck, these two teams are instead mired at the bottom of the standings. Tough scene.
I know it’s tempting to say we’ll appreciate someone with Flagg’s unique all-around abilities wherever he plays. Which, sure. That’s part of the deal we make as sports fans. Sometimes, it’s just about sitting back and appreciating the show talented athletes can put on.
You take what you can get. I understand.
Still, this massive disparity between the NBA’s East and West simply cannot continue. Flagg and the San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama are/were considered two of the best draft prospects in the league in years. For both of them to play on Western teams in a conference where, for example, a 50-win team was the fifth seed last season (a 50-win team was the No. 2 seed in the East) would be an unmitigated disaster for competitive balance.
Western teams already tear each other apart all year. Meanwhile, the 2-3 squads fighting at the top of the East get to be on cruise control as they please. A possible superstar like Flagg going West would just make it even worse. It’s not tenable or sustainable for players or fans of Western teams. (The conference really needs more “nights off,” if you know what I mean!)
The East needs an injection of potential all-time youth and talent. Badly.
So, this is my message to fans of fledgling squads like the Washington Wizards and Toronto Raptors. I’m really rooting for you.
Go capture that Flagg.
The NBA’s interconference competitive balance might depend on it.
The Detroit Pistons did not get off to the best start of the 2024 season on Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers.
In the 115-109 home loss, the Pistons somehow put six men on the court at the same time at one point in the game.
Yes, they put six men on the court. Six men!
Of course, basketball only allows five members of a team on the court at the same time unless it is a three-on-three league. Detroit must have not paid enough attention to who was exactly on the court in this specific moment.
We’re at a loss. How did the Pistons get this wrong?
Last season, the Pistons finished with the worst record in the league (14-68) and ranked near the bottom in offensive efficiency and three-point shooting. To address these weaknesses, new president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon prioritized …
Last season, the Pistons finished with the worst record in the league (14-68) and ranked near the bottom in offensive efficiency and three-point shooting. To address these weaknesses, new president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon prioritized shooting in the offseason, re-signing 6-foot-9 sharpshooter Simone Fontecchio and acquiring players like Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. through free agency and trades.
Cade Cunningham, now locked into a five-year, $224 million max extension, will lead the team alongside Jaden Ivey with an upgraded supporting cast. Furthermore, many of the veterans brought in are on short-term deals, allowing Langdon the flexibility to evaluate which players fit the team’s future plans without long-term commitments.
While the Pistons will be more competitive in the first half of the season, the expectation is that they’ll shift focus to securing a better draft position after the All-Star break. This move will likely make their overall winning percentage look worse than their performance through the first 60 games, masking the progress made on the court.
There was a basketball game played in the Breslin Center last night that didn’t involve Michigan State. See pictures of it here:
There was a basketball game played last night in the Breslin Center, and it didn’t include Michigan State, as the Detroit Pistons faced the Phoenix Suns in a preseason exhibition.
You can see the best pictures from the game below:
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.
Look, I can empathize with MSU fans who are acting a little salty about this, but I’m never going to criticize a superstar like Booker for showing love to Michigan State. It’s cool.
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.
After his playing career was over, Rose made a classy decision. Rather than just post on Instagram and other social media platforms, the three-time All-Star point guard chose to show some love to his fans who are a bit less online as well. He also provided them with a cool physical item that they can keep forever as well.
Rose bought a full-page ad in six newspapers across the country, thanking all of the fans who supported him in each city that he played for both in college and in the NBA.
So he took out full-page ads in the following New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Commercial Appeal, Detroit Free Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Minneapolis Star Tribune.
That is a cool move from Rose as he moves into this next chapter of his life.
Jaylen Brown really said the quiet part out loud about the Pistons.
Anyone who follows NBA basketball closely knows that the Boston Celtics could probably lean on their B-team to beat horrible squads like the Detroit Pistons without batting a single eyelash. The rub is that most people who say this in public are fans with no skin in the game.
There’s a big difference between talking ball with your fellow non-pro-athlete friends and someone who actually participates, saying they don’t have to worry about an awful team.
At Celtics Media Day on Tuesday, Brown said, out loud, that the Celtics don’t sweat the usually awful Detroit Pistons. Like, at all. He maintained that the Celtics have an understanding about the Pistons, knowing they can empty their bench and, most likely, still beat Detroit on any given night.
Brown’s not necessarily wrong, but he should probably avoid saying things like this while being recorded, especially after giving the obligatory “no disrespect disclaimer.”
Because everyone watching will rightfully take it as a sign of disrespect:
Jaylen says Boston usually play through players like Payton Pritchard & Sam Hauser vs teams like Detroit
“We gonna play through Payton, let him go for 30. Play through Sam, let him shoot 10 threes tonight. We gonna still win the game”
I, for one, hope the Pistons and Cade Cunningham see this clip and use it as quality motivation. They’ll almost certainly be playing this video a bunch before the first time they play Boston this upcoming season. Truly, what a wild thing to say on camera from a player on the reigning NBA champion.
Comments like this potentially open a can of worms and put an even bigger target on the back of an elite Celtics team everyone in the league is now chasing.
