Layup Lines – Page 7 – Syndication Server

The Cavaliers won’t see the true value of their trade for Donovan Mitchell until the playoffs

It’s too soon to declare a winner between the Jazz and Cavs in the Donovan Mitchell trade.

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Donovan Mitchell played his first game in Utah as a visitor Tuesday night, dropping 46 points in a loss to his former team. It was just the latest offensive explosion from the All-Star guard who scored 71 points just three games earlier.

By all accounts, Cleveland’s trade for Mitchell has worked out. At 26-16, the Cavs are in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with just 3 1/2 games between them and first place. Mitchell is leading the way with career highs in scoring, shooting and defensive box plus/minus. His 29.3 scoring average ranks seventh in the NBA. He’s sixth on my latest MVP ladder.

But did you know the Cavs are only two games better than where they were at this point last season?

It sounds kind of wild now, knowing they didn’t make the playoffs, but the Cavs were 24-18 and sixth in the East after 42 games last year. They eventually bottomed out due to injuries, but this team was already really good.

That’s part of why the Jazz are better than anyone anticipated after getting Lauri Markkanen back in the deal for Mitchell — Markkanen scored 25 in the Tuesday’s win. It’s also why we won’t know the true value Mitchell adds to Cleveland until the playoffs come around.

The Cavs didn’t bring him in to make the playoffs. They brought him in to win in the playoffs. Mitchell’s ability to score in isolation becomes so much more important when rotations shrink and defensive game-plans are more acute. What he’s doing in the regular season is awesome, but it’s not enough to crown a team as winners in a deal that required them to part with three first-round picks and agree to swap two others.

We probably won’t know who won the Donovan Mitchell trade for several years.

— Prince J. Grimes

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

Utah also traded big man Rudy Gobert in the offseason, and one of the players they got back in the deal was rookie Walker Kessler.

In Tuesday’s game, Kessler was doing something so bizarre on defense that Donovan Mitchell had to pull him aside after the game to tell him stop. So what was it?

Kessler was calling out his own defensive strategy, tipping off the offense enough to put himself at a disadvantage. My colleague Bryan Kalbrosky wrote about why it’s so shocking:

“Mitchell described what Kessler did as giving him the answers to the test before he got a chance to even take it. Perhaps that is why he was easily able to score against Utah even despite a massive height disadvantage.

It is pretty shocking that Kessler has presumably called out his plays all season and has remained as effective as he has, recording one of the highest block percentages we’ve ever seen from a rookie. One can only imagine how much more effective he can be if he implements Mitchell’s advice.”

Yeah, you probably don’t want to give a scorer like Mitchell any added advantages.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Phoenix Suns (+700) at Denver Nuggets (-13.5, -1000), O/U 226.5, 10 PM ET

This might be the easiest pick I make all year, but let me lay it out for you: The Suns are playing on the second night of a back-to-back, without Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and several other key players from their rotation, on the road, against the best team in the Western Conference. Denver is going to cover this spread with ease.

Shootaround

— Our guy BK re-ranked the best players under 23 years old, and there’s a new No. 1

— Shaq was supposed to eat a frog after TCU’s loss, but he chickened out

— Former Lakers guard Smush Parker is working to become an NBA referee

— Ja Morant is trying to help a child whose autographed basketball was stolen at a Grizzlies game

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The Clippers are broken and it’s up to Kawhi Leonard to fix them, but it’s unclear if he actually can

The Clippers need Kawhi Leonard to save them. Can he do it?

Howdy, folks. Welcome back to Layup Lines. It’s your boy Sykes ushering you into the weekend. This time with a word on the Clippers.

The Clippers’ 122-91 loss to the Nuggets on Thursday night is absolutely the low point for LA’s season. The 31-point deficit is somehow not indicative of how lopsided that game was. Their stars didn’t even play in the 2nd half.

The Clippers looked listless throughout the game. Every problem they’ve had all season surfaced in one game. Their offense was too slow. They went dreadfully cold from deep, shooting 5 of 37. They weren’t healthy. And, most importantly, Kawhi Leonard didn’t look like himself at all in the 14 minutes he played.

And that’s the crux of the issue, right? Point guard is a popular issue to talk about with the Clippers. Reggie Jackson just doesn’t feel like the answer the Clippers have wanted for the last few years. And John Wall hasn’t stepped up to be the player the Clippers need him to be. Their offense still feels unorganized and slow. The Clippers are still mostly a jumpshooting team with no north-to-south rim pressure.

But none of that matters if Kawhi Leonard is Kawhi Leonard. If he’s the star that he was two seasons ago prior to tearing his ACL, then LA’s issues get pushed to the margins. Without him being that player, those issues become much larger.

But Leonard hasn’t even gotten an honest chance to be that player. He’s only played in 17 games this season so far and a chunk of that was been coming off the bench. He’s not close to being himself.

If he can’t get there, the Clippers’ season is over. Will it happen? Only time will tell. In the immediate future, there’s a possibility that he’ll play the second leg of a back-to-back for the first time this season on Friday night against the Timberwolves.

So there’s that, Clippers fans.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

NBA All-Star voting is here and, yes, it is completely ridiculous. My colleague, Cole Huff, picked out some of the most ridiculous selections from the first returns here.

Somehow, there’s no Julius Randle, for example. Which is completely ridiculous. And no Bam Adebayo or Domantas Sabonis? What’s going on, man.

But there’s one that has me bothered in particular. How is Tyrese Haliburton not a top 4 vote-getter in the East at the guard position? Not only that, but he’s behind Derrick Rose of all people. Fam. What is wrong with y’all?

Bryan Kalbrosky detailed this particular travesty. He nailed it.

“Rose has yet to exceed more than 13 points or 6 assists in a single game thus far. Haliburton, meanwhile, has already exceeded 13 points in 31 games and he has only failed to reach 6 assists in two of his 37 appearances.

Fans are presumably giving Rose some love as a legacy candidate, which makes sense. But let’s leave that to commissioner Adam Silver, who decided to name Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki as special team roster additions during their final seasons in 2019.”

Enough said.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Nuggets (-5.5, -210) vs. Cavaliers (+180), O/U 220.5, 9 PM ET

I can’t imagine there are too many people out there who anticipated a potential NBA Finals matchup between the Nuggets and Cavaliers, but we’re here. The Nuggets might have the best player in the NBA in Nikola Jokic, but the Cavaliers have the league’s best defense statistically and two dominant bigs in the frontcourt with two dynamic guards. This is going to be a good one. And with the Nuggets coming off of a back-to-back, give me the Cavs +5.5.

Shootaround

— Jayson Tatum is teasing the release of his signature sneaker coming soon.

— Bones Hyland has the meme of the NBA season so far. Hands down.

—Klay Thompson has returned to his roots in the midrange and it’s working for the Warriors

—Anthony Davis is on the steady road to improvement for the Lakers

That’s all, folks! Enjoy the weekend.

The Thunder just scored a record 150 points with a bunch of players you probably don’t know

AND they did it on the Celtics. AND they did it without SGA.

In the short time since the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008 and rebranded themselves as the Thunder, the franchise has fielded some great teams that have made the playoffs more times than they haven’t.

Of course, there was the Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook era, which included five 50-win seasons, four trips to the Western Conference Finals and one NBA Finals appearance. But the post-Durant era also included successful runs behind Westbrook, Paul George, and then Chris Paul for a year.

None of those teams were able to do what the 2022-23 team did on Tuesday, though.

With their best player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, sidelined, the Thunder scored a team record 150 points in a win over the Boston Celtics — the same Boston Celtics who have the best record in the NBA, a team that had only allowed that many points once prior in their own franchise history. And OKC did it in regulation!

The Thunder were 11.5-point home underdogs with +425 moneyline odds at BetMGM. All they did against those odds was shoot 59% from the field, cashing half of their 40 three-point attempts against one of the NBA’s best defensive teams. Seven players scored in double figures, including five with at least 20 points. And these aren’t household names. Unless you follow the NBA or college hoops closely, you probably don’t know many of these players.

Josh Giddey, the second-year pro from Australia, led the team with 25. The undrafted Lu Dort added 23. Tre Mann and Isaiah Joe had 21. So did Jalen Williams – not to be mistaken for Jaylin Williams, who finished with eight. Aaron Wiggins had 17 and Kenrich Williams had 10. One of the longest tenured Thunder players, Darius Bazley added four.

I would recommend getting a little more familiar with these guys. There’s clearly a foundation for something good in the near future.

— Prince J. Grimes

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

Speaking of incredible scoring outputs, Donovan Mitchell became the seventh player in NBA history to score 70 points in a game, leading the Cavaliers to an overtime win over the Bulls on Monday.

The only problem: the 13 points he scored in overtime shouldn’t have counted. That’s according to the NBA’s Last 2 Minute report, which says Mitchell committed a lane violation on his game-tying put-back of an intentionally missed free throw with four second left in regulation.

It’s in the history books now, so most of us probably don’t care about the violation. But the Bulls might. From USA TODAY Sports:

Bulls coach Billy Donovan knew Monday night that it was a violation, and predicted the league’s Last Two Minute Report would prove him right. The league has used the reports for years as a form of accountability and transparency, but outcomes of games are not changed by the discovery of a missed call after the fact.

“It doesn’t do anything,” Donovan said. “It’s like, ‘We’re sorry.’ … That’s unfortunate, because I thought our guys battled and competed.”

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Milwaukee Bucks (+150) at Toronto Raptors (-4.5, -180), O/U 225.5, 7:30 PM ET

The Toronto Raptors are STRUGGLING lately, particularly on defense, and that’s a bad place to be with Giannis Antetokounmpo coming into town on a heater. Giannis has scored at least 40 in three straight games, including a career-high 55 in a win over the Wizards on Tuesday. So even on the second night of a back-to-back, and with some key players missing, I like Milwaukee to cover.

Shootaround

— This ball glitch is proof the Warriors have been playing NBA 2K in real life all along

— The NBA should have just counted this insane game-winner-that-wasn’t by Lauri Markkanen

— HoopsHype discussed Jacque Vaughn’s very real Coach of the Year candidacy

— Top draft prospect Scoot Henderson took off for flight with an insane posterization

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The Nuggets are finally playing defense, and that makes them a real threat in the West

Denver’s win over Memphis was a statement game.

Paced by MVP Nikola Jokic’s sixth triple-double of the season, the Denver Nuggets beat the first-place Memphis Grizzlies by 14 points on Tuesday.

Now, the Nuggets are in first place.

The win was their fifth in the last six games, pulling them into a tie with Memphis at the top of the Western Conference at 19-11. Yet, if you take a look around different sportsbooks, Denver’s title odds still trail at least three other teams in the West. Those teams are the Warriors, Suns and Clippers. Some still have the Grizzlies ahead of Denver too.

Golden State, the only of those teams with a losing record, is obviously receiving the benefit of doubt as the defending champion. But the other three teams all have something in common that Denver doesn’t, and that’s a top-10 defensive rating. The Nuggets are the NBA’s 24th ranked defense. Which brings us back to Tuesday’s game.

If the Nuggets want to be considered a real title contender, they have to be better on defense, and things were trending in the right direction even before they played Memphis. Denver has a top-10 defensive rating in its last five games, and Tuesday only furthered that trend. The Nuggets held Memphis to a season-low 91 points on 44% shooting, including just 5-of-26 (19%) from three. Head coach Mike Malone said “it’s just one game,” but he was proud of how physical his team played.

He’s right. It is just one game, so we can’t say this is who they are now. But if they want to contend for a championship, it’s who they’ll have to become. Because their offense is elite, but you can’t win if you can’t get stops.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

The sale of the Phoenix Suns appears to finally be coming to a close, with 42-year-old billionaire Mat Ishbia reportedly set to purchase a majority stake in the team for a record $4 billion.

The NBA’s newest governor will be familiar to some sports fans. He was a part of Tom Izzo’s Michigan State teams that reached the Final Four each year from 1999-2001 and won a national title in 2000.

That was just one of 3 things to know about Ishbia, as written by my colleague Blake Schuster.

“MSU can also thank him for helping the Spartans hire Mel Tuckers the football team’s head coach.

According to Forbes, Ishbia pledged $32 million towards the Spartans in 2021. A few months earlier, he committed $14 million towards the 10-year, $95 million contract given to Tucker following Mark Dantonio’s retirement.“

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Milwaukee Bucks (+115) at Cleveland Cavaliers (-2.5, -135), O/U 216.5, 7 PM ET

The Cavs host the Bucks on Wednesday night in another battle of giants in their respective conference. Both teams are 7-3 in their last 10 games, and they’re both getting it done on the defensive end. Cleveland has turned that effort up another notch in its last four games, allowing an average of just 100 points. Add in their 15-2 record at home, and I like the Cavs to cover this small spread.

Shootaround

— Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges were hilariously trolled by Bradley Beal during a little disagreement

— Jimmy Butler missed the Heat’s last game with a stomach bug after eating…crickets?

— Charles Barkley had so much fake snow dumped on him that it ruined his coffee

— The Jeremy Sochan-Dennis Rodman comparisons continue

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Joe Mazzulla is pushing all the right buttons with the Celtics

Mazzulla gave Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown an earful before Tuesday’s win over the Lakers.

It was another day and another win for the Boston Celtics on Tuesday after a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback and runaway overtime period against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Jayson Tatum took over down the stretch and finished with a game-high 44 points, further solidifying his spot in the MVP rankings. And Jaylen Brown led all scorers in OT with five of his 25 points.

The two Jays are undoubtedly one of the best tandems in the NBA and a big reason why the Celtics hold an NBA-best 22-7 record, seemingly destined for a playoff clash with the Milwaukee Bucks for Eastern Conference supremacy.

But interim head coach Joe Mazzulla deserves a lot of credit too.

Even after nearly winning a title last summer, a return to dominance wasn’t a certainty for Boston with the shadow of Ime Udoka’s suspension hanging over the team at the start of the season. Players were caught off guard. Vibes appeared to be low.

Oddsmakers still had the Celtics favored to win the NBA title after a strong offseason, but there was reason to question why. Udoka had been credited for the team’s rise into a conference champion. Now, he was being replaced by a virtual unknown in his first head-coaching gig at just 34 years old.

But two months into the season, Mazzulla has pushed all the right buttons. Normally mild-mannered, he seems to also know when it’s time to bring some fire. After consecutive losses to the Warriors and Clippers, he told Tatum and Brown they needed to get their [expletive] together before Tuesday’s game. That’s exactly what they did.

"He set the tone for us and told us we need to get our s*** together"

Jaylen Brown on Joe Mazzulla's pregame message pic.twitter.com/2keRlFhCKM

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) December 14, 2022

“Before the game, he just let his presence be felt,” Brown said. “He let us know from the top to the bottom, starting with me and Jayson, we gotta be better and everybody else is going to follow suit. So he went directly at us, encouraging us to be better, embracing the challenge.”

The Celtics have the best offense in the NBA and remain strong defensively. It’s led to the league’s best net rating. That’s the result of a strong roster from top to bottom led by two stars playing up to their potential. And now we have to factor in a coach who might be just as good as his predecessor, if not better.

This is a team that can absolutely get back to where they left off last season. It’s truly remarkable when you think about how the season started.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

The NBA gave its regular-season award trophies a rebrand on Tuesday, naming them after NBA legends and giving them a new look to boot. The league even introduced a new Clutch Player of the Year award.

These are the legends each award is named after:

MVP: The Michael Jordan Trophy
Clutch Player of the Year: The Jerry West Trophy
Defensive Player of the Year: The Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy
Rookie of the Year: The Wilt Chamberlain Trophy
Sixth Man of the Year: The John Havlicek Trophy
Most Improved Player of the Year: The George Mikan Trophy

Twitter, as usual, had jokes about what the trophies look like. But I personally like the concept. Our guy Bryan Kalbrosky made a list of players who could win the inaugural Jerry West trophy.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

New York Knicks (+150) at Chicago Bulls (-4.5, -175), O/U 225.5, 7:30 PM ET

Winners of four straight games, the Knicks visit Chicago tonight and I love their chances to cover as 4.5-point dogs. During this streak, they’ve been actual DOGS on defense, holding teams to a league-best 94.4 points per 100 possessions. As long as Jalen Brunson can play through a foot injury, I like their chances to muck up this game and potentially come out on top.

Shootaround

— Shaq revealed how he knows Charles Barkley bet on the Lakers Tuesday

— And Chuck hilariously ranted on the Lakers’ undeserved attention

— Marcus Smart had a good reason for leaving the floor during Boston’s win

— Trying to guard Zion Williamson at the rim remains unfair

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The New Orleans Pelicans are a legitimate NBA title contender and it’s time to take them more seriously

Zion Williamson’s Pelicans could be playing deep into June

What’s happening, family? It’s Sykes, once again, with another edition of Layup Lines. Can we talk about the Pelicans for a sec?

The brutal beatdown the Boston Celtics gave the Phoenix Suns has left more questions than answers about the top of the Western Conference. The East seems to be the better conference this year.

But I think we should be looking at the Pelicans as a potential West juggernaut like the Celtics and the Bucks are in the East.

I know, I know. They haven’t really proven it to us yet. And they can’t, honestly. Not until the playoffs. They’re only 16-8 and somehow the No. 1 seed in the conference now. That record doesn’t exactly sound remarkable until you think about their circumstances.

Many teams have had some bad injury luck so far this season across the board. The Pelicans have not, generally speaking. Only 10 players have missed time so far and they’ve only missed 52 man games while injured, per Spotrac’s injury database. That’s near the bottom of the league.

However, when you look at the players who have been injured for them so far this season, the blows are significant. Their big 3 of CJ McCollum, Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram have missed a whopping 19 of those 52 games and counting. New Orleans’ lineups are totally inconsistent with only one lineup so far playing in at least 10 games and having over 100 minutes played together.

That’s not normally the mark of a contender. Yet, somehow, the Pelicans have the 2nd best net rating in the NBA just behind the Celtics at +6.9. That’s good — really good. And with better health for their stars, it can get better.

The fact that they’ve been able to stay afloat despite the inconsistencies from their big 3 speaks to their depth and the rest of their cast. Jonas Valanciunas is an absolute rock who doesn’t miss games and consistently produces. Trey Murphy III has emerged as a legitimate 3-and-D wing and has also flashed All-Star potential this year. Jose Alvarado is one of the best backup point options in the NBA. Herb Jones is still elite defensively when he plays.

The Pelicans can legitimately go 10 deep when they want to and there aren’t too many teams across the league that can say that. The Celtics might actually be the only one.

It’s too early to say what the Pelicans’ ceiling actually looks like or whether they’re actually a Finals contender. But through this quarter of the season, there’s no question that they look like the real deal.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

(Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)

In WNBA news, Brittney Griner is finally home after being wrongfully detained in Russia for essentially 10 months. Russia finally agreed to a proposed prisoner swap from the U.S. in which Griner came back for Viktor Bout, who is a war merchant.

Yesterday, I wrote about the cost of the swap and how dangerous it was for Bout to be free again. He’s a very dangerous man.

“Mr. Bout was accused of selling weapons to Al Qaeda, the Taliban and militants in Rwanda. According to several investigations and his U.S. indictment, he and his associates flouted arms embargoes in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Algeria, where he sold weapons to both the government forces and the rebels fighting them.”

But here’s the deal. An American woman who was wrongfully detained and imprisoned in a penal colony has been returned home. And, at the end of it all, that’s all that really matters.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

Pelicans (+1.5) vs. Suns (-1.5, -119), O/U 227.5, 8:30 PM ET

Speaking of the Pelicans and Suns, the two sides are actually matched up on Friday night. This is going to be for the top seed in the West and could be a potential tiebreaker game when the end of the season rolls around.

There’s a lot at stake here. Chris Paul is back for Phoenix, but both Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones are out in New Orleans. I think the Pelicans will ultimately be better, but tonight give me the Suns -1.5.

Shootaround

— Watch the precious moment Cherelle Griner found out Brittney was safe and sound

— Lonzo Ball is a funny dude. Who knew?

— Jordan Poole has no time for your bets.

— The best photos from the season so far

Enjoy the weekend, folks!

Rob Pelinka’s most important moment as Lakers GM is now

The Lakers are showing signs of a team ready to win. Rob Pelinka has to strike.

It’s been more than two years since the Lakers have been relevant in the conversation of title contenders.

Ever since their 2020 bubble championship, LA has been in a free-fall, seemingly powerless to the forces of age, attrition and ever-increasing parity across the NBA.

The one man with the power to pull up on the control wheel and give LA a chance to compete is general manager Rob Pelinka. But his last big splash, a trade to acquire Russell Westbrook, only sped up the timeline of a splash landing.

Now likely in the hot seat, Pelinka has been given a second chance to get it right. He can thank Anthony Davis for that.

After a 2-10 start to this season, the Lakers ripped off eight wins in their next 10 games behind one of the best stretches of basketball in Davis’ career. In that stretch, AD averaged 35 points on 65% shooting, 15 rebounds and three blocks.

Without him on Tuesday, the Lakers lost to the Cavaliers, reminding us all of just how vulnerable they really are.

As constructed, the Los Angeles Lakers do not have a championship roster. They might not even be a playoff team, especially considering Davis’ insanely high level of play is not sustainable. But he does look ready to carry a team in some capacity. Which brings us back to Pelinka.

With a declining James locked in for two more years, and Davis making the leap to MVP candidate, Pelinka has to do something soon to improve this team.

According to The Athletic, LA is weighing three trade options, with a timeline of Dec. 15 to begin exploring. But simply exploring isn’t enough. They have to make a move.

More importantly, no matter who they bring in, Pelinka can’t miss. All of the reported trade options include some combination of players and draft picks. To continue shipping out first-round picks is to set the expectation that you’re going to win now. If the results on the court don’t align, Pelinka will be blowing the team’s present and future at the same time. I doubt that flies for much longer in LA.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

While the Lakers fight to get past the play-in tournament section of the standings, other teams will be playing for something a little more prestigious.

It was announced Tuesday that the NBA has a new award for the team that finishes the regular season with the best record. Named after the NBA’s first commissioner, the inaugural Maurice Podoloff Trophy will we awarded this season.

Our guy Cole Huff wrote about the new award and why the Celtics might be the front-runners right now.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Detroit Pistons (+425) at New Orleans Pelicans (-10.5, -550), O/U 229.5, 8 PM ET

There are better games to watch on this jam-packed Wednesday of hoops, but there may not be a better lock than New Orleans to win against a Pistons team on the second night of a road back-to-back. It’s not just that Detroit is flying in from Miami, but also that New Orleans has won its last three games by an average of 17 points. I’ll take the Pelicans to cover this spread.

Shootaround

— Kenny Smith pushed Shaq into a Christmas tree on NBA on TNT

— The most lopsided NBA trades of the past decade

— Jose Alvarado’s surprising Sixth Man of the Year campaign has him in elite company

— Top NBA trade candidates eligible after Dec. 15

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What Luka Doncic is doing this season isn’t normal

Doncic already has as many 40-point triple-doubles as the entire NBA last year.

Luka Doncic put the Mavericks on his back Tuesday against the Warriors and carried them to victory with his third 40-point triple-double of a season not even two months old.

That’s more 40-point triple doubles than he had in his career entering the season. Nobody else in the NBA has one. There were only three all of last season.

After the game, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said “some of us can take [Doncic] for granted,” joking that “it’s getting boring.”

“I mean, let’s see something different. Maybe do it with his left hand,” Kidd said.

"It's getting boring… what else, let's see something different"

🤣 Coach Jason Kidd on @luka7doncic's 41-point triple-double tonight. pic.twitter.com/PS0p0EGFnS

— NBA (@NBA) November 30, 2022

I don’t know how to gauge whether Doncic is being taken for granted or not. But I do know being taken for granted is a sign of true greatness, because that’s what happens when you’re consistently great. People expect it.

So maybe Kidd is on to something. But nobody should be expecting what Doncic is doing right now.

I don’t want to pretend the Mavericks are without other good players, but they’re often at an overall talent disadvantage — just as they were against the Warriors. And yet, they haven’t completely bottomed out yet, going 10-10 through 20 games.

Doncic is the reason why. Their record when he scores at least 30 points is 10-4.

I’m not sure how long the league’s leading scorer and betting favorite to win MVP can keep it up, but it’ll be fun to track. And along the way, we should keep in mind that performances like the one he had Tuesday are far from normal.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

After Dallas’ win Tuesday, TNT analyst Charles Barkley told Doncic the Mavericks need to play at a faster pace than they do.

Doncic agreed, but had to remind Barkley, “I’m slow.”

He’s not wrong. Doncic plays at a uniquely slow yet effective pace. But possessions for the Mavericks, who play at the league’s slowest pace, actually take longer with Doncic off the court. For The Win’s Bryan Kalbrosky broke down how that could hurt them in the long run:

“There is a method to the madness for Doncic, but it tends to take a long time to come to fruition. The average offensive possession for the Mavericks lasts 15.55 seconds, per PBP Stats. That is an eternity by NBA standards and (by this point, to no surprise) is the slowest of any team in the league.

But the average offensive possession for Dallas is actually slower when Doncic is off the court (15.75 seconds) compared to when he is playing.

This might be the root of a much bigger problem for the Mavericks, who currently project as a fringe non-play-in team in the Western Conference playoff picture.

Dallas can absolutely play slow if its offense is high-powered by Doncic. They average a stellar rate of 117.6 points per 100 possessions when Doncic is on the court. When he rests, however, their offensive rating (105.5) drops significantly.”

One potential solution: More minutes for Josh Green.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Indiana Pacers (+155) at Sacramento Kings (-4.5, -180), O/U 242.5, 10 PM ET

Tyrese Haliburton is doing things we have quite literally never seen before in the NBA, and somehow his trade to the Pacers might end up as a wash. That’s because the Kings are playing great too behind Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox. While the Kings have struggled defensively, they’re home against a team in the middle of a road swing, so I’ll take their moneyline.

Shootaround

— 2022-23 MVP Ladder, Vol. 3: Stephen Curry emerges

— Wembanyama Wednesday: Imagine Vic and Bol Bol on the same team

— Lock of the night: Shaq bet Charles Barkley $5K he couldn’t ride a kids’ bike

— Why were there non-Lakers in the Lakers pregame hype video?

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The Sacramento Kings might actually be a good basketball team now

The Kings are good, the Lakers are bad and the NBA is fun.

Happy Friday, folks! It’s Sykes, once again, here to send you off into the weekend with another edition of Layup Lines.

I just want to talk about the Sacramento Kings real quick. Yes, that’s right. The Kings.

The vibes are immaculate around this team. Don’t look now, but they’re actually the best team in California. Like, seriously. They’ve got a better record than Stephen Curry’s Warriors, LeBron James’ Lakers and Kawhi Leonard’s Clippers at 8-6 so far this season.

The team seems to vibe with one another well. Mike Brown has injected a winning culture into a franchise that has typically been a losing one for the last two decades, essentially. They’re doing their cool winning beam thing now. It’s just all awesome. You really want to root for this team.

The thing about this is it doesn’t really feel flukey. Every season there are bad teams that start off hot and you’re like “yeah, this is going to cool down at some point.” And the Kings might certainly cool down. But this effort? The passion? The energy? That all feels sustainable.

That’s what has led to the 2nd best offense in the NBA so far behind only the Boston Celtics with a 117.5 offensive rating. De’Aaron Fox looks like a potential All-Star and All-NBA candidate. Domantas Sabonis has been an offensive fulcrum. Kevin Huerter is coming into his own as a secondary playmaker and scorer. Everyone seems to know their role and what they’re supposed to do.

If the season were to end today, the Kings would be in the Play-In as the 8th seed. And, obviously, the year is far from over. There’s plenty of basketball left to be played.

But, man. If you’d told anyone that back in July? They’d probably have laughed at you. But it’s the Kings’ fans who are laughing now.

We’ll see how it all turns out at the season’s end. But, man. I’ll say this — I’m never going to get tired of seeing that purple beam.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

Speaking of the Lakers, man. It’s so rough seeing where they are now and comparing it to where they were a few years ago before LeBron James. They had all their assets, a number of talented players and a bright future.

Now, obviously, they’ve won an NBA championship. And they wouldn’t give any of that away for anything. But had they been just a little more stingy and shrewd, they might still have a competent basketball team on their hands.

My colleague, Bryan Kalbrosky, wrote about how both Ivica Zubac and Brook Lopez are balling right now. They’re two of the best defensive big men in the NBA. What do they have in common? They both used to play for the Lakers. They’d be perfect fits on the team now.

“Worse yet, both are natural fives that would allow Anthony Davis to play at the four — where he would prefer to play. Davis, instead, has played out of position for Los Angeles. Lopez played for Lakers head coach Darvin Ham when he was an assistant for the Bucks, and both big men would do well in his defensive-oriented approach.”

Lakers gon’ Laker, I guess?

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

76ers (-1.5, -120) vs. Bucks (+100), O/U 212.5, 8 PM ET

Obviously, this is going to be one of the more fun games of the night. It’s Giannis Antetkonunmpo vs. Joel Embiid. Do I really need to say more? Jrue Holiday may not play, however. And with the Bucks missing a key piece on both ends of the court, they’ll need someone to step up in his absence. I don’t think a lot of scoring will get done in this one, but it’ll be epic anyway. I’m taking the under.

Shootaround

— Jalen Ramsey hilariously called LeBron James out for lying and we love it.

— A massive change in Klay Thompson’s offseason routine might be why he’s struggling.

— There are a number of players making a bunch of noise across the league on new teams. It’s a trend now.

— Stephen A. Smith thinks the Warriors should make a trade and it’s hard to disagree with him.

That’s all, folks! Enjoy the basketball.

Giannis Antetokounmpo doesn’t believe he alone is the face of the NBA, and he’s right

There’s too much talent for there to be one face.

Giannis Antetokounmpo believes he’s one of the faces of the NBA. But the man who has as many individual awards as anyone the past five years doesn’t believe he’s alone in holding that title.

The subject was broached during Antetokounmpo’s appearance on teammate Serge Ibaka’s YouTube show How hungry are you? And while he made it clear he doesn’t want to be the face of the NBA, he admitted to holding that title with a few other players.

“LeBron is still playing. … Steph just won a championship. KD is still hooping. Embiid is killing it. Jokic, back-to-back MVP. Luka magic. It’s a lot of people out there,” Antetokounmpo said.

And you know what? He’s right.

If there was one player with the most claim to the face of the league title right now, it’d probably be Antetokounmpo. He has MVPs, a championship and a Defensive Player of the Year award all within the last few years. But there’s just way too much talent in the NBA for there to be one true face.

And that’s been the case maybe since the Michael Jordan era. Sure, you could made a case for players like Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. But there was so much overlap between them alone, not to mention other great players of their eras, that it’s hard to say there was one face.

Antetokounmpo didn’t even mention players still ascending like Ja Morant, Jayson Tatum and Zion Williamson. Oh, and he warned that Victor Wembanyama is going to be a problem too.

So he’s right. He’s not the face of the league. But I’m glad he admitted to being one of them, because he absolutely is. And once James, Durant and Curry are done, he’ll probably be the last one standing to pass that title along to the next batch of NBA superstars.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

In our weekly dose of Nets news, players on the team have apparently grown frustrated with Ben Simmons and what they perceive to be a lack of passion from the point-forward.

According to a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania, those feelings stem from both Simmons’ performance on the floor but also the games he’s missed due to injuries.

Given his recent history, it’s understandable how people might arrive at a place to question his desire to play. That doesn’t make it right, as my colleague Sykes wrote, but there’s only one thing Simmons can do to change that perception.

“It’s not really fair to question Simmons’ ‘passion’ for the game here. He’s legitimately injured and team officials see that. He did have back surgery. He does have a bad knee. Those are not fabricated things.

At the same time, it’s understandable why some might question him. His past with the 76ers informs everyone’s present-day perception of him. Based on that, it’s easy to see how someone could question Simmons.

The Nets’ maligned point forward explained he was well aware of this in Charania’s piece, saying that there’s ‘only so much I can really do’ to change his teammates’ perception of him. He’s right — the only thing that can change that is playing well and winning.”

He played better on Tuesday, so that’s a start. Now only if Brooklyn can figure out the winning part.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Cleveland Cavaliers (+145) at Milwaukee Bucks (-3.5, -180), O/U 217.5, 8 PM ET

That face of the league we were discussing earlier? Yeah, I think he’s going to lose Wednesday night. I explain it all here, but I’m taking Cleveland and the plus moneyline odds in this one because the Bucks are decimated by injuries.

Shootaround

— Steve Kerr admits this may be the final year of the Warriors title core

— Kevin Durant revealed the real reason behind his trade request

— Someone threw a paper plane on the court in the middle of Mavs-Clippers

— We really hope Shaq’s theory about two moons is a joke

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