The Celtics star’s epic yam on the Dallas big man is one of many epic flushes in the NBA’s dunk compilation.
Those of us who recall Jaylen Brown’s soul-harvesting jam on Dallas Mavericks center Maxi Kleber not too long ago will not be surprised to hear that it made the NBA’s “best poster dunks of the last five seasons” video recently published on the league’s official YouTube channel.
The Celtics star’s epic jam on the Dallas big man is one of many epic flushes in the NBA’s dunk compilation the Association assembled for our viewing pleasure. And if you are among the few Boston fans who have not seen just how hard the Georgia native dunked it over a hapless (but brave) Kleber, you need to see it for yourselves.
Take a look at the clip embedded below for a host of above the rim action curated by the NBA, including the aforementioned flush by Brown.
Finding the best player props ahead of Tuesday’s NBA playoff games.
If you would have told me a week ago that Suns-Mavericks and Heat-Sixers were tied at two games apiece, my first response would have been to ask which superstar got injured. Because there was no way I could envision either the Suns or Heat dropping two straight after the performances they put on in the opening games.
But both teams did drop two straight, and now there are a couple of huge Game 5s on Tuesday whose outcomes could paint a better picture of which teams may advance.
Let’s look at which players could have an impact on Tuesday and bet on their player props.
Breaking down the best player props to bet on ahead of Wednesday’s NBA slate.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned through my years of watching the NBA playoffs, it’s that Game 1 outcomes bring a lot of overreactions. We saw how quickly the narratives changed on Tuesday night as the Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies each picked up a win in Game 2, changing the outlook on the remainder of those series.
Will Wednesday’s Game 2’s have a similar result?
The Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers could use some heroic player performances, and so could the Mavericks, as each team tries to even up their series on the road.
We look at some of Tipico Sportsbook‘s best player props ahead of Wednesday night.
Looking at the best player props ahead of Tuesday’s Lakers-Mavericks game.
Welcome back to another edition of Nightly NBA Player Props. A late start in March has led us to a 3-2 record. We close out the month hoping to finish strong to take momentum into April.
The Lakers have fallen into 10th place and are fighting for their postseason lives. Things won’t get any easier with LeBron James and Anthony Davis out for Tuesday’s matchup against a Mavs team on the verge of taking over the No. 3 seed out West. There’s a lot on the line tonight at American Airlines Center as far as playoffs standings go.
Let’s take a look at which players could impact the outcome.
The team possesses three such TPEs of note on top of two smaller ones (for $500,000 from the Moses Brown trade and for $370,564 from the Jeff Teague trade). The smaller ones are unlikely to be used given that such exceptions are the space into which a team completes a non-simultaneous trade. That means any player incoming will need to make no more than $100,000 above the dollar amount in each TPE, which cannot be combined or added to otherwise.
Apart from those, Boston has TPEs for $17.1 million from the Evan Fournier trade, $9.7 million from the Tristan Thompson deal, and just over $5 million left from the Kemba Walker trade. They expire July 18, July 7, and May 17 respectively. Today, we’ll look at some of our favorite options the Celtics could trade for with the Thompson TPE.
Navigating cap issues while Boston tries to improve the team is no easy task. https://t.co/C87MLDLLM5
You just have to see this sensational poster dunk from Kawhi Leonard against Maxi Kleber.
The NBA playoffs certainly haven’t disappointed in the opening two games on Saturday afternoon. The latest impressive feat comes courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, who caught a body in a poster dunk against Dallas Mavericks forward Maxi Kleber.
During the third quarter of the opening game between the Clippers and Mavericks, Leonard stole the ball from Dallas’ Tim Hardaway Jr. and made his way down the court with a three-on-one advantage, where Kleber didn’t stand a chance as Leonard went up and over for an impressive one-handed dunk.
While the Clippers came up short in Game 1, falling 113-103 to the Mavericks, you just have to see this poster dunk from Leonard, which is simply sensational.
The Los Angeles Lakers were unable to hold on to their double-digit lead on Saturday night against the Dallas Mavericks.
The Los Angeles Lakers started out Saturday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks with a great first half but they were unable to hold off a rally from the home team. The Mavericks outlasted the Lakers in Saturday day night’s primetime affair, 108-93. The Mavericks outscored the Lakers by 27 points in the second half to retake the lead and the game, helping the Mavericks add to their lead as the 6th seed in the Western Conference.
Despite the loss for the Lakers, they are still 1 and 1/2 games ahead of the Mavericks for the 5th seed in the West, which is clearly the most desired lower seed given the recent injury to Denver’s star guard Jamal Murray.
Anthony Davis played twice as many minutes as he did on Thursday, playing 28 minutes and scoring 17 points, three assists, and three rebounds. However, his efficiency was lacking as he was just 5 of 19 from the field. Ben McLemore led the Lakers with 20 points on the nights but was unable to will the Lakers to victory in a road situation.
As the Utah Jazz now resume basketball activities, there are major issues they need to fix regarding stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
As the Utah Jazz now resume basketball activities, there are major issues they need to fix regarding stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
After so much time off due to the coronavirus pandemic, there will be a lot to iron out for all rosters. But the recent gap also exposed some harsh truths about the two best players on the Jazz.
In a recent story, Tim MacMahon reported that Gobert feels he should receive more lobs from Mitchell (via ESPN):
“Gobert rarely hesitates to let teammates know if they miss him when he is open around the rim. He’ll occasionally point up during play in animated fashion, sometimes as he is running back on defense, to note that a lob should have been thrown … Gobert knows his lobbying for lobs wears on teammates to the point of being counterproductive, like the wide receiver who gripes at the quarterback after every play when a pass isn’t thrown his way, regardless of the pass rush.”
Gobert led all NBA players with 306 dunks recorded last season, according to Basketball-Reference. But even when including alley-oops layups, the big man paired with Mitchell for only 28 lob connections during their 2018-19 campaign.
Considering that Gobert attempted 125 alley-oops in 2018-19 (17.6 percent of his total attempts from the field), this is certainly a major offensive focal point for the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
As such, McMahon continued, the two players have specifically worked on their “lob chemistry” in individualized practice sessions to further avoid the blunders like the one seen above during their game against Denver back in January:
“Utah coach Quin Snyder and his staff have attempted to help facilitate that trust, especially between Mitchell and Gobert. That duo have had dozens of two-man workouts under the watch of coaches, with a focus on ironing out intricacies of their pick-and-roll partnership and lob chemistry. They also occasionally join coaches – usually some combination of Snyder, Jensen and Johnnie Bryant, the assistant who works most with Mitchell – for small-group film sessions at the team’s facility.”
Gobert made 16 alley-oops following passes from Mitchell, per NBA.com. This accounted for 4.5 percent of his total field goal count, down from 5.9 percent last season. This would average out to approximately 0.36 connections per 36 minutes when looking at their total time spent (1607 minutes) on the court together, down from 0.48 last season.
For a better understanding of how that compares to other lob threats around the league, we looked at the top combinations on this play type. Brooklyn’s Spencer Dinwiddie assisted DeAndre Jordan on 46 alley-oop opportunities this season. This means they averaged 2.76 alley-oops per 36 minutes shared (599 minutes) on the floor.
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
While these two players are no longer on the same roster, Houston’s James Harden and former teammate Clint Capela were also successful on 46 of their alley-oop possessions. Capela, now on the Atlanta Hawks, was able to catch 1.53 alley-oops per 36 minutes that he played alongside Harden (1,082) in 2019-20.
Other prolific pairings in the NBA this season include Dinwiddie-to-Jarrett Allen (40), Trae Young-to-John Collins (36), LeBron James-to-Anthony Davis (34), Chris Paul-to-Nerlens Noel (33) and Elfrid Payton-to-Mitchell Robinson (33).
The data makes it clear that there is certainly room for more lob connections between the two players. However, considering how rare these opportunities are even for the most prolific duo, perhaps there are other aspects of offense to worry about in Utah.
HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report.
The Mavs have lost back-to-back games. The Nets have lost three in a row. Both teams are also dealing with injuries heading into Thursday.
One team’s skid is going to come to an end on Thursday.
The Brooklyn Nets have lost three in a row. It started with the New York Knicks the day after Christmas, then the Houston Rockets, followed by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Dallas Mavericks have lost back-to-back games. They lost to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, then dropped their New Year’s Eve matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Now, the argument could be made the Mavs are primed for a breakout game because of their recent rough patch. Though, the same could be said for the Nets, too.
However, Nets fans know all too well injuries are plaguing Brooklyn like no one else. This makes it hard to imagine the Nets will bust out. But, the Mavs are in a similar position. Kristaps Porzingis (right knee soreness) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (left hamstring soreness) both missed the game in Oklahoma City. Not to mention Luka Doncic hasn’t quite been himself since returning from his ankle injury (25% from three post-injury, 32.6% pre-injury).
If Porzingis remains sidelined, Jarrett Allen and DeAndre Jordan have a chance to run wild in the paint. Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell are solid, but that’s not a pair Brooklyn’s frontcourt should struggle against if Dallas’ best rim protector is out, or even not at full strength. (Porzingis is averaging 2.1 blocks per game.)
Of course, the Nets can overwhelm the Mavs if their 3-pointers start to fall. Specifically, if Brooklyn’s 3-point shooters in the starting lineup — Joe Harris, Taurean Prince, Garrett Temple and Spencer Dinwiddie — are on. Because, Wilson Chandler and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot have had some solid nights of late, but those two alone can’t make up for a 1-for-10 performance from Prince against the Knicks or Dinwiddie’s 0-for-7 night in Houston.
The Nets’ 3-point shooting has swung in the right direction since facing the Knicks, improving from 26% to 28.2% to 36.6% on Monday. They can’t afford to have that percentage to go back in the other direction.
Brooklyn has a reasonable chance to start 2020 on the right foot, but the Nets can’t expect Dallas to hand them a win just because the Mavs have struggled of late, too.
