Tyrese Haliburton is so unimpressed by Bucks fans.
In a playoff series that has been relegated to NBA TV, it sure seems like the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers are already getting very chippy with each other. And after Indiana tied the series on Tuesday night, star guard Tyrese Haliburton added more fuel to the fire as both teams now shift to Indianapolis for the next two games.
While talking about how excited he is to play in front of a Pacers’ playoff crowd, Haliburton proclaimed that the Milwaukee home postseason crowd has been weaker through two games than a standard Indiana regular-season game.
Oh, man. What a brutal parting shot to Bucks fans after tying the series:
"We've had regular season crowds better than what we've played in the last two games." 🍿
There’s bulletin board material; then there’s throwing a canister of gas on a roaring flame. Haliburton probably just did the latter. I cannot wait for Game 3 of this series on Friday night. Get your popcorn ready, folks.
Dame Time belongs in the postseason, not a music festival, during April.
After a short break and one massive trade, Damian Lillard returned to the NBA postseason this year.
Lillard had made the playoffs every year in the Western Conference between 2014 and 2021, missing out on the competition in just his rookie year on the Portland Trail Blazers. But his final two years in Portland, the Trail Blazers didn’t qualify for playoff action.
Now an All-Star on the Milwaukee Bucks, the point guard returned to form under the bright lights of the postseason. During his first game back, he was able to score 35 points and secure a victory over the Indiana Pacers.
"Last 2 years not being in the playoffs… It sucked. I went to Coachella. I ain't ever been able to go to Coachella." 😅
When asked what he missed about the playoffs, Lillard had the best response.
“The last two years, not being in the playoffs, it sucked. Early vacations. Last year, I went to Coachella. I ain’t never been able to go to Coachella. It’s playing in the playoffs every year. So just having that long summer, I was over that.”
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a well-known annual festival held in California during mid-April.
That usually coincides with the first round of the playoffs, when Lillard is typically busy putting on a show for basketball fans all around the world.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CrKX25ALMEc/
He was part of a pop-up event for Adidas in collaboration with festival headliner Bad Bunny.
While it is sad to picture the guard begrudgingly trying to enjoy himself at a music festival when he would rather be hooping, it is good to see him back in playoff action where he belongs.
“To me, that’s a good opportunity, to play through that, find different ways to create runs,” said Mazzulla.
The Boston Celtics did not seem especially perturbed by their low level of effort on defense for much of their 104-91 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night. And their historic paucity of free throws reflected the force most Celtics players deployed on offense, with Boston evidently allergic to attacking a packed paint.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla did not seem worried about it despite the loss, and even seemed to relish the adversity a bit in comments to the AP. “That was the first time where like the game wasn’t going our way since I don’t remember when, you know what I mean?,” asked Mazzulla.
“To me, that’s a good opportunity, to play through that, find different ways to create runs, find different ways to just build stuff on either end of the floor,” he added. “I thought it was a good situation for us to be in because we hadn’t seen it in a while.”
New episode of the Celtics Lab Podcast on YouTube, via @CelticsCLNS ☘️🧪📺
Chart the path to the Finals with @SteveBHoop before comparing the ‘24 team to ‘08, ‘86, and beyond
And while those words might sound borderline arrogant, the Celtics carried a five-game win streak and a 15-game lead over the Bucks in the East standings before the loss in a season they’ve never had more than 2 in a row.
Known for protecting players and rarely saying anything negative about his club in public, this was less that sort of posturing and, in our opinion, a moment of simple honesty in a game with no real stakes for the Celtics.
Before last Tuesday night, the lowest number of free throws taken by the Boston Celtics was three.
Before last (April 9) Tuesday night, the lowest number of free throws taken by the Boston Celtics was a total of three on two separate occasions. They came in games in 2021 and 1974 vs. the Utah Jazz and the Capital Bullets (now the Washington Wizards), to give you an idea of how rare such tilts are in the league’s eight-decade history.
But Boston broke their (and the NBA’s) record vs. the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum on Tuesday, taking precisely 0 free throws for a first in league history. It came in a 104-91 loss to the Bucks, and was in part indicative of the level of effort we saw from a team with their postseason fate already out of their hands.
The hosts of the CLNS Media “First to the Floor” podcast, Jake Issenberg, Ben Vallis, and Wayne Spooney, spent some time breaking down that game and its historical context on a recent episode. Check it out below!
The Boston Celtics were setting NBA records that were not doing them any favors in their 104-91 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Boston Celtics were setting NBA records that were not doing them any favors in their 104-91 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum on this past Tuesday (April 9). Somehow, the Celtics managed to get to the free throw line precisely 0 times, which, in the entire, nearly eight-decade history of the league, has never been done before.
We knew it was not going to be a normal game with both Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford out injured, and things only got weirder when Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo going down hurt with a scary non-contact calf injury mid-game.
The hosts of the CLNS Media “How Bout Them Celtics!” podcast, Jack Simone and Sam LaFrance, took a closer look at the unusual loss and what it might mean for Boston. Check it out below!
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thank you for rocking with us this morning. Happy Wednesday. I hope your week is going well.
Watching the Celtics and Bucks play last night was…such a weird experience.
Of course, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s calf injury threw everything off. Anytime you see a non-contact injury to anyone, your heart sinks into your stomach. There were fears that he’d torn his Achilles during the game, which Milwaukee apparently avoided here. Antetokounpo just has a strained calf, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. What a relief.
But that injury wasn’t what made yesterday’s game so weird. It was the free throws — or a lack thereof.
The two best teams in the Eastern Conference combined for two (!!!) free throws in Tuesday’s game. Boston became the first time in league history to not shoot a free throw during a game, according to Yahoo! Sports’ NBA analyst Tom Haberstroh. Milwaukee only shot two and they came from Antetokounmpo.
You can explain this away a bit if you try hard enough. Boston is mostly a jump-shooting team — they don’t shoot many free throws per game as is. Milwaukee lost Antetokounmpo, who tends to draw most of the team’s fouls.
One of the major stories in the league has been how officials have essentially swallowed their whistles during the second half of the season. The NBA had a mid-season crackdown on foul hunting in silence, and these are the results.
But there’s something about this that I can’t shake. It’s strange to see two of the league’s premiere teams officiated this way with all the star power on both rosters.
Whether this is a good or bad thing is an interesting question. Of course, the games are quicker and fewer questionable fouls are called. The added physicality gives defenders some much-needed support. We can’t complain about that.
But this shadow protocol to officiate shooting fouls out of the game feels strange. There was no notice and teams had no adjustment period. That’s how we get games like this one where things are a little too unbelievable.
We’ll see how this works in the playoffs. That’s all that matters. Hopefully, it will make for better basketball in the end.
Happy Trails, Tara VanDerveer
(Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
One of the most fascinating things to come across my timeline today is this incredible quote from Tara VanDerveer when she left Ohio State for Stanford in 1985 after winning four consecutive Big Ten titles.
She was looking for a challenge.
“It’s probably hard for some people to understand when we’re doing so well, but it was a decision I had to make,” VanDerveer said at the time. “I felt I was becoming very one-dimensional. I feel very comfortable that I will be rewarded both personally and professionally. Stanford doesn’t have near the talent Ohio State has and the competition is not there yet, but I consider this to be the ultimate challenge.”
After 38 seasons, three championships, 14 Final Four appearances and 15 Pac-12 championships, VanDerveer is finally calling it a career. And what a glorious one it’s been. Her 1,216 wins are the most ever in NCAA basketball history. If there was ever a time to walk away, it’s now.
Congratulations on an incredible career, Tara. Happy trials.
Tiger Woods hasn’t won a major tournament since the 2019 Masters.
Doesn’t matter. If you put him on that green, we’ll all believe he can make something special happen even if we haven’t seen it in a while. It doesn’t matter how old he is. That’s still Tiger freakin’ Woods.
Tiger Woods has been through so many struggles at Augusta and beyond in the last year with his health.
But once again, he believes in himself, which makes sense. He’s Tiger Woods. That competitive streak is always going to be there.
The thing is: he’s being honest about his chances given all those injuries and aches. When asked if he could win on Tuesday while meeting with reporters, he had this to say: “If everything comes together, I think I can get one more.”
Would a lot have to go right? Absolutely. But it’s Tiger. I won’t stop believing until it’s time to stop believing. He won’t, either. I suggest you do the same.
Quick hits: Diana Taurasi’s beef with Caitlin Clark … The best 30-and-over players in the NFL … and more
Let’s take a look at some of the best moments captured in images in the Celtics’ 79th game of the 2023-24 NBA season vs. the Bucks.
The Boston Celtics took the floor vs. the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum this (April 9) Tuesday evening without Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford (both out injured with a case of playoffs ahead), and Giannis Antetokounmpo would leave the game early in the game’s second half.
But it was the lack of fouls called in the game that tell the tale of a tilt that Boston had little interest in burning energy on defense in. The Celtics racked up just 8 fouls on their way to a meaningless 104-91 loss, setting an NBA record with precisely 0 free throws for Boston in the loss.
Let’s take a look at some of the best moments captured in images in the Celtics’ 79th game of the 2023-24 NBA season vs. the Bucks.
The team looked to be taking the night lightly — and with little to play for and injuries to avoid, we frankly can’t say that we blame them.
The Boston Celtics were setting new records in their tilt vs. the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum on Tuesday (April 9) night. But they were the sort of record that tells a tale of the level of effort Boston was putting out on the court offensively, with the Celtics logging 0 free throws for the first time in any NBA game.
The final score of the tilt told another story about Boston’s defense in the 104-91 loss to the Bucks. Their paucity of defensive pressure led to a loss despite star Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo going down injured early in the contest’s third frame.
A few Celtics had games worth noting, including Jayson Tatum (22 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists), Jaylen Brown (14 points, 10 boards, 4 steals), and Jrue Holiday (12 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists).
New episode of the Celtics Lab Podcast on YouTube, via @CelticsCLNS ☘️🧪📺
Chart the path to the Finals with @SteveBHoop before comparing the ‘24 team to ‘08, ‘86, and beyond
But the rest of the roster looked to be taking the night lightly — and with little to play for and injuries to avoid, we frankly can’t say that we blame them.
Damian Lillard did a really weird workout recently with a big water ball. What was it exactly?
Milwaukee Bucks superstar Damian Lillard picked a very unique way to work out his core during a recent gym session.
A video shows Lillard holding a big ball filled with water, shaking it around and around like he’s mixing it up to pour in a martini glass.
It’s also kind of like the first motions an old-school washing machine makes as it’s sorting out the clothes with the sudsy water.
Either way, this is not typically the type of workout you see someone engaging in at the YMCA, as Lillard seemed to be thinking very outside of the box as he strengthened his body in the very unorthodox routine.
From our research, it looks like Lillard is using an aqua bag to strengthen his core. You can see examples of aqua bag workouts, ones that look similar to the ones that Lillard engaged with recently.
Basically, while this is a very out-of-left-field workout, it’s not uncommon!
We’re curious if aqua bags will spike in popularity as Lillard uses one to ready himself for the NBA playoffs this month.
Here’s how Notre Dame’s two players fared this past week.
Even though the Milwaukee Bucks are on a four-game losing streak, [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] had a great start to the past week. His 15 points April 2 against the Washington Wizards were one off his season high, and his eight rebounds tied his season high. He followed that with six points and eight assists the next night against Memphis Grizzlies. For the week, he averaged 7.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists a game.
Despite shooting 1 of 8 from the field over his first two games of the week, [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] had four and five assists respectively. He collected six points and four rebounds in the San Antonio Spurs’ double-overtime loss April 7 to the Philadelphia 76ers. That brought his averages for the week to 3.0 points and 3.0 assists a game.
Photographers on hand to cover Connaughton and Wesley’s teams during the past week got plenty of shots of Notre Dame’s two current NBA players. Here are some of the best ones:
