What a heartwarming moment for Tyrese Haliburton’s family.
Tyrese Haliburton’s meteoric rise into NBA superstardom is finally under a national spotlight. There’s no other conclusion as the Indiana Pacers talisman lights up the league’s inaugural In-Season Tournament. He has officially arrived on a rising Indy squad, and it’s high time everyone recognizes it.
Haliburton is only 23 years old. I have a feeling he’s about to serve up many moments like this for his folks for a very long time. He will probably even do it during Saturday’s IST Final.
It’s Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton’s world, and we’re all just living in it.
As the Pacers got an NBA In-Season Tournament semifinals win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, Haliburton made sure to let the opponent know whose time it was to shine.
Lillard didn’t take too kindly to Haliburton’s trolling.
Damian Lillard says he respected Tyrese Haliburton pulling out the "Dame Time" wrist tap but Lillard also notes to "be humble" when you're having your moment because you never know when it ends https://t.co/2SAxQNYmsPpic.twitter.com/Ts043w25Un
Gooooood morning, Winners! Happy Wednesday! Hope you’re having a fantastic week so far. Thanks so much for taking a second and reading today.
The NBA In-Season Tournament has been so fun. So, of course, the NBA’s officials had to ruin an instant classic between the Suns and the Lakers.
If you don’t know what happened, the Lakers were gifted a timeout that they shouldn’t have been able to call. My colleague, Charles Curtis, has more here.
A quick synopsis: Austin Reaves loses possession of the ball on the inbound pass. Grayson Allen picks the ball up and you think the Suns have a chance to tie the game.
This shouldn’t have happened, folks. The Lakers didn’t possess the ball. And, as Curtis writes, if you don’t possess the ball then you can’t call a timeout. It’s that simple.
Instead, LeBron James gets the timeout. The Lakers get the ball and LA puts the game away. Instead of going to overtime, it’s a loss for the Suns and quite the blemish on the In-Season Tournament.
I’m not particularly eager about criticizing officials. They have a hard job to do — officiating the best athletes in the world is not easy. But, man. This is embarrassing. That was an easy one. And missing that in the middle of arguably the best game of the In-Season Tournament so far? This is supposed to be a moment for the league to showcase its product. The officials are part of that. And, boy, that doesn’t look good.
Ultimately, it is what it is. The game went on and the Suns lost. The league is probably happy the Lakers made it through to the finals as one of its premier franchises with its biggest face being LeBron James.
But, man. Just know the last two-minute report today is going to be hilarious. We might even get another one of those apologies! That’ll make it all better, Suns fans.
Shohei Ohtani’s secret free agency is actually very cool
I must say, though, I’m not MLB nut, but it sure seems like we’re still talking about everything just fine.
Ohtani hasn’t said a single word and we’re still grabbing on to every single morsel of information we can. I mean, look at all the rumors we’ve gathered up here! There’s still a lot of intrigue there.
Silence doesn’t take away the suspense. It only adds more. That’s what makes this so great.
Remember when LeBron James took a few weeks before telling us he was signing with the Lakers? Wasn’t that fun? Or what about the time Kevin Durant broke the news that he was going to the Warriors with a column? That was also still very fun.
The process doesn’t always have to be out in the open for us to talk about it. Sometimes, the background suspense can be just as good.
“While Plum is a two-time WNBA champion, she says transitioning from college to the pros was difficult. With her all-time NCAA scoring record (3,527) on pace to be broken by Clark this season, she’s warning her of what comes next.
Per Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, Plum expressed concern about who Caitlin Clark is as a person getting lost in the shuffle of earning the scoring title.”
Here’s what Plum had to say:
“I feel like people started caring less about the game and more about just the individual points,” Plum said. “You can play really well and score 15, 20 points and have a great game and people will be like, ‘Aw, it was only a 20-point game.’ It was tough for me because I felt like I lost a little bit of my identity and it ultimately led to a tough transition into the (WNBA) because the expectations were so high. So, if anything, I’d try to send her as much compassion and love as I can and I hope the people around her are checking in with her … because it’s going to be tough to feel like you’re just playing basketball.”
That’s spot on. It took a while for Plum to find her footing in the WNBA. Clark might see the same path ahead of her, too, as the physicality and defense kick up a notch at the next level.
Luckily for her, it seems, she’ll have folks like Plum supporting her along the way. At least when she’s not playing against her, anyway.
Quick hits: Is it time for Bill Belichick to go? … Taylor Swift in TIME! … and more
The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the New York Knicks to advance to the semifinals of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament.
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished the game with 35 points as well as 10 assists and eight rebounds during the win, was asked about the prize money that the advancing players will receive.
Antetokounmpo seemed surprised that there was money involved in any capacity and told TNT’s Jared Greenberg: “The rich get richer.”
Giannis, who just earned $100,000 for making it to the In-Season Tournament semifinals: "Are we getting money now? We got some money? The rich get richer." 😂pic.twitter.com/oNitKKHg14
The two-time MVP is currently signed to a five-year contract worth more than $228.2 million for an average annual value exceeding $45.6 million.
He will earn at least an additional $100,000 by making the semifinals of the NBA Cup but the former NBA Finals MVP could receive up to $500,000 if the Bucks win the In-Season Tournament.
Fun fact: Antetokounmpo, who will turn 30 years old while in Las Vegas, said that he only bets on “34 red” in roulette if he is gambling.
It actually wasn’t the worst advice from Josh Hart to Brook Lopez.
During the quarterfinals of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, Knicks wing Josh Hart had a funny message for Bucks big Brook Lopez.
Hart, who is 6-foot-4, approached the 7-foot-1 center to offer him some strategic advice. Hart said that when Lopez gets the ball near the basket, the Milwaukee big shouldn’t feel “scared” to pass it out to his teammate to avoid the mismatch.
According to Hart, despite the obvious height difference that favors the Milwaukee big by several inches, the mismatch favors the shorter player any time that he is guarding Lopez.
“I know when you got the ball in the post against me it’s a mismatch. Don’t be scared if you gotta pass it out!”
Hart was joking, but let’s look into this one! For what it is worth, using the matchup database via NBA.com, Hart has defended Lopez on 31.5 partial possessions since 2018-19.
The big man is shooting 3-of-7 (42.8 percent) on these opportunities and has scored eight points. Lopez has also recorded three assists and three turnovers on these matchups. Not bad!
While the advice from Hart about a mismatch is tongue-in-cheek, it is also actually not the most awful observation. Lopez is averaging just 0.1 passes per game after post-up possessions this season, via NBA.com.
Last season, his pass percentage on post-ups ranked as the second-lowest (minimum: 40 post-ups) in the league. So perhaps, no matter who is assigned to guard Lopez, he should consider Hart’s suggestion.
Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today! We appreciate you.
Adam Silver needs to call for an emergency press conference at some point today and just do the Gladiator thing the entire time. “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?” Because that man deserves to take a victory lap around the success of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament.
Adam Silver has done a lot of good things for the NBA. Players are raking in obscene amounts of cash now. The league is making more money than ever before. He’s also managed to ditch not just one, but two, problematic owners through his tenure as commissioner.
But, as far as basketball goes, the In-Season Tournament has got to be Silver’s crowning jewel as a commissioner. Whenever he chooses to step down, this tournament will be the thing he leaves behind.
There’s something about single-elimination sports tournaments that just works so well. Every single time. There are automatically stakes and drama, even without an extra $500,000 on the line.
Oh, and by the way, enough with saying the players won’t care about that. Look at how excited some of these dudes on the Pacers’ bench are knowing they’re about to advance. Tell me they don’t care about that money.
look at that bench. the Pacers have 10 players on the books who make less than $3 million in salary this season (3 two-way contracts). $500k per player to the winner of the tournament. get nuts. https://t.co/B4jPrZlPuR
The courts are wonky. The jerseys are goofy. But this basketball is good, man. It was great to watch Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers get excited about cooking against one of the best defenses in the league. It was fun to watch the Pelicans put together a complete win without an incredible game from Zion Williamson. That’s the stuff the fans need to see. It’s the most important function of this tournament.
Earlier in October when the season started, Adam Silver said he wanted to change the way the NBA is covered. There wasn’t enough talk about the game — at least not compared to all the fluff around it.
This tournament changes that. It brings the focus back to basketball again. Honestly, watching it has been extremely refreshing.
I don’t know how the rest of this thing is going to go throughout this week. But I’m confident enough in what we’ve seen already to say this: The NBA In-Season Tournament works.
When this is over, can we do this again in March? Please, NBA?
Jake Browning just earned himself a contract, didn’t he?
I had no idea who Jake Browning was before last night, but I absolutely know who he is now. And so does the NFL after his stunning performance against the Jaguars on Monday night.
Browning kept the Bengals’ playoff hopes alive in a 34-31 win over the Jags that came down to a last-second field goal. Browning was brilliant in this one, completing 32 of his 37 passes for 354 yards and a touchdown. He’s the first undrafted player to put up numbers like this at quarterback since 1967, per ESPN.
Per ESPN Stats & Info: Bengals QB Jake Browning is the first undrafted player since 1967 (Common Draft Era) to throw for 350 passing yards and complete 85% of his passes in a game.
Like I said, the NFL knows who he is now. It’s just one game, so he’ll have to keep this up. But I totally expect this dude to get the Matt Flynn treatment down the line.
Speaking of backup QBs, the Jaguars seem to have a situation on their hands now with Trevor Lawrence spraining his ankle. C.J. Beathard is the current backup and seemed decent. But will he be able to keep the Jaguars afloat at the top of the division? We’ll see.
Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Apparently, the Jets want to name Zach Wilson the starting quarterback for the team. But, in a wild twist, he doesn’t appear to want the job? Even after Aaron Rodgers tried to convince him to take it, he said no.
But Wilson — outside of contractual obligations, of course — owes the Jets nothing. Never mind that at seemingly every turn, they’ve been determined to undermine the former No. 2 overall pick: why would Wilson want to play and risk his personal health for a team that’s demonstrated it probably doesn’t care all that much about him?”
It’s hard to blame Wilson here, honestly. He stinks. We know that. Wilson playing won’t make a difference. His future isn’t with this team and we learned that when Robert Saleh went in a different direction with Tim Boyle. From Wilson’s perspective, that’s the choice the organization made and it’ll have to live with it now.
This was so far from actually hurting Valanciunas that Lyles was barely punished.
During the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, Kings forward Trey Lyles and Pelicans big man Jonas Valanciunas shared a tense moment.
As the Pelicans hustled back on defense in the second quarter of the game, Lyles and Valanciunas were visibly upset at one another. Lyles then threw what was nearly a punch toward the head of Valanciunas, but the strike did not connect.
The broadcasters described what they saw from Lyles as a “modified swing” toward the big man. Here is a video of what happened:
Later in the game, New Orleans wing Naji Marshall approached Lyles and may have shared his thoughts about the incident.
Overall, the refs seemingly allowed more of a playoff-like atmosphere during the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup to allow that type of physicality without an ejection.
Time to flex some games so we can all watch the Pacers more often.
Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers defeated the Boston Celtics to advance to the semifinals of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament.
Haliburton had the first triple-double of his career recording 26 points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists, zero turnovers and one steal. It’s worth noting that the rising star had not played a game on TNT before this victory, per ESPN.
After the dominant performance, the Pacers will move on to the semifinals of the NBA Cup in Las Vegas. The next round of the tournament, which will be a combined broadcasting effort by ESPN and TNT, will give Haliburton and his teammates yet another chance to play on national TV.
Otherwise, the Pacers only have one other game scheduled on national TV this season: Jan. 30 against the Celtics on TNT.
But fans aren’t satisfied with just getting to see the Pacers, who now have the best offensive rating of all-time so far this season, in just those games. Many expressed a genuine interest in seeing the national TV schedule flexed as the season continues so they can watch Indiana more often.
The cup was designed by Tiffany & Co. in collaboration with artist Victor Solomon.
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Some standout performers have already separated themselves as potential MVP candidates during group play of the tournament. As we head into the quarterfinals, teams are one step closer to becoming the inaugural champions of the NBA Cup.
Here are some key details you should know about the actual trophy they will receive, per NBA.com:
The cup was designed by Tiffany & Co. in collaboration with artist Victor Solomon. It was crafted at the Tiffany hollowware workshop in Rhode Island.
The base of the cup has 30 openings in the net to represent all of the teams in the league.
The base has three tiers, which represent how many games each team must win during the knockout rounds to win the tournament.
Eight prongs flow into the channels of the ball, which symbolize the eight teams that made the knockout rounds of the tournament. These are inspired by the prongs of a diamond ring.
The trophy is 23 inches tall, which is a tribute to the inaugural year of the tournament.
The trophy is five inches wide because there were five teams in each group during the seeding games.
The trophy, which weighs 35 pounds, is coated in 24-karat gold vermeil and black ceramic. The weight represents the three groups of five teams in each conference during group play.
This is a beautiful trophy and the attention to detail is fascinating.
Boston’s Jayson Tatum is currently considered the favorite to take home the trophy. Based on play during the seeding games during group play, however, the best players to advance to the knockout rounds included Phoenix’s Devin Booker and Kevin Durant as well as Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox.
Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton is an interesting choice as well if he is healthy. So, too, are Lakers teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Shootaround
HoopsHype
— Short Kings, rejoice! HoopsHype’s Frank Urbina ranked the greatest players in NBA history who are 6-foot-and-under.
— LeBron James coyly said the heated exchange that led to Ime Udoka’s ejection was about Thanksgiving. Prince Grimes has more.
This was a week to forget for Notre Dame’s NBA representation. Both players saw action in only one game apiece, albeit for very different reasons. Whatever the reason though, it had to be frustrating for Irish fans who want to track what program alumni are up to.
[autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] played 15 minutes in the first half of the Milwaukee Bucks’ Nov. 28 road win over the Miami Heat. He scored seven points, his most in a game in almost two weeks. However, he left with an ankle injury and hasn’t seen any game action since. He missed the Bucks’ next two games and remains day-to-day, making his availability for the Bucks’ In-Season Tournament quarterfinal Tuesday unknown.
[autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] remains on the outside looking in as far as the San Antonio Spurs’ location. He only could find a few minutes in garbage time of a Dec. 1 road loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, dishing out two assists.
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