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The HoopsHype Daily: From multiple angles, the Rockets and Clippers gave us the funniest game of the year

The Rockets/Clippers rivalry, best known for the post-game tunnel fight a few seasons back, added yet another chapter to their book.

A BOLD PREDICTION: James Harden spoke to Stephen A. Smith prior to Wednesday night’s game against the Clippers and predicted the Rockets were going to win the title this season. The league MVP looks confident in his team’s chances (to say the least), and he’s backing it up with his play in a big way. Houston won their fifth game in a row last night, with Harden accounting for a tidy 47 points, bumping up his scoring average for the season to 38.2 points per contest. If Harden is able to keep up that insane point-per-game mark, it’d be the highest scoring average for a full season since 1962-63, when Wilt Chamberlain averaged 44.8 points for the then-San Francisco Warriors.

🥊 After the game, Russell Westbrook had an interesting comment about longtime rival point guard Patrick Beverley, telling the media that Beverley has them fooled about his defensive prowess, and that he just runs around doing nothing during games. Hilarious.

RIVERS-ON-RIVERS CRIME: Apparently we can’t have a Rockets/Clippers game without a whole bunch of petty drama, because on top of the Westbrook-Beverley stuff, there was also a great moment late in the game when Austin Rivers, who plays for Houston, was lobbying to get his father, Clips head coach Doc Rivers, ejected from the game. It worked, too.

😂 The younger Rivers went on Twitter after the game and said Thanksgiving is about to be awkward.

NEW SIGNING: On Wednesday, the Nets announced the signing of swingman Iman Shumpert. Shumpert averaged 7.5 points and 3.0 rebounds last season, and will provide Brooklyn with experienced depth on the wing.

ICE COLD: Tobias Harris has missed his last 23 three-point attempts, dating back to Nov. 4, a 10-day stretch. He’s 8-for-30 from the floor overall over his last two outings for Philadelphia.

😬 Needless to say, the Sixers are going to need a whole lot more from the guy they made the 13th-highest paid player league-wide this season.

HOT AND FRESH INTERVIEW: Magic forward Al-Farouq Aminu spoke with HoopsHype’s Alex Kennedy about life as a top recruit, his departure from Portland and the new vibe in Orlando. Safe to say he appreciates the warmer weather.

BACK TO THE EAST? Per The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, Orlando has expressed interest in Spurs swingman DeMar DeRozan. We take a look at his potential fit there.

A NOT-SO-PLEASANT RETURN: Tonight, Kristaps Porzingis returns to play in the Big Apple for the first time since his very public trade request a few years ago. He spoke to SNY about the trade request, Knicks fans and basketball in New York City general. He’s going to be a fun one to watch as he continues to develop.

HE CALLED GAME: One of the early frontrunners for Rookie of the Year, Ja Morant, hit a nasty game-winning layup last night against Charlotte.

KUZMA BREAKDOWN: If Kyle Kuzma is going to be the third star the Lakers need, he’s going to need to improve his shot selection this season, writes HoopsHype’s Bryan Kalbrosky.

LIKE A NEW FERRARI: Chris Bosh spoke to ESPN yesterday and compared playing with LeBron James to buying a new Ferrari. The Lakers improved to 9-2 last night, the league’s second-best record, so it seems Mr. Bosh is onto something with his comparison.

GREAT TEAMMATE: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope catches a lot of heat from Lakers fans on social media due to his poor play (he’s shooting 36.2 percent from the floor this season). Well, Dwight Howard isn’t having it anymore. Howard went on Instagram to defend his teammate, and then expounded on the defense of KCP with the media after the game.

NBA AND SPORTS BETTING: ESPN spoke to various NBA owners to discuss the impact of Adam Silver’s ground-breaking sports better op-ed from five years ago.

CLEAR MIND, NEW PLAYER: After a disappointing sophomore season, Jaylen Brown is thus far having the best year of his career, averaging 19.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. The difference? Brown learned how to handle the anxiety and self-doubt he was dealing with last season, which became especially noticeable when he lost his starting job in November.

BACKLASH HITS 2K LEAGUE TEAM: An NBA 2K League team representing the Milwaukee Bucks is catching flak for holding a graphic design contest – one looking for a new header image for the team’s official twitter account – without a cash prize. When asked for some financial compensation for the artist’s work, Bucks Gaming replied telling the person to “get a job.” Not a great look there.

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The HoopsHype Daily: Trae Young is on an insane run right now, and he’s making a bit of history in the process

After scoring 42 points and dishing out 11 assists, Trae Young made a bit of history on Tuesday night. He’s performing at a crazy level right now.

YOUNG EN FUEGO: 2018 No. 2 overall draft pick Trae Young has been performing at an insane level recently, and last night was no different. The young Hawks point guard went off for 42 points (on just 21 field-goal attempts!) on the road against an elite Nuggets squad on Tuesday, nailing eight triples and chipping in with 11 assists for good measure.

In the process, Young became the first player 21 or younger to post three-straight games with at least 30 points and 10 assists, and just the third player with multiple 40-point, 10-assist games prior to turning 22, joining LeBron James and Michael Jordan on the illustrious list.

It’s been a fairly decent start to the season for Young, who is now averaging 28.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 8.7 assists in 2019-20 through nine games played. The two players who were part of the draft-night trade two summers ago, Young and Luka Doncic, both have the look of special talents, so it’s safe to say both Atlanta and Dallas came out as winners that night.

HOT SEATS IN NYC: The New York Knicks lost yet again last night, falling to the 4-7 Chicago Bulls by a final scoreline of 120-102. After days of speculation on the job security of head coach David Fizdale, a report came out courtesy of SNYtv’s Ian Begley turning the spotlight on two of the team’s top executives, team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry.

According to Begley’s sources, Mills and Perry spoke to Knicks owner Jim Dolan on Monday and came away with the impression that their jobs would be safe as long as the Knicks show some sort of progress this season. Well, if the last few games are to be taken as an indicator, Mills and Perry might be in some trouble.

A.D. PLAYING THROUGH INJURY: The Lakers won their eighth game in 10 tries on Tuesday, but the most interesting thing to come out of the contest was the news that Anthony Davis is playing through multiple injuries, one to his shoulder and one to his ribs.

His attitude towards playing through these knocks is admirable and Los Angeles is playing their best basketball in a very long time but at the same time, one has to wonder: Is it really smart for the superstar big man to be pushing himself this hard in mid-November, when the Lakers have such high expectations for the playoffs that are still months away? Maybe a night off would be the wise course of action for Davis. Los Angeles plays again tonight, so we’ll see how caution the team/player choose to be.

QUIET DRAMA IN HOUSTON: ESPN goes behind the scenes in Houston to report on the tension within the Rockets, and around the Association, following Daryl Morey’s infamous Hong Kong tweet.

P.G. RETURN DATE SET? Per Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes, Clippers forward Paul George is set to make his return on Thursday night for L.A.’s game against the Pelicans. George averaged 28.0 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season, finishing third in MVP voting for 2018-19. He and Kawhi Leonard could be an unfair duo once they get going.

ANOTHER KEY PLAYER GOES DOWN: Another day, another injury to a key rotation piece around the NBA. According to reports, Rockets 2-guard Eric Gordon is going to undergo knee surgery that will keep him out approximately six weeks. Not good.

DIPO GETTING CLOSER? There’s still no timetable for Victor Oladipo’s return, but yesterday, the Pacers assigned the All-Star shooting guard to the team’s G League team so he could get another practice in. That has to be a good sign that he’s getting closer to a return.

ROOKIE EXPLODES: First-year Chicago point guard Coby White hit seven three-pointers in the fourth quarter of last night’s contest against the Knicks, setting the Bulls record for most triples in a single period. The league-wide record for most three-pointers in a quarter is nine (it belongs to Klay Thompson), so White wasn’t far off that pace.

STEPH CLAPS BACK AT GOAT:  Michael Jordan made headlines in an interview for saying Stephen Curry isn’t quite a Hall-of-Famer just yet. The Warriors point guard clapped back recently, referring to Jordan as one of his haters and saying he was going to send the Bulls legend a pair of his shoes. They should probably settle this in a televised game of one-on-one, if we’re being honest. (We’d even settle for H.O.R.S.E.)

FORMER TOP PICK WORKING HIS WAY BACK: The New York Times spoke to Magic head coach Steve Clifford about Markelle Fultz’s progress this year, and to former National League Rookie of the Year (baseball) Steve Sax, known for one of the most famous cases of the yips, about what it’s like to lose your confidence that drastically.

NETS EXEC STEPS DOWN: In what was a shocking bit of news, Nets CEO David Levy stepped down from his position with Brooklyn after fewer than two months on the job. The decision was described as mutual.

KRISTAPS STILL ADJUSTING: Mavericks big man Kristaps Porzingis spoke to Sports Illustrated about his struggles this season. Mark Cuban also added his thoughts in the piece.

I.T. SPEAKS ABOUT NEXT STOP: After famously saying his goal in free agency a few years ago was to back up the Bricks trunk (i.e., get paid handsomely), a humbled Isaiah Thomas told The Athletic he hopes his next contract is a more long-term one.

🏦 Thomas, currently the 314th-highest paid player in the league, is coming off back-to-back summers where he was forced to sign one-year deals.

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The HoopsHype Daily: Despite struggles, Blazers stars remain content

In an era where stars requesting trades to team up is so common, the Blazers two studs – Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum – are going against the grain.

BLAZERS STARS CONTENT… SHOULD THE TEAM BE? Despite their multiple postseason failures and the team’s slow start this season, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are quite content with where they’re at and refuse to be like other stars of this era who choose to force trades and team up rather than build something for themselves. Lillard, in particular, is pretty adamant about why he’s happy to be a Blazer: “I play for a great organization. I play for a great coach. I love where I live. I have a great situation.”

Nevertheless, Portland sits at 4-6 through 10 games, and have the looks of a team that might have hit its peak – the conference finals – last season. Getting Jusuf Nurkic back could help, but how much of an impact should he be expected to make this season after suffering such a brutal leg injury?

The Blazers might be best-served seeing if they could get anything in exchange for the struggling McCollum, who is shooting 39.1 percent from the floor this year. A star-level two-way wing, something Portland is desperately lacking, could dramatically change things in the Pacific Northwest.

Or the Blazers could choose to stand pat and risk missing the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference. We’ll see how happy Lillard is in Portland if that does happen.

HOT SEAT WATCH: Knicks brass reportedly isn’t happy with how the team is doing this season, which is understandable considering they’re 2-8 through 10 games. And according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Malika Andrews, team president Steve Mills is already laying the groundwork for head coach David Fizdale’s dismissal.

Will that change anything for New York? Probably not, considering their poorly constructed roster and bad management. But it’s hard to see anyone doing worse than Fizdale and his 19-73 career record with the Knicks.

MVP RANKINGS: We voted and ranked the Top 10 in the NBA’s early-season MVP race. Find out how we rank the league’s top stars here.

FRESH PODCAST: Alex Kennedy is joined by HoopsHype colleague Bryan Kalbrosky to evaluate the NBA teams who are off to surprisingly hot starts.

HISTORY MADE: Young Celtics star Jayson Tatum made history on Monday night. It wasn’t the good kind. Tatum finished Boston’s contest against the Mavericks with five points on… 1-of-18 shooting, giving him the second-worst shooting performance in Celtics history over the last 65 years (minimum: 15 field-goal attempts). Hey, at least Boston won.

ANOTHER HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENT: After James Harden dropped 39 points against the Pelicans on Monday, his scoring average for the season bumped up to 37.3 points per game through 10 Rocket outings. That’s the highest scoring average through 10 games in the last 50 seasons. Decent production coming out of Houston.

KAWHI VS TORONTO: Clippers superstar and reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard faced off with his former team, the Toronto Raptors, for the first time last night. Los Angeles pulled out the win 98-88, even despite the fact that Leonard went 2-for-11 from the floor and scored just 12 points. Leonard was able to contribute in other ways, however, with 11 rebounds, nine assists and three steals.

🏥 In what was a theme for Monday in the NBA world, a key piece suffered an injury in this game, as Landry Shamet had to exit the contest due to an ankle sprain.

STEPH PLANNING TO PLAY THIS YEAR? Much has been made about whether or not Stephen Curry will return this season, especially with the Warriors struggling in the win-loss column. According to the two-time league MVP himself, though, he plans to come back in the early spring.

SPURS HOLD CEREMONY FOR TEAM LEGEND: The Spurs retired Tony Parker’s jersey last night, in what was a lovely ceremony. Among those who attended: Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan (he had no choice since he coaches for the Spurs now), David Robinson, Boris Diaw, Ronny Turiaf and soccer legend Thierry Henry.

AAU AND LOAD MANAGEMENT: LeBron James granted Yahoo Sports an interview where he unloaded on the dangers of kids being overworked in AAU basketball, and how he believes it directly ties in with the need for load management among professionals.

BUCKS ALL-STAR SIDELINED: Unfortunately, it was a Monday chock full of injury news. First up, Khris Middleton will miss 3-4 weeks of action with a left thigh contusion.

HAYWARD GOES UNDER THE KNIFE: Next, Celtics forward Gordon Hayward underwent surgery to repair his fractured left hand which will keep him out for six weeks.

YOUNG STAR DOWN: The brutal news keeps rolling in for the Kings this season, as word came out that stud young point guard De’Aaron Fox will be sidelined for 3-4 weeks due to an ankle sprain that occurred in practice.

THE LOGO SPEAKS: NBA legend Jerry West gave The Athletic a rare interview where he discussed topics such as Paul George’s return, basketball in southern California (including the Lakers), and much more.

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The HoopsHype Daily: The Knicks are a mess yet again

After falling to 2-8 on the season, key Knicks executives held an impromptu press conference where they said a lot but nothing at the same time.

FIZDALE’S SEAT GETTING TOASTY: On Sunday, the New York Knicks dropped their eighth game in 10 tries, falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-87 in a game that wasn’t even as close as the final scoreline would indicate. Things got interesting after the contest, when two of the team’s top decision makers, president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry, held an awkward impromptu press conference where they declared their displeasure with New York’s progress this season while maintaining their faith in the plan they put together and in their head coach, David Fizdale. Really, though, it felt like the two executives said a whole lot of nothing, making the entire exercise rather pointless.

Regardless, it goes without saying that if the Knicks continue going down the porous path they currently find themselves on, Fizdale, who feels the pressure, will be gone. At the same time, is that really going to change anything? The team’s management had a terrible offseason, no matter how the Knicks try to spin it, one where they failed to land a marquee free agent despite having loads of cap space, and responded by signing multiple middling power forwards and no point guards. Basically, years and years of poor decision-making out of New York’s front office continued in the summer of 2019.

And what’s the common thread that all of those poor Knicks offseasons have? They have pretty much all occurred over the last 20 years, when James Dolan became the team’s owner. It’s pretty clear what New York’s principal problem is, and until that problem is no longer there, the team won’t escape this purgatory they’ve been in for multiple decades.

David Fizdale is now 19-73 as Knicks head coach.

ON AAU AND LOAD MANAGEMENT: HoopsHype spoke to various NBA players to find out their thoughts on whether young athletes getting overworked during their AAU days is leading to a need for load management when they get older. Some very interesting comments here from Zach LaVine, Myles Turner and others.

ANOTHER OFF-COURT WAITERS INCIDENT: Miami Heat guard Dion Waiters suffered a panic attack on Thursday during the team’s flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles. The cause of the panic attack? A weed gummy given to him by a teammate.

🤦 It’s far from Waiters’ first issue this season, giving Miami little choice but to suspend the mercurial 2-guard for 10 games without pay. This is Waiters’ second suspension of the young season. Waiters never playing another minute for the Heat is quickly becoming a very real possibility.

SUPERMAN BACK IN THE DUNK CONTEST? Dwight Howard is playing the most impactful basketball he’s played in years. We broke down his game here. Howard is feeling so good, in fact, that he told TMZ he’s thought about doing the dunk contest this season. Howard has one dunk contest victory to his name, which came back in 2008.

LUKA MVP CAMPAIGN: Based on his play so far, there’s a very good chance Mavs guard Luka Doncic receives MVP votes at the end of the season. He would be the youngest international player ever to achieve that, beating Hakeem Olajuwon.

CURRY RETURN: Brandon Payne, Stephen Curry’s personal trainer, spoke to NBC Sports’ Tom Haberstroh and told him that Curry wants to return this season, but it’ll depend on how his rehab goes.

HAYWARD GOES DOWN… AGAIN: Celtics swingman Gordon Hayward, who was playing the best basketball he has since his brutal leg injury, got hurt again this weekend, fracturing his left hand against the Spurs. A doctor who spoke to the Boston Sports Journal says he could be out for at least four weeks depending on whether he has surgery or not. 

RONDO’S SEASON DEBUT POSTPONED: Rajon Rondo was supposed to make his return against the Raptors on Sunday, but had his season debut postponed yet again. Once he does return, one has to wonder how much playing time he gets. Head coach Frank Vogel will have to determine how much he values Rondo’s defense and ability to run the offense versus his poor three-point shooting.

STAR SET TO RETURN: Pistons forward Blake Griffin has been listed as probable for Detroit’s game against the Timberwolves on Monday. It would be his first game action since April 22.

POTENTIAL TOP PICK INELIGIBLE: On Friday, the NCAA announced 2020 potential No. 1 pick James Wiseman has been deemed ineligible. If he doesn’t play again this season, it’ll be interesting to note how much that affects his draft stock.

GETTING PAPER: According to a report, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has a new five-year contract with the company, one that will pay him $8 million per year. That’s more than all but 150 NBA players, and as much as Lou Williams makes on his Clippers deal.

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