The NBA revealed Golden State’s opponents for the group stage of the 2024 in-season tournament.
The NBA’s first-ever in-season tournament came and went for the Golden State Warriors. After tough come-from-behind losses to the Sacramento Kings and Oklahoma City Thunder, the Warriors were eliminated in the group stage of the debut in-season tournament.
In 2024, the Warriors will bring their new-look roster to the second-annual in-season tournament. On Friday, the NBA revealed the draw for the different groups in the tournament. Each conference will have three groups with five teams that will play each other with a ticket to the knockout round on the line. Eight teams will advance to the knockout round.
For the second straight season, the Warriors will be featured in Group C. The Warriors will see the Western Conference defending champion Dallas Mavericks to go along with the Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies.
Starting November 12, all 30 teams will compete for the NBA Cup with 8 teams advancing out of groups into the knockout rounds, with the semifinals and championship held in Las Vegas, December 14 and 17! pic.twitter.com/gtu9CvMCrr
Along with battling against players like Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Ja Morant and Zion Williamson in the play-in tournament, the Warriors will also get a reunion with Klay Thompson and the Mavericks during the tournament.
Draymond Green didn’t hold back after the Timberwolves dropped Game 5 to the Nuggets.
After winning the opening two games on the road against the defending champions, the Minnesota Timberwolves have dropped three straight games to the Denver Nuggets, including Game 5 in rough fashion on Tuesday night.
Reigning Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic dominated, scoring 40 points on 15-of-22 shooting from the field to go along with 13 assists, seven rebounds, two steals and a block in 41 minutes. He did this while matching up with newly crowned Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns.
Following the Timberwolves’ loss to fall behind in the second-round series, 3-2, to the Nuggets, Draymond Green was critical of the Timberwolves in an appearance on NBA on TNT. Green didn’t hold back when talking about Gobert and the Timberwolves, calling the series over.
Listen here, I got two things of why this series ain’t coming back to Minnesota. No. 1, the big Frenchman is sitting on that podium speaking his native language, ‘we, we, we need to do this.’ You, you, you need to get a stop. It ain’t we. Karl-Anthony Towns is actually doing a pretty good job when he’s on Joker. It’s you my man that’s getting cooked. No we. Yes, you do need help from the other guys, but on some of those they can’t help you. You just got to get a stop. So, that’s No. 1.
No. 2, when you’re in these playoff series — for me — I’m always looking for the smallest ounce of weakness that I could find. And, the way Karl-Anthony Towns walked off that floor with the limp after he played the rest of the game completely fine. He played the rest of that game totally fine. Then he could barely walk leaving the court. They don’t believe anymore. And when you lose belief, these are the defending champs they’re playing against. When you lose the belief, it’s over. and they don’t believe they can win anymore. Which means this series is over.
Despite Green calling the series over, the Timberwolves will have chance to extend the series in Game 6 with elimination on the line on Thursday at home in Minnesota.
Usually, when the Lakers play you can count on Magic Johnson tweeting his thoughts out immediately after the game.
Are the tweets exciting? Nope. Absolutely not. It’s normally just a vanilla tweet with a lukewarm-at-best take attached to it. They’re usually very obvious. Remember that tweet from last year’s NBA Finals when he told us that Nikola Jokic and Jimmy Butler would be there? Yeah, that was funny. But that’s how he usually tweets.
Except for last night, anyway. Apparently, after watching the Lakers blow a 20-point lead to the Nuggets on the road, Magic was so devasted he couldn’t even tweet after the game.
He came on Twitter the next day and told us about it.
Last night I was so devastated I couldn’t even tweet 💔 An unbelievable shot by Jamal Murray, and an outstanding comeback by the Nuggets.
The Lakers really let Magic down, man. You hate to see it. Unless you’re a Nuggets fan, of course. In that case, you’re probably enjoying every bit of this.
It was absurd, sure. But here’s the thing: The absurdity of it all feels regular. At this point, I guess it is. The Nuggets have beaten this team 10 straight times. They’re just better in every way than the Lakers. It’s very clear.
That’s probably why, instead of just tipping their cap to Denver after a tough win, the Lakers are opting to complain about *checks notes* officiating? Sure. Yup. Ok.
Specifically, James and the Lakers were complaining about an overturned call on Michael Porter Jr. And, to be fair, that foul probably shouldn’t have been overturned! Porter Jr. clips Russell’s face after the ball is released.
But here’s the thing: At that point, the Lakers were nursing a 10-point lead heading into the final quarter. The Lakers still had every opportunity to win this game. No, scratch that. LA should’ve won this game.
But they didn’t. And now, here we are, with two of the team’s biggest stars complaining about officiating instead of just taking the L on the chin.
Look, y’all. This isn’t a 76ers situation where officials missed a few calls at the end of Game 2 that led directly to Philly’s loss. That’s a team with plenty of room to complain.
Instead, we’re talking about a play that had no bearing on the game’s final moments. It didn’t matter. There was an entire quarter between that overturned call and the game’s final buzzer. The Lakers still had a lead and lost it.
That’s probably why we’re talking about this — the Lakers just realized there’s nothing they can do here. The reality is the Nuggets are just better. Denver has beaten LA 10 consecutive times in every way possible.
Instead of whining about fouls, maybe the Lakers should think about a way to defend Nikola Jokic a bit better. Because they don’t seem to have much of anything for that guy right now.
And Scott Foster ain’t coming to the rescue.
The saddest QB room ever?
Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
I’ve seen some pretty bad quarterback rooms in my day — especially living here in D.C. and seeing the Commanders up close.
But, man. The Broncos quarterback club might be the saddest one we’ve ever seen when opening weekend rolls around. Christian D’Andrea has more here:
“The most likely situation is either Denver stands pat at No. 12 and adds a passer there, or trades back to address other needs (there are several) and slides to a place where it’s a little more logical to take a non-top-four QB. Either way, the best rookie for which the Broncos can hope is probably either Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr..
Which means their training camp quarterback room would look like this:
Jarrett Stidham (incumbent starter, somehow)
Zach Wilson
Ben Dinucci
Bo Nix/Michael Penix Jr./Rookie QB X
the smoking crater Russell Wilson’s $35.4 million in dead salary cap space left behind
Gross! There are other iffy situations across the league. The New England Patriots currently have Bailey Zappe, Jacoby Brissett and Nathan Rourke under contract. The Washington Commanders have Marcus Mariota, Jake Fromm and Jeff Driskel. The Vikings are desperate enough for competence that they staked a $10 million bet on Sam by-god Darnold.
But each of those teams has the draft assets to at least instill some legitimate hope for 2024 and beyond. The Broncos are in worse shape.”
Jarrett Stidham, the incumbent starter? YUCK. Also, who in the world is Ben DiNucci? Definitely sounds like a created player.
Nobody deserves that. Sorry, Broncos fans.
We need reverse ejections in baseball
Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
That’s what should’ve happened to umpire Hunter Wendelstedt during yesterday’s Yankees game. He ejected Aaron Boone for something he didn’t even do.
“In the first inning of the Yankees’ game against the A’s, Aaron Boone was evidently upset over a lead-off hit by pitch call. And ironically said something to Wendelstedt just as the ump missed a call in the Yankees’ favor.
Wendelstedt warned Boone to stop chirping and threatened him with an ejection. Boone seemed to take the message and stood at the edge of the dugout steps quietly. Yet, Wendelstedt mistook a fan’s heckling for Boone and ejected the Yankees manager anyway. The scene was absolutely wild.”
Wendelstedt literally admits that he doesn’t care what actually happened and that Boone was being ejected regardless.
That’s malpractice. Major League Baseball needs to step in here.
Quick hits: Anthony Davis is mad, too … Six NFL prospects who may not live up to the hype … and more
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to Nikola Jokic’s game-winner at the buzzer against the Golden State Warriors.
Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets did the impossible. They came back from down 18 points to beat the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco. At the buzzer.
The Joker made a ridiculous three-pointer from near half-court to win the game for the defending NBA champs, and Twitter exploded.
The Golden State Warriors look like they’re in some real trouble here.
The NBA’s standings feel like a bizarro world right now.
You’ve got the LA Clippers and Golden State Warriors at the bottom of the Western Conference jockeying for play-in position. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder look like two of the best teams in the league.
Along with that, the Denver Nuggets have dipped quite a bit in recent days and the Bucks are just starting to catch their stride. Meanwhile, the Celtics just keep winning games at the top of the East.
Our latest edition of NBA Power Rankings is here. It’s still early, but a ton of what we’re seeing now feels very real.
Y’all know the vibe when it comes to the championship parade. It’s just like the regular game — every player has a role to play.
Of course, you got the players on top of the championship bus just chilling and playing it cool. But then, you’ve also got to have the player who is just out there cracking beers left and right like Stone Cold Steve Austin. Somebody has to get off the bus and get into the crowd because that’s always a good time.
And, then, somebody has to go shirtless. It’s a must. It happens with every NBA Championship parade at this point. J.R. Smith became a legend when he took on the role.
Today, the legend is Bruce Brown. There is not a single piece of fabric on this man’s upper body. He is out here living it up.
"I feel amazing! This is amazing!"
Bruce Brown takes a page out of JR Smith's book as he goes shirtless at the Nuggets parade 😂pic.twitter.com/E1TU60eRVA
The Nuggets are NBA champions! Peyton Manning, Sean Payton and Russell Wilson were in attendance to watch Monday’s title game.
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton, former quarterback Peyton Manning and current quarterback Russell Wilson were in attendance to watch the Denver Nuggets (4-1) defeat the Miami Heat (1-4) 94-89 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night to clinch a title, marking the first championship in franchise history.
Earlier this month, Payton praised Nuggets players for their unselfish play, and he praised team ownership for their accomplishments across sports in recent seasons.
“When I’ve watched them — we all get caught up and you get excited — but the star players are unselfish, and I feel like it’s a team that enjoys each other,” Payton said on June 1. “I’m going to guess that they probably do things together off the court and I don’t know that that’s the case with every team.”
Payton also praised Nuggets ownership. Ann Walton Kroenke, the cousin of Broncos majority owner Rob Walton, owns the Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche. Ann’s husband, Stan Kroenke, owns the Los Angeles Rams and Colorado Rapids.
“When you think of this for a second — in two years, the Kroenkes have won a Super Bowl, have won a Stanley Cup and they’re in a position to win an NBA championship,” Payton said. “I think that’s something that — it’s good to be a Kroenke for the last two years. That’s pretty impressive to have that type of success.”
Payton will hope that success runs in the family as the Walton-Penner ownership group aims to turn the Broncos around quickly after a seven-year playoff drought.
