Former Sooner standout, Trae Young has made Norman and the state of Oklahoma proud to call him their son, once again.
Former Sooner standout and top-10 NBA draft pick, Trae Young has made Norman and the state of Oklahoma proud to call him their son, once again.
Young has teamed up with RIP Medical Debt to relive medical debt to those in desperate need of assistance. RIP Medical Debt targets families and individuals who are well below the poverty line and have medical bills that cost 5% or more of their yearly income.
Young has been a bright spot on the court for Atlanta as well. Averaging 28.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game on 44.8% shooting from the floor and 37.5% from behind the arc, Young is definitely a cornerstone of the franchise in Atlanta.
Oklahoma (10-3, 1-0) had a late addition to the roster announced last night.
Oklahoma (10-3, 1-0) had a late addition to the roster announced last night. Top Daug will be making his triumphant return after a 15-year hiatus when the Sooners play host to No. 3 Kansas (11-2, 1-0) on January 14.
With the news, Twitter was ablaze with nostalgic Oklahoma hoops fans.
I peaked in coolness when Top Daug came to one of my birthday parties as a child. So it’s rediculous how excited I am for this. https://t.co/IshsFvlpcx
Who said great social media posts were reserved for just the football team?
Oklahoma and No.3 Kansas are set to tip-off in primetime at 8p.m. CT on a national broadcast on ESPN2. Four top-10 teams have been beaten by under-daugs in the past week. Can the Sooners deliver in Top Daug’s return home?
The athletic department had fun with the announcement, hinting at Top Daug’s return, beginning this morning with what appeared to be accidental or hacked tweets.
Athletic director, Joe Castiglione addressed the tweets while having a little bit of fun while giving a cryptic message.
It seems like our twitter account may have been hacked. Doggone it!! We are using all forensic strategies to figure it out. There are cyber prints 🐾 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 https://t.co/Kv8dq0EMzE
Top Daug was a brain-child of former Sooners head coach, Billy Tubbs who said Oklahoma would be a “top daug” in the then Big 8 conference. The mascot was a fan favorite throughout the ’80s and ’90s before being retired following the 2004-05 basketball season.
Oklahoma (10-3) plans to re-introduce Top Daug prior to the Sooners’ next home game against Kansas on Tuesday, January 14. The game can be seen on ESPN2 with tip-off set for 8p.m. CT.
It’s way too early for the Hawks to consider making a move like this.
The Atlanta Hawks are having a pretty terrible season. They’re 7-27 right now and are the worst team in the NBA by record.
Just how bad are things? They last won a game on December 8th — it’s almost been a calendar month since then. It gets worse. Three of their seven wins came within the first two weeks of the season. On November 5th after beating the Spurs they were 3-3. They’re 4-24 since.
Their shining light of hope has been Trae Young, who is just one of two players in NBA history to average at least 28 points and eight assists while shooting 36 percent from three.
The other was James Harden two seasons ago when he won MVP. They’ve got a special one in Atlanta. Yet, that hasn’t translated to anything more than a wasted season.
The Hawks know that and they want to fix it. Apparently, they believe the solution might be trading for Andre Drummond. The Pistons and Hawks are in trade talks centered around their All-Star center, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Detroit and Atlanta have been engaged in talks on a trade centered on Andre Drummond, league sources tell ESPN. No deal imminent, but Detroit is talking to Hawks and several other teams on Drummond, sources said.
A trade isn’t imminent, but Drummond would certainly fill a huge void for the Hawks at that position. But, at this point in the season, they should turn away. The Hawks don’t need Andre Drummond right now.
The Hawks are in “The Process” right now
No, they aren’t going through an overt Sam Hinkie tank job — they actually planned on competing this year, which is why a move like this is even in the cards.
But reality is reality. And the Hawks’ current reality is that they’re far and away the worst team in the NBA right now at 20 games under .500. If they kept playing at the pace they are currently, they’d be guaranteed no worse than a top five pick in next year’s draft.
The Hawks are right on pace with where they’re supposed to be. They found a transcendent talent in his second year with Trae Young and John Collins meshes well with him.
The rest of their roster is stacked with players that are either passed their prime or have no idea what they’re doing. There’s not much in between. They aren’t built to win at all.
Drummond isn’t going to change that — especially not this year. They’re already 20 games under .500. If they fight their way back to being the sixth worst team in the NBA instead of the worst team in the NBA, they’d be putting themselves in a much worse position.
The timeline for Drummond just doesn’t add up
Part of why the Hawks are in such a good position despite their record is that they don’t have big money committed to the bulk of the roster moving forward, and they have an extremely young and talented core.
Trae Young is just 21 years old. John Collins is only 22 years old. Whatever pick they’ll get next season will be between 19 and 21 years old — most likely on the younger side. There’s no reason to insert a 26-year-old Andre Drummond into that picture quite yet.
Drummond is searching for his third NBA contract and, with the numbers he’s putting up this season, it’ll probably be a max deal. If the Hawks traded for him, they’d be looking at dishing out a 5-year, $190 million deal.
The Hawks could pay him that. As it stands, they only have $33,369,003 in committed cap space for next season and that number shrinks every year after. They’ve got the cap flexibility next year.
But after that, it’s time for Collins to get paid. Then, after that, it’s time for Young to get paid. Next thing you know, you’re capped out with a team that might be winning 48 games or so for the next five years depending on what’s around them. That’s not a great place to be in.
The Hawks need to just chill. Losing sucks — we get it. But putting a rush job on a rebuild typically isn’t the wisest. You could end up like the Mavericks this year after the Porzingis deal and be pretty fun. But you could also end up like the Timberwolves after the Jimmy Butler deal and be completely miserable.
It’s best to just keep playing the cards you’ve been dealt instead of trying to fix the hand. If they want Drummond that bad, they can pick him up in free agency on a cheaper deal. But giving up assets for a contract that’ll be massive in a few months isn’t where it’s at.
It’s that time of year again. The All-Star game is right around the corner next month and the turnaround for voting is quick.
Fans have just under a month to get their votes in. Voting began on Christmas Day and ends Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 20.
The NBA released the first returns on Thursday, and as expected, they are wild. Twitter is already going bonkers with takes about why fan voting is a sham and why it needs to be abolished immediately.
Here’s an early look at how things are shaking out.
Now, before you get into a tizzy about why everyone doesn’t love your favorite player the same way you do, remember: Fan voting only accounts for 50%. Player voting (25%) and media panel voting (25%) make up the other half.
Plus, there are about three more weeks left for fans to continue to vote for their favorite players. What the vote looks like now isn’t what it’s going to look like next week or over the next couple weeks.
Also, keep in mind, these votes are only for the starting lineups. Coaches get to pick the reserves. Once the reserves are picked, all players are put into a draft pool and picked by the top two leading vote getters.
Basically, don’t get too upset just yet. Let’s get into some of the early takeaways.
Luka and Giannis are the NBA’s leaders
Did anyone have Team Antetokounmpo going up against Team Doncic at the beginning of the season? It’s reasonable to think that last year’s MVP might be a leading vote getter, but I couldn’t have imagined Luka Doncic would be LEADING him.
Doncic has the most votes with 1,073,957 and Antetokounmpo is right behind him with 1,073,358. Foreign voting is definitely part of that, but they’ve both been playing out of their minds.
It’s dope to see that actually recognized. Take that, you “popularity contest” truthers.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis lead the West’s forwards by a lot
This makes perfect sense — the Lakers have been one of the best two teams in the league in one of the NBA’s glitziest markets with two of the league’s best players.
James has 1,020,851 votes and Davis has 955,246. Both make sense. What wasn’t expected, though, was that the third forward, Kawhi Leonard, would be more than 200,000 votes behind Davis. That’s wild.
Trae Young is leading all guards in the East
TRAE YOUNG HIVE STAND UP! The fans got this one right.
Look, the Hawks suck — we get it. BUT Trae Young absolutely deserves to be an All-Star starter. He’s averaging 28.5 points and 8.3 assists while hitting 36% of his threes on the worst team in the league. It ain’t his fault, y’all. He’s doing all he can.
Plus, let’s be honest, trying to watch Kyle Lowry flop all over the place and make the right pass to start the All-Star game? Nah. Give us Trae Young 40-foot moon bombs and nutmegs instead. Please and thanks.
Stop voting for the wrong Nets guard
I’ve got no idea who is voting for Kyrie Irving at this point, but they’re voting for the wrong guard. Spencer Dinwiddie deserves way more love than he’s getting.
He’s 10th in voting with 94,618 votes while Kyrie Irving, who hasn’t hooped since November 14, has 432,481. Irving is great — he’s an alien with the best handle we’ve ever seen. But Dinwiddie has been the Nets’ best player this season.
And it’s not like he hasn’t been fun. he’s dunking on dudes, hitting clutch threes and putting up big numbers. Most importantly, he’s led the Nets to a 12-9 record without Irving after a 4-7 start. We’re voting for the wrong guard here.
Speaking of not getting enough love, where is Devonte’ Graham?
Alright, we get that he plays for the Hornets and all. Charlotte isn’t the biggest market, they don’t have many big players of note, and they won’t make the playoffs. All that is true.
At the same time, we have a responsibility to get him into this game off of this play alone.
I’m sorry, y’all. Those are the rules. Vote for Devonte’ Graham.
Carmelo Anthony’s last dance
Here’s a fact: Carmelo Anthony has done absolutely nothing to deserve being placed on this list. Here’s another fact: It would be a top five most fun thing in the world if Carmelo Anthony was actually an All-Star this season.
He’s not a good player anymore, but if you put him on a basketball court he’s going to entertain you. And, honestly, what else is the All-Star game for? Let’s start the campaign right here. Let Melo in, y’all.
The Lakers and Celtics have nine players total getting votes
LeBron James and Anthony Davis head off the list for the Western Conference forwards. Meanwhile, in the East, the Celtics have five players with votes including Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward.
It almost feels like the 1980’s again until you realize…wait…is that…DWIGHT HOWARD getting votes for the Lakers? So…who…the fourth guy is…ALEX CARUSO!?!?!?
WAIT. ONE. SECOND.
IS THAT TACKO FALL!?!?
WHY, YES. YES IT IS.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Remember, there are still a few weeks left. Just keep voting. You’ve got three weeks to get your favorite players into this game. Things will even out…probably.
HoopsHype ranks the 12 players who have the biggest chance to make their first All-Star roster this season, including Luka Doncic.
All-Star appearances are often used as a way to partially define legacies, with players who rack up the distinction being rated highly in the minds of NBA aficionados. And although that is far from the best way to define someone’s career, All-Star berths do tell us a lot about which players are considered to be the most impactful (or, sometimes, popular) on any given year.
This season, various up-and-coming stars have the chance to make their first appearances in the prestigious exhibition; in fact, a few of them came quite close last year.
Below, we rank the 12 NBA players who have the best opportunity to make their first All-Star Game this season.
Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports
12. MALCOLM BROGDON
Not only did Malcolm Brogdon have to overcome the transition to a new team, he’s had to take over the role of a primary playmaker for the first time in his career as well, with Victor Oladipo still not back from injury.
And despite all that, Brogdon is still having his best NBA season.
The Virginia product is averaging 18.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 7.6 assists in 2019-20 on 45.2/33.3/93.3 shooting splits; he’s one of just nine players putting up an 18/4/7 stat line this year, with names like LeBron James and James Harden joining him on the list.
Additionally, Brogdon’s impact has been far from empty, as the Pacers have been one of this season’s pleasant surprises at 21-12 through 33 games, which puts them sixth in the East.
Indiana took a risk offering Brogdon such a rich contract despite him having experience mostly as a secondary, or even tertiary, up until this season. Thus far, however, it’s worked out wonderfully for both parties.
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
11. DOMANTAS SABONIS
Brogdon’s pick-and-roll partner in Indiana, Domantas Sabonis, also has a solid shot of making his first All-Star roster this season.
The 23-year-old has improved every single year since reaching the NBA, and 2019-20 has been no different, as Sabonis is averaging a career-best 17.4 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists per contest.
Sabonis ranks fourth league-wide in nightly rebounds and fourth among centers in nightly assists, proving what a well-rounded big man he’s become. Those numbers and the effect they’re having on the Pacers’ strong season could be enough to push Sabonis towards his first All-Star berth, though the East’s depth in the frontcourt positions could have something to say about that.
Even so, the legendary Arvydas’ son is making a strong case for himself.
Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
10. BRANDON INGRAM
For years, we’ve waited to see Brandon Ingram start to reach the huge ceiling that many forecast he had when he was just an NBA prospect. Well, this season, we’re starting to see what a fully functional Ingram looks like and, we must say, it’s pretty scary.
Ingram has been nothing short of spectacular in his first campaign as a New Orleans Pelican, with averages of 25.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists to his name, but perhaps even more impressive than that is the fact that after shooting just 32.9 percent from three over his first three seasons, he’s now hitting 41 percent of his outside looks, which has made him nearly impossible to defend.
According to Synergy, Ingram ranks as a “very good” scorer in four separate play-types: as the pick-and-roll ball-handler, as a spot-up shooter, in isolation and in transition. It’s difficult to get much more well-rounded than that.
There are a couple of things standing in Ingram’s way as far as his first All-Star appearance goes, however. For starters, the West is absolutely loaded on the wings, particularly with LeBron, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George absolute locks to make it every season. Second, the Pelicans have been one of the league’s most disappointing teams this year, even despite their recent good form, with a 10-23 record through 33 contests.
Regardless, Ingram’s numbers are so eye-popping that they could be enough to get him in as an All-Star reserve anyway.
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
9. DEVIN BOOKER
For a while early on in the season, the Phoenix Suns looked like a new team, as they boasted a 7-4 record through 11 games with a +6.4 net rating (the league’s fourth-best mark to that point) to show for it, all with Devin Booker leading the way as the franchise’s lone star-level player.
Since then, however, things have fallen off a cliff for Phoenix. The Suns are 6-16 from Nov. 14 through Dec. 29, and have the NBA’s 10th-worst net rating in that stretch at -3.8. Overall, they now sit 10th in the West on a year where the bottom of the conference is weaker than usual, meaning the opportunity is there to sneak into the postseason for the first time since 2010-11.
Simply put, if Phoenix can’t at least hover close to the playoff line, that’s going to hurt Booker’s All-Star credentials. He’s been productive for years now, with this season being no different at 24.4 points and 6.3 assists per game, but if he can’t prove he’s an actual outcome-changer, there’s a good chance he gets ignored yet again once coaches have to decide who the All-Star reserves are going to be this year.
Fans are sort of ignoring Booker’s All-Star candidacy at this point, too, as the first fan-vote returns have Booker sitting ninth in the West among guards, behind… Alex Caruso.
Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports
8. SPENCER DINWIDDIE
Despite major injuries to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the Brooklyn Nets have remained afloat this year with a 16-15 record and a seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.
A lot of that has to do with Spencer Dinwiddie putting the team on his back for most of the campaign. Dinwiddie is averaging 22.5 points and 6.8 assists per game in 2019-20, and is putting up career-best marks in catch-all advanced metrics Box Plus/Minus and Win Shares per 48 Minutes. And he’s doing that despite shooting quite poorly from beyond the arc this season at 29.8 percent.
Without Dinwiddie, the Nets would surely be sitting outside of the postseason picture out East, and that, plus a usual All-Star lock-in Irving missing so much of the year, could help the 26-year-old make the prestigious exhibition roster.
David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
7. JAYSON TATUM
After a down sophomore season, at least relative to expectations following such a strong debut, Jayson Tatum’s career trajectory is back on the upswing thanks to his fantastic level of play in 2019-20.
On the year, the Boston Celtics forward is averaging 21.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists nightly and playing some of his best defense since reaching the NBA. He might not be Boston’s best player, that honor would probably belong to Kemba Walker, but Tatum has been a huge part of the Celtics’ bounce-back season (they boast a 22-8 record through 30 outings) after what was deemed widely as a disappointing 2018-19.
Tatum ranks as a very good scorer, per Synergy, both out of the pick-and-roll and in isolation (both with passes included), placing in the 81st percentile and 80th percentile in the two all-important play-types, respectively. The Duke product is really starting to live up to the efficient bucket-getter potential he had coming out of college.
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
6. DONOVAN MITCHELL
Similar to Tatum, Donovan Mitchell didn’t make the leap some expected as a sophomore last season. Also like Tatum, however, the third-year guard out of Louisville has placed himself right back on an upward trajectory in 2019-20 with an improved level of play.
Mitchell is averaging 25.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game this year along with a career-high 55.4 true shooting percentage. He’s also posting career-best marks in Box Plus/Minus and Win Shares per 48 Minutes, which do a good job of measuring the nightly impact made by players.
Most importantly, Mitchell has the Jazz sitting at a 20-12 record and sixth in the West, even despite the poor play of the team’s big offseason acquisition, Mike Conley. In fact, once Conley went down and Mitchell took over more primary playmaker duties, his play got even better, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens once the veteran floor general gets healthy.
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
5. BAM ADEBAYO
Sitting behind Hassan Whiteside for the last two-and-a-half seasons, Bam Adebayo seldom got the chance to show off his immense skill level, besides a random flash here or there. This year, though, as a full-time Day-1 starter, that’s no longer the case, as Adebayo has taken his new role and run with it.
Playing over 30 minutes nightly for the first time in his career, Adebayo is averaging 15.6 points, 10.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting over 56 percent from the floor. Adebayo’s explosion this year has helped the Miami Heat far exceed even the loftiest expectations, as the team sits second in the East at 24-8 through 32 games.
Sure, the addition of Jimmy Butler has played a huge part in that, but without Adebayo performing like an All-Star, on both ends of the floor, Miami wouldn’t be where they’re at today.
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
4. RUDY GOBERT
Arguably 2018-19’s biggest All-Star snub, Rudy Gobert has maintained a strong level of play this season, but hasn’t quite improved upon his play from last year, which could mean the big Frenchman just misses out on being an All-Star again.
Gobert is averaging 14.8 points per game this season (down from 15.9 last), to go along with 14.2 rebounds (career-high mark) and 1.9 blocks nightly. The big man is also sixth in Win Shares in 2019-20 and 12th in Value Over Replacement Player. What’s more, the 27-year-old is making another strong case for Defensive Player of the Year, which would be his third season in a row winning the award.
The 7-footer’s candidacy for All-Star status this season will be an interesting one to monitor, as it’ll really depend on how coaches and media view his defensive acumen and whether they believe he should be rewarded for that, because it looks like the fans won’t be helping Gobert make his first All-Star roster.
As of the first return of fan votes, Gobert did not rank among the Top-10 vote-getters among Western Conference frontcourt players. Mind you, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard both did.
Yikes.
Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
3. TRAE YOUNG
The Atlanta Hawks may be having a pretty disappointing season, but it’s impossible to fault Trae Young for that. The second-year guard ranks fourth in the league in scoring this year at 28.5 points per game and fifth in assists with 8.3 nightly.
His vision as a playmaker is nearly unmatched, he can hit reliably from deep three-point range (Young is shooting a healthy 35.5 percent from 25 to 29 feet from the basket) and he has the ability to draw fouls at a high rate (shooting over seven free throws nightly), where he sinks freebies at 84.5 percent, which gives his offensive efficiency a huge boost.
So although the Hawks have been disappointing in 2019-20, their most promising player has not been. The fans have taken notice, too, as the first returns of votes have Young as the No. 1 vote-getter among Eastern Conference guards, ahead of Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker.
He still might not be a lock to make it because of the media and coaches vote accounting for 50 percent of the total, but the fans are doing their best to push the talented floor general in.
John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
2. PASCAL SIAKAM
A surefire lock to make his All-Star debut this season, barring injury, is Toronto Raptors swingman Pascal Siakam. After a Most Improved Player campaign last year, Siakam is making the rare case to win the award again this year thanks to another massive leap in his level of play.
On the year, Siakam is averaging 25.1 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists nightly while hitting a career-best 39.2 percent of his triples. Siakam’s big improvement has made the sting of Kawhi Leonard’s departure hurt a little less, as the Raptors boast a 23-11 record and the league’s No. 6 net rating at +6.0.
Siakam has missed Toronto’s last seven games due to injury, and in that span, the team’s net rating has dropped and their record is just 4-3, including a blowout loss to the Celtics, which goes to show how important the 25-year-old to the team’s chances of Eastern Conference contention later in the year.
Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
1. LUKA DONCIC
Without question, Luka Doncic is posting one of the best sophomore campaigns in league history, averaging 29.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 8.9 assists per contest while shooting 47.1 percent from the floor and 80.6 percent from the foul stripe (on over nine attempts per game).
As if that wasn’t enough to earn the young Slovenian his first bid to the All-Star Game, his massive popularity globally has already made him one of the league’s most marketable stars. The first returns on fan All-Star voting bear that out:
Leaders in fan voting for first return of NBA All-Star voting: Dallas' Luka Dončić and Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo.
It took more work than it should’ve for the Brooklyn Nets to defeat the Atlanta Hawks.
A few Nets had strong showings at Barclays Center on Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks, helping lead to a 122-112 comeback win for Brooklyn. But it wasn’t the Nets’ smoothest game of the season
Trae Young went off for 47 points and earned 19 free-throws. One of the Nets the sophomore guard got in foul trouble was Spencer Dinwiddie, who has been the lifeblood of Brooklyn’s offense with both Kyrie Irving (right shoulder impingement) and Caris LeVert (right thumb surgery) still out.
Between Young and Alex Len (23 points off the bench), the Nets had a tough time slowing the Hawks down.
Eventually, Brooklyn got it together, made some big plays and hit some crucial shots down the stretch. It also helped DeAndre Jordan had a huge night on the boards. He grabbed a season-high 20 rebounds.
Jordan’s work on the glass, along with Taurean Prince’s (10 rebounds), is the sort of thing Kenny Atkinson was alluding to after Saturday’s game when he explained how the Nets pulled out a win even though they didn’t perform as well as the Hawks:
I thought they, quite honestly, outplayed us. I have to be honest. I think that win was pure heart and hustle and grit and all those intangibles. I think that’s what got us the win.
It didn’t look good for the Brooklyn Nets early on Saturday, but they rallied late to knock off the Atlanta Hawks.
It wasn’t the best start for the Brooklyn Nets, but their finish in Saturday’s 122-112 win may have been their best of 2019-20.
The Atlanta Hawks entered Saturday’s game an Eastern Conference-worst 6-23, even though Trae Young was averaging nearly 30 points per game. The sophomore point guard eclipsed the 30-point mark — by 17 points — on 14-for-30 shooting, though he did struggle from three (3-for-12). He also earned an absurd 19 trips to the free-throw line and made 16 of his attempts.
Additionally, Alex Len scored 23 off the bench for the Hawks, while De’Andre Hunter had 14.
But the Nets were able to survive them and a late 18-point deficit.
Spencer Dinwiddie was Brooklyn’s leading scorer once again. He narrowly missed 40 points (39) after having scored 41 on Thursday.
Dinwiddie also had six steals and six assists, while somehow managing to stay in the game despite being saddled with his fifth foul midway through the third quarter.
Joe Harris finished with 18 on 6-for-15 shooting (3-for-8 from distance) and Taurean Prince had 12, despite only going 4-for-13 from the floor (2-for-4 from three). Prince also had 10 rebounds.
Following the disappointing loss in San Antonio, the Brooklyn Nets have what should be a fairly easy matchup against the Atlanta Hawks.
Just because the Atlanta Hawks shouldn’t be a problem for the Nets doesn’t mean they can’t be. After all, they did hold a lead after the first quarter of their matchup with Brooklyn earlier in December.
Still, it’s really hard to find a reason why the Hawks could pull off an upset on Saturday.
Only Golden State (6-24) has a worse record than the Hawks (6-23), which is only because the Warriors have played one more game.
Now, the Hawks might be doing a bit better if John Collins was active (suspension for performance-enhancing substance), so the onus wouldn’t be almost solely on Trae Young. But that’s neither here nor there for Brooklyn.
The Hawks have the worst team 3-point percentage in the NBA (32%). The Hawks have a better standing in terms of overall field goal percentage, but they’re still in the lower third (No. 21) in that category, too.
Simply put, “good” is not a word one would use to describe the Hawks. Young is a scoring machine and may give Spencer Dinwiddie fits throughout the night, but it’s pretty clear by Atlanta’s record the sophomore point guard can’t do it on his own.
Even if Young puts together a masterful performance — like he did against Brooklyn on December 4 — and one of his teammates has a 20-point game — which Cam Reddish did (25) on December 4 — Atlanta isn’t going to stop the Nets offense.
But, it’s games like these where a favored team can know all of this entering the game and start off slowly. With the Nets depleted even further following David Nwaba’s injury, they cannot coast early.
Matchups like these are ones where Rodions Kurucs, Dzanan Musa and Theo Pinson should each have the chance to log 12-plus minutes. It’s on the starters and key reserves to get Brooklyn to that point as early as possible. This would also be for the betterment of the key contributors. They could use a bit of rest. Taking a seismic lead in Saturday’s game will allow Kenny Atkinson to give Dinwiddie and company exactly what they need.
Los Angeles Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis had monster games to stay perfect away from L.A.
LeBron James had his outside shot going all night long and for a Los Angeles Lakers squad that shot only 16% on 3-pointers, they needed every last drop of LeBron’s outside shooting to outlast the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night, 101-96, to give the Lakers their 14th straight road win.
James had 32 points, including four 3-pointers, to go with 13 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks in the win. Anthony Davis played up to his co-star billing as well, scoring 27 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. As referenced above, the Lakers were 5 for 31 from the 3-point line, which is why James had one of his third-lowest assist total of the season.
James provided quite a few 3-pointers all game long, including a clutch one against Atlanta’s Alex Len.
The Hawks had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds when rookie Cam Reddish got an open look at a corner 3-pointer but it rimmed off.
With the win, the Lakers remain perfect away from Staples Center and won their 14th straight road game and their seventh straight win overall. The Lakers have two games remaining on their current road trip.
