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Pacers guard George Hill will have another concussion test before Saturday’s home playoff game.
Hill missed Thursday night’s game after complaining of headaches. He was diagnosed with a concussion. NBA policy requires players to pass a concussion test before returning to action. Hill did not practice Friday, and coach Frank Vogel said he had not spoken with him. Vogel said Hill was expected to meet with doctors later Friday.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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Larry Drew is preparing to part ways with the Hawks and will interview for the head coach position with the Bucks Monday.
Drew told the Atlanta Journal Constitution Friday that in a meeting with general manager Danny Ferry earlier this week the two came to an amicable agreement to allow the coach to interview for other vacant positions in the league. The Bucks called Ferry about speaking with Drew, who is still under contract until June 30, and they were granted permission.
“I’ve moved on from the situation,” Drew told the AJC. “We had a very professional talk just trying to get things in order since I’m still under contract.”
— Reported by Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Kawhi Leonard has matured faster than anyone could have expected in his two seasons with the Spurs.
That he started for Gregg Popovich as a rookie was enough to herald his supreme potential. He’s done nothing but improve since then, regularly adding wrinkles to his foundation of lockdown defense and efficient offense.
The young small forward took the latest step in his apparent march to stardom in the Spurs’ 4-2 victory over Golden State in the Western Conference semifinals. For the first time in his exceedingly bright, if short, career, he consistently and significantly impacted a playoff series.
Leonard was also excellent against the Lakers. But the Spurs were always going to win that series after injuries rendered the Lakers a shell of themselves. Against the Warriors, however, they would have been hard-pressed to advance without him.
Dominant might be a few degrees too strong to describe his performance. But if Leonard didn’t, he wasn’t far off as he chipped in with his usual array of hustle plays and timely buckets, pulled down rebounds at an elite rate for his position and rendered Klay Thompson virtually invisible.
— Reported by Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News (Blog)
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson announced to screaming throngs of Kings fans Friday that the deal to sell the NBA franchise to a group led by software tycoon Vivek Ranadive has been signed.
The announcement at a City Hall rally brings to an end nearly five months of maneuvering by Johnson to secure a new ownership group, convince the council to commit to building a new downtown arena, and to show the NBA that the capitol city of the most populous state in the nation has the fan base to make the venture successful.
”This was one heck of a comeback,” Johnson, a former NBA All-Star, said on a stage shared with two dozen investors, fans and politicians who had worked to keep the franchise in the city.
Earlier this week, NBA owners rejected a bid to move the franchise to Seattle.
— Reported by Tracie Cone of the Associated Press
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Slow at the start of the series and strong at the end, the San Antonio Spurs wore out the Golden State Warriors the way they have so many other opponents.
Tim Duncan had 19 points and six rebounds, Kawhi Leonard added 16 points and 10 rebounds and the Spurs held off a furious final rally to beat the Warriors 94-82 in Game 6 on Thursday night and advance to the Western Conference finals.
”They’ve got great character. They’re competitive. They know there’s not a million chances to do this sort of thing. They wanted it,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of his squad.
Tony Parker shook off a poor start to score 10 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter and Tiago Splitter added a career-playoff high 14 points for San Antonio, which had a 13-point lead in the third quarter dissolve to two in the final minutes.
Stephen Curry shot 10 of 25 from the floor to score 22 points on a nagging left ankle, and Jarrett Jack had 15 points as the injury-saddled Warriors finally tired. Rookie forward Harrison Barnes also suffered a head injury in the second quarter, returned in the third and was sidelined in the fourth with a headache.
The Spurs outshot Golden State 45 percent to 39 percent and outrebounded them 46 to 40.
Second-seeded San Antonio will open the conference finals at home against Memphis on Sunday. The fifth-seeded Grizzlies eliminated Oklahoma City in five games…
Klay Thompson, who had 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting, made a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter that sliced San Antonio’s lead to three. Then Curry’s pull-up jumper brought the Warriors within 77-75 with 4:52 to play.
— Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press
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For the New York Knicks, it was about playing harder, even if not really much better.
Saving their season would be more about effort than execution.
”Tonight it was just one of them days where you just got to leave it out there on the basketball court,” Carmelo Anthony said.
Now they have to do it two more times.
Anthony scored 28 points and the Knicks avoided elimination in the Eastern Conference semifinals with an 85-75 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 on Thursday night.
Reserves J.R. Smith and Chris Copeland each had 13 points for the Knicks, who trail 3-2 and will need a victory Saturday in Indiana to force a seventh game back here Monday. They are trying to become the ninth NBA team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a series…
Paul George had 23 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Pacers. They played without point guard George Hill because of a concussion and committed 19 turnovers…
George battled foul trouble and couldn’t contain Anthony quite as well as he had while the Pacers easily won the previous two games…
David West had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers, who were trying to reach the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2004…
The Knicks went back to their regular lineup, reinserting Pablo Prigioni, after going with a bigger group in Game 4 in a futile effort to match Indiana on the boards. The smaller group did a better job, getting outrebounded only 43-40.
— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press
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Golden State Warriors rookie forward Harrison Barnes needed six stitches to close a cut above his right eye after a hard fall in the second quarter of a playoff game against San Antonio on Thursday night.
Barnes fell hard to the court after leaping to contest a drive from Boris Diaw. After a few minutes on the ground, Barnes was led back to the locker room. Barnes got the stitches at halftime and returned to the court to a loud ovation just before the start of the third quarter.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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The Grizzlies have won eight of their last nine playoffs games, and upended a pair of higher seeds along the way. They have blossomed in the NBA’s elite landscape like a weed, which is to say it’s been pretty darn difficult to get rid of a grit-and-grind team that’s bucking trends in the postseason.
The fifth-seeded Grizzlies’ path to the conference finals was rather remarkable. They lost two straight games to the fourth-place Los Angeles Clippers to start the opening round and then won four straight. Memphis dropped Game 1 against top-seeded Oklahoma City and won the next four contests to capture the West semifinals.
The Grizzlies began their playoff history in Memphis losing their first 12 games. This version of the Griz is 18-13 over the past three postseasons behind the commitment to a core group of Conley, Tony Allen, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph.
“It’s just confidence,” Randolph said. “It just continues to build and build, and guys continue to get better and better.”
— Reported by Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal
If the Blazers keep their lottery pick — and that’s a big if as it appears Olshey will look for willing trade partners — it is likely the team pursues a shooting guard.
The Blazers have four pressing needs this offseason: a starting center, a backup point guard, a high-scoring shooting guard and depth at small forward. With $11.6 million in cap room, a lottery pick and three second-round picks, they have enough assets to probably solve two, maybe three, of those issues this summer.
Olshey has been frank about searching for a starting center either in free agency or via trade. Olshey has also expressed an interest in retaining Eric Maynor as his backup point guard, which will likely come using a $2.6 million exception for teams over the cap.
This draft class is largely considered a down class, but if there is a strength, it is at shooting guard, where Ben McLemore (Kansas), Victor Oladipo (Indiana), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Georgia), Franklin and Glen Rice Jr. (Georgia Tech/Development League) as well as combo guards like CJ McCollum (Lehigh) and Carter-Williams.
— Reported by Jason Quick of the Oregonian
Rihanna alleged Thursday what many Knicks fans already suspected about J.R. Smith and his playoff woes.
In a comment on Instagram, the singer wrote that Smith is struggling because “his a** be hungover from clubbing every night during playoffs.” Smith has shot just 28.6 percent from the field since Game 5 of the first round series against the Celtics. The Knicks are down 3-1 and facing elimination heading into Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals vs. the Pacers.
Before being suspended for elbowing Celtics guard Jason Terry in Game 3 of the first round, Smith was excellent, shooting 48 percent, including 4-of-9 from 3-point range. Last week, Rihanna and Smith were pictured partying at Greenhouse, a club in Manhattan.
The two were rumored to be dating last year. Rihanna appeared to be replying to someone commenting on one of her photos when she outed Smith’s hard-partying exploits.
— Reported by the New York Post