May 2017 – Page 3 – NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog

Skal Labissiere will host basketball camp in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Sacramento Kings rookie Skal Labissière announced today that his first Camp S.K.A.L. basketball clinic will tip off this summer in his native Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Representing skills, knowledge and life, Labissière’s Camp S.K.A.L. will host 50 of the top high school basketball players and coaches in Port-au-Prince July 19-21.

“This will be my first time back home in seven years,” Labissière said. “I’m blessed to be in a place now where I can give back to my Port-au-Prince community and this is just the start of more free Camp S.K.A.L. events there in the future. I look forward to sharing some of the basketball and life knowledge I’ve gained over the years.”

Labissière partnered with Reach Your Dream, a non-profit organization promoting spiritual awareness, self confidence, and innovative thinking for future generations in communities throughout the world. Reach Your Dream helped Labissière relocate to the United States before high school to pursue his educational and basketball goals.

“Without the good people of Reach Your Dream, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” added Labissière. “It’s only fitting, that we work together on Camp S.K.A.L. to provide similar opportunities to the future basketball stars of Haiti.”

Casey Hill moves on from Warriors D-League squad

Here’s the San Francisco Chronicle reporting some Warriors-related D-League news:

Casey Hill, the head coach of the Warriors’ Development League affiliate in Santa Cruz the past four years, has parted ways with Golden State to pursue other opportunities.

“It’s completely amicable,” Hill told The Chronicle in a phone interview. “With the way Coach (Steve) Kerr has his staff structured, understandably so, there’s not much room for me to move in. I think we all kind of decided that the best thing for me was to pursue some other options outside of Golden State. That’s what the plan is.”

After two seasons as a Santa Cruz Warriors assistant coach, Hill took the head job in August 2013.

Tyler Ulis undergoes ankle surgery

Phoenix Suns guard Tyler Ulis today underwent a minor surgical procedure on his right ankle. The surgery was performed by Dr. Martin O’Malley at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Ulis is expected to return to full basketball activity in approximately 12 weeks.

Ulis averaged 7.3 points and 3.7 assists in 61 games in his first season with the Suns in 2016-17, earning Kia NBA Western Conference Rookie of the Month honors for April after leading all rookies with 20.7 points and 6.8 assists per game during the month.

Patty Mills to start Game 5 for Spurs

Here’s the Houston Chronicle reporting on the Rockets’ current playoff opponent, the Spurs, who are without starting point guard Tony Parker for the remainder of the postseason:

Guard Patty Mills will move into the Spurs’ starting lineup for Game 5 against the Rockets on Tuesday, replacing Dejounte Murray who had started the two games since Tony Parker’s season-ending injury.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich did not say if the move was in any way related to the Rockets’ lineup change, with Eric Gordon starting and power forward Ryan Anderson coming off the bench, but was not because of issue’s with Murray’s play.

Warriors sweep Jazz, advance in NBA Playoffs

As pretty much everybody predicted, the Warriors have eliminated the Jazz. As most predicted, it happened in the form of a 4-0 sweep. The Warriors now advance to the Western Conference Finals, where they’ll play the winner of the Spurs vs Rockets series. Here’s the Bay Area News Group reporting:

Now they await the winner of the Rockets and Spurs series, which sits at 2-2. If it ends in six, the West Finals start in Oracle Arena on Sunday. If it extends to seven, the West Finals start in Oracle on Tuesday.

Either way, a rested, steamrolling Warriors team will be awaiting as monster favorites, having won 23 of their last 24 games dating back to mid-March and all eight of their playoff games by margins of 12, 29, 6, 25, 12, 11, 11 and 26 points.

But there were at least tiny moments of adversity on Monday night.

Early on, it didn’t look like it’d be that way. After hitting only one shot in a slow Game 3, Klay Thompson opened the scoring with a pair of jumpers. Then Steph Curry hit a pair of 3s. Then Kevin Durant found Curry on a creative give-and-go layup on a baseline out of bounds play.

Meanwhile, the Jazz offense slumped against a locked in Warriors defense, missing their first 10 two-point shots and going only 6-of-25 in the first quarter. A 12-3 lead became a 21-7 lead became a 39-17 first quarter cushion — similar to the 45-22 first quarter they popped on the Blazers in Game 4.

Steve Kerr undergoes spinal procedure

Steve Kerr is on break from coaching the Warriors, because of serious issues with his spine that are hopefully in correction as we speak. Here’s the Bay Area News Group with the latest update:

Joe Lacob revealed in an interview with Bloomberg Radio on Friday that Steve Kerr got a spinal leak procedure at Duke. The news spread late Saturday night.

So Sunday morning, Warriors general manager Bob Myers met with reporters to confirm the procedure and give an update on Kerr’s status. The ailing coach remains without a firm timetable for a return.

“It’s hard to answer some of this because even the doctors aren’t entirely sure of recovery time,” Myers said. “That’s why we’ve been a little indefinite about everything. We don’t know. But the procedure went well, as far as we know. Now it’s a case of how well it takes and when he might or might not be back. The good news is it’s on the path to recovery, but I wish I could be more definitive.”

Dwight Howard was pulled over, had car towed after Hawks elimination

Hawks center Dwight Howard obviously had an annoying evening the night his team was eliminated from the 2017 NBA Playoffs, but what happened afterwards was even more of a struggle. Here’s the Atlanta Journal Constitution reporting:

Dwight Howard pulled over, had car towed after Hawks elimination

After the Washington Wizards ended the Atlanta Hawks’ season on April 28 – beating them 115-99 in Game 6 of the playoffs – highly paid Hawks’ center Dwight Howard went for a drive.

Just a few hours after that loss, Howard was pulled over by police in Dunwoody. A few minutes later, an officer had the eight-time NBA All-Star’s car towed.

A police report states that Howard, 31, was pulled over for speeding in the wee hours of the morning on April 29. Police found that he was driving on a suspended registration and without insurance.

Allen Crabbe to undergo foot surgery

Portland Trail Blazers guard Allen Crabbe will undergo surgery Thursday to repair a stress reaction of the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot, it was announced today by president of basketball operations Neil Olshey.

The surgery will be performed by Dr. Martin O’Malley at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

In 79 games (7 starts) this season, Crabbe averaged 10.7 points (48.8% FG, 44.4% 3-PT, 84.7% FT), 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists. The NBA’s second most accurate 3-point shooter at 44.4%, Crabbe posted the highest percentage from beyond the arc in franchise history by a player with 100-plus 3-pointers.

Raptors swept by Cavs

Most people predicted the Cavs would eliminate the Raptors in the second round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs. The only question is how quickly it was going to happen. With Toronto lacking the services of point guard Kyle Lowry for the last few games, it seemed likely to happen sooner than later. Today, the Cavs completed the four-game sweep. Here’s the Toronto Star reporting:

The defending NBA champions now move on to face either Boston or Washington for the conference title, while the Raptors go off into a summer full of difficult decisions for team president Masai Ujiri.

Free agents Kyle Lowry, Patrick Patterson, Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker have to either be re-signed or let go for nothing, and head coach Dwane Casey and his staff will be up for their annual review. Ujiri has seen his team fall far short of the necessary three-point shooting proficiency in the league today.

Down by as many as 16 points Sunday, Toronto scrapped and clawed its way back to take a one-point lead with about six minutes left.

Kelly Oubre suspended one game for slamming into Kelly Olynyk

Washington Wizards forward Kelly Oubre Jr. has been suspended one game without pay for charging and making forceful and unwarranted contact with Boston Celtics center Kelly Olynyk, it was announced today by Kiki VanDeWeghe, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
The incident, for which Oubre was assessed a Flagrant Foul 2 and ejected, occurred with 9:12 remaining in the second quarter of the Wizards’ 116-89 win over the Celtics on May 4 at Verizon Center.

Oubre will serve his suspension on Sunday, May 7 when Washington hosts Boston in Game 4 of an Eastern Conference Semifinals series.