Month: November 2018

Knicks reveal City Edition uniform design

The New York Knicks today unveiled their City Edition alternate jersey, which features the New York City Skyline as the central design element and a symbol of the diverse cultures united across New York City.

The Knicks will debut these uniforms on Sunday, November 11 when the team takes on the Orlando Magic at Madison Square Garden and will continue to wear the jerseys at various theme nights throughout the 2018-19 season.

According to the team, “the City Edition design was inspired by what it means to be a New Yorker and utilizes one of the City’s most iconic and defining attributes – its skyline—as a representation of the many cultures that make up New York and their shared ambitions and dreams. To unveil the uniforms to the team, six Junior Knicks members were invited to the Knicks practice facility where they read letters describing how the Knicks inspire them as New Yorkers.”

Another 20-rebound game for Hassan Whiteside

The Miami Heat are just 5-6 this season, which is the 9th best record in the Eastern conference through Friday’s games. But on a positive note, lately they’ve enjoyed some monster rebounding outputs from Hassan Whiteside. Here’s the Miami Herald reporting:

Josh Richardson was incredulous, but not necessarily surprised to hear the actual numbers to go along with Hassan Whiteside’s performance in the Miami Heat’s 110-102 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday. For the second straight game, Whiteside pulled in 20 rebounds and hearing this number once again caused Richardson’s eyes to widen and seek confirmation from no one in particular.

“He had 20 rebounds again?” Richardson said in the Heat’s locker room after the game Friday. “He’s locked in right now. He’s bringing a lot of good things to the table.”

Even before this four-game homestand began Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs in Miami, Whiteside sat behind only Detroit Pistons post player Andre Drummond on the NBA leaderboards for rebounds per game and the center’s first two games back at AmericanAirlines Arena have caused his numbers to balloon. For the first time in his career, Whiteside recorded 20 rebounds in back-to-back games, lifting his average per game to 15.7 entering a Saturday home game against the Washington Wizards, up from 14.6 per game when the homestand began. Early on, he’s on pace to break his own single-season franchise record of 14.1 rebounds per game, set during the 2016-17 season.

— Full Article

Cavs PG George Hill hurt

The Cavs aren’t having the best of NBA seasons. Here’s the News Herald reporting the latest:

The Cavaliers are losing games and players at an alarming rate.

Starting point guard George Hill could miss two weeks with a sprained right shoulder, the latest setback for the Cavs, who have won just one game and are expected to be without All-Star forward Kevin Love for at least another five weeks following foot surgery.

Cleveland is also missing forward Sam Dekker, who sprained his ankle and is out for a month.

— Full Article

Cavs sign Andrew Harrison, waive John Holland

Cavs sign Andrew Harrison, waive John Holland

The Cleveland Cavaliers signed guard Andrew Harrison to a Two-Way contract today.

And in a related move, the Cavaliers waived Two-Way forward John Holland.

Harrison (6-6, 213) appeared in one game with the Memphis Grizzlies this season. He owns career averages of 7.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 21.7 minutes per game over 129 games (64 starts) in three seasons with Memphis. Harrison also played in six postseason contests for the Grizzlies during the 2017 Playoffs, averaging 6.5 points and 2.2 assists in 19.8 minutes per game. The 6-6 guard out of Kentucky was originally selected by the Phoenix Suns with the 44th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.

Per NBA rules, teams are permitted to have two Two-Way contract players on their roster at any given time, in addition to their 15-man regular season roster. A Two-Way player can spend up to 45 days with the Cavs.

Celtics rally to beat Suns in OT

The Celtics aren’t off to as good a start as was expected so far this season. And things looked more bleak than ever earlier today as they were outscored 32-13 in the first quarter by the lowly Suns. But the Celtics improved as the game progressed, and then exploded in the 4th quarter to reach overtime, and took away a win that featured big scoring from Kyrie Irving. Here’s the Boston Herald reporting:

Brad Stevens wants to see his team play a full 48 minutes with consistent effort, consistent execution, and, well, a few shots wouldn’t hurt.

And the Celtics coach is still waiting for that end-to-end masterpiece. But in the meantime, there’s last night’s 116-109 overtime win over the Phoenix Suns.

Kyrie Irving saved what started as an offensive slog with a season-high 39 points — the Celtics guard’s second straight 30-plus performance — and the C’s withstood an equally withering 38-point performance by the Suns’ Devin Booker.

The Celtics got off to a horrid start offensively in the first half. Stevens scrambled to make changes in the second half, starting Marcus Smart ahead of Jayson Tatum, who sat for the first nine minutes of the third quarter. The result was an energized second half that found the C’s cutting the Suns lead from 20 points at the half, to 15 by the end of the third quarter, to a point with 7.3 seconds left.

Marcus Morris’ 3-pointer with three-tenths of a second left in regulation tied the score at 100-100, and both sides steamed into overtime.

— Full Article

Norman Powell out with shoulder injury

Toronto Raptors guard/forward Norman Powell will be out indefinitely due to a subluxation of the left shoulder.

The injury occurred in the second quarter of Monday night’s win against the Jazz in Utah. Powell is averaging 5.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 14.9 minutes in 11 games (two starts) this season.

There is no timetable for Powell’s return to basketball activity. His status will be updated as appropriate.

Miami Heat expanding the Vice theme this season

I’m all in on any Vice-related themes the Miami Heat utilize this season and beyond. So, there’s some good news, from the Miami Herald:

The Heat is expanding its Vice campaign to include a Vice-themed court this season.

After unveiling its black “Vice Nights” City Edition uniform Monday, the Heat unveiled a new court Tuesday to go along with the very Miami look. The Heat will play on the Vice-themed court in the 14 home games it’s scheduled to wear the alternate uniforms…

This season’s black uniform is “with the classic Heat silhouette from 1988 colored in laser fuchsia and blue gale, and features the original Miami Arena script across the chest and a re-imagined Heat ball and flame logo sporting the Vice Nights color combination,” according to a press release issued by the team.

And here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel with more:

The twist this season is that there will be the matching court as part of the theme.

“That’s the coolest thing,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. “It’s not just the jersey, but to be able to go all in, all the way around. That makes it even more a special night, when we get the opportunity to get on the court.

“I think it’s going to bring some excitement to even the players. So it will be cool to the fans, definitely, to come in and feel a different environment, a different vibe. So look forward to it.”

Coolness.

Knicks rookie Kevin Knox returns to action

Knicks rookie Kevin Knox returns to action

We’re in MSG at the Bulls at Knicks game right now and will post a recap after the game, plus a player interview tomorrow or the next day, but right now here are some words from the New York Post on Knicks rookie guard Kevin Knox, who had been injured but became available to play today and entered this game in the second quarter, even throwing down a nice-looking dunk:

Knicks lottery pick Kevin Knox is back.

David Fizdale wasn’t going to dispute the doctors and allowed the rookie to play Monday versus the Bulls, despite not going through a five-on-five scrimmage before his return from an ankle sprain.

The doctors cleared him after missing seven games, and Fizdale was not going to stand in the way of the ninth pick in June’s draft.

The Knicks had been targeting Monday’s game for his return. However, Fizdale decided not to have a full-scale practice on Saturday and Knox participated in just a three-on-three contact scrimmage.

— Full Article

Cavs and Larry Drew agree to new head coaching contract

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed Larry Drew to a new head coaching contract.

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Coach Drew to continue leading the team on the court. He brings important experience and many qualities that we expect to translate well with our team as the head coach,” said Altman. “We’re looking forward to the ways he can impact the team and help our players continue to grow and find success.”

Drew was named associate head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers in September of 2016. He spent his first two seasons with the Cavaliers as an assistant coach (2014-2016).

Before his arrival in Cleveland, Drew served as the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2013-14. Prior to that, he was head coach of the Atlanta Hawks from 2010 through 2013, where he compiled a 128-102 (.557) overall record and led the Hawks to the postseason in each of his three campaigns on the bench.

Bulls vs Knicks pregame thoughts

Chicago Bulls vs New York Knicks
Madison Square Garden
7:30 p.m. ET

PREGAME INFO

Entering the game, the Knicks have a 3-7 record (2-3 at home), while the Bulls are 2-8 (1-3 on the road)

Leading scorers for the Knicks: Tim Hardaway Jr. at 23.3 ppg, Enes Kanter 14.5 ppg, Damyean Dotson 12.6 ppg and Allonzo Trier 10.6 ppg.

Leading scorers for the Bulls: Zach LaVine at 26.6 ppg, Jabari Parker 14.3 ppg, Justin Holiday 12.1 ppg and Antonio Blakeney 11.4 ppg.

NOTES

The Bulls have had a tough time at Madison Square Garden of late: Chicago is 3-7 over its last 10 games in New York City, including losses in five of the last six road matchups with the Knicks.

Zach LaVine scored 21 points vs. Houston on Saturday. It was his 11th game in a row to score at least 20 (3/15-11/3/18), which is a career-long streak. The last Bulls player to post a double-digit streak of 20-point scoring was Jimmy Butler with 15 such games from Nov. 7 to Dec. 6, 2016.

Justin Holiday has made at least three 3-pointers in each of the last five games, which is a career-long streak. Over that span, he has shot .465 from long distance (20-of-43).

Wendell Carter Jr. blocked a career-high four shots vs. the Rockets on Saturday. His 1.90 blocks per game leads all rookies. He has recorded at least one block in nine of 10 games this season.

PREGAME THOUGHTS

This is a golden opportunity for the Knicks, who are still playing without Kristaps Porzingis, to put together a good game and impress the home crowd. Both the Knicks and Bulls have extremely young rosters, but the while the Knicks are without their leading star, the Bulls have a host of injuries. The Knicks just yesterday lost to a struggling Wizards team. Teams are often tired on the second night of a back-to-back, but if the Knicks can grab a win today, they then face a beatable Hawks team Wednesday in Atlanta and gather up some momentum before heading to Toronto for a tough matchup against an excellent Raptors squad.