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Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam has been diagnosed with a strain of the right adductor muscle.
Siakam will be re-evaluated in two weeks, and his condition will be updated as appropriate.
Siakam is averaging team highs of 24.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 7.7 assists in nine games this season. He is shooting .479 (80-167) from the field and has six double-doubles, including two triple-doubles.
Via the Salt Lake Tribune:
When the Utah Jazz traded Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Royce O’Neale this offseason for a collection of mostly young players and a haul of future draft picks, it was presumed the team would be pretty bad this season.
Some fans were fine with that, viewing the strategy of maximizing draft position as a means of potentially landing a future superstar as a pragmatic and even prudent approach. Others, however, perceived such a tactic as an affront to those who spend their money on tickets, expecting to see a quality product.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the tankathon …
The Utah Jazz have not only not been one of the worst teams in the NBA, they’ve actually been … well, good. Even after Wednesday’s 103-100 loss to the Mavericks in Dallas, they’re now 6-3 this season. They already have victories over multiple 2022 playoff teams, including the Grizzlies (twice), Nuggets, and Wolves, plus one over the much-hyped Pelicans.
Via the New York Post:
Knicks fans eager to see change seven games into the season are going to need to be patient.
Tom Thibodeau doesn’t sound ready to make any alterations to his starting lineup yet despite the unit’s early struggles.
“We’ll see how it unfolds,” the Knicks’ coach said, when asked how much of a sample size is needed before considering a change. “So, you wanna make sure that you get a good look at everything.”
When the starters issues were pointed out, that the quintet of RJ Barrett, Jalen Brunson, Mitchell Robinson, Evan Fournier and Julius Randle has a minus-9.2 rating per 100 possessions and a defensive rating of 116.9, which would be 27th in the league, Thibodeau pointed out how well the group started in Wednesday’s loss to the Hawks. The team’s third straight defeat, in which a 23-point, second-quarter lead became a noncompetitive 13-point loss, he felt was on everyone.
Via the Bay Area News Group:
An explanation for the defending champions’ disappointing start lies somewhere between the starters and the young bench.
The starters’ early turnover and foul sloppiness can be attributed to a little “championship hangover,” as coach Steve Kerr put it after Golden State’s fourth straight loss in Orlando on Thursday night.
But hangovers wear off. And that’s when reality sets in.
The time it could take for the young bench to produce within the Warriors’ scheme could prove costly unless changes are made. The Warriors’ 0-5 road record, league-worst defense and 3-6 record were enough for Kerr and his coaching staff to start considering changes.
“We’ve gotta find combinations that work off the bench. We’ll be making some changes,” Kerr said. “We’ve had a decent look at combinations, so it’s time to start something different.”
Via the San Jose Mercury News:
The Warriors have treated the beginning of the regular season as if the end result is guaranteed.
It isn’t.
The Warriors are 3-6, and winless on the road. It’s too early to change expectations, but it’s clearly not too early to create some real problems.
The Dubs need to treat the next few games like something is on the line. That requires the whole team to share that mentality.
It’s time for the Warriors to swallow their pride.
Coach Steve Kerr and his staff need to shake things up. The veterans need to feel a real sense of urgency. The young players need to check themselves. The organization’s higher-ups — all the way up — need to slow their roll.
Even columnists and fans need to re-evaluate why it is they believed success would be so seamless to start the season.
The Warriors’ brass believes in a “two-timeline” plan.
Right now, the Warriors are facing a “no-timeline” reality.
The 4-4 Timberwolves face the 7-0 Bucks tonight. Via the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
With two days off between their games against Phoenix and Milwaukee, the Timberwolves were able to get in a practice Thursday, and coach Chris Finch said the Wolves’ primary focus was in one area.
“Ball movement,” Finch said. “… Pretty much all we did was ball movement stuff.”
Anyone who has watched the Wolves over the last week can see this is one of the biggest issues they have. There is plenty of standing around, dribbling and isolation offense.
Their hope to improve on offense won’t get any easier on Friday night when unbeaten Milwaukee visits Minnesota and brings to town the No. 1 most-efficient defense in the league. The Bucks are allowing 101.3 points per 100 possessions, three points better than the next best team — the Lakers — entering Thursday.
The Wolves have the 23rd-rated offense (109.9).
Desmond Bane is putting up 24.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game for the Grizzlies this season. Here’s the Memphis Commercial Appeal:
The barrage started with one of those 3-pointers only the best shooters make look easy, the type of 3-pointer that helped introduce Desmond Bane to Memphis Grizzlies fans when he first arrived two years ago.
He curled around a Steven Adams screen, caught a pass from John Konchar, turned over his right shoulder to square his body to the basket, set his feet on the left wing, and drilled a shot from three feet beyond the arc.
Bane, as it turned out, was only beginning, and the implications of that go well beyond a Wednesday night in Portland during the opening weeks of the season.
There has been no more important development for these Grizzlies through eight games than Bane’s latest evolution. It’s how they beat Portland, and how they closed out their first West Coast road trip with a 2-2 record. It’s how they’ve survived their early spate of injuries and ailments, maybe even more than those extraordinary Ja Morant performances.
We knew to expect that from Morant. We didn’t know yet how much better his sidekick would be.
STATEMENT FROM THE BROOKLYN NETS
“Over the last several days, we have made repeated attempts to work with Kyrie Irving to help him understand the harm and danger of his words and actions, which began with him publicizing a film containing deeply disturbing antisemitic hate. We believed that taking the path of education in this challenging situation would be the right one and thought that we had made progress with our joint commitment to eradicating hate and intolerance.
We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs, nor acknowledge specific hateful material in the film. This was not the first time he had the opportunity – but failed – to clarify.
Such failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization, and constitutes conduct detrimental to the team. Accordingly, we are of the view that he is currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets. We have decided that Kyrie will serve a suspension without pay until he satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct and the suspension period served is no less than five games.”
Via the San Antonio Express-News:
The outcome of Wednesday’s game between the young and depleted Spurs and playoff-tested Raptors was perhaps not so surprising.
The final score, however, was historic. The Spurs lost 143-100, the most lopsided margin in coach Gregg Popovich’s 27 seasons on the bench.
The previous worst was a 42-point loss at Chicago in March 1997, Popovich’s first season.
Credit in part goes to the Raptors, who overwhelmed the Spurs with size and length uncommon even in the NBA.
Toronto started no player smaller than 6-5. Each player to log at least 10 minutes for the Raptors was at least that tall.
The NBA today announced the Oklahoma City Thunder has been fined $25,000 for violating league injury reporting rules.
The Thunder failed to disclose the game availability status of guard Josh Giddey in an accurate and timely manner prior to the Thunder game vs. the Orlando Magic on Nov. 1 at Paycom Center.