Inside Hoops – Page 211 – NBA Blog

Tyler Herro scoring big off the Miami Heat bench

Scoring guard Tyler Herro has done big things off the Miami Heat bench this season. Via the South Florida Sun Sentinel:

In a season of milestones for Tyler Herro, two more likely will come Friday night when the Miami Heat face the Oklahoma City Thunder at FTX Arena.

With his sixth point, he will become the third player in the Heat’s 34 years to score 1,000 bench points in a season. With his eighth point, he will tie Tyler Johnson (2016-17) for second place on the franchise’s all-time list for bench points in a season. And when he reaches 34 more points, he will match Dwyane Wade (2018-19) for the most bench points in a season by a Heat player. And all of that is with 12 games remaining…

With Tuesday night’s 17-point second period, Herro has scored in double figures in eight consecutive second quarters, dating to March 2 at Milwaukee. He has scored 120 points in those eight second quarters.

The Heat are 46-24 this season, which is the best record in the Eastern conference.

Their leading scorers in 2021-22 have been Jimmy Butler at 21.1 points per game, Herro at 21.0 ppg, Bam Adebayo at 19.0 ppg, and Kyle Lowry at 12.6 ppg.

Hornets forward Gordon Hayward hopes to return to action this season

Here’s the latest on injured Charlotte Hornets forward Gordon Hayward, via the Charlotte Observer:

Injured and powerless to provide some veteran assistance, Gordon Hayward couldn’t do anything to halt the Charlotte Hornets’ season-ending slide a year ago.

Hayward never made it onto the floor, sidelined due to a foot injury suffered in early April. The Hornets were in a good position in the standings until Hayward went down, collapsing and tumbling to the final spot in the play-in tournament.

It has eerie similarities to how things have transpired this season since Hayward’s ankle got rolled up on by Toronto’s Gary Trent Jr. on Feb. 7 . But there’s going to be a noticeable difference. A big one at that.

Hayward intends on being part of the Hornets’ run “hopefully sooner than later.”

With only one month left in the NBA regular season, the Hornets are 10th in the Eastern conference, which would place them in the league’s play-in tournament that could lead them to making the playoffs. So there is reason to hope that the team does have a healthy and effective Hayward back in action.

Warriors will soon have James Wiseman back in action

The Golden State Warriors will soon have young talented center James Wiseman back in action. Via the San Jose Mercury News:

The Warriors recalled James Wiseman Wednesday from his G League assignment in Santa Cruz, which could mean the center is nearing his NBA return.

The 7-foot center is listed as out for the Warriors’ game against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night, but general manager Bob Myers didn’t rule out a return against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday at Chase Center.

The Warriors’ brass will make a decision following three practice days between games.

“It’s kind of up in the air,” Myers said on a segment with 95.7 The Game on Tuesday. “We’re gonna have a few days off here and practice together. We’ll see how that goes. We’ll decide whether he needs another G League game or if he’s ready to go and Steve will put him in the rotation.

The Warriors are 47-22, third in the West, right behind the 48-22 Memphis Grizzlies.

Celtics sign forward Malik Fitts

The Boston Celtics have signed forward Malik Fitts.

Fitts, 24, originally joined the Celtics on Feb. 23 – his first of two 10-day contracts with the team – competing in two games during that span. He has competed in 12 career NBA games over the past two seasons with the LA Clippers, Utah, and Boston, averaging 0.8 points (37.5% 3-PT), 1.2 rebounds, and 4.3 minutes.

A native of California, Fitts has played in seven games with the Salt Lake City Stars of the NBA G League in 2021-22, producing 15.1 points on 40.0% shooting, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.0 steals in 29.7 minutes.

2022 NBA Japan Games, Sept. 30 and Oct. 2, feature Wizards vs. Warriors

The NBA and Rakuten Group, Inc., today announced that the Washington Wizards and Golden State Warriors will play two preseason games in Japan in 2022.

The NBA Japan Games 2022 will take place Friday, Sept. 30 and Sunday, Oct. 2 at Saitama Super Arena outside of Tokyo, marking the Wizards’ first trip to Japan and the league’s 15th and 16th games in the country.

“We are so honored to represent the NBA and the wonderful game of basketball in front of an audience of Japanese fans,” said Ted Leonsis, Founder & CEO, Monumental Sports & Entertainment. “We are particularly excited to watch Rui Hachimura play in front of his fellow Japanese citizens. We were proud to welcome him into the DC Family nearly three years ago as a dynamic young talent and have only seen his growth as a player since. And our fans across our home market in Washington D.C. have a special connection to the Japanese people – marked by our annual celebration of the gift of cherry trees given to our city by the Mayor of Tokyo over 100 years ago. Celebrating American and Japanese cultures further strengthens our bonds and so we look forward to taking on the Golden State Warriors and growing new fans of the sport we all love.”

“I am very excited to bring Wizards basketball to Japan,” said Hachimura. “I cannot wait to see the arena filled with fans getting to see NBA basketball in person.”

Kevin Durant and Luka Doncic named NBA Players of Week for Week 21

The NBA announced today that Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played from Monday, March 7, through Sunday, March 13.

The honor is Durant’s third as a Net and the 29th Player of the Week award of his career.

Durant led Brooklyn to a perfect 3-0 week, recording averages of 30.7 points on 52.2 percent shooting from the field, 36.4 percent shooting from 3-point range and 87.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line, 7.7 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1.3 steals in 38.2 minutes per game. Durant was one of two players in the East to average at least 30 points, five rebounds and five assists for the week and finished the week ranked first in the East in plus/minus (+53), sixth in points per game, seventh in minutes per game and eighth in assists per game. Durant opened the week by totaling 14 points, three rebounds and seven assists in 40 minutes in Brooklyn’s 132-121 road victory over the Charlotte Hornets on March 8. He followed up that effort by registering 25 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists and two steals in 32 minutes in a 129-100 rout of the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center on March 10. Durant finished the week with a brilliant performance in a 110-107 home victory over the New York Knicks yesterday, scoring a Nets season-high 53 points to go along with six rebounds, nine assists and two steals in 43 minutes. The 53 points were the second-most scored in a game in Durant’s career, trailing only a 54-point performance with Oklahoma City versus Golden State on Jan. 17, 2014. The 53 points also represented the third-most points in a game in Nets NBA history, trailing only Deron Williams’ 57 points on March 4, 2012, at Charlotte and Kyrie Irving’s 54 points on Jan. 31, 2020, versus Chicago.

As for Doncic, this marks the second time this season (Feb. 7-13, 2022) and the sixth time in his career he has received the honor (Nov. 18-24, 2019; Jan. 4-10, 2021; March 29-April 4, 2021; April 19-25, 2021). Dirk Nowitzki (16 times) is the only Maverick to win the award more times.

Dončić (6-7, 230) has now been named Western Conference Player of the Week in two of the last three weeks, in addition to being named Western Conference Player of the Month for February. Dončić led the Mavericks to a 3-1 week with averages of 30.5 points (.494 FG), 11.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.0 blocks in 36.5 minutes.

The 23-year-old began the week by posting game highs of 35 points (12-23 FG, 5-11 3FG, 6-7 FT), 16 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals to go with 1 block in 38 minutes in the Mavericks’ 111-103 victory over Utah on Mar. 7. It marked his first career game recording 35-plus points, 15-plus rebounds, 7-plus assists and 3-plus steals, and he became the first player to hit each of those benchmarks in a game this season.

A game after Dončić posted a game-high 31 points in the Mavericks’ loss to New York on Mar. 9, Dončić posted game highs of 30 points (9-19 FG, 5-11 3FG, 7-10 FT) and 14 rebounds to go along with 6 assists and a game-high-tying 2 blocks in 36 minutes in Dallas’ 113-100 win in Houston on Mar. 11. The performance marked just the second time in his career he reached those numbers in a game (34 points, 20 boards, 12 assists, 2 blocks at SAC on 8/4/20). Dončić also became one of seven players to achieve that stat line in a game this season (joining Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Julius Randle, Karl Anthony-Towns) and the only guard to do it in 2021-22.

Dončić capped the week by helping the Mavericks snap Boston’s 5-game win streak with a game-high 26 points to go with 8 rebounds and a game-high 8 assists in the Mavericks’ 95-92 win on national television. The three-time All-Star helped Dallas erase a 13-point second-half deficit for their league-leading 14th double-digit comeback win to improve to a season-high 16 games above .500 (42-26).

Washington Wizards weekly notes: March 14, 2022

WIZARDS TEAM NOTES

Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma reached 2,000 made field goals for his career during his last appearance (3/12 at Portland). Kuzma becomes just the fourth member of the 2017 NBA Draft class to accomplish this feat joining Donovan Mitchell (2,840), Jayson Tatum (2,623) and De’Aaron Fox (2,248).

Washington rookie forward Corey Kispert has connected on 3+ three-pointers in four straight games, the longest such streak by a rookie in franchise history. Kispert (78) needs to make 14 three-pointers to surpass Bradley Beal (91, 2012-13) for the most three-pointers in a rookie reason in franchise history.

The Wizards lead the NBA in field goal percentage (.495) and three-point field goal percentage (.423) since returning from the NBA All-Star break (2/25-3/14).

Washington concludes their four-game West Coast road trip on Monday, March 14 at Golden State. The Wizards will return home to face the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, March 16.

Houston Rockets weekly notes: March 14, 2022

ROCKETS TEAM NOTES

Jalen Green has shot 45.0% or better from the floor in each of the past seven games while averaging 21.3 ppg over that span, after not having a streak longer than five games prior in his career… he has also recorded at least 4 assists in each of those seven games, which is the longest streak of his career.

Josh Christopher is averaging 16.8 points on 54.0% shooting over the past four games while recording three of his top-seven scoring totals over that span… per 36 minutes played this season, he is averaging 15.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.6 steals.

Beginning on Wednesday vs. Phoenix, the Rockets will play four straight home games over a span of six days… Houston has 14 games remaining this season, nine of which are at Toyota Center.

The Rockets are shooting 48.8% from the floor over the past seven games after shooting 42.7% the six games prior… Houston is 15-13 when shooting 47.0% or better this season.

Nets fined $50,000 by NBA for Kyrie Irving reasons

The Brooklyn Nets organization has been fined $50,000 for violating local New York City law and league health and safety protocols during the team’s March 13th game against the New York Knicks at Barclays Center, the NBA announced today.

The violation occurred when the Nets permitted Kyrie Irving, who was in attendance at the game, to enter the team’s locker room.

Trail Blazers sign Kris Dunn and Drew Eubanks to 10-day contracts

The Trail Blazers have signed guard Kris Dunn and center Drew Eubanks to 10-day contracts. Both contracts are via the NBA’s hardship exception.

Dunn, 27, holds career averages of 8.2 points (42.0% FG, 30.5% 3-PT, 72.7% FT), 3.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.53 steals and 24.1 minutes in 231 games (126 starts) over five seasons with Minnesota, Chicago and Atlanta. He has played in 15 games (eight starts) for the Agua Caliente Clippers of the NBA G League in 2021-22, posting averages of 11.8 points (45.6% FG, 25.0% 3-PT, 70.4% FT), 5.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.87 steals and 27.0 minutes.

A native of New London, Connecticut, Dunn (6-3, 205) was selected by Minnesota with the fifth overall pick of the 2016 NBA Draft after four collegiate seasons at Providence.

Eubanks, 25, previously signed two 10-day contracts with Portland on February 22 and March 4. In seven games (all starts) with the Trail Blazers, Eubanks has averaged 9.6 points (58.8% FG, 77.8% FT), 8.1 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 26.0 minutes. For the season, Eubanks is averaging 5.3 points (54.3% FG, 75.0% FT), 4.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 13.9 minutes in 56 games (16 starts) with San Antonio and Portland.

A product of Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Oregon, Eubanks (6-9, 245) played three seasons at Oregon State from 2015-18 before going undrafted in the 2018 NBA Draft. He holds career averages of 4.9 points (56.7% FG, 74.7% FT), 4.0 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 0.66 blocks in 155 games (22 starts) for the Spurs and Trail Blazers.