Inside Hoops – Page 212 – NBA Blog

Pacers sign forward Justin Anderson to a 10-day contract

The Indiana Pacers have signed forward Justin Anderson to a 10-day contract.

Per the Indianapolis Star, “Anderson’s 10-day contract temporarily fills the Pacers’ open roster spot, which was created last month after Tristan Thompson was acquired from Sacramento in the Tyrese Haliburton-Domantas Sabonis trade and waived after four games. Thompson is now with the Bulls, while Anderson is back with the Pacers for the second time this season. The former Virginia star signed a 10-day deal with Indiana under the NBA’s COVID-19 hardship exception in January, averaging 2.7 points and 1.3 rebounds in three games.”

Anderson will wear number 10 for the Pacers.

Pacers forward T.J. Warren will miss remainder of 2021-22 NBA season

Indiana Pacers forward T.J. Warren, who has not played since early last season, will not make his return to action this season.

Per ESPN.com, “although Indiana Pacers guard T.J. Warren has recovered from consecutive stress fractures in his left foot and returned to full basketball activities, he will sit out Indiana’s final 12 games and prepare for the 2022-23 season, sources told ESPN. Warren, 28, has missed the entirety of this season and played only four games in 2020-21 with the stress fractures.”

“Our organization’s guiding principle will always center on a holistic approach to our players’ health and prioritizing their overall well-being,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard. “T.J. Warren has worked incredibly hard over the past 14 months to get to this point – a full participant in on-court activity with his teammates – all while navigating the many challenges that accompany this type of injury. However, after thoughtful conversation with T.J. and his representatives, it has been determined that the most beneficial course of action at this point is to allow him to focus on the 2022-23 season. We will continue to provide T.J. with all the care, support, and resources necessary to ensure he returns to the high-level of play to which he’s accustomed.”

The Pacers are 24-47 this season. Warren played just four games in 2020-21 and hasn’t played at all in 2021-22. In 67 games played in 2019-20, he averaged 19.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Prior to that season, Warren played for the Phoenix Suns.

Raptors sign guard Armoni Brooks to a second 10-day contract

The Toronto Raptors have signed guard Armoni Brooks to a second 10-day contract.

Brooks, 6-foot-3, 195 pounds, appeared in four games during his first 10-day contract with the Raptors. He logged 22 minutes March 12 at Denver, recording three points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block. In 45 games (nine starts) with Houston and Toronto this season, Brooks is averaging 5.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 16.1 minutes.

A native of Waco, Texas, Brooks holds career averages of 7.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 19.1 minutes in 65 games (14 starts) with Houston and Toronto. He signed a two-way contract with the Rockets in April 2021 following two seasons in the G League with College Park (2019-20) and Rio Grande Valley (2020-21).

Brooks played three collegiate seasons at Houston (2016-19) where he was named All-AAC Second Team as a junior. He went undrafted in 2019.

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.