Inside Hoops – Page 214 – NBA Blog

Pelicans sign Tyrone Wallace to 10-day contract, and release Alize Johnson

The New Orleans Pelicans have signed guard Tyrone Wallace to a 10-day contract.

And in a related move, the Pelicans released Alize Johnson.

Wallace, 6-5, 198, has appeared in 106 career games (19 starts) across three seasons with the LA Clippers and Atlanta Hawks, recording averages of 5.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 15.5 minutes per contest.

Wallace most recently appeared in 20 games (11 starts) this season with the G League’s Long Island Nets, averaging 18.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in 33.4 minutes per game.

New Orleans’s roster now stands at 17 players, including two two-way players.

James Harden struggles in Sixers loss to Nets

Thursday night in Philly, as a still-inactive Ben Simmons looked on, the Nets easily handled the Sixers, winning 129-100. Here’s the Philly Voice on the play of James Harden, who shot a miserable 3 for 17 and shot just two free throws for 11 points against his former squad:

James Harden was absolutely horrendous in this game. All the issues he has been accused of having when it matters in the playoffs came roaring to the forefront in a game with all eyes on it, and it was probably the single biggest reason the Sixers found themselves down 20 points early in this game. Brooklyn’s perimeter stars played at an A1 level, and Harden was a mess, turning the ball over and getting his shot packed whenever he tried to get into the painted area.

There were far too many attempts from Harden to sell contact and draw fouls when he could have simply played basketball. He didn’t look particularly good or shoot well even when he tried to reach deep into the stepback bag, but that was frankly a secondary issue. Throughout this game, Harden looked without a hope or a plan after spending most of his time here to date completely controlling games.

You look at Harden’s passing a lot differently when the other team has completely shut him down as a scorer. There were moments in Thursday’s game where it felt like Harden was so in his head and stuck in the mud that he simply wanted to get rid of the ball, uninterested in attacking the teeth of Brooklyn’s defense. And this isn’t even a good defense! Far from it, in fact. It’s almost hard to describe just how bad and detrimental to the cause Harden was in this game.

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Cavaliers sign center Moses Brown to 10-day contract

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed center Moses Brown to a 10-day contract, Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.

Brown (7-2, 245) has appeared in 78 career NBA games (33 starts) with Portland, Oklahoma City and Dallas over his three seasons in the NBA. He holds career averages of 5.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 0.73 blocks in 14.4 minutes. Additionally, Brown has also played in 45 games (15 starts) over three seasons in the NBA G League and was named to the 2021 All-NBA G League First Team and NBA G League All-Defensive Team, posting averages of 18.5 points, 13.9 rebounds and 1.71 blocks in 26.4 minutes over the 2020-21 NBA G League season. Brown went undrafted in 2019 after playing one season at UCLA.

This season with the Mavericks, Brown appeared in 26 games (1 start), averaging 3.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 6.5 minutes per contest. Brown will wear jersey number 6 for the Cavaliers.

Knicks rookie Quentin Grimes might return later this month

The 27-38 Knicks were getting 6.3 points in 17.4 minutes per game this season from rookie guard Quentin Grimes, and he could be back in action fairly soon. Via the New York Post:

The impressive rookie season for Quentin Grimes is not over.

And if there’s nothing else to take from this downbeat Knicks season, Grimes has flourished as a solid two-way shooting guard representing a piece for the future.

In the first game out of the All-Star break, on Feb. 25 versus Miami, Grimes’ knee buckled while he was moving through a screen, and was helped off by teammates.

No time table was set for his return after the Knicks announced a dislocated right knee, but Grimes is progressing quickly, is shooting and running, and likely will be cleared for his first contact practice Tuesday. Perhaps he will be back in 10 days or so.

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A power outage almost threatened tonight’s Magic at Pelicans game

A power outage issue had threatened tonight’s Magic at Pelicans game. But all wound up being okay. Here’s the New Orleans Times Picayune:

Wednesday’s game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Orlando Magic appears to no longer be in danger of postponement.

Less than three hours before tipoff, power was restored at Smoothie King Center after an hours-long outage.

The power outage, which appeared to be caused by a bird flying into a substation, City Council President Helena Moreno said, affected more than 10,000 Entergy customers. Parts of downtown, the Central Business District, Treme, Mid-City and Central City were all left without power…

Full power was restored to the arena at around 4:24 p.m. on Wednesday.

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Wizards sign Jordan Schakel to two-way contract, and waive Joel Ayayi

The Washington Wizards have signed guard Jordan Schakel to a two-way contract.

And in a related move, the Wizards waived guard Joel Ayayi, who was previously on a two-way contract and appeared in seven games with the team this season.

Schakel, who has played in 35 games (all starts) with the Capital City Go-Go (the Wizards’ NBA G League affiliate), originally spent 2021 training camp and preseason with the Wizards, where he appeared in two games. He earned a 10-Day contract with the Wizards in December, appearing in two games for Washington.

The 6-6, 200-pound guard has averaged 14.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game with Capital City this season, shooting .370 from three-point range on a team-high 7.7 attempts per game. Schakel has scored at least 10 points in a team-high 31 games and his 100 made threes rank eighth overall and are the second-most by an NBA G League rookie this year.

Originally from Torrance, California, Schakel graduated from San Diego State with the third-most made threes in school history. He also ranked third nationally in three-point percentage during the 2020-21 season, shooting .461 from deep.

Kings center Domantas Sabonis suspended one game by NBA

Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis has been suspended one game without pay for aggressively confronting and making contact with a game official, it was announced today by Byron Spruell, President, League Operations.

The incident began with Sabonis receiving a technical foul for an unsportsmanlike reaction to a called foul. Sabonis then reacted demonstratively again in the vicinity of the game official, and approached and bumped the official in a hostile manner, resulting in a second technical foul and an ejection.

The episode occurred with 4:35 remaining in the fourth quarter of Sacramento’s 131-115 loss to the New York Knicks on March 7 at Golden 1 Center.

Sabonis will serve his suspension tonight when the Kings play host to the Denver Nuggets.

Thunder announce season-ending surgeries for Lu Dort, Mike Muscala and Ty Jerome

The Oklahoma City Thunder announced the following injury updates today:

Lu Dort underwent a successful procedure today to address a labrum tear in his left shoulder. The procedure was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache at the Kerlan Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, with Thunder medical personnel present. Dort is expected to return to full basketball activities prior to the start of the 2022-23 season.

Mike Muscala underwent a successful arthroscopic procedure and additional lateral ligament repair on his right ankle today. The procedure was performed by Dr. Robert Anderson at the Bellin Health Titletown Sports Medicine and Orthopedics in Green Bay, Wis., with Thunder medical personnel present. Muscala is expected to return to full basketball activities prior to the start of the 2022-23 season.

Ty Jerome underwent a successful procedure today to address a sports hernia. The procedure was performed by Dr. William Meyers at the Vincera Institute in Philadelphia, with Thunder medical personnel present. Jerome is expected to return to full basketball activities in approximately eight weeks.

Miami Heat sign forward Haywood Highsmith

The Miami Heat have signed forward Haywood Highsmith.

Highsmith, who was previously signed to a 10-day contract by the HEAT on December 30, February 15 and again on February 26, has appeared in 10 games with Miami this season totaling 24 points, 14 rebounds, two blocks and a steal while shooting 40 percent (6-of-15) from three-point range. He has also appeared in 11 regular season G League games (seven starts) with the Delaware Blue Coats this season and averaged 13.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.00 steals and 29.4 minutes while shooting 50 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from three-point range.

Per the South Florida Sun Sentinel, “the roster spot for Highsmith came free when the Heat traded forward KZ Okpala to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Feb. 10 NBA trading deadline in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick. Okpala currently is out of the league.”

After spending four seasons at Wheeling University from 2014-18, Highsmith signed a two-way contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, splitting the season between the Sixers and their G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats. Highsmith appeared in five games with the 76ers in 2018-19 totaling nine points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal while shooting 40 percent (4-of-10) from the field. Additionally, he has appeared in 106 career G League games (76 starts) over three seasons, all with the Blue Coats, averaging 11.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.18 steals and 29.6 minutes while shooting 43.5 percent from the field.

Mavericks notes after 111-103 win over Jazz

The Mavericks have gone 24-7 in their last 31 games, improving to a season-high 15 games above .500 (40-25) for the first time since the end of the 2014-15 season, when they finished the season 18 games above .500. The Mavericks have now gone 15-3 in their last 18 games at American Airlines Center.

Luka Dončić led the Mavericks with 35 points, 16 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals. Per Stathead, Dončić became the 16th player to record that statline in an NBA game and the first to do so this season. Domantas Sabonis recorded the last game with 35-16-7-3 on February 17, 2021.

Spencer Dinwiddie recorded his second start with the Mavericks and contributed 23 (7-15 FG, 5-9 3FG) points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Over his last 6 games, Dinwiddie is averaging 22.3 points (.553 FG%, .485 3FG%) and 5.3 assists, and the Mavericks have gone 5-1 in that stretch.

Dorian Finney-Smith scored 21 points to go with 5 rebounds and 2 assists. This was only the second game of the season where Finney-Smith recorded 20+ points (12/19 at MIN), though Dallas improved to 10-2 when Finney-Smith goes for 15+ points this season.

Dwight Powell contributed 13 points (5-10 FG) and 4 rebounds in the win. Since the end of the All-Star Break, Powell is averaging 11.2 points (.634 FG%) and 6.2 rebounds per game.

Bojan Bogdanovic led Utah with 21 points on 7-11 shooting, which included 4-8 from deep. Over his last 10 games, Bogdanovic is averaging 17.5 points per game on .405 3FG%.