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NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
The following is a medical update on Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler:
Kessler (left elbow ulnar collateral ligament sprain) continues to make progress and has been cleared to begin basketball contact this week. The injury was sustained during Utah’s season-opening game against Sacramento on Oct. 25. He will be reevaluated in one week.
Per the Boston Herald:
As chaos hit its climax in the final seconds, Kristaps Porzingis kept his cool. With the Celtics leading the Grizzlies by two during a wild sequence, the ball found Ziaire Williams, whose desperation game-tying shot found Porzingis’ hand.
Porzingis stood in satisfaction of the moment and seemed to send some trash talk in Williams’ direction as he lay on the court. His Celtics teammates swarmed him. And they all stood there for a moment to ensure the victory was secured.
Somehow, the Celtics survived.
For a second consecutive game, the Celtics were not at their best. Against an inferior Grizzlies team missing eight players, they were caught in another rockfight. It was emotional, physical, frustrating and sloppy, a game deserving of Marcus Smart, who was sitting on the Memphis bench all night due to an injury. But once again, the C’s found a way. Porzingis’ sixth block of the game clinched a gutsy 102-100 victory in Memphis.
Per the NY Post:
Mitchell Robinson is the best offensive rebounder right now in the NBA.
It became his undisputed title after grabbing 11 offensive rebounds in Saturday night’s victory over the Hornets, giving Robinson 50 percent more than anybody else in the league this season.
But Robinson doesn’t think his greatest skill is a skill at all.
“It’s just effort,” he said. “It’s really just effort.” …
Still just 25 and in his sixth season, Robinson surpassed Bill Cartwright on Saturday for third on the Knicks’ all-time list with 1,116 for career offensive boards. He’s still less than halfway to catching No. 2 (Charles Oakley) and No. 1 (Patrick Ewing), but the outrageous pace makes it seem possible Robinson will get to the top.
Per the Pioneer Press:
As he’s been during much of his recent stretch of strong offensive play, Karl-Anthony Towns was quick and decisive when it mattered most Saturday in New Orleans.
With Minnesota trailing by one in the final 10 seconds of the game, Towns quickly attacked the smaller Dyson Daniels, got to the edge of the paint and threw a floater off the glass to give Minnesota a one-point edge.
“It was a real skilled move. He’s got a lot of skill,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told reporters postgame. “We’ve really been harping on him trying to clean up his game offensively. And he’s got so much talent that if he just focuses on the simple things done really, really well, he doesn’t need to kind of create a lot of extra activity around his game. … And he’s really taken to that, so that would be a clear example.”
Brandon Ingram missed a decent look a few seconds later, and Minnesota escaped New Orleans with a 121-120 victory Saturday.
Per the Bay Area News Group:
The Warriors lost their sixth straight game in a 130-123 overtime heartbreaker to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night. They fall to 6-8 and are 1-6 at home.
Andrew Wiggins’s fifth 3-pointer of the night gave the Warriors a three-point lead with 1.5 seconds remaining in regulation. But Chet Holmgren hit a desperation 3 out of the timeout to send the game to overtime.
An MRI conducted on Portland Trail Blazers forward Ish Wainright revealed an MCL sprain in the left knee.
Wainright is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.
Per the Oregonian, “Wainright, 29, claimed off waivers last month, has appeared in two games for the Blazers this season. He has also played with the Rip City Remix.”
The LA Clippers have signed center Daniel Theis, announced Lawrence Frank, Clippers president of basketball operations.
Theis, 31, has appeared in 314 games with the Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets and Chicago Bulls, averaging 7.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists while shooting 54.2% from the field. The 6-foot-8 center has also appeared in 40 playoff games, averaging 5.8 points and 4.6 rebounds while shooting 52.7% from the field. A native of Salzgitter, Germany, Theis won a gold medal with Germany at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, where he averaged 10.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in eight games.
Per the Memphis Commercial Appeal:
Marcus Smart’s first mini-homecoming with the Boston Celtics won’t come on Sunday. The Memphis Grizzlies guard is expected to miss three to five weeks because of a left foot sprain, the team announced Friday.
Smart suffered the injury in the first quarter of the 134-107 loss to the Lakers on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He has played in all 11 games this season, but he also dealt with abdominal soreness in the preseason.
Per ESPN.com:
The LA Clippers are expected to make a lineup change with Russell Westbrook coming off the bench to help the team snap a six-game losing streak against the Houston Rockets on Friday, sources confirmed to ESPN.
The Clippers (3-7) have lost six straight games, the last five with James Harden in the lineup. Versatile guard Terance Mann is expected to move into the starting lineup with Westbrook serving as sixth man for the first time in his Clippers tenure. Sources confirmed Westbrook talked to the Clippers coaching staff on Thursday about coming off the bench, a move that was first reported by Bleacher Report. Head coach Ty Lue will meet with reporters later during his pregame news conference on Friday night.
The team has been out of sync since Harden was acquired late at night on Oct. 30. Lue had started Westbrook, Harden, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac and then staggered his four stars by pairing former Oklahoma City Thunder teammates Westbrook and George together with a second unit and Harden and Leonard together.
The Indiana Pacers have waived center Daniel Theis.
Per the Indianapolis Star, “Theis has appeared in just one game this season and played eight minutes. He missed Tuesday’s game against the 76ers in Philadelphia for “personal reasons” though he was with the team in Philadelphia for Sunday’s game. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle did not further explain the reasoning for Theis’ absence beyond saying it was personal. The 31-year-old Theis was due $9.1 million on his contract this season with a club option for next season that would pay him $9.5 million if he was retained.”