General NBA insight – Page 41 – NBA Blog

Big night in NBA West Playoff race

The Eastern Conference’s eight playoff teams are now known. In the Western Conference, two postseason spots remain up for grabs. The Mavericks can clinch one of those spots if they defeat the Jazz tonight in Utah (9 p.m. ET, NBA LEAGUE PASS) or if the Rockets lose to the Timberwolves in Minnesota (8 p.m., NBA LP). Utah can clinch a postseason spot if it beats the Mavericks and Houston loses to Minnesota. If the Jazz wins and the Rockets lose, Houston would be eliminated from playoff contention. Also tonight, the Cavaliers can clinch the best record in the East with a victory over the Hawks in Cleveland (7 p.m., NBA TV).

— NBA News

Warriors now have 72 wins

The 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors earned their 72nd win of the 2015-16 season with Sunday’s 92-86 road victory over the San Antonio Spurs, matching the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ NBA record for most wins in a single season.

With Sunday’s win, the Warriors finished the season with a 34-7 (.829) record on the road, establishing an NBA record for most road wins in a single season. At 72-9 (.889) on the season, Golden State has become the first team in NBA history to reach 63 games above the .500 mark. The Warriors snapped a 33-game regular-season road losing streak against the Spurs, earning their first regular-season win at San Antonio since Feb. 14, 1997. Golden State improved to 16-1 (.941) this season against teams with a winning percentage of .600 or better.

Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr, who is in his second year at the helm, was a key reserve on the record-setting Bulls team.

Warriors achieve 70-win NBA season, and counting

The 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors earned their 70th win of the 2015-16 season with Thursday’s 112-101 victory over the San Antonio Spurs at Oracle Arena. The Warriors join the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who won an NBA-record 72 games, as the only teams in NBA history to win at least 70 games in a single season. Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr, who is in his second year at the helm, was a key reserve on the record-setting Bulls team.

With Thursday’s win, the Warriors have clinched the best record in the NBA for the second consecutive season, becoming the seventh franchise in NBA history to own the league’s best record in back-to-back campaigns and the first to do so since the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2008-09 and 2009-10. At 70-9 (.886) on the season, Golden State is tied with the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls for the best record in NBA history through 79 games. The Warriors are now 13-1 (.929) this season against teams with a winning percentage of .600 or better.

Notes from around the NBA: April 7

The Mavericks are allowing an average of 86.0 points during their current five-game winning streak, which has given them a one-game lead over the Jazz for seventh place in the West.

Pistons center Andre Drummond has joined Isiah Thomas (1984-85) as the only Detroit players to lead the NBA in double-doubles for a season. Drummond has 66 double-doubles – 14 more than any other player this season.

The Trail Blazers, who clinched a playoff spot Wednesday, are a season-high six games above .500 (43-37).

Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (27.1 ppg, 11.6 rpg) is on pace to become the first player to average at least 27 points and 11 rebounds since Shaquille O’Neal in 2002-03. Cousins, who is also averaging 3.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks, would be the first player to average 27 ppg/11 rpg/3 apg/1.5 spg/1 bpg since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1993-94.

Bulls center Pau Gasol is averaging 16.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.0 blocks. The last player to average 16 ppg/11 rpg/4 apg/2 bpg for a season was Kevin Garnett in 2003-04.

Suns guard Devin Booker has six 30-point games this season, the most by a rookie since Blake Griffin (14) in 2010-11 with the Clippers.

Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas has been the team’s outright scoring leader in each of the last 17 games, the longest streak in the NBA this season.

Thunder center Enes Kanter scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed a season-high 20 rebounds Wednesday, joining DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond and Dwight Howard as the only players with 30-and-20 games this season.

Raptors rookie guard Norman Powell, the 46th pick in NBA Draft 2015 presented by State Farm, averaged 14.5 points and shot 52.6 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from three-point range in a six-game stretch from March 25 to April 2.

Pacers forward Paul George has scored 1,826 points in 2015-16, the fourth most for a season in team history. Billy Knight is the all-time leader with 2,075 points in 1976-77, followed by Reggie Miller in 1989-90 (2,016) and 1990-91 (1,855).

Clippers center DeAndre Jordan is shooting an NBA-best 70.1 percent from the field after hitting an NBA-best 71.0 percent last season. No NBA player has ever had multiple seasons of shooting at least 70.0 percent.

Magic center Nikola Vucevic has come off the bench to average 21.5 points (on 63.9 percent shooting) and 8.8 rebounds in 26.6 minutes over his last four games.

Warriors guard Stephen Curry needs 18 three-pointers to reach 400 for the season. With four more threes, he would have 100 more than in 2014-15, when he set the NBA single-season record with 286.

With his next appearance, Spurs big man Tim Duncan will pass Reggie Miller for sole possession of second place on the NBA’s all-time list of games played with one team. Duncan has played 1,389 games with San Antonio, the same number Miller played with Indiana. John Stockton appeared in 1,504 games with Utah.

— NBA News

Historic Spurs vs Warriors matchup tonight

Tonight marks the first meeting in NBA history between two teams that enter with at least 65 victories each. If the Warriors prevail, they would clinch the best record in the Western Conference (and in the NBA) and become the second team in NBA history to win 70 regular-season games. Golden State, coming off an overtime loss to Minnesota on Tuesday, has not lost two in a row all season. No team has ever gone an entire season without losing back-to-back games. (San Antonio, riding a four-game winning streak, also hasn’t lost consecutive games this season.)

The Warriors and Spurs have a combined winning percentage of .865. The highest combined winning percentage among the top two teams in one season is .829 in 1995-96. In that season, the Bulls finished an NBA-record 72-10 and the SuperSonics were 64-18; Chicago went on to defeat Seattle in The Finals. Golden State can surpass Chicago’s single-season record of 72 victories by winning its last four games – the two against the Spurs and two against the Grizzlies (Saturday in Memphis at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN and Wednesday, April 13 in Golden State at 10:30 p.m.).

— NBA News

Security shakeup at Pelicans arena

Here’s the New Orleans Times Picayune with an update on the Pelicans’ arena security situation, which received a slight wakeup call recently as a young kid was able to wander onto the court, hug a player and return to his seat:

An usher lost her job and a New Orleans police officer will no longer be hired by SMG to work security details for Pelicans games because of a breakdown that enabled a young boy to run onto the court to hug New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony during a game last week at the Smoothie King Center.

Superdome/Smoothie King Center general manager Alan Freeman said the retractable tensile or crowd control barrier was not in place and the usher who should have been watching the aisle was not in place either.

”Then, there is a police officer stationed in that general area also, and he was not doing his job,” Freeman said. ”So essentially what happened there is that you get two people who were not doing their responsibilities and that led to a black eye for us as the building operator.

”So what we have done since then is first of all, we obviously replaced those two people who failed to do their jobs – the usher and the police officer.”

NBA notes from around the league, March 31

Warriors forward Draymond Green is on pace to become the first player to average at least 13.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists since Grant Hill in 1996-97.

Warriors guard Stephen Curry needs eight three-pointers to pass Glen Rice (1,559) for 20th place on the NBA’s all-time list.

Heat center Hassan Whiteside has come off the bench in his last 24 games to average 17.2 points, 12.8 rebounds and 3.6 blocks in 29.5 minutes.

Kings rookie center Willie Cauley-Stein recorded the first two 20-point performances of his career in back-to-back games on March 25 and 27.

Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas is averaging 26.2 points in his last 13 games, scoring at least 20 in each contest.

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant tied an NBA record for the most regular-season games played at one venue in the Lakers’ overtime win over the Heat at the Staples Center on Wednesday. Bryant has played 595 games at the Staples Center, matching Hakeem Olajuwon’s mark at The Summit (later known as Compaq Center).

Wizards guard John Wall has 187 assists in March, tying the franchise record (Wall also had 187 in December 2015). It is the highest total in a month for any player this season. You have to go back to March 2012 to find the last time a player accumulated that many assists: Rajon Rondo (219) and Steve Nash (188).

Nuggets guard Will Barton has come off the bench to lead or tie for the team lead in scoring 20 times this season, tops in the NBA. Pelicans forward Ryan Anderson is second on the list with 10 such games.

Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson appeared in his 362nd consecutive game on Tuesday against Houston, surpassing Jim Chones (361) for the longest streak of consecutive games played in Cavaliers history.

The Raptors won their 50th game of the season Wednesday, the first time the franchise has reached that milestone. Every current team has now produced at least one 50-win season.

— NBA News

Spurs set an NBA record for home wins

With their win on Wednesday over the Pelicans, the Spurs set the NBA record for most consecutive home victories (38) to open a season. San Antonio also tied the franchise record for wins in a season with 63, set in 2005-06. For Tim Duncan, it was his 998th win as a member of the Spurs dating back to 1997. Duncan is poised to join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,074) and Robert Parish (1,014) as the only players in history with 1,000 victories. Duncan holds the record for most victories with one team, ahead of John Stockton, who won 953 games with the Jazz. The Spurs host the Raptors on Saturday before embarking on a three-game road trip against the Jazz, Warriors and Nuggets.

— NBA News

D.J. Stephens named D-League Performer of Week

D.J. Stephens of the Iowa Energy was today named NBA Development League Performer of the Week for games played Monday, March 21 through Sunday, March 27. It’s the first Performer of the Week honor of his career.

Stephens (6-5, 188, Memphis) led Iowa to a 3-0 week, averaging 24.7 points (sixth in the league) on 61.4 percent shooting to go with 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks (tied for fifth), 1.3 assists and 1.3 steals. He connected on 11-of-18 three-point attempts (61.1 percent – eighth in the league).

For the season, he is averaging just 8.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks.

Other top performers considered were Austin’s Keifer Sykes, Bakersfield’s Terrico White, Idaho’s J.J. O’Brien, Reno’s Erick Green, Rio Grande Valley’s Will Cummings, Sioux Falls’ Jarnell Stokes and Texas’ Andre Dawkins.

Historical Warriors NBA season continues

With Sunday’s win over Philadelphia, the Warriors joined the 1995-96 and 1996-97 Bulls as the only teams to win at least 66 games in consecutive seasons. Golden State became the 15th team ever to win 66 games and joined the Celtics, Lakers and Bulls as the only franchises with multiple 66-win seasons. The Warriors must go 7-2 to break the 1995-96 Bulls’ record for wins in a season (72). Six of their final nine games are at home, where Golden State has won a record 53 straight regular-season games over two seasons. The Warriors won 18 straight home games to end their 2014-15 campaign.

— NBA Broadcasters Bulletin