This is a big one. Enjoy this lengthy video of the best NBA plays from calendar year 2022:
Category: General NBA insight
General NBA insight
Recent big game might be turning point for Heat guard Victor Oladipo
Via the Miami Herald:
After not completing a dunk in his first 10 games of the season, Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo finally threw one down in his 11th game.
It was worth the wait, as Oladipo used his burst to dribble into the paint before jumping over and through 7-foot Jazz center Walker Kessler for a right-handed slam in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s road win over the Jazz.
“Man, he dunked on that man,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said to reporters afterwards.
It was the highlight of Oladipo’s season-best offensive performance, as he finished Saturday’s victory with a season-high 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field, 4-of-9 shooting from three-point range and 5-of-7 shooting from the foul line, five rebounds and five assists. He also played a season-high 35 minutes off the bench.
“Everybody celebrated him in the locker room because only the locker room understands what he’s been going through for the last two years,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about Oladipo following Saturday’s game in Salt Lake City. “So much of his journey has been solitary.”
The Heat are 19-18 this season, which ties them with the New York Knicks for the 7th best record in the Eastern conference.
Their leading scorers so far in 2022-23 are Jimmy Butler at 21.8 PPG, Tyler Herro at 21.4 PPG, and Bam Adebayo at 21.2 PPG.
Pair of young Warriors playing great lately
Via the San Jose Mercury News:
Expectations shape reality, but for the Warriors, a new reality needs to shift their expectations.
The Baby Dubs — namely Jordan Poole and Jonathan Kuminga — have thrived since the Warriors’ Christmas Day win over the Grizzlies, the first game of the team’s eight-game home stand. Following that win over Memphis with strong performances in the clutch against the Hornets, Jazz, and the Blazers have given the Warriors their first four-game winning streak this season.
For a team whose only intention with Steph Curry injured and out of the lineup was to keep its head above water — to win as many as it loses — this home stand is already a success.
But this is also a team that has found a new gear this past week, without Curry or do-it-all forward Andrew Wiggins.
It’s time for the Dubs to be greedy.
Weekly Rockets notes: Dec. 26, 2022
WEEKLY HOUSTON ROCKETS TEAM NOTES
Alperen Şengün has grabbed 10+ rebounds in three of the last eight games after doing so twice the six games prior. Dating back to 1976-77, he is the third player to have recorded at least 420 points and 250 boards while playing fewer than 780 minutes through the first 29 games played of a season.
Jabari Smith Jr. has scored 20+ points in four of the past 16 games after doing so once his first 15 games played. Smith is the first player in NBA history to have his totals of at least 379 points, 222 rebounds, 31 blocks and 62 3FGM through the first 31 games played of a career.
Houston had all five starters score 10 or more points in their game vs Dallas on 12/23. The Rockets have had all five starters score in double-figures 11 times this season. All five starters have scored in double figures for the Rockets a league-high 11 times in the 32 games this season after doing so 13 times in the 82 games in 2021-22. The Rockets have recorded the most games this season with all starters score in double-digits.
The Rockets are averaging 8.90 spg over the past seven games after averaging 6.5 the six games prior. Houston ranks eighth in the NBA in steals this season after finishing 17th in 2021-22.
A look at the Timberwolves (16-17)
Via the St. Paul Pioneer Press:
Currently at one game below .500, Minnesota (16-17) resides in the final play-in spot in the West. A 2-5 or 1-6 stretch would only lengthen the gap between the Timberwolves and a top-six, non play-in spot the team seemed destined to obtain at the season’s outset. There aren’t any clear indications that the Wolves are capable of ripping off a large stretch of winning basketball to dig themselves out of any significant hole in the standings.
Armed with the likes of Rudy Gobert, Anthony Edwards, D’Angelo Russell and Jaden McDaniels, Minnesota certainly has enough firepower to continue to compete. The challenge now is to find a way to do so at a high enough level for 48 minutes.
While the gift awaiting Minnesota on the other side of this stretch is a pair of road games against downtrodden Houston and Detroit, those are immediately followed by home games against three more competitive clubs — Phoenix, Cleveland and Utah. It never lets up.
Catching up with Clippers forward Nicolas Batum
Via the Los Angeles Times:
Clippers teammates were gathering in the key and coaches were talking in a circle at midcourt, but Nicolas Batum was in no hurry to leave his courtside chair and begin shootaround on a late November morning.
Only weeks from his 34th birthday, the wing turned his eyes toward the empty upper deck of Portland’s Moda Center and his memories of the younger version of himself that spent his first seven seasons with the Trail Blazers.
“It’s a special place,” Batum said. “I grew up here.”
Growing up in the NBA requires absorbing often painful lessons. Growing old in the league, however, is reserved for the few who can put what they’ve learned into action. Batum, with 1,006 games on his resume including the regular season and playoffs, counts as a survivor, a longevity he traces to the first, and perhaps the most enduring, career lesson he took in weeks before his first official game.
The Clippers are 19-14 this season, which is the 5th best record in the Western conference.
Their leading scorers so far in 2022-23 are Paul George at 23.4 PPG, Kawhi Leonard at 15.3 PPG, and Norman Powell, mostly off the bench, at 14.8 PPG.
Donovan Mitchell reflects on trade from Jazz to Cavs
Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell reflects on the trade that sent him from the Utah Jazz to Cleveland, via the Salt Lake Tribune:
Donovan Mitchell: “I look at it as a win-win. Everybody’s flourishing, doing well, happy, and sometimes a new beginning is just what you need. That’s for both sides. I don’t know what the vibe is in the locker room over there, but when I talked to the guys it just seemed like a fresh breath. Sometimes your time just runs out. I just think for me personally, I’ve said this on several occasions, I’m happy in a different way. They seem to be that as well, they’re playing well as a group. I’ve watched a bunch of games. It’s great to see both sides thriving after something that took a whole summer to kind of figure out.”
Damian Lillard says he should be in discussion of greatest shooters ever
Who are the greatest shooters in NBA history? Stephen Curry appears to be a very solid choice for best ever. But which players are in the running for second? In the opinion of Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, a great choice for 2nd place is… himself. Via NBA.com/blazers:
Lillard, who reached 2,222 three-pointers in nearly half the number of games that Crawford, Terry and LeBron James, who is ninth all-time, needed to make the Top 10, also took the opportunity to wonder why he’s not considered one of the league all-time great shooters despite his ranking. He was quick to note that Stephen Curry, whose 3,248 threes is first on the all-time list by a considerable margin, is the best shooter in NBA history, but that he’s no slouch either, despite what some of his detractors might argue.
“I always see stuff on social media where they talk about the greatest shooters of all-time and they always act like it’s just crazy for people to mention me,” said Lillard. “I think for how many threes I’ve made, for how consistent I make them, the level of difficulty that I shoot threes with over years and years and years, I just think it’s kind of crazy people don’t mention me in those discussions.
“Obviously I think Steph is the greatest ever, but I think after him, I don’t see why I’m not clear-cut in that discussion, not just by makes, but how I shoot it, how I make tough ones all the time, how easy I shoot the ball. I’m looking forward to keep climbing that list so once I get up there in that top two, top three, I’m curious to see what people will say about me as a shooter at that point.”
The Blazers are 17-13 this season, which is the 6th best record in the Western conference.
Their leading scorers so far in 2022-23 are Lillard are 28.3 PPG, Anfernee Simons at 23.4 PPG, and Jerami Grant at 21.9 PPG.
James Harden speaks on time with Nets
Via the New York Post:
James Harden’s time with the Nets was brief, complicated and ultimately a flop.
But the organization was as much to blame as anyone, according to Harden.
“I don’t mean to, like, just down talk to anybody or whatever. It was just, there was no structure and even superstars, they need structure,” Harden said in an interview with Fox Sports in an interview that took place five days before the Nets fired Steve Nash and was published Friday. “That’s what allows us to be the best players and leaders for our respective organizations.
“I just feel like internally, things weren’t what I expected when I was trying to get traded there. I think everybody knows that. And I knew people were going to talk and say, ‘You quit’ and all that stuff, but then the following summer, the other superstar there [Kevin Durant] wanted to leave. So it’s like: Am I still the quitter?”
Jayson Tatum says Kevin Durant is like a brother to him
Via Boston.com:
The Celtics defeated the Nets 103-92 on Sunday, extending the team’s record to a league-best 19-5. Boston faces the Raptors tonight in Toronto at 7:30 p.m…
Following the Celtics’ win over the Nets on Sunday, Jayson Tatum was asked about facing Brooklyn superstar Kevin Durant.
“That’s like a brother to me,” Tatum said of Durant. “Somebody I’ve gotten really close with. Obviously competed against a lot in the playoffs recently. Known since I was in high school, won a gold medal with, worked out with a lot this summer. So somebody that I respect a lot.
“We talk often,” Tatum added. “And those matchups always you enjoy. Somebody that has played at a high level — the highest level — for as long as he has, it brings the best out of you. So you always enjoy those matchups with one of the best players to ever play.”