NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue and his staff will coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars in the 2016 NBA All-Star Game, to be televised by TNT at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 14 from Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
The Cavaliers (32-12, .727) clinched the best record in the conference through games played on Sunday, Jan. 31, by virtue of their 115-93 win over the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 27.
Mike Longabardi has joined Cavaliers Head Coach Tyronn Lue’s staff as an assistant coach, General Manager David Griffin and Head Coach Tyronn Lue announced tonight.
Longabardi spent the last two-plus seasons as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. Prior to that, he spent six seasons as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics under Doc Rivers, four of which with Coach Lue. While with the Celtics, he helped them reach three Eastern Conference Finals and two NBA Finals, including winning the 2008 NBA title. Before joining the Celtics, he was an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets under Jeff Van Gundy.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Longabardi played at Newberry College (S.C.) then transferred and graduated from Frostburg State University (Md.).
Bulls forward Nikola Mirotić was diagnosed with an acute appendicitis. An appendectomy was performed earlier today at Rush University Medical Center and went as expected. As a result, Mirotić did not accompany the team on its trip to Los Angeles this afternoon.
He is expected to return after the All Star Break.
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Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay was reexamined today at Kaiser Permanente and it was determined that he will miss tomorrow’s game at New Orleans as he continues to recover from a left eye corneal abrasion suffered in the waning stages of the second overtime against Charlotte on Monday.
Gay’s condition is improving daily and he will be listed as day to day going forward.
Here’s the San Francisco Chronicle reporting on the Warriors, who just finished smacking around the Spurs and are feeling pretty good these days:
The Warriors had a unique video session before Tuesday’s practice.
There were neither highlights of Monday’s drubbing of the Spurs nor reminders about their next opponent, the Mavericks, who pulled off a 23-point upset of the Warriors on Dec. 30.
Instead, head coach Steve Kerr had a video spliced together that offered an ode to Australia Day and included a comedy bit from Conan O’Brien.
“I was pretty disappointed, because I thought we were going to watch film on Dallas,” power forward Draymond Green joked a day ahead of the Warriors’ rematch with the Mavericks. “Terrible coach. … No, this environment is always loose and fun.”
The following is a joint statement from L.A. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach Doc Rivers:
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L.A. Clippers forward Blake Griffin suffered a spiral fracture of the fourth metacarpal in his right hand throwing a punch on Jan. 23 in Toronto.
This conduct has no place in our organization and this incident does not represent who we are as a team. We are conducting a full investigation with assistance from the NBA. At the conclusion of the investigation, appropriate action will be taken.
Griffin received X-rays on Jan. 25th in Los Angeles that revealed the injury and he underwent a procedure on his hand Tuesday morning. The procedure was performed by Dr. Steve Shin. Recovery time from the injury is approximately four to six weeks.
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Wizards guard Bradley Beal has been diagnosed with a broken nose and concussion by the Wizards medical staff after being hit in the face at the 8:22 mark of the second quarter during Monday night’s game vs. Boston. He is out for tonight’s game at Toronto and his status moving forward will be listed as day-to-day.
Per the NBA’s Concussion Policy, Beal will now begin the NBA-mandated “Return-to-Participation Exertion Protocol” and will be cleared to play once he has remained symptom-free during each step of the process.
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The Utah Jazz today signed guard Erick Green from the Reno Bighorns to a 10-day contract. Green becomes the NBA’s 13th overall NBA D-League Call-Up of the 2015-16 season.
Following the move, Utah’s roster now stands at 15 players.
Green (6-3, 178, Virginia Tech) has appeared in 23 games (22 starts) for the Bighorns this season, averaging 26.7 points on 53.3 percent shooting, 4.4 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 39.0 minutes of action. He has scored in double figures in 22 games, including 20-plus points on 19 occasions. He scored 30-or-more points in nine contests and a career-high 40 points in two games.
The 24-year-old appeared in 46 games (one start) over two seasons for Denver (2014-2015) and averaged 3.2 points in 9.1 minutes. He was waived by the Nuggets on Nov. 5 after appearing briefly in three games this season. Green also spent one season (2013-14) with Sana 1871 Siena.
The Inglewood, Calif. native played four years at Virginia Tech (2009-13), averaging 25.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals during his senior season. He was named the 2013 ACC Co-Player of the Year and earned 2013 All-ACC First Team honors.
Green will wear No. 18 for the Jazz.
The OKC Thunder are 33-13 this season and getting 26.6 ppg from Kevin Durant, 23.9 ppg from Russell Westbrook, 13.2 ppg from Serge Ibaka, and 11.6 ppg from Enes Kanter. Here’s the Oklahoman reporting on what drives the Thunder offense:
In general, the Thunder offense seems to be moving a bit more fluidly this season. OKC’s assists are up and its point distribution is more spread.
But despite Billy Donovan’s tweaks, the engine of the Thunder’s offense is still its rare individual talent. Nearly everything is predicated off Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook making something happen, often in isolation.
Per NBA.com/stats, the Thunder ranks dead last in the league 263.3 passes per game, more than 10 fewer than the next team (the Detroit Pistons). But despite that, OKC’s offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) is second in the league at 109.2, right behind the Warriors (112.7) and ahead of the Spurs (108.2). The Warriors average 325.2 passes per game, fifth most in the NBA. The Spurs average 339.0, third most.
The Cavaliers (30-12, 4th best record in NBA) are getting 25.0 ppg from LeBron James, 15.8 ppg from Kyrie Irving, 15.6 ppg from Kevin Love, and 12.3 from J.R Smith. They recently said goodbye to head coach David Blatt and put assistant Tyronn Lue in charge. Here’s the Akron Beacon Journal reporting:
The Cavs rank 28th in the league in pace, or possessions per 48 minutes. Lue wants to get this team playing faster, but he cautioned Saturday that will take time. This team is used to a slow pace that has proved successful.
When Lue tried to speed that pace up Saturday, all three of his stars asked out of the game early because they were tired. That forced him to use 10 players in the first quarter, jumbled his preset rotation and he struggled to recover. LeBron James didn’t dispute the idea the Cavs aren’t physically ready yet to run Lue’s style of offense.
“We played slow basketball up to this point,” James said. “We walk the ball up a lot. … All of us need to do something different as far as our pace and our conditioning. If he wants us to play faster and you want to be out on the floor, you can’t get tired. And if you do, you’ve got to come out. Something that Coach Lue wants us to do and we’ve all got to accept it.”