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We’re getting Game 6 of the Warriors and Rockets tonight. We know Dillon Brooks is targeting Steph Curry’s thumb. We’ll see if it causes Draymond Green to target Brooks’ everything. We know Curry has been targeting sending Houston to their offseason for a decade now. Game 6 is on ESPN at 9 p.m. ET tonight. You know there will be fireworks and drama.
Game 7 Coming
Clippers, Nuggets provide best words in sports
I’ll fully admit I went into Game 6 expecting certain Clippers to not step up when the spotlight was shining on them. James Harden has a rough history of elimination games, and the Clippers should not have expected him to come through with their season on the line. Imagine my surprise – and that of many others – when Harden’s massive first half on Thursday set the stage to keep the Clippers’ season alive for at least one more game.
He scored 21 of his 28 points in the opening two periods to help keep the Clippers in the game against a Nuggets team that appeared to have figured them out in the previous two matchups. Then, Norman Powell and Kawhi Leonard fueled a big third quarter to make sure a beautiful Game 7 would come to our television screens Saturday night when this series heads back to Denver. Powell finished with 24 points, 16 of them coming in the second half. Leonard had 14 of his 27 points in the final 24 minutes to go along with 10 rebounds and five assists for the game.
The margins in this one were pretty thin. The Clippers didn’t let the Nuggets get to the free-throw line (nine times), and they won the turnover battle (seven to 12). Other than that, this was a pretty even affair. But it doesn’t matter if this was close or convincing. All that matters to the Clippers is they made it to Saturday. And the Nuggets now have to exorcise the demons of last year’s Game 7 against Minnesota.
Going into Saturday night, the Nuggets just have to finish the job. It’s something they couldn’t do a year ago when everybody locally blamed fatigue, but their championship acumen and knowhow was supposed to carry them beyond typical playoff failures. Nikola Jokić has to be a monster and MVP who doesn’t fizzle out like we saw with his two-point fourth quarter last night.
At the same time, the Clippers have to overcome being … well … the Clippers. They got smoked in Game 5 in Denver a couple days ago. The effort they got from Powell and Harden? It needs to be at least that tomorrow night. Otherwise, they’ll be the same ole Clippers again, even if it’s not a fair assessment of this squad.
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The Last 24
It’s never a bad time to mock draft
🏀 It’s that time. Sam Vecenie has been hard at work to drop what we want. It’s a new NBA mock draft!
🦌 Are you stuck? We’ve all been trying to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo out of Milwaukee this week. Maybe the Bucks can’t.
🤔 What’s next? The Lakers’ offseason begins with questions aplenty.
🏀 Shrinking list. We’re getting fewer and fewer early entrants in the NBA Draft. Is this due to NIL?
🛑 Stay home. We know one person who won’t be at Pacers games for the foreseeable future: Tyrese Haliburton’s dad.
🤔 Think it over. LeBron James will enter Year 23 in October. So, when is he going to stop playing? “I don’t know the answer.”
🎧 Tuning in. Today’s NBA Daily breaks down how the Pistons can push forward next season.
Worst Trade Ever
Rudy Gobert deal helped usher Wolves’ best era
Remember when the Timberwolves made the worst trade of all time? It happened a couple years ago. They traded for Rudy Gobert, and it was a doozy. This was the deal:
Jazz receive:
- Walker Kessler
- Malik Beasley
- Jarred Vanderbilt
- Patrick Beverley
- Leandro Bolmaro
- 2023 first (Keyonte George)
- 2025 first (21st pick)
- 2026 pick swap
- 2027 first
- 2029 first (top-five protected)
The Wolves received the then three-time Defensive Player of the Year, four-time All-NBA and six-time All-Defensive big man. The first season for Gobert and the Wolves was rough. His scoring average fell from 15.6 points per game to 13.4, rebounding regressed from 14.7 boards to 11.6, blocks from 2.1 to 1.4 and field goal percentage from 71.3 to 65.9. And the Wolves got worse! They went from a 46-win team and the No. 7 seed the previous season to a 42-win team and the No. 8 seed. The Wolves gave up a massive amount of draft capital, a cheaper and younger rim protector, and didn’t get any better.
It’s also worth noting that Gobert had a back injury in his first year with the Wolves. At the time of the trade, I said if the Wolves ended up with two 50-win seasons and second-round appearances during the four years he had on his contract with the Wolves, it would be the most successful stretch in Wolves history. Low bar, I know.
Fast forward two years following the first season with Gobert on the Wolves, and we can safely say two things: 1) This is not the worst trade in NBA history. 2) This is the best stretch the franchise has ever enjoyed. The trade has been a massive success by team president Tim Connelly and the Wolves. The gamble paid off, and the Wolves have a chance for their third conference finals in franchise history and their second straight in two years. They await the winner of the Rockets and Warriors series.
However, it almost doesn’t matter – not because they’ll beat whichever team advances. That’s far from a certainty. But the Wolves have set a new standard for themselves, partly because of the Gobert trade, that almost seems so beyond the paltry scraps of moral victories and success that often ended in February back in the previous three decades. The majority of this belongs to Edwards and coach Chris Finch, but Gobert has been a key cog in what they’re doing.
It’s a good lesson that we don’t always have to give the kneejerk reaction to the immediacy of a trade’s results. These trades can breathe. Because this deal went from the worst trade ever to a win for both organizations.
Hired Whomst?!
What did the Suns just do?!
The Suns just made a pretty big change in their front office, and it has the NBA world scratching its collective head. Team owner Mat Ishbia fired James Jones, who had been in the Suns’ front office since 2017 and was the general manager since 2019. He was also promoted to president of basketball operations in 2022, a year after the Suns made the NBA Finals.
Jones being fired isn’t a total surprise with the direction the Suns are headed, even though I’m not sure you’d blame him for following through on the demands of the owner. But the replacement is where the head-scratching gets to the feverish pace of wondering if we’re in a psoriasis commercial. Jones is being replaced by Brian Gregory. If that name sounds vaguely familiar, it’s probably because of your love for college basketball.
He was the coach at Dayton from 2003-2011, Georgia Tech from 2011-2016 and South Florida from 2017-2023. He has no front office experience. He has no NBA experience. And he’s not even that good of a college coach if we’re being honest. He’s had three seasons above .500 in his last two stops, and none of them happened after the pandemic: two at Tech and one at South Florida. So, why did Gregory get the job to reshape the Suns’ roster? Why would Ishbia pick him?
Gregory was an assistant coach at Michigan State under Tom Izzo from 1999 to 2003. Hey, what a coincidence! Ishbia played at Michigan State from 1999 to 2002! What are the odds? This should go really well. In all seriousness, if Ishbia puts a good support staff around Gregory in the front office, then maybe he’ll be fine? This is just a wildly nepotistic kind of move that doesn’t lend itself to believe in future success.
The Suns are in a quagmire of a roster construction and salary-cap minefield to navigate. You should hire someone with understanding of the CBA and NBA trade market, not someone who went 10-26 in the American Athletic Conference during their last two seasons coaching.
No Longer Motorin’
Knicks end Pistons’ bounceback season
It only felt right that the Pistons and Knicks matchup last night would come down to a one-possession game. The entire series had been airtight in how it was decided from game to game, so a Game 6 contest in Detroit should have been no different. With less than 10 seconds left and the Pistons in the process of squandering a decent late fourth quarter lead, all eyes were on Jalen Brunson to begin Detroit’s offseason.
Brunson crossed Ausar Thompson right out of the 313 and sent him about eight feet away from where he was still dribbling. He pulled up cold, knocked down the 3-pointer with Thompson out of frame on most replays and gave the Knicks the final lead in the series. It’s all instinct!
The Pistons head into the offseason after their fun and surprising season. We say goodbye, but there’s a lot of fun to be had with this team and a lot of flexibility and good things to look forward to. Not bad for a squad that won 14 games last season.
Detroit Pistons (44-38, sixth in the East)
- Draft pick situation: Their pick (17th) belongs to Minnesota. It was originally sent to Houston with Christian Wood to acquire the draft rights to Isaiah Stewart. They also have the 37th from Toronto and 47th (their own).
- Upcoming free agents: Tim Hardaway Jr, Dennis Schröder, Malik Beasley, Lindy Waters III, Paul Reed
- Main guys: Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson
- Any cap room? They should have somewhere between $20-24 million in cap, depending on what happens with their free agents.
- Do they have to worry about any tax aprons? Not unless they make some big trades.
- What do they need this summer? Bring back Malik Beasley, and get another veteran scorer/creator next to Cunningham.
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(Top photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today Network via Imagn Images )