Pacific Notes: Leonard, Plumlee, Huerter, Kerr
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard was back at practice Sunday after missing four games with a bruised left hip, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Coach Tyronn Lue said Leonard was able to participate “fully” in the practice session, but didn’t commit to his availability for tonight’s game against Miami.
“We’ll see tomorrow,” Lue said. “Yeah, we’ll see how he comes out of this, but he is practicing today.”
Leonard’s health is always an issue for the Clippers, and it was encouraging that he was able to appear in the team’s first 27 games before hurting his hip. With Leonard returning to practice, Lue installed some new wrinkles to the offense, according to Turner.
“With Kawhi back, today is a good time to add a couple of things here and there,” Lue said. “But we do have to extend our package offensively, especially when we get down to the end of the season going into the playoffs. You have to be able to lean on some different things. You just can’t do the same thing every single night. And, so, if our pick-and-roll game is not going, we got to be able to do something different. If our post-up game is not going, we got to be able to do something different. If our iso game is not going, we got to be able to do something different. And they understand that. So, now we got to start adding and start getting better offensively.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Mason Plumlee has been upgraded to questionable on the Clippers‘ injury list for tonight’s game, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. L.A.’s backup big man has been sidelined since November 6 with an MCL sprain, causing the team to add free agent Daniel Theis to provide depth in the middle.
- Coach Mike Brown made a change to the Kings‘ starting lineup Sunday in Memphis, replacing Kevin Huerter with Chris Duarte, per Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. Huerter, who exited Friday’s game with an injury to his left hand, came off the bench for the first time since being traded to Sacramento in the summer of 2022. He was part of Brown’s first round of substitutions and scored nine points in 17 minutes.
- The Warriors are searching for answers after completing the 2023 portion of their schedule with a 10-point loss to Dallas, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. It marked the team’s eighth defeat at home, which matches its total from all of last season. Coach Steve Kerr refused to blame the absence of Draymond Green, who remains on indefinite suspension, but said the team lacks the “grit” that it needs to be successful. “We’re not competing through the tough parts of the game,” Kerr said. “There’s an intangible, there’s a feeling, there’s a vibe when you fight, where everyone’s energy is right. We don’t have that right now.”
Lakers Notes: New Starting Lineup, Hachimura, LeBron
Lakers coach Darvin Ham made another change to his starting lineup Sunday night and indicated that the new unit might be together for a while, writes Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. With Cam Reddish unavailable for the second time in three games due to groin soreness, Ham replaced him with Rui Hachimura, who started alongside LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Taurean Prince and Jarred Vanderbilt.
“This lineup that you see, we’re going to stick with for the foreseeable future,” Ham told reporters prior to Sunday’s game. “[We’re] starting there, and hopefully everyone gets on the mend and we’ll try to get guys as much time as possible to get back healthy. [We’re] definitely trying to figure out a more consistent lineup as we proceed through this next portion of the season.”
Ham also tinkered with his starting five last week, swapping Vanderbilt in for D’Angelo Russell. A tailbone contusion that Russell suffered on Saturday forced him to miss Sunday’s game, and Ham indicated that he and Reddish are both considered day-to-day.
“It’s something we have to manage,” Ham said of Reddish’s condition. “There’s nothing structurally wrong with it, but there’s something that’s alive and well that he feels based on the workload.”
There’s more on the Lakers:
- Ham’s lineup plans could be disrupted by a calf strain that forced Hachimura to leave Sunday’s game after just eight minutes, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Ham said there’s a “high level” of concern about the injury, but he doesn’t want to jump to any conclusions before Hachimura undergoes further testing.
- James was critical of the NBA’s replay system after he was awarded two points instead of three on a late shot in Saturday’s loss at Minnesota, McMenamin states in a full story. James thought he had tied the game with 2.3 seconds left and was livid when officials ruled that his foot was barely on the three-point line. “What the hell do we got replay for?” James said afterward. “What do we have replay for if even the replay gets it wrong? It’s just like, who is a part of the replay center? Like, do we got robots in there making Teslas? Like, what’s going on?” The NBA confirmed the call Sunday in its Last Two Minutes Report (Twitter link).
- In his latest Substack column, Marc Stein looks at what the future might hold for James, who became the NBA’s only active 39-year-old when he celebrated his birthday on Saturday.
Southwest Notes: Collins, Thompson Twins, Rockets, Pelicans
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said center Zach Collins could be sidelined “two to four weeks” with a right ankle sprain he suffered Friday at Portland, tweets Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. The team had Collins stay home for Sunday’s game rather than put more pressure on his ankle by attending to sit on the bench.
Collins began the season as San Antonio’s starting center before recently moving into a reserve role. He’s in his third year with the Spurs and has been able to revive his career after missing the entire 2020/21 season due to a fractured fibula.
Popovich also provided a medical update on Charles Bassey, saying he’s doing well after undergoing surgery to repair his torn ACL (Twitter link). Bassey suffered the injury last month in a game with the Spurs’ G League affiliate.
There’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Amen Thompson and Ausar Thompson will have their first NBA meeting tonight when the Rockets host the Pistons, and Kelly Iko and James L. Edwards of The Athletic talked to the twins about the role that older brother Troy had in shaping their careers. “Without him, I don’t know if I’d like basketball as much as I did growing up,” Ausar said. “Troy always believed in us … ever since I was little, he always thought we were the greatest basketball players at our age that he had ever seen. He just didn’t think we could beat him. Having someone, and even my whole family, who believes in you like that, it makes you believe and keep going.”
- With Detroit finally getting a win Saturday after dropping 28 straight games, it’s the Rockets who will come into tonight’s contest on a losing streak, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Houston has lost three in a row, all at home, and the defensive identity the team built early in the season is slipping. Feigen notes that the Rockets have the league’s worst defensive rating over their past three games and have allowed their last three opponents to shoot a combined 41.3% from three-point range. The defense might get a boost with the return of Jabari Smith, who missed Friday’s game with a sprained ankle but was upgraded to questionable on Sunday.
- Zion Williamson believes the Pelicans‘ embarrassing 44-point loss to the Lakers in the semifinals of the in-season tournament might have been “one of those blessings in disguise,” per Christian Clark of NOLA. New Orleans has gone 7-3 since that game, including a 20-point win Sunday night in a rematch with L.A. “We went to Vegas hoping for a different outcome,” Williamson said. “I think it definitely brought us together more as a team. It definitely brought us closer as a staff. Everyone communicating. I feel like we have been playing great. We still have some things to figure out. But so does every other team.”
Knicks Notes: DiVincenzo, Robinson, Fournier, Grimes
Donte DiVincenzo may carry more of the Knicks‘ offense after the weekend trade that sent RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to Toronto, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. DiVincenzo hit seven three-pointers and scored a career-high 38 points Saturday night, although he was disappointed that it came in a loss at Indiana.
“To be completely honest with you, I don’t even care about the 38, and I’m not just saying that,” DiVincenzo said. “I like to win games. Individual achievements are cool, but even Josh (Hart) said it the other day, stats don’t mean anything when you lose. That’s really our mindset here. So it’s cool, I’ll pat myself on the back, the guys are happy for me, but at the same time, we have to focus on that we have a hell of a game on Monday (at home against the Timberwolves).”
The offseason signing of DiVincenzo appears to be more important than ever with two scoring wings gone from the roster. He’s been averaging 12.9 points per game and shooting 47.4% from three-point range since moving into the starting lineup on December 8, and Jalen Brunson expects that hot streak to continue.
“Him playing the way he did, I’ve seen it plenty of times,” Brunson said. “Obviously, (I’m) happy with the way he’s playing. I wish we could have made his career night more memorable by winning. So we’ve got to be better.”
There’s more from New York:
- Mitchell Robinson reacted to the trade in a discussion with fans on SnapChat, relays Bryan Fonseca of The New York Post. The injured center said it’s difficult to see two long-time teammates leave so suddenly. “Two of my soldiers are gone, you know what I mean? What you gonna do, you know what I mean? I know they’re gonna go over there to Toronto and handle their business, play hard,” he said. “It’s a business at the end of the day, so I mean, yeah it is upsetting seeing two guys that you built a relationship with leave, it is crazy but, I mean, what you gonna do, you know? It’s a business at the end of the day.”
- With the Knicks short-handed following the deal, Evan Fournier got a rare chance to play Saturday night, Botte notes in another Post story. Getting off the bench for the first time since November 17, Fournier shot 3-of-10 and scored 10 points in 17 minutes. “Happy to play, for sure, but the game is fast. … It’s never easy to play a game after being on the bench for a while,” Fournier said. “I tried to give my best effort.”
- Quentin Grimes was eager to get started on what figures to be an expanded role, but he was held out of Saturday’s game with a bad cold, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.tv.