Category: Basketball

The Lakers must really hate Russell Westbrook

Brandon King

Granted he did himself no favors at all with his play, particularly in the first few months of the season; ceasing the diagnosis of what went wrong in Los Angeles last season by heaping all the blame on Russell Westbrook, at that point is both ham-handed and myopic. It is more nuanced than that because frankly last season Russell Westbrook was never put in a position to succeed. Taking things back to before he ever donned a Lakers gamer in an NBA game, anyone with basketball brain 1 could have…

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Spida traded to Cavaliers

Brandon King

It appears the other trade saga not dealing with Kevin Durant has finally drawn to a conclusion. According to reporting from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Donovan Mitchell is heading to Cleveland. Cleveland gets: Donovan Mitchell Utah receives Lauri Markkanen Colin Sexton ( sign and trade) Ochai Agbaji three unprotected first round draft picks ( 2025, 2027 and 2029) pick swaps in 2026 and 2028 Wojnarowski adds that Sexton agreed to a sign-and-trade to join the Jazz. By trading Mitchell, the official start of…

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EuroBasket 2022 News: Spain trims Guerra and Nu˜ez in final roster cuts

Brandon King

This national team journey has , unfortunately come to an end for Fran Guerra and Juan N¨˜ez, who were the last players cut from the Spanish national team by head coach Sergio Scaiolo. Guerra, a 29-year-old center who played for Lenovo Tenerife of the Spanisch ACB league, averaged 2.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 9 minutes per game in the two World Cup Qualifying matchups. N¨˜ez, an 18-yea-old 6’3″ point guard who has drawn some attention from NBA scouts with his playmaking and ability to run a team, averaged 1.0…

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FIBA World Cup: Greece’s Kostas Sloukas and Kostas Antetokounmpo to undergo MRIs

Brandon King

In their match up with Serbia, guard Kostas Sloukas and Kostas Antetokounmpo both reported feeling knee discomfort. Although Sloukas was able to remain in the game, Antetokounmpo was not able to continue, having Te exit the game in the first half. Upon the team’s return to Athens from Belgrade, both players will undergo an MRI. Next up for Greece is a Sunday matchup in Athens against Belgium in more World Cup Qualifiers action. The status of Sloukas and Antetokoumpo are both unknown, as is also the case for forward Ioannis…

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FIBA World Cup: Serbia gets by Greece 100-94 in battle of MVPs

Brandon King

Serbia and Greece was a highly-anticipated matchup that featured teams led by the only two winners of the NBA MVP award over the past four years, in Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, and neither the current or the former MVPs disappointed and it was the Serbs who managed to claim victory, 100-94 in over time in front of a record crowd of 19,150. In his first official game with his national team since 2019 Giannis did not disappoint, turning in a monster performance I registering an international career-high of 40…

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FIBA World Cup: Markkanen’s 28 leads Finland past Israel

Brandon King

Finland got their second round shouted off on the right foot with a hard-fought 79-73 victory over Israel. Lauri Markkanen was big again, scoring 28 points, but the five he scored in the game’s final two minutes were critical to Finland securing the victory. A pair of free throws and a three-point play extended the Finnish lead from 73-71 to 77-73 with sixty-six seconds remaining in the contest. In losing effects, Roman Sorkin scored 14 and grabbed 8 rebounds, Nimrod Levi put in 13, and Yam Madar chipped in 11.…

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FIBA World Cup: Slovenia beats Estonia, 104-83

Brandon King

It was a night of easy work for the Slovenian national team as they cleaned up Estonia 104-83. In the first ten minutes of the game, Luka Dončić put a game’s worth of production for some players, racking up 10 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Dončić finished with a near triple-double with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists. Goran Dragić turned in another strong performance with 19 points and Vlatko Cancar added 14 points. In a losing effort, Kerr Kriisa paced Estonia with 14 points. The win lifted…

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FIBA World Cup: Latvia smokes Turkey 111-85

Brandon King

Behind not shooting and a big game from Kristaps Porzingis, Latvia obliterated Turkey, 111-85. Kristaps Porzingis led all scorers with 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and Latvia connected on 20 of their 35 three-point attempts (57%) and led by as much as 31 points in the victory. Davis Bertans scored 17 points, knocking down 5 of his 7 three-point attempts. Rihards Lomazs chipped in 15 points, with Rolands Smits contributed 11. In a losing effort, Cedi Osman and Shane Larkin put in 15 points apiece.The loss drops Turkey to…

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FIBA World Cup News: France blows out Czech Republic, 95-60

Brandon King

France tipped off their second stage of 2023 World Cup Qualifiers in resounding fashion by laying a 95-60 smack down on the Czech Republic. Despite being without Tomas Satoransky, Jaromir Bohacik and Vit Krejci, the Czech Republic carried a 42-38 lead into the half, but the French defense choked out the Czech offense in the second half, only allowing 18 points. The Czech Republic were outscored 60-20 in the painted area and shot a frigid 35.5% from the field. The second half was delayed due to an issue with one…

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Lakers and Jazz finalizing deal for Patrick Beverley

Brandon King

Patrick Beverley, the guy you want to have on your team, appears to be on the move again. The veteran guard who was part of the haul the Jazz got back in the Rudy Gobert trade, is returning to his old stumping grounds, but to the opposite locker room. According to reporting from Adrian Wojnarowski the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers are finalizing a deal that would bring Beverley to the purple and gold in exchange for Talen Horton – Tucker and Stanley Johnson. Last season Beverley averaged 9.2…

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