Friday evening, that Golden State Warriors was the first team to secure a place in the knockout rounds Cup. Please try to contain your excitement. As much criticism as the tournament formerly known as the in-season tournament gets, it has actually added some pomp and shine to the usual NBA games in November. The dishes are strange. Joe Mazzulla fouled out 10 to extend and improve the game Celtics' Point difference. People who hate soccer are reluctantly forced to understand the rules of soccer tournaments to see if their team has a chance of advancing. There is a few optimizations that can be made? Secure. But overall it is hard to say that the initiative was not a success.
However, Saturday was MUCH more eventful than the generally boring NBA Cup games on Friday night. As you'll see, there have been some strange events over the last few days – both good and bad – so let's take some time and let you all know.
Here are this weekend's NBA winners and losers.
Professional athletes play with such a high level of intensity and competitiveness that it is only natural for emotions to occasionally take over. What Fred VanVleet did on Saturday night during the Rockets'Loss for them TrailblazerHowever, the limit was clearly exceeded. Aside from calling all three referees “b—-” (which we saw Kelly Oubre Jr. do it (Coincidentally, not long ago), VanVleet stuck his fingers dangerously close to officer John Conley's eyeball on his way off the ground. Oh yes, FVV was ejected. Did we mention that?
Our Brad Botkin broke down the reasons for VanVleet's outburstand the referees' response. Oubre was fined $50,000 for his actions, and it looks like VanVleet's punishment will be significantly harsher, possibly even including a suspension.
Winner: LaMelo's right arm muscles
Say whatever you want LaMelo Ballbut the guy can take a few shots. Ball had a productive night in the Hornets' loss to the on Saturday Milwaukee Buckswith a career-high 50 points, including a ridiculous 40 in the second half.
And while 50 is a cool number, Ball has another number you should know: 384.
That's how many throws he's attempted this season, a lot 40 more as second place Giannis Antetokounmpowho also played 16 games. If you're as bad at math as I am, that's an average of 24 shots per game, and Ball took 38 of them, the highest single-game total in the NBA this season, to get his 50 burger on Saturday (to yours Information). , De'Aaron Fox scored 60 points on 35 shots last week).
The last time a player made 24 field goal attempts per game in an entire season was James Harden in the 2018-19 season, and he averaged six more points than Ball on essentially the same number of shots (you history buffs will point out that old Max Zaslofsky averaged a paltry 21 points for the Chicago Stags in 1947-48). 24 shots per game…YES, WE ARE AWARE). Here are the last five NBA players who averaged at least 24 shot attempts in a season.
NBA players average 24 shots per game
|
LaMelo Ball |
2024-25 |
24.0 |
30.2 |
|
James Harden |
2018-19 |
24.5 |
36.1 |
|
2016-17 |
24.0 |
31.6 | |
|
Kobe Bryant |
2005-06 |
27.2 |
35.4 |
|
Allen Iverson |
2005-06 |
24.2 |
33.0 |
This season, Ball is shooting 43% from the field, the eighth-worst mark in the league of any player taking at least 15 shots per game, but it doesn't look like he's slowing down any time soon.
Get some ice for your right arm, young man. There is training.
Loser: Trevor Booker
Everyone is rightly like that bubbly above Nikola JokicThe 3/4 field volleyball spike that “almost went in” (not really). Give the man credit for creating something truly creative, which by all known rules of physics should also be impossible.
Pretty cool. But now take a trip with me back to 2015. “Uptown Funk” was the No. 1 song on the charts, “Furious 7” grossed $350 million at the domestic box office, and that Utah Jazz ran the basketball with 0.2 seconds remaining on the shot clock. The defense Oklahoma City Thunder We simply waited for time to expire and an infraction to be called as soon as the ball touched someone's hands. Trevor Booker had other ideas.
The veteran forward, who ended up playing eight NBA seasons, ran to his seat, took the rebounding pass and fired a soft two-handed shot OVER HIS HEAD that went straight through the net. The best part is that he ran back on defense like it wasn't a big deal anyway said later He had “never done it in a game situation or even in training.” Unbelievable.
So Booker is a loser this weekend because no one seems to remember that while Jokic's attempt was spectacular, Booker actually got the job done.
Winner: self-promotion
We haven't seen anyone named McCain campaign this hard since the 2008 presidential election (I'll make sure I get out). 76s Sensation in the first year Jared McCain took a short break from the annihilation Brooklyn Nets on Friday to announce to viewers and the world: “I’m the rookie of the year.”
Who wore it better, McCain or Austin Reaves?
Gotta love the confidence. And on this point, McCain is right. He leads all rookies with 16.6 points per game on an insanely efficient 46/40/94 shooting splits. However, there is still a lot of season left. On Sunday, he ended a streak of seven straight 20-point games by scoring…18 points. Oh, and in the game before this series began, he scored…18 points. So why don't we just say he scored at least 18 points in nine straight games? The streak is alive, baby!
Zion is not a loser in the sense of “Why isn’t this so?” loser coming back from an injury? He loses, in this particular situation, because he risks missing a large chunk of another season to begin his frustrating career after it was revealed that he is not close to returning from a problem with the thigh muscles. When healthy, this guy is one of the most dynamic basketball players we've ever seen, but he's only exceeded the 60-game threshold twice in his six seasons and has fallen below 29 games three times, including the entire 2021 season -22 missed.
It sounds like Williamson could be out until mid-December… which could end up meaning Christmas… which could end up meaning 2025 Pelicans were hit harder than most by the injury episode this season (once already). Seven of their best players are out and they recently signed Elfrid Payton But Williamson's absence doesn't just impact the franchise and Zion himself. It also hurts the fans who are once again missing out on his unique talent.
Winner: Bizarre NBA story
Blazers rookie Donovan Clingan Had a night on Saturday, grabbing a career-best 19 rebounds in just 25 minutes. The story would have ended here if there hadn't been another important figure in one of the columns of the stat sheet. Clingan scored zero points in the game, making him the first player since 2012 Get at least 19 rebounds in a game while remaining scoreless.
The 7-foot-2 UConn product absolutely dominated the glass as a fill-in starter Deandre Aytonand probably would have contributed to his overall result had it not been for a moderate foul and a late knee injury. He's only the eighth player to achieve this…feat? The only players to do this more than once are Marcus Camby (2) and Dennis Rodman (7!), and Clingan definitely has a chance with the way he cleans up the glass and his, shall we say , limited offensive arsenal to join them in this phase of his career.
