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Good outlook after Steph’s ankle diagnosis
An ankle roll on Wednesday, March 16 could have changed the landscape of the Western Conference playoffs.
Boston guard Marcus Smart rolled over Golden State guard Steph Curry’s left ankle. He would leave the game and not return.
The Celtics eventually beat the Warriors, 110-88, but the bigger storyline was the status of the Bay Area superstar.
Golden State head coach Steve Kerr and Smart had words, as the three-time championship coach was visibly upset and kept repeating, “You don’t do that,” citing it as “dangerous.”
Both spoke after the game and downplayed the intensity of the conversation. Kerr coaches Smart as part of USA Basketball.
Curry has had a history of lower leg injuries as this one was diagnosed as a sprained left foot.
He is expected to miss the final five games of the regular season.
Golden State has been open about wanting to build the continuity, as they have only logged 11 minutes on the floor together according to CBSsports.com.
As of now, the Warriors are 48-29 and are in fourth place in the West, two games up on Utah.
Forward Draymond Green went on record, saying regardless of seeding, Golden State will win a championship.
Bey’s 50-piece
Hoops fans have been treated to big scoring nights almost every week in the NBA.
A 134-120 win for the Detroit Pistons over the Orlando Magic provided the next one.
Detroit forward Saddiq Bey accounted for the league’s eighth 50-point game of March. There have been 17 total such games this year.
According to ESPN, December 1962 is the only month with more 50-point games with nine.
Bey had 30 points at halftime on the way to 51 points on 17-of-27 from the field including 10-of-14 from three-point range.
He also added nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
It was the first 50-point game for Detroit since October 2018 when all-star former Blake Griffin did it.
Bey became the seventh Piston in history to do it, becoming the youngest in the process at 22 years old.
LeBron passes Malone on all-time scoring list
The historic run toward basketball’s Mt. Rushmore hit another all-time checkpoint on the route for future Hall-of-Famer LeBron James.
With one basket, James moved one step closer to another level of basketball immortality.
At the 5:20-mark of the second quarter of a road game against the Washington Wizards, the man known as “King James” made more history.
He scored career points 36,909 and 910 on a layup diving to the basket of an eventual 127-119 loss for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Coming into the game, he needed 21 points and crossed that threshold in less than 15 minutes on the floor.
James finished with 38 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
The 37-year-old now only trails Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38, 387 points) on the all-time points list.
Last week, James became the first player in NBA history to record 10K points, rebounds and assists.
Nurkic tosses phone in verbal altercation with fan
A postgame interaction between Portland Trail Blazer center Jusuf Nurkic and a fan front row in Indianapolis Sunday, March 20 has fans talking.
In a game where the Pacers beat the Blazers, 129-98, Nurkic approached a fan who was sitting in the front row.
Nurkic was dressed in street clothes and did not play in the game.
A video from the incident surfaced showing Nurkic walking from the other side of the court to confront a fan, who is holding a cup which may or may not contain alcohol.
After approaching the fan, Nurkic says something to the fan before taking his cell phone and launching it a few rows back before ultimately turning around and walking away.
Details surfaced later that the fan allegedly said, “Your mom is trash” and “Your grandma’s a [expletive].”
Nurkic lost his grandmother due to COVID-19 in 2020 and often wears a chain with her picture as the pendant.
He was fined $40,000 while there has been no word on the fan’s punishment.
Earlier this season, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James had a fan removed from the front row of the same Gainbridge Fieldhouse.