Three Things To Know is NBC’s five-days-a-week wrap-up of the night before in the NBA. Check out NBCSports.com every weekday morning to catch up on what you missed the night before plus the rumors, drama, and dunks that make the NBA must-watch.
1) Should NBA turn to target score for overtime?
Overtime should not only decide a winner for the game but also give fans edge-of-your-seat drama. It should be intense, nail-biting minutes. The NFL and NHL get that with their sudden-death, score-and-you-win systems (the NFL’s is slightly modified, but it still works).
NBA overtimes often lack that tension, that level of intensity.
The league may have found the answer in a G-League experiment this season — setting a target score and having teams race to it. Wouldn’t NBA overtime be more dramatic and more entertaining if it was “first team to score 12 points wins” rather than playing five minutes?
It’s an idea that could be on its way in the coming years — the reports out of the G-League is that their target score is a hit with front offices, coaches and fans. Since the NBA uses the G-League as its petri dish to experiment with new ideas, and this ending is thriving there… don’t be shocked if this ends up in the NBA in the next couple of years.
The NBA has been using the Elam Ending — or what they will call the target score ending — for a few years now. Fans will recognize it from the All-Star Game, where the target score to win is 24 more than the team with the lead at the end of the third quarter (24 for Kobe Bryant, so if the West leads 110-100 then the target score is 134, the first team to the number wins). It’s worked well and added a little drama to an otherwise often dull game that lacks intensity.
So why not bring it to overtime of NBA regular season games? As noted, the NBA tried it out this season in the G-League — the first team to score eight wins — and the buzz has been good. John Hollinger summed it up well writing at The Athletic after the G-League Showcase in Las Vegas just before Christmas.
That change got a thumbs-up from NBA personnel I spoke to, with the consensus being that NBA overtimes are too long right now and deflate drama from the end of the fourth quarter. The target score also eliminated the chance of multiple overtimes and the crazy player minute situations they can engender. The G League staffers all love it, too.
The number needs to be higher than eight points for the NBA overtime, a dozen give or take a couple makes sense. Hollinger noted that the new ending created its own strategies in OT.
If your opponent is three points away from the target score, do you foul to eliminate losing on a 3-pointer? Concede a layup to do the same? (I saw a couple of teams in this situation hug all the shooters and leave gaping holes down Main Street).
This should be a regular season thing only — get to the playoffs and I want the potential drama of multiple overtimes, and the intensity on every possession is already there. Think of it like the NHL, which during the regular season plays 3-on-3 hockey in overtime for five minutes, then if nobody scored they go to a shootout. However, in the playoffs, it’s regular 5-on-5 hockey and sudden death — the first team to score wins. There is no reason the regular season and playoff overtime rules need to be the same.
Also, this does not mean the NBA should put a target score in at the end of the fourth quarter — keep the 48 minutes at 48 minutes. Don’t mess with the regular four quarter game. But overtime in the NBA can often lack the drama it should have — a target score could help change that.
2) Jokic, Denver beat Boston and… are the Nuggets the best team in the West?
In a wide-open Western conference, why not the Denver Nuggets?
Denver showed how dangerous it could be Sunday night as Nikola Jokic put up another triple-double with 30 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists — and the Denver Nuggets shot their way past the Boston Celtics, 123-111 in a battle of the teams in first place in each conference.
30 PTS, 12 REB, 12 AST… Nikola Jokic wasted no time recording his first triple-double of 2023 👀@nuggets roll to the home win pic.twitter.com/k4x0At3PrW
— NBA (@NBA) January 2, 2023
This was one of those nights where the Nuggets couldn’t miss, shooting 57% overall and hitting 17-of-30 from 3. The Nuggets have been hot shooting for a while and have won 10-of-12, and more importantly, their bottom five defense before this run has been a respectable 12th in the league over the past dozen games.
Jaylen Brown had 30 and Jayson Tatum 25, but the Celtics shot 9-of-33 (27.3%) from 3 on the night.
This game featured a lengthy delay after a Robert Williams III dunk knocked one of the rims askew and a crew of six, plus a couple of ladders and workers with a level had to come out and straighten the thing.
Nuggets players were playing rock-paper-scissors with a fan during 38-minute delay 😂💙 pic.twitter.com/0L3qL0jJPt
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 2, 2023
Even after that Brown was not happy.
“There was no communication. They spent all that time trying to fix it, but when we came back, it still looked like it wasn’t even level, in my opinion. So we just wasted all that time,” Brown said, via the Associated Press.”That has an effect on the game. That’s how injuries and stuff happen. Luckily, that didn’t [happen], but that wasn’t good. That whole process was handled poorly, in my opinion, and that had an effect as well. But luckily nobody got hurt.”
The Nuggets, when they defend like this, are legit. They could come out of the West this season.
3) Ja Morant puts up 35 in the Grizzlies win, then makes young fan’s day
The Grizzlies kept right on rolling Sunday night as Ja Morant scored 35 points and his Grizzlies pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Sacramento Kings 118-108.
Dishing, dunking, doing it all 🐻
Ja Morant opened 2023 with 35 PTS, 8 REB, 5 AST & a @memgrizz win! pic.twitter.com/48m4TsgCoM
— NBA (@NBA) January 2, 2023
However, the highlight of the night was Morant making a young Grizzlies fan’s day by giving him his game shoes after the win.
Dillon Brooks added 15 for the Grizzlies, while Steven Adams tied his career-high with 23 rebounds.
In a season with a lot of 40+ and 50+ point games, Donovan Mitchell looked at Luka and said, “hold my postgame recovery beer…”
Mitchell dropped 71 on the Bulls Monday night — and the Cavaliers needed all of that to get the overtime win over the Bulls.
71 PTS
8 REB
11 AST
WDonovan Mitchell sets a new scoring record for the Cleveland Cavaliers and becomes only the 7th player in NBA history to score 70+ points in a game. pic.twitter.com/qbOwr3sqyH
— NBA (@NBA) January 3, 2023
pic.twitter.com/kKc7GrKJAl
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) January 3, 2023
Mitchell scored 13 of those points in overtime but it only got to that point because he hit the shot of the night, executing the missed free throw and putback with three seconds left in the game.
YOU WATCHING THIS??!! #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/U5CWlRj7oT
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) January 3, 2023
Mitchell — exhausted and breathing very heavily by the end — finished hitting 22-of-34 overall, 7-of-15 from 3, got to the line 25 times, and dished out 11 assists (he accounted for 99 of the Cavaliers’ 145 points).
That 71 is a career-high for Mitchell, the most points ever scored in a game by a Cavaliers player, and the most points scored by a player this season. Only six other players in NBA history have topped the 70-point mark: Wilt Chamberlain (six times), Elgin Baylor, David Thompson, David Robinson, Kobe Bryant and Devin Booker.
It still took overtime for the Cavaliers to earn the win as the Bulls got 44 from DeMar DeRozan and 26 from Zach LaVine, but it wasn’t enough.
Not against Donovan Mitchell on this night.
This is concerning and could potentially sideline the Pelicans’ scoring machine for weeks.
Zion Williamson left the game against the 76ers with a right hamstring strain, the team announced.
Zion Williamson (right hamstring strain) will not return to tonight’s game
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) January 3, 2023
There was no update from coach Willie Green after the game, who said Zion would undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the injury. There are different levels of strains, however, even a mild one could see Zion sidelined for a couple of weeks. Hamstrings are slow to heal and easy to re-injure, teams are cautious with that injury, and the Pelicans are particularly cautious with Zion.
Zion is averaging 26 points a game on 60.2% shooting, plus grabbing seven rebounds a game, and the Pelicans outscore their opponents by 7.3 points per 100 possessions when he is on the court (he had 26 in this game before the injury). Zion has developed into an impossible matchup and offensive force who looks like an All-NBA player when he is on the court. He has missed eight games this season (playing in 29) and the Pelicans have gone 6-2 in those games.
New Orleans also remains without Brandon Ingram, who has been out since late November with a sprained big toe but is reportedly close to a return.
New Orleans fell to the 76ers 120-111 on a night Joel Embiid had 44 points and 11 rebounds.
NEW YORK (AP) — Julius Randle had 28 points and 16 rebounds to lead the New York Knicks to a 102-83 win over the Phoenix Suns on Monday in New York.
“My teammates are getting me the ball in the right spots. They’re getting me going early,” Randle said. “It’s just focus and effort, night in and night out.”
Jalen Brunson, who returned after missing three games with a sore right hip, scored 24 points. Immanuel Quickley scored 15 points, Quentin Grimes had 12 and Mitchell Robinson finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks.
“I shot 6-of-11 from the foul line. There’s the rust,” Brunson said. “I started out 0-for-3 and didn’t finish the game the way I wanted to shooting-wise. But I was still in rhythm. I feel I can be more efficient, but I was just happy to be back out there.”
Deandre Ayton led Phoenix with 12 points. Chris Paul had 11 and Mikal Bridges added 10.
The Suns, who lost for the sixth time in their last seven games, scored the first four points of the game. The Knicks followed with the next 14 and led the rest of the way.
New York went ahead 23-11 after the first quarter, the lowest total allowed to any opponent in any quarter by the Knicks since Feb. 1, 2020 (vs. Indiana).
Phoenix pulled to within 11, but a 21-0 Knicks run produced a game-high 32-point lead, 52-20.
The Suns ended the second quarter on an 11-2 streak and trailed 54-31. Phoenix tied for the fewest halftime points scored by a Knicks opponent since Orlando also scored 31 on April 11, 2015.
“Defensively, we had to get back to our ways,” Randle said. “When we won eight in a row, the defensive end was big for us. We feel that rhythm and chemistry coming back on that end.”
The Knicks went up 74-43 following a 10-run but had their lead cut to 79-58 after the third quarter.
“I thought the way our guys came out, they played really hard defensively and played very unselfish offensively,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau. “It is sometimes difficult to play with a lead like that, but I thought our guys did a good job of playing tough. They can make up ground quickly the way they shoot threes. That was a big concern.”
The Suns, who scored a season low, only got as close as 18 points, 83-65, in the fourth quarter.
“It is a mind-boggling thing,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “The frustration comes in for us because we’ve been a team that can overcome that when we are not shooting the ball well. Mentally and emotionally, I have to get our guys stronger. We haven’t been able to handle those kinds of lapses this year.”
It’s all about the money. Always.
There’s a lot of money in the Middle East — and significant national investment funds that buy into sports teams — and not so coincidentally, the NBA is planning a return trip there next preseason with a game again in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), reports Marc Stein in his latest newsletter.
After the NBA staged its first exhibition games in the region in October, with Milwaukee and Atlanta squaring off twice in the United Arab Emirates, league sources say there are plans for the Luka Dončić-led Dallas Mavericks to play a preseason game next season in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi…
Sources tell me that USA Basketball, furthermore, is in the process of arranging a preparatory stay in Abu Dhabi in August before it proceeds to the 2023 FIBA World Cup, which will be staged from Aug. 25-Sept. 10, 2023, in Indonesia, Japan and The Philippines.
Dallas is expected to play Real Madrid, Doncic’s former team before being drafted into the NBA.
Let’s be clear: This clashes with the league’s stated values. The UAE has criminalized homosexuality. If you remember, the NBA moved its 2017 All-Star Weekend out of Charlotte partly because of the anti-LBGT “bathroom law” passed in the state, plus LBGT employees within the league didn’t feel comfortable attending given the new law in North Carolina. More than this one area, the UAE is a nation with serious and considerable human rights questions and violations (as reported by the US State Department, among others).
“It’s a fair question,” Silver said last April when confronted with the question of the NBA playing in nations with these records and laws. “We continue to believe that using sports, using basketball, we can improve people’s lives through sport and that, as Nelson Mandela famously said, sport can change the world.
“Part of why we choose certain markets is of course economics — there’s no question about that. It’s enormously expensive and resource-driven to bring teams around the world. We also want to try bringing our games to places we haven’t been before and the Middle East is one of those markets. We look at many different factors in terms of how we travel. … But our ultimate goal is to bring our games to everywhere around the world.”
Put another way, it’s about the money. That’s not to say the NBA has gone full FIFA yet, but the league should have to discuss the motives and what it hopes to gain from these trips.
