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If you haven’t watched “Shogun” yet, what have you been doing? Besides reading this newsletter, of course …
Sunsetting
The Suns are in trouble
The Minnesota Timberwolves are bullies – at least, that’s been the case in their series against the Phoenix Suns so far. They beat up and embarrassed the Suns in Game 1. In Game 2, the Wolves did it again. This time, though, it wasn’t Anthony Edwards doing spectacular stuff and talking trash on the way to victory. It wasn’t even Karl-Anthony Towns going off. (Ant had 15 points on 3-of-12 shooting and eight assists. Towns finished with 12 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes.)
Last night’s full moon saw Minnesota dominate Phoenix with a 105-93 win, but the score was not that close. The Wolves controlled the entire second half by just being physical and forcing the Suns to be uncomfortable. Rudy Gobert locked them down. Jaden McDaniels did the same while scoring a game-high 25. Mike Conley Jr. was the best guard on the floor most of the night.
Phoenix couldn’t get into its sets efficiently, so the Suns fought quicksand all night. Minnesota forced 20 turnovers and scored 31 points off those mistakes. The Suns? They had just two points off the Wolves’ 14 turnovers. Nothing was easy for them, so they got bumped off the court.
Things were going so well and so easy for the Wolves, Ant dapped up referee Zach Zarba in the third quarter. It was a one-point game, but the Wolves could not have been calmer. The great part about that was Zarba wasn’t trying to give Ant a handshake. He was simply trying to get him ushered over to the inbound spot.
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The Suns are in trouble heading back home. This feels a lot like their series against Denver last year. They must overhaul their playing style to get back into this. Otherwise, they’ll be pushed right to Cancun.
More from last night:
Pacers 125, Bucks 108 (series tied 1-1)
- What’s the storyline? The road team won! And what many of us predicted for Game 1 occurred in Game 2. Milwaukee couldn’t keep Indy from scoring whenever it wanted. However, if you want 🌶️, Bobby Portis called the Pacers frontrunners for only talking when they’re up.
- Who performed? We got another big game from Damian Lillard (34 points), but the trio of Pascal Siakam (37-11-6), Myles Turner (22-7-6 and three blocks) and Andrew Nembhard (20 points) was too much for the Bucks. Tyrese Haliburton had only 12 points but dished 12 assists.
- Who came up short? The Bucks’ defense gave up 52 points in the paint, the one area it’s supposed to expertly protect.
- What’s needed in Game 3? In three words: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s return. Milwaukee needs its unstoppable force to pressure Indy. Shams has more on that below.
Mavericks 96, Clippers 93 (series tied 1-1)
- What’s the storyline? Kawhi Leonard is back after missing the Game 1 win, but things didn’t go well for the Clippers, who looked completely out of rhythm on offense. Some of that was imposed by the Mavs’ defense, but the rest was just bad shot-making. They couldn’t keep up with Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. A Paul George 3-pointer at the buzzer made it a one-possession loss. Also, watch this Luka pass.
- Who performed? Luka had 32 points, nine assists and six rebounds. Kyrie had 23 points. And 15 of PJ Washington’s 18 points came in the second half. James Harden had 22 points and eight assists.
- Who came up short? Kawhi had 15 points on 17 shots without a 3 and attempted just two free throws. The Clippers shot 36.8 percent.
- What’s needed in Game 3? Ball movement! LA’s offense was constipated and needs to get the ball moving against Dallas.
The Latest From Shams
Giannis update; Bulls make changes
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is progressing in his recovery from a calf injury, doing some ballhandling drills and stationary jump shooting, league sources tell me. But I’m told this is more of a two- to four-week injury from the time he was hurt in terms of a possible return, and Tuesday marked exactly two weeks since Giannis exited the game against the Celtics.
Giannis missed Milwaukee’s final three regular-season games and the first two games of the Bucks’ series against the Pacers, which we now know will go at least five games after Indiana tied things up 1-1 last night. We’ll see how the two-time MVP continues to progress.
In Chicago, Bulls assistant Maurice Cheeks is expected to depart from his full-time, on-bench role on Billy Donovan’s staff, league sources tell me, though Cheeks could remain in another role under Donovan. Cheeks has coached under Donovan since 2015, first in Oklahoma City and then Chicago. Assistant Chris Fleming also is no longer part of the Bulls’ staff, I’m told, while assistant John Bryant is expected to move to the front of the bench next season.
Wemby or Joker?
Who would you start your team with?
One of the best arguments basketball fans love to have is which player they would pick to start a franchise. Who do you want to build around? NBA players seem no different. In the Anonymous Players Poll done by Sam Amick, Josh Robbins and The Athletic staff, we received 136 votes from players answering that very question. Maybe they know what is coming after the historic rookie season we just saw in San Antonio.
Rookie of the Year favorite Victor Wembanyama (20 years old) received 27.9 percent of the vote, edging out reigning Finals MVP Nikola Jokić and his 27.2 percent share. That’s insane when you think about it! I’m not sure it’s even wrong because there are plenty of ways to slice this up, but that’s how much of an impact Wemby had on the league in Year One.
Jokić is likely to win his third MVP in four years. He’s the defending champ and might be the favorite to win another title and another Finals MVP. The Joker doesn’t turn 30 until next February, with no sign of him slowing down. Maybe players think he’ll leave in a couple years to take care of his horses?
Don’t get me wrong. Wemby is awesome. I might pick him too. He’s insanely young and already a defensive monster despite not knowing what he’s doing there. He’s also a monster on offense without knowing what he’s doing on that side either. Wemby is only going to improve, but it feels like we have a boat versus the mystery box situation here.
The Most Improved?
Tyrese Maxey wins honor after career season
Yesterday, the league announced its first award of the 2023-24 season, with Most Improved Player honors going to Sixers All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey. He’s the second 76ers player to win the award (Dana Barros, 1994-95). Interestingly enough, Maxey only appeared on 79 of the 100 ballots but got the most first-place votes (51), which helped him garner 319 voting points to edge out Bulls guard Coby White, who finished with 305 voting points and appeared on 91 ballots.
My official ballot had one of the 32 first-place votes that went to Coby White. I also voted for Maxey and Alperen Şengün on the other two spots for my ballot. While Maxey and Şengün were fantastic, I felt their play improved last season before they enjoyed higher usage volume this season. But with White (24 years old), he was not nearly this good at any previous point of his career and completely grew his impact this season.
Bounce Passes
Looks like a Jokić brother punched a fellow fan in Denver. I’m sure the Nuggets will act swiftly. 🙄
These Last Two-Minute reports remain entirely useless.
Legendary Purdue big man Zach Edey is declaring for the 2024 draft. Where is he going?
Screen Game (All times Eastern)
- Game You Want Most: Pelicans–Thunder (9:30 p.m. ESPN). Let’s hope we get another matchup like Game 1.
- Game You Have First: Heat-Celtics (7 p.m. ESPN). You must eat your vegetables before getting your steak.
(Top photo: David Berding / Getty Images )
