- Celtics center Robert Williams III tweaked his knee and asked to come out of Game 4 on Friday, head coach Ime Udoka said, as relayed by Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). However, Williams is hopeful to play in Game 5. The shot-blocking big man has dealt with knee soreness for several weeks. Williams said he feels better and is relieved to have more of his usual explosion lately, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston tweets.
Former NBA big man Chinanu Onuaku, the reigning Israeli Winner League MVP with Bnei Herzliya, is set to work out for the Raptors, Mavericks and Celtics this month, per Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.
The Rockets selected the 6’10” Onuaku out of Louisville with the No. 37 pick in 2016. He appeared in just six games across two seasons with Houston, averaging 3.0 PPG, 2.3 RPG and 0.7 APG across 12.3 MPG.
Several EuroLeague teams, including Maccabi Tel Aviv, are interested in Onuaku following his strong performance in the Israeli League playoffs. He averaged 15.7 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals during the Israeli Winner League’s regular season.
Here are some other odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Brandon Davies is set to leave FC Barcelona and sign with Italian club Olimpia Milano, per Dario Skerletic of Sportando. The 30-year-old former NBA power forward went undrafted out of BYU in 2013, before latching on with the Sixers in the 2013/14 NBA season. He played 51 games for Philadelphia that year, then split his time between the Sixers and Nets in ’14/15. He holds career NBA averages of 3.7 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 78 contests.
- After spending the 2021/22 season with Chalons-Reims, former NBA forward Donte Grantham is signing with French team SLUC Nancy, according to Dario Skerletic of Sportando. Grantham played in just three games for Oklahoma City in 2018/19.
- Former Thunder guard Semaj Christon will sign with Italian club Bertram Derthona Tortona, writes Ennio Terrasi Borghesan of Sportando. Christon appeared in 64 games as OKC’s backup point guard in 2016/17.
Warriors big man Draymond Green hopes to improve his on-court performance during Golden State’s Finals series against the Celtics, and is doing his darnedest to avoid distractions from off-court bad actors, per Marc J. Spears of Andscape. Celtics fans erupted into an explicative-laden chant aimed at Green during the Warriors’ 116-100 Game 3 loss to the Boston.
“They are just talking,” Green said following the Wednesday loss. “Not really my job to react to them. They did what I expected… I have to come out and play with more force.”
The four-time All-Star, also a 2022 All-Defensive Second Team honoree, has had a lackluster Finals series. He is averaging 4.3 PPG, 5.8 APG, 7.3 RPG, and 4.5 fouls a night. He was benched for much of the fourth quarter during the Warriors’ 107-97 Game 4 road victory.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has enjoyed a masterful 2021/22 season with Golden State, opines Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. Kerr’s Warriors successfully knotted their 2022 Finals series against the Celtics 2-2 on Friday. It marks Golden State’s sixth Finals appearance during Kerr’s eight years with the club. Beyond the team’s core of All-Stars Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins, plus shooting guard Klay Thompson, and center Kevon Looney, Kawakami writes that Kerr has adeptly adjusted his rotations for the rest of the team’s personnel to fit a variety of on-court situations.
- The Kings, who have the fourth pick in the upcoming draft, have scheduled a workout with G League Ignite guard Dyson Daniels, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Daniels is currently ranked as the No. 6 prospect on ESPN’s big board. Robbins adds that Daniels has previously worked out for several other teams, including the Pistons and Spurs.
- Following a disappointing Western Conference Semifinals loss to the Mavericks, the Suns face an uncertain future. The team’s biggest decision this summer concerns the fate of restricted free agent center Deandre Ayton, who had an excellent regular season but struggled through an inconsistent postseason. In a pair of subscriber-only stories, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic identifies five things Phoenix should do if it wants to trade Ayton, and five things the club should do if it wants to retain him.
Coming off another poor shooting night, Jayson Tatum understands that he needs to improve for the Celtics to win the NBA title, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Tatum was 8-of-23 in the Game 4 loss and is shooting just 34% in the Finals.
“I give [the Warriors] credit,” he said. “They’re a great team. They’re playing well. They got a game plan, things like that. But it’s on me. I got to be better. I know I’m impacting the game in other ways, but I got to be more efficient, shoot the ball better, finish at the rim better. I take accountability for that.”
Tatum has been more effective as a passer than a shooter in the series, but Bontemps points out that he has 22 assists and four turnovers in Boston’s two wins, with nine assists and 10 turnovers in the two losses. Coach Ime Udoka believes Tatum is too focused on drawing fouls rather than trying to make his shots when there’s contact.
“At times he’s looking for fouls,” Udoka said. “They are a team that loads up in certain games. He’s finding the outlets. Shooting over two, three guys. That’s the balance of being aggressive and picking your spots and doing what he’s done in previous games, which is kicked it out and got wide-open looks. That’s the ongoing theme, so to speak. Him getting to the basket, being a scorer as well as a playmaker. They do a good job with their rotations. Sometimes hunting fouls instead of going to finish. I’ve seen that in a few games so far.”
There’s more on the Celtics:
- Boston has been mentioned in trade rumors involving numerous stars in recent years, but most of those deals fell through and the Celtics were forced to build through the draft rather than trying to form a super team, notes Sopan Deb of The New York Times. As a result, they have a young roster that looks like it can be a title contender for a long time.
- At 36, Al Horford has adopted an elder statesman role and he’s excited to see his younger teammates succeed, per Tania Ganguli of The New York Times. “They’re different, they’ve grown, they’re much better,” Horford said. “This is kind of their team. This is kind of their time, you know? And I’m just happy to be a part of it now.”
- Celtics assistant coach Damon Stoudamire wants the team to take inspiration from a tough loss he had with the Trail Blazers 22 years ago, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Portland led the Lakers by 13 points in the fourth quarter of Game 7 of the conference finals, but the game slipped away and Stoudamire never reached the NBA Finals as a player. “This group will never get this moment back,” he said of the current Celtics team. “That’s the way I look at it. But if we win together, we’ll be entrenched together. Our group texts now as a staff, as a team, it’ll be the group texts forever. We’ll share moments as a family because we won together. That, to me, is what this is all about.”
The Celtics struggled in Game 4 of the NBA Finals largely due to their stagnant offense, Jay King of The Athletic writes. Boston lost the game 107-97, shooting 40% from the floor with 15 turnovers. While Boston is an all-time great defensive team, it certainly shouldn’t be viewed in the same light offensively.
“We just have to stay organized,” star forward Jaylen Brown said. “That’s on our veteran players to get us organized in those moments. At times, we get unorganized and kind of get on top of each other. The spacing kind of closes down. That’s where some of those turnovers come from. We have to do a better job.”
Boston’s offense improved this season when the team — particularly Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum — committed to passing more. Tatum has continued that adjustment into the postseason, raising his assists per game from 4.4 to 6.2, while Smart has kept his average at a respectable 5.9.
The Celtics’ chances of winning the Finals may hinge on their ability to play in transition, keep the ball moving, and receive better play from Tatum. The 24-year-old finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in Game 4, but he shot just 8-of-23 (35%) from the floor and recorded six turnovers on the night.
There’s more from Boston today:
- Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times explores the Bulls‘ rumored interest in Jazz center Rudy Gobert. Chicago could make roster upgrades after losing in five games to Milwaukee during the first round, and Gobert may become available in trade talks. The Bulls ranked 23rd in defensive rating this season, although the team dealt with numerous injuries throughout the year.
- In her latest mailbag, Kelsey Russo of The Athletic examines the chances of a Ricky Rubio reunion and considers other potential Cavaliers free agent targets. Rubio was highly effective before suffering a torn ACL, helping keep the Cavs in the playoff mix in the Eastern Conference.
- The Hornets will work out six draft-eligible players on Saturday, the team announced on social media (Twitter link). Chattanooga’s Silvio De Sousa, Florida’s Anthony Duruji, the G League Ignite’s Jaden Hardy, Seton Hall’s Ike Obiagu, Notre Dame’s Blake Wesley and VCU’s Vince Williams will all work out for the club.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who injured his left foot in Wednesday’s Game 3 loss to the Celtics, went through shootaround on Friday and is feeling good, head coach Steve Kerr told reporters, including ESPN’s Kendra Andrews (Twitter link).
Curry, who had been listed as probable on the injury report for Game 4, will play on Friday and won’t be under any kind of minutes restriction, according to Andrews.
Curry came up limping with about four minutes left in the fourth quarter of Game 3 after Al Horford rolled onto his left leg while the two players battled for a loose ball. The two-time MVP was walking with a limp after the game and compared the injury to the left foot strain that cost him the final 12 games of the regular season, but said it was “not as bad” this time around.
With 31.3 points per game on .485/.486/.833 shooting through the first three games of the NBA Finals, Curry will have to play a key role if the Warriors hope to erase their 2-1 deficit and win their fourth championship in the last eight years.
Andre Iguodala (right knee inflammation) and Otto Porter Jr. (left foot soreness) are listed as questionable to play in Friday’s contest.
As great as Jayson Tatum is, he hasn’t been dominant in these playoffs and isn’t considered as a top-three NBA player like the stars on most recent champions have been, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic. If these Celtics win two more games, they would resemble champs like the 2014 Spurs or various Pistons squads (1989, 1990, 2004), according to Hollinger, who notes that those teams were extremely well-balanced but lacked a true mega-star in his prime.
Pointing to the recent success of teams like these Celtics and the 2021 Suns (who were two wins away from a championship), Hollinger wonders if we’re beginning to see a trend of teams whose postseason fortunes are determined “more by the strength of their weakest link and less by the greatness of their best player.”
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Holding only the No. 33 pick in this year’s draft, the Raptors are preparing for a wide number of scenarios on draft night, team executive Dan Tolzman told reporters on Wednesday. “We’re working really hard trying to narrow down the group of guys that we think we’re going to be looking at, and then trying to fine-tune who we like in that group,” Tolzman said, per Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. “But then you also have to kind of prepare for, you know, five to 10 guys that might drop to you just in case, and then how do they compare against the guys that we were preparing for that we expect to be there?” Tolzman added that the team expects the player it selects to be on next season’s roster, meaning a draft-and-stash selection is unlikely.
- Fred Katz and Andrew Schlecht of The Athletic spoke to a high-ranking scout and an Eastern Conference assistant general manager to get their thoughts on 11 players the Knicks may be considering with the No. 11 pick, including Ochai Agbaji (“I don’t think it’s a guarantee that he’s an elite shooter,” the assistant GM said), Dyson Daniels (“He’s probably not the full-time offensive engine”), and Tari Eason (“His game is as an energy big with a little bit of shooting”).
- The Nets announced this week that they’ve hired Sam Zussman to be the CEO of BSE Global, the team’s parent company. Zussman is expected to become the Nets’ alternative governor, according to the team.
1:43pm: “We expect (Curry) to play tomorrow,” Kerr told reporters, including Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). Kerr added that the team won’t practice Thursday and will instead use it as a rest and treatment day, tweets ESPN’s Kendra Andrews.
“I’m going to play. That is all I know right now,” Curry said, per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk (Twitter link).
11:51am: The Warriors are optimistic about Curry’s status for Game 4, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Curry apparently has avoided a major injury, won’t need an MRI, and plans to attend practice Thursday afternoon, says Charania.
7:36am: The Warriors fell behind 2-1 in the NBA Finals after losing to the Celtics in Game 3 on Wednesday, but they may have a more significant concern going forward than that one-game deficit. Star guard Stephen Curry sustained a left foot injury late in the game and likened it to the one he suffered vs. Boston in March, according to Kendra Andrews of ESPN.
Battling for a loose ball with just over four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Curry dove to the floor and got tangled up with Celtics big man Al Horford, who rolled onto Curry’s leg (video link). Curry came up limping, though he was able to stay on the court for nearly two more minutes before being subbed out once the Celtics put the game out of reach.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Curry said the injury felt similar to the left foot strain he suffered when Marcus Smart fell on his leg on March 16. That foot strain sidelined him for the final 12 games of the regular season, but the two-time MVP said it’s “not as bad” this time around and he’s hopeful the injury responds well to treatment over the next couple days.
“Obviously, in some pain, but I’ll be alright,” Curry said, according to Andrews. “We’ll see how it responds. Not much other to say. I don’t feel like I’ll miss a game. Take advantage of these next 48 hours to get ready.”
Head coach Steve Kerr told reporters that the team would know more about Curry’s status on Thursday.
Although Boston’s defense has made Curry work hard for his points in the first three games of the Finals, he’s still the series’ leading scorer by a comfortable margin, having put up 31.3 PPG on .485/.486/.833 shooting.
“We need him if we want to win this thing,” Klay Thompson said after Wednesday’s loss, per Andrews. “I know Steph is going to do everything he can in his power to play. I am really hoping he’s OK because he’s our identity, and without him, it will be very difficult.”
Smart, who was involved in the play that caused Curry’s initial left foot injury in March, defended his teammate Horford after the game, dismissing the idea that Horford’s play was a reckless or dirty one.
“It’s the Finals. You’ve got guys diving all over the place. Their guys are diving into us. We don’t say nothing,” Smart told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. “We’re getting hurt as well, but we continue to play. Nothing is intentional. It’s the Finals. We’re trying to win just like them. First one to the ball, as we all know, wins. They can complain all they want. It is what it is. There’s nothing dirty about it. It’s fair game. It’s fair basketball. It’s Finals basketball. … Nobody is out here trying to hurt anybody.”
Celtics big man Robert Williams is battling a knee injury that has sidelined him for several playoff games and limited his effectiveness in others, but head coach Ime Udoka has maintained a desire to use Williams whenever possible, writes Jay King of The Athletic. As King outlines, the Celtics view Williams as a foundational piece and want him to be “adaptable” to a variety of matchups — the Warriors’ offense presents some unique challenges for him to figure out.
“It’s the NBA Finals and we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to win,” Udoka said. “But this is the core group going forward, and to have the confidence to be able to figure it out with him is going to be big going forward.”
In Wednesday’s Game 3, Williams was a difference-maker on defense in the second half, registering three steals and a block during one impressive two-minute stretch and helping the Celtics limit Golden State to just 11 fourth-quarter points. The big man said his knee injury is one that would normally require more time off, but the extra days off after Games 1 and 2 have helped him, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
“I’m just trying to be accountable for my team,” Williams said, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link). “We made it this far. I had a discussion with myself about pushing through this, but I’m happy with how it’s going. We’ll worry about the injury at the end of the season. But for now, I’m still fighting.”
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- As they did repeatedly during the season’s second half and in the first three rounds of the playoffs, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown showed once again on Wednesday why the idea of breaking them up with a trade – a popular topic of speculation in the first half of 2021/22 – is one that shouldn’t come up again, writes Chris Mannix of SI.com.
- Tatum said earlier this week that he’s not sure why the debate over whether or not he’s a true superstar has been such a common one over the last couple years, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays. “I’ve seen there’s a huge debate: Is he a superstar or is he not? I want to know where that came from,” Tatum said. “… It’s been a big deal this last year and a half or two years. I see it all the time. There’s always been a question in the back of my head, I wonder who spoke on my behalf or said that or why that was such a big deal.” The Celtics forward added that he’s more concerned about winning a title than determining his individual standing in the NBA: “If you win a championship, they can debate a lot of things. They can’t debate whether or not you’re a champion.”
- In a separate story for ESPN, Bontemps takes an in-depth look at Al Horford‘s 15-year journey to his first NBA Finals and what the veteran big man means to the Celtics.
Jayson Tatum hasn’t forgotten the feeling of being passed over by the Lakers in the 2017 draft — or that the Celtics almost didn’t take him either, according to Ramona Shelburne and Elizabeth Merrill of ESPN. Tatum, who has become the biggest star among that year’s draft class, grew up as a Lakers fan and still offers subtle tributes to Kobe Bryant. L.A. owned the No. 2 pick, but was focused on Lonzo Ball, ending Tatum’s hopes of wearing purple and gold.
“The Lakers were my favorite team, and Kobe was my favorite player,” Tatum said. “So it was crazy that the Lakers had the second pick and I was so close to a dream come true. But it was just like they didn’t want anything to do with me at the time.”
Tatum had a strong pre-draft workout for Boston, which owned the top pick. Danny Ainge, who ran the Celtics at the time, had planned to take Markelle Fultz, but Fultz shot poorly at his workout and didn’t seem fully healthy, so Ainge traded down and grabbed Tatum at No. 3.
“After my workout, I remember one of the [Boston] scouts came up to me and said, ‘That was a great workout. I’m excited for you. But we got the No. 1 pick, so we’re not going to pick you,'” Tatum recalled. “He still works for the Celtics now, so I f— with him all the time.”
There’s more from Boston:
- Robert Williams has earned a new level of respect by playing in pain throughout the postseason, per Jay King of The Athletic. Williams has come a long way since college, when there were questions surrounding his work ethic and maturity level. “Rob has made huge jumps,” teammate Jaylen Brown said. “Not just in his game, but just the mental game. Just being able to be consistent, being able to be solid, being able to be available. And a lot of that comes from confidence. A lot of that comes from self belief, inner belief.” Williams was listed as questionable for tonight’s Game 3, but he’ll be in the starting lineup, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe.
- Marcus Smart tells Steve Bulpett of Heavy that the Celtics are stronger because of the trials they experienced during their 18-21 start. “We definitely made it hard on ourselves,” Smart said. “But, you know, we always hear the saying: if you want something great, it’s never gonna be easy to achieve it. So, you know, we take that full head-on as a team, we accept it and we ride with it.”
- After being traded to Boston by the Spurs, Derrick White found a lot of similarities in the system run by Ime Udoka, who was a former assistant in San Antonio, but he said the Celtics place more emphasis on physicality, Grant Afseth writes for Sports Illustrated. “In San Antonio, we had a lot of emphasis on not fouling,” White said. “To keep them [opponents] off the line. Obviously, they don’t want dumb fouls here, but I’m just trying to be more physical. Just little things like that.”