- Chris Forsberg of NBC Boston explores how Enes Kanter saved the Celtics’ season with his energetic play in the first half of Game 5. Kanter recorded eight points, four rebounds, and two assists in just over nine minutes, providing a spark to keep Boston within reach entering halftime. “[Kanter] kind of kept us at bay,” head coach Brad Stevens said. “We were struggling, they hit some really tough shots. [Duncan] Robinson was going nuts, and Kanter’s points in the paint, I thought, really helped. And kind of helped steady us and give us a chance at halftime, only being down 7.”
- With the Celtics in a 3-1 hole in the Eastern Conference Finals, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe explores the steps the team can take to win the series and advance to its first Finals appearance since 2010. Beyond this season, front office decisions loom on two playoff rotation Celtics: Brad Wanamaker, a restricted free agent with a cheap $1.8MM qualifying offer, and Daniel Theis, whose $5MM contract for next season becomes fully guaranteed in October. Fellow rotation players Gordon Hayward and Enes Kanter both have player options for 2020/21.
If the Celtics are unable to come back from a 3-1 deficit to knock off the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, they may not be able to help looking back on a pair of 50-50 outcomes from past drafts that didn’t go in their favor.
As Sam Amick of The Athletic details, the first of those draft-day coin flips came in 2011, when the Celtics owned the 27th overall pick and had narrowed down their choice to JaJuan Johnson or Jimmy Butler. Boston selected Johnson, allowing Butler to fall to Chicago at No. 30. Today, Johnson is eight years removed from playing in his last NBA game, while Butler is on the verge of eliminating the C’s from the postseason (albeit after changing teams three times).
Meanwhile, Game 4 star Tyler Herro, who established a new career high on Wednesday with 37 points, was selected by the Heat in the 2019 draft at No. 13, one pick ahead of the Celtics at No. 14. Those draft slots were as a result of a three-team tiebreaker for the Nos. 12-14 selections, after Charlotte, Miami, and Sacramento all finished the season with identical records. The Hornets won the tiebreaker and claimed the No. 12 pick, while the Heat got No. 13. The C’s, who owned the Kings’ pick, ended up at No. 14.
As A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston writes, there was a “collective moan” among the Celtics’ brass after the Heat selected Herro at No. 13 a year ago, since the C’s had their eye on the Kentucky sharpshooter. They would have had a shot to draft him if they’d had better luck in that draft tiebreaker.
Raptors shooting guard Norman Powell had his best year ever in 2019/20 at age 26, prompting Eric Koreen of The Athletic to wonder whether or not this offseason may be the perfect time to trade Powell. He is set to earn $10.9MM in 2020/21, and has an $11.6MM player option for 2021/22.
Koreen posits that Powell may be able to command more money on the open market were he to opt out of the final year of his deal. If the Raptors re-sign guard Fred VanVleet, who figures to be one of the premiere free agents in 2020, Koreen opines that flipping Powell’s contract ahead of a free agent-heavy 2021 offseason may make the most sense for Toronto’s future team-building.
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Following a two-day hotel quarantine, the Knicks started their first in-market group workouts under new head coach Tom Thibodeau today at their Westchester Country training facility, according to Steve Popper of Newsday. Popper reports that nearly all Knicks players, including everyone on a team option for next season, participated in individual workouts last week.
- Unrestricted Nets free agent wing Joe Harris, one of the best three-point shooters in the league, will not be wanting for suitors during the offseason, Brian Lewis of the New York Post reports. Teams with cap space Lewis anticipates having interest include the Knicks, Hawks, Hornets and Timberwolves, though Harris might also be targeted as part of a sign-and-trade deal for an over-the-cap club, such as the Warriors or Sixers. Both Golden State and Philadelphia project to be taxpayers, which would complicate any sign-and-trade deal.
- Celtics small forward Jaylen Brown has quietly ascended during the NBA’s Disney World restart to become one of the key leaders for Boston, Marcus Thompson of The Athletic writes in an extensive profile.
Celtics rookie guard Romeo Langford underwent surgery on Tuesday morning to repair the scapholunate ligament in his right wrist, the team announced (via Twitter). He’ll miss the rest of the 2019/20 season as a result of the procedure.
Langford tore ligaments in his shooting wrist in August. Although he was able to play through the injury, the team always expected him to undergo surgery to address the issue after the season. Having suffered a separate adductor injury during Game 2 of the Celtics’ series vs. Miami, Langford’s availability going forward was in jeopardy, so he has undergone the wrist procedure early, ending his season.
The 14th overall pick in the 2019 draft, Langford appeared in 32 regular season games for Boston, averaging 2.5 PPG and 1.3 RPG on .350/.185/.720 shooting in extremely limited playing time (11.6 MPG).
The former Indiana standout, who turns 21 next month, will enter the 2020/21 season looking to secure a spot in the Celtics’ regular rotation.
When the NBA’s postseason began just over a month ago, the Lakers were coming off a shaky 3-5 showing in the summer seeding games, and had roughly the same odds as the Clippers and Bucks to win the 2020 NBA championship, according to most sportsbooks.
Five weeks later, the Clippers and Bucks have been eliminated from title contention, as have many of the teams viewed as second-tier title threats, such as Toronto, Philadelphia, and Houston. The Lakers hold a commanding 2-0 lead over the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, while neither the Heat nor the Celtics have looked especially dominant in the Eastern Finals.
In other words, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the rest of the Lakers find themselves in a great position to finish off an impressive playoff run and bring home the franchise’s first championship since 2010. The oddsmakers at BetOnline.ag currently list the Lakers as -350 favorites, meaning you’d have to risk $350 in order to win just $100 for an L.A. title.
While the Lakers may be the overwhelming favorites for now, it’s a little early to pencil them in as the NBA’s 2020 champions. After all, the Nuggets were just a Davis buzzer-beater away from pulling even at one game apiece in the Western Finals — and even down 2-0, Denver is hardly about to roll over, having already overcome a pair of 3-1 deficits in these playoffs.
If the Lakers can put away the Nuggets, they’ll enter the NBA Finals as heavy favorites, but the Celtics and Heat shouldn’t be overlooked either. Boston dominated Joel Embiid and the Sixers before eliminating the defending-champion Raptors – who had the league’s second-best record this season – in perhaps the most hard-fought series of the postseason.
As for the Heat, Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s ankle injury helped them finish off Milwaukee, but they’d played better than the 56-17 Bucks even before Antetokounmpo got hurt. Knocking off the Pacers, Bucks, and Celtics would represent an impressive path to the Finals for Miami.
Either Eastern team will also benefit from playing in the Disney World bubble, where home-court advantage is essentially nonexistent and the Lakers’ regular-season edge wouldn’t give them an extra Finals game at Staples Center. Still, L.A. has shown so far that it doesn’t need the help that home-court advantage provides.
What do you think? Are you confident the Lakers will win the Finals and get LeBron his fourth ring, or will one of the other three teams still alive play spoiler and take this year’s crown?
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Gordon Hayward not only returned to the court to help the Celtics grab a much-needed win Saturday night, he announced that he will remain with the team for the remainder of its playoff run, writes Mark Medina of USA Today.
Hayward had been planning to be with his wife when she gives birth to their fourth child sometime this month. But he said that changed after his he left Orlando to visit her while he was sidelined with a sprained ankle.
“A little bit lucky that Robyn was already there in (Indianapolis), so I was able to be at home and get great treatment,” Hayward said. “But that wasn’t in the plan. Robyn could be having a baby at any point in time. It’s probably something I’ll be here. By the time I get back, I might miss the birth if she goes in and she rushes to the hospital. We discussed it and we prayed about it. I think it’s probably best if I stay here and help our team.”
The Celtics weren’t sure that Hayward would be available Saturday until he went through pre-game warm-ups. He told the training staff that his ankle felt good, and he was cleared to play.
Although coach Brad Stevens had planned to limit Hayward’s court time in his first game in a month, the forward wound up playing 31 minutes and contributing six points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. He provided an emotional lift to a team that had been reeling after blowing big leads in the first two games of the series and went through a locker room meltdown after Game 2.
“He did what he’s done all year. He didn’t shoot it quite as much, but he is a stabilizing force for our team,” Stevens said. “He just can make the right play and make a play for somebody else at the right time.”
Hayward suffered the injury, which was diagnosed as a Grade III ankle sprain, during Boston’s playoff opener against the Sixers. He left for Indiana soon afterward and returned on September 6. After four days of quarantine, Hayward spent most of his time in the gym and the pool working to get back into game shape.
“It definitely felt weird out there,” he told Sam Amick of The Athletic. “It’s been four or five weeks … since I played basketball, so I think it was really fun to be back out there with the team, with the guys. I just tried to impact our team in winning ways — whatever I could do. The first five minutes, I was gassed. I’m extremely tired right now. My ankle’s pretty sore. But I’m just proud of the way we fought, and proud of us getting the win.”
6:40pm: Hayward is available for tonight’s game and will come off the bench, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
2:40pm: Down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics may get an important part of their rotation back for tonight’s Game 3, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Wojnarowski cites “significiant optimism” that Gordon Hayward will return to the lineup, as long as he doesn’t suffer a setback to his sprained right ankle during pregame warm-ups.
Hayward has been sidelined for about a month with the injury, which was diagnosed as a Grade III sprain, but has made progress in the past few days, according to Woj. The Celtics officially updated his status to questionable on Friday’s injury report.
The 30-year-old forward was injured in the opening game of Boston’s first-round series against the Sixers. He briefly left the Disney World campus following the injury, but returned two weeks ago.
Hayward appeared fully healthy this season for the first time since he signed with the Celtics in 2017. He became a full-time starter again and averaged 17.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 52 games.
Throughout the season, Hoops Rumors takes a closer look at players who will be free agents or could become free agents this off-season. With the playoffs ongoing at the Orlando campus, it’s time to examine if their stock is rising or falling due to performance and other factors.
Daniel Theis, Celtics, 28, C (Up) – Signed to a two-year, $10MM deal in 2019
Heading into the playoffs, no one quite knew what the Celtics’ big man rotation would look like. There’s no doubt right now which center coach Brad Stevens trusts the most. Theis has played heavy minutes when he’s been able to stay out of foul trouble. He averaged 30.1 MPG in the seven-game series against the Raptors and was productive (10.1 PPG, 8.3 RPG) while keeping turnovers to a minimum (1.0). He’s averaged 33.5 MPG thus far against the Heat. Moreover, the Celtics’ staff trusts that Theis can switch onto a variety of players defensively. His $5MM salary for next season isn’t guaranteed but it’s hard to imagine Boston would let him go.
Marcus Morris, Clippers, 31, PF (Down) – Signed to a one-year, $15MM deal in 2019
Morris had an interesting and controversial journey through free agency last summer. He reneged a two-year agreement with San Antonio and signed a one-year, $15MM pact with the Knicks. When the Clippers acquired Morris at the trade deadline, he was viewed as potentially the final piece to a championship puzzle. The Clippers crashed and burned in part because Morris was a non-factor as the series against the Nuggets wore on. In the last two games, Morris averaged 6.0 PPG and shot 3-for-14 from the field. He was better at being an irritant than a difference-maker. It will be interesting to see if his price tag drops this offseason.
Serge Ibaka, Raptors, 31, PF/C (Up) – Signed to a three-year, $65MM deal in 2017
Ibaka had a strong postseason run while coming off the bench. He averaged 14.8 PPG, 7.7 RPG and 1.3 BPG in 22.8 MPG while making 51.1% of his 3-point attempts. Ibaka turns 31 on Friday but he’ll receive his biggest birthday gift in the coming months when the Raptors or some other suitor hands him a lucrative deal. ESPN’s Bobby Marks believes he will get full $9.3MM mid-level exception offers from playoff teams without cap space but that Toronto may offer a one-year deal at $18MM to keep him and preserve cap space for next summer.
Monte Morris, Nuggets, 25, PG (Up) – Signed to a three-year, $4.66MM deal in 2018
When Malik Beasley was dealt to the Timberwolves in February, Morris became the clear-cut backup to Jamal Murray. He’s been a key piece off the bench during the Nuggets’ dream run to the Western Conference Finals. Morris averaged just 16.6 MPG against the Clippers but scored in double digits four times during the series. He’s also played smart and poised, making more steals (10) than turnovers (8) in 297 minutes during the first two playoff series. Morris has a $1.66MM non-guaranteed salary for next season. That seems like a very big bargain.
Meyers Leonard, Heat, 28, PF/C (Down) – Signed to a four-year, $41MM deal in 2016
The Heat have received significant contributions from a good chunk of their roster during their surprising carpet ride to the Eastern Conference Finals. Leonard hasn’t been among that group. Leonard, who made $11.3MM this season, was a starter until February when he suffered an ankle injury. He’s been relegated to cheerleading status during the restart, appearing in two seeding games and one postseason game. He was mainly a second-unit player in Portland before this season and he’ll have to compete for a rotation spot wherever he lands next season.
- Following an emotional postgame locker room conversation, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens held a late-evening hotel meeting with four of his frustrated stars, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart met with Stevens to unpack their feelings following a Game 2 loss to the Heat that puts Boston in an 0-2 hole for the Eastern Conference Finals.
- Celtics forward Gordon Hayward is hoping to return to action for Game 3 on Saturday, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link). Hayward’s addition to the active roster would give Boston much-needed lineup flexibility and shooting help.