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NBA Denies Knicks’ Protest Of Loss To Rockets

February 28th, 2024 at 2:45pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has denied the Knicks‘ protest of their February 12 loss to the Rockets, the league announced today in a press release (Twitter link).

The Knicks lost the game 105-103 after Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was called for a foul on Rockets guard Aaron Holiday as Holiday launched a desperation three-pointer in the game’s final second. Holiday made two game-winning free throws with 0.3 seconds left on the clock (video link).

Both the NBA’s L2M (last two minutes) report and crew chief Ed Malloy later acknowledged that the foul call was incorrect. Had the call not been made, the game would have gone to overtime.

However, as expected, the Knicks’ protest was unsuccessful. Only six protests in league history have been upheld and it hasn’t happened since 2007.

“Under the standard for NBA game protests, New York was required to demonstrate that there was a misapplication of the official playing rules, as opposed to an error in judgment by game officials,” the league said in its statement today. “Because the foul call at issue reflected an error in judgment, New York did not demonstrate a misapplication of the playing rules, and the extraordinary remedy of upholding a game protest was not warranted.”

Had the protest been upheld, the two teams would’ve resumed the game where it left off and played an overtime period. Instead, the game’s result will stand.

The Knicks benefited from a missed foul call on Monday that helped them secure a tight win over the Pistons. Detroit head coach Monty Williams referred to it as “the worst call of the season” in his postgame comments.

Knicks Notes: Brunson, Hartenstein, Injury Updates, Anthony

February 27th, 2024 at 5:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The already depleted Knicks will go without two more prominent players tonight against New Orleans. All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson and center Isaiah Hartenstein won’t play, according to coach Tom Thibodeau.

Brunson woke up with neck spasms this morning after taking some hits in the controversial win over Detroit on Monday. Hartenstein is experiencing Achilles soreness, SNY TV’s Ian Begley relays. (Twitter links).

The Knicks have already been dealing with injuries to OG Anunoby, Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson.

We have more on the Knicks:

Regarding those above-mentioned injured starters, The Athletic’s Shams Charania shared some updates on FanDuel’s Run It Back program: “I’m told [Randle’s] rehab is going well, his goal is still to play this season. He has not had any setbacks yet. … I’m told the hope – and pretty much the expectation – is over the next two to three weeks, OG Anunoby will be be back on the floor. … [Robinson] has got to keep hitting check marks, we know he’s been dealing with foot issues over the course of his career.”
Health is one of the team’s major issues if it wants to make a sustained playoff run, The New York Post’s Stefan Bondy opines, adding that the Knicks will go as far as Brunson takes them.
Carmelo Anthony is happy that his former agent, Knicks top exec Leon Rose, has mended fences with Klutch Sports’ Rich Paul, according to The New York Post’s Peter Botte. Anthony made his comments during a “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast. “No matter what, you need New York. You can’t go around New York. You can try to, but you gotta come back here. Especially when you’re in certain industries. When you’re in music, when you’re in sports, you gotta come through New York. So when you don’t have no relationship with the Knicks, you ain’t got no relationship around. Your relationship game ain’t strong around the NBA. So I’m happy, that’s honorable that those parties came together and settled their differences, because it’s gonna benefit everybody in the industry.”

Pistons’ Williams Blasts Refs After Loss For “Worst Call Of The Season”

February 27th, 2024 at 7:47am CST by Luke Adams

Two weeks after narrowly losing a game in Houston following a blown last-second call, the Knicks benefited from a missed call late in a two-point home victory over Detroit on Monday.

As Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press and Tim Bontemps of ESPN detail, the Knicks were trailing 111-110 in the game’s final minute and lost control of the ball with 10 seconds left. As Pistons guard Ausar Thompson began dribbling up the court, Knicks wing Donte DiVincenzo dove into him, jarring the ball loose (Twitter video links). No foul was called on DiVincenzo as the Knicks recovered the loose ball and Josh Hart scored the game-winning basket en route to a 113-111 victory.

“Where’s the New York media now?” Pistons head coach Monty Williams said after the game. “The absolute worst call of the season. No call. And enough’s enough. We’ve done it the right way, we’ve called the league, we’ve sent in clips. We’re sick of hearing the same stuff over and over again. We had a chance to win the game and a guy dove into Ausar’s legs, and it was a no-call.

“That’s an abomination. You cannot miss that in an NBA game, period, and I’m tired of talking about it, I’m tired of our guys asking me, ‘What more can we do, coach?’ That situation is Exhibit A to what we’ve been dealing with all season long, and enough’s enough.

“You cannot dive into a guy’s legs in a big-time game like that and there be a no-call. It’s ridiculous, and we’re tired of it. We just want a fair game called. Period. And I’ve got nothing else to say. We want a fair game, and that was not fair.”

In the pool report conducted by Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press after the game, crew chief James Williams admitted that the officials got the call wrong.

“Upon postgame review, we determined that Thompson gets to the ball first, and then was deprived of the opportunity to gain possession of the ball,” Williams said. “Therefore, a loose ball foul should have been whistled on New York’s Donte DiVincenzo.”

Pistons guard Cade Cunningham described the team as “livid” after the game, while Thompson admitted he was surprised when the play continued without a foul being called.

“I was very confused when I was on the ground and the play kept going, I’m not going to lie,” Thompson said. “But, I mean, that’s how it goes.”

As Sankofa writes, the officiating has been a sore spot for Williams and the Pistons all season — the club has been whistled for an NBA-high 21.9 fouls per game while losing 49 of 57 contests. Still, Williams’ post-game comments on Monday were his strongest indictment yet of a game’s referees and seem likely to warrant the league’s attention.

Williams was fined last March when he was coaching the Suns for his comments about the officiating following a loss to the Lakers, but hasn’t faced any penalties from the league for his comments to the press so far this season. That could change as soon as later today.

Pistons Notes: Fournier, Grimes, Umude, Draft, Offseason

February 26th, 2024 at 6:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Evan Fournier seemed to be a potential buyout candidate when he was traded from the Knicks to the Pistons. However, Marc Stein reports in his latest Substack post that all signs point to Fournier remaining on Detroit’s roster for the rest of the season.

Players must be waived by Friday afternoon to become playoff eligible with his next team. Fournier has appeared in four games with the Pistons, one more than he did with the Knicks this season, averaging 11.5 points in 21.5 minutes with his current club.

We have more on the Pistons:

Detroit’s game against the Knicks on Monday night features two former New York players — Fournier and Quentin Grimes — and two former Pistons — Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks — who were dealt for each other at this month’s deadline. Grimes admitted during Detroit’s shootaround he was jacked up for the contest. “I really don’t look at it like, ‘Oh, I got to go off or something,’” Grimes told Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “But you do get a little extra oomph when you wake up and try to go off against a team that traded you.” Grimes lost his starting spot prior to getting traded and knew he wasn’t long for New York. “I knew it was going to happen. I didn’t know it would be Detroit. It was a few teams,” he said. “But I knew it was going to happen, for sure.”
Stanley Umude‘s two-year contract includes a team option for next season, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. Umude had his two-way contract converted to a standard, minimum-salary deal last week.
This year’s draft doesn’t have any surefire stars but the Pistons will have a high lottery pick again. Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press takes a look at eight potential lottery picks and considers how they might fit in with the team’s core players.
The additions of wings Grimes and Simone Fontecchio will allow the front office to concentrate the Pistons’ resources on one or two high-value targets with their cap space this summer, rather than spreading money around to cover multiple needs, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes.
In case you missed it, rookie guard Marcus Sasser will be sidelined at least a week due to a right knee contusion.

New York Notes: Bridges, Ollie, Hart, Randle, Anunoby

February 24th, 2024 at 8:43pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Nets resisted opportunities to trade Mikal Bridges at the deadline and they still view him as a cornerstone of the franchise, sources tell Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Bridges is seen as a potential All-Star with a team-friendly contract that will pay him $23.3M next season and $24.9MM in 2025/26.

Bridges is also considered a strong recruiter who can help bring more talent to Brooklyn, Bontemps adds. Besides Bridges, only Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith are signed beyond next season, giving the Nets potentially more than $70MM to chase a 2025 free agent class that could include Donovan Mitchell, Brandon Ingram, Rudy Gobert, Lauri Markkanen and Jimmy Butler.

The Nets have slumped badly after a 15-15 start and have the second-worst record in the league since December 27. Still, Bridges told Bontemps that he believes in the organization “100%” and has no desire to go anywhere else.

“Things ain’t going good right now, and that’s life,” he said. “… I know a lot of people might think about different situations and teams, and obviously I got my boys (from Villanova) over there in New York and stuff, so obviously everybody goes with that. But I was never the type of guy to (want to leave when) things get tough and it’s time to cry out and get out.”

There’s more from New York City:

Brian Lewis of The New York Post traces Kevin Ollie‘s journey to his first NBA head coaching job. Ollie, who was named the Nets‘ interim coach when Jacque Vaughn was dismissed on Monday, had the makings of a coach back in college, according to former Connecticut mentor Jim Calhoun. “It’ll be no question that if you don’t put good effort in — I have no idea what his verbal responses will be — I do know that you’ll probably be sitting beside him,” Calhoun said. “There’s going to be purpose and work, because that’s how he played and that’s how he coached for us at UConn.”
Josh Hart may complain about what he’s asked to do, but he has been one of the Knicks‘ most reliable players, observes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. Hart has said publicly that he would prefer a larger role in the offense, but he keeps providing the intangibles the team needs, including a strong defensive presence and constant effort, while missing just one game all season. “I think he just talks the talk, if that makes sense,” Jalen Brunson said. “He’s like a — I’m going to be nice — he says whatever he wants to say, but when he goes out there, when it’s time to compete, it doesn’t matter who or what is in front of him.”
Knicks forward Julius Randle is still determined to return from his dislocated right shoulder before the end of the season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said Saturday on NBA Countdown (video link). However, Wojnarowski cautioned that Randle’s situation remains “fluid” as no decision has been made regarding surgery. Woj adds that OG Anunoby is “right on schedule” following a recent procedure on his right elbow and will be reevaluated at the end of next week.

Atlantic Notes: Achiuwa, Hartenstein, Lowry, Barnes, Quickley

February 24th, 2024 at 11:23am CST by Tristan Tucker

Knicks forward Precious Achiuwa took over the starting power forward position over the past 10 games in Julius Randle‘s absence and has played some of the best basketball of his career during that stretch, The Athletic’s Fred Katz writes. Achiuwa is averaging 14.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.5 blocks in his last 10 outings, including three games with more than 15 rebounds.

Achiuwa flew under the radar when he was moved to New York in the trade for OG Anunoby, but he’s been one of the team’s steadiest contributors after uneven stops in Miami and Toronto to begin his career, Katz writes. Playing under coach Tom Thibodeau has unlocked aspects of Achiuwa’s game, including effective fake dribble handoffs.

“You knew there was versatility to his game,” Thibodeau said. “But we didn’t understand the dribble handoff part of it, all those things. And the offensive rebounding is something that we liked from the start. We knew he was very effective with that.”

The Knicks will have some decisions to make once Randle returns to the lineup, but Achiuwa is making a strong case to be included in a fully healthy rotation, according to Katz.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein returned to the court on Thursday after missing three games with injury. However, according to New York Post’s Stefan Bondy, Hartenstein left the arena with “a little frustration” about his minutes because they differed from his ramp-up plan. Hartenstein said he was supposed to hit the 21-minute mark but he only played 11 in a win over the Sixers.
Kyle Lowry made his debut with the Sixers on Thursday, scoring 11 points, four rebounds and five assists while receiving a standing ovation in front of his hometown crowd. “It was an amazing atmosphere and the ovation that I got was awesome. I was happy,” Lowry said, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “I was pissed that we lost and we were in that situation, but it was a great moment. Now for me it’s about winning basketball games.” Lowry was born in Philadelphia and played college ball at Villanova.
When the Raptors acquired Immanuel Quickley, they added an athletic guard who can shoot the ball — an ideal complement on paper to star Scottie Barnes. While there have been some bright spots with the pairing, The Athletic’s Eric Koreen observes that it’s still a work in progress. Each player is playing individually well, but Toronto is looking for more synchronicity with the duo, per Koreen.

Nets Notes: Struggles, Johnson, Bridges, Koch Family

February 23rd, 2024 at 6:52pm CST by Rory Maher

In their first game under interim head coach Kevin Ollie on Thursday in Toronto, the Nets had yet another listless performance, losing by 28 points to the Raptors, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Ollie replaced Jacque Vaughn, who was fired in part due to the team’s lack of energy and effort, with Brooklyn just 8-24 over its past 32 games.

Ollie made playing with energy and hustle a priority in his first practice on Tuesday, but the Nets repeatedly failed to get back in transition in the blowout loss, Lewis notes, losing the fast-break points battle 46-10.

“We didn’t make shots, but their effort, their energy, loose balls, offensive rebounds, beat us in probably every area,” said Ollie. “And giving up 46 fast-break points and not being able to stop them and limit them in half-court situations was a killer for us.”

Here are a few more notes out of Brooklyn:

Ollie made a change to the starting lineup on Thursday, moving fifth-year forward Cameron Johnson to the bench, Lewis writes in another story. The starting five consisted of Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas, Mikal Bridges, Dorian Finney-Smith and Nic Claxton. It was only the second time Johnson has come off the bench this season, with the first coming just before the All-Star break in his first game back from an adductor injury. The 27-year-old, who re-signed with the Nets on a lucrative long-term contract last summer, finished with six points on 1-of-7 shooting in 21 minutes.
Appearing on the podcast (Roommates Show) of his former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, who now play for the Knicks, Nets wing Mikal Bridges compared the two teams’ situations unprompted, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscriber link), who wonders if Bridges would ever consider asking out of Brooklyn. “I know people might want to think about different situations and teams,” Bridges said. “Obviously, I’ve got my boys over there in New York, so everybody goes with that. ….” Bridges went on to say he wanted to keep playing for the Nets, despite their struggles. Bondy acknowledges that “it’s entirely plausible — and understandable — if the Nets simply refuse to trade their best player across the river,” but argues that if it was a possibility for New York, it’d be an idea worth pursuing.
Billionaire Julia Koch is negotiating to buy a minority stake in the Nets, per Lewis and Josh Kosman of The New York Post. Koch’s son David Koch Jr. would also be involved. The stake could be as high as 15%, from majority owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai. According to The Post, Julia has an estimated net worth of $60-65 billion, which would make her the second-wealthiest woman in the world and only trailing Clippers owner Steve Ballmer in the NBA.

Ryan Arcidiacono Joining Bulls’ G League Affiliate

February 23rd, 2024 at 3:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran guard Ryan Arcidiacono is joining Chicago’s G League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Although neither Windy City nor the Maine Celtics have officially announced it yet, the two teams made a trade sending Arcidiacono’s G League rights to the Bulls, according to the G League’s transaction log.

Arcidiacono, who played in Chicago for four seasons at the start of his NBA career from 2017-21, has spent the majority of the past three seasons with the Knicks. A Tom Thibodeau favorite, the 29-year-old guard is considered a welcome presence on the bench and in the locker room, but played very sparingly in New York — he went scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting in 45 total minutes of action across 20 games this season.

The Knicks sent Arcidiacono to the Pistons in the trade that saw Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks land in New York. Detroit, facing a roster crunch, subsequently waived him.

Thibodeau and the Knicks, who had three roster spots available earlier this week, probably wouldn’t mind re-signing Arcidiacono and reuniting him with fellow Villanova alums Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo. However, they’re ineligible to do so. A team that trades away a player can’t bring back that player as a free agent later in the season if he’s waived by the team he was traded to.

Southwest Notes: Rockets, Pelicans, Mavs, Brunson

February 22nd, 2024 at 5:42pm CST by Rory Maher

Rockets head coach Ime Udoka said he was considering making changes to the starting lineup just before the All-Star break, but with the opening night starting five healthy again, he wants to give the group more time to show what it can do, at least for now, according to Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle (subscriber link).

“Took a look at some things over the last 27 or so games,” Udoka said. “I think I cut 54 (games) in half and wanted to get a look when we are more whole. Looking at Dillon (Brooks) missing nine games, Fred (VanVleet) missing the last five, Jabari (Smith) missing four, and the ups and downs we had to start those games with different lineups. I felt we played a lot better, obviously, in the first 27 than the last 27. So I want to get back to that consistency, and we’ll take a look at our group going forward as is and see if we get back to the consistency and competitiveness that we had in the first 27.”

As Lerner writes, the Rockets are 18-17 with VanVleet, Jalen Green, Brooks, Smith and Alperen Sengun starting, but just 6-13 with any other lineups. They’ve also gone 1-6 without VanVleet this season. The veteran guard will be active for the back-to-back set Thursday and Friday after missing Houston’s previous five games with a left adductor strain.

“I had a little bit of an extended break, so it’s really good for me, obviously, to rehab and get back healthy,” VanVleet said, per Lerner. “I had a good week to train and get some good work in. So feeling good and just excited to be back with the group.”

Rookie wing Cam Whitmore, who missed the last three games heading into the break with a sprained ankle, is expected to return this week, Lerner adds, while second-year forward Tari Eason was being evaluated by a doctor on Wednesday to determine a prognosis for his leg injury, which has kept him out for 32 games in 2023/24.

Here’s more from the Southwest:

After competing in the play-in tournament the past two seasons, once advancing to the playoffs and once being immediately eliminated, the Pelicans hope to avoid the tournament altogether by making the playoffs outright in 2023/24, per Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “It’s definitely one of our goals,” head coach Willie Green said. “To take another step. That step for us is to not be in the play-in. We can control our own destiny with piling up as many wins as we can.” After winning seven of eight leading into the break, New Orleans is currently 33-22, the No. 5 seed in the West. However, the Pelicans only lead the No. 8 seed Kings by one-and-a-half games.
Coach Jason Kidd may be preaching patience but the time for the Mavericks to win is now, Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News argues. Dallas is sitting in seventh place in the West but possesses the league’s most explosive backcourt, along with frontcourt upgrades made at the trade deadline.
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson confirmed that he wanted to stay with the Mavericks, but said they didn’t negotiate with him seriously enough during his walk year in 2021/22. Brunson would have signed for much less than he received from the Knicks if the Mavs hadn’t balked at a four-year extension early in the process. He made those comments during a podcast as relayed by Andrew Battifarano of the New York Post. “I really did want to stay in Dallas,” Brunson said on the “All The Smoke” podcast with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes. “Before my fourth season in Dallas, my last season in Dallas, we try to extend our contract — whatever we can get. The most we can get is like four years and $55 million. And obviously we wanted to do that, I wanted to stay there and I thought I would be there for a long time. I liked my role there.”

Dana Gauruder contributed to this report.

Knicks Sign DaQuan Jeffries To 10-Day Deal

February 22nd, 2024 at 9:15am CST by Arthur Hill

9:15am: Jeffries’ 10-day deal with the Knicks is now official, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

8:16am: DaQuan Jeffries, who was waived by the Knicks in late December, will return to the team on a 10-day contract, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

The 26-year-old shooting guard was let go when New York needed to open a roster spot to complete the OG Anunoby trade with Toronto. He saw limited action in 10 games this season before being released.

New York is Jeffries’ fourth team since he entered the NBA in 2019. He also spent time with Sacramento, Houston and Memphis, holding career averages of 3.3 points and 1.7 rebounds in 57 career games while shooting 43.7% from the field and 28.6% from three-point range.

If Jeffries signs today, he can appear in tonight’s game at Philadelphia and then four more before the contract expires. He’ll be eligible to sign a second 10-day deal next weekend.