Category: Basketball

Stephen Curry scored 32 points and eight rebounds, Kevon Looney had a career-high 21 points and 12 rebounds and the Golden State Warriors rallied past the Dallas Mavericks 126-117 on Friday for a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.

On the other hand, the Slovenian star Luka Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks with 42 points, five rebounds, three steals, and eight assists. The series shifts to Dallas for Game 3 on Sunday.

Following a costly win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2, the Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr talked about big man Kevon Looney: “You can’t keep saying somebody is underrated over and over again… I just think it’s time that people recognize his impact on the game…”

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“You can’t keep saying somebody is underrated over and over again.. I just think it’s time that people recognize his impact on the game..”

Coach Steve Kerr wants people to give Kevon Looney his flowers. 🗣💐pic.twitter.com/8PcgV9WvkF

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 21, 2022

Anadolu Efes secured back-to-back EuroLeague titles with a nail-biting 58-57 win over Real Madrid in Belgrade.

The competition’s bottom side in 2018, the Istanbul outfit recovered to reach the final a year later and become tog dogs for two straight seasons.

Last season’s EuroLeague Final Four MVP, Vasilije Micic paced the winners with 23 points.

“I am honestly very speechless because four years ago I played here and I won third place and I was short,” Micic said.

“But this time we won the title, and I want to congratulate my teammates, congrats to Real Madrid for an amazing game and thank you once again.

“This [MVP award] feels amazing. It will stay forever with me, it will be marked on my heart until I play basketball and afterwards. Nothing is possible without my teammates – four amazing years together, two titles.

“The team result is more important. Everybody knows that tonight will be very hot all over Belgrade, I’m going to take all my team together and we’re going to celebrate like never before.”

Tibor Pleiss and Shane Larkin added 19 and 10 points, respectively.

And it was Pleiss who scored the decisive bucket for the Turkish side, as he made up for Micic’s missed layup with a tip-in for a 58-55 advantage with 1:05 remaining.

Sergio Llull would reply, but Real Madrid – who last won the EuroLeague title in 2018, in Belgrade – were unable to get another score.

Anadolu Efes’ glory now begs the question of what next ahead of next season? Many of its current players are on expiring deals, including Shane Larkin, Bryant Dunston, Chris Singleton and Pleiss. So who knows what will be of the champions next season.

But for now … it’s party time.

“It’s incredible,” Pleiss commented.

“As a kid, I always looked up to the two teams that played the Final Four and now I’ve won it back to back, it’s incredible. I’m full of emotions, I’m tired, but I’m so happy it’s incredible, I have no words for it.”

Walter Tavares was the only player for Real in double digits, dropping 14 points along with 11 rebounds. 

“Of course I’m happy the way we played, congratulations to Efes for the win, it was a great final,” Madrid coach Pablo Laso said.

“Everybody fighting for every ball. We were missing some open shots that we didn’t score, and missing those baskets at the end.

“On a do or die, probably on my mind is gonna be the last play: should we foul, shouldn’t we foul? We didn’t get the rebound. I think if we had got the rebound we could have had a last shot, but we couldn’t get a clean rebound…well, congratulations Efes, that’s it.”

Photo: EuroLeague

Chris Paul struggled in the second round series against the Mavericks that ended with the Suns getting eliminated in seven games.

The 37-year-old superstar point guard did not look like his usual self during the final five games of the series. He averaged just 9.4 points over those games.

His performances received criticism from analysts and fans alike. But NBA legend Charles Barkley thinks that it is unfair to expect Paul to play the way he did 5 or 10 years ago.

Instead, according to him, people should appreciate what the Phoenix star has achieved over his long career.

Via Gerard Samillano of ClutchPoints:

“As a guy gets older, it’s unfair for us to ask him to still be the same guy he was 5, 10 years ago. Listen, playing point guard at Chris’s size, he’s the best leader I’ve seen in the NBA, think about this, he’s won every single place he’s been and if you can’t appreciate that you really don’t know anything about basketball as a fan.”

With the way the Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic has been playing this season, especially in the playoffs, he’s gotten some comparisons to the Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James. A sports analyst and the Golden State Warriors player Draymond Green explains why there’s some merit to those comparisons, and where the two players differ:

The Mavericks went 0-2 in the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors after they lost Game 2. Luka Doncic bounced back after a difficult Game 1 and dropped 42 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and also dished out 8 assists.

However, it wasn’t enough for Dallas to tie the series. The Mavs were vey much focused on three-pointers. They took 45 three-point attempts against 28 of the Dubs.

“I think we rely too much on the three,” Doncic said postgame. “We weren’t attacking the paint that much. We got to attack the paint more like [the Warriors] did.

“They attack the paint a lot. They have two of the best shooters in the world and they still attack the paint. So, I think we gotta to rely less on the three. Obviously, it’s a good percentage, but I think we gotta rely more on getting to the paint and then kick out.”

Stephen Curry scored 32 points and eight rebounds, Kevon Looney had a career-high 21 points and 12 rebounds and the Golden State Warriors rallied past the Dallas Mavericks 126-117 on Friday for a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.

On the other hand, the Slovenian star Luka Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks with 42 points along with eight assists. The series shifts to Dallas for Game 3 on Sunday.

Following a costly victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2, the Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr shared his thoughts on big man Kevon Looney’s versatility, stability, worth ethic, likability, and overall importance to the team:

Stephen Curry scored 32 points and eight rebounds, Kevon Looney had a career-high 21 points and 12 rebounds and the Golden State Warriors rallied past the Dallas Mavericks 126-117 on Friday for a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.

On the other hand, Luka Doncic posted 42 points along with eight assists for the Mavericks. The series shifts to Dallas for Game 3 on Sunday.

After a big win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2, the Golden State Warriors star guard Jordan Poole (23 points off the bench) was happy to be a part of Kevon Looney’s big playoff performances: “The little kid in me is so excited … I grew up watching Loon.”

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“The little kid in me is so excited … I grew up watching Loon.”

JP is happy to be a part of Kevon’s big playoff performances pic.twitter.com/29DbGKOeYW

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) May 21, 2022

In this VladTV clip, Iman Shumpert spoke about being part of the historic comeback from being down 3-1 in the 2016 NBA Finals. Vlad told Iman that his Cavs cost him to lose a $1,000 bet as a result of the comeback.

Dancing with the Stars winner recalled being down in the series and the Cleveland Cavaliers being inspired to overcome the deficit.

To hear more, including Shumpert’s thoughts on Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors the following season and the psyche of players who make it to the pros, check out the clip:

Atlanta Dream guard and former undrafted player turned All-Star Game MVP Erica Wheeler recently joined the Get With It podcast to discuss her journey thus far in the W.

Wheeler and WSLAM’s Camille Buxeda and Jianni Smith covered many topics, but one reoccurring theme that kept popping up is the importance of Wheeler’s mother and the effect she had on her life.

“When I go at anything like this interview, when I’m on a court, when I’m doing anything that I can impact I always just try to do it to the best of my ability because let the world know that someone who struggled most of her life raised a great daughter.”

The impact Wheeler’s mother had on her is put to heart in a new adidas PE that’s being released in honor of her. On the latest episode of WSLAM’s pod, Wheeler gave an exclusive sneak peek at the design of the shoe.

“It has ribbons under the sole and in the ribbon it says ‘For Mom’ …. it cuffs my feet and my feet don’t slide. And it also give me that boost feeling because it’s soft,” Wheeler said of the shoe. “My mom passed away from cervical cancer. The ribbon of cervical cancer is teal, so the shoe’s all teal. And I think the dope part about it is the bottom of the shoe. It’s clear, and it has ribbons all over them.”

Along with talking about the new adidas PE, Wheeler and the Get With It crew covered quite a few topics spanning the whole length of Wheeler’s career. Wheeler decided to attend Rutgers University over UConn, LSU, South Carolina, and others. She says it all started with a visit from head coach C. Vivian Stringer.

“The conversation was super family-orientated because we just started talking about food, it wasn’t even about basketball,” Wheeler told WSLAM. “I think the one thing that stuck out to my mom is was I never let home, so she felt more comfortable with me going to Rutgers because how Vivian approached our family.”

According to Wheeler, Stringer let her know that she’d be able to graduate in four years and ‘know how to talk, how to represent herself, and etiquette.’ As the first to graduate from college in her family, Wheeler also saw the school’s etiquette classes as something she could ‘bring home’ to teach them.

After 77 wins and three NCAA Tournament appearances in four years with Stringer at Rutgers, Wheeler reflected on something Stringer taught her that still sticks with her to this day. “Honestly, just being relentless. Like, she never gave us nothing. She didn’t care how good you were; I was the number one player leaving out of Florida when she recruited me, and she didn’t care. Like I don’t care how good you are, you’re going to work for everything.”

This relentless attitude enabled Wheeler to fight through being undrafted in the WNBA Draft, and ultimately taking a chance on herself in Puerto Rico after getting a call from a friend to play for a club team.

“I was working at True Religion and a drug abuse facility,” Wheeler says. “So for me, I’m like, Okay do I walk away from almost 3,000 to make only 1,000? But this is not my calling, like this is just work. Basketball is my calling. So I’m just like, ‘Man me walking away from this is basically betting on myself.’ So I just decided, I’m like, Alright. I ended up quitting both jobs.”

After winning a championship down in Puerto Rico with the team, Wheeler was able to showcase her talent briefly overseas and land a tryout with the Atlanta Dream. There, she put on a ‘I’m bout to bust they ass and get this spot’ attitude to eventually be selected for the one open roster spot after competing against three other players.

While Wheeler only played 17 games in Atlanta, it was a jumping point for the rest of her career. A mere four years later, she became the first undrafted player in history to be named All-Star Game MVP, representing the Indiana Fever. However, Wheeler admits that she didn’t even see the All-Star nod coming at all.

“When I got that, I thought it was a prank honestly,” Wheeler says. “I’m thinking my best friend or my brother told a girl to call me to prank call me. Because if you ask Bethany, I’m like ‘man stop playing get off my damn phone’ like cursed at the lady and everything.”

Wheeler was instrumental in Team A’ja Wilson’s 129-126 victory, recording a game-high 25 points and seven assists in 19 minutes of run to secure the victory for her team.

It all eventually came full circle for Wheeler, who made her way back to Atlanta this season. She’s currently averaging 9.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game for the 4-1 Dream. Wheeler has a strong message for the rest of the W and anyone who is sleepin’ on ATL.

“Just keep sleeping on Atlanta if you want to. I think we woke some people up that first game though,” Wheeler says. “When we lose we gon’ lose together, when we win we gon’ win together, and we never separate… y’all gon see.”

Subscribe to WSLAM’s new podcast, Get With It, here.

Canada, this issue is yours!

Canadian basketball legends of the past, present and future grace the cover the first-ever edition of SLAM Canada: Steve Nash, Kia Nurse and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Featuring augmented reality-enabled covers, SLAM Canada 1 has stories on Drake, Natalie Achonwa, Super Fan, Vince Carter and more. The inaugural edition is penned by a diverse roster of journalists who reflect the strength and passion of Canada’s basketball community.

SLAM Canada Issue 1 featuring Kia Nurse is OUT NOW!

Steve Nash is one of the cover stars of SLAM Canada 1. Shop now.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is next up. Get your copy of SLAM Canada 1.