Category: Sports

Devin Booker has reportedly progressed in his injury rehab enough to raise the possibility of him returning to the Sun’s lineup as soon as Games 6 on Thursday or 7, per Adrian Wojnarowski.

Booker suffered a hamstring strain in his right leg during Game 2 of the Suns-Pelicans first-round series, forcing him to miss the last three games. If he does return, he will reportedly be playing limited minutes. The Kentucky product is expected to miss Game 6 due to injury, but that could be adjusted in the hours leading up to the pivotal Thursday night game, per Woj.

The three-time All-Star in some light shooting during a practice session on Thursday.

“He is progressing, but there’s no change (to status),” Suns coach Monty Williams said per ESPN. “Any time you have your best player out, you know that guy wants to be on the floor. If it was an elimination game type situation —I’m sure that would have an impact on it.”

The Suns, up 3-2 on the Pelicans, look to close out their first-round series on Thursday.

After the Boston Celtics practice today, head coach Ime Udoka addressed the media and provided insights into the ailment of Jaylen Brown’s hamstring and Robert Williams III’s return to the court since Game 3 of their opening-round series against the nets.

Entering the second half of the Celtic’s Game 4 win over the Brooklyn Nets, Brown said he was experiencing some hamstring problems while noticeably grabbing at the back of his right leg in the fourth quarter, an injury that previously sidelined him for eight games in November.

In his postgame interview, Brown said, “I’m alright. I think I’m alright. I’m going to go get checked out, and I think I’ll be fine for next one.”

However, Udoka remained steadfast this morning that Brown and Robert Williams – who underwent surgery in March for a torn meniscus – are fine. The first-year coach admitted that his Center’s conditioning isn’t back to playoff level shape as the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn reports that the Celtics’ goal is to utilize practice to get the fourth-year center’s wind back.

Less than five weeks removed from surgery, Williams added that he has been pain-free since returning to the court in Game 3. The next few days provide Williams and Brown with the necessary rest to return to full strength as they look toward the winner of the Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls opening-round series for an Eastern Conference semifinals matchup.

It’s been 19 years today since Paul Pierce brought the ball across half court in Game Four of the Celtics-Pacers 2003 first-round playoff series. With time expiring in the third, a then two-time All-Star taunted his defender Al Harrington by describing the exact move he was about to enact on the Pacers big-man.

Two seconds later, a 25-year-old Pierce side-stepped to his left and launched a trey ball to the back of the rim and through the net as TD Garden exploded.

Coming off the heels of a first-round sweep against the Brooklyn Nets, Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum dished out some commentary on Pierce’s clutch step-back bucket.

“I felt like he told him what he was about to do. Talking to him, side-step trey ball in the Garden. Something I might do,” Tatum said.

Tatum’s duffy has been on full display since hitting a game-winning layup in Game 1 against the Nets at home, while the side-step trey ball has been a staple in the young star’s bountiful arsenal of offensive weapons. In their sweep against Brooklyn, Tatum averaged a team-high 29.5 points, 7.3 assists, and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting a scintillating 41.9 percent from beyond the arc.

He’s taken the step as a two-way superstar against one of the game’s best scoring threats, holding Kevin Durant to just 12 points and 3-18 shooting as his primary defender throughout the series.

With Milwaukee entering Game 5 tonight against the Chicago Bulls with a 3-1 lead, the Celtics and Tatum might soon find their matchup for the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Warriors are reportedly looking at reinserting Stephen Curry back into the lineup ahead of their Wednesday night matchup against Denver, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The starting five Coach Steve Kerr is expected to put out on the floor would be Curry, Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Draymond Green. A final decision will be made ahead of tipoff for Game 5 in Denver.

The lineup of Curry, Poole, Thompson, Wiggins, and Green is considered their most potent through the 32 minutes and four games they’ve played together. Their offensive rating is 147.8, and defensively they post a 113.4 rating.

Since Curry returned ahead of Game 1 from a foot sprain, he suffered midway through March. In the four games since, he’s come off the bench, averaging 27.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game in 28.0 minutes per game.

The Miami Heat eliminated the Atlanta Hawks in five games after a 97-94 victory to win the series 4-1. The Heat was without stars Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler, who suffered injuries in the last two games.

In the post-game conference, Coach Erik Spoelstra talked about how his team fought through the adversity of losing Lowry and Butler to close out this series. The Game 5 win was Spoelstra’s 89th career playoff win since becoming the head coach of Miami in 2008.

“This was just a really inspiring team win,” Spoelstra said. “We clearly had some adversity in this game not having Kyle or Jimmy, and our group doesn’t even blink. That wasn’t something we even had to address; we just pivot and out in the game plan. Defensively there were some incredibly inspiring plays all game long.”

Victor Oladipo led the team in scoring with 23 points shooting 8-of-16 from the floor. Bam Adebayo followed up with 20 points and 11 rebounds, snagging the game-winning steal to send the Hawks packing back to ATL.

Spoelstra boasted about Adebayo and Oladipo’s great performances to close the series out, especially in the fourth quarter.

“I thought Bam was just tremendous; that’s just winning basketball all the way around. Vic was really good for us, he was able to generate some looks for us in the paint, and I thought it was fitting for us to win this game off that last stop at the end.”

The Heat will face the winner of the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors series, where the Sixers currently have a 3-2 lead. Game 6 of that series will continue Thursday in Jurassic Park.

The Miami Heat eliminated the Atlanta Hawks in five games after a 97-94 victory to win the series 4-1. The Heat was without stars Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler, who suffered injuries in the last two games.

In the post-game conference, Coach Erik Spoelstra talked about how his team fought through the adversity of losing Lowry and Butler to close out this series. The Game 5 win was Spoelstra’s 89th career playoff win since becoming the head coach of Miami in 2008.

“This was just a really inspiring team win,” Spoelstra said. “We clearly had some adversity in this game not having Kyle or Jimmy, and our group doesn’t even blink. That wasn’t something we even had to address; we just pivot and out in the game plan. Defensively there were some incredibly inspiring plays all game long.”

Victor Oladipo led the team in scoring with 23 points shooting 8-of-16 from the floor. Bam Adebayo followed up with 20 points and 11 rebounds, snagging the game-winning steal to send the Hawks packing back to ATL.

Spoelstra boasted about Adebayo and Oladipo’s great performances to close the series out, especially in the fourth quarter.

“I thought Bam was just tremendous; that’s just winning basketball all the way around. Vic was really good for us, he was able to generate some looks for us in the paint, and I thought it was fitting for us to win this game off that last stop at the end.”

The Heat will face the winner of the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors series, where the Sixers currently have a 3-2 lead. Game 6 of that series will continue Thursday in Jurassic Park.

Following Brooklyn’s season-ending loss against the Celtics, Nets star Kyrie Irving spoke to the media about his future with the Nets. Irving has a $36.5 million player option for next year, which he is likely to decline and sign an extension. Irving gave specifics on where he plans to sign:

“In terms of my extension, I don’t really plan on going anywhere. This is added motivation for our franchise to be at the top of the League for the next few years. I’m just looking forward to the summer and just building with our guys here.”

Irving also added he wants to ‘manage’ the Nets franchise alongside Kevin Durant, Joe Tsai, and Sean Marks.

“When I say I’m here with Kev[Durant], I think that it really entails us managing this franchise together alongside Joe [Tsai] and Sean [Marks] and just our group of family members that we have in our organization. So it’s not just about me and Kev; I don’t want to make it just about that. We are cornerstones here, but we have Ben; we have a few other guys under contract. I think we just got to make some moves and really talk about it.”

Irving has until June 29 to decide on his player option worth $36.5 million. He is eligible for up to a five-year, $248 million extension.

The NBA announced Thursday that 283 players have declared for the NBA draft; 247 players are from colleges, and 36 players are international.

Players have until 5 PM on Monday, June 13, to withdraw their names from the draft pool. Players who want to retain College eligibility have to withdraw no later than June 1st.

The NBA draft combine will begin from May 16th-May 22nd, and the NBA Draft will be held in Barclays Center Thursday, June 23.

Victor Oladipo has come a long way since missing the majority of the last four seasons due to reoccurring issues with a torn quad he suffered during the 2018-19 campaign. Since initially injuring his knee, Oladipo has played 96 games for Indiana, Houston, and Miami.

Through it all, Oladipo has worked hard to regain his All-Star form and provide some production to the No. 1 seeded Miami Heat. In their 97-94 Game 5 win, the resilience of Oladipo paid dividends after the two-time All-Star finished the elimination game with a team-high 23 points, three assists, and three steals.

His big-time performance helped lift a Heat team that was missing Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler due to hamstring and knee injuries, respectively.

“There’s nothing I can’t handle,” Oladipo told NBATV. “At the end of the day, I feel like I can come back and get through anything. So when they told me I needed to start tonight, I just stepped up to the plate and did everything I could to help my team win.

“I credit my coaching staff and my teammates for believing in me, my family, my God in heaven for getting me through. It’s only the beginning.”

The Heat also relied on their fourth-ranked defense to bottle up Trae Young (11 points, eight rebounds, six assists on 2-12 shooting from the field, 0-5 from the three-point line) and secure the series-concluding win on Tuesday. Miami was down for most of the first half before the Heat went on a 17-0 run late in the second quarter, never surrounding their lead.

However, the Hawks still put their head down and kept making pushes to make a comeback, going on 8-0 and 10-0 runs. Atlanta closed a deficit as large as 15 to within 95-93 before Oladipo closed the door on the comeback after diming Bam Adebayo for a clutch dunk with 59 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Heat advanced to the second round and will play the winner of the 76ers-Raptors series.