The Athletic NBA Show discuss Donovan Mitchell trades.
Support by buying my NBA T-Shirts: https://heatcheck.info/ Russell Westbrook straight up face guarded Luka on multiple possessions not allowing him to even get the ball. Even James Harden stayed strong defensively with a great contest, and had no problem acknowledging his opponent on this tough shot. Despite his 28 points, the Clippers actually held Luka to just 36.0% from the field, and the increased activity on defense is part of the secret for their 9 game winning streak, but the real reason will definitely shock you. Another element to their success is this. Ever since November 17th which is when the Clippers broke that infamous losing streak, James Harden has really found his place in the team, and you can see that with him on the floor the Clippers are +17 points, compared to -7 with him on the bench. His box score stats during this 9 game winning streak are impressive as well. Look, this is basically a 20 and 10 performance, almost 50% from the field and 45% from downtown. Harden was especially lethal from outside in the game against Indiana where he seemingly couldn’t miss and took us back to his MVP days in 2018 Heck, he even got Kawhi hyped. But speaking of Leonard, this is where we get to the biggest reason for this massive explosion from the LA Clippers. As astonishing as it is to say this, Kawhi Leonard has played in every single game this season, and says that he’s fully healthy for the first time in 6 years. He played just 9 games in his final season with the Spurs. The next season in Toronto you could literally see him limping and competing on 1 leg at times. Only 60 regular season matchups back then. As he was taking his time to heal while on the Clippers, Leonard never played more than 57 games. But this season, it’s already 27 out of 27, and boy does he look good. The quickness and the sharpness in his moves is fully back. Not only that but also mentally, Kawhi looks decisive and in attack mode. And the numbers speak for themselves. He has been phenomenal throughout the entire season just look at this. 29 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists on 61% from the field and 50% from downtown. Unstoppable 9 game stretch for him and there’s no doubt that he has been the catalyst to this winning streak. But most importantly, he admitted that he’s finally feeling healthy and healed, for the first time in 6 years. He said: It was years trying to get through that wall, I've been dealing with this right knee injury for a while, since 2016-17. Even going through the Raptors' run, that being my first year going so far [again] just put another toll on it. Now, I feel good coming out of games, and I don't feel any [pain]. So, I just want to keep going, and that's my goal is just to stay healthy, and the rest will play itself out. So all of a sudden now everything makes sense. Now you see the vision with Westbrook and Harden despite being past their prime. If you have Leonard playing healthy at this level, you take those aging superstars and all you need from them is to win you 1 game in a playoff round. Kawhi and PG will take care of the rest. Harden can easily have an explosion similar to the one against Indiana, even if it’s just once in about 10 days. He can be average for the rest of the way and it’s going to be enough for this team. Russ can dominate the floor for 1 game and even if he’s unusable the next one, a healthy Kawhi and PG plus Harden and the supporting cast can take over and take this team very far. Now out of nowhere the Clippers are fourth in the west, and it seems like things are only getting better for them. As long as they are healthy they can get blistering hot. As hot as the Bulls are right now. They ran through the Lakers last night and seemingly cannot lose ever since Coby White took over the team. I made a video about him so check it out right here. Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.
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We qualified for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League with a convincing, confident, classy 6-0 win at home to RC Lens on Wednesday night. Kai Havertz got his second goal in as many games to give us an early lead, before Gabriel Jesus made it two, Bukayo Saka got a third, and Gabriel Martinelli then got his name on the scoresheet with 28 minutes played in a dominant first-half display. Martin Odegaard scored for 5-0 on the brink of half-time, and Jorginho became our sixth different goalscorer of the night from the penalty spot late on. It took just seven minutes for us to have our first sight of goal as Oleksandr Zinchenko crossed for Jesus, who could only cushion the ball into the side netting past the near post. Five minutes later, Saka found Takehiro Tomiyasu overlapping on the right wing. He delivered a cross for Havertz who headed the ball back across goal and just wide of the post. Then we took the lead, Tomiyasu’s cross not cleared and Jesus heading the ball into the path of Havertz, who simply tucked it past the onrushing Brice Samba for 1-0. Jesus was the man who slotted home into the bottom left corner for our second goal of the night, but it wouldn’t have happened without the lung-busting run of Saka, wriggling his way through the middle of the pitch exactly five years on from his senior debut before laying it off for our Brazilian forward. “We’ve got super Mik Arteta” rung around Emirates Stadium, inviting a third from our glorious Gunners, and Saka duly obliged. Martinelli cut in from the left and his shot was pushed kindly into Saka’s path, and he simply couldn’t miss. In the 27th minute, Martinelli drifted in from the left wing again and curled the ball into the far corner on his right foot as we went 4-0 up inside the first half-hour - a ruthless performance. Elye Wahi forced a save from David Raya from a narrow angle at the other end for Lens’ first real chance of the game in the 37th minute, before Facundo Madina smashed the post from distance. Angelo Fulgini then struck straight into Raya’s gloves. Martinelli hit the side netting with half-time approaching before Odegaard got in on the act, volleying into the bottom right corner from Tomiyasu’s cross after our full-back had flown past Saka again on the overlap. Tomiyasu was replaced by Ben White at half-time while Zinchenko made way for Jakub Kiwior. We made another change with 25 minutes to go as Reiss Nelson came on for Saka. Unsurprisingly, the second half was nowhere near as eventful and it took until the 67th minute for the first notable chance, Havertz performing some excellent trickery by the corner flag and pulling it back for Odegaard, whose deflected shot was spilled before Lens cleared the danger. Jorginho came on for Declan Rice, who had looked typically comfortable on the ball throughout, with 15 minutes remaining. White headed over from an Odegaard corner before Eddie Nketiah became our final substitution of then game when he came on for Jesus with eight minutes to go. With five minutes remaining, we were awarded a penalty, courtesy of a VAR check, due to a handball from Abdukodir Lhusanov. Odegaard gave it to Jorginho, who calmly slotted into the bottom right for 6-0. #arsenal Enjoy match highlights, training and behind the scenes to get closer to the likes of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Emile Smith Rowe, Vivianne Miedema, Gabriel Jesus, Alex Zinchenko, Leah Williamson, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Kim Little, Gabriel Martinelli, Aaron Ramsdale, Beth Mead, Ben White and more. Subscribe to the Official Arsenal YouTube Channel: https://arsn.al/youtube Follow us on Facebook: https://arsn.al/facebook Follow us on Twitter: https://arsn.al/twitter Follow us on Instagram: https://arsn.al/instagram Follow us on TikTok: https://arsn.al/tiktok This is the Official YouTube channel for Arsenal Football Club. For more match action, highlights and training videos, make sure you become a digital member and sign up to Arsenal Player. It's FREE and is the Home of the Game: https://arsn.al/arsenalplayer Arsenal Football Club were formed in 1886 and amassed 13 League titles, 14 FA Cups. Some of their greatest players include: Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Tony Adams, Ian Wright, Robert Pires, Liam Brady, Patrick Vieira, Cliff Bastin and Charlie George.
kawhileonard #basketball #nbahighlights #nbainseasontournament The NBA is hilariously disrespecting Kawhi Leonard's ...
Support by buying my NBA T-Shirts: https://heatcheck.info/ Against Chicago, the Celtics went for a hack-a-Drummond while being up by almost 30. Running up the score on a 30 point lead is insane, but Boston had a good reason for it. You see, these were the standings on the final game of the in-season tournament group stage. So in order for them to get that final 4th spot and advance in the quarterfinals, the Celtics needed to catch up to the +18 point differential of New York. And this is where the chaos begins. The 2 games were played at the same time and right at this moment in the third quarter, with the Knicks up by only 1 and Boston up by 31, the Celtics caught up to the point differential and even had a 12 point advantage on New York. If the games ended like this, they would advance to the quarterfinals. But the thing is you could see that both of these teams were playing with a sense of urgency and had the in-season tournament score in the back of their minds. So the Knicks really ramped it up in the fourth, especially Emanuel Quickley who scored 16 in the final period and helped his team get a huge 24 point win. These 24 plus the 18 that they had on the Celtics, meant that Boston would have to win by more than 42 points. And they actually tried and kept their starters up until the very end on a 30 point blowout, but it was just too much for them. The chaos didn’t end there however because here are the quarterfinal matchups and you see that the Celtics actually advanced and will play against the Pacers. But the calculations about how they got there were something like this legendary clip from inside the NBA. I’ll break down what happened with Boston at the end of this video, because now we gotta move on to another wild ending. Playing without Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro the Heat had a 3 point lead late in the game against the Bucks. And winning it meant that they would advance in the quarterfinals potentially knocking the Bucks out of the tournament. Bam had a monster game but maaan if Milwaukee goes out to a big night from a 37 year old Kyle Lowry and Josh Richardson who bounced around 6 different teams in the last 4 years, that would have been crazy. But this was just as crazy:, Moments later we got this: And then: So the Bucks survived and will face off against the Knicks. In the west, Houston decided for their own destiny and with a win against Dallas who were out of it anyways, the Rockets would advance so Jalen Green and company were fired up for this one. But so were the Mavs as they had an answer to every Rocket point. And there was even some chippynes and trash talk. But at the end a 41 point game from Luka capped off by this hook shot at the end, killed the dreams of this young roster for the Rockets. However the chaos is nowhere near ending. Follow Gobert here for the entire possession at the end of the game against the Thunder. Look at his incredible defensive intensity. Rudy was so hyped that he fist pumped here in the middle of the play. And he stays with it, contesting one final time on this shot that ends up being an airball. Unbelievable defense, and the rumors are true, he is absolutely back to his defensive player of the year level from a couple of years ago. This game also went down to the wire, but Anthony Edwards got injured and left the game so Minnesota needed another hero. And they found it in Troy Brown Jr. OKC didn’t give up tho and played the foul game till the very end, eventually securing an opportunity to send the game into overtime. But the Timberwolves hold on to win this game that ended up being meaningless for both teams but set up the ultimate showdown between Sacramento and Golden State. Golden State has to win by 12 points or more to advance over Sacramento. The Kings had an 11 point cushion here but right out of the gate that was gone, as the Warriors came out swinging and quickly built a 24 point lead. The Kings were fighting for their tournament chances first and foremost trying to get the lead down to 11, but D’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and the rest of the Kings got so hot on the comeback run, that they came all the way back and actually took over the lead. Still, despite all that effort, Sacramento was down by 4 with 50 seconds to go and the Dubs had the ball. So then, the real madness starts unfolding. The arena is about to explode and under that pressure, Draymond commits a turnover. Setting the stage for this incredible play at the end. Unbelievable! All the gotta do now is watch out for Steph Curry at the end. The Kings win and advance to the quarterfinals while the Warriors are out of the tournament in the most improbable ending. This is how things look in the West: Lakers vs Phoenix and Sacramento vs the Pelicans. Amazing. Now I haven’t forgotten that I gotta explain just how the Celtics found themselves here.
Jaylen Brown’s wizardry to carry the C's into the quarterfinals, the upcoming game plan, Jrue’s stabilizing return, a potential Kristaps knockout round return & much more are covered in today’s Boston vid. Stick around Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@dflowhoops/featured X: https://twitter.com/DflowHoops Insta: https://www.instagram.com/dflowhoops/ Last Video: The Los Angeles Lakers Aren’t Done Just Yet… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylaGGMwsyUo The Boston Celtics BOUNCED BACK In A MASSIVE Way… 0:00, Intro 0:45, Tournament Unfamiliarity 1:25, JB’s 30 Piece 4:35, Coaching Staff 4:57, Al Horford 5:26, Hauser From Out Of Nowhere! 5:38, Jrue’s Return 6:08, Kristaps’ Injury Status 6:33, Tournament Motivation, An Issue? 7:10, Community Speaks/Outro