A lot of bodies have moved in and out of (and will move in and out of) the NBA’s clubhouses this past week, and going forward, as buyouts, injuries, 10-day contracts, and season-ending surgeries claim people off of and add to teams’ rosters.
- Kyrie Irving will have season-ending surgery on his right shoulder after consulting with a specialist during the All Star break. He hasn’t played in over two weeks. He has never played all 82 games in any season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics and now the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets lose 27.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 6.4 assists, as well as paying $69 million this season for what amounted to 20 games.
- The groin strain that Damian Lillard suffered right before the All Star Weekend will keep him out another 3-4 games.
- It’s been ruled that there will be no late season comeback for Klay Thompson, who will be out the remainder of the season. Seems the Golden State Warriors learned their lesson with Kevin Durant last year, at the expense of Kevin Durant’s health, and possible career.
- Reggie Bandwagon (sic) Jackson bought out his contract with the Detroit Pistons and has signed with the Los Angeles Clippers, after playing just 14 games for the Pistons this season.
- DeMarre Carroll is moving addresses in Texas, taking a buyout from the San Antonio Spurs, so he can relocate east in Houston with the Rockets.
- Jeff Green will also be humming a different tune, heading to Houston after 30 games with the Utah Jazz this season. The move gives Houston three former Oklahoma City Thunder players in Green, James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
- The jury is still out on how well Andre Iguodala will integrate with Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat, while Clint Capela may be a few more weeks away from making his Atlanta Hawks debut.
- Marvin Bagley III is likely out 3-4 more weeks with his ankle sprain. This, his second season, is mirroring his rookie campaign from the injury/playing time perspective.
- Kemba Walker will be out for Boston tomorrow versus the Minnesota Timberwolves with a sore left knee. Speaking of Minnesota, Karl-Anthony Towns is out indefinitely with a left wrist injury that has had some see him keeping the blood flowing by shooting one handed shots.
- Dragan Bender has been inked to a 10-day deal by the Golden State Warriors. Derrick Walton, Jr. also signed a 10-day contract with the Detroit Pistons.
- In coaching news, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ head coach made a beeline for an early exit; after 54 games, John Beilein had enough of the transition from a successful NCAA career to trying to turn around a trash team.
- The Cavs will go from one J.B. to another J.B. as John Blair Bickerstaff takes the reins, and is reportedly the guy – not the interim. J.B.’s father, legendary head coach Bernie Bickerstaff, is a consultant with the franchise. Should be some great insight – love to be a fly on the wall for some of those father-son dinners.
- And it’s be a warm and fuzzy story if the Boston Celtics brought recently waived Isaiah Thomas back into the fold on the parquet.
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Milwaukee Bucks 126
Detroit Pistons 106
The Milwaukee Bucks jumped out to a 23-9 lead in the first quarter that ended up a 32-18 advantage, which resulted in a 70-41 first half. Enough to withstand a 65-56 run by the Detroit Pistons in the second half with 20 points to spare. Milwaukee, in fact, led by as many as 34 in the second half. The Pistons have lost five consecutive games since trading away Andre Drummond to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Reggie Jackson also left over the All Star Break, buying out his contract and signing with the Los Angeles Clippers. The roster vacancies have afforded Christian Wood the opportunity he has long sought and was starting to get with the New Orleans Pelicans last year. Wood led the Pistons as top scorer, with 18 and 11, but was bested by the Bucks’ top three scorers in Giannis Antetokuonmpo, Khris Middleton, and Eric Bledsoe.
| BUCKS (47-8) 1st in the East | PISTONS (19-39) 12th in the East |
| Giannis Antetokuonmpo 33 points – 16 rebounds – four assists – three steals – one block | Christian Wood 18 points – 11 rebounds – one assist – one steal – one block |
| Khris Middleton 28 points – eight rebounds – three assists – one steal | Bruce Brown 16 points – 10 rebounds – seven assists |
| Eric Bledsoe 19 points – four rebounds – six assists – two steals – one block | Langston Galloway 12 points – one rebound – one assist |
NEXT GAMES
Philadelphia at Milwaukee – Saturday
Detroit at Portland – Sunday
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Miami Heat 124
Atlanta Hawks 129
Bouyed by his Skills Challenge win and a solid weekend at NBA All Star, Bam Adebayo seemed poised to go into Atlanta and steal an easy win for the Miami Heat. But a 39-27 fourth quarter surge in front of the home crowd at State Farm Arena last night helped the Hawks soar past the Heat for a confidence building win instead. Trae Young dropped 50 on the fourth place Heat, De’Andre Hunter and Kevin Huerter combined for another 34, Cam Reddish added 16, and it was a dozen each from John Collins and Jeff Teague as Atlanta held serve in front of 17,356 faithful.
| HEAT (35-20) 4th in the East | HAWKS (16-41) 14th in the East |
| Bam Adebayo 28 points – 19 rebounds – seven assists – three steals – one block | Trae Young 50 points – two rebounds – eight assists – two steals – one block |
| Goran Dragic 19 points – three rebounds – three assists | Kevin Huerter 17 points – seven rebounds – four assists |
| Jimmy Butler 17 points – eight rebounds – nine assists – two steals – one block | De’Andre Hunter 17 points – six rebounds – two assists – one steal |
NEXT GAMES
Dallas at Atlanta – Saturday
Cleveland at Miami – Saturday
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Charlotte Hornets 103
Chicago Bulls 93
Charlotte swarmed the Chicago Bulls from Jump Street with a 33-20 first quarter and then held on to notch a 10 point win over the hapless Bulls. The win helped the Hornets move a half game ahead of Chicago, knocking the Bulls down to 11th place in the Eastern Conference. Malik Monk led Charlotte with 25 points, while Miles Bridges continued his success from the Rising Stars game, in which he outshined everyone from Zion Williamson to Luka Doncic, to drop 22 and eight last night. Thaddeus Young stepped it up for the Bulls, who looked about as uncomfortable as Zach LaVine did answering Charles Barkley’s questions about the state of the Bulls and Lauri Markkanen over All Star.
| HORNETS (19-36) 10th in the East | BULLS (19-37) 11th in the East |
| Malik Monk 25 points – six rebounds – three assists | Thaddeus Young 22 points – 11 rebounds – one assist – four steals – one block |
| Miles Bridges 22 points – eight rebounds – two assists – two steals | Zach LaVine 19 points – seven rebounds – seven assists – three steals – one block |
| P.J. Washington 17 points – five rebounds – four assists – two steals – one block | Shaquille Harrison 13 points – two rebounds – two assists |
NEXT GAMES
Brooklyn at Charlotte – Saturday
Phoenix at Chicago – Saturday
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Brooklyn Nets 104
Philadelphia 76ers 112 (OT)
The Brooklyn Nets are faced with having to go without Kyrie Irving for the remainder of the season, as he is facing shoulder surgery, while the Nets have to evolve once again with role players stepping up. Last night, they could have used a little of Uncle Drew’s magic in the overtime period, where they mustered only one point and fell to the Philadelphia 76ers’ nine. One of the newest 76ers on the team, Alec Burks showed his worth in the overtime period, hitting two critical layups in the extra period to help Philadelphia to the win. With Jarrett ‘Goose Egg’ Allen in the middle, Joel Embiid dominated the paint, leading all scorers with 39 and 16, while the Sixers got to the free throw line 35 times (91 percent) to Brooklyn’s 28 (78 percent).
| NETS (25-29) 7th in the East | SIXERS (35-21) 5th in the East |
| Caris LeVert 25 points – six rebounds – five assists – one steal | Joel Embiid 39 points – 16 rebounds – two assists – two steals – two blocks |
| Spencer Dinwiddie 22 points – five rebounds – eight assists – one block | #VFL Tobias Harris 22 points – 12 rebounds – six assists – two steals |
| DeAndre Jordan 14 points – 15 rebounds – four assists | Alec Burks 19 points – four rebounds – one assist |
NEXT GAMES
Brooklyn at Charlotte – Saturday
Philadelphia at Milwaukee – Saturday
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Memphis Grizzlies 125
Sacramento Kings 129
In a hard fought battle to gain traction in the Western Conference playoff race, the Sacramento Kings edged out the surging Memphis Grizzlies at home last night, led by Harrison Barnes, De’Aaron Fox, and new Three Point champion Buddy Hield, who only hit two of six from downtown versus his 26 three pointers last Saturday night in Chicago. Last night, it was Barnes’ seven three pointers and 32 points that carried the Kings to their 22nd win. Hield made his presence felt at the free throw line, hitting a perfect eight of eight. De’Anthony Melton led the way for Memphis, which fell to its 27th loss of the season through 55 games.
| GRIZZLIES (28-27) 8th in the West | KINGS (22-33) 12th in the West |
| De’Anthony Melton 24 points – six rebounds – three assists – one steal – one block | Harrison Barnes 32 points – one rebound – one assist – one steal |
| Ja Morant 19 points – one rebound – two assists | De’Aaron Fox 26 points – two rebounds – four assists – one steal |
| Tyus Jones 16 points – three rebounds – six assists | Buddy Hield 20 points – three rebounds – four assists – three steals |
NEXT GAMES
Memphis at Los Angeles – Tonight
Sacramento at Los Angeles – Saturday
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Houston Rockets 135
Golden State Warriors 105
The Houston Rockets lifted off to a 16-4 boost, and an eventual 38-17 lead, in the first quarter in San Francisco last night, and continued to build throughout the game against the league’s worst team to record a 30 point win over the Golden State Warriors. Two former Minnesota Timberwolves on two different trajectories reunited last night with Andrew Wiggins leading the Warriors with 22 points in a loss, while Robert Covington was part of a three-way 70 point drop, contributing 20 points in a Houston win, its 35th of the season through 55 games. It was Golden State’s fifth consecutive loss and fifth loss in a row in the Chase Center, where they’d beaten the Rockets on Christmas Day.
| ROCKETS (35-20) 5th in the West | WARRIORS (12-44) 15th in the West |
| James Harden 29 points – three rebounds – 10 assists – three steals – two blocks | Andrew Wiggins 22 points – three rebounds – one steal – one block |
| Russell Westbrook 21 points – five rebounds – 10 assists – one steal (ejected) | Jordan Poole 19 points – four rebounds – two assists – one steal |
| Robert Covington 20 points – five rebounds – one assist – four blocks | Damion Lee 13 points – three rebounds – three assists – two blocks |
NEXT GAMES
Houston at Utah – Saturday
New Orleans at Golden State – Sunday
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FRIDAY’S LINEUP
(All Times Eastern)
| 7 p.m. Dallas Mavericks Orlando Magic Fox Sports Southwest | 7 p.m. Cleveland Cavaliers Washington Wizards NBC Sports Washington | 7:30 p.m. Indiana Pacers New York Knicks Fox Sports Indiana |
| 7:30 p.m. Phoenix Suns Toronto Raptors Fox Sports Arizona | 8 p.m. Boston Celtics Minnesota Timberwolves NBC Sports Boston | 8 p.m. Denver Nuggets Oklahoma City Thunder ESPN |
| 9 p.m. San Antonio Spurs Utah Jazz AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain | 10:30 p.m. Memphis Grizzlies Los Angeles Lakers Fox Sports Southeast | 10:30 p.m. New Orleans Pelicans Portland Trailblazers ESPN |
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Tracy Graven is a Senior NBA Analyst for BackSportsPage.com.
He has written the NBA, and done NBA radio, for the last two decades for HoopsWorld, Swish Magazine, and HoopsHype, the Coach Scott Fields Show and NBARadioShow.com, and is also tackling the NFL, NCAA, and will be pinch-hitting on some Major League Baseball coverage for BackSportsPage.
He’s spent 20 years in locker rooms in
- Orlando
- Boise (G League)
- San Antonio
- Phoenix
- Denver
- Oklahoma City
- Atlanta
A corporate trainer by day, he currently resides in SEC Country near Knoxville, Tennessee.
Reach him on Twitter at @RealTMoneyMedia
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