Over the course of an NBA season, every team will have some adversity to take on, whether that is a losing streak or injuries to key personnel that will shelve them for a period of time. That is what the defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors; their Atlantic Division rivals the Boston Celtics; last season’s Eastern Conference runner’s up in the Milwaukee Bucks and the Sacramento Kings are dealing with at the present moment.
In their 122-104 victory at the New Orleans Pelicans (2-8) on Friday night, the defending NBA champion Raptors (7-3) lost both their starting lead guard in All-Star Kyle Lowry and big man Serge Ibaka to injuries, that will keep them out indefinitely.
Lowry, whose averaging 21.8 points and 6.5 assists to start this season on 47.8 percent from the field and 42.6 percent from three-point range will be on the shelf because of a fracture of the distal phalanx in his left thumb sustained in the first quarter of the team’s win at the Pelicans. The Raptors said on Saturday that he will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
The Philadelphia native after hurting his thumb went to the bench but returned to action minutes later and made two threes in the second period before exiting midway through the quarter and went to the locker room.
Ibaka, who is averaging 14.0 points and 6.5 rebounds this season on 52.4 percent shooting sprained his right ankle in the same game and there is no timetable for his return to the Raptors lineup.
The Celtics have gotten off to a surprisingly stellar start to this season at 8-1, which includes eight consecutive victories after dropping their season opener at the Philadelphia 76ers (107-93) on Oct. 23. A big reason for that has been the return to All-Star form of swingman Gordon Hayward, who missed all but one game two years ago because of a serious ankle injury.
Unfortunately, the former Butler University Bulldog will be on the shelf for roughly six weeks because of a broken left hand, that was sustained after the 29-year-old collided with All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge in the second quarter of the Celtics’ 135-115 win at the five-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs (5-5) on Saturday night. He left the game and did not return.
“I feel bad for him. He was just getting back to being himself,” forward Jayson Tatum said. “It’s a bummer.”
“He was frustrated. He was down,” Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said after the game about Hayward, who he also coached at Butler. “But this isn’t like last time.
That last time as mentioned Hayward missed all but five minutes of the 2017-18 season after seriously injuring his ankle in the opening period of the season opener at the eventual five-time defending East champion Cleveland Cavaliers.
While he managed to return to the floor a season ago, to play in 72 games, a number of them off the bench, his numbers of 11.5 points and 4.5 rebounds were far short of his averages he had with the Utah Jazz.
He had gotten very close to playing at the level the Celtics hoped he would with averages of 18.9 points, a career-high of 7.1 boards and 4.1 assists, on 55.5 percent from the field and 43.3 percent from three-point range.
Just eight days ago in the Celtics 119-113 win at the Cleveland Cavaliers (4-6) on Nov. 5, Hayward tied a career-high with 39 points, with eight assists and seven rebounds going 17 for 20 overall from the field, including a perfect 16 for 16 shooting from two-point range.
“The crazy thing is he was playing unbelievable,” forward/center Enes Kanter, who just came back from a seven-game absence with a left knee contusion in the Celtics 116-106 win versus the Dallas Mavericks (6-4) on Monday night said Saturday. “I said in the beginning of the season, ‘He’s back, 100 percent. And he’s going to shock the world.’ He was shocking the world. Now he’s got that injury.”
The Celtics released a statement during the opening period that said Hayward underwent successful surgery in New York on Monday to repair that fracture in his non-shooting hand.
The Bucks (7-3) are also down an All-Star as swingman Khris Middleton will be out reportedly 3-4 weeks with a left thigh contusion that he sustained in the team’s 121-119 victory at the Oklahoma City Thunder (4-6) on Sunday night.
According to Shams Charania of “The Athletic,” the 28-year-old first-time All-Star selection a season ago, whose averaging 18.5 points and 5.7 rebounds, on 46.8 percent from the field and 39.3 percent from three-point range does not have any “serious damage” in his left leg.
The injury bug has also hit the slow starting Sacramento Kings (3-6), who lost their starting lead guard in De’Aaron Fox for 3-4 weeks after an MRI confirmed he suffered a Grade 3 sprain in his left ankle at the end of practice on Monday afternoon.
The Kings stated that the third-year guard they chose with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft out of the University of Kentucky will be re-evaluated in 3-4 weeks and his injury status will be updated as appropriate.
Fox was averaging 18.2 points and seven assists in 32.1 minutes so far through nine games of this season.
Houston Rockets’ reserve guard Eric Gordon will be sidelined for six weeks following arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Wednesday to clean up what head coach Mike D’Antoni termed to reporters on Tuesday morning loose “debris,” according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
Gordon had an MRI done on that right knee which provided answers as to why he has gotten off to such a poor start this season.
“I haven’t been able to do all I really want all year,” Gordon who is averaging just 10.9 points per game so far this season on just 30.9 percent of his shots and just 28.4 percent of his three-point attempts said. “I’ll be able to be more balanced, more athletic. I knew I wasn’t on balance all year. I’ll be able to get it right, now.”
Coach D’Antoni echoed those same feelings by telling reporters earlier this week, about Gordon’s injury, “It’s been bothering him, actually, from the middle of last year. I think he’s probably relieved that he can clean it up, get it going, so he can come back strong as ever.”
He did have his best scoring and shooting performance of the young season with 17 points on 6 for 11 shooting, including 4 for 7 from three-point range in the Rockets (7-3) 122-116 win at the New Orleans Pelicans (2-8), their fourth straight victory on Monday night, displaying confidence that things were turning around.
“I’ve just been banged up a little bit at the beginning of this year and I’m just trying to come back right, get back in rhythm, because I’m not going to have shooting woes like that for the whole season,” Gordon said after the win. “I’m just going to try to continue to get better.”
For these four squads, how they deal with the losses of key personnel will play a major role in how their regular seasons will go.
The defending champs have so far have gone 1-1, winning at the Los Angeles Lakers (7-2) 113-104 on Sunday night, but fell at the Los Angeles Clippers (7-3) 98-88 on Monday night in the absence of Lowry and Ibaka.
One big reason that the Raptors will be okay without Lowry and Ibaka for the time being is because of their deep roster led by rising star Pascal Siakam, whose averaging 26.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists so far this season and guard Fred VanVleet, whose averaging a career-high 15.8 points, 7.7 assists and 1.6 steals on 38.1 percent from three-point range.
If head coach Nick Nurse’s squad can continue to get that kind of production from those two and from OG Anunoby and Norman Powell, and better play from All-Star center Marc Gasol, the Raptors should be able to hold down the fort.
While the play of Hayward is a major reason for the Celtics being in the position they are in the early part of this season, the solid play of new addition of three-time All-Star lead guard Kemba Walker and much more efficient offense from Tatum and Jaylen Brown has been a major help as well.
The C’s will rely on that continued play from Walker, Tatum, and Brown as well as more contributions from Kanter, as he gets back into form in returning from injury, Marcus Smart, Daniel Theis, Robert Williams III and rookies Grant Williams and Carsen Edwards.
In the Celtics win at the Spurs on Saturday, Brown led the way with 30 points, going 10 for 18 from the field and 9 for 10 from the free throw line, while Walker had 26 points and eight assists and Tatum had 19 points and seven rebounds.
Walker led the way in the Celtics win on Monday night versus the Mavericks with 29 points, five assists and five boards, going 8 for 14 from three-point range. Brown had a double-double of 25 points and 11 rebounds, while Smart contributed 17 points and six assists, going 4 for 7 from three-point range.
Smart’s production, along with the double-figure scoring efforts by Theis and Brad Wanamaker of 11 and 10 points respectably made up for the abysmal 1 for 18 shooting night by Tatum.
The other thing the Celtics have going for them is their ability to defend and take care of the ball. They are in this early part of the season No. 1 in “The Association” in assists/turnover ratio a 2.1 and in turnovers per game at 11.4. They rank No. 3 in opponent’s field goal percentage surrendering only 41.7 percent and No. 8 in opponent’s three-point percentage at 33.4 percent.
On top of that as former Celtic great and now NBA analyst for ESPN Paul Pierce said on the Tuesday edition of “NBA: The Jump” his former team has better leadership now with the addition of Walker, who was acquired from the Charlotte Hornets a season ago.
“I mean, Kemba is known throughout the league as being a great leader. I mean, he played on losing teams,” Pierce said. “Stayed positive. Went out and played hard every night, and that can be infectious. That could be the difference between losing and winning, and chemistry, and that’s what he’s brought to the Celtics.”
The Bucks, like the Raptors and Celtics should be more than okay without Middleton because they still have the reigning Kia MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo, who in the win at the Thunder on Sunday had fifth consecutive 30-plus point performance with 35 points and 16 rebounds on 13 for 19 from the field.
Starting lead guard Eric Bledsoe picked up the offensive slack in the absence of Middleton with 25 points and nine assists, going 9 for 19 from the field, including 3 for 6 from three-point range. Starting center Brook Lopez had 15 points, while Sterling Brown had 12 points off the bench.
Without Middleton, the reigning Kia Coach of the Year Mike Budenholzer will count on Lopez, Bledsoe, Brown, second-year guard Donte DiVincenzo, veteran guard George Hill, Wesley Matthews, Kyle Korver, Pat Connaughton and Ersan Ilyasova to bring it offensively alongside Antetokounmpo.
“The reality is he (Middleton) is their really only other offensive threat who can create his own (shot),” ESPN NBA studio analyst Amin Elhassan said on the Tuesday edition of ESPN’s “NBA: The Jump.” “He’s was an excellent iso player last year. And he’s also their best shooter on volume.”
“So, you’re talking about a really huge piece out. The Celtics are winning. The Sixers are going to be good and Miami (Heat) keeps winning too.”
For the Kings, life for them without Fox in the lineup at first glance does not look promising, especially without second-year forward Marvin Bagley III, who sustained a non-displaced fracture of his right thumb in the season-opening 124-95 loss at the Phoenix Suns (6-3) on Oct. 23 that has had him on the shelf these last eight games.
For first-year head coach Luke Walton, he will have to decide on either starting Yogi Ferrell or veteran Cory Joseph at the lead guard spot and hope the likes of Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Harrison Barnes, Nemanja Bjelica and Trevor Ariza can raise their games to a level that can keep them afloat.
In their first game without Fox, the Kings got it done in the second half of their 107-99 win versus the struggling Portland Trail Blazers (4-7) on Tuesday night, outscoring them 61-50 in the second half, including 35-21 in the third quarter.
The Kings overcame a 36.7 percent shooting from the floor in the opening half to finish at 44.2 on the evening, while holding the visitors to that same shooting percentage; outrebounded them 54-50; forced 17 turnovers that they converted into 18 points; outscored them in transition 17-9 and in the paint 40-30. The Kings also held the Trail Blazers to 8 for 30 from three-point range.
“It’s what we’ve been preaching about every game since Day 1 of training camp,” Coach Walton said after the win. “I’ll be the first to admit it needs to get a lot better. We started the game we couldn’t make anything. That’s why defense is important. Every night won’t go like that but the competitive level that we played with on the defensive end tonight, that needs to be a steady constant for us.”
Joseph started at the lead guard spot in place of Fox, but produced just three points and three assists, on 1 for 6 shooting in 38 minutes. But that one field goal, which was a three gave the Kings a 104-95 cushion that they would never relinquish. Ferrell was decent with nine points and three assists in 16 minutes off the bench. Bogdanovic picked up the playmaking duties with a team-high 25 points and 10 assists. Hield scored 20, while Bjelica also had a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds in helping the Kings to their second straight win.
For the Rockets, the absence of Gordon means comes at a real bad time because they are already without sharp-shooting wing Gerald Green, who injured his foot in the preseason, that required surgery that will keep him out the entire season.
Forward Danuel House, Jr., who replaced Gordon in the starting lineup is expected to be out for the team’s next outing at the Clippers because of a bruised back.
Ben McLemore, who signed with the Rockets in the offseason is expected to move into the starting five, like he did in the second half at the Pelicans but he like Gordon is struggling with his shot making just 33.3 percent of his field goal attempts, and just 31.7 percent of his threes in the early part of this season.
“Next guy up,” Coach D’Antoni said. “Chris Clemons will fill in and help Austin (Rivers) with the point guard duties when Russ (Russell Westbrook) is not there.”
While a concern for the Rockets will be on how they can keep Clemons on the main roster before the 45-day allotment on his two-way contract is exhausted, the main concern for Coach D’Antoni’s squad is expanding on their current four-game winning streak with a squad that is presently shorthanded and a rough schedule on the horizon with their next eight opponents possessing a winning record.
That means the dynamic perennial All-Star duo of 2018 Kia MVP James Harden and 2017 Kia MVP in Westbrook will have to really raise their level of play of the Rockets who have to beat a team with a winning record so far this season, dropping contest to the Bucks, Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat.
The Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, and the aforementioned defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors have aspirations of playing beyond the second week of April 2020. In the case of the Rockets, Bucks and possibly the Celtics, they have hopes of competing for the Larry O’Brien trophy in June.
This stretch of games on the horizon, without a major piece will play a major role in where they are positioned in the playoff picture in their respective conferences of how far they can possibly go in the 2020 postseason.
“We’ll find out where we are in April,” Westbrook said. “Now…we’re figuring out how we can get better. We worry about ourselves. We can’t measure our success by what other teams do. We measure success by how we’re supposed to play. Win or lose, we know what we’re capable of doing.”
“Ankle sprains happen a lot in the NBA. But it is unfortunate that it is as severe as it is,” Coach Walton said of Fox’s injured ankle after their win versus the Trail Blazers. “What’s important is that our team comes together, grows, fights, and gets better. And he attacks his rehab and gets back with us as soon as he can.”
“We’re going to have to find other guys to step up, especially off the bench,” Coach Stevens said after the win against the Mavericks on Monday.
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 11/8/19 www.nba.com story, “Kyle Lowry Out Two Weeks With Fracture In Left Thumb;” 11/11/19 www.nba.com story, “Sacramento’s Fox Out 3-4 Weeks With Sprained Ankle;” 11/11/19 www.nba.com story, “Khris Middleton To Miss 3-4 Weeks With Left Thigh Contusion;” 11/11/19 www.nba.com story, “Hayward To Miss Roughly 6 Weeks After Hand Surgery;” 11/12/19 www.houstonchronicle.com story , “Eric Gordon Out For Six Weeks as Rockets’ Schedule Gets Tougher,” by Jonathan Feigen; 11/12/19 www.nba.com story, “Gordon Hayward Has Surgery On Hand, Out Roughly 6 Weeks,” by Jimmy Golen of “The Associated Press;” 11/12/19 3 p.m. edition “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Jackie MacMullan, Paul Pierce, and Amin Elhassan; 11/13/19 www.nba.com story, “Rockets’ Eric Gordon To Have Knee Surgery;” https://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameid=401160740; https://www.espn.com/nba/team/stats/_/name/tor; https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/recap?gameid=401160783; https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameid=401160777; https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/recap?gameid=401160783; https://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3431/eric-gordon; https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/boxscore?gameid=401160795; https://www.espn.com/nba/team/roster/_/name/sac; https://www.espn.com/nba/team/stats/_/name/tor; and https://www.espn.com/nba/standings.
No comments:
Post a Comment