THE CITY GAME

Nets 113  Knicks 109:  Barclays Center on Atlantic and Flatbush was rocking.  Kyrie Irving leads the way for the Nets with 26 points on 8-19 shooting,  including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 22 seconds left in the game.  Spencer Dinwiddie adds 24.  Teams combined for 52 turnovers.  Nets 26. Knicks 26.  It also must be mentioned the teams combined for 57 fouls.  “There were a lot of mental mistakes,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said after the game. “A lot of silly fouls. A lot of general breakdowns that almost cost us. Even though we won the game, we will have another long film session to look at all the mistakes we made. We made a lot.”  Allonzo Trier had 22 points for the Knicks on 6-7 shooting.   Julius Randle 5-15 FG, 11 rebounds and 6 turnovers.  RJ Barrett with 6 steals.  New York is 0-2.   3-point shooting Knicks 17-25 Nets 16-37.  

Celtics 112  Raptors 106:  Tommy Heinsohn was in rare form.  After a call that went against the Celtics: “That’s a terrible call,” said Heinsohn.   Watched the Raptors run the flex on one possession.  Celtics with 21 offensive rebounds.  Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum each score 25.  Kemba Walker chips in with 22.  Celtics rookie Grant Williams played a solid game:  “Being that short guy that people don’t think is that tough, you just get that competitiveness and that mentality of you’re just going to come out there and do whatever it takes and be that physical presence.”  Kyle Lowry makes 6-10 from downtown.  Celtics 13-38 from deep.  Raptors 18 of 36. 

Timberwolves 121  Hornets 99:  Karl Anthony-Towns with 37, 15 and 8.  13 of 18 from the field.  K.A.T. has 11 made 3’s in two games.  T-Wolves had 30 assists with 15 turnovers.  Devonte Graham led the Hornets with 24 points. He now has 12 made 3’s in two games.  Minnesota is 2-0.   T-Wolves 12-38 from distance.  Hornets 12-29. 

Bulls 110  Grizzlies 102:  Zach LaVine scores 37 for the Bulls on 13-23 shooting.  Colby White chips in with 25. LaVine and White combine to shoot 8-16 from distance.  Jaren Jackson led Memphis with 23 points and 11 rebounds.  Bulls 12-42 from distance.  Grizzlies 10-29.

Mavericks 123  Pelicans 116:   Impressive road win for the Mavs who start the season 2-0.  Luka Doncic is a bad boy. “He’s a special offensive talent,”  said ESPN’s  Jeff Van Gundy.  Dallas trailed in the first quarter by 16 points. The 20 year-old finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.  His 9th career triple-double.  Most in NBA history for someone under 21, two more than Magic Johnson.   “I’m glad we got the win,” Doncic said.  Dallas is 2-0.  New Orleans 0-2.   3-point shooting Mavericks 14-40 Pelicans 15-41.

Wizards 97  Thunder 85:  Thomas Bryant leads the way for Washington with 21 points and 11 rebounds.  19 points for his teammate Rui Hachimura.  Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drops 28 (10-17 FG) for OKC who start the season 0-2.  3-point shooting Wizards 11-41 Thunder 5-23.

Nuggets 108 Suns 107 (OT):  Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 27 points.  Nikola Jokic added 23 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists.   With the Suns trailing by 3 with 1.8 left in regulation, Ricky Rubio was fouled at half-court attempting to tie the game.  Rubio  made 3 free-throws to send the game into OT.  Rubio has 20 assists in two games.   Kelly Oubre led the Suns with 23 points. Nuggets blocked 12 shots.  Denver moves to 2-0.  Suns 8-28 from downtown.  Nuggets 7-27. 

Blazers 122 Kings 112:  I forgot Luke Walton was the head coach of the Sacramento Kings.  Late in the game with 2:34 to play and the Blazers up 18, Rodney Hood fouled De’Aaron Fox who was driving to the goal.  They called a flagrant 1 on Hood.  The Kings announcers mentioned that the Kings need an enforcer to do the same to the Blazers at the other end.  Understand this, this is not the 70’s, 80’s or even the 90’s. Xavier McDaniel, Maurice Lucas or Dennis Rodman are not walking through those doors.   Sacramento is 0-2.  3-point shooting Blazers 11-30 Kings 15-37.

Lakers 95  Jazz 86:  LeBron James scored 32 points, dished out 10 assists and grabbed 7 rebounds.  Troy “Layup” Daniels knocked down 4 of 8 3’s for the Lakers finishing with 15 points.  Yes, that Troy Daniels, undrafted out of VCU.  Daniels set the record for most 3’s in a game in the A-10 conference.  On January 2, 2013 Daniels shot 11-of-20 from three-point range en route to 33 points and 10 rebounds in a 109–58 win over East Tennessee State.  The Lakers are his 6th team.  “He’s earned a spot in the rotation with his ability to shoot the basketball,” Frank Vogel said of Daniels after the game. “He’s arguably the best shooter on the team.  He’s the kind of player you want put around LeBron James and Anthony Davis.  He works really hard on the defensive end, so he pulls his own weight on that side of the floor, and when he’s out there, he not only brings gravity but when the help comes, he’s able to punish defenses, and he did both of those tonight.”  3-point shooting Lakers 8-26 Jazz 8-25.

Happy birthday to the late Hot Rod Hundley and the late Joe C. Meriweather. 

E-Mail:  Hoops135@hotmail.com

 

LUKE WALTON

On Andre Ingram:

“I loved his attitude. He doesn’t complain. He works hard no matter what. You talk to the G league coaches, whenever they need him, he’s ready to play.”

LUKE WALTON

From the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-lakers-20180116-story.html

We’re trying to build something where we can be really good again for a long time. I know that takes time. It takes failing. It takes coming together as a group. It is challenging going through it. You want to win now. You want instant gratification. But, that’s not the way it works in this league.

For them, it’s about being present and trying to get better right now. For us as a staff, it’s continuing to challenge them to do those things day in and day out that’ll get us through. … It’s about us setting that foundation. For them, it’s about coming into work every day and giving it their all and being pissed off when they lose and not understanding why and wanting to win. With a combination of that, we will eventually win consistently.”

It can make their will to do whatever it takes to win much stronger depending on how they feel about losing, how they feel about failing. That’s when you normally learn the most about yourself and about your team, and how you respond to it.

The great ones that have played in this league have failed, have lost and have come back and worked that much harder to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Although your confidence can get shook a little bit from losing, the character and core of who you are as a player can be much stronger.

LONZO BALL

The Lakers rookie point guard did not have a good game on opening night against the Clippers. The Clips came out on top 108-92.

Before the game Ball was asked how he deals with all the hype.

“Go out and do my job.”

Excellent answer.

Luke Walton, head coach of the Los Angeles was asked what Ball can expect?

“They’re going to come after him,” Luke Walton said Thursday morning, eight hours before Ball was set to make his regular season debut. “That’s what people in this league do. They come after young players, and when there’s young players a lot of media and a hype around them, they really come after them.”

It’s true. Walton hits the nail on the head. Patrick Beverely, Clippers point guard and one of the best defensive players in the NBA came after Ball…like he should.

How much better would our game be if more players took Beverely’s mentality about defense and playing hard?

Here’s Ball’s numbers from last night:

29 minutes

1-6 FG (1-3 from distance)

0-2 FT

9 rebounds

4 assists

2 turnovers

-14

3 points

Society is obsessed with numbers. That’s okay, the rookie is going to be fine.

He has poise, courage and most of all he shares the ball.  Loved the fact that he rebounded. When a guy rebounds, it shows he is engaged.

Bet you Ball was back in the gym this morning working hard on his game. Wouldn’t surprise me to hear he was working on his shooting last night after the game.

Please remind yourself, he’s 19 years-old!

I love his game…

LUKE WALTON

“We’re on a journey right now and it’s another day, another opportunity to get better and to work on the things we’re committed on working on.”

PTRW #964 GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

From assistant coach Luke Walton:

From the first day of camp, the players were on the court ready to work and were competing. That’s what makes it so much fun to coach these guys. They put their personal goals aside and it’s all about the team goal.

PTRW #917 LUKE WALTON

Assistant coach, Golden State Warriors:

“When we don’t do stupid [expletive], we’re really [expletive] good. We feel like when we do what we do, with a focus and a discipline, there’s not a lot of teams that can beat us. The issue is that it’s just not that simple, where if you’re focused you’ll win, because at the same time we want our guys running and playing fast and Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson] being gunslingers. We want that, but with a fine line of, when that’s not there, recognize it and get into a motion offense, where we’re constantly putting pressure on the defense. You get 20,000 screaming fans, and they love the behind-the-back pass and all that stuff. So it’s not as simple as it sounds, but … that’s kind of the blueprint we see for our guys being able to win a championship.”

PTRW #644 LUKE WALTON

From Phil Jackson:

“He didn’t have a killer jumper, nor was he gifted at creating his own shots. But he loved moving the ball and playing the game the right way. He was also gifted at shifting the flow of the action from one side of the court to the other, a critical move in the triangle offense. Many coaches don’t place a high value on such skills, but I encouraged Luke to grow in that direction. Eventually, he blossomed into one of the best facilitators on the team.”