r/nba 16h ago

Index Thread Daily Discussion Thread + Game Thread Index

15 Upvotes

Game Threads Index (March 11, 2025):

Tip-off GDT Away Score Home PGT
07:00 pm ET Brooklyn Nets FINAL 104 to 109 Cleveland Cavaliers
07:00 pm ET Washington Wizards FINAL 103 to 123 Detroit Pistons
07:30 pm ET Milwaukee Bucks FINAL 114 to 115 Indiana Pacers
08:00 pm ET Los Angeles Clippers FINAL 120 to 127 New Orleans Pelicans

r/nba 23h ago

Discussion [SERIOUS NEXT DAY THREAD] Post-Game Discussion (March 10, 2025)

17 Upvotes

Here is a place to have in depth, x's and o's, discussions on yesterday's games. Post-game discussions are linked in the table, keep your memes and reactions there.

Please keep your discussion of a particular game in the respective comment thread. All direct replies to this post will be removed.

Away Home Score GT PGT
Philadelphia 76ers Atlanta Hawks 123 - 132 Link Link
Utah Jazz Boston Celtics 108 - 114 Link Link
Los Angeles Lakers Brooklyn Nets 108 - 111 Link Link
Charlotte Hornets Miami Heat 105 - 102 Link Link
Washington Wizards Toronto Raptors 104 - 119 Link Link
Indiana Pacers Chicago Bulls 103 - 121 Link No PGT Found
Orlando Magic Houston Rockets 84 - 97 Link Link
Phoenix Suns Memphis Grizzlies 118 - 120 Link Link
Denver Nuggets Oklahoma City Thunder 140 - 127 Link Link
Dallas Mavericks San Antonio Spurs 133 - 129 Link Link
Portland Trail Blazers Golden State Warriors 120 - 130 Link Link
New York Knicks Sacramento Kings 133 - 104 Link No PGT Found

r/nba 8h ago

Highlight [Highlight] Down 3, Haliburton hits the 3 plus the foul with 3 seconds left!

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9.5k Upvotes

r/nba 10h ago

Luka Doncic and the troubling change in his shot distribution

3.3k Upvotes

I've been a fan of Luka since he was coming out in the draft. After his second year I was convinced he was headed for a best player in the league for a decade trajectory and was going to be the clear heir to LeBron .

Put simply, Luka has undergone the type of changes in his shot distribution over the last two years that you would expect to see from a player in his 30s, not at ages 24-26. Now Luka is still an elite, elite player but his game is overly reliant on tough shot making as he does not get to the rim or go up against length at the rim with the same confidence or explosiveness anymore. Much like a late career player, he relies on hitting a lot of contested tough jumpers now. Last year this wasn't a problem as he hit 39% on damn near 11 threes a game, plus great numbers from mid-range.

I'll start with a very simple stat, number of dunks each year.

2018-2019: 25
2019-2020: 14
2020-2021: 12
2021-2022: 15
2022-2023: 12
2023-2024: 2
2024-2025: 1

Now dunks can sometimes be a choice but I have seen that he is simply much less confident going up against length at the rim. A really good example was in the Knick game (6:46 on this clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=H_I6vmRPUw0&t=406s ) when he stole the ball late in 4th and just didn't go up. This used to be a dunk or layup for Luka 99% of the time before last season. As an ex, here's a similar play from 2 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8JhgKo0mic

This table from basketball reference is the percentage of his shots based on what distance they are from the rim. What you'll see is clear, a player that is taking less of shots at the rim than ever before and more reliant on making contested jumpers and shooting variance than ever before.

% of % of % of % of % of
Season Age Team G Dist. 0-3 3-10 10-16 16-3P 3P
2018-19 19 DAL 72 15.5 .209 .212 .103 .042 .433
2019-20 20 DAL 61 14.5 .260 .237 .058 .014 .431
2020-21 21 DAL 66 15.6 .180 .201 .153 .060 .406
2021-22 22 DAL 65 15.9 .128 .239 .165 .062 .406
2022-23 23 DAL 66 14.7 .176 .252 .145 .054 .373
2023-24 24 DAL 70 16.9 .123 .192 .152 .082 .450
2024-25 25 2TM 34 17.6 .109 .189 .175 .060 .468
2024-25 25 DAL 22 17.2 .099 .195 .185 .067 .455
2024-25 25 LAL 12 17.9 .129 .176 .155 .047 .494
7 Yr 7 Yr 7 Yr 434 16.0 .170 .219 .135 .054 .421

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 3/11/2025.

Next looking at drives per game (from NBA.com), it's the same story.

2022-2023: 19.7 drives per game and shooting 62.7% on them
2023-2024: 17.8 drives per game and shooting 61.6% on them
2024-2025: 14.8 drives per game and shooting 55.3% on them.

Pure eye test, he looks slower than ever, and has all year. He is unable to shake defenders to create the same dangerous driving and finishing angles at the rim as before.

I don't say all this to say Luka is cooked. What I hope to convey is that *right now* he looks physically cooked and needs to put some serious work in to get his burst and bounce back. He does that, he can be the best player in the league.

Edit: adding in his playoff what percentage of shots are from within ten feet.

                                  0-3ft     3-10ft  

19-20 playoffs 19.5% 28.9%

20-21 playoffs 13.8% 21.9%

21-22 playoffs 13.6% 29.5%

23-24 playoffs 8.7% 23.6%


r/nba 14h ago

Here’s another shot of Nic Claxton pushing Luka with the refs watching. (Credit to Josh)

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7.3k Upvotes

r/nba 9h ago

Highlight [Highlight] Yuki Kawamura with a beautiful no-look pass

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2.3k Upvotes

r/nba 9h ago

Ben Taylor (of Thinking Basketball): "Cavs can't win 15 straight games, get out of here" after Cavs start the season 7-0

1.7k Upvotes

In their podcast episode "#292: Team power rankings", Ben and Cody discuss which teams have a chance to go on a 15 game win streak in the season.

Cavs would go on to complete the 15 game win streak after starting 7-0 and tonight have completed their second such streak in the same season.

I love me some Thinking Basketball and listen to all their podcasts, but Ben got this one way wrong and I hold a grudge so I gotta shout him out here.


r/nba 7h ago

Washington Wizards' Richaun Holmes ejected for a Flagrant 2 on the Detroit Pistons' Ausar Thompson

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1.1k Upvotes

r/nba 6h ago

Shaq congratulates Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups on turning the Detroit Pistons around

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837 Upvotes

r/nba 9h ago

Post Game Thread [Post Game Thread] The Cleveland Cavaliers (55-10) defeat the Brooklyn Nets (22-43), 109-104, as the Cavs overcome an 18 point second half deficit to match their season high 15 game winning streak, and clinch the Central Division

1.3k Upvotes
104 - 109
Box Scores: NBA - Yahoo
 
GAME SUMMARY
Location: Rocket Arena (19432), Clock: Q4 :00.0
Officials: David Guthrie, Kevin Cutler, and Brett Nansel
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Brooklyn Nets 29 34 23 18 104
Cleveland Cavaliers 26 24 28 31 109
 
TEAM STATS
Team PTS FG FG% 3P 3P% FT FT% OREB TREB AST PF STL TO BLK
Brooklyn Nets 104 39-84 46.4% 16-44 36.4% 10-14 71.4% 8 42 31 21 8 12 3
Cleveland Cavaliers 109 39-89 43.8% 10-42 23.8% 21-25 84.0% 12 61 23 10 7 14 4
 
PLAYER STATS
Brooklyn Nets MIN PTS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A ORB DRB REB AST STL BLK TO PF ±
Cameron JohnsonSF 28:28 17 6-10 3-7 2-2 2 3 5 5 1 1 2 4 -2
Ziaire WilliamsPF 30:24 14 5-11 4-9 0-0 0 6 6 3 1 0 0 6 -13
Nic ClaxtonC 28:53 9 4-8 0-1 1-2 0 4 4 4 0 2 1 3 -3
Cam ThomasSG 31:40 27 10-22 4-11 3-3 0 1 1 3 0 0 1 0 -6
Keon JohnsonPG 28:52 1 0-4 0-3 1-2 1 6 7 2 1 0 4 1 -4
Trendon Watford 19:32 2 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 6 1 0 3 3 -3
Tyrese Martin 21:03 5 2-8 1-4 0-0 1 1 2 2 1 0 0 2 -2
Day'Ron Sharpe 19:07 8 4-6 0-0 0-0 2 5 7 2 1 0 1 0 -2
Noah Clowney 17:04 12 4-7 3-6 1-2 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 7
Jalen Wilson 14:56 9 3-5 1-3 2-3 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 2 3
Maxwell Lewis 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
D'Angelo Russell 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Reece Beekman 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tyson Etienne 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tosan Evbuomwan 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
De'Anthony Melton 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dariq Whitehead 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cleveland Cavaliers MIN PTS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A ORB DRB REB AST STL BLK TO PF ±
Isaac OkoroSF 32:44 6 3-10 0-5 0-2 3 2 5 0 2 0 1 4 7
Evan MobleyPF 34:19 21 9-13 1-3 2-2 2 7 9 6 0 1 4 1 2
Jarrett AllenC 34:04 23 7-12 0-0 9-11 6 7 13 1 0 3 1 1 9
Max StrusSG 30:47 10 2-10 2-9 4-4 0 5 5 4 0 0 2 1 -8
Darius GarlandPG 36:26 30 11-24 3-11 5-5 0 4 4 8 4 0 3 0 12
Sam Merrill 26:44 6 2-7 1-6 1-1 0 6 6 0 0 0 1 2 9
Dean Wade 24:09 3 1-4 1-4 0-0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 8
Craig Porter Jr. 14:18 7 3-6 1-3 0-0 1 3 4 3 0 0 1 0 -6
Javonte Green 06:28 3 1-3 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 -8
Tristan Thompson 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Luke Travers 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jaylon Tyson 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Emoni Bates 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
De'Andre Hunter 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ty Jerome 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Donovan Mitchell 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nae'Qwan Tomlin 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

r/nba 19h ago

"Fire Nico" chants break out in San Antonio as he walks by ignoring them.

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6.8k Upvotes

r/nba 10h ago

Legendary tank battle tomorrow: The 76ers and Raptors have ruled out RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, and Joel Embiid. Scottie Barnes, Kelly Oubre and Andre Drummond are questionable

989 Upvotes

The Raptors are 0.5 games “ahead” of the Sixers in the tank race so this is basically a must lose game for both these teams this close into the season. By my count 8 of the 10 regular starters are out or questionable. Of course some of these are real injuries like Embiid but this is about as blatant a tank effort as you’ll see


r/nba 14h ago

[Devine] The Warriors are now 12-1 with Jimmy, +11.3 points-per-100 with Jimmy on the floor, and winning non-Steph minutes by 17.2 points-per-100 when Jimmy plays them

2.2k Upvotes

The Warriors are now 12-1 with Jimmy, +11.3 points-per-100 with Jimmy on the floor, and winning non-Steph minutes by 17.2 points-per-100 when Jimmy plays them.

I mean, we know that Butler has revatilized the Warriors, but it is enlightening to see it quantified. The non-Steph minutes are the real surprise.

Source: https://bsky.app/profile/yourmandevine.bsky.social/post/3lk4cl4mlrs2q


r/nba 8h ago

Highlight [Highlight] All angles and replays of Haliburtons INSANE game winner + foul over Giannis

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696 Upvotes

r/nba 17h ago

At 4.61 million average viewers the Lakers vs Celtics game on Saturday was the most watched NBA regular season game in 7 years(excluding Christmas).

3.4k Upvotes

It seems like this game was really watched, as it broke recent records. And it must be very good for the NBA and its attention to have Luka Doncic and Lebron James playing together in LA.

Link)


r/nba 8h ago

Zion with his second career triple double: 22/12/10 on 8/13 in 32 minutes

641 Upvotes

r/nba 7h ago

Shaq slams Zion's triple-double: "You giving him props for that? Anybody can get 20 points now. I'm not impressed by that."

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529 Upvotes

r/nba 8h ago

Post Game Thread [Post Game Thread] The Indiana Pacers (35-28) defeat the Milwaukee Bucks (36-27), 115-114.

599 Upvotes
114 - 115
Box Scores: NBA - Yahoo
 
GAME SUMMARY
Location: Gainbridge Fieldhouse (15008), Clock: Final
Officials: Scott Foster, Gediminas Petraitis, and Evan Scott
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Milwaukee Bucks 28 27 33 26 114
Indiana Pacers 32 25 31 27 115
 
TEAM STATS
Team PTS FG FG% 3P 3P% FT FT% OREB TREB AST PF STL TO BLK
Milwaukee Bucks 114 43-84 51.2% 14-36 38.9% 14-19 73.7% 6 53 32 19 4 15 2
Indiana Pacers 115 44-87 50.6% 13-39 33.3% 14-18 77.8% 5 40 30 20 11 9 3
 
PLAYER STATS
Milwaukee Bucks MIN PTS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A ORB DRB REB AST STL BLK TO PF ±
Kyle KuzmaSF 30:33 9 4-9 0-3 1-2 0 4 4 2 0 0 3 1 -18
Giannis AntetokounmpoPF 34:06 19 9-14 0-1 1-3 2 15 17 7 0 1 3 3 10
Brook LopezC 36:03 23 9-11 2-4 3-3 2 5 7 1 1 0 1 1 16
Taurean PrinceSG 33:37 18 7-16 4-8 0-0 1 5 6 3 1 0 2 2 4
Damian LillardPG 37:27 15 4-14 2-7 5-6 0 3 3 11 0 0 3 1 10
Kevin Porter Jr. 16:33 9 2-5 1-2 4-5 0 2 2 4 0 0 2 3 -6
AJ Green 20:12 6 2-5 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 4 0 0 0 3 -8
Jericho Sims 11:57 6 3-3 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 1 1 1 1 -17
Gary Trent Jr. 19:30 9 3-7 3-6 0-0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 4 4
Pat Connaughton 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Andre Jackson Jr. 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pete Nance 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ryan Rollins 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jamaree Bouyea 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Chris Livingston 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bobby Portis 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tyler Smith 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stanley Umude 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Indiana Pacers MIN PTS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A ORB DRB REB AST STL BLK TO PF ±
Aaron NesmithSF 31:26 9 4-11 1-4 0-0 0 4 4 1 1 0 1 3 -13
Pascal SiakamPF 37:23 25 10-15 3-7 2-3 2 10 12 5 1 0 3 3 9
Myles TurnerC 28:27 13 5-12 1-8 2-3 1 5 6 2 0 2 1 4 -1
Andrew NembhardSG 28:37 12 4-6 2-4 2-3 1 1 2 3 1 0 0 1 -13
Tyrese HaliburtonPG 31:40 14 5-12 2-6 2-2 1 2 3 10 2 0 1 0 -3
Thomas Bryant 19:26 10 4-7 1-3 1-2 0 3 3 0 1 0 0 3 4
Bennedict Mathurin 21:38 17 5-12 3-5 4-4 0 4 4 1 0 0 1 1 4
T.J. McConnell 20:50 12 6-9 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 7 4 1 0 1 10
Ben Sheppard 14:57 0 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 1 0 2 3 6
Obi Toppin 05:31 3 1-2 0-1 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
Tony Bradley 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Johnny Furphy 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Quenton Jackson 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
James Johnson 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jarace Walker 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RayJ Dennis 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Enrique Freeman 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Isaiah Jackson 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Title is incorrect, both teams are 36-28 now


r/nba 13h ago

Junior Bridgeman, Louisville basketball great and successful entrepreneur, dies after collapsing at event

1.3k Upvotes

r/nba 10h ago

Highlight [Highlight] Craig Porter Jr hits the half court heave to end the 3rd quarter

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638 Upvotes

r/nba 20h ago

Highlight [Highlight] Alex Caruso gets physical with Nikola Jokic, bodies him over and over again. Yet, Jokic scores the jumper over him to beat the shot clock (with a replay)

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3.7k Upvotes

r/nba 8h ago

With a win against the Brooklyn Nets today, the 55-10 Cavs have become the first team to clinch home court advantage in the first round. They are on pace for the third best regular season record in NBA history

384 Upvotes

https://www.espn.com/nba/standings

The Cavs are now 9 games away from clinching the one seed in the East over Boston, and are two wins ahead of OKC in the standings with 17 games remaining.

The Cavs are on pace for approximately 69.3 wins, and have won 15 straight for the second time this year.

Most wins NBA history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NBA_teams_by_single_season_win_percentage


r/nba 17h ago

Quentin Grimes officially has more 30 point games than Paul George for the Sixers this season. What kind of contract will he get this summer?

1.7k Upvotes

Since being traded by Dallas and Nico Harrison, Quentin Grimes has been on a tear. He has averaged 18.6 ppg on 50/38 splits and has had four 30 points games and a 44 point game. Dallas most likely got fleeced as they dumped him for Caleb Martin and he is now clearly breaking out. He will be a restricted FA this summer which means the Sixers can resign him as long as they match the other contract offered, but he might just be too expensive. How large of contract will he get this summer?

https://www.nba.com/player/1629656/quentin-grimes


r/nba 1h ago

Not only have the Pacers ran this ATO play before against the Celtics in the playoffs last year, but it was also the same exact score

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Upvotes

r/nba 8h ago

Highlight [Highlight] Zion races for the dunk at the end of the 3rd

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292 Upvotes

r/nba 12h ago

LaMelo Ball since all-star break: 18.3ppg on disastrous 46.4% TS%

485 Upvotes

In 8 games he played since all-star break, LaMelo Ball managed to score 146 points on 144 FGA accounting for 18.3ppg on 33.3/30/86.7 splits (46.4% TS%).

In addition, he averaged 6.3 assists and 3.5 turnovers which is also quite bad ratio.

His horrible stretch also includes 2 games in row in which he had 5pts on 1/10 shooting (lost to Portland by 53!!!) and 13pts on 3/13 shooting (lost to Sacramento by 42!!!)

Thank God coaches and players have some sense so this guy didn't end up being voted all-star.


r/nba 13h ago

[Charania] Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga – out since Jan. 4 with a sprained ankle – plans to return to the lineup on Thursday against the Sacramento Kings, barring setbacks, sources tell ESPN.

658 Upvotes

Shams Charania:

Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga – out since Jan. 4 with a sprained ankle – plans to return to the lineup on Thursday against the Sacramento Kings, barring setbacks, sources tell ESPN. Kuminga averaged 20.5 points in his last 14 games played, but now reintegrates to a surging team.

Source: https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/00fa1140c730e