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Today we’re getting the news of who won Rookie of the Year between Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel. It has been one of the hotly debated NBA topics in the last two months, and it’s been even more contentious of an argument than MVP this year. Just remember that anybody who ever suggested, “Maybe it should be co-Rookie of the Year,” does not understand how the voting works.
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Unwritten Rules
Running up the score? No such thing
I’m sure you’ve heard plenty about the “unwritten rules” of sports. As an Atlanta Braves fan, for years I had to suffer secondhand embarrassment as former catcher Brian McCann self-appointed himself sheriff of Unwritten Rules Land. “Don’t watch a home run for too long.” “Don’t trot too slowly around the bases.” “Make sure your stirrup socks are the appropriate height!” I may have made that last one up.
It was embarrassing to have the Dwight Schrute of baseball policing the fun of the game.
One of the unwritten rules in basketball is at the end of a decided game, the winning team shouldn’t score in the final seconds. Why? I don’t know. Something about running up the score? I don’t believe that’s a real thing in professional sports. Only in youth sports.
At the end of Game 4 between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets, this happened. The Wolves completed a dominant performance, despite losing Donte DiVincenzo in the first two minutes of the game to a torn Achilles and Anthony Edwards for weeks with a hyperextended knee in the second quarter. Ayo Dosunmu continued his offensive tear with 43 points off the bench, and the Wolves took a 3-1 series lead.
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However, with less than 10 seconds left and a 14-point pad, the Wolves got a stop and Mike Conley tossed it ahead to Jaden McDaniels to avoid the eight-second violation. McDaniels took the ball down the floor and scored the layup with 1.3 seconds left. That’s when Nikola Jokić ran the length of the floor to confront him in front of the Wolves’ bench.
Everybody rushed to the confrontation. Jokić wanted McDaniels to know this wasn’t okay … for some unwritten reason. McDaniels did not care. He made the comment that he didn’t really hear what Jokić said: “I just seen someone that was big as hell.”
You can see him not looking too scared, despite “big as hell” Jokić getting in his face.
Look at the woman in the background. She definitely did not want this to spill over into the crowd and had to be worried it might.
This whole moment is funny for a few reasons. First, Conley admitted he just threw it ahead to a teammate, and when he saw it was McDaniels who he threw it to, Conley knew he was going to score. Why? McDaniels does this, and admits he keeps trying to score if the clock is running. He doesn’t subscribe to the unwritten rule.
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Secondly, a friend mentioned this was the fastest Jokić has moved on defense all series. (I had to remind him Jokić was technically on offense at that point, since Minnesota already scored.) McDaniels called Jokić and his Nuggets teammates out for something following Game 2. What was it again? Oh yeah. For not defending! How could McDaniels tell the difference between the Nuggets conceding and the Nuggets playing defense?
Thankfully, nobody was suspended for leaving the bench or for the altercation itself. Jokić received a fine. Julius Randle received a fine. And both of those guys were ejected for the final 1.3 seconds. If Jokić and the Nuggets are so concerned with the Wolves scoring, they might want to show it earlier than with 1.3 seconds left on the clock. If teams don’t want opponents to score in those moments, they can jog back on defense. It’s one of the strangest things about sports to me. “We gave up, so please just stop.” Have we learned nothing from tanking?
The Last 24
🏀 Resilient. The Rockets were able to extend their season. Alperen Sengun is no stranger to struggle.
😡 Tempers flaring. Stephon Castle and Deni Avdija got into it in Game 4. Avdija called Castle “disrespectful.”
🔊 “NBA Daily.” Watch and listen to a recap of last night’s games. Today, Wemby’s return from concussion.
💻 Join us! During the games, join writers in the “Discuss” tab to talk about the action. Jason Jones will be there for Wolves-Nuggets tonight!
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
State of the East
Checking in on the East’s series
Magic lead Pistons 2-1
- Who has the momentum? The Magic, but that is contingent on them winning again in Game 4 to go back to Detroit up 3-1.
- What’s concerning about the Pistons? Their offense is just so ineffective if Cade Cunningham isn’t on a tear. The disappearance of Jalen Duren as an option is baffling.
- What’s encouraging about the Magic? Limiting points in the paint. Detroit was tops in the league with 57.9 PITP per game this season. That’s down to 42.6 in this series.
- Key stat in this series: 19 turnovers. That’s how many Cunningham has through three games. He has 51 turnovers in nine career playoff games. He has to take care of the ball.
- Where do we think this is headed? I’m going to give the 60-win Pistons some benefit of the doubt. This is going seven.
Celtics lead 76ers 3-1
- Who has the momentum? The Celtics, all the way.
- What’s concerning about the 76ers? They may have ruined their flow and gameplan by bringing Joel Embiid back in the middle of this series. Game 4 was awful.
- What’s encouraging about the Celtics? They’re easily winning the rebounding battle. They’re plus-40 in this series and ending possessions by hammering the boards.
- Key stat in this series: Plus-29. The Celtics have made 29 more 3-pointers in this series through four games. The 24-9 advantage for makes in Game 4 helped further that.
- Where do we think this is headed? I think we’re done Tuesday night and Boston moves on.
Knicks and Hawks are tied 2-2
- Who has the momentum? Slight edge to the Knicks with the easy Game 4 win.
- What do the Knicks need to work on? Move the ball. They’re assisting on just 54.4 percent of their shots in this series. That’s down from 64.3 percent in the regular season. Sharing is caring!
- What do the Hawks need to work on? Have to knock down 3-pointers. Guys not named Nickeil Alexander-Walker or Onyeka Okongwu are shooting 26.3 percent from deep. Yikes.
- Key stat in this series: Plus-23. That’s what the Knicks are in second-chance points. New York is taking advantage of a lot of offensive rebounds.
- Where do we think this is headed? Game 7 at Madison Square Garden, where all the eyes in the crowd will be pointed toward the court, and all the in-arena cameras will be pointed toward the crowd.
Cavaliers and Raptors are tied 2-2
- Who has the momentum? Slight edge to the Raptors after their home games.
- What do the Cavs need to work on? Free throws? Fast-break points? Cleveland is only making 71.9 percent of its free throws and it scored 19 total fast-break points.
- What do the Raptors need to work on? Taking care of the ball in Cleveland. They had 40 turnovers in two away games. They committed just 24 in Toronto. Don’t give it away.
- Key stat in this series: 57. That’s the total number of combined missed free throws so far this series. These are the two worst free-throw-shooting teams in the playoffs. Make your free throws and win this series.
- Where do we think this is headed? Seven tense games.
State of the West
Checking in on the West’s series
Thunder lead Suns 3-0
- Who has the momentum? The Thunder, of course.
- What’s concerning about the Suns? They don’t have a time machine to go get prime Charles Barkley and prime Steve Nash into the mix.
- What’s concerning about the Thunder? Even though they’re up 3-0, Jalen Williams has a hamstring injury that has him week to week. They need him to defend the title.
- Key stat in this series: Through three games, the Thunder are plus-40 in points off turnovers. And Phoenix has twice as many turnovers (52) as OKC (26).
- Where do we think this is headed? 🧹🧹🧹🧹
Spurs lead Blazers 3-1
- Who has the momentum? The Spurs, even after missing Victor Wembanyama for a full game.
- What’s concerning about the Blazers? The offense from Jerami Grant, Shaedon Sharpe and Toumani Camara is nearly nonexistent. They’re not supporting Avdija and Jrue Holiday.
- What’s encouraging about the Spurs? Wemby seems to be okay. He had 27 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks after missing Game 3.
- Key statistic in this series: Plus-56. The Spurs outscored the Blazers by 56 total points in the second half of Games 3 and 4.
- Where do we think this is headed? Portland is putting up a great fight, but the Spurs should probably close out at home.
Wolves lead Nuggets 3-1
- Who has the momentum? The Wolves, although the injuries do make it interesting.
- What’s concerning about the Nuggets? Jokić looks completely regular against Rudy Gobert. The supposed best player in the world can’t score efficiently at all.
- What’s concerning about the Wolves? Changed the question for Minnesota because of the injuries to DiVincenzo and Edwards. That’s asking a lot from Bones Hyland.
- Key stat in this series: 39.1. That’s the field-goal percentage of Jokić in this series. And he’s just 5-of-27 from deep. He’s 9-of-24 from the field against Gobert and Naz Reid.
- Where do we think this is headed? The Wolves should win this series, but it won’t be easy without Ant.
Lakers lead Rockets 3-1
- Who has the momentum? The Lakers.
- What’s concerning about the Rockets? They’ve had one good defensive game, Kevin Durant is injured and they can’t seem to solve Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard.
- What’s encouraging about the Lakers? Without Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, they’ve mostly executed their offense well. LeBron James and Smart have been excellent orchestrators.
- Key statistic in this series: 50.8. That’s the field-goal percentage by a Lakers team missing its two best scorers. Where did the Rockets defense go?
- Where do we think this is headed? The Lakers should end this in Game 5, but Houston might have found the turnover-forcing formula.