The Hawks triumph 138-122 against the Lakers. For the Hawks, Trae Young led the way with 26 points, 13 assists, and 6 3PM. Dejounte Murray contributed 24 points and 9 assists to the win. LeBron James contributed 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists to the Lakers’ defeat, while Austin Reaves finished with 28 points and 6 assists.
After being chosen first overall in the 2019 NBA Draft, Zion Williamson has only played twice at TD Garden, both times during the Boston Celtics vs. New Orleans Pelicans game on Monday night.
He played in Boston for the first time in the 2020–21 campaign. After the COVID-19 limitations were released, it was really the first home game for the Celtics with supporters inside the arena.
Williamson seemed to have been very thrilled with his own experience of the Garden on Monday night.
It’s really awesome. It was on our minds before to the game. Gethin Coolbaugh of AP Radio Network reports that Williamson told reporters after the game, “This is a dope ass arena.” “They receive a lot of affection from their fan base and from playing here. When you’re
Regretfully, Williamson’s Pelicans fell 118–111 after blowing a 17–point lead. Despite this, he had a decent game, finishing with 26 points on 11 of 18 shots, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals in just 31 minutes.
Williamson and Celtics star Jayson Tatum didn’t play together at Duke — Tatum played there during the 2016-17 campaign before being drafted No. 3 overall by the Celtics, while Williamson played there during the 2018-19 season. But Tatum’s love for the Blue Devils will last forever, and Williamson appreciates Tatum showing him around campus before his freshman year.
“He’s been a great dude and has been since Day 1,” Williamson told reporters when asked about Tatum. “Early in the summer, during K Academy, right before my freshman year, (Tatum) came back and it was me, JT, Amile Jeffesron and Cam Reddish. JT and Amile took us around Durham and showed us the local spots and stuff like that. From Day 1, JT has been solid.”
Tatum recalled the incident involving Williamson and mentioned how crucial it is to him to guide the guys that come through Duke.
During his postgame news conference, Tatum stated, “I remember being there with Amile and Zion, I think it was right before school started when he was about to be a freshman,” according to CLNS media. “You want to give back to any guy who attends Duke, just like that. Guys like Jahlil Okafor and Jabari Parker, who watched out for me while I was at Duke.
“You just want to approach folks who follow you and will be traveling the same route with an open door mindset. He had one of the finest collegiate basketball seasons ever for any player. A fantastic player and man. I’m delighted for him and look forward to seeing what more he does.”
Tyrese Haliburton had already missed three games this season when, on January 8, he played 13 minutes and strained his hamstring against the Boston Celtics. Due to the injury, he missed the following 10 games for the Pacers; he is scheduled to make his comeback on Tuesday night against the same Celtics.
A player must play more than 20 minutes in 65 games in order to be eligible for any playoff honors, but Haliburton has had a breakout season, was selected as an All-Star starter, and is headed to be an All-NBA player. This is where the $41 million comes into play. In the summer, Haliburton inked a five-year, $204.5 million contract deal with the Pacers, which is based on the $141 million salary cap that the NBA informed clubs in its most recent forecast released on Tuesday. Which equates to 25% of the wage ceiling. But under to the Rose rule, Haliburton may earn up to 30% of the cap, or an additional $41 million over the course of the contract, if he makes an All-NBA team.
The simple fact is that Haliburton must miss no more than three games to finish the season in order to be eligible for the All-NBA team. Joel Embiid, who is regarded by many as the mid-season MVP by voters, has been out of action for 12 games already and can only miss five more to qualify for the MVP/All-NBA team. This matter has generated a lot of conversation. Which is bad news for Embiid, but since his contract is set in stone, he doesn’t lose any money; Haliburton does.
As he told James Boyd of The Athletic, you can probably infer how Haliburton feels about the new regulation.
Like many of the men in the league, I believe this to be an absurd regulation, but the owners want it this way, so as
“I think it’s a stupid rule, like plenty of the guys in the league, but this is what the owners want, so as players, we gotta do our job and play in 65 games if we’re able to,” Haliburton said after practice Monday. “So, that’s what I gotta do, take care of my body to be able to play in those games, and I think you’re seeing other players in the league kind of face the same thing. As long as the owners are happy.”
It’s no accident that the NBA and Commissioner Adam Silver were negotiating a new TV rights agreement at the same time as the 65-game rule and the In-Season Tournament abruptly surfaced. Silver needed to support the worth of the regular season. The NBA is selling inventory in order to accommodate the 82-game regular season that runs from October through April on cable television, but the value of those games decreases if important players miss out. The league made an attempt to restrict “load management,” despite the fact that many of those games were set by teams attempting to save the health and fatigue of their best players for the postseason, when owners and fans really start to worry about the nightly results of games.MVP, All-NBA, and most other league playoff accolades are decided by media members, and I can personally attest that a large number of them consider the number of games or minutes played. I do, and part of my reasoning for selecting Nikola Jokic—who won MVP for the first time in 2021—instead of Joel Embiid, Stephen Curry, and Giannis Antetokounmpo—the next three players in the voting totals—was the number of games played. That season, Jokic participated in 72 games, Embiid in 51, Curry in 63, and Antetokounmpo in 61. It was important. It would be preferable for voters to hold that power and be able to declare that All-NBA center Joel Embiid’s 51 games played that season were more valuable than some other centers’ 65+ games played because to how dominant he was.
All-NBA second team that year). Embiid, Bam Adebayo, Domantas Sabonis, and Clint Cappela would not have played enough games to qualify for the All-NBA squad that season under the 65-game standard, meaning Rudy Gobert would have made the second team and Nikola Vucevic the third.
Players can miss up to 17 games this season and still be eligible for playoff honors; but, if they miss more than 18, or roughly 20% of the season, they will be eliminated from consideration. Although Haliburton has missed 13 games due to his hamstring injury, the game in which he was hurt and only played for little over 13 minutes is not included in the NBA’s calculation (players are permitted two
games to count toward the 65 if players play more than 15 minutes but fall short of 20 (Haliburton’s injury game prevents him from meeting that criterion).
That means Haliburton will lose out on $41 million even if he misses just four more games throughout the season. He just needs to miss a week of work due to a single rolled ankle.
It makes sense that Haliburton finds that to be foolish.
