The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.
Maybe I should have known this, but in the NBA Cup group play, overtime doesn’t count for point differential. That makes absolutely zero sense to me, but I’m glad we all just found this out together.
The Streak Is Over
Did the Celtics burst the Cavaliers’ bubble?
The headline matchup of the Emirates NBA Cup last night was always going to be the Cavaliers going on the road to face the Celtics. But with the Celtics as the defending champs and the Cavs bringing a 15-0 record into this game, the East Group C matchup had even more juice than we could have imagined. This was set to be an internet indictment on the Cavs if they lost, or move people toward believing in Cleveland as a true contender by extending its streak.
What happened was an incredibly impressive game from both sides as Boston (12-3) won 120-117. The Celtics gave the Cavs an early reminder of exactly who they’re trying to topple, Cleveland came back to make it a game and we had a tight finish between two teams who often play each other tough. Their last 11 regular-season matchups have been decided by a total of 22 points, dating back to November of 2021. Three of those 11 games have gone to overtime.
I’m sure we’ve all got some questions about what to make of Cleveland’s streak being terminated by the defending champs. If you don’t mind, I’d like to talk to myself here by asking and answering those very questions.
So … are the Cavs frauds after all? No. The Cavs showed a lot of positive things in making their comeback and had a chance to win this game in Boston. There’s a reason only one team in history has started at least 16-0. This is hard!
Is the streak meaningless in the long run? Not at all. They have a cushion for the No. 1 seed in the East through 16 team games. They also have historic precedent on their side, with the other three teams to start 15-0 having made the finals.
But don’t the Cavs still have to contend with a Celtics team that will have Kristaps Porziņģis? They sure do! And that’s scary for every potential playoff opponent for the Celtics. The Cavs were also without Max Strus, Isaac Okoro and Caris LeVert. You need wing depth against Boston.
What can Cleveland take away from this game? Three things. First, Evan Mobley is a monster. He played great basketball to help get the Cavs back into this game, helping cut a 21-point third quarter deficit to two. Secondly, the Cavs dominated the paint 60-36, and they can keep things close with that. Thirdly, you can’t get outscored by 36 points at the 3-point line. You have to take more threes.
More NBA Cup action from last night:
Nets 116 (6-9), Hornets 115 (5-9): Charles Lee benched LaMelo Ball for the final 3:48, Cameron Johnson had 34 points and the Nets ran the offense through Trendon Watford to finish this game. And it worked.
Nuggets 122 (8-5), Grizzlies 110 (8-7): Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. finally picked up the slack without Nikola Jokić (personal reasons), as they combined for 51 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists.
Mavericks 132 (8-7), Pelicans 91 (4-11): Luka Dončić returned after missing a game to lead Dallas with 26-5-5 in 30 minutes. If Dallas didn’t score in the fourth quarter, Dallas still would’ve won by six. New Orleans badly needs some healthy bodies.
Spurs 110 (7-8), Thunder 104 (11-4): No Victor Wembanyama, no problem. The Spurs beat the Thunder behind 22 points from Keldon Johnson off the bench to pull off the upset. Players not named Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32 points on 11-of-20 shooting) and Jalen Williams (27 points on 13-of-26) combined for 45 points on 17-of-54 shooting from the field.
Lakers 124 (10-4), Jazz 118 (3-11): What did you think was going to happen in this one? The Lakers cruised to an easy victory behind 37 points from rookie Dalton Knecht. LeBron and AD each had 20.
The Last 24
Everybody is safe in Philadelphia … for now
🏀 Power Rankings of pain. Law Murray takes you through despite all these injuries. New Orleans is hurting.
📚 Here comes Willis Reed! The legendary Knicks big man clocks in at 45th in “The Basketball 100” coming out soon. More like Willis Read. Pre-order the book here.
🕵️ No firings coming. Daryl Morey and Nick Nurse are safe for now. The The 2-11 Sixers need wins. More on Philly below.
📺 Don’t miss this game tonight. Knicks (8-6) at Suns (9-6), 10 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Suns need to snap this four-game losing streak.
📺 Keep an eye on this. Magic (9-6) at Clippers (8-7), 10:30 p.m. ET on League Pass. Orlando is the hottest team in basketball, with six straight wins.
The 76ers are off to a worse start than anyone in the organization could have imagined.
But there are no internal discussion at this point regarding the job status of Nick Nurse or Daryl Morey, league sources told The Athletic.
What’s next for Philly? ⤵️https://t.co/e9CcIF66kB pic.twitter.com/U9RZLMaxsy
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) November 19, 2024
Team Meeting SZN Already?
How bad is Philly’s start? Well, let’s see …
Things in Philadelphia are off to a slow start, to say the least. The 76ers revamped their entire roster this summer, bringing in Paul George and some good role players to help out Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. It was supposed to make them contenders and get them past the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2001. There’s still plenty of time to right the ship for the Sixers this season, and it will start with Maxey getting healthy, PG staying healthy and Embiid getting into game shape and his typical playing rhythm.
You can try all you want to justify a slow start, but 2-11 with the team not looking any better since Embiid came back (0-3 in those games) still doesn’t make sense. You can shower them with all the qualifiers and caveats you need to give them space to rebound. And that would be fair. However, they’re the only team we know to have a team meeting so far this season. That’s rarely a good thing this early on.
We told you yesterday the Sixers weren’t available to the media after Monday night’s loss for about an hour. That’s because they had that team meeting. According to our old pal Shams Charania:
- Maxey called out Embiid for being late “for everything” with the Sixers.
- This was well-received by Embiid but was also seen as the elephant in the room for the team.
- Players wanted to be coached harder by Nurse.
- The coaching staff wants more purpose and attention in practice.
- Embiid said he’s confused by what they’re trying to do on the court, at times.
So, what does all of this mean? There are two ways to process this. First, the Sixers got all of this out in the open and needed to address some issues. It all sounds like it’s getting the team to accept what it needs to improve. Considering the 76ers are tied with the Wizards for the NBA’s worst record, what they need to improve is literally everything. With 69 games left in the regular season, they have time to right the ship immediately after this and start building toward what they were supposed to be.
What’s the other way to take it? Even if it’s a positive message, stuff like this getting out isn’t supposed to happen. You often hear about players saying everything needs to stay in-house. Regardless of it being good or bad. This got out almost immediately the next morning. It could be the sign of a fractured locker room, even after an early Festivus-like airing of grievances within the team.
What’s next? The next five games to close out November are at Memphis (tonight), Brooklyn, the Clippers and Rockets all at home. Then, they head to Detroit. Ja Morant should still be out – likewise for Kawhi Leonard. The Sixers should go at least 3-2 in this stretch. If they do, maybe things truly are on the mend.
New All-Star Game
Will the proposed NHL-style format fix NBA’s?
Prior to this past weekend, we received the report that the NBA might have figured out its All-Star Game format issue. After this year’s being so embarrassing that Adam Silver called out the players in real time and repeatedly talked about needing to make this game more competitive, the league decided to find a way to change things. While some have wondered if we’d get American-born players versus international players, the NBA has decided to adopt a style we see in the NHL … with its own twist, of course.
The proposed format we may see in San Francisco in February consists of four teams in a tournament style. The league would divide the 24 All-Stars (12 from the West and magically 12 from the East) into three teams of eight. And they would compete in a short tournament of games. I know what you’re thinking: “But Zach, didn’t you say it would be four teams?” I did! And it would be! The NBA would get the fourth team from the winner of the Rising Stars Game on Friday night.
This is sort of similar to the NHL, which divides their All-Star pool into four teams, who then play in a bracket style. They play three-on-three games with 10-minutes halves. Winners of the first two games then play a third game for all of the hockey All-Star glory. The NBA would do something similar with their bracket. Shorter games. More games. And a prize pool to the winners. Also, the hope is that playing the Rising Stars would galvanize veterans into playing hard.
Ultimately, this will likely come down to the prize pool motivating players to try more and try harder. It’s worth a shot because it can’t get worse than last year’s lackluster 211-186 game.
📫 Love The Bounce? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters.
(Top photo: Winslow Townson / Getty Images )
