 "NBA Rundown Week 22: Jeremy Lamb's buzzer beater, Andrew Bogut's beer-fuelled rejuvenation and a season of treys")
You can call it the season of the trey. And for the seventh time in seven years, you would be right, for the NBA has seen its three-pointers-per-season record being shattered this time around, for the seventh consecutive season. After Sunday’s games, the 30 NBA teams had totaled 25,864 shots from outside the arc. Not surprisingly, the Houston Rockets led the charts with 1,212 threes made, with Milwaukee Bucks (1,025) getting in ahead of the reigning NBA champions Golden State Warriors (978). The Chicago Bulls (712), the Memphis Grizzlies (726) and the Indiana Pacers (731) languish in the bottom three. Interestingly, with 353 three-pointers made so far, Houston’s James Harden has scored almost half of those scored by the Bulls this season! According to a report by The Associated Press, this season could see as much as an eight percent rise in three-pointers over last season’s total, highlighting what has become increasingly evident – the three-pointers are becoming increasingly important in the modern NBA and any team which needs to make a strong case for itself to make it far into the NBA Playoffs, needs to stack up its roster with shooters. Speaking of three pointers, the week gone by saw one of the greatest three-pointers being scored by the Atlanta Hawks’ Jeremy Lamb.
With the clock ticking down and just 3.1 seconds left, the Hawks were resigned to defeat against the Toronto Raptors, trailing 112-114. That’s when Lamb got the ball and initially fumbled it, leading him to chase it down till the halfway line. Once he caught the ball, he spun and hoisted it in one fluid motion to incredulously seal victory for the Hawks. Lance, makes ’em dance And while we’re on the subject of incredulous plays, here’s one from Lance Stephenson that got the entire Los Angeles Lakers bench jumping out of their seats in shock.
LANCE HAD THE WHOLE BENCH SHOOK.
— ESPN (@espn) March 27, 2019
(via @NBATV)pic.twitter.com/2vBLtYDo04
Still shook from @StephensonLance’s ankle-breaker 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/bRmNvUedc3
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) March 27, 2019
LeBron’s done for the season Meanwhile, the Lakers announced on Sunday that they bench their talisman LeBron James for the rest of the season to help him recover from the groin injury that made him miss 17 games – a significant chunk of the season. “After consulting with our team doctors and medical staff, we have decided to hold LeBron out of games for the remainder of the season,” the Lakers’ President Magic Johnson and General Manager Rob Pelinka announced in a statement, adding, “this decision will allow his groin to fully heal, and is best for the future success of both LeBron and the Lakers.” The Lakers are already out of Playoffs contention and are hoping they can spruce up their roster in the free agency in the off season so as to make a stronger run next time around. This is the first time since 2005 the NBA Playoffs won’t feature James. They’re also cautious that James’ groin injury does not repeat next time around, which seems to have led to the decision. The secret behind Andrew Bogut’s resurgence? Beer! You’d call it a fairytale comeback. If only it wasn’t fuelled by beer! That’s the secret ingredient that Andrew Bogut claims led him to a spot with the Golden State Warriors after he spent time in basketball purgatory. However, after making an impression in Australia, the Warriors re-signed him. After turning out for the Warriors in their victory over the Detroit Pistons last week – a game in which he racked up eight points, five rebounds, three assists and three blocks – Bogut told The Athletic the secret of his rejuvenation: beer!
Point center 😳 pic.twitter.com/CTAFGwhe76
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 25, 2019
Warriors fans will recall Bogut as one of the players who had to make way when Kevin Durant came to the franchise. Bogut’s career went into a tailspin for a while, with the centre playing for the Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers and the Lakers, before finding himself turning out for the Sydney Kings back home in Australia. Now, Bogut finds himself with a chance to end the season with another NBA Championships ring on his finger to go with the 2015 one. Warriors livid after controversial defeat The Warriors have swung into Playoffs mode in recent weeks, but their march was stopped rather frustratingly on Saturday after their controversial defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Warriors were partially to blame for the defeat, giving up a 14-point half-time lead. But what happened in the dying minutes of the game was what led to much controversy.
With 4.4 seconds left in overtime, the Warriors were trailing by three points. That’s when Durant hoisted a three-pointer to level the scores, only to see referee Marat Kogut cancelling out the shot as he said that Keita Bates-Diop had fouled Durant before he got into his shooting motion. The Warriors still managed to put that incident behind them with Steph Curry nailing a three-pointer from the left-hand corner of the court. With double overtime 0.5 seconds away, the Timberwolves were thrown a lifeline when Anthony Tolliver’s pass for Karl-Anthony Towns soared out of bounds, but official Leon Wood signalled for a foul against Durant. Off the ensuing free throws, Towns scored the first and missed his second to gift victory to Minnesota. The Warriors were livid with the sequence of events and had no qualms keeping their opinions about the refereeing to themselves. The Warriors’ sense of injustice was further inflamed when it transpired that Minnesota’s Josh Okogie had slapped Curry’s ankle from behind while the Warriors star took a shot with under a minute left on the clock.
This angle of Josh Okogie slapping Steph’s ankle is absolutely appalling. pic.twitter.com/rbdSW4azHY
— TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) March 30, 2019
That foul was not called, leading the Warriors players and fans to agitate over refereeing. However, the NBA defended the move in their Last Two Minute report released after the game. “Okogie (MIN) makes marginal “hot-stove” contact with Curry’s (GSW) leg after the release of his jump shot attempt and does not affect his ability to land safely,” the report said. But the Warriors players were not convinced. Curry took to Instagram to troll the referee, whom he called the MVP.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAnd here’s coach Steve Kerr on the controversial incidents:
Kerr on the late KD foul call: “You mean when the lob was going 10 feet over the rim? Never seen it.”
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 30, 2019
Kerr on the late waved off KD and 1: “That’s a 4-point play. Mind-boggling.” pic.twitter.com/3CeHi8NN75
Durant, in his assessment, said that the Warriors deserved “at least five more minutes of basketball”.
Kevin Durant shares everything he thinks about the calls pic.twitter.com/Zo5bGXohKH
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) March 30, 2019
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