 "NBA Rundown Week 4: Jimmy Butler's split with Timberwolves, spluttering Houston Rockets, speechless Draymond Green and more")
We now declare the Jimmy Butler saga closed! Jimmy Butler has had an exciting start to the season. At the onset, he more or less announced that he did not fancy staying at the Timberwolves — an announcement that made the league sit up and take notice, and raised hackles in Minnesota. The following few months have been no less than a soap opera, with the Timberwolves fans oscillating between booing the wantaway player to singing the ‘M-V-P’ chant, sometimes in the space of a few minutes. Meanwhile, the player was courted, coveted and wooed by everyone from the Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat. Now finally, he’s gotten his wish, with a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers, where he will fortify an already formidable line-up loaded with the Joel Embiids and the Ben Simmons of the world. Meanwhile, in the trade, the Wolves will get Dario Saric, Robert Covington, Jerryd Bayless and a 2022 second-round pick while the 76ers will get Justin Patton, alongside Butler. Now, the second act of this drama will be to see how the alpha dog Butler gels with the alpha dog Embiid at Philadelphia.
Failure to launch What is going on with the Houston Rockets? The James Harden-led franchise has been sputtering all season. And that’s us being generous. Head coach Mike D’Antoni went as far as branding the team’s offence ‘anemic’. “I mean, it’s bad. We have to start imposing our will and get our swagger back,” he said in a bid to elaborate. The franchise needs serious course correction and are languishing in 12th spot in the Western Conference. Currently, the team has more defeats (seven) than wins (four). But more alarmingly, their defeat to the San Antonio Spurs early on Sunday — a match in which they shot a dismal 32 percent — was the fourth time on the trot they had failed to score 100 points in a game. Overall, in their 11 games in the 2018-19 season, they’ve failed to hit the 100-mark in six out of their 11 games. Happy ending for Jamal Murray and a young fan Remember the game ball that was angrily tossed into the stands by a Kyrie Irving incensed at Jamal Murray’s attempt to score a basket that would give him 50 points in the dying seconds of the Denver Nuggets-Boston Celtics clash?
Kyrie flings ball into the crowd after Murray attempts to score 50. Probably not the best way to handle things BUT it's definitely the most entertaining.
— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) November 6, 2018
(via @NBCSCeltics)pic.twitter.com/OTeZZR6rpL
Well, we have an update on that! It’s made its way into the hands of Murray, who had scored a career-high 48 points on the night, thanks to a young fan who caught the ball. What’s more? The fan in question, identified only as Park, was able to turn Kyrie’s assassination attempt frustrated heave of the ball into a meet-and-greet with his idol — the young Park was in the stands for the Celtics game wearing a Murray jersey — and also took home a lot of Nuggets merchandise, including a pair of shoes signed by the player.
Park, who ended up with Jamal's 48-point ball, returned the ball to the man himself during pregame!#MileHighBasketball pic.twitter.com/o9TeepJGhE
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) November 10, 2018
And in return, Park is going home with plenty of gear from Jamal!#MileHighBasketball pic.twitter.com/NIsr8yHSdP
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) November 10, 2018
Note to Kyrie: If you’re looking to prevent an opposing player from getting his hands on the game ball, maybe throwing it in the midst of his own fans isn’t such a bright idea. The one deer you need to fear How many times have we been left astonished by the explosive talent of Giannis Antetokounmpo? Turns out the Greek Freak even has NBA stars watching on mouth agape when he plays. Earlier this week, when the Golden State Warriors lost 111-134 to Milwaukee Bucks, Antetokounmpo dropped 24 points, including a dunk over Kevon Looney that had Draymond Green go…
Impact Shorts
More ShortsSpeaking of Draymond, he had this to say to Indian fans for Diwali
The NBA Family extends its greetings to YOU on the festival of lights. #HAPPYDIWALI pic.twitter.com/qvDv3IclMy
— NBA India (@NBAIndia) November 7, 2018
Kawhi metre A blockbuster trade, Giannis Antetokounmpo putting Kevon Looney flat on his backside and rendering Draymond Green speechless with one dunk, and a happy ending for Jamaal Murray. What sort of a week has it been, you ask? Allow Kawhi Leonard to tell you.
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