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Tag Archives: Jazz
Damian Lillard drops mic on Jazz with historically efficient 60-point game
PORTLAND — While scoring 60 points for the fourth time in his career during Wednesday’s 134-124 win over the Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard made history with his efficiency.
Lillard needed just 29 shot attempts and 10 free throw attempts to score 60, putting him in elite company. Just two other players (Karl Malone with 26 in 1990, and James Harden with 24 in 2019) have reached 60 points on fewer shot attempts, but both scored a high percentage of their points at the foul line, taking 23 free throws apiece.
Meanwhile, only one player to score 60 (Rick Barry in 1974, with five) has done so with fewer than 10 free throw attempts. Because of those limited opportunities, Lillard posted the highest true shooting percentage — a measure of combined efficiency on shot attempts and free throws — ever in a 60-point game (.898).
“That was incredible, man,” said Blazers coach Chauncey Billups. “You don’t get to see that very often, to be that efficient. For a guy to score 60 points and only 10 free throws and make nine of them, you’re thinking either this dude has an absurd amount of 3s. It was just incredible how efficient he was.”
Indeed, Lillard made nine 3-pointers, tied for second most ever in a 60-point game behind his own total of 11 in January 2020. He shot 72% overall from the field (21-of-29), sixth best in a 60-point game.
Since he doesn’t typically check his phone until he leaves the arena, Lillard was unaware his 60-point night was historic until he was told about it by media postgame.
“It’s the most efficient 60-point game ever, for real?” Lillard said. “That’s crazy. I didn’t know that. I’m just sitting here thinking I had a shot at the end of the shot clock from half court toward the end that I shot. It probably would have been a little bit better. I missed a free throw. Damn.”
The early stages of the game offered little indication Lillard would enter the record books. He had just nine points in the first quarter before heating up. Lillard scored 17 points in the second quarter and was at 30 for the game when he exploded late in the third period.
Starting with a layup at the 6:42 mark of the third, Lillard went on to score Portland’s final 20 points of the period, shooting 7-of-9 from the field in that span with three 3-pointers. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, he was the third player this season to score 20 consecutive points for his team, as well as just the second to reach 50 points through three quarters. (Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns was the other.)
Remarkably, Billups had to be convinced to keep Lillard in the game during that stretch.
“I thought he was tired at the end of the third and he was so hot,” Billups said. “I came into the timeout and I said, ‘How are you feeling? I really wanted to get you out here for the last two minutes.’ GP (Gary Payton II) and everybody was like, ‘No, let him go!’ I said, man, this could be a good game at the end. I don’t want to have him tired because he got 45, 50. He said, ‘I’m good, I’m good.’ I’ve got to trust guys in those moments.”
Despite Lillard’s heroics, the Jazz managed to remain within striking distance, allowing Lillard to return to the game and approach his career high of 62 points. He reached 60 for the fourth time in his career on a pair of free throws with 1:37 remaining, but did not attempt a shot on the Blazers’ next two possessions. That’s when Billups reminded him of the stakes.
“That’s the only reason I kept him in the game,” Billups said. “I would have got him out. I told him when I pulled him over, I said, ‘Bro, what are you doing?’ We’re running the same play. I’m trying to get you your career high. He looked at me and said, ‘OK, I’ll get it.’ Bro, I would have got you out and got you the standing O you deserved. That just speaks to who he is. He wasn’t even thinking about that.”
On the ensuing Portland trip downcourt, Lillard shot a deep 3-pointer before Utah could double-team him, but it missed. With mere seconds on the clock when the Blazers reclaimed possession, Lillard conceded the chase.
“There was still time on the clock, but I wasn’t going to be that thirsty to come back down with that much time left in the game just to get a career high,” he explained. “I didn’t feel like that was the right thing to do, so that was how it ended.”
Lillard tied for the second-most points in the NBA this season. Donovan Mitchell had 71 in an overtime game for Cleveland against Chicago on Jan. 3, and Luka Doncic scored 60 in Dallas’ OT victory over New York on Dec. 27.
As just the fifth player in NBA history to score 60 points at least four times, joining a group that includes Wilt Chamberlain (32), Kobe Bryant (6), James Harden and Michael Jordan (4 each), Lillard is in the rare position of being able to compare such performances. To him, Wednesday’s game stood out for its simplicity.
“It was pretty simple,” he said. “I don’t want to say it was easy because they had some big bodies and some long defenders out there, but I think usually I get into a groove where I’m just going without making those simple plays, that teams start to come after me sooner.
“I was kicking it ahead, I was swinging it, so it didn’t feel like they came after me until the very end. That’s why it seemed like the most simple one of all of them.”
Although Lillard is now the third-oldest player to score 60 points at age 32, per ESPN Stats & Information, he’s got a chance to continue adding to his total. Already, he was impressed by the rare company he joined Wednesday.
“I ain’t catching Wilt,” Lillard said. “That’s out. Dang, that’s cool.”
Maxi Jazz, lead singer of dance group Faithless, dies at 65
CNN
—
Maxi Jazz, the British musician best known as the lead vocalist for dance group Faithless, has died, according to the band.
The band announced Jazz’s passing in a Facebook post on Saturday. The singer, born Maxwell Fraser, was 65 years old. He died peacefully in his sleep on Friday night, according to Faithless’ Twitter.
“We are heartbroken to say Maxi Jazz died last night,” wrote the band on its verified Facebook account. “He was a man who changed our lives in so many ways. He gave proper meaning and message to our music.”
“He was also a lovely human being with time for everyone and a wisdom that was both profound and accessible,” the post goes on. “It was an honour and, of course, a true pleasure to work with him.”
“He was a brilliant lyricist, a DJ, a Buddhist, a magnificent stage presence, car lover, endless talker, beautiful person, moral compass and genius.”
Jazz was a lifelong fan of British soccer club Crystal Palace and even became the team’s associate director in 2012, according to a statement from the club. To honor his life, the team will walk out to a song by Faithless on Boxing Day on Monday, according to the statement.
Jazz formed Faithless with bandmates Jamie Catto, Rollo, and Sister Bliss in 1995. The band achieved acclaim for iconic songs like the 90s dance anthem “Insomnia” and “God is a DJ.” They also performed at Britain’s Glastonbury Festival four times, according to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Donovan Mitchell reflects on time in Utah before first game against Jazz: ‘It was just draining on my energy’
No NBA city is perfect, but the one market that consistently seems to create issues between players and fans is Salt Lake City. The Utah Jazz have played there for over four decades, but a common thread in that time has been players voicing frustrations about the actions of the fan base there. Both Russell Westbrook and Ja Morant have had run-ins with those fans in recent years, but even Utah players themselves have struggled in their interactions with them.
Donovan Mitchell is one such player. He spent the first five seasons of his career in Utah, but now that he’s a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, he’s opening up about the way he was treated by fans in his original NBA city.
“It’s no secret there’s a lot of stuff that I dealt with being in Utah off the floor,” Mitchell told Andscaped’s Marc J. Spears. “If I’m being honest with you, I never really said this, but it was draining. It was just draining on my energy just because you can’t sit in your room and cheer for me and then do all these different things. I’m not saying specifically every fan, but I just feel like it was a lot of things. A [Utah] state senator [Stuart Adams] saying I need to get educated on my own Black history. Seeing Black kids getting bullied because of their skin color. Seeing a little girl [Isabella Tichenor] hang herself because she’s being bullied.”
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Now that Mitchell is playing in the more diverse Cleveland, he called it “a blessing to be back around people that look like me.” He also told the story of a particularly stressful interaction with a police officer. “I got pulled over once. I got an attitude from a cop until I gave him my ID,” Mitchell explained. “And that forever made me wonder what happens to the young Black kid in Utah that doesn’t have that power to just be like, ‘This is who I am.’ And that was one of the things for me that I took to heart.”
Sadly, racism exists in every NBA market, and really, all across the United States. It can’t be avoided entirely. But Mitchell’s stories about Utah are hardly exclusive to his experience there. Many players have expressed issues with the fans in Salt Lake City. Mitchell is happy to have found a new home, but it’s unfortunate that he had to deal with these issues in the first place.
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Donovan Mitchell speaks of ‘draining’ Utah experience, then leads Cavs in blowout of Jazz
Donovan Mitchell led the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday to a 122-99 win over the Utah Jazz team that traded him this offseason.
Prior to the game, he opened up to Andscape’s Marc J. Spears about his time in Salt Lake City and his relationship with former teammate Rudy Gobert. He told Spears in an interview published Monday that “we did a lot of special things” while acknowledging that a Jazz team led by himself and Gobert that never advanced to the Western Conference finals fell short of expectations.
“Basketball just didn’t work out,” Mitchell said of his relationship with Gobert.
Mitchell, who played five seasons in Utah, also spoke about the challenges of being a Black athlete in a predominantly white city, an experience that he says has shifted for him in Cleveland. He described his experience in Utah as “draining.”
“If I’m being honest with you, I never really said this, but it was draining,” Mitchell told Spears. “It was just draining on my energy just because you can’t sit in your room and cheer for me and then do all these different things.”
Mitchell cited an incident that saw 10-year-old Isabella Tichenor take her own life amid bullying allegations. He also referenced Utah state senator Stuart Adams, who suggested that Mitchell needed to be educated after Mitchell spoke out against a critical race theory resolution in the state legislature.
“I’m not saying specifically every fan, but I just feel like it was a lot of things. A state senator saying I need to get educated on my own Black history. Seeing Black kids getting bullied because of their skin color. Seeing a little girl hang herself because she’s being bullied.”
Mitchell called pushback against his advocacy for racial equality “a lot” and said that it was tough to not see many Black people in the stands at Jazz home games.
“And then to be able to not see many of us in the crowd, I tried my best to make sure I invite young Black and brown kids to games, to be around the community,” Mitchell continued. “But just to not see us there, it was definitely tough.
“And being in Cleveland now, you see us courtside. It’s just refreshing. It’s a blessing to be back around people that look like me.”
The change of scenery has suited Mitchell. He led the Cavs with 23 points in just 23 minutes on Monday and rested on the bench during the fourth quarter of the blowout win. He hit 4 of 5 3-pointers while shooting 8 of 12 from the field. The effort has become the norm since the trade with Mitchell averaging a career-best 29.5 points per game while shooting 50.3% from the field and 42.4% from 3-point distance. His performance is drawing MVP buzz.
Monday’s victory improved the Cavs to 21-11, including an NBA-best 15-2 at home. After the game, Mitchell kept the conversation about basketball while acknowledging that “it’s different when you’re playing against your friends, the guys you’ve been in a locker room with, battled with.”
Monday’s game was in Cleveland. He expects the Jan. 10 rematch in his return to Utah to hit differently.
“Always good to play against your guys,” Mitchell told reporters. “I think the bigger game will probably be when we go back out there.”
Also worth circling on the calendar: Jan. 14 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. It will be Mitchell’s first chance to face off against Gobert, whom the Jazz also traded in the offseason. Mitchell missed a Nov. 13 matchup in Cleveland with an ankle sprain.
“I’m going to give him a hug and be happy to see him,” Mitchell told Spears of Gobert. “And I wish him the best. There’s no hatred. There’s no ill will towards any of that.”
Rudy Gobert gets boos, lecture from Malik Beasley after ending Jazz return with garbage time lay-up
Rudy Gobert’s return to Utah as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves was bound to be emotional, and it was, just not entirely in a good way.
The former Utah Jazz center played his first game as an opponent at the Vivint Arena on Friday, five months after the mega-deal that sent him to the Twin Cities and seemingly started the Jazz’s rebuild in full force. The night had all the trappings of a longtime player return, from the tribute video to the reflections on a nine-season tenure in Salt Lake City.
Gobert opened the game with a dunk, but the controversy came when he closed it with a lay-up.
At that point, the Jazz were up 116-108 with fewer than 10 seconds left. Aggressive defense by Utah ended up leaving Gobert undefended with the ball under the basket. Rather than let time run out on a nice win for Minnesota, Gobert opted to drop in a simple lay-up.
Jazz fans didn’t appreciate the move, nor did Malik Beasley, one the many players traded from the Timberwolves in exchange for Gobert. After time expired, Beasley was seen giving Gobert a talking-to until the pair was separated.
Per Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune, Beasley criticized Gobert’s lay-up after the game:
“Just disrespectful. It’s one of the unwritten rules of basketball. I told him that.”
Meanwhile, Gobert said he was disappointed the hubbub prevented him from embracing former teammates and coaches, then implied Beasley was looking for attention, via the Tribune’s Eric Walden:
“I’ve been taught to play basketball to the last second. For me, there was never any intent to disrespect anybody. These guys who stepped in front of me, they weren’t going to do anything anyway. So, I didn’t get to shake hands with my guys. It kind of killed my moment a little bit, but it is what it is. Some guys just want attention.”
Gobert finished the game with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting with 13 rebounds, helping improve the Timberwolves to 13-12 after a disappointing, and alarming, start to his tenure. The Jazz fell to 15-13, their seventh loss in their last 10 games.
Jazz legend Pharoah Sanders dead at 81 | Music
Pharoah Sanders, the revered American jazz saxophonist, has died aged 81. The news was confirmed by Sanders’ label, Luaka Bop, on Twitter.
“We are devastated to share that Pharoah Sanders has passed away,” the label’s statement read. “He died peacefully surrounded by loving family and friends in Los Angeles earlier this morning. Always and forever the most beautiful human being, may he rest in peace.”
Born Farrell Sanders in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1940, Sanders’ career began in Oakland, California. After moving to New York in the 1960s, he started collaborating with Sun Ra, who gave him the name Pharoah, before becoming a member of John Coltrane’s band; Sanders played with Coltrane until the latter’s death in 1967.
Along with Coltrane, Sanders was a key figure in the spiritual jazz scene. His 1969 album Karma, which incorporated influences from traditional African and south Asian music, is considered one of the major early documents of the form. Throughout the early 1970s, Sanders continued to release records as a bandleader, largely on the Impulse! label. In 1971, he performed on Alice Coltrane’s Journey in Satchidananda, another milestone in modal and avant garde jazz.
After leaving Impulse! in 1973, Sanders released albums on Arista and the avant garde jazz label India Navigation, before releasing a run of records on the Theresa label in the 1980s.
Although his output began to slow in the 90s, Sanders continued to tour and collaborate throughout the 2000s. In the mid-2010s, Sanders heard a composition by the British electronic producer Sam Shepherd, AKA Floating Points, and asked to collaborate with him. The resulting album, 2021’s Promises, recorded in 2019 with the London Symphony Orchestra, was Sanders’ first new album in more than a decade, and was widely acclaimed.
Paying tribute to Sanders on Instagram, Shepherd wrote: “My beautiful friend passed away this morning. I am so lucky to have known this man, and we are all blessed to have his art stay with us forever. Thank you Pharoah.”
Detroit Pistons acquiring Bojan Bogdanovic from Utah Jazz
The Detroit Pistons are finalizing a trade for Utah Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic, per multiple reports.
The Jazz will reportedly receive stretch forward Kelly Olynyk and point guard Saben Lee in return.
The 33-year-old Bogdanovic averaged 18.4 points (on 45/40/88 shooting splits), 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 31.5 minutes per game over three seasons with the Jazz. He will provide scoring and veteran stewardship on a Pistons team that could field a talented starting lineup of players under the age of 25.
Bogdanovic has started since his breakout season with the Indiana Pacers in 2017-18 and played 94% of his team’s games since. He has been the mark of consistency as a floor-spacing forward, shooting no worse than 39% from 3-point range over the past five seasons. In six games with the Croatian national team at FIBA EuroBasket this summer, Bogdanovic averaged 19.2 points on 48/39/87 shooting splits.
The Pistons, who have not made the playoffs since 2019, feature recent lottery picks Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Marvin Bagley III and Killian Hayes, along with highly touted mid-first-round selections Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart. Detroit general manager Troy Weaver, who assumed the post in 2020, has made a concerted effort to surround his youthful roster with veteran talent, adding Kemba Walker, Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel in trades with the New York Knicks this summer, in addition to the acquisition of Bogdanovic.
The Pistons are making a push to make the postseason in a crowded Eastern Conference field that boasts the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks as teams vying for six guaranteed playoff spots and four berths in the play-in tournament. Detroit finished last season with a 23-59 record, 14th place in the East.
Olynyk, 31, reunites with former Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, now the chief Jazz executive, who drafted the 6-foot-11 Canadian 13th overall in 2013. Olynyk averaged 9.1 points (45/34/78 splits), 4.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 19.1 minutes per game off the bench for the Pistons last season.
The 23-year-old Lee averaged 5.6 points (43/27/73), 3.3 assists and 2.2 rebounds in 16.3 minutes in two years as a reserve on the Pistons. He was stuck behind Cunningham and Hayes on Detroit’s depth chart.
The trade further dismantles the Jazz, who completed blockbuster trades of All-Star mainstays Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert this summer. After six straight playoff appearances and an average of 49 wins per season during that season, Utah is expected to be among the leading contenders for the league’s worst record in the 2023 NBA draft sweepstakes for projected No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama.
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Jazz Trade Patrick Beverley To Lakers
2:10pm: The trade is now official, the Jazz announced in a press release.
5:39am: The Lakers and Jazz are finalizing a trade that will send guard Patrick Beverley to Los Angeles in exchange for Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Sources tell Wojnarowski that the deal is on track to be completed on Thursday.
Beverley, 34, is a talented perimeter defender who can be a positive contributor on offense as well. He helped get the Timberwolves back to the playoffs last season, averaging 9.2 points, 4.6 assists, and 4.1 rebounds per game in 58 appearances (25.4 MPG). He’s also a career 37.8% three-point shooter across 10 NBA seasons.
Beverley, who is on an expiring $13MM contract, was traded from Minnesota to Utah as part of the Rudy Gobert blockbuster last month. However, he was always viewed as a candidate to be flipped to a new team, given that the Jazz are in retooling mode.
According to Wojnarowski, Beverley – who was in Los Angeles as a Clipper from 2017-21 – was enthusiastic about the idea of joining the Lakers in a trade and was “thrilled” to learn of the agreement between L.A. and Utah.
The Lakers had long been viewed as a potential suitor for Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, who was considered the team’s top trade target this offseason. However, once Kevin Durant withdrew his trade request and it became clear that Irving would likely remain in Brooklyn, Los Angeles pivoted to acquiring another point guard without having to include Russell Westbrook and draft compensation in the deal.
Johnson, who is on an expiring minimum-salary contract for 2022/23, is an NBA journeyman, so Horton-Tucker is the centerpiece of the package headed to Utah. The former second-round pick had an up-and-down 2021/22 season for the Lakers, averaging 10.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 2.7 APG in 60 games (25.2 MPG), but struggling to score efficiently, with a modest shooting line of .416/.269/.800.
Horton-Tucker is still only 21 years old, so the Jazz presumably view the athletic wing as a player with some untapped potential. He’s under contract for $10.26MM in 2022/23, with an $11.02MM player option for the ’23/24 season.
Both the Lakers and Jazz are candidates to make additional deals before the season begins.
L.A. still has Westbrook and its 2027 and 2029 first-round picks to dangle in trade discussions, and the idea of making a play for the Pacers duo of Buddy Hield and Myles Turner is even more intriguing now that the club has fortified its backcourt by agreeing to acquire Beverley. For now, the Lakers have $34MM in cap room for the summer of 2023, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), which will be a factor the team considers as its weighs additional trades.
In Utah, meanwhile, Donovan Mitchell remains a trade candidate, and the Jazz would likely be open to discussing deals involving veterans like Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson, Malik Beasley, Mike Conley, and Rudy Gay as well.
Lakers finalizing trade to send Talen Horton-Tucker, Stanley Johnson to Jazz for Patrick Beverley, per report
The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to finalize a trade that will send Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Patrick Beverley, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. No picks will be involved in the deal from either team.
Beverley was dealt to the Jazz from the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier this summer in the blockbuster Rudy Gobert trade. But with the Jazz embarking on a rebuild — Donovan Mitchell may be traded at some point this offseason as well — Beverley was a prime candidate to be rerouted to another team.
A veteran and one of the toughest perimeter defenders in the league, Beverley makes much more sense on this Lakers roster. The Lakers had all sorts of issues last season as they finished 33-49 and missed out on the playoffs, but few were bigger than their inability to stop anyone; they allowed 112.8 points per 100 possessions, which was 21st in the league. Some of that was due to injuries and some of it was poor roster construction, but regardless of where you want to place most of the blame the key fact is that they just weren’t good enough defensively.
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Beverley won’t solve all of their issues, but he will singlehandedly make them tougher and better on the defensive side of the ball. He’s also a reliable 3-point shooter — 38.5 percent on catch-and-shoot attempts last season — who can help space the floor around LeBron James and offers some additional playmaking. Though he isn’t the most exciting addition, he’s the type of solid role player the Lakers were missing last season.
For much of the summer, the league has been in limbo waiting for the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving situations to get sorted out. With both of those players now seemingly staying in Brooklyn, it will be interesting to see if the proverbial dam breaks and more moves follow this Beverley trade.
The Lakers’ desire to send out Russell Westbrook is no secret and now that Beverley is in town they have someone who can take his place in the starting lineup. Of course, to do that they have to find another team that’s willing to take Westbrook and that has proven difficult to this point. Still, that’s a situation to watch closely over the next few weeks if some more dominoes start falling.
There’s not quite as much to discuss from Utah’s side of things. Danny Ainge started a tear down with the Gobert trade and there was no reason to keep Beverley around as they join the race to the bottom for Victor Wembanyama. They’ll get a look at another young player in Horton-Tucker who has shown some flashes as an interesting defense-first role player but has not been consistent at all on the offensive end. If they can develop him into a part of their core for the future, great; if not, no big deal.
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