California’s Sacramento Due to discomfort in his lower left leg, Golden State Warriors guard Chris Paul was unable to play in his team’s 124-123 loss to the Sacramento Kings early in the third quarter, the team announced on Tuesday night.
With 19 seconds remaining in the first quarter,
Paul left the game and did not come back. The exact time Paul’s injury occurred is unknown. In five minutes, the 19-year-old veteran finished with three points and two steals in the pivotal Golden State in-season tournament game.
Gary Payton II of Golden State was hurt in the second half with 49 seconds remaining in the third quarter. After the whistle, he hobbled to the locker room as the Warriors called a timeout to replace him. Later, a right calf injury forced Payton to miss the remainder of the game.
With the victory, the Kings moved on to the quarterfinals of the competition. Integrity called into question regarding point-differential tiebreakers in an in-season tournament
In the NBA on Tuesday night, point differential became extremely important as some teams hoping to make it through the first-ever in-season tournament had to win and win big—to move on.
Not everyone in the situation was enamored with it.
The Milwaukee Bucks took first place in Group B, with the New York Knicks coming in second. However, the Knicks’ point differential in the first round allowed them to win the only wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference by a tiebreaker, after they defeated the Charlotte Hornets 115-91.
Josh Hart, a guard for New York, expressed his disapproval of the notion that the Knicks needed to outscore their opponent in order to advance, following the game on Tuesday.
It was fascinating. It’s not really my taste, he remarked. At first, our main concern was winning. It feels strange for the last few minutes. You just start chasing points and doing all that at some point. Thus, it sort of messes with the integrity of the game a little bit.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Knicks both ended group play with a 3-1 record, but the Cavs’ point differential was insufficient to get them to the quarterfinals the following week. But they lost a fierce battle.
With 3:54 remaining, Atlanta Hawks coach Quin Snyder benched his starting lineup against Cleveland, trailing by 20 points. But Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff stuck with his starting lineup for the remainder of the game in the hopes of building an even larger lead and advancing.
The Cavs didn’t let up as some Cleveland assistants watched the away games from their seats. The star of Cleveland, Donovan Mitchell, acknowledged that the last few seconds were awkward.
I feel like we were all trying to score but also respect the game,” he stated. “It’s different, and you’re trying to balance it, especially since they benched their starters. But ultimately, the goal of the game is to win. You’re competing to get to the tournament and to Vegas. However, it’s undoubtedly a little strange. Snyder concurred that things were a little awkward at the end of the game.
To be honest, I try to focus on my team,
To be honest, I try to focus on my team, he stated. You can understand that, I’m sure. It’s not ideal in that circumstance.
The most peculiar scenario probably occurred in Boston, where the Celtics needed to defeat the struggling Chicago Bulls and have a big scoring night in order to have a chance at advancing to the tournament quarterfinals.
They acquired both.
Despite Boston’s lead of 29 points going into the fourth quarter, all five starters played at least five minutes as the Celtics crushed the Bulls 124-97. Star Jayson Tatum played the last 9:33 of the game.
Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown commented, To be honest, it was a little weird, but the ultimate goal was to come out and get a win tonight, and that’s what we did, acknowledging that the team’s emphasis on point differential was somewhat out of the ordinary. That’s just not how the game is supposed to work, so it’s difficult. be played.
You’ve got to respect your opponents.
During a lengthy conversation with Bulls counterpart Billy Donovan during a play break in the fourth quarter, Boston coach Joe Mazzulla acknowledged that he was also uneasy about running up the score.
Donovan expressed his particular annoyance with the Celtics for forcing Andre Drummond to the foul line multiple times in the fourth quarter, where he converted one of six free throws.
But I also recognize the predicament he finds himself in. Mazzulla needs to lead his team and follow moral principles, according to Donovan. But I believe that Andre was put in a difficult situation by being down 30 points. However, this is league-sourced. The league has made this point-differential item in this way.
This report included information from The Associated Press.