Here’s the best news from week 19 in the NBA, and other news from around the world of basketball.

🚨 Clippers unveil their new visual identity for next season! (26/02)

🏟️ The Intuit Dome will open its doors next October and the Clippers will take the opportunity to unveil a new logo, new jerseys and a new floor.

⛵️ The Clippers, in the literal sense of the word, are fast sailing ships, used particularly in the 19th century. So a boat on the Californian franchise’s logo makes sense!

🔴🔵⚪️ The colours don’t change and we’ll always have the Red-Red-White trio. A very interesting little detail: on the side of the red jersey, the word « LAC » (Los Angeles Clippers) is written in the marine alphabet.

👨‍⚖️Incorrect referee decision in New York! (27/02)

🏉Ausar Thompson receives a tackle from Donte DiVicenzo in front of the referee… and no whistle blows. New York get the ball back and Josh Hart scores, giving the Knicks the win.

📋 Head referee James Williams says a foul should indeed have been whistled against DiVincenzo.

😬 Another refereeing error in the final seconds of an NBA game this season, as in Houston where this time the Knicks had suffered an injustice. Monty Williams, coach of the Pistons, was very vocal in a press conference about the decision, which he felt was a gross and unacceptable mistake.

😱Max Strus hits a buzzer-beater from halfcourt! (28/02)

🤩 It was madness in Cleveland after a crazy shoot from Strus who sent a heave right in the circle and gave the Cavs a 121-119 win over Dallas.

🤯 More than that, the former Heat player’s last quarter was phenomenal with 15 points and 5/5 from long range. He rattled off his first four 3-pointers of the quarter in less than a minute and finished the game on the buzzer beater from midcourt.

🥶 Dallas thought they had won the game after PJ Washington’s layup with 3 seconds left. The Cavaliers had no timeouts and could only find an open shot… the rest is history.

🎯 Strus was 59 feet away, making him the second longest game-winner in history just behind Devonte’ Graham who destroyed OKC’s hope in 2021.

😬 Marine Fauthoux will miss the entire LFB season with a herniated disc! (28/02)

🩼 The Lyon-Villeurbanne point guard had been suffering from back discomfort since the second OQT game played in China by the French national team at the beginning of February and will finally undergo surgery.

😣 ASVEL’s press release states that « After observing two weeks of complete rest and with no real improvements noted, Marine Fauthoux will have to undergo surgery which will keep her away from the parquets until the end of the 2023-2024 season ».

🤞 MF must return for the Olympic Games, because Jean-Aimé Toupane and the France squad will need her!

🔥 Nanterre almost pull off the upset at the U Arena! (28/02)

💥 15,000 people gathered at the Paris La Défense Arena for a gala match between the defending champions and JSF Nanterre, who came close to pulling off an upset but lost 80-86 to the giants Monaco.

👑 The giant had a name tonight, like many other nights, and it was Mike James. 31 points (his career high in Betclic Élite), 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 29 rating for the American point guard. Above all, MJ planted an ultra-clutch shot to air-condition the blazing-hot Arena and secure victory for the Rocher.

🤏 Nanterre were not far off the mark, boosted by a sold-out crowd . Dominated in the first half, Justin Bibbins’ teammates came close again in the fourth quarter but missed the chances to go ahead.

🟩⬜️ The green-and-white Arena will have been buzzing with hope but Nanterre were finally crushed by assassin Mike James.

🥶 The TEAM USA roster is beginning to emerge… and it’s very scary! (29/02)

😵‍💫 The Avengers, the X Men, the Powers Rangers… call them anything you like but the team that Steve Kerr and the Team USA management have cobbled together is going to be fearsome.

🔒 Shams, yesterday, revealed the first player to be certain of making the squad and it’s Jrue Holiday. Not the most obvious choice for the basketix but you need a soldier to handle the defensive duties.

🤩 With him, the almost certain starting 5 will be LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum and the American-French-Cameroonian Joel Embiid. If he is spared injury, he should act as Team USA’s starting pivot.

🔥 Then the 3 guards Haliburton, Edwards and Booker should also be making the trip, in addition to the centers Adebayo and Davis. This is also the sector where we could see a slight weakness from the Americans with few big men available. So that’s 11 players ready to wear the white and blue jersey of the United States, with just one place left for a final protagonist.

💬 Kevin Durant has said that « he wants the world to know how dominant American players are. Wins by 40 or 50 points ». It’s enough to send shivers down your spine…

🤴🏾LeBron James has just reached 40K career points! (02/03)

🗓️ 07 October 2003, Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, Michigan. LeBron James, wearing his Cleveland Cavaliers jersey, scores his first NBA points with a dunk.

💥 21 years of longevity, the records and milestones continue to fall for LeBron. The image is already doing the rounds of the networks, as he reached the symbolic 40,000-point mark last night against the Nuggets!

7431 days later, on Saturday 2 March 2024, on a spin move followed by a left-handed lay-up, LeBron once again became a legend, scoring 40,000 points in his NBA career. He is, of course, the only player to have reached this milestone.

🥇 The King had overtaken Kareem Abdul-Jabbar just over a year ago, on 7 February 2023, to become the leading scorer in the history of the Big League.

🚨 2 great performances in Betclic Elite this weekend! (03/03)

🎯 Chris Clemons completely caught fire last night against Levallois. 6 3-point baskets in the last 10 minutes of the game ( a record) for the American guard who was playing his first game with Nancy. Clemons even made 5 consecutive 3-point baskets without any of his team-mates scoring a basket. ll. SLUC Nancy won 89-80 at Mets92, the league’s bottom team.

💎 In Strasbourg, it was French league veteran DJ Cooper who delighted his Roanne Chorale teammates with 17 assists. The American did not prevent SIG from winning at home thanks to a strong performance from Paul Lacombe (23 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists). It was also Sekou Doumbouya’s first game with Roanne, and he put in a strong performance with 18 points in 35 minutes.

Eliott Caillot