Here’s the best news from week 20 in the NBA, and other news from around the world of basketball.
💥 Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum named players of the month! (04/03)
🔵 In the East, it’s Jayson Tatum who is voted player of the month for February. The Celtics are on an 11-game winning streak and are comfortably 1st in the Eastern Conference. The best player from the best team, so there’s little surprise in this choice.
🔴 In the West, it’s Luka Doncic who picks up the player of the month award. Still on alternating current, the Mavs had a nice month of February with 8 wins to 3 losses. On a personal level, the Slovenian has racked up triple doubles of over 30 points!
💥 Rayan Rupert had the best game of his career last night! (05/03)
👏 Chauncey Billups finally gave Rayan Rupert some playing time (23 minutes) and he had a great game with his Portland teammates against Minnesota last night.
🔥 13 points and 6 rebounds for him, on 5/7 shooting including 3/3 from long range, in 23 minutes. All of his stats are NBA career highs for Rups, who doesn’t get to express himself freely in his first year in the Big League.
🫡 The brother of Iliana Rupert (WNBA and Virtus Bologna player) was drafted at 43 last year by the Portland Trail Blazers and is on a two-way contract allowing him to play in the NBA and the G-League.
📊 The Frenchman spends most of his time in the G-League, averaging 12.7 points on 36.5% shooting, including 24.1% from 3-point range, 6 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 29.2 minutes of play.
🚿Jordan Poole is finally starting to make an impact coming off the bench! (05/03)
🔥 Described as « the worst contract in the NBA » not even a fortnight ago, Jordan Poole seems to be getting back into the swing of things in his new role.
😬 Brian Keefe had decided to put the former Warriors player back on the bench after a more than complicated start to the season. Since February the 22nd, JP has been the sixth man for the Washington Wizards and it’s working well.
📊 As a starter, Poole was worth 15.6 points and 30% from 3-point range. Since moving to the bench, he’s now at 23.4 points and 39.1% from long range. Poole has released 3 30+ point games in just 7 starts in his new role.
👏 JP has already broken the record for most games with 30+pts coming off the bench in a single season in the history of the Wizards.
📉 If Poole starts hitting franchise records this season, that shows Washington’s misery, on a 14-game losing streak.
💥 TJ Shorts named French league player of the month! (05/03)
🔥 Paris Basket’s American elf has been named LNB player of the month at the end of a busy past four weeks for the Paris-based club.
🏆 The Parisians won the Leaders Cup this month, the first trophy in the club’s history. After eliminating giant Monaco in the semi-finals, Paris defeated JSF Nanterre 90-85 in an all-Francilien duel. TJ Shorts was voted MVP of the competition after an outstanding performance.
2️⃣ The American point guard is the 2nd Paris Basketball player to be voted « player of the month » this season, after Nadir Hifi last November.
🚨 Villeneuve-D’ascq players secure their ticket to the Euroleague Final Four! (06/03)
😱 A major achievement straight from the north of France, with ESBVA-LM (Entente sportive Basket de Villeneuve-d’Ascq – Lille Métropole) qualifying for the Final Four of the Euroleague Women.
⚔️ Les Guerrières travelled to Miskolc in Hungary, where the home crowd was boiling. Villeneuve took the lead with a strong first half. Once in front, Rachid Meziane’s players were able to control DVTK to win 73-58.
🙌 The red and blacks were led as usual by Frenchwoman Janelle Salaün (16 points), in addition to Kamiah Small’s 18 points and Kariata Diaby’s double-double (15 points and 12 rebounds).
🥳 This is the first Final Four qualification in the history of the club, which won the Eurocup in 2015, the competition just below. France return to a Women’s Euroleague Final Four for the first time in over 10 years.
💥 Orlando is back in the top 4 of the Eastern Conference! (07/03)
😱 Orlando had started the season on a high with a run of 9 consecutive wins between mid-November and early December. This had catapulted them into second place in the Eastern Conference, but the start of 2024 was not as good and Jamahl Mosley’s men had slipped down to 8th place in the East.
🎵 « ORLANDO MAGIC, ORLANDO MAGIC », the song played in the Kia Center enclosures after the victories is starting to sink in and has become a meme on social networks.
🪄 Enough of the extra-sporty chatter, because if the song can be played, it’s because the Magic have returned to winning ways. The Floridians’ schedule is admittedly fairly easy, but they have snatched victories against big teams like Minnesota, Cleveland and New York.
⚔️ With 13 wins from their last 16 games, the Magic are now back in the top 4 of the standings, which means home advantage in the first round of the play-offs. Orlando is led by a Banchero-Wagner duo who are cruising at top speed with averages of 22.6 points and 6.8 rebounds for the former and 20.4 points and 5.5 rebounds for the latter.
🔒 Above all, the Magic have tightened up on defence, which was their strength at the start of the season, and Jalen Suggs’ team-mates now hold the 3rd-best defensive rating.
🥳 Mike James becomes EuroLeague All-time leading scorer! (07/03)
🤩 Monaco’s American point guard Mike James arrived tonight with 12 points to score to pass Vassilis Spanoulis’s 4555 points and become the highest scorer in the history of Europe’s biggest basketball competition.
🔥 The American initially distilled the ball to his team-mates given Red Star Belgrade’s defensive pressure. Clumsy from long range in the first quarter, Monaco’s point guard took control of the game in the second quarter. On a trademark side step, he passed Spanoulis’ record and now has 4,557 points in the Euroleague.
👑 The game was stopped and the head referee offered the game ball to MJ55. Photographer invasion on the court and 5 minute standing ovation to honour Mike James.
🚨 WNBA coming to San Francisco Bay Aren in 2025! (08/03)
🥳 Adam Silver announced last night that a WNBA team (the women’s equivalent of the NBA) will be coming to San Francisco in 2025. The players will play at the Warriors’ Chase Center, a magnificent complex opened in September 2019.
📋Jess Smith will be the president of the new franchise. She was previously with the Angel City women’s football team and took up her post at Golden State in January to prepare for 2025 as best she can.
💬 « The Bay Area is the ideal market for a WNBA team and we are thrilled that this opportunity is finally coming to fruition, » said Joe Lacob, co-executive chairman and CEO of the Warriors. « We’ve been interested in a WNBA franchise for several years, particularly because of the rich history of women’s basketball in the Bay Area, and we believe the time is right to realize that vision and build on the legacy. »
💥 Bourges to challenge the two-time title holders! (10/03)
🔥 The French Cup semi-finals have come to an end and we now know which two teams are still fighting for the title: Tango Bourges and Basket Landes.
🟠 Tango defeated a depleted ASVEL at a boiling Prado. The Lyonnaises were without Marine Johannes, who suffered a facial injury against Basket Landes, Gabby Williams, who was in the USA for personal reasons, and Helena Ciak. Bourges thus logically won 95-65 against Lyon and booked their ticket to Bercy to face Basket Landes.
⚪️ The latter won in extra time in a crazy match against Tarbes. Carla Leite pulled off a tough basket for Tarbes to force the overtime, but it was Basket Landes who came out on top at home 87-81 to clinch their 3rd French Cup final in a row.
⚔️🛡️ The previous two finals were won by Basket Landes, but can the Tango dethrone the queens of the South West? The answer on April 27th at the Accor Arena in Paris!
Eliott Caillot 