Even before the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Luka Doncic on Feb. 1, they began their transformation this season when they acquired forward Dorian Finney-Smith in a deal with the Brooklyn Nets in late December that finally unloaded struggling guard D’Angelo Russell.
Finney-Smith was the type of 3-and-D player with length they badly needed. Prior to his arrival, they had been a bad defensive team, but afterward, they played stretches of outstanding defense.
Finney-Smith has a player option for next season at nearly $15.4 million that he can turn down to become a free agent this summer. After the Lakers were knocked out of the NBA playoffs in Game 5 of their first-round series versus the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, he was asked if he had thought about what he will do with that option.
The 31-year-old (he will turn 32 years of age on Sunday) averaged 7.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.9 steals a game and shot 39.8% from 3-point range with Los Angeles in the regular season. Losing him would be a blow to the team’s hopes of winning the NBA championship any time soon, as he’s the type of role player whose impact goes beyond his stats.
His ability to effectively guard multiple positions and muck things up on that end of the floor would be greatly missed if he decides to move on and join another team.
Steve Kerr‘s team never seemed to meet the moment emotionally, and they couldn’t get the sellout Chase Center crowd to serve as the boisterous sixth man.
The Rockets, on the brink of elimination, strolled into San Francisco and walked away with a convincing 115-107 win to force a decisive Game 7 on Sunday back in Houston.
After the Warriors landed in Houston on Saturday night, Kerr spoke to local reporters on Zoom, and while answering a question from NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole about rookie Quinten Post‘s Game 6 performance, Golden State’s coach touched on what he’s worried about heading into the winner-take-all Game 7.
“I thought [Quinten] did a pretty good job in the first half defensively,” Kerr said. “And then the second half, I thought we got a little scattered with our game, with our emotion. That’s the biggest thing. There’s always going to be matchups and things that you try to do to protect certain matchups, certain actions that people are running, whatever. There are scheme changes you can make.
But [the] biggest thing is that we got out of sorts last night. We got too emotional. First play of the fourth quarter was indicative of letting our guard down a few times and that’s all it takes in a series like this. [Fred] VanVleet gets the 4-point play, it goes from [a two-point lead] to six, and the whole nature of the game changes, and that’s based on just a missed matchup.
“So, that’s my biggest concern tomorrow is, just our overall emotional response to a night where we really weren’t ourselves.”
The Warriors built a commanding three-games-to-one series lead after splitting the first two games in Houston and winning Games 3 and 4 in San Francisco. But even after playing so well in three of the first four games, Golden State couldn’t recreate that energy in Game 5 in Houston or Game 6 at Chase Center.
So now, the Warriors are flirting with disaster. A loss on Sunday would mark the second blown three-games-to-one series lead during the Kerr era (2016 NBA Finals).
If Kerr is concerned enough to talk publicly about his team’s emotional response, it’s a safe bet that he has addressed it with his players.
They know they have to be at their absolute best on Sunday.
Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler have played in countless high-stakes NBA playoff games. The moment shouldn’t be too big for them.
But if the Rockets go on a run during Game 7 and the Warriors can’t weather the storm, their 2024-25 NBA season and their championship aspirations might come crashing down in historic fashion.
Amid the carnage that was the Denver Nuggets’ Game 7 blowout of the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday, it had to feel pretty good to be Russell Westbrook.
The veteran guard had a solid two-season career with the Clippers, but was jettisoned last offseason as part of a trade to the Utah Jazz that landed defensive specialist Kris Dunn. At 35 years old, Westbrook was waived by Utah and proceeded to join the Nuggets in free agency.
