Luka Doncic versus Joel Embiid? Tracker: Sixers star out with knee surgery as the Mavericks head to Philadelphia.
JOEL OUT FEB. 4? Joel Embiid, the center for the Philadelphia 76ers, will have knee surgery this week, so the Monday night matchup between the two MVP contenders won’t happen as planned.
This week’s three-game homestand for the 76ers begins on Monday against Dallas.
Embiid, the NBA’s top scorer with 35.3 points per game, has already missed 13 games this season, leaving the 76ers with a 4-10 record without him.
Doncic of Dallas is also coping with a small ankle problem.
Dec. 18, 3-POINTERS MADE: TIM HARDAWAY JR. PASSES FATHER IN CAREER — With 1,543 makes from downtown in the first half of the Dallas Mavericks’ game against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night, guard Tim Hardaway Jr. moved up to the top of the NBA’s all-time 3-Point FGM chart, surpassing his father.
Moving up to No. 44 on the all-time record, Hardaway Jr. overtook his five-time All-Star and Hall of Fame father in three fewer seasons and 188 fewer games played.
Even though Senior has received more professional recognition than his son, THJ at least has some bragging rights that he can bring up in time for the holidays.
DEC 16 DIRK ATTENDS THE JERSEY RETIRED OF SHAWN MARION SUNS — Shawn Marion was a four-time All-Star in his nine seasons with the Phoenix Suns prior to “The Matrix” making his imprint in Dallas on the Mavs’ 2011 championship squad.
With his No. 31 jersey draped in the rafters, Marion was inducted into the Sun’s Ring of Honor on Friday.
Former Suns coaches Alvin Gentry and Mike D’Antoni, as well as former Mavericks players Steve Nash and none other than Dirk Nowitzki, were there at Marion’s memorial.
Between 2009 and 2014, Marion played five seasons with Nowitzki, and in 2011 she assisted The Big German in winning the Larry O’Brien trophy.
See below for the introduction of the special guests at Marion’s honor on Friday night.
JALEN BRUNSON CAREER NIGHT, DECEMBER 15 — Despite the Dallas Mavericks’ best efforts to move on from Jalen Brunson and his potential, the sixth-year guard never stops emphasizing his uniqueness to them.
In Friday night’s 139-122 victory over the Phoenix Suns, Brunson scored a career-high 50 points for the New York Knicks. The former Mavs guard and Luka Doncic’s sidekick also shot 17–23 overall, 9–9 from outside the arc and 7-9 from the free-throw line, adding six rebounds, nine assists, and five steals.
The Mavs head management would claim that there was nothing they could have done to stop Brunson from signing a contract with the Knicks in the 2022 offseason, but it’s still interesting to consider what the team’s current roster may look like if they had defeated that Western Conference Finals squad.
To its credit, Dallas appears to have recovered well from the difficult gap year that followed Brunson’s exit. The Mavericks sit fourth in the Western Conference at 15-9 despite having multiple significant injuries, including star point guard Kyrie Irving’s heel contusion.
Mark Cuban on Giannini Ball Drama, December 14 — In the NBA, there doesn’t seem to be a dull day, and Wednesday was no exception.
Giannis Antetokounmpo put up a career-high 64 points in the Milwaukee Bucks’ win over the Indiana Pacers, but the main storyline after the game was the Greek Freak angrily running into the Pacers’ tunnel to receive the game ball that was supposedly taken for Indiana rookie Oscar Tshiebwe, who scored his first official NBA point.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban — who is set to be a 25 percent minority owner of the team when his majority stake sale goes through later this month — has officially given his take on the drama. Spoiler alert: He’s taking the side of his former head coach Rick Carlisle.
64 is a significant number, Cuban told TMZ. It happens very, very infrequently. Giannis found it extremely important, but if it’s my home game, I’ll give the ball to the rookie unless they give them permission.”
NBA suspends Draymond Green on December 13… once more If you’ve heard this before, stop us, but Draymond Green, a forward for the Golden State Warriors, is facing a suspension from the NBA due to a hostile act he performed on Tuesday night. Nonetheless, Green will be out of the game for an extended period of time this time, and before he can play again, he must fulfill requirements set by the Warriors and the league, which include therapy.
In the Warriors’ loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, Green swung at and struck Jusuf Nurkic, resulting in an ejection from the game and today’s suspension.
This news could potentially affect the Dallas Mavericks, as Luka Doncic and company will finish off this calendar year in San Francisco by taking on Steph Curry and the Warriors on Dec. 30. For years, Green has been a lynchpin for Golden State’s defense, and with Dallas having the third-best offense in the league, the Warriors might be in for a long night later this month.
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