By the Associated Press

BOSTON — Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward said he considers it “relatively good news” that his latest injury is only expected to keep him out for six weeks, even though it struck just as he was returning to form from the broken leg that cost him almost a full season.

“It’s a drop in the bucket, for sure,” Hayward said on Wednesday night before watching from the bench in street clothes as Boston beat the Wizards 140-133. “Just happy that it shouldn’t be that long. Obviously frustrated. It sucks watching and not being able to go out there and play, especially with the start that we’ve had.”

Hayward broke his hand when he collided with LaMarcus Aldridge in Saturday night’s game against the San Antonio Spurs. The Boston forward had surgery Monday.

“You always think about the worst-case scenario, and certainly on the play I didn’t know exactly what happened,” he said. “But I heard it, and felt it and knew something immediately was wrong.”

Hayward missed all but five minutes of the 2017-18 season after breaking his leg in the first quarter of the opener. The gruesome injury left his teammates looking away in horror, and Hayward took a year or so before he was even willing to watch it on videotape.

But this one he watched right away — if only to see what went wrong.

“When you watch it in slow motion, it’s like ‘What happened?’ Like, I don’t think anything even should have happened. It doesn’t look like it’s that bad at all,” he said. “It was just a random play. Sometimes that’s basketball.”

Hayward, 29, returned last season and played in 72 games, most of them off the bench, and averaged 11.5 points and 4.5 rebounds — far short of his numbers before the injury. He had been closer to his peak performance in the first seven games this season, averaging 19 points, four assists and a career-high seven rebounds before the latest injury.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating. There’s no doubt about it,” he said. “Felt like we were building some good momentum as a team, as well as me individually. So the timing of it, definitely frustrating. All things considered, I think it’s not that bad.”

Another difference between his last injury and this one is that Hayward will be able to run and maintain his conditioning while he waits for his hand to heal. Last time, he was forced to shoot baskets from a chair, and practice picking things up with his toes to regain his dexterity.

Hayward said the doctors put a pin and a plate in his hand, which will make it stronger and help him heal faster. He isn’t sure on his timetable to begin shooting again.

He is allowed to take the splint off to exercise, but there’s a bigger problem: His daughters helped decorate it, and they used the colors of the rival Los Angeles Lakers.

“Some of my favorite things: Puppies, unicorns, rainbows,” Hayward said. “I tried to get them to not use purple and go with some green, but they were pretty adamant about some of the colors they picked. I guess an artist is going to be an artist.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — Andrew Wiggins is making an impact all over the floor, from the arc to the rim, and the Minnesota Timberwolves are playing with a carefree connectedness that has helped elevate their overall performance.

These developments are not mutually exclusive.

Wiggins kept up his early season surge with 30 points on 12-for-23 shooting, and the Timberwolves handed the San Antonio Spurs their third straight loss, 129-114 on Wednesday night.

“Hey, if you haven’t watched us much, these guys are fun to be around,” coach Ryan Saunders said.

Karl-Anthony Towns scored 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, giving Minnesota’s maximum-contract duo a third consecutive game with 25-plus points apiece. Towns and Wiggins are currently the only teammates in the NBA averaging more than 25 points per game.

Wiggins, who added eight rebounds and seven rebounds, drained a pull-up 3-pointer from the left wing in the waning seconds of the third quarter to give the Wolves their biggest lead of the night at 106-95 before they breezed through the final 12 minutes. Wiggins, who has shown a sharp improvement in shot selection under Saunders, received a standing ovation when he was removed late in the game.

“I feel like everybody is happy for each other,” Wiggins said. “When someone does good, there’s genuine love.”

DeMar DeRozan had 27 points and LaMarcus Aldridge added 23 points for San Antonio, with the two stars combining to shoot 22 for 34 from the floor, but the Spurs finished just 3 for 17 from 3-point range. The Wolves were 11 for 34, a behind-the-arc advantage they rarely enjoyed in recent seasons.

Though they went just 6 for 45 on Sunday in an overtime defeat against Denver and this game ranked third-worst in the league at 30.8%, the increased volume can only help. The Wolves went 15 for 34 from 3-point range at Detroit in their previous game, a season best.

“I think opponents see our organization a little differently. They’ve been so used to us taking mid-ranges and layups and whatever the case may be, that we never adjusted to what the game has changed to,” Towns said. “Not only have we now changed to what the modern NBA is, we are excelling at it tremendously well and being pioneers of excellence with it.”

Towns and Wiggins have 35 games with 25-plus points apiece, the fourth-most in the NBA since Towns was a rookie in 2015-16. Wiggins hit the 30-point mark for the fourth time in five games.

“They executed, they were unselfish, and they made 3s,” said a dismayed Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who took no questions from reporters. “They had a lot of guys that played well, and they were aggressive. From our end, I think we were very challenged defensively, another poor outing.”

The Spurs, with Tony Parker’s jersey now hanging from their arena rafters next to Tim Duncan’s and Manu Ginobili’s, are well past the glory days of their five NBA championships. Popovich lamented their “really soft” defense after a 135-115 defeat against Boston last week, and they entered this game ranked just 21st in the league in average points against.

They weren’t exactly overflowing with intensity on the defensive end in this one, either, squandering a strong start to the second half while watching the Wolves pull away for the third consecutive quarter. Bryn Forbes missed a 3-pointer that would have broken an 83-all tie, and Jake Layman, who was continually slashing to the basket all game, dropped in a finger roll for a lead the Wolves never relinquished. DeRozan picked up a technical foul after arguing a personal foul against him, and the free throws helped the Wolves on their way.

“Nobody wants to lose, but I’d rather that we have these mistakes now. We have plenty of time to clean it up. I know for a fact that we definitely will,” DeRozan said.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Asssociated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. — It took the Orlando Magic 10¾ games to find their offense.

Nikola Vucevic had 25 points and seven Orlando players scored in double figures as the Magic came up with a big fourth quarter and beat the Philadelphia 76ers 112-97 on Wednesday night.

“It was good to see the offense finally click, especially in the fourth quarter when you need it the most,” said Vucevic, who had 12 of his points in the fourth. “Hopefully, we can play that way going forward and kick-start our offense a little bit.”

The Magic won for just the second time in seven games. The Magic shot 13 for 24 in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the 76ers shot 6 for 19 with seven turnovers.

“They say play your best when your best is needed, and that was a good win. That was a good fourth quarter,” Magic coach Steve Clifford said. “We made good plays at both ends of the floor.”

Aaron Gordon had 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Magic, and D.J. Augustin had 12 points and eight assists off the bench. Augustin, who was moved out of the starting lineup six games ago, played the entire fourth quarter, in which the Magic outscored the 76ers 32-15.

Josh Richardson led the 76ers with 19 points. Ben Simmons added 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

The 76ers played without center Joel Embiid, who has a sore left knee.

“It’s easy to point to missed shots, but I feel like defensively we have to do more without Joel,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said. “It takes far more of a collective everything. Sometimes you can make mistakes and you have 7-foot Joel Embiid putting out fires and covering things up. We didn’t have that tonight.”

Orlando made 11 of its first 16 shots, and led by eight points midway through the first quarter before losing their scoring touch.

A 3-pointer by Gordon at the halftime buzzer made it 53-all.

Two dunks by Simmons lifted the 76ers to an eight-point lead early in the second half while the Magic went more than 5 ½ minutes without a field goal.

After a jump shot by Richardson put the 76ers up 84-80 early in the fourth quarter, Terrence Ross and Evan Fournier hit back-to-back 3-pointers and the Magic took control with an 18-3 run.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Jonas Terrado

Doug Kramer will play his final PBA game on Friday when Phoenix Pulse takes on Blackwater at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Kramer made the announcement through social media, although he didn’t say what led to his decision hang up his jersey after 12 professional seasons with seven teams.

“Last practice before my final game tomorrow in the PBA,” Kramer said after posting a photo with his Phoenix teammates after Thursday’s practice at the Upper Deck Sports Center in Ortigas. “Yes. I’m retiring after 12 years in the pros.

“I’ll explain in depth soon why I’m hanging it up. And no, it’s not injuries, I’m healthy as ever! So blessed to be able to enjoy this game dating back 17 years ago in Ateneo as a Blue Eagle.

“There’s still so much to do, I’m 36 years young and got so much to prove and make an impact outside of basketball,” he added. “To my brothers in the PBA, and my brothers in the Phoenix Fuel Masters, it’s this brotherhood I’ll miss.”

View this post on Instagram

Last practice before my final game tomorrow in the PBA. . Yes. I’m retiring after 12 years in the pros. . I’ll explain in depth soon why I’m hanging it up. And no, it’s not injuries, I’m healthy as ever! So blessed to be able enjoy this game dating back 17 yrs ago 2002 in Ateneo as a Blue Eagle. There’s still so much to do, I’m 36 yrs young and got so much to prove and make an impact outside of basketball. To my brothers in the PBA, and my brothers in the Phoenix @fuelmasters, it’s this brotherhood I’ll miss. ❤️ So here’s a little Team Biceps flex to remember me by.

A post shared by Doug Kramer (@dougkramer) on Nov 13, 2019 at 10:07pm PST

Kramer is well-remembered in college for hitting a buzzer-beating layup for Ateneo against University of Santo Tomas in Game 1 of the 2006 UAAP Finals. The Blue Eagles went on to lose the series in three games.

He was drafted fifth overall by Air21 in the 2007 PBA Draft before played for Barangay Ginebra from 2009 to 2010.

Kramer had a brief second stint with Air21 in 2010, suited up for Rain or Shine in 2011 and was part of Powerade’s memorable run in 2012 when the Tigers reached the Philippine Cup Finals despite being the No. 8 seed in the playoffs.

He also brought his rugged play with Barako Bull, Petron Blaze/San Miguel Beer, GlobalPort before joining Phoenix in 2016.

The 6-foot-5 forward was sidelined in late-2016 due to a mild stroke but was able to resume his career after several months.

Phoenix is already out of playoff contention in the Governors’ Cup after dropping to 2-8 with a 105-102 loss to Alaska last Wednesday.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C.— Ja Morant’s winning layup left the rookie flexing and shouting at the crowd and sent father Tee racing down the sideline while pumping his knees high in the air, filled with excitement over his son’s big moment.

Yep, Morant’s homecoming game went about as well as he could have hoped.

With his parents sitting courtside and nearly 100 friends in the stands, Morant scored on a driving left-handed layup with 0.7 seconds left to give the Memphis Grizzlies 119-117 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night.

The South Carolina native had his first double-double with 23 points and 11 assists to help the Grizzlies win consecutive games for the first time this season.

“It definitely felt good,” Morant said. “Coach called the play, they switched and I just attacked.”
Morant got a chuckle at his father’s reaction, but wasn’t surprised.

“That just shows how much he loves the game and how excited he was,” Morant said. “I looked and he was already at half court. I was like, ‘Bro, your seat is down on the baseline.’ But that’s just him. He’s always hype.”

The Hornets battled back from 10 down in the fourth quarter to tie it on a 3-pointer by Devonte Graham from the top of the key with 22.7 seconds left. But after a timeout, Morant got a screen near the top of the key and drove left against Cody Martin and somehow got the layup to fall between three Hornets, including 7-foot center Cody Zeller.

“I was just trying to contest it,” Zeller said. “He made a tough shot.”

Morant wouldn’t repeat what he said to the crowd. “I’d rather not say,” he said with a smile.

Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said the goal was to have Morant make a play coming out of the timeout.

“Try to put Ja in a position where he could attack one-on-one to score, maybe play make for someone else and then have Brandon Clarke go crash the offensive boards,” Jenkins said.

Jonas Valanciunas was one of the beneficiaries of Morant’s passes, finishing with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Marko Guduric had 17 points.

Terry Rozier tied a career high with 33 points on seven 3-points for the Hornets, who have lost four straight games. Graham, who entered the game leading the team in points and assists, had 19 points in his first start of the season.

The Hornets led by 12 in the third quarter before the Grizzlies went on a 22-5 run led by Morant.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Toronto Raptors defense gave the team another reason to celebrate.

The Raptors held Damian Lillard to just nine points in a 114-106 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.

Pascal Siakam scored 36 points and Fred VanVleet had 30, but the story for Toronto was a defense that made life difficult for yet another star player on their road trip.

After holding LeBron James to 13 points and Kawhi Leonard to just 12 points in their last two games, taking Lillard out of the equation was another notch on the belt for the defending champions.

“It’s the defense,” VanVleet said. “Offense comes and goes but defense has been pretty consistent for us. The good thing about our game is that most superstars are pretty unselfish so if you throw 2 or 3 guys at them they’re passing. We want to make them pass and make somebody else make shots.”

“They’re really trying to guard from the start of the game to the end,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said of his team. “I always talk about, can we execute our schemes, where we’re supposed go, and they’re doing pretty good job of that.”

Siakam scored 13 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter to help close out the Trail Blazers and help Toronto bounce back from Monday night’s loss to the L.A. Clippers.

“It felt like college a little bit just posting up every possession. It was fun,” Siakam said. “That hasn’t happened in a while.”

Rodney Hood led the Blazers with 25 points.

Lillard, who entered Wednesday trailing only James Harden in points per game, had his worst outing of the season. Lillard had 2-fof-12 shooting from the field and was 2 of 7 from 3-point range. He did dish 10 assists.

“It’s the fourth team in a row to come out denying me full court. Box-and-one, I don’t remember seeing that many box-and-ones in the NBA, but I mean, they make me play against a crowd. Even when I try to get downhill and be aggressive, there’s four guys right there. The right play is to kick it ahead, get it out, that was the only option they gave me a lot of times. It’s just what it was.”

Hood stood up to the Raptors’ challenge, returning from a two-game absence with back spasms. CJ McCollum also pitched in 18 points while Anfernee Simons had 17 off the bench.

Still, the Trail Blazers once again found themselves staring at a familiar postgame script.

“I get frustrated sometimes losing games, especially losing games that we were in,” Lillard said. “If we was getting blown out, I would be getting upset about that but it wouldn’t be the same feeling. We in every game, down the stretch when it’s time to win a game we’re not doing the necessary things to get a win.”

The Raptors attacked in waves, with Siakam scoring seven straight points to close the quarter and give the Raptors an 87-78 lead heading into the fourth.

The Raptors also got solid bench contributions from Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Terence Davis (15 points).

The Blazers went on an 11-2 run to start the fourth quarter, tying the game at 89 with 9:06 left as Lillard watched from the bench.

Nassir Little made his first NBA start against the defending champs. Little drew the job of guarding Siakam.

“I thought he had a really good game,” Stotts said of the rookie Little. “I thought he held his own with Siakam defensively, brought a lot of energy and played hard.”

Little finished with seven points and five rebounds.

A dunk by Hollis-Jefferson with 5:29 left gave the Raptors a 101-94 lead. Another jumper by Siakam with 3:38 left gave the Raptors a 108-94 lead, their largest of the game.

Source: Manila Bulletin

Anjo Caram’s career game in the PBA couldn’t have come at a better time for Meralco.

The wily guard came through with a career-high 30 points in the Bolts’ 103-89 win over NorthPort Batang Pier that solidified their bid to finish as the no. 1 seeded team heading to the playoffs of the Governors Cup.

Coach Norman Black described Caram’s performance as ‘awesome’ after going 11-of-15 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. He scored 16 points in the fourth quarter alone to match his previous career-best of 16.

“He really gave us a big lift and pretty much guided us to the victory,” said Black of his prized-guard out of San Beda. “So I gave him a lot of credit for leading the team. He knew going to the game that Baser (Amer) was not 100 percent and Anjo came and really stepped up and made big shots for us.”

Not to be denied, Caram emerged as the PBA Press Corps-Cignal Player of the Week for the period (Nov. 4-10).

The 28-year-old pride of Iloilo City did the feat by becoming the shortest PBA player at 5-foot-6 to score 30 points in a game as per league chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III.

Caram’s offensive explosion helped the Bolts keep their winning streak at five and improved at 8-2 overall for a tie with NLEX on top of the standings with a week to go before the end of the eliminations.

The Meralco guard won the weekly citation over NLEX’s Jericho Cruz, who also received a vote for scoring the game-winning basket as the Road Warriors rallied from 26-points down to nip defending champion Magnolia, 86-85.

Other players considered for the honor were Caram’s Meralco teammates Raymond Almazan and Chris Newsome, Japeth Aguilar of Barangay Ginebra, Rain or Shine’s Javee Mocon, JR Quinahan of NLEX, the San Miguel Beer duo of June Mar Fajardo and Arwind Santos, along with Magnolia’s Ian Sangalang and Paul Lee.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

BOSTON — Jayson Tatum was so disappointed in his last game that he went to the team’s practice facility later that night to work on his shooting.

The Boston Celtics forward could go straight home on Wednesday.

Tatum followed up his historically bad shooting performance by scoring 23 points, and Kemba Walker had 25 to help the Celtics overcome 44 points from Bradley Beal and beat Washington 140-133 for Boston’s ninth straight victory.

Tatum was 1 for 18 in the victory over Dallas on Monday and then posted on Instagram a video of himself back at the team’s practice facility, saying, “1-18 gotta be able to laugh at ya self sometime.” On Wednesday, he was 9 for 20, going 1 for 5 from 3-point range.

“Before the game, I’m like, ‘Every night’s not gonna be the best night. It’s all about the bounce back.’ And he bounced back tonight,” Walker said. “I love the way he works on off days to improve his game. We need that kid. We need him a lot, man.”

Jaylen Brown scored 22 and Enes Kanter had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Celtics, who have not lost since the season-opener at Philadelphia; it’s their longest streak since winning 16 in a row in the 2017-18 season. Boston had its highest point total since 1992, but it also allowed 18 more points than in any other game this season.

“It was ugly, and we got it done,” Brown said. “But we’ve got to play Celtic basketball.”

Rui Hachimura scored 21 points and Davis Bertans had nine points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards, who lost their third straight game, and for the sixth time in seven games. Former Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas, who led Boston to the 2017 Eastern Conference finals, scored 18 and had seven assists.

Boston led by two at the half and made it a six-point game after three quarters. After Bertans hit a 3 to open the fourth and make it 102-99, the Celtics ran off the next 10 points.

Boston led by 16 points, 137-121, with 3:39 left in the game before the Wizards ran off 12 in a row. Walker hit a 3-pointer with just over a minute left to preserve the victory, and Hachimura missed a 3 at the other end.

“When you score 133 points, that should win games,” Beal said. “Especially on the road.”

Celtics forward Gordon Hayward watched from the bench, two days after he had surgery on his broken left hand. He is expected to miss six weeks.

Carsen Edwards, a second-round draft choice, had a career-high 18 points for Boston.

Old friends

Thomas received a standing ovation when he was introduced before the game. When he went to the free throw line in the fourth quarter, a few fans even broke out in an “M-V-P!” chant.

“It felt good to be out there, but you know I just want to win,” he said. “So, we didn’t get the job done and that was the most important thing. Overall, it felt good to be back here and to be able to play some meaningful minutes.”

No defense

Celtics coach Brad Stevens noted that he was without Hayward, Daniel Theis and Robert Williams III, whom he called “three very good defenders.”

“We’ve been a good defensive team all year. I would think this would be more of an anomaly than not,” he said. “One of the things you can do is build up a team when you have guys out. Everybody will have opportunities throughout this stretch.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Waylon Galvez

Gilas Pilipinas will face Singapore and not Malaysia for its first game after revisions were made on the groupings and schedules for the 30th Southeast Asian Games set Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 here.

The national team initially was with Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar in Group A, while in Group B were Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Singapore, but a slight error on ranking had to be corrected resulting to the changes in the schedule of the matches.

The updated groupings now have in Group A the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Myanmar, while in Group B are Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia.

“We’ve corrected that already with the SBP and with the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee,” said SBP’s deputy executive director Bernie Atienza, who is also the SEA Games basketball competitions manager.

“It’s just a slight error with regards to the ranking. The schedules of games are unofficial, although so far that’s the schedule. Everything will be finalized during the manager’s meeting.”

The opening game of basketball competitions is set Dec. 4 with the Philippines playing Singapore. The next two games are against Vietnam on Dec. 6 and Myanmar on Dec. 7.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the crossover semifinals scheduled Dec. 9, and the winners will play for the gold medal and the losing teams for the bronze medal on Dec. 10.

All games, including the women’s action, will be played at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena in Pasay City. The 3×3 men’s and women’s basketball action will be played at The Arena in San Juan.

Gilas Pilipinas, a team composed of PBA players under the league’s champion mentor Tim Cone, is eyeing for the home team a record 13th straight and 18th overall title in the SEA Games.

Last year, the national team won the gold medal with a convincing 94-55 victory against Indonesia in the finals. Thailand took the bronze  by beating Singapore in the battle for third place.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Kristel Satumbaga

University of Santo Tomas coach Aldin Ayo said his team hasn’t achieved anything yet despite barging into the UAAP Season 82 men’s basketball finals for the first time in four years.

“Hindi pa tapos eh. Of course, we are grateful that we reached this far but this is not our main goal,” he said after the Tigers edged University of the Philippines Maroons 68-65 in thrilling semifinal showdown last Wednesday at the packed Mall of Asia Arena.

Renzo Subido’s parking lot 3-pointer in the closing seconds and Soulemane Chabi Yo’s free throws sealed the victory for UST.

“Nakita ko yung celebration and medyo nag-worry ako nang konti kasi ayokong makita na mukha silang nakukuntento eh. So we have to refocus and prepare for our next game.”

UST entered the stepladder semifinals as fourth seed, besting Far Eastern University in the first phase before beating UP twice.

The Tigers set up a best-of-three finals series against the undefeated defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles starting Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Ayo said their combined passion and hard work helped them made it this far.

“Hindi rin pwede puro passion eh. Sabi ko yung mga bagay na mahihirap, kahit walang balik, you just have to keep on working hard,” he said.

The Tigers have been preparing for this season as early as Nov. 28 last year. While Ateneo was playing against UP in Game 2 of the championship that day, UST was playing a tuneup match against National University’s Team B.

They lost in that game.

“Yung team nga na yun, di kasali sa UAAP eh, so sabi ko sa mga bata, grabe ang tatrabahuhin natin. So ginawa naman namin, nag-invest talaga kami dito and hindi pa kami tapos,” Ayo said.

It will be short finals preparation for Ayo but working harder was never new to the Tigers.

It will be another tough hill to climb.

Source: Manila Bulletin