標籤: benching

The Milwaukee Bucks have had an up and down season and sit at 26-35. The biggest story for the Bucks is what’s happening with Giannis Antetokounmpo. He was almost traded by the NBA trade deadline, but remained with Milwaukee for at least the remainder of the season. Now, the biggest story is that Doc Rivers decided to keep Kyle Kuzma on the bench as a coaching decision.

The Bucks were playing the Celtics, and Kuzma did not play due to a coaching decision. Doc Rivers said the goal for the overall lineup is to try different things to find a rhythm, but he did not directly address benching Kyle Kuzma.

Kuzma addressed The Athletic’s Eric Nehm and said that he did not know in advance that it was happening, but he took it seriously and trusted the coaching staff, especially Rivers, given their past success.

“You have to take it seriously,” Kuzma said. “At the end of the day, we trust our coaching staff to make the right decisions on this team or whatever they think can win us games, especially for a guy like Doc. You know, he’s in the top 5 all-time in wins, so he knows basketball.”

Kuzma’s benching did not affect the outcome of the game, as the Celtics defeated the Bucks 108–81, despite Giannis Antetokounmpo returning from injury.

The former Laker was traded from the Washington Wizards to the Bucks midway through the 2024–25 season. In his first full year with the Bucks, the 2020 NBA champion averaged 12.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per contest, while shooting 48.3% from the field and 34.2% from three-point range in 56 games.

The Bucks are currently the 11th seed in the Eastern Conference and face an uphill battle to make the postseason, even a play-in game. They have also lost four games in a row and don’t look like they are a playoff-caliber team.

It’s been a tough journey for Kuzma, and if he’s still part of the Bucks’ plans moving forward, he still has another season left on his current contract beyond 2025-26. The $20.3 million Kuzma is owed in 2026-27 is also nearly fully guaranteed.

NEW YORK – The New York Knicks’ 18-point comeback win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night delivered a thrilling finish. The defensive intensity of Karl-Anthony Towns led to the lead in the fourth quarter, which set up Jalen Brunson to save the day. However, with 5:04 left in the fourth quarter, head coach Mike Brown continued a controversial trend of late games by sending Mikal Bridges to the sideline.

The coach replaced the starting wing with Landry Shamet, telling reporters after the game that assistant coach Rick Brunson deserves credit for the idea. Thursday night against the Detroit Pistons, Bridges sat the last 9:31 of the game. He also finished contests on the bench in late January and early February against the Sacramento Kings and Philadelphia 76ers, respectively.

Bridges replaced Towns in the final five seconds of the game, allowing New York’s four-point lead to focus on defense. But the 29-year-old wing, whom Leon Rose and the Knicks front office signed to a $150 million extension this summer, spent much of the crisis on the bench.

They saw Brunson destroy Houston’s defense with Josh Hart sitting to make way for the newly acquired Alvarado. The Brooklynite recorded his third, fourth and fifth steals of the game in those minutes, made just one of three late shots, but provided the energy and aggression New York needed to shut out Kevin Durant’s group.

Bridges repeats Celtics playoff magic with clutch 3-pointer vs. Bulls

On Sunday night, in the Knicks’ second leg of the weekend, the team defeated the Chicago Bulls. Bridges closed out the six-point victory, hitting a key 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining to seal the victory. However, by then, Wing had only eight points on 3-9 shooting in over 29 minutes of playing time. A clutch 3-pointer pushed him into double figures and saved the Knicks’ night.

From not playing at all to stabbing Chicago in the back, the combination of late-game roles played by Bridges represents more than the ups and downs of Sunday night. Provides two-way wing performance that includes frustrating plays in quarters, halves or entire games. But, somehow, he often finds a way to make up for it in the end.

In each of the team’s first two games against the Boston Celtics in last year’s playoffs, Bridges won the Knicks the game with incredibly timely defensive play. The second of those games featured a perfect example of Bridges’ extreme swing. The Wings failed to score in the first three quarters, but scored 14 points and made the game-winning defense in the fourth.

Bridges’ early-game struggles and late-game heroics on Sunday night did not give New York a win with playoff-level significance. But it further demonstrated the wing’s zero-to-hero range. Under a new coach in Brown, the Knicks are leaning into their depth as Bridges wanted last season. Players, including Bridges, may not view finishing a game on the bench as an insult.

His competitive nature should allow him to use any tough times benching as motivation. Just because someone like Shamet or Alvarado was red-hot inside doesn’t mean a certain starter’s play was unacceptable. Sometimes, the two coincide. Ultimately, the Knicks shouldn’t care.

Brown has stressed the importance of “finding ways to win” and will likely continue to do so during the season. It’s something their group needs to pursue with equal enthusiasm, no matter who is on the court.

The Atlanta Hawks have had a somewhat disappointing season, but coming out of the All-Star break there is still time to turn things around. The Hawks sit at 27-31 on the season ahead of Sunday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets, and head coach Quin Snyder has made a surprising change to start it.

With the team needing a spark, Snyder selected 2024 No. 1 overall pick Zachary Rishachar over veteran guard C.J. McCollum. Rishacher showed promising signs as a rookie, but he has had a tough sophomore season as the pressure of being a former top pick began to mount.

McCollum started alongside Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Nickell Alexander-Walker and Onyeka Okongwu. Lauren L. of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. According to Williams, that five-man lineup came into Sunday’s game with a +18.7 point differential, the best mark on the team.

In a similar vein, Snyder hinted at potentially making this change after Atlanta’s 31-point loss to the Miami Heat on Friday night via Hawks beat writer Kevin Chouinard.

“This is our best lineup by far, from a plus-minus standpoint,” Snyder said. “You could make the argument that we should start that lineup…how can we best utilize CJ?”

McCollum came to the Hawks in one of the most notable moves of the season when Atlanta sent star point guard Trae Young to the Washington Wizards. Some believed McCollum would be traded upon arriving in Atlanta, but he has been a quality contributor for the Hawks since the trade.

Before Sunday, McCollum had appeared in 18 games for the Hawks and was averaging 19 points a game even in 30 minutes of action per night. Now without Young on the team, Atlanta is in desperate need of the scoring punch provided by McCollum as they try to maintain their position in the play-in tournament.

On the other side of the coin, a move to the bench will hopefully take some pressure off Rishaer and allow him to start playing his best basketball like he was starting last season. If he can rediscover that form, Atlanta will be a scary team come the postseason.