標籤: clutch

Brooklyn Nets rookie Ben Saraf continued his breakout on Wednesday. The 6-foot-6 point guard scored 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field with seven assists and four turnovers during a 109-106 loss to the Golden State Warriors. He delivered one of the Nets’ top highlights of the season during the final minutes of a tight contest.

With the Nets trailing 106–104 with 50 seconds remaining, Saraf drove and threw a poster dunk over Draymond Green to tie the game. The game started when he drove and made a go-ahead bucket and the game was tied with two minutes left.

Ben Sarraf drives and dunks over Draymond Green to tie the game. Glass. pic.twitter.com/uCj5oKrWij

– Eric Slater (@erikslater_) 26 March 2026

Ben Saraf drives, pump fakes Kristaps Porzingis in the paint, sends him flying, and scores a clutch layup to beat the shot clock with an amazing move

What a trick!
ice in his veins#netsworld

Ben Sharaf enters ringside, fraudulently sends Kritpas Porzingis to pluck oranges… pic.twitter.com/Bkx1jT8DqX

– MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) 26 March 2026

Trailing by one in the final seconds, Jordi Fernandez called the rookie’s number again. Saraf drove to left field but failed to advance on D’Anthony Melton as Brooklyn lost its ninth consecutive game.

“I wanted the ball in [Ben’s] Hand. I wanted him to touch the paint. I mean, seven assists tonight, 5 for 9 from the field. He was aggressive, and he had incredible dunks the game before. That was the thought process,” Fernandes said of the final play.

After a slow start to his rookie campaign, Saraf is finding his rhythm as he steps into an expanded role to finish out the season.

Ben Saraf continues to cheer during Nets’ tough loss to Warriors

The Israeli floor general has taken on increased ball-handling responsibilities amid injuries to Igor Demin and Michael Porter Jr. Over his last eight games, he is averaging 12.3 points on 46.2 percent shooting with 4.5 assists and 3.1 turnovers in 26.6 minutes per game.

Saraf’s on-ball advantage creation, the main selling point of his skill set entering the draft, has been on full display. The 19-year-old has averaged 14.9 drives per game in his last eight appearances, the most on the team by a wide margin, and is shooting 51.1 percent. He’s attempting 6.2 free throws per 100 possessions during the stretch and converting 85.7 percent.

“I feel like every time I’m in the right mindset of being aggressive at the rim and being in control, something good comes from it. So I just need to stick to that mindset,” the rookie said.

Saraf’s two made threes on Wednesday were a welcome sight for the net, as he was 13 of 67 (19.4 percent) entering the matchup. The No. 26 pick’s defensive improvement has impressed Brooklyn’s coaching staff. He had two steals on Wednesday as the Nets forced the Warriors into a season-high 26 turnovers.

Saraf played a key role in slowing down Jalen Brunson during Brooklyn’s near upset of the New York Knicks on Friday. The rookie guarded Brunson for long periods of time, as the Nets held the Knicks star to 17 points on 7-of-19 shooting.

Kevin Durant has a ton of one-on-one counters, making him one of the greatest one-on-one scorers of all time. But things are different in a team setting. Durant faced an offensive scheme in the second half of the Houston Rockets’ Monday night contest against the Los Angeles Lakers, as the Lakers threw multiple defenders at the Rockets star at every turn to get the ball out of his hands.

This ploy of the Lakers worked; Durant remained quiet throughout the second half of the Rockets’ 100–92 loss, scoring just two points in the second half and finishing with 18 on the night. This was not at all the kind of performance that Houston needed from their best scorer in a game where they were missing Alperen Sengun.

After the game, Durant reflected on what he and the Rockets were doing should have done instead To try and counter the Lakers’ double-teaming.

“I think we just have to convert. Maybe I just have to move out of the way, go to the corner, make space for other guys. When I get the ball against some teams, they’re just going to sell out,” Durant said in his postgame presser, via WorldwideWeb on X (formerly Twitter).

“I’m starting to understand that I feel like I need to get out of the way and let other people dribble the ball.”

pic.twitter.com/AlDq9enBSe

– Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) 17 March 2026

The Rockets’ youth will have to step up to help Kevin Durant.

Durant is not innocent at all; He attempted to become a game starter for the Rockets, which went straight into the Lakers’ hands.

However, the Rockets’ youngsters, namely Reed Shepard, Jabari Smith Jr. and Amen Thompson, will have to be more active in receiving the rock and making plays. This is going to be a learning moment for Houston, especially with less than a month until the playoffs begin.

The Dallas Mavericks welcomed rookie star Cooper Flagg to the lineup Thursday against the Orlando Magic, a game that came down to execution in the clutch. It was the Magic who secured a 115–114 victory after a late-game dunk by Wendell Carter Jr.

But Cooper Flagg had spectacular moments of his own, helping the Mavericks score four points in the final 37 seconds of the game. Flagg scored on an and-one to give the Mavericks control of the game. But they couldn’t maintain the lead and surrendered a 3-point shot to Jalen Suggs just before Carter’s dunk.

According to Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News, after the game, Flagg talked about his comfort level playing in tough time situations.

“I would say I’m pretty comfortable. Obviously we’ve been in a lot of these situations this season,” Flagg said. “We haven’t won one of those, but it’s all a learning experience for us right now. That’s what we have to take away from this. We’ve got to learn, we’ve got to get better. We’ll be in a ton of these situations moving forward next year. Just taking it in and learning. I’m pretty comfortable at this point.”

Flagg finished the game with a well-rounded stat line of 18 points, five rebounds, six assists, one steal and four blocked shots in his return from injury. He played 26 minutes and shot 7 of 22 from the field, 1 of 4 from the 3-point line, and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line.

One of the frontrunners for the Rookie of the Year award along with Con Knueppel, Flagg was sidelined before the All-Star break with a foot injury.

He has played just over 33 minutes per game in 50 games this season. He is averaging 20.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.2 steals while shooting 47.8 percent from the field, 30.1 percent from the 3-point line and 80.7 percent from the free-throw line.

The Phoenix Suns snapped a three-game losing streak on Thursday and they have a lot to thank Royce O’Neal for. O’Neal broke the tie by hitting a dagger 3-pointer with one second remaining in the fourth quarter to give Phoenix a 113–110 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Suns played brilliantly in that game, leading to a wide-open try from deep by O’Neale, who finished the game with 13 points.

It all started with Grayson Allen attacking the Lakers’ defense, and when everyone’s attention was on him, he threw the ball to Collin Gillespie, who immediately passed the ball to O’Neal. Without hesitation, former Baylor Bears forward O’Neal launched a shot from behind the arc that found nothing but the bottom of the net.

Royce O’Neale leads with less than a second left 😳🍿

pic.twitter.com/LbNWE9B86Q

– ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) 27 February 2026

There was still time left on the clock after O’Neal, but the Lakers could not convert a bucket after the timeout, as Austin Reaves missed a last-gasp 3-point attempt from the corner.

O’Neal finished his evening with 13 points with three triples, while Allen and Gillespie provided 28 and 21 points, respectively, for the Suns, who won despite missing star shooting guard Devin Booker and forward Dillon Brooks.

That shot from O’Neal also summed up the Suns’ unselfishness in the contest. He had 22 assists on 40 field goals and also hit a total of 22 3-pointers on 50 attempts from deep. It seemed a little easier for Phoenix to make outside shots from deep against the Lakers’ defense.

The Denver Nuggets’ final game troubles continued on Sunday as the team missed another opportunity in crunch time during a 128-117 loss to the Golden State Warriors. Despite Nikola Jokic scoring 35 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists, the Nuggets could not perform when it mattered most.

The Nuggets have lost six of their last nine games and their star player is not holding back from making his point.

“I’m definitely worried because we’re losing games,” Jokic said. “We’re losing games, and we’re not making open looks. So it’s something we need to change. … I don’t know what it is, but we need to figure it out.”

After the loss, guard Christian Braun cited a lack of physicality and positioning as the root cause of Denver’s struggles.

“I think there’s been a lot of things this year that we haven’t been able to hold down,” Braun said. “Not being tough enough.” “It has nothing to do with our process. It has nothing to do with anything other than our need to keep our place.”

The Warriors took advantage of Denver’s defensive flaws, with Brandin Podziemski scoring 12 points in the final five minutes to seal the win.

Now sitting at 36-22, the Nuggets face a turning point ahead. After a few days’ rest, they will face Boston Celtics at home on Wednesday. Then on Friday they face the Oklahoma City Thunder, who currently have the league’s best record.

As the playoffs approach and the Nuggets want to maintain their legitimate contender status, they will have to find a way to close out these games.

NEW YORK – Jalen Brunson was the NBA’s 2025 Clutch Player of the Year for a reason. On Saturday night against the Houston Rockets, he added to his crunch-time resume by finalizing New York’s 18-point comeback. It took almost half of the third quarter for Brunson to make his first field goal, but the final six minutes of the fourth quarter were his showcase.

New York reduced Houston’s lead for the first half of the fourth quarter with Brunson on the bench. The guard entered the game with 6:27 left, shooting 4-4 ​​from the floor and knocked down the lead-taking mid-range jump shot with 29.5 seconds remaining. It was the guard’s 14th game-tying or go-ahead save since joining the Knicks’ roster, good for second in the NBA in that span.

According to ESPN, Brunson trails only DeMar DeRozan in that regard. The superstar guard told reporters after the game that, despite the game’s make-or-miss reputation, his fourth-quarter masterpiece was about a change in approach, not just a variation.

“I didn’t like how I was playing and I saw I had to change it, it’s that simple. It has nothing to do with shooting. It’s the mentality of getting down the slope and trying to make plays. And not hesitate and not be passive. If there are mistakes, they’re offensive mistakes. They want you to be on your heels. And I think that’s what I was in the first few quarters,” the Knicks captain told the media on Saturday.

Brown says the Knicks “have to get better” after being swept by the Rockets.

Reporters asked head coach Mike Brown about his group’s tendency to underestimate competition and flip the proverbial “switch” when needed. He said after the game that although he has coached teams that can “flip the switch”, such as the Golden State Warriors group that included Durant, those were unique situations that he was not counting on replicating in New York.

“We’ve found a way. But we’ve got to be better,” Brown said.

The organization chose this coach to lead this group because his focus was on team process regardless of results. Sunday night’s tilt in Chicago will conclude the weekend’s back-to-back. After that, the Knicks have 24 games left in the regular season. Brown, and his players, will spend time honing that same process – trying to get as close to perfection as possible.

The LA Clippers picked up a win against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night thanks to big scoring from Benedict Mathurin and Kawhi Leonard. However, he also got assistance from Jamal Murray.

Down by three points, the Nuggets first-time NBA All-Star guard was fouled on a three-point shot attempt with 0.9 remaining on the game clock and no timeouts remaining for either team. Murray, historically a clutch free throw shooter, stepped to the free throw line in front of the Clippers’ wall with a chance to tie the game and possibly send it to overtime.

Jamal Murray missed the first free throw, hit the back of the rim on the second free throw, and then had to wait about 30 seconds due to a substitution before taking his third and final free throw to tie. That shot veered off the right side of the rim and rolled right to left, effectively giving the Clippers the win.

Jamal Murray vs. The Wall… missed the last of 3 free throws to tie and the Clippers won. pic.twitter.com/nFuWFgi1Gx

-Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) 20 February 2026

“What was going through my mind?” When Kawhi Leonard was asked this question after the game, he repeated it. “Uh, I was just hoping he’d miss one, seriously, sh-t,” Kawhi Leonard said. “I mean, we were up by three, he dropped the first two, so really expected he would miss.”

Kawhi Leonard explains what was going through his mind during Jamal Murray’s game-tying free throws:

“I was just hoping he’d miss one, really, bullshit. I mean, we were up by three, he dropped the first two, so I was really hoping he’d miss.” https://t.co/BYVzOwVuLO pic.twitter.com/0oG8ybH6oS

-Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) 20 February 2026

Shooting 88.7 percent on the season, Jamal Murray has missed 11 free throws in clutch situations (defined as a five-point game in the final five minutes) this season. Murray is just 11-of-18 from the free throw line in the final minutes of games with a margin of three or fewer points this season.

Kawhi Leonard finished Thursday night’s game with 23 points on 8-of-18 shooting, adding four rebounds and three assists. The Clippers forward was clearly battling some type of cold or illness after the game, which is why Benedict Mathurin’s big performance was much needed.

In his third game with the LA Clippers, Mathurin scored 38 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the field and 12-of-13 from the free throw line. The 38-point performance is the most by a Clippers player in his home debut as well as the highest individual career performance for the fourth-year guard out of Arizona.

The Houston Rockets opened the second half of the season with a win by defeating the Charlotte Hornets 105-101 courtesy of Kevin Durant’s heroics at the Spectrum Center on Thursday.

The Rockets were leading by three points, 101–98, with just 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter, needing a stoppage to give the Hornets a chance to steal the victory.

But Durant said: No. With the shot clock expiring, the veteran forward sank a dagger jumper over two defenders. seal victory.

Kevin Durant. Dagger.

First game back from break and Reaper dropped 35 points 🗡️ pic.twitter.com/gOVfsyPZ8W

– NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) 20 February 2026

The Rockets improved to 34–20, bouncing back from their loss to the Los Angeles Clippers before the midseason break.

Durant led the freshman season with a game-high 35 points on 14 of 20 shooting. He also had eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

Juraj Slafkowski and Nick Suzuki will both reach the semi-finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, giving Montreal Canadiens fans even more reasons to keep a close eye on the important tournament.

(NB Due to rights issues, some highlights may not be available in your country. To watch highlights in the United States, be sure to check out the NBC Olympics Twitter feed)

slovakia advance

In the first quarterfinal of the day, Slafkovsky and Team Slovakia defeated Team Germany 6–2. As a result, the courageous Slovaks have punched their ticket to the semi-finals.

Slafkowski recorded an assist in the game, as former hub Tomas Tatar scored an empty-net goal to put the game out of reach for the Germans. This brought his tournament totals to an impressive three goals and four assists in seven games, moving him into third place in Olympic scoring along with Swedish forward Lucas Raymond, Swiss forward Timo Meyer and German star Leon Draisaitl.

The semi-finals of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games take place on Friday, although it remains to be seen which opponent the Slovaks will face in one of the most important hockey games in the country’s history.

What we do know is that they represent one of the most cohesive and well-built teams at the Olympics, which is quite a feat, considering that Slovakia has a population of less than six million.

Slafkovsky on returning to the medal round at the Olympics:
“It’s amazing. It’s even better because we’ve got the best players in the world here and we, from a small 🇸🇰 where we have 5 million people, we managed to get into the top four. We want to keep working hard so we can get some medals”

– Mark Masters (@markhmasters) 18 February 2026

Canada sneaked in quietly

Maclin Celebrini’s early goal opened the scoring for Team Canada, although we have to give Connor McDavid enough credit as he found his young teammate after a brilliant steal, not to mention a brilliant pass.

Hockey M – 🇨🇦 Maclin Celebrini’s first goal in the quarter-finals in the Canada vs Czechia match! Now it’s 1-0.#MilanoCortina2026 #rcsports #Hockey #teamcanada #olympic games pic.twitter.com/iYGcnXZb0a

– Radio-Canada Sports (@RC_Sports) 18 February 2026

However, it was the Czechs who took over in the pace department after the Celebrini marker.

Czechia not only responded with a goal, but also took a 2–1 lead over Canada before the first intermission. It was the first time since 2010 that Canada fell short of the best of the best at the Olympics.

Things went from bad to worse, when Sidney Crosby was forced to leave the game after some heavy contact through Radko Gudas.

Thankfully for Canada, they were gifted a relatively unwanted power play, giving them a perfect opportunity to tie the game midway through the second period. Nathan MacKinnon made no mistake, equalizing the game with a spectacular shot and easily fooling Czech goaltender Lukas Dostal.

Nathan MacKinnon ties it for Canada, 2-2 🚨🇨🇦

Watch: https://t.co/oTy7mwM1Un pic.twitter.com/nOiHeTRPmL

– CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) 18 February 2026

Suzuki had a great chance to give Canada the lead in the final minutes of the second frame, but the Montreal Canadiens captain hit the post, tying the score at the second intermission.

With the Czechs leading 3–2 with just a few minutes left to play, Suzuki saved himself and put together one of the best innings by a Canadian player in the entire Olympic tournament.

He kept the puck alive in the offensive zone by outrunning his defenders, and then made his way to the front of the net, where he drained a point shot to tie the game for a very nervous Canadian team.

(To view this highlight in the United States, please click this link)

Hockey M – 🇨🇦 Nick Suzuki scores the equalizer in the quarter-finals of the Canada vs. Czechia match! It’s 3-3 now.#MilanoCortina2026 #rcsports #Hockey #teamcanada #olympic games pic.twitter.com/prxgT5COMA

– Radio-Canada Sports (@RC_Sports) 18 February 2026

do or die

With the game on the line, former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner decided to score the biggest goal of his career, beating all three Czech players on the ice before firing a perfect backhand shot past Dostal to secure a 4–3 win.

Mitch Marner 🚨

Canada wins Canada wins Canada wins 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/sKICnjLnA6

– CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) 18 February 2026

Mark has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for the Journal Metro, The Athletic, The… More about Mark Dumont