Luka Doncic has been on a crazy spree the past two games. The Los Angeles Lakers star has outpaced his team this season, and it was evident in LA’s latest games. Doncic nearly had a triple-double with 40 points before scoring a season-high 60 points against the Miami Heat. With LA on the verge of clinching a playoff berth, Doncic is doing everything he can to get LA into the postseason.

After his outstanding 60 points against the Heat, Doncic was asked about his performance. The Lakers star credited his hot streak to his shooting and his slashing to create opportunities for himself and his teammates.

“Yeah, I feel like my three-ballers are going good, and then I’m attacking the paint a lot,” Doncic said in response to a question, according to Spectrum Sportsnet. “So just trying to read the game.”

Doncic’s stellar performance isn’t limited to his last two games. Over the past two weeks, Doncic has averaged an incredible 40.9 points per game in eight games. In those eight games, the Lakers star is shooting 42.2% from three-point range. He’s also adding 8.9 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game. Against the Heat, Doncic also showed his defensive improvement by making five steals, increasing his average to 2.4 steals per game in eight games.

With the win over the Heat, the Lakers continued to tighten their grip on the third seed in the Western Conference. Chasing giants like the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs is almost impossible now, but that’s OK. Now, the Lakers aim to retain home-court advantage at least in the first round. They have a two-game lead over the fourth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves and a three-game lead over the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets.

As for Doncic, the Slovenian superstar is gunning for his first MVP award in his NBA career. He is averaging 33.4 points per game on 47.7% shooting from the field and 37% shooting from deep this season, while also adding 8.4 assists and 7.9 rebounds. The Lakers are just seven games away from meeting the required number of games played to qualify for the star awards.

On Thursday, it was reported by ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania that Detroit Pistons star point guard Cade Cunningham will miss an extended period of time due to a damaged lung. The scary situation comes as the Pistons prepare for a playoff run, in which they will likely be the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.

Depending on how much time Cunningham misses, it is possible he could miss eligibility for end-of-season NBA awards, including First Team All-NBA and others that require a player to appear in a minimum of 65 games.

If Cunningham does indeed miss the cut, it would spark further backlash over award eligibility rules. The league first implemented the 65-game minimum in an effort to reduce load management, which, in fairness, was a very real concern at the time, and still is to some extent. It’s also true that the best ability is availability, and there’s certainly a limit to how much value a player can provide to his team if he’s consistently out of the lineup for any reason.

However, if Cunningham does indeed miss out on eligibility, All-NBA teams could feature some faces that many fans may not have seen play at that level on the court. Players like Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are already teetering on the edge of eligibility due to previous injury absences, as is San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.

Cunningham not getting recognition at the end of the season could potentially be the last nail in the coffin that forces the NBA to make changes this offseason.

For now, Cunningham is being considered a possible candidate for First Team All-NBA and the league MVP award.

The Montreal Canadiens are a little ahead of schedule when it comes to long-term rebuilding plans. All things considered, the mere fact that they are in the playoff race, just a few years removed from wholesale changes, is rather impressive.

Some teams take a decade or more to right the ship, while the Canadiens actually managed to reach the playoffs last season.

And while this was an encouraging development, it also raised the bar considerably. Canadian fans are not only hopeful that the team will qualify for the playoffs this year, but they are also hungry for post-season success.

But that’s putting the cart before the horse.

As it stands, the Habs will have to make sure they get the first invitation to the springtime dance, and to do that, they’ll have to focus on their biggest area of ​​weakness.

Quality Scoring Possibilities

The biggest problem the Canadiens have faced since the hiring of head coach Martin Saint-Louis has been their poor share of high-danger scoring opportunities.

The team ranks 16th in 5v5 shots at 57.6 per 60 minutes of ice time. It’s far from ideal, but at least, they’re no longer in the basement of the NHL, as they were last season.

However, when it comes to allowing high-danger chances, they are 24th in the league with 12.3 per 60. Not every team below them is in danger of missing the playoffs, but most of them would be described as organizations that are headed toward, or engaged in, a rebuild.

The issue is further complicated by Montreal’s inability to generate a series of high-danger chances to balance out its defensive problems. The Habs rank 29th in the league when it comes to creating quality scoring chances, with just 10.5 per 60.

This means the Canadiens have the fifth-worst share of high-end scoring opportunities in the league, with only 46.13%. The only teams with worse results are the Vancouver Canucks (46.12%), New York Islanders (44.6%), Seattle Kraken (42.36%), and Chicago Blackhawks (41.97%).

For the record, the top three clubs with high threat probability are the Carolina Hurricanes (55.43%), the Vegas Golden Knights (55.02%), and the Colorado Avalanche (54.96%), all teams considered threats to capture the Stanley Cup this season.

Montreal Canadiens Brass Tacks

Sure, better goaltending can mask some of these issues, but in the long run, if the Canadiens hope to one day become legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, they will need to do a much better job of controlling the best scoring opportunities.

To put a fine point on the importance of this particular issue, the Golden Knights have had worse goals against than Montreal this year, and when it comes to team-wide save percentage, the Hurricanes are essentially tied with the Habs, closer to the 89.9% range.

It’s very easy to blame the netminders, but the truth is that the Habs make life very difficult for their goaltenders due to their poor share of high-danger scoring opportunities.

All Montreal Canadiens stats are 5v5, via Natural Stat Trick, unless otherwise noted.

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

Newcastle United star Sandro Tonali should consider changing his career to athletics as he only runs.

That’s according to Antonio Cassano, who is clearly not a fan of the Newcastle midfielder. He is speaking about a 25 year old man Comments broadcast by Calciomercato.

The former Italian striker turned mouthpiece tells Il Messaggero about the Italian national team.

The Blues are currently struggling to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup through the European play-offs. They have missed the last two tournaments in 2018 and 2022 and will now face a crucial play-off to avoid making a third.

World Cup in danger

This came after they finished second behind Norway in Group I and failed to achieve automatic qualification. They will host Northern Ireland in a single-leg play-off semi-final in March. If they defeated them, they would have to invade Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina later that month.

It’s a dire situation for a team that is tied with Germany for the second most successful nation in World Cup history.

This led to significant and increasing criticism from fans, media and former players. Cassano is one of those people who is not cautious in sharing such opinions. And now their attention appears to be turning to Newcastle’s star man.

“It’s bad, but I’m confident that Gattuso will steer the ship in the right direction with his ideas and we’ll reach the World Cup,” he said.

“The only champion is Donnarumma. Pio Esposito? He is twenty years old and we consider him a novice: Totti and I made our debut at seventeen.

“She should do athletics”

“Tonali plays in the Premier League and never gets it. He runs and runs… He should do athletics. He and Barela are poor. Barela used to run, but he doesn’t run anymore. We need quality. I like Vergara.”

The question is, does anyone listen? It would be surprising if Premier League star Tonali cares what Cassano thinks at this point.

Sport Witness has covered him extensively over the past few months. In fact, A report earlier this month His agent has dismissed transfer rumors as Tonali wants to focus on helping Italy win the World Cup.

Instead of Cassano criticizing players like Tonali, perhaps Italy needs a similar mentality.