標籤: Rick

The Los Angeles Lakers have been on a roll the past few weeks, and it’s largely due to the scoring streak that Luka Doncic continues to put up. In his latest matchup against the Indiana Pacers, Doncic finished with 43 points, and although Rick Carlisle may have been upset, he teased a ray of hope.

“We held him below average against us,” Carlisle said, via Tony East of Forbes Sports.

In two games this season, Doncic has averaged 43.5 points per game against the Pacers. It looks like a win in Carlisle’s eyes, and he knows there’s not much you can do against a player who is in the same position as him right now.

The Pacers have had difficulty getting stops all season, and it shows in their record. One of those reasons is because of the injuries they have had to deal with, and they don’t have the personnel they need in those moments. When they have been healthy enough at times this season, they have shown that they can be competitive, and a good example of that was when they recently beat the Orlando Magic.

With the season the Pacers are having, there’s a good chance they could get the top pick in this year’s draft, and they’ll add back Tyrese Haliburton next season. This is good news for them, and hopefully they can get back to their competitive ways from the last two seasons.

They were also able to add Ivica Zubac at the trade deadline, and although he was sidelined for the rest of this season, he should be a big help next season, especially after they lost Myles Turner to the Milwaukee Bucks last offseason.

The future looks bright for the Pacers, and hopefully they don’t hand over 40 points to Doncic when they get back to the Lakers.

随着 2025-26 赛季即将结束，达拉斯小牛队似乎正在展望 2026 年 NBA 选秀。由于该组织希望在休赛期为球队引进年轻人才，首席执行官里克·韦尔茨解释了为什么即将到来的选秀对球队如此重要。

韦尔茨表示，小牛队的目标是在选秀中增加不止一名新秀，他们计划为球队长期效力。达拉斯预计将获得前十顺位选秀权，并有可能在选秀开始前增加更多选秀资金。

“这对我们来说将是一次非常重要的选秀，因为我们至少挑选了几名球员，他们可能会在很长一段时间内成为我们名单的一部分，”韦尔茨说。

达拉斯即将迎来繁忙的休赛期。小牛队必须找到一位新总经理来取代尼科·哈里森，最好是在 2026 年 NBA 选秀之前。根据选秀的进行情况可能会决定俱乐部在自由球员或交易中采取的其他举措。

小牛队目前战绩为 23 胜 47 负，赛程还剩 12 场比赛，在附加赛中远远落后。从技术上讲，他们还没有被淘汰，但球队的发展轨迹是完全错过季后赛。如果真是这样，那么这将是达拉斯连续第二个赛季未能进入季后赛。

我们将看看小牛队季后赛的表现如何。根据俱乐部采取的举措，他们可能会扭转局面。特别是考虑到库珀·弗拉格将进入他的第二年，而凯里·欧文预计将从伤病中恢复。加上一个令人兴奋的前景，你就拥有了下赛季的诱人阵容。

With the 2025-26 season almost over, the Dallas Mavericks look forward to the 2026 NBA Draft. With the organization hoping to acquire young talent for the roster in the offseason, CEO Rick Welts explains why the upcoming draft is so important for the franchise.

Welts said the Mavericks are aiming to add more than one prospect in the draft who they plan on playing for the team for a long time. Dallas is projected to be a top 10 pick and could potentially add more draft capital before the draft begins.

“This is going to be a really important draft for us because we’ll be picking up at least a few players that will probably be a part of our roster for a long time,” Welts said.

Dallas is gearing up for a busy offseason. Ideally before the 2026 NBA Draft, the Mavericks need to find a new general manager to replace Nico Harrison. Depending on how the draft goes, it could determine other moves the club makes in free agency or trades.

With a 23-47 record and 12 games remaining on the schedule, the Mavericks are well back in the play-in tournament mix. They’re technically not out yet, but the trajectory for the team is to miss the playoffs altogether. If so, it would be the second consecutive campaign where Dallas fails to reach the postseason.

We’ll see how the postseason plays out for the Mavericks. Depending on the steps taken by the club, they could change things. Especially considering that Cooper Flagg will be going into his second year, and Kyrie Irving is expected to return from injury. Add in an exciting prospect, and you have an attractive roster for next season.

The term “Hall of Famer” gets thrown around a lot, but when it comes to Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker, the claims take on more substance as time goes on.

The five-time All-Star has received recognition from many head coaches, but Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle is new to the list.

Before Thursday’s game, Carlisle elaborated more on that three-word point.

“He’s got Hall of Fame in the books,” Carlisle explained on Twitter (formerly Twitter), via AZCentral’s Duane Rankin. “As far as I can see, he has become a great leader.”

Throughout Phoenix’s season, Booker has been the unsung leader, offensive engine and everything else you want to describe. His stats may not be where they were, but that doesn’t necessarily matter.

However, over the last five games he is averaging 26.6 points, 5.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds. The Suns have been on a hot streak since Booker’s return and have gone 4-1.

Devin Booker’s comment on Rick Carlisle highlights Suns’ success

Comparing the 2024-25 season to today, this is a completely different team. Although Booker made the All-Star Game, he noted that it was due to his team’s success.

He has also repeatedly mentioned finishing his career in Phoenix. But it is not just a feeling of pleasing the masses. At the same time, he wants to leave a lasting impact and has already done so.

For example, Booker broke the Suns franchise scoring record at the age of 28 during his ten seasons in the Valley of the Sun.

Somehow, his focus is more on winning than on accolades. As of this writing, the team has achieved 38 wins on the season, surpassing last season’s win total.

As the Suns continue to travel on the road, more coaches may get to see more of Booker’s leadership showcased.

The Indiana Pacers have all the incentive in the world to lose every game through the end of the 2025-26 season, as if their 2026 first-round selection ends up within picks five to nine, they will be dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers courtesy of the Ivica Zubac trade.

Since all critical teams are trying to lose games with the aim of maintaining their preference in protected grounds, the Pacers don’t need to do much to try and prevent defeat. Injury problems have plagued the team throughout the season, and after Sunday night’s 131-111 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, they lost two more key contributors, with TJ McConnell suffering a hamstring injury and Jarres Walker twisting his ankle.

That’s all Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle could do give vague feedback When asked about the respective positions of McConnell and Walker.

“Concerned. We’ll see.” [Walker] Ended up spraining my ankle. Look, we are a little worried right now. We’ll circle the wagons with the medical staff tomorrow and see what’s what,” Carlisle told reporters, via Tony East of Forbes.

Rick Carlisle on TJ McConnell’s hamstring and Jarace Walker’s late-game injury: https://t.co/y4ULLNOLc8 pic.twitter.com/hBk5V80NeF

– Tony East (@TonyREast) 9 March 2026

Fast bowlers could not take a break on the injury front

Before the 2025-26 season begins, no one would be surprised to see the Pacers remain semi-competitive amid the absence of Tyrese Haliburton. In this regard they would have been similar to the Boston Celtics. Fast forward to March, the Pacers have a record of 15-49 – the second worst record in the NBA at the moment.

Injuries have been very disappointing for the pacers. Guys like Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Obi Toppin and McConnell have missed significant time. They are slowly bringing Ivica Zubac on board. And this season has simply been a nightmare of a gap season that could ultimately lead to gold medal in draft season.

LOS ANGELES – A coach yelled at Luka Doncic for his frustration on the court and ignoring him during a recent substitution.

The Los Angeles Lakers star needs to collect just one more technical before serving a one-game suspension.

Still, Lakers coach JJ Redick downplayed those concerns based on how Doncic manages his competitive fire.

“He’s a special type of player, a special type of person and a special type of competitor,” Redick said. “I’d prefer someone who’s going out every night and trying to kill, rather than someone who you literally have to resuscitate with a different defibrillator every other day. So I’ll take Luca all day.”

So will Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, who managed Doncic during the first three of his seven seasons with the Dallas Mavericks (2018-2025).

“You show me a great player who isn’t stubborn and doesn’t get angry at things,” Carlisle said. “I’ll show you someone who’s not a great player.”

Instead, Carlisle views Dončić as “the greatest player I’ve ever coached”. Carlisle predicted that Doncic would eventually win the NBA regular-season MVP award. Carlisle described coaching against Doncic as “hell” and argued that “it’s impossible to gameplan for him.”

Over the next two and a half hours, Doncic proved his former coach right. He led the Lakers to a 128-117 win over the Pacers on Friday with 44 points, while going 14-for-25 from the field, 7-for-14 from 3-point range and 9-for-10 from the free-throw line, along with nine rebounds and five assists.

The Lakers missed LeBron James (left elbow soreness) and Deandre Ayton (left knee soreness). No matter. The injury-plagued roster only encouraged Doncic.

Doncic passed Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards for most 40-point games this season (10). by recording 12^th 40-point games in the last 1 1/2 seasons with the Lakers, Doncic passed Gail Goodrich for ninth place on the franchise’s all-time list. Ultimately,

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a player who controls an NBA game in every possible way,” Carlisle said. “You can’t speed him up. You can’t slow him down. It’s really an impossible task. You have to hope he misses some shots. If you think double teaming is the answer, it’s not. The stats will tell you that when you double team him, things get worse because everyone else is going, and there are wide open shots everywhere. So he’s as difficult a player to gameplan as I’ve ever seen.”

It’s even more difficult considering the Pacers (15-48), who boast the Eastern Conference’s worst record. The Lakers’ Austin Reaves (19 points), Luke Kennard (15), Rui Hachimura (13) and Marcus Smart (11) also scored in double figures, making it even more difficult. Nevertheless, Redick observed that Doncic still had “ridiculous shot-making” against Indiana guards Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith, whom Redick praised as one of the NBA’s best on-ball defenders.

“He can make every shot,” Redick said of Doncic. “He can make floaters. He can make floaters that go left or right. He’s a shot maker. But he’s also a playmaker. He has the ability, whether it’s single coverage or double coverage, to make reads and make open shots and closeouts and lobs for his teammates. And he’s done that for seven years now. He’s seen every coverage. So he has a progression of reads.”

However, has Doncic made enough progress by keeping his emotions in check?

The numbers say no. Doncic scored his 15^th Technical during Thursday’s loss at Denver. The NBA automatically suspends a player without pay when he accumulates 16 technicals. With the Lakers (38-25) trailing the Nuggets (39-25) by a half-game for fifth place in the Western Conference, Doncic’s potential suspension could dramatically alter the team’s playoff seeding.

Against Indiana, Doncic looked more subdued in front of the referees. Redick said that “he had a very pleasant conversation with the officials.” Doncic argued that “I just want to play my game.”

“Just to me it shows that I really care about the game,” Doncic said. “I want to win every game. Obviously, there’s a lot of emotion in it. But it means caring a lot about the game. This game has given me everything.”

Doncic, meanwhile, is averaging a league-leading 32.3 points and third-best 8.6 assists per game. The Lakers also praised him for his improved defensive effort. Certainly, Doncic’s frustration with the officials could impact his focus on both ends of the floor. He may also be angry with the coaching staff. So, Redick’s anger erupted during the Lakers’ recent win at Golden State.

Still, the Lakers mostly encourage Dončić to play with emotion because he scores and passes more efficiently than gathering technicalities. Mavericks also generally came to the same conclusion.

“He’s a tremendous competitor. I don’t see that changing,” Carlisle said. “I don’t see that changing. But he’s great.”

Mark Medina is an NBA contributor for SportsNut. follow him x, blue sky, Instagram, Facebook And threads.

NBA Insider for Sportsknot. Former NBA writer for NBA.com and USA TODAY, Warriors writer for The Mercury News, Lakers… More about Mark Medina

Recently, Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle made headlines by hitting back at the NBA for the franchise’s fine that revolved around the team allegedly sitting healthy players in an effort to tank. Carlisle claimed that the league had insisted that the injured Aaron Nesmith play, even after being prescribed medication for his ankle injury.

Now, the NBA has hit back at Carlisle’s harsh words with its own description of the events.

“Coach Carlisle’s description of the process involved in the decision to fine the Indiana Pacers is inaccurate. An independent physician led the medical review,” a league spokesperson said, per Brett Siegel, formerly of Twitter, via The Athletic. “…The Pacers confirmed that he provided all information requested by the league and the team stated that an interview with Coach Carlisle or the team physician was not necessary.”

Apparently, Carlisle and the league front office are not on the same page about what happened regarding Nesmith.

The NBA has been trying to crack down on tanking in recent weeks, as well as fining the Utah Jazz a hefty amount for sitting healthy players as teams try to secure the best draft picks.

The 2026 NBA Draft class is widely considered loaded, and the process of teaming a blue-chip prospect with a healthy Tyrese Haliburton next year is certainly an attractive one for the Pacers.

However, all things considered, it seems there are even more questionable tanking practices going on around the league than what is happening in Indiana.

The Indiana Pacers came out of the 2026 NBA All-Star break and immediately suffered a loss to the Washington Wizards on Thursday night at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC.

Despite the 112–105 loss to the Wizards, Indiana had some positives to take from the contest, including the play of Jarre Walker. The former Houston Cougars star power forward paced Indiana against Washington with 19 points and 13 rebounds. While he made only 5 of 15 shots from the field, he made 8 of 10 from the free-throw line. Walker recorded seven assists and two steals in 30 minutes of action.

After the game, Walker received praise from Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle, who considered the player’s development “one of the triumphs of this season”, according to Scott Agnes of Fieldhouse Files.

Granted, the Pacers don’t have much to celebrate heading into the 2025-26 NBA season, seeing Walker improve on the court gives Carlisle and the team something to feel good about.

It’s also time for Walker to translate his potential into raw numbers, as he’s already in his third season in the league. In his first two seasons in the NBA, Walker, who was selected eighth by Indiana in the first round of the 2023 NBA draft, averaged only 5.4 points and 2.7 rebounds in 14.1 minutes per contest. He entered the Wizards game with season averages of 10.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in 54 games.

Still, there’s plenty of room for improvement for the 22-year-old Walker, including his shot efficiency. He made only 40.4 percent of his attempts and posted a 49.3 effective field goal percentage in the first half of the season.

Tanking in the NBA has been a heated conversation this season, and Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has had to approach that conversation carefully. Just eight months ago, the Pacers were at the pinnacle of the basketball world, making a thrilling run to the NBA Finals in which they defeated the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics and the beloved New York Knicks. They also took on a dominant Oklahoma City Thunder team in the NBA Finals in a seven-game series.

But in that Game 7, star point guard Tyrese Halliburton suffered a torn right Achilles tendon, definitively ruling him out for the season. With the loss of Halliburton, the Pacers have struggled this season, sitting at 15-40 in the Eastern Conference, just one spot ahead of the Washington Wizards.

Recently, the NBA fined the Pacers $100,000 for player participation policy violations on February 12. The penalty was given because NBA All-Star Pascal Siakam and two other starters were held out of the game, although an independent league investigation found that all three could have played, albeit in fewer minutes. The Jazz ultimately won the game 131–122.

Carlisle talked about the fine while speaking to reporters after Pacers practice Tuesday in comments obtained by IndyStar.

“I have no idea,” he said, “and really no comment on it.”

Carlisle was asked if the team would change the way it manages player involvement going forward.

Carlisle said, “We will manage our situation the way we need to. I am extremely proud of the way our players, organization and fans have navigated an exceptionally challenging season.” According to IndyStar, he said, “We’ve been very consistent in the way we’ve approached everything this year, and the NBA is aware of that. Communication with the league office has been productive. We’ll move forward with the same emphasis on competitiveness and growth that I talked about at Media Day, Sept. 29, 2025.”

Although the team has struggled this season, the Pacers have been competitive in several games, including a January 23 win over the Thunder and an overtime win over the Knicks a few days before the All-Star break. The Pacers made a big trade deadline move and acquired former Clippers center Ivica Zubac, who is considered one of the best big men in the league.

But despite the team’s success, the NBA has put a halt to enforcement of player participation. The Pacers, as well as the Jazz, were fined $500,000 for violating the player participation policy. The NBA also instituted the 65-game rule which requires players to play at least 65 games to be eligible for postseason awards and honors.

The Pacers will play the first of two games against the Wizards tonight at 7 PM

本赛季，在 NBA 中，“坦克”问题一直是人们热议的话题，步行者队主教练里克·卡莱尔必须小心应对这一话题。就在八个月前，步行者队还处于篮球界的顶峰，踏上了惊心动魄的 NBA 总决赛，他们击败了 NBA 卫冕冠军波士顿凯尔特人队和大热门纽约尼克斯队。他们还在 NBA 总决赛中带领俄克拉荷马城雷霆队打进七场系列赛。

但在那场第七场比赛中，明星控卫泰瑞斯·哈利伯顿右脚跟腱撕裂，这几乎肯定让他缺席整个赛季。失去哈里伯顿后，步行者队本赛季表现不佳，目前在东部联盟战绩为15胜40负，仅领先华盛顿奇才队1个名次。

最近，NBA 因 2 月 12 日违反球员参与政策而对步行者队处以 10 万美元罚款。罚款的原因是 NBA 全明星帕斯卡尔·西亚卡姆和另外两名首发球员被禁止参加比赛，尽管独立联盟调查发现，即使上场时间减少，这三人都可以参加比赛。最终爵士队以131-122赢得了比赛。

《印地星报》获得的评论中，卡莱尔在周二步行者队训练结束后接受记者采访时谈到了罚款。

“我不知道，”他说。 “而且真的没有评论。”

卡莱尔被问及球队是否会改变管理球员参与的方式。

“我们将以我们需要的方式处理我们的情况。我为我们的球员、组织和球迷应对极具挑战性的赛季的方式感到非常自豪，”卡莱尔说。 “我们今年处理所有事情的方式非常一致，NBA 也意识到了这一点。与联盟办公室的沟通富有成效。我们将一如既往地强调竞争力和发展，就像我在 2025 年 9 月 29 日媒体日谈到的那样，”他对《印地星》表示。

尽管球队本赛季表现不佳，但步行者队在几场比赛中表现出色，包括1月23日战胜雷霆队以及全明星赛前几天加时赛战胜尼克斯队。步行者队还在交易截止日期前做出了重大举动，收购了前快船队中锋伊维卡·祖巴茨（Ivica Zubac），他被认为是联盟中最好的大个子之一。

但尽管球队取得了成功，NBA 仍然严厉打击了球员参与的执法力度。与步行者队一样，爵士队也因违反球员参与政策而被罚款 50 万美元。 NBA还制定了65场比赛的规则，要求球员至少打65场比赛才有资格获得季后赛奖项和荣誉。

步行者队今晚 7 点将与奇才队进行两场比赛中的第一场比赛

On Sunday night, the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities concluded with the game itself, which actually consisted of four 12-minute games as part of a round robin tournament. The young American team won the tournament, defeating a team filled with US veterans as well as international players, with Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards winning the All-Star Game MVP award.

The NBA has changed the All-Star Game format several times over the past few years in an effort to drum up any kind of competitive spirit among the players, and the product appeared to be an improvement on Sunday compared to what we’ve seen before.

However, that didn’t stop St. John’s head coach and basketball icon Rick Pitino from proposing another idea to move the event forward.

“It’s great to see the new format with the All-Star Game. I suggested the NBA do the Ryder Cup with basketball. Starting in Greece and then going back to the states. It would be incredible and even more popular than the Ryder Cup,” he wrote on Twitter.

The NBA implementing its own version of golf’s Ryder Cup would certainly be worth seeing, and would continue the theme of US vs. international players that started this year.

For now, it seems like the league is happy with what we saw from the players on Sunday night, as the game lived up to the billing and produced some entertainment for the fans in attendance at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.

Now, the league will move forward into an expanded season, although Adam Silver and company still have a ton of questions to answer, including the rise of artificial intelligence, gambling, and a number of other factors that could have a major impact on the game as we know it.

The basketball world was shocked by the news that Billy Donovan Sr., father of Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, has died. St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino was one of the first to get the message across, as he is a close friend of the family.

Pitino, formerly of X, wrote on Twitter, “He was no better than Billy Donovan Sr. A special man in every sense of the word. RIP my friend! You’re in heaven already.”

Pitino coached Donovan Jr. when he was a player at Providence and he later joined Pitino’s coaching staff at Kentucky.

Donovan’s father was an important part of his life and supported his basketball dreams at all times. He also used to take her to New York Knicks games when she was a kid.

“These last 15, 16 years for me have been — oh my God! — phenomenal,” Donovan Sr. said in a 2011 story written by GatorZone. “I used to play basketball growing up. When Billy was little, we’d watch games on television and I’d take him to see the Knicks. And now, to be able to be with the team and go to all the games and knowing that Billy wants me to be a part of it, I’m so lucky I can’t even tell you.”

Donovan Sr. played college basketball at Boston College and scored over 1,000 career points.

There’s no doubt that Donovan Sr. played a big role in his son’s life, and he’s still living it up as the Bulls’ coach.

More people will probably send prayers and condolences to the family in the coming days.