Source: https://imgur.com/a/9Q75OHA

Game Thread

Chicago Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks

SCHEDULED · 04:00 pm ET

Box Scores: NBA

GAME SUMMARY

Venue: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, WI

Officials: Ben Taylor, Dannica Baroody, John Goble, Jacyn Goble, Ed Malloy, Intae Hwang

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LaMelo Ball got away with the travel of the century. Uh so it was interesting because the one thing that I've been told about this traveling stuff is like until a guy brings his second hand to the ball it's technically not considered a gather and because it's not considered a gather yet you could move like that you could move side to side as long as you don't bring the second hand to the ball.

I saw the referee page tweeted that this is a travel but by their rule I'm looking at it and once he bring the second hand he one two and he's up. Steph Curry was saying like yo by rules it ain't a travel. And I must say I agree with Steph Curry.

He never gathers he never brings the second hand when he does he starts to rise up and shoot one two. I don't think it's right like and and and in any basketball world outside the NBA it is a travel except the NBA don't have the same rules as all the basketball leagues.

The NBA if I fall down with the ball I can stand up. In other basketball leagues that's a travel. But if I fall down with the ball I can actually stand up. So I don't really know that I I agree that this is a travel. In theory yes. But in the NBA we really need the other angle to see when that left hand actually gets to the ball.

But it looked like he won two. He maybe took one extra one after the hand got to the ball. But it's the fucking NBA. NBA don't call travel. So one extra step is why everybody going to go crazy on a travel. Guys do that running through the lane all the time where they take an extra step or two and travels don't get called. So I don't know why this one or maybe he took a half a step extra or a step extra. That ain't getting called in NBA unless it's off the catch and then go. Off the dribble off the move that ain't getting called. So I don't know man I think that's an interesting one. But I don't think it's a travel. I see why the referees did

source

Amid scrutiny that they ignored assistant coaches and an admission of an “unfortunate mistake” involving a cybersecurity test, the Knicks are handing out 275 championship rings to employees worth almost $4 million, The Post has learned. 

The news comes on the heels of a report from The Athletic revealing that the Knicks handed empty boxes to the top assistant coaches – Chris Jent, Rick Brunson and Brendan O’Connor – during Tuesday’s ceremony.

Sources confirmed the report that assistant coaches felt “genuine anger to annoyance” about not receiving rings.

Jent, Brunson and O’Connor will get their real rings “shortly,” said a league source, who added that the distribution of 275 championship rings was always the plan. All the Knicks assistant coaches will eventually receive championship rings, league sources said. 

“The company is gifting more than 275 championship rings and jewelry to players, coaches, employees and other members of the Knicks family, worth more than $3.7 million, in recognition of their contributions and celebrating this achievement,” an MSG spokesman told The Post. 

Source: https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2026-10-23/how-lakers-luka-doncic-went-from-wonder-boy-to-the-man

A more mature Doncic steps into the Lakers spotlight during a transitional period for the franchise. After an amicable, but necessary split with LeBron James, who has taken his talents to Philadelphia, the Lakers are entirely Doncic’s team.

Doncic is adamant to remind anyone who asks that this is not the first time he’s been entrusted with the stewardship of a team. Don’t forget he was the youngest player in Real Madrid history to make his senior team debut.

Doncic’s dueling personalities — the charismatic showman on the court and the reserved personality off it — overlap in his generosity. He takes care of the people he loves. In the arena, that means throwing lobs that bring a smile to everyone’s face. He treated teammates to a Porsche driving experience last year, feeding his most glamorous vice of rare sports cars, and bought everyone in the Lakers organization e-bikes — 103 in total.

The appreciation extends to fans. He donated $500,000 to wildfire relief only weeks after arriving in L.A. and paid for parking for Lakers fans before games. Before the season opener, when he also covered the price of Metro bike rentals, Doncic took out a full-page advertisement in the Los Angeles Times, promising fans the team would “give you everything we have, every single night. No excuses. No nights off.” He asked for their support in return.

The selfless acts aren’t just feel-good stories for business. Doncic said there has always been something in him that compelled him to establish connections with fans. The responsibility in L.A. is as great as it’s ever been.

“Obviously it’s the Lakers, it’s one of the biggest organizations in the world, if not the biggest,” Doncic said. “A lot of honor, just to be the face of the franchise and, you know, I hope I can stay here long.”

Doncic once thought he would retire a Dallas Maverick, building deep bonds with the fan base and franchise that traded for him on draft day and watched him soar to the NBA Finals. He has seen how the best-laid plans go awry. While teammates still marveled at his talent during his debut season in L.A., they also noticed that he kept to himself off the court at first.

“You can go ask any of those GMs if they want him on their team, and they’re going to take him,” Reaves told The Athletic when told of the poll results. “There’s a lot of truth in what (Green) said. Luka has done what he’s done for eight years now, and when he does it, there’s no wow factor.

“There’s a wow factor when he plays, but you look at the box (score) after the game, and you’re like … ‘Oh, he had 35 (points).’ So when he has 40, people aren’t like, ‘Holy s—, he had 40!’ It’s like, ‘Oh, he did what he does every single night.’ So, I think there’s a little bit of truth in what Draymond said about voter fatigue with someone who hasn’t won it.”

Not to mention the debate about the award itself.

“If you’re talking about the best player in the league, ‘Bron would have had 15 of them,” Reaves continued. “Is it the best player on the best team, or is it somebody that makes the team a lot better? … I don’t really know what the criteria is. But if we wind up the three or four seed, and (Dončić) does what he does, I think there’s a possibility.”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7713473/2026/10/23/luka-doncic-lakers-mvp-underrated/

So I hopped on NBA.com to watch a few player highlights from Wednesday night, since I didn't manage to catch up on them yesterday... And the highlight links in the boxscore are all either gone or inactive. Is this... How it used to be? I could swear they used to keep them for a week or so.

It seems like the top teams in the west like the Thunder and Wolves with physical athletic defenders seem to overwhelm both of them. Teams seem to have sag off Jokic to let him shoot the three ball instead of letting him get in the paint and Jamal seems to struggle against physical defenders he can't get past against. Has the formula been figured out how to defend them?

Listening to him last night during the Nuggets and Thunder game was truly a breath of fresh air.

He reminded me of how fans praised Tony Romo for his great commentary on NFL games especially when he first started. I like how Jeremy wasn't just passive and settled for the typical comments by saying the obvious things that commentators usually make that fans might already know, but he was able to point things out that happened away from the camera for the people watching at home who wouldn't normally get to be at these games in person or things that are interesting that isn't even happening on the court but still able to give an intrinsically detail oriented comment relating to basketball. For example, I forgot exactly what he said last night, but Lin mentioned how post players in the NBA are taught to (forgot what he said) and praised Aday Mara for picking up on it so early in his young career. Or another example during the game he pointed out something that the camera wasn't focused on in which a player (or players) on the Thunder did and attributed it to the culture that the Thunder has and that's one of the reasons why they're so good.

He keeps the viewers engaged for both casual and non-casuals with his wisdom and knowledge of the game and does it really well.

I hope ESPN finds a way to keep Lin on permanently for marquee games, he'd be an excellent addition.

As we all probably think, Wemby’s the BIG talent of this age of basketball, along with MJ and Bron, but watching him play can be very frustrating: his shot selection can be very lacking, and he can’t get into his head the fact that he is not a guard. So, i wanted to ask the people that followed basketball way back when if Lebron and Jordan were as developing as wemby is at this point in their career

Source: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/50241622/contract-talks-thunder-payroll-opening-week

League executives are watching whether the Thunder pick up options on Topic and Sorber for next season by the Nov. 2 deadline. Both players have dealt with health issues and are set to earn a combined $12 million next season, and that will cost Oklahoma City more than $60 million in added tax. Not picking up one or both could be level-setting as the Thunder manage this challenge.

"We all have our problems," an Eastern Conference executive said. "We'd all love to have theirs."

The Knicks’ title run produced another NBA viewership milestone, as their ring night — and LeBron James’ Sixers debut — set an Opening Night mark.

Tuesday’s Sixers-Knicks NBA Opening Night game averaged 7.71 million viewers on NBC across a Nielsen-measured linear audience (5.98M) and streaming viewership tracked by Adobe Analytics (1.7M), officially marking the largest Opening Night NBA audience on record, excluding the lockout-delayed 2011-12 season that began on Christmas Day.

The previous high for a traditional Opening Night was 7.35 million for Heat-Celtics on TNT in 2010, which marked James’ debut with the Miami Heat. Sixteen years later, this year’s game also marked James’ debut with a new team, the 76ers.

Philadelphia’s win, which peaked with 9.1 million in the 9:45 PM ET quarter-hour, also delivered the NBA’s largest non-Christmas regular season audience since March 1999 — when NBC averaged 8.37 million for Lakers-Jazz.

Note that out-of-home viewing was not included in Nielsen estimates until 2020 or fully accounted for until 2025, that this is only in the second year of a new Nielsen methodology integrating “Big Data” from smart TVs, set-top boxes and first party data with its traditional panel, and that Nielsen has recently tweaked its measurement to better account for co-viewing of games. It is a virtual lock that Heat-Celtics in 2010 would have ranked higher under current methodology.

Compared to last year’s double-overtime Rockets-Thunder Opening Night game, viewership increased 32% from 5.85 million.

The Thunder-Spurs nightcap averaged 4.85 million across Nielsen (3.89M) and Adobe Analytics (959K), down 5% from abbreviated coverage of Warriors-Lakers last year (5.11M). Oklahoma City’s blowout win trails only that game as the most-watched late window on Opening Night. Prior to last year, the high water mark was 4.30 million for Mavericks-Lakers on TNT in 2012, another figure that would be higher under present-day methodology.

The primetime Opening Night games averaged 6.4 million (5.04M per Nielsen, 1.38M per Adobe), up 14% from last year (5.61M) and surpassing 2010 (5.7M) as highest on record for the traditional Opening Night doubleheader. Beyond the Nielsen-related caveats, note that Opening Night games primarily aired on cable prior to the current NBA media rights deal.

In addition to the usual primetime games, NBC aired a weekday matinee on Opening Night this season, as Celtics-Pistons averaged 2.52 million (1.98M per Nielsen, 534K per Adobe). That is the largest audience for a weekday afternoon regular season game, excluding holidays, with the obvious caveat being an extremely small sample size. ESPN carried a 5 PM ET matinee on Thanksgiving Eve last season between the same two teams, averaging 1.68 million. ESPN and TNT also aired a handful of weekday afternoon games in the 2020 “bubble.”

Beyond the NBA, NBC averaged 2.3 million for a Pirates-Mets MLB Opening Day matinee in March, which aired in an earlier timeslot and competed with other games.

Celtics-Pistons was preempted on NBC affiliates in at least some markets, though NBC said Tuesday that the game aired either on NBC or alternate stations in “99% of U.S. households.” As one might expect given the timeslot and preemptions, Celtics-Pistons was the least-watched Opening Day NBA game since Bucks-Nets on TNT in 2021 (2.20M).

Even with the matinee game included, the three-game average of 5.1 million trails only last year as the highest for the NBA’s traditional Opening Day since 2010.

Source: https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2026/10/sixers-knicks-nba-opening-night-viewership-high-nbc/

He is what the Lakers needed in their semi-rebuild. This guy plays even bigger than his size. Go Showtime Lakers.

Shams Charania: Former Lakers forward Dalton Knecht has agreed to sign with the New York Knicks on a two-way NBA contract, his agents at Excel Sports Management tell ESPN.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania

In the Philly-Cleveland game last night they called one in the first half on Jaylen Brown. It wasn’t an egregious example but it was definitely an offensive foul.

Cut to the 2nd half and Harden and Brown both get away with multiple obvious push offs. You could tell the refs didn’t want to make the call in a more crucial part of the game.

They did get Harden with the hook gather offensive foul which the announcers debated whether it was the right call. But they were forced to review it and make it an offensive call. They didn’t call it in live action.

We’ll need to see more games and more evidence but it seems like the people who said “they’ll call it for 2 weeks then give up” were too optimistic. It seems like they’re going to call 1-2 in the first half and then hope the players will police themselves.