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The NBA scheduled just one game yesterday during the NFL’s conference championship games. The Thunder beat the Blazers 118-108 during the NFL’s dramatic AFC Championship. Can’t wait to talk ratings!

NBA Stock Report

Houston refuses to be overlooked

There are a couple of Western Conference teams the public just refuses to accept as a threat. And we’ve seen the defending conference champs struggling to keep it together without their best player. Plus, a couple of teams in the East have reversed course.

Here’s the latest NBA Stock Market watch with the trends you should know about:

📈 Rockets (30-14): It’s not just that the Rockets, who are No. 2 in the West, are 8-2 in their last 10 games. It’s that they took down Memphis twice, the Nuggets by 20 and the Cavs twice in that time. Houston is 26th in effective field goal percentage this season, but it’s still ninth in offensive rating due to dominating the offensive boards (first), not turning the ball over (tied for ninth) and getting to the free-throw line (11th).

📉 Bulls (19-27): They’ve lost seven of their last eight games and are in danger of dropping out of the top 10 in the Eastern Conference. They’re now just a game ahead of the 76ers (17-27, more on them below). The Bulls have mostly been falling short on offense lately — they’re 26th on offense during the last eight games. Only four teams have been worse at hitting shots during this stretch.

📈 The Clippers (26-19) have won six of their last eight games. During this stretch, the defense has been elite. It’s been fairly unsolvable all season, but the last eight games have them giving up only 99.4 points per 100 possessions, and opponents have had a league-worst 47.3 percent effective field goal percentage. The Clippers have shut the water off.

📉 Mavericks (24-22): If you count the game in which Luka Dončić got hurt, the Mavericks have lost 11 of their last 16 games. Only the Wizards, Nets and Jazz have been worse during that time. Since Dončić’s injury, the Mavericks haven’t been able to hit shots (24th), take care of the ball (tied for 20th) or clear the defensive glass (tied for 22nd).

📈 Raptors (13-32): Yes, the Raptors! Over the last two weeks, we’ve seen the Raptors go 5-1 by beating the Warriors, Celtics, Magic and Hawks (twice). RJ Barrett has been unstoppable, the bigs have been incredibly efficient and the Raptors are making over half their shots in this stretch. More impressive? Toronto is second in the NBA in defensive rating over the last two weeks. Not bad for a team bottom five in defensive rating on the season.

📉 Heat (22-22): You may have heard the Heat are going through a bit of a roller coaster right now. They’ve also lost five of their last seven games, and some of those have included Jimmy Butler. It’s been bad on both ends of the floor, with the Heat ranking 23rd on offense and 23rd on defense. At least Kel’el Ware has been a really fun rookie?

The Last 24

What in the hell is Philly doing?

🏀 Going for what? The Sixers will not let draft intrigue affect how they finish this season. It’s hard to see what their plan really is.

🏀 Fitting out. Kyle Kuzma said he’s done fitting in with the Wizards (6-38). Will this get him traded?

👏 Vinsanity forever. The Nets (14-32) retired Vince Carter’s No. 15 over the weekend. He deserves it. 

🇫🇷 Wemby overwhelmed. Victor Wembanyama was emotional over the games in Paris last week. The NBA nailed it. 

✍️ Home sweet home. Read Eduardo Tinsley on Paris’ vibes with its 21-year-old Spurs phenom in town.

📺 Don’t miss this game tonight. Rockets at Celtics (32-14), 7:30 p.m. ET on League Pass. Houston is coming for the big dogs right now.

📺 Fun test tonight. Pistons (23-22) at Cavaliers (36-9), 7 p.m. ET on NBA TV or Fubo (try for free). This is a good measuring stick game for Detroit.

Shooting Whoas/Woes

Edwards keeps hitting, but Ball simply can’t

Here at The Bounce, we’re looking for shooting anomalies, good and bad. We want to highlight truly spectacular — and possibly surprising — proficiency (until they bring in the 25-point shot). We also want to check out the guys who are really struggling, and maybe suggest a different mode of attack.

In the latest edition of Shooting Whoas/Woes, we’ve got two All-Star guards shining and two All-Star guards struggling. Plus, we check in on a couple of young players. (Stats via NBA.com/stats.)

Shooting Whoas!

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Shooting 59.2 percent on 2-pointers this season

• SGA is making 76.7 percent of his attempts from within three feet. He shot 66.6 percent on such shots in his first six seasons.
• He’s shooting 53.3 percent on midrange shots. Among the 26 players with at least 100 such attempts, SGA and Kevin Durant (53.2) are the only ones shooting at least 50 percent.
• The 26-year-old leads the NBA with 921 drives, on which he’s shooting 58.5 percent. Among the 62 players with 300-plus drives, only Tyrese Haliburton (59.2) and Dončić (60 percent) are shooting better than SGA.

Anthony Edwards – Leading NBA in 3-pointers and on pace for good company

• He is shooting 42.5 percent on 3-pointers while attempting 9.8 per game. He’s on pace to make 344 3-pointers, which would be fifth-most in a season.
• He is making 42.7 percent of his pull-up 3s after shooting 33.8 percent on such attempts in his first four NBA seasons.
• Edwards, who just set the Timberwolves record for career 3s (976), has six games with at least seven made 3s after recording eight such games in his first 302 NBA contests entering this season.

Jalen Green – All of a sudden, he’s making 3-pointers in January

• Green shot 33.7 percent from 3-point range in his first three seasons.
• He made 32.5 percent of his 240 3-pointers in October, November and December combined.
• So far in January, Green has hit 43.4 percent of his 3-pointers on 98 attempts.

Shooting Woes … 

LaMelo Ball – Shooting 41.9 percent while attempting 23.9 shots per game

• Since 1979-80, among the 356 instances of a player averaging at least 25 points in a season, his 34.3 shot attempts per 100 possessions would trail campaigns by only Kobe Bryant (35 in 2005-06), Michael Jordan (34.8 in 1986-87) and Allen Iverson (34.4 in 2001-02).
• In the 3-point era, Ball’s shooting percentage would rank 30th among 36 seasons in which a player averaged 23 shots per game. It would be the lowest such mark by any player since 2003-04 (Tracy McGrady at 41.7 percent, Allen Iverson at 38.7 percent).
• He’s shooting 34 percent on open shot attempts (defender four to six feet away). He shot 43 percent on such attempts in his first four NBA seasons.

James Harden – Sporting his second-worst true shooting percentage in 16 NBA seasons (57.2)

• He’s on pace to shoot under 40 percent from the field for the first time in his career (39.7).
• Harden is making only 45.5 percent of his 2-pointers (would be his worst such mark since shooting 42.4 percent on such shots as a rookie in the 2009-10 season).
• He’s hitting just 35.5 percent of stepback shot attempts, which would be his second-worst mark in the last 11 seasons (34.9 percent in 2021-22).

Dalton Knecht – The Lakers rookie has gone cold

• In October and November, Knecht made a blistering 43.9 percent of his 3-pointers.
• In December, last year’s 17th overall pick made just 15.5 percent of his threes.
• It’s gotten better in January, but the 23-year-old is still shooting only 34.1 percent from deep.

Five Years Later

Kobe Bryant’s passing will never feel real

Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gigi and seven other victims of a helicopter crash. I will never forget that Sunday morning, finding out a little before noon that Kobe had died. At first, it felt like an internet hoax because it just didn’t make sense that the 41-year-old Lakers legend would have passed on.

I wrote this in my latest NBA Rewind:

It was unfathomable. It was surreal. And then, it was a very sobering reality. Many of us jumped on a podcast to make sense of it all. To reminisce about memories of Bryant and try to grieve together in real time. At the same time, nobody knew what to do.

We saw videos of players finding out during warm-ups, before getting on flights and reacting on social media.

The story of the NBA can’t be told without Kobe. The impact he had on his era and on future generations can’t be overstated. There’s a big reason so many of today’s players consider him their GOAT or their favorite player. So many tried to emulate him and learn from him. He became a mentor to so many people he identified as special players.

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This is a chunk of his resume:

• 33,643 points (fourth all time) | 25.0 points per game (sixth) | 81-point game (second)
• 6,306 assists (36th) | 1,944 steals (16th) | Sixth in field goal makes | Fourth in field goal attempts
• Fourth in free throws made | Sixth in free-throw attempts | 15th in games played | Eighth in minutes
• 18 All-Star selections | 15 All-NBA selections (11 first teams) | 12 All-Defense selections (nine first teams)
• Five-time champion | Two-time Finals MVP | 2007-08 MVP | Four-time All-Star MVP | Two-time scoring champ (2006-07, 2005-06)
• Made the Hall of Fame (inducted in 2020)

Kobe also won an Academy Award for “Dear Basketball,” an animated short film, in 2018. And don’t forget how he influenced the stars of the mid-to-late aughts, setting a standard and an attitude with the Redeem Team in the 2008 Olympics. He made sure they won the gold medal then and again in 2012.

His legacy is forever, and his impact will always be felt.

More to read about Kobe: 

– Sam Amick wrote about reminders of Kobe’s death everywhere in Los Angeles.

– Marcus Thompson II shared his thoughts the impact Kobe had on women’s hoops.

– Here is Mirin Fader on Gigi Bryant’s story as she learned from her father.

– Marc Stein is still looking for the right words about Kobe five years later.

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(Top photo: Soobum Im / Getty Images )