NBA

LeBron James calls Luka Doncic his favourite player in the NBA

By Sports Desk May 17, 2022

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  • 'He's a magician' – Mavs laud Irving after stunning buzzer-beater downs Nuggets 'He's a magician' – Mavs laud Irving after stunning buzzer-beater downs Nuggets

    Kyrie Irving's Dallas Mavericks team-mates heaped praise upon the eight-time All-Star after his incredible buzzer-beater downed the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, with center Daniel Gafford describing him as a "magician".

    With just 0.4 seconds remaining in a back-and-forth contest, Irving hit a dramatic floating shot with his left hand to stun the reigning NBA champions and end their five-game winning streak.

    Taking an in-bounds pass from Maxi Kleber after Jamal Murray had misfired at the other end, Irving dribbled to just behind the free-throw line before sinking his stunning left-handed runner.  

    That lifted the Mavs to their fifth win in their last six games, improving them to 39-29 as they battle for a playoff spot. 

    Irving finished with 24 points in support of Luka Doncic, who had 37 on his return from a hamstring injury, meaning the duo accounted for over half of the Mavs' total.

    Asked about Irving's buzzer-beater, Doncic said: "That shot was unbelievable, man. I couldn't believe it."

    Gafford added: "He's a magician. He is a very crafty finisher, but finishing somewhere that far around the basket?

    "I don't know if he works on something like that, but I know he works on his left hand. It went in and then we just got crazy."

    Irving himself, meanwhile, was himself taken aback when watching replays of the shot, saying it was pure instinct.  

    "I thought I got a little closer in the paint, but I looked at it after the game and I was pretty far out…" he said. "The majority of it is instinctual and comes from preparation for hours that no one sees.

    "I saw [Nikola] Jokic taking away my pull-up going left. I knew that he was going to come up, but I didn't know he was going to commit like that, so he was forcing me inside the 3-point line. 

    "As soon as I felt him kind of behind me, I was like, 'oh, I have my left hand. It's wide open, so why not go to it?'"

  • Beckoning Bundesliga record a testament to Kane's quality – James Beckoning Bundesliga record a testament to Kane's quality – James

    Harry Kane's efforts for Bayern Munich will be worthy of the Ballon d'Or should the England captain break the Bundesliga goalscoring record, so says David James.

    A week on from becoming the first player to score four hat-tricks in a debut Bundesliga season, Kane netted his 31st league goal of the campaign in Bayern's 5-2 win over Darmstadt on Saturday, seeing him surpass Uwe Seeler (from 1963-64) for the most goals in his first term in Germany's top tier.

    Kane has now netted 37 goals in 35 appearances across all competitions for Bayern since his switch from Tottenham, outperforming his expected goals (xG) of 30.19.

    Of players in Europe's big five leagues, only Kylian Mbappe has scored more goals (38) than Kane, whose tally of 47 goal contributions leads the way across the continent.

    With eight league games remaining, Kane is well on course to better Robert Lewandowski's Bundesliga record of 41 goals, which was set during Bayern's all-conquering 2020-21 campaign, and James feels that is evidence enough of the former Spurs star's world-class ability.

    "The fact that he could break the Bundesliga record for goals this year, I think, is a testament to how good Harry Kane is," he told Stats Perform.

    "He could be the man who scored the most goals for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, which would be better than Lewandowski, who people think should have won a Ballon d'Or for the amount of goals he scored in the Bundesliga."

    Kane's form this season has been one of the few positives for Bayern, as for the first time since Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund denied them the Bundesliga in 2012, they look set to finish second, 10 points behind Xabi Alonso's high-flying Bayer Leverkusen.

    James, though, feels there is still more to come from Kane, who will go up against his old rivals Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-finals.

    "I think he's doing a marvellous job," James added.

    "I think he understands completely how to play football, and that might sound a bit funny, but he knows what to do to be better."

    There was some concern for Kane, however, who sustained an ankle injury in Saturday's win over Darmstadt, though the 30-year-old will join up with the England squad this week.

  • George concerned over Clippers' identity crisis George concerned over Clippers' identity crisis

    The Los Angeles Clippers need to discover their identity, so said Paul George after a loss to the Atlanta Hawks made it four defeats from five games.

    Los Angeles slipped to a 110-93 defeat to the Hawks on Sunday, leaving them just one game ahead of the surging New Orleans Pelicans in the tussle for the number four seed in the Western Conference.

    Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 28 points while George added 26, though James Harden contributed just nine, albeit while laying on as many assists.

    But the Clippers' veterans did not have enough to drag Tyronn Lue's team over the line.

    When asked if the Clippers were resembling a team of stars who though they could switch their game on at ease, George replied: "I mean that's what we're appearing to look like, which is not good.

    "We want to be a team that's consistent and we want to establish an identity. I've always spoken about having an identity and I think it's extremely important.

    "Right now, I don't think we have an identity."

    Leonard suggested the Clippers' mentality has to change.

    "It's between the ears with us," he said. "We've got to go out and do it.

    "Just seeing what we want to do. That's it. What type of team we want to be.

    "If everybody's saying they want to be one of the last teams standing, then we got to go out and do it."

    Coach Lue is searching for answers.

    "When they do it, it works," he said. "When you have so much talent and you have guys that can do it so easily, they don't understand that your talent is great, but the talent's got to be for the team as well.

    "Maybe it's me. Maybe I've got to do something a little different to make sure that we're doing what we're supposed to do. [But] I'll never really overreact because I know we're a good team. 

    "If you want to win, I know what it looks like. I've been there, I've seen it."

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