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Ira Winderman: Kel'el Ware getting the night off tonight for the Heat at summer league in San Francisco. Heat vs. Warriors at 7 p.m. on ESPN+, ESPN3 and FanDuel Sports app. (No cable.) He opening with lineup of Keshad Johnson, Pelle Larsson, Vlad Goldin, Kasparas Jackucionis, Kira Lewis Jr.
Tom Osborn: Dylan Harper will travel with the team to San Francisco for the California Classic but will not play due to a “minor groin issue,” a Spurs spokesperson said. The club is hopeful he will play in Vegas.
No. 2 pick Dylan Harper ruled out for California Classic due to injury
Tom Orsborn: Dylan Harper will travel with the team to San Francisco for the California Classic but will not play due to a “minor groin issue,” a Spurs spokesperson said. The club is hopeful he will play in Vegas.
Tom Orsborn: Riley Minix also won’t play in San Francisco due to his ongoing recovery from shoulder surgery, but the club is hopeful he will be cleared to play in Vegas.
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Warriors guard Stephen Curry’s wife, Ayesha, has a successful restaurant in downtown San Francisco called International Smoke. The late Nate Thurmond, a former Warriors center/forward, once had a BBQ restaurant called Big Nate’s in San Francisco and there is now one at Chase Center. Former Warriors head coach P.J. Carlesimo had a restaurant 25 years ago in San Francisco called P.J. Mulhern’s. Now, Green has entered the restaurant scene as a founder and owner of a unique restaurant serving Ethiopian and Dominican fusion in the Lower Nob Hill neighborhood. It’s not uncommon to see Green at Meski eating dinner, enjoying craft drinks, vibing to the deejay and enthusiastically signing autographs and taking pictures. But on Wednesday night, the patrons at Meski will be cheering for him and the Warriors during a watch party of Game 5.
Spruell said the league was considering “formats that lean into this idea of international play, to some extent leaning a little bit on this idea of U.S. versus rest of the world, and then also going all the way from the mini-tournaments we experimented with in San Francisco, maybe that has some application, more on a nations or regions based.” “NBC is very much leaning into it, given their role — we are, as well,” Spruell continued. “Looking to do something new and different yet again, but excited about the possibility.” Silver then added: “It’s not lost on us … we’ll be in L.A., the home of the ’28 Summer Olympics, and we’ll be competing in the arena at Intuit, where the basketball competition will take place in the 2028 Olympics. So I think all of those factors, when they come together, it presents an enormous opportunity for us to do something with an international competition instead of the traditional All-Star formats that we’ve used.”
Danielle Lerner: Rockets center Jock Landale (OUT, knee contusion) is doing some return to play conditioning on the court in San Francisco. He could be available later on in the series. Jae’Sean Tate (OUT, ankle impingement) isn’t as far along. No word on when he might be cleared to play.
Jalen Green scores 38 points, Rockets tie series
Danielle Lerner: FINAL: Rockets win 109-94 to even the playoff series against the Warriors at one game apiece before it heads to SF for the next two games. Jalen Green (38 points, eight 3s) was excellent. So was Houston's defense in a game with physical/ verbal sparring.
RTPGFX: Malik Thomas from San Francisco has entered the NBA Draft and also the transfer portal. In his senior year he averaged 19.9 PPG, 3.9 REB and 2.1 AST!
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Silver also took part of the blame for this past February’s game in San Francisco, which he thought “was a little better, but it was a miss. We’re not there in terms of creating an All-Star experience that we can be proud of and that our players can be proud of. “…We sell competition, and I think that our players recognize they’re not putting their best foot forward when there’s a sense that not all in on playing an All-Star Game. And I take responsibility, too, because we’re both a sport and an entertainment brand, and we recalibrated for this year’s All-Star Game in San Francisco around more of an entertainment product and don’t think it worked. “The breaks were too long. I get it; it was an opportunity to celebrate TNT as they were going to have their last All-Star Game. It was well intentioned, but I think the long stoppage in play, for example, in that final game didn’t work for anyone.”
Following Tuesday’s game in San Francisco, however, Lillard made it clear that Kuzma should not be living off a heavy diet of catch-and-shoot 3s. Instead, the Bucks should be finding ways for him to play to his strengths. “We gotta find ways to put him in position to do what he does well,” Lillard said. “He is an attacker downhill, gets in the paint. He’s a good playmaker when he’s doing that. It’s hard to do that when we’re taking the ball out the net because he’s a guy we want to advance the ball to and let him attack downhill. “You want to give him those opportunities to be that guy and be a playmaker. And we just, we gotta be better about that. I think tonight he hit some 3s, but he’s not a guy that we want to use him, like, just a spot-up shooter. Even though he can make shots, that’s not what we want to put him in a position to be doing.”
James Ham: Domantas Sabonis has been downgraded to OUT for tonight’s game in SF. Trey Lyles was added to the injury list and is questionable with left leg soreness. Jake LaRavia was upgraded to available.
Jimmy Butler on Golden State: I don't care about points or shots, I'm only here to win
As soon as Jimmy Butler arrived at Golden State, he made sure that the soap opera from his trade request and suspensions with the Miami Heat wouldn’t hang over him like a San Francisco morning fog. So, the veteran swingman made a point to tell his new teammates he was committed to winning. “When I walked in, I was like, ‘Yo, look man, I’m only here to win,’” Butler told Andscape. “’I don’t care about nothing else. I don’t care about points. I don’t care about shots. I don’t care about none of that. I’m only here to win and I’ve always only been places to win. So, whatever y’all need me to do, y’all let me know.’ “‘Show me some grace because I’m new until I get the hang of this thing. But the one thing about everything is my energy is at an all-time high because I’m here and ain’t s— changed. The goal is still remaining the same and that’s winning a championship.’ ”
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