NBA prospect Kiyan Anthony gives praise to Sixers star Paul George
NBA prospect Kiyan Anthony gives praise to Sixers star Paul George
Philadelphia 76ers star Paul George has inspired a lot of young basketball players. He has a smooth game and is able to get to his spots with ease while using his athleticism to rise up and over defenders.
The 2024-25 season was tough for George as he was held back by a variety of injuries, but when he's right, George is as good as anybody in this league at scoring efficiently and impacting the game at a high level. It would make sense that a lot of young players pattern their game after George's.
Future NBA prospect Kiyan Anthony, son of NBA legend Carmelo Anthony, had some praise for George while braking down his game with AmeriCup coach Stephen Silas:
"That's been my favorite player since a long time," Kiyan said. "I just look up to him. I feel like I have some similarities too. I just love the way he play."
Anthony is committed to Syracuse, his father's alma mater, so he will have the opportunity to develop his game and become the player many expect him to be. If he continues to look up to George and pattern his game after him, then one has to believe he will have success in the NBA when the time calls.
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New York Times
23 minutes ago
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Fox Sports
43 minutes ago
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If the NBA Cup championship game counted statistically, which it doesn't, Gilgeous-Alexander would only need 19 more points for 3,000. He had 21 in that OKC loss to Milwaukee at Las Vegas in December, but those points don't count toward his season total. Michael Jordan had 10 seasons with at least 3,000 points, Wilt Chamberlain had five and nine other players — Bob McAdoo, Elgin Baylor, James Harden, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Rick Barry, Shaquille O'Neal and Doncic — have one. 4 Canada For the second consecutive year, there are four Canadians in the NBA Finals. Last year, it was Oshae Brissett for Boston and AJ Lawson, Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Dwight Powell for Dallas. This year, it's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort for Oklahoma City, along with Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard for Indiana. 'I played against Andrew when I was 9 years old,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'It's been an amazing journey. To see him having success, my own success, obviously Lu's success, Ben's success, it's special. It's hard to even wrap your head around. ... For us to make it to this stage, is a testament to our hard work, our character, people around us that helped us get here. It's been a blessing. It's been super fun.' Dort said he hopes Canadians enjoy seeing four of their own in the finals. 'Obviously we represent our teams here,' Dort said. 'But at the end of the day we represent our country as well.' And it's certain that Montreal will get a title: Dort and Mathurin are both from there. 'I think it's a great opportunity for me, Lu, the whole Montreal city,' Mathurin said. 'I think it's a great step in the right direction just to be able to go against each other. You know, Lu's a great friend of mine. I would call him brother right now, but we're enemies.' Finally, the finals, for James Johnson Indiana's James Johnson has been in the NBA for 16 seasons. He has played for 10 different franchises. He has played under 11 different coaches. He has finally made the NBA Finals. Johnson came close in 2019-20, starting the season with Miami — which wound up making the bubble finals that season. But Johnson was part of a three-team trade about a month before the pandemic hit and ended up in Minnesota. 'Getting here now means that I was fortunate enough to be on a team of guys that only want winning," Johnson said. "I was fortunate enough to join a team of guys that just want to win — and they want to win by any means necessary.' Where are the close games? The last time Indiana's Rick Carlisle coached in the NBA Finals, every game was basically decided at the end. All six games of the Dallas-Miami series in 2011 were decided by 10 points or less. Since then, those games are rare. Out of the last 73 NBA Finals games, starting with the 2012 Heat-Thunder matchup through last season's Boston-Dallas series, the average margin of victory has been 12.4 points per game. There hasn't been an instance of more than three consecutive single-digit finals winning margins in that stretch, and 45 of the 73 games have been decided by at least 10 points. And there have been only six games in the last 12 finals decided by three points or less — while 10 have been decided by 20 points or more. Record drought between overtimes There hasn't been an overtime game in the NBA Finals since Game 1 of the 2018 series between Golden State and Cleveland. The seven-year drought and counting without a finals overtime game is the longest in NBA history. There was a six-year stretch from 1984 through 1990 without an OT finals game, but never seven — until now. The division champion quirk If Oklahoma City wins the NBA title, it will mark the 13th time in the last 14 seasons that a division champion has wound up winning the finals. The only exception in that span was Golden State in 2022. Before that, the last team to not win their division but win the NBA title was Dallas in 2011 — coached by current Indiana coach Carlisle. Playoff pool totals The Thunder and Pacers are playing for the NBA championship, the Larry O'Brien Trophy and about $5 million. Technically, $5,002,359. That's what one team will get added to its share of the league's annual playoff pool by winning the NBA Finals this season. The total pool this year, which will be divided by the 16 playoff teams, is $34,665,698. The Thunder have already secured no worse than $7,418,145 from the pool. The Pacers have secured at least $6,160,260. The bonus pool is typically split in some way among players and staff from the playoff teams. ___ AP NBA: recommended
