Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan labelled Zach LaVine as "extraordinary" after his 30 second-half points lifted them past the Toronto Raptors 109-105 in their play-in tournament game on Wednesday.
LaVine finished with 39 points as the Bulls advanced to take on the Miami Heat for the right to the eight seed and a playoffs first round series against Eastern Conference top seed Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bulls guard's 30-point second half was the most points he has scored in any half this season, fuelling a fightback after trailing by 19 points.
"What he did going into the third quarter and into the fourth, it would have been very, very difficult for us to have won that game if he had not done that," Donovan said about LaVine.
"His performance was extraordinary. It gave us life and it gave us hope. Then once we got back into it, I think a lot of guys made a lot of different plays.
"But I give him credit, he had that mentality that he's going to do whatever he can do to get us back into the game."
LaVine put his second-half success down to "aggressiveness" and driving to the basket, capitalising on the Raptors trying to double-team DeMar DeRozan, who had 23 points and seven rebounds. DeRozan called LaVine "amazing" and said the Bulls followed his lead.
Meanwhile, the loss ended the Raptors' season, meaning they have missed the playoffs in two of their past three seasons, putting pressure on head coach Nick Nurse to retain his job.
"It was tough," Nurse said reflecting on the 2022-23 season. "I think we had some up and downs. I thought we came out of the gates playing pretty well. Then we had to weather some injuries and we did that and once we got everybody back that got us out of rhythm and took a couple tough losses.
"I've told the guys several times in the last two weeks, I'm proud of them for getting back to .500 when they were six or seven games below .500, because we did coach them hard and work them hard to rebuilding some of the foundational stuff.
"I thought we played well enough to win tonight, it just didn’t go our way."
Nurse lamented his side's 50 per cent free-throw shooting, making 18-of-36, not helped by DeRozan's daughter Diar, who screamed with a shrill every time they had an attempt from the line.
"That's a lot of misses," Nurse said. "We left a lot of points on the board."
DeRozan laughed off his daughter's antics which caught plenty of attention on social media given her persistent nature throughout the game.
"I've just seen it, she went viral," he said. "I kept hearing something during the game and when somebody missed a free-throw I thought 'damn, is that my daughter screaming?' I was just making sure she was alright though."
DeRozan added that Diar would not be able to attend Friday's play-in game on the road against the Heat, instead needing to go back to school.
Kings extend head coach Brown through 2026-27
The Sacramento Kings and head coach Mike Brown have agreed to a contract extension through 2026-27.
According to multiple reports, the deal is worth $30 million with Brown’s base salary to be $8.5 million annually. He will have the opportunity to earn $10 million per year with bonuses.
In his first year with the Kings a season ago, Brown led the team to a 48-34 record and its first playoff appearance in 16 years. He was named 2022-23 NBA Coach of the Year.
Sacramento went 46-36 this past season and beat Golden State in its first game before losing a play-in game for the eighth seed to New Orleans.
Brown and Rick Adelman are the only Kings coaches to lead the team to a winning record in any season since the franchise moved to Sacramento in 1985.
Brown has a 441-226 record as head coach with Cleveland, the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento.
'It was Luka magic mode', Kidd revels as Doncic-inspired Mavs reach NBA Finals
Luka Doncic was in "magic mode" after his starring role helped the Dallas Mavericks to their first NBA Finals since 2011, coach Jason Kidd said.
The Mavs and the Boston Celtics will battle it out for this season's NBA championship after Dallas wrapped up a 4-1 Western Conference finals series victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
A 124-103 win did the trick at Target Center on Thursday, with Doncic and Kyrie Irving leading the way for the Mavs with 36 points apiece.
Doncic was quick out of the blocks, scoring 20 of his points during the first half on the way to notching up his highest-scoring contributions of the postseason, with his performances earning the Western Conference finals MVP award.
"It was Luka magic mode," Kidd said. "He set the tone, and then he made it easier for everyone else. Everybody else stepped up."
"You're just watching a special performance take place," Irving added. "When Luka starts off a game like that, we're a tough team to beat."
Indeed, they are. The Mavs are 7-2 on the road during the playoffs - winning the last five - matching the franchise record for such victories during a single postseason, set in their title-winning campaign of 2010-11.
A EuroBasket champion with Slovenia and EuroLeague winner during his final season with Real Madrid, Doncic is now gearing up for his first crack at an NBA title, with the Finals series commencing on June 6.
And he insists his team-mates cannot afford to rest on their laurels.
"It was a very hard road, very hard," Doncic said. "But we're not done. We have four more [victories to achieve]."
'It was Luka magic mode', Kidd revels as Doncic-inspired Mavs reach NBA final
Luka Doncic was in "magic mode" after his starring role helped the Dallas Mavericks to their first NBA finals since 2011, coach Jason Kidd said.
The Mavs and the Boston Celtics will contest this season's NBA championship after wrapping up a 4-1 Western Conference series victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
A 124-103 win did the trick at Target Center, where Donic and Kyrie Irving led the way for Dallas with 36 points apiece.
Doncic was quick out of the blocks, scoring 20 of his points during the first half on the way to notching up his highest-scoring contributions of the postseason, with his performances earning the Western Conference finals MVP award.
"It was Luka magic mode," Kidd said. "He set the tone, and then he made it easier for everyone else. Everybody else stepped up."
"You're just watching a special performance take place," Irving added. "When Luka starts off a game like that, we're a tough team to beat."
Indeed, they are. The Mavs are 7-2 on the road during the playoffs - winning the last five - matching the franchise record for such victories during a single postseason, set in their title-winning campaign of 2010-11.
A EuroBasket champion with Slovenia and EuroLeague winner during his final season with Real Madrid, Doncic is now gearing up for his first crack at an NBA title, with the Finals series commencing on June 6.
And he insists his team-mates cannot afford to rest on their laurels.
"It was a very hard road, very hard," Doncic said "But we're not done. We have four more [victories to achieve]."
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