National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

It had been almost 20 years since the last team that won back-to-back championships, the 1968-69 Celtics, and yet there was the "calculating" Riley making his guarantee. "We're all sitting there at the Forum and he's on the damn pedestal talking and he said, 'I'm guaranteeing everyone here next year we are going to win it again.' We were just like, 'What did he just say? We're still trying to enjoy this one,'" Scott recalled, laughing.

Michigan began the day atop the college basketball hierarchy, enshrined during the March Madness bracket preview as the No. 1 overall seed. By day's end, the picture looked a little different, as No. 3 Duke's thrilling 68-63 win over the No. 1 Wolverines muddied up the race for the top spot in the NCAA Tournament bracket yet again. No. 4 Arizona threw its name into the hat with a 73-66 win at No. 2 Houston while playing without star forward Koa Peat.

Entering the game, Towns had attempted 728 field goals in Brown's offense. At the same point last season? He had attempted 880. That's an average of three fewer shots a game than he averaged last season, which might go a long way toward explaining why he doesn't seem all that happy in Brown's offense. That unhappiness has reared its ugly head again and again, most recently in the Knicks' ugly loss to the Pistons on Thursday.

Alex Sarr is out with a right hamstring injury and I'm not sure that we'll see him again this season, while Vukcevic is the only guy to fill the void he'll leave. Vukcevic can help fantasy managers with points, rebounds, steals, blocks and 3-pointers, and came back from a two-game absence due to an illness for a masterful 12 points, five rebounds, five steals, a block and two 3-pointers in just 17 minutes against the Pacers on Thursday.

The only good reason to be mad at him is that he has leveraged the unlimited resources and power of Klutch Sports, CAA, Spotify, and The Ringer to make daytime SportsCenter simulacrum without the catchphrases. Paul and Kellerman's FanDuel-sponsored podcast is bad. It's bad in the sort of banal way that most podcasts are bad-the hosts don't say much of substance, they are stricken with red light syndrome, and their riffs are obtuse and unimaginative.

"It's a concern," Self told reporters after the game. "I thought we were past it, but obviously we're not. It's certainly a concern. "You get into the NCAA tournament, you're playing a team just as good as you and you need to have all your best players available, so to speak. All it takes is for one day like that to derail not only a game, but a season. It's concerning, but I do think we're making progress with it."

"Day'Ron is special," Dëmin said. "His superpower is rebounding. A lot of his points are putbacks and those aren't easy. I joke with him that the last couple of weeks he's been looking for me a lot coming off handoffs and ball screens, and I tell him when he sets screens, I'm going to find him. The more you play together, the more confidence you build, and he makes the game easier for everybody."