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Cole Anthony consistently is delivering one good game after another but the frustrating losses for his Orlando Magic are coming at the same pace. Anthony contributed 19 points, eight rebounds, six assists on Saturday, but it came in a 97–92 road loss to the Detroit Pistons (8–30), in a matchup of the NBA’s two worst teams. It was the eighth consecutive loss for the Magic (7–33), which has the worst record in the league.
CHAPEL HILL — How do you beat Virginia’s pack line defense? North Carolina more than met that challenge in a 74–58 victory in the Smith Center with good ball movement, quick cross-court passes and good shooting. The most effective weapon against Virginia on Saturday, though, was Armando Bacot, who couldn’t be stopped and had career-highs of 29 points and 21 rebounds.
Coby White has settled in to his role of coming off the Chicago Bulls’ bench with the return of Lonzo Ball the last two games but the outstanding games keep coming. In 31 minutes, White was 7 of 8 from the floor for 21 points and four 3-pointers with three assists as the host Bulls beat the Washington Wizards 130–122 for their ninth consecutive victory.
The Phoenix Suns became the first team to win 30 games this season and Cameron Johnson has been an important part of getting them there. In the Suns’ 106–89 home victory Thursday over the Los Angeles Clippers, he scored a career-high and team-high 24 points, in addition to pulling down seven rebounds, blocking two shots and getting a steal. That topped his previous-best scoring game of 22 against Denver earlier this season on Nov. 21.
Two Tar Heels in Philadelphia’s 116–106 victory at Orlando couldn’t have had more contrasting games. While Cole Anthony put up plenty of big numbers, Danny Green put up plenty of zeros.
Trying to fix North Carolina’s defensive problems has been an ongoing process that hit another speed bump Wednesday night. Armando Bacot didn’t care that he collected 21 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. He called the Tar Heels’ effort embarrassing.
To say that Cameron Johnson has been shooting well understates what he’s meant to the Phoenix Suns in recent weeks. Stephen Curry may have become the NBA’s all-time 3-pointers leader, but he hasn’t had a streak this season to match Johnson. Johnson’s career-high-tying five 3-pointers in the Suns’ 123–110 win at New Orleans extended his franchise-record streak of games with at least two 3s to 20, the longest streak in the NBA this season. Curry’s best such streak this season is 17.
Nassir Little had his best game of the season Monday on a night when Danny Green and Day’Ron Sharpe returned from the NBA’s health-and-safety protocols and the return of Lonzo Ball meant that Coby White was back to coming off the Chicago bench.
The way that Notre Dame coach Mike Brey sees it, Carolina basketball has “downshifted” under first-year coach Hubert Davis, and that had him doing double-takes when scouting the Tar Heels. When his Irish play host to the Tar Heels at 9 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN2), Brey won’t see the traditional double low-post offense that he knew well when they were coached by Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge and Roy Williams.
While it’s hard to gauge a performance against a bad and rusty Boston College team, North Carolina looked the best it has all season, particularly in the first half, on both ends of the court in a blowout win. The Tar Heels (10–3, 2–0 ACC) created some of the best ball movement of the season, with players coming off screens for open shots and driving to the basket. UNC needed a few minutes to shake off the rust from a 12-day break but rolled to 91–65 ACC victory Sunday after missing its first seven shots.
Coby White scored 20 points Saturday night and was part of NBA history in the Chicago Bulls’ seventh win in a row. For the second consecutive night on the road, White assisted on a buzzer-beating, game-winning DeMar DeRozan 3-pointer.
Coby White keeps rolling along and so do the Chicago Bulls. Meanwhile, Reggie Bullock of the Dallas Mavericks returned after missing six games and had his best night since early December. White scored a season-high 24 points for the second time in five games and scrambled for a loose ball to set up the game-winning shot. The Bulls won 108–106 at Indiana on Friday to extend their winning streak to six.
Faced with another stretch of pandemic-fueled scheduling chaos, Carolina coach Hubert Davis is focusing on what he can control and fixing his team’s issues. At the top of that list is a defense that gave up layup lines and many easy shots in embarrassing losses to Tennessee and Kentucky, and the need for energy and toughness to prevent any more games like that.
As expected, the Phoenix Suns signed Justin Jackson to a 10-day hardship contract on Tuesday. Jackson, who played one minute in one game during his 10-day contract with the Boston Celtics, joins Cameron Johnson on a team missing key players. Deandre Ayton, Jae Crowder, JaVale McGee and Abdel Nader are still in the NBA’s health-and-safety protocols.
By R.L. Bynum The early part of the season was no fun for Coby White. He missed the Chicago Bulls’ … More
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