From October 5th, 14th: 3 Paths to Basketball Immortality. Hall of Fame welcomes the class of 2024

If your cousin and one of the game’s original overachievers Welcome to basketball immortality.

---

THE LINEUP 🏀

What’s in today’s edition?

Entering the hall: Hear from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of ’24

Capture the moment: 13 of our favorite photos and GIFs from Sunday’s celebration

Preseason summary: KAT beat its former squad to lead a six-game opener on Sunday

Pull evenly: NY completes Game 2 all the way to the W Finals, setting up a big Game 3

What’s ahead: An evening of five games opens the final week of the preseason

---

BUT FIRST… ⏰

The final week of pre-season preparations begins…

An NBA TV doubleheader highlights a five-game series of preseason games, starting with the Sixers visiting the Hawks (7:30 a.m. ET), followed by the Clippers hosting the Mavs (10:30 a.m. ET) in a first-round playoff rematch.

---

1. QUOTES: SPEECHES IN THE HALL OF FAME

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on Sunday brought laughter, tears, stories and poems from the 13 inductees who took the stage and reminisced about the unique journeys that took them all to the birthplace of the game in Springfield, Massachusetts. | Watch each speech here

• Vince Carter ended the ceremony with a reminder to his fellow candidates: “From now on they won’t just say your first and last name without saying… ‘Hall of Famer’.”
• Chauncey Billups showed his love for the city that embraced him and gave him his nickname “Mr. “Big Shot”: “The NBA franchise that loves me like family has finally found me…Detroit” [pause to put shades on] “What’s up, deer… If you know, you know. Look at my big man [Hall of Famer Ben Wallace seated on stage] We are always in sync, he made her do that too.”

• Michael Cooper – who got the “COOOP” vocals from Lisa Leslie, Magic Johnson and Pat Riley – spoke about his friend, mentor and fellow Hall of Famer Jerry West: “I owe him more than he can ever understand. I miss him more than I can ever express.”
• Doug Collins was still training and shared the message that he has grown through his failure to make the Hall: “If you look at my career, I have never been afraid of failure in my life.”
• Seimone Augustus opened her speech with a poem as smooth as her playing – leaving a lasting impression on T-Mac and Dr. J quite an impression: “Home is where the heart is, and where the heart is, it grows. I want to tell you a story about a bayou girl who made a good pot of gumbo. Add a little Pistol Pete, Dr. J, Teresa Edwards, Allen Iverson and many more, they all helped me create the game you all loved.”
• Jonnie West, son of the late Jerry West, on his father’s historic third induction into the Naismith Hall of Fame: “Contributor to the basketball game. This is you in every way and this will live on forever.”

---

2. CAPTURE 13 MOMENTS FOR 13 HALL OF FAMERS

The cameras were rolling 13 new arrivals were welcomed into the hall on Sunday. Here are 13 of our favorite pictures from the evening.

---

3. KAT WINS WOLVES REUNION ON A SIX-GAME SUNDAY

Knicks 115, Wolves 110: Just 11 days removed from a blockbuster transfer that sent him from Minnesota to New York, Karl-Anthony Towns pulled off a victory over his former team in his new home.

Run 101, Pelicans 99: Leading by 20 points in the third quarter, the Heat needed two free throws from Pelle Larrson with seven seconds left to secure the victory in a game full of must-see dunks, including Bam flying over everyone else and Zion’s hard catch-and -Finish.

Blazers 105, Kings 85: Scoot Henderson (17 pts, 7 ast) and rookie Donovan Clingan (10 pts, 10 reb) led the Blazers to their first preseason win as the Kings fell to 0-3.

Celtics 115, Raptors 111: With Boston’s usual starting five, Lonnie Walker IV (20 points, 4 3s), Payton Pritchard (19 points, 9 points, 5 3s) and Drew Peterson (23 points, 3 3s) combined for 62 points, keeping the Celtics undefeated in the preseason (4:0).

Suns 118, Nuggets 114: Phoenix gave its starters a break, but still won by a total of 40 points behind Ryan Dunn (20 points, 6 three-pointers) and Monte Morris (20 points, 7 points). Denver is still looking for its first win of the preseason despite a near triple-double from Nikola Jokic (21 pts, 14 reb, 9 ast).

Warrior 111, Piston 93: Even with all-time 3-point king Steph Curry on the bench, the Warriors made 18 three-pointers in the preseason to improve to 4-0. Moses Moody (14 points) led six Warriors in double figures and five with at least two three-pointers, while Detroit’s Jaden Ivey led all scorers with 19 points.

---

4. LIBERTY LEAVES LATE, ALSO WNBA FINAL 1:1

In many ways Game 2 of the 2024 WNBA Finals was a carbon copy of Game 1.

• New York jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter
• New York extended That led to almost 20 points in the first half
• Minnesota fought back move within five points several times

But there was one crucial difference – the last 3:23 of both games.

• In game 1, New York led by 11 with 3:23 left, only for Minnesota to score the next 12 points and take a lead of 1 with five seconds left before a NY free throw forced OT
• In game 2, New York led by 2 with 3:23 left, but this time it was the Liberty who went on a 12-0 run to finish the game with a 2-0 lead an 80-66 victory and the series was tied 1-1

Stewie & Laney: Breanna Stewart (21pts, 8rebs, 5asts, 7stls, 1blks) had an impressive game for the ages, while Betnijah Laney-Hamilton scored 20 points with four 3-pointers, including the game-winning corner 3 of NY – final run after Minnesota had reduced the lead to two points.

• Stewart: “When the game ended on Thursday night, I was looking forward to Sunday to change things, to change the narrative a little bit.”
• Balance in the final: Stewart’s seven steals were not only the best of his career (regular season or playoffs), but also set the WNBA Finals record for most in a game
• Elite companies: Stewart joined Sheryl Swoopes (2002), Tamika Catchings (2009) and Alyssa Thomas (2019) as the fourth player to score at least 20 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast and 5 stl in a playoff game, only Stewie and AT did so it in the final

Speaking of legends: Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier (16 pts, 8 reb, 4 stl) passed Chelsea Gray, Cappie Pondexter and A’ja Wilson to score the fourth-most points (227) in a single postseason. Can Phee reach the top of this list with at least two more games?

1. Diana Taurasi: 245 PTS (2009)
2. Brittney Griner: 240 points (2021)
3. Maya Moore: 234 PTS (2015)
4. Napheesa Collier: 227 PTS (2024)

The series moves to Minnesota for the next two games, starting with the deciding Game 3 on Wednesday (8 ET, ESPN). Since the 2005 WNBA reached a best-of-five final, the winner of Game 3 in a series tied 1-1 won the series 71.4% (10-4) of the time.

---

5. THE LAST WEEK OF SEASON PREPARATION BEGINS

The 2024-25 regular season begins in just eight days. This gives teams a week to finalize their rosters (deadline is Monday, October 21 at 5 p.m. ET) and prepare their squads for the upcoming 82-game marathon.

The final five days of preseason action begins tonight with a five-game schedule led by an NBA-televised doubleheader.

• Grizzlies at Pacers (7 ET, NBA League Pass): After scoring a league-best 123.3 points last season (1-1), the Pacers have increased that mark to 129.5 points per game in their first two preseason games. The Grizzlies (2-1) are taking a cautious approach with Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. dealing with minor injuries
• Sixers at Hawks (7:30 ET, NBA TV): How will Paul George and Zaccharie Risacher continue their impressive debuts? PG (23 pts, 6 Reb, 4 3s in 26 minutes) shined in his Sixers debut, while No. 1 pick Risacher (18 pts on 7-9 FG, 3 Reb, 3 3s, 2 Ast) in his debut shined for the Hawks in the NBA preseason
• Wizards at Nets (7:30 p.m. ET, NBA League Pass): In his first three preseason games, No. 2 pick Alex Sarr averaged 11.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks for the Wizards. While Washington plays its penultimate preseason game, Brooklyn plays its second, opening a three-game week
• Bulls at Bucks (8 ET, NBA League Pass): The Bucks (0-2) are still looking for their first preseason win this season, but lead the NBA in 3-point shooting at 41.6%. Speaking of 3s, Zach LaVine scored 28 points on 6-of-6 shooting from 3 in Chicago’s final preseason game. What will he do tonight?
• Mavericks at Clippers (10:30 a.m. ET, NBA TV): Dallas’ first step toward the 2024 NBA Finals was a first-round game with the Clippers, which the Mavs won in six games after LA eliminated Dallas in 2020 and 2021. Luka Doncic (calf) and PJ Washington (hip) are not expected to make their preseason debuts