76ers' Simmons named Rookie of the Year

Philadelphia 76ers point guard Ben Simmons has been named the NBA's Rookie of the Year after the former No. 1 overall pick helped the team break its five-year playoff drought.

Simmons beat out Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum. The award was presented at Monday night's NBA Awards show in Santa Monica, Calif.

"I'd like to thank my family, to start off with," Simmons said. "My family, friends, you know I wouldn't be here without them, and my teammates of course and my great coach (Brett Brown), and the city of Philadelphia for really embracing me."


Simmons was taken with the top pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, but a broken foot sidelined him for the 2016-17 season.

The 6-foot-10 guard averaged 15.8 points, 8.2 assists, 8.1 rebounds and 1.7 steals over 81 games last season.

Simmons, who turns 22 next month, helped the 76ers advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals, where they lost to the Boston Celtics in a five-game series. He averaged 16.3 points, 9.4 boards, 7.7 assists and 1.7 steals in the playoffs.

Pacers guard Victor Oladipo is the NBA's Most Improved Player after a stellar first season in Indiana that ended in a playoff showdown with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He beat out fellow finalists Clint Capela of the Houston Rockets and Spencer Dinwiddie of the Brooklyn Nets.

"Shout out to the Pacers organization for believing in me," said Oladipo, who was dealt to Indiana last offseason in the deal that sent Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder. "It's only the beginning for us."

Oladipo, 26, averaged a career-high 23.1 points with 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.4 steals to earn his first career All-Star selection, as well as a spot on the All-NBA third team and the All-Defensive first team.

In the playoffs, Oladipo averaged 22.7 points, 8.3 boards, 6.0 assists and 2.4 steals, but it wasn't enough to send the Pacers onto the conference semifinals, as they lost to the Cavaliers in seven games.

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert won the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award, beating out Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans and Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Gobert, who turns 26 on Tuesday, missed 26 games during the regular season with multiple injuries, but still anchored a Jazz defense that posted the second-best defensive rating (101.6) in the NBA last season.

The Frenchman averaged 13.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 56 games to earn his second straight NBA All-Defensive first-team selection. Gobert led the league in blocks in 2016-17 with 2.6 per game.

Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams is now a two-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award winner after being named the league's best bench player for the 2017-18 campaign.

Williams, who also won the award with the Toronto Raptors in 2014-15, averaged career highs of 22.6 points and 5.3 assists, along with 1.1 steals in 79 games (19 starts) last season with the Clippers.

"I want to thank the Clippers organization for giving me an opportunity to be myself," Williams said.

He beat out finalists Eric Gordon of the Houston Rockets and Fred VanVleet of the Raptors. Gordon won the award last season.

Dwane Casey earned Coach of the Year honors after guiding the Raptors to a first-place finish in the Eastern Conference.

Casey beat out Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens and Jazz coach Quin Snyder for the honor.

Under Casey, the Raptors won a franchise-record 59 games opposite 23 losses to claim the No. 1 seed in the East. However, Casey was fired after the Raptors' second consecutive second-round loss to James and the Cavaliers. He was hired as the new coach of the Detroit Pistons, replacing Stan Van Gundy.

Casey also coached the Eastern Conference in this year's All-Star Game.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Raptors hold off Pistons to stretch record streak to 11 wins

DeMar DeRozan scored 29 points as the Toronto Raptors held off a late charge by the Detroit Pistons to improve their franchise-record winning streak to 11 games with a 111-107 home victory on Saturday.

The Raptors (32-15) concluded a seven-game home stand with the triumph over a Pistons team coming off a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday to move further clear of their previous best winning streak of nine set in 2002.

"This was positive, the whole thing, taking care of business at home," Raptors coach Dwane Casey told reporters. "That's very important. As much as the winning streak or anything like that, we have to make sure we treat our fans to quality basketball, but that last quarter wasn't quality."

Guard Kyle Lowry added 18 points for Toronto and guard Cory Joseph provided 16 points off the bench.

Raptors reserve center Bismack Biyombo scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked three shots, forward James Johnson added 11 points and forward Luis Scola had 10.

"We took advantage of (the homestand)," guard DeRozan said. "Now it's time to go on the road and do what we have to do there. We dropped a couple of home games early in the season and the coaching staff stressed that we have to be more conscious of taking advantage of home court."

Never led
Guard Brandon Jennings scored a season-best 22 points off the bench to lead Detroit (25-23).

Guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 15 points, forward Marcus Morris and guard Reggie Jackson each contributed 13 points, while reserve forward Stanley Johnson scored 12 and forward-center Aron Baynes had 11.

Pistons center Andre Drummond scored 11 points and nabbed 12 rebounds before fouling out of the game with 6:37 left in the fourth. It was his league-leading 39th double-double.

The Pistons, who are only the fourth team in a playoff position the Raptors have played on their winning streak, never led but did get as close as two points during the second and third quarters.

The Raptors opened a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter before the Pistons cut it to six on a three-pointer by Jennings with 8.9 seconds left.

Swingman Darrun Hilliard trimmed the lead to four after a steal but DeRozan hit two free throws with 5.5 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

"It's definitely frustrating, a couple of calls didn't go our way," Jennings said. "We fought."

Jennings had eight points in the fourth quarter, in which he made two of his five three-pointers.

"The toughest thing is coming off the bench," Jennings added. "I've got to try and find that rhythm. Usually in those first two minutes, I'm kind of passive but I was trying to be more aggressive."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com