NATIONAL Basketball Association (NBA) owners may be asked to limit the motions that players can take and still be considered in the act of shooting, ESPN reported on Monday.

The proposed rule tweak is based on plays when shooters substantially varied their shots as they attempt to initiate contact with defenders and draw fouls.

In a meeting on Monday, the league’s competition committee explored how much time and how much movement a player can employ in shooting the ball, according to ESPN.

The committee includes some owners, general managers, coaches, players and referees. Teams were provided with a video that shows some of the discussed maneuvers, with players leaning to one side or far forward or backward to create contact with a defender while under the guise of trying to take a shot, ESPN reported.

A timeline would include presenting the rule change to the NBA’s Board of Governors for approval over the summer, with implementation starting with Las Vegas summer league in August and on into the start of next season. — Reuters

UTAH JAZZ center Rudy Gobert and Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons were unanimous choices for the NBA All-Defensive First Team, the league announced  on Monday.

Gobert and Simmons were chosen on all 100 ballots and received 200 points apiece. Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (176 points, 80 first-team votes) and the Milwaukee Bucks combo of guard Jrue Holiday (157, 65) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (135, 43) also were first-team selections.

Gobert, who was recently named NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the third time in the past four seasons, is a first-team all-defensive choice for the fifth straight season. He blocked a league-high 190 shots in 71 regular-season games.

Simmons made the All-Defensive First Team for the second straight season, and he was runner-up to Gobert for Defensive Player of the Year honors. Simmons had 93 steals in 58 games.

Green is a defensive first-team choice for the fourth time and Antetokounmpo was chosen for the third time. Antetokounmpo was Defensive Player of the Year last season. Holiday was a first-team all-defensive selection for the first time, and he made the first team for the third time

Holiday received his second defensive first-team honor.

The second team consists of the Miami Heat combo of forward Bam Adebayo (111, 37) and guard Jimmy Butler (111, 37), the 76ers due of center Joel Embiid (87, eight) and guard Matisse Thybulle (63, 3) and Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (43, 8). — Reuters

TRAE Young collected 25 points and a career-high-tying 18 assists to fuel the host Atlanta Hawks to a 103-100 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The Hawks overcame an 18-point, second-quarter deficit and evened the best-of-seven series at two wins apiece. Game 5 is Wednesday in Philadelphia.

With Atlanta nursing a 101-100 lead, Philadelphia forced the Hawks into a turnover before taking a timeout with 16.6 seconds to play. Joel Embiid, however, failed to convert on a drive to the basket with 8.8 seconds remaining to fall to 0-for-12 from the floor in the second half.

Young subsequently made two free throws to give the Hawks a three-point cushion with 6.6 seconds left. Seth Curry’s off-balance, 3-point attempt caromed off the back of the rim to end the game.

Bogdan Bogdanović scored 22 points for the fifth-seeded Hawks. Atlanta’s John Collins (14 points, 12 rebounds) and Clint Capela (12 points, 13 boards) each posted double-doubles.

Tobias Harris had 20 points and Embiid recorded 17 points and 21 rebounds for the top-seeded 76ers, who were outscored 54-38 in the second half.

Ben Simmons had 11 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and two blocks on the same day that he was named to the 2020-21 NBA All-Defensive First Team.

Embiid made a pair of foul shots to give Philadelphia a 95-94 lead with 3:23 remaining in the fourth quarter before Furkan Korkmaz extended the advantage by draining a deep 3-pointer. Collins converted from beyond the arc on the next possession, and Young sank a floater with 1:17 left to regain the lead for Atlanta.

The Hawks chipped away at their early deficit before Bogdanović drained a 3-pointer to give them an 83-82 lead early in the fourth quarter. Shake Milton scored all eight of his points in a 77-second span to hand the 76ers a 92-88 advantage, but Young’s floater, a defensive goaltending call and Capela’s alley-oop dunk regained the lead for Atlanta.

Philadelphia overcame an ice-cold shooting performance to start the game before scoring 24 of the final 34 points to take a 28-20 lead at the end of the first quarter. Curry sank two 3-pointers en route to scoring eight points for the 76ers, while Bogdanović had 10 points to pace Atlanta.

Embiid briefly went to the locker room during the start of the second quarter before his return ignited a surge by Philadelphia. Embiid made a 3-pointer shortly after reentering the game, and Harris converted from beyond the arc on consecutive possessions to highlight a 17-3 run by the 76ers.

Philadelphia shot 52.1 percent from the floor (25 of 48) and 63.6 percent from 3-point range (7 of 11) to seize a 62-49 lead at half time.

For the game, the 76ers outshot the Hawks 43.5 percent to 36.6 percent from the floor and 40.7 percent (11 of 27) to 30 percent (12 of 40) from beyond the arc. — Reuters

THE Brooklyn Nets survived the regular season without their “Big Three” of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving consistently on the floor at the same time to get the second seed in the Eastern Conference.

They were not anticipating being forced to survive postseason games without multiple members of their trio, but Brooklyn now faces that scenario and an entirely new series against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Nets will be down to Durant on Tuesday night when the Eastern Conference semifinals shift to Brooklyn for Game 5.

Nets coach Steve Nash said on Monday that Irving will not play due to a sprained ankle he suffered in Game 4. Harden will also sit out Game 5 as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury.

The series is tied at two games apiece and the home team is unbeaten. The winner of Tuesday’s game will get a chance to close the series in Milwaukee on Thursday and advance to the conference finals. Game 7, if necessary, would be Saturday in Brooklyn.

The Nets have played virtually the entire series without Harden, who suffered right hamstring tightness in the opening minute of Game 1. Then they lost Irving to the ankle sprain on Sunday when he landed awkwardly on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s foot after hitting a layup in the second quarter.

Brooklyn did not announce the severity of Irving’s ankle injury but multiple reports stated he left the arena with crutches and a walking boot.

With their trio down to Durant, the Nets gradually allowed Milwaukee to surge ahead and even the series with a 107-96 victory. Durant scored 28 points but shot 9 of 25 from the floor and had little help as Irving’s 11 points were the second-highest total for the Nets, who shot 43.4 percent, missed 23 of 33 3-point tries and committed 17 turnovers.

The worst-case scenario of being down to Durant is occurring after the Nets had their stars on the floor together for eight regular-season games. All three played in the five-game series against the Boston Celtics in the first round, and the Nets posted four double-digit wins. They got an eight-point win in the series opener against Milwaukee before posting a 39-point win in Game 2.

“We’ve had an adverse season,” Nash said. “A lot of things have happened, we remained positive and that’s what got us through the season, so we have to have that same mentality here and find a way to solve some puzzles and persevere.”

Milwaukee hopes the things that proved successful in the previous two games can help them get a chance to clinch the series on Thursday. The Bucks survived nearly blowing a 21-point lead to post an 86-83 victory in Game 3 and then pulled away in the third in Game 4 when Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 34 points.

“We’re very happy, but we’ve got to keep getting better, keep playing together and hopefully we can go into Brooklyn and take one,” Antetokounmpo said.

Khris Middleton has performed well in the past two games after a nightmarish start to the series.

Middleton shot 13-of-43 and missed 10 of 13 3-point tries in the first two games. In the past two games, he has scored 54 points on 19-of-40 shooting and hit six 3-pointers.

Perhaps an even more significant development from Sunday is the return of Milwaukee’s 3-point shooting. The Bucks shot 38.9 percent during the regular season but were 20 of 88 from 3-point range in the first three games until Sunday when they made 16 of 47 tries.

Milwaukee also has tightened up defensively by becoming the first team to hold the Nets under 100 points in consecutive games. A major contributor is P.J. Tucker’s increasing physicality on Durant, who was 20-for-53 shooting in the past two games, which prompted Nash to describe it as “borderline non-basketball physical.”

“He’s just guarding him,” Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer said. “If that’s not basketball, I don’t know what is. We just gotta keep the same mindset to guard (Durant), to make everything tough, so nothing changes. P.J. is a very good individual defender. Puts a lot of time in studying film work, understanding tendencies and those things. It’s just guarding.” — Reuters

KAWHI Leonard recorded 31 points and seven rebounds before exiting with an apparent injury, and the Los Angeles Clippers notched a 118-104 victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday night to tie their Western Conference semifinal series at two games apiece.

Paul George also scored 31 points and collected nine rebounds as Los Angeles won its second straight game in the best-of-seven series. Marcus Morris, Sr. scored 22 of his 24 points during a first half in which the Clippers led by as many as 29 points.

Donovan Mitchell poured in 37 points to tie the Utah franchise playoff record of six straight 30-point outings held by Hall of Famer Karl Malone (three in 1995, three in 1996).

Game 5 is Wednesday at Salt Lake City.

Leonard left the contest with 4:35 remaining and didn’t return. His departure came less than a minute after he grabbed at his right knee following a collision with the Jazz’s Joe Ingles.

Utah’s Mike Conley (hamstring) sat out and has missed all four games of the series.

Ingles scored 19 points and Bojan Bogdanović added 18 for the top-seeded Jazz, who shot 42.9 percent from the field and were 17 of 42 (40.5 percent) from 3-point range.

Fourth-seeded Los Angeles made 46.8 percent of its shots and hit 15 of 37 (40.5 percent) from behind the arc.

Ingles drained a 3-pointer to pull Utah within 112-102 with 2:10 left before Los Angeles scored six of the next seven points en route to closing it out.

Utah trailed 68-44 at half time but trimmed its deficit to 14 early in the third quarter.

George tallied five points during a 9-3 burst to give the Clippers an 84-64 advantage with 4:12 left in the stanza.

Los Angeles took a 94-73 lead into the final stanza. Luke Kennard’s 3-pointer increased the Clippers’ advantage to 101-75 with 10:37 remaining before Utah answered with a 19-6 spurt to move within 13 points with 3:56 to play.

Morris made all five of his first-half 3-point attempts while leading the Clippers to the 24-point edge at the break.

Los Angeles held a 20-6 lead after Leonard’s basket just 6 1/2 minutes into the game. The Clippers led 30-13 after the conclusion of the quarter.

Los Angeles kept its foot on the pedal, and two free throws by Morris increased the lead to 51-22 with 5:21 left in the first half.

Mitchell scored 21 points in the opening half. — Reuters