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Charlotte’s Moussa Diabaté wins NBA’s Hustle Award for this season

NEW YORK (AP) — Moussa Diabaté of the Charlotte Hornets was announced Thursday as the NBA’s Hustle Award winner for this season.

Unlike most of the year’s awards, this one was not done by voting. The NBA uses a ranking system that takes nine stats into account — offensive box outs, defensive box outs, screen assists, contested 2-pointers, contested 3-pointers, offensive loose balls recovered, defensive loose balls recovered, deflections and charges taken.

Diabaté ranked 11th or better among qualifying players leaguewide in six of those categories. He also posted career-high numbers in several categories, including points (7.9), rebounds (8.7) and assists (1.9) per game.

Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels was second, Golden State’s Draymond Green — last season’s Hustle winner — was third, Memphis’ Cedric Coward was fourth and New York’s Josh Hart was fifth.

This was the 10th season that the award has been handed out.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Jalen Brunson scores 30 and Knicks finish on 11-0 run, steal Game 1 from Spurs with 105-95 win

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The New York Knicks' winning streak lives on, and they struck first in the NBA Finals. Jalen Brunson scored 30 points, Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds, and the Knicks erased a 14-point second-half deficit to beat the San Antonio Spurs 105-95 in Game 1 of the finals on Wednesday night. OG Anunoby had 17 points for New York — which has won 12 consecutive playoff games, the seventh team to have such a streak in NBA history, and is the third to do it in a single season. Brunson scored 13 points in the fourth, only six fewer than San Antonio managed as a team in that quarter, and sealed it with a spinning jumper while falling to the court with 38 seconds left. “He's a gamer, man,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “In the biggest moments, he shows up. That's what MVPs are supposed to do.”
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