In my game, Grant Hill was both the color commentator and my reserve small forward.

Law Murray
@LawMurrayTheNU
Russell Westbrook is expected to start and Terance Mann is expected to rejoin second unit

Let Russ Cook!

Final score: Spurs 111, Lakers 105

i am tremendously disappointed in my team's performance. it's an embarrassment that they allowed more than 80 points to an opponent.

I felt like the computer really bought into Stiggles’s vision by slotting 10th round draft pick Drazen Petrovic into the starting lineup.

to be fair, i also had shawn kemp starting over yao.

Glide and slide:

Clyde Drexler had a decent game on paper (19/3/3) with some decent mid-range scoring but was an appalling-19 for the game. Nothing jumped out when watching the game, but I suspect that his defense was rather weak, given how well the Spurs wings shot the ball.

plays like this are probably why my team didn't do well in BBTF's polling.

but like i said at the time, if opponents are playing 4-out, so they can get their 7th best player to post up kyrie, i'm not upset at that outcome.

seeing giannis come from the weakside to drink wilt chamberlain's milkshake is [chef's kiss].


and how about AK47 digging down from the far corner to get the ball out of embiid's hands, then recovering to his man and forcing 2 missed bunnies in the paint.

10,000.

oh my...

Clyde Drexler had a decent game on paper (19/3/3) with some decent mid-range scoring but was an appalling-19 for the game. Nothing jumped out when watching the game, but I suspect that his defense was rather weak, given how well the Spurs wings shot the ball.

I think it was all Giannis. When the starters were on the floor, I thought Clyde held his own against Kawha, but Roy was a total non-factor and Barkley was erased by Giannis. I'd like to have seen Rick Barry in the starting lineup at the 3 and playing real minutes. That gnaws at me, but whatareyagonnado?

The Bulls held the Nets to 29 points in the first half. This begs the question of whether 34 points is a safe lead for this team.

This is really not an impressive showing from the Wovles tonight. Good lord.

K.C. Johnson @KCJHoop Nets need to score 40 points in 4th to tie NBA season-low 81 points by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Bulls currently lead 101-53 with 10:25 remaining.

The Nets have finally got into a rhythm against the end of the Bulls' bench and should crack 81 points.

NBA season-low 81 points by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

And the newly-coached Hawks scored 81 in the first half against the Cavs tonight.

I believe the radio said it was the Hawks' 3rd highest scoring half ever, and the 49-point 2nd quarter was their 3rd best quarter ever.

So, a good start to the post-McMillan era (soon to be the Snyder era, I suppose).

Kings/Clips, on the other hand, are 176-175 with 30 seconds left in 2OT

Kings/Clips, on the other hand, are 176-175 with 30 seconds left in 2OT

It was a game dominated by the defenses.

That was the second hightest-scoring game in NBA history, behind a 1983 3OT Pistons/Nuggets game that ended 186-184. Hollinger pointed out on twitter that the Clippers shot 60/60/90 for regulation and lost, which is mind-bending.

I didn't watch the game, so I have no idea if this coaching choice was defensible, but Westbrook played 39 minutes and Mann played 18 minutes, which seems like the kind of outcome that was giving people concerns about the Westbrook pickup.

What a dogshit performance from Minnesota last night.

An advantage of having canceled a bunch of cable channels is not even having the option of watching the wolves. It is turning out to be a better decision than I had feared.

I still think with Ant and Jaden around there is hope. They are very young and are showing great promise. Hopefully, they will learn from this dumpster fire and not pick up bad habits.

Fandom is hoping for the best.

this floor is ass ugly. reminds me of some college gym that made me think my TV was glitching because the HD feed looked like it was in black and white. get some ####### contrast in your color scheme.


(i feel like this might be the gayest thing i've posted on this board, at least since the dejuan blair slashfic)

Who will ever forget "Love Needs No ACLs"

i can't wait until i can piss on al horford's grave. that's gonna be one of the great days in my sporting lifetime.

only Philly fans could turn Al Horford into a villain

“I like it,” Horford said when asked about the crowd’s constant trash talk. “I take it as respect. I wasn’t having my best game offensively [and] I feel like that kind of got me going.”

to be clear:

i don't blame al horford for stealing 100MM from the sixers. get your bag.

but i don't ####### like him. and he did ####### quit as soon as he got here. #### that ####### ######.

I don’t always agree with him, but Stifles is 100% right in 922.

Only Horford and Simmons think Philly fans should love them for not even trying.

The Lakers get a big win in Dallas. They won despite shooting 18 percent from three while Dallas shot 41 percent. I started watching the game when they were down 50-24.

Probably the best Lakers win of the season. AD was fantastic.

They were down by 27! 27!! 48-21!

Trae gave interim coach Joe Prunty a nice parting gift at the buzzer today.

Adrian Wojnarowski @wojespn
ESPN Sources: Quin Snyder has reached agreement on a five-year deal — including the rest of this season — to become coach of the Atlanta Hawks. Snyder is expected to be on sidelines as soon as Tuesday vs. Washington.

Went to the Miami and Phoenix games this weekend. Absolutely blowing the doors off Miami without Giannis wasn't expected.

Jrue was the best player on the court today. He caught some flack on Twitter for getting an ASG spot over Harden. And Harden may be having a better year. But Jrue was better last year and Harden got in over him, and Jrue's had an incredible career and been outstanding his 3 years in Milwaukee, and absolutely deserved to be an allstar more than once.

14 wins in a row!

Ayton had 21 shots, 0 free throws. I think legitimately 18+ of those FGAs were jump shots or floaters. That man just does not attack the basket at all.

I don't think it's been talked about here, but Jonathan Givony had Bronny as #10 in his latest 2024 draft rankings.

I don't think it's been talked about here, but Jonathan Givony had Bronny as #10 in his latest 2024 draft rankings.

I listened to him talk about that with Lowe. Givony claims that he's not taking LeBron into account at all, but is projecting future growth. Bronny seems like low ceiling, high floor guy who is going to play hard but not have a real shot to run a team.

How can the Wolves have Mike Conley and Kyle Anderson on their roster and still be so GD dumb?

Yeah, Givony is always a really good listen on The Lowe Post. I think it's also very fair to bet on Bronny's moxie/genes/makeup that you get being LeBron ####### James' son, especially since it seems like he has that in spades.

Bronny also comes with a LeBron, right?

The Lakers are now 4-1 since the trade deadline with the one loss in a game where Portland just shot the lights out from 3, 23-47. It's been a relatively soft schedule, (Pels w/o Zion, Warriors w/o Steph, etc). Today was by far the best victory of the bunch.

Lillard just put up a 41 point first half against the Rockets.

Finished with 71.

The Lakers are now 4-1 since the trade deadline with the one loss in a game where Portland just shot the lights out from 3, 23-47. It's been a relatively soft schedule, (Pels w/o Zion, Warriors w/o Steph, etc). Today was by far the best victory of the bunch.

SOS has the Lakers with one of the softest post-ASG schedules in the league, with this stretch of games (Dallas, Memphis, OKC, Minny, GSW, Memphis again) being the toughest. They'll get Minny, OKC and New Orleans twice -- teams directly in front of them. They also get GSW, Houston twice, Chicago twice, and Orlando. It's rare for a team that's not in the playoffs to be in control of their own destiny, but the Lakers have a clear path to the playoffs. They just have to stay healthy.

The teams ahead of the Lakers, in descending order, are: Dallas, Golden State, Utah, Minnesota, New Orleans, and Portland. I don't know that any of those teams should be expected to be obviously better going forward? I imagine most would say Dallas, a healthy New Orleans, and a healthy Golden State should be better. But I don't have much confidence in the latter two and Dallas has lost 4 of 5 and look like they're going to be a terrible defensive team in this iteration.

marc lasry selling his interest in the bucks to jimmy haslem; valuation of 3.5b.

FanDuel Odds to make the playoffs as of this typing. I took the yes/no question and removed the juice:

(BOS, MIL, PHI, CLE plus four of these; adds up to slightly more than 400 but whatever)
88% Heat
85% Nets
71% Knicks
62% Hawks
44% Raptors
23% Bulls
21% Wizards
8% Pacers
4% Magic

(DEN, MEM, PHX, plus five of these; also adds up to slightly more than 500 but whatever)
89% Mavericks
87% Clippers
76% Kings
74% Warriors
56% Pelicans
40% Wolves
39% Lakers
20% Blazers
11% Thunder
11% Jazz

Fair or unfair? Damian Lillard : Steph Curry :: Dominique Wilkins : Michael Jordan

That's pretty fair, I'd say.

agree - except that the gap between dillard and curry was smaller than the gap b/w nique (who i had a poster of on my wall as a kid) and mj

Man I love Lillard and really regret that his career overlaps with my becoming a parent who can't possibly stay up late enough to watch west coast games more than a few times a year.

I'm not entirely sure it would have happened, but in a world where Steph Curry never existed it'd be interesting to ponder how Lillard would have been thought of.

Like he probably never wins anything anyway, and now the vanguard of the off the dribble audacious 3 isn't so successful from a team standpoint, which might mean the revolution never gets started?

Lots of big NBA centers spend their nights getting mauled inside, but none of them cut and bleed and look like they have been fighting off an angry bobcat quite like Jokic
[...]
The worst of Jokic's current spread of appalling arm wounds is in fact not that nauseating five-inch gash across his right tricep. It's the deep, shockingly thick, horrifyingly meandering gash across his upper left arm, seen in the image atop this blog. [...] The wound had mostly scabbed over, but its bold contrast with his splotchy, glistening skin was no less gut-churning. Hard as it may be to believe, the wound was caused by a human finger
[...]
By mid-December of that season Jokic's arms were speckled with minor nicks and had a painful, tenderized look. His first truly revolting major arm wound of that season appeared on Jan. 19, a serpentine gash of varying depth, puckered-looking and scabbed-over, traveling from his left pec across his shoulder and down his left bicep.
[...]
The man looks like he fell out of bed and into a tangle of razor wire.

Steph shoots way better from 3 than Lillard and the difference is more pronounced than you think. Curry shoots 42.8% from three in career whereas Dame shoots 37.3%. Curry's worst shooting year from 3, in a season where he played more than 10 games, he shot 38%, which is better than Lillard's career average. Dame's best year, he shot 40.1% which is significantly worse than Curry's career average.

That's pretty stark difference.

It's been said of Curry, but it's a lot more true of Lillard, that he's a rich man's Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.

It's been said of Curry, but it's a lot more true of Lillard, that he's a rich man's Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.

I thought the furore when Jackson made that comparison was dumb. Of course Curry was an updated version of Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf! Where's the disrespect in that? The game has changed such that someone with Abdul-Rauf's skillset would be more valuable today than he was while he was active.

I think the furor is that Curry is also bigger, stronger, and defensively superior to Abdul-Rauf (in addition to being better at the things Abdul-Rauf was good at).

Game 8 (video link: Here)

Bucks (DCA) 0-0 @ Rockets (Scott) 0-0

Starting Lineups:

Bucks

John Stockton
Dwyane Wade
Julius Erving
George Mikan
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Rockets

Jerry West
Klay Thompson
Dominique Wilkins
Dolph Schayes
Hakeem Olajuwon

Synopsis:

The Bucks jumped out to an early and dominant lead, as Kareem scored 13 points on perfect shooting (and he added two blocks) in the first quarter. In short, the Bucks shot 60% from the field in Q1, while the Rockets only shot 25%, leading to a 35-13 romp at the end of one. In the second quarter, Jerry West caught fire, hitting four long balls en route to 16 points in the quarter. Unfortunately, not much else was working offensively for the Rockets and they were barely able to cut into the lead, trailing 61-41 at the half. The Bucks had four separate players in double digits at the break. In the third, it was Klay Thompson’s turn to make some buckets and his scoring, coupled with some poor shooting from the Bucks, briefly got the deficit to ten or so. But Dr. J had a two minute stretch of dominance late in the third to keep the Rockets at bay. 80-64, Bucks. In the final quarter, the Bucks had like a five minute stretch where they hit nothing but the Rockets just couldn’t make up enough ground. Final score: Bucks 101 (1-0), Rockets 89 (0-1).

Key stat:

The Bucks out scored the Rockets in the paint by a margin of 52-28.

Nail in the coffin:

In the midst of a dreadful cold streak from the Bucks, Jerry West knew it was time to take charge. Down 15, with half a quarter left, West calmly dribbled and dribbled and dribbled, before dumping the ball into the post. A quick return pass found an open West who chucked up the three…clank. There would be no run.

Player of the game:

Kareem was pretty quiet after the first quarter, but that opening frame set the entire tone. KAJ finished with 21 points on 16 shots, 11 rebounds, and five blocks, as he frustrated Hakeem all night.

Strong in defeat:

Klay, West, and Schayes scored 24, 24, and 22, respectively. The rest of the team only managed 19 points.

The Doctor has a specialty:

Dr. J led all scorers with 29 points and he proved to be awfully versatile, manning the point on occasion when Stockton needed a breather. What’s scary, however, is that Erving hit all three of his shots from downtown, improving on his already impressive 62% mark from deep. If regression doesn’t come calling soon, this team may not be beatable.

Waves of mutilation:

The Bucks kept throwing big men into the game, starting with Kareem and Mikan, but also including Kevin Love, Joakim Noah, and even Detlef Schrempf. The rebounding was superb, as Mikan (15) and Love (13) cleaned plenty of glass. George Mikan also was able to balance all of the company’s debits and credits without even using modern software!

A penny in inflationary times:

Penny Hardaway certainly should have had an opportunity to impact the game through his ability to drive the lane, but he was pretty close to dead weight, posting just a 6/5/2 line, with a -14 +/-.

Next up is a matchup of 1-0 teams: Thunder (NJ) and Spurs (Stiggles). Probably coming Wednesday…

imo, stockton was the biggest snub in the entire draft. guy is one of the best PGs of all time, and he lasted until, what, the 5th round? that never should have happened (not in the least because i should have taken him instead of yao (and almost certainly over kirilenko, too) if i wasn't (as i even said at the time) just ####### around).

And then for much the same reasons, he got dumped on in the judged games, as a liability who couldn't defend (5x all-defense, all-time steals leader), couldn't create (all-time assists leader), and couldn't shoot (3x league leader in TS%). Although him being an anti-science ###### during the pandemic has made me feel less bad about that.

My primary reaction after watching 1 minute of the second half: my team has much better hair.

My primary reaction after watching 1 minute of the second half: my team has much better hair.

This advantage will diminish once Noah enters the game.

I think Lillard deserves to be compared to Curry. Curry is a significantly better shooter, and the best shooter of all time. He's also better at defense and rebounding.

But I feel like Lillard is the only other guy who does #### like take logo 3s where it's actually still a good shot, and basically the only guy who should be doing a lot of the Curry #### (I'm talking to you Trae Young). He's also more than a shooter, he's shown he can drive elite offense with the ball in his hand because of his ability to drive and pass. I think if Lillard were off ball more he'd shoot 40+% from 3. I don't think most of the other best shooters/gunners can drive elite offense in the way Lillard can.

I guess the point is, it's not that Curry is sui generis but more, he's an example of an existing archetype.

The Bucks kept throwing big men into the game, starting with Kareem and Mikan, but also including Kevin Love, Joakim Noah, and even Detlef Schrempf.

I was shocked to see Dream with only 9 points at one point late in the game. The only pair that looks to match those Twin Towers are the Russell-Duncan pair, and now I'm really looking forward to seeing that match-up.

I think Lillard deserves to be compared to Curry. Curry is a significantly better shooter, and the best shooter of all time. He's also better at defense and rebounding.

But I feel like Lillard is the only other guy who does #### like take logo 3s where it's actually still a good shot, and basically the only guy who should be doing a lot of the Curry #### (I'm talking to you Trae Young). He's also more than a shooter, he's shown he can drive elite offense with the ball in his hand because of his ability to drive and pass. I think if Lillard were off ball more he'd shoot 40+% from 3. I don't think most of the other best shooters/gunners can drive elite offense in the way Lillard can.

personally, i see curry more like an extension of chris paul, in that he's an exceptional creator/distributor, who also happens to be, arguably, the best 3P shooter of all time.

otoh, i see lillard more like a descendant of the iverson/agent zero line of guards, in that he's an exceptional scorer/shooter, who happens to also have very good playmaking ability.

Klay on back to back possessions. Trying to get it going in the 4th.

Mikan with the offensive board, to Love from the corner.

The Doctor is in. From Stockton. Baseline jumper. House call. In the post. Later on, from distance. Just lettin' you know.

Wade to Kareem on the break.

Why Hakeem had a bad day. Wade on the other end with the poster.

The Detlef content you crave.

My primary reaction after watching 1 minute of the second half: my team has much better hair.

Only because they used 1970s versions of Kareem and Dr. J and not 1980s versions.

I watched 6 minutes of game time without Dominique taking a shot, which has to be a first.

I am impressed they modeled Mikan's glasses properly.

Lebron James is out for the Lakers' game against Memphis tomorrow night.

Lots of big NBA centers spend their nights getting mauled inside, but none of them cut and bleed and look like they have been fighting off an angry bobcat quite like Jokic

Jokic is clearly one of the highest BB IQ players in the league. Of all the skills he's mastered, drawing <shooting> fouls is one of them. (He gets plenty of non-shooting fouls.)

For the past few week he has been routinely putting up lines like 24-14-12 on 13 shots, but only because he makes 10 of those. His line last night, 40-17-10, was much more Embiid like cos he got 15 foul shots. (Which is also Embiid like.)

That's not shade at Embiid because drawing fouls is clearly a skill. Although I am convinced much of it is reputation. I just don't understand how Jokic can look like he's mauled every game and either hasn't learned to draw fouls or is perceived as someone who is not fouled.

That's not shade at Embiid because drawing fouls is clearly a skill. Although I am convinced much of it is reputation. I just don't understand how Jokic can look like he's mauled every game and either hasn't learned to draw fouls or is perceived as someone who is not fouled.

a lot of embiid's FTs come from deliberate pump fakes and rip throughs, rather than from the natural flow of a game (though he does draw a bunch of those fouls, too).

the mauling type stuff is kind of a "what's good for the goose..." situation. refs could call a lot of fouls both ways, but it's generally better for the game (and the sport) if those big men fouls aren't called at all. let the broncos buck, and whatnot.

who is this giant horseshoe-headed goofus on the heat?

oh my god, that's cody zeller?

jeezus. he aged like milk.

I think Lillard deserves to be compared to Curry. Curry is a significantly better shooter, and the best shooter of all time. He's also better at defense and rebounding.

I mean, Lillard deserves to be compared to Curry, but it's also just kind of not very favorable to him. Curry kind of dominates him in every area (except as the PnR ballhandler, which Curry just doesn't do in the Warriors' offense).

So in that sense, it's sort of a bad comparison because Lillard is just worse than Curry in every way, but is still a great player (peaking at about top 10 in the NBA).

It's kind of like Kobe vs. Jordan. Kobe is just worse. You can compare them, but Jordan is pretty much better across the board so it's not that interesting of a comparison.

really enjoyed the play in the final minute of Heat/76ers where Harden got a loose ball, flopped and fell out of bounds, and the ref calmly signaled Heat ball.

really enjoyed the play in the final minute of Heat/76ers where Harden got a loose ball, flopped and fell out of bounds, and the ref calmly signaled Heat ball.

there was enough contact there to call a foul, but, uh...yeah, harden does not deserve the benefit of the doubt in those situations.

Ky Carlin @Ky_Carlin
Jimmy Butler says he has respect for anybody he’s been in the trenches with. He did throw in a: “I hate you PJ”. #Sixers

of all the #### that went wrong during/following "the process", letting jimmy butler walk so you could give 300 ####### million ####### dollars to tharris and orford is still just the absolute ####### epitome of a shooting your own dick off move.

just beyond ####### atrocious.

Per Shams:

LeBron James is expected to miss an indefinite amount of time… I’m told likely at least 2 or 3 weeks

Looks like the Lakers are done. That was a fun two weeks, though.

I caught the end of that Heat-Sixers game. Not sure how systemic it is, but they sure gave the ball to Embiid around or beyond the 3-point line a lot towards the end. (I know Maxey had fouled out)

Other injury news:

KD to make Suns debut Wednesday night

LaMelo Ball out for the season (ankle fracture). Charlotte is pretty settled with the fourth worst record: 6 games worse than Orlando, and 5 games better than third-worst Detroit. Gordon Hayward has actually been playing okay for the last month, averaging about 16 per game on 54% shooting. One year left on his contract ($31.5 Million)

Here's a fun piece of trivia. Over the last 40 games (half a season!) who has the best net rating in the NBA?

If you would have given me 10 guesses I wouldn't have gotten it.

Here's a fun piece of trivia. Over the last 40 games (half a season!) who has the best net rating in the NBA?

If you would have given me 10 guesses I wouldn't have gotten it.

based on the lede, i'd say maybe nic claxton or jrue holiday.

marc lasry selling his interest in the bucks to jimmy haslem; valuation of 3.5b.

i didn't see anyone else comment on this, but haslem is the guy who asked a homeless person if he should draft an alcoholic QB in the first round of his first NFL draft.


enjoy your current success bucks fans, because your future is as cloudy as the backwash in johnny manziel's johnnie walker red.

Over the last 40 games (half a season!) who has the best net rating in the NBA?

I'm guessing either OKC or Knicks.

I was going to guess the Knicks.

I don't think it's the Magic, but it's remarkable that they've played .500 ball for a while after their disastrous start, with an inefficient rookie leading the way no less.

I realize that there's enough time left in the season that this could be premature, but it seems like, if everyone stays healthy (knock on wood), the only person who could win the MVP other than Jokic at this point is Giannis. And it would probably require the Bucks to finish with a significantly better record than Denver. (It is currently slightly better.)

The Lakers give up 47 points in the 3rd quarter against the Grizzlies. Teams scoring 40+ points in quarters has happened way too often this year for the Lakers.

I'm guessing either OKC or Knicks.

Kings?

It is the Knicks.

The Lakers were extremely sloppy with the basketball in their loss against Memphis. Russell would be really nice to have right now.

Just a freakin' annoying year, combination of some bad luck and bad decision making.

It is the Knicks.

I just noticed the other day how high they were overall (7th) in Net Rating and SRS. 5th in ORtg, 12th in DRtg (Thibs seems to have flipped the script at some point).

Dallas is now 1-4 when Kyrie and Doncic play together.

You hate to see it.

You hate to see it.

Do we?

I mean, Lillard deserves to be compared to Curry, but it's also just kind of not very favorable to him. Curry kind of dominates him in every area (except as the PnR ballhandler, which Curry just doesn't do in the Warriors' offense).

Ironically, that comparison is a little like another Portland HOFer with Jordan vs. Drexler. Dame and Drexler are all-time greats with distinctive skill sets who happened to be direct contemporaries with even greater all-time greats with almost identical skill-sets.

I was going to guess the Knicks.

That timeframe roughly corresponds to when Thibs changed his rotation and started leaning in on some of the younger, more promising guys. Quickley, Grimes, Toppin, and Hartenstein all have steady, predictable roles now. All are interesting and at least somewhat good. Barrett is the one guy in their rotation who seems like he might as well just go away, but he's too expensive and high profile for that.

I was ready to write off the Warriors season at the half, but then they demolished the Blazers 75-40 in the second half and I looked at the standings and they are up to #5 in the West, only a game behind #4 Phoenix.

Do we?

We absolutely do not.

I bet the Pistons trade for RJ Barrett this offseason. I'll talk myself into him in about 2 hours. Then will spend the next 8 months slowly coming to terms with reality.

I wonder if Bud will keep Middleton as sixth man both to load manage but also have a really good option on floor when 1 or more starters sitting.

Middleton seems cool with it for now.

I was ready to write off the Warriors season at the half, but then they demolished the Blazers 75-40 in the second half and I looked at the standings and they are up to #5 in the West, only a game behind #4 Phoenix.

It's easier if you just expect that there is a magical force driving them toward .500 this season. I expect them to make Westbrook look functional and give the Clips their first win with him on Thursday to balance this out.

It is crazy how mid the West has been though -- the current 4th seed (Suns) is on pace for 43.6 wins. That is turrible, I remember a year the Warriors missed the playoffs with more wins than that (the year after We Believe, IIRC).

In the land of the 4-6 L10, the 6-4 L10 is king of the 5th seed.

I feel like I hear people say the West is deeper than the East after the top few slots... but then you look at those teams in the West below Phoenix, and they're like all 15th or worse in SRS. I suppose there's reasons to think some of these teams may be better than they've played (Lakers, NOP, and GSW when healthy), but it's a pretty uninspiring group of teams.

Candace Buckner @CandaceDBuckner
Exclusive: Ja Morant has been accused of two additional disturbing encounters (besides the Pacers' team bus incident), which includes allegedly beating up a 17-year-old boy and pointing a gun at him.

Even Chris Vernon, the biggest Memphis homer in NBA podcasting, said recently that Ja needs to get his act together and act like an adult.

I read an article about why Alabama's Brandon Miller, stating that he wasn't charged because of a lack of intent. But as a layman, delivering the murder weapon to the killer sure sounds like it justifies an accessory charge.

For all those years—the eight consecutive playoff berths, two West Finals appearances, one MVP season and eight All-Star appearances—Harden had an unofficial agreement with his Rockets bosses. So long as he showed up and showed out, he’d be free to bend the rules when it came to well-chronicled off-court style.

“It was the place that allowed him to truly be him,” one source close to the situation said. “They embrace the clubs, the private jets to Vegas, the lack of conditioning. … So they were like, ‘No, you go.’ As long as you put up 30, we’re good. That was not any other place he’d ever been. … He loves that place. It was the place that allowed him to truly be him.”

Listen, all James Harden wants is a healthier work-life balance and a max NBA contract, is that so much to ask?

Rich Hoffman @rich_hofmann
I am convinced that little catch-and-shoot seven-footer on the baseline that BBall Paul just hit is the toughest shot in basketball. Every kid's nightmare.

tell that to matt geiger.

The Knicks just scored 47 points in the first quarter. Currently 9 of 11 from 3.