Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Good morning. All hail the Sixers.
That and much more in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.
DO WE BELIEVE KEVIN? Kevin Love said pretty emphatically that he’s not leaving Cleveland in free agency. The question now is whether we believe him.
HALLELUJAH: The Sixers beat the Wolves and avoid history. For now. The problem for Philadelphia is that nothing about the 17-game losing streak to open the season felt like a fluke. We could all easily see this team go 2-34, right?
Of course, Sixers-Wolves wasn’t without its hiccups. Like the teams playing in the wrong direction. Nice innovations in tanking, y’all.
THE MAVS GOT TOO ... TOO ... TOO MUCH MONTA: One-legged fadeaway game-winner for Mr. Ellis.
LET THE HAIR SHOOT: Aye, when they said Elfrid Payton couldn’t shoot coming out of Louisiana-Lafayette, they were not kidding. Here is the rookie Magician airballing two straight free throws. (He’s a guard.)
KEMBA! Best crossover in the league right now? He put Nikola Mirotic right into the damn lake.
GODZELLER: Cody Zeller put the jam right on Pau Gasol’s head! Rude. Like, that dunk was legitimately disrespectful.
MORE MORE MORE: Here’s the full NBA Scores hub where you can catch up on the Nets’ big win over the Spurs, the Rockets’ triumph over Memphis, another Lakers loss and more.
THE JET: Charles Barkley made some Barkleyian comments about Ferguson and police brutality. Kenny Smith delivered a graceful, sharp retort. One line of note: “The body of work that our Black Civil Rights leaders put in by planning, executing and activating does not justify you being in the conversation.” Inside The NBA is going to be real interesting.
THE PERFECT PLACE FOR CHERYL MILLER: Really wonderful longform by RJ Young on how Cheryl Miller is thriving in a tiny corner of the college basketball world.
MVP POWER RANKINGS! See which players are doing the most this season, as determined by Jason Patt.
WOJ ON KOBE: That is all.
WELL THAT’S ONE WAY TO FIGHT A SCREEN: A U-19 Guam player sprints through an Australian’s legs to beat the screen. Genius.
THE BEST 404 PAGES IN THE NBA: The Hawks and Wizards ones are so, so good.
SPEAKING OF NBA BABY NAMES ... This seems unfair to poor Michal Jordan!
YOU DON’T SAY ... Stan Van Gundy says the Pistons are a “messed up team.”
Happy Thursday. See you next time.
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