Good morning. Kyrie Irving is just the worst, isn’t he?

Good morning. Kyrie Irving, oft criticized for certain deficiencies in his game, decided he would not be letting down the wrist-resting LeBron James on Wednesday night. So Kyrie dropping 55 on the Blazers, including the game-winning three. That becomes the new highest scoring game of the season, beating the 52-point tie from Mo Williams and Klay Thompson.

Kyrie’s path to 55 was rather traditional: he made 11 threes and 10 free throws. He also had five assists. And in case you’re wondering about two other things: Kevin Love shot just 3-15, and Damian Lillard himself did not pop off, scoring 14 on 21 shooting possessions. (LaMarcus Alridge did try to keep pace with Kyrie, scoring 38.)

So in the end we’re left with a brilliant, dominant performance from one of the very best point guards in the NBA. The Love fit in Cleveland is looking atrocious, but man, there’s something about Kyrie this season that gives me faith in Cleveland putting up a good fight in the playoffs. But man, I’m still going to laugh every time they Cav it up.

Alright, let’s basketball.

THE REST OF THE NIGHT IN 48 SECONDS: Philly, New York and Minnesota all won. What sorcery is this? The Knicks’ win came over the Thunder, a low point in OKC’s season. The Hawks ran their win streak to a Twitter-breaking 17 by beating the Nets, whose first-round pick they will gank in June. The Mavericks folded against the Rockets as Tyson Chandler missed two critical free throws late after a poorly timed James Harden flagrant. Monty Williams Watch remains on high alert as the Pelicans lost to the Nuggets at home. The Spurs won again to pull into a tie for No. 6. The Clippers and Suns both won. The Raptors won and Wizards lost.

SCORES GALORE: Check out our NBA Scores hub for recaps on all that action.

UM: In the D-League, two Iowa Energy teammates fought each other during a timeout and were ejected. Like, man, you got ejected for fighting your teammate. This isn’t a card game gone wrong on the team plane. This is in front of several dozen fans and tens more watching live on YouTube. That’s pretty hardcore. How mad do you have to be to fight your teammate during a game?

SLIP ‘N CLIP: The next 22 games for the Clippers are going to be something brutal, according to this analysis from Adithya Pugazhendi.

SPEEDING UP REPLAY: I have three tweaks that would speed up the game by adjusting how replay is handled.

WELL THAT’S INTERESTING: Home court advantage is not as strong as it once was.

OF COURSE! There’s a decades-old ball deflation tradition in the NBA, as well.

ON ROSE: Derrick Rose is nothing like the same player he once was. But he’s still pretty darn good.

RISING STARS: The USA vs. the World rosters for the rookie-soph game on All-Star Friday are out. Free Anthony Bennett!

NOTE TO GMS: Pau Gasol explains how being in persistent trade rumors in L.A. affected his spirit and performance.

THE PERILS OF SIZE: Nikola Vucevic had to prove to teammates that he was able to get in and out of his new Porsche. (There’s a ton of great stuff in that Q&A, by the way.)

HA! George Gervin throws some gentle shade at Klay Thompson’s record in the course of discussing the impact of the three-point shot.

TODAY I LEARNED: Willie Nelson sang the national anthem a capella at the 1975 ABA All-Star Game in San Antonio and the game’s MVP was awarded a racing horse named Tuff Julie. (Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News, you are a treasure.)

ALL-STAR RESERVES: They’ll be announced at 7 p.m. ET on TNT. (And probably on Twitter in the hours leading up.) Expect outrage. I promise to contribute to it in one specific case.

Happy Thursday. See you next time.