Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Good morning. Shaq is the best thing on television.
That and more in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.
THE MOST IMPORTANT ITEM OF THE NIGHT: A moment we’ll cherish and treasure for all of our lives. That time when Shaq busted his ass on live television on TNT and we all lived to meme about it. (For good measure, Shaq later wore a turkey costume and danced pants-less.)
SHORT VERSION: All four second-round series’ are now 1-1. And there’s no basketball on Thursday.
THE KING IN THE EAST: LeBron went Full LeBron and carried the Cavaliers to a Game 2 win. There were dunks. There was lots of Tristan Thompson. There was a brutal Mike Dunleavy airball. All the proper ingredients for success.
OH, AND: The headband is back. LeBron’s headband is back. Charles Barkley noticed and used it to make the most complimentary bald joke I’ve ever heard.
OH, AND PART II: Joakim Noah is now feuding with Cardale Jones.
ROCKET & ROLL: Houston beat L.A. in Game 2 as Chris Paul sat again. If nothing else, that Game 1 stunner for the Clippers bought CP3 some time -- a split is a great result for them. They don’t need to win in Houston again if they hold to form at home. This game was marred by the scourge of intentional fouling -- the game lasted about 3 1/2 hours. Stop, please.
GROUNDED: L.A. did hang around until the end. The clinching play was ... Austin Rivers wiping out on a failed drive to the rim. Yep.
DAP CITY: No offense to the journalists involved, but the absolute best thing that can happen during a pre-game sideline report is that there’s an elaborate handshake going on behind it. The Ekpe Udoh Dap Club is a pretty terrific example.
TIME TRAVEL, PERHAPS? How are Blake Griffin and Pau Gasol dominating?
I LIVE LOUD LIKE JIMMY: Jimmy Butler is your Most Improved Player.
STILL A HUGE QUESTION: Will Kevin Love leave Cleveland?
THE END OF RONDO: He lost a game of Connect Four. Rajon Rondo really is done.
TRUST ISSUES: Really good Ramona Shelburne piece on the Bulls’ attempt to win big despite everyone possibly not trusting each other.
INTERESTING: A group of entrepreneurs in Las Vegas are implementing what I’d call a modified Shanoff Plan: they are forming a pro team (the Dealers) that will pay one-and-done players something like $700,000 and play against European pro squads. It gives draft prospects uninterested or ineligible for college a lucrative spot to spend the required post-high school year. The leader of the project wants five of the top 25 prospects for the inaugural season. They’ll play 35 games in Vegas and have a 15-game tour of Europe.
I’m quite skeptical of the Dealers’ ability to land more than one top prospect, their ability to schedule good Euro teams (the ones comparable to NCAA teams) and their ability to make the finances work. Even if you pay the non-elite talent much less than $700,000, I just don’t know how you’re going to make enough revenue in Vegas to support the model. But I’d love to be proven wrong.
CONTROL: Woj has a strong column on LeBron, control and David Blatt. It strikes me that we totally haven’t appreciated enough how much of a loose cannon Blatt has been. His quotes are really pretty stunning for someone in his position. I like it.
SMOOVE: Jonathan Abrams on Josh Smith.
Happy Thursday. Enjoy a rare night off from basketball. Don’t enjoy it too much. See you next time.
See More:
