Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Zaza Pachulia was almost an NBA All-Star starter
Good morning. We have that and lots more in Friday’s NBA newsletter.
CANADA DOES IT AGAIN: Here's your full list of NBA All-Star starters. For the second straight year, Kyle Lowry surged in the final week of voting to grab a starting spot. This year, he took it from Kyrie Irving, who'd been in position to start since voting opened ... despite not playing in his first game of the season until mid-December. Now it's a legitimate question whether Irving will get in at all (he's at 14 games played; Cleveland's at 41 overall) or if this opens up another slot for an East player like Reggie Jackson.
A narrow Carmelo Anthony win over Pau Gasol -- 360 votes! -- for the third East frontcourt spot quite possibly ensured Paul Millsap gets in as a reserve. Melo was an All-Star either way, but Gasol will have a tough time getting the coaches' vote over Andre Drummond, Millsap and Chris Bosh, presuming guards take up both wild card spots.
ZAZA FEVER: The big news in West All-Star voting is that Kawhi Leonard snagged a starting spot in the frontcourt, joining Kobe and Kevin Durant. So you think that means Kawhi edged out Draymond Green? Wrong. He edged out Zaza Pachulia, who stormed to a No. 4 finish and ended just 14,000 votes behind Leonard. HOW? A huge young Vine star campaigned for him, seemingly randomly. What a world.
If Kobe had been a guard this season, or if he'd already been retired, we could have seen Zaza beat out Draymond for an All-Star starter position. Just on the principle, Green should boycott the Warriors' next three home games. Teach those ungrateful fans a lesson.
IMPORTANT CLIFF ROBINSON NEWS: Noted former NBA journeyman Cliff Robinson, who got dinged a few times by the league’s anti-drug policy, is opening a weed store in Oregon. It is named Uncle Spliffy. This could absolutely be a hoax and I wouldn’t care. It’s too perfect.
IN WHICH I SOLVE INTENTIONAL FOULING: We’ve seen enough bad shooters take too many free throws on a given night. Intentional fouling is getting out of hand. One rule tweak can fix it all.
SCORES ...
LAC 102, CLE 115
DET 99, NOP 115
MEM 102, DEN 101
ATL 88, SAC 91
SAS 117, PHX 89
YO: Chris Paul bamfed Matthew Dellavedova right into a wormhole with this jab step. Yet CP3 missed the wide open shot and the Clippers got their tails whipped, so ...
THE SECOND GLOVE: Awesome Ricky O’Donnell piece on how Oregon State’s Gary Payton II stepped out of his father’s shadow.
UH OH: Charles Barkley bellowed about Hassan Whiteside's inability to rebound (inaccurate), so Whiteside memed Chuck up. Barkley is really not popular among big men drafted by the Kings in 2010.
YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT: Ten photos of NBA players fighting for turkey sandwiches.
THAT NEW PLANET: You may have heard astronomers (who are by definition the dopest people alive) have discovered a potential new planet in our solar system. If so-called Planet X is in fact discovered, there will be some effort to collectively name it. To me, there is only one answer: Lovetron. We need to name it Lovetron.
THIS WEEKEND: You may remember the offseason news that ABC would only broadcast one game most Sundays now, and would add one on Saturday night. Those Saturday night games start this weekend, with Bulls-Cavaliers. Saturday also features Wizards-Jazz and Pacers-Kings on League Pass. There's no national TV on Sunday, though, because of football. Mavericks-Rockets and Raptors-Clippers are very nice, though.
Happy Friday. See you next time.
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