Perhaps the Suns should sign more Baby Boomers like Tyson Chandler

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

FAREWELL FROM BOSTON: Kobe played his last game in Boston in December. Kevin Garnett might have made his final appearance, too. As you’d expect, Paul Flannery writes, fans sent them off in a proper fashion. Paul gets deep into the mystique these two living legends have in Beantown and how they made Lakers vs. Celtics matter for another generation. Check it out.

JIMMY! Jimmy Butler broke an MJ record by dropping 40 in a half to lead the Bulls past the Raptors on Sunday. Chicago is No. 2 in the East, by the way.

OY: Robert Sarver, franchise owner of the Suns, blames Phoenix’s troubles on his management (including himself) but also on the failings of the millennial generation. He legitimately claims that Markieff Morris is mad because he’s a millennial who reads too much Facebook and doesn’t know how to deal with setbacks. I would say that Morris has shown an ability to deal with setbacks in the past, and that a combination of feeling duped when his brother got traded plus the general miasma hanging about the franchise are more responsible for the bad feelings and bad actions. This isn’t a defense of Markieff at all. This is a disagreement that Sarver knows what the hell he’s talking about.

THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE: The millennials on the Lakers had no problems stunting all over Sarver’s Suns. That dunk made Swaggy P fake lose consciousness, forcing fake courtside CPR!

SPEAKING OF THE MORRII .. It turns out that Marcus Morris isn’t altogether pleasant either. Maybe it’s a personality trait and not a generational characteristic? Anyway, thankfully Malice II between the Pistons and Pacers petered out quickly. Those millennials just don’t throw haymakers like Gen X ...

THE BLAZERS BEND PHYSICS TO THEIR NEEDS: Tim Frazier saves the ball ... over the backboard ... as a perfect lob to Noah Vonleh, who finishes the oop. Like, HOW? This should be worth 10 points.

BAN FANS: A fan in Charlotte received a red card for screaming at Kevin Durant, who was apparently standing too close to the fan’s courtside seat? I’m going to need someone to explain courtside seats to the bro ...

’MIROTIC’ IS SERBIAN FOR ‘YOOO’: Nikola Mirotic with a shot only Steph Curry can usually get away with.

PLAY HIM OFF: 39-year veteran referee Joey Crawford will retire from game action at season’s end. Hope he’s able to TRAVEL. (Get it?)

FUNNIEST MAN IN THE NBA: DeMarcus Cousins, notable collector of technical fouls, gives George Karl dap after the coach earns a tech. No wonder LeBron James Kid switched allegiance to Boogie!

WILD: Walt Frazier bought a zoo and promptly turned it into a blazer.

LOOK WITHIN: Intensely personal column by Chris Haynes on how blacks are treated by cops, how fear keeps so many quiet and what we need to do before critiquing LeBron on social issues.

THE PRESSURE COOKER: The Atlantic recently published a major piece on the high-achieving students of Palo Alto, where an all-encompassing push for academic and extracurricular excellence is believed to have contributed in two teen suicide clusters in the past six years. Jeremy Lin attended Palo Alto High, wrote about the The Atlantic story and his experiences at Paly on his Facebook page and joined NPR’s Only a Game to discuss the issue in more depth.

ALL HAIL: The New York Times profiles Matt Hill, the gentleman behind those funny Spurs Special Forces cartoons. (Thanks Kirk.)

NOTED: Kanye released a diss track against Nike on New Year’s Eve.

AWESOME: Jessica Luther compiled a list of best sports writing and reporting by women in 2015. There is a ridiculous amount of great stuff on that list, including a few from SB Nation and a couple of basketball stories. But I remain enchanted most by Claudia Rankine on Serena.

AN ANNUAL TREAT: Marc Stein’s awards for the first trimester of the season.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND PSYCHOLOGICAL SPORTS SELF-HURT: Via REDEF, researchers have determined why some fans keep rooting for bad teams that make them persistently miserable. This is relevant to my interests!

STU, ONE YEAR ON: On the anniversary of Stuart Scott’s death, his daughters released a video essay memorializing him. As always, f--k you, cancer.

AND FINALLY: Bill Walton waving a light saber at a Grateful Dead show. Enjoy.

Happy Monday. See you next time.