Good morning. Let’s basketball.
The Kevin Durant-Russell Westbrook doomsday clock ticks closer to midnight
Good morning. We have that and more in Friday’s NBA newsletter.
GET YOU A MAN WHO CAN DO BOTH: Joel Embiid muscles around Marcin Gortat for an emphatic putback. Joel Embiid locks up John Wall on the perimeter.
SNIP SNIP: I wrote a cord-cutters’ guide to watching the NBA legally. The upshot is that it’s totally tenable as long as you don’t have a favorite team that you live relatively near. Another point in favor of liberated fandom! I didn’t get into quasi-legal-ish solutions in the post, but it’s been pointed out that the NBA does not block use of VPNs that spoof your location. If you can convince NBA League Pass you live in Alaska or, heck, Copenhagen, you won’t get blacked out of your Jazz game.
OH GOOD: The Kevin Durant-Russell Westbrook doomsday clock ticks a minute closer to midnight after RW gave a salty reply to a misconstrued KD quote. On one hand: come on, y’all, stop trying to will this thing into a nuclear showdown. On the other hand: one reaps what one sows, and Durant knew he’d make Westbrook mad by ditching him.
PREVIEW TIME: Professor Flannery and I think the Wizards are good enough to have no excuse to miss the playoffs again. We have a small difference of opinion on the Grizzlies, as I riff on the nature of prediction. We also have a Wizards preview from Bullets Forever and a Memphis preview from Grizzly Bear Blues.
CHARGED UP: Mark Titus makes the case against the charge. I tend to agree, even though the charge is a sign of intelligent, brave defense and I’m not totally into dismissing forms of intelligent, brave defense. I think if you killed the charge you’d end up with more mid-air challenges of shots near the rim, so I’m not fully convinced injury rates would decrease. But it’s enough of a flow-of-the-game issue to support the end of charges, I suppose.
MIS(TER)UNDERSTOOD: A New Yorker (!) profile of J.R. Smith. Sign him, Cavs.
THE AARON GORDON CONUNDRUM: Danny Chau on whether Aaron Gordon can really be an effective small forward.
ABRAMS ALERT: Jonathan Abrams on the young, hungry Wolves.
IN HIS HONOR: The Thunder hosted the Grizzlies in Tulsa on Thursday, and had the initial TC embroidered on their shooting shirts in honor of slain Tulsa resident Terence Crutcher. His family was also invited to the game.
GROWTH INDUSTRY: Kevin Nesgoda of Sonics Rising reports that with the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement nearly complete, expansion is increasingly on the table and Seattle could get a team quickly if it gets its arena built. You’d expect the league to seek double-expansion to make the number of teams even. I’m a fan going outside the box in a city without a major pro sports team, and to me Vegas goes off the table with the arrival of the NHL and possible arrival of the NFL’s Raiders. My top choices off the cuff: Louisville or Mexico City.
CRUCIAL: Game 3 of the best-of-5 WNBA Finals is Friday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Matt Ellentuck writes that if the Lynx continue to own the offensive glass, the Sparks are toast. Either way, Game 4 — a closeout game for the Friday winner — is Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
COOL: LeBron James, who has a program to pay for all Akron kids to go to college, says he too plans to take college courses when time allows. He wants to study world history.
PASTARITIS: Kristaps Porzingis explains the cornrows and how being the youngest brother helped him get to where he is.
AND FINALLY: A rookie Luke Walton came to practice hungover one day, so Kobe demanded no one help Luke on defense and proceeded to torture him for an hour or so. Don’t drink too much, kids.
Happy Friday. Enjoy your weekend and be excellent to each other.
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