Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Someone taught Marc Gasol how to shimmy
Good morning. We have that and more in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
SORRY, CLIPPERS: In Wednesday’s Reality Index, I wrote that the Clippers were legit because their starting unit is a) so good and b) locked in. Then the Grizzlies went into L.A. and beat ‘em. Marc Gasol shooting threes and then celebrating is a thing of wonder.
EATING CRAB OUT IN MALIBU WITH DOBU: It was Drake Night in Toronto, which was nice because Drake’s actual favorite team the Warriors were visiting. The real story was Drake’s incredible Doris Burke shirt, his halftime dinner invitation to Doris and Doris’ postgame Twitter acceptance. Meanwhile, the Raptors lost and Draymond Green blamed Drake’s boots. Sounds about right.
Speaking of the Raptors, this is a very good Seerat Sohi piece on whether they’ve become Canada’s team.
DAGGER! Russell Westbrook seals a Thunder win with a completely unnecessary dunk all over Clint Capela.
SCORES GALORE ...
Wizards 102, Sixers 109
Pelicans 82, Magic 89
Cavaliers 93, Pacers 103
Mavericks 83, Celtics 90
Pistons 102, Knicks 105
Bucks 100, Hawks 107
Rockets 103, Thunder 105
Warriors 127, Raptors 121
Suns 104, Nuggets 120
Grizzlies 111, Clippers 107
Spurs 110, Kings 105
AND ANOTHER ONE: Stan Van Gundy was asked about the Trump hotel boycott by three NBA teams and the possé kerfuffle. He answered. Meanwhile, Gregg Popovich had more to talk about as it pertains to the President-elect and his comfort level sharing his opinion given his team’s owners donated to Trump.
IN-VINCE-IBLE: Vince Carter is the oldest player in the NBA at nearly 40. He dropped 20 twice in the past week.
NBA TV IS EVERYWHERE NOW: Sling TV abruptly added NBA TV to its channel lineup a few days after Playstation Vue did so. Last year, you couldn’t get NBA TV anywhere but through a cable/dish subscription. Now there’s so many options! Here’s our updated cord-cutters guide.
THE EVOLUTION OF NBA UNIFORMS. On a similar topic, can Russell Westbrook help save Jordan Brand and its Jumpman logo?
PROOF THAT POTUS NEEDS TO DO MORE NBA PODCASTS: President Obama struggles a little trying to pronounce Yawn-iss An-tet-oh-koo-wahn-poe while visiting Greece. (There’s no chance I got that right in spelling it out. No chance.)
YOU NEED MORE PEOPLE: Michael Pina on what the Pistons need to make the leap.
LUPIN THE THIRD: The Timberwolves can’t figure out the third quarter.
LIVE FROM MAD-ISON: Marc Tracy goes inside the most political locker room in college basketball.
KLAY THA GOD: Klay Thompson takes a swig of his postgame Coors Light while being interviewed on camera by a reporter.
NEXT UP: The first game of the TNT double-header is Sixers vs. Timberwolves (8 p.m. ET). That’s a nice look at a lot of interesting young players, but you might want to switch over to League Pass (if you have League Pass) to watch Blazers-Rockets (8 p.m.) instead. The second TNT game is Bulls-Jazz (10:30 p.m. — an 8:30 local tip ... in Utah!) and should be highly watchable despite a distinct lack of Luc Longley or Greg Foster.
Be excellent to each other.
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