Good morning. Let’s basketball.
You’ll never believe what happened to the Thunder this time
Good morning. We have that and more in Friday’s NBA newsletter.
ANOTHER ONE: The Warriors beat the Thunder by massively outplaying them in the fourth quarter again. Here are the best plays from the game. This time OKC led by nine with four minutes left in the third; the lead was erased totally 15 seconds into the fourth, and Stephen Curry took over from there. Kevin Durant was rather sloppy with the ball, and Russell Westbrook wasn’t shooting well. The Thunder have lost to the Warriors twice and the Clippers once this week. But, hey, they beat the Kings!
ON THAT NOTE: Before the Thursday night game, Jesus Gomez wrote that there’s a reason OKC falls apart in crunch time.
FOR EMPHASIS: The Warriors are 50 games over .500. Fifty games over .500.
CHUCK IS FOR THE CHILDREN: It doesn’t actually matter if we all hate Chuck the Condor with the fire of a thousand imploding stars because Chuck the Condor is a tool to market to little kids.
POOR UNFORTUNATE SOULS: If you see Cavaliers fans freaking out, this is why: cryptic social media posts from LeBron, a visit to Miami and public longing for ... Kendrick Perkins?!
SCORES GALORE ...
PHX 92, MIA 108
SAS 94, NOP 86
SAC 104, DAL 101
OKC 106, GSW 121
BIG GAME HUNTERS: 50-point games are up this season. Can Steph and a new dependence on the three lead to an era of high-scoring games?
ABOUT RIGHT: Hey Rajon Rondo, how do you feel about beating the Mavericks as thousands of Dallas fans booed and heckled you? “It’s definitely a great place to get a motherffff ... get a win.“
WHO DRUGGED THE SPURS? The Spurs go Shaqtin’ the fool.
REAL IS REAL: Woj on the truth-telling of Draymond Green.
BASKETBALL IN SPACE: Astronaut Scott Kelly grew two inches during his year in space. Clearly this is what NBA prospects should be doing. First businessman to set up a moon-based AAU team wins my fandom.
STILL THE KING: Kendrick Lamar put out a collection of unreleased tracks late Thursday because LeBron basically demanded it on Twitter.
INTERESTING DEBATE: Is Steph the face of the rational basketball movement, or an indictment of it?
ON THE AIR TONIGHT: Your Friday ESPN doubleheader features potential first-round preview Wizards-Cavaliers (8 p.m. ET) followed by Hawks-Lakers (10:30, no thank you). Pacers-Hornets is a great early option on League, and Raptors-Blazers is the game of the night. The Saturday primetime game on ABC is Rockets-Bulls and the Sunday matinee is Warriors-Lakers.
Happy Friday. See you next time.
* * *
Hard Mode: NBA 2K16 can’t keep up with Stephen Curry
See More:
