Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Time for LeBron to put on his hot take armor
Good morning. We have that and more in Wednesday’s NBA newsletter.
NOW OR NEVER: The Cavaliers face their fate on Wednesday at 9 p.m. on ABC. If the Warriors win Game 3, we can all go home. If the Cavaliers pull it out, we know the series will survive the weekend and maybe longer. I wrote about the unfairness of comparing how the Warriors and Cavs were individually built. That piece also goes into a number of lucky misses Golden State has experienced in recent years, like failing to recruit Dwight Howard in 2013 (whew!) and watching the Clippers match the DeAndre Jordan offer sheet in 2012.
THE FORGOTTEN ASSASSIN: Deep Zach Lowe piece on Klay Thompson, who has quietly been every bit as important as Steph Curry in these playoffs (if not more so).
THE LONELY KING: Joe Posnanski writes on LeBron flying solo in the Finals again. Really lovely writing (it’s Posnanski, I mean come on) but I think this does frost over the fact that LeBron has been shut down by the Warriors pretty well. That’s a glaring factor through two games. (Mike Prada will have something on this topic later this morning.)
ACT LIKE YOU’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE: Really nice piece by Brett Zelman on how Cleveland fans have been in this spot before and know the drill.
THE BIRTH OF A BEHEMOTH: Lee Jenkins on the development and unleashing of the Warriors’ small ball lineup.
SLEEP TRAIN: Ken Berger on how teams are trying to figure out how to get players enough of the right kind of sleep. (Can content companies get on this?)
AWESOME: The NBA teamed up with GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) and Teespring to design rainbow logo T-shirts for all 30 teams in honor of Pride Month. These are beautiful in what they represent and in actual aesthetic terms. That Celtics logo! The Nuggets and Jazz!
REST IN PEACE: Sixers assistant coach Sean Rooks, a retired journeyman player beloved by teammates, passed away on Tuesday at 46. Deepest condolences to his family, friends and the Sixers staff. Woj reports Rooks had just earlier in the day interviewed for a coaching job with the Knicks. Let us hope Rooks’ children can find peace and strength beyond the incomparable pain.
SELECTIONS: USA Basketball announced the Select team that will scrimmage against the final Team USA roster before the Olympics. It’s a good mix of players from the draft classes of 2014-16. The most interesting note: Gregg Popovich, the next Team USA coach, will lead the squad. (From the sidelines. He’s not going to play.)
OH: The National Basketball Referees Association calls for the elimination or reform of the “Last Two Minutes” process. The reforms boil down to: hire ex-refs to write the reports and name them upon release, do better on interpreting rules (does the L2M need a L2M?) and establish a repeal process.
IN DEFENSE OF BIG SEAN: The great Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald recently took time out of an episode of “The Watch” podcast to lambast rapper Big Sean. To be sure, Big Sean stands out from other rappers of his era -- in his cadence, word choice and often his themes. And to be sure, Big Sean has some groan-worthy lines. (Like, some really bad lines.) On first (and second and third) listen of a song featuring Big Sean, his verse(s) can often be grating. Kanye’s “Mercy” is no exception: I mean, those lines are *not good.* But you know what? Kanye has some really dumb lines, too. (Might I present the opening four lines of “Father Stretch My Hands Part 1,” which almost derail what would otherwise be a perfect track?)
There are a lot of lines from the legends of hip hop (and rock and pop and I imagine country) that don’t stand up to the test of time. Some Big Sean lines don’t stand up to the test of the moment. But it’s not that big a deal. He’s not so distracting as to ruin tracks. (Example: “Mercy.”) Dark Sky Paradise is a good album. Big Sean is not bad! He’s like the Evan Turner of rap. He’s different than everyone else in strange and sometimes interesting ways, he could be better and he doesn’t always come through, but oh well. He’s fine. This concludes my defense of Big Sean.
Happy Wednesday. Enjoy Game 3. See you next time.
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