The conspiracy to prevent a Zaza Pachulia NBA All-Star bid, explained

Good morning. It’s Friday. Let’s basketball.

THE ZAZA CONSPIRACY: Zaza Pachulia is currently No. 2 in the fan vote for the Western Conference All-Star frontcourt. He’s behind only his teammate Kevin Durant. He’s 203,000 votes ahead of teammate Draymond Green (No. 4). This comes a year after coming thisclose to winning a starting spot as a Maverick thanks to a teenage Vine star, Wyclef Jean, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili and Kobe Bryant being misclassified as a forward.

But Zaza won’t actually be an All-Star. The league revealed on Thursday how the media and player vote will be added to the fan vote for final results. It would take players and the media ranking Zaza in the top-10 (maybe higher) to keep him in a starting spot. (Example: say he finished No. 2 in fan vote, No. 20 in player vote and No. 20 in media vote. His final score would be 11. If Green finishes No. 4 in fan vote, he could finish as low at No. 16 in both the player and media vote and still beat Zaza with a final score of 10. And Green is going to finish much higher than that in the player and media vote.)

Brilliant move by the NBA to short circuit a John Scott situation right before it’s due to happen.

SCORES GALORE ...

Nets 109, Pacers 121
Jazz 93, Raptors 101
Hornets 114, Pistons 115
Hawks 99, Pelicans 94
Thunder 116, Rockets 118
Suns 102, Mavericks 95
Spurs 127, Nuggets 99
Lakers 109, Blazers 118

FIRE SALE APPROACHING: The Hawks traded Kyle Korver to the ... Cavaliers! This indicates that Atlanta knows the jig is up. They’ll get a protected first and Mo Williams for their troubles. Mike Dunleavy is headed somewhere, too, to make room for Korver.

UNSPECTACULAR: I wrote an essay on why Stephen Curry isn’t spectacular anymore.

MVP DUEL: Russell Westbrook put up bigger numbers, but James Harden got the win on Thursday.

PHENOMENAL: This Marco Belinelli buzzer beater should have counted because of its sheer brazenness.

I BELIEVE: Zito Madu on the wide-eyed belief in and of Giannis Antetokounmpo. And here’s John Schuhmann on Giannis’ post work, which set up his game-winner at Madison Square Garden.

THE ART OF THE CROSSOVER: This ESPN video on the ego-bruising nature of the crossover is just spectacular. Allen Iverson, Jamal Crawford, Jason Williams — all talking about the craft. Awesome.

BOOMTOWN: Zach Lowe analyzes the scoring boom and what coaches will do about it.

AND ANOTHER ONE: Dennis Smith is the next ultra-athletic point guard to hit the NBA.

TAKE FLIGHT: Love this piece by Kristian Winfield on Eric Gordon achieving the inevitable success that injuries repeatedly delayed.

INVENTIVE: Bebe Noguiera dropped his shorts to distract Rudy Gobert, who was shooting a free throw.

HORRIFYING: Doug McDermott on the severe symptoms from his second concussion, including memory loss.

KLEPTO: Kawhi Leonard stole the ball from Pau Gasol, who is his teammate. (Pau flopped, naturally.)

IN THE CHASE: Markelle Fultz, potential No. 1 pick, has mastered the art of the chasedown block.

ZZZ: I would tell you all about the 2017 NBA All-Star jerseys but I keep falling asleep when looking at thsdffffffffffsdf

POP IN THOSE EARBUDS: Flanns and Gonz talk MVP, George Karl and more on Drive & Kick. Seth Rosenthal joins Limited Upside to declare teams as good or trash.

NEXT UP: The Knicks get an ESPN revenge game in Milwaukee (8 p.m. ET) and the road-weary Grizzlies meet the Warriors (10:30). There aren’t any games between good teams on League Pass.

Be excellent to each other.