For SB Nation’s end-of-the-year package, Paul Flannery wrote a brilliant piece on how the NBA went year-round and how that impacts how we think about the sport and its protagonists. Go read it. It’s so good.
Months of the infinite NBA calendar, ranked
We have that and more in Wednesday’s NBA newsletter.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
It got me thinking about what my favorite parts of the NBA calendar are. Here’s my month-by-month ranking with a little explanation.
1. June: A no-brainer due to the NBA Finals and the NBA draft, easily the two best phenomena in the league (even if the former is often less compelling and the latter is completely bizarre and retrograde).
2. February: It edges out our next entry because it’s a triple-threat. February has the ridiculous spectacle of All-Star Weekend, the intrigue of the trade deadline, plus actual, competitive basketball games.
3. July: Free agency is a blessing of hilarity, and that first week of July might be only second to draft week in the full 52-week rankings. Summer League is cool, but it’s less cool than real NBA games, which is why February takes a narrow lead.
4. May: Playoff basketball (including the conference finals, which often have the most competitive series) plus the absurd NBA draft lottery, which should get even more wild beginning in 2019 due to lottery reform.
5. April: PLAYOFFS! The last day of the regular season is also so much fun — one of the best single days on the calendar.
6. October: That first week of the regular season is usually packed with promise and fun match-ups. October also allows us to make wildly irresponsible early analyses. Love it.
7. January: We spend half of the month talking about all-star ballots, plus the NBA has really done some good things to honor the Civil Rights Movement around Martin Luther King Jr. Day (weaved into a slew of national TV games, natch).
8. December: Christmas is another one of those top-10 NBA calendar days, but much of the rest of December is similar to November and January. Dec. 15 — the first day most players acquired in the summer can be traded — is a nice jolt of juice as the season ticks on.
9. November: Lots of basketball, but everyone is still figuring out themselves and each other. It is so dangerous to have basketball opinions in November!
10. March: The death march to the end of the season as most playoff spots have been tentatively claimed and teams (good and bad) start sitting guys randomly.
11. August: Kyrie Irving saved us this year, but the dirty little secret is that big name NBA writers usually go on vacation in August because there usually isn’t a Kyrie Irving to save us.
12. September: Every NBA writer spends September stressing about their preview pieces and scraping together the last remnants of freedom with their family and friends.
Scores Galore ...
ATL 114, CLE 123
DEN 103, DET 84
LAL 109, NYK 113 (OT)
WAS 98, BKN 103
SAS 89, DAL 95
PHI 118, MIN 112 (OT)
PHX 92, SAC 99
... And So Much More.
Be sure to check out the rest of our awesome year-end package on Expectations vs. Reality, which includes Elena Bergeron on LaVar Ball, Tyler Tynes on the intertwining of sports and politics, Jason Kirk and Mike Rutherford on the NCAA’s lack of control, and much more.
The Timberwolves lost in overtime to the Sixers. You’ll be unsurprised to learn that three Wolves played more than 40 minutes, with Karl-Anthony Towns playing 48.
Father Time is, famously, undefeated. Kevin Pelton writes about how LeBron James is testing him anyway.
Flannery’s five lessons from Victor Oladipo’s emergence.
Kawhi Leonard is back, but he played just 15 minutes and the Spurs actually lost. Credit Gregg Popovich’s humility and LaMarcus Aldridge’s honesty for the Spurs surviving without Leonard for so long.
We see you pettily liking old tweets about the Paul George trade, Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard!
I enjoyed John Gonzalez on the Lakers’ long education ahead.
Charles Barkley was all over CNN Tuesday night as everyone’s favorite Alabamian.
Shea Serrano on the highly enjoyable little moments of an NBA game.
Are the Knicks, like ... good? I mean, Kristaps Porzingis is clearly a superstar. But the players around him ... it’s kind of working!
With nine games scheduled, the early game on ESPN is the showstopper: George and the reeling Thunder visit the floating, feathery Pacers at 7 p.m. ET. The late game is Dwight Howard and the Hornets in Houston at 9:30. A couple of good League Pass options, too. Full schedule here.
Logos from the NBA 2K league are rolling out.
Memo to the Ball family: History has not been kind to young American players overseas.
Be excellent to each other.
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