Dion Waiters hit another dagger to give the Miami Heat another win. It’s not even surprising at this point. It’s more like, “Hey, are the Heat playing?” If the answer is yes, Dion Waiters is hitting a dagger and the Heat are winning. It’s science.
Dion Waiters came to make pancakes and hit daggers and he’s all out of pancake batter
Good morning. We have that and more in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.
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Miami has won 20 of 24. Over the last month, Waiters is hitting 45 percent of his threes and averaging 19 points per game. The Heat have been killer on defense, Erik Spoelstra has probably earned Coach of the Year, Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic are earning their considerable contracts, and the Dwyane Wade saga is fading quickly into history.
Speaking of D-Wade and his new club: Miami is just a half-game behind Chicago for the No. 8 seed in the East, despite the Heat starting the season 11-30. The Pistons have slipped, actually, so by the weekend the Heat could be the No. 7 seed. This is outrageous.
One curious note in all of this: the four losses for Miami since MLK Day have come against Philadelphia, Dallas, and Orlando twice. Meanwhile, in that span the Heat have beaten the Warriors, the Rockets twice, and the Cavaliers twice. This team is mystic in ways mere men cannot understand.
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Scores Galore ...
CHI 91, ORL 98
BKN 105, ATL 110
CHA 101, MIA 108
NYK 93, MIL 104
TOR 94, NOP 87
UTA 115, HOU 108
LAC 91, MIN 107
DET 98, IND 115
SAC 104, SAS 114
WAS 123, DEN 113
BOS 99, GSW 86
... And Plenty More
Shout out to the Boston Celtics, who had a signature win/defensive masterpiece in Oracle to beat the Warriors. Holding Golden State to 86 points is just crazy! The Warriors had only been held to fewer than 86 in the regular season or playoffs during the Steve Kerr era once: in San Antonio last March. Celtics fans, who are omnipresent when Boston is good, gave Isaiah Thomas MVP chants once Warriors fans started to filter out early.
The Pelicans are 2-6 since acquiring DeMarcus Cousins. The Kings are 1-6 since trading. Do we have the rare lose-lose trade on our hands? (New Orleans is now 4.5 games out of the playoffs. It’s not going to happen for them. And because of that, the trade looks better for the Kings, who could now get the Nos. 5 and 6 picks in a best-case scenario.)
Speaking of Boogie, Kevin O’Connor grades the deadline trades a few weeks into our new reality.
The Spurs came back from 28 down to beat Sacramento by 10. And they did it without Kawhi Leonard or LaMarcus Aldridge!
Ramona Shelburne, the monarch of L.A. C-suite basketball reporting, has the inside story of why Jeanie Buss booted her brother and sparked the apparent ongoing civil war within the Lakers.
Markieff Morris kicked Mason Plumlee in the crotch. Draymond Green and the American Society of Physicists will be sending the tape to the league office.
I wrote about the virtue of patience in declaring the MVP race over in response to a Deadspin piece declaring the MVP race over. That piece’s author, Albert Burneko, has doubled-down, declaring that offense is more important than defense in arguing against Kawhi Leonard’s candidacy. I’m going to back-burner that topic until I receive medical care to treat the damage I received from touching such a scorching hot take.
An important corrective: Nike isn’t the first sportswear company to design and deliver a performance hijab.
Surprisingly athletic Gordan Hayward surprisingly blocks James Harden at the rim.
Darnell Hillman won the 1977 dunk contest. He finally got his trophy.
It’s a basic fact: every awesome Louisville team needs a stellar guard. Future first-round pick Donovan Mitchell has became that, writes Ricky O’Donnell.
I love everything about this story of James Johnson’s weight loss efforts.
And finally: J.R. Smith compares his injury recovery to the Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
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