Kyrie Irving doesn’t seem weird, for once

Jackie MacMullan unfurled a massive, MacMullanian profile of Kyrie Irving upon the Cavaliers’ visit (and loss) to Boston Wednesday. It’s a masterpiece of the form that gets little directly from Irving but more than plenty from everyone else. And though Irving wasn’t particularly useful in providing material (apparently), he comes off well.

This is a kid who thrives on being challenged, who wants to be different, who needs to feel like he’s doing everything he can. That wasn’t happening in Cleveland, and couldn’t so long as Perhaps The Greatest Of All Time was around. So Irving asked out.

There are so many good nuggets and such excellent canon-building in MacMullan’s piece that I implore you to go read it now (in the event you didn’t catch it when it dropped). This is a piece we’ll be referencing when discussing Irving and, by extension, LeBron James for decades.

HOU 116, ORL 98
SAS 106, PHI 112
NYK 103, WAS 121
MIN 97, BKN 98
DET 104, MIA 111
CLE 88, BOS 102
TOR 124, CHI 115
IND 101, MIL 122
GSW 125, DAL 122
PHX 111, DEN 134
NOP 108, UTA 98
OKC 133, LAL 96

History in the making: Grambling State’s Shakyla Hill had a quadruple-double, the first in NCAA women’s basketball in a quarter century. It’s an amazing feat.

Isaiah Thomas didn’t play in Boston, but he did get a standing ovation! Here’s a refresher on Thomas’ intense relationship with the city.

Stephen Curry beat the Mavericks (again) with a game winning three.

DeMar DeRozan hit five threes again. Uh oh.

I wrote about the rebirth of Lakers exceptionalism under Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka.

How Oklahoma’s Trae Young became the biggest thing in college basketball.

A Montana basketball star is trying to be the rare American Indian player to go from life on a reservation to Division I.

The Bulls have been a feel-good story. The NBA’s lottery system is ruining the fun.

Good piece from James Herbert on how Brett Brown uses schoolteacher tactics with the Sixers.

Paul George destroyed the Lakers Wednesday night in OKC’s convincing win. But he’s still tied to L.A. through rumors. As it were, PG-13 and Brian Shaw surrendered their phones to NBA investigators to prove there was no tampering between them. They have a close relationship from time together in Indiana.

This Terrance Ferguson open court dunk was incredible. Also, he hurt his wrist doing it. Welp.

Shout out to Ayesha Curry, who is not an NBA wife.

The Big Baller family turned a Lithuanian airport into a paparazzi madhouse. Unreal.

Just the TNT doubleheader is scheduled for Thursday: a big Warriors-Rockets showdown without James Harden at 8 p.m. ET (it’s fine, Gerald Green is available) and Thunder-Clippers at 10:30.

Never let Nikola Mirotic cook for you.

Be excellent to each other.