Kevin Durant did another run on The Bill Simmons Podcast, and most of the attention the first part is getting is due to the PSA he issued to “all the blog boys and fanboys” expressing doubt in analytics.
Let’s explore Kevin Durant’s Taco Bell theory of mortality
We have that and more in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Amid that Durant says “all these guys are gonna write articles and get real mad about what I said tonight.” I, for one, am not going to take that bait [*cough* especially when provoked by a dude with burner sock puppet accounts *cough*].
Something else is more worthy of attention. Here is Durant’s Taco Bell theory of mortality:
”After we won the championship, I had Taco Bell and it ran through me just like it would a normal person. I’m like, ‘Oh s--t. I thought I had a golden stomach (laughing). I thought I was immune to everything, but no. You thought, like, Michael Jordan never went to the bathroom. [...]
”That’s the perception of it all: we’re just immortal. We’re normal f--king people who are really good at what we do. But at the end of the day, we go to sleep just like everybody else. We really put on our pants just like everybody else. We take a s--t like everybody else! So it made me realize that I am not king anything because we won a championship. I just achieved what I want in my profession. [...] It makes me realize that, like, that superstar word to me really isn’t a thing. It’s all a facade and all a fake. When I go through normal stuff, it makes me realize that I’m just a mere mortal. But I’m really f--king good at basketball.”
TED Talk coming this summer.
Playoff Picture Update
Scores Galore ...
CLE 118, CHA 105
BKN 111, ORL 104
NYK 101, PHI 118
POR 103, MEM 108
ATL 114, MIN 126
BOS 97, UTA 94
LAC 111, PHX 99
DAL 93, LAL 103
... And So Much More
Updated NBA mock draft. I’m not leaving the Luka Doncic No. 1 train until the train catches on fire and careens into a lake. And even then, hey, I can swim.
Remember how Ben Simmons cajoled Karl-Anthony Towns into staying up late to play video games, indicating that because the Wolves were playing the Hawks the next day Towns had plenty of time? Turns out Towns put a career-high and set the Wolves’ franchise scoring record with 56 against Atlanta. Simmons knows.
I wrote about three lessons from the Jazz’s success in the wake of Gordon Hayward’s exit, including the fact that team culture really does matter.
All the data suggests the RAPTORS’ BENCH can hang with the best lineups in the East. Do you believe it?
Anthony Davis is asking the internet whether he ought to shave his unibrow. #engagement
The Kings announce a partnership with Black Lives Matter Sacramento and the Build Black Coalition to invest in black youth in Sacramento. The Kings have another home game Thursday, protests continue in the city, and thousands of fans have been prevented from entering the arena in two of the last three games due to protests in front of the entrances. The team and city have a plan to get fans in the arena, it appears.
Joel Embiid has a facial contusion. We’ll take a thousand facial contusions, just no knee or foot injuries.
So, Isaiah Thomas is going to go ahead and have hip surgery. Welp. Here’s a timeline of how he got here, going under the knife right before unrestricted free agency.
Given Steph Curry’s injury, for the first time in perhaps his whole career, Kevin Durant needs to run the offense.
LeBron James explains why, were he an MVP voter, he would vote for LeBron James. One flaw in his reasoning is he cites Cleveland’s tumult and turnover without acknowledging his own potential role in said tumult and turnover.
Be excellent to each other.
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