So much for the Thunder

The Thunder never turned into a proper title contender after trading for Paul George and Carmelo Anthony. As it turns out, the Thunder never turned into a properly reliable team. Oklahoma City lost Game 3 of its series with the Jazz on Saturday, dropping to 2-1 for the series. Utah has Game 4 at home, as well, and seems to have figured out how to contain the Thunder offense while finding seams to score against them.

Many of those seams were exploited on Saturday by Rick Rubio, who had 26 points and a triple-double. His counterpart Russell Westbrook nearly had a triple-double, but scored just 14 points on 5-17 shooting and racked up eight turnovers. Rubio shot 9-18 with four turnovers.

If OKC’s star-laden starting five is going to get blown out of the water -- they did in all the minutes Steven Adams missed due to foul trouble -- the Thunder have no chance. If Adams can’t stay on the court and Westbrook and PG can’t score relatively efficiency, this series is over. And so is the season. And so is, probably, the short-lived Paul George era in OKC.

Sixers 106, Heat 102
Philadelphia leads 3-1
Recaps: Liberty Ballers | Hot Hot Hoops

Pelicans 131, Blazers 123
New Orleans wins series 4-0
Recaps: The Bird Writes | Blazers Edge

Timberwolves 121, Rockets 105
Houston leads 2-1
Recaps: Canis Hoopus | The Dream Shake

Jazz 115, Thunder 102
Utah leads 2-1
Recaps: SLC Dunk | Welcome To Loud City

Celtics at Bucks, 1 p.m. ET, ABC
Boston leads 2-1

Warriors at Spurs, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC
Golden State leads 3-0

Raptors at Wizards, 6 p.m. ET, TNT
Toronto leads 2-1

Cavaliers at Pacers, 8:30 p.m. ET, TNT
Indiana leads 2-1

Look, this Sixers-Heat series has been completely off the rails. Here’s a deep Matt Ellentuck dive into all the crazy. Someone is going to get knocked out if this series goes six or seven. Ben Simmons and James Johnson are getting awful familiar.

Meanwhile, Joel Embiid tried to sneak out their onto the court without his mask.

Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday both had 40-spots if you’re curious as to how the Pelicans’ sweep attempt of the Blazers went. It is with great pleasure that I declare that the only team that has advanced to the second round of the 2018 NBA playoffs is ... the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Wolves might have picked up some all-important confidence in their Game 3 win.

We didn’t talk enough about how Rick Rubio’s dominant pre-game outfit started the day off right against sartorial genius Russ Westbrook.

Tim Cato wrote about the Cavaliers’ seemingly insurmountable talent issues. I wrote that LeBron can’t receive all of the credit and none of the blame.

Each of the Morris twins got fined for various infractions that occurred in separate series. Mind meld.

BEEF HISTORY: Chris Paul vs. DeMarcus Cousins. I live for this.

Chris Herring on Jrue Holiday’s breakout from a couple days ago.

Nice piece on Jayson Tatum’s childhood and rise to the NBA.

Luka Doncic declared for the NBA Draft. He’s the real deal.

Is sneaker culture being gentrified?

Be excellent to each other.