Category: NBA

Utah Jazz Clinch a Playoff Berth After Winning 28 of 33 Games

Obviously not a huge deal to clinch the playoffs in the NBA, in which 16 teams do but realistically only 2 or 3 have a chance to actually win the whole damn thing. Regardless, the Jazz were sitting at 19-28 before ripping off this huge run to clinch the fourth spot (with a chance to grab the 3 seed) at 47-33. Gotta be one of the best mid-season turnarounds in sports in a long time.

Another crazy stat? They started 5-19 on the road — they are now 20-20 with the one loss being away at San Antonio in overtime. Nobody outside of a few Jazz fanatics (is that a thing? I’m really not sure what they do out in Utah) thought they had a chance at making the playoffs when they sputtered into a 19-28 record. Led by rookie sensation Donovan Mitchell, who would win the ROY any other year that Ben Simmons was not a rookie, the hype train for the Jazz is at full speed. All this without their star player from last year.

Who they’ll be playing is a different story as the West playoffs are literally all up for grabs coming down to the last game here:

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Crazy stuff — too bad the WCF is already set as the Warriors – Rockets otherwise we could pretend that we have a fun race here. Still, hats off to Utah and I hope to see them make some sort of run.

Are the Lakers and Nuggets Rivals If Nobody Actually Cares?

 

The Lakers played the Nuggets last night past the east coast’s deadline of caring about NBA games and were able to upset them with a 112-103 victory. The game was definitely chippy and was highlighted by one of the loudest chants during some late game free-throws.

I’ll give credit where credit is due — that’s a pretty loud chant. Count on Lakers fans to do it while their own player is shooting free throws and not even the Nuggets’ players but I guess baby steps?

I had no idea where the Murray hate came from but a few minutes digging around on the internet and here’s the reason the Lakers fans (& players) were butthurt at Jamal Murray.

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Dribbling around their golden boy — I actually loved the move when he did it. Completely unnecessary but got a cheap laugh out of it. Regardless, this was the reason for the chant and count on the smallest and pettiest player on the court to stick his nose in the drama:

Has there ever been a quicker turnaround of going from being loved to hated than IT? Crazy. He throws the ball at Jamal Murray to end the game as kind of payback. We got this little skirmish between Jokic and Randle to end the game as well.

I’m all for a little bad blood between teams but this one just seems so random? Does anybody really care if the Nuggets & Lakers get in a fight after midnight eastern? I don’t know. I am a bit intrigued on their next matchup to see if anything happens but I’m not circling it on my calendar.

Warriors Forced to Cancel Practice After Steph Curry’s 30th Birthday Party

Good on the Warriors for having their first likeable move in god knows how long. Steph invited all the Warriors out and well — take a look at Steve Kerr to show you how the night went.

https://twitter.com/treyzingis/status/973552758451261440

Electric stuff from the two time Finals winning champion coach and actually the first sign of being fun in Oakland has appeared. Sure there are still some Warriors sympathizers out there but everyone’s gotten to the point where we actually have to root for James Harden to make the Finals now — brutal.

Even I can enjoy a good laugh from the team that terrorizes the NBA. Good for them showing they’re human and cancelling practice for the day. This party probably did a better job on them than any of these western conference teams are going to come May & June.

Bucks Fire Head Coach Jason Kidd

The Milwaukee Bucks have parted way with Head Coach Jason Kidd after 4 years with the team. The Bucks are currently 24-22 and are the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference. For a team with so much talent — it was a surprise that they are only 2 games above .500, but it was shocking that they would fire their Head Coach halfway through the season.

It’s been reported that the news of Kidd’s firing has upset All-Star Forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. According to Ramona Shelburne, Giannis was willing to do whatever it took to keep Kidd.

It’s a head scratcher that the front office would make a move that wouldn’t have been okay’d by their teams best player.

The Bucks are a young team and it’s unfair to put all the blame on Kidd. With any young team, they must go through some growing pains.

Luckily for the Bucks, they’re about to get one of their leading scorers from last year back in Jabari Parker who averaged 20.1 PPG.

 

LeBron Congratulates Himself On Reaching 30,000 Points

LeBron is 7 points away from 30,000 points as he prepares to take on the Spurs tonight. Just when you thought he couldn’t become more insufferable — well he did the thing.

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Wanna be one of the first to Congratulate you on this accomplishment/achievement tonight that you’ll reach! Only a handful has reach/seen it too and while I know it’s never been a goal of yours from the beginning try(please try) to take a moment for yourself on how you’ve done it! The House you’re about to be apart of has only 6 seats in it(as of now) but 1 more will be added and you should be very proud and honored to be invited inside. There’s so many people to thank who has help this even become possible(so thank them all) and when u finally get your moment(alone) to yourself smile, look up to the higher skies and say THANK YOU! So with that said, Congrats again Young King 🤴🏾! 1 Love! #striveforgreatness🚀 #thekidfromakron👑

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I’ve tried to defend LeBron — I really wanted to give him an honest chance because he’s easily one of the most talented athletes that we have ever seen? But this? This, I cannot get behind. I get the purpose…it’s essentially him writing a letter to his past self to congratulate his future self on an accomplishment. 30,000 points is no joke either.

LeBron wonders why he receives so much scrutiny — well here’s your reasoning. Did he forget to switch to his KD burner account? Probably not as his famous #striveforgreatness hashtag made an appearance. This man is by far the corniest player to grace the NBA — it’s just he combines it with being arguably one of the greatest of all time. It seems petty to call him out for something as simple as this but he just continues to push the narrative that people think of him.

P.S. – How great would it be if the Spurs somehow limited him to under 7 points? Would be an all-time NBA moment

DeMarcus Cousins With a Monster Stat-Line

Last night in New Orleans, DeMarcus Cousins joined Wilt Chamberlain in slim company. He became the first player to put up 40-20-10 in 50 years. He finished the game (although it ended in double overtime) with 44 points, 24 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals, and 1 block. He did play 52 minutes but this is still a monster stat line. AD also dropped 34 and it really is a wonder how the Pelicans can only manage to be a few games over .500.

Some of the players took to Twitter to congratulate Boogie on the Wilt stat-line.

(Shocker he would comment on anything that happened in the NBA that’s not revolving around himself)

David Blatt Pokes Fun At Cavs, Gets Blown Out

Look at David Blatt weaseling his way into the spotlight! The ex-Cavs coach was in charge of Team Europe in the Turkey all-star game against Team Asia and took some shots at the Cavs after they let up 148 on Saturday.

And the result? Well Blatt’s Team Europe lost 151-142. It’s an all-star game so it clearly isn’t meant to be serious but it’s hard to not find humor in the irony of the statement. Even in Europe, Blatt continues to take L’s. I’m sure Ty Lue will be joining him in the ran-out-of-Cleveland by LeBron club shortly.

12 Years Ago Today, Kobe Bryant Dropped 81 Points

It’s the 12 year anniversary today of Kobe’s famous 81 point game. The Raptors were in town against the Lakers and well, Kobe took over.

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Absolutely crazy statline. Of course, he didn’t break Wilt’s record of 100 but 81 points is still no minuscule feat. The most impressive of it all was that he managed to do so on nearly 61% FG. This was easily one of the top highlights of one of the greatest players to play the game.

Kris Dunn Eats The Floor After Dunk Attempt

The two-year NBA player won’t be smiling like that for a while. Kris Dunn went up for a dunk against the Warriors last night and well..

Didn’t go so great. He fell in exactly the worst way possible. He clearly needed Draymond to save him.

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I’m not sure if details came out yet but he had to lose at least one tooth there — today is not a good day to be Kris Dunn.