The Opening Tip

• The Bucks are a nightmare

• Caitlin Clark is a legend, pt. 343846

• Klay’s battle with basketball mortality takes a twist

You gotta give.

1. Milwaukee is not cooking

The early results of the Doc Rivers-Milwaukee era are in: It’s like when Harold from “Hey Arnold!” went on the weight loss cruise. Harold came back in need of more weight loss; the Bucks emerge 10 games later with even more issues.

They’re now 3-7 under Doc after a horrific loss last night to the G-League Grizzlies, and, by the numbers, at least, they should be having hindsight regret about canning Adrian Griffin:

Beyond the record, Doc seems to have somewhat fixed an abysmal defense and completely sidetracked what was an elite offense:

• Off. rating, pre- and post-Doc: 120.4 (2nd), 111.9 (22nd)

• Def. rating, pre- and post-Doc: 116.3 (19th), 113.6 (12th)

In terms of vibes, Doc is already gearing up the blame game, while manic Dame fans are making (convincing) threads on Twitter arguing that Brook Lopez hates Lillard.

2. Daily GIF: Logo pull-up for the record

Caitlin Clark needed eight points to become the all-time Division I women’s leading scorer last night. She got it 2:15 into the game on a pull-up 3 from the logo and finished the game with a career-high 49 points.

3. Trivia

4. There are too many goddamn documentaries

Four years ago, we were treated to “The Last Dance,” a 10-part, 10-hour pseudo-documentary about Michael Jordan’s final season with the Bulls.

It worked because …

1. The backbone of the film was the never-before-scene, behind-the-scenes footage of that 1998 season

2. It was about Michael fucking Jordan 

But its legacy is the greenlighting of never-ending cheap imitations by less interesting topics and athletes like Derek Jeter, Joe Montana and Tom Brady.

Latest example: There is apparently a camera crew following around the Boston Celtics this year to film a Last Dance-style doc, which must now set the bar for least interesting focus of a mega sports doc yet.

The 2023-24 Celtics are really good and might win the title, but the 1998 Bulls and/or Michael Jordan, they are not.

Depending on how the season goes, this production will appease one of two niches:

1. Celtics fans

2. Celtics haters

But it will not have the mass appeal the people who greenlit this idea are hoping for.

Quick hits

• Klay Thompson came off the bench last night for the first time since 2012 and dropped 35. 

• This Carmelo Anthony-George Karl story. 

• Somehow, the Wolves were up 30 on the Trail Blazers after one quarter last night. 

• Former Buck Justin Jackson: ‘If James Harden and Kyrie Irving do not get hurt they low-key sweep us’

• This pass attempt by John Collins down one point with 3.7 seconds left. 

• It’s not GVTH, but here’s a Weekend Lock for ASW if want one.

Reads

• Is Anthony Edwards the next face of the NBA? [Vanity Fair]

• The top 100 players at the All-Star break [The Ringer]

• What to make of the unusual Lakers-Warriors-LeBron bombshell [ESPN]

That's the buzzer.
Thanks for reading the 359th edition of The Grip.