The Opening Tip

• The future is now, old men

• Luka is a profanity-prone king

• Magic-Cavs is the the most roastable series

Play-in Tournament

You gotta give.

1. It’s so over

Steph Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant used to run this league. Well, Curry and LeBron did and Kevin Durant felt left out, so he joined a 73-win team and ruined the NBA for a few years.

Anyway, the tire-some ‘face of the league’ argument hasn’t really been one for more than a decade, because it’s been those three.

Look what’s happened to our faces, though. 

• Steph Curry couldn’t make it out of the 10-9 play-in game. 

• LeBron, still the most relevant of the three considering age and current greatness, is fighting for his LIFE against a team whose C+ is probably good enough to sweep. 

• And Kevin Durant …

Deep breath

KD is on another sinking superteam of his own making which hasn’t scored 100 points in two losses. He looks dejected. He’s getting prophetically outplayed by Jaden McDaniels. He only got off 15 shots in 41 minutes last night. He’s two losses from formally being rejected by another fanbase. His third ‘star,’ Bradley Beal, has 29 points in two games, and a no-trade clause that makes him value-less on the open market. He has two bad choices: force another trade, or ride out a situation where this is the ceiling.

Exhale

TLDR: Sometimes, it just ends, whether the millennials are ready or not. It’ll be over soon for these guys, and it won’t be cinematic.

2. Daily GIF: Dagger

Luka Doncic hit this shot to clinch Game 2 last night, then unleashed a ‘motherfucking asshole, yeah.’

3. Trivia

4. Poors Cavs and Magic

We knew going in Magic-Cavs had zero juice. Through two games, it’s proven to have, in fact, negative juice.

The one stat you need to know: The Cavs have scored 97 and 96 points, respectively, and they’ve won by 14 points and 10 points, respectively, for a 2-0 lead.

Oh, and: Magic star Paolo Banchero is averaging 7.5 turnovers per game.

Quick hits

• Tyrese Haliburton: ‘We've had regular season crowds better than what we've played in the last two games’

• Tim Robinson at the Clippers game 🚨

• The L2M of Knicks-76ers was pretty telling.

• This play by Mike Conley.

• The difference between Dame in the first and second half of the playoffs so far is wild.

• Statistically, Luka Doncic is unassailable.

Reads + Pods

• Why do so many players have beef with Rudy Gobert? [ESPN]

• How Nike won the battle for Caitlin Clark [Wall Street Journal]

• The Nuggets are the tortoise, and the Lakers are the hare [The Ringer]

That's the buzzer.
Thanks for reading the 377th edition of The Grip.