Friday, November 15th, 2019

• “Ay P, Portland’s got me coming off the bench”

• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has been found out

• Knicks fans get uncreative with Porzingis chants

• R.J. Barrett got crafty last night

Tonight's must-watch game

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 The lead: Of course Carmelo Anthony deserves this 

Carmelo How-Many-Points-Have-You-Scored, Muthafucka? Anthony is packing up his 25,551 points and heading to Portland on a non-guaranteed contract, the world learned last night.Did anyone ever really think this guy wasn’t among the 360 best players in the world? Of course not.Why did it take so long? Why did he have to beg? Why did it take a desperate team like the 4-8 Trail Blazers for him to get a chance?The answer is probably looped in an analytical equation on an excel sheet of a team-issued Macintosh typed in by a white guy with an Ivy League degree, who had the option that ‘Melo never dreamt of: A career in sports or a career on Wall Street.Nonetheless, the one-and-done champ, the Olympic icon and the future Hall of Famer is back, and the league is wayyyyyy better for it.Hopefully he drops 30 on the Rockets Monday night.[READ: Can Carmelo Anthony rewrite his final chapter with the Blazers?]

2. Twitter found Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s burner account

Twitter, social media, the Internet and Jeff Bezos are all mostly bad, but every so often one of those four things does something worthwhile.On Thursday, it was Twitter’s turn. A user unearthed what is almost certainly Lakers forward Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s burner account, which was created this month and has been mobilized for the sole purpose of … defending KCP. (At 3 p.m. Thursday, the account had 72 followers. As of Friday at noon, it had 1,495.) The name of the burner account: @tan50879294Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s middle name: TannellThe account’s bio: “I hoop”@tan50879294’s latest tweet: 

“The hate on here surrounding a man giving it his all is tough to see. KCP gonna continue hooping. You’re either behind him or not. But when he ends up being a key part to this championship hopeful team, don’t be surprised. As been a bucket. Always will be.”

The captain goes down with his ship. You have to respect it.A sample of @tan50879294’s tweets, pre-exposure: 

• “Everyone wanna hate on KCP and all he’s done is love this city.”

• “You’re a clown,” in a 3:43 a.m. response to an untagged tweet that said: KCP is a joke lol 

• “He’s got the potential to be. That’s facts,” in response to a tweet saying KCP could be better than Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

• And here is a screenshot of six tweets on November 11:

KCP, this is your sixth year in the league. You’re not raw. 

3. One of the Knicks’ 96 power forwards ruined Kristaps Porzingis’ return to MSG

The Knicks traded Kristaps Porzingis on Jan. 31, 2019. Porzingis made his return to Madison Square Garden last night, on November 15, 2019.If you do the math, that gave Knicks fans 288 days to think of something clever to chant.Here are the two things they came up with: 

• “KP SUCKS!”

• “ASSSSSSSSHOLE”

Poignant. And somehow very New York.Anyways, Knicks fans should definitely keep letting their favorite team gaslight them into thinking Porzingis is the problem, and not the front office that traded him for cap space that turned into a roster that looks like a different language in today’s NBA.

• Spike Leewore a neon orange sweater that parted at the chest last night. 

• R.J. Barrett with a smooth spin move on Luka Dončić.

• Paul George’s Clippers debut: 33 points on 10/17 shooting, nine rebounds and four assists in a 132-127 loss to the Pelicans. Watch the full highlights here.

• LeBron Jameswith a textbook false equivalency.

• Jackie MacMullan dunked on Kendrick Perkins for suggesting load management is stupid.  

• How Gregg Popovich greeted Kyle Anderson: “Hey, hey, fuck you!”

• David Fizdale, on the Knicks’ iso-heavy offense: “I don't hear anybody bitching about Houston isolating, they hold the ball the whole game but they score 1000 points.” 

• Doc Rivers got T’d up by Austin Rivers. After deep reflection, here’s Austin’s response.

• Bill Russell just accepted his HOF ring. Here’s why.

• Lakers’ guard Avery Bradleyhas a hairline fracture in his right leg and will be out for 1-2 weeks.

• The Minnesota Timberwolves with a rather enjoyable TikTok video.

• A reddit user caught this funny moment between James Harden and Kawhi Leonard during Wednesday night’s game.

• Our strange new respect for Stephen A. Smith [The Ringer]

• Isaiah Thomas trying to make the most of what may be his final chance [The Boston Globe]

• The Grizzlies’ Unconventional New Coach Used to Get Buckets on Me [The Ringer]

Shaq’s last great game [The Book of Basketball 2.0]