The Grip -- Fri, 1.5.18

The things that keep us up at night

January 05, 2018

1.5.18

J.S.: Happy 2018 Grip readers! New year, same perfect five minute NBA reads.

S.E.: Our New Year's Resolution was to cut down on the unexplained Grip droughts. New Year’s Resolutions are, apparently, made to be broken.

LAST NIGHT'S SCORES

Warriors 124, Rockets 114Thunder 127, Clippers 117

The Beard’s latest injury may again cost him the L’s most coveted award

The league’s marquee matchup last night -- Golden State vs. Houston -- was missing a few people.

Kevin Durant was out, but c’mon, who cares about that? The sellout who ruined everything former-MVP doesn’t change much for the Warriors, who are 20-5 without him since he bandwagoned for horrible reasons went to The Bay in 2016.

But James Harden, the early season frontrunner for MVP, was out, and that sucks. He suffered a hamstring strain a few nights ago against the Los Angeles Lakers, and will miss at least the next two weeks, but more likely the next month.

Harden is having one of the great seasons in recent memory (32 points per game, 9.1 assists per game, a league-leading 30.5 PER and a 39 percent mark from three while taking over 10 a game) for one of the best and most exciting teams, which, in the early going, looks like a threat to the Warriors.

But this injury, where he’ll miss at least seven games but likely a handful more, could easily knock Harden out of an MVP race that was likely his a week ago. In 2014-15, Harden was second in award-voting, only behind Steph Curry’s breakout year for a 67-win team.

A season ago, Harden was second behind Russell Westbrook, who put together an eye-popping statistical season but was probably less deserving than The Beard.

This year, again, another thing out of his control is blocking him from the award. It’s a fairly insignificant thing to most non-basketball nerds, but these awards matter greatly when sifting through all-time greats.

Everyone in the top-20 found a way to get one: Hakeem Olajuwon needed a retirement from M.J., but he got his. Charles Barkley, who was cheated out of the award in 1990, bounced back and wrestled the narrative from Jordan in 1993. Kobe Bryant finally triumphed in 2008. Kevin Durant broke up LeBron James’ streak in 2014 before he sold his soul for a title and delivered a memorably-endearing speech to his mama.

Harden, an offensive savant without a true comparison from another era (feel free to submit one), needs/deserves/is good enough to be one.  

If he never gets one, what’s stopping some stupid kid in 20 years from thinking Chris Bosh and Harden were the same?

This is what keeps us up at night.

The Spurs losing to 76ers a torch-passing moment? Sort of

When did you think you would ever see a headline like that? For the last six years, the Spurs were one of the best teams in the West and the 76ers were one of the worst teams in the East. During that span, the 76ers lost to the Spurs twelve times in a row.

On Wednesday night, that streak ended. Led by Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, the 76ers took an early lead and comfortably held it the rest of the game. Something to do with Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili not playing? Shh.

To see how much this means, check out this post game locker room celebration led by head coach (and ex-Spurs assistant) Brett Brown.

With a solid balance of rising stars (Simmon, Embiid, Markelle Fultz [?]) and a solid veteran presence (J.J. Reddick, Jarryd Bayless), the fundamentals are there to build a winning culture similar to San Antonio’s.

The Process has stumbled a bit of late -- they’ve lost 10 of 15 -- but If they can find some consistency, they should make the playoffs, which would be a joy for all NBA fans. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Fish Town (Philly reference).

  • 2017’s seventh overall pick Lauri Markkanen is on pace to match Kristaps Porzingis’s rookie season stats. All aboard the hype train.

  • Lou Williams is currently averaging a career-high 22 points per game off the bench in his 14th NBA season. Also, Blake Griffin is back and the Clippers, winners of 6 of 8, are good again.

  • Curry’s back.  

  • Rookie Terrance Ferguson windmill dunked on the Lakers.

  • The Knicks kind of suck again, and Kristaps Porzingis admitted he’s beat.

  • TANK WATCH: The Brooklyn Nets are five wins from last season’s total (20) and are only the 10th worst team in a muddled NBA basement. Damnit, Danny Ainge is a genius.

  • In that same vein, the Lakers (11-26) have the second worst record in the league. If that’s where they land in the lottery, their pick will be conveyed to the Celtics, who would add a No. 2 pick (Luka Doncic, anyone?) to a possible top seven of Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier. Oh lawd.

  • Stephen Jackson continues to serenade the world with tales of being high on dope his entire career.

  • The 76ers G-League team wore Spongebob outfits.

  • The great Jackie MacMullan does her usual thing on this wide-ranging Kyrie Irving profile. [Tap Here]

  • ESPN’s Royce Young always comes off as a little fan boy-ish to us, but he wrote a fairly interesting magazine piece on Paul George’s impending free agency decision. [Tap Here]

  • S.I.’s Ben Golliver and Andrew Sharp are amongst the best at NBA podcasting. They also come out with new shows twice-a-week, more consistent than their contemporaries. Here’s their latest. [Tap Here]

 A LOOK AHEAD Here are the must-see games of the weekend. 

FRIDAY, 1/5Minnesota Timberwolves (24-14) at Boston Celtics (31-10)7 PM EST 

Toronto Raptors (26-10) at Milwaukee Bucks (20-16)8 PM ESTSATURDAY, 1/6Milwaukee Bucks (20-16) at Washington Wizards (22-16)8 PM ESTSUNDAY, 1/7San Antonio Spurs (26-13) at Portland Trailblazers (19-18)10:30 PM EST