The Grip - FRI 4.27

The revenge of Russell Westbrook

April 27, 2018

4.27.18

J.E.: LeBron's career highlight reel will end up being the length of a feature film.S.E.: I’ve watched it unfold in front of my eyes for eight years. I don’t need to see it again.

Written while listening to N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton [

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No. 4 Oklahoma City vs. No. 5 Utah

Game 1: Thunder 116, Jazz 108Game 2: Jazz 102, Thunder 96Game 3: Jazz 115, Thunder 102Game 4: Jazz 113, Thunder 96Game 5: Thunder 107, Jazz 99Game 6: Thunder @ Jazz, Tonight, 10:30 EST, ESPN

 

How to become an exiled superstar in five quick steps

Image result for Russell Westbrook

(After a game four loss to the Utah Jazz, almost all of the NBA news cycle circled around Russell Westbrook, cautious but ready to one-up whoever wrote the latest hit piece on the former MVP. It all culminated in this: Russell Westbrook is not important. The hate seemed vindicated, then Westbrook led an eye-popping comeback to salvage the series and send it back to Utah.)

Follow along, it won't be easy:

  1. Ascend: They’re going to love you. They’ll write about how you weren’t always this way. No, you used to be short. You couldn’t dunk until you were a senior. They’ll flock in numbers you haven’t seen, to tell the story of an unremarkable 5-foot-10 point guard from southern California who sprouted six inches, dropped 25 a game as a prep star and suddenly found himself on the roster of a famous college basketball team.

  2. Win: You’ll come so close you’ll set the bar higher than anyone could’ve imagined. You’ll join a supernova of two future MVPS and a Congolese mystery man blocking shots like it’s 1989; you’ll topple the foundation in Texas on the way to the NBA Finals; you’ll play a team less organic than fast food and they’ll outdo you this time. But look out, because you and this group of brash young stars are coming.

  3. Disintegrate: They’ll trade away your third guy the following year, your ace, for a washed scorer and a bag of balls because of money that’ll be thrown around later as overtly as a midwestern traffic light. You’ll fade for a few years, then you’ll strike. Your volatile rhythm will be stated like slam poetry and people will run to a forgotten American city to tell their kids they were there, and they saw. They’ll wish they wanted anything as badly as you wanted this. You’ll push a historic team to it’s breaking point. You’ll be only six minutes away. They’ll come back. You’re partner will leave, for them.

  4. Care: You’ll care so much for reasons you won’t know how to explain. They’ll call it instinct. You’ll travel from city to city to impress people who will turn their backs on you. You’ll do something they said couldn’t be done ever again. You’ll exhaust yourself; you’ll say you’re coming for the team that beat you even though you know you can’t do it alone.

  5. Lose: You’ll reload. You’ll underperform. They’ll call your talent exaggerated. Or worse, irrelevant. You’ll lose to a group you should’ve beat. A final embarrassment in front of folks who paid to see you; you’ll sink to the bottom and the ones who grinned through a coming of age saga when you couldn’t dunk, will be there with a shovel and a pen. They’ve stamped the obit and now they’re stressing deadline. A few more minutes and this will do it, a formality, a lead the other team has built up to 25. You’ll suffocate. Then it’ll be on to the next one. The next supernova. But you’ll still want it. You’ll look up and realize enough is enough. You’ll come back.

Eastern Conference

No. 4 Cleveland vs. No. 5 Indiana

Game 1: Pacers 98, Cavaliers 80Game 2: Cavaliers 100, Pacers 97Game 3: Pacers 92, Cavaliers 90Game 4: Cavaliers 104, Pacers 100Game 5: Cavaliers 98, Pacers 95 [Box Score] [Highlights]Game 6: Cavaliers @ Pacers, Tonight, 8 EST, ESPN

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The NBA greats can single-handedly win games on their own. We saw it Wednesday night with LeBron’s insane 44-point performance, which included a clutch block (a goaltend, actually, but shut up, it was epic) and a game-winning three as time expired to perhaps suppress a frisky Pacers team for good. The winner was fairly similar to the one he hit against Orlando in 2009.

Barring some insane team performances from the Pacers over the next two games, the Cavaliers will advance to the next round of the playoffs. Should they close out tonight, it will be the fifth time in seven years LeBron has beaten the Pacers in the postseason. Lance Stephenson has been there for all five.

Buzzkill time

The NBA greats rarely win second and third round series on their own. The 2018 Cavaliers, with no real second option for James to defer to, are different than in years past. Coming off of a few different injuries, Kevin Love so far is 19-for-58 this series. Should the Raptors and Cavs meet next round, he’ll be up against a more intense frontcourt than in Indiana.

Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. are both scoring around five points a game; J.R. Smith is hitting 28 percent of his 6.4 threes attempted; and Tristan Thompson has only played a handful of minutes in two games this series.

The 2007 Cavaliers, who beat the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals but were run off the court by the Spurs, are an apt comparison, though LeBron was 22 then and much less jaded than he is now. He still might win the East, but a supporting cast that can’t produce against the Pacers probably won’t against anyone coming out of the the West.

No. 1 Toronto vs. No. 8 Washington

Game 1: Raptors 114, Wizards 106 Game 2: Raptors 130, Wizards 119 Game 3: Wizards 122, Raptors 103 Game 4: Wizards 106, Raptors 98Game 5: Raptors 108, Wizards 98 [Box Score] [Highlights]Game 6: Raptors @ Wizards, Tonight, 7 EST, NBATV

John Wall has a bad injury history with his legs, has never led a team to a 50-win season, has never reached the third round of the playoffs, and is scheduled to make $40 million for the Wizards in 2020-21, $43 million in 2021-22 and $46 million in 2022-23, at which point he’ll be 32.

Should they flame out in six games in the first round, Washington will have to decide its long-term future.

In some ways, there’s no shame in being a good to very good team in a bad Eastern Conference, especially with the franchise’s historical incompetence. They’ll sell tickets and earn some playoff revenue. Maybe one year the luck will align and they’ll have a shot at making the NBA Finals.

On the other hand, do you want to be paying an injured and past-his-prime John Wall $46 million in five years? The Clippers looked such a prospect in its eye and decided they wanted out from Blake Griffin’s mega deal. The Wizards should consider the same.

No. 2 Boston vs. No. 7 Milwaukee

Game 1: Celtics 113, Bucks 107 [OT]Game 2: Celtics 120, Bucks 106Game 3: Bucks 116, Celtics 92Game 4: Bucks 104, Celtics 102Game 5: Celtics 92, Bucks 87 Game 6: Bucks 97, Celtics 86 [Box Score] [Highlights]Game 7: Bucks @ Celtics, Saturday, 8 EST, TNT

In a sort of blah game, Milwaukee and and Giannis’s 31 points and 14 rebounds did enough to force a game seven, which will take place at the Boston Garden on Saturday night.

WATCH: Giannis’s eurostep alone made Semi Ojeleye fall downPSA: Our head editor is a big time Celtics fan and is trying to play it off like he's not nervous as shit. But we all know he won't get any sleep tonight.

Western Conference

No. 1 Houston vs. No. 8 Minnesota

Game 1: Rockets 104, Timberwolves 101Game 2:  Rockets 102, Timberwolves 82Game 3: Timberwolves 121, Rockets 105Game 4: Rockets 119, Timberwolves 100Game 5: Rockets 122, Timberwolves 104 [Box Score] [Highlights]

You got the feeling Houston was mostly in cruise control against the Timberwolves. That still resulted in two blowout wins and a 4-1 series victory.

Harden put up a *measly* 24 points and dished out *just* 12 assists in game five, helping Clint Capela reach a personal playoff high with 26 points to go along with 15 rebounds.

Good teams find a way to win, even when they aren’t playing all that well (or in this case, not trying too hard). The Rockets could afford to trot through the first round, now they await the blood bath happening between Oklahoma City and Utah.

What else happened?

Courtesy of Sports Illustrated