Friday, June 7th, 2019

An NBA-obsessed newsletter for the info-craved basketball mind. Did a friend forward you this newsletter? Sign yourself up here.

Written while listening to Dr. John's Time Marches On [R.I.P.]

Time’s running out for the NBA’s oldest host

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena being built in 1966. Photo via the San Jose Mercury News.Tonight’s Game 4 will be the last or second-to-last NBA game at Oracle Arena. It originally opened as Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena in 1966; it’s name change came in 1996.By most accounts, it’s a dump, but a dump in the same way the first Boston Garden was a dump. Before douchebag hedge fund owners were sitting courtside and shoving opposing players in the NBA Finals, Oracle spent many decades housing a losing team with loyal fans. Even in 2006, during a 12th-straight losing season, the Warriors finished 10th in average attendance.Oracle’s also the oldest current NBA arena. Madison Square Garden, opened in 1968, is second. Every other arena was built in 1990 or later.

What’s been Andre Iguodala’s favorite memory in Oracle? “First playoff series here was pretty exciting. It was pretty good. We hadn’t priced anyone out yet.”(Very true. A cool $813 will get you one nose bleed ticket tonight.) Oracle’s resurgence as a venue with a national presence has been something to watch, though. If the Warriors fled for their sparkly new Chase Center in downtown San Francisco seven years ago, before this team took off, it would have been vacated without much of the nation-wide romanticism it has now.As Bryan Curtis pointed out in a memorable piece from 2016, on the explosion of media around the league’s current super-team, Oracle spent many years being decidedly unsexy: 

“That any reporter would be trying to get into the Warriors locker room is a great, historic irony. For years, the beat was the lowliest pro beat in the Bay Area outside of maybe the San Jose Sharks. The Warriors’ 12 straight losing seasons (1994 to 2006) meant that their press corps only rarely minted a national star like Ric Bucher. A columnist with an interest in basketball, like the Mercury News’ Tim Kawakami, might drop by. But, otherwise, Kawakami said, "there were a bunch of mediocre players walking around and maybe two or three reporters."

Oracle’s always meant something to the people of Oakland, though.

. Ask Marshawn Lynch (“We’re losing the Warriors,”

summated Marshawn Lynch at an Oakland City Council meeting in December

. “We’re losing the Raiders. Best not lose the A’s.”)   

The PR people will point out the Warriors are staying in the Bay; anyone with a conscience and a bullshit detector can tell they’re leaving their lower- and middle-class roots. 

But, hey, YouTube is a hell-of-a-thing.

[READ:

Eleven miles, but a world away: The Warriors make their last stand in Oakland

]

Warriors-Raptors: Seven thoughts for Game 4

1. Thought exercise: Pretend the Raptors win the NBA Finals. Where does this rank amongst postseason shockers? Our top-eight, in no real order (they don’t have to be in the Finals):

• 2004 Pistons over Lakers

• 2011 Mavericks over Heat

• 2019 Raptors over Warriors

• 2010 Celtics over Cavs

• 2007 Warriors over Mavericks

• 1976 Suns over Warriors

• 1995 Rockets over Magic

• 1994 Nuggets over Sonics

1. If Serge Ibaka wins a title in Toronto, joining Kevin Durant and James Harden as players whose careers got better after leaving the Thunder, that might be the final straw for OKC fans.

2. Shoutout to reader and emailer Josh Mucia, who wrote before Game 3 that “Steph goes off for 48 tomorrow.” Off by one point. By the way: You can send hate mail to [email protected].

3. It definitely seemed before the Finals like Kevin Durant would be back by Game 4. He won’t be. The circumstances of the series are serious enough for the Warriors that they’d bring Durant back if they thought he would ultimately be OK to play. It might be a more serious injury than we all know. Be nervous, Knicks fans.

4. A prediction on which players from this Finals series will make the Hall of Fame: Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Iguodala, Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry. (Key word here is prediction, not endorsement.)

5. As Brian Windhorst points out, at one point last summer, the Raptors had 40-1 odds to win the NBA Finals. A $10 throwaway would’ve netted $400.

6. We know Klay Thompson, who will play tonight, is one of the best catch-and-shoot players to ever grace the game. But it’s also his off the ball movement and the space he creates on the floor that makes him valuable. Per NBA.com, he runs 2.87 miles per game. Only CJ McCollum has averaged more over this postseason. His presence alone makes life for Toronto harder.  Quiz: Of the top-10 players in made 3s in NBA Finals history, three of them are playing in this series. Who are they? Answers are at the bottom. 

The Nets are really going for it

Yesterday, the Brooklyn Nets traded Allen Crabbe and the 17th pick in 2019 NBA Draft, plus a protected first in 2020 to the Hawks for Taurean Prince and a 2021 second-round pick. Dumping Crabbe, a beneficiary of the 2016 spending spree, now frees up $46 million in cap space, good for two max slots, depending on what they plan to do with D’Angelo Russell.Brooklyn’s pitch to every free agent is probably going to be pretty simple: You get to live in New York and not be part of the dumpster-fire in Midtown.The leading candidate? Kyrie Irving; Woj reported yesterday that he’s “serious about the Nets.”An optimist would say: Irving is still a star, and landing him would be the ultimate karmic justice for Boston’s rip-off trade six years ago.A pessimist would say: Good luck with your new injury prone, borderline personality disorder point guard.Either way: Kendrick Perkins doesn’t care where he goes, as long as he gets the hell out of Boston.

 Quick Hits

• Just a reminder that Vince Carter is still dunking (in formal clothes). He recently informally announced the 2019-20 season would be his last.

• If Carter does play a game in 2020, he’d be the first player to play in four different decades.

• ICYMI: Paul Pierce admitted the real reason for the wheelchair in 2008 against the Lakers.

• Raptors fans sang “O Canada” after Game 3.

• Mark Stevens, the douchebag who shoved Kyle Lowry, will be banned from games for one year and will probably be pressured by the board to sell his shares of the Warriors.

• JR Smith, one year since he forgot the score in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, is lobbying to legalize weed in New York.

• After their trade with Brooklyn, the Atlanta Hawks now have three top-20 picks in this year’s draft.

 Concrete Reads 

• The present and future of broadcasting at the NBA Finals [The Ringer]

• How Draymond Green found his zen [ESPN]

• Five moments that helped pave Toronto's road to the NBA Finals [ESPN]

• Meet the money whisperer to the super-rich NBA elite [New York Times]

 Podcast Pick

Chuck Klosterman on the NBA Finals and David Stern vs. Adam Silver [The Ringer]