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11.27.17

SATURDAY'S SCORES

San Antonio 106, Charlotte 86

Philadelphia 130, Orlando 111

Portland 108, Washington 105

Toronto 112, Atlanta 78

Boston 108, Indiana 98

Rockets 117, Knicks 102

Dallas 97, Oklahoma City 81

Golden State 110, New Orleans 95

Utah 121, Milwaukee 108

L.A. Clippers 97, Sacramento 95 

  LAST NIGHT'S SCORES 

Miami 100, Chicago 93

Minnesota 119, Phoenix 108

Brooklyn 98, Memphis 88

 If this is the end, let's not fret the little things  

A few days ago, Derrick Rose, as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski, stepped away from the Cavaliers. He's hurt again, pondering retirement. If he does in fact announce his career as done, he will go down as one of the league’s great what-ifs.

It annoys me -- perhaps a little more than it should -- that a consensus has formed in which LeBron James, not Derrick Rose, was the rightful 2011 MVP.

Keep in mind, the award is largely based on narrative. As in, who won the season?  

In 1993, Charles Barkley escaped Philadelphia for Phoenix and turned the Suns into a threat to beat Chicago, prying the award from Michael Jordan.

In 2004, Kevin Garnett turned his Timberwolves into a No. 1 seed and a playoff threat, proving his worth in a tangible way on his path to being named MVP.

In 2015, Steph Curry was the face of an instant-contender, a 67-win team that rerouted the focus of the league from Cleveland and Oklahoma to The Bay.

With this general rule in mind, it should be noted that, despite year No. 1 of LeBron’s move to South Beach -- an unprecedented, new-age media phenomenon -- it was Rose, who attacked the rim with unmitigated vengeance and led his Bulls to 61 wins, who emerged from the 2011 regular season as the No. 1 storyline and the MVP of the league.

His athleticism was breathtaking. His story from the underbelly of Chicago’s ghetto was captivating. His crossover was deadly. His highlights were nightly.

Derrick Rose was the youngest MVP ever -- younger than Michael Jordan, Lew Alcindor, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, et al.

He was great in 2011. Now he's done at 29 years old. But he was definitely great.

-S.E.

 Two eras are finally dying  

One year ago, the Memphis Grizzlies were a respectable 11-6 and the LA Clippers were 14-3 and looking yet again like semi-legitimate title contenders.

Just one year later things couldn’t look much worse for the two teams.

Of course, the Clippers lost their star point guard to the Rockets, and the current roster is missing two key players -- Danilo Gallinari and Patrick Beverley -- to injuries. Austin Rivers is running point. Their second best player, DeAndre Jordan, is an upcoming free agent being eyed across the league. They have a 7-11 record but have lost the last eight of 10 games. Doc Rivers might be gone soon.

Speaking of stale rosters, no team in recent history has kept an over-the-hill roster together longer than the Memphis Grizzlies. Mike Conley is going through the familiar achilles problems. Poor Marc Gasol is the remaining soldier grinding out his prime on a bad team. They have now lost nine of the last 10, capped by a pathetic 98-88 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.

While the Grizzlies go through the same experience nearly every year, the new generation of Clippers fans are learning quickly that the last five years might be the best Clipper years ever.

A fire sale for both teams might be coming. So, who has some spare picks?

• Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant went at it on their Wednesday night game. In the end, Russ got his revenge win over KD and the Warriors. It’s OKC’s first win since Durant’s cold-hearted move to the Warriors. OKC followed up the emphatic victory with losses to Detroit and the very bad Dallas Mavericks.

• The Bulls and Heat combined for just 20 points TOTAL in the first quarter of their game yesterday. Collectively they shot 6-43 from the field. The way the NBA is built, it is valid to ask; who wants to lose more?

• Draymond Green glitched again. Can someone fix this?

• Some hero on reddit went through the patience of watching Pheonix Suns games and compiled a highlight reel of rookie Josh Jackson’s defense so far this season.

• It was Shawn Kemp’s birthday yesterday. Reign on, Rain Man.

• A referee tripped at the baseline and Tim Hardaway Jr. decided to stop playing basketball and call him safe, leaving Serge Ibaka wide open to take the three.

• In light of Shawn Kemp’s birthday yesterday, here's a snippet of a CBS interview with Shawn in which he talks about almost being traded to the Bulls for Scottie Pippen:"I wake up and it’s like six in the morning and I’m looking and it’s ESPN talking and I hear about this trade about me being traded for Scottie Pippen and it didn’t really bother me but it was just one of those things that you know you get to the NBA and have success and you just wanna play against the best, you don’t wanna play with the best so I always found it a great challenge playing against Michael Jordan, to play against Magic Johnson, to play against Larry Bird, to play against all those good players because it’s something that you can take away from it."To read more, Tap Here.

• Dan Shaughnessy asks: Have the Celtics taken over the city's No. 2 spot from the Red Sox? [Tap Here]

• Woj gets in on the #FreeJah movement. [Tap Here]

• Sports Illustrated’s Andrew Sharp and Ben Golliver dissect Robert Covington’s role in the 76ers’ surprising start to the season. [Tap Here]

A LOOK AHEAD

LeBron James and the Cavaliers head to Philadelphia today to play Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. If anything goes down, expect Twitter to blow up.7 PM EST.

The Eastern Central division leaders Detroit Pistons visits the red hot Boston Celtics.7:30 PM EST.