- The Grip
- Posts
- The Grip -- THURS 2.22.18
The Grip -- THURS 2.22.18
Good Lord, the All-Star Game was fun
2.22.18
Written while listening to Snoop Dogg’s timeless Doggystyle
[
] [
] [
]
Good Lord, the All-Star Game was fun
When you shake the snow globe, good things happen. When you shake the snow globe, Russell Westbrook throws an alley-oop to LeBron James and Kevin Durant smothers Steph Curry on a game-tying 3-point attempt.
When you shake the snow globe, Jimmy Butler goes out the night before, gets hammered and sits out the All-Star Game. Oh well.
The decision to shake up the format and let the two top vote-getters pick their teams was a definite success; a competitive fourth quarter of basketball amongst the 24 best players in the world is everything we could have asked for, even if the preceding stuff was breathtakingly cringe-worthy with 20 minutes of Kevin Hart and Fergie beating the fans upside their heads.
The only thing left? #televisethedraft
Fragmented thoughts on the Boston Celtics
Here’s something no Boston fan wants to hear: The outcome of this season does not matter. Nope, it could end in the first round and it would not affect much. The Warriors are going to win and the Celtics are probably going to lose in the second round because...
As it stands right now, with Boston as the No. 2 seed and Cleveland as the No. 3 seed, those two would meet in the second round of the playoffs.
Remember: Irving, Brown, and Tatum are 25, 21 and 19, respectively. An argument can be made for Rozier, and whomever gets chosen in the Lakers spot next year, if it lands in Nos. 2-5.
Marcus Smart turned down an extension offer at the beginning of the season. If this were 2016, he might get an offer sheet this summer for something ridiculous like $18 million a season. With 60 percent of the salary cap locked up between Al Horford and Gordon Hayward, expect an offer from Danny Ainge in the range of $10-12 million.
To those preparing to get angry about about a second round exit this season, consider -- Dirk Nowitzki became an All-Star for the first time in 2001. He didn’t win his title until 2011, five years after making the finals for the first time. He had a 67-win team in 2007 that got bounced in the first round. Things fall into place, things take time. The next few years are probably not Boston’s time.
CC, Rookie Wall: Jayson Tatum is shooting 42 percent overall and 30 percent from 3-point land in his last 21 games.
Al Horford took 65 3-pointers in his first eight years in the league. He’s taken 677 in his last two and a half seasons.
The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmselsbach did a pretty good job of priming the average fan for what they need to know about Boston over the next 23 games.
We all know Marv Albert was once the voice of the NBA. We also know he got busted for biting a prostitute, but that’s neither here nor there. But the man is long gone. Here’s all his mistakes from the All-Star game (He thought it was the fourth quarter midway through the second).
The Kawhi Leonard saga just took a turn for the worse -- it’s looking like he will be out for the rest of the season.
This will never get old: Draymond Green, Stephen Curry, Chance the Rapper and others react to Fergie’s awful performance of the national anthem.
Donovan Mitchell upped his bid for Rookie of the Year, also winning the slam dunk contest with a respectable rendition of Vince Carter’s famous throw down:
This might be the most Klay Thompson moment of all time:
Stephen Jackson, who recently confessed to smoking weed throughout his 14 year career, trolled Kyrie Irving during the All-Star game by spinning a globe right in front of his face.
On that note, Charles Barkley talked about playing drunk when he thought he got traded to the Lakers.
Sports Illustrated released an investigative piece Tuesday on the Dallas Mavericks, detailing two decades worth of workplace sexual harassment:“While sources referred to the Mavericks office as a “locker room culture,” the team’s actual locker room was a refuge. Says one female former senior staffer: “I dealt with players all the time. I had hundreds of interactions with players and never once had an issue…they always knew how to treat people. Then I'd go to the office and it was this zoo, this complete shitshow. My anxiety would go down dealing with players; it would go up when I got to my desk.” A half-dozen female former Mavericks or American Airlines Center employees contacted by SI claim that they left the sports sector because of a work environment and structure that left them feeling vulnerable and devalued while protecting—and continuing to employ—powerful men who misbehaved. “There was built-in protection for a lot of men,” says a former male department head at American Airlines Center. “The lack of oversight and compassion within all levels of the business was alarming.”” To keep reading, Tap Here.
The NBA’s underworld of high-end wine collecting. [Tap Here]
The strange basketball world for Grand Canyon University, the only for-profit college with a Division I basketball team. [Tap Here]
The rise of the NBA down under, in Australia. [Tap Here]
The ever-whimsical Klay Thompson joins the Woj Pod during a free moment of All-Star weekend. [Tap Here]
A LOOK AHEAD Here are the must-see games of the weekend.
Thursday, 2/22The Washington Wizards (33-24) visits the Cleveland Cavaliers (34-22). 8 PM EST - TNT
Friday, 2/23
The Milwaukee Bucks (32-25) visit the Toronto Raptors (41-16)7 PM EST
The Minnesota Timberwolves visit the Houston Rockets (44-13)8 PM EST - ESPN
Saturday, 2/24
The Oklahoma City Thunder (33-26) visit the Golden State Warriors (44-14)8:30 PM EST - ABC
Sunday, 2/25
The San Antonio Spurs (35-24) visit the Cleveland Cavaliers (34-22)8:30 PM EST - ABC
The Philadelphia 76ers (30-25) visit the Washington Wizards (33-24).8 PM EST - ESPN
