The Grip -- TUE, 2.13.18

The Jazz are back in rhythm

2.13.18

J.S.: Nearing the all-star break, we’ve sent about 30 emails and are averaging an open rate that’s double the industry average. What I’m saying is you guys and girls rock. The Octagon team, the Somerville squad, the Brooklyn homies -- ya’ll are good people. We’re going to be doubling down in the next few months, aiming to take this to a whole new level so we can get paid to do this and be able to send you an email every day. If you could please tell your friends about us and pass along our website, we’d greatly appreciate it. We’ll be making some Grip T-Shirts in the near future with our badass home page picture on it and we’ll be sure to share the love with you all. And don’t hesitate to respond to any email with feedback, we’d love to hear about what we need to do both more and less of.

LAST NIGHT'S SCORES

Pelicans 118, Pistons 10376ers 108, Knicks 92Clipper 114, Brooklyn 101Bulls 105, Magic 101Jazz 101, Spurs 99Warriors 129, Suns 83

Written while bumpin’ Danger Doom’s Crosshairs [

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 Utah is back like it never left   

The Utah Jazz over the last half-decade embarked on an exhausting rebuild, bearing the fruits of their labor last season with 51 wins and a playoff series victory. Then they lost their homegrown star player for absolutely nothing to free agency.

They’d have every reason to sulk through a lost season, but after floating at around eight to ten games under .500 for most of the season, they’ve salvaged the ship, winning ten straight over the last few weeks to pull back to 29-28.

This includes wins over Golden State, San Antonio (twice, including last night), Toronto, Portland, New Orleans and Detroit.

How?

  • Rookie Donovan Mitchell is a revelation, averaging over 19 points per game this season.

  • Joe how-are-you-not-a-salesman-in-a-cubicle Ingles is a beast, averaging 15.8 points a game on 58 percent shooting during the streak. (Here’s a great Lowe Post podcast featuring Ingles.)

  • Seriously, look at him. He looks like Brendan Fraser’s weird step-brother who couldn’t nab that backup role in the Mummy II.  

  • Defensive savant Rudy Gobert returned to the lineup 13 games a go; they’re 11-2 since.

  • Super villain Coach Quin Snyder is the Brad Stevens of the Western Conference, squeezing talent out of guys who might be fringe players elsewhere.

With the recent roster revamp last week (REMINDER: Traded: Joe Johnson, Rodney Hood, Received: Jae Crowder), there may be some addition by subtraction as the Jazz make a play at the eighth seed.

Cleveland is way, way, way too hyped right now

Take it easy LeBron, please. And drop the phony act.

If you were bored and lazy on Sunday, then you, too, watched the Cavaliers blow out the Celtics in Boston. It was a horrible game, even worse for the fans who had to stay because Paul Pierce was getting his number retired after.

Let us remind you what the new Cavaliers look like:

He gone: Dwyane Wade, Channing Frye, Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert.

He here: George Hill, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr. and Rodney Hood.

With this new roster it looked on Sunday like the Cavaliers suddenly found a desire to win games; LeBron seems happy (until one of them uses the wrong verbage on a question by the media, which will then set off a barrage of sub-tweets and passive, moody behavior).  

Sure, it looked good, but they had an ambitious shooting night, while Boston hit rock bottom in this recent bad stretch of games.

But it’s far too late for objective patience. The media already took wind of it all, with The Undefeated reporting that, “...injured forward Kevin Love yelled out, “There you go! There you go!” Sharpshooter Kyle Korver gave a look of pleasant surprise. Guard J.R. Smith yelled out, “We got a [expletive] squad now.” And before James hit the locker room door, former NBA great Kevin Garnett hugged him and said, “Y’all look so different.””

ESPN reported that Larry Nance Jr. said, "That's JC. That's Jordan Clarkson, get used to it. What you saw tonight is Jordan Clarkson. That was nothing outstanding, that's his norm. Be ready for it."

One game later and the narrative has completely changed (but that’s just the current state of today’s press, right?). Maybe losing two superstars is exactly what they needed. But we think the problem runs deeper than that. Looking at you, Ty Lue.

It’s stupid to judge the Cavaliers by one game, just as it’s stupid to judge them during a particularly bad stretch. They are probably somewhere in the middle, still likely enough to win the East.

  • Cedi Osman missed a breakaway dunk. Badly.

  • TJ McConnell, in his 210th game of his career, got his first career triple double. Against the Knicks, of course. And he came off the bench.

  • Derrick Rose hit the buy out market on Monday. Secret: He’s washed, folks.

  • Marco Belinelli is going to the 76ers. A solid shooter with a lot of playoff experience, he could help make things interesting come playoff time.

  • Donovan Mitchell was at the center of a huge comeback win last night, hitting this clutch go ahead jumper in the final minute:

  • Toronto (39-16) has sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference.

  • Isaiah Thomas looked fresh in his debut with the Lakers, scoring 22 points with six assists.

  • A cool tidbit in Larry Nance Jr.’s arrival in Cleveland: His dad, Larry Sr., had his jersey retired by the Cavs in 2003 after a run in the 1990s on some very good Cleveland teams.

  • Steve Kerr clearly didn’t see the Suns as a threat last night, letting Andre Iguodala draw up a play during a timeout.

  • Gregg Popovich was Mic’d Up for this endearing moment, where he huddles up three other coaches with Patty Mills to see if Mills should play despite his two early fouls.

  • Eight teams currently have between 18 and 20 losses. For all of your tankings news, follow this hilarious Twitter account: @tankathon

  

  • The New York Times sat down with 30-year-old Clipper Milos Teodosic to discuss his journey to the NBA.

Teodosic said it felt “weird” to be branded a rookie, after winning Euroleague Most Valuable Player honors as far back as 2010 and unexpectedly steering Serbia into the gold medal game against the mighty United States at both the 2014 FIBA World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics. “But I am happy they don’t treat me like a rookie,” Teodosic said of his fellow Clippers.

          To read more, Tap Here.

  • Shea Serrano’s ode to Udonis Haslem, who literally attended Miami High School before playing 15 years for the Miami Heat. [Tap Here]

  • Bill Plaschke (Around The Horn legend, Mitch) checks up on Luol Deng, the man being paid $18 million not to play. [Tap Here]

  

  • Zach Lowe and the Jonah Hill Imposter trade juicy details on the Cavaliers. [Tap Here]

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

Tuesday, 2/13The Cleveland Cavaliers (33-22) visit the Oklahoma City Thunder (32-25).7 PM EST - TNTWednesday, 2/14The Miami Heat (30-26) visit the Philadelphia 76ers (29-25) in a battle for seventh place.7 PM ESTThe Golden State Warriors (44-13) visit the Portland Trailblazers (31-26).10:30 PM EST - ESPN