Wednesday, Jan 30th, 2019

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Written while listening to James Brown's Papa Don't Take No Mess

‘Phoenix got robbed’

FADE IN:UNDERBELLY OF AT&T CENTER - TUESDAY NIGHTThe 30-22 San Antonio Spurs have just won an NBA basketball game, 126-124, against the 11-42 Phoenix Suns on a last-second buzzer-beater by Rudy Gay. A media scrum gathers outside the Spurs’ locker room after the game. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich bursts into frame, entering to the left from a hallway leading into a room with uninviting concrete walls. The scene is shot in a Cloverfield-esque style.POPOVICH, 70, winner of five NBA titles and 1,227 games, is not happy.

          POPOVICH 

We were really fortunate to win the game. I thought they outplayed us, outcoached us, out-physicaled us. We had no respect for them or the game. We didn’t play with each other. It was a pathetic performance. Phoenix got robbed.

Popovich, microphones inches from his face, turns around without taking questions and exits the room, whisking open the formidable steel door and disappearing into the night as quickly as he had appeared.BEAT.

  Rudy beats the buzzer 

Rudy Gay’s aforementioned game-winning basket in last night’s 126-124 victory over the Phoenix Suns

 Brian Windhorst is drunk with power  

Brian Windhorst, the reputable NBA reporter who has recently decided to go on a crusade against actually reporting the stuff he knows, went on Zach Lowe’s podcast on Monday and told all of us to bow down to his precious scoops, or else he would withhold information -- information that is just about sports, remember, and not anything actually vital to the world.

4:00: Do I want to blow Zach’s podcast up in the first minute or not? I’m trying to think.

Sounds good, Windy. Let’s hear it.   

4:08: Do I want to talk about the possibility that Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis can play for the Lakers, or should I just let that go?

Whatever you want, really. We’re ready for it. But --

Zach Lowe: 4:15: You just did it, now.

Correct.

4:18 (Back to Windhorst): Hmmm. (inaudible)

WHAT?!

4:25: Umm, so Anthony Davis has pulled one lever, which is to ask for a trade. Really it’s sort of multidimensional. He didn’t have to ask for a trade. Just announcing he wasn’t going to sign the extension was asking for a trade effectively, but he went ahead and did it. His other level is to, and the one he’s holding in reserve, is to say he only wants to play for X number of teams, or one team and that is yet to happen, although I suspect it could happen.

Oh, fuck off Windhorst.

Here’s what Bleacher Report is, at least, actually reporting

: Interest in a LeBron-Kyrie reunion is “for real.”

The Professor puts on a clinic

It's 2010. The 28-21 Portland Trail Blazers are visiting the 30-17 Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks put out a starting five of a prime Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, and Erick Dampier.For the Blazers, it’s LaMarcus Aldridge, Andre Miller, Juwan Howard, Jerryd Bayless and Martell Webster.The final score is 114-112. Who wins?The Blazers, behind a 52-point performance by Andre Miller, of course.Miller, The Professor, at age 34, who averaged 12 points per game for his career and had a previous career-high of 37, went 22-of-31 from the field, 1-of-1 from 3-point range and led the Blazers to a road victory.Cheers to statistical outliers. And to the oldest of old man games. And to having to shoot at a 45 degree angle just to get a shot off.

  Quick Hits

• With yesterday’s 122-117 win over the Bulls, the Brooklyn Nets (28-24) have matched their win total from last season, and are currently the sixth seed in the East.

• James Harden, feeling immortal last night, tried to draw a foul but ended up just running out-of-bounds with the basketball in the dying seconds of a close game. The Rockets fell to the Pelicans, 121-116.

• Amir Johnson to Jimmy Butler: “Hit this, chief”

• Anthony Davis got fined $50K for letting his agent go on the record for his trade request.

• Remember Isaiah Thomas? He’s expected to be back playing for the Nuggets in two weeks. Also, he’s looking to play some pickup ball. Hit him up!

• Despite being seven games under .500 and in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons inist they’ll be buyers in the trade market.

• Kyle Anderson’s last-minute possession against the Nuggets on Monday was a sight to behold. Here’s a breakdown.

 Concrete Reads

• God help us all, DeMarcus Cousins is fitting in perfectly with the Warriors [Deadspin]

• Not a 2-GOAT race [Bleacher Report]

• When it comes to James Harden, what’s good for Rockets might not be good for basketball [Washington Post]

• Marc Gasol embraced Memphis -- and Memphis embraced him right back [Daily Memphian]

Must-watch games

Tonight, 1/30, ESPN

Thursday, 1/31, TNT