Wednesday, March 13th, 2019

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Written while listening to Cyprus Hills's Insane in the Brain

Just shut up, man

James Dolan, who recently banned a fan for life from Madison Square Garden for imploring him to sell the Knicks, a notion virtually the entire basketball world agrees with, went on The Michael Kay Show yesterday, and it went, of course, horribly.He doubled down on his decision, saying he felt “ambushed" by the fan.He danced on the New York Daily News’ grave, for having the gravitas to criticize the worst NBA team of the last 20 years, whose last title came 46 years ago.And he claimed Bill Simmons’ report that Dolan was trying to sell the team was false, floating the idea that Danny Ainge leaked that false info in order to scare away free agents this offseason, as if Dolan not owning the Knicks would be a deterrent for NBA players.The rebuttals from those he insulted were swift and enjoyable.From the Daily News: “MSG’s grudge against the Daily News predates the journalists writing about the Knicks in our pages today. If the tone of coverage tends to be negative, it’s because the team is 41 games under .500 and has the worst winning percentage in the NBA over the last 20 seasons.”From Bill Simmons: “Clearly — the biggest lure for future free agents is the perennially stable Knicks franchise, all those playoff wins and the leadership of owner James Dolan. A new owner might scare them off.” …“Tell me which GM wouldn’t want a rival superstar to leave a contender for the dumbass Knicks? Also, can you destabilize a franchise that’s already been badly destabilized? I stand by what I said about JD courting offers obviously. It was 100% true.”From Charles Oakley, who Dolan banned after an ugly incident in 2017: "The commissioner needs to step in and do something, suspend [Dolan], something. He can't keep getting away with it. This man told the security guards to throw me out for no reason. I was banned twice in eight months."If everyone had such overwhelmingly negative feelings about you, wouldn’t you want to cut your losses and get out of the business?[READ: James Dolan says he isn't to blame for his poor PR, the New York Daily News is]

The Lakers’ lost season is good for something

Take it from Zach Lowe -- this year for the Lakers has been a complete trainwreck.But the recent white flag has brought back Andre Ingram, the NBA’s Moonlight Graham, who played two games last year as a 31-year-old rookie, scoring 19 points in one of them.He got a call-up a few days ago from the G-League’s South Bay Lakers -- you can watch him find out about the promotion here -- and signed a 10-day contract with the Lakers, appearing in last night’s win over the Bulls, playing two minutes.This is nice from a PR standpoint, but it must be an enormous sigh of relief for Ingram financially, whose 10-day contract will earn him just under $75,000, according to Basketball-Reference, nearly $40,000 more than the base G-League salary this year.For the grey-haired Ingram, who runs basketball camps and tutors math on the side, the Lakers’ gesture must feel like a winning lotto ticket.

  Joel Embiid is back 

Joel Embiid's big-time putback slam during Philadelphia’s 106-99 win over Cleveland last night.

  Quick Hits

• Russell Westbrook’s uncomfortable exchange with a Utah Jazz fan Monday night ended in a $25,000 fine for Westbrook and a lifetime ban from Jazz games for the fan.

• LeBron + alley-oop + shimmy.

• Serge Ibaka lost his mind on Monday night, laying the smackdown on an unexpecting Marquise Chriss.

• From a few days ago, Kyrie Irving acknowledged some of his strange behavior recently and apologized.

• Lou Williams torched the Celtics on Monday night and became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer off the bench.   

• Isaiah Thomas had a DNP-Coach’s Decision last night, which doesn’t look good for the rest of his season with the Nuggets.

• A Reddit user laid out an extensive, statistical report on the Lakers upcoming free agency situation.

 Concrete Reads 

• Why Wizards play-by-play man Steve Buckhantz is a diva when he travels [The Athletic]

• In Pat Connaughton, the NBA has a Kyler Murray of its own [The Ringer]

• The Clippers are an absolute unit [The Ringer]

• Signing off: Raycom airing its final ACC Tournament [The Greensboro News & Record]

  Podcast Pick

Bill Simmons and Co. break down Game 6 of the 2016 Western Conference Finals, which is basically the reason Kevin Durant is now in Golden State [The Ringer]

Best upcoming games

Tonight, 3/13

How to Watch: ESPNOdds: OKC -7.5The Grip Picks: Brooklyn NetsThe Thunder are less trustworthy this season than Danny Ainge. The Nets have won three in a row. Take the points. 

How to Watch: ESPNOdds: HOU -3.5The Grip Picks: Houston RocketsThe Warriors are 4-5 since the All-Star Break while the Rockets are 9-1. The Rockets are also at home and the Warriors will be without Kevin Durant. Plus, James Harden has historically torched Steph Curry.

Thursday, 3/14