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- The Grip - WED 3.28
The Grip - WED 3.28
Markelle Fultz is back, baby!
3.28.18
Written while listening to Kanye’s Graduation
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J.S.: So, is it time to start treating this Steph Curry injury like a real story that could shake up the playoffs?
S.E.: Good question. He’s expected to miss the first round of the playoffs with a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee. The Warriors have lost six of nine and are going to win less than 67 games for the first time since the Mark Jackson era. It should be pretty interesting to see what sort of strategic spacing changes Steve Kerr makes to counteract the lack of...
J.S.: Hey, hey, hey — is this a clever abstract brainstorm session to symbolize hypothetical story-boarding? Or is this the lead to Wednesday’s Grip?
S.E.: Good point. On to more pressing things.
LAST NIGHT'S SCORES
Rockets 118,
Bulls 86
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Heat 98,
Cavaliers 79
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Wizards 116,
Spurs 106
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Clippers 105,
Bucks 98
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Trailblazers 107,
Pelicans 103
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Raptors 114,
Nuggets 110
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Mavericks 103,
Kings 97
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Pacers 92,
Warriors 81
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A jumper finds its wings
Markelle Fultz, the consensus No. 1 overall pick for anyone not named Danny Ainge, finally returned from his mysterious injury on Monday, scoring 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting off the bench in 14 minutes against the Denver Nuggets, adding eight assists and four rebounds.
The action for Fultz hopefully brought an end to one of the more bizarre PR plays in recent history, where a closeted injury that was never announced or denounced by the 76ers turned into the strangest collection of grainy iPhone videos the world has ever seen.
Every so often, NBA Twitter would produce a quick look at him practicing a jump shot. Most of them looked like some white dude named Don shooting a set shot in the 1940s.
He was broken. And most worrisome, it was from a confidence standpoint. “The paint,” said 76ers general manager Bryan Colangelo, when asked what Fultz’s range was, non ironically. Oh, so now the guy who shot 41 percent from three in college is Marcus Camby?! OKAY.
It certainly didn’t help, from a 76ers standpoint, that misfits Nerlens Noel is wasted on a tanking bench and Jahlil Okafor looks like a T-Rex.
But, if only for a brief box score glance, Fultz looked OK. He missed shots. He made some. On Monday, he was a normal basketball player, and Danny Ainge voodoo was gone, at least for a night. It was fun, because this guy was an automatic 20 a night if you asked any scout before he entered the twilight zone.
Oh, and by the way…
After six years of broken hearts and broken feet, the 76ers are back in the playoffs.
Just two seasons ago the team was at rock bottom. Now it seems almost unfair that the league stepped in and canned Sam Hinkie, who will be remembered as a symbol of vision.
In 2015-16, Joel Embiid was out for the second straight year with his foot injury. It ended at an abysmal 10-72, a third straight straight season without cracking 20 wins. Hinkie, despite his unabashed efforts, was struggling to prove The Process. The winning culture of Moses, Dr. J, Mo Cheeks and Allen Iverson seemed a hundred franchises ago.
It truly did seem unfathomable that the 76ers would have the fourth seed in the Eastern conference two years later, just one game back of LeBron’s Cavaliers.
How did we get here?
That God-awful season got them Ben Simmons. They snagged Dario Saric from Turkey. They chose the correct center and dumped the other two (Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor) like bad stocks. Robert Covington became the 3-and-D player every team needs. They nabbed J.J. Redick on an expiring one year deal. Brett Brown, Boston accent et al, has proven a player’s coach that can bring enthusiasm to the locker room. And most importantly, the East is still a very bad conference.
And now it’s 2018. A young core of Embiid and Simmons are eager for the playoffs, eager to show people that the franchise has arrived. Whoever they match up with will not want to play Philadelphia, perhaps the new version of Orlando in the 1990s.
Don’t drink (heavily) and write columns
(This, of course, is said with the caveat that some of the greatest columns and writing in general have been written drunk.)
Don’t drink and write columns, or else the entire media and NBA world will pitchfork you to death on Twitter. Maybe in real life, too.
Gordon Monson, a columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, widely considered a great NBA newspaper, penned the hottest and messiest breakup letter to Gordon Hayward, who would be visiting Utah this week if not for a snapped leg on opening night. This is not confirmed, but it is likely that Monson was in tears, downing a bottle of Jack while writing this.
Its title: Gordon Who? Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert are the kings of this town
Its kicker: The greatest revenge already has been taken. Gordon Who? No, no. Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert are the kings of this town.
Truthfully, we didn’t think it was that bad—more just a swing and a miss in the race for clicks. It reads like a jealous girlfriend who posts too much on her Snapchat story to make it seem like SHE’S HAVING SO MUCH FUN WITHOUT YOU. But Twitter did.
Seems like he’s going to write another one of these when Donovan Mitchell signs with the Lakers in seven years.
Zeke Upshaw, a Grand Rapids Drive G-League player, died on Monday due to sudden cardiac arrest. He was 26 and hunting for a 10-day contract just a week earlier. Rest in peace.
Missouri landed its biggest recruit ever last year. He played 53 minutes for them. Michael Porter Jr., after an injury-riddled freshman year, is heading to the NBA draft. Oh, and LiAngelo Ball declared for the draft, too. Never mention a Ball again? OK, gotcha.
J.J. Redick has now made the playoffs for 12 consecutive seasons with four different teams (Magic, Bucks, Clippers, 76ers). Both John Stockton and Moses Malone made it every year of their 19 year careers. Very impressive and fortunate for a role player. #rightplacerighttime
The Rockets are the first 60-win team this season and the only 60-win team in Rockets history. They maxed out at 55 wins during the Yao Ming-Tracy McGrady era, and had 58 in the ‘94 championship campaign led by Hakeem Olajuwon. Side note: The ‘95 Rockets won a title with only 47 regular season wins. Baller.
This hilarious clip of Andrew Wiggins getting hit with the feels from a Michael Bolton song.
Subway bum and probable cig smoker Milos Teodosic actually has some filthy handles:
Giannis Antetokounmpo was featured on 60 Minutes, following up porn star Stormy Daniels’ interview about her affair with the president of the United States. Ain’t that a sentence.
Damian Lillard scored 20 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter in last night’s win against the Pelicans. The Trailblazers have only lost twice since the All Star break (14-2).
Despite the loss, Jrue Holiday once again showed us how important he is to the New Orleans Pelicans. He put up 21-11-11 and had this clutch block to give his team a chance in the dying seconds of yesterday’s game:
Cleveland showed its flaws last night in an ugly loss to Miami. They shot 37 percent from the floor and 15 percent from three-point range. Oh, and Dwyane Wade blocked LeBron twice, including this one:
An important piece about Loyola-Chicago’s 1963 title team, which, battled through racism and racist America in general for a last-second win over Cincinnati in the title game:It’s a chance to recognize that this year’s underdog has a very real place in American sports lore, one forged more than half a century ago. In that 1963 NCAA title game, Loyola and Cincinnati combined to make history before the ball was even tipped—when the two teams lined up, it marked the first time in NCAA history that the majority of the starting 10 players in a title game were black. The road leading to that moment was a rocky one, and one the Ramblers navigated despite death threats and hate mail from the KKK. To keep reading, Tap Here.
College basketball is fun because UMBC can beat the college that Thomas Jefferson founded. It’s not fun because the level is bad. How to fix it: [Tap Here]
The Methods and Madness of Hubie Brown, from 1979 [Tap Here]
JJ Redick, “the N.B.A.’s Most Meticulous Player.” [Tap Here]
A LOOK AHEAD Here are the must-see games of the week.
Wednesday 3/28
The Boston Celtics (51-23) visit the Utah Jazz (42-32).9:30 PM EST - ESPN
Thursday 3/29
The Oklahoma City Thunder (44-31) visit the San Antonio Spurs (43-31).8:00 PM EST - TNT
