Wednesday, May 8th, 2019

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Written while listening to Cam'ron's Oh Boy

 The Celtics have a first-world problem 

Celtics fans have always been a positive bunch. Blame it on Bob Ryan, who revolutionized basketball writing while at the Globe, and also had no problem admitting his proclivity for the Celtics.In that way, they’re different than most of New England; a Patriots fan is more likely to call for Bill Belichick's job after a 2-1 start. A Celtics fan is more likely to make a death threat to WEEI’s Lou Merloni for calling Al Horford Average Al.Which is why, regarding Kyrie Irving, the talented but maddening star who’s free to walk this offseason after a bizarre year that started with a promise he’d sign a long term deal, there’s a feeling of existential gloom with a sprinkle of an identity crisis. This era of Brad Stevens and #NetsPicks has been a five-year party of optimism.Now the walls are caving in.[READ: Who cares? Obviously not Kyrie Irving]All season, after a summer of bold predictions, this team felt like a trainwreck. Irving, by nature of his own presence, promised it wasn’t.In the end, it was -- or will be in a game or two. The Bucks hold a 3-1 lead in the series and are home for Game 5 tonight.In Game 4’s third quarter, the Celtics’ best five was played off the court by George Hill, Sterling Brown, Ersan Ilyasova, Brook Lopez and, of all people, Pat Connaughton.Giannis Antetokounmpo finished them off in the fourth quarter, while Irving made mindless plays like this one, which led to a crucial and-one.For the game, he finished 7-of-22 after promising he wouldn’t go 8-of-22 again. For the series, he’s 31-of-83 and 6-of-25 from deep.But don’t worry. He hasn’t lost his confidence.After Monday’s game: “I should have shot 30. I’m that great of a shooter.”After Monday’s game, on his poor shooting: “Who cares?”On May 3: “I’m an actual genius when it comes to this game.”It appears Irving is out the door, which, on its own, is fine. He has a right to do so, and the Celtics won’t cease to exist without him. But the way he’s done it -- by leading on a fanbase before flaming out in a nonchalant way -- has been mystifying.Isaiah Thomas wasn’t perfect basketball-wise, but he was perfect for Boston.Irving didn’t have to be perfect. He could have made it work, though -- with his teammates, with his coaches, and with the fans. But he rarely seemed interested in doing so.[READ: The Celtics are falling to pieces right before our eyes]

This Rockets-Warriors series is what we needed

If you’re one of those people who thinks the NBA got significantly worse the day Kevin Durant paid a ghost-writing Syracuse grad to pen his Players’ Tribune “article” on his “next chapter” on July 4, 2016, just hold on.We’re getting close.And when it does end -- maybe at some point in the next week?! -- remember: Smile because it’s over. But also, cry, because it happened.The Rockets, thanks to MVP performances by James Harden and Eric Gordon’s emergence as maybe Houston’s second-best player, are back in this thing, with a chance to steal Game 5 tonight against a team that isn’t playing well outside of Kevin Durant, who is, let’s just be honest, an absolute joy to watch play basketball.Most noticeably, the Splash Brothers, one of which seems a little unhappy, have been off.The numbers:

  Game 3 

Klay Thompson: 16 Points | 6-16 FG | 2-6 3PT | Minus-3Steph Curry: 17 Points | 7-23 FG | 2-9 3PT | Minus-1Result: Rockets win, 126-121, in overtime

  Game 4 

Klay Thompson: 11 Points | 5-15 FG | 1-6 3PT | Minus-12Steph Curry: 30 Points | 12-25 | 4-14 3PT | Plus-2Result: Rockets win, 112-108For the series, Curry and Thompson are shooting the three ball at 28 percent, or 20-of-72. The Hamptons Five lineup -- Andre Iguodala, Curry, Thompson, Durant and Draymond Green -- which at times over the last four years has felt like a cheat code, has been countered with Houston’s South Beach Five.There’s some good juju happening for the Rockets right now. And that’s the absolute closest we’re going to get to predicting the end of the Golden State Warriors*.*We’re all in on this series being the end of the Golden State Warriors.

Last night’s Game 5s, haiku’d

Raptors-76ers

Nice, Game 5s are sweetBet the moneyline on PhillyDamn, that was stupid

  Nuggets-Trail Blazers

This one will be betterTrail Blazers plus-five can’t missDamn, that was stupid

Notable moments from the Raptors’ blowout win over the 76ers

• When Kawhi dunked on Joel Embiid

• When Pascal Siakam locked down Jimmy Butler

• When Greg Monroe greenlit himself on a 3 and missed badly

• When Danny Green left Drake hanging

• When Joel Embiid dared Marc Gasol to shoot a 3, and Gasol sunk it in his face

• When Kawhi, who had zero turnovers, dunked over two 76ers to close out the half:

Notable moments from the Nuggets’ blowout win over the Trail Blazers

• When Jamal Murray drained a 3 in Damian Lillard’s face

• When Meyers Leonard and Nikola Jokic got into a mild scuffle

• When Murray hit Jokic with this behind the back pass

• When Gary Harris finished off this insane reverse layup

• When Juan Hernangomez drained a garbage time 3 and went wild with the bench.

Quick Hits  

• Embiid copped to being sick again last night, after finishing with eight turnovers, while Ben Simmons had seven points on three shots in 25 minutes.

• On the other side of the pond, Virtus Bologna won the Basketball Champions League (much to the annoyance of Fortitudo), with Mario Chalmers hitting the dagger late in the championship game.

• Greg Oden 31, has graduated from Ohio State 12 years after he left to play in the NBA.

• Apparently, DeMarcus Cousins is still holding onto hope of a potential return in the NBA Finals.

• Draymond Green’s mom co-signed this Steph Curry Twitter roast.

• Raptors fans mimicked Embiid’s airplane celebration as he clocked out of the game down thirty points last night.

 Concrete Reads  

• How valuable is Kawhi Leonard? [GQ]

• While Enes Kanter is observing Ramadan, the world will be watching him [The New York Times]

• Giannis Antetokounmpo is the pride of a Greece that shunned him [The New York Times]

• The education of Zion Williamson [ESPN]

  Podcast Pick

Writer Michael Lewis takes us inside the world of NBA refereeing. He explains how protests about unfair calls have increased in recent years. However, at the same time, hard evidence suggests referees have only gotten better and better at making good calls. [This American Life]