- The Grip
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- Jontay Porter, hilarious dummy
The Opening Tip
Sports betting scandals have comedic value
A cool block by Chet Holmgren
The Lakers are getting an easy whistle
Must-watch games
1. The Jontay Porter story is hilarious, unfortunately
The Jontay Porter story is undoubtedly a canary in the coal mine. The 0-60 rush of sports betting culture becoming pop culture will yield plenty of betting market ‘irregularities’ like this one.
More than any of that ethics stuff, though … the Jontay Porter story is hilarious.
If you aren’t caught up:
Raptors reserve Jontay Porter, brother of Michael, is currently being investigated for suspicious activity involving his prop unders in two games this season.
What that means: On Jan. 26 vs. LAC and Mar. 20 vs. MEM, there was a massive influx of money/bets for his prop lines to go under, which DraftKings flagged in public and private.
Even simpler: Hundreds of thousands of dollars were put on a role player to score less than 7.5 points, grab less than 3.5 rebounds, etc. That is not normal.
The result: Porter played four minutes and three minutes, respectively, leaving each game with an ‘injury’ and an ‘illness,’ allowing those under bets to cash.
Occam’s razor: Porter told a bunch of people to flood the zone with bets against him, then left each game for good almost immediately after checking in for reasons that can’t possibly be coincidences.
From the gung-ho market manipulation -- which was never not going to get flagged -- to the extremely obvious execution by Porter, the No. 1 takeaway here is the bad-sports-movie level of comedic mishap.
2. Daily GIF: Verticality
This block by Chet Holmgren last night was so sick it almost made up for him starring in one of the cringiest athlete commercials of all-time.
3. Trivia
Wilt Chamberlain’s 11.4 free throws per game for his career is most all-time. Who’s second, at 10.3?
• Shaq
4. Free throw differential, 2022-23 through 2023-24 seasons
If you’re better with words than graphs: The Lakers have shot 1,032 more free throws than their opponents since the beginning of last season. That’s 674 more than the team with the second biggest free throw differential.
And, no, it isn’t just because they drive to the basket a lot.
The Lakers are 27th in the league in drives per game, at 39.7.
Last year, they were 23rd.
They have, for whatever reason, a massive statistical advantage when it comes to the easiest way to score points, and they still aren't very good.
Quick hits
This was called a common foul on Draymond Green.
Mark Cuban hysterically laughing at Luka Doncic getting Derrick Jones with the ‘something on your shirt’ trick is the good stuff.
Anthony Davis put on a masterclass of defense last night.
It simply must be said: Austin Reaves is a CAWB.
Iowa’s second round game vs. WVU on Monday was the most-watched non-Final Four game in women’s NCAA Tournament history.
DJ Burns’ side hustle is perfect.
Reads + Pods
That's the buzzer.
Thanks for reading the 370th edition of The Grip.