Monday, Aug 31st, 2020

Nuggets-Jazz — John Thompson — Columnist Kareem

Monday, August 31st, 2020

  

  The Opening Tip

  • Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell are putting on a show

  • RIP to coaching great John Thompson

  • What’s up with Marcus Morris?

  • The Tower from Power has another award

1. The Lead: Nuggets-Jazz has been an all-time great first round series  

Entering these playoffs, two people in the history of the NBA had two games in one series in which they’d scored 50-plus points: Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson. In the last week, not only has that number doubled, but both new entrants have done so in the same series. Utah’s Donovan Mitchell scored 50-plus in Games 1 & 4. Denver’s Jamal Murray did the same in Games 3 & 6, the latter of which happened last night in a 119-107 win. Game 7 is tomorrow. Mitchell is averaging 38.7 points on 55 percent shooting from 3. Murray is averaging 34 points on 57.4 percent shooting from 3. Both are shooting more than nine 3s per game. Both are doing this under a rain cloud of pressure, for a league trying to finish a cursed season in a vacuum-sealed Florida bubble while also forcing a reckoning on police brutality. Oh, and a labor strike was wedged between the fifth and sixth games. Most first round series are lost to history. (Try to think of one LeBron-first round moment.) This one will go down as one of the handful that won’t, along with Clippers-Spurs in 2015, Celtics-Bulls in 2009, Bulls-Cavs in 1989, and Celtics-Bulls in 1986.[LISTEN: Murray Magic, Boston’s ceiling and Harden’s big chance]

2. Marcus Morris: Kind of a dick, right? 

The Clippers finished off the Mavericks last night, 111-97, to clinch their first round series in six games.The biggest headline, though, was Marcus Morris’ cheap shot on Luka Dončić, which earned Morris an ejection and perhaps a suspension. (The GIF doesn’t show it, but the ensuing few seconds were an ensemble of hold-me-backs.) To recap, Dončić in his first NBA playoffs -- in which he averaged 31 points, 9.8 rebounds and 8.7 assists while hitting an already iconic shot -- was: 

  • … called a “bitch-ass white boy” by Montezl Harrell. (If you are white and have played basketball at any level, you have been called a white boy. The bitch-ass was the kicker.)

  • … intentionally stepped on by Morris in a different incident. 

  • … whacked across the head by Morris.

3. John Thompson: 1941-2020

John Thompson, the legendary Georgetown basketball coach who also had a brief NBA career backing up Bill Russell in the 1960s, died on Sunday night at 78.He was the first black coach to win an NCAA championship, in 1984, and coached players like Patrick Ewing, Allen Iverson, Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutumbo.  

“Thanks For Saving My Life Coach,” Iverson tweeted on Monday. “I’m going to miss you, but I’m sure that you are looking down on us with a big smile.  I would give anything just for one more phone call from you only to hear you say, “Hey MF”, then we would talk about everything except basketball.”

Thompson was 6-foot-10, didn’t give dignity to any fools, was notoriously dubious of the press, once scared off a D.C. drug lord from going near his team, helped turn the Big East into a national brand, and pissed off an incalculable amount of white people, which is the true benchmark of a pioneering human. He was born, raised, and immortalized in D.C. and spent a lifetime having to explain himself and his Blackness to an uncomfortable white crowd. Perhaps his most famous quote came right after his most famous moment, when Georgetown beat Houston for the '84 title: 

“I’m not interested in being the first or only Black doing anything because it implies in 1984 a Black man finally became intelligent enough to win an NCAA title and that’s a very misleading thing."  

 4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a five-peat going 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a journalist from Manhattan who also rose to fame for doing something else in the ‘70s and ‘80s, was named best columnist yesterday at the 62nd Southern California Journalism Awards.  Abdul-Jabbar is a regular contributor to both The Hollywood Reporter and England’s The Guardian, and had already won that award four times before that. He now has a five-peat, which matches the number of NBA MVPs he has -- one more and he’ll match his NBA ring count. Kareem, who continues to set the bar for post-playing career achievement, is the rare case of an athlete turned writer. (Donte Stallworth also comes to mind.)  Most hang it up and do two things:  

  1. Hire the first journalist that comes to mind to ghost write a cheesy and insincere “autobiography,” which is usually called something like My life in the bigs or Tales from the hardwood or Gridiron Glory or From alright to alt-right: The Curt Schilling story. (OK, that last one is a stretch.) 

  2. Go to ESPN or FOX or NFL Network and start rifling off takes, which is the Paul Pierce/Matt Barnes/Richard Jefferson route.   

Kareem has instead turned his intelligence into a fulfilling side hustle. (He was also recently nominated for an Emmy.)Here are some of his recent columns: 

5. By the Numbers 

  5-0 

After dispatching Toronto yesterday to take Game 1 of their second round series, the Celtic are now 5-0 in the playoffs for the second straight year. Remember how that ended up in 2019?

  7 of 18

Seven of ESPN’s NBA people

the Heat to beat the Bucks in their upcoming series, which starts today. That seems too high. We’ll say Bucks in five.  

81 games

Udonis Haslem, who is still an active NBA player, has played 81 games over his last five seasons, including only 14 since 2018. He saw no action for the Heat last round. We’re now taking bets on a UD appearance against the Bucks.

3.8 deflections

Fred VanVleet, who had six steals in yesterday’s loss to the Celtics, is

the playoffs with 3.8 deflections per game. 

 6.  Quick hits 

  • Here’s a video of Kemba Walker swearing, realizing he’s on TV, then saying oops.  

  • It’s clear how beloved Chadwick Boseman was among NBA players. 

  • RIP to Cliff Robinson, who looked so damn cool in a Blazers’ uniform. 

  • This is a cool picture of the Balkan players in the bubble. 

  • The Magic have confirmed that Jonathan Isaac’s injury will keep him out for all of next season.

 7.  Off the press 

  • From Michael Jordan to LeBron James, how the NBA became a powerful political organization [ESPN]

  • The legend of Georgetown’s John Thompson begins with unflinching toughness [Yahoo]

  • The NBA has returned to action, but players are still focused on the bigger picture [The Ringer]

  • Give Kemba Walker a double pick and watch him work [538]