The Opening Tip

• Yes, Bob Cousy is still alive

• Block or charge?

• Jerry West, what a life

NBA Finals Game 4

You gotta give.

1. Get 18 for Cooz

One of the best recurring bits on the internet is when everyone either learns or remembers that Bob Cousy, a grainy black and white memory from a different world, is still alive. He’s 95 years old, still puttering around Worcester, where he’s lived since attending Holy Cross in the late 1940s.

That happened again yesterday, when the great Dan Shaughnessy called him up for a column, which produced this legendary quote:

Since 2008 -- the last Celtics’ title -- Tommy Heinsohn, Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, KC Jones and Bill Walton have all died. Dennis Johnson also died in November, 2007.

So, it’s nice to have Cousy still around, still present, still ripping off one-liners to sports columnists. (He’s being dramatic. He’s got a few more years left.) And it will/would be nice to have him around for banner No. 18.

[READ: 'I should have done more': Bob Cousy's letter to Bill Russell]

[The Grip Recommends: The Last Pass: Cousy, Russell, the Celtics, and What Matters in the End]

2. Daily GIF: Block or charge?

Was this a block, a charge, or the refs finally being fed up with Luka’s shit after seven years of non-stop bitching about obvious foul calls?

[WATCH: Celtics-Mavs Game 3 highlights]

3. Trivia

4. All the things that Jerry West did in his life

• Grew up poor in rural West Virginia and slept with a shotgun under his bed in self defense of an abusive dad.

• Won a high school championship, an Olympic gold and nine NBA titles as a player and executive.  

• Won Finals MVP in 1969 despite losing the Finals. His numbers that series: 37.9 PPG, 7.4 APG, 43.9 MPG

• Also in 1969, officially became ‘The Logo,’ when brand consultant Alan Siegel used a picture of West dribbling as inspiration

• Finally got his ring in 1972 after seven(!) Finals losses, as part of a Lakers team that won 33 in a row and 69 games in the regular season overall. 

• In 55 career Finals games, averaged 30.5-5-5.6.

• Helped build the ‘Showtime’ Lakers, then single-handedly built the Kobe-Shaq Lakers by trading Vlade Divac for Kobe Bryant on July 11, 1996, then signing Shaq on July 18, 1996. 

• Almost had a heart attack on live TV during the 2003 NBA draft lottery, when he lost out on drafting LeBron by one pick as Grizzlies GM. 

• Vocally opposed the Warriors trading Klay Thompson for Kevin Love as a Warriors front office member. 

• Helped lure Kevin Durant to Golden State. 

• Helped lure Kawhi Leonard to the Clippers. 

• Destroyed JJ Redick for questioning the validity of Bob Cousy’s career. 

• Died before having to see the Celtics win another title.

[READ: Jerry West and the burden of being the logo]

Quick hits

• ICMYI, Brian Windhorst going off on Luka Doncic postgame is must-watch. 

• Luka did the money sign at the refs last night, which, when you think about it, doesn’t make that much sense. 

• Xavier Tillman’s dad died last month. This must have been really special for him.

• Adam Silver is done trying to fix the All-Star Game. 

• Ben Simmons: Still lacking in self awareness.

Reads + Pods

• Boston reaches the brink of a title in the most Celtics way possible [The Ringer]

• Lakers’ messy coaching search revives the scoopster standoff between Woj and Shams [Defector]

• When things got tight, the C’s embraced the greatness of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum [Boston Globe]

That's the buzzer.
Thanks for reading the 390th edition of The Grip.