Thurs, Jan 23rd, 2020

Zion’s weird debut — TBOB 2.0 — Klay’s 37-point quarter

January 23, 2020

Thurs, Jan 23rd, 2020

    

  • FYI: You see those icons under our logo? Those are links, use 'em!

  • Who’s a better shooter: Zion or Steph Curry?

  • Jaren Jackson had a wild block last night

  • That time Klay Thompson went for 37 in a quarter

  • Maya Moore has more important things to do than play basketball

 1. The Lead: Zion’s four 3-pointers, ranked  

Zion’s debut last night was one of the most genuinely weird nights of the NBA this season.It featured:

  • An overblown lead up to the game, which included a live ticker on ESPN starting five hours before the game

  • Mark Jackson semi-fat shaming Zion right off the bat.

  • A “Zion Cam” on ESPN’s app throughout the entire game.

  • The best heat check we’ve seen in years, where Zion inexplicably turned into Steph Curry, thus giving the Pelicans a brief lead and saving basketball in New Orleans. 

  • A bizarre minutes restriction where Zion wasn’t allowed to play more than four straight minutes, culminating in the world’s biggest buzzkill at the end of the game.

In the end, Zion finished with 22 points -- 17 over a magical three-minute stretch -- and four 3-pointers, which is two more than Ben Simmons has hit in 204 career games.Here’s the entire sequence.Here's every 3, ranked based on no particular criteria:4. The first: Once Zion committed to his first 3-point attempt of the game, it was like watching the high school football player with Division I interest lounging around with the varsity basketball team before practice, hitting the point guard with a, “bro, lemme see that” before launching a 30-footer five feet to the right of the basket. Except he actually made it.3. The third one: A 3-pointer from the right wing this time, where San Antonio’s Jakob Poeltl actually semi-tried to contest.2. The second one: This one was a casual stroll in from the top of the key, shot with the irrational confidence of the high school football player who just missed the entire rim but said, “na lemme get one more.”1. The fourth: The Big Smoothie was already going nuts before Zion’s stepback, jab-step wing 3-pointer that gave the Pelicans the lead. After he hit it, the scales tipped: New Orleans is now only 98 percent a Saints town.

 2. Jaren Jackson’s “gimme that sh*t” moment  

The Celtics beat the Grizzlies, 119-95 last night, but the two 20-year-old future All-Stars on the Grizzlies made more incredible plays. 

 3.  The Book of Basketball 2.0: The last great Knicks moment  

In the latest episode of Bill Simmons’ The Book of Basketball 2.0, he and a cast of sad Knicks fans discuss Game 3 of the 1999 Eastern Conference Finals between the Pacers and Knicks.There have been a few “great moments” since then -- the 1999 NBA Finals, Linsanity, Carmelo’s 62-point game -- but it’s an interesting piece of content, if only because it feels so hard to believe, in 2020, that the Knicks were ever a threat to win anything at all.Come for the Dolan bashing. Stay for the Latrell Spreewell stories. Listen here.

 4. 01/23/2015: Klay gets 37 … in the third quarter 

On this day five years ago -- where has the time gone? -- Klay Thompson scored 52 points overall but 37 in the third quarter, breaking Carmelo Anthony and George Gervin’s quarter record of 33 points.The highlights are unbelievable -- almost as good as the time a local news station interviewed Klay the civilian about his thoughts on New York scaffolding: 

“I usually observe if the piping and stuff is new … sometimes, you know, if it looks like it’s been there a while I try and avoid it.”

5.  Quick Hits 

  • Marcus Smart was f e e l i n g h i m s e l f last night.  

  • The Knicks’ front office actually thought they had a chance at the playoffs this year.

  • The Pacersmade fun of the Suns yesterday on Twitter for trading TJ Warren for “cash considerations,” then deleted it.

  • Some reporter had nothing better to do than ask LeBron if he’d play with his son if he got drafted by the Knicks. His response: “My son is in ninth grade man, I’m trying to worry about what project he gotta turn in tomorrow.”

  • The Rockets beat the Nuggets last night, snapping a four-game losing streak.

6.  Off the press

  • WNBA’s Maya Moore to skip another season to focus on prisoner's case [The New York Times]

  • Mark Cuban once crashed the NBA’s party. Now he hosts it. [The Ringer]

  • Behind the scenes of David Fizdale's final weeks as Knicks head coach [SNY]