Thursday, January 2nd, 2020

Tonight's must-watch games

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 The Lead: The combative, sharp, accusatory, cranky, innovative, honest David Stern, 1942-2019 

From the moment David Stern took over as NBA commissioner, in 1984, to the day he retired in 2014, his two goals were to grow the game of basketball into a world-wide entity and to make a shit load of money.Based on the Daryl Morey tweet that erupted a nation of 1.4 billion and caused LeBron James to make the wildest swing and miss of his career in the name of keeping a massive international fan base happy, Stern did a pretty good job.He:  

• Somehow managed to look exactly the same throughout his entire career; he looked 60 when he 30

• Oversaw expansion from 23 to 30 teams, which is celebrated as a win for league revenue but sometimes sucks for the fans, who are forced to watch matchups like Memphis-Charlotte in mid-March 

• Helped create the WNBA

• Turned the G-League into the viable and practical minor league it is today

• Infuriated the Lakers (extra points for that) for vetoing a Chris Paul trade in 2011, while the league was temporarily running the Hornets 

• Was accused of pandering to white people in the age of hip hop and Allen Iverson with a dress code for players implemented in 2005, which resonated so much he heard his own name in a Nas song (Or David Stern with his NBA fashion issues)

• He got reallllllly angry at Jim Rome for asking if the lottery was rigged

• He wanted everyone to know he stepped down as commissioner, didn’t retire ("He hates when people say that," Adam Silver told Sports Illustrated.)

He died yesterday at the too-young age of 77. He had suffered a brain hemorrhage three weeks ago. We all knew that, but it was hard to gage just how serious it was.What sticks with us -- and it is perhaps not the most suitable anecdote for a man of such importance -- is the slightly unhinged interview he gave to Sports Illustrated at the beginning of the 2018 season, where he railed against any wrongdoing in the Chris Paul veto saga, and made a healthy prediction: 

“Dell Demps is a lousy general manager and none of those players are currently with the team anymore, and he may lose Anthony Davis."

Of course, the Pelicans were up in arms, releasing a statement that backed Dell Demps with “the utmost confidence,” which they’ve since deleted.Anyways, 14 months later, Demps is out of a job and Anthony Davis is thriving in Los Angeles.David Stern: Usually kind of an asshole. Usually right.[READ: David Stern was a complete force of nature][LISTEN: David Stern spoke with Bob Ryan on the Bob Ryan Podcast in 2017]

 2. Mitchell Robinson’s New Year’s Day slam 

An acrobatic finish by Mitchell Robinson, who went a perfect 11-of-11 on the night and finished with 22 points. The Knicks beat the Trail Blazers, 117-93, despite 26 from Carmelo Anthony in his second return to Madison Square Garden.

3. Tankathon Update

The race for the top pick has taken an unlikely turn in the last two weeks. Awful teams have surged, previously only slightly awful teams have plummeted, and now we have a new league leader.The Hawks, 1-9 in their last 10, sit at a truly ghastly 7-27, a league-worst.The Warriors went on a four-game winning streak last week, but recalibrated and have since lost the last two, nestling themselves back into a top-four spot.The Knicks are currently riding a stupid three-game winning streak and are 6-4 in their last 10, thrusting themselves into a three-way tie with Washington and Cleveland. In New York, there’s even been some talk of the playoffs. They better clear their heads and start losing, lest they risk missing out on a top pick for this trainwreck of a season.Interesting tank games of the week: It’s a full Thursday night slate; the Warriors visit the Timberwolves tonight at 8 p.m., followed by the Grizzlies playing the Kings at 10 p.m.

 4. By the numbers 📊 

86 games

Last night, Carmelo Anthony dropped 26 points in his return to Madison Square Garden. He also had zero assists, the 86th such game for the future Hall of Famer, with 20 coming in his disastrous season with Oklahoma City. 

304-450; 304-451

Starting with the 2010-11 season and ending with games played on Dec. 31, 2019, the Nets had a 304-450 record and the Knicks had a 304-451 record. The Nets made the playoffs four times, winning one playoff series, while the Knicks have made it three times and also won one playoff series. 

53-of-90

Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are a combined 53-of-90 in “clutch situations,” which is defined as the last five minutes of games with the score within five points. The Thunder are now 18-15 and firmly in the West’s playoff picture. 

10; 97

When David Stern took over in 1984, the NBA had 10 foreign players. When he retired, the league had 97.

• Markelle Fultz with the steal and crafty pass.

• Anthony Davis with an epic throwdown over Aron Baynes.

• Robin Lopez tried to fight Jarrett Culver after getting embarrassingly dunked on.

• Zion went through his first full practice today since surgery.

• Darren Collison, who retired last year to fully commit to being a Jehovah's Witness, wants to come back to the NBA and is praying one of the LA teams picks him up. It’s also worth noting that he was charged with domestic abuse back in 2016.

• LeBron didn’t win Most Athletic in his eighth grade yearbook, and it spelt his name out as LaBron.

• ICYMI: Last week, Kobe Bryant was courtside during the Lakers-Mavericks game, trash-talking Luka Dončić in Slovenian.

• Why we can’t have nice things: Alex Caruso is in the top-10 in first returns for All-Star voting in the West.

• The oral history of the Baby Bulls, the 2004-05 team in Chicago that shouldn’t have been as interesting as they actually were [The Ringer]

• Boston star recruit Terrence Clarke found a mentor in Jaylen Brown [The Boston Globe]