Tues, Feb 18th, 2020

ASG love — John Beilein — Giannis vs. James Harden

February 18, 2020

Tuesday, Feb 18th, 2020

  

  The Opening Tip

  • Cavs coach John Beilein might not make it through the season

  • Giannis seems to not like James Harden

  • The All-Star Game was fascinating 

  • Where did all the Warriors fans go?

1. The Lead: John Beilein is a college coach without NBA survival skills  

On Sunday night, during the most riveting All-Star Game of the last 20 years, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Cavaliers coach John Beilein and Cleveland’s front office “have discussed the possibility of him stepping down as head coach during the All-Star Break.”This was...

  1. … an all-time news dump. 

  2. … not that surprising, if you’ve been following the 14-40 Cavs this season.

  3. … another reminder that the jump from college to the NBA is not for most coaches. 

Before signing with Cleveland on a five-year deal this offseason, Beilein had been at Michigan since 2007, and was one of the more respected coaches and teachers in college basketball; he’s won 571 college games between four different jobs and twice took Michigan to the national title game.At 67, he was the youngest rookie head coach in NBA history entering this season. And it sounds like it didn’t click from the start.Ryen Russillo on the Bill Simmons Podcast: 

“I can tell you now, before the season even started, that entire team was like, nope, to Beilein. Before the season started, I had heard, like, hey, this is the fastest ever an entire locker room is out on a guy.”

What made the fissure worse was a January film room meeting, when Beilein reportedly accidentally told his team it was playing like “a bunch of thugs.” He apologized and insisted he was trying to say slugs. (Which is, to be fair, something a 67-year-old would say.)But the mistake was made and the Freudian-ness was insinuated, and now Beilein is “unhappy -- even miserable -- with the move to the Cavaliers,” according to Woj.Beilein and the Cavs will meet today to sort things out, so he could be out of town and in the college coaching carousel as soon as tonight. If so, interim coach extraordinaire J.B. Bickerstaff will take over.Meanwhile: Every Cavalier is smiling through gritted teeth saying, noooo haha don’t go … you were such a good coach...

2. There was defense in the All-Star Game  

This block on LeBron courtesy of Giannis, which got flipped from a goaltending call to a clean rejection, was the perfect embodiment of a worth-watching fourth quarter of the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday night.You can watch the highlights here.And, in case you’re still confused by the new format, here’s a final attempt:

  • The two teams played the first three quarters on a regulation, 12 minutes per quarter basis. 

  • In the fourth quarter, the aggregate score of the first three quarters (Team LeBron: 124, Team Giannis: 133) was counted up with 24 points (a Kobe tribute) being added to the higher team’s total, which was Team Giannis’s 133, which came out to 157, which was the “target score.” 

  • Therefore, TG needed only 24 points in the untimed fourth quarter to win, while TL needed 33 points (24 plus the nine points they trailed TG by after three quarters).

(The system is called the Elam Ending, thought up by a Ball State professor sick of intentional fouling.)Despite the disadvantage, Team LeBron came back and won, 157-155.

3. What does Giannis have against James Harden?

There appears to be a burgeoning, mostly one-sided beef between Giannis and James Harden.A timeline: 

Feb. 6: While drafting his All-Star team, and with James Harden clearly the best player left, Giannis says he is between Kemba Walker and Trae Young, and “wants somebody that’s going to pass the ball,” eventually taking Walker.Feb. 16: During the All-Star Game, Giannis appears to hit Harden with a nasty elbow.Feb. 16: Once the game is over, during his post game presser, Giannis says, unprovoked, “Offensively, we were just trying to find whoever James Harden was guarding. That’s who we thought we had an opportunity to score on.” 

We have no idea where this venom is coming from. We can only hope it doesn't involve the Kardashians.

4. Aaron Gordon over 7-foot-5 Tacko Fall

This extra innings slam, from Saturday night’s Dunk Contest (

), was improvised. It also only earned Gordon a 47. He lost to Derrick Jones Jr.

.

5. We have proof every non-OG Warriors fan is a bandwagoner

Many Warriors fans were born as Warriors fans in 2013, just as Golden State was starting to get good.Now that the Warriors are suddenly not good, many of those Warriors fans have simply gone away.From Awful Announcing: 

The Golden State Warriors, who have dominated the NBA’s local ratings for the last few years, saw their ratings decline by a staggering 66% on NBC Sports Bay Area. That’s the second-largest decline in the league (behind only the Denver Nuggets, down 72% on Altitude, which is beset by carriage issues), and has also knocked the Dubs out of the league’s top five overall.

You. Hate. To. See. it.

 6.  Quick hits 

 7.  Off the press 

  • The weekend when Jordan and the NBA took flight [The Ringer]

  • The NBA’s all-time leaders in game-winning buzzer beaters [The Ringer]