Tuesday, Feb 25th, 2020

  The Opening Tip

• After giving a speech at Kobe’s memorial, Oregon star Sabrina Ionescu did something no one else has 

• Can we get Bradley Beal to a better team?

• Joel Embiid has a new career-high

• Count the steps with us on Paul George’s uncalled travel

Tonight's must-watch games

1. The Lead: Sabrina Ionescu’s exceptional Monday

On Monday afternoon, Oregon women’s basketball star Sabrina Ionescu spoke at Kobe Bryant’s memorial service in Los Angeles. You can watch the speech here. The two had struck up a genuine friendship that was apparent in the way she spoke.On Monday night, the No. 3 Ducks played No. 4 Stanford in Stanford and won, 74-66.In the third quarter of the game, she grabbed a historic rebound that put her in a single-person club:

• She’s now the first NCAA basketball player to reach 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists. 

• Kareem, Bill Walton, Clyde Drexler, or any other great college player from the past, never did that. Only Ionescu. 

• For the game, she finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists, her 26th career triple-double, which adds to her NCAA record for most all-time. 

2. Joel Embiid drills 3, celebrates

This 3-pointer got Joel Embiid to 49 points last night, a new career-high. The 76ers have now won five of six -- they lost to the Bucks on Saturday -- good enough to suck a wounded fanbase back into believing. P.S.: Embiid managed to drop a ‘fuck it’ into his postgame speech.

3. The 2020 All-Why-Did-I-Sign-This-Extension-Team 

Yesterday, Bradley Beal dropped 55 points in a 137-134 overtime loss to the Bucks.On Sunday, Beal dropped 53 points in a 126-117 loss to the Bulls.He’s the first person since Kobe Bryant in 2007 to drop 50-plus points on back-to-back days, and also the first person to drop 50 points on back-to-back days and lose both games.For that, he is the starting shooting guard on our All-Why-Did-I-Sign-This-Extension-Team.The five:

• Point guard: Zach LaVine 

• Shooting guard: Bradley Beal 

• Small forward: Devin Booker

• Power forward: Kevin Love

• Center: Karl-Anthony Towns

4. More quotes from Kobe and Gianna Bryant’s memorial

Shaq: 

"I'll be sure to teach Natalia, Bianka and baby Capri all your moves, and I promise I will not teach them my free throw techniques."

Michael Jordan: 

"I told my wife I didn't want to do this because I didn't want to have to look at another crying meme for the next three-to-four years but that is what Kobe Bryant does to me."

Vanessa Bryant: 

“God knew they couldn't be on this earth without each other. He had to bring them home to heaven together."

Geno Auriemma:

“I remember when Gigi came (to a game at UConn) ... the very first game that she came to, and she came into the locker room. And here she is. And the look on her face. The smile, the way her eyes just took everything in, how excited she was to be around, in her mind, royalty. …

“And the most impressive thing about that point in time was how Kobe stepped as far back as he could. So anyone taking pictures, anyone there would not know that this was Kobe Bryant’s daughter. This was her moment. This was her time to shine. This was her time to experience all the things that he’s experienced in his life. He was being dad then; he wasn’t being Kobe Bryant.”

5. Count the steps!

One … two … three … four … five … six.

 6.  Quick hits 

• Here’s another good anecdote from Shaq’s speech yesterday. 

• Behold the 2020 Knicks in one possession.

• The Cavs beat the Heat in overtime last night, 125-119, spoiling Miami’s previously perfect 8-0 OT record this year.  

• Robert Covington, the Rockets’ defacto center, has 15 blocks in his last four games. 

• Ben Simmons has a back injury and will be out an “uncertain amount of time”

• Rich, one of our readers, showed love for Luke Kennard, who we accidentally left off of our Pistons roster yesterday.

 7.  Off the press 

• Zion Williamson is the NBA’s closest thing to modern-day Shaq [The Ringer]

• The origin of the Serge Ibaka scarf [ESPN]