Wed, Mar 4th, 2020

Tuesday in upsets — Knicks stupidity — Zion vs. Luka — Coach Timmy D

March 04, 2020

Wednesday, March 4th, 2020

  

  The Opening Tip

  • Last night had plenty of head-scratching upsets

  • LeBron is pulling up from every which spot on the court  

  • 2019-20 Knicks PR disasters, ranked

  • Zion is playing Luka tonight

Tonight's must-watch games

1. The Lead: Last night in upsets

BROOKLYN 129, BOSTON 120 (OT) -- The Celtics led the Nets last night after three quarters, 84-67, then got outscored in the fourth quarter and overtime by Caris LeVert ALONE, 37-36. The Nets as a team scored 51 points in the fourth quarter, a franchise record.GOLDEN STATE 116, DENVER 100 -- The latest in the line of weird losses for the Nuggets came last night against a Warriors team that trotted out a lineup of Andrew Wiggins, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Marquese Chriss, Mychal Mulder and Damion Lee.Not an exaggeration: We had never heard of Mychal Mulder before checking box scores this morning.MINNESOTA 139, NEW ORLEANS 134 -- One thing you shouldn’t do if you’re trying to make the eighth seed in the playoffs is lose to a Minnesota starting five of Jauncho Hernangomez, Josh Okogie, Naz Reid, Malik Beasley and D’Angelo Russell, but here we are.Nonetheless: With the way the Lakers are playing, winning the eighth seed in the West this season might end up being like Mike Bloomberg CLEANING UP in American Samoa.RUTGERS 78, NO. 9 MARYLAND 67 -- The Scarlet Knights might have just clinched their first NCAA Tourney since 1991, and we don’t care if you don’t care.From NJ.com’s Steve Politi after last night’s euphoric win in Piscataway: 

We are going to spend a lot of time over the next two weeks obsessing over the NCAA Tournament chances of this team, and that includes the second half of this column. First, though, everyone who follows the Scarlet Knights should stop and appreciate what has happened here over the past five months.A Rutgers team that couldn’t beat anybody for much of the past decade just went 18-1 on its home court while playing in the biggest, baddest conference in the country. Going to the games, cheering for a team and interrupting reality with a little slice of joy -- that is the whole reason we have sports.No matter what happens now, this team gave this community a reason to go a little bonkers on 18 of the 19 times it took the court in Piscataway. What more could you want?

2. Logo LeBron

At some point in the past several days, LeBron said fuck it and started pulling up from Steph Curry range.The GIF above happened last night, and he had a similar shot on Sunday night against the Pelicans, right after Zion’s emphatic right-hand dunk.PS: How ridiculously balanced is LeBron? He has 9,325 career rebounds and 9,272 career assists.

3. Astoundingly stupid/tone deaf things the Knicks have done this season, ranked  

5. When the Knicks felt the need to clarify that they did not offer Richard Jefferson a contract after Jefferson’s story that he chose retirement over the Knicks.4. When they didn’t bolt Steve Stoute to his office chair, thereby allowing him to go on First Take and compare himself to Drake while accidentally leaking that the Knicks plan on firing interim head coach Mike Miller once the season ends.3. James Dolan simply deciding to trudge on and not sell the team, despite the lowest decency approval of any person in the country.2. When the Knicks fired David Fizdale on a Friday afternoon, after he spent the morning running a two-hour practice and talking to the media.1. When the Knicks’ security team tried to coax Spike Lee -- their most iconic and loyal fan -- into entering the Garden through a different entrance for no real reason, then released a statement featuring a blurry smoking gun picture that condemned him for creating “false controversy to perpetuate drama.”Two things on the Spike feud, which shook out yesterday and destroyed the introduction of Leon Rose and an upset win over the Rockets on Monday, the only feel-good thing that’s happened to the Knicks all season: 

  • “Perpetuate” is a word you use when you want to sound smart. 

  • Even if it’s just to avoid a firestorm like this, the Knicks should let Spike do whatever he wants. The Lakers would never treat Jack Nicholson this way. 

READ:

4. Zion vs. Luka, pt. 1 is tonight

Zion and Luka play each other tonight (9:30 p.m. on ESPN) in a matchup of mysterious one-named phenoms, one who looks like he might sneak a cig at halftime and one who looks like the varsity football player badgering the basketball team for a few practice shots.A quick comparison of each of their first 16 NBA games:Zion

  • 24.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 58.8 percent shooting, .8 3s attempted, 15.6 shot attempts. 

Luka

  • 19.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 45.3 percent shooting, 6.5 3s attempted, 15.3 shot attempts. 

5. Tim Duncan made his head coaching debut last night

Gregg Popovich missed last night’s game for “personal business,” so Tim Duncan took over as head coach. The Spurs beat the Hornets, 104-103.

  • Duncan’s winning percentage as a player: .719 

  • Duncan’s winning percentage as a coach: 1.000

 6.  Quick hits 

 7.  Off the press