Tonight’s Must-Watch Games

Shoutout to long-time reader Alex for supporting.

The Opening Tip

• Our annual scoop counter is back

• Nikola Jokic sonned the Lakers again last night

• Grip vs. the House is getting out of its comfort zone

1. Scoop Counter: Woj owned Shams

There were 15 trades yesterday leading up to the deadline. The Knicks were generally considered the winners, and the Bulls, Pistons, and LeBron’s ego were generally considered the losers.

What’s far more interesting to us: Who won the scoop race on Twitter, which, this year, was Woj by a landslide.

By the numbers: 

• Of the 15 trades, Woj broke 10 of them. Shams broke only five. 

• Six of Woj’s 10 scoops came unopposed, as in Shams didn’t even try for the scoop; Shams only had one unopposed scoop. 

• The closest scoop was the PJ Washington to Dallas trade, which Shams won. He tweeted his scoop at 1:03:06 PM ET; Woj tweeted his at 1:03:46 PM ET. 

Also: It must be said that, technically, neither Shams nor Woj broke the PatBev trade. PatBev did.

[READ: 2024 NBA trade deadline winners and losers]

2. Daily GIF: Don’t reach

A stupid play by Austin Reaves, a genius play by Nikola Jokic.

[WATCH: Nuggets’ late 10-0 run to beat the Lakers]

3. Trivia

4. Grip vs. the House

Welcome back to GVTH, where …

1. We’re retiring the Fade the Hawks strat

2. The Hawks are 2.5-point favorites tonight on the road, if you want to keep it going

The play: The Pelicans (-1.5) at the Lakers, who played and lost last night. Get ‘em at 1.5 before LA announces LeBron is boycotting the game because the front office didn’t bend the knee to him resting.

GVTH record: 3-2

Remember: If it hits, you are obligated to share The Grip with your friends. If it misses, you are an adult. We didn’t force you to do anything.

Quick hits

• The Bulls did nothing at the deadline because they don’t want to ‘take a step back’ from their play-in aspirations. 

• Look at this pass by Luka Doncic.

• The anti-Thanasis agenda is growing every day. 

• Doc Rivers update: He’s now 1-5 since taking over Buck HC. 

• Steph Curry hit six 3s in the first quarter last night. 

• Some dickhead got ejected last Sunday for calling Russell Westbrook ‘boy.’

• Killian Hayes, No. 7 pick in the 2020 draft, and James Bouknight, No. 11 pick in the 2021 draft, were both waived yesterday. 

• The NBA’s in-season tournament has a shiny new sponsor (and name).

Reads

• Bill Simmons’ trade value rankings [The Ringer]

• The momentum that turned the Knicks into contenders [ESPN]

That's the buzzer.
Thanks for reading the 357th edition of The Grip.