A lot of word of mouth is calling this opening stretch of basketball the best ever, but honestly, is it really the best when half of the content is like watching a multi-car traffic accident in slow motion? Don’t get me wrong, there has been an incredible amount of play on the field, but when you throw in a conspiracy, the FBI and the re-emergence of Cosa Nostra, and as a famous prophet once said, you have a stew. And to me, that stew is crazy as hell, yo.
In case you missed it, Razzball was there to provide commentary right after the story came out, allowing me to live out that little slice of Walter Cronkite fantasy. Hey, that’s just how it is. (Shout out to all the boomers who might be young enough to get that ref.) While this story really has no fantasy implications, it is a league-wide story that requires all the shots. So where someone would zig, I’m going to zag and save you the character count. So unless we find out a relevant NBA player was involved (which seems like a no), I’ll let the chips fall as they may.
sup.
So yeah, if you’re into the whole déjà vu thing, I don’t know, I don’t know how you do it the Matrixyou were taken care of in OKC’s second double-overtime win, this time in a Finals rematch that wasn’t quite the rematch the NBA wished it would have been. Losing Tyrese Haliburton and Miles Turner, the Pacers are clearly a shadow of the team they were last season, but they still managed to beat the Thunder, 135-141.
Pascal Sakak (44 min, 32 points, 15 Reb), Benedict Mathurin (45 min, 36 PTS, 11 REB) and Obi Toppin (40 min, 20 PTS) carried the heavy load.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues its terror campaign against minimizing game stoppages, this time with 26 FTA. He scored 55 points, which is nothing to scoff at. So I just don’t care.
I’m definitely part of the f*ck Steph camp (along with the LeF*ck James association), because he kills your favorite team whenever he wants, especially in the fourth quarter or when it means something…so I’m asking; if you watched both games last night, which PG game do you prefer to play? Me? My hatred is my neutrality, so I’ll always prefer Steph, but no matter where you end up, we can definitely agree that the two playstyles are completely opposite and in a pretty striking way…
Anyway, Chet Holmgren (39 MIN, 15 PTS, 12 REB) has really only had one great offensive quarter to start the year, and hasn’t shown much since. No problem yet, but remarkable that he still has trouble with the three-point shot, 0-6.
Speaking of Steph Currythe Warriors battled through overtime (just one this time!) to beat the Denver Nuggets, fueled by Curry’s 42 points and tying 3-pointer near the end of regulation.
And speaking of crazy (title tie-up warning!), we got the Nuggets losing because Nikola Jokic (8-23, 13 REB, 10 AST, 21 PTS) struggled… with a triple-double? Yes, we all know he’s great, but he looked gassed in the fourth, forcing floaters. But let’s be honest: if that was your only problem in the game, you probably don’t have one?
Also crazy! At the loss, Aaron Gordon went Super Saiyan, scoring a career-high 50 points and going 10-11 from the three-point line. (This tied the record for most threes in a season opener with, ahem, Terry Rozier. EVERYTHING IS A CIRCLE, RUST WAS RIGHT!) Was that real? I mean, yeah, it just happened, but could it happen again?
Probably not, I still think Gordon’s career high last season was a bit of an outlier. He shot twice as many open threes than the year before (23-24), but there is a more or less logical consequence of that; you’ll get a lot of open shots with the best player and passer in the universe. Only one game anyway.
I think Christian Braun (38 MIN, 6 PTS, -9) was there? And Jamal Murray scored 25 points with 10 assists.
Jay is an ancient Razzball who uses a vast amount of Maker’s Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and enhance his natural glow. Living in the DC area, he also enjoys spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to all the turtles he comes across, including Mitch McConnell.
#Craziest #opening #week..