A lot of aggregated word of mouth out there is calling this opening stretch of basketball as the best ever, but honestly, is it really the best if half of the content is akin to watching a multi-car traffic accident in slow-motion? Don’t get me wrong, there’s been incredible on-the-court play, but you mix in some conspiracy, the FBI and the re-emergence of the Cosa Nostra, well as a famous prophet once said, you got yourself a stew. And to me, that stew is freaking crazy yo.
If you missed it, Razzball was there to comment moments after the story broke, letting me live that little slice of Walter Cronkite fantasy. Hey, that’s just the way 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 demands all the takes. So where someone would zig, I’m going to zag and save y’all the character count. So unless we find out that a relevant NBA player was involved (which is looking 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 dunno, I don’t know how you do the Matrix, you were provided for 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. Obviously with the loss of Tyrese Haliburton and Miles Turner, the Pacers are a shell of the team they were last season, but still managed to defeating the Thunder, 135-141.
Pascal Siakam (44 min, 32 Points, 15 Reb), Bennedict Mathurin (45 min, 36 PTS, 11 REB) and Obi Toppin (40 min, 20 PTS) carried the heavy load.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues his campaign of terror against minimizing game stoppages, this time coming in with 26 FTA. He scored 55 points, which is nothing to scoff at. So I just simply won’t care.
I’m definitely part of the f*ck Steph camp (partnered with the LeF*ck James society), because he murders your favorite team whenever he wants, especially in the fourth quarter or whenever it means something… so I ask; if you watched both games last night, which PG play do you prefer. Me? My hate is my neutrality, so I’ll always prefer Steph, but no matter where you land, we can absolutely agree that the two playstyles are completely opposite and in a quite glaring way…
Anyways, 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. Not a concern yet, but notable that he’s still struggling with the 3-point shot, going 0-6.
Speaking of Steph Curry, the Warriors battled through overtime (just one this time!) to beat the Denver Nuggets, fueled by Curry’s 42 points and game-tying 3-pointer near the end of regulation.
And speaking of crazy (title tie-in alert!), we have the Nuggets losing because Nikola Jokic (8-23, 13 REB, 10 AST, 21 PTS) was struggling… with a triple-double? Yes, we all know he’s great, but he looked gassed in the fourth, forcing floaters. But let’s be real, if that was your one problem that game, you probably don’t have one?
Also crazy! In 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’S A CIRCLE, RUST WAS RIGHT!) Was that real? I mean, yes, it did just happen, but can 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 somewhat of a corollary; you’re gonna get plenty of open shots with the best player and passer in the universe. Still just one game though.
I think Christian Braun (38 MIN, 6 PTS, -9) was there? And Jamal Murray provided 25 points with 10 assists.
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell.
