Alright, so technically not all teams have 12 games left, it’s more like 13ish or 11ish, or “roughly” (just the way your mother likes it) 12. But hey, it’s an easy title, checks a lot of references and also describes the current views on egg prices. And of course, describes the continued discourse in the standings, more specifically out in the West where six losses separate the two seed down to the seven seed, with the 6, 7, and 8 spot just 3 losses apart (the Warriors, Clippers and Timberwolves, respectively), making the final two weeks must-see content.
Speaking of the Warriors, Jimmy Butler (triple-double last night, 16/12/11 and 7-10 FT) has been on an absolute mission to go from emo to alpha since pouting his way out of Miami. Don’t get too worried though, his “alpha-state” matches well with Draymond Green‘s “alpha-state” in that they are still both insecure and emotional headcases, but hey, on the court they are all gelling… I guess? Maybe like in the real world, the alpha’s should really analyze how beta they really look, ya know?
And I’m sure there is a meta argument that should be made at some point that Steph Curry gets a lot of leeway as a leader when some of his long-standing teammates are punks (even Klay can’t get through a normal conversation without flashing us his current ring count). Of course Kerr absorbs a bunch of space in that regard, but I’m always curious what it says about a leader when some of the players your leading have issues with accountability, maturity and respect. SHRUG EMOJI!
Okay, that sorta turned into a hot take, but whatever, just aggregate me bro. Maybe I’ll just have to accept Steph is so great (he is) that no one really cares… but all this being said, Curry took a scary fall in last nights tough win against the Raptors which could have major implications for the Western Conference.
We’ll find out a bit more later today, but if the fall looked anything like it sounded, I’d be a little nervous. (And seriously no foul call on getting murdered by two?) He did score 17 on 6-8, with mature and stable Draymond adding 21 points with 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. That was off 5-14 three-point shooting, which seems totally normal over two or three games, but Green gets kinda weird when Curry isn’t around…
Another team that’s in the seeding battle in the West are the Lakers, who were blown out in a game where they sat Luka with LeBron still out with a groin strain. Austin Reaves also sat along with DFS, but who needs that James and all those other guys when you have Bronny James going 7-10 and 2-4 from three with 17 points and 5 assists? Is he emerging? No, but it is nice to see that he can do things like this, I mean, if we have to watch him play, the least he could do is show he belongs there once-and-a-while. (Is LeBron behind me?)
And Bennedict Mathurin is still alive? I don’t think I’ve actually talked about him this calendar year (I blame him, not meeeeee), but he did just put up 28 points and 16 rebounds against the Nets in an overtime win. Obviously the West is battleground, but over in the East, the Pacers are currently just one loss ahead of the Bucks and two ahead of the Pistons. While the top-6 is where you want to be, it’ll be interesting to see how the bracket aligns over the next few days. Right now, the projected Knicks-Pistons seeding looks like fire, with the Celtics and Cavs finishing off whatever dumpster fire comes out of the Hawks, Magic, Bulls and Heat.
No hate on the Magic though, I could actually see them make some noise. You can’t even project the West seriously yet, but I would say that the potential Lakers and Clippers match-up, along with the one-seeded Thunder taking on a play-in T’Wolves team? Sign me up!
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.
