The Opening Tip

• The Jazz are toast
• The future’s blinding in NOLA 
• There's a new reason to like Rudy Gobert

Tonight's must-watch playoff game

1. We’ll miss Chris Paul vs. Jose Alvarado

36-year-old Chris Paul closed out the Pelicans last night with a historic performance: 14-of-14 shooting for 33 points.

• It was the most shot attempts in an NBA playoff game without a miss, but the best, or, at least, funniest part, came after the game.

Context first: Him and NOLA rookie Jose Alvarado have been gamemanshipping each other all series. 

• After a few failed tries early on, Alvarado finally got CP3 with his patented sneak steal and also forced Paul into a few 8-second violations. 
• In Games 5 and 6, respectively, Paul returned the favor by kicking Alvarado in the nuts then elbowing him in the face. 
• So, after being eliminated, Alvarado took a second to memorialize his battle with the future HOFer, saying, “He knows my name now, too."

Paul could’ve left it at that and gave the rookie props, but he chose to throw some final shade in his post-game presser last night, purposely butchering Alvarado’s name:
 

A masterclass in trolling.

[READ: No one closes like the Point God]

2. Daily GIF: One last disappointment

The Jazz were eliminated last night after Bojan Bogdanovic missed this 3-pointer, which would have forced a Game 7 in Dallas but instead marked the likely final disappointment of an underachieving era in Salt Lake.

[READ: What happens now for Utah?]

3. Trivia time

Who is the oldest player to win Finals MVP?

Hint: Not LeBron

Answer at the bottom.

4. REMINDER: The Pelicans have every pick

That massive haul the Pelicans got for Anthony Davis seemed so far off when the trade happened in 2019, but the picks are paying dividends starting now.

• New Orleans has the Lakers’ lottery pick this year, which has a 26.3 percent chance at being a top-four pick.

After that, the Pelicans have: 

• A 2023 first-round pick swap with the Lakers. 
• A 2024 first-round pick from the Lakers. 
• A 2024 first-round pick swap with Milwaukee. 
• A 2025 first-round pick from the Lakers. 
• A 2025 first-round pick from Milwaukee. 
• A 2026 first-round pick swap with Milwaukee. 
• A 2027 first-round pick from Milwaukee. 

With or without Zion, there’s no reason to think the Pelicans can’t go from cute story to 50-win team starting next year.

5. Rudy Gobert’s day job 🐝

6.  Quick Hits

• We will forever dislike Toronto for losing to the 76ers last night in Game 6, thus depriving us of the spectacle of a Game 7 Philly crowd watching its team try not to blow a 3-0 lead.   
• Related: Joel Embiid is the best heel in pro sports.
• Pelicans coach Willie Green took the loss last night pretty hard.
• Tobias Harris has a request. 
• No Khris Middleton for Milwaukee’s series against the Celtics.

7.  Reads

• Ben Simmons tells Nets he ready to play now [The Onion]
• How the Celtics rebounded into a contender [The Boston Globe]
• How a former NBA player and activist became a far-right media darling [The Washington Post]

Trivia answer: Kareem (38 years old, 1985)