Good morning. Let’s basketball.

Ja’s Trail Back

We had a veritable cavalcade of news about Ja Morant on Wednesday.

First, we heard that he had left the Florida counseling program to meet with NBA commissioner Adam Silver in New York. Then we heard that the league had handed down an 8-game suspension (with the games he’s already missed counting toward that) after determining that Morant did not have possession of a firearm on the team plane, bus or in any arena.

And then Morant did a sitdown with Jalen Rose for ESPN.

You can’t judge someone’s sincerity by watching an interview, only by watching their actions after they’ve admitted mistakes. So we’ll watch. Hoping for the best.

Ja will be eligible to return to the court on Monday.

Scores

Sixers 118, Cavaliers 109 — This is damn pretty move by Donovan Mitchell.

NBA @NBA

Spida spin. Spida splash. Cavs lead 68-55 in the third 💪 📺: Live on ESPN

1:12 AM ∙ Mar 16, 2023

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Philadelphia got back in the game with an 18-1 run in the third. Six straight wins for them. Still in third in the East, a game behind No. 2 Boston. But the Sixers do have a better record than any team in the West. Any team.

No. 3 offense, No. 8 defense, No. 3 net rating. Championship contender.

Grizzlies 119, Heat 138 — Desmond Bane, how dare you? We trusted you.

SportsCenter @SportsCenter

Desmond Bane was ejected after receiving a flagrant 2 for striking Kevin Love.

1:22 AM ∙ Mar 16, 2023

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Memphis has to be a little concerned about how viciously No. 26 in offense Miami torched their defense, which has slipped to No. 3 without Steven Adams. But all in all, the Grizzlies are probably relieved that they didn’t slip into the Western chase pack during Ja Morant’s absence. Memphis has five fewer losses than No. 4 Phoenix.

While we’re here, let’s give some breathing room for this lede from a Nick Friedell piece titled “Jimmy Butler just wants to win”:

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The sounds of Nickelback coming from the portable speaker inside the Miami Heat locker room were unmistakable. As the rest of his teammates and Heat staffers quietly showered, got dressed and picked over a postgame pizza spread following a 126-114 overtime loss to the Orlando Magic on Saturday, Jimmy Butler decided it was the the right time to pump up the volume on his stereo and blast the familiar sounds of Chad Kroeger's voice.

And Butler, who had just poured in a game-high 38 points in 39 minutes sang every word to each song.

That’s beautiful, man. Although we don’t get the answer on which Nickelback song Butler is crooning. What do you think it was?

Kings 117, Bulls 114 — Chicago down four. DeMar DeRozan gets fouled on a three-pointer for the second time by Harrison Barnes. I mean, this doesn’t really look like much here. But whatever.

Overtime @overtime

DEMAR DEROZAN 4 POINT PLAY IN THE CLUTCH 💸 (via @NBA)

2:37 AM ∙ Mar 16, 2023

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Do you think it matters? OF COURSE IT DOESN’T MATTER. De’Aaron Fox, clutch moments, what do you think is going to happen?

Sacramento Kings @SacramentoKings

DE'AARON FOX FOR THE WIN!!!! #BeamTeam

2:43 AM ∙ Mar 16, 2023

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Look at the top 10 in total clutch scoring this season. Fox is blowing away the competition, and only one player in the top 10 in clutch scoring is shooting as efficiently as him.

Lakers 110, Rockets 114 — The Lakers have made a decision that Anthony Davis cannot play in back-to-backs despite Darvin Ham acknowledging that AD is playing pain-free after coming back from a foot injury earlier this season and despite AD wanting to play. The Lakers also made a decision not to bring in an additional big man for the stretch run, knowing that every game matters.

And that’s how you end up losing to the 16-52 Houston Rockets with the season on the line. Sorry, the 17-52 Houston Rockets.

The Lakers have one more back-to-back this season: Jazz-Clippers on April 4-5.

Celtics 104, Timberwolves 102 — Jayson Tatum got a nasty putback on Rudy Gobert. I don’t think Gobert meant to hit Tatum in the head on the block attempt, but a) that doesn’t matter and b) Gobert has a bit of a history doing this stuff. So it’s a Flagrant 1.

But the officiating was … yikes. Good thread here. The Grant Williams jumpball theft … like, you have one job in that situation, game officials.

𝓳𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓱 @Huncho_Jman

The following jump ball was touched by Grant Williams quite literally instantly after it was released also

2:33 AM ∙ Mar 16, 2023

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The game was over by this point, but the refs showed they just had no control of the game whatsoever by ejecting Kyle Anderson and Anthony Edwards for, uh, sharing some constructive feedback with 1.7 seconds left.

Mavericks 137, Spurs 128 (OT) — Dallas playing again without their stars, but leading the Spurs (missing three starters of their own) by two points with 1.8 seconds left and a sideline out of bounds. Take it away, Maxi Kleber.

Yep, this screenshot says it all.

That game-tying alley-oop from Malaki Branham to Keldon Johnson: that’s the good stuff. Dallas was able to correct the course in overtime — phew! This would have been a capital-D capital-L Disaster Loss had San Antonio pulled it out.

Warriors 126, Clippers 134 — Golden State is so bad on the road that not even a 50-spot on 20/28 shooting from Stephen Curry can save them.

That’s a lot of Warriors fans in L.A.! But still a road game. The Warriors have the same road record as the Detroit Pistons at 7-27. If the Warriors were just .500 on the road, they’d be a half-game out of the No. 1 seed.

We had Draymond Green picking up his 16th technical foul for throwing the ball at Russell Westbrook, which means an automatic suspension if it’s not rescinded. (It’s not going to be rescinded.) Then Marcus Morris Sr., apparently trying to goad Green into getting booted, got himself booted on a soft Flagrant-2.

Schedule

All times Eastern. I guess there’s some college basketball on too?

Nuggets at Pistons, 7 — if the Nuggets lose this one we might have to pull together the UN Security Council for an emergency meeting
Kings at Nets, 7:30 — TRAP GAME
Thunder at Raptors, 7:30
Pacers at Bucks, 8
Magic at Suns, 10, NBA TV

Be excellent to each other.