Tonight’s Must-Watch Games

The Opening Tip

1. NBA: Rest is kinda bullshit

An under-reported thing came out last week, which seems rather important. 

According to a third-party report commissioned by the NBA, load management -- arguably the league’s No. 1 nemesis, which it’s gone great lengths to combat -- is bullshit. 

From the report, which studied schedule density and number of games played in correlation to injury rates:

(Did an NBA plant write this?)

Joking. Another important note:

The report used a 10-year data pool and focused on the performance and injury history of 150 ‘star’ players, which included All-Stars and top lottery picks, and will certainly be used by the league going forward to cut down on non-injury related missed games.

[READ: No link between load management, less injury risk, says report]

2. Daily GIF: And-1 + crotch chop

Soldiers of the Embiid agenda war got a minor victory last night in 76ers-Nuggets, which Philly won thanks to a 27-17 fourth quarter. 

[WATCH: 76ers-Nuggets highlights]

3. Trivia

4. Grip Graph: Longest home winning streaks to start the season, 1970-present

As far as we can tell (if you have a more reliable source, please email us here), the Celtics’ active 19-game home win streak to start the season is the fifth best 1970.* 

Also: 

Boston goes for 20 straight tonight against the Spurs. It is not expected to be close.

*We filtered it to 1970 because anything pre is a mess schedule wise. Teams played uneven numbers of home and away games and solid chunks were played in ‘neutral’ venues. 

Quick hits

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