Good Morning It’s Basketball - Say the line, Pitbull!
This is a preview of today’s full, robust newsletter. Want the whole thing, plus every full newsletter five times a week? This glorious prize is within your grasp for just $5 per month or $50 per year! Good morning. Let’s basketball. The Final TwoBulls 91, Heat 112 — Losing by 21 against a Heat team without Jimmy Butler is wild. Full control throughout with stifling defense and enough offense from Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. Since debuting the new core of DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic (and, in fairness, Lonzo Ball) in 2021, the Bulls are 125-131 (.488) with one playoff game win (zero at home). And yet … the team is much, much better than they were in the years before they signed DeRozan and traded for Vucevic. Barring the easy opportunity to be straight-up good, being average is far more interesting and lucrative than being mediocre, right? We’ll see how the front office feels about that this summer with DeRozan hitting free agency. Kings 98, Pelicans 105 — When the threes don’t fall for Sacramento, their offense is doomed. Sacramento shot 27% from deep, owing in part to excellent defense from New Orleans. And while the Kings’ defense has legitimately improved since last season, losing Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk just wasn’t something the team as presently constructed was capable of overcoming. Bummer. We’ll see if the front office makes structural changes this summer or runs back a good-not-great team again. Congratulations to the Pelicans. I really wish Zion Williamson were healthy for this, because a) they need him to compete in the NBA playoffs and b) he looked so incredible in the first play-in game before going down. Heckuva bounceback game for Brandon Ingram in Z’s absence in any case. Eager to see if Jonas Valanciunas and Larry Nance Jr. have big series in their quivers. The Full BracketEAST Knicks (2) vs. Sixers (7) WEST Nuggets (2) vs. Lakers (7) What’s Going OnWe’ll laugh, we’ll cry. We’ll have our minds blown by a young player showing up for the moment ahead of schedule. We’ll whisper about where other star-caliber players have gone. We’ll gasp in amazement or grimace in sadness at the exploits of the elder statesmen of the game. Here are my predictions for how this plays out. ... Keep reading with a 7-day free trialSubscribe to Good Morning It's Basketball to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives. A subscription gets you:
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Can't go Night Night, beam's too bright
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
PLUS: an epic Zion performance falls three minutes short. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
The three seed problem
Sunday, April 14, 2024
A special edition of GMIB on the final day of the 2023-24 regular season. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
The NBA's night of chaos
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Orlando is tumbling from the Race for No. 2 to the Race for No. 6 (joining Cleveland on the way down). Giannis is hurt. The Suns are mystifying. The West No. 1 race is hotter than ever. Holy smokes. ͏
Tanks for everything
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Losing on purpose works in the NBA. The 2022-23 Mavericks prove it. The 2021 and 2022 Thunder really prove it. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
The NBA playoff picture is a total mess with 1 week left
Monday, April 8, 2024
The field of 20 teams is set in stone. But only a single seed is locked in. What a week we have ahead of us. First, let's recap the weekend. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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Why the Thunder will roll for a while
Friday, October 4, 2024
The books are organized to let the Shai-era Thunder compete for multiple years -- maybe the rest of the decade. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Cause girls is players too
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The Matchday Preview
Friday, October 4, 2024
Another exciting Bundesliga weekend awaits. A top-of-the-table clash in Frankfurt, a must-win fixture in Bochum, & plenty of other exciting encounters! ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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