The Opening Tip

• Who is best positioned to grab the No. 1 pick?
• The Nets continue to make a wide array of headlines.
• Anthony Edwards is a pleasure, especially when discussing A-Rod.

Today's best matchups

1. Steph Curry, Steph Curry, Steph Curry, Steph Curry, Steph Curry

Fanboying over Steph Curry is for the tech fellas in San Francisco who uprooted the Warriors from Oakland on the sheer strength of venture-capitalist aggression. Those are the people who think Curry’s little dances are cool. Those are the ones who sit in bars and yell ‘OH MY GOD, STEPH! IS! SO! GOOD! after every shot he makes.

We are not those people.

BUT, we can recognize a generational and revolutionary player when we see one.

So ... in lieu of general praise and hyperbole, we will simply list his point totals, No. of shots, and No. of 3s made for each of his last 11 games.

1. vs. CHI, 3/29: 32 points, 24 shots, 6 made 3s. 
2. vs. MIA, 4/01: 36 points, 19 shots, 5 made 3s. 
3. vs. ATL, 4/04: 37 points, 23 shots, 3 made 3s. 
4. vs. MIL, 4/06: 41 points, 21 shots, 5 made 3s. 
5. vs. WAS, 4/09: 32 points, 25 shots, 5 made 3s.
6. vs. HOU, 4/10: 38 points, 21 shots, 8 made 3s. 
7. vs. DEN, 4/12: 53 points, 24 shots, 10 made 3s. 
8. vs. OKC, 4/14: 42 points, 20 shots, 11 made 3s. 
9. vs. CLE, 4/15: 33 points, 25 shots, 4 made 3s.   
10. vs. BOS, 4/17: 47 points, 27 shots, 11 made 3s.  
11. vs. PHI, 4/19: 49 points, 28 shots, 10 made 3s. 

Over those 11 games, he’s averaging 40 PPG while shooting 49.7 percent from 3 on 14.3 attempts per game. He has 21 career games with 10-plus 3s made, and four of them have come during this 11-game stretch. The next person on that list has five.

2. Daily GIF: Jeff Green can still do this + other Nets notes  

34-year-old Jeff Green and the Nets beat the Pelicans last night, pulling themselves within a half-game of the first seed in the Eastern Conference.

More importantly, and more worryingly, James Harden reportedly suffered a “setback” with his hamstring injury yesterday and is out indefinitely, which Steve Nash basically admitted means he won’t return until the playoffs or right before.

Also: In the ongoing Kevin Durant can’t stop doing weird things online saga, he ‘liked’ a tweet yesterday saying that Durant was better than Steph Curry when the two played together, then promptly ‘unliked’ it, which probably means he thought he was on an anonymous account and not his main one.

That -- plus the DMs with Michael Rappoport -- is the behavior of an unhealthy man.

3. Trivia time

Six players have made 15 or more NBA All-Star games. Who are they?

Hint: Not MJ.

Answers at the bottom.

4. Tankathon update: The Thunder are making a serious push

Four thoughts on the tank to the bottom: 

1. Weird not seeing the Knicks in there, huh? 
2. A few weeks ago, the Thunder were closer to a playoff berth in the East than a top-four pick. Since, OKC has lost 11 in a row and stands only two games out of a top-three lottery spot. That is a franchise with a plan. 
3. Minnesota’s pick is top-three protected, which means it will be swung to Golden State if it finishes four or higher. 
4. A quick reminder that the Rockets were at one point 11-10. They are now 4-33 over their last 37 games.

5. Anthony Edwards is bummed for Alex Rodriguez

In an excellent recent Q&A with GQ’s Tyler Tynes, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards said a bunch of funny things, none more entertaining than his advice for Alex Rodriguez.

Context: A-Rod and his group of rich people are closing in on a deal to buy the Timberwolves. A few weeks ago, Edwards was asked about A-Rod, and admitted he had no idea who he was.

He’s since done some research. Here’s the exchange:
 

Edwards later name drops Chipper Jones, claims he can throw 100 MPH, and talks about his rapping career. The whole thing is worth reading. 

6.  Quick hits

• Shaq on the Derek Chauvin ruling: "The fact that we were sitting there not knowing what's gonna happen, still means we have a long way to go. We expected the outcome was going to be this, but we've expected that a lot of times and the outcome was different.”
• Here is Anthony Edwards dunking on some poor soul last night. 
• The Boston Garden held its final regular season Celtics game on this day 26 years ago. The final tribute was perfect. 
• The longest active win streak in the NBA belongs to the Knicks, at seven. Got to give credit where it’s due. 
• Yuta Watanabe got his contract upgraded from two-way to regular by Toronto. You know our favorite fanpage was excited.

7.  Reads and podcast pick

• The NBA’s GM kingmaker [The Ringer]
• Lakers podcaster accused of catfishing her co-host in wild scheme: ‘I was a pawn’ [The Daily Beast]
• Why the worst NBA player is still better than you [The New York Times]

Trivia answer: Kareem (19), Kobe Bryant (18), LeBron (17), Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Shaq (all 15).