LeBron has Father Time in Hell

The Rockets are in the same boat. Plus: V.J. Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey wreak havoc and Victor Wembanyama is seeing birdies.

Good morning. Happy birthday, Earth. You look great. Let's basketball.

There Are The Sixers We Know And Love

Incredible performances from the Sixers' backcourt as Philadelphia won Game 2 in Boston 111-97. V.J. Edgecombe, who is one of just five lottery picks from 2025 in the playoffs and the only one starting at this point, was extraordinary against a very tough opponent. He became the first rookie since TIM DUNCAN to have 30-10 in a playoff game. He's a guard.

He plays with a verve that you don't see on every team. What a treasure. And then the Sixers also have Tyrese Maxey, who closed down the bar with some clutch triples.

This is a perfect win for Philadelphia because it reminds fans what they loved about this new version of the team early in the season. The Sixers have not exactly been fun for some time, even as they've made the playoffs every year and been competitive in series. A Maxey-Edgecombe led squad is fun. That it's also competitive and able to smack the hated Celtics in the mouth in Boston this early in the partnership is a great sign for its future, even though Boston will probably be better as Jayson Tatum recuperates and the Celtics reload after their salary stripdown last summer.

You need hope, though, and Maxey and Edgecombe provide it. We'll see if there's an update on Joel Embiid's status in the offing now that the series has been extended. And we'll see how both teams come out in Game 3.

They Don't Call It Hardwood For Nothing

Let's get this out of the way: Victor Wembanyama tripped on a drive and smacked his head on the floor quite hard early on. He left the game under his own power but is in the concussion protocol. No word on whether he'll be available on Friday. I'll link the video but not embed it. I've seen the fall twice due to replays on T.V. and that was more than enough for me. As someone who has knocked himself out cold in the past, it's not a fun experience or recovery! The standard NBA protocol is 48 hours of rest and monitoring. The next game in this series is Friday, 72 hours after Game 2.

The other news here is that there will be a Game 5 because Portland staged an impressive comeback to win 106-103.

Jrue Holiday's veteran savvy resulted in a couple of mammoth plays. Deni Avdija hit Robert Williams III with a nearly perfect alley-oop in a critical moment. (A play that simply does not happen if Wembanyama is on the floor. No offense to Luke Kornet, who rotated clean!) And Portland's defense smothered the Spurs without Victor to scramble everything. A few red flags for a San Antonio team that struggled to get clean looks. I can't have been the only person waiting for De'Aaron Fox to attack the paint, right?

And of course, we can't leave out Scoot Henderson, who had an all-time coming out party. The entire state of Oregon believes again (as if they ever stopped).

Just an incredible win for the Blazers, who are proving some real toughness in the postseason and have a tied series heading home. Roses all around for the roster. Tom Dundon knows this means the team has to travel back to Texas now, right? He might need to switch out the Moda Center toilet paper to single-play to cover the jet fuel.

Still The (Chosen) One

I did not come into this postseason thinking that anything that happened would impact LeBron James' legacy, which feels pretty baked at this point. But now LeBron James has his injury-shredded Los Angeles Lakers up 2-0 on the Houston Rockets after L.A.'s 101-94 win on Tuesday. LeBron was doing this ...

... and hitting patented "LeF--k You Threes" ...

... (this is the face of a man who knows you don't poke the bear because he's also a bear when he's not on teams he hates which admittedly is rare these days) ...

... and finally, LeBron was also doing this.

Getting cut backdoor by a 41-year-old for the dagger dunk with late or absent rotations everywhere. Incredible. The cut, read, pass and dunk are incredible. The fact that the Rockets appear to have completely given up down five with a minute left to a team missing its two top scorers is incredible, too.

Here's the full LeBron highlight reel. He had 28-8-7. Put it in the Smithsonian.

Kevin Durant played despite a knee injury, and played 41 minutes. Nine turnovers for KD is real bad, but he was the only ballhandler on the floor most of the game and Houston's total lack of shooting was the biggest problem here. The Rockets shot 7/29 from deep. In possibly related news, Ime Udoka started Josh Okogie over Reed Sheppard, who only played 11 minutes. (Zero points on 0/4 shooting, 3 assists, 1 steal, no turnovers.)

Fraud alerts all over the place in Houston right now. If they don't show some fight in H-Town in Game 3, a new coach and a roster-scrambling superstar trade might be the minimum reaction. This is embarrassing.

Billy Gone-ovan

Billy Donovan announced he will leave the Chicago Bulls after all. The franchise apparently asked him to stay and help guide the next phase, but he declined his option to step away. Do you know how respected and beloved you have to be as an NBA coach to have the team pleading for you to stay with a .469 winning percentage over six years with a team? It's practically unheard of.

Another twist is that Donovan isn't retiring: he remains on the market. He can probably be choosy, too, because the rumor mill indicates some prestigious college jobs (Kentucky, Kansas, his old spot at Florida) could open up next offseason and there's also opportunity in the NBA. (Hell, Houston could be open in a week. Or Golden State. Other playoff teams whose jobs could open up soon: Orlando, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Portland. But Donovan's interview with Tom Dundon would need to be on Zoom and limited to 40 minutes.) Donovan's availability is definitely a major wrinkle in these decisions.

It feels like the Bulls can now go full tank, just as lottery reform re-enters the picture.

Miscellanea

Jason Quick of The Athletic has a piece in which he makes clear that Tom Dundon doesn't care that he's being made fun of for being cheap. Good? Because he will made fun of! (Article 1 of the evidence: this newsletter.) The stuff about being wildly disrespectful of Tiago Splitter by recruiting his potential replacement while he, Splitter, has the Blazers winning playoff games is really bad too, but owners have always been disrespectful to coaches. The cutting corners impacting players is going to burn him badly.

Meanwhile, Splitter is being asked about the coaching search and is giving professional answers. If he doesn't get the job, he will be in demand.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins Clutch Player of the Year easily, beating Jamal Murray and Anthony Edwards. All three and a few more were worthy of consideration. I actually like how the NBA decides this award: coaches set the finalists (a list of 14 players), then the media votes on that list. It provides some contours around it.

Dan Devine on the Knicks' Game 2 collapse.

I feel targeted and triggered by Scott Hines' odes to the books he will probably never read.

Kelly Dwyer on what's going in these here playoff series. Read Kelly Dwyer!

Schedule

Just two Games 2 on Wednesday. All times Eastern.

Magic at Pistons, 7, ESPN (ORL leads 1-0)
Suns at Thunder, 9:30, ESPN (OKC leads 1-0)

Be excellent to each other!