All gravy, no lamb for Paul George
Celtics vs. Sixers turns into a revenge game, but just not how you think.
Celtics vs. Sixers turns into a revenge game, but just not how you think.
Good morning. It's Free Newsletter Wednesday. Let's basketball.
The first Celtics vs. 76ers game of the season was highly anticipated for a couple reasons. First, Jaylen Brown has seemed put off a bit by his trade away from Boston in the summer, less about the actual trade and more about Jayson Tatum's role (or not) in what happened. Brown has been cryptic but seems to pipe in every time Tatum claims to have been blindsided. Reading between the lines over the past few months, it appears Brown thinks that Tatum either signed off on the trade or at least didn't object to it. And for some reason possibly related to the skewed sense of pride and self-worth and motivation pro athletes often develop, Brown has taken this as a slight.
But nothing too crazy: remember, he said he didn't have "beef" with Tatum a couple weeks ago, just some lamb with gravy.
The lamb might be overcooked enough to look a little like beef.
After the game, Brown said he just wasn't paying attention, which is a ridiculous claim given how much attention Brown has paid to Tatum amid the trade fall-out and how much Brown cares about how he and the situation are perceived. At some point in the lead-up to the game, Brown decided he'd snub Tatum and then try to cook him early in the game. Alas, he snubbed Tatum and then got cooked much of the game, as did his brethren. Brown played outside the team's flow for the most part, got into foul trouble and finished -27 in 26 minutes on the night. A brutal effort.
But Tatum wasn't terribly efficient either. The Celtics dominated the game largely because of the other dude in that summer trade, maybe himself with a little revenge on his mind.
Paul George, who long ago annoyed the hell out of a fanbase with half-assed trade requests and finds himself on the other side of the power struggle between players and teams, has seemingly found peace in Boston, where he isn't asked to do too much and is physically still capable of providing more than enough. He is loving life next to Jayson Tatum, something Jaylen Brown couldn't say.
PG did spend enough time in Philly for it to rub off on him, too.
Philadelphia will be fine, provided Joel Embiid adjusts to his body's limitations and the team's needs. (That's quite a conditional vote of confidence.) Boston's success isn't as predicated on change, but it does require continuing to get high-level play for PG, who has played more than 60 games once since 2018-19 and hasn't played at this level in the past two seasons. Which, much to the chagrin of Philly fans, were his two seasons with the Sixers.
Back to Brown: what's the point of all of this? By trying to make it personal with Tatum and express your discontent with the Celtics, you're putting more pressure on yourself to perform at a high level or get ridiculed. Does Brown really think Tatum is the reason Brown was traded? Or has he told himself the story enough times to make himself believe it? Brown recently said he didn't plan to talk to Tatum before Tuesday's game because there was nothing to talk about. A full-on snub to your teammate of 10 years is saying something, though. It's weird. It's noticeable. It's a valid reaction if you feel there are unresolved issues there, but you can't say "there's nothing to talk about" and "it's not beef" and then do that without it coming off as weird.
And if you do that, you can't turn the ball over on your first possession against him and finish with a -27 in a blowout loss.
Because of Brown's approach, this is all going to linger and happen again on January 21, the Sixers' first visit to Boston. We'll see where the teams are then, but based on how much of the rest of the East looks right now (mediocre), the teams will likely both still be in the top four in the conference. As such, it'll be a meaningful game. Brown will get the video tribute treatment. Until Tuesday, it would've been likely he'd get a rousing ovation from the fans. Now? We'll see. It's getting weird. Brown's making it weird. He's well within his rights to make it however he wants, but then he has to pay the consequences.
Meanwhile, Paul George has seemed to have learn all his lessons at this point, and everything is gravy.
Scores
Bucks 85, Knicks 117 – New York put the Bucks in a series of boxes the young team couldn't find ways out of, but I think what I'm seeing from Nate Ament. Works hard on defense, has good handles for his size on offense. Brayden Burries didn't have a good game, but also has a certain NBA-like flow about him. The rookies are going to be pretty good. I'm not sure there's another keeper on the roster beyond Jaime Jaquez Jr. and maybe Tyler Herro.
Clippers 110, Suns 133 – The Clippers are so bad. Great effort from the Phoenix bench, however, who got plenty of playing time due to the margin.
Heat 115, Jazz 109 – Utah actually held up fine until midway through the third considering they were without Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen (in addition to the other injured vets). The Jazz also closed a big gap enough in the fourth to force Miami's starters to come back in. Darryn Peterson is picking up steam.
Utah is not 1-10 bad. They aren't playoff good, but they have been snakebitten and maybe undergoing the most adjustment of any squad in the league (including Miami). It is hard to avoid wondering what a Peterson-Ace Bailey-Walker Kessler core would have looked like, though. Trading for Jaren Jackson Jr. midway through last season continues to look more and more strange every day.
Magic 107, Kings 100 – Domantas Sabonis is clearly hurt and still playing. He had probably his worst statistical performance of his career – 24 minutes, 0 points on 0/2 shooting, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 foul. That is not normal. The Kings missed 42 field goal attempts and rebounded just four of them. That is not normal.
In a single-digit game in the fourth quarter with the team desperate for a home win, Doug Christie ran this lineup out there for three minutes: rookie Darius Acuff Jr. (who didn't come out in the fourth), Dylan Cardwell, Leaky Black, Emanuel Sharp and De'Andre Hunter. Try scoring with that unit! Meanwhile, Malik Monk, who has had a few decent performances lately, got 2-1/2 minutes of burn in the first quarter and was then benched for the rest of the game. That is not normal.
The Kings need to sit Sabonis until he's healthy and can recover some value (there are teams that need a rebounding and passing center!) and the Kings need to fire Doug Christie. Not necessarily in that order.
Thunder 103, Blazers 123 – Oklahoma City runs head first into a team that relishes the home crowd and has enough talent to resist the Thunder's energy, physicality and anger. Oklahoma City runs head first, once again, into Dame Time.
That dude in that arena. Beautiful.
Meanwhile, Micah Nori is coaching his ass off. Sidy Cissoko gets his first start of the season so the Blazers can stretch the floor out and go big to deal with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Toumani Camara got the assignment and did as well as anyone can, he's on the path to first team All Defense) and the Thunder's frontcourt. Jrue Holiday continues to come off the bench to keep non-Dame lineups stable. Deni Avdija is still on the ball a ton but appears to be loving life next to Lillard. The Blazers appear to have something to say. It couldn't be cooler than Dame is back to be a part of it.
One more note: we know the Portland crowd adores Dame. But the dudes on that team appear to adore him, too, despite not playing with him before he went to Milwaukee. There's something about the Blazers bringing him back to be around the team last season that surely helps. He was a big brother in the locker room despite not playing, and that makes this transition go down easier.
Bet On It
Both of these stories are paywalled, but worth sharing nonetheless.
In the New Yorker, Nick Berardini writes a long piece on how Jontay Porter descended into a gambling addiction that eventually led to him getting involved in fixing bets for his own NBA performances. This is a dire warning for regular humans (the addiction potential is massive) and the sports leagues (the pipeline from betting to fixing games is obvious and now known).
More Links
Oh my goodness, someone (James Herbert) finally wrote a profile of legendary basketblogger Bob "Net Income" Windrem!
Windrem, a.k.a. “Net Income,” is the internet’s most prominent and prolific Brooklyn Nets blogger. But he is no ordinary sicko. He’s a sicko who has been with NetsDaily for almost 22 years, since before much of Web 2.0’s sports media landscape existed—before FreeDarko, TrueHoop, or Deadspin. And he has a background unlike that of anyone else who writes about the NBA. In 40 years at NBC News, Windrem covered national security, nuclear weapons, terrorism, and the CIA. He cowrote a book on nuclear nonproliferation. He arranged interviews with heads of state. He used the Net Income pseudonym because, when he started posting, he wasn’t sure how his employer would feel about it.
“He would say, ‘Yeah, I was in Iran, I had to go interview [then-President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad,’” NBA.com’s John Schuhmann, who founded NetsDaily in 2004, said. “Like, all right. And then you come back and you’re talking about Chris Douglas-Roberts and Terrence Williams.”
I remember back in my Sactown Royalty days when I first found out Net Income was a prominent natsec reporter for freaking NBC News. Also when I found out John Schuhmann ran NetsDaily. Incredible.
Zach Lowe on the tactic of defending Stephon Castle with a center.
Paul Flannery's Sunday Shootaround has so much good stuff, including his take on Jayson Tatum in the MVP race.
Hold On A Second
Jeremiah Fears has an older brother who plays for Michigan State named ... Jeremy Fears Jr.? Jeremy Fears, who played D1 college ball, has sons named Jeremy Jr. and Jeremiah?
Schedule
Ten games with an ESPN doubleheader. Fun story: the ESPN app on my main T.V. is broken and freezing my whole set-up when I try to open it. I have to move the 500-pound media cabinet three inches to access the surge protector and restart the T.V. But using the Disney+ app to access NBA games is totally fine. Do you think I ever remember this at 4 PM local time on Wednesdays? Like, ever?
All times Eastern.
Wizards at Pacers, 7
Cavaliers at Knicks, 7, ESPN
Celtics at Raptors, 7
Spurs at Bulls, 8
Nuggets at Grizzlies, 8
Lakers at Bucks, 8
Nets at Pelicans, 8
Magic at Jazz, 9
Warriors at Rockets, 9:30, ESPN
Thunder at Blazers II, 10
Alright, that's all. Be excellent to each other.
