NBA winners and losers: Giannis’ ‘joke’ doesn’t land, Lakers bench D’Angelo Russell, Cavs stay perfect
Even for the most ardent of NBA fans, there are … a lot of games. And that’s not even counting the pre- and postgame press conferences, practice availability and countless social media posts. All this to say, it’s hard to keep up with everything that happens, from on-court highlights to off-court fashion choices.
This week alone featured an All-Star beef that originated with an insult you’d see on an elementary school playground, a coach almost destroying a folding chair in disgust, and a father-son duo not named LeBron and Bronny James making NBA history.
Let’s hand out some winners and losers for this week in the NBA.
Look, I’m all for gamesmanship. Giving the “too small” after scoring on someone, when appropriate, can be intimidating. NBA players have gotten extremely creative with their 3-point celebrations. And, under almost any other circumstance, Giannis Antetokounmpo extending a handshake to an opponent and then withdrawing it like a seven-year-old saying “too slow,” would have been hilarious.
But man, you can’t pull that move after potentially concussing said opponent with a stiff elbow to the temple.
Celtics forward Jaylen Brown was understandably aggravated in the moment, and doubled down after the game, calling Antetokounmpo “a child.” Antetokuonmpo called it “a joke,” and well, yeah, of course it was. But, as with any joke, you’ve got to read the room — and Giannis clearly failed in that regard.
Not to mention that Giannis and the Bucks are literal losers this week, dropping three of their four games (the one win was over the Jazz … congrats?) to bring their record to an unsightly 2-8.
Winner: Cavs continuity
If you had a penny (for anyone under 25, pennies are units of currency that) for every pundit who insisted that the Cleveland Cavaliers absolutely had to make a trade this offseason, you’d have enough money for some nice lakefront real estate right about now. Last season the Cavs performed well in Donovan Mitchell-Jarrett Allen minutes, and in Darius Garland-Evan Mobley minutes, but were perfectly mediocre with all four on the floor together. The logical conclusion was that Cleveland needed to send someone packing (most likely Garland) in order to reach true championship contention.
Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman heard all of your criticism and was like …
Instead of trading a player or two, he hired a new coach in Kenny Atkinson who has Cleveland off a 11-0 record — they took down the Warriors and Nets on a back-to-back over the weekend for their 10th and 11th wins of the season — and the league’s best offensive rating (122 points per 100 possessions) with basically the exact same roster. Everyone loves the trade machine, but the Cavs are showing that there’s something to be said for staying the course with players you believe in.
Perhaps no player in the NBA looks better when things are going well and worse when things are going poorly than D’Angelo Russell. Unfortunately for the Lakers, it was the latter that reared its menacing head this week.
Lakers coach JJ Redick elected not to bring Russell back into the game after the midway point of the third quarter during Wednesday’s 131-114 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, citing the 10th-year guard’s “level of compete” and “attention to detail.” Social media gumshoes quickly identified a clip from the game that aptly displays Redick’s frustration.
First Russell gets caught ball-watching defensively and gives absolutely zero effort to cover up his mistake as he watches Grizz forward Jake LaRavia coast through the lane for the easy bucket. Then, on the other end, Russell puts on a dribbling display in the corner before having his step-back 3-pointer blocked by Jay Huff (yes, former Laker great Jay Huff). Finally, Russell halfheartedly goes for a reach-in steal on Santi Aldama before allowing a wide-open corner 3 to — could it be anyone else? — that’s right, ya boy Jay Huff. It really is a sight to behold in real time.
Upon Zapruder-like inspection, Redick nearly put his sideline chair through the FedExForum hardwood in reaction to the implausible blooper reel.
Understandably, Redick rethought his personnel decisions before the next game against the woefully shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers, bringing Russell off the bench and promoting Cam Reddish to the starting lineup. Russell played well in a reserve role, finishing with 18 points and three assists on 7-for-12 shooting in 25 minutes and was a plus-13 in the box score, earning the praise of his coach.
“We’ve asked him to do things. He’s been accepting of the role,” Redick said of Russell after the win. “He has talked with me all the time. He has a really strong desire to win, and he has a really strong desire to be coached. And our communication level from June 20 to today has been nothing but open, honest and transparent. And I would assume it will continue to be.”
That being said, Russell did have some, um, interesting plays along the way.
Russell came off the bench once again in the Lakers’ 123-103 win over the Raptors on Sunday night, putting up 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting in 26 minutes. So hey, maybe this was the best thing for all parties involved.
The alternate heading for this entry would be “Loser: Gravity.” There’s really not much to say here other than making one play like this in your entire lifetime — even on a mini hoop — would be worthy of infinite bragging. To do it twice in the same game is absurdity of the rarest kind. Ja Morant, ladies and gentlemen.
Of course, because this is the NBA, Morant suffered a hip injury two nights later against the Lakers (after yet another high-flying display) and is now considered week-to-week. At least we have that slick horizontal split-screen vid from NBA social to tide us over until he gets back.
Winner: Fathers and sons
The NBA is increasingly a league of second-generation players, with “Jr.” and “II” and “III” inscribed on the back of multiple jerseys seemingly every game. This was an especially good week for the father-son connection, however. On Friday, Memphis Grizzlies guard Scotty Pippen Jr. notched his first career triple-double (11 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists) as a fill-in starter for Ja Morant, making himself and his father, Scottie Pippen (yeah they spell their first names differently, get over it) the first father-son duo in the play-by-play era to each record a triple-double. The elder Pippen had 17 of them during his Hall of Fame career, so youngin’s got some catching up to do.
The very next night, LeBron James made his way to El Segundo to check out his son Bronny (you may have heard of him) during his G League debut for the South Bay Lakers. It may not seem as cool as playing in the same NBA game, like they did in the Lakers’ season opener, but the G League is where Bronny is going to get the reps that could eventually hone him into a solid NBA rotation player. He didn’t have the most impressive stat line in his debut (six points on 2-for-10 shooting), but he’s already putting up highlights, throwing this smooth one-handed lob to teammate Kylor Kelley for an easy dunk.
I zestfully congratulate my five-month-old when she has a good burp after feeding, so I can’t imagine what it’s like to watch your child perform at this level.
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