NBA Click & Roll: Isaiah Thomas, Kyrie Irving and ... Bill Nye?
Welcome to Paste BN Sports' NBA Click & Roll newsletter.
We'll bring you exclusive content from Paste BN's NBA reporters Sam Amick and Jeff Zillgitt, including updates on all their exploits on the NBA beat. Plus, you'll have all the top NBA moments spoon-fed to your inbox.
QUICK DISH: THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
The Cavs-Celtics rivalry is on, even if the Isaiah Thomas-Danny Ainge rivalry is ... off? The two texted ahead of Wednesday's game in Boston, clearing the air after Ainge unceremoniously dealt Thomas to Cleveland. Thomas, back from his hip injury, was met with all kinds of love in Boston even as he sat on the bench and watched his team get drubbed. He personally requested there not be a video tribute to him on Wednesday night.
The 5-foot-9 perpetual underdog made his season debut Tuesday night, racking up 17 points in 19 minutes. The highlights were unbelievable considering he hadn't played in seven months. While the focus should've been on Thomas' return, his adorable son was having none of it and hijacked the postgame press conference Riley Curry style. It was his second-best TV moment this week after calling Shaq "fat."
Kyrie Irving got his first crack at his former team at home, and Coach K, Irving's college coach, thinks he knows what led to this summer's stunning trade. In other celestial news, Irving's still on his flat earth kick. Bill Nye is not happy about this development.
At 23 years old, Giannis Antetokounmpo is already doing superhuman things. Here are 10 eye-popping photos to prove it.
Pardon the eye-popping. Knicks guard Ron Baker suffered an orbital fracture trying to defend this Anthony Davis dunk. It resulted in one of the most demoralizing, disrespectful sports photos of the year.
Consider the Internet ablaze. Baron Davis and Laura Dern look like an item. (!!!!)
POP/KERR 2020?
Don't get your hopes up. Kerr, in a revealing conversation with Paste BN Sports, admitted he has no political ambitions but that he intends on speaking up because "it's important for all of us to call b-------."
"There's absolutely an assault on our institutions and on our core values as a country," says Kerr.
JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS
Are the Clippers contenders or pretenders?
As part of our weekly feature, Paste BN Sports' NBA insiders will offer exclusive opinions right here.
Conclusion: The Clippers will make the playoffs
So about that prediction that reigning NBA player of the week Lou Williams would be traded ...
Who knows now that the Clippers are looking like a playoff team again?
This is no-man’s land that Doc Rivers & Co. are navigating this season, as they continue to debate the best way to build in this post-Chris Paul landscape. But while that “Conclusion” about Williams came on Dec. 20, they have now won six of their last seven games – all three since Blake Griffin returned from the medial collateral ligament sprain that cost him 14 games – while improving to 17-19 overall. The Clippers are now just one game out of playoff position, with the eighth-place New Orleans Pelicans having lost 10 of their last 17 games.
As the Feb. 8 trade deadline nears, middle-of-the-road teams like these Clippers will have to weigh the value of possible deals against the desire to remain good enough to be in the playoffs. And that calculus, inevitably, will have a ripple effect on both Williams’ uncertain future and that of center/free-agent-to-be DeAndre Jordan when those phones start ringing even more. - Amick
This week's other conclusions? Expect Jimmy Butler to get some MVP attention, Bradley Beal will finally make an All-Star team, and maybe Paul George's Los Angeles future isn't completely settled. Full week 11 Jumping to Conclusions.
POWER RANKINGS
The James Harden injury is significant enough to cost the Rockets their title as the best team not named Golden State. Not that newly minted owner Tilman Fertitta is concerned at all.
Instead, it's an Eastern Conference team that's trailing the Warriors. Check out our full Week 11 power rankings here.
MVP RANKINGS
This may be Harden's last week atop the rankings for some time. He'll be sidelined at least two weeks with a hamstring strain, but it could be longer. Who's in line to take over the top spot in our rankings?
ROOKIE RANKINGS
This year's rookie class is as deep as it's been in a decade. Mavericks rookie Dennis Smith Jr., who didn't even crack our top five rookies this week, recently became the third-youngest player in league history to record a triple-double. Dallas undoubtedly got a good one at No. 9.
Check back next week for everything you missed from around the Association.