Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Plus: Off the court, Kyrie Irving gets suspended and James Harden gets hurt.
Once again, it’s what took place off the court in the NBA that took center stage on Thursday. Perhaps that was a given, seeing that only two games were on the schedule so as to not compete with Game 5 of the World Series or Thursday Night Football. Or maybe this is the new norm in the NBA — stories like Kyrie Irving’s suspension without pay and James Harden’s month-long absence due to a foot injury taking precedence over the action taking place on the court.
Part of me has gotten used to that. The days when the NBA season ended when the final buzzer of the NBA Finals sounded are long gone. We’re now prone to wait for the latest Woj bomb in the middle of July while our cousins splash in the pool… okay, maybe that’s just me, but you get the point. Sports, especially basketball, are evolving way beyond what happens during the allotted time two opposing squads spend on the playing surface.
But when a week like this rolls around — one that has hardly been a banner one for the NBA in that department — you’d be forgiven if you wish the off-court drama would wither away in favor of Paolo Banchero’s latest escapades. Unfortunately, that isn’t our reality. Since I last recapped the tornado that is Kyrie Irving on Tuesday, he has been scolded by Adam Silver, doubled down on his beliefs, had “his” donation to the Anti-Defamation League refused due to his inability to properly apologize, and finally — after days of silence and/or vague ways of reasserting his anti-semitic promotion — apologized.
If you ask me, and hopefully anyone else, it’s too little too late for that. And for the NBA, it might be a little too late to pretend that what happens on the court, particularly in Brooklyn, will take precedence for quite a while. Apology or not, Kyrie Irving’s presence on the Nets and in the NBA is no longer just a distraction: It’s a direct insult to millions of people whose faith and culture he has tarnished with his pathetic excuse for enlightenment.
At yesterday’s press conference, Irving called himself a “beacon of light.” Ironic, given how deep in the dark he remains.
Now, let’s get to the NBA basketball that was played on Thursday.
Suggs, Banchero shine in upset win over Warriors, 130-129
Most folks who watched this game will probably walk away with the same panicked opinions about the Warriors. And those fears — principally, that they are unable to defeat a significantly less-talented team despite Steph Curry scoring 39 points — are totally warranted. Curry long ago made scoring 30 points look as simple as toasting a slice of bread, but he’s made it feel particularly impressive this season. At 34, coming off of a title win that many will rightly call the defining moment of his career, he only seems to be taking it up a notch. And yet his team can’t seem to back him up; Golden State has now lost four straight games, all on the road, and the schedule isn’t getting any kinder. The Pelicans, Kings, Cavaliers, and Suns all await their shot at the defending champs, and it’s not hard to see a world in which the Warriors lose every single one of those games and fall to 3-10.
BUT I AM A BEACON OF LIGHT, AND I REFUSE TO FOCUS SOLELY ON THE MATTERS OF THE LOWLY. I wish to commend the Orlando Magic on their epic victory, particularly Jalen Suggs, who almost single-handedly stole the game down the stretch. He scored nine of his career-high 26 points in the final two minutes and change and snatched the game-sealing steal with just over 30 seconds to go. This was the kind of game that elevates a player. Suggs needed one of those games; we can only hope that he has more of them in the early stages of his career.
Nuggets down Thunder, 122-110, as Nikola Jokic makes history
On Thursday, the two-time reigning league MVP posted his 79th career triple-double, moving him past Wilt Chamberlain into sixth place on the all-time NBA triple-doubles list. You might recall that Wilt essentially had a triple-double as often as he sneezed; I guess that means Jokic has one as often as he blinks.
He posted a pedestrian 15-13-14 line in Denver’s win over the upstart Thunder, and he technically recorded a quadruple-double… if you feel like counting his 10 turnovers. Nevertheless, the Nuggets had six players finish in double-figures as they won a game they were supposed to win. It has been nice to watch the Thunder thrive so far this season, but the Nuggets have title aspirations. Wins like these should help inspire confidence in the reality of that mission.
