Unsatisfied with the Warriors’ focus in recent games, Steve Kerr took a bold step on Monday: He let his players coach the team! Well, sorta: He handed the clipboard to players during timeouts. But as far as we can tell he still controlled the rotations and everything else.
The Warriors beat the Suns by 46.
Boredom is one of the few things that can kill the Warriors at this point. Kerr is brilliant for trying to ensure the players are fully engaged as the home stretch arrives. Golden State needs to hold off Houston for that No. 1 seed and peak going into mid-April. The West is a little dangerous, and while the Warriors are the prohibitive favorite to win the conference, they need to play up to their potential to be that prohibitive favorite.
Some are concerned this was disrespectful to the Suns. What’s disrespectful is the Suns losing games by 40 points or more so damn often.
Scores Galore ...
NOP 118, DET 103
NYK 92, PHI 108
LAC 114, BKN 101
ORL 101, CHI 105
SAS 99, UTA 101
PHX 83, GSW 129
... And So Much More
Holy Utah Jazz. Ten straight after a win over the Spurs. Philadelphia will be extremely sassy if Ben Simmons doesn’t win Rookie of the Year, but Donovan Mitchell might have taken the lead in the race.
A phenomenal story from Paul Flannery on Jaylen Brown, meditation, what mental strength really means, and being different in the NBA. As someone who has gained a lot from having a meditation practice over the years, it’s so refreshing to see that represented in one of the most interesting players in the league.
Emeka Okafor started a game for the Pelicans on Monday. Perseverance, man.
The most important thing the Cavaliers did at the deadline was to take a step toward having an identity. Here’s Flannery on the Cavaliers’ convincing win over Boston. Why Cavs fans love Cedi Osman. (I mean, watch him play for three minutes and you’ll understand.)
How the Sixers can stop digging a deeper hole in the Markelle Fultz situation.
Looking toward the Wizards’ next window. Speaking of the ‘Zards, it looks like Ty Lawson might be their stopgap point guard solution of the moment.
The Raptors are in first place in the East. They are on pace for 58 wins. But here’s something to blow you away: Over their last five games (including matches against Boston and Portland), the Toronto starters have played a combined six minutes in the fourth quarter. (That was all O.G. Anunoby in the Blazers game.) This is incredible.
And now for a brief Big Baller Brand interruption: LaVar Ball says that Lonzo will not sign an extension with the Lakers unless the Lakers agree to bring the other two Ball brothers onto the roster. Color me skeptical that Ball will risk tens of millions of dollars to get his little brothers NBA jobs (especially LiAngelo, who even LaVar acknowledged would have trouble getting drafted). Also remember that Lonzo is an adult.
Two relatively unsurprising but nonetheless awesome things conspired to get the Bulls another win: a botched Magic inbounds play and a game-winning Zach LaVine dunk.
Emmet Ryan interviewed FIBA honcho Patrick Baumann on the qualification window situation, 3-on-3 in the Olympics, and more.
Joel Embiid is going to point and laugh at the wrong dude one of these days.
Kobe Bryant says that he would participate in anthem protests were he still playing. This essentially serves to remind us that no one in the NBA is currently engaged in anthem protests.
The schedule is replete with good games on Tuesday. TNT has Cavaliers-Thunder at 8 p.m. ET and Spurs-Nuggets at 10:30. Heat-Raptors hits at 7, and Rockets-Wolves pops at 8. Full schedule here.
And finally: Gregg Popovich, discussing why it’s important for the NBA to celebrate Black History Month, says that “we live in a racist country that hasn’t figured it out yet.”
Be excellent to each other.