Nathan, buddy. This one did not age well. 

This jabroni named himself Playoff P and won three playoff games in two years. The most studio gangster team in the league takes the L. You hate to see it. 

Yeah, but there’s definitely a difference playing against a guy four to seven times over two weeks than seeing him once in while during the regular season. Which was the substance of what I’m asking here.

I mean, they’ll make it past Utah in five. The Jazz played with pride and energy last night but they just can’t shoot. The whole third quarter felt like they were getting what they wanted, but they couldn’t convert. Not a thing you can do against an offense like Houston and expect to win too many games.

Yup–mentioned this to another commenter, but I see Harden as a 2, in no small part because he plays next to Chris Paul, who is as traditional a 1 as they come. I’m not exactly that fussy about positional stuff though, so if you want to call him a PG, I’d say he’s a tiny bit worse than Steph and a good deal better than…

Steph’s the best PG in the league. I’m not clear what the counterargument against that is. Harden’s tough because, well, he’s not really a PG. They have the most traditional PG in the league starting beside him. If you wanna say the Rockets play two point guards, sure, I’m not a positional purist, but to me, he’s a 2…

Question for a Rockets fan: do you feel like teams sort of figure out the Harden thing as series go on? That’s been my feeling watching him over the last three years, when he’s become a consensus top 5 guy. Like, after you see him two or three times, guys start to figure out when he’s going to initiate contact and try…

It’s been a delight watching the east coast NBA universe realize that he’s the second best PG in the league. He doesn’t have the large round numbers that won Westbrook the MVP, but Lillard has been eating his lunch this series. Gonna be LOUD in Portland for Game 5. 

The way the Thunder carry themselves vs. how good they actually are is approaching peak John Wall.  

It’s easier to forgive the pomp and circumstance when you realize this is Russ’s fourth playoff game win since Durant left. 

I thought Paak’s Malibu was the best album of the past five years or so. Oxnard? Fine, but uneven and a bit of a letdown after a front-to-back monster. Ventura, on the other hand, is fucking tremendous. 

But then who would run his twitter account with the anime lady avatar? You’d rob us of that?

1) He’s doing this DC thing because a) its free money and b) he needs to have the excuse to develop these techniques. If a local government wants to throw money at his idea, why is he going to say no?

1. Manti Te’o catfishing story

I’m like 95% there on Kobe becoming the curmudgeonly old-head who thinks the whole league is soft. The 5% comes from the fact that guys like Iverson seem to really appreciate this era and that Kobe seems to have a fondness for Steph and Harden, a.k.a. the two best guards since he retired. In 20 years, he’s definitely…

This is a fundamental disconnect for some people, usually the sort of fan that geeks out on the esoterica in collective bargaining agreements and who view rooting for any team without a chance to win a title as a waste of time. Meanwhile, talk to any actual Clipper fan about the last Warriors game. Are they gonna win…

This is a great question. I was going to say Dwight Howard, namely because he’d just kinda stand around eating Haribo and farting, but it would be a waste of time as opposed to actively detrimental.

I mentioned that the one time my own young son succeeded in beating me in Street Fighter II on the SNES Classic (after roughly 200 tries)

Not that I know him personally, but Redford’s a Sacramento fan. I’ve been up for a while and, though you have a few Kings fan who utterly and completely despise the Warriors, the majority of Bay Area fans choose to instead utterly and completely despise the Lakers. It’s just good policy. 

In addition to the brutal injury in New Orleans (in a game they looked especially impressive beating the Rockets, no less), his prior best stretch was cut short by meningitis and the subsequent galaxy-brain firing of Mike Malone. I feel bad for this grumpy behemoth.