Imagine if Cleveland’s best player had a significant injury like IT’s had all series. Lebron’s superhuman so it wouldn’t be as impactful, but it’d be a much closer series. IT’s been the engine for BOS all year; and if he’s lost 30 or 40% of his quickness, which seems to be the result of his hip injury, then it’s all…

But he is broken; his hip’s been fucked since game 6 of the WAS series. It was pretty obvious watching him in first half that he had exactly zero of his usual burst and quickness.

Increasingly it seems like it really was all a dumb attempt to maintain his and the FBI’s integrity that led him to reopen the Hillary emails investigation so close to the election, with no darker motive behind it. Not sure that changes anything, and it caused extraordinary harm to the US and the world, but it’s…

Don’t paraphrase Killer Mike without a cite

Sure Kawhi landed on Zaza’s foot, but the move from Zaza looked sketchy as hell. Reputation matters, and Zaza’s exactly the sort of player who’d stick his foot out to fuck up a jump shooter’s ankle, especially when he knows it’s already messed up. Besides, he really made an effort to get under there; it sure looked…

Brutal luck on the timing of this piece-coinciding with the James Comey news. Hope it doesn’t get swept under the rug, cause O’Reilly is a piece of shit

I find this fascinating. Olynyk yanks at a guy’s arm trying to pull him away from a loose ball, one single play, for which he’s suspended. Which is fine. He then sets an illegal screen, as NBA players do every night, gets/flops to the ground after the upset dude charges him. And thereafter he’s a dirty player far…

I only ever hear him on the Lowe Post, but he’s usually good for a few interesting facts or details that haven’t surfaced elsewhere, and they’re not always about LeBron. So four times a year, he’s fine, but I don’t think I could stomach much more than that.

Do you know the Cavs’ record when Kyrie plays and LeBron doesn’t?

Ah, we’re in agreement there. I feel like some of the Celtics takes here are pretty shortsighted and also similar to those of Portland last year--a rebuilding team that took a bigger step than usual and now has to be viewed as a contender, a victim of its success. The difference of course is that the Celtics have some…

Sure, but that was never the goal; their own front office signaled as much when they stood pat at the deadline. I’m pretty sure if they win a playoff series or two they’re more than happy with this year.

I don’t think they’re gonna miss a million wide open shots again...it was an off shooting night for the Celtics, who generated way more good looks than the Bulls did.

That assumes Paul George was legitimately on the table, which is in dispute. And if he was, the asking price would’ve been two Brooklyn picks and two or three of Jaylen Brown, Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart, and Jae Crowder. All for a player who has an excellent chance of bailing in 1.5 years for LA. Doesn’t seem that…

Sure, but that doesn’t explain this: Starling Marte is 28, under contract until like 2022 or something, and doesn’t really rely on power to succeed...what’s his incentive to do it now? (Unless, I suppose, he’s always been using and only now got caught.)

Yea, it’s bizarre. What blows my mind about his steroid use (and Dee Gordon’s last year), is that these guys aren’t washed-up 38 year olds trying to secure one last payday. Both Gordon and Marte are under contract for like five more years after this, so what’s the incentive to dope? Wouldn’t you at least wait until…

But don’t you have to inject it? And if so, that’s pretty hard to believe

First, I appreciate the thoughtful response. Second, I don’t have a problem with Westbrook winning, though I’d also maybe lean Kawhi (as a Celtics fan without a dog in the fight). I don’t think there is an unequivocally right answer to this question.

Citing Tony Parker and Manu at this stage of their careers isn’t gonna bolster your case; and LMA isn’t exactly having a career year and has kinda vanished at random points throughout the season. And for the 3s, I’m pretty sure Lowe and others have pointed out that there’s a pretty large luck element to that even…

What else was Putin going to do? There’s literally no other response he could give that wouldn’t come across as weak to his own people. They’ve already restored the hotline to avoid conflicts between US and Russian aircraft. Russia denouncing Trump’s actions was always going to happen; it doesn’t mean anything.

Most U.S. military interventions have been dismal failures but I’m not sure throwing up your hands and saying ‘this isn’t our fight’ is a justifiable solution either. Innocents are being slaughtered by the tens of thousands in Syria and dismissing it by citing Obama’s complicity sure seems lazy to me; he’s responsible…