The Saturday Evening Post-Up: "Falling in Love Again"

So the C’s do just fine without Rondo. They won despite Aaron Brooks’ best efforts, which were mighty indeed. 

                                           Points. He brings points.

I’m not sure I’d chalk this loss up to the Celtics being good so much as the Bulls inexplicably dropping a game from time to time. They get tired, and Thibs can only yell so loud. Maybe he should develop the carrot aspect of his motivational combo. He could take Pau to get some history books at Myopic, or buy Taj a Tastee-Freeze or something. 

Elsewhere in the league, basketball’s favorite billionaire netted another win. Speculation abounds w/r/t the Clippers being "LA’s new team," and I’m not sure why the city would even hesitate with hopping on board. LA is a notoriously fickle town as-is, but who does it hurt, really? It’s not like the Lakers are going to vanish, or check your bank history for Clippers ticket purchases. Plus I’m all for conspiratorially ignoring Kobe, in order to make him achieve Maximum Kobe out of spite.

Steve Kerr can coach some basketball. What’s the Arabic for “only undefeated team left”? Expect Alex to say more about the Golden State in the near future. Expect that "more" to be 90% fanfiction.

Finally we have the Milwaukee Bucks, properly earning a win against the heretofore undefeated Memphis squad.  That isn’t to say Memphis played perfectly. Z-Bo got a little too confident from deep, and the Grizz started to lean on him in lieu of running a proper offense. Randolph made the improbable halftime buzzbeater seen here:

And, paradoxical though it may seem, that shot was the beginning of their end.

There are a few factors that correlate highly with the Bucks that win vs. the Bucks that lose, and they all fell into place. Ersan Ilyasova can play very well, but some nights he performs so badly as to become a liability. Other nights he’s beautiful defensively and efficient on offense. Last night was the latter. 

Then we have the “arms race.” Physical freak spotters all around have pointed to Giannis as if to say, “This is what I meant.” As if all that is required to succeed on the highest level of basketball is to be a gigantic bundle of limbs. In this way many undermine the talent of players by reducing them to borderline-phrenological ratios of arm length, studies of speed and height. These numbers indicate something, certainly, but last night was a reminder that Giannis is here because he can play. 

Consult OJ Mayo’s gorgeous football assist to Antetokonmpo near the end to see what I mean. Court/ball awareness, and most importantly trust, a relationship between teammates, and pretty darn fun basketball. I know the Bucks will ultimately hurt me, as they have before. Alas, I can't help it.

-David