Think Kawhi approves of Lowry-DeRozan bromance?
Today’s Panel:
First Half
Monologue: James Harden winning over his haters?
Harden also had his 9th straight game of at least 35+ points, something no one else, not even MJ and Kobe accomplished…ever!
He said by the time he retires, he intends to…
He also added this after the Warriors game:
“Harden is best 1-on-1 player in the game” – Pippen
“I felt like he sorted of pulled Golden State into trying to play his style of play” – Pippen
“To make it seem like he’s scoring 40 points a game on 40 free throws, which is what the conversation sounds like, we kind of twist that into all he does is shoot free throws, which is ridiculous. This has been true about him for the last 3-4 years” – Elhassan
Does Harden’s game-winner erase missed out of bounds call on KD?
“I am not really okay with this play because I think the officials should be held accountable for this. You can’t reward these officials and see them in the playoffs. Your mindset is not on your job. You must be a fan of the Warriors” – Pippen
“Anyone in the building looking knows he’s out of bounds. He spent more time out of bounds than he did in bounds” – Elhassan
“It’s good that they didn’t win the game” – Pippen
Klay: “Warriors lacked killer instinct in 2nd half”
Warriors bad habits going to catch up with them?
“It’s really about their personnel. I don’t think they have that personnel that they need to be dominant as we’ve seen in years past. They don’t have that guy (big man; 7 footers) anymore” – Pippen
“I’m sensing a drastic level of ‘disease of me’ among Warriors” – Elhassan
“A lot of grumbling and complaining. Grumplaining” – Elhassan
“What were seeing right now is: Instead of the five fingers and the closed fist and the ‘Strength in Numbers,’ you’re seeing five fingers trying to do their own thing for their own different reasons” – Elhassan
January 4, 1998 – Allen Iverson with the sick behind the back pass to Theo Ratliff
Encouragement; Is this more disrespectful than dunking on someone?
Stopping Ball; Should Buddy Hield’s nickname be “The Matador?”
Takeovers; Jamal Murray drops 34 points in 2nd half in Nuggets win
“[He’s] so much more aggressive this year, but he’s still pretty inconsistent. He’s coming around – Elhassan
Lakes; Impressed with Austin Rivers so far?
Scored 18 points, while hitting some big shots down the stretch. Rockets are 5-0 since signing him
“It’s a good fit for him because Harden plays a lot like CP3. So he’s used to playing on the ball, off the ball a little bit offensively” – Pippen
Acrobatics; Should DeRozan feel better about trade after 1st career triple-double?
“It made him feel good about himself” – Pippen
Moving on…
Everything good with Pop & Kawhi now?
“I feel like it’s mended between Coach Pop and Kawhi But ‘obviously’ the fans weren’t part of that” – Pippen
“Kind of get a feel because he felt like that his game patterned my game a little bit” – Pippen
“I kind of admired his game and told him I’d been watching him and could see he’s been getting better and better. And things I felt like he could work on to become even a better player. And I felt like he’s filled all those voids” – Pippen
“They won a championship there. He was the MVP. And as Pop said, sometimes in your career things go differently” – Pippen
“It was hard. He did speak, but as you guys know, Kawhi’s a very quiet player, so he doesn’t speak much off the court, either. But it was great just to sit down and talk to him” – Pippen
Fair for Kawhi to blame media for rift with Pop?
“He’s basically blaming the messenger. The media does not create these sentiments, they’re reporting these sentiments. That’s why they’re out there. It’s also why, ironically, why Kawhi was a villian last year because his side never really got out because he doesn’t talk. You can’t blame it for creating that message. That message was created somewhere in the city of San Antonio” – Elhassan
“You can’t blame the media. They’re just trying to figure out what really happened” – Pippen
Second Half
Danny Ainge rips LeBron for calling himself the GOAT
Reaction to Danny Ainge’s comments on LeBron?
“These remarks we’re incredibly irresponsible. He has a history of throwing unsolicited shots at LeBron” – Elhassan
“I never heard MJ call himself the greatest player ever” – Pippen
“My problem is more so: If you are the greatest player, if people are saying you’re the greatest player or people are saying Michael Jordan is the greatest player, why do you need to say it?” – Pippen
“It’s pretty great that a guy won 3 titles, left for 2 years, came back and won 3 more. That is considered greatness” – Pippen
Zach Lowe’s weekly column: 10 things I like and don’t like
Rachel’s 1-on-1 convo with Dirk Nowitzki
Highlights from the interview:
“I still love to compete. It’s still fun to try to help the franchise and the team win games. It’s definitely coming towards the end. I don’t want to say this is the last year” – Nowitzki on why is he still playing
“I wasn’t sure if I was ready for NBA” – Nowitzki
On Luka Doncic:
“He’s already extremely savvy as a player, which I wasn’t” – Nowitzki on Luka Doncic
“His English is already a little better than mine than when I first got here” – Nowitzki
“He seems like he’s been playing pro [basketball] since 10 years old” – Nowitzki
On after beating the Miami Heat in the 2011 Finals:
“I just started crying” – Nowitzki
“It was an amazing and I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life” – Nowitzki
Dirk’s legacy on the NBA?
“He was one of the pioneers of really doing the pick and pop to the three point line and just watching his journey and watching him developing a shot” – Pippen
“That one-legged shot and watching it get taught all around the league to other bigs” – Elhassan
“He’s really close friends with Steve Nash. They had a similar story of having struggled in their first couple of years and then reach great heights and eventually become MVPs. Just a great ambassador for our game” – Elhassan
January 4, 2003 – Jason Kidd with the sick behind the back pass to Aaron Williams who slams it home!
Sources: Jimmy Butler tested Brett Brown over 76ers offense (Via Woj and Ramona Shelburne)
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“I hope it’s not true, but Jimmy Butler, as we know, has been carrying a little bit of a track record I’m terms of dealing with coaches. Hopefully they can work it out” – Pippen
“Jimmy is a very straight shooter. Blunt to a fault. But, Brett Brown doesn’t have a problem with it. I talked with Bernie Lee, Jimmy Butler’s agent, he says they talk everyday and have zero issues” – Elhassan
