This is true and I was the only one on set excited about it (and playing the song on my phone to blank stares)

The Knicks are one game ahead of last season (22-9 vs. 21-10) through 31 games. But that's with a new coach/new scheme, multiple rotation pieces missing time, starters (minus Brunson) playing fewer minutes, young guys getting opportunity, more experimenting, etc. So far, so good.

I don't dispute that, but here is my thing: I am lucky enough to make a decent living, and I don't get to go to theaters often. I am even kind of OK with getting ripped off a bit for an experience that's special! I like that it's special! But, like ... make it special! Hire people! Staff the place!

At a movie theater where there are no ticket takers so you have to scan a QR code to print the tickets you had to buy in advance before going to concessions where you grab your own candy before waiting to pay the one person staffing the stand, all under the aegis of efficiency, which we all love

"He walked with his head down, a hunch in his shoulders, as if only burrowing through this world on his inexplicable way from one strange dimension to the next." Pretty cool that Michael Chabon explained how I move when I am depressed better than I have ever been able to!

the post-Jordan Chicago Bulls

At Y! Sports: Some quick thoughts on Rockets-Lakers, a game that laid bare the difference between kinda-sorta looking like a contender and actually playing like one: yhoo.it/3LiA03y

Jamal Murray is 9-for-18 from 3. Audacious!

Rudy, I can appreciate the desire to do something cool after you get the offensive rebound. But isn't the coolest thing you could do, like, passing it to a teammate who is better at doing things?

Ant is so goddamn cold, man

We don’t hear much about the West Pole, where Cowboy Santa lives. Probably because of all the people he’s shot

At Y! Sports: Some quick thoughts on Rockets-Lakers, a game that laid bare the difference between kinda-sorta looking like a contender and actually playing like one: yhoo.it/3LiA03y

17 offensive rebounds for Houston — an obscene 55.6% offensive rebounding rate, per Cleaning the Glass — and 24 second-chance points. The Rockets do this to everybody, but the defensive rebounding just wasn't even close to good enough for the Lakers.

Players and teams can, and do, surprise us all the time ... but this one feels like it could've been simmed off the spreadsheet. Everything the Rockets do well + everything the Lakers don't = a blowout.

This Lakers lineup — Ayton, Vanderbilt, LaRavia, Smart, Luka — had played 10 possessions together all season heading into tonight: cleaningtheglass.com/stats/team/1... JJ really searching for a group that can string together some stops.

The Rockets are rebounding 45.5% of their misses, and scoring about 1.4 points per putback, so things aren't going AWESOME for the Laker defense right now

Rockets are the NBA's sixth-best team at winning the nightly possession battle, per @jadubin5.bsky.social's tracking at Last Night in Basketball: www.lastnightinbasketball.com/possession-b... 2 more offensive rebounds, 3 fewer turnovers, 6 more FGA in the first quarter than the Lakers. It adds up!

So far, the matchup between the NBA's No. 3 offense and No. 25 defense is playing out about how you'd think. Houston getting great looks and/or second chances on pretty much every trip.

I predict that if the Lakers turn the ball over on 50 percent of their possessions the rest of this game, they will not win it #analysis

With Luka and Austin Reaves starting against Houston tonight, LeBron will move back off the ball more often again. He's done that more this season than ever ... and pretty effectively! From my Five Most Interesting Players of NBA Christmas column: yhoo.it/48QO8tW

It'll come in a losing effort for a short-handed Mavs team that lost Anthony Davis early, but: 27-6-5 on 13-for-21 shooting for Cooper Flagg, who continues to show that he's the absolute goods. From my Five Most Interesting Players of NBA Christmas column: yhoo.it/48QO8tW

PJ Carlesimo, since time immemorial bringing a real "Tom Waits gargling coffin nails" audio vibe to the broadcast

with the loss, the Thunder fall to a pitiful and disgusting 26-5

19 and 7 while guarding SGA for Steph Castle, who just continues to look like a friggin' star. From today's Five Most Interesting Players of NBA Christmas column: yhoo.it/48QO8tW

In non-NBA news: Jeff Lemire's MOON KNIGHT is trippy as hell and very cool

It's basic analysis, I know, but I think San Antonio's positional size defensively is a big part of what gives OKC so much trouble. The playmaking windows are smaller and not open as long, and even if you beat them at first, they can just apparate back into the play to get right.

Hard to call any game where you blew a 17-point 4Q lead "encouraging," but the Cavs continue to look more like themselves of late than they had the first month and a half. Some stuff to build on.

Tyler Kolek barely played 300 total minutes as a rookie. Now a regular part of the closing unit. He deserves so much credit for all the work he's put into his game, and Mike Brown deserves credit for giving him the runway to earn these opportunities.

You could power a space shuttle with Jordan Clarkson's confidence

Really is remarkable how much better the Cavs offense looks when Garland looks like himself. Night and day.

Mo Diawara post up masterclass, a Christmas miracle

Heard nephew talking about "adjusting the grindsetting" and got worried he'd become a shitty business influencer. What a relief to learn he was just reading the instructions for a new coffee maker.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Here is a bunch of writing about cool basketball players who will be playing today, if you are looking for something to read after opening presents and cleaning up wrapping paper. yhoo.it/48QO8tW

these will always have been the last hours before the older one owns a skateboard, and my worries multiply

One good thing is that last night, while we were driving to my in-laws, my daughter woke up from a nap saying, "now it is time for Monster Fight to begin," which means we have drilled "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" so deep into her subconscious that it just sort of leaks out now

At Y! Sports: The Five Most Interesting Players — to me! — of the 2025 NBA Christmas Day Slate, headlined by veterans changing things up, young dudes exploding into stardom, and an All-Star being born: yhoo.it/48QO8tW

Since I started doing Five Most Interesting at The Ringer a lifetime ago, it's always felt like the most "me" piece of basketball writing I can make -- the closest thing to the way the voice in my head sounds. I don't do it so often anymore, but I'm grateful to get to at all. A Christmas gift to me!

At Y! Sports: The Five Most Interesting Players — to me! — of the 2025 NBA Christmas Day Slate, headlined by veterans changing things up, young dudes exploding into stardom, and an All-Star being born: yhoo.it/48QO8tW

Time for introspection. If the 25-game mark was a checkpoint to see what this team is, it’s clear what it isn’t: good enough to contend. More on structural issues, defense, Ayton vs. Williams second thoughts, Vando… A Christmas spirit free-for-all 🎄👇 digginbasketball.substack.com/p/lakers-sys...

merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!

cooper flagg: officially good

🆕 BIG NUMBER: 19 years, 4 days 🎄🎅🏳️ @tomhaberstroh.bsky.social and I talk about things we're excited about on the NBA's Christmas slate, including the holiday debut of Cooper Flagg! (Also, Tom solves tanking. You're welcome.) 🍎: tinyurl.com/33vbakdn ✳️: tinyurl.com/y68ehrrw 📺: youtu.be/HqpXT6aNCKQ

You’d really be forgiven if you had a hard time conceiving of a success on this scale. “So I’ve got this idea for an environmental and public health project, we’re gonna reduce pollution by a fifth. No no it doesn’t cost anything. Actually it’s gonna net half a billion dollars.” What!

am supposed to be Christmasing right now and I’m going to go log off and go back to that but BOY OH BOY this whole calamity sure is a short distance downstream from the industry-wide “editors are expendable” phenomenon

Five Most Interesting Players of the Christmas Day Slate column coming to Y! Sports tomorrow. It's already drawing rave reviews.

As a Big Picture Idea Dummy, I guess just let me know whenever y'all figure out the solution for tanking that maintains the NBA draft as structured while avoiding unintended consequences without incentivizing losing, rewarding poor management and avoiding any whiff of corruption

Immediately back in on the suddenly explosive and fun again Pelicans, because there is nothing wrong with love

swish

AI OVERVIEW: “Mr. Perfect is the enemy of Jane Goodall” is most likely a confused rendering of the aphorism “perfect is the enemy of good”, and there is no evidence that this storyline was ever discussed or even considered leading up to WrestleMania VII.