a single monthly subscription to support my Finals coverage by now envelopes June's NBA draft, hop on to help me drive West!

The NBA is making following the NBA too dang complicated -- which is not to say new anti-tanking rules won't be good for your team (Lakers fans). Could be. Maybe. It's hard to know. On the 10,000-piece puzzle that is modern NBA fandom: www.latimes.com/sports/laker...

Hey guys, myself & @samsonfolk.bsky.social talked playoffs & what's next for the Pacers - mailbag! - countering Wemby w/ non-shooters - did IND trade for the wrong big? - what to expect from Tyrese in his return - changes in playoff defenses draft lottery fallout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWBI...

i'm doing alright. also gas is $4.80 a gallon and i have friends either getting laid off every week or struggling to find a job, also 10x a day i have to hear some guy who makes more in a second than i do in a week say "AI is gonna replace a bunch of jobs, hopefully soon." but other than that;

when alex caruso shoots this well he is objectively one of the best basketball players alive

It took me a long time to really internalize this fact, but the truth is that almost no one, across the entire spectrum of US politics, really cares about climate change as such. Almost everyone, on every side, from every angle, is using it as a canvas upon which to project their priors.

We're proud to endorse @abdulelsayed.bsky.social for U.S. Senate in Michigan. As a public servant, he removed lead from schools, made life-saving Narcan accessible, and led a program to cancel medical debt for 300,000 Michiganders. He is the kind of candidate we need in office.

I do feel like it’s very funny that Harden gets made fun of the most of any player on the Cavs just because the rest of them outside Mitchell are so irrelevant nobody cares if they stink

all the attention is understandably on the cavs core but here are their role players tonight:

I think the Cavs are giving the most embarrassing Conference Finals performance of the modern NBA.

There’s also clearly zero consideration of the fan experience. How is a casual fan suppose to follow any of this? And shouldn’t the goal be to draw in more of the casual fans?

Shoot us an email if you’ve been sexually disappointed by Clavicular

The idea that this was ever about fans bothered me. Fans want hope, tanking sells hope for even shamelessly bad teams like last year's Wizards. Not only are the games now ambivalent to the franchise's future, you can't even hope for a good lottery roll two years in a row!

The far right is being racist. Here's why it's the left's fault. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

I am struck that the one time I wrote for The Atlantic, they had a fact-checker who demanded I include links for even quite minor claims in the piece or at least substantiate those claims to him, whereas when TCW writes for them, there isn't a single link or example to be found.

You can make it more complicated than this, but the series has basically been decided by Strus and Merrill bricking all of their open threes.

Karl-Anthony Towns has reached double figures in a first quarter for the first time since December 23.

Putting aside ownership and coaching stuff, the Blazers have some big roster decisions to make this summer on players who are free agents or extension eligible. Breaking down where things stand with Scoot Henderson, Robert Williams III and more: www.rosegardenreport.com/breaking-dow...

Taking some time today to say thanks to everyone at ESPN about my 13-plus years there now that I've started the next chapter of my career in the WNBA: open.substack.com/pub/kpeltonh...

Not a huge fan of sharing screenshots from X but I had to check that this was real. This is absolutely the funniest shit I’ve read in a long time. Imagine having this little respect for yourself.

The Marketplace of Ideas people immediately forcefully shut down all dissent, bought all media, sued & fired all critics & arrested & caged journalists reporting on their heinousness as soon as they got control & all of this was entirely predictable & people who warned of it were called overreactors

checking in on the New York Football Giants

i talk a lot of shit but the thunder solved their main weakness this season by developing a more serious half-court offense. wasn't sure it would translate to the playoffs but it clearly did last night. wrote about it back in march: basketball.realgm.com/analysis/284...

You come to me, on the day of my son's wedding, which I am not attending

The Sixers finally beat the Celtics in a playoff series and their trade off is being forced to hear about the McCain trade every day.

Jared McCain outscored the Spurs bench 24-18 on his own before garbage time. Philly's bench combined for 24 or more points in 5 games this postseason.

Darius Acuff Jr.

Jared McCain being this good in this series is staggering. Trade was always ridiculous by Morey but I don’t think anyone thought McCain would be playable this deep in the playoffs this year much less a key swing piece.

The Daryl Morey "selling high" quote about trading Jared McCain is like a month away from being one of the all-time funniest GM quotes ever.

Fun seeing Jared McCain making the most of this opportunity. One of the hardest working, most grounded, highest basketball IQ players I've covered. Playing next to SGA, and around all the OKC perimeter defenders, is perfect spot for him. Went through a lot and came out stronger.

Not to knock Greg for this, but the NBA media’s relentless knocking of OKC (who in a vacuum I don’t care much for either way) is kind of insane. The NBA has a big issue with marketing, not with the actual level of play, and the media consistently focusing on flopping (who gives a shit!) is bad.

The Cavs are doing fine on the boards, winning the free throw battle and on turnovers. It's the shooting and shooting defense that are the problems. Does that mean they can turn it around? I'm skeptical. www.teamziller.com/knicks-vs-ca...

Miles McBride only played 6:18 in the first half He is outscoring Cavaliers bench by himself 5-4. Cavaliers bench missed 14 of 16 shots.

These 8 Democrats voted to pass a national ban on trans teachers and mention of LGBTQ topics. Rep Henry Cuellar (TX) Rep. Don Davis (NC) Rep. Cleo Fields (LA) Rep. Laura Gillen (NY) Rep. Vicente González (TX) Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH) Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA) Rep. Eugene Vindman (VA)

My first Nat Geo exclusive! Meet Tylosaurus rex: a giant Texas sea lizard that's such an impressive predator its discoverers had to name it T.rex, a very cool name that no other animal has ever had

if you are a trans reader of mine and you struggle to explain to cis family and friends why you hurt so much lately I wrote this so you can send it to them. I feel like we know this pain intimately but I want everyone to understand it, because we are going to need help if it’s ever going to stop.

In a major step towards regaining public trust, the DNC has released its 2024 autopsy with the disclaimer that it was poorly done and you shouldn't trust it.

Kill Grogu: defector.com/kill-grogu

Eye-popping poll by Emerson of the upcoming primary in New York's 10th congressional district, where Brad Lander is crushing Democratic incumbent Dan Goldman 57% to 23%. emersoncollegepolling.com/new-york-cit...

Absolutely true. In IT we are faced with two realities we dare not speak their name. 1. Leadership is 100% convinced that AI is the next wave of revenue growth via salary displacement and 2. We are forced to market ourselves as pro AI, essentially we are pigs who baste ourselves in the oven.

It’s complimentary to Wemby that OKC, the best defense of this era, has restored to anti-Shaq measurements to stop him.

This is the first time the Western Conference Finals are 1-1 since 2018.

You can blame Harden for this (and he was truly abysmal down the stretch yesterday). But after sleeping on it I do think that was the worst NBA coaching performance I’ve ever seen at a game of this magnitude by Kenny Atkinson.

Last night, the Knicks targeted James Harden with 27 picks. That's the most picks he's ever defended in any game in his career (in the tracking era, since 2013-14). The Knicks scored 1.53 points per pick (!) that led directly to a shot, foul, or shot one pass away.

Was told around 70 people were let go today in the Blazers' layoffs on the business side. Know some of the names but out of respect to them I'll let them announce it when and how they will.

Few things I’ll say about the “Spurs are going to run the league for the next 5 years” discourse 1. We said the same about the Thunder, Celtics, and Nuggets 2. No team has repeated in the 2020s 3. We need to see how Wemby’s body holds up to shortened offseasons 4. Let’s let them win one first

This is also because the NBA media by and large loves San Antonio.