🏀 You Can't Escape the Heat!

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We can all agree that, for better or worse, there was a LOT of drama in the hoops world this week. And luckily, we’re not here to add to it. Just think of this newsletter as a palette cleanser after a week of chaos. 😁

Today’s Lineup

⛹️‍♂️ Last Night’s Action: Jimmy Buckets keeps the good times going for the Heat.

✏️ Wednesday Night Notes: The undermanned C’s pulled off an impressive W…

💪 Performance of the Week: The Duo of Brotherly Love made history on Sunday!

Last Night’s Action

Himmy Butler powers Miami past Brooklyn 122-115

This is why you can’t judge teams accurately during the offseason, people! Despite losing multiple key pieces from last season’s Finals run, the Heat (8-4) have South Beach buzzing once again in the midst of a seven-game win streak. Their most recent victim? Mikal Bridges and the Nets (6-6).

Brooklyn really didn’t play a bad game. In fact, this was a pretty back-and-forth affair until about the eight-minute mark of the third quarter, when a certain individual known as Jimmy Butler took over. The man dropped a cool 18 in the fourth, including this buttery smooth shimmy that we’re still thinking about hours later. By this point, the game was never in doubt:

Perfect night for Isaiah Joe leads OKC past Golden State 128-109

You may have heard about the third-quarter Warriors, but how about the fourth-quarter Thunder?

Even without Steph Curry and Draymond Green, Golden State (6-6) kept this one close heading into the second half thanks to some great playmaking from Chris Paul and an aggressive outing from Jonathan Kuminga. But a fantastic stretch from the Thunder (7-4) bench unit turned a one-point game into a 19-point blowout. Vasilije Micic was diming, Kenrich Williams was making hustle plays all over the place, and Isaiah Joe decided he simply wasn’t going to miss. Strokin' Joe (seriously) shot a perfect 7-for-7 from beyond the arc—not bad.

Wednesday Night Notes

• LeBron James made history by becoming the second-oldest player to record a triple-double, but it was the Kings who walked away with the 15-point win behind monster nights from Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox.

• With trade rumors brewing, Zach LaVine buried the type of clutch three with just seconds remaining in the game that has the potential to save a team’s season. But Paolo Banchero had other ideas, hitting a go-ahead turn-around jumper to clinch the Magic’s 96-94 win. Sorry, Kenny.

• No Jaylen Brown? No Kristaps Porzingis? No problem for the outmanned Celtics, who stormed into Wells Fargo Center and locked down the red-hot Sixers to snatch a 117-107 W. Al Horford was even nice enough to blow Joel Embiid a kiss goodbye on the way out! What a good citizen. 👍

• Damian Lillard knows a thing or two about putting a team on his back, and that’s exactly what he did to carry the Giannis-less Bucks over the Raptors 128-112. These logo shots will never get old…

• Trae Young may have crowned himself the King of New York after the 2021 playoffs, but it seems like the Knicks actually might be the ones with his number. New York is 14-5 against Trae in the regular season, including Wednesday’s 116-114 win that got iced by a clutch Jalen Brunson jumper.

• The Suns looked really nice in this blowout win over the Wolves. And in the words of Shaq, “I’m sorry Drew Eubanks, I wasn’t really familiar with your game.” Get out of the way, KAT!

Boardroom’s Sneaker Game

From Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s Boardroom, Sneaker Game is a brand new newsletter by industry authority Nick DePaula that’s packed with exclusive sneaker news you can’t find anywhere else. Each week, Nick pulls back the curtain on the biggest deals, highlights the most exciting drops, and analyzes industry-shaping trends.

Since basketball has long led the energy, innovation, and impact behind the foundation of the sneaker biz, we promise you will find a lot to enjoy in Sneaker Game.

Sign up now and you’ll also be entered to win a pair of Nike KD16s in the new Boardroom colorway!

Performance of the Week

The list of teammates who have put up 37 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists in the same game is a real “who’s-who” of legendary NBA duos. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West—the list goes on and on and on.

So why are we talking about this? Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, that’s why! They joined the club this Sunday in Philadelphia’s 137-126 win against Indiana. Come to think of it, you could make a trivia question out of this…

Maxey and Embiid combined for 87 points, 20 rebounds, and 12 assists, or as we like to call it, an average Wilt Chamberlain stat line. Their inside-out synergy has really helped open up the Sixers’ offense, which has a mind-numbing 120.4 offensive rating when the two stars share the court. 🤯

We’re not the first (and we certainly won’t be the last) to praise Tyrese Maxey’s performance this season, but his ascent to near-superstardom has been nothing short of a miracle for this Sixers squad that desperately needed someone to step up. With Philly riding high at 8-3, could this be the year they finally break through into the later rounds of the playoffs?

Three in the Key

• They don’t call De’Aaron Fox ‘Swipa’ for nothing… 💨

• Mitchell Robinson has how many dogs? 🐕

• Dame is a real one for this response about the In-Season Tournament. 🙏

What We’re Enjoying

Melo on Hot Ones: He might be retired, but #STAYME70 never dies. One of the greatest scorers in basketball history hopped on Hot Ones to talk about his illustrious career, some crazy Olympics stories, and his more recent foray into the wine business. Check it out!👇

Signing Off

Thanks for reading, everyone! As you start your day, remember to not beat yourself up over mistakes. Even Jordan’s Bulls took L’s sometimes.

Until next time,

- Spencer Poole

Trivia Answer: The answer to today’s trivia is Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday! This March, the Greek Freak dropped a 38-point triple-double while Jrue set a career-high with 51 points in a 149-136 win over the Pacers.

Before you go…

Happy birthday to Enjoy Basketball LEGENDS Keegan, Muhammad, Cam and Jasmeet! Thanks for supporting our journey to make the online hoops community a more positive place! If you want a birthday shoutout in the newsletter (and want to help us level up our content) take a moment and fill out the survey below.