It’s what? It’s what? It’s whaaaaat?

Ohhh. It’s Friday. Go crazy, Enjoyers!

Today’s Lineup

🎉 Happy birthday to Cason Wallace, Dalano Banton, and Kyle Filipowski! 🎉

Friday Fun-Time

Blazers hand Thunder first loss of season with 121-119 W

Stop the presses! The Oklahoma City Thunder have lost a basketball game.

With five Blazers scoring at least 16 points, this upset took a true team effort by Portland. Deni Avdija (26 PTS, 10 REB, 9 AST, 2 STL) led the pack with a near-triple-double, but Shaedon Sharpe (18 PTS, 3 STL) made his impact known on both ends of the court and Jrue Holiday (22 PTS, 6-10 3PT) shot the lights out. SGA got his (35 PTS, 9 REB, 4 AST), but outside of a monster shooting performance by Aaron Wiggins (27 PTS, 7-10 3PT), OKC’s offense has looked much better.

But this still wasn’t a sure thing for Portland—in fact, the 97-96 lead they took with just under seven minutes left in the game was their first of the night. Jrue Holiday hit a pull-up jumper to take that lead, but a Shai three a few minutes later put the game right back into OKC’s hands. It was a free-throw battle in the final minutes, and Holiday and Jerami Grant (20 PTS, 5 REB, 5 AST) hit the shots they needed down the stretch to win the game for Portland.

Beating the undefeated reigning champions—talk about blazing a new trail!

Warriors fall to Kings 116-121; Rookie Will Richard scores 30, Russ has efficient triple-double

Talk about a tale of two halves! The Warriors led for the entire first half, with Moses Moody (28 PTS) and Jonathan Kuminga (17 first-half PTS) leading the charge as the main offensive catalysts before the break. DeMar DeRozan (25 PTS) and Dennis Schroeder (18 PTS, 7 AST, 7 REB) had the Kings offense moving, but not at the same pace as Golden State’s.

But the second half rolled around, and Russell Westbrook shifted into vintage mode. The “best rebounding guard, ever” (see below) finished with 23 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists in the Kings’ win, just their third of the season as teams are fighting to stay afloat in the loaded West.

Despite the Warriors’ loss, we’ve gotta give some love to Will Richard! The No. 56 overall pick from this year’s draft had 30 PTS (a mark that doesn’t look like it’ll remain his career high for too much longer) on 10-15 shooting from the field and 5-8 from deep. Keep pushing, rook!

Elsewhere around the NBA:

• A three-steal 33-point triple-double? Leave it to Nikola Jokic. He and Aaron Gordon (24 PTS) powered the Nuggets to a ten-point win over Miami despite 45 combined PTS from Andrew Wiggins and Norman Powell and a standout double-double from Kel’el Ware (13 PTS, 13 REB, 4 STL).

• Donovan Mitchell dropped an efficient 46 PTS (15-21 FG, 6-11 3PT) and Evan Mobley (23 PTS, 5 REB) and Jarrett Allen (24 PTS, 10 REB) combined for 47 as the Cavs took down Philadelphia 132-121. Tyrese Maxey and Quentin Grimes had 27 each for the Sixers.

• The Pistons won their fourth-straight game, a 114-103 W over the Jazz, thanks to a 31-point double-double from Cade Cunningham and a 20-20 game from Jalen Duren. Props to Utah’s Svi Mykhailuk for hitting six threes en route to a career-high 28 PTS!

• Jaylen Brown had 35 PTS and Josh Minott (21 PTS) continued his hot streak for Boston as the Celtics took down Alex Sarr (31 PTS, 8 REB) and the Wizards 136-107.

• A huge second half turned the tides of Knicks-Wolves towards the Big Apple, as Jalen Brunson (23 PTS, 10 AST) and OG Anunoby (25 PTS, 8 REB) overpowered Minnesota after going down by double-digits early. Anthony Edwards had 15 PTS in his return to action, with Julius Randle (32 PTS) leading Minny in scoring. Knicks win, 137-114.

• The Mavs made it interesting in the 3Q, but after a cold shooting night from No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg (20 PTS, 9 REB, 1-5 3PT), the Pelicans escaped Dallas with a 101-99 win thanks to a team-high 22 PTS from Saddiq Bey and perimeter help on both ends from Jose Alvarado (13 PTS, 3-5 3PT).

Top Five Friday

The NBA Cup is back! All 30 custom court designs for each team’s home Cup matches were revealed last week, and we’re finally ready to give you the rundown of our favorites.

5. Indiana Pacers: The Pacers didn’t stray from their normal color/type scheme, and it works on this one. Extra points for the “Boom Baby” reference in line with their G League squad’s recent rebranding.

4. Boston Celtics: The perfect mix of classic, old-school branding and modern design (just like the NBA Cup itself?). The green parquet floor is a cool nod to Boston’s long basketball history, as is Red Auerbach’s signature and Bill Russell’s number on the sideline.

3. Portland Trail Blazers: Grey courts can be divisive, but the simplicity of this one combined with the cool texture on the court gives it an undeniably cool look. If you look closely, you can see how subtly the Blazers snuck their logo in behind the Cup design… 👀

2. New York Knicks: The New York skyline on the Knicks’ Cup court is really what brings this one over the top. If you’ve got a classic color scheme that works, don’t screw with it!

1. Utah Jazz: Come on. The purple. The mountains. Visions of John Stockton dishing dimes and other Jazz legends whizzing around the hardwood. The notes even make an appearance on the baselines! Top 1.

You can see the full list of court designs on the NBA website here!

Three in the Key

Signing Off

Happy Friday! You made it. Tonight will be the start of a resting, relaxing, recharging weekend—it’s true. Talk soon.

Austin Zeglis