The Knicks are Here

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Hey Enjoyers! We have a great night of Thursday hoops (and an even wilder Wednesday night) to share with you today, along with the return of exclusive NBA interviews! 👀

PS: You can now find the daily trivia question at the top, with the answer at the bottom of each newsletter! To get us all caught up, the answer for Wednesday was Bob Cousy!

The Knicks Are Here Baby

New York, New York 🏀🍎 Knicks make a STATEMENT with an OT W in Beantown

Look at the Time ⌚ Dame has the most efficient 60 piece EVER on a wild Wednesday night

Iowa Legend 🌽 An enlightening interview with former Hawkeye and current Raptor Joe Wieskamp!

We want to get to know you better! FYI, we’re not asking you to tell us “the name of your first pet” or “your mother’s maiden name.” Feel free to fill out the survey below so we can do fun things like give you a birthday shoutout and know which NBA team you ride with. We promise it won't take more than three 24-second shot clock violations, and it will only enhance your reading experience!

Daily Trivia

RunYourPool

Can you believe we’re more than halfway through the NBA season? Time flies when you’re enjoying basketball! If you’re looking for even more excitement, we’re running it back with RunYourPool to engage in some healthy competition. Props to you if you played with us in our Playoff and Pick ’em Pools—you’re a few steps ahead of the game!

RYP offers every game type, from Pick’Em and Survivor Pools to Fantasy Pools. Did we mention RYP has customizable features you won’t find anywhere else? It’s the go-to for fans who enjoy sports gaming. And did we mention that it’s free to play?

All you have to do is pick one team to win each week to survive and move on. Once you choose a team, you can’t use them again (sorry, Celtics fans.) The last Enjoyer standing wins an NBA jersey of your choice on us! If you have as much fun playing with RYP as we do, create your own pools and play with friends all season long! Join the Enjoy Basketball Survivor Pool now!

Yesterday's Games

Knicks announce themselves with massive 120-117 OT win at Boston

Ladies and gentleman, this New York squad might be for real.

After taking down the Cavs on Wednesday, the Knicks (27-23) stormed into TD Garden last night and looked more than comfortable going toe-to-toe with the Eastern Conference heavyweights. The dynamic duo of Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson were once again at their best, outscoring the Celtics (35-15) own tandem of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown 66-57.

And perhaps the most impressive part, despite blowing an eight-point lead with 2:35 left in regulation, the Knicks kept their composure and delivered when it mattered most. An RJ Barrett clutch three, a little help from Brown, and a big-time block from Brunson sealed an OT victory that we might look back on as a major turning point for New York basketball moving forward.

Box Score

Pistons shock Nets in 130-122 upset

Detroit, we can’t say we saw this W coming. Mired in a battle for Victor Wembanyama, the Pistons (13-37) pulled a rabbit out of a hat in this one thanks to some timely shooting from Saddiq Bey and Alec Burks and a combined seven steals off the bench from Hamidou Diallo and Killian Hayes.

The Nets (29-19) not only struggled to get stops, but also couldn’t find any consistent offense outside of Kyrie Irving, Nic Claxton, and Edmond Sumner. The trio combined for 91 points on 64% shooting, but the rest of the team scored 31 on just 25% 😬. KD can’t come back soon enough.

Box Score

Hornets enjoy home cooking in 111-96 win over Bulls

Oh, and you thought we were done with the upsets?

The Hornets (14-36) managed to overcome an off night from LaMelo Ball thanks to a smooth 28 from Terry Rozier and a perfect 14-14 performance from the center duo of Mason Plumlee and rookie Mark Williams. As for Chicago … with the trade deadline fast approaching, the Bulls (22-26) are giving themselves a lot more questions than answers with losses like these. DeMar DeRozan was able to claw his way to 28 points, but outside of his performance, the offense lacked much of anything, namely due to a lack of spacing.

Box Score

Cavs Cruise By Rockets 113-95

Finally, a game that stuck to the script. The Cavaliers (30-20) came into Houston and took care of business on both ends of the court, led by Darius Garland with 26 points, nine assists, four steals, and only one turnover. Talk about great PG play!

As often happens with young teams, the Rockets (11-38) fell apart in this one thanks to a serious case of the turnover bug. They’ve turned the ball over 20 or more times in 12 different games this season, five more than any other team. But hey, at least you got a sick dime from Alperen Sengun out of it.

Box Score

Dinwiddie goes off in Luka's absence as Mavericks beat Suns 99-85

Mavericks (26-24) fans might have thought this one was over and done with after Luka Doncic was forced out of the game three minutes in with an ankle sprain, but Spencer Dinwiddie had other ideas. Dinwiddie simply decided to become Luka reincarnate after he went down, dropping in a season-high 36 points to go along with six boards and nine dimes.

For the Suns (25-25), there were for sure some bright spots. Cam Johnson and Chris Paul were lights out from deep, and the team only turned the ball over seven times. But a 6-20 shooting night from Deandre Ayton, poor rebounding on a Reggie Bullock free throw with just seconds remaining, and an inability to handle Dinwiddie proved costly.

Box Score

Clippers demolish Spurs 138-100

It's probably not a coincidence that the Clippers (27-24) started winning again the second Kawhi Leonard got healthy, right? The 2x Finals MVP dropped an efficient 27 with seven assists while Paul George lit it up with 35 of his own. The Clippers have gone 13-8 since Leonard's full-time return to the starting lineup when he plays, and are starting to turn into a pretty fearsome team out West. As for the Spurs (14-35), continue to chase your lottery dreams. We believe in you! 🙏

Box Score

Wednesday Night Notes

This week's hump day hoops was led by a couple of primetime classics and one MASSIVE scoring barrage. If drama is your thing, the Sixers and Nets put on an emmy-award winning performance in a 137-133 Philly win. From seven technical fouls, to Ben Simmons' shooting allergy, to a raucous hometown crowd, this one truly had it all, and yet, it might not have been the best game of the night! The Grizzlies and Warriors went wire-to-wire in the Bay, but it was the three-part mouthpiece-throwing epic between Jordan Poole and Steph Curry that truly stole the show. Of course, it’s not a good day of basketball without Damian Lillard going absolutely nuclear. He even had the cameraman shook on his way to the most efficient 60-point game in NBA history as the Blazers beat the Jazz by 10.

Elsewhere, Alperen Sengun put up his second career triple-double, but a monster 20-point fourth quarter from Kyle Kuzma and a Wizards W sort of ruined the moment. In sunny LA, new signing Rui Hachimura was a team-high +17, and Anthony Davis dominated in his first game back to beat San Antonio. Brandon Ingram returned for New Orleans, only to be immediately thrown in jail by Jaden McDaniels in a Minnesota W. In Milwaukee, 33 points from Giannis and some stifling D were enough to put away the Jokic-less Nuggets. In contrast, defense was entirely optional down in OKC, as the Hawks took down the Thunder in a 137-132 shootout led by Trae Young with 33 and 11. Gary Harris simply couldn't miss in the Magic's six-point W over the Pacers. And finally, the Raptors made a much-needed statement by forcing 19 turnovers in a blowout win against the Kings.

Latest Basketball News

All-Star Game Starters Announced

After thousands of hours of agenda-pushing across social media, we finally have our All-Star starters!

All-in-all, the squads are about what we expected outside of a tough break for Joel Embiid in the Eastern Conference frontcourt (sorry, Sixers fans.) And huge shout-outs to Donovan Mitchell and Zion Williamson for being named starters for the first time. 🙏 Let us know, which of these superstar starting fives would you take in a seven-game series?

Interview w/ Joe Wieskamp

Hey, it’s been a minute since we’ve done one of these! In case you’re new here, we run a weekly Twitter Spaces every Thursday where we talk to NBA players and ask them questions about how they Enjoy™ the game of basketball. This week, we were lucky enough to have former Spur and current Raptor Joe Wieskamp join us! You can find some of his best answers below, but make sure to tune in on Twitter each week for the full experience.

Q: The NBA can be an incredibly stressful league at times. What are some things you do on a daily basis to get your mind right and Enjoy Basketball?

A: One of the biggest things about being in the NBA is just having a balance. Just getting your mind off of basketball and having outlets is just so critical. I got married this summer, so I’ve been spending a lot of time with my wife and our two-year-old golden retriever. I’ve also been watching a lot of Netflix, and I like to golf during the summers.

Q: What's one piece of advice you would offer to young hoopers on how to enjoy the game?

A: When I get stressed, sometimes I'll just go play a game of PIG with my brothers or with my wife, or just go do some shooting games. Try and still be around the game but take your mind off that pressure. As a kid, one of the best things you can do is just remember to have fun no matter what.

Q: What teammate has the AUX cord in the locker room?

A: Definitely not me. I wish I could, but not too many guys around the league like country music. But there was one day when I was in San Antonio, they called it White Boy Wednesday, where they let me play some country.

Frozen Moments

• A Julius Randle laugh that is sure to live on for years as a classic gif.

• The Rockets started a younger lineup than the University of Houston last night.

• Alperen Sengun pulled up to the game with a dog.

Good Reads

Houston Rockets coach Stephen Silas goes deep on the loss of his father, NBA legend Paul Silas - Marc J Spears (Andscape)

The untold history of NBA players "walking the dog" - Ben Dowsett (ESPN)

To Tank or Not To Tank — How Important are Top 5 Picks in a Rebuild? - Tavan Parker (SLC Dunk)

What We're Enjoying

NBA All-World: Remember that one summer when all anyone could do was play Pokemon Go? Well, the creators of the legendary mobile game, Niantic, are back with NBA All-World, a basketball-themed alternate-reality experience. Instead of Pokemon, this time you’re assembling a team of elite hoopers by exploring the city and beating your favorite players in 1v1 challenges! We’re completely ready to get addicted.

Knock at the Cabin x Sixers: Director M Night Shyamalan is a well-known Sixers fanatic and can be regularly seen sitting courtside at the Wells Fargo Center. But now, he’s bringing the team into his world, with James Harden and Doc Rivers starring in a new trailer for his upcoming film Knock at the Cabin. Check it out below.

Daily Poll

Signing Off

That's all from us today! We'll leave you with an all-time classic motivational video courtesy of Matsuoka Shuzo. Never give up!

Until next time,

-Spencer Poole

Today’s Trivia Answer: The answer to today's trivia is Lenny Wilkens! The Hall-of-Fame point guard was a 9x All-Star without ever making an All-NBA team.