🏀 Madness in Cleveland (and elsewhere)

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We’ve been busy, Enjoyers! Just last week, the Detroit Pistons hosted us for 313 Day at Little Caesars Arena. We put together a BTS video exploring the Pistons locker room and just generally Enjoying Basketball—we even ran into Isaiah Stewart & Tee Grizzley!

And FYI to those who’ve been living under a rock for the past 48 hours: our founder Kenny Beecham AKA Mr. Basketball went on Stephen A. Smith’s Know Mercy Podcast to talk about hoops and his journey as a creator! Stephen A. even hinted at bringing Kenny onto First Take come playoff time! Our movement is growing, and it wouldn’t be possible without y’all ❤️.

Today’s Lineup

The 5th Man 5️⃣: How Isaac Okoro defied the haters and won Cleveland their game…

Oh, Canada 🍁: Players from the Great White North made history…

The Cuban Whistle Crisis 🚀: The Mavs want a redo after the refs messed up…

NOTE: We’re collabing with the team that has a really funny MVP candidate—keep an eye out on our Twitter and Instagram 👀 

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Last Night in the NBA

Cleveland stuns Brooklyn 116-114, thanks to an unlikely hero

WHO SAYS ISAAC OKORO CAN’T SHOOT?? The Cavaliers’ 5th starter drilled a go-ahead three with 0.7 seconds left to elevate Cleveland (47-28) past the Nets (39-34). To think we almost turned this one off! Brooklyn was up 114-110 with just 29 seconds left. When it got to 114-113, Donovan Mitchell missed a game tying free throw and two put-back layups, but in the ensuing scramble Okoro was left open in the corner…

This one was an all-around Enjoyable classic. The Nets repeatedly swatted Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen in a couple rare moments of universal payback for the thousands of shots Mobley and Allen have sent into the 4th row. For Cleveland, Mitchell’s final misses shouldn’t overshadow his amazing 31 performance. Knicks fans better hope he doesn’t stay hot in NYC come playoff time…

Magic put a curse on the Knicks, win 111-106

The Magic (31-43) stunted a Knicks (42-33) comeback to win by five. To be honest, things have been unEnjoyable in New York as of late as the Knicks have lost four straight. Last night, Julius Randle clashed with the refs and his teammate Immanuel Quickley, who was trying to keep him from receiving a tech (spoiler alert: he did anyway).

IQ and Quentin Grimes had 25 apiece for NYK in Jalen Brunson’s absence, but Markelle Fultz’s nasty moves and Paolo Banchero’s 21 sealed the game. If Paolo is hitting threes like he did last night, defenses might as well just bow their heads and pray.

Clippers flip the switch, thrash Thunder 127-105

This might look like a blowout, but it was a 2 point game with 2 minutes left in the third quarter! The Clippers (39-35) offense must have recoded the simulation to make them never miss another shot after that. Kawhi Leonard (32 points on 13/15 FG) entered cyborg mode and the other Clippers showered threes down on the Thunder teenagers.

For the Clippers, life without the injured Paul George freed up minutes for Los Angeles’ resident Lou Williams impersonator Bones Hyland, who facilitated the ball well and was a +32 on the night. Rather shockingly, this was the Clippers’ only win in four games vs the Thunder (36-37) this season! OKC has to finish the season strongly to secure a postseason appearance.

Pelicans pound Hornets 115-96 as Ingram shines

Brandon Ingram has played in 404 regular season NBA games, but last night he got his first triple double and brought the Pelicans to a win over the Hornets (23-51). The Pelicans (36-37) were determined to snag their third consecutive win from the start, as Ingram scored 17 in the first quarter alone!

New Orleans is now tied for the 11th seed, but they’re also just one game back of the 8th seed. This Western Conference race is the best in recent memory, but MAN do we wish the Pelicans could’ve been healthy all year!

What happened Wednesday?

We had two games with big play-in implications on Wednesday night! The Timberwolves clawed out a 125-124 win over the Hawks in KAT’s first game back from injury, and he celebrated with a couple game winning free throws! Andrew Nembhard had arguably the best game of his rookie career in Pacers vs. Raptors, posting 25 points and 10 assists in an Indiana win. The Pacers also made history on Wednesday, as Nembhard, Benedict Mathurin and Oshae Brissett became the first Canadian trio to start in an NBA game…and in Toronto no less! Oh Canada!

Out West, Saucin’ Austin Reaves continued his hot streak with 25 points and a career-high 11 assists to beat the Suns, while Damian Lillard poured in 30 points and 12 assists in a Blazers W over the Jazz. Perhaps the game of the night, though, was the Warriors’ 127-125 win over the Mavericks. Luka Doncic had a wondrous 30 points and 17(!) assists and Steph Curry scored the game-winning layup, but keep reading for this game’s big controversy…

And in the East, Giannis Antetokounmpo walked all over San Antonio and dropped 31 points in just 24 minutes. Also, Miami is Heating up! They beat the Knicks for their 7th win in 10 games. Jimmy Butler (35 points) is a bad, bad man!

The Cuban Whistle Crisis

Have you ever played organized basketball and witnessed a ref make a terrible call? Yeah, same. Usually, your coach will remind you that “no matter how much you complain to the ref, you can’t undo the call.” However, the Dallas Mavericks disagree.

After their 127-125 loss to Golden State on Wednesday, Dallas filed a formal protest to the NBA. Dallas alleges that a referee told them it was their ball after the timeout, but then quickly gave the ball to Golden State—who easily scored a wide open layup. Mark Cuban is heated…

Looking over the replays, Cuban has a point. But protests to the league office aren’t usually effective. And what’s the best case scenario? Would they play an overtime period? Void the entire game? Duel it out in rock-paper-scissors???

Top Five Friday

You’ve read plenty of words already. For today’s Top Five Friday, we’re giving you clips of the top five dunks of the past couple days! Fasten your seatbelts and brace for impact!

How dazzling have the Lakers looked recently?! Austin to Vando, baby!

NBA efficiency nerds LOVE Alperen Sengun. He’s so efficient he can post a highlight quicker than you can learn to say his name.

Ja Morant’s face mask makes him sorta look like Batman, and the way he moves through the air makes us sure that he is. Does Bruce Wayne own a mansion in Memphis…

When you go up against Walker Kessler shattering backboards on defense and Lauri Markkanen shattering them on offense, it’s hard to outshine the Jazz.

The NBA community MUST acknowledge that Shaedon Sharpe is putting together one of the best rookie dunk compilations in NBA history!

Frozen Moments

• The most unintentionally (or intentionally?) brilliant play of March Madness.

• Johnny Davis pulled out an acrobatic reverse filayyy.

• Luka gave us yet another crazy no-look dime.

Good Reads

Jaylen Brown Is Trying to Find a Balance - Logan Murdock (The Ringer)

Princeton Tigers add to their March Madness lore - Dan Gelston (Associated Press)

UCLA brother and sister make March Madness a proud family moment - Cora Cervantes (NBC News)

What We’re Enjoying

We’re reserving this section for the two best games of March Madness thus far—both of them happened last night and we HIGHLY recommend watching the highlights:

First, 3-seed Kansas State topped 7-seed Michigan State as Markquis Nowell set an all-time tournament record with 19 assists in the W!

And later last night, 3-seed Gonzaga topped 2-seed UCLA in an offensive slugfest for the ages. We saw peak Drew Timme (36 points), and the two teams exchanged LONG threes in the final minute of this thriller:

Signing Off

March Madness is thriving, so we know you needed to catch up on the world’s greatest hoops league. May you always be as generous as Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell, and may you never be upset… like Tennessee. Sorry, Vols.

-Conor Geelan

Trivia Answer: AJ Griffin leads the league in game-winning buzzer-beaters with… 2! He had one against the Bulls in December and one against the Raps in November.

Before you go…

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