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Happy Monday! To start off, we want to give a MASSIVE thank you to each and every one of you, because we just passed 40,000 subscribers!

That’s a whole lot of Enjoyers—and we're not even a year old. Your support means everything to us, and we are so grateful to you all for reading, taking polls, playing trivia, laughing at our memes, and always giving us feedback on how we can improve.

The EB community is nothing without all of you. Now, let’s talk about some hoops 🫡

Today’s Lineup

Game Winners Everywhere: Clutch shots (and blocks) ruled the weekend ⏰ 

Sixers Surging: Can Philly overtake the top seed in the East? 🤔

Unsung Heroes: Six years in, this former #1 pick is flashing star potential ⭐

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Friday’s Fun / Saturday’s Slate

Maybe players shouldn’t be written off before they turn 20 years old? Jabari Smith Jr. has officially found the three-point shot that made him such an intriguing prospect—and he used it in the waning seconds to down the Pelicans on Friday night.

Elsewhere, we saw a DeRozan / LaVine masterclass in a Bulls W, a Tyus Jones triple-double, and the lights weren’t too bright in LA for Maxi Kleber.

Saturday started with an MSG matinee, where Jalen Brunson’s return sparked a second-half rally that helped New York beat Denver in a thriller, 116-110. Philadelphia won their eighth straight with a beatdown of Indiana on Saturday. Sure, it’s tough to say Philly is a real title contendering their playoff struggles in recent years. But this Sixers team just feels different, right? Right? No one show us this newsletter in two months.

Saturday ended with Walker Kessler capping off a Jazz stunner over the Celtics. How many rookies in the last 20 years can be considered “elite” rim protectors? Not too many.

Sunday’s Best

We had a wild Sunday with eight great games! If you want to get into the numbers, you can find all of yesterday’s box scores here.

Nuggets get back on track, beat Nets 108-102

Denver (48-24) is still first in the West. They have a multiple-game buffer between themselves and the Kings. Nevertheless, the Nugs have simply not looked like a title contender in recent weeks, so a comfortable road win (this game was not as close as the score indicates) against a solid Brooklyn (39-32) team has to feel good. Jamal Murray scored 20 in the first quarter, and Nikola Jokic posted a triple-double in the victory.

Thunder use big fourth-quarter run to top Suns 124-120

OKC (35-36) just sticks around until it’s time to strike, and then has enough passing and shooting to bury their opponents. In this one, it was the beginning of the fourth quarter when they blitzed Phoenix (38-33) and eventually pulled out a win. SGA scored 40. Booker scored 46. Spending a Sunday evening watching bucket-getters get buckets? Name something better. Spoiler alert:

Spurs play best half of the season, beat Hawks 126-116

“This team has turned into a defensive juggernaut,” exclaimed Spurs play-by-play announcer Bill Land as San Antonio (19-52) capped off a 16-0 fourth-quarter run (helped by some unlikely sources) to put an exclamation point on a second half in which they outscored the Hawks by THIRTY POINTS. Atlanta (35-36) is in the thick of a playoff race and should try not to do that again, in our opinion.

Herro plays the hero as Heat beat Pistons 112-100

Tyer Herro scored 10 points in the final 3:20 of the game as Miami (39-34) moved within a game of Brooklyn for the East’s all-important sixth seed. Detroit (16-56) is close to wrapping up “worst record in the NBA” honors, but they did get another good game from James Wiseman!

Bucks beat Raptors 118-111 behind Giannis’ “perfect” triple-double

Well, perfect from the field, anyway. The Greek Freak posted 22-13-10 and shot 9/9 from the field as Milwaukee (51-20) overpowered Toronto (35-37) down the stretch. The craziest part? Milwaukee’s best player might have been Brook Lopez, who outscored the Raptors team 17-16 in the fourth quarter. Godspeed to whoever has to play this squad in the playoffs.

Pelicans survive Green’s big night, beat Rockets 117-107

A 40-piece from Jalen Green wasn’t enough for Houston (18-53) to secure a second straight win against New Orleans (34-37) as the Pelicans rode a balanced scoring effort—20+ from McCollum, Ingram, and Valančiūnas—to the victory.

Clippers dismiss Blazers 117-102 behind George’s 29, Gordon’s hot shooting

Sometimes the Clips (38-34) look like the championship contender they were meant to be, and sometimes they just look like some guys playing basketball. Against Portland (31-40), they were somewhere in the middle— yet still won by 15. This LAC team is capable of doing great things, they just kinda have to…do them. How long until the Blazers shut down Damian Lillard for the season?

Reaves’ huge night lifts Lakers over Magic, 111-105

LeBron is just resting until the playoffs because he knows that Austin Reaves (35 PTS, 6 REB, 6 AST) can keep the Lakers (35-37) afloat for the next couple of weeks. The former Oklahoma Sooner has been hooping recently, averaging 17.8 points in the month of March. On Sunday, he got some MVP chants at the Crypt—and they were deserved, frankly—as LA held off Orlando (29-43).

Lonzo Ball Likely To Miss 2023-24

In news that nobody wanted to see, Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball will get a third surgery on his left knee that could sideline him for all of next season. Ball hasn’t played since January of 2022, and it looks like we won’t see him for the foreseeable future, either. We speak for everyone when we say that we hope Lonzo can get his career back on track. If you need a refresher on what he’s capable of when he’s on the floor:

Unsung Heroes

Most #1 overall picks don’t have the type of roller coaster career that Markelle Fultz has experienced in his first six seasons as an NBA player. On-court struggles followed by a mysterious injury, a trade, and then more injuries made it look like Fultz’s career may end before it ever really got started.

But after playing just 26 games in the past two seasons, Fultz is finding his footing for real in Orlando. He’s posting a career-high in pretty much every major statistical category (14.1 PTS, 5.6 AST, 51.2% FG) and has recorded four games of 20+ points in the month of March alone. The 2017 top pick is playing with more confidence than ever before, and it’s showing.

Frozen Moments

• Tyus Jones didn’t know he recorded a triple-double until after the game…and neither did Jaren Jackson Jr. 💀 

• We apologize, Alperen Sengun…we weren’t familiar with your game 😲

• De’Aaron Fox is now defying the laws of physics…

Good Reads

Meet The Black Women’s Basketball Head Coaches Who Are Changing The Game - (SLAM Magazine)

What We’re Enjoying

World Baseball Classic: You don’t think that you need international baseball in your life until you watch it, and then you understand how electric the atmospheres are and how passionate the players get when they’re representing an entire nation. If you haven’t tuned in yet, it’s not too late. The WBC Final between USA and the winner of tonight’s match-up of Mexico vs. Japan is tomorrow. 👀 

Signing Off

This is our least favorite part of the newsletter (when we have to say goodbye.) We’ve sprung forward, so the days are getting longer, and the flowers are starting to bloom. Go look at a plant for 10 minutes. You’ll feel great, promise. Talk soon.

-Quinn Everts

Trivia Answer: The 2006 Miami Heat! They won 52 games in the regular season, the fewest of any NBA team that’s won the title since the 1995 Rockets.

Before you go…