Game Threads Index (March 26, 2023):

Source: https://twitter.com/espnnba/status/1640132136106598400?s=46&t=C0XvabKTesx6qyeh9-e2sg

Lebron James came back ahead of schedule from a torn tendon in his foot. He played his first game since the injury today, where his team lost to the Chicago Bulls.

With their win over the Rockets, the Cavs back in the playoffs!

I never thought I’d see the day where our team didn’t revolve around LeBron or have him on it and we’d be as good as we are.

Koby Altman and JB deserve all the credit because this is great!

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Patrick Beverley, asked if Chicago is the perfect fit for him: "Yeah. If I'm a spoon, Billy (Donovan) is using me as a spoon. The Lakers, you know, I was a spoon and they used me as a fork."

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FINAL Bulls 118, Lakers 108. LeBron scores 19 in his first game in a month, but LA (37-38) fails to get above .500 for the first time since Jan. 9, 2022. Couldn't guard UCLA's Zach LaVine. The Lakers are now off on a 5-game roadie.

Edit: Forgot to mention, during Ramadan! Ramadan mubarak to all those who are celebrating.

Jaylen Brown has a huge night versus the Spurs at home. Tatum-less Celtics cruise past the Spurs to move to 52-23 and take a 3 game lead for the second seed. Does Jaylen make an all-NBA team this year? As a forward?

Jaylen is averaging 27 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal for the season on 49/35/77 shooting splits. Since the all -star break, he is averaging 28 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal on 50/41/75 %. Box score

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Have we been underrating Mikal all this time thinking he was just a high level role player? What kind of ceiling do ya'll think he has? He's playing like a genuine star in Brooklyn

Pretty interesting take from Ben Golliver (before the trade). Weird how that's how it ended up all playing out.

He said this on his GOAT NBA Podcast, here: https://twitter.com/NoTechBen/status/1622861098486743041

Here's a more extended transcript:

I have a better Lakers plan for how they should approach this Kyrie situation. Honestly I think it's a much better plan. It's more devious, much more long term focused. Much more shrewd. Honestly, probably completely unrealistic. But this is what the Lakers should do.

They need to treat Kyrie Irving like a Trojan horse. They need to do whatever they can possibly do to talk up his value, their interest in him, his ability to be a part of a Championship core. They need to pull out all the Klutch stops. To build up Kyrie Irving as this dramatic franchise-changing asset.

They need to get the Dallas Mavericks to bite. If there's another team as desperate as the Lakers, or close to as desperate, for a superstar level addition, it is the Dallas Mavericks. Nico Harrison's first thing on the job was losing Jalen Brunson, a near All-Star level player. That's like his first welcome to the NBA moment. Congratulations, welcome from Nike, there goes your talent, stolen from underneath you. Mark Cuban's facing questions on whether he's lost his fast ball as an owner. It's been an awful long time since they've been in the mix for big stars. Porzingis thing blows up. Brunson leaves. Reputation in tatters. The Luka conversation is already bubbling, and he just signed his extension.

So what I'm saying is, Trojan horse. There is no better way to blow up the Dallas Mavericks culture from the inside, than dropping Kyrie Irving on a team with Luka Doncic, and having that thing go completely crazy. If Kyrie can't make it work in Brooklyn, how the hell is he going to live in Texas on a regular basis.

The long term plan here is steal Luka from the Dallas Mavericks, make him the next face of the Los Angeles Lakers. And the best possible way the Lakers can do that right now is to coax Kyrie Irving into Dallas, have that thing blow up. You have to wait a couple years until it all plays out. That's how you get #77 into Forum Blue and Gold. You don't bring Kyrie yourself. You kick him into Dallas, and watch the whole thing ignite.

This is somewhat similar to Windhorst's prediction from a year ago regarding Kyrie:

Brian Windhorst on June 24th prior to Kyrie opting in: "The godfather move is not to trade for Kyrie Irving. The godfather move is to let the Kyrie Irving situation to blow up and then wait for Kevin Durant to say he wants out of there. That's the Miami Heat move"

https://np.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/vql6a2/brian_windhorst_on_june_24th_prior_to_kyrie/

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401469268

Luka Doncic in climacteric loss to the Hornets: 40 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists on 12/29 FG, 7/16 3PT

Mavs are now 0.5 games out of the play in

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401469276

Also had the game changing steal leading to the KAT three. He stepped up big tonight.

https://twitter.com/KDTrey5/status/1640187364730626048?s=20

Charles Barkley on Kevin Durant: "He's very sensitive. Great player. He's part of that generation who think he can't be criticized. He's never looked in the mirror and says 'Man, is that a fair criticism?'"

KD: This ain’t gettin tiring chuck? I’ll never respect the words that come out ya mouth fam just deal with it