The setup: Kyrie Irving scored 50 in his Brooklyn Nets debut, but Karl-Anthony Towns was pretty spectacular himself and the Timberwolves led by one with seconds left in overtime. Of course Kyrie would have the ball in his hands. The Wolves put Josh Okogie, a good defender, on him.
Here’s the question: did Kyrie slip and then recover for what would have been one of the craziest game-winners of all time ... or did he intentionally go to the ground with his dribble to get a clean look at what would would have been one of the craziest game-winners of all time?
In the post-game, Kyrie claimed he fell: “I was in the process of making another move and just lost my footing, lost my balance. Somehow I got it back and just got to get my elbow pointed at the rim.”
But Kyrie has also claimed the world is flat and has a propensity to manipulate the media to his own ends. Does anyone think it’s beyond Kyrie to try this move to close an unimpeachable Nets debut with the intent of claiming his slipped if he misses? No, it’s certainly not beyond Kyrie.
Look at how Kyrie falls: there’s no evidence either foot slips. When he goes to the spin move, he’s on the ball of his left foot -- the shoe doesn’t slip. In fact, Kyrie seems to thrust off it. And look at how high his right leg comes up on the spin: this looks nothing like a clumsy slip, but a low-altitude ballet move. Kyrie is a master ball-handler who never looks at his dribble, but he’s immediately looking at his dribble as soon as he begins the spin move. Looking at previous spin moves, there’s no evidence he usually does this. So either he immediately knew something was wrong with his footing, or he planned this all along.
Then the recovery is just too slick. Again, Kyrie is a master ball-handler. But that recovery looks like something he’s practiced. Kyrie doesn’t slip much ... why would he practice a recovery dribble? Unless, of course, he intended to “slip” at some point.
Folks, the truth is out there. Open your third eye and embrace it.
Scores
Bulls 125, Hornets 126
Pistons 119, Pacers 110
Cavaliers 85, Magic 94
Timberwolves 127, Nets 126 (OT)
Grizzlies 101, Heat 120
Celtics 93, Sixers 107
Wizards 100, Mavericks 108
Knicks 111, Spurs 120
Thunder 95, Jazz 100
Kings 95, Suns 124
Nuggets 108, Blazers 100
Schedule
All times Eastern. Games on League Pass unless otherwise noted.
Hawks at Pistons, 7
Bucks at Rockets, 8, TNT
Clippers at Warriors, 10:30, TNT
Links
The Lopez twins’ mother on their reunion in Milwaukee.
Matt Ellentuck on how the Knicks will be a different kind of trainwreck this season.
Ricky O’Donnell’s assessment of the Bulls shared some hope, so of course they went out and lost to P.J. Washington and the Hornets (!) on opening night.
That’s a bad loss, but it’s not as bad as the Kangz losing their opener to the Suns (!) by 29 (!!!). IS THIS YOUR EIGHTH SEED???
Fit Luka Doncic is scary, folks. I’m sure that will help Kings fans remain calm ...
Mike Conley went 1-16 in his Jazz debut, and Utah barely beat the Thunder. It was so bad that Conley joined the crowd in a mock cheer after hitting a free throw. Good sport.
There’s a quote from Giannis Antetokounmpo going around from a B-school journal interview over the summer. In it, Giannis says his decision on whether to stay in Milwaukee becomes more difficult if the Bucks underperform. The core question here is what underperformance means. Is it failing to win a title this year? Failing to make the Finals?
Michael Pina presents five NBA stars who could get traded this season, plus one who probably won’t.
Sixteen things Dan Devine hopes to see this season.
Two nominees for the best dunk of Wednesday night: Derrick Jones, Jr. on Jonas Valanciunas or Damian Lillard on all of the Nuggets.
Ben Simmons doesn’t really care about not shooting three-pointers.
Tim Cato had the horrible task of going to gorgeous Slovenia to try to better understand the mutual love between the country and Luka.
Russell Westbrook wants to change. Can he?
And finally, an origin story for one of NBA Twitter’s greatest heroes an mascots, the Lakers chain guy, whose real name is Gary Martin Zelman and who seems as great as you’d expect. (Please don’t Milkshake Duck youself, pal.)
Be excellent to each other.