/* the first in what will hopefully be a long line of season-long hot takes whenever I feel like it */
CAVS 102 – CELTICS 99
I was in Miami International Airport coming back from Cuba in 2013 in the height of March Madness. A group of my high school friends and I were in a pool (now 5 years running) and we were mostly split on Louisville vs. Duke. For our layover in Miami we wandered off and grabbed food, then gravitated back towards the TV at our gate. When something unspeakable happened to Kevin Ware’s right shin (If you’re even the tiniest bit squeamish, do NOT google Kevin Ware), everyone boarding Southwest Airlines Flight 1170 to Los Angeles* collectively gasped.
That was probably the most shocking thing I have ever seen on live TV.
The next summer, 2014, I was watching a USA basketball scrimmage in early August when Paul George’s shin did the same thing. It was a eerie case of déjà vu.
Gordon Hayward’s injury was different. It was a football injury really – a joint bending the exact opposite way it’s meant to bend rather than a clean snap. But there are obvious similarities – all three were on teams with big dreams (remember the 2013 Pacers? Pepperidge Farms remembers) and all three were played at the 2 for chunks of their careers. I for one heaved a huge sigh of relief when I heard it was just a fractured ankle (he could return before the All-Star break!), but you still hate to see shit like that happen to people so talented.
ROCKETS 122 – WARRIORS 121
Mannnnnnn. Just
ugh. I know this game doesn’t really matter and I know we got walloped in the opener last year and still won the Finals but that’s just a shitty way to lose. Dray goes out, a fucking ref has to be taken to the locker room, and then you throw away the lead you’ve had the whole game with five minutes in the fourth. For the cherry on top, KD hits a buzzer beater and Oracle goes wild but it gets called off.
(For the record, I was watching on fucking 480p and I knew that shot was no good the second the clock hit double zeros. Plus, everyone on the Warriors was celebrating except KD – you know, the guy who made the shot?)
If you’re the Warriors, on one hand you know you’re fine. It’s not like you lost to the Bulls (RIP Nikola Mirotic), and with Draymond in you commanded the game even with reserves soaking up minutes. You’re a hundredth of a second from starting 1-0 instead of 0-1, and new acquisitions Jordan Bell and Nick Young played out of their minds.
But at the same time, the offense cratered in Draymond’s absence. It looked less like Steve Kerr’s whirring, well-oiled V12 and closer to Mark Jackson’s Stop-and-Smell-the-Roses pace. Most of that is probably rust – Steph’s been spending his summer golfing and giving Trump the metaphorical middle finger, and KD’s been on Twitter (Not his tho). The thing about this team is that they could have an awful regular season (presuming no major injuries) and come in as the 8 seed, and everybody would still be terrified to face them. They can take as long as they need to get the rust off.
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