About the NBA’s greatest dunk that was never told. Plus, LeBron James’ Michael Jordan story

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It didn’t count, but Ja baptized Wemby anyway

If I may paraphrase and little alter the words of the late, great Biggie Smalls, “I live for the dunk; I die for the dunk.” I do it because sometimes life deals us a thump so big that we don’t care if it counts. That’s what happened last night during the Grizzlies’ 129-115 win over the Spurs.

With just over two minutes left in the game, Ja Morant drove down the left side of the floor. He was fouled around the 3-point line by Stephon Castle, but kept driving because he didn’t hear the whistle. The only thing Morant saw was Victor Wembanyama under the basket and he wanted to dunk on him again. Remember when he did it during his brief, nine game last season? Well, he persisted … and Wemby challenged him. It resulted in this set piece poster.

Oh my goodness! That’s a lot of thump! And when something this vicious happens at the edge, it should count no matter what. Wemby had 13 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocks in the game, but those stats didn’t matter. We thought it was a big moment when Zach Edey pounded on him early in the match. Morant’s ending was so funny that no one cared that it didn’t count. But it worked for us.

More on yesterday’s action:

Knicks 125 (27-15), 76ers 119 (15-24), OT: There was no Karl-Anthony Towns or Joel Embiid, but this was still fun. The Sixers came roaring back in the second half to force overtime, but Jalen Brunson (38 points) and Josh Hart (10 points, 12 assists, 17 rebounds and four steals) were too much for Philly. And KAT apparently changed clothes during the break due to sweat stains?

Raptors 110 (10-31), Celtics 97 (28-12): WUT?? Boston was fully healthy and scored just 15 points in the fourth quarter against Toronto. Maybe it’s actually time to worry about the Celtics?

Hawks 110 (21-19), Bulls 94 (18-23): Atlanta was without Trae Young, Jalen Johnson and Dominique Wilkins, but Keaton Wallace (27 points, six rebounds, six assists, four steals) led the Hawks over a Bulls team that shot 6 of 27 from deep and turned it over 20 times.

Bucks 122 (22-17), Magic 93 (23-19): Milwaukee shot 62.5 percent from the field and put this one away at halftime. Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds, while Damian Lillard easily dropped 30. The Bucks moved past Orlando for fourth in the East.

Hornets 117 (9-28), Jazz 112 (10-29): Utah had no answer for Mark Williams (31 points, 13 rebounds) and LaMelo Ball helped lead a big fourth quarter to bury the Jazz.

Clippers 126 (22-17), Nets 67 (14-27): Kawhi Leonard had 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting in 24 minutes as The Clippers led by as many as 64 points in this one. In an effort to avoid embarrassment, the Nets did cut their deficit to 59 at the final buzzer, but this is still the worst loss in franchise history.

The last 24

Postponements are forcing the NBA to adapt

Plan rescheduling. The NBA had to reschedule nine games to make up for lost nights. Take a look at what changed.

Sun’s trade. Phoenix acquired 27-year-old center Nick Richards from the Hornets. These are the details.

Jersey for sale. A child received a shirt from Wemby after a match and it is already up for auction. Here’s Wemby’s reaction.

Player of the year? Cooper Flagg (18 years old until Dec. 21) could walk away with this season’s College Player of the Year award. Who can catch him?

Don’t miss this match tonight. Cavaliers (34-5) at Thunder (33-6), 7:30 PM ET on TNT. This is a rematch of the best game of the season.

Rate the West

None of you think OKC has a viable threat

We asked Bouncers (you ) in last night’s edition to see if you believed a West team could beat the Thunder. OKC has been the best team in the conference all season, but doesn’t have an obvious challenger right now. So we went through each of the other 11 teams vying for some postseason honor (or at least an appearance for some revenue), and it turns out you won’t believe any of them. Let’s go team by team:

  • Rockets (27-12): 93.7 percent of you said they wouldn’t beat the Thunder in a series. The reasons: 43.7 percent chose lack of experience, 23.7 percent said it was Houston’s poor offense and 15.3 percent said it was because of Dillon Brooks. One of you blamed the ghost of James Harden.
  • Grizzlies (26-15): 91.2 percent of you said they would not remove OKC. The reasons: 44.2 percent chose unreliable attack/shooting, and 24 percent said key damage would hold them back. One person said it will be because of the ghost of Steven Adams.
  • Nuggets (24-16): 58.9 percent of you said they beat the Thunder. The reasons: 33.3 percent chose lack of depth as the reason, and 27.5 percent said there is no help around Nikola Jokić. One of you suggested that Russell Westbrook is a spy for the Thunder.
  • Clippers (22-17): 99 percent of you said it’s not happening to the Clippers – 99 percent! The reasons: 42 percent of you said it was because of Kawhi Leonard’s health. Many of you wrote in “everything” prevents them from doing so. One person simply said, “Duh — it’s the Clippers.” Practice
  • Mavericks (22-19): 79.5 percent of you said the Mavs won’t beat the Thunder again. The reasons: 43.7 percent questioned Luka Dončić’s health and 26.2 percent don’t believe in Dallas’ defense. Someone said Dallas overpowered last year, and someone else believes OKC is getting revenge for last year.

We also asked about teams not in the current top six in the West. We’re talking about the likes of Wolves, Kings, Spurs, Warriors and Suns. Of these teams, who has the best chance to beat OKC?

  • Minnesota led the poll here with a 38.7 percent chance to beat OKC.
  • The Suns were next at 12.8 percent before being followed by the Warriors (12.3), Kings (10.7), Lakers (9) and Spurs (7.1).
  • Many of you wrote in some version of “nobody” and I don’t think you were quotes Keith Sweat.
  • Someone suggested Phoenix could pull it off by trading Jimmy Butler and jell better than expected, which is fair.

Every time we run a poll here and leave an entry option blank/other, one of you always seems to type in “Thanasis Antetokounmpo” as a response. It doesn’t matter the topic. It doesn’t matter the context. And you did it again. I will find you. One day I will find you. You are my sworn enemy. Thanks to literally everyone else who voted. Not you though, Thanasis scribe.

More from these Western teams last night:

Rockets 128 (27-12), Nuggets 108 (24-16): Speaking of the Rockets: they knocked the Nuggets around last night. Jokić did not play and Jalen Green led Houston with 34 points. Alpine Şengün was 20-9-8 as the Rockets had their fourth-best shooting game of the season.

Warriors 116 (20-20), Wolves 115 (21-19): The Wolves were down 24 points in the first quarter and never led in this game. But they battled back to tie it a few times in the final frame. That was before Steph Curry kept it happening as he shut out Minnesota with 31 points, eight assists and 7-of-12 shooting from deep.

Lakers 117 (21-17), Heat 108 (20-19): Miami was in this one before the Lakers scored 63-42 in the second half. Rui Hachimura led LA with 23 points, Anthony Davis and LeBron James each had 22 and Austin Reaves chipped in 14 points and 14 dimes.

Pelicans 119 (10-32), Mavericks 116 (22-19): Dejounte Murray’s 30 points were enough to survive a Mavs team without Dončić and Kyrie Irving. Zion Williamson was out with “back to competition rehab.” Seriously.

Future GOAT v. Established GOAT

LeBron was irresponsible to MJ at 16

We never got to see LeBron James face Michael Jordan. By the time LeBron entered the league in the 2003-04 season, MJ had retired for the third and final (we think?) time. The 2002-03 season was the last campaign for MJ. However, that doesn’t mean they didn’t play basketball against each other. LeBron went on the Kelce brothers podcast this week to tell the story of when he was 16 years old and finally got on the field in the hallowed MJ pickup runs.

LeBron was on the court with Jordan, Anfernee Hardaway, Ron Artest, Antoine Walker, Michael Finley and others. When he told the story, he reminded people that they never let young guys play, but he was patient and eventually got on the field. So who was guarding LeBron?

“No one. I was unprotected.”

LeBron said he took full advantage of his opportunity to impress in the rare opportunity.

“When I finally got out there, I was about to blow a… man. I was nervous, I was nervous as hell to be out there with MJ and the rest of those guys. But I thought, ‘I’m going to crazy.’ And I did.”

This is a fun story, and even though we don’t have footage, it’s fun to imagine what happened on the field that day in Chicago. But also… how shall I say this delicately… the internet has found plenty of moments where LeBron has embellished the truth. It would be nice to have another source on this. As Mark Puleo reminded us here, there are some good eyewitnesses to corroborate this LeBron narrative.

Ron Artest was recently on Paul George’s podcast and remembered this game.

“He was cooking. He was posting, getting to the basket, and I was like, ‘This is going to be a huge problem.'”

And no one has footage of this? No video cameras? An artist rendering from an illustrator in the courtroom? Nothing?!

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(Top photo: Michael Gonzales / Getty Images )