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Seasons greetings, folks! Happy Holidays. Welcome to the Festivus edition of Layup Lines. It’s Sykes here to guide you into the weekend’s NBA action.
First, I have some Festivus grievances about this season so far that I need to get off. For those of you who don’t know, Festivus is the day during the holiday season in which you air your grievances about, well, whatever. Seinfeld made it a popular thing, thought it isn’t nationally celebrated.
So let’s dive right into it. Here are my 5 Festivus grievances about the NBA season so far.
- Can we talk about league parity more? I mean, my goodness, man. This is what people have said the NBA has been missing for so long. Now, we’ve got 6 19-win teams in the West and 6 18+ win teams in the East. There are no super teams. It feels like anyone can win it all. Let’s celebrate that instead of talking about other team’s shortcomings. Speaking of which…
- Stop talking about the Lakers. I don’t want to hear about the Lakers anymore. Not until LeBron James breaks that scoring record. They don’t really have anything to trade outside of two current middle schoolers and that’s not enough to move anyone. So let’s move on.
- Nikola Jokic might be MVP again. Deal with it. I’m starting the conversation here now. The Nuggets are the No. 1 seed in the West and the dude is averaging nearly 25 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists. The Nuggets are legit contenders. Don’t get all whiny about analytics if he wins the thing again. That’s not a good look.
- Put some respect on the Cavaliers. All you hear about in the Eastern Conference is the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks. But the last time I checked, the Cavaliers have handled them both quite well. They’re 1 game back of the No. 1 seed in the East. They’re a legitimate contender and need to be addressed as such.
- More Victor Wembanyama highlights please. That’s all I want for Christmas.
The Tip-Off
Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
Ja Morant isn’t worried about the rest of the Western Conference at all. When asked by ESPN’s Malika Andrews what teams he saw as the Grizzlies’ competition, he said the Boston Celtics.
That’s a team Memphis would have to meet in the finals. The implication here is that he’s not worried about anyone in the West as competition which, uh, I don’t know. There are lots of pretty good teams out there.
But my guy Cole Huff actually thinks Morant has a point. He wrote about it on Thursday.
“Based on Morant’s response, there’s no one in the West to worry about. But you can see where he’s coming from.
The Grizzlies are 19-11 on the season, which is tied for the best record in the conference. And they’ve done all of this damage without their starting lineup having logged a single minute together this season due to injuries.”
That’s a fair point. We’ll see how this shakes out come May.
The Nets and Bucks have formed a bit of a rivalry over the last few years. This is always an incredible matchup. You’ve got two of the best five or so players facing each other head to head in Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Milwaukee just took a tough loss to the Cavaliers and they’ve only lost back-to-back games once so far this year. I’m taking Milwaukee +2.5 in a close one.
Shootaround
— Trae Young isn’t being traded. Chill out.
— Every Christmas Day game, ranked. (Including football!)
— Does Zach LaVine want to be a Laker? The signs are pointing in that direction.
— Brook Lopez and Robin Lopez are the absolute best. No questions about it.
That’s all, folks! Enjoy the weekend. Happy Holidays!
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