NBA Week in Review: Dwight Howard's weak stickum story
Welcome back to the NBA Week in Review. Today, we’re talking stickum, psychological edges and more. You can read last week’s review here.
Stories of the Week
• Dwight Howard, who our Andrew Sharp once called the “Superman of Unfunny,” was caught using stickum against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night. Dwight’s defense for the act was almost quite literally, “I cheat all the time, so it’s not a big deal.” Dwight’s almost right. The stickum thing isn’t a big deal. But is that really going to be his defense? I struggle to think of a more annoying star player than Howard has been the last few seasons. It’s a shame, considering his 2009 Magic team was extremely fun to watch. At this point however, I don’t think Howard will be remembered for anything more than being a clown who completely botched his exit from the Magic, couldn’t live up to expectations with the Lakers and has been disappointing (and unlikable) with the Rockets.
• It’s remarkable that it took something as drastic as bringing Tim Duncan off the bench to help the Spurs beat the Warriors on Saturday. In a sense, it goes to show the lengths teams have to bend in order to play Golden State. When was the last time, if ever, Gregg Popovich showed his hand like that during a regular season game? I still think San Antonio would/will give the Warriors an amazing series in the playoffs. And I’m not taking anything away from the Spurs’ win over the weekend, but on some level, the Warriors have to be a little pleased to know how far removed Popovich was willing to go from San Antonio’s normal methods to sell out for a regular season win.
• Anthony Davis’s injury is a shame, not only because he deserves that $23 million, but also because it puts a bookend on a very disappointing Pelicans season. How high should the level of concern be in New Orleans? Alvin Gentry hasn’t necessarily worked out, the roster around Davis still doesn’t make much sense, and the team took a step back this season. Davis is obviously an outstanding building block, but the Pelicans have a huge off-season coming up.
Tweet(s) of the Week
Vine(s) of the Week
C’mon man.
Not a Vine, but here’s Dwyane Wade dancing with Vanilla Ice.
Roundup
Anthony Davis’s injuries are a nagging concern ... Jabari Parker is making his star turn ... How to shoot like Steph Curry ... Here’s Lee Jenkins’s profile of Kawhi Leonard ... The top 20 prospects in the NBA draft ... Make sure you check out our Warriors hub ... James Harden is still flopping ... How the Spurs corralled Curry ... Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram?
The Ben Golliver YouTube Corner
This really was a cool team!
The Fashion Outlet
It's hard for the Spurs to have a cool jersey with their muted color scheme, but I'm not a fan of these. Give me a stripe or something. We can do better than grey on grey.
The One-Question Interview
This week, Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins.
Rohan Nadkarni:At the dunk contest, were those the best dunks you’ve ever seen?
Andrew Wiggins: Every other dunk, I've seen done before. Whether it was by a Streetball, And1 dunker or whoever. There’s only person that I've ever seen do a through-the-legs from the free throw line, and that’s James White, so I believe that’s the hardest dunk by far. No one had witnessed that in person before. I’d have to give it to that.
