Monday was Martin Luther King Day, and the NBA celebrated with a very full slate of games, including a pair of juicy headliners.
And though Warriors-Cavs and Clippers-Thunder didn’t quite deliver the drama we expected, there were plenty of storylines, from a vengeful rout to a questionable flagrant foul call to a potentially devastating injury.
Here’s The Cheat Sheet.
Warriors crush the Cavaliers, exact some revenge
Entering Monday night, the Warriors had lost four straight games to the Cavs: three in last spring’s NBA Finals and one last month on Christmas Day.
Well, Golden State got its revenge in a big way, absolutely demolishing Cleveland at Oracle Arena. The Warriors led 37-22 at the end of the first quarter and 78-49 at halftime. Here are some Vines that indicate how this game went:
KD WITH AUTHORITY. #SCtop10 https://t.co/oQXxwlyhZW
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 17, 2017
Steph Curry at the buzzer! 🚨 https://t.co/xyJ6TnTLVR
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 17, 2017
This pretty much sums up the night. https://t.co/HuvpHilcdm
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 17, 2017
It’s hard to even pick a player of the game because there were so many great performances. Steph Curry had 20 points and 11 assists. Klay Thompson led all scorers with 26 points. Kevin Durant put up 21 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals. And Draymond Green had a triple-double with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists… and added five blocks for good measure.
On the other side, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love combined for 40 points on a putrid 13-43 shooting.
The 35-point loss—which came a year almost to the day after the day after Golden State beat Cleveland by 34 on Jan. 18, 2016—was the worst home defeat of LeBron’s career.
But the story from this game that seemed to incite the most passion had little impact on the final score. We’re going to need to take a second to talk about…
Draymond Green hits LeBron, gets called for a flagrant foul, then mocks LeBron for flopping
In the second quarter of the Warriors’ win, Green collided with James, who reacted dramatically, flailing his arms backward. Green was called for a flagrant 1, which was upheld on review. Here’s a clip in realtime:
Draymond, meet LeBron.
LeBron meet Draymond. pic.twitter.com/uYAklYFYHI
— SB Nation (@SBNation) January 17, 2017
And here’s a slowed-down version:
That flop https://t.co/VX26OV6uDH
— Basketball Forever (@bballforever_) January 17, 2017
Green made no secret of what he thought about LeBron’s reaction:
Well, at least we know how Draymond feels… 👀 https://t.co/MuZGUkVLXJ
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 17, 2017
As you might expect, Green’s hard foul, LeBron’s reaction and the refs’ decision to whistle Green for a flagrant inspired plenty of the-NBA-was-better-back-when-players-were-men opinions.
Flagrant 1 on Draymond?? What has happened to my league??
— Reggie Miller (@ReggieMillerTNT) January 17, 2017
Chuck's reaction to the LeBron/Draymond play: "That's bogus!" pic.twitter.com/w9ZvtTMj37
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 17, 2017
After the game, LeBron said he wasn’t hurt on the play, comparing himself to a football player.
LeBron James isn't sweating Draymond Green's flagrant foul. pic.twitter.com/k4M8JnPJod
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 17, 2017
You’d think a football player would be able to take a hit without flailing backwards, but that’s none of my business.
Clippers blow out the Thunder, but Chris Paul goes down
The good news for the Clippers: They beat the Thunder 120-98 on Monday night for their seventh straight win. Like the Warriors, they opened up a big lead early and never looked back. DeAndre Jordan dominated on both ends with 19 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks and two steals, while J.J. Redick added 20 points of his own.
The bad news: Chris Paul, in the midst of an excellent performance was removed from the game, reportedly due to a sprained left thumb.
Sprained left thumb for Chris Paul. Out for rest of game.
— Rowan Kavner (@RowanKavner) January 17, 2017
Now this isn’t the worst-case scenario for Paul and the Clippers, but it’s still got to make L.A. fans nervous. Blake Griffin has been out since mid-December with a knee injury, and Paul missed time earlier this season with a hamstring issue.
The Clippers need everything to break right in order to have a shot in the Western Conference playoffs, so hopefully for their sake they’re getting the injuries out of the way now.
Quick Hits
– Joel Embiid continues to be a star on the court and a star on social media.
JOJO 🔨 https://t.co/aZsSic730T
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 16, 2017
Joel Embiid, not a fan of Milwaukee pic.twitter.com/PK6D7RU4tV
— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) January 17, 2017
– Three Oregon football players were hospitalized after a set of offseason workouts. As a coach, that’s probably how you know it’s time to tone things down a little.
– Could Louisville lose its NCAA membership over academic issues?
– Good Morning America brought back that guy who embarrassed himself at the national title game by not being able to throw a football. Guess what happened.
Remember the guy who couldn't throw a football at the national title game? He's at it again pic.twitter.com/BKqxQiR253
— Busted Coverage (@bustedcoverage) January 16, 2017
– Steelers receiver Antonio Brown used Facebook Live to record coach Mike Tomlin calling the Patriots assholes after Pittsburgh beat Kansas City on Sunday. Social media creates the weirdest controversies.
– Bill Belichick was not fazed:
Belichick on Steelers video: "As you know I'm not on SnapFace and all those. .. I'm not too worried what they put on InstantChat."
— Ryan Hannable (@RyanHannable) January 16, 2017
– The Cubs visited The White House on Monday in Barack Obama’s final public event as president. We at The Comeback noticed the one Cubs name Obama seemed careful to avoid.
– Dexter Fowler brought the president sneakers, which is a pretty badass thing to do.
First Look: @DexterFowler reveals @Jumpman23's presidential pair of Jordans made just for @POTUS. pic.twitter.com/eE4cvovB9p
— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) January 16, 2017
– We ranked the 10 best WWE Royal Rumble matches ever.
– Hafthór Björnsson, who plays The Mountain on Game of Thrones, can throw refrigerators. Of course he can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC0oj7BcWiI
One last moment of procrastination
In honor of another great night of basketball…