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Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. If you haven’t made arrangements and it’s meaningful to your significant other, work a miracle. If you haven’t scoped a flower situation, do that today. If you don’t have to worry about any of that, don’t let your Friday night involve the Celebrity Game at all. We’re better than that, and I believe in us.

“Their Little Parlays”

NBA bettors seem unhinged toward players

For years, the NBA has embraced gambling. From commissioner Adam Silver writing an op-ed about changing the U.S. sports gambling laws in 2014 to his league announcing co-sponsorships with FanDuel and DraftKings in 2021, the NBA has seen sports betting as a way to increase revenue and interest in the game. But as James Edwards III wrote in a great article, there is a very ugly side to how bettors react to losing.

Players like Jalen Brunson, Isaiah Stewart, Josh Hart and more spoke on the record about the despicable messages they’ll get on social media regarding bets that don’t cash for certain “fans.” From racist messages to mentioning family members/children to outright death threats, failed gamblers missing out on prop bets or game results are as brave as their anonymous social media accounts allow them to be. There’s a lot of good insight in Edwards’ article, but this particular quote from newly acquired Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma made me laugh.

“I don’t really read the messages. It might be on Twitter. I think it’s really funny, honestly, because, yeah, you can win money, but you’re also wasting money, too, at the same time. It’s funny because I said something the other day, and it’s like we get threats and we get called names, and people never think about like maybe they’re bad at picking the parlays?”

Maybe they’re bad at picking parlays? It’s such a funny reaction to some of the heinous stuff players are being sent. And it’s true. Maybe those people are just bad at picking their parlays. I didn’t gamble on sports even before I wasn’t allowed to because of my job. I never felt comfortable with it. Remember the big scene in “Uncut Gems” in which Adam Sandler’s character bet on a ridiculous parlay? I know what happens in the movie now, and it still gives me anxiety to watch that.

Edwards wrote about how the league tries to monitor social media activity as much as possible, but there’s only so much the NBA can do. Fans berating players over failed bets in the arenas isn’t handled by team security. It’s left up to arena security. It leaves me thinking about how the NBA is doing quite a bit to make sure this is something that adds to the experience, but they also need to prioritize protecting the players on some level. There were three other things from the article I absolutely loved:

• Josh Hart’s response backfired. In college, an upset fan sent his Venmo to Hart, wanting to be reimbursed. Hart, forever a fun smartass, sent him one dollar. It backfired because he then started getting a lot of Venmo requests from fans. I guess it got out.
• Cameron Payne’s comment. Just this quote from the Knicks guard, “They be on me about their little parlays.” Again, it’s a hilarious way of framing the issue. He adds the players don’t ask fans to bet on the games.
• Unknown protocols. The league has a system in place to help players report incidents and inappropriate messages, especially for death threats. Multiple players told The Athletic they were unaware of these protocols. Education to players needs a refresher here.

I highly recommend reading it. And please, as Kuzma said, be responsible when “picking the parlays.”

The Last 24

Clock ticking for Cleveland?

⏱️ Title window closing? Jason Lloyd says the Cavs (44-10) have three postseasons to win it all. Then, it gets messy. 

🤝 Trade deadline wrap-up. John Hollinger ranked all 30 teams and how they did at the deadline. The Wolves finished second without making a trade. 

🏀 Globetrotters history. Lynette Woodard debuted for the Harlem Globetrotters 40 years ago. She helped set an incredible legacy.

🙃 Awkward return? Dalton Knecht reflects on returning to the Lakers after last week’s rescinded trade with the Hornets.

⏰ Clutch-time struggles. Read about how Anthony Edwards is delivering everywhere for the Timberwolves — except in close games.

🏀 Kuminga’s future. Jimmy Butler’s arrival on the Warriors might have changed their future with Jonathan Kuminga. Will they still pay him?

📺 Don’t miss this game tonight. Thunder (44-9) at Timberwolves (30-25), 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT. The Wolves just had an embarrassing home loss, and OKC comes to town.

About Last Night

Gamesmageddon: 30 teams, 15 games

There are nights in which the NBA schedule is kind of heavy, and you’re wondering, “How am I going to cover all of these?” You focus on what you can and then try to make up for what you missed the next day. Then, there are the rare nights like last night in which literally everybody played. All 30 teams in 15 games. Because that’s how the math works out. I had the four-box going on the TV, a game on the iPad and a game or two on the laptop.

It was madness. But I think I was able to pull significant moments and things to know from all 15 matchups. Here’s what you need to know from NBA Gamesmageddon!

Knicks 149 (36-18), Hawks 148 (26-29), OT: Ever since their playoff series in 2021, there has been a different energy when Trae Young comes to Madison Square Garden to face the Knicks. Once again, both sides delivered a truly awesome game. The Knicks were up six points with 18 seconds left in the fourth quarter. A Georges Niang 3-pointer, Dyson Daniels steal, free throw from Daniels, Atlanta offensive rebound and two free throws from Young all of a sudden made it a tie game. It almost didn’t make sense how it happened.

In overtime, Brunson hit a pull-up jumper with 11 seconds left for New York to go up one, and then, a Mikal Bridges block followed by a missed 3 by Niang secured the frantic victory for the Knicks. Karl-Anthony Towns had 44 points and 10 boards. Brunson added 36 points and eight assists. Five different Hawks scored at least 20, and Young finished with 38 points and 19 assists. Give us a playoff series of these two again, please.

Celtics 116 (39-16), Spurs 103 (23-29): Boston jumped on San Antonio with a 37-19 first quarter, and the Celtics never really had to look back too much. Jayson Tatum was fantastic with 32 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. Victor Wembanyama had 17 points and 13 rebounds. The Spurs are 2-3 with De’Aaron Fox.

Bucks 103 (29-24), Wolves 101: No Giannis Antetokounmpo. No Damian Lillard. This might be the worst home loss of the year for the Wolves. Never mind. I forgot the Wizards won in Minneapolis earlier this season.

Pacers 134 (30-23), Wizards 130 (9-45), OT: Jordan Poole had 42 points, but it wasn’t enough to steal a win against Indiana. The Pacers got 59 points off the bench from Obi Toppin (31) and Bennedict Mathurin (28).

Pistons 128 (29-26), Bulls 114 (22-33): The Bulls were down by 49 to the Pistons in their last game. This is called progress! Chicago shot 19 of 88 from 3 in its last two games against Detroit.

Thunder 115, Heat 101 (25-27): The Heat were up by 10 going into the fourth. OKC opened the final period with a 24-0 run and won the quarter 32-8. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 32 points in the game.

Nets 100 (20-34), 76ers 96 (20-34): No Joel Embiid. No Tyrese Maxey. Kelly Oubre and Quentin Grimes both had 30 points. It was not enough to beat Brooklyn, though. Philly, just tank the rest of the season and get Embiid the knee surgery he requires

Gamesmageddon Cont.

The games never stopped, so we don’t either!

We continue the Gamesmageddon recap with the Mavericks (29-26) hosting the Warriors (27-27) last night. The final 18 minutes of this game were pure chaos. A little less than halfway through the third quarter, Kyrie Irving had a stretch making three straight 3-pointers to push the Mavs to a 15-point lead. It looked like the Warriors were going to get dominated by the Mavs. There was no Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford or Dereck Lively II in this one. At times, there were lineups that made this look like a “6-foot-7 and under” league.

Eventually, the Warriors made a run and chipped away at this deficit to take the lead by one with 3:31 left in the game. It happened on Steph Curry’s 3-pointer, as he and Jimmy Butler each scored 11 points in the fourth. But Irving kept scoring, Naji Marshall hit a big bucket to take a two-point lead with 25 seconds left and Irving took a charge against Butler on what would have been the game-tying drive. Irving finished with 42 points, and we got reports during the game that Mavs fans had “Fire Nico” signs taken away, but the fans weren’t ejected. Progress?

Jazz 131 (13-40), Lakers 119 (32-20): Yes, Luka Dončić and LeBron James played. And the Lakers got smoked in the first three quarters. Lauri Markkanen scored 32 points as Walker Kessler added 16 points, eight boards and six blocks.

Rockets 119 (34-20), Suns 111 (26-28): Amen Thompson had a triple-double, Kevin Durant dropped 37 points and the Rockets shut the Suns’ water off in the fourth with a 35-19 advantage.

Clippers 128 (30-23), Grizzlies 114 (36-18): The Clippers scored 41 points off 22 Memphis turnovers. The Grizzlies needed Ja Morant and some Stickum.

Nuggets 132 (36-19), Blazers 121 (23-32): Jamal Murray dropped 55 points on 20-of-35 shooting! We barely even noticed that Nikola Jokić had 26-15-10.

Magic 102 (27-29), Hornets 86 (13-39): The most exciting part of this game was Nick Smith Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope getting ejected right before halftime.

Cavs 131, Raptors 108 (17-38): Lopsided quarters ruled the night! Cleveland had a 41-17 first-quarter lead to put this one away early. Seven different Cavs scored in double figures.

Kings 119 (28-26), Pelicans 111 (12-42): The big three of DeMar DeRozan (24), Zach LaVine (23) and Keon Ellis (27 off the bench) carried Sacramento to the win. Whew! That was 15 games!

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(Top photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images )