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Good morning! Defeat your nemesis today. 

While You Were Sleeping: Of course he had a triple-double

It was easy to wonder if Luka Dončić would go off for 40 points last night. The Mavericks, the team that shocked the entire sports world by trading him last month, was in town. No one would blame him for trying hard. 

Instead of 40, Dončić did what the Lakers actually needed him to do — record a triple-double and become the creator this team needs him to be. Dončić’s final stat line: 19 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists. A true playmaker. He did what he needed to in a game he admitted felt “weird” and “different.”

L.A. might not be the true best team in the West, but Dončić and LeBron James (27 points last night) will make the Lakers a threat to win any playoff series, and perhaps a few.

Speaking of:

Resets: Wait, the Pistons are good?

The sports schedule is always busy, but the past month has been particularly blurry. We’ve gone from Super Bowl to 4 Nations Face-Off to the combine at breakneck pace. So it’s understandable if we’ve lost a bit of focus on the NBA. 

Today, we reset. Because there are some surprises here: 

The title favorites: Oklahoma City and Boston, for now. BetMGM has them both at +220 to win, and it’s interesting to see the Celtics here despite being six games back of the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference. 

The shocker: Detroit, by a mile. The Pistons were one of the worst teams in the history of the sport last year. They are 32-26 right now, winners of seven straight and comfortably in a playoff spot. Easily the NBA’s best story this season. 

The tanker: Philadelphia! Wild, right? Paul George has been a bust and Joel Embiid’s knee continues to hamper what should’ve been a contender. This team is outside of the Play-In right now and we should expect things to only get worse. 

The possible fraud: New York, whose 37-20 record is not as shiny as it seems. The Knicks are 0-7 against the combo of Boston, Cleveland and Oklahoma City. James L. Edwards broke down why New York should not be considered among the elites just yet, too. 

The old guys rounding into form: Denver and Golden State, two teams with recent rings and top talents who struggled at points this year. The Nuggets are maybe the league’s hottest team right now, and the addition of Jimmy Butler to the Warriors has breathed new life into the modern era’s best franchise. Say it with me: No one wants to see these guys come playoff time. 

Lastly, I asked The Bounce’s Zach Harper for his hottest take about the stretch run:

💬 I don’t believe the Thunder have a good chance of winning the West, let alone winning the title. OKC has the greatest margin of victory in NBA history. Teams that win like this win the title. But the Thunder might be in a similar situation as the Bucks before they traded for Jrue Holiday: utter regular-season dominance that rarely puts them in close games. So they’re unprepared for the tightness of postseason basketball. This Thunder team is still very young and postseason-unproven. I wouldn’t be shocked if they failed to get out of the second round again. If this turns out to be nonsense, it was just schtick. Win-win for me!

Zach will have more on the Warriors’ title chances later this morning. Let’s keep dribbling:

News to Know

Ravens GM addresses Tucker allegations
Baltimore general manager Eric DeCosta said yesterday at the combine he had met with kicker Justin Tucker and the NFL regarding allegations of sexual misconduct against Tucker — the franchise’s first comments since the story broke last month. Sixteen massage therapists in the Baltimore area claim Tucker acted inappropriately. See the full comments here.

Browns have ‘no interest’ in trading Garrett
We officially have a stalemate in Cleveland, where Browns general manager Andrew Berry says the team will not trade star defensive end Myles Garrett despite Garrett’s very public trade request earlier this month. “We respect and appreciate Myles,” Berry said. “We’re not interested in moving him.” Sounds like a mess in the works.

More news

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Odes: Goodbye, GOAT

Diana Taurasi officially announced her retirement from the WNBA yesterday, a move that makes total sense for the 42-year-old on paper. In actuality, it does not feel real, because Taurasi has been that good for that long. The word “longevity” wishes to be associated with Taurasi, not the other way around. 

Two brief thoughts on a massive loss for women’s basketball: 

• Taurasi’s accolades are unmatched and frankly ridiculous: three WNBA titles, 11 All-Star appearances, the all-time WNBA scoring record, six gold medals, six Euroleague championships and seven Russian league titles. Whew.
  
• Her mark on the game is even bigger. She has a swagger that won’t be matched for years, and in her 20-year career ushered the WNBA through eras of uncertainty and low pay into this new, modern world where the league is relatively flush with cash and interest. 

I urge you to circle back to this 2023 story from Sabreena Merchant and Ben Pickman on tales of Taurasi’s legend as she approached 10,000 career points. She’s just so cool, and she will be missed.

Watch and Listen

📺 NBA: 76ers at Knicks
7 p.m. ET on ESPN
Philly is in tank season, but I’m curious to see how the Knicks respond to the ongoing wave of skepticism about the team from the punditry, including myself. 

📺 Soccer: USWNT vs. Japan
10:30 p.m. ET on TBS/Max/Peacock
The Americans are undefeated in two SheBelieves Cup matches thus far and have a stiff test here against Japan for the title. Young stars everywhere for USWNT, too. 

Get tickets to games like these here.

🎙️ NBA Daily already has a reaction on Luka vs. his old team. It struck them to ask: Can the Mavs ever move on from this? Watch here.

Pulse Picks

Meet Caleb Houstan, the tallest player in the NBA who’s never dunked in a game.

What happens when you pull a wildly valuable Jayden Daniels rookie card? For Dr. Moist Muffins, it literally changed his life. 

Stephen J. Nesbitt picked his MLB All-Under-25 Team, which was fun. So, so much talent in baseball right now. 

Austin Hedges is not an elite MLB talent, but he has become the league’s best teammate in his career thanks to … ostriches and butt cheeks? Ken Rosenthal’s great story is worth your time today. 

It’s not often you see an MLB player change his name, but Twins pitcher Louis Varland slightly tweaked his before the season — and it’s causing more ruckus than he intended. 

Thomas Perry is likely the strongest player in the NFL Draft. You’ve probably never heard of him, either. 

Why is Manchester United cutting 200 jobs? Mark Critchley has a full explainer on the financial mess. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The AP Top 25 for men’s college hoops. Mild stunner. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: Yesterday’s fresh NFL mock draft from our college football staff.

(Top photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)