Steph Curry adds to list of legendary games. Plus, revisiting bad preseason predictions

New York Times

02-04-2025

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I'm very excited to hear Zach Lowe is back to podcasting as he's joining his old friends with The Ringer. The podcast world is better when he's talking into a microphone. And it's just in time for the playoffs. We almost had Zach Randolph as the only Zach with a podcast this season.
Who wants poorly aged preseason takes?!
If you're doing this job correctly, you're not rooting for teams or players. You put your biases aside or eliminate them altogether. You jettison whatever childhood allegiances you have in order to approach this profession with proper objectivity. That way, you can properly root for the one true thing that matters. No, it's not the love of the game or the health of the league. It's your own predictions! Oh man, there's nothing better than getting a prediction correct and rubbing it in everyone's smug faces!
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Of course, it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes, you have some real brutal predictions that make you question your own existence by the end of the season. Let's dive into the worst predictions I made in the preseason, point a finger and laugh hysterically at me.
These aren't that bad because injuries derailed them
Embiid, PG and Maxey will combine for 85 points per game: They ended up at 66.3 points per game combined. They combined for only 112 games played, which is not ideal and why they find themselves amid a tank-a-palooza.
Immanuel Quickley will average 20 points and eight assists: He ended up at 17.5 points and 5.9 assists, as of this publishing. He played just 30 games. I think a healthy Quickley makes this one a lot closer. Twenty and eight was aggressive, though.
Franz Wagner shoots over 38 percent from 3: In the first 18 games, this didn't look that bad. He made 35.7 percent of his 3-pointers. Over the next seven games, he shot 23.4 percent before hurting his oblique and missing the next 20 games. Since his return, he's at 26.1 percent from deep. He can't shoot.
Zion plays 75 games and makes All-NBA: Trust me, I know. Let's move on.
These are real bad and will get progressively worse
Suns finish with top-two offense: I believed they would buy into Mike Budenholzer. They very much did not. They're ninth in offense.
Clippers miss out on the Play-In Tournament: I underestimated Ty Lue and how he'd coach up this team. I thought James Harden would be cooked and Kawhi Leonard wouldn't play much.
Rockets end up in Play-In but compete for top six until April: I knew the Rockets would be good, but not this good. This ends up being wrong by about five or six games. Houston has been so fun.
Cody Williams wins Rookie of the Year: Ay dios mío, this was bad. I really thought Williams would have an opportunity to put up numbers because the Jazz would be so bad. And he did. He was just horrendous. Shooting 32 percent from the field, averaging 4.6 points and has a 3.7 PER. This is an all-time bad rookie season.
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The Cavs win the No. 7 seed from the Play-In Tournament: This was by far the worst prediction — and it's almost historically bad. I thought the Cavs were going to have to make trades early and we'd see similar injury problems to last season. Instead, they set a record for number of 12-game win streaks and have the East's best record by a lot.
Want to vote on my worst prediction? You can do it here!
Five players suspended for Wolves-Pistons spat
🚨 Punishments! The penalties for the Wolves-Pistons kerfuffle are out. Beef Stew gets the worst of it.
⛽ Past losses. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a different drive this season because of recent failures. Failing fuels him.
📈 Power Rankings. Law Murray gives all 30 teams an App Store description. The Lakers are rising.
🇫🇷 Stifle Tower. The Wolves (44-32) have been hoping for this version of Rudy Gobert to return. He's back.
🎧 Tuning in. Today's NBA Daily discusses whether Ja Morant is going to be De'Aaron Fox 2.0.
📺 Don't miss this game tonight. Knicks (48-27) at Cavaliers (60-15), 7 p.m. ET on ESPN or Fubo (try it free!). New York hasn't beaten Cleveland or Boston this season.
The Joker, Chef Curry both made history
We don't need any preamble. Nikola Jokić had 61 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a 140-139 double overtime loss to the Timberwolves last night. It's the third time in league history we've had a player break 60 points while recording a triple-double (Luka Dončić and James Harden are the others who've done it). It's the highest-scoring game with a triple-double the league has ever seen. Once again, the numbers just don't make sense.
It was a hyper-efficient 61-point game too. He was 18 of 29 from the field, made 6 of 11 from 3-point range and went 19 of 24 from the free-throw line. After scoring 33 in the first three quarters, Big Honey went to work. He had 16 points in the fourth quarter, seven in the first OT and five in the second. He was battling Anthony Edwards left and right, as the latter turned a mediocre game into something incendiary with 24 of his 34 coming after the third quarter.
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And he still lost his sixth straight game to Minnesota, dating back to the playoffs, because Russell Westbrook missed a fastbreak layup with the Nuggets up one instead of dribbling out the clock. And then, he fouled Nickeil Alexander-Walker on a 3-point shot with 0.1 seconds left. NAW knocked down (NAWcked down?) the winning free throws as Minnesota escaped with the win in Denver. Law Murray dropped the stat that Jokić has lost all four games in which he's scored at least 50, which is wild.
Steph Curry went off on the Grizzlies
Jokić didn't have the only big scoring night. In fact, I thought this would be the big game I wrote about for today because watching Steph Curry light up the Grizzlies in Memphis was headed toward a real experience. We were just a few minutes into the third quarter when Curry knocked down his 10th 3-pointer of the night. And we were officially on watch to see if he'd reclaim the record for most 3-pointers in a game, which Klay Thompson (14) took from him.
Curry was 11 of 15 from deep at one point and then started missing some attempts. He didn't have the benefit of just playing around and continuing to jack up shots. The Grizzlies were right there with the Warriors in this game, and Golden State was trying to move past Memphis for fifth in the West. Curry kept playing team ball and kept going at the Grizzlies' defense in different ways. He'd eventually knock down his 12th 3-pointer, something he's done four times (a record).
He finished with 52 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and five steals. He was 16 of 31 from the field and 12 of 20 from deep. It's his 10th 50-point game since turning 30, which is an NBA record. Yes, even more than Wilt Chamberlain (seven) had! The Warriors won 134-125 and moved into fifth in the West.
Today's episode of 'No Dunks' covers these legendary performances.
The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process.
The story of the greatest players in NBA history.
Why is the NBA so concerned with criticism?
Fifteen years ago, the league did a brilliant job of embracing social media in a way other North American professional leagues lacked. They allowed highlights to be shared and celebrated. They empowered people to create brands off of their IP. Today, the NBA has almost 10 million more followers than the NFL on Twitter (I'm never calling it that), nearly triple the following of the NFL on Instagram and 8.5 million more subscribers on YouTube. The NBA owns social media, and they try to mention streams and impressions when discussions about ratings turn negative – especially in comparison to the NFL's monster ratings.
Hall of Famer David Aldridge had a brilliant article on the criticism the league receives in today's media climate, even as the NBA has the most skill and athleticism we've ever seen. At times, the game of basketball seems maximized with its capabilities and the stars in front of us. And we're still not fully aware of what someone like Victor Wembanyama will be able to do.
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It isn't just outside forces taking it down. League pundits like Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal have regularly criticized the current product. One thing I've often been confused by is why the NBA puts so much stock into what is said online or even on the airwaves. That's the most impressive thing about the NFL to me. It never wavers under criticism; the league just trudges forward. The NFL knows its product will endure, and I think the NBA could take a similar approach.
The NBA can be too online and seemingly concerned with what a very small bubble of diehard fans are saying within those online communities. It's good to care about what the fans want, but at a certain point, the criticism shouldn't matter. Not from them. Not from Chuck and Shaq. Not from any pundits doing it for clicks or views. You know what that point is? When you sign a $76 billion rights deal as everybody is talking about your product or bad ratings. That's what I would wave in the face of those people.
Adam Silver should fake cry and dry his eyes with $100 bills when people ask him about ratings instead of questions about the actual game. It's not that you're above criticism or critique, but I just don't think the NBA needs to be still so preoccupied with these conversations. The basketball product is good. The league got paid. I'd focus on celebrating the game.
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