20 Second Timeout

New Look Knicks Rout Slumping Heat

The Miami Heat jumped out to a 19-9 first quarter lead versus the New York Knicks, but the Knicks trimmed that margin to 30-27 by the end of the first quarter en route to posting a 125-109 win. Jalen Brunson scored a game-high 32 points and dished for a game-high eight assists. Julius Randle contributed 19 points and nine rebounds before leaving the game after suffering a dislocated right shoulder while bracing his fall as he drove to the hoop with 4:27 remaining in the fourth quarter. OG Anunoby added 19 points plus four assists. The Knicks outrebounded the Heat 46-38. The Boston Celtics are the class of the Eastern Conference if not the entire NBA, but the Knicks have looked like an elite team since acquiring Anunoby from the Toronto Raptors, posting a 12-3 record (including 12-2 in games when Anunoby played). The Knicks have won six games in a row, highlighted by a 122-84 victory on Thursday versus the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets.

Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 28 points, and he also had eight rebounds and four assists. Duncan Robinson scored 19 points, and Tyler Herro had 18 points. The Heat have lost six straight games, and with a 24-22 record they do not rank among the top six teams in the East; of course, last season the Heat reached the NBA Finals after only finishing with the seventh best record in the East, so we have learned not to count out the NBA's version of Rasputin.

Hubie Brown is my all-time favorite NBA analyst, and it was wonderful to hear his commentary during this game. The video of Brown and Spike Lee enjoying a conversation on court before the game is priceless, showing the former Knicks coach reminiscing with the most famous Knicks fan. Brown noted during the telecast that he has known Lee since the 1970s! 

Brown's most recent ABC or ESPN game was 10 days ago, when the Cavaliers crushed the Bucks, 135-95. There is a huge gap between Brown and most other current NBA analysts, because Brown not only has unparalleled understanding of basketball strategy but he also knows basketball history. During this game, ABC/ESPN showed a graphic indicating that Brunson is on pace to become the only Knick other than Richie Guerin to average at least 25 ppg and at least 5 apg in the same season. Brown immediately noted that Guerin began his career as a center at Iona, and then became one of the greatest Knicks of all-time before being a top notch NBA coach. Brown's love and respect for the game's pioneers is preferable to the arrogant ignorance regularly displayed by ABC/ESPN analyst J.J. Redick.

Brown is not stuck in the past, though. He is very familiar with the NBA's current players, and he loves Brunson's game. It is remarkable how Brunson has blossomed from solid role player in his first two NBA seasons to All-Star--if not All-NBA--caliber performer. Before the game, Brown said, "Brunson is so clever off of the dribble...he has multiple moves to free himself." 

In the first quarter, Knicks shot just .417 from the field while missing several shots in the paint. Butler, who often seems to coast during the regular season, was aggressive and focused in the first quarter, scoring 11 points on 4-7 field goal shooting. Brown pointed out that Butler only averages 13 field goal attempts per game, and he noted, "He's shooting 48% from the floor, 41% from three, and you can't foul him" because he is an excellent free throw shooter (.881).

As the Knicks recovered from their slow start and took control, Brown praised their ball movement, their scoring in the paint, and the strong contributions made by their bench players. Brown also liked Randle's play: "Randle has been patient. Make the extra pass, and let's free up the open guy."

Brown diagnosed the Heat's problem: although they are strong defensively (ranking seventh in the league in points allowed), they struggle to score (ranking 27th in scoring and 25th in field goal percentage). In this game, the Heat's defense was subpar, and they did not score nearly enough points to make up for that.

The Knicks led 61-51 at halftime, and then pushed that advantage to 13 points in the third quarter before the Heat rallied to tie the score at 86 on a Butler drive with 13.2 seconds remaining in the quarter. Butler missed the free throw after being fouled, Randle hit a three pointer just before the buzzer sounded, and the Knicks led the rest of the way.

Assuming that Brunson and company can hold down the fort until Randle returns--and assuming that Randle makes a full recovery without missing too many games--the Knicks could be a dangerous playoff team because of their defense, their toughness, and Brunson's timely scoring/playmaking.

Labels: Hubie Brown, Jalen Brunson, Jimmy Butler, Julius Randle, Miami Heat, New York Knicks

posted by David Friedman @ 7:15 PM

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Luka Doncic Posts Fourth Best Single-Game Scoring Performance in NBA History, Devin Booker Logs Second 60 Point Game of His Career

Just four days after Joel Embiid joined the 70 point club and Karl-Anthony Towns had the second 60 point game of his career, Luka Doncic scored 73 points as his Dallas Mavericks defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 148-143. Doncic tied Wilt Chamberlain and David Thompson for the fourth highest scoring game in ABA/NBA history, trailing only Chamberlain's 100 point game, Kobe Bryant's 81 point game, and Chamberlain's 78 point game. Doncic shot 25-33 from the field and 15-16 from the free throw line, but what is most striking is his 17-20 field goal shooting from inside the arc. Yes, Doncic shot .850 on his two point field goal attempts! A cardinal defensive principle in basketball is to not allow straight line drives to the hoop, but the Hawks offered little to no resistance as Doncic repeatedly drove straight to the basket. Michael Jordan would have scored 90 or 100 points against that type of defense; that may sound like hyperbole, but if you watched Jordan play then you know it is true. Jordan attacked the hoop relentlessly during an era when the game was much more physical.

Doncic stole the headlines from Devin Booker, who scored 62 points as his Phoenix Suns lost to the Indiana Pacers, 133-131. Booker now has two 60 point games during his career. Until 1988, pro basketball's 60 Point Club had only two members who had logged more than one 60 point game: Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. Jordan finished his career with four 60 point games (plus his 63 point playoff game, which is still the record for the postseason). After Jordan, the next player who had more than one 60 point game is Bryant, whose six such games trail only Chamberlain's 32(!) on the all-time list. 

Baylor, Chamberlain, Jordan, and Bryant are Pantheon-level players. Here are the players who have had at least two 60 point games post-Bryant: Damian Lillard (five), James Harden (four), Karl Anthony-Towns (two), Luka Doncic (two), and Devin Booker (two). With all due respect to that quintet, those players are not close to the level--as scorers, let alone as all-around players--of Baylor, Chamberlain, Jordan, and Bryant. 

The 70 Point Club has experienced a similar significant expansion. After Donovan Mitchell scored 71 points in a game last season, I wrote, "Not counting Chamberlain--whose name dominates the NBA record book--the NBA has seen less than one 70 point game per decade, so even in this era when it is easier to score than ever it may take 10 years before anyone matches what Mitchell did last night." Instead of taking a decade for someone to match Mitchell's feat, Damian Lillard scored 71 points in a game less than two months later, and now Doncic has topped both players with his 73 point explosion.

Lillard and Mitchell are both very good players, and Doncic is a great player, but the 70 Point Club used to be reserved for the all-time greats, not the "very good" and not the "great." Elgin Baylor founded the 70 Point Club on November 15, 1960 when he scored 71 points versus the New York Knicks. Baylor's record did not stand for long, as Chamberlain had six 70 point games from 1961-63, five of which topped Baylor's 71 point game. The only 70 point games from 1964-2006 were authored by David Thompson, David Robinson, and Kobe Bryant. No one scored 70 points in a game from 2007-2016, but from 2017-2024 Booker, Mitchell, Lillard, Embiid, and Doncic have done it. 

Baylor, Chamberlain, and Bryant are in the Pantheon. Thompson arguably had Pantheon-level talent, and he still had a Hall of Fame career despite battling drug addiction. Robinson is no worse than top 30-35 all-time. Would any informed NBA observer make the argument that Booker, Mitchell, Lillard, Embiid, and Doncic belong in such a group? Maybe Embiid or Doncic have a chance to elevate themselves to such lofty heights, but they are not there yet.

Regular season NBA games are starting to resemble the NBA All-Star Game in terms of lack of defense/lack of competitive effort, and last year's NBA All-Star Game may have been the worst basketball game ever. Prior to Monday, there had been one day in ABA/NBA history during which two players had 60 point games--and now that has happened twice in five days. Pointing out such facts is not "hating." The NBA powers that be have drastically altered the game, and not for the better: instead of featuring the best athletes in the world competing at the highest level, the NBA has degenerated into a glorified skills exhibition. I have attended dozens if not hundreds of NBA games in person as a credentialed media member or as a fan, and I have seen firsthand that even "non shooters" in the NBA can shoot an absurd percentage on uncontested warmup shots; this helped me to understand how great NBA defense is (or was). With all due respect to Doncic, in his 73 point game he shot .850 from the field on shots that were not much more difficult than warmup shots.

The modern NBA has lowered the bar competitively, which devalues each game and cheapens the record book.

Labels: Damian Lillard, David Robinson, David Thompson, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, Elgin Baylor, Joel Embiid, Kobe Bryant, Luka Doncic, Wilt Chamberlain

posted by David Friedman @ 4:16 PM

17 comments

Central Division Shakeups: Bucks and Pacers Make Big Changes

Before this season began, the Milwaukee Bucks were viewed as championship contenders, while the Indiana Pacers looked like a team that would be fighting to qualify for the Play-In Tournament. As this season reaches the halfway mark, the Bucks have the second best record in the Eastern Conference, but their shaky defense--they rank 16th in the NBA in defensive field goal percentage and 25th in points allowed--is cause for concern; the Pacers are tied for the sixth best record in the Eastern Conference, but they have dominated the Bucks head to head (4-1, including a win in the NBA Cup en route to making it to the NBA Cup Championship Game), and their dynamic point guard Tyrese Haliburton is having a breakout season with career-high averages in scoring (23.6 ppg) and assists (12.6 apg, first in the league). 

The won-loss records suggest that both teams are who we thought they were, but the perception is that the Bucks are not meeting expectations while the Pacers are exceeding expectations--and those perceptions led both teams to shake up the status quo: the Pacers acquired two-time All-NBA selection/two-time All-Star Pascal Siakam from Toronto in exchange for Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, and three first round draft picks; the Bucks fired first year head coach Adrian Griffin, and will reportedly replace Griffin with Doc Rivers.

The Pacers' front office is excited enough about what their young team has shown thus far to believe that it is worthwhile to give up three first round draft picks and solid rotation player Brown to add a veteran All-Star; that is not a move made by a team that is satisfied with making it to the Play-In Tournament: the Pacers think that adding Siakam to their rotation is enough to lift them to at least the top four in the Eastern Conference, and presumably they also think that they can persuade Siakam to re-sign with them in the offseason when Siakam becomes a free agent. 

Siakam was the second best player behind Kawhi Leonard on Toronto's 2019 championship team, but Leonard joined the L.A. Clippers after that season and with Siakam as the first option the Raptors won just one playoff series since 2019. Siakam is an excellent scorer, rebounder, playmaker, and defender but--like many very good but not great players--he may be better suited to the second option role than the lead role. That may work out fine for the Pacers, because Haliburton seems to have the temperament to fill the lead role. 

There is no question that the Pacers are better with the addition of Siakam. Are they good enough to beat Boston, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia in a playoff series? The 76ers have been a shaky playoff team throughout the Joel Embiid era. Maybe Coach Nick Nurse will change that in his first season with the 76ers, but the Pacers have good reason to think that they can compete versus the 76ers. The Bucks lack stability and a defensive identity; they have perhaps the best all-around player in the NBA--two-time regular season MVP and 2021 NBA Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo--but the Pacers have proven this season that they match up well with the Bucks even before adding Siakam to the mix. The Celtics are the team to beat in the East. The two possible stumbling blocks for the Celtics are injuries (which could affect any team), and their stated goal of jacking up 50 three point shots per game; if the Celtics stay healthy and do not abandon the midrange game and the inside game then they will win the Eastern Conference. 

I would not pick the Pacers to win the Eastern Conference at this point, but it is reasonable for them to believe that they are close enough to contender status that it is worthwhile to give up future assets (draft picks) to obtain an established All-Star who could help them win multiple playoff series this year.

While the Pacers are optimistic, the Bucks appear to be in panic mode as they hire their third coach in eight months: last May they fired Mike Budenholzer, who led the Bucks to the 2021 NBA title, and now they are parting ways with Griffin, who had no head coaching experience prior to joining the Bucks. According to published reports, Doc Rivers was not on the Bucks' short list last summer. Hiring a coach who has no head coaching experience only to fire him halfway into the season and then replace him with a coach who was not seriously considered for the job just a few months ago smacks of both desperation and disorganization. 

Nevertheless, hiring Rivers now makes a lot more sense than hiring Griffin last summer. Rivers is an established NBA coach and proven winner. It was not clear last summer--and is even less clear now--why anyone thought that Griffin could lead the Bucks to a championship. Don't be fooled by the Bucks' record, which has been achieved versus weak teams; their second half of the season schedule is much tougher, and Griffin's bend before breaking defense would have collapsed versus strong competition.

Media coverage and analysis of coaching is even worse than media coverage of sports in general, so the Bucks' hiring of Rivers will undoubtedly unleash a cascade of articles declaring that Rivers is an awful coach. As part of the NBA's 75th anniversary celebration, Rivers was selected as one of the 15 greatest NBA coaches of all-time; those 15 coaches were selected by a panel of 43 current and former coaches, with no media members participating in the voting. I do not rank Rivers quite that highly, but the record shows that Rivers is an exceptional coach who has proven that he can do well with teams that lack talent (he won the 2000 Coach of the Year award with the "Heart and Hustle" Orlando Magic) and he can do well with teams that are stacked with talent (he led the Boston Celtics to the 2008 NBA title). It is true that Rivers has lost more game sevens and squandered more 3-1 leads than any coach in NBA history; did he set those marks because of his poor decisions, or because those teams relied on players who established a track record--before and after playing for Rivers--of disappearing in big moments? It is true that Rivers never won a championship despite coaching (with various teams) Tracy McGrady, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, James Harden, and Joel Embiid--but no one else has won a championship with those guys, either. McGrady never won a playoff series until he sat on the bench late in his career with the 2013 Spurs. Griffin never won an NBA title and is not currently with an NBA team. I am willing to bet that Paul and Harden will never win a championship as the first or second option (and possibly not as the third option, either). I am not yet willing to bet that Embiid never wins a championship as the best player on his team, but I think that it is more likely than not that he will end his career without winning a title: there is no indication up to this point in his career that he can or will be "the guy" during a championship run, regardless of how gaudy his regular season numbers are.

With the Bucks, Rivers has proven championship-winning players--including Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, and Bobby Portis--but he also has Lillard, whose indifferent at best defense is reminiscent of Harden and whose thin playoff resume is much like the playoff resumes of Paul, Harden, and Embiid. Rivers' first and most important task is to get the championship core players to buy into his offensive and defensive game plans. His second task is to figure out how to either (1) influence Lillard to show some interest in playing defense or (2) schematically cover up for Lillard's defensive deficiencies. With Antetokounmpo leading the way and Lillard's defensive shortcomings minimized, the Bucks have enough to win the Eastern Conference and be a formidable Finals opponent for whoever wins the Western Conference.

Labels: Adrian Griffin, Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Pascal Siakam, Tyrese Haliburton

posted by David Friedman @ 1:14 PM

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Embiid and Towns Join the 60 Point Club

Last night, Joel Embiid set a single game franchise record by scoring 70 points as his Philadelphia 76ers defeated the hapless San Antonio Spurs, 133-123. Embiid shot 24-41 from the field while also snaring 18 rebounds and dishing for five assists. Wilt Chamberlain's 76ers record of 68 points had stood since December 16, 1967. Chamberlain still holds the NBA's single game record with his famous 100 point performance, but he accomplished that remarkable feat as a member of the Philadelphia Warriors (now known as the Golden State Warriors). Embiid is the ninth player to score at least 70 points in an NBA game, joining Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, David Thompson, David Robinson, Kobe Bryant, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, and Damian Lillard. Chamberlain, Baylor, and Embiid are the only players who had least 15 rebounds while scoring at least 70 points, but Embiid's specific stat line of 70-18-5 has never been matched; the only other player with a 65-15-5 stat line is Michael Jordan.

While Embiid dominated the unsharpened Spurs, Karl-Anthony Towns scored a career-high and franchise record 62 points as his Minnesota Timberwolves squandered an 18 point lead and lost 128-125 to a Charlotte Hornets team that is almost as bad as the Spurs. Towns had 44 points on 14-17 field goal shooting in the first half, but he managed just four points in the fourth quarter as the Timberwolves collapsed. Minnesota coach Chris Finch was not pleased with his team: "It was an absolute disgusting performance of defense and immature basketball all through the game." It suffices to say that there are good reasons to be skeptical about Minnesota's contender status despite the team's gaudy 30-13 record, but that is a subject for another article. 

Embiid and Towns are the first players to score at least 60 points on the same day since George Gervin and David Thompson had their famous last day of the season duel for the 1978 scoring title. Scoring 60 or 70 points in an NBA or ABA game used to be a rare occurrence, particularly for people not named Wilt Chamberlain. Chamberlain scored at least 60 points in a game 32 times. Kobe Bryant is next on the list with six 60 point games, including 60 on the dot in the final game of his splendid career. Until well into the 21st century, Chamberlain had more 60 point games than every other player in ABA/NBA history!

Labels: Elgin Baylor, Joel Embiid, Julius Erving, Karl Anthony-Towns, Kobe Bryant, Larry Miller, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain

posted by David Friedman @ 10:10 PM

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The NBA Once Again Displays its Hyprocrisy by Embracing Kyrie Irving's Kaffiyeh While Rejecting a Fan's Jewish Pride Sign

During official NBA press conferences, unrepentant antisemite Kyrie Irving has proudly worn a kaffiyeh--Muslim garb that, regardless of what it originally represented, is now inextricably connected with terrorism against Israel specifically and the Jewish people in general--while making it clear that he supports Hamas against Israel, but the NBA remains silent; this is disappointing but not surprising, because the NBA--despite its social justice posturing and its virtue signaling--cares about profits more than it cares about anything else. As I noted in my previous article about Irving, it would be great if the NBA stepped up, spoke out, and educated not only Irving but his millions of fans and social media followers:

Dallas owner Mark Cuban is Jewish and he has spoken out recently about the worldwide surge in antisemitism and about his personal experiences with antisemitism. It would be great if Cuban either helped Irving educate himself, or provided appropriate discipline to ensure that Irving understood that as a high-paid employee of the Dallas Mavericks he has a responsibility to not support terrorism--assuming that the Dallas Mavericks and the NBA are willing to publicly to take a position against supporting terrorism. Over 100 universities have publicly united against terrorism, and over 1500 lawyers from some of the world's biggest law firms issued a public statement condemning Hamas' terrorism:

We, the undersigned group of attorneys from around the world, publicly condemn and denounce the unspeakable acts of mass terror perpetrated by Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization, against civilians in Israel.

We stand for the rule of law. We are shocked and horrified by the ghastly barbarism carried out against innocent civilians. We are angered by the cowardly crimes against humanity committed and the massive scale on which they were perpetrated.

We stand for moral consistency. We are profoundly disturbed by the litany of free people throughout the world who are indifferent, or even hostile, when confronted with Jewish suffering.

We stand against injustice. We therefore affirm that Israel has the undeniable right and obligation to pursue justice against those who harm it and murder its citizens, and to defend itself against further aggression.

We stand for peace. We affirm the right of all people – Jews and non-Jews – to live in peace and security, and we wholeheartedly reject the moral equivalence of bloodthirsty terrorists and Israel’s imperative to defend its population.

Finally, we affirm the promise made by our forebears — that never again will Jews sit by while other Jews are slaughtered en masse.

We call on our colleagues in the legal profession and elsewhere to stand with us and denounce terrorism against Israel and Jews throughout the world.

The NBA has tremendous power and influence. It would be wonderful if the league issued a similar statement signed by Commissioner Adam Silver, every team owner, every coach, and every player.

The problem is not just that the NBA turns a blind eye and deaf ear to Irving's proud expressions of antisemitism; the NBA also works with Irving to suppress expressions of Jewish pride. Irving has revealed himself to be both a bully and a coward. Here is one account of how he used his power as a star player to stifle a fan's expression of Jewish pride on New Year's Day:

When Kyrie Irving's Dallas Mavericks came to Salt Lake City on Monday to face the Utah Jazz, Rabbi Avremi Zippel knew he had to be there.

Zippel, his brother Chaim, their father Benny and their friend Moshe Nigri--all of whom attended Monday night’s basketball matchup--are US Chabad rabbis who work at the Hasidic movement's Utah outpost in Salt Lake City. Avremi is a huge Jazz fan, and he wanted to send a message to Irving, the NBA star who was suspended in November 2022 after he promoted an antisemitic documentary that denied the Holocaust and initially refused to apologize. He later apologized following an eight-game suspension.

The episode still stung Zippel, so the quartet of rabbis secured courtside seats and held up identical signs reading, "I'm a Jew and I'm proud," with a Star of David replacing the "o" in "proud."

"Some of the things that Kyrie said about the Jewish community and about Holocaust denial were vile and disgusting," Zippel told The Salt Lake Tribune. He did not respond to Jewish Telegraphic Agency requests for comment on Wednesday.

An arena guard snapped the rabbis' picture and Jazz owner Ryan Smith greeted them. At first, Zippel said, the signs did not appear to upset anyone--including Irving, who complimented the message and showed the rabbis his Star of David tattoo.

"He comes by, he looks at the sign, and he says, 'Nice. I’m a Jew, too,' Zippel told the Tribune, adding that Irving's response bothered him. Irving--who isn't Jewish but has said he has Jewish relatives--may have been echoing the Black Hebrew Israelite claim that African-Americans are the true Jews. But Zippel said he wished Irving a happy new year and moved on.

But moments later, according to Zippel, Irving's tone changed: As the Dallas guard dribbled the ball up the court, he yelled to the rabbis, "Don't gotta bring something like that to the game."

During the next timeout, a security guard approached Zippel's group and checked their tickets. Then another guard told them to put the signs down, according to Zippel's account. At halftime, a Jazz staffer told them that Irving had complained to security.

Irving subsequently denied asking for the Jewish pride sign to be put down, but the statement issued by the Jazz to clarify what happened contradicts Irving's denial by noting that the request to put the sign down came from a player (presumably Irving): "During an out-of-bounds play in the first quarter of yesterday's Jazz game against the Dallas Mavericks, there was a group sitting courtside whose signs sparked an interaction with a player that created a distraction and interfered with play of (the) game. As the next step in standard security protocol, the fans were asked to take down their signs." 

The NBA's message is clear: Jews expressing Jewish pride is an unacceptable distraction at an NBA game. It will be interesting to see if Black pride, gay pride, or any other kind of pride is similarly considered to be distracting.

Here is what Rabbi Zippel posted on X regarding this incident:

Last night, I attended the Jazz/Mavericks game. I brought with me a sign (12 x 18 inches to be exact) that read "I'm a Jew and I'm proud."

In the middle of the first quarter, after abruptly coming over to check our tickets, we were informed that we could not hold up our signs during the game.

The rationale given was that fans can not hold any signage while courtside.

A number of Jazz employees corroborated that

--they knew of no such policy

--the request to take them down was made after Kyrie Irving saw the signs, verbally commented on them to us, and complained to Dallas security.

That Kyrie Irving is a coward with the spine of a goldfish is not news to me.

That the Mavericks organization covers for him is, sadly, not news to me.

I'm a lifelong Jazz fan and don't intend to change any of that anytime soon.

I've lived through some years when the basketball the Jazz played on the court was kinda embarrassing.

And yet.

Last time, for the first time in my life, I was really disappointed in the Utah Jazz.

TNT's excellent "Inside the NBA" program often weighs in on social justice issues, and they devoted one segment to Irving's antisemitism in November 2022, but otherwise they have ignored the topic; even more significantly, I am not aware of the program making a single statement either supporting Israel after October 7 or condemning Hamas for the October 7 attacks and the ongoing hostage crisis. Their silence is complicity with evil and it is extremely disappointing, though not surprising.

It is vile that anyone would support Hamas' October 7, 2023 mass casualty terrorist attack against Israel. The reality is that Anti-Zionism is Indistinguishable From Antisemitism Because Israel is the Jewish Homeland. Antisemitism is soaring, and responsible, caring humans speak and act in a way to curb antisemitism, as opposed to ignoring or even encouraging antisemitism.

Irving has a right to believe that the Earth is flat (and I doubt that he could even find Gaza on an unlabeled map of the world) and he has a right to his political beliefs--but the NBA also has a right to decide who to employ. Fans, media members, and the general public have a right to let Irving know just how ignorant, hateful, hurtful, and harmful his beliefs are. 

Silence is complicity, and if we have learned anything about atrocities from the Holocaust to 10/7/23 it is that silence leads to violence. I will never be silent, and I encourage others to speak out. The NBA may never take a stand on any issue based purely on moral grounds, but if enough people can convince the NBA that antisemitism is against the league's commercial interests then perhaps the NBA will take appropriate action.

Labels: antisemitism, Dallas Mavericks, Hamas, Israel, Kyrie Irving, Mark Cuban, NBA

posted by David Friedman @ 7:31 PM

8 comments