Good morning! Let's basketball.
HEAVENLY FURY: Stephen Curry is, uh, back. As he told the Portland crowd in overtime. As he was scoring 17 points. Seventeen points, in overtime. An NBA record for the regular season, the postseason, any damn season. Stephen Curry started 0-for-9 from three, and the Blazers matched the Warriors bucket for bucket in regulation. C.J. McCollum was on one. Damian Lillard was ON one. Steph Curry is on something else entirely. There are no words, not even from Charles Barkley. That Bradley Cooper movie Limitless? Actually a documentary about Steph Curry. Warriors win 132-125.
Rodger Sherman makes a compelling case that Steph is a cyborg. We don't have any proof to the contrary, is all I'm saying.
Dear God. I wouldn't believe it had I not seen it. I need a preacher or a shrink or something.
A DIFFERENT SPORT ENTIRELY: No offense to fans of the Raptors and the Heat, but it's hard to get excited about their overtime game given what came next. No offense to you, Dwyane Wade, having yourself a throwback series! No offense to the Heat, who drew up even with the Raptors thanks to a 94-87 win. We just can't even with y'all right now, though.
ON THE AIR TONIGHT ...
I suppose we'll try to collect ourselves for Tuesday's game.
Thunder at Spurs, Game 5, 8 p.m. ET, TNT (Series tied 2-2)
INSIDE THE ROOM: Woj goes behind the scenes on Curry's MRI three weeks ago and his return on Monday.
[MOUTH AGAPE]: Steph turned Mortified Paul Allen into a damn meme.
THANKS BE TO BAD OFFICIATING: Shaun Livingston got ejected for being angry the refs missed a hit to his dome. Livingston getting ejected forced Steve Kerr to play Curry longer than he'd wanted to. Therefore, thanks for blowing that call, refs! And thanks be to Kerr for ignoring minutes limits. I'm skeptical Ian Clark would have had 17 in OT. Maybe 13 tops.
GOD BLESS RUSSELL WESTBROOK, MAY HE NEVER CHANGE.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RAPTORS-HEAT 1: Dwyane Wade's layup ... just ... stops on the rim.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RAPTORS-HEAT 2: This is Goran Dragic getting hit in the face with the ball. AGAIN.
OK BUT FOR REAL: Heat-Raptors got off to such a promising start with this incredible Bismack Biyombo dunk and flex on Amar'e Stoudemire!
ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS IS CAM PAYNE DANCING.
PURE MIAMI: Bro sitting baseline gets super hyped for an OK undefended Josh McRoberts dunk that clearly didn't count because a foul was called before he took off. Mildly stunned said bro was wearing his shades on top of his head instead of over his eyes.
SKY'S THE LIMIT: Why Elena Delle Donne, the best player in the WNBA, is about to get even better.
EXEC OF THE DECADE: R.C. Buford of the Spurs won his second Executive of the Year award. More notable: Sam Hinkie picked up three votes. This cabal is like Hydra, man.
ONLY IN NEW YORK: A Knicks beat writer gets into a Twitter beef with the actor who played McLovin in Superbad.
OFFICIAL: The Kings hire Dave Joerger. Flannery and I will have some more coach talk later on Tuesday. Here's Zach Lowe on how Joerger fits with DeMarcus Cousins and the rest of the roster.
INTERESTING: Chris Haynes on how the Cavaliers became closer than ever.
EXTREMELY COOL: Devin Booker will take his friend Jenna, a 16-year-old fan with Down Syndrome, to the NBA draft lottery next week.
Happy Tuesday. See you next time.
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