Harden and Giannis didn't order beef, yet beef is on the table
The feud between the last two MVPs deepens.
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Jealousy; Edvard Munch
Remember before the NBA All-Star Draft, when I mentioned that Giannis Antetokounmpo would avoid drafting James Harden until the last plausible moment, and then not only did that happen, but Giannis dissed Harden during the draft telecast? Everything has escalated since then: Giannis gave a quote saying his team targeted Harden on defense in the fourth quarter of the All-Star Game, and Harden basically said it must be nice to be 7 feet tall and just dunk all the time. Ladies and gentlefolk: it’s beef.
And it’s real beef stemming for deep-seated issues. Giannis’s anger at Harden and the Rockets more generally stems from their attempts to discount his 2019 NBA MVP as relying on a season-long narrative of ascension; the Rockets and Harden argued that a cold analysis of the facts would give The Beard the award, that Giannis won on sentimental factors. That was horses—t: Giannis had an incredible season for the best team in the NBA, similar to what Harden had done the year prior. Giannis should be put off by those attacks on his greatest triumph by sore losers! He is justified to have beef.
His two comments about Harden around All-Star — the first clearly a spur-of-the-moment joke spurred on by Charles Barkley, the second seeming premeditated and honest (Team Giannis really did target Harden, who defended pretty well!) — clearly got to Harden. On one hand, Harden’s summer frustration over MVP had died down. On the other hand, revenge doesn’t have an expiration date. Giannis clearly had heard Harden’s comments and they seriously wounded or angered him. He got Harden back in front of cameras and microphones.
Harden, in a defensive stance now, struck back last week with his comments appearing to dismiss Antetokounmpo’s skill level.
The line came after ESPN’s Rachel Nichols had asked about Giannis’s All-Star jokes, and it’s really clear that those really bothered Harden! This is like a pure beef: Giannis was really upset that Team Harden tried to diminish his MVP, Harden is really upset that Giannis is dismissing his excellence. There isn’t a lot of fakery or exaggeration from a reacting NBA community: this is real, pure, heartfelt beef.
It will probably fizzle out now. Giannis was asked about Harden’s quote over the weekend and didn’t really take the bait, more just talked about what skills he’s added over the years. The Bucks and Rockets probably won’t meet in the playoffs since they’d need to do it in the Finals. (Universal seeding now!) Giannis will win MVP again, but Harden probably won’t be in the top three, let alone No. 2. We’ll see what happens next season around the Bucks-Rockets games and All-Star, or maybe in the Olympics.
Trevor Ariza Is Not With The Funnies
On Saturday night, Trevor Ariza bodychecked Trae Young for trying to nutmeg him.
Ariza gave The Athletic’s Jason Quick an incredible quote after the game, too ($):
“I told him, ‘Don’t do that s—t again; not to me at least,” Ariza said. “I mean, I’ve never made an All-Defense team or none of that s—t, and he’s an All-Star, so he can be creative by ways to get around me. But all the, like, funnies? I’m not with the funnies. I don’t like the funnies.”
Incredible.
Weekend Scores
Reminder: this is just a selection of the most notable scores from over the weekend.
Friday
Nets 118, Hawks 141 — John Collins had 33 and 13 in this one. He’s averaging 21 and 10 on really high efficiency this season. He’s extension eligible this summer. HMM.
Hornets 99, Raptors 96 — Tough loss for the defending champs. Norm Powell and Kyle Lowry had chances at the end but couldn’t convert. Toronto is now 19-6 since New Year’s.
Mavericks 118, Heat 126 — Dallas is really good (Seth Curry with 37!), but really needs to find some defensive line-ups that work.
Kings 104, Grizzlies 101 — Enormous win for Sacramento in the multi-race for the No. 8 seed. De’Aaron Fox is reminding everyone that he was the future best point guard in the NBA recently.
Thunder 86, Bucks 133 — ESPN is now including Giannis Antetokounmpo’s minutes played in his stat lines on the crawl. In this one, he did 32-13-6 in 27 minutes.
Nuggets 103, Clippers 132 — This is the type of game that could send everyone into a full-on panic about how good L.A. is when fully healthy or it could be a regular season anomaly. Only one way to find out.
Saturday
Lakers 88, Grizzlies 105 — Strong streak-snapper for Memphis in a game the Lakers napped through. Ja Morant was geeked.
Rockets 111, Celtics 110 (OT) — Folks, Houston is doing it. Big win in Boston after the Celtics got a beautiful missed Jayson Tatum free throw to Jaylen Brown three to improbably get to overtime.
Russell Westbrook is really, really good in his new role: 41 points on 16-27 shooting, 12 FTAs and just two threes.
Sunday
Bucks 93, Hornets 85 — 41 points, 20 rebounds and 6 assists in 35 minutes for Giannis. Good lord.
Mavericks 111, Wolves 91 — Kristaps Porzingis’s hot February extended into March: 38 points (including six threes), 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 blocks.
Sixers 130, Clippers 136 — SHAKE MILTON GAME!
Raptors 118, Nuggets 133 — Convincing win for Denver as Nikola Jokic had a triple-double. OG Anunoby played well for Toronto, but the Raps are in a bit of a rut all of a sudden.
Lakers 122, Pelicans 114 — Triple-double for LeBron. New career high 35 for Zion.
Schedule
All times are Eastern. Games are on League Pass unless otherwise noted.
Jazz at Cavaliers, 7
Rockets at Knicks, 7
Blazers at Magic, 7
Grizzlies at Hawks, 7:30
Bucks at Heat, 7:30, NBA TV
Mavericks at Bulls, 8
Pacers at Spurs, 8:30
Links
Huge piece from the great Marc Spears on what it’s been like over the decades for black Celtics.
Nekias Duncan on Khris Middleton, legitimate star.
Zach Lowe’s 10 things column on Jayson Tatum’s star leap and more.
Kevin Arnovitz reports that Steve Ballmer is about to buy The Forum, which has been a major thorn in his plans to build the Clippers their own arena in Inglewood.
It sounds like the Bulls are turning on Jim Boylen. ($)
Dan Devine on the survivialist Sixers.
In important 2028 Coachella jersey news, Dion Waiters is working out with the Lakers.
Rob Mahoney on whether the Heat’s season is going up in flames.
Be excellent to each other.