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Golden State Warriors G/F Gary Payton II has sustained a torn ligament in his left thumb and will be out for an indefinite period, sources tell ESPN. Brutal blow to the Warriors’ rotation.

@ShamsCharania

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That sucks. Get well soon, GP2.

Kuminga better be ready to be a POA defender. We're running out of bodies. I guess if JK can't stay on the floor, it will have to be Podz (which makes me nervous).

Gone (for one reason or another)

Melton

Wiggs

GP2

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Blah.

Heal up, Gauntlet

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Gauntlet: Like a glove, only made of steel

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They're saying 3-6 weeks, which means out for regular season but maaaybe can suit up for the Playoffs.

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Not good but I note the ESPN article says this "Payton's ligament tear is expected to be a pain tolerance injury once the initial week goes by after treatment and rehab, sources said."

And I reminded this was the guy who came back from a broken elbow to play in the Finals after a few weeks. So not all is lost.

In the meantime, feels like a real opportunity for Kuminga to prove his worth as a primary POA guy...

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Lets hope the JK sees that as a real opportunity for himself also...

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At least I know that if he suits back up, it's not because the team doctors have shot him up with random drugs to mask the pain, and put him at risk of serious injury...

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😭😭😭

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Does that mean he can come back somewhat soon? Maybe a month?

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I think it's going to depend entirely on whether or not he has surgery to repair it.

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Fffff I forgot he’s a lefty.

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His body betrays him again. The Ws need everything to fall just right to have a chance in the post-season, and this doesn't feel like that.

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No it doesn't.

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Frustrating. GP2 plays super well, but his body cannot handle it. :(

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I mean I wouldn’t consider a left thumb injury his body deteriorating, that’s just contact sport outcomes.

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Noooooooooo

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He was was one few guys who seemed to bring it consistently every game, and always seemed to insert some much needed energy whenever in. He'll also be an UFA, right? I really hope this isn't how his time with GS ends. 😞

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I feel very confident as far as GP2 and Loon reupping on a contract that we can afford to join the main guys on this "Last Dance" tour

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That's horrible news. GP2 was really getting back into '22 form the last few weeks.

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Welp. That ain't good.

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WTF!

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This beef man.....

Stephen A. Smith on LeBron James: "I suggest that he be happy with the things that I haven't brought up. I never brought up why you were not at Kobe Bryant's memorial service. I never really brought up or discussed why you did not attend Dwyane Wade's Hall of Fame induction"

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1jl5gbt/stephen_a_smith_on_lebron_james_i_suggest_that_he/

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Just to recap this beef:

SA said some shit about Bronny on his show.

LeBron confronted SA about what he said about Bronny, on the sidelines before a game.

SA said he would have thrown a punch at LeBron if he had to.

LeBron posted an IG video of SA boxing? He also added some laughing emojis.

SA makes it personal (my original post).

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SA said some accurate shit about Bron as far as his BB skills go.

LeBabby took it personal even though it wasn't about him.

SA came out and said he understood that he was just being a father.

SA is a clown but not wrong in this. Like when Monta got on Green last year and Green had some bs response but at least they ironed it out.

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Yeah it's crossing a line for LeBron to think Bronny shouldn't get criticism like every other professional athlete.

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May this controversy end ASAP and I don't know all of it. What I do know is that when LeBron speaks I immediately tune out knowing he always has an agenda.

I kinda tuneout curry as well since he's too careful with his words and always stays on message.

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These guys think they're way more important than they are... but they each get paid hella millions, so I guess they are pretty important to enough people.

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He may be the next POTUS!

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Having a lot of money doesn't put a person's feelings above the plane of being hurt. These guys should say something nice or say nothing at all - the same rules the rest of us should follow, that our parents were supposed to teach us.

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Cept that's not his job.

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Unfortunately, you're right in that his interpretation of what the job is is to create controversy. But he could do it differently. Plenty of reporters know how to play along the edge -- to criticize certain player moves or words, but not to attack them personally.

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SAS' gig is hot takes and loud talk. He's paid for being controversial, not for being nice. He is an entertainer, and while I am definitely not a fan of his, this is his schtick. And LeBron can take care of himself. If they want to dump on each other, let 'em. If you are not entertained, ignore it.

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I don't share this view.

You're right, that is his gig. But my gig is speaking up, now and then (not often enough), about things I think are right or wrong. I don't see why fans should just either let it happen or be quiet. Wrong is wrong.

I do know how to ignore something that's happening in public, and I am not taking to the barricades about this one, but it seems an appropriate topic for this forum to discuss.

I heartily disagree that "LeBron can take care of himself." Maybe, maybe not. People have feelings, regardless of their wealth and standing. More to the point, when these dramas are played out in public, they send a message to viewers, many of whom are young and impressionable, about what is acceptable behavior. This is not acceptable behavior. It doesn't really matter whether it's aimed at me or you or LeBron or the ten year old next door.

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(shrug) You're of course entitled to your opinion, and expressing it here is one of the things we do on a sports blog. We disagree but that's okay.

However, there's no doubt that LeBron fully take care of himself. Way more people care what he says and does than care what Stephen A Smith says and does, other than pure entertainment value.

I think taking it seriously is a waste of time but hey it's your time to spend as you choose. I say let 'em argue all they want to, as long as it doesn't get violent or land someone in legal trouble. The media, especially social media, will blow it up because that's what they do. But as the Bard wrote, "it's all sound and fury, signifying nothing."

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I didn't wake up this morning with some agenda to talk about this -- I knew nothing about it. And I don't intend to carry pitchforks to the state house about it.

But that doesn't mean that taking it seriously is a waste of time. Trust me, I don't use my time all that usefully, why is this a bad way to use time?

The reason I care is not to protect LeBron's feelings, but to advocate for a more civil society. This is one more instance in which I feel moved to say something. The times I don't say something vastly outnumber those times when I do. But to be told not to speak up, it's not worth it, or not my business, or that I don't understand what's going on here -- I dont accept that. You should be allowed to speak up, and I should. And those little moments of speaking up have very little power, but they don't have zero power.

As for LeBron being able to take care of himself, I don't know the definition. Sure, he'll have money tomorrow and status and no doubt gets a lot of hate. But that hardly justifies being rude to him.

The real issue to me is "Who else views this. beef and what do they make of it?" The vast majority of the viewers are likely to be impressionable young men. What do they make of this lesson?

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> But my gig is speaking up, now and then, about things I think are right or wrong.

I think SAS thinks this is what he's doing here too. I don't have the basis to judge him on this, and I don't think you do either.

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In what way do I not have a basis? His words are public, I am literate and have read them, why am I not qualified to judge them? Which, let us note, is different from judging the person.

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5dEdited

Neither of them got where they are without being "not nice" at times, imo. And my point was more that lots of people think they're important enough to give them lots of currency, so those people must think they're somehow important. Not suggesting they actually ARE important. The earth is tiny, and our time in this universe is beyond miniscule.

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Offering an opinion on who should or shouldn't attend a funeral, who did or didn't, who cried and who didn't, is disgusting behavior. It's a private matter. Offering that judgmental opinion in a very public way is a whole other level of disgusting.

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Agreed. SAS is going off the deep end.

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5dEdited

Eh, they're having some sort of emotional dispute where they both think the other crossed lines that shouldn't have been crossed, and feel the need to escalate things. They're both being a-holes to each other. Whatever. They've both done deplorable selfish things in their lives, things that the public isn't aware of, mostly because they haven't accidentally added a journalist to whatever text threads provide evidentiary proof to document said behavior.

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That's a wild assumption to make of two people (I assume) neither of us know personally in my opinion. There's a difference between a publicly known person's public and private life, but the secrets they hold need not be deplorable.

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Where you and I disagree is your "Whatever." It seems important to me, or at least worth discussing.

I think it matters how people treat each other, regardless of privilege -- whether it's these individuals or indeed how we all treat each other. And, having very public platforms, how they treat each other is viewed by the public, and yes, they are role models.

There is absolutely no reason the rest of us need to know about their disagreeement. It's obscene.

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They're fighting over the public's opinion of each other. And you can't fight for that without doing it publicly.

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The best and only moral way to fight for the approval of the public is to say and do things worthy of gaining and maintaining a following.

I worry that you're saying "They HAVE to say ugly things to each other if they want a following." I dispute that heartily. It's ONE way to do it, but it's also the worst way, and you risk so much.

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Have you followed any of the last ~20 election cycles? You don't have to like it, but it's kinda how things work these days.

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Not ass-i-one

Not ass-i-two

Not ass-i-three

Not ass-i-four

Not ass-five

Not ass-i-six

Not ass-i-seven

Not ass-i-eight...

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Comment of the day.

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Except that Stephen A. Smith ostensibly *is* a journalist. I know the term applies only loosely in his case (and it goes without saying that none of this matters in comparison to the world events you’re citing), but the public blackmail of a person he’s covering still pretty unbecoming, imo.

Or, if one doesn’t accept the term 'journalist' in his case (fair enough), then he’s probably best thought of as the most prominent member of the league’s most prominent media partner. In that case I can’t for the life of me understand why Adam SIlver is cool with this stuff.

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Yeah, he's not acting as a journalist in this capacity. Silver doesn't have to like it.

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True. It's fair for him to say "LeBron seems to not be trying on defense" or even "LeBron seems to be engaging in nepotism," but this stuff is out of bounds.

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Nothing has ever been more obvious than the “magic” of JB requires #30 to be part of the act to be successful on any consistent basis.

The two of them together transform the group for whatever reasons.

Take one away and the whole act devolves into mediocrity with zero chance of winning a playoff series.

Put them together and we have a chance and that is all we can ask for.

Now the big unknown going forward is what JB is capable of in a playoff series, vs a prepared D that has size.

I don’t know much but I do know he needs to be nailing jumpers from all over to score big in the playoffs. I am open but very skeptical.

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I don't think it is that complicated; Having Steph stretch the floor and/or drag 2 defenders with him gives Butler the space he needs to work inside and the inside threat makes it harder to always send 2 guys at Steph. They are very complimentary players.

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I agree.

It is simple.

What is not simple is JB having his way around the hoop come playoff time.

He has been struggling to finish even now.

Can he still go off and score big on an array of 10 to 18 ft jumpers mixing in a few 3’s because that is what he will have to do. Fingers crossed and at least it is a possibility.

Will these last 10 games drain the old guys or make the team better? Hmmm…..

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I still think Draymond and Jimmy had both experienced a little too much of Miami in the lengthy stay they had their prior to the game.

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Multiple comments about too much partying. Is this a guess or were there any reports?

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It's hope. Hope that there's such a dumb reason, and not "we just got outplayed by a mediocre team because we have fundamental size & shooting deficiencies".

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5dEdited

Maybe the 7th or 8th seed would be a blessing in disguise the way this team apparently likes to party when left to their own devices and time on their hands.

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OT: Fot those looking for a diversion while we wait for the next game, may I present our newest 13-minute video. This is from Santiago Chile, a very cool big city with lots of history, art and cool things to see. https://youtu.be/vhhi7TMA-eM?si=KvYG06hzMnUoPwdP

Part 2, currently in post-production, will be our time along the Chilean coast.

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Loved the first vid from Chile (Santiago). Forgot to mention in my youtube comment, but that neighborhood with the amazing murals in Santiago was in my Spanish textbook. It sounds very much worth a trip.

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Trouncin' on the Dubs when the Heat is on.

Bad night from the bench to the DubNation.

I'm throwing you my paddy.

"Welcome to Miami!"

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Celtics crush the Suns 132-102

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Starting lineup: Draymond, Butler, Pondz, Moody, and Post

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Nuggets beat the Bucks without Lillard and Giannis. Celtics up 73-54 against the Suns at halftime.

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There goes the 6 seed. Still possible to get back in it, but now I'm pessimistic that they can get it done since they need to keep pace with the Clippers just to have a shot at them in the final game. Those 3 losses without Kawhi may come to haunt them.

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Might have better luck displacing the Grizzlies. They have to play OKC, LAL and BOS before we show up next Tuesday.

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Lakers beat the Pacers 120-119 on a last second tip-in by Lebron

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Ugh. With 0.0 on the clock What a shitty last couple of days of hoops.

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Makes me reminisce about the years where Dubs dominated the regular season so no one spent much time concerned about how other games might turn out. What a luxury.

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I thought the game was controlled by Bam and Spoelstra. Dominating defensive performance.

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Fuggin Warriors

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So Kerr's starting choices for the game had a combined 10 points at the half? The subs did allright then scoring 30, even with the mistakes you mentioned in the article. Looks like a tough climb to get back to 6th place.

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We’re tied for 6th with the Clips, and play them the last game of the season. Just need to stay even and win the last game.

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The Wolves are also just a half-game behind us. Fortunately they have one more loss than we do but we have to stay ahead of them too, and they've won 7 of their last 10.

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Let’s gooooo Pacers!!!!

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