Did Ja Morant do something bad? Plus, revisiting good NBA preseason predictions

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The Bounce Newsletter  | This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.

One thing I never liked was how dismissive online people were about Carmelo Anthony’s basketball ability and career. I’m so happy he’s been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame for the 2025 class. #StayMe7o forever!

Good Predictions

Yes, they came from me!

Yesterday, we went over some of the embarrassing predictions I made in the preseason. It … did not go great for me. The more I read them, the worse I felt about myself. I asked you to vote on which was the worst one, and then I asked you to submit your own missed predictions from the preseason (We’ll share those tomorrow. There are some great ones).

Overwhelmingly, my prediction of the Cavaliers finishing with the No. 7 seed received 49.5 percent of the vote. Understandably so, as they won their 61st game last night. Zion Williamson playing 75 games came in second (28.6 percent), and Jazz rookie Cody Williams winning Rookie of the Year was third (11.4 percent). But I didn’t make only bad predictions! There were some great over/under calls I made, which I felt very confident in all season long. These are the eight best over/under predictions from the preseason.

Rockets will hit their over (43.5): This one seemed pretty easy to me, considering Ime Udoka coached Houston to a 41-41 record in his first season with the franchise. Maybe you thought their 11-game win streak near the end of last season was a fluke, so you didn’t believe? I don’t understand the under here. Houston enters today at 50-27.

Thunder will hit their over (56.5): I’m not allowed to bet, and I’m not a big sports gambler anyway, but if I were to make one preseason bet, it would have been everything I have on this over. Once they acquired Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso, I was saying this team was winning 65 games. They won 57 without them! Somehow, 65 undersold them too. What a season. The West-leading Thunder currently sit at 64-12.

Warriors will hit their over (43.5): There were two things that made me believe in this. I figured staying healthy would give them a good chance, and I was willing to bet Draymond Green wouldn’t get suspended for weeks again. Turns out, this would only hit by trading for Jimmy Butler, but a win is a win! Golden State is 44-31 and fifth in the West.

Timberwolves will hit their under (52.5): I’ve never been a Julius Randle guy. I’ve often believed Karl-Anthony Towns is overcriticized and underrated. When the Wolves essentially swapped these two players, I knew their record would take a dip (currently 44-32). They’re still a good team, but expecting 53 wins or more was unreasonable.

Hornets will hit their under (29.5): Unless coach Charles Lee was a warlock, he was not going to turn this roster into winners in his first season (19-57 entering today). It might be time to hire some warlocks to the assistant staff.

Pistons will hit their over (25.5): I don’t think Monty Williams ever really wanted this job, but he was given so much money to take it that he had to. The result was a historically atrocious season. I didn’t expect J.B. Bickerstaff to turn it around like this, but I figured they’d at least get to 30 wins. This is truly one of the best stories of this season (42-34).

76ers will hit the under (52.5): I didn’t think the Sixers signing Paul George was a bad move. They had to do it. But no part of me thought this made them contenders, and I figured keeping Joel Embiid healthy enough to get to 50 wins would be tough. I did not expect this disaster (23-53 entering today).

Celtics will hit the over (58.5): They need to go 3-3 in their final six games, but that should be a lock. This Celtics team is so good (56-20, second in the East), and as long as Joe Mazzulla has them relatively healthy, they should be good for 60 wins every season.

The Last 24

Big Honey put a player’s body into shock

🏀 “Bruh, oh my god.” What’s it like guarding Nikola Jokić on a night he scored 61? Julius Randle went through it. 

🐺 It’s over. Glen Taylor has agreed to transfer 100 percent ownership of the Wolves and Lynx. It’s officially the Alex Rodriguez, Marc Lore era. 

🏀 He’s back? Kawhi Leonard is playing unbelievable basketball. Can he stay at this All-NBA level?

🏀 Defensive genius. Ever wondered what makes Draymond Green so special on defense? Marcus Thompson II fills you in.

✍️ East playoff talk. Are the Celtics and Cavaliers destined to make the conference finals? Four of our NBA writers examine the East.

🎧 Tuning in. Today’s NBA Daily adds James Edwards III on to discuss the good and bad about the Knicks, including OG Anunoby’s hot stretch.

📺 Don’t miss this game tonight. Warriors (44-31) at Lakers (46-29), 10 p.m. ET on TNT. A Warriors win moves them to within a game of fourth. A Lakers win almost guarantees a top-four finish.

Not A Nice Gesture

Oops! Ja did it again … ?

Maybe you remember around two years ago, when Ja Morant got in trouble with the NBA. On two separate occasions, the Grizzlies star was seen on social media with a firearm. They happened roughly within a two-month period. One resulted in a retroactive eight-game team suspension. Then, after the second incident, commissioner Adam Silver dropped the hammer on Morant by suspending him for 25 games to begin the following season.

But since then, everything has been all good for Morant. He’s been a fun star. The Grizzlies have been mostly good this season. And even when his coach Taylor Jenkins was fired this past week, Morant wasn’t labeled as a reason for the firing. On Tuesday night during the Grizzlies’ loss to the Warriors, this moment happened when going to timeout.

That’s Morant appearing to make finger guns toward Buddy Hield on the Warriors bench. You can see Draymond Green begin to mimic the gesture to the ref, trying to get a taunting technical call on Morant. This gesture by Morant has been used as a 3-point celebration. I noticed it during the Grizzlies-Lakers game Saturday night when he did it toward his own bench. Apparently, Hield did it to Morant at this moment to mock Morant, so the Grizzlies star did it back.

That’s all well and good until you consider what he got in trouble for with the league two years ago. It’s a celebration done by other players around the league, as well. But the NBA has decided to investigate this “incident” for both Morant and Hield’s actions. Morant reacted to the news on Twitter (I’ll never call it the other thing) and didn’t seem too worried.

It’s important to know I searched the old Bounce edition when Morant was suspended by the league for the second time he was on social media brandishing a firearm to make sure I wasn’t recycling “Oops Ja did it again.” I am not. That time I used, “Ja gotta be kidding me.” 🥁

About Last Night

Thunder notch their 50th double-digit win

The historic dominance for the Thunder continues. They already are blowing away the record for margin of victory, which previously belonged to the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers. Their mark of 13.4 is more than a full point greater than the 12.3 Lakers mark. Now, they’ve also tied that Los Angeles record for most double-digit wins in a season. The Thunder beat the Detroit Pistons 119-103 to grab their 50th double-digit win of the season. They need just one more in the final six games in order to set the new NBA record.

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 33 points, Chet Holmgren went for 22 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks, and four assists and a Pistons team without Cade Cunningham just couldn’t keep up with them. Very few teams can keep up with the Thunder so far this season. The Pistons actually entered the fourth quarter down 16 points, and a collective team effort brought them within four with 6:25 left in the game. What did the Thunder do? Ended the game on a 17-5 run over that final 6:25 in the fourth.

OKC has also won 11 straight games and still has a shot at 70 wins if it wins out. The Thunder head to Houston next and then have two home games against the Lakers. This could be the stretch that determines whether or not they become the third team ever to win 70.

More from last night’s action! 

Rockets 143 (50-27), Jazz 105 (16-61): Speaking of the Rockets, they clinched their playoff berth last night by drubbing the Jazz! That’s what you expect when a really good team plays a team that is putting a putrid product on the floor. This one was over at shootaround, but Dillon Brooks was given a technical foul for kicking Collin Sexton in the rockets. It was his 16th technical, so, if it isn’t rescinded, Brooks will be suspended for the game against the Thunder.

Cavs 124 (61-15), Knicks 105 (48-28): The Knicks were playing really well, and leading at halftime by seven – even without Jalen Brunson. It looked like they might finally beat a top East team. Then, the Cavs outscored them by 26 in the second half.

Heat 124 (35-41), Celtics 103 (56-20): The Heat’s hot offense continued against the Celtics and extinguished Boston’s nine-game win streak. Miami has now won six straight. Tyler Herro had 25 points and nine assists.

Wizards 116 (17-59), Kings 111 (36-40): Sacramento just needed to beat Washington in order to give themselves a nice cushion between itself and the Suns. Instead, Jordan Poole, Bub Carrington and AJ Johnson were too much for the Kings.

Mavericks 120 (38-39), Hawks 118 (36-40): Anthony Davis hit a game-winning runner with 3.4 seconds left and finished with 34 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks. Dallas is 1.5 games ahead of Sacramento.

Spurs 113 (32-44), Nuggets 106 (47-30): This was the night after Denver’s double-overtime loss. No Jokic, no Jamal Murray, no Aaron Gordon, no Michael Porter Jr. The Nuggets dropped down to fourth with the loss. The Lakers moved up to third.

Clippers 114 (44-32), Pelicans 98 (21-55): The Clippers win created a three-way tie with Minnesota and Memphis. The Wolves moved up to sixth, the Clippers are seventh and the Grizzlies sit at eighth.

Pacers 119 (45-31), Hornets 105 (19-57): Tyrese Haliburton had 22 points, 10 assists and zero turnovers. He has the most 20-point, 10-assist, zero-turnover games (14) in NBA history.

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(Top photo: Petre Thomas / USA Today Network via Imagn Images) )

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