The Weekside: Chris Paul and Blake Griffin Save the Playoffs Opening Weekend

Words With Friends

The NBA prompts more great features, profiles, analysis, essays, viewpoints, and other writing than any other sport. There is too much for anyone to see it all, but here are the five best pieces we’ve read lately.

1. Paul Pierce Speaks The Truth
by Jackie MacMullan

"“It was a weird relationship,” Pierce conceded. “We were all good friends on the court, but Ray always did his own thing. That’s just the way Ray was. Even when we were playing together, we’d be having a team dinner and Ray wouldn’t show up. We’d go to his charity events but Ray wouldn’t show up to somebody else’s … I remember when Rondo re-signed with Boston, we had a little dinner at a restaurant and Ray didn’t show up. I know Ray probably didn’t like Rondo that much, but it wasn’t a fact of not liking somebody. You don’t have to like everybody you play with — it’s a matter of showing support.”"

2. Maverick: Talking with Dallas owner Mark Cuban
by Kirk Goldsberry

"Cuban became a billionaire by understanding and investing in streaming media, long before almost anybody else. He foresaw the world of Spotify and YouTube years before those platforms changed how we listen to and watch music and video. In the summer of 1999, he and his partners sold their company Broadcast.com to Yahoo for over $5 billion. Sixteen years later, he’s become the quintessential tycoon of our time — a tech-loving, reality-television superstar who doubles as one of the most visible owners in pro sports. On the street, he’s known as “the Shark Tank guy,” but he still self-identifies as the Mavericks guy. He loves sports, and he believes their communal power in some ways usurps the value of capital or celebrity."

3. NBA Players Alarmed by Thabo Sefolosha/NYPD Incident
by Howard Beck

"There is a groundswell of concern nationwide about police misconduct, and that concern is acutely felt in NBA locker rooms, where three-quarters of the players are black. The Garner case in particular moved NBA players, stoking their collective social conscience in a way that few events have in recent years … The Sefolosha case is not on the scale of the others. No guns were fired, no lives lost. But the concerns about police conduct are the same: Did the officers overreact that night? Why was Sefolosha singled out?"

4. In Changing Times, LeBron Remains Constant
by Dave McMenamin

"The world’s changed since LeBron James made his first trip to the NBA playoffs back in 2006. Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Britney Spears is no longer married to Kevin Federline. “We ain’t ready to see a black president,” one of the more poignant lines from Tupac’s hit, “Changes,” no longer rings true … What hasn’t changed in that time is James’ place in the game. From Cleveland, to Miami, back to Cleveland. From No. 23, to No. 6, back to No. 23. From Beijing to London. From headband to unfettered hairline. From chalk toss to not. From a Finals loss to San Antonio, to a Finals loss to Dallas, to a Finals win over Oklahoma City, to a Finals win over San Antonio, to yet another Finals loss to San Antonio, James has kept constant as the gold standard in his craft."

5. Anthony Davis Has Big Goals After Making Playoff Splash
by Sam Amick

"The Russell comparison is an audacious one no matter who shares the sentence with him, but the reality is that Davis is easily the closest thing to a carbon copy that you can find in today’s NBA. The playoffs, in that regard, are an invaluable part of Davis’ growing process. To watch Davis before Game 1 at Oracle Arena was to understand why this experience truly matters … The pressure and the playoff spotlight must be lived and breathed to be understood, especially for a player like Davis who isn’t used to these kinds of demands."

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