Hawks by a Trae, Clips Escape

A mix of emotions in the world of hoops. Some stunning, some sad, some entertaining as hell.

Atlanta storms back from 26 and secures a most improbable win to pull within one victory of the Eastern Conference Finals. Incredibly entertaining ball game to watch, unless of course you hail from the 610.

- Young was ridiculous. Fierce and fearless.

- Sweet Lou, Collins, and Gallinari were clutch. - Embiid and Curry did their thing, until Biid’s choke at the charity stripe.

- Tobias is woefully overpaid. - Simmons has either a serious mind block or a horrific work ethic, or both. Either way, you can’t play him, Doc. 4-14 from the line, my goodness gracious what a catastrophe.

LA makes just enough plays down the stretch to take a 3-2 series lead.

- PG13 stepped up in a big way without his partner in crime.

- Marcus Morris has been nothing short of fantastic.

- Bogdanovic played very well, while Mitchell was inefficient.

- Outside of Clarkson, Utah bench did not show an ounce of toughness.

Legendary coach Jim Phelan dies at 92.

- Amazing basketball coach, even better human being. Fortunate to have known him.

- Racked up a mind-numbing 830 career victories during his 49 year tenure at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD.

- The Hall of Famer also coached baseball at The Mount and was the AD for a time.

LeBron makes noise and lashes out, per usual.

- Ousted from playoff contention, James sought out attention elsewhere.

- Over the weekend, he and Drake stole the show from Bronny’s team, dancing around the court and getting in the officials‘ faces. It’s not always about you, LBJ. - On Wednesday, LeBron went on record and blamed the recent spate of NBA injuries on the quick turn around to the season. Extremely unfortunate to see injuries, but do we know for a fact it is because of the quick turn around? The NBA went on record and stated this year’s injury rate is virtually identical to the last few seasons.

State of Connecticut passes NIL law.

- Law would allow players to get paid for their image, likeness, and name, and Coach Hurley hopes it will keep more kids in school.

- 18 other states have passed similar legislation. - This is long, long overdue and a step in the right direction in going counter to the corrupt, criminal, and sleezy NCAA and Mark Emmert. A nice win for the good guys. Let’s keep them coming and send fraudulent Mark packing.

Be good, see you tomorrow.

The Hoops Brief