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

If you missed this Cooper Flagg dunk the other night, get to it posthaste!

That’s NBA Basketball: Cavs and Thunder deliver an epic game

I’ve been in Scotland for almost two weeks, and the game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and OKC Thunder last night started at midnight here. My plan was to watch the first half, get some sleep and then watch the second half in the morning, open up the laptop and write out this section.

After the first 24 minutes of this game, I knew I wasn’t going to sleep until it was over. The hype we basketball nerds had raised about a 15-game win streak going into the home of a 10-game win streak? It delivered, and then some. The 32-4 Cavs defeated the 30-6 Thunder 129-122, and it was some of the best basketball you’ve seen in a decade. Yes, for real. If you didn’t watch it, you should go back and enjoy it. Here are four takeaways from a brilliant matchup:

1. That was great f—ing basketball! For about an hour and a half, it felt like the lead changed on every possession. The Thunder’s top defense got dismantled. The Cavs’ great schemes got dissected. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Evan Mobley played like their contracts would be voided if they lost. I already want them to run this back.
2. The big-to-big passing by Cleveland was elite. We know Mobley is great at initiating for the Cavs, but Jarrett Allen showcased himself as a playmaker too. On every pick-and-roll, it felt like one of them was diving hard to the hoop and finding the other one cutting baseline for a lob or an easy drop-off. They combined for 13 assists.
3. This showed how much the Thunder miss Chet Holmgren. OKC’s role players were good but not great. And the lack of size on the interior really hurt the Thunder. Isaiah Hartenstein was struggling to defend pick-and-rolls and then protect the rim. They needed him or Chet. (Holmgren’s status should be reevaluated within the next couple weeks, according to OKC’s original injury timeline.)
4. You can’t have a lull against Cleveland’s shot-making. For about 45 minutes, the Thunder did a brilliant job of matching Cleveland’s historically good offense. But OKC went stagnant for about two minutes, and it was enough for the Cavs to seal it. Seven Cavs scored in double figures, five had at least four assists and Cleveland had 36 assists on 47 made shots. I need a cigarette.

Also, we don’t have to wait long for the rematch, next Thursday in OKC.

The Last 24: Mock draft SZN once again

🙏 L.A. fires impact NBA. Kawhi Leonard missed the Clippers’ loss to the Nuggets last night to be with family that evacuated, and the league said it’s monitoring the situation around tonight’s Hornets–Lakers game. Live updates here.

🕰️ No Jimmy Butler hurry. The Heat can remain patient here, explains Sam Amick.

🏀 A new mock! Sam Vecenie has updated his latest mock draft, and Ace Bailey seems to be the most polarizing. Where will he go?

🏀 Make a trade. Marcus Thompson says the Warriors need to make a deal to bolster the roster. They have to.

📺 Don’t miss this game tonight. Houston Rockets at Memphis Grizzlies, 8 p.m. ET on League Pass. These two squads are battling it out for the No. 2 seed in the West right now.

📺 A great test. Minnesota Timberwolves at Orlando Magic, 7 p.m. ET on NBA TV or Fubo (try for free). The Wolves are looking for their identity, but the Magic have one. Good matchup for both teams.

Shooting Whoas/Woes 🎭: Jokić is the best 3-point shooter?

Here at The Bounce, we’re looking for 3-point shooting anomalies, good and bad. We want to highlight truly spectacular — and possibly surprising — proficiency (until they bring in the 25-point shot). We also want to check out the guys who are really struggling with it, and maybe suggest a different mode of attack.

So we’re unveiling a new Shooting Whoas/Woes section. We’ll give you two examples of spectacular shooting and two examples of a deficiency that is almost so bad that it boggles your mind. (Stats courtesy of NBA.com/stats.)

Shooting Whoas! 

Did you know Nikola Jokić is leading the NBA in 3-point percentage? We’re not talking about barely qualifying, either. Big Honey (a way better nickname than Joker) is making 47.3 percent of his attempts on 4.8 attempts per game.

• Jokić’s previous career-best was 39.8 percent on 3.7 attempts.
• He’s making a ridiculous 52.3 percent on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers.
• The tallest players to ever lead the league in 3-point percentage were Steve Novak and Matt Bonner, both listed at 6-foot-10. Jokić is 6-foot-11.
• Luke Kennard is currently second in the NBA at 45.3 percent. He led the NBA in 2022 and 2023.

As Boston’s Payton Pritchard leads the early charge for Sixth Man of the Year, he’s also been one of the most dangerous catch-and-shoot players.

• Having a career year overall at 42 percent on 8.3 attempts per game, Pritchard is third in catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, hitting 47.6 percent.
• Of the top 50 players in catch-and-shoot attempts, only Karl-Anthony Towns (48.2) is shooting better.
• In Celtics wins, Pritchard has made 51.4 percent of these attempts.

Shooting Woes …

Unfortunately for Jalen Green, he’s given us the inaugural Shooting Woe. It’s because he’s been almost incomprehensibly bad on pull-up 3-pointers so far this season, making just 29.7 percent of those 4.6 attempts per game.

• Over his first three seasons, he’d shot 33.4 percent there.
• Of the 31 players with at least 100 pull-up 3-point attempts, only CJ McCollum (29.0) is worse.
• Green is last among all players with at least 200 pull-up jumpers, with a 40.1 effective field goal percentage.

And while Trae Young has played very good basketball most of this season, his jump shot has failed him. His 34.0 percent from deep is the third-worst of his career, but the shocking part is how poorly he’s shooting on wide-open attempts.

• Young is second in wide-open 3-point attempts with 171, but he’s made just 33.9 percent of those shots.
• In his first six seasons, he knocked down 40.1 percent of them.
• Cam Thomas is shooting better on tightly contested 3-pointers (40.0) than Young is on wide-open attempts. Just wildly bad.

State of the East: Is the conference just a 2-horse race? 

My biggest beef with the Adam Silver era is the insistence on having parity in the NBA. I truly don’t believe in parity as a concept in basketball, for two reasons: 1) I think it should be exceptionally hard to build a winner, and a sustainable winner at that, and 2) the history of the league shows its most hallowed times happened during dynasties.

I say all that because the East doesn’t currently have many participants who could win the conference. And we could be amid long-term ownership of the conference, with the Boston Celtics possessing the deed. Like we did with the West on Tuesday, let’s take a look at the entire state of the East by dropping everybody into tiers.

Tier 5: Move their team website to Tankathon

• The Nets (13-24) are just now starting to embrace their fate as chasing those mighty lottery ping pong balls. They’ve traded away Dennis Schröder and Dorian Finney-Smith. And there are several teams interested in acquiring Cam Johnson.
• Two separate long losing streaks (seven and 11 games) have pretty much tanked the Raptors’ campaign (8-29). But Scottie Barnes missed a bunch of time, and Immanuel Quickley has only played six games. I wonder if they’ll move Jakob Poeltl at all.
• Another East team with long losing streaks (eight and 11), the Hornets (8-27) might not embrace tanking in Charles Lee’s first season. He’s trying to establish a new style and culture.
• The Wizards (6-29) are on pace for 68 losses. Of their current 29, 26 of them were by double digits. They’re on pace for 63 double-digit losses. The record is 58 by the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks. We’re pulling for you, Wiz!

Tier 4: Where is the youth movement going?

• The Pistons (19-18 👀) are only back this far because I don’t know where else to put them. They’re playing good basketball early under JB Bickerstaff, especially on defense. It further amplifies how bad the Monty Williams era was. They’re headed in the right direction, but we can’t trust they’ll get beyond the Play-In.
• The Bulls (17-20) have a tough decision to make before the deadline. Do they keep Nikola Vucevic (and maybe Zach LaVine, Denver?) at the deadline and go full youth movement? Chicago loses its first-round pick (to San Antonio) if it’s outside of the top 10.

Tier 3: Good on paper

• The Heat (18-17) are now in the middle of a Jimmy Butler trade request because of a money situation. We can count them out soon, but let’s see how the Butler thing plays out first. They wouldn’t benefit from tanking.
• The Hawks (19-18) are right on the cusp of making us believe. For years, they have underperformed relative to the amount of talent on the roster. I’m on the cusp of buying in.
• Not only are Philly fans sick of hearing about whether the 76ers (15-20) are healthy, I’m sick of always talking about it. That’s unfortunately where this team will always sit until something changes in the playoffs.

Tier 2: Healthy threats

• Looking at the way the Bucks (19-16) have slipped since winning in Vegas, I’m really starting to believe in the Curse of the Cup. We still need to see them healthy with Khris Middleton for an extended stretch.
• The Pacers (20-18) are headed in the right direction, and playing like this on offense will make them dangerous in the playoffs again. Avoid them if you can. Two of their next three games are against Cleveland.
• Good news for the Magic (22-16), with Paolo Banchero reportedly returning to the court soon. Orlando is definitely the first-round matchup to avoid if you have title aspirations.

Tier 1: The beasts of the East

• Yes, I’m putting the Knicks (25-13) in the top tier. Their defense has been really good lately, and their offensive execution has been absurd. They can beat anybody in the playoffs.
• The Celtics (27-10) are still the champs, and their best is most likely better than anybody else’s.
• We’re seeing a truly historic season from the Cavs (32-4), and they’ve been so dominant that it’s hard to dismiss them until we see what they do in the playoffs. They’re legitimate.

📫 Love The Bounce? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters.

(Top photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)