Kobe Bryant Tries To Coach The Lakers On Twitter; No Revenge For James Harden; The NBA Playoffs Lose Another All-Star

There’s a first time for everything, and in yesterday afternoon’s matinee in San Antonio, we saw an injured star player attempt to coach a playoff team through 140 characters. Anxious that he can’t be out there helping his teammates, Kobe Bryant took to Twitter with the same aggressiveness he usually shows on wing isolations. Not everyone was feeling it. (More on this later) … As for the game, the Spurs controlled the series opener throughout, and finally ended any drama during one sequence late in the fourth quarter. First, Danny Green dropped a triple from the corner. After a missed shot on their following possession, Green ripped Pau Gasol after the rebound and the extra possession ended in a Matt Bonner three-pointer, expanding the lead to 16 with four minutes to go. With the Lakers struggling to score all day without Bean, San Antonio’s runs were the theme of the game. Manu Ginobili scored 18 points in 19 minutes, and eight of them came at the very end of the third quarter to put the Spurs up 13. Tim Duncan had 17 points and 10 boards, and even though Dwight Howard went for 20 and 15, Duncan was the main cog in another third quarter run that ended with Superman on the pine in foul trouble. Every time L.A. made a push, their shooting would desert them (41 percent for the game), and the Spurs would add some distance between them, eventually winning 91-79. … Tracy McGrady didn’t suit up. He was in street clothes behind the bench, next to Boris Diaw. Looks like he’s already in midseason form. … The game was cool, but what was happening on Twitter was even better. In just a few months, Kobe’s already become the go-to guy among NBA players on social media, and he ramped it up during yesterday’s game. He preached for the ball to get into the post, asked for more than “matador” defense and dished out defensive strategy against the Spurs’ vaunted drive-n-kick game.

We were waiting on Mike D’Antoni to don a headset and start conversing with Bryant during timeouts. For a while it was funny. Then the tone started to change once Phil Jackson got involved, with Zen and Mamba acting like high school sweethearts reconnecting after a few years away at college. Naturally, D’Antoni wasn’t feeling it, and when asked afterward about KB’s tweeting, he was rolling his eyes, saying of Bryant, “He’s a fan. He’s a fan right now.” The media blew it out of proportion, but still, the back-n-forth on both sides was a little awkward.

In his first playoff game as the team’s undisputed leader, Paul George went out and destroyed Atlanta during the Pacers’ 107-90 Game 1 win. Last year, George looked lost at times against Miami in the second round, finishing that series with a total of 60 points on sub-37 percent shooting. But yesterday, he didn’t let a bad shooting night discourage him, bulldozing his way to 18 free throws and finishing the game with a triple-double (23 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds).

Indiana dominated the paint in this one, taking 20 more free throws and winning the rebounding battle 48-32. Take one look at the Hawks’ shot chart and it isn’t hard to see why. They started the game, according to @TimDonahue8p9s, by taking 11 of their first 21 shots outside of 16 feet. Jeff Teague (21 points, seven assists) was in the lane most of the night, and Josh Smith (15 points, eight boards) didn’t float as often as he usually does… and still some of Atlanta’s shot charts could burn your eyes out. … Keep reading to hear what happened when James Harden returned to OKC as the enemy…

James Harden‘s revenge game didn’t go so well for the Beard or for Houston. They got a taste of playoff basketball in OKC, getting blown out of the gym by the No. 1-seeded Thunder, 120-91. Harden might’ve said prior to the tip that winning the team’s final regular season matchup against OKC gave the young squad confidence, but it certainly didn’t look like it. The Beard started slow, and finished with 20 points (By the way, how hilarious is it to listen to the OKC crowd get upset over Harden’s flopping? Twelve months ago, they’d be loving it.). Then there was Jeremy Lin, who probably tried to get the game tape set on fire. His night was symbolized by a sequence early in the third quarter where he threw a horrible lob pass on the break on one end, then tried for a phantom steal on Kevin Durant (24 points) on defense, which resulted in a dunk. Kevin McHale called timeout and looked like he was ready to string Lin up in the locker room. … OKC hit Houston with big runs to start the game (12-3) and end the half (20-7), and got big nights from their three best players, between KD, Russell Westbrook (19 points, 10 assists, eight boards) and Serge Ibaka (17 points, three blocks, one “bonafide superstar” quote from Shaq). … OKC even killed it at halftime with one of the creepiest halftime shows we’ve ever seen (a fan also hit a half-court shot during a timeout last night for $20,000). They had dogs riding scooters, dogs jumping rope, dops running around on two feet, it was kind of amazing. Charles Barkley loved it. The Thunder crowd loved it. And even Tony Allen was impressed.

Give Milwaukee credit. While Dwyane Wade gave Brandon Jennings‘ six-game gaurantee the ultimate stone face, the Bucks… actually more like Jennings and Monta Ellis… still played like they believed. Ellis (22 points) was dropping buckets on anyone and everyone, while Jennings backed up his tough talk with some incredible H.O.R.S.E. shots on his way to 26 points. But by the middle of the second half, Milwaukee’s two-man team ran out of steam, LeBron James (27 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists in some unreal red suede Nike LeBron X PS Elite PEs) started dunking everything, and even Reggie Miller was getting a little excited, saying, “If Dwyane Wade is Wyatt Earp, then LeBron James is Doc Holliday.” Um, okay, Reggie. Even Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer thought that was a stupid comparison.

The Birdman had a follow-up dunk in the last minute of the third quarter that nearly caused Kevin Harlan to s— himself, shouting something like “WHEN YOU’RE ANATOMICALLY DESIGNED WITH THAT MOHAWK, YOU CAN DO THOSE KINDS OF THINGS!! WOOOO!” It was a bit much even for the human blow horn. … Keep reading to hear which All-Star is already done for the playoffs after one game…

While the initial diagnosis told us David Lee might be back in 48 hours after taking a very hard fall during Golden State’s Game 1 loss in Denver on Sunday, we knew almost immediately it was worse than that. It turns out we were right. Lee is out for the remainder of the playoffs with a torn right hip flexor. It’s bad enough that he was the team’s backbone in the paint, and needed a big-time series to keep the Warriors competitive. It sucks even more for Lee personally — this was literally the first postseason game of his eight-year career. …

And this postseason, Clipper fans should get their money’s worth from Eric Bledsoe. He’ll only be there for a few more games, at least if Chris Paul has his way. CP3 told ESPN.com, “I’ve said it all season long. I’m enjoying playing with him right now because there’s no way he can be here next year because we probably won’t have enough money to pay him. He should be a starting point guard in this league next year.” … We’re out like road team Ws.

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