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What Had Happened Was

What Had Happened Was: 6/9/16

Flukes in the Finals, Kanye’s Dream Team and Dray looking like a substitute teacher

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    Golden State Warriors at Cleveland Cavaliers
    Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (bottom-C) calls for a timeout as he is defended by Cleveland Cavaliers forward Richard Jefferson (L), Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson of Canada (2-R) and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (R) during the NBA Finals basketball game three between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 08 June 2016. EPA/DAVID MAXWELL
    By Ryan Cortes Rhiannon Walker Kofie Yeboah

    GAME. BLOUSES.

    If you feel like this NBA postseason has been littered with blowouts and bad games, well, your eyes ain’t lying to you. Our man, Tom Haberstroh, pointed out that Wednesday night marked the 10th game this postseason with a margin of 30 or more. The previous three postseasons combined had just 10.

    Here’s the thing about Wednesday night, though: It was one of the flukiest games this entire postseason. Not to rain on LeBron James’ great night — seriously, that dunk he had was ridiculous — but this game wasn’t about adjustments the Cleveland Cavaliers made or anything that will roll over into future games this series. Let Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue tell it — the Cavaliers won Wednesday night because they were tough and physical. Nah. This is why they won Wednesday night, courtesy of Fox Sports’ Dieter Kurtenbach:

    Yeah. Good luck with that continuing. The Cavaliers game plan wasn’t so much to push the pace like they had promised and it wasn’t even to body up the Golden State Warriors defensively. The switch in Wednesday night from the others was simpler: The Cavaliers hit a bunch of jumpers they don’t usually hit and the Warriors missed a lot of wide-open shots. That’ll happen once in a while. But it’s a cheap Band-Aid on a gushing Cavaliers wound that is about to spill out everywhere. Just ask Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and guard Klay Thompson.

    SOCIAL STATUS

    Who did it worse, y’all?

    Snoop Doggy Dogg:

    Or 50 Cent:

    We think 50 Cent is still firmly in first place in this category.

    BLESSINGS!

    Sometimes this section writes itself. Case and point, the way the Cavaliers played after Chance The Rapper tweeted at LeBron James & Co.

    Cleveland’s Iman Shumpert blocked his own blessings, but Kyrie Irving and James took full advantage.

    FOR THE CULTURE

    Diversity doesn’t look like it’ll get any less white or male with the upcoming season of network TV.

    Auntie Yonce and Uncle Jay were picking on poor Chancellor.

    The National Cathedral is removing the Confederate flag from its stained glass. We thank God for progress.

    G.O.O.D. Music got us out the way with Champions.

    In case anyone forgot, not all women got the right to vote 96 years ago as CNN tweeted out. Native American women gained it in 1924, Asian women in 1952 and black women in 1964. Stay woke.

    TOP THREE TWEETS

    Every morning we’ll hit you here with the best of what we saw on social media the previous night. Why? Why not?

    1. CLOSE ENOUGH

    2. HE’S REGENERATING!

    3. INCORRECT, KEV

    #ICYMI

    Our brother Brando Simeo Starkey penned a column on the importance of not allowing folks to turn Muhammad Ali into a cuddly little teddy bear for their own purposes. It wasn’t what the man was or wanted to be:

    Ali, however, never abandoned his biting critique of American racism and bigotry, never betrayed his understanding of the carnage white supremacy and colonialism had wrought on people of color, never allowed to slide the obligations the country had to heal those wounds. Ali, instead, just simply no longer indicted all white people as belonging to an inherently evil race. Yet, as Louis Moore, a professor of history at Grand Valley State University, notes, Ali leaving the Nation of Islam “lets people off the hook, but he’s still pro-justice and that never changes.” Folk can appreciate Ali for his charisma or his pugilistic greatness, but his anti-racist and anti-militarism ideals were essential to who he was and why he matters so much. We mustn’t allow that to be expunged from his record.

    PICTURE PERFECT

    Ryan Cortes is a staff writer for The Undefeated. Lemon pepper his wings.

    Rhiannon Walker is an associate editor at The Undefeated. She is a drinker of Sassy Cow Creamery chocolate milk, an owner of an extensive Disney VHS collection, and she might have a heart attack if Frank Ocean doesn't drop his second album.

    Kofie Yeboah asks for Sweet Tea at every restaurant and recites approximately 2.5 Spongebob lines per hour.

    This Story Tagged: LeBron James Stephen Curry 2016 NBA Playoffs Golden State Warriors Cleveland Cavaliers What Had Happened Was