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What Had Happened Was

What Had Happened Was: 7/15/16

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    By Ryan Cortes Rhiannon Walker

    GAME. BLOUSES.

    The randomness of NBA playoff basketball can be crippling. A missed shot here, an improbable make there, a twisted ankle at the wrong moment – all of a sudden history has been written and heroes and chokers have been determined. Basketball is better than most sports at sussing out who the best team is, but the best team doesn’t always win, as evidenced by the Golden State Warriors (who won more regular season games than any team ever) losing in this year’s NBA Finals to a Cleveland Cavaliers squad that won 16 fewer regular-season games.

    The 2007 New England Patriots that went 18-1 were the best team in the NFL that year, they just weren’t the champion, so it would be normal to hear Warriors players on truth serum telling you they were better than the Cavaliers this past season. But that’s not what Andre Iguodala said.

    He admitted it was the Oklahoma City Thunder, not the Cavaliers that were the best squad his Warriors faced in the postseason.

    “They played us better than anyone,” Iguodala told Power 105.1 radio in New York on Wednesday. “They played us better than Cleveland. Some of the stuff they was doing, it’s like … ‘Oh, man. We gotta play perfect.’ Now that we got KD [Kevin Durant], I can say it: They were the best team last year in the league in the playoffs,” Iguodala said of the Thunder. “They were better than us. They were better than Cleveland. They were the best team in the playoffs. They should’ve won a championship.”

    The thing is … Iguodala ain’t wrong. If we had taken a poll with the Thunder ahead of the Warriors 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals, just about every voter would have said the Thunder were the best team in the NBA, a step ahead of both the Warriors and Cavaliers. It won’t get remembered like that, obviously, but Iguodala deserves props for telling truths, even if it feels like a backhanded slap to the Cavaliers. It can be both things.

    It’s pretty wild to consider that the team that won the most regular-season games ever might have been worse than two teams last year. Durant joined the Warriors at least partly because he wanted more help in securing that elusive first ring, but the Warriors appear to have needed him just as badly.

    SOCIAL STATUS

    Victor Oladipo of the Oklahoma City Thunder is currently hosting a skills academy camp, where he’s teaching the youngsters his ways. At one point, Oladipo challenged one kid who said he could dunk on the NBA guard. Oladipo dared him to, and the kid actually pulled it off.

    Bad news? Now Oladipo was shamed and needed to reclaim his throne. So he dunked on the kid so viciously the internet nearly exploded:

    https://twitter.com/3Guap/status/753643363929382912

    BLESSINGS!

    WHAT?

    FOR THE CULTURE

    Rapper 50 Cent joined the Drink Champs podcast with hosts N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN to discuss 50’s career path and how he arrived here.

    Why you should absolutely check out Jamila Woods’ debut album HEAVN.

    Is Jay Versace the funniest teenager currently on the internet?

    An interesting look at the folks who make the music playlists at Apple, Spotify and Google.

    Here’s a video of Philando Castile’s funeral and his casket being taken away by horse and carriage.

    TOP THREE TWEETS

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

    1. WHAT YOU MEAN Y’ALL STEADY NOW?

    2. SPREAD THE LOVE

    3. TELL US HOW YOU FEEL, JJ

    #ICYMI

    During Thursday night’s town hall meeting discussion hosted by ABC News, President Barack Obama had a number of special guests in the audience, some who asked him questions.

    Diamond Reynolds: Girlfriend of Philando Castile, who was pulled over for a bad taillight and shot four times after he told the Falcon Heights, Minnesota, police officer about his concealed weapon. She was taken into custody with her 4-year-old daughter after the pair watched Castile get shot in the stomach and die. (Reynolds spoke from Minnesota via a video message.)

    Rev. Traci Blackmon: The first female pastor in the 156-year history of Christ The King United Church of Christ in Ferguson, Missouri. She was among those who demanded social change when Michael Brown was shot in Ferguson, just miles from her church, and immediately got involved in organizing the Black Lives Matter movement.

    Nakia Jones: A police officer since 1996 and a member of the Warrensville Heights, Ohio, police department. She said in a viral Facebook video, โ€œIf youโ€™re afraid to talk to an African-American female or a Mexican male or female because theyโ€™re not white like you, take the uniform off. You have no business being a police officer.โ€

    PICTURE PERFECT

    Peep the tie game.

    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.

    This Story Tagged: Kevin Durant Golden State Warriors What Had Happened Was Andre Iguodala