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Good morning! Dunk with your off hand today.

Find a Couch: The best game of the NBA season

Normally, a game of tonight’s magnitude requires little added hype. The NBA’s two best teams. Maybe the season’s best potential finals matchup. So why does it feel like no one is talking about Thunder-Cavs?

Both a simple and complex reason:

• Easy: Perceived brand power. In the post-LeBron James era, Cleveland (31-4) lacks the star power of, well, arguably the greatest player to ever live. Understandable, though Donovan Mitchell is a worthy star. The same can be said for Oklahoma City (30-5) in the post-Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook era about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. These teams also rank in the smaller half of the NBA’s market sizes.
• Difficult: Neither of these teams has made it.  It’s slightly unfair to say, of the Thunder in particular, seeing as OKC had the best record in the West last year and made the conference finals. Yet there are no signature playoff series wins for these current iterations. That breeds sticking power in the national consciousness.

Here’s what gets me: Both of these teams are incredible right now. Gilgeous-Alexander is the leading MVP candidate. The Cavs are playing like the 2016 Warriors — no, seriously. Two other jarring stats:

• Tonight’s game is the first in NBA history between a team on a 15-game winning streak (Thunder) and another on 10 (Cavs). Remember that OKC’s loss in the NBA Cup final doesn’t count toward its regular-season record.
• These are two of just 24 teams to ever win at least 30 of their first 35 games.

Sheesh. My mind also drifted to the ongoing TV ratings debate, so I went to The Bounce’s Zach Harper to back me up:

💬  The best players in the world marvel at how unguardable Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is. Donovan Mitchell has touched God in the playoffs before. Evan Mobley looks like Neo learning how to manipulate the Matrix right now.

Both teams are deep and have unbelievably fun, chaotic stretches of dominance every game. Both of these teams are on pace to win 70 games. You’ll be telling your grandkids about the 2025 NBA Finals, if this is the matchup. Put down your spreadsheets. Enjoy some great basketball.

Let’s just hope tonight lives up to this hype of ours. Viewing details below.

More Pink Slips: The Raiders start over

The NFL carousel will spin for a few weeks longer. Quick updates from a sneaky busy day yesterday: 

• Las Vegas fired Antonio Pierce after one season as the full-time head coach, but will retain general manager Tom Telesco, which feels like a league-wide trend at this point. It will be curious to see how much input minority owner and lead Fox analyst Tom Brady has in the search. The candidate list includes the normal names and … Jon Gruden. Hm.
  
• The Bears will interview Pete Carroll for their head-coaching job, though maybe more interesting is that the team’s request to interview Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy was denied. I assume that means Dallas wants to keep McCarthy for at least another season. 

Two other tidbits: The Titans fired general manager Ran Carthon, a further signal of dysfunction in the franchise. Also, the 49ers dismissed Nick Sorenson as defensive coordinator, but hope to keep him on staff. Odd. Expect either former Jets coach Robert Saleh or outgoing interim Jets coach (lol) Jeff Ulbrich to be in play there.

Let’s keep going:

News to Know

No. 1 gets routed
Tennessee entered last night’s game against No. 8 Florida as the top-ranked and only undefeated men’s college basketball team. It left Gainesville bruised after a 73-43 beatdown, the first time a No. 1 team has lost by 30 or more points since 1968. Read more on the Vols’ bad night — and Florida’s rise — here.

Hill, Dolphins have ‘productive’ conversations
Two days after Dolphins wideout Tyreek Hill told reporters he was “out,” general manager Chris Grier said he and coach Mike McDaniel have spoken to Hill and expressed optimism about the star’s future in Miami. Crucially, Grier said Hill did not rescind his postgame comments, but also did not request a trade. Our NFL staff came up with trade ideas anyway.

Milan, Dortmund among Rashford suitors
Marcus Rashford has not played for Manchester United since Dec. 12, as the rift between Rashford and new United manager Ruben Amorim has swelled past the point of repair. As Rashford sits, both AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund have emerged as possible landing spots for the 27-year-old in the January transfer window. The inside story of how this relationship deteriorated is worth a read.