NBA teams playing in the middle of a pandemic and empty arenas with fake crowd noise and rosters that on any day resemble ah, hunk of Swiss cheese.

Were games even feel riel?

Or was this going to feel like watching a season's worth of pickup in L.

A fitness?

Well, guess what?

They're really and they're spectacular, at least when the stars gather like they did yesterday.

It turns out, if you throw Katie James Harden and Yannis on one court and LeBron a de Stephon Draymond on another, some of the best basketball players in the world still play like it.

Even without teams being allowed to practice much these days.

Exhibit A Curry finding the basket here.

This was nice.

That wasn't a foul finding Draymond on the pick and roll that was a travel like all the time.

That was a foul.

That was a travel.

And then finally, hitting this was 28 ft.

There's no hate hearing on the glass that's absurd.

Right over the defensive player of the year E don't know what's more impressive that that shot put the Warriors up by five after they've been down by 19 early in the game.

Or that the 6 ft three Curry hit that over.

As the guys here point out the outstretched arms of Anthony Davis and his 7 ft six wingspan.

It was just vintage.

Curry would finish with 26.

Golden State as a whole appeared to be figuring something out about its rotations.

A tweak in substitution patterns certainly seemed to help Kelly you bray for one.

Still, the Lakers had the chance to win the game in the end.

Instead, LeBron passes to Dennis Shrewder, who flings the ball in.

I guess the general direction of Alex Caruso.

What was going on a mess ensues.

A time out, managed to reset things.

With 1.7 on the clock, all LeBron could do launch this three.

That does not fall.

All in all, it was not a flawless display.

A basketball.

The Lakers in particular, got sloppy.

Neither LeBron or A D ever really got going, and the officiating was a topic of conversation throughout.

But it's short was fun, as was the Nets book showdown earlier in the evening.

If this fact, in fact turns out to be the eastern conference finals.

You could sign me up for seven games.

This one had 20 lead changes, including eight in the final five minutes alone.

Yanis had a strong game overall, finishing with 34 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

Although the Nets took the book on defending him to an extreme, you know how most teams give you on a space from deep.

Well, Brooklyn gave him basically an entire county averaging 15 ft of pad.

The most any player has been afforded from three since second Spectrum.

Tracking this stuff eight seasons ago.

Now, the Nets were much more physical with Yannis.

Otherwise, though, check the little shove there, but he initiated that he stepped in front of somebody.

I'd be mad if I was Katie to Harden, meanwhile, finishing with 34 including hitting that little float that shot to put the Nets up one.

He also had that driving floater.

Yanis would answer with a two handed put back well, authority there.

But it was Durant who would have the last word, draining the go ahead three on a pass from hardened.

Afterward, both players discussed why they seem to be meshing together better now than even when they played together in O.

K.

C.

We were young, uh, in Oklahoma City.

You know, we're grown in now, you know, we know we want we know we really know the game of basketball.

Now, um, you know, we're not those young guys that just run around and want to just shoot and dunk all day.

We have been through a lot, honestly, experienced a lot, and for us to bring together now and combined what we've learned over this time and try to play great basketball, I think it was pretty seamless for us.

Yeah, it is nice when the MBA looks like the regular MBA, with fans screaming and arenas full of energy and players who could take the court each night without someone sticking a Q tip up their nose three times a day.

But as we saw yesterday, anyone who tells you what's going on this season isn't really.

Basketball is missing just how much spectacular there still is to see.

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