The Jazz are victims of overcoaching

Not overaggressive tanking maneuvers. PLUS: The Hawks win the Group of Death, the Grizzlies are on fire and the Rockets are doing things.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

The Stroller; Ernst Stohr; Early 1900s

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NBA Cupdate VI: Night of the Living Ka-Kaw

EAST A
Knicks 99, Hornets 98 — The Knicks did not appear to be ready to play an NBA game at noon the day after Thanksgiving. Can’t blame them. Luckily for them, they still got the win.

The Hornets were down four with three seconds left. Josh Green got a good luck and hit a three. Unfortunately, the ball took all three seconds to go in.

Magic 123, Nets 100 — A huge and important blow-out for Orlando, who is now +60 in group play heading into their showdown with the Knicks on Tuesday. That means that the Magic can lose by 31 and still advance. Everyone else still alive in the East will be rooting for the Magic to win.

EAST B
Raptors 111, Heat 121 — Jimmy Butler is a real one.

Pistons 130, Pacers 106 — Forget about the NBA Cup. Getting dropped by 24 at home by the Pistons? Pacers, babe, what in the world???

Detroit’s win sets up a group championship battle between the 10-9 Bucks and 9-13 Pistons in Motor City on Tuesday. Biggest game in Detroit in either six or 16 years (depending how you feel about the Blake Griffin era).

EAST C
Cavaliers 101, Hawks 117 — THE CAVALIERS DON’T WANT TO MEET THE HAWKS IN THE FIRST ROUND. 0-2 against Atlanta, 17-1 against everyone else. Incredible.

Donovan Mitchell: 5/23 from the floor. Oof.

Celtics 138, Bulls 129 — Jaylen Brown GOOD GRAVY.

And the cameras catch him explaining the seatbelt celebration to the referee. Classic. Kudos to Jalen Smith for giving it a shot. You, my friend, made a poster possible. Pat yourself on the back.

With these results THE 10-11 ATLANTA HAWKS clinch the East Group of Death, edging the 17-3 Cavaliers and 16-3 Celtics. Tell me the NBA Cup isn’t a beautiful thing? Cleveland is out, Chicago is out. Boston has a decent shot at advancing but no longer controls its own destiny. (Winning this game by more than nine would have been helpful.) We’ll run through those scenarios in Tuesday’s newsletter.