
Whether you're one of Chris Paul's eager critics, or someone with enough of a tolerance for sorrow to keep riding the roller coaster with him more hopefully, there's no questioning that, even if this sadly mythical loss isn't a proper send-off, it could act as a fitting, sourly poetic bookend to his career.

Watching the Mavericks, everything seems to come down to one question: Will their role players make enough 3's to make up for the fact that they are a top heavy team lacking in stylistic diversity or flexibility?

James Harden has long been the cosmos itself; what will it look like for him to be just another individual residing in a world he cannot fully shape?

James Harden finally looked like a man whose experience has enriched him, rather than ran him ragged, and gave everyone with the fear of being too washed up something to model themselves after.