Basketball Twitter Achieved Peak Pettiness During NBA Awards
The NBA season is officially officially over.
Yes, the Warriors won the championship more than a week ago, but Monday's NBA Awards put the bow on the 2017-18 season.
It was the second year of the event, and the combination of host Anthony Anderson and the Inside the NBA crew was exactly what we needed before free agency gets started next week.
From the red carpet before the show, to the responses to some of the awards to Bill Russell flipping off Charles Barkley, the 2018 NBA Awards had everything.
Take a look back at some of the top moments from the night.
The first award of the night was Rookie of the Year, which went to Ben Simmons of the 76ers. Simmons and Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell had a pretty public and pretty petty battle for the award, which included Adidas going all out to help push Mitchell. But when Simmons took home the honor, the marketing campaign Adidas used got flipped on its head.
NBA Free Agency 2018: Top 50 Players Available
Another big moment of the night came after Dwane Casey won Coach of the Year for leading the Raptors to a 59-23 record and the top seed in the East. Toronto's season ended thanks to a sweep in the second round of the playoffs by the Cavaliers that proved to cost Casey his job. But that didn't stop his old team, and his new team, from congratulating him for the award.
This was slightly less awkward then when the Raptors congratulated Casey for being named a finalist for the award less than a week after firing him.
And then there was the whole thing with Bill Russell flipping the bird at Charles Barkley.
And, there was James Harden finally winning the MVP to make the Thunder the only team to draft MVPs in consecutive seasons with Kevin Durant (2007), Russell Westbrook (2008) and Harden (2009). It's a shame they don't play together any more.
Well, you can relax for now NBA fans. Free agency gets started July 1.
