Good Morning, Stumpers!

Put on your socks. Put on your shoes. Maybe even a third layer if possible, because we are absolutely EVERYWHERE in today’s Stump! We’ve got Iron Mike for our On This Day, a whole lot of basketball to dissect, NBA and College, and then we’ve got some AKON and an elementary school flashback for our Of The Day’s! Thanks for taking a couple of minutes to be with us this fine morning! Be a friend, tell a friend, Stump to the moon!

Today’s Rundown

Everything you’ll get from today’s edition, and more:

• 🏀 LeBroncic Era in LA Has Begun!

• 💨 A throwback GLUE GUY to bring you back to elementary school

• 🥊 On This Day…DOWN GOES MIKE!

• 🏀 Clemson Basketball is RED HOT!

On This Day

On This Day…

🥊Down Goes Iron Mike!

You don’t often hear that a guy named “Iron Mike” lost a fight, but on this day in 1990, he did. “Iron” Mike Tyson, the world heavyweight boxing title holder, took on James “Buster” Douglas all the way in Tokyo, Japan.

In a massive upset, Buster knocked out Tyson in the 10th round to take the belt from Tyson. At that point in his career, Tyson was undefeated and the undisputed champion of the world. It is often regarded as one of the biggest upsets in sports history.

Trivia Time

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: (B) 2! With Sunday’s win, the Eagles now have two total Super Bowl victories in the history of their franchise!

Before We Dive In…

👀 Here’s Yesterday’s MUST-See’s

• 🏀 DOUBLE-TEAM! Don’t Matter! DEROZAN IN OT!

• 🏀 LUKA gets his first bucket in a Lakers uniform!

• 🏈 Jalen Hurts and Mickie Mouse! The duo you didn’t know you needed!

• 🏀 In cased you’ve missed seeing Kyle Kuzma highlights…

The Hot Stove

LeBroncíc

🏀 “Luka Play Your Game. Don’t Fit In, Fit Out!” - LeBron James

What to know: Well, the new era in LA has officially begun. The LeBroncic era! What are we in for?

You can LeBron a lot of things. A beast, corny, the G.O.A.T., LePookie Bear as some people call him…the guy has a lot of nicknames. Through it all the guy is a leader. Yesterday in the pregame huddle he looked at Luka and said “Play your game Luka, don’t fit in, fit out!”

If you couldn’t tell based off the daily section we have on the Stump labeled, “Quote Of The Day”, we’re suckers for quotes over here. I liked this one from LeBron a lot. When blockbuster moves happen, especially in basketball, everybody is worried about how a player will fit in. How they will change themselves to fit the team around them.

Luka is an anomaly, LeBron was absolutely right. Don’t fit in! Fit out! Last night in the Lakers win against the Jazz, we saw a glimpse of how special this could be. Despite being on a minutes restriction, Luka started the game and we saw the first couple minutes of these two together. It didn’t take long for Luka to get his first points as a Laker, a step-back three of course.

This team is already the 5-seed, and Austin Reeves and Rui Hachimura are playing some of the best basketball of their careers. Even Jaxon Hayes last night was looking like a star. That’s what happens when you have 2 top-5 players in the league on the same time. The Lakers won their 6th straight last night and the LeBroncic era is off to a great start!

You know what one of our favorite quotes is right? “When they zig, we zag!”

Along the same lines, “Don’t fit in, fit out!”

NBA

🏀 40-Burgers Across the Association

What to know: We had a beefy 10-game slate on last night and some guys decided to put the Superman cape on! Let’s take a quick look at some of the 40-burgers from across last night’s action!

DeMar DeRozan (Kings def. Mavs in OT, 129-128): Doesn’t it feel like DeMar has just been doing his thing for two decades now? Well not quite but he’s close, drafted in 2009, DeMar has been a midrange killer while the league around has evolved, and his effectiveness has never gone down. Last night he had a game-high 42 points in an overtime win against the Mavs, and he hit the game-winning shot splitting defenders with less than a second remaining.

The Kings now find themselves with the 9-seed in the West, and despite losing De’Aaron Fox, the acquisitions of Zach Lavine and Jonas Valanciunas really good give them a fighting chance to make a push in the back half of the season and STUMPSET a playoff series! This being said, DeMar will be their ANCHOR in the back half of the season. The guy still has it!

Nikola Jokic (Nuggets def. Trail Blazers, 146-117): There’s not much more that can be said about the Joker. He is an absolute juggernaut on the court. The Nuggets seem to hitting their stride right now. They won their 7th straight yesterday behind 40 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 steals from the big man. On the West right now all you will hear is Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, and now Lakers, Lakers, Lakers, but maybe that’s exactly where Denver wants it. While they have the Joker, anything is possible. Check out this NUTS shot he hit form the corner over some short guy named Ayton!

Anthony Edwards (T’Wolves fall to the Cavs, 107-128): The only loss out of the three, but a 40-burger is a 40-burger. ANT-MAN finished 44 points and 7 made threes. He is officially on a heater as this is THIRD STRAIGHT 40-point game! They lost to a very good Cavs team in Cleveland, but the skeptics still haven’t piped down from their franchise changing trade when they shipped KAT to the Knicks for Randle and DiVincenzo. Both who are sidelined for a few more weeks with injuries. Hindsight is 20/20, and maybe that wasn’t the right move, but the Timberwolves find themselves as the 6-seed in the West right now. If they get matched against a young team like Houston or Memphis in the first round, it would a helluva series for sure!

College Basketball

🏀 Clemson Stays Hot

What to know: When you think of Clemson, do you think of football? I sure do. But this Clemson men’s basketball program under Brad Brownell is really turning the corner. Brownell is in his 15th season at the helm of this Tigers program, but I couldn’t tell you the last time this Clemson team was as hot as they are right now.

Clemson reach the elite eight last season, and just last week cracked into the top 25 for the first time this season. Last night, Clemson showed they belong with the best programs in the nation with a 20-point emphatic victory over North Carolina. This comes after their epic victory over Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils just a few days ago.

Clemson is lead by their guard Chase Hunter, who poured in 19 points in the win last night. Their senior center Viktor Lakhin is currently catching the world on fire. The 6’11” giant from Anapa, Russia is playing his best ball right now, leading the team in scoring with 22 points in 25 minutes on the court last night. That’s two games in a row with 22 points. Lakhin told ESPN that he wants to become a stand up comic after his playing days are done, but he’s no joke on the court. (Sorry, I had to)

The Tigers have peaked at the right time, as their schedule starts to lighten up a little before the postseason. All but one of their opponents for the rest of the season currently have losing records in ACC play. They’ll take the court next on Saturday in Tallahassee against Florida State.

Quick Hitters

• 🏀 Hornets set to dispute Williams trade with Lakers!

• 🏈 Record watched Super Bowl?!

• ⛳️ Tiger will not play in Genesis Invitational!

• 🏈 Sirianni says Super Bowl Loss shaped them for 2nd chance

What We’re Watching

🏀 TNT Double-Header on TNT for us recovering football addicts

• Knicks @ Pacers (7:30 PM), Grizzlies @ Suns (10:00 PM)

• More: Raptors @ 76ers (7:00 PM), Pistons @ Bulls (8:00 PM)

🏒 NHL in a little bit of a break as the 4 Nations starts tomorrow!

🏀 College Basketball ranked action:

• Men’s: (1) Auburn @ Vanderbilt (7:00 PM), (5) Tennessee @ (15) Kentucky (7:00 PM on ESPN), (3) Florida @ (22) Mississippi State (7:00 PM on ESPN2), (7) Purdue @ (20) Michigan (7:00 PM on Peacock), (10) Iowa State @ UCF (7:00 PM), DePaul @ (18) Marquette (8:30 PM on Peacock), (2) Alabama @ Texas (9:00 PM on ESPN), Indiana @ (11) Michigan State (9:00 PM on Peacock), UConn @ (24) Creighton (9:00 PM on CBSSN)

• Women’s: BYU @ (11) TCU (7:30 PM on ESPN+), (18) WVU @ (25) Baylor (8:00 PM on ESPN+)

⚽️ Fútbol!

• Champions League 1st Leg: Brest vs PSG (12:45 PM), Juventus vs Eindhoven (3:00 PM), Man City vs Real Madrid (3:00 PM), Sporting CP vs Dortmund (3:00 PM on CBSSN)

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

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