OFFICIAL DTB DISCLAIMER:
At one point in this game, Elfrid Payton was credited with eight steals, including one on the last defensive play of the game. That’s pretty close to a triple-double with steals if you combine it with his nine assists, and it also would have been the most steals by any player this season. Then, they took away his steal at the end of the game (they really should have taken away his first steal instead, that one was sus) leaving him with seven steals. Three other players (Jonathan Isaac, Ben Simmons [twice], and Fred VanVleet) have gotten that many steals this season, so seven only ties the record rather than setting it outright.
I’m putting this all in an OFFICIAL DISCLAIMER because that last “steal” (remember, it’s no longer a steal) is still in the video, and the fact that it’s in the video makes it look like I’m arbitrarily including defensive highlights that I found worthwhile. The fact that you would think or assume that is insulting to me. I don’t care about defense and I have never cared about defense. I would not search through a game just to find clips of spectacular defense because I don’t care about spectacular defense. I can understand and acknowledge the importance of defense in basketball, but that doesn’t obligate me to care about it.
Short version of the paragraph above: if it’s not a box-score stat that you can count, I don’t care about it. Full stop.