There is a distinction between lack of talent and lack of effort!
-------Larry Laker
The “Price” Is Right
If the Lakers (and fans) receive an unexpected victory it requires a shout out a real loud shout out, that’s what occurred this past Tuesday. The Lakers were facing the Warriors with their league best 23 wins. There would be no Kobe earlier it was announced he’d begin resting sitting out selected games. This would be the first of an unnumbered selection of games, the result Lakers 115 Warriors 105. It should be noted the game was not as close as the final score might indicate, at the end of the third quarter the box score read Lakers 95 Warriors 73.
Keys to the victory was a team effort as everyone stepped up knowing Kobe wouldn’t be available to bail them out. Veteran Ronnie Price took two or three giant steps while matched against Steph Curry. Check out his stat line, Price managed, 17 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals in leading the Lakers to the upset victory. Veteran Carlos Boozer in a reserve role scored 18 points off the bench. While the victory is noteworthy unless they continue down this same path it becomes one less game on the schedule to be played. With apologies to Drew Carey and his long running television quiz program “The Price Is (was) Right.”
Christmas Day in the NBA
This account is prompted by an Associated Press story I read on the NBA on Christimas. In addition a thought back to a story that was news a few years ago. As for the AP story a writer quoted Jeff Van Gundy indicating he believed the NBA should begin its regular season on December 25. The writer and former coach voiced this view because the date is not shared with the NFL or college football. I cannot deny the view of Van Gundy or the AP writer however there is another side to the story. Dedicated NBA fans are going to pay more attention to their sport than any NFL or college football, it wouldn’t matter if the games began on July 25 or December 25.
In addition to that story three or four years ago consumer advocate Ralph Nader placed himself in the middle of Christmas games. In fact he wrote then Commissioner Stern “the NBA should cease playing games on Christmas.” He went on to state he believed the players preferred to be with friends and family. Needless to say nothing ever came of his request. To my knowledge Stern never responded and as you see games have continued to be played on Christmas December 25. The NBA has the strongest players union among the major professional sports; if the players stated they no longer wanted to play on December 25 I believe they would ask for the date to be open.
A 7-foot wide receiver?
The belief was Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein was headed for an NBA career but maybe not. Reports have circulated the 7 foot 250 pound athlete has been projected by a number of NFL scouts as tight end. This is not quite as unusual as it might sound Cauley-Stein played wide receiver in high school. Can you imagine a 6-2 or 6-3 defensive back leaping to knock down a pass thrown to the 6-10 (in high school) Cauley-Stein. As for others you might remember LeBron James played football for St Vincent-St Mary High School in Ohio.
As for former basketball players in the NFL Tony Gonzalez comes to mind too. In fact remember seeing Gonzalez on the basketball court before he began his NFL career leading up to the Hall of Fame. The Chargers tight end Antonio Gates played basketball at Kent State. Mentioned earlier was wide receiver Randy Moss, his great leaping ability snaring passes may have begun on the basketball court. It’s likely there are other athletes who were omitted but the history is noteworthy. Morris Stroud a 6-10 center in basketball may have been one of the first; he was drafted by the NFL Chiefs in 1969.
Houston (we) may have a problem
After the Pistons released Josh Smith he didn’t remain a free agent long. Wednesday word began circulating the Rockets intend to sign him. He signed with the Rockets on the promise of a starting job. Smith can play both forward positions however we know small forward James Harden isn’t going anywhere. This leaves Donatas Motiejunas headed for a seat next to the coaching staff. There is no argument Smith has game and at age 29 should have 5 or 6 years productive years in front of him. Hopefully Smith can temper his game to fit the Rockets system. If not Rockets management is gonna adopt the phrase uttered by the Apollo 13 astronauts years ago---”Houston we have a problem.”
Bits n Pieces
I didn’t see the game only heard the final score; Texas Southern upset number 25 Michigan State 71-64 in an overtime game. Even more noteworthy Texas Southern’s record was 1-8 prior to the start of the game. The loss created a seismic shock in the college basketball world.
That wasn’t the only weekend shocker there were two more. We believed number 1 Kentucky would win its match against UCLA but we certainly didn’t expect an 83-44 final score. UCLA was held to seven (7) first half points. The Harvard-Virginia game was another match up one team was clearly superior over its opponent. Number 6 Virginia ran over Harvard 76-27
The subject of NBA teams losing on purpose was part of Commissioner Silver’s interview with ESPN’s Andy Katz. Naturally the commish said; "no team loses on purpose" which is what we expected. I don't know about you but I get so tired of hearing these stories. No other sports suffers the talk of losing games to qualify for a better draft position. This type of talk only exists with the NBA.
I cannot get inside Carmelo Anthony’s head in addition I have no doubt he’s hurting. The Knicks have said nothing as far as I know. We read his statement; “he’s been urged by multiple people to take some time off. “ What’s wrong with the statement you ask? Nowhere in the statement does Anthony mention any member of the Knicks medical staff or his personal physician making this recommendation.
