Basketball from a fans perspective
The real history
Don’t originate trivia if you are not prepared to provide the proper answer. The first question of the quiz read; “In what city did the Lakers first began play?” We had a choice of Rochester (NY), Detroit and Minneapolis. I checked Detroit and got buzzed indicating I'd picked the wrong city. Yes I said Detroit as in the Michigan City, that's where the forerunner of today’s Laker franchise first commenced play.
In 1946 the Detroit Gems began play in the National Basketball League but played only one year losing 40 of 44 games. In 1947 two Minneapolis businessmen purchased the franchise for an astronomical $15,000 and moved the team to their home town. The State of Minnesota has a theme; “Land of 10,000 Lakes” which the new owners used in the teams name hence Lakers. I have no manner of contacting the originators of the trivia contest but they were wrong.
Source: www.basketball.reference.com
Best team to have never won
The 1977 NBA Finals saw the Blazers of Portland matched against the Philadelphia 76ers. That 76er team might have been one of the best in NBA history to never win a championship. In 1983 the 76ers would defeat my Lakers to win the NBA finals, although it was just a few years difference this was not the same 76er team, Dr. J. was the only remaining player from that ‘77 team. As for the 1977 team from Julius “Dr. J.” Erving to the last player off the bench this team was stacked. They were high scoring in addition had a strong defensive presence, this 76er team was outstanding and had it all---all that is the exception of a championship.
The 76er starting lineup was Dr. J. at small forward, power forward George McGinnis; the center was Caldwell Jones backed up by Harvey Catchings (Tamika’s dad) and the late Darryl Dawkins. Henry Bibby served as the point guard, ESPN’s Doug Collins was the shooting guard; reserves were Joe Bryant (Kobe’s dad) and Lloyd B. Free (later World B. Free). The Blazers would defeat the outstanding 76er team four games to two. One more unusual incident can you imagine the network failing to cover the trophy presentation? That occurred in 1977, CBS didn’t have time because they made a commitment to cover the Kemper Open Golf Tournament. They left coverage of the afternoon game to cover the golf tournament, think that would occur today?
Class of 2015
The College Hall of Fame held its induction ceremony for the Class of 2015 late last month. No contributors to the game of basketball were elected in this class. Below is the list of coaches and players.
Coaches Players
Don Donoher Rolando Blackman
Caesar Felton Gayles Quinn Buckner
Lou Henson John Havlicek
Ed Ratlieff
Charlie Scott
This link http://cbeclassic.com/hall-of-fame provides bio information on those enshrined.
This is what he said
Bulls guard Jimmy Butler was criticized by a number of fans and the media. Butler stated his belief Coach Fred Hoiberg “wasn’t tough enough on guys.” After a very bad game Mavs Coach Rick Carlisle pulled all his starters and replaced them with reserves. In the post-game press conference he was questioned about his strategy. “If it’s going to be like that, these guys won’t be Mavericks long.” Was Carlisle serious in his comment we have no idea but you suppose Hoiberg might be listening?
