Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Monday through Friday

Game Six
After sleep-walking through the first half of the game the Warriors woke up.  Poor shooting and poor defense by the Warriors allowed the Cavs to gain a 20-point lead in the second quarter; the lead would slip to 16 at the half Cavs 59 Warriors 43.  With 7:43 left in the fourth quarter the Cavs established an 11-point lead.  The Cavs received most of their production from Irving and LeBron as expected

Tristan Thompson’s double-double aided the Cavs to maintain a double-digit lead.
Interesting at one point in this series the Cavs appeared “dead in the water” now it’s the Warriors. After holding 3 games to 1 lead the Warriors have now allowed the Cavs to climb back into the series.  Final score would read Cavs 115 Warriors 101 see you on Sunday from Oakland.

Unbelievable
I have long maintained the internet plus social networks bring out the worst in some people, in this story a person lost his job.  Steph Curry’s sister sent out a tweet indicating she was headed to Cleveland for Game Three.  Sydel Curry received a homophobic and vulgar response to her tweet. Tweets went back and forth between the two until Sydel blocked the user.  Twitter having the contact information alerted the individual’s employer and the author of the homophobic and vulgar tweet no longer has a job---he was fired.  In addition the company of the former employer is reported to have written a letter of apology to the Curry family.

Let’s suppose
The Lakers are unable to sign Joakim Noah, Hassan Whiteside or someone else to play center I have a back-up plan.  I might stress this is not the Lakers plan however it’s Larry Laker’s strategy. There are three centers that might last until the second round and the Lakers could consider these are not in any order just as I see them.  Leading off would be A.J. Hammons from Purdue whom I’d covered previously.  Hammons is 7-feet and weighs 250 pounds hefty enough to handle the center position in the NBA.

Next up is 7-2 Zhou Qi from China also on the list of prospects.  Qi has limitations his weight (215) but also limited play against top notch competition.  We could add 6-11 255 pound Diamond Stone of Maryland to the list too.  I’m not stating any of the three is NBA ready however this could be the same plan proposed for Thon Maker.  The only point I’m unsure if it might be better to play in Europe versus the NBA D-League.  They could return in one or two years prepared for the rigors of NBA play.

Bits n Pieces
I discovered information regarding Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram to share prior to the draft next week.  Both are 6-10 although Simmons weighs a hefty 240 pounds and Ingram a skinny 196. Wingspan for Simmons is 7 feet while Ingram its 7 feet 3 inches.  Note Ingram’s wingspan is the same as the 7-1 Thon Maker.

I believe it’s necessary to clear the air now and then; a number might believe I’m at war with the media.  Far from it, there are many whom I believe are competent and perform the task with great diligence.  One of those individuals is ESPN’s Paul Biancardi who similar to Dick Vitale also once coached college basketball.  I’ve found this former coach insightful and informative during telecast and studio programming.

I’ve changed my mind, I believed at one point there were issues between Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.  I continue to maintain Westbrook plays out of control at times I don’t judge them competing for leadership of the Thunder.  The bigger question will Durant remain a teammate with free-agency beckoning later in the summer.

Coach Brett Brown is proudly stating Joel Embiid will be ready to play this upcoming season.  I certainly don’t intend to hold my breath however you can say po-ten-tial.  The one year he spent at Kansas left the NBA community salivating that’s why the 76ers made him their number one pick (number three overall) in 2014. www.sports-reference.com projected Embiid’s numbers over a 40 minute game while at Kansas. They were amazing, 19.0 ppp, 14.5 rebounds and 4.3 blocked shots.

You thought it was just me
I’ve believed for awhile he’d reached his ceiling and you believe I was hatin’.  Kelvin Pelton ESPN.com believes as I do free-agent Rivers is likely to never provide the Clippers more than he’s exhibited to date.  I cannot speak for Pelton however I don’t believe Rivers lacks talent it’s a value plus return issue for me.  If a team is willing to make an offer for his services the Clippers should allow him to walk his value to the team is definitely inflated.  On the other hand is it possible director of player personal Doc Rivers re-signs Rivers for Coach Doc Rivers team?