Basketball from a fans perspective
It was okay until…..
Unlike the NBA the NFL has no Christmas Day tradition just Thanksgiving. The NFL schedule falling on Sunday had the Kansas City Chiefs playing a 7:30 p.m. game against the arch rival Denver Broncos. I avoided the Bulls-Spurs game because it would conflict with the Chiefs I did switch channels occasionally to check the score. So it went until 9:30 p.m. Central Time, Clippers-Lakers what do I do? Picture in picture fails to do it for me; I was constantly switching between NBC and ESPN attempting to follow the action on both games.
Around the 10:40 or so timeframe the Chiefs game ended, final score Chiefs 33 Broncos 10 now I could concentrate on my Lakers. I’m unsure what Luke Walton said to his team at the half, after stumbling through most of the first and second quarter they came roaring back and took a double-digit lead at points. The Clippers were not going down without a fight despite missing Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and later J.J. Redick. They rallied and even tied the score however Clipper turnovers and missed shots betrayed them. The final score read Lakers 111 Clippers 102 the first time since 2013 the Lakers had beaten the Clippers.
Check for yourself
Until Kenyon Martin sent out the tweet I didn’t realize George Karl‘s coaching resume. ‘No wonder he’s been fired every place he’s coached‘ the Martin tweet read. Karl’s first head coaching job with the Cavs resulted in him being fired, next up with the Warriors he resigned. The next hires with the Sonics, Bucks, Nuggets and Kings all resulted in Karl being fired.
Technically Martin is incorrect Karl’s served as head coach of 6 NBA teams and only 5 have fired him. Sometimes circumstances cause a person to be fired once or maybe twice is understandable but 5 times! It appears Karl might have some personality issues too relating to his childhood. Check the history for yourself I don’t make this stuff up.
Oh really
You might remember a story I once told of a former co-worker, Terry asked me one day if I believed Dennis Rodman would ever be elected to the Hall of Fame. My response was swift; ‘He was a specialist, no way would the Hall elect him.’ Of course I was proven wrong as Rodman was enshrined in 2011. Among the names for 2017 are two very good players but HOF I question the nomination. Keep in mind the two have been placed in nomination and are yet to be confirmed. They are Muggsy Bogues who became the smallest player ever at 5-3 when he was drafted in 1987.
Bogues would go on to have a 14-year NBA career. The other nominee is Tracy McGrady who starting in 1997 was a 16 year NBA veteran. In the case of Rodman his scoring numbers were never much but he made up for it by being a furious rebound artist over the course of his career. As for Bogues all we can say he was the shortest player ever in the NBA. As for McGrady He was an All-Star and scoring champion but seven NBA teams in his 16 years. If you are too young to remember their play look up their numbers to gain insight.
‘A rose by any other name’
The above is a line from the Shakespeare love story of Romeo and Juliet. The question might be if the Knicks and (Derrick) Rose have a 21st Century love story? We don’t know which Rose the Knicks expected the 2011 MVP or the Rose who’s missed major portions of the last four seasons. It would be unrealistic to expect the MVP Rose after the injuries plus fact is he’s got a great deal of mileage on his 28-year old body.
There are flashes of the ‘old‘ Rose his field goal percentage is certainly good. His assist average is slightly below his MVP year while he’s scoring nearly 17 points a game. Carmelo Anthony and the emerging Kristaps Porzingis there is no requirement for Rose to carry as much of the offensive load as he once did. I believe it might be too much to expect the “old” Derrick Rose we’ll just get use to the ‘new‘ Derrick Rose.
