Basketball from a fans perspective
Stay tuned
I turned the game off, unless you are a Cavs fan or a Celtics die hard why bother with a blow-out game? It was Cavs 66 Celtics 29 with 2:48 minutes left in the 2nd quarter in TD Garden no less when I changed channels to Royals baseball. I'm sure most of us believed the Celtics stood little chance in this series but this is ridiculous. You can catch the final score on SportsCenter or some other outlet. There is no requirement to attempt to dissect the game from this corner.
I don’t agree
I read a winner-loser account for the 2017 NBA Lottery; I stopped reading the CBS Sports story when it referred to Magic Johnson and the Lakers as a loser. They make this statement because “He must deal with Lonzo Ball for the next eight years.” Allow me to step in for Magic a moment and make this statement, if there is a future problem with Ball or a member of his family you trade the player to another team it’s that simple. As this was being completed a story broke indicating Luke Walton is checking with UCLA to determine how “He who shall not be named” impacted the program at the school. It might be wise for “He who shall not be named" to dial his commentary back a bit.
Draft choices
Just assembling draft choices serves no purpose its production on the court that calculates. With that said check out the Celtics, not only are they in the playoffs but they have managed to secure the top pick in the 2017 draft, Danny Ainge’s Celtics also have pick 17, 37, 53 and 56. Interesting in that Doc Rivers left for the Clippers maybe figuring the trio of Allen, Pierce and Garnett had peaked. It’s been a short four years however the Celtics have become competitive again and have become a playoff team once again.
Interesting in that Rivers current team has failed to advance as far as his former team. Trust the process has been the theme in Philadelphia, the Sixers are not as far down the road as the Celtics but consider this. They have pick 3, 36, 39, 46 and 50 in the 2017 draft, late second round choices (37 and beyond) have not necessarily proven beneficial. Both teams appear to have a plan in place so we shall see if the Sixers are able to rise to the level of the Celtics and become playoff contenders.
The Goat
The basketball exploits of Earl Manigault a.k.a. “The Goat” is the basis for an urban legend. Manigault was the best of a number of playground legends in NYC in the '60's and '70's. It was reported the 6-1 Manigault could pick up a dollar off the top of the backboard and replace it with quarters. Another story or legend Manigault was able to double-dunk, he would dunk the ball catch it and dunk it again all while still in the air. He might have been one of the original high flyers and would often dunk the ball over players much taller than his 6-1.
These legends have perpetuated over the years whether true or not we‘ve not been able to locate anyone who can verify the accounts. Hidden in legend is also his nickname it was said opposing players had difficult pronouncing his last name and simply shortened it to The Goat. Another story claims a teacher couldn’t pronounce his name and identified him in class as Mani-goat. He was a legendary NYC street player playing mostly in Harlem’s famed Rucker League. One publication described him as “The Greatest Player You Probably Never Heard of.” The Goat was not much of a student expelled from high school he’d finish at a North Carolina prep school.
From there it was Johnson C. Smith College where he clashed with the head coach and was on his way back to NYC. The Goat suffering from depression got involved in drugs and went to prison but would later turn his life around. The last few years of his life were dedicated toward youth as he wanted them to avoid the pitfalls which befell him. Kareem Abdul Jabbar asked who the best player he ever played against was “That would have to be The Goat”. A testimony of his basketball prowess, the Goat died in 1998 of congestive heart failure at the age of 53.
