Basketball from a fans perspective
Almost there
Tonight the NBA which began play in 1946 kicks off the season start. The first two games find the revamped Celtics facing the revamped Cavs in Cleveland. Later in the evening the Chris Paul led Rockets will face the Warriors with no major changes games will be available on TNT.
Sometimes I wonder
Emeka Okafor had a sound NBA career playing for several teams. He last played for the Wizards during the 2012-13 season. He missed the following season due to a herniated disk in his neck, he was cleared to play last May. Okafor is attempting a return to the NBA playing for the Sixers G-League team. Okafor turned 35 last January he's at an age athletes are looking toward retirement unless you are Vince Carter. Is there a message here for someone other than Okafor? Sidebar for many of you this former UConn athlete is a distant cousin of Jahlil Okafor. It's possible there could be two Okafor's on the Sixer roster at some future date.
No name & Little Caesars
Although the arena under construction remains without a name work is progressing. The 17,500 seat arena will be complete this time next year allowing the Bucks to begin play in this state of the art downtown arena. It's not just Bucks basketball the arena will also serve as home for the Big East Conference Marquette Golden Eagles. Two Kansas City based architect firms were involved in the design HNTB and Populous.
As for Detroit the 21,000 seat Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit is open. This arena's architect team HOK sports is also located in Kansas City. The NHL Red Wings played their first game September 23 as for the Pistons the first game was held October 4. In Milwaukee and Detroit these new arenas will serve a variety of entertainment venues other than purely sports.
1957 NCAA Championship Game
The North Carolina Tarheels have won six NCAA Championships over the years. All are significant however the 1957 win stands alone historically. The game was played March 23, 1957 and when the smoke cleared North Carolina won a triple-overtime game 54-53. Even more interesting less than 8,000 were in attendance at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. The number in attendance for that game would be a section in a dome stadium of today's NCAA Championship. Carolina came into the game with a 30-0 record while Kansas was 24-1 Frank McGuire a New York guy had a team largely composed of New York City players.
Kansas was led by the incomparable Wilt Chamberlain, the Dipper as he was nicknamed was double and sometimes triple teamed most of the game. Reading this in 2017 you might find it difficult to believe there was limited television coverage and no national broadcast, there was radio however the game was not broadcast across the nation. The first national television broadcast of a college basketball game would not occur until 1968. In 1968 the UCLA Bruins would face the Houston Cougars in the Astrodome (since demolished), the match was dubbed "The Game of the Century." Many believe the Game of the Century had actually been played 12 years earlier.
Bits n Pieces
Louisville's athletic board voted without a single dissenting vote to terminate Rick Pitino's contract, at this time the news is not exactly shocking. The Naismith Hall of Fame is yet to comment on the coaches status in the hall.
He stands 6-11 and checks in at 222 pounds, he glides up and down the court like an antelope. Can he score, last season it was 22.9 ppg on .571 from the floor. His rebound total was nearly nine a game, he dished out 5.4 assists per game. The player we are discussing is Giannis Antetokounmpo the Bucks small forward, what should we expect this upcoming season? The sky is the limit for this athletic young man.
Lonzo Ball says he intends to be in the Laker lineup on Thursday. If you remember Ball was held out of the Lakers final three exhibition games after suffering an ankle injury. Other Laker news Julius Randle will start the season on the bench replaced in the starting lineup by Larry Nance Jr.
