Basketball from a fans perspective

Turnovers, @&%#$ turnovers

My friend Dwayne said the Mizzou loss “is summed up in 6 syllables: 21 turnovers.”   I could break at this point and you have the synopsis of the game but no I’m not going to stop there.  Final score appeared close 70-64 but there were portions Mizzou was behind as much as 20 points.  The game was “A Tale of Two Cities Half’s: Illinois 42 in the first half Mizzou 22, the second half it was Illinois 28 Mizzou 42. 

Even more interesting Illinois shooting 39% from the floor didn’t really out shoot Mizzou that badly (38.2%).  Coach Martin continues to rotate shooting guards at the point which I believe is key to the overwhelming number of turnovers in this game.  I'm disappointed but remain patient with the Tigers.  As for Mizzou's practice on Tuesday I’d certainly like to be a fly on the wall, I've never seen actual fire come out of a coaches mouth LOL.

Marching to his own pace

Celtic guard Kyrie Irving is a good basketball player, he’s also intelligent enough to enroll at Duke although he was only there his freshman year.   Kyrie is also one of those guys who marches to a different pace, not wrong just different.  Last year while a member of the Cavs he was reported to have stated his belief the world was flat.  Of course, that statement defies current scientific proof, so we move on.  Questioned recently regarding Christmas he indicated it was just a holiday or words to that effect.  I’m not going to debate that view either just state we should expect him to play basketball and forget questioning him on anything unrelated, just my thought. 

Junior college basketball 

Often there are athletes who attend junior colleges after high school.  Most often they attend a community or junior college to raise their GPA.  Often, it’s more than grades holding back an athlete, its skill.   The youngster shows promise but there are “holes” in their game a year or two in junior college can sometimes be beneficial to continued development.  They might wind up a Division I or II program somewhere in the nation with the NBA in their future.  Bob McAdoo former player is in the Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame.  Prior to displaying his skill at North Carolina and later the NBA it began Vincennes then a junior college. 

McAdoo was enrolled there from 1969-71.  Also from the junior college ranks Dennis Rodman, Naismith Hall of Famer Rodman begin his basketball journey at Cook County Community College now known as North Central Texas College.  As for the present Wolves guard/forward Jimmy Butler begin his ascension to the NBA from Tyler Junior College in Tyler Texas.  Cavs forward Jae Crowder played at Howard College a two-year community college in Big Spring Texas.  There are others not mentioned but the point is this, it doesn’t matter where your journey begins the key is where it ends.               

Has he turned the corner

During the month of December his field goal percentage has risen to .438, his scoring rose to 12.4 points per game while he averaged 6.3 assists and 6.6   rebounds.  Those numbers are certainly not eye-popping however they detail continued improvement especially in shooting.  The stats belong to Laker rookie Lonzo Ball who just might have turned the corner on his offense.  I doubt if he ever becomes a great shooter, but he could become a better shooter. 

The one area this “shot doctor” would desire additional improvement are drives to the basket and free-throw shooting.  As this is written he’s shooting .480 from the line far too low for a guard.  I hate to nitpick but an improvement in those areas could raise his scoring average 3-4 points.  On Friday he registered 24 points 5 rebounds and 5 assists against the Warriors, which demonstrates improvement.  Despite his effort I’m sure he would down play it since his team lost 113-106.