Basketball from a fans perspective
Christmas day and evening games
What’s your
assessment of the Christmas games? I’m
not going to lie and tell you I saw all five games from start to finish…. I did
see most of all the games. In my
estimation there was a tie between Sixers-Knicks and Warriors-Cavs as the best games.
Trivia
Several Yankee
teammates are in the baseball hall of fame, same for the NFL with the Steelers
and maybe the 49ers. There is a trivia
question which I believe might be the only time this has occurred. Two high school basketball teammates are enshrined
in the Naismith Hall of Fame. I’ve
checked, and there might be another combo, but I believe these are the only two
in history. If you’ve read Words eye view any length of time the two have been mentioned in the
past. One more hint: The two played in the in the NBA in the '60's. The answer in tomorrow's Words eye view.
Sometimes stuff is plain funny (other times
its not)
In the Lakers win
over the Rockets last week Kyle Kuzma was blazing hot almost as hot as the
sun. He was 12-17 from the floor (.706)
and 3-6 (.500) from the 3-point line.
Kuzma scored 38 points leading the way as the Lakers ended the Rockets
14-game winning streak. He said
afterwards: “It was my hottest game since 5th or 6th
grade.”
This occurred last
season on a SportsCenter segment, the reporter provided us the Wichita State
score and then said with a smile on his face “I didn’t know Wichita had a
state.” Evidently the dummy thought his comment must have been humorous. I guess he failed to realize there’s a Ball
State, Cheney State, Adams State and Albany State just to name a few.
I omitted this one a
few weeks back when discussing basketball characters, that was the late Charles
Shackelford. Shackelford playing for
North Carolina State at the time once told a reporter: “I can shoot with my
left hand, I can shoot with my right hand I’m amphibious.”
Michael Beasley and
I share the same birthday although not the same year, January 9. Beasley off the Knicks bench has exhibited
blistering scoring recently.
Asked about his hot streak he responded: “I’ve been hot since January 9,
1989.” That was the date Beasley was
born which provides us an indication of his offensive prowess. I’d mentioned this previously maturity and no
other aspects of the game have impacted his NBA career thus far.
Is he guilty?
Last year near this
time-period Brian Bowen was sitting on top of the world. Already a 5-star recruit in the Class of 2017
he would soon be named a McDonald’s All American. Yes, the 6-7 forward was likely headed to the
NBA after his freshman year at Louisville.
Then his entire world fell apart, the justice department/FBI
investigation named his family in it’s investigation. The report indicated an Adidas representative
promised the family $100,000 if Bowen signed with Louisville.
An initial payment
of $19,500 was received by Brian Bowen Sr.
The scholarship was revoked at Louisville so on December 24 he remains
out of school yet has done nothing wrong.
Bowen indicates he still wants to play college ball rather than the
G-League or Europe however the later choices are probably his only remaining
options at this point. On the surface it
appears the younger Bowen has done nothing wrong yet is punished just the
same.
