“Pistol” Pete
ESPN
SEC Network ran an account of LSU’s Pete Maravich. See it if you can, issues were uncovered
about his family life previously unknown to most. Maravich was a player ahead of his time, he
scored 3,667 points in three years. In
the mid ‘60’s freshman were not eligible until their sophomore year, all
Division I schools had freshman teams. A
prolific scorer Maravich averaged 43.8, 44.2 and 44.5 points per game in his
senior year. It was obvious why he was
given the nickname based on his scoring prowess, imagine those numbers without
benefit of a 3-point line. In addition
no shot clock existed which meant teams could use stall tactics against
Maravich and LSU.
He
was most noted for scoring, but it was his ball-handling that amazed and
sometimes caused problems with his Atlanta Hawk teammates. Imagine a white player with a Globetrotter
mentality with the basketball, in 2018 it would probably not be very noticeable,
in the NBA of the 1970’s he stood out.
The career of Maravich was cut short due to injuries, he would conclude
his career with the Jazz and retired from the Celtics in 1980. In January 1988 Maravich died of a heart
attack at the age of 40 while playing a pick-up game. Maravich would later be enshrined in the
Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame, Pistol Pete Maravich a name from
the past basketball fans should know.
It’s been awhile
Have the “baby”
Lakers grown up, that would certainly appear to be the case. The Lakers were winners against the Cavs on
Sunday evening 127-113, the 14-point spread might have been greater if the
Lakers had continued to play at an elevated level. In honesty it was somewhat close up till
maybe the middle of the third quarter when the Lakers stepped on the gas and
accelerated past LeBron and the Cavs.
This is most interesting, NBA.com says the victory was the first over
the Cavs since the first term of the Obama administration, that would take us
back to the 2008-2012-time frame. Julius Randle led the way with 36 points, 14
rebounds and 7 assists, he was aided by Brook Lopez (22 points) and Kentavious
Caldwell-Pope (20) and Kyle Kuzma with 14 points.
I almost forgot to
mention the guy who came off the bench Isaiah Thomas. Thomas “only” scored 20 points along with 9
assists and 5 rebounds, think there might have been a revenge factor
working? I will repeat my earlier
statement the Lakers don’t need LeBron James for one simple reason. These young Lakers would defer to him thus
stunting their growth as a team. There
is no doubt LeBron James continues to play at a prominent level and is the best
there is currently. See fooled you,
thought I was gonna trash him. As this
is written ESPN.com NBA page contains a bit of interesting news. Their NBA Power Rankings have the Lakers at
number 18, meaning they are better than 12 other NBA teams. They are rising, acquiring free-agents (not
named LeBron) should allow this continued growth.
I’m missing some
This is funny to me,
the field of 68 has been completed for the NCAA Tournament. Unlike many in the media I am not going to
pretend I know all these teams, I am aware of their won-loss record but that’s
about all. Despite my attempt to see all
the games there are far too many and I’m missing some. In several instances I cannot even provide
you the city/town of the college/university in the tournament. I will be rooting for Mizzou but that’s about
it, will I adopt a team as the tournament progresses…. certainly. I adopted Kentucky in 2015 at the time they appeared
in the tourney undefeated before losing in the semi-finals.
Filling up the stat line
Several of the NBA number were
stat stuffers over the weekend.
Anthony
Davis, Pelicans, 25 points 11 rebounds 10 blocked shots in a loss versus the Jazz
Julius
Randle, Lakers, 36 points 14 rebounds 7 assists in beating the Cavs
Kevin
Durant, Warriors, 39 points 12 rebounds 4 assists in loss to the Wolves
Karl-Anthony
Towns, Wolves, 31 points 16 rebounds 2 assist in the win over the Warriors
Dwight
Howard, Hornets, 30 points 12 rebounds 4 blocked shots in the win over the Suns
Nicolas
Batum, Hornets, 29 points 12 rebounds 7 assists in the win over the Suns
Nikola
Jokic, Nuggets, 20 points 11 rebounds 11 assists in their win over the Kings
