BASKETBALL FROM A FANS PERSPECTIVE

I shouldn't do this

I hate to do this, provide LaVar Ball free advertising but here goes anyway.  The second version of his BBB is out, the cost has been reduced significantly.  Remember the initial offering for his first edition was $495 and $695 for larger sizes.  The new BBB shoe is priced at $200 which according to ESPN.com "Remains higher than the LeBron 16 which costs $185 and the Air Jordan XXXIII about to come out at $175."  The question becomes will the BBB brand sell any better when its marketed against LeBron and Air Jordan?  How about Steph Curry's Under Armour brand, I'm unsure how many versions are available the website indicates the highest price version is $170.  

ESPN.com

Now it's Coach K doing the talking
Recently I called out North Carolina's Roy Williams about his view of recruiting.  Today it's Duke's Coach K., "College basketball is actually pretty clean" said the long-time coach.  I guess it should be expected Williams and Coach K. would defend the game they have coached so many years.  I'd like to believe both however I will reserve my thoughts for the time-being, hopefully they are paying attention to the proceedings in New York City.   

Illinois-Arizona? 
Notice the question mark behind the headline, allow a brief explanation.  Illinois and Arizona will play a home and home series in the 2019-20 and 2020-2021 seasons.  The question for me this is not a Duke-North Carolina or UCLA-USC or some other long-time rivalry.  These two institutions are 1,600 road miles apart.  The schools have face one another in the past so it's not exactly a first time, the other question they would appear to have no history of a rivalry.  I'm going to explore this further, if I come across any additional information I'll be pleased to share it with you.   

The game
The Celtics won easily over the Sixers 105-87 in the initial game kicking off the 2018-19 NBA season.  No need of re-hashing the result just say I was a little surprised.  Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward of the Celtics both returning from injury experienced sub par games and still the Celtics won the game rather easily, the outcome wasn't much in doubt.  What I looked for was the Fultz-Redick duel, maybe that's the wrong term to use.  Remember Coach Brett Brown said: "Markelle Fultz would start but J.J. Redick would play the second half."  

One a game begins I often become absorbed in the action and miss details such as the time a player is on the court although lineup changes are noted.  There were at least two takeaways for me, Fultz managed to score 5 points in 24 minutes of action while Redick scored 16 in 30 minutes off the bench.  Second takeaway, I thought the Sixers were ready to compete but appeared out of sync throughout much of the evening.  Okay, it's only one game and the first one at that, I shouldn't become too excited about the outcome unless I'm a Sixer fan.