Basketball
from a fan’s perspective
It’s his time to shine
The
Knicks are terrible, we expected the Lakers to handle them easily which they
did…the final score read Lakers 117 Knicks 87.
That’s the good portion of this account, the bad was the Anthony Davis
injury. In the 3rd quarter he
got twisted attempting to block a shot and crashed to the floor on his
back. After some time, elapsed AD was
helped to the floor and exited the floor toward the locker room walking very
gingerly.
An MRI
detected no major damage however AD will accompany the team on its upcoming
road trip. There remains a question if he is able to play, if not that provides an opportunity for Kyle Kuzma to don his Superman outfit. Those of us who follow the Lakers realize he’s
been injury plagued this season. Now
that Kuzma’s healthy and with AD sidelined it’s now time for him to prove his
worth. The internet is ripe with stories
involving him and a trade to (you name the team). This account is written without hearing from
the coach, we guess Kuzma will be in at the four for the Lakers.
“The Gang that
couldn’t shoot straight”
Jimmy
Breslin wrote a novel in 1969 with the above title, it was later made into a movie. The book and movie were about a fictional organized
crime gang. We might hang that title on
the Mizzou Tigers on Tuesday evening, not the crime part but the fact they
couldn’t “shoot straight.” Yesterday Words
eye view reported despite its overall record Mizzou plays tough hard-nose defense.
Good defense
serves little purpose if you cannot score baskets, at the end of the game Mizzou’s
Tray Jackson was the team leader in scoring with 11 points. Mizzou shot a poor 35.2% from the floor and 67%
from the free-throw line. Tennessee beat
Mizzou 69-59, at this point most Mizzou fans might be concerned. We better prepare, this might not be the
season many of us expected.
We must wait
247
Sports.com projects Class of 2022 Emoni Bates destination, they claim it’s a
50-50 pick between Kentucky and Michigan State.
The website fails to consider the 6-8 high school sophomore has two
additional choices; based on scouting reports of his basketball prowess. He could head to Australia and the NBL to
further develop his talent or wait for it…Bates might decide in favor of the
NBA. We continue to hear the NBA will overturn the high school or age 18 rule.
Should
Bates head for the NBA there will be an additional winner, colleges and
universities across the nation. They can
return to the days of recruiting players likely to remain in school four
years. Naturally nothing is guaranteed, Ja
Morant left Murray State after his sophomore year. It’s likely he wasn’t skilled enough to play
as a high school senior. The other
factor athletes have failed academically or been suspended and withdrawn from
school. Despite these apparent
negatives’ college basketball in the long run will be that much better, the
basketball landscape will continue to evolve.
Bits n Pieces
Jalen
Suggs is the Rivals number 11 prospect in the Class of 2020. The 6-4 shooting guard from Minneapolis
verbally committed to Gonzaga recently.
Suggs becomes the highest rated prospect Gonzaga’s ever recruited but is
he headed to Spokane? Recruited by
several schools he claims his decision was easy, Mark Few is one of a handful
of good coaches in his opinion, Suggs went on to say he’d given some thought to
going overseas to play. Who wins, is it Australia
or Spokane Washington in his immediate future?
We don’t know for sure; his commitment is only verbal at this point, so
we need to pay attention to his final decision.
Who says
there is no center play in the NBA, the Lakers are working it with their two? The center combo of starter JaVale McGee and reserve
Dwight Howard provided us proof play at the center position remains an NBA
priority. We submit the work of McGee/Howard
on Sunday evening, the two scored 20 points along with 12 rebounds and 11 blocked
shots against the Pistons in the team’s 106-99 victory over the Pistons.
We’ve got
to believe a few Nets fans are crying in their beer right now. As this is written the team of Kevin Durant
and Kyrie Irving is two games below .500.
They were surely excited with the prospect of Durant despite the fact he
wouldn’t play in 2019-20. As for the
other, Irving he’s played but 11 games thus far. There is no timetable as to when he returns,
he’s contemplating shoulder surgery. Can
we say he is a highly talented injury prone athlete despite what might occur
later?
