Basketball from a fan perspective

No excuses please---It sounded like an excuse to me, how about you?  In the post-game press conference at a point Doc Rivers said something like this.  “They (Nuggets) have been together longer and the proof was in their play.”  I agree with former player and ESPN analyst Tim Legler, “Your team had a 3 Games to 1 lead.”  Confession time, this member of Laker Nation was disappointed last summer, I don’t remember the order but Kawhi Leonard and Paul George both signed with the Clippers when the Lakers wanted both. 

The Clippers built the remainder of their roster in preparation for the 2019-20 season.  Several members of the media gave the NBA Championship to the Clippers believing their team was structured better than the Lakers.  Then a strange thing occurred, the Lakers won the Pacific Division of the Western Conference making them the number one seed.  Like a praying mantis the specter of the Clippers loomed over this playoff, at the end it read Nuggets 104 Clippers 89.  The other team from Los Angeles missed competing for the Western Conference Championship once again.  This is not a doom and gloom report the Clippers are a good team however they may have been overrated by members of the media. 

“Watching paint dry” ---The NCAA is r-e-a-ll-y s-l-o-w in finalizing its decision on Kansas basketball.  You know the story the governing body of college athletics slapped the basketball program of Kansas with several major accusations.  The Kansas athletic department said, “NO we are not guilty of anything.”  Then Coach Bill Self took it one step further, he personally sued the NCAA over this issue, something unseen since the days of Jerry Tarkanian former coach of UNLV. 

What does this back and forth, up, and down of Kansas basketball and Bill Self entail?  We have no method to determine an outcome due to the glacial movement of the NCAA.  If we look at the big picture this issue is nearly two years old, not the most recent action but the Adidas story including the trial.  If the issues facing Kansas were swiftly administered by the NCAA guys like me would have a little less to write about.  After completing this research was conducted to determine if an update to this story might have occurred, that is not the case. 

How does it look---We are down to four teams, the Celtics and Heat in the east and the Lakers and Nuggets in the west?  Who wins and plays for the NBA Championship is the question? The east has already begun, the Heat won a contested match on an outstanding blocked shot by the Heat’s Bam Adebayo at the rim.  The Celtics are in an 0-1 hole; however, this series is far from over. 

The surprising Heat were able to top the Bucks and advance to the conference finals.  The Celtics beat the Raptors in their series eliminating them from a repeat as NBA Champions.  In the west the Lakers took on the Rockets beating them while the Nuggets were able to eliminate the Clippers.  Anytime I venture out on the precarious limb the number of games are never part of the guess.  At this point it appears the Celtic-Laker rivalry will be renewed as both battle for the NBA Championship. 

SMH--- For those of you who need help, smh is today’s hip-hop term meaning “shake my head”.  It’s used at the time something out of the ordinary occurs, that is the case for a recent Sam Quinn story.  Quinn is one of several NBA writers for CBSSports.com, his latest story has me shaking my head.  He writes a column exploring potential coaches to replace Mike D’Antoni with the Rockets.  All of them are logical in my view except one…Jeff Van Gundy.  Wasn’t he the guy who once coached the Rockets? 

Wasn’t Van Gundy the head coach the Rockets fired in 2007?  This is certainly no indictment of Van Gundy rather a question aimed at Quinn, why go backwards?  The Rockets have seen this “movie” previously why see it again?  The chief concern Van Gundy’s not coached at the NBA level since the days of the Rockets.  In fairness to Quinn there is Team USA on Van Gundy’s resume beginning in 2017 and lasting to the present.  That team is not comprised of grizzly veteran athletes who must be convinced to adopt your system.  Could Van Gundy be hired to coach the Rockets, most certainly?  Will he be hired to coach the Rockets, probably not?

Is he the one? ---I am truly unsure where it first began, I’ve never been a Russell Westbrook fan.  There is no argument on my part he is an extremely talented athlete.  Perhaps he uses the Mad Max approach to stoke himself for competition, several others are quite demonstrative in this area.  Perhaps that’s always been the problem for me the pained, hurt look on his face is bothersome to me.  Another area especially at the time he played for the Thunder was the Mr. Triple-Double he exhibited.  Many (including me) believed there was no way he would duplicate the season by the Big O achieving a triple-double record. 

One evening while viewing a game I witnessed 7-foot 265-pound Steven Adams move purposely to allow the 6-foot 3-inch Westbrook to snatch the rebound.  I wondered how many other Thunder games had seen this type of performance as Adams and perhaps other roster members conceded rebounds to Westbrook.  The last item and maybe the most serious on my part, does he make his team better?  This is an area most difficult to evaluate, basketball remains a team game however there are athletes who carry a team on their back. The athletes by their leadership ability can provide inspiration to teammates and as mentioned provide momentum for the team to win.  Over the course of his 12-year NBA career I remain unconvinced Russell Westbrook is that guy.  NOTE:  The Lakers provided us the playbook on how to beat Westbrook. You cut off the driving lanes and force him to shoot jump shots which are his kryptonite.