Basketball from a fan perspective

Game 1---The final score read Lakers 116 Heat 98 but the game was not really that close.  The Lakers had a 32-point lead at a point in the game.  Anthony Davis had 34 points and LeBron finished with 25 points as he came up one assist short of a triple-double.  A follow up will be published Friday morning.   

The question remains---Will there be a high school and college basketball season in 2020-21?  Covid’s impacted this issue to a degree with college football, several conferences are not playing while others are.  A similar scenario exists at the high school level although it would appear there are more high school teams than colleges playing football.  This is the issue, from what we read Covid is an airborne plague. 

Although it likely can be passed on in the open air it’s probably less likely than in an indoor gym or arena.  Although athletes present a problem the student body might be more at risk, can you socially distance yourself in a gym and arena is the question?  The calendar is about to turn to October, college teams will soon begin practice.  Perhaps how the pandemic affects the college game might be the basis for high school action later, stay tuned.  

I don’t place a great deal of trust in what I hear---I’ve often asked myself (and sometimes you) do the talking heads really believe what they say?  On the other hand, are they attempting to drum up viewership support? A recent example, four “experts” on “the worldwide sports leader” picked the Ravens over the Chiefs on MNF.  We know the outcome of the Monday NFL game, Chiefs 34 Raven 20. 

Prior to the Western Conference Finals at least two SI.com, one CBSSport.com and ESPN.com basketball writers picked the Nuggets over the Lakers.  What are you saying Larry Laker, can’t these guys provide us their honest opinion?  Of course, they are entitled but often their predictions seem to be like a game of darts.  Sometimes it’s even worst based on the two examples provided you. 

Excuse---Allow us to face facts there are legitimate excuses and there are the ones that are purely *&(#^@%+.  Item one, former Bulls great Scottie Pippen is downplaying the 2020 NBA Champion no matter if it’s the Lakers or Heat.  He claims, “Playing basketball in the Bubble is like a pickup game.”  We can agree with the Pippen comments to a degree, this championship is different, at the same time does it make it less significant in the manner it’s played. 

I’m not a betting person however I’d be willing to lay down large sums of money Pippen wouldn’t be making that statement if he were not retired.  Item two, Stephen A. Smith discussing the Rivers termination and the Clippers poor play.  “There were two teams that voted to conclude the season without a championship, one of those was the Clippers.”  Was that his explanation for the basis of the Clippers imploding, they didn’t want to play? 

This is not an excuse as much as it says “What”!  Smith went on to say, “I don’t understand how Lawrence Frank who was hired as an assistant to Rivers moved in front of him.”  That’s easy to explain without a great deal of difficulty, Ballmer removed Rivers as president of basketball operations for him to concentrate on coaching.  At that point Frank moved from a coach’s seat to replacing Rivers, is it different, no doubt but the point I believe here.  Smith was attempting to report something nefarious had occurred with Frank performing an end around over Rivers. 

The view from 30,000 feet---Help me, there is no argument James Harden is an extraordinarily talented player.  From my view it appears he shoots the ball a great deal, will the Rockets win with Harden taking his usual number of shots, let’s crunch some numbers.  The Beard finished the season with 34 points a game average, he shot .444% from the floor .355 from the 3-point line and 86.5 from the line.  In one game versus the Hawks the Rockets took 92 shots and 54 of them were Harden’s, over half his team’s shots.

An ESPN scribe wrote “They (Rockets) are slightly better with Russell Westbrook in the backcourt versus Chris Paul.”  The question becomes can they win the West, or better yet can they win an NBA Championship as structured.  Over this past season and into the playoffs we saw a backcourt at teams appearing to lack direction despite the assist numbers of Harden and Westbrook.  Normally I’m blabby about my view of this subject, this time I will allow you to draw your own conclusions.