Basketball from a fan’s perspective

They are toast

For those hatin’ on the Lakers for losing, you see how quickly your fortunes can turn due to injury. Most of the so-called experts had the Nets emerging from the east to face whomever. Now injuries have impacted this team in the same manner as the Lakers, Kyrie Irving went down with an injury on Sunday and will not play tonight. He’s reported to be in a walking boot, not good for him nor the Nets. As you are aware James Hardin’s been sidelined since Game One so only Kevin Durant remains standing. Can the Nets reserves pull this game and series out in favor of them, that’s quite possible? I never say never however the chances of that occurring are not good. Think back just a few weeks ago we looked forward to a Laker-Nets Finals, the Lakers have been eliminated are the Nets next?  

The official’s take the game over

I doubt if anyone believes Nikola Jokic’ is totally innocent, he deserved a flagrant foul on the 3^rd quarter Game Four play on Cameron Payne. Was the contact worthy of a flagrant 2 and ejection, you be the judge, this is my view. During a game played in the regular season a foul of this intensity might have led to an ejection but maybe not. Playoff basketball you don’t eject a player for the Jokic’ foul unless there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

I witnessed the play in real time and prior to writing this reviewed it again on YouTube. Game officials saw it, reviewed it and decided it was a 2. It’s clear Jokic’ appears to be swiping down at the ball, his hand looks to have hit Payne’s nose. Clearly a foul, flagrant 1 free throw awarded to the Suns along with the basketball. Game officials blew this call in my opinion, after the replay analyst Reggie Miller said, “flagrant 1.” The Nuggets were not going to win this game nor the series however it’s a shame game official’s took over the game and affected the outcome in this manner. 

“I’m from Missouri, you’ve got to Show Me”

Several news sites are reporting Spurs assistant Becky Hammon has several job interviews scheduled this upcoming week. Sorry, that’s not news to me, an interview is not a hire unless one of the teams is brave enough to hire Hammon as the NBA’s first woman head coach. Why am I so cynical, well the NFL has the Rooney Rule in place, it’s intent is to ensure teams hiring head coaches must interview minority candidates and we see how that works? We are unsure if Colin Kaepernick wanted a job in the NFL or not, but the league managed to ignore him for several years. This becomes nothing but lip service and publicity for the team until one announces “The ______ are announcing we are hiring Becky Hammon as head coach etc., etc., etc.”  On the other hand, as I often say, “I’m from Missouri, you’ve got to show me” and this certainly rings true with this story.

I love Magic Johnson

I’m unsure of my favorite Laker, there is a tie among several I can name. They are Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, James Worthy and Magic Johnson. If I were starting a team it would have to be Magic, you need a director and that’s him on the court. In other areas we might question the Laker great. Rest assured Magic was as upset as the balance of Laker Nation with the team being eliminated in the first round. What many of us found surprising was the vitriol aimed at Dennis Schroeder by Magic. This anger works both ways.

I was upset when he left the Laker front office because I believed he should fight for his job. Magic placed blame on unnamed front office people by saying, “Those who backstabbed him.” I was upset but eventually forgave him for leaving and then it occurred again. Magic has been especially critical of guard Dennis Schroeder. He said, “Schroeder doesn’t play Laker basketball.” We witnessed Schroeder’s uneven play in the series versus the Suns, the hope by those in Laker Nation this would remain private. That was not to be as Magic decided to zero in on the point guard. In ending this short account allow me to state again, I love this big guy, but he needs to zip it. 

An assessment

It was April 4, 2011, the first edition of Words eye view (now Off the Dribble) was published. Wow, it’s been over 10 years now for what has become a secondary occupation, hobby or whatever you wish to call it. In that time there’s been an attempt on my part to report on all levels of basketball activity. I’ve always tried to balance coverage; I must admit an overwhelming number of stories have been written regarding Mizzou and Laker basketball. The initial hope was to avoid controversy in publishing, but I soon found out that was not a practical approach.

There are negative issues that affect basketball in the same manner as other topics. These negative accounts must be covered too, they are often not detailed however there’s purpose here and with others. It’s hoped something you might read becomes a spark to say to you, “I need to read more detail on that.” Hopefully, that applies to any historical accounts as well. This is far from the end, despite the time required to provide content for your reading this is a labor of love. In closing a brief history, I wrote and was sending basketball updates by email to co-workers. One of the readers a friend suggested “Why don’t you consider writing a blog.” I informed him “I don’t know anything about writing a blog”, I probably still don’t.