Basketball from a fans perspective

Game 7

The Celtics are Eastern Conference Champions besting the Heat 100-96. The game was highly contested as the Celtics got off to a quick start playing as a visitor. The Heat came roaring back and were in contention for a time but would eventually fall short. Jason Tatum led the way for the Celtics with 26 points but there was help from Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown both players scoring 24 points. Jimmy Butler led the way for the Heat with 35 points, he was assisted by Bam Adebayo with 25 points, the Heat actually outshot the Celtics from the field (42% to 41.2%). The Finals begin on Thursday June 2 and this should should be an entertaining series. The Warriors would appear to be the early favorite in the series.  

The Lakers have their man

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is one of those names I trust to be informative. Woj (to my knowledge) was the first to report the Lakers hired Darvin Ham as the head coach. Later information indicates the team signed Ham to a 4-year contract, what do we know about this new hire? Ham played his college ball at Texas Tech, his NBA playing career for the most part was in a reserve role for a number of teams. His first two jobs as an assistant were at the college level, from 2011-13 he was an assistant coach for these Lakers. That was followed by a stint with the Hawks and the Bucks continuing in the role of an assistant at both stops.

At this point Ham is an unfinished portrait, we have little idea on his coaching style. We don’t know if he’s a defensive guy or offensive, on the other hand, he could be a combination of both. Now there is one move complete with the hire of a head coach, there are two additional tasks ahead. Although the team has no draft choices it is incumbent, they search for another Austin Reaves type. Finally, the last duty is to figure out what to do regarding Russell Westbrook. Does he remain in place or do the Lakers try and move him?

In closing the boo-birds are out already, they are claiming without any proof Ham is not a good hire. THEY claim LeBron will “run” over Ham, all I can say is wait and see. It sure would be great if I had the ability to peer into the future and determine how something might turn out. Shoot, I could have earned a great deal more income than I have to date, oh well. I’m unsure if the HBO series is there yet, spoiler alert. At the time Jack McKinney suffered his bicycle accident Paul Westhead took over as head coach. Westhead hired Riley as an assistant coach and would become head coach when Westhead was fired. Riley had served as radio color analyst prior to becoming an assistant and later head coach. Good thing there was no social media back then, can you imagine the explosion of controversy hiring a “radio guy” as head coach?

“I’m Back!”

The headline above reflects the words of Michael Jordan as he un-retired from the Bulls. In March 1995 MJ announced he was returning to the team after playing minor league baseball. Of course, he retired a few years later but would play an additional two seasons for the Wizards before retiring once again for the final time as an athlete. We might say his statement somewhat fits the Golden State Warriors. It was 2019 when the Warriors last appeared in the playoffs, they lost the championship to the Raptors that season.

The Warriors would missed the playoffs for the next two seasons but came roaring back in the 2021-22 season. They now await the winner of the Celtics-Heat series for the NBA Championship. First, they defeated the Nuggets 4 games to 1 and compiled the same win total in the Western Conference Finals beating the Mavs last Thursday. Don’t misunderstand this account, Doesn’t matter if it’s the Celtics or Heat the Warriors still have a competitive series ahead. The question in front of the Warriors can they return to the championship contention we’ve seen in the pass? In closing Luka is officially the Don, he certainly proved to all he’s got game. Come on Mark Cuban, use your cash app and pick up The Don some additional help. Back to the Warriors a moment, they have managed to create a dynasty based on the last several years.

Did we miss the news?

An adjustment to the college game plus injury, we could state Emoni Bates failed to live up to expectations. Shortly after the season ended, he thanked coach Hardaway and Memphis basketball but announced he was transferring. Several schools were supposedly on his list, among them Louisville and Michigan appeared to be the possible destination. Despite this report we remain unsure where Bates is headed. If you believe this account to be negative that is not the intent, there is still a belief by this writer there is potential talent in Bates. After weeks of player after player transferring the news has been scarce regarding any mention of a destination for Bates.

Why

This was written ahead of the Laker announcement however it was decided to publish it anyway. Someone, please offer us an explanation. Why do we continue to read and hear media reports of Doc Rivers becoming the Lakers next head coach? Prior to this rant allow me to say upfront I don’t hate Rivers in fact I don’t even dislike him. This I’ve believed for a number of years Rivers is an overrated coach in my view. His head coaching experienced as mentioned in the past has been quite extensive. All the years Rivers served as a head coach (1999) his teams have only missed the playoffs four times, this includes stops in Orlando, Boston, Clippers and Sixers.

As mentioned previously only one season (2007-08) was there a “perfect storm” for Rivers, his Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen Celtic team won the NBA Championship. What occurred on those other occasions you ask? His playoff teams have registered a plus .500 record only three times, the championship year and once losing to the Lakers in 2010 and the Conference Finals in 2012. The Clipper team he managed from 2013-2020 never played for the Western Conference Championship. Several of those teams were loaded with athletic talent yet they never succeeded. Is the failure to advance all the fault of Rivers, of course not. Until its proven otherwise this writer believes Rivers is a good regular season coach, once his teams reach the playoffs it’s a far different matter.

It belongs to him easily

The it refers to the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals MVP. Steph Curry was the easy winner I’m unsure if anyone other than Luka might have been in the running. Steve Kerr referred to Curry as the “engine of their offense” or similar words, for me it is difficult to describe Curry as a point guard due to his prolific shooting. Despite this fact his assist numbers are just as valid as his shooting. In the WC Finals Curry averaged nearly 24 points along with 7.4 assists and 6.6 rebounds a game. The rebound total for me is pretty amazing, at 6 foot 2 and 185 pounds it allows us to believe if Curry wants the ball on a rebound it belongs to him. With these numbers Curry still managed to shoot a sizzling 43.9% from the 3-point line.