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Basketball from a fans perspective

The NBA on Christmas

The NBA has scheduled games on Christmas Day since I can remember. If you intend to watch the games no need of me going over the schedule, let’s check the history. I was surprised to discover the first Christmas Day game was played December 25, 1947. The Knicks played the defunct Providence (Rhode Island) Steamrollers at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks were winners of that first game 89-75. Sidebar, the Rhode Island team was a founding member of the Basketball Association of America forerunner of today’s NBA. They went out of business in 1949 and there is no history as to why.

Back to the Christmas game a moment, it’s been played every season since 1947 except for 1998 when a lockout prevented it being played. NBA expansion changed the number of games, it would go from a single game to a double-header then to three games back to one and now the quintet we have now. I can’t close this out without mentioning Ralph Nader. In 2011 the consumer advocate wrote then NBA commissioner David Stern suggesting the games be cancelled. It was his conviction coaches and NBA players would rather be home with family on Christmas Day. Nader might have believed in his letter however his suggestion the games be stopped failed to register with the commissioner nor any fans. So there you have the brief history of the NBA Christmas Day game.

Officiating

More difficult in my view, officiating a game over playing it especially at the professional level. I realize the NFL is not the NBA but note this issue. In the Chiefs game last week a Texan safety leveled a hit on a wide receiver of the Chiefs. Six days later the NFL determines the hit qualified for a fine but wait there’s more. Game officials didn’t toss a flag on the play although they had an opportunity. Let’s face it, our eyes cannot always focus on the swiftness of NFL or NBA play. The NBA has done a similar thing, after the game admitting the official erred on his or her call. I have no answer only repeating what I once read by a basketball official.

He said, “I want you to walk out at the end of the game and not realize I was even there.” In other words that official should not become so noticeable that fans begin booing when they hear your name announced. Ask Chiefs fans about a certain NFL official. The statement by the official is true, I would ask the question “are you so concerned about being second guessed you don’t make a call?” A tool that’s aided the cause is instant replay, its used in the NFL and NBA by game officials but even that has drawbacks at times. It’s claimed officials in both sports are evaluated during and after the season. We have no idea the rating system utilized to determine the good from the bad however they certainly need to do a better job.

I didn’t realize this

Creighton University in Omaha Nebraska has always been a hotbed for basketball. A number of NBA players in the past matured their game at Creighton, the only current active player is Doug McDermott of the Spurs. From time to time we’ve discussed athletes who could have played professionally in more than one sport. I can add a name to the list one just discovered, I can add the late Bob Gibson. Those of us who might be familiar with the name remember him as a Hall of Fame pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals.

The principal reason he’s been enshrined in the hall is based on the exemplary record during his 16-year baseball career. I discovered while enrolled at Creighton Gibson played basketball. Not only did he play he was good, but the records also indicate Gibson averaged 22 points a game during his junior year at Creighton. Not only a scorer the 1955-56 records indicate he averaged 7.6 rebounds a game, but that’s also a good number for a player standing but 6 foot 1. Gibson would later play for the Globetrotters before eventually settling on baseball fulltime. So I learned valuable information while researching the career of the Cardinals legendary pitcher Bob Gibson it’s my hope you find this interesting too.

Breakout year

Despite great promise Bol Bol has fail to accomplish a great deal in his brief NBA career… till now. Bol is the son of the late Manute Bol and has shown promise however his progress has been slow. I discovered as I was writing this he was named after his great-grandfather a Dinka chief. Bol was born in Sudan but grew up in the Kansas City metro, there is a significant Sudanese population here. His bio indicates Bol attended two area high schools and two prep schools before playing 9 games for the University of Oregon. He declared for the draft and 2019 saw him selected as the 44^th pick in the second round.

The 7-foot 2 inch 220-pound Bol never played for the Heat; he spent three years with the Nuggets where he hardly played. He was traded to the Magic in February 2022 where he appears to have bloomed. He’s scoring at a 12.2 point per game clip, that might not sound as anything special. If we look at the single digit scoring in his first three years his output is certainly a bonus. The key appears to be playing time or P/T as Dick Vitale might say, Bol and anyone else certainly cannot learn to play in the NBA sitting on the bench. Bol’s been a starter in the first 27 of the Magic’s 32 games. At the time I compiled a list of Kansas City metro NBA players on another occasion, I overlooked Bol. In closing the question is posed again, has this become a breakout year for Bol?