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Basketball from a fans perspective

D’Lo

Anthony Davis only scored 8 points in the game; he wasn’t injured or anything that drastic. I realize this sounds difficult to believe but this was an evening his offense was not required. The Lakers scored an amazing 61 points from reserve players, sounds strange, doesn’t it? The Lakers backcourt was a key factor scoring baskets and assisting on basket after basket to teammates as they beat the Raptors 122-112. 

The clear leader in the Friday victory was point guard D’Angelo Russell who returned to the lineup after missing the last 6 games. D’Lo scored 28 points dished out 9 assists and was 5-8 from three. Dennis Schroeder came off the bench scoring 23 along with 7 assists. This Laker team looks totally different than the one prior to the trade deadline. Even with no LeBron in the lineup they look energized. They are now one game below .500 a number I thought impossible to reach this season. Hopefully they can continue at this pace...we shall see. 

A pioneer

His name Is unknown to many today, but it should be. The late Will Robinson passed in 2008 at the age of 96 but he was a “quiet” pioneer in the sport. We can look at several major universities across the nation and see a black head coach, in fact sometimes we might see two match against one another. At one point when did this begin, this is the shorten version of that history. Times were changing black players in all sports were being recruited by teams especially in the Deep South. We’d even seen schools hiring assistant coaches but there was no black head coach until Will Robinson.

In 1971 Illinois State located at Normal Illinois hired Robinson from Pershing High School in Detroit. A move of this type certainly wouldn’t occur in this day but back then it was probably taken matter a fact. With the hire of Robinson he became the first black head coach at a Division I school in the nation. One might ask why you are always writing about the “first”, my answer is simple. Someone always goes ahead of us to lay the foundation for what is to occur later, in this instance it was Will Robinson. The coach only remained at Illinois State four years, he was age 60 when first hired. Despite his relative short tenure his teams managed to compile a 62-41 record. One of his best players was Doug Collins who went on to a playing career in the NBA and much later as a head coach.

Despite leaving Illinois State the Coach was not done working he became a scout for the Detroit Pistons and discovered Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman who would later distinguish themselves in the NBA. This tidbit of information I just discovered the Piston offered the head coaching job to Robinson, but he turned them down. They later hired Chuck Daly in his place. The names he coached in high school or discovered reads like a who’s who list. This is but a brief look at a basketball pioneer one many are probably unfamiliar with, Will Robinson.

Load Management

We’ve discussed NBA players sitting out games to “rest” and the image it creates. Like many of you I want to be fair, but this issue is a concern. For me it’s not as critical, I turn on ESPN or TNT expecting to see Kyrie Irving in action. Prior to tip off the announcers say, “Kyrie Irving will not be available tonight, he is in load management protocol.” The only money I’ve spent is my electricity and cable TV bill, I haven’t spent $150-$175 on tickets, food and parking as some of you have.

Two years ago while I was attending a Mavs game the issue never occurred, as far as I remember everyone played. All players don’t believe it’s a legitimate thing, the Knicks Josh Hart is one of them. This is what he said after the Knick’s played two overtimes in a recent game. “You’ve got people getting up at 6 a.m. doing 12 hour shifts. Those people are tired. For us, we’re playing a game. We got to keep that in perspective.” It’s not just Hart with this view rest assured there are probably other players who share his belief.

“I don’t get no respect”

This has been mentioned in the past, the headline are the words of the late Rodney Dangerfield. This standup comic would use the line I don’t get no respect often throughout his standup routine. That has become the lament of the Mizzou Tigers, part of the issue is their fault. The basketball has been atrocious for the last several seasons, although there had been a coaching change not much was expected. Despite the fact the winning (24 wins and counting) have exceeded expectations they are still ignored. I monitor the television sports news, almost always this is the order. The Kansas score is provided first then Kansas State and finally the Mizzou score.

I could understand it if the television stations were located in Kansas, only one has a Kansas address. 610 and 810 a.m. Sports Talk Radio are just as guilty. Now that I’ve gotten the rant out of my system allow me to say Mizzou 79 Tennessee 71 in the SEC Tourney, they will now face Alabama in the semi-finals. As usual Kobe Brown led the way to the victory, but this continues the trend of the entire team making significant contributions to victories this season. This has become a “Damn if you do, damned if you don’t” …Mizzou fails to win and the complainers line up, if they win the question becomes why didn’t they win by a larger margin? I said it before, and I guess I must follow through boycott local sports talk radio again.