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Basketball from a fans perspective

LeBron

The world is aware LeBron James is sidelined for at least the next 3 weeks. How do the Lakers respond with him missing, that’s difficult to determine based on these two examples. Friday night they lost to the playoff bound Wolves 110-102. Yesterday the Lakers managed to beat the playoff bound Warriors at Crypto.com Arena 113-105, AD led the way scoring 39 points with 8 rebounds and 6 assists. AD was assisted by power forward Jarred Vanderbilt with 10 points and 13 rebounds. This win leaves the Lakers at 11 outside the playoffs with 34 losses.

Consider this bit of information the Lakers are only 2 games behind the Wolves who sit in the 6 spot. I’m going to continue to root for my team to earn a playoff berth, if they miss I along with Laker Nation will be disappointed and must wait for a better outcome next season. Yes I realize LeBron will be 39-years old but despite the injury bug have you ever witnessed play at his age beyond Tom Brady. And that’s really not fair to LeBron because the two play different sports. In any event I continue to believe this team with a healthy LeBron and hale and hearty AD can beat any team in the NBA with their trade deadline roster makeover.

I’m late

Veteran NBA writer Andy Katz published a list in January of the best first year college basketball coaches. He listed Jerome Tang at Kansas State at the top, Mizzou’s Dennis Gates was number 2, I would have had them the other way around but it’s his poll. His third choice I take issue with, he’s got Sean Miller Xavier there. No argument on my part it appears Miller’s turned the program around but he’s no rookie coach. He was at Xavier previously then left for the Arizona job in 2009, he was at Arizona until he was fired last season. Get it out of your mind I’m not hatin’ on Miller because he got fired it’s the other thing. I thought Katz’s piece was about NEW first year coaches. Miller is in his first year but he’s a veteran coach performing a bang-up job at a school he formerly served as head coach.

Say what

Recently we discussed NBA expansion especially related to one of the cities. Veteran NBA scribe Eric Pincus indicates Mexico City is considered a prime candidate for expansion. While I disagreed with his take on expansion, I later discovered another potential roadblock. As some of you are aware visiting teams facing the Nuggets have one complaint unrelated to playing the home team. It’s the altitude, the criticism is always the same, players indicate they run out of oxygen quicker than when playing at home.

There is a reason for that, Denver is the highest altitude city in the NBA. Residents and Nuggets players have grown accustomed to the 5,279-foot altitude of the city. Mexico City has an altitude of 7,349 feet, f keep in mind there are sports played in the surrounding area of the city. Rest assured visiting teams from lower altitudes probably have the same criticism as visiting NBA players have about the Nuggets court. Is that issue going to be an impediment in Mexico City securing a franchise, probably not but it’s certainly worth discussing. 

SEC Defensive Player of the Year

D’Moi Hodge probably won’t be selected defensive player of the year, but he should be. Hodge leads the SEC in steals this season and has undoubtedly frustrated many a SEC opponent. This 6-foot 4-inch guard from the British Virgin Islands has followed his coach, he’d played for Dennis Gates at Cleveland State. You might ask the question is there a difference between mid-major Cleveland State and Mizzou, of course there is but don’t ask Hodge the question?

If we check his stats from Cleveland State last season, they appear practically the same as those he’s fashioned at Mizzou. As for the defense statement, in last Wednesdays action against LSU Hodge had 5 steals in the game while scoring 23 points, he was 50% from the floor shooting with 45.5% coming from the 3-line. Hodge is one of those seniors who might return in August, without naming names Dennis Gates indicated there would be a Senior Night but he expects some to return in August. 

Playing angry  

This member of Laker Nation is unworried about Russell Westbrook and Pat Beverley. Writers more with Westbrook have mentioned his revenge factor working for him. The fact he might want to prove to all there was a mistake in the Lakers trading him. The same might be said for Beverley however there is an issue here…playing angry. I’ve never played sports at a high level; I wasn’t close to good enough to play for my high school team. This I can relate, every time I faced a competitor in any sport on the playground, I had an overwhelming desire to beat them.

In some instances I remember being angry wanting to beat them so badly no matter what I managed to do they were still winners over me. I can conclude no matter how angry I got it didn’t aid me in winning. The same goes maybe more for Westbrook than Beverley, the drives to the basket are a thing of beauty for Westbrook. The problem was the other things he didn’t accomplish, it wasn’t the fact he was uncapable he appeared unwilling. Notice I said “appeared” because there are elements I’ve seen since his Thunder days that we fans fail to see. In closing this for both players, I hope they manage successful ends to the end of their careers.