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Basketball from a fans perspective

Lakers win, Lakers win!

It’s but one game the first one, Lakers 128 Grizzlies 112. There were plenty of hero’s so I’m not going to bore you with all the details. An exceptional game by Rui Hachimura with 29 points off the bench and Austin Reaves scored 23 points. AD tweaked his shoulder but still managed to score 22 points along with 12 rebounds and get this, 7 blocked shots. I’m not going to repeat the names but a couple of NBA veterans made this observation the previous day, “LeBron looks tired." I’m sure that might be true to a degree but checking the box score fails to provide proof of their statement. 

50% shooting and 21 points, 37% from three along with 11 rebounds and 5 assists. I’m unsure if we could find a number of other 38-year-old athletes with similar numbers. The Lakers were down 6 at the half but played especially good in the second half of the game. LeBron and AD were 3 of 4 from the floor in that critical 4th quarter, yet combined their contribution along with the balance of the team totaled 32 points. The Grizzlies are a tough young team and this win by the Lakers means nothing if they fail to win the series. Game 2 will be Wednesday night; the Lakers must be prepared for the Grizzlies will come out breathing fire.

They can play too

Basketball, particularly in the NBA, has become a game of height over the years. Teams place great emphasis on acquiring talent but also to ensure they have adequate height advantage. How often have you heard this term, “They are undersized,” for me it was numerous. This past season, despite having a 6-foot 10 and 7-foot 2 player on the roster the tallest starter in Mizzou’s lineup stood 6 foot 8. 

Even with the emphasis on height we saw 5 foot 8 Markquis Nowell lead Kansas State in the recent NCAA Tourney. Just for your info NBA rosters at this time contain three players standing 5 foot 9 and 7 who are 6 feet tall. Nowell declared for the NBA Draft, do we suppose some team might be willing to take a chance on him? In the NBA’s past we can debate the importance of Spud Webb (5-7) or Earl Boykins (5-5) to their NBA teams yet they managed to compete. They countered the old argument, “A Big Man must prove he can’t play the game while a little man must prove he can.”

750K

Yes, that is correct, the Mavs and owner Mark Cuban are being fined $750,000. You remember the exercise at the close of the season. A number of Mavs players sat when there were questions on their ability to play. After an investigation by the NBA a decision was reached that there was no valid reason for the players to sit. I wasn’t sure at the time because the Mavs were fighting to get into the playoffs. I believe a win (which didn’t occur) would place them in the playoffs.

I certainly questioned the move at the time and now we discover this move was about draft choices. The Mavs owed the Knicks from the Kristaps Porzingis trade back in 2019. In any event the NBA said, “This was conduct detrimental to the league.” If you followed the ownership career of Mark Cuban this is not uncommon or unusual. The Mavs owners had conflicts with former commissioner David Stern and current leader Adam Silver. As I stated at the time, this off season for the Mavs should be quite interesting as they attempt to work their way through the predicament.

Mizzou and Memphis

Details have not been released yet however an announcement is pending. Mizzou and Memphis plan a home and home series beginning in the fall. The Blue & White Tigers of Memphis will face off against the Black & Gold Mizzou Tigers at Mizzou Arena with a yet to be announced date. Mizzou will visit FedEx Forum during the 2024-25 season. The exciting part of this pairing is Memphis and it’s rich basketball history dating back to the days of Gene Bartow (1970-1978). In other news late Friday evening Tamar Bates announced he was headed to Mizzou.

This 6-foot 5 wing took an unusual journey to eventually land in Columbia. A Kansas City (KS) native and former IMG athlete was heavily recruited by former coach Cuonzo Martin. He decided in favor of Texas, Shaka Smart departed Texas for Marquette and Bates wanted out. Mizzou once again attempts to recruit him however his choice became Indiana. As players were added the Indiana backcourt became crowded with less playing time for Bates. I have no idea if he can play or even a good fit that must be determined later. What I do like, Gates and staff not giving up on a prospect and that is the case for Bates. Hopefully this will be a high reward addition.  

Parity

The NFL has long mentioned parity with its league over the last several years, I guess it’s intended to allow as many teams as possible to compete successfully. To my knowledge it’s never been touched on in the NBA although certainly in the 2022-23 season it should have been mentioned. If you check the Atlantic and Pacific Divisions of the NBA you will note a significant event. For the first time in my memory all teams finished above .500 in their respective divisions.

If we check the Pacific Division, we can see the race was super tight over the Atlantic. The Kings finished in first place with a 48-34 record while the last place Lakers had a 43-39 record finishing 5 games in front of the Lakers. The Atlantic Division was not quite as tight a race, the first place Celtics won 57 games while the last place Raptors were 41-41. As for this member of Laker Nation I can make this statement, if the Pacific Division had been as competitive as the Atlantic there is no way the Lakers make the playoffs pure and simple.