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Basketball from a fans perspective

Gigantic disappointment

There are thousands of Nugget fans who are loving it, their team is about to close my Lakers out. Tonight it may or may not be over, however there is no way the Lakers comeback from an 0-3 deficit. This is certainly no intent on my part to disparage the Nuggets, they have done what they needed to do. Game 2 could have resulted in a Laker victory however they managed to lose 108-103. I believed home cooking would aid the Laker cause but even that didn’t work, Game 3 went to the Nuggets 119-108. It’s The Joker, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon and others who led the way. No excuses offered from this corner of Laker Nation.

I have no desire to hear from Stephen A. Smith or Charles Barkley, the reason the Lakers are losing is easy to see. I can state this being the truth, at least one of these critics has played the game at a high skill level. As for the other one he just talks and talks and talks…. most of the time somewhat loudly. I’m reading this morning some Laker fans are already tossing barbs at D Lo but that doesn’t include me. Should LeBron desire to continue play I’d like to see him dial it back a bit and allow the youngsters to take over even with the possibility of fewer wins next season. When this series ends, I will continue to follow whichever teams remain. In addition I will continue to research the NBA Draft pertaining to MY Lakers seeking to help them.

Nothing like playoff basketball

We held a discussion of playoff basketball and a former New Yorker now living in Kansas City reminded me of this game. He said, “I’m sitting in a bar watching the game and the end broke my heart.” Former Pacer guard Reggie Miller scored 8 points in 9 seconds; you claim that’s impossible. Not so fast there, it was May 7, 1995, and it was Game one against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden of all places. This game has gone down in NBA Playoff history, check it out.

I do not own the rights to this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoCpMguR4cQ

The new Big XII

UCF, Cincinnati, Houston and BYU will be added to the schedule for the 2023-24 basketball season. I’m not sure as I write this if one or more of the conference additions could have Texas and Oklahoma on their schedule. They will play either team and then never again as conference members, as most of you are aware this is the last season for Texas and Oklahoma as conference members. Both schools depart the Big XII for the SEC. There are rumored plans to add additional schools beyond UCF, Cincinnati, Houston and BYU, for now minus Texas and Oklahoma below is the manner the conference will appear in the 2024-25 basketball season.

Oklahoma State

Houston

Cincinnati

UCF

BYU

Kansas

Kansas State

Baylor

Texas Tech

West Virginia

Iowa State

TCU

Prior to completion of this account an unconfirmed story surfaced. There have been reports of the conference continuing to expand, however this one, if true, was certainly a surprise. This is unconfirmed and might never occur, however UConn has been mentioned as one of those schools joining the Big XII Conference. This one will require us to keep our eyes and ears vigilant for further developments.

We have an addition

Over time I’ve written a bunch of stuff I admit might be speculation on my part. Face it we take a thing remotely connected to the subject fit bits and pieces together and just like Penn and Teller or David Blaine its magic. In most instances a disclaimer is added to mine (at least I hope). Where am I going with this account, glad you ask me? Former NBA player Gilbert Arenas has been quite talkative in the last few years and this might be one more example. Arenas has also concluded the draft lottery was “fixed” allowing the Spurs to potentially draft Victor Wembanyama.

Arenas says Popovich is great when developing international players (true), he also claims this. “Nobody paid attention to San Antonio tanking all year. The last time the Spurs had 20 wins was the year before they got Tim Duncan (partially true)? Sometimes Arenas and company cause me to laugh out loud when alone. Surely Arenas and company are not serious enough to believe some of what they are reporting. As you can see from the brief report here, one true statement and one partially correct and “presto change oh” we have a brand-new conspiracy story. Sorry Gilbert, as people might say, provide me with solid proof to back up your statement. After all “I’m from Missouri, you’ve got to Show Me.”

This is the part of the story I’ve never been able to understand with these conspiracy theorists. We never hear these accounts applied to the NFL draft or to a lesser degree baseball. I guess this is just something that will continue to exist as long as the NBA conducts its draft in the same manner. If we look at a “fix” it would truly be suspect if the Lakers, Knicks or Bulls were awarded the top pick. San Antonio contains a metro population of 2.4 million people, that’s a miniscule population base compared to the larger cities of Los Angeles, New York City or Chicago. In my view its better the pick belongs to the Alamo City than the others. The 2023 Draft Lottery should prove to all (except skeptics) there is no fix.