Basketball from a fans perspective

Bits an Pieces 

After the Thursday night 128-122 OT loss to the Celtics the Pistons now own the record, technically they have tied the losing streak established by the Sixers over parts of two seasons with 28. They have a game scheduled today with the Raptors and then it’s the Rockets, Jazz, Warriors, Nuggets and Kings. Next up are the Spurs, Rockets again, Wizards and Wolves. I believe over these 10 games the losing streak will be ended, against which one of these teams I have no idea. We shall see if my examination is correct.

This is a Victor Wembanyama story you are hereby warned in advance, you can skip it if you desire. Here goes 8 players in the NBA ‘s history have produced games of 30 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocked shots in a game. Wemby accomplished the feat on Thursday night leading his team to victory and break a Spurs losing streak. He scored 30 points along with 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 blocked shots in the 118-105 win over the Blazers. Just in case you are interested in the “others” who registered these numbers. David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Julius Erving, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Charles Barkley, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Five former player in the Naismith Hall of Fame plus three who could be enshrined one day, this accomplishment by Wemby while still a teen, his birthday is January 4 he turns 20 years of age.

This will have changed

By writing this a week or so ahead of publishing changes will occur. This college season so far looks quite different from 2022-23, yes the usual suspects are in place UConn, Kansas, Arizona, North Carolina and Duke. The difference this season thus far is that teams generally not listed in the Top 25 are present, who are these mystery guys you might ask? How about Colorado State 11-1 as this is written, we could include James Madison in the count too. I can’t really include Florida Atlantic in the mix, the Owls have been quite competitive in recent years.

A school I can include in the count is Mississippi, without checking the schedule I’m unsure who they might have played. As this is written the Bulldogs have 12 wins and no losses. Providence has been in the Top 25 over the years but this time it’s different for Mizzou Nation. One of our own, Kim English is in his first year as head coach. With the number of games available on various platforms I haven’t had an opportunity to see them all in action. As conference races begin over the next several weeks and months we’ll see who falls by the wayside and who continues to excel in the 2023-24 collegiate season.

Did the Knicks miss on him

Tyrese Haliburton had another one of those monster games on Thursday evening, the Pacer guard led the way in the 120-104 victory over the Bulls. He scored 21 points and had 20 assists and 0 turnovers in the game thus becoming only the second player in NBA history with 20 points and 20 assists and O turnovers. The other player to accomplish the deed was Chris Paul in 2016. Haliburton continues to shine in his 4th year in the NBA, you think the Kings might regret trading him to the Pacers.

That’s probably not the case Haliburton might not have been able to play starter minutes after all the Kings had DeAaron Fox at the point, Haliburton would have likely continued in a reserve role with them. You realize the Knicks had an opportunity to draft Haliburton in 2020, that is based on a Stephen A. Smith comment, he claims (without offering us any proof) he contacted the Knicks front office and “insisted” they draft Haliburton. The only hitch Smith offered us this statement on his program but offered no proof. As my friend Keenan might say “If there is no video it didn’t occur” LOL.

Christmas television 

This is interesting on several levels, let’s take a moment and read between the lines. Christmas Day sports television has been exclusively the property of the NBA, that has now changed. The NFL decided to place Christmas Eve and Christmas Day games on its 2023 schedule and that’s where our story begins. Without seeing any posted numbers analysts are reporting NFL games swamped the NBA games in viewership numbers on Christmas Day. Okay lets dive a little deeper in the pool to see if we can uncover some detail, first of all John, Joe and Andrew have long been aware the NFL fan base is so much larger than the NBA.

I can use my hometown as an example, Kansas City is totally absorbed in Chiefs football. My guess is 12-14 households out of 20 in this city had the Chiefs on rather than Bucks-Knicks and later Warriors-Nuggets basketball. Based on a couple of podcasts I saw the NBA might wish to consider closing up shop since they were beaten so badly rating wise. I’m just being witty, I’m certainly not serious although a couple of podcasters appeared quite grim in their accounts. I’ve long believed in a divide, there are casual NFL fans (like me) who are rabid NBA fans. At the same time there are far more fanatical NFL fans than NBA, why should that be so shocking to the podcasters and others? I’ve long believed without offering you any proof the NFL and NBA are not competing for the same fan.

We here too

I’ve mentioned this on more than one occasion so far and wanted to bring it to your attention again. Due to Wemby being 7 foot 4 and Chet Holmgren 7 foot 1 they have combined to block out the light, we cannot fully see the others. A portion of this we can blame on the media, as for other reasons that is an unknown. The others references the crop of 2023 NBA rookies and they appear to be doggone good too. This focus covers two rookies, in the future there might be additional coverage of others.

We begin in Charlotte and with the Hornets. Brandon Miller’s made the transition from the University of Alabama to the Hornets roster. As this is written he’s scoring at a modest 14.6 points shooting 43.6 from the floor and 37.6 from three. The team record might not reflect this but Miller has been a valuable addition to the Hornets now and into the future. Taking a I-95 south drive we arrive in Miami home of the Heat, from here we meet Jaime Jaquez Jr. Unlike Miller Jaquez Jr. is yet to play starter minutes, despite that fact there is no doubt he is one to watch this season and into the future. His scoring average is 13.1 points and 50.5 shooting from the floor, 38.1 from three in a little more than 28 minutes a game. These two might prove just as valuable to their respective teams as those “Twin Towers.”