Basketball from a fan’s perspective

It’s over

There might be a letdown tonight by the Celtics, they may lose the game. Despite that statement I wouldn’t bank on it, the Celtics appear locked in on winning the 18th championship for the franchise. Before I proceed further it’s been pointed out the Celtics are yet to lose a road game, that’s outstanding in itself. The final score read Celtics 106 Mavs 99 but how they won might be a thing of beauty. The Mavs trailed by 21 points with 10 minutes remaining in the game, they would score 22 points to the Celtics 2 and the view by most watching the game we have a real contest.

Well in a manner of speaking we did have a factual challenge, the only problem the Mavs were unable to sustain their effort. After Luka Doncic fouled out the tide of the game changed, this time in the favor of the Celtics. Kyrie Irving literally absent for the first two games and led the way for the Mavs, he would lead the way scoring 35 points, Luka had 27 but it was too much Celtics defense which proved the Mavs downfall. For the Celtics it was Jayson Tatum with 31 points and Jaylen Brown 30 as the duo led the way. Can the Mavs win on Friday…of course they can however they must prove it after witnessing what occurred   Wednesday night. Finally up to this point I have ignored Luka complaining to game officials, he needs to stop the whining.

Bits n Pieces of information  

It’s been reported that the NBA invited 12 potential draft choices to the Green Room. Just in case you are unfamiliar with the process the league offers to serve as host to the player and his family on draft night. There are at least 12 more invitations to be issued, these are the names the NBA hopes will be announced in the first round although it doesn’t always work in that manner. In the past on more than one occasion players have remained in the Green Room when the first round is completed.

The name Tre Gomillion fails to register with a large number of folks, those at Cleveland State and Mizzou are acquainted with him. This 6-foot 4 guard played for coach Gates first at Cleveland State and migrated to Mizzou with the coach. A gritty work guy, to my knowledge he was never the high scorer nor the best at rebounding the ball, he did a bunch of stuff attempting to follow the game plan laid out by the coach. Gates once said, “Tre Gomillion one day is going to be on this staff,” that day is here presently. Patrolling the sidelines for the Mizzou Tigers this fall and winter will be a new assistant coach…his name Tre Gomillion. The school produced a video where Gomillion says “I’m back,” he certainly is, welcome coach.

Isn’t this news interesting, well on second thought maybe not so much for Doc Rivers he might be the exclusion. I had mentioned the Hulu/FX series titled ‘Clipped’ on former Clipper owner Donald Sterling and his banishment from the NBA. Actor Laurence Fishburne was on Dan Patrick’s program recently, he revealed he took the part of Rivers for the Hulu/FX production although he wasn’t aware who Rivers was. Fishburne claims he’s no sports fan which is certainly understandable, there are number of men who are not sports fans, if that is the case its clear why he had no prior knowledge of Rivers.

This is sad

The Wizards have floundered about certainly coming nowhere close to an NBA championship. If they managed to have kept a few of the players they traded there might have been a championship in their future. For the last 8 years a former Wizard has managed to win an NBA championship. This year will be no different as Kristaps Porzingis (Celtics), Daniel Gafford (Mavs) and Markieff Morris (Mavs) will have an opportunity to win a championship. As for the others check this out:

2017 & 2018 JaVale McGee & Shaun Livingston (Warriors)

2019 Jodie Meeks (Raptors)  

2020 Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee & Markieff Morris (Lakers)

2021 Bobby Portis (Bucks)

2022 Otto Porter Jr & Gary Payton II (Warriors)

2023 Kentavious Caldwell Pope, Jeff Green, Thomas Bryant & Is Smith (Nuggets)

Rest assured someone might say there is no foundational player among the names above. True, there is no Giannis, Jokic, LeBron or Steph among the names above but consider this fact. NBA championship teams are comprised of more than superstar talented players, those named blended with one or two outstanding contestants perhaps is able to win an NBA championship for the Wizards. It would appear on the surface the front office plus coaching staff over the last 8-10 years have little if any idea how to build a winning team.