Basketball from a fans perspective

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“He only shot 66.7% from the line”

If your teammate shot at the rate above you’d probably say it was a little above average. That figure represents Victor Wembanyama’s FT shooting Wednesday evening against the Wizards. As for the balance of his box score he was en Fuego from the floor. It was 50 points scored, Wemby wasn’t just jacking up shots in 32 minutes it was 62.1% from the floor with 50% shooting from the 3P line. There were 8 3P baskets scored by the tall one.

Wemby’s scoring outburst led to the 139-130 victory over the Wizards. With this game total at 20 years of age he becomes the 4th youngest player in NBA history to score 50 or more points. Despite his wealth of talent scoring the basketball there are a few critics of his game. ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins has been one of those voices, after this game he backed off a bit. Perkins indicated his belief Wemby should develop his game in the paint. I’ve never seen a player with Wemby’s height (7 foot 4) handle the ball in the manner he does. It’s not just offensively the blocked shot he scored on Domantas Sabonis was a thing of beauty. Rather than attempting to describe it video evidence is far more conclusive, check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFqTa4_I5oA

The difference

A portion of this is from Basketball Network.com, you must be over age 50 or a student of the game to agree. Hall of Fame player Rick Barry was discussing the difference between The Big O, Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook. This is the Barry statement, “Westbrook is trying to get triple-doubles.” This is my take on the Barry statement, Robertson’s triple-doubles were accomplished within the framework of the game. On the other hand Westbrook’s game was tailored toward the goal of a triple double, I intend to cite one example of the past I saw firsthand.

This incident occurred during a period Westbrook and Steven Adams were teammates on the Thunder. I’m unsure what stage the game was in however I saw this with my own two eyes. The opposing team took a shot which bounced off the goal, 6 foot 11 365 pound Adams moved from his position which allowed the 6 foot 4 200 pound Westbrook to snag the rebound. A defender claimed, “Adams did this in order for Westbrook to initiate the Thunder offense.” I cannot offer a counter argument, however, that certainly didn’t appear to be the case. Several of you reading this might be accusing me of hating Westbrook but that is not the case.

A Blue Blood Classic

Tuesday night in the State Farm Classic in Atlanta it was two blue blood programs Duke versus Kentucky. This would become my second opportunity to see Cooper Flagg in action. Earlier I caught a brief portion of Duke against Maine however most of the game was almost over by the time I realized it was on television. Last week against Army doesn’t really count because Flagg spent much of the second half on the bench with leg cramps. I had November 12 circled, to detail the seriousness of this game I skipped an NBA game to view this one.

By now I’m sure Flagg is accustomed to having the media spotlight on him. In addition he’s got a target on him from opposing players, they want to beat the reported top draft pick in the 2025 NBA draft. What I’ve read and briefly witnessed the 17-year old Flagg plays an all-around game, based on this fact I was looking for his defense, assist totals and interaction with his teammates. The first half saw Duke hold a 46 to 37 lead, Flagg scored 12 points along with 4 rebounds due primarily to foul trouble with two being called on him. The second half of the game Kentucky came roaring back, Flagg made his best effort although the final score would read Kentucky 77 Duke 72. The box score for Flagg read like this, 26 points along with 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. That was the upside to his game, he committed two turnovers at crunch time.

Flagg wasn’t responsible alone for the loss however the TO’s did impact the final score of the game as time expired. Perhaps it was a case of Flagg trying to do too much, he said afterwards he appreciated his coach having trust in him at the end. In closing this note by the ESPN broadcast team indicated there were 70 NBA GM’s and scouts in attendance at this game. I certainly make no claim regarding my ability to project play at the next level, however 6 foot 9 205 pound Cooper Flagg looks as though he might be the real deal.

The Joker

I’ve watched Nikola Jokic a.k.a. “The Joker” a number of times over the course of his NBA career. I marvel at the fact he manages to impact the game despite the fact at times he appears to be rather mechanical in his moves around the basket. Despite what might appear to be a complaint, on my part it is actually a compliment. He’s been an NBA champion and champion MVP…but wait there’s more. The Joker has been named MVP of the NBA three times (2021, 2022, 2024). On Sunday evening his Nuggets faced a tough Mavs team at home, the match was won by the Nuggets 122-120.

They might not have won the game if The Joker hadn’t filled up the box score with some amazing numbers. 37 points along with 18 rebounds and 15 assists, the assist total really stands out for me for several reasons. A number of point/combo guards don’t have numbers anywhere near what this 6 foot 11 284 pound Big Man registered. Understand this, the NBA season is less than two weeks old however he’s clearly a leader. The Joker leads the league in rebounds (13.7) and assists (11.7), the latter is clearly in the realm of a point/combo guard. We can laugh at The Joker’s mechanics but he manages to lead his team to victory, in addition he probably wants to prove last season’s playoff loss was an anomaly.