Basketball from a fans perspective

Published daily except Tuesdays & Thursdays

Too tough

I am asking the question about me, allow a little more detail. On Sunday evening the Clippers along with Kawhi Leonard played my Lakers beating them 116-102. Leonard played 24 minutes scoring 19 points. I didn’t see the game but this would appear to be a good outing for him. This was a back to back for the Clippers with the Bulls in town on Monday, the outcome this time was different for the home team. The Bulls were winners 112-99, the box score indicates Leonard didn’t play in the game.

Apparently he’s on a minutes restriction in addition to not playing back to back games. Since his return to active status Leonard’s time on the court has averaged 22 minutes a game in the 5 played thus far. He is averaging 14 points a game in the limited time spent on the court, this is where you make the call. Leonard said early on he was going to ease himself back into play or similar words. I was the one who wrote, “Don’t expect the old Leonard back after surgery and the layoff.” In addition to that fact the wear and tear on a 33-year old NBA body over a career. Maybe I’m expecting too much, am I too tough?

I’m guilty as well

No New Year’s resolutions for me, besides the fact January is half over. If I were to resolve to make a change it would have been announced before now. This is not a resolution just something I hope to avoid in the future, if for example you read an account written after January 20 consider it was written in front of this declaration. In 2025 I am going to make a valiant effort to quit comparing players with one exception. Players active today will continue to be compared to their contemporaries.

You will no longer read anything in this blog comparing athletes from different era’s compared to one another. An example might be Oscar Robertson comparison him to Russell Westbrook and vice versa. The reasoning is simple, a number of aspects of the game have changed between Robertson’s last year as an active player in 1974 and 2025. Sizable portions of the NBA game have changed significantly over time, until Professor Brown or someone else is able to provide us a DeLoren with a flux capacitor the on court battle will never occur.  

The tough SEC

Dennis Gates Mizzou Tigers have little time to relish their 83-65 victory over Arkansas this past Saturday. They are about to begin play over the next few weeks one of the toughest schedules in the nation I believe. Check this out, last night on Mizzou’s schedule was SEC member Texas (12-6 1-4 conference) then it’s on to play number 21 Ole Miss. From there its number 15 Mississippi followed by number 6 Tennessee and number 11 Texas A&M.

The rankings may have changed a slight bit by the time you read this because the conference members might have incurred an additional loss, which could move them up or down in the Top 25. It’s been my contention for a time that SEC men’s basketball is the toughest conference in the nation. SEC teams knocking off one another it’s easy to see why a .500 conference record just might be enough to earn an NCAA berth for Mizzou or any other SEC team. This is why I continue to state, win all your home games guilty and steal one or two on the road.

Key role model

Maybe you saw the same photo I did last month after the game. The Spurs journeyed to NYC for a match against the Nets. After the game Victor Wembanyama spotted a youngster in the stands with a sign, he’d brought along his jersey to the game and evidently wanted to exchange it for Wemby’s. From the photo the youth appeared to between 7 and 8 years old. A photo and video was taken with Wemby trading his autographed jersey for the youth one, that was then what you are about to read is now.

Somehow, that jersey made its way to an auction house and is now up for bid with an asking price of $10,000. Now I am reasonably sure junior didn’t make a decision to sell his prized autographed jersey, who do we suppose was responsible for it being placed on auction? Wemby was made aware of the sale and he didn’t publicly comment he did however released a crying emoji on his social media page. A number of fans claim the jersey is no longer the property of Wemby, the new owner can do with it what he desires, on the other hand what do you think of this account?

Storming the court

This past Sunday students from Vanderbilt University stormed the court, the Commodores men’s team had just beaten number 6 Tennessee 76-75. The school joins conference member Mizzou, back in December they had also been fined $250,000 for storming the court after their victory over Kansas. I believe most of us are aware of this issue however I became curious, where did it begin? Research took me back to 1950, 75 years ago to the first court storming. Students and cheerleaders stormed the court at the old Madison Square Garden after City College of New York won the NIT and NCAA Tournament. There have been other instances of court storming due to significant games won, as an example.

The game that placed college basketball in the national spotlight, the 1968 game between Lew Alcindor’s UCLA Bruins and Elvin Hayes and the Houston Cougars. That game played in Houston’s Astrodome saw Houston win with a 71-69 win ending UCLA’s 47-game winning streak. The game was noteworthy being the first nationally televised college basketball game. In 1974 Notre Dame ended UCLA’s 88-game winning streak with a 71-70 victory. Of course most realize the danger of court storming, someone could be seriously injured and that’s why there are rules in place prohibiting it. As you might realize despite the best efforts by school’s across the nation to curtail court storming it continues to occur. The SEC fines its members large sums of money as almost certainly other conferences as well.