Basketball from a fans perspective

The decision

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No requirement

I will not elaborate on either game as both were witnessed by a world-wide television audience. In addition there were more than 68,000 fans and media gathered inside San Antonio’s Alamodome. The Florida Gators and Houston Cougars can indeed be dubbed "The Comeback Kings" based on their performances. Both teams exhibited remarkable resilience, exemplifying the phrase, "They snatched victory from the jaws of defeat." Predicting the winner of tonight's championship battle is difficult based on what occurred Saturday afternoon and evening. Prior to the actual game tonight, we should anticipate an exciting and well-executed NCAA Championship finale. I do however have one complaint, I am reading critical remarks regarding Cooper Flagg missing “the shot.”

The box score for Flagg read in 36 minutes of action he shot 42% from the floor and 75% from three for a total of 27 points. From the free-throw line it was 100%, in addition Flagg pulled down 7 rebounds had 4 rebounds and 3 block shots along with 2 steals and only 1 turnover. If that appears a defense for Flagg that would indeed be the case, despite his All-American status his missed shot at the end was not the reason Duke failed to advance. I thought about how bad Flagg must have felt missing what could have been a game winner. I was reminded of this Michael Jordan quote: “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.”

Laker victory

Games on NBA TV are blacked out in the Kansas City market, I did not see this game. What you are about to read is strictly the box score. The final read Lakers 126 Thunder 99 a shocker to me and I am sure fans of both teams. The Lakers shot a blazing 54.8% from the floor and an equal 55% from the three line. The smaller Laker lineup outrebounded the Thunder 43 to 34, what else occurred? SGA played his usual steady game for the Thunder but it appeared it must have been the Lakers 5 against SGA alone. LeBron had a “pedestrian” 19 point game but dished out 7 assists to teammates.

Luka led in scoring 30 points along with 6 assists and 7 rebounds followed by Austin Reaves 20 points. The bench contributed to the blowout victory with Dorian Finney-Smith’s 14 points and Gabe Vincents 12. From checking the box score it seems the Thunder appeared to be outplayed in this game from start to finish. As the season closes out the Lakers play the Thunder again on Tuesday followed by Luka’s return to Dallas on Wednesday and Friday will see cauldron them return home to face the Houston Rockets. These are tough games as the Lakers attempt to hang onto the 3rd slot in the Western Conference playoff race. They are certainly preparation for the caldron the Lakers will soon face. 

Meanwhile…

For the 4th time in the 64 year history the Associated Press Player of the Year has named a freshman, the honor goes to Cooper Flagg of Duke. He received 41 of the 641 votes cast, Johni Broome of Auburn finished second in the voting. We should enjoy the 6 foot 9 205 pound Flagg while he’s at Duke, I have a feeling he will not be a student very much longer. The shook for me is he decides to remain in school deferring the $$$ and the opportunity to play in the NBA now. What do you think, do you agree with me he’s on a path to shake Adam Silver’s hand June 26. The draft this year will be a two night event but for our purposes its only the one date of our focus.

I hope no one believes the transfer portal is perfect, it needs some refinement. Check out the moves of AJ Storrs, he is experienced a season below expectations which places him on the move once again. The 202-23 season saw him playing for St. John’s, the following season it would be Wisconsin. Of course I just mentioned he is leaving Kansas for a yet to be determined location. This follows a pattern of 4 high schools in 4 years for Storrs, who’s prepared to address this issue, the NCAA is partially responsible for the portal. 

On Friday Maryland center Derik Queen declared for the June NBA Draft, this was not surprising. Although I’ve only seen highlights of him in action the 6 foot 10 246 pound center’s name has been listed all season long on the three mock draft sites I generally utilize. Queen is listed as the number 12 pick on nbadraft.net, on tankathon.com it’s 10 and nbadraftroom.com places Queen in 9th place. These mock sites are certainly no guarantee of anyone’s draft position but as you can gather in all likelihood he will likely be a lottery choice. One more thing, Queen continues the trend of one and done athletes at the top of the NBA Draft each season.

I wanted to briefly revisit the B.J. Armstrong statement detailed in yesterday’s Off the Dribble. The former NBA claimed, “Half the teams in the NBA are tanking,” I question it once again, there are 30 franchises in the Association. According to Armstrong 15 of them are losing games on purpose. 1. Provide us proof of your statement and 2. What is the benefit for teams failing to earn a lottery position in losing. As with anyone he’s entitled to his own opinion but to make such an inflammatory statement and not back it up with any proof…well.