THE STATE WAY

I spent two years at Michigan State from 1999-2001; and before I arrived in East Lansing, I thought I knew a lot about basketball. That is until I met Tom Izzo. Amongst many things I learned during my tenure was that no one was immune from working hard or being called out….and I mean no one!

Lansing State Journal on Izzo and his main man Kalin Lucas; seems like Lucas isn’t playing up to par (or how Izzo would like)

“I don’t think right now his focus is on our team,” Izzo said of Lucas, a junior guard who was Big Ten Player of the Year as a sophomore. “I think this is one of the things that happens often. People start focusing on things that are beyond here, and then you start listening to people and then you have problems, and I’m just trying to nip those in the bud.”

For the past 8 years, I’ve watched the program closely.  From my home you can throw a rock and hit the roof of the Breslin Center.  When you put on a State uniform, you are expected to play the right way.  And this includes more than putting the ball in the goal.

The list includes leading like a captain, becoming more involved with his teammates, working harder on his game and at film study, and blocking out distractions such as the pressure of a potential early jump to the NBA.

Izzo has won, and has won big; he has produced many professional players who make a lot of money after their stay in East Lansing.

Here’s Jeff Goodman of FoxSports with his take on the situation.

If I were Lucas, I’d  listen to Coach Izzo and play the ‘State’ way…

“Hartford has to keep the game in the 60′s.”

-Jimmy Dykes, ESPN analyst during Kentucky-Hartford game. Final score: Kentucky 104 Hartford 61.

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

TO FOUL OR NOT?

I often find myself talking to other basketball people about the late game  situation when you are up 3 points with less than 10 seconds to go and you’re on defense.

Do you foul or not?

I’m sure if you’re reading this blog you are a basketball person; in some sort of way (Coach, player, fan…) Here’s the deal.  You’re up 3, if they bang a 3 it goes to OT unless you have a couple of seconds left.  Foul, and the guy goes to the line. If  he makes two, they will foul you; you go to the line.  If you foul, and the guy makes the first and misses the second, they get the offensive rebound and score to tie the game? There’s a few different scenarios.

Don Nelson of the Golden State Warriors was in that same situations and he fouled last night against the Boston Celtics… and it worked.  Coach K at Duke once said he trusts his defense to get a stop; no need to foul. Here’s the story via NBA.com from last night’s Celtics-Warriors game.

“I’ve never been beaten doing it,” Nelson said. “I’ve been tied once or twice, but I can’t remember ever losing a game by doing that. The funniest things happen when you do that. The craziest things have happened. But you just have to take your chances.”

With all the drama going on up in NYC at 33rd and 8th (no not the 3 Card Monty dealers on the corner) does anyone notice the job David Lee does ON the court? The former Florida Gator gets 19PPG and grabs 10RPG. Seems like all the attention is on a player the coach doesn’t want to put in the game.

The Game I’d Like To Forget:

James Harden of the Oklahoma City Thunder last night shot 0-10 from the field including 0-4 from downtown in 22 minutes of action. But, his team came away with the win over the New Jersey Nets. I love Harden, I thought he was an excellent pick in the draft.

“He who angers you, owns you.”

-Glen ‘Doc’ Rivers

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

MOVEMENT

Sunday night hoops on NBA TV saw the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks from 33rd and 8th.  The two things I love about the Spurs is the ball movement and player movement.  It saddens me to see players hold the ball too long and guys who stand around not doing anything. Spurs g0t the win 95-88.

Gotta love NBA TV’s Rick Kamla for wondering why so many teams missed on Spurs rookie forward DeJuan Blair who was taken in the 2nd round with the 37th pick.  Ummm,  dude, do your homework, the guy’s knees are not the greatest; there were a lot of questions regarding his missing ACL’s.  It’s so easy to sit back and second guess or play Monday morning quarterback, especially with guys who get passed over in the draft. You can write a book about athletes who were not chosen and later had solid career’s.

Knicks forward Al Harrington had a terrible shooting day Monday against the Miami Heat so later that night he went to the Knicks practice facility and got up some jumpers.

Speaking of the Knickerbockers, I wish Jonathan Bender would work on his low post game and park his backside on the low block instead of standing on the perimeter hoisting up jumpers.  He’d add a few more years to his playing career.

Another game I watched on Sunday was Pistons-Raptors on Fox Detroit. It was just four days earlier that the Raptors beat the Pistons by 30.   Yesterday the Raptors won again 102-95.  Pistons announcer Greg Kelser was giddy over the return of Tayshaun Prince, Ben Gordon and Richard Hamilton, “This will be the most exciting team in the NBA” said Kelser.

HUH?

Another item I was confused by with ‘Special K’ was a couple of times late in the game Ben Wallace and Richard Hamilton ran the pick and roll.  Hamilton  hit the rolling Wallace twice with perfect bounce passes; textbook I say! But Kelser kept saying “Hamilton is trusting Wallace.” It has nothing to do with trust. You are taught at a young age to screen, roll and get the bounce pass. Fundamentals by dear Kelser. The Pistons have lost 7 games in a row.

Jason Quick on Billy Ray Bates. Sad story because this guy had game!

At the time, late in the 1979-1980 season, he was unlike any Blazers player in history — free-wheeling and fast with unbelievable jumping ability. He dunked like Julius Erving and eagerly used the three-point shot, which was in its first year of existence.

He was ahead of his time — Michael Jordan before there was a Michael Jordan, Bates likes to say — a claim former teammates like Mychal Thompson, Jim Paxson and Kermit Washington don’t argue.

But while Bates was thriving on the court, he was, in his own words, running wild off of it, immersed in alcohol and cocaine abuse.

The Game I’d Like to Forget:

It was tough choosing someone Sunday night but the winner is…Mike Dunleavy Jr. The former Blue Devil shot 1-10 from the field including 1-5 from downtown, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 turnovers in 22 minutes of action in a loss to the Miami Heat 114-80.  Junior’s plus/minus for the game? (-31).

“Don’t complain about something you have no control of.”

-Red Holzman

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

UNFORGETTABLE

Back in the day I used to read Basketball Digest religiously as a teenager. I couldn’t wait for the monthly magazine to hit the newsstand.  Amongst the many features I enjoyed was ‘The Game I’ll Never Forget”. The premise of the feature was a player would tell about a game in which he was involved where he played pretty well.  In honor of the magazine, each blog entry I will include a segment called  ‘The Game I’d Like To Forget‘; A line-score on a player who didn’t play very well in a particular game the night before.

Washington Wizards guard Earl Boykins tips the scale at 133 lbs?

How about Tim Floyd, an assistant coach with the New Orleans Hornets? The guy used to be the head coach just a few years ago.  Wonder if that has ever been done before.  Kinda awkward, no? Speaking of the Hornets, did you know their head coach Jeff Bower used to be an assistant coach at Marist College?

Nate McMillian and Maurice Lucas-how they became good friends.  Luke is battling cancer-thoughts and prayers go out to his family for a speedy recovery.

Houston Chronicle on Shawn Respert, former player now working with the Houston Rockets also battling cancer.

Last night while reading an old copy of Basketball Digest I came across a great story (Nov 1977).  Lefty Driesell the university of Maryland head coach at the time in 1974 he was trying to recruit Moses Malone from Petersburg, VA.

“I asked him how he got so good.” says Driesell, “because there isn’t anybody around Petersburg who could have made him that good.”

“He said, ‘I play in the state pen, man,’ (referring to the federal penitentiary in Petersburg).

Driesell continues the dialog:

“You mean they got some pretty good players in prison?”

“Yeah, lots of ‘em. Real aggressive.” Moses says.

“Anybody your size?” Driesell asks.

“One guy about 6-8.  They call him Milkman.”

“Milkman? Why do they call him Milkman?” Driesell asks.

“Because he murdered a milkman, man.” Moses answers.

The Game I’d Like To Forget:

Even though the shooting wasn’t too bad last night in the League, it was tough finding someone to take the honors for the 1st ‘Game I’d Like to Forget’.  Damion Wilkins of the T-Wolves had a terrible shooting night (1-10) but he was able to grab 13 rebounds.  You can have a poor shooting night but still do other things to help your team.  After examining the out of town box scores, we have a tie between Andrew Bynum (36 minutes 1-9 FG and 5 fouls), and Emeka Okafor (20 minutes 0-5 FG, 4-8 FT 3 turnovers). Congratulations fella’s!  Hopefully these two are in the gym this morning working on their game.

“Neither you nor the world know what you can do until you have tried.”

-Source Unknown

-Coach Finamore

Hoops1135@hotmail.com

THE CITY GAME

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York during the 70′s and 80′s I was always able to watch some very solid college basketball programs in the Metro area.  Schools like St. John’s, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Iona, St. Peter’s, Fordham, Manhattan and Hofstra all were just a hop, skip and jump away from where I lived. If I wasn’t able to score a ticket, I’d tune in to watch them on my black and white television.   I came across this article from the New York Times on how these schools are in a drought when it comes to making the NCAA tournament. Here’s an interesting take from St. John’s head coach Norm Roberts and Tom Pecora from Hofstra.

St. John’s Coach Norm Roberts notices more players are leaving the metropolitan area than in the past, too.

“Ten, 15 years ago, all the Jersey kids were going to Jersey schools with Seton Hall and Rutgers, and all the New York kids — not all of them, but a lot of them — would stay home,” he said. “I think now you have kids that are seeing different parts of the country from a young age that it’s easier for them to go all over the country.”

Furthermore, Roberts doesn’t think local players are as superior as they once were.

“The whole country’s gotten better,” he said. “Basketball’s gotten better everywhere, and I’m talking about in Oregon and places where it wasn’t very good, it’s gotten better. So now there’s good players everywhere, where once it was ‘the city game.’ It was just New York a lot of times.”

“It’s become not only a national game but a global game, so everyone’s better at it,” Pecora said. “Now there’s rural kids who are outstanding basketball players. The game has broadened and there’s a much more level playing field.”

Christmas day was filled with NBA games from noon to midnight. It also included a very good college game which took place in Hawaii last night between USC and UNLV.  The Trojans beat the Rebels 67-56 in the Diamond Head Classic Final.  UNLV came into the game 12-1, the Trojans 7-4.  The one thing that impressed me about USC was their defense.  Head coach Kevin O’Neil has his team playing hard and playing with energy.  I pulled out two pre-season magazines and noticed they both had SC picked 8th and 9th this year in the Pac-10.

The game of basketball is all about energy and enthusiasm. Need to play the game with both. Especially at the defensive end…The Trojans displayed it last night!

At Staples yesterday in LA the Cleveland Cavaliers went in and beat the Los Angeles Lakers.  The LA crowd was a bit unhappy with the officials (and the Lakers play) so they threw water bottles and foam fingers out onto the court!  Only thing that should be on that floor is the players and Laker girls! My guy Chris Richardson tweeted “If Jimmy Goldstein throws his Stetson hat on the floor of Staples Center, it will make my Christmas”

“A good guy but a nasty competitor.”

-Jeff Van Gundy on LA Lakers guard Derrick Fisher

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com