BILLY PAULTZ

Happy birthday Billy Paultz, he’s 73.

“I have realized that I’m not an overpowering type center. I don’t really know what my category is. I have always been the type of player that can do a little bit of everything.”

INACCURATE

“The most critical are the least knowledgeable.” -John MacLeod

France beat USA today in the first round of the Olympics, 83-76.

Whenever Team USA losses a game, you hear:

“AAU is to blame.”

“The world has caught up to us.”

Or, the statement posted at the end of this blog entry.

It’s all nonsense.

USA has not lost many games over the years. Matter of fact, they have won the Gold medal in the last 3 Olympics. Before today’s loss they had won 25 straight games in the Olympics. In the last 18 Olympics, USA has won the Gold 15 times. That’s not too bad, right?

Team USA is 138-6 in Olympic history. 53-4 with NBA players.

The Americans missed shots against France. It has nothing to do with “the team game.” There’s many outstanding coaches in America teaching the game the right way. As well as around the world.

USA had more assists today than France (23-18). The Americans also made more 3’s (10-8) Remember the pundits said Americans can’t shoot from the outside?

“I think that’s a little bit of hubris if you think the Americans are supposed to just roll out the balls and win,” U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said. “We’ve got to work for it just like everybody else. And for those 40 minutes, they played better than we did.”

Evan Fournier of France had 28 points on 11 for 22 shooting.

“We played extremely hard,” said Fournier who happens to be a starting guard for the Boston Celtics.

Compare that to Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard who shot a 7 for 22 combined.

Durant was in foul trouble most of the game. Which brings me to the 5-foul, foul out rule. That should change in the Olympics – it should be 6. The game is physical. 5 fouls is good for a 32 minute high school game.

Rudy Gobert of France was 5 for 6 from the field. France has 7 players who play in the NBA. Other countries are not afraid of the Americans. They play hard, they play together and compete. They also have a lot of pride playing for their country and they are out to prove that they can play. Frank Ntilikina missed the game with muscle discomfort.

Don’t be surprised when USA goes down, it’s not like it used to be. International players are very good and getting better. “They are better individually,” Fournier said of Team USA, “but they can be beaten as a team.”

Tim Legler of ESPN had this say following USA’s loss: “They have more talent than anyone in the Olympics.” Only problem with that statement is the team with the most talent doesn’t always win.

INSTANT OFFENSE

Terry Furlow of Michigan State once dropped 50 points on Iowa January 5, 1976: still the Spartans all-time single-game scoring record.

Three nights later he scored 48 against Northwestern.

Two nights after that he scored 42 vs Ohio State.

Terry died in 1980. He was 25. I wrote about Furlow back in 2012 – here’s the link: https://hoopscoach.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/back-pedal-terry-furlow/

Thanks to my friend Jeff who informed me of an outstanding podcast by Adam McKay. In episode 2, he talks about Furlow.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/death-at-the-wing/id1558869948

KOBE’S MINDSET

Love this message from the late, great, Kobe Bryant on his strength workouts.

Taken from “The Mamba Mentality.”

FEAR THE DEER

“These players are champions every day they come to this building. Every day they embraced getting better. They’ve embraced competing. They’ve embraced playing together.” -Mike Budenholzer

Congratulations to the Milwaukee Bucks.

With their 105-98 victory over the Phoenix Suns last night in Game 6, they are the 2021 NBA champs.

Giannis, 50 points 16-25 FG 17-19 FT

14 rebounds. 5 blocks

How can you not love The Greek Freak?

Giannis averaged 35.2 PPG, 13.2 RPG and 5.0 APG in the Finals winning the Most Valuable Player award.

“He appreciates life. He appreciates all the little things. He appreciates coming to the practice facility and getting in extra shots,” Mike Budenholzer on Giannis

International Players to win Finals MVP: Giannis – 2021 Dirk Nowitzki – 2011 Tony Parker – 2007 Tim Duncan – 1999, 2003, 2005 Hakeem Olajuwon – 1994 and 1995 (Source: NBATV)

That wraps up the NBA season. Now it’s time for the Olympics in Tokyo with Team USA going for the Gold. There is also the Basketball Tournament being played every night on ESPN and ESPN2. If you haven’t seen it, I higly recommend it.

CHUCK DALY

“The less motivated and the less determined weed themselves out.”

On this date, 91 years ago Chuck Daly was born.

The championship coach died in 2009 at the age of 78.

MAGIC JOHNSON

June 25, 1979. This was Magic right after the Los Angeles Lakers drafted him.

BUCKS GO UP 3-2

“The greatest playoff adjustments you can make is play harder and smarter than you did the game before and shoot better.” -Jeff Van Gundy

Giannis, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday all came up big last night in Game 5 to give Milwaukee a 123-119 victory over the Phoenix Suns to take a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals.

Giannis dropped 32 points, Middleton had 29 and Holiday 27.

Holiday had 13 assists to give him 45 in the Finals. The ex-UCLA Bruin had big time steal at the end, topped off by a beautiful ally-oop to Giannis.

It was another well played game by both teams and once again later in the game, just like in Game 4 there was a big defensive play.

How about all the clowns that say, “They don’t play any defense in the NBA.”

LOL

Or the ones who like to say, “I don’t watch the NBA anymore.”

One of the reasons guys can’t make the NBA is because they can’t defend.

I was surprised Monty Williams didn’t go to the “hack-a-Giannis” leading up to the 2:00 mark. The Greek Freak is 39 for 66 in the Finals. He was 4 for 11 last night.

Devin Booker is 25 for 29 from the free-throw line. He scored 40 on 17 of 33 shooting.

Pat Connaughton and Middleton lead the Finals in 3-point shots made with 15 each. Jae Crowder has made 14.

Chris Paul had 11 assists and just 1 turnover last night. For the second straight game Paul did not attempt a free-throw.

Game 6 is Tuesday night in Milwaukee.

“A lot of big guys don’t like bounce passes thrown to them. Throw it up high so they can catch it high and keep it out of the traffic.” -Jeff Van Gundy

WINNERS STAY – LOSERS OFF

“I had an amazing opportunity to come back and do it again with these guys and be a part of another special team.” -Johnny Juzang, UCLA basketball

I had a guy tell me last night basketball is boring. This after I told him as a lifetime baseball fan I have a hard time watching Major League Baseball. What’s happened to baseball?

Basketball is the most exciting sport in the world.

I can sit here and give you many reasons why basketball is the most popular sport not only in America but in the world.

Last night I watched the TBT (The Basketball Tournament) I highly recommend you check it out on ESPN.

Game 5 of the NBA Finals tonight at 9 PM. Suns and Bucks are tied at 2 games apiece.

Mike Breen told a story during Game 4 about Jrue Holiday sending a text message to Brook Lopez: “I love being your teammate. You never complain. You do so much for this team and you rarely get the credit.”

With Jay Williams sitting out the rest of the NBA Finals for ESPN pre-game coverage, they should replace him with Tim Legler.

Shoes Vetrone is now at St. John’s after working at Rutgers for the past few years.

Happy birthday Connie Hawkins. “The Hawk” passed away in 2017. He played at Boys High in Brooklyn, New York. He would go on to the University of Iowa but never played a varsity game for the Hawkeyes. “Foul” is a fantastic book, I highly recommend it.

KHRIS MIDDLETON

“Everybody’s tired. Everybody’s banged up. You just have to give it your all and leave it all on the court. We can rest and sleep and get treatment after the game. But while that game is being played, there’s no excuses of exhaustion or something is hurt.”