INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

TONIGHT’S NBA SCHEDULE:

7:00 – ESPN Game 2 Eastern Conference Finals. Heat-Celtics. Miami leads series 1-0

I am not a big fan of individual awards in a team sport. MVP, Coach-of-The-Year, First team this, Second team that.

The only award I care about is winning.

Winning the championship.

Yesterday the NBA came out with their All-League teams. Of course you had critics going off on who didn’t make it?

Bradley Beal was trending yesterday – people were upset he didn’t make first, second or third team. Beal averaged 30.5 points per game this year. Walt Bellamy averaged 31.6 points per game back in 1962 but the league only had two teams and Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell took up those spots. Wilt averaged 50 points per game and Russell was named MVP.

LeBron James has been in the NBA for 17 years, he’s made All-NBA 16 times. It’s the most anyone has ever accomplished. The guy is one of the all-time greats.

Kareem, Kobe and Tim Duncan made All-League 15 times.

Have had some friends asking me who I like in the Western conference finals, Lakers or Nuggets? My heart is with Denver. Lakers will be tough obviously, but the Nuggets just beat the Clippers and no one, and I mean no one gave Denver a chance. Wait a minute, not true, my guy Ray LeBov of Basketball Intelligence picked Denver over the Clippers. http://basketballintelligence.net/

Former NBA player Mychal Thompson tweeted out: Jokic…Shooting range of Dirk…Lo post footwork of McHale…Passing skills of Walton…Basketball IQ of Kareem…Moves of Gumby…The dudes pretty good.

Tweet From Justin Kubatko: James Harden and Russell Westbrook are just the fourth backcourt duo in NBA history to each earn an All-NBA nod in the same season: 5x – Bob Cousy & Bill Sharman 2x – Stephen Curry & Klay Thompson 1x – Dennis Johnson & Gus Williams 1x – Harden & Westbrook.

Russ caught some criticism during the Rockets series against the Lakers, and yes, he didn’t play his best but let’s not forget how well he played in the regular season. His first year in Houston and playing out of position.

Speaking of “the best ever” type talk – I am going to try and just say, “one of the best ever.”

I’m not sure you can compare someone from the 1970’s to today’s players.

Good story here on the Van Gundy brothers. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/sports/basketball/nba-jeff-stan-van-gundy.html

Bulls, Pacers and Pelicans all have coaching openings. Would love to see someone give Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon a shot at the head job.

Now that college football is back, looks like college hoops will start up in mid to late November.

QUOTE OF THE DAY FROM DUNCAN ROBINSON:

“Sometimes you do all the right things and the ball doesn’t go in.”

Happy birthday Junior Bridgeman and Phil Jackson

Always play the right way…

EMAIL: hoops135@hotmail.com

TWITTER: @CoachFinamore

BALL SCREENS

Watching the Brooklyn Nets-Washington Wizards game on Sunday afternoon,  Wizards telecast had Bradley Beal on Zoom during the game.  “Garrett Temple is the best teammate I have ever had.”  Beal is not with the club in Orlando.

Today was the day college basketball players who declared for the NBA draft had to make their final decision – nice to see Luke Garza is staying at Iowa and Aaron Henry will come back to East Lansing and play for the Spartans.

Outstanding interview with Tom Thibodeau, the new, New York Knicks head coach – Thibs is the 15th head coach the Knicks have had since 2000.   https://nypost.com/2020/08/01/tom-thibodeau-opens-up-about-knicks-jeff-van-gundy-patriots-fandom/

Q: What are your favorite motivational or inspirational sayings?

A: My guys in Chicago and Minnesota would have probably told you: “Magic is in the work.” I really believe that. There’s no shortcuts to winning. You have to be willing to pay the price and be willing to sacrifice. There’s no magic in it. The real magic is in doing it every day to the best of your ability, and the steps will be incremental.

Thanks to my main man Brad O for this comment from Mark Jackson during the Clippers-Pelicans game:   “Stepping in front of Zion is not about defensive ability, it’s PG (Paul George) caring deeply about winning it all.”

Boston Celtics beat the Portland Trailblazers Sunday afternoon 128-124.  Jayson Tatum led the way for the C’s with 34 points and teammate Jaylen Brown added 30.   Jusuf Nurkic scored 30 for Portland while Damian Lillard also scored 30 and had 16 assists.  The two teams combined to make 37 three-point shots.  I love Nurkic.

In case you were not aware, C.J. McCollum of the Portland Trailblazers attended Lehigh University.  Lillard, his backcourt partner went to Weber State. Two words, “work ethic.”

The Milwaukee Bucks have not won the NBA championship in 49 years – they have a great chance to win it all this season.  Solid match-up Sunday night on ABC with the Houston Rockets.

Rockets started the game with small-ball;  6-3, 6-5, 6-5, 6-6, and 6-7.   ABC sideline reporter after the first quarter asked Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer how they want to attack that lineup? “We just gotta play.  They got a way of playing, we got a way of playing.”  The Bucks had 17 offensive rebounds.  The offensive rebounds was Milwaukee’s best offense.

Mark Jackson mentioned Villanova Wildcat players come into the league “ready, smart, and highly competitive.”  His partner Jeff Van Gundy added about Jay Wright’s program:  “Fundamentally sound too.  They spend a lot of time at Villanova working on jump-stops, pivots, things that get overlooked a lot of time.  Footwork is so important at both ends of the floor.”

The Rockets attempted 61 3’s against the Bucks – tying the all-time record in a non-overtime game.   They made 21.

Bucks didn’t attempt a single free-throw in the 4th quarter.  Houston shot 11-12.

Rockets were in a foul or defend with 5.5 to play.  Elected to defend, Bucks missed a 3. Rockets win 120-116.

“Adversity showed up and we showed out,” Russell Westbrook said after the game.  The former UCLA Bruin scored 31 points and now has scored 20 or more points in 36 straight games.

I would love to see Westbrook and Austin Rivers play one-on-one after practice.  Rivers said Westbrook was the best teammate he has ever played with.

Luka Doncic scored 40 points on 11-20 shooting from the field, 0-3 from deep and 18-19 from the free-throw line in a 117-115 loss to the Suns.   Doncic dished out 11 assists.

Jeff Van Gundy on the Toronto Raptors:  “They have assembled a bunch of hard playing, tough guys.”

Happy birthday Nate McMillan.

Always play the right way…

-Steve Finamore

E-Mail:  Hoops135@hotmail.com

 

 

ONE MORE

The Cleveland Cavaliers visited Detroit last night to take on the Pistons.   Cavaliers new head coach, John Beilein was back in Michigan where he coached the Wolverines for 12 seasons.  Did you realize Beilein has never been an assistant coach in his entire coaching career?   Beilein stood up on the sidelines for most of the game, he had to wear a jacket too.  Enjoyed seeing the Cavaliers run some of Beilein’s offensive action he utilized at Michigan.  Moving without the ball. DHO’s, screening,  back-door cuts, etc.

Early in the first quarter I heard the Pistons fans chanting,  “DE-FENSE!”

Despite the chants, I saw a lot of open seats around the arena.  Idea for the Pistons marketing department;  invite high school basketball teams to the game, free of charge.

Christian Wood of the Pistons reminds me of Edgar Jones.

Final score, Pistons 109 Cavaliers 105.

Jenna Schroeder was one of the officials in the game.  She’s from Clio, Michigan.  Played her college ball at Oakland U and Saginaw Valley.  Thought she did a solid job.

Around the league I have seen reserves closing out games, not just in garbage time – close games too.  Same thing last night with Cavs and Pistons – guys fighting for jobs.   The coach wanting to see if guys can make big plays down the stretch.

In the first week of preseason games, I am impressed with the energy, excitement and passion displayed by many players.  I especially like guys on the bench staying connected with the game and cheering on their teammates.

Moses Brown from Molloy High School in Queens trying to win a roster spot with the Portland Trailblazers.

Watching a replay of the Warriors vs T-Wolves from Thursday night,  Golden State announcer said, “And Steph can be back in the MVP conversation.”  SMH

Marc Berman on the New York Knicks performance last night from a sold-out MSG.  https://nypost.com/2019/10/12/mkca-make-knicks-cool-again-will-take-time-as-loss-shows/?utm_source=twitter_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons

They were outclassed by Wizards star shooting guard Bradley Beal, who pumped in 21 first-half points as the Wizards built a 65-47 halftime lead.

The Knicks’ only star Friday was its crowd. The Knicks sold out their preseason home opener.

Chanting “de-fense’’ in the final quarter as the Knicks mounted a charge, the Garden has miraculously stayed mostly packed amid a depressing six-year playoff drought.  But even they booed the club in the final seconds.

In China the Brooklyn Nets beat the Los Angeles once again, 91-77.   That’s two wins for Brooklyn over LA in the past 48 hours.   Caris LeVert, who played two minutes in their first meeting was back on the floor and scored 22 points in 22 minutes.   Kyrie Irving, who played one minute on Thursday, did not play.  Taurean Prince kept up his hot shooting by going 4-5 from downtown.   He’s now 14-19 in the Nets first three games.    The Nets are 3-0 in the preseason.

Speaking of the deep ball, NBA teams that make more 3’s than their opponent in the first 42 preseason games are 29-11-2.   In their 4 preseason games the Houston Rockets (3-1) have attempted 66, 48, 53 and 64 three-point shots.

“Shoot it up and sleep in the streets.” –Kevin Loughery

Happy birthday Charlie Ward.

Stay in the present moment and give a good day.

–Steve Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

 

 

 

PTRW #957 BRADLEY BEAL

On playing for Billy Donovan at Florida:

“Man, he was one of the best coaches I’ve ever played for. I loved playing for him because he never guaranteed me anything. That’s really the main reason why I went there. He told me I had to earn everything and he was going to put me in the best situation to succeed but he said it wasn’t going to be easy and I had to work hard for it. And I appreciated that from Day One and he’s always been like a second dad to me.”

PTRW #631 BRADLEY BEAL

From Drew Gooden:

“When other people ask me about his work ethic, I say, ‘Y’know, he’s always in the gym working on his game.’ So tonight every time he hit a shot, I told him, ‘That’s why you put the work in.’ He was hitting shots with the shot clock going down, with guys in his face, step-backs, three’s … whenever he shoots it, not just me but the whole team knows it’s going in.”