FOUNTAINS AND DRAINS

On Sunday afternoon I came across a quote from Koby Altman, Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager – he mentioned that a head coach once told him:  “There are two types of players, fountains and drains.  Fountains add something to team chemistry, drains take something away.”

Miami Heat crushed the Houston Rockets on Sunday, 129-100.  At one point in the second quarter Miami led 59-18.  Duncan Robinson led the way with 23 points in 35 minutes including 7-11 from way downtown.  The former Michigan Wolverine who is 17-34 from beyond the arc on the season went undrafted, played in the G-League and is now in the Heat rotation.  Miami Heat head coach Erik Spolestra on Robinson:

“He has put in the work, he has put in the sweat, he has put in the grind.  He’s a Miami Heat player.  He is hungry, driven, ambitious.  That stroke, three-point shot is not there by accident.  There’s a lot of hours behind the scenes when no one is watching.”

I was surprised when I saw the score.

“Surprising? Not surprising to me,” Myles Leonard said. ”Don’t get it twisted. The Houston Rockets are incredibly talented. But we came in with a game plan and a mindset that we were going to take away what they’re good at, be disciplined and execute. That’s what we did.”

Miami dished out an incredible 38 assists.  And they shot 18-41 from distance.

It was a record-setting opening quarter for the Heat – resulting in the third-biggest lead after 12 minutes in the NBA’s shot-clock era, starting with the 1954-55 season.

Miami led 46-14 after that first quarter.  Pack it up, pack it in…

Houston head coach Mike D’Antoni.  ”We’re not in trouble.   But if we think we’re not in trouble, then we’re in trouble – if that makes sense.  You’ve got to have that appropriate fear and understand that it’s a new year and you don’t start with any games and we’ve got to work our way back.” 

James Harden was 14-14 last night from the free-throw line.  After six games thus far, Harden is 91-95.

Houston is 3-3. Miami 5-1.

So refreshing to hear this from Marcus Morris after his Knicks lost to the Kings at home, 113-92 and fall to 1-6 on the year.  “At the end of the day, Fiz is putting us in the best position to be successful,” Morris said on Sunday night after scoring 28 points in the Knicks’ loss. “I think it’s us, we’ve got to execute the game plan better.  He’s been nothing but a great coach for us, he’s been giving us what we need.  Just today, we didn’t hit many shots. They were the better team.” https://www.sny.tv/knicks/news/marcus-morris-defends-david-fizdale-after-knicks-113-92-loss-to-kings/311385874

My name is Luka.  I live on the second floor:   How about Mavericks guard Luka Doncic?  29 points, 14 rebounds and 15 assists last night.  It’s his 2nd straight 25-point triple-double in the Mavericks win over the Cavaliers.

”He’s a magician with the basketball and at that size, it’s hard to stop,” Cavaliers forward Kevin Love said. ”I can’t say enough good things about him. It’s unbelievable, even from last year when he was extremely impressive, but this year he’s taken it to a whole new level.”

Dallas is 3-0 on the road.  Doncic says he’s having fun.

”I enjoy playing basketball and I had a lot of fun tonight, for sure,” said Doncic, who had 31 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists in an overtime loss to the Lakers two nights earlier. ”I want to play good every game because I have a lot of fun playing basketball.”

Doncic is a fountain.

Be a fountain, not a drain.

E-Mail:  Hoops135@hotmail.com