MARGINAL CONTACT

Before any mention of basketball, how about the NFL draft? Thursday and Friday night Detroit was rockin’. Nick Saban has been awesome giving his analysis.

The Indiana Pacers were in a foul or defend twice Friday night against the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 3 of their first round match-up. Both times Indiana decided to defend and gave up a game-tying 3. Pacers won in OT, 121-118.

Caitlin Clark signed a huge deal with Nike and will have a signature shoe.

Knicks are up 2-1 on the 76ers – but there’s too much drama going on in the series. Game 4 is tonight.

Denver Nuggets on the verge of sweeping the Lakers. Too much pouting by LA. And what was up with D’Angelo Russell not joining his teammates in the huddle? He was sitting alone at the end of the bench.

In game 3 of Nuggets-Lakers, the two teams shot a combined 10 for 55. Nuggets 5-27, Lakers 5-28. If you struggle with Math, that’s 18%.

Gary Payton was fired from his head coaching job at Lincoln University.

The Brooklyn Nets have hired Juwan Howard as an assistant coach.

Happy birthday to George Gervin. The Iceman is 72.

Always play the right way…

E-Mail: SteveFinamore@yahoo.com

FIRST TIME

With John Calipari headed to Arkansas opening up the Kentucky job, some big names in coaching being mentioned. I hope Danny Hurley stays at UConn – he’s got a good thing going. Is it me or did the Calipari news overshadow UConn winning it all? Last team to win 3 straight titles was UCLA (1971-73).

Bucks and Celtics Tuesday night had two total free-throws attempted the entire game…by both clubs. That’s incredible. Bucks shot 1-2, Celtics didn’t shoot any. Which has never happened before. There were 88 3’s taken. Bucks won 104-91.

Travel basketball at the youth level is about to get underway.

I’m not big into TV ratings but…the women’s NCAA championship game had more viewers than the men’s NCAA championship game. I watched them both.

What is up with the hate towards Caitlin Clark? What did she do wrong? All she does is play the right way, win and break records. We live in a mean, cruel world. Lot of people out there are phony.

Always play the right way…

E-Mail: SteveFinamore@yahoo.com

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

Went to bed Thursday night feeling crummy. Woke up Friday feeling worse. Called in sick to work and canceled practice. I was knocked out. Down for the count.

Luckily with some rest, fluids and a few good sporting events Friday night I’m almost back.

Can’t wait for the college football games Saturday. Johnny Point Spread liked Washington (+9.5) over Oregon Friday night but it was too late; phones were shut off. Huskies win 34-31.

How about the Northwestern Wildcats? They beat #1 ranked Purdue tonight for the second straight year in Evanston, 92-88 in OT. Seems like Boo Buie has been at Northwestern for 8 years. 31 points tonight on 10-18 shooting. Zach Edey 35 and 14 for Purdue. Boilermakers shot 5-19 from distance.

Allen Fieldhouse was rockin’ Friday night – The National Champs, UConn Huskies were in the house. Jayhawks win it, 69-65. Tristen Newton had 31 for UConn. Donovan Clingan, Huskies big with just 8 points on 3-7 shooting. It’s UConn’s first loss of the season. Big 12-Big East Challenge is weak. Let’s get these two schools playing next year at UConn.

How about Mitchell Robinson of the New York Knicks moving his high school coach to New York to stay with him. Great story. https://nypost.com/2023/11/30/sports/mitchell-robinson-and-his-high-school-coach-became-roommates/

UCLA beat UC-Riverside 66-65 Thursday night. The Bruins were -18.5

Hofstra over South Florida 82-63.

Longwood over The Apprentice School Builders 95-46. Wait a second, hold up. The APPRENTICE SCHOOL BUILDERS? Quick, get me Phil Mushnick.

Queens University over Carolina Christian 134-69.

Bucks had a chance to foul in the foul or the defend against the Bulls. Darvin Ham with a poor excuse as to why they didn’t foul. Watch the clip, it’s pretty easy when to foul. Alex Caruso banged a 3. “If they catch with their back against the basket, foul.” WHAT? No Darvin, you foul on the catch or the dribble. You had plenty of time. Everyone should practice the foul or the defend situation. Bulls won in OT.

THREE THE RIGHT WAY

Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Anteokounmpo.

Three best players in the world.

There’s no debate.

Giannis scored 53 points, had 10 rebounds and dished out 7 assists Tuesday night leading the Milwaukee Bucks to a 123-113 victory over the Washington Wizards.

He was 15-16 from the free-throw line and 20-33 from the floor.

“I want to get in a position … that my game is boring,” Antetokounmpo said. ”I just do what I do and people don’t talk about it because it becomes boring – I do it every single night. That’s what I want to do. I want other people to feel like my game is boring. But I don’t get bored. The greats – the best players – never get bored. They go out there and they always give their best any given night.”

BORING? Not exactly. I’d call it, playing the right way.

SWING THE BALL

Wednesday night I watched Davidson (7-5) visit Fordham (12-1) on CBSSN. Fordham’s only loss this season was at Arkansas by 26. The Rams entered the night on a 15-game win streak at Rose Hill Gymnasium in the Bronx.

It was the A-10 opener for both schools. Davidson came out on top 57-43. The Rams shot 3-31 from downtown. Cats weren’t much better, 3-12. Tom Penders rolling over in his grave.

Did you know Denzel Washington played for Fordham’s JV team back in the day?

Tempers flaring in the D. Pistons and Magic in a light skirmish in the second quarter that saw 3 players ejected. Moe Wagner pushed Killian Hayes out of bounds so Hayes went after Wagner. Both players were ejected as well as Hamidou Diallo and Pistons head coach Dwane Casey. As for the game, the Pistons came out on top 121-101.

UConn stayed undefeated (14-0) with a win over Villanova, 74-66. Huskies, Purdue and New Mexico the only schools without a loss in men’s division one basketball.

Brooklyn Nets keep on rolling – they went to the ATL and beat the Hawks 108-107. Kyrie Irving led the way with 28 points. Kevin Durant added 26. Nets have won 10 straight. Hawks played without Trae Young and Clint Capela. They’ve lost 3 of their last 4.

While the Nets are moving up the ladder, the Milwaukee Bucks continue to struggle. In Chicago they blew a 15-point lead with 8:08 left in the game and lost in OT 119-113. Milwaukee has now lost 4 straight. Bulls showing some life have now won 4 of their last 5. DeMar DeRozan scored 42 points for Chicago on 15-25 from the field while Giannis led the Bucks with 45. DeRozan, who is a master at the mid-range pull-up did not attempt a single three-point shot. The Bucks meanwhile shot 9-44 from deep.

Funny question from the Milwaukee Bucks play-by-play person to the color analyst during the game. Bucks have the ball, tie game, :07.8 left in the game. “What do you think they do here?”

E-Mail: SteveFinamore@yahoo.com

BEST PLAYER IN THE NBA?

Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The guy is amazing.

We’ve never seen anyone like him.

BIG-TIME PLAYERS, MAKE BIG-TIME PLAYS, IN BIG-TIME GAMES…

The two best words in sports, “Game Seven.”

Today we have two of them.

3:30 Bucks vs Celtics (The C’s have attempted 66 more 3’s in the series)

3-PT SHOOTING: (6 games)

Celtics 88-237 .371 Bucks 53-171 .310

Jayson Tatum 21-61 .344

Giannis 6-24 .250

Holiday 15-44 .341

Portis 3-19 .158

8:00 Mavericks vs Suns

Tough call here. I love Luka and I would love to see Chris Paul win a ring.

Can’t wait. Going to be awesome.

Stat Muse posted a great stat the other day on Twitter (I’m back on the social media platform after taking 6 months off). The last 13 playoff series dating back to last season have been won by the team with the most assists. (Celtics and Suns have out-assisted the Bucks and Mavericks)

Did you know in 6 NBA finals, Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls never went to a Game 7?

Good for Draymond Green for going back at Kendrick Perkins. Why can’t athletes defend themselves?

Zander Hollander was the man. Used to get his book every season. Wish I would have kept them. SMH. One day I was outside the Washington Bullets hotel in NYC getting autographs. Jeff Malone took a minute to read his scouting report after signing. Those were the days.

Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks: Marks said that the organization wants to have players “that want to be a part of something bigger than themselves,” and “be available.” Shouldn’t this be the philosophy in all of team sports? High school and college included.

Happy Birthday George Brett. My favorite baseball player of all-time.

Enjoy the games…

THE GREEK FREAK

Giannis – the best player in the world.

DON’T CHEAT THE GAME

My main man Carlton Valentine always tells our campers, “you can’t cheat the game.”

I don’t care what they say, Giannis just may be the best player in the NBA. Was Charles Oakley serious about his comments on the Greek Freak? SMH

Outstanding quote following last night’s game.

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.