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- Fri, March 27th, 2020
Fri, March 27th, 2020
The optics of an NBA return — Book review time — Corona-NBA updates
Friday, March 27th, 2020
The Opening Tip
An article that dropped today details what the resumption of the season might look like
A few previously-positive NBA players are now in the clear
A suggestion on what to read during these trying times
Today in 1971, a 6-foot-6 power forward dominated the Knicks
1. The Lead: If the NBA does return, it’s going to look weird
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst dropped an interesting piece today on how the Chinese Basketball Association’s drive to cable-jump its season could end up mirroring what the NBA does.
According to Windhorst, the CBA has considered “clustering teams in one or two cities and playing one another in a round-robin format in empty arenas over several weeks.”
CONT.: “The goal has been to play out the remaining schedule in full before moving on to the playoffs, with the hope that fans could eventually be admitted.”
The CBA has been suspended since Jan. 24.
Initially, an April 1 return date was targeted. That has since been pushed back to late-April/early-May.
One similar option the NBA is considering, wrote Windhorst, is to go full-on AAU at a Las Vegas property:
“One is to consider using a sprawling casino property in Las Vegas, where everything could be held under one roof. Others have suggested playing in the Bahamas, where a ballroom could be converted into a playing court specifically for broadcast.”
Or, how about playing NBA games in, say, Iowa?
“There has even been talk of taking over a college campus in the Midwest, where reported cases of COVID-19 are lower for the moment. Whatever the location, it would be a place where teams could sleep, train, eat and, hopefully, be kept healthy enough to have confidence in resuming play -- maybe not to finish out the season but to at least get restarted.”
Ames, Iowa: Where amazing happens.This format, of, for example, the Lakers waiting around in the bleachers for another game to end like the varsity team watching the junior varsity, would be awkward and clumsy, but it would sure beat the fresh hell we’re currently living in.
2. NBA-coronavirus updates
Doris Burke went on The Woj Pod and revealed that she has tested positive for COVID-19.
Woj reported that the NBA is reducing base salaries by 20 percent of approximately 100 of the league office’s top-earning executives around the world.
Detroit’s Christian Wood, along with Jazz players Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, have all beat the ‘rona, which is good news for everyone except our once-great All-Corona team.
NON CORONA-RELATED, pt. 1: Globetrotter legend Curly Neal died yesterday at 77. Here’s The New York Times obit.
NON CORONA-RELATED, pt. 2: Check out these international highlights of Pat Beverley.
3. The Grip Reads: The soul of basketball: The epic showdown between LeBron, Kobe, Doc and Dirk that saved the NBA
TSOB chronicles the 2010-11 NBA season from the perspective of four people from the four most important teams du jour: Kobe’s Lakers, Doc Rivers’ Celtics, LeBron’s Heat -- in the Big 3’s first season -- and Dirk’s Mavericks.In the wake of The Decision, the book’s author, Ian Thomsen, goes a litttttle hard on LeBron, picturing him as a hopelessly artificial star born of the Internet generation. Though, again, over the top, it serves as a reminder of how villainized LeBron was in the early-2010s.Other areas explored by Thomsen:
Doc’s struggle to reel in Rajon Rondo and the aging Celtics’ quest for relevance in the shadow of the Heat.
Kobe’s quest for a three-peat.
LeBron’s bumpy assimilation in Miami, including an anecdote on how he quietly tried to get Erik Spoelstra fired.
Dirk’s final stand and the final moments of his 2011 title run. Remember, as the final seconds of Game 6 were ticking away, we saw Dirk jump over the scorer’s table and head into the locker room? Thomsen takes you inside that intimate moment.
TSOB is reported and written with the careful precision of a David Halbserstam sports book; Thomsen’s advantage with the under-30 crowd, though, is that these characters are fresh and familiar in the collective sports zeitgeist.The best part: It’s $6 on eBay.
4. 3/27/1971: A 6-foot-6 power forward grabs 36 boards
On this day 49 years ago, Atlanta Hawks forward Bill Bridges pulled down 36 boards in a 113-104 playoff victory over Walt Frazier’s New York Knicks. With the feat, he became the only player besides Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Willis Reed to record more than 35 rebounds in a playoff game. And he did it as a 6-foot-6 power forward.(Bridges finished with 12 points and 36 rebounds that game; his teammate, Lou Hudson, finished with 35 points and 11 rebounds).Some of Bridges’ career highlights:
In 1962, in the last season of the long-gone American Basketball League, he dropped 55 points, the league record.
Over 13 seasons in the NBA, he averaged a tad under 12 points and 12 rebounds per game.
During the 1967-68 season, he set the NBA record with 366 personal fouls in a season, or 4.5 personal fouls per game over 82 games.
He was a three-time All Star, a two-time All-Defense selection, and, in 1975, won a title with Rick Barry’s San Francisco Warriors.