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NBA Regular Season 14/15
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RIP Dean Smith.
I'm reading Roland Lazenby's Michael Jordan - The Life at the moment (it's very good), and I can see that Jordan owed a good deal his success to playing under Dean Smith. He was probably always going to be a talent, but in terms of having a well-rounded game that included defense and passing ability, as well as scoring.
A bit I liked from the 1982 NCAA final against Georgetown.....Jordan was a freshman on the team, and at the time deferred to the more senior players James Worthy and Sam Perkins. North Carolina had led from about 5 minutes out, but after two baskets from Georgetown, found themselves down 1, with 30 seconds to go. And the way the game played out, you expected Worthy or Perkins to take the shot.
From the book...With thirty-two seconds left, Smith called a time-out to set up a play to counter Georgetown’s anticipated move back to a zone. “Usually, I don’t like to take a time-out there,” Smith said. “We should know what to do. But I expected Georgetown to come back to the zone and jam it in. I said, ‘Doherty, take a look for James [Worthy] or Sam [Perkins], and, Jimmy, the cross-court pass will be there to Michael.’ As it turned out, Michael’s whole side of the court was wide open because they were chasing James. If Michael had missed, Sam would’ve been the hero because he’d have had the rebound.”
Smith was at his best in that huddle, so calming that assistant Roy Williams recalled glancing at the scoreboard, thinking surely he must have misread it. The way Smith was talking, Carolina must have the lead, Williams remembered thinking. As the team broke from the huddle, Smith gave Jordan a pat and said, “Knock it in, Michael.”
As Dean Smith called it, the cross-court pass was there to Jordan. The remarkable thing to me watching it back, is how Jordan takes the shot with no hesitation, perfectly in rhythm. This isn't the Jordan we know today, it's the freshman 3rd option on the team, with a shot for the national championship. I'd seen the shot several times, but watching the full game, when the ball came to him I expected him to hesitate, just for a second, but he doesn't. Surely Dean Smith's comments to MJ as they left the huddle contributed to that.
Smith had previously lost 3 NCAA Championship finals, and been to the Final Four 6 times without winning, and was jeered by opposing fans as a choker. So I guess he owed something to MJ as well for hitting that shot as well.
You can watch the whole game here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIY7vAjCCDQ
I watched it recently when I came to that part of the book. A bit different to a modern NBA game, no shot-clock or 3-point line. If you want to some check it out, I'd recommend joining at half time. It's tied at half-time and the second half is better. A number of future NBA stars on the court...MJ, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, a freshman Patrick Ewing and Eric 'Sleepy' Floyd.
Would recommend Lazenby's book as well. Another bit that speaks to Smith's character....The odds on another title [the following season] might have been better had Dean Smith been a bit more selfish and persuaded James Worthy to stay at North Carolina for his senior year.
However, the coach continued to prize the success of his players above his own, even perhaps above the team’s. Another coach would have pointed out to Worthy that the Tar Heels were on the brink of winning back-to-back national championships. With Worthy, the school would be returning a team with four starters, a team that could make real history. Yet instead of exerting any sort of pressure to keep Worthy in school, Smith began researching Worthy’s prospects for the upcoming NBA draft.
When he learned that Worthy was likely to be the top pick, he dutifully advised him to claim “hardship” status and enter the draft. The risk of injury and the loss of huge sums were too great for Worthy to continue to play amateur basketball. It was a remarkable display of integrity from Smith, another reason his players held him in such esteem. Five seasons earlier he had done the same for point guard Phil Ford, had all but insisted that he turn professional after his junior season, Art Chansky recalled. Ford, however, declined to leave, explaining to Smith, “Who’s going to tell my mother?” He came back to Carolina and was player of the year that final season.
Worthy’s family also prized education, but Smith emphasized that the prudent step was to enter the draft. Worthy was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers as the top overall pick.0 -
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Dunno if we caught them on a bad night, but expected the Cavs to be better last night. Had heard they'd won 11 of their last 12 or something, and Lebron was much better after his break. Was expecting to see something like Lebron's Heat, but they were a good bit short of that.
Still seems to be a lack of chemistry....it looks more like 5 guys trying to do their own thing a bit, rather than acting as a cohesive unit.
For the Bulls...the Gasol/Mozgov matchup that I was looking out for never materialised too much. Gasol played a smart game, didn't really take Mozgov on in the post, but worked with Rose on pick-and-pop for jump-shots, set up teammates with 6 assists, and posted up Tristan Tompson when he was guarding him.
Rose played a great game, very aggressive all game. Been a bit frustrated with Rose's play at times, when he settles for too many jump-shots. But was hoping that he's saving it for the playoffs. Last night was a good indication that he was, and does have another gear to go to...
It was vintage Rose and he really destroyed Kyrie Irving.
Tony Snell had a great game filling in for Jimmy Butler. Shot an amazing 9-11 (4-6 from 3) while guarding Lebron the entire game. Snell has long arms, which are a great defensive asset for troubling the ball-handler, and this contributed to Lebron's 8 turnovers.
Rachel Nicholls grabbed Rose for the post-game interview, and wanted to talk about his 30 points, but all Rose wanted to talk about was what a great game Tony Snell had, which was a nice touch.0 -
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTX5rD0lNeY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMkPkasdywM
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