Week Two, November 5, 2011
Game One / Minneapolis Lakers (1-1) 51 – Kansas City Kings (0-2) 49 (OT)
The story for this game is told two ways: 13-12-11-10. Balanced scoring for the Lakers and 19-9-5-4 imbalanced scoring for the “new-look” Kings; 2. When I was coaching at Harvard, one year we beat Holy Cross at Holy Cross (when Holy Cross was good) 87-86. Everyone associated with our team acted like we played so great. And we did play well. One stat from that game though: we were 32/33 from the FT line. The next year, we lost to Holy Cross at home, 86-70. Long faces, self-flaggelation. How could we play so badly? The overlooked stat: we were 15/33 on FTs, 17 fewer made FTs from the previous year with the same number of attempts, and instead of winning by one, we lost by 16. Add those 17 FTs and we see the game (and ourselves in the mirror) completely differently. FTs aren’t the measure of how well you play, but make them and win and you can feel like you played well. And feeling good is good enough for me (good enough for me and Bobby McGee). One last point: who practices free throws before PFL games? Check it out. Compare their FT% with the players who don’t. One other last point: I wish there was someone on the Lakers named Freddie. (Which Lakers weren’t there – besides Freddie? #12 Jon Goldsmith and #17 Josh Pepin: All Kings present.)
Game Two / Buffalo Braves (1-1) 53 – New York Nets (0-2) 52
The Nets are .8 plus .4 secs away from being 2-0. But they aren’t, they’re 0-2. We still like them and we like their chances. They share the ball while remaining aggressive. The veterans (Duanes, et al) seem energized by the rookies (Mat, Matt and Justin), while the rookies exhibit appropriate reverence for their teammates. A recipe for success. The Braves meanwhile are wild, cuddly and wild some more. Free thinkers, free shooters. The ball is going up and maybe the ball is going in. It’s like they talk to it at game’s start, tell it what they want it to do. Another recipe that has a team cooking. (Nice shot .4 secs on the clock, Robert Peek! Did you even, um, um, sneak a peek at the clock?) (Bravely not in attendance: #9 Marcia Whitehead; No-no Nets: #32 Dave Stewart, #60 Rev. Robert Hill)
Game Three / St Louis Hawks (2-0) 52 – Providence Steamrollers (0-2) 31
The Hawks are good. Soaringly good. Predatorily, but nice about it, good. They got inside, they got outside. They got full-court, they got the slow game. They got talons, I mean talent. They can pick you up and pick you apart. Gonna take some thinking and some playing to beat this bunch. Good game, Alex Doerr! Providence lacks a go-to scorer, as evidenced by no one scoring more than 6 points. Can they score from their defense? That would be a good idea. Can they score from second chance points? Another good one! Can they hold teams under 35% FG shooting? They’d better. Can they limit the offensive rebounds of the opposition? These are the sort of things that all teams that are trying to win must do (if the doing isn’t easy). (All Hawks there, feathers preened. All Rollers rolled.)
Game Four / Syracuse Nationals (2-0) 41 – Fort Wayne Pistons (1-1) 35
The Pistons had cylinders rebuilt, added and subtracted a spark plug or two, got an oil change and they still got lubed. Takes time to get the engine broken in. Contested game until the last ten seconds. Jimmy Wyman had a cold, and played even colder. Give him a hug, warm him up. But he’s good and they’re good and they are already being touted as the team most likely to have a good time this season. As will the Nationals being led as they are by the Natural himself. An intruiging team, partly because they have a boatload of players who are just now getting seriously better: “Timmer” Fredette #15, Dave “Hollywood” Hartung #6, and “Holy” Toly Chea #24.” (Nationals absent #19 Matt Siebler and #11 Marc Davenport; Piston out getting maintenance: #5 Jay Tuli.)
Game Five / Philadelphia Warriors (2-0) 70 – Rochester Royals (1-1) 23
Gross. We all hate it when it’s 5 on 4. Hopefully the PFL Reminders will be going out this week so players can alert each other if they won’t be there and the league office can get recruits to fill in. My one observation: who was the genius, or genuises, who did not feed Larry Bavis a few more shots so he could get the first (though it would have come with an asterisk) triple- double in PFL history?
It pains me to compliment Larry Bavis, and it was 5 on 4, but who goes 15 rebounds 14 assists 4 points? Sounds like the kind of stat line only a Wilt or a Bird would go for (and Bird would make sure his team still won, while Wilt went for the assist title). To clarify – I did not put Bavis in the same sentence as Wilt or Bird, the hoop gods would not approve.
But Steve, king of the box score, did Bird ever post a line like that?