Japan player 5'8" Yuki Kawamura had opponents chasing in the Olympic games

LeBron James was the MVP of the Olympic Tournament Men's Basketball Series - (Erik Drost photo) The LeBRON - BRONNY JAMES EPIC

San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyamai - (NBA Photo) VICTOR WEMBANYAMA = THE REAL DEAL

Michael Jordan exemplified dignity, class and respect for others -- (photo -Steve Lipofsky Basketballphoto.com)

Shaq and Kobe busted up their reminiscing the 2002 playoff series with the Sacramento Kings. They referred to the as the Sacramento Queens. The series was later deemed as FIXED (screen shot photo)

Kobe Bryant is driving to be one of the best NBA players ever...the question... is he better than Michael Jordan? - (Keith Allison photo)

Bill Walton played through pain and injuries. He was rewarded late in his career being a member of the 1986 NBA championship Boston Celtics team. It was his second NBA title - (Steve Lipofsky photo) BILL WALTON REMEMBERED

Los Angeles Lakers Magic Johnson and Boston Celtics Larry Bird in Game two of the 1985 NBA Finals at Boston Garden Date 30 May 1985 - Steve Lipofsky www.Basketballphoto.com ALL TIME NBA 1st TEAM - BREAKING IT DOWN

Bill Russell is seen here in the green uniform guarding Wilt Chamberlain. They had some of the NBA's most classic battles. Russell sadly passed away Sunday at the age of 88 - (US Library of Congress image) ALL TIME NBA 1st TEAM - BREAKING IT DOWN

SPORTS NOTES - OLYMPIC SUCCESS

James Loving/National Radio Text Service

Olympic rosters featured a record 51 current NBA players and a record 31 current WNBA players - This was an interesting Olympics to watch, perhaps the best yet regardless of it being too vast to cover everything - From our standpoint it wasn't the gold medal winning USA men's team that was the most interesting, it was Japan's - NBA's ALL TIME BEST PLAYERS 1st and 2nd TEAMS

Sunday August 11, 2024

REALITY BITES

There was a string of interesting observations from the Olympics held in Paris this year. The first study was how interesting the men's basketball tournament was.

Olympic rosters featured a record 51 current NBA players and a record 31 current WNBA players. The previous records for players with NBA and WNBA experience (121), current NBA players (49) and current WNBA players (26) were set at the 2020 Olympics.

Outside of the U.S., Canada has the most current NBA players with 10, followed by Australia (nine) and France (five). Ten of the 12 teams in the men's 5-on-5 competition have at least five players with NBA experience.

From our standpoint it wasn't the USA team that was the most interesting, it was Japan's. The little Japan team wasn't stocked with NBA players as were the Canada and the US. They had only one who was on the bench and played sparsely.

Japan had their game with France won until the referees took it away from them. It smelled like a homer decision.

Leading by four points with a few seconds reaming all Japan had to do was let any shot three or two go in and take the ball in and run the clock down.

What happened was a substitute French player took a three point shot that went in. Surprisingly the refs called a mystery foul on Japan. The Japan player 5'8" Yuki Kawamura looked as if he was in shock. We were too. He pleaded with the refs that stonewalled him in return.

There was no close up replay. France outscored Japan in overtime and won the game to advance to the next round. This was a case that REALITY BITES.

In this case it hurt Japan. They were the David's that should have won against the French Goliath. But this isn't a case of shoulda, woulda, coulda… this is reality.

This game was exciting and well played by the hustling Japan side. From now on we root for Japan.

To be clear in our area there was very little coverage of the men's basketball tournament. Often we experience seeing a message that a video is NOT AVAILABLE IN YOUR AREA!

Why equates to GO FIGURE. The result being the IT SUCKS TO BE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST.

What that game revealed was on any given day regardless of talent a lesser talented team can win. This game was a prime example. French sensation 7'4" Victor Wembanyama had an off game and the team was out of sync.

Not surprisingly the US won the tournament and LeBron James was named MVP of the tournament. But…. here's the drift. This situation of the US selecting the best NBA players for the Olympic team is as objectively unfair as when the Dream team was assembled because the opinion was the foreign team were stocked with players that played professional basketball in Europe.

To adjust this discriminating situation there is a solution. That is to have a game yearly pitting an all-star team from Europe's pro leagues to play against the US NBA best player's all-star team. As it is the nation's discrepancy being in the Olympics have only a few NBA players with France and Germany having the most after the US and Canada.

There was an interesting point that was made by ESPN journalist Brian Windhorst. He noted that US coach Steve Kerr prepared his players to adjust to the physicality that they would face in the competition. Basically he pointed out that they couldn't play the NBA style SISSY BALL where it's against the law to touch another player. In Europe the play basketball the way it should be played…. PHYSICALLY.

To be honest I have some angst about the way the NBA game is currently played ad wrote a column about it. The reality is that for about 15 years I had no access to the NBA game. The cable system didn't carry it… We had to move to another area that had a cable system that carried the games.

Ironically that coincided with the LeBron James era of PROTECT THE PLAYERS. It also coincided with the change of NBA commissioners.

Within that amount of time the NBA game was destroyed for the sake of it being turned into an entertainment entity and NO LONGER A SPORT.

Our last extensive look at the NBA was the 2002 NBA Playoffs. It was very physical and we noted that. In the West Finals the Lakers defeated to Sacramento Kings and a very, very disputed series.

We wrote that the Los Angeles Lakers continue to receive favoritism from NBA referees as they elbowed their way to a seventh game showdown after their 106-102 game six victory over the Sacramento Kings in Los Angeles. The favoritism for the Lakers couldn't be more obvious than in the last minutes of the game.

With 12 seconds left the Lakers Kobe Bryant smashed Sacramento's Mike Bibby in the nose with a flagrant elbow on an inbounds play from the Lakers end line.

As Bibby fell backward he reached out and grabbed the onrushing Bryant who was trying to receive the inbounds pass. Bibby appeared to be trying to keep from falling on the back of his head and cracking his skull open, when he reached out and grabbed Bryant.

The result was Bibby was called for FOULING BRYANT. BIBBY GOT A BLOODY NOSE. The ESPN replay showed over and over the referee was looking right at the play during the entire time and IGNORED Bryant's fouling Bibby. The play should have been whistled dead at the time that Bryant smashed Bibby in the nose with his elbow. It was as if Bibby's nose infringed Bryant's elbow.

Refs in that series were found to have fixed the games and one served time in prison.

After the play Bibby was wiping the blood pouring from his nose with a towel. The referees seemed annoyed that he would take time to do this. In boxing when a boxer has a bloody nose he can't breathe properly. Is it any different in basketball or the NBA? To compound the inequities Lakers coach Phil Jackson wanted a blood control rule called.

In an interview on You Tube O'Neal hosted a show with Bryant being a guest. They referred to that series and jokingly called the Kings the Sacrament Queens. We enough for what many can consider BAD TASTE but it is what it is.

The Lakers then faced the New Jersey Nets and swept them in four games. Our analysis is based on a 13 gap of not seeing how the game changed to protect the players. We don't know when or why rules were changed but it is a sad state of affairs that the game was destroyed.

Kerr played during the basketball Michael Jordan era. It was an era that the Detroit Pistons BAD BOYS applied the JORDAN RULES. Jordan was a target for destruction. There are videos on You Tube showing how the Piston would knock Jordan to the floor every time he drove to the basket. There were times when they would go after him and challenge him when he never came inside. This was a time that demonstrates the MEN from THE BOYS.

Every time Jordan would get up and punish them with his scoring and hustle. He never cried or whined about the discrimination he simply sucked it up and like a man took it to this opponent.

That was an era when 7" center Dikembe Mutombo would wave his finger at opponents for theme not to come inside. If the did he would punish them physically. After the play he would was his finger at them as if to say I told you so, don't come inside. That WAS BASKETBALL.

It's the same game that all former NBA players and perhaps current learn from the playgrounds when they were young that the game is physical and one needs to prepare for it.

We did get the Women's Olympic final game with the French defeating Belgium. They also played physical and THEY ARE GIRLS! They played an interesting physical game from both teams. It was an enjoyable game to watch. We didn't have the men's game televised in our area…. YET!

Congrats to the US men's team and all of the medal winners. It was a job well done and entertaining. The track events were given the best coverage and photo angels. This was an interesting Olympics to watch, perhaps the best yet regardless of it being too vast to cover everything.

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