So this was interesting. Fights are common in the Association as is the “‘x’ was waiting for the ‘y’ team bus after the game” narrative. But when was the last time an altercation involved two players of this magnitude? You have your usual fight archetypes in ‘over-anxious scrub vs. star’, ‘borderline star’ vs. ‘borderline star’, and ‘Kevin Garnett vs. random European/point guard’, among others, but this…? Carmelo Anthony is a full blooded American and full-grown, but more importantly, these are two potential Hall of Famers (in Garnett’s case, a lock), who have been around for ages…I had always envisioned the league as some sort of fraternity where anyone with x number of All-Star appearances was cool with anyone else of similar ilk. Second point: Has waiting for the other team’s bus ever done anything? With the knowledge that swarms of security personnel would be present, this sort of stunt has about the same ‘punch factor’ as just going home and writing the opposing party a very, very angry e-mail.
- Derrick Rose is on the road to recovery. And that’s a very good thing. A report described him as “better than ever” though that’s extremely difficult to believe. The day Rose went down marked one of the darkest moments in league history, simply for what he meant to the league. An MVP at the height of his athletic prowess coming down crumbling to the floor….awful. For someone who appeared when playing as if having a jetpack strapped to his backside, one wonders if the Bulls mega-star can even come close to what he once was. We all hope so.
- The above point should also garner greater respect for Chris Paul who, more or less, has been playing on one leg for the past two years. Longtime readers can attest to my affinity toward Paul, a man who would earn my vote for this year’s MVP. Paul makes up for his lost physical gifts with the most sound guard fundamentals in basketball, a point which all high school players should grasp. Stay low and keep the dribble tight. Jeremy Lin, I’m looking at you as well.
- The Lakers are now sitting at 11th in the rough Western Conference with no silver lining in sight. It actually appears as if they may miss the postseason altogether, a turn of events considered inconceivable by just about everyone just months before. Would this mark the greatest flop in league history?
- At 22-11, can Golden State keep this up?
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