Really?

I watched 3 basketball games on February 27, 2016. Two were at the collegiate level. One was a Saturday night prime time telecast involving 2 top NBA squads. 3 games. At 3 different levels. 3 different results. All provoking the question in the title--Really?

First on tap was an afternoon Big 10 Conference tilt between the lowly Rutgers Scarlet Knights and second-division Northwestern on the home floor of Wildcats in Evanston, Illinois. Rutgers has not won a Big Ten game this year nor have they won since a monumental upset of Wisconsin at home last January--the same Wisconsin team, albeit minus its star player, that beat the vaunted University of Kentucky team destined to go undefeated and win the National Championship. There have been some competitive games during that stretch--it took Illinois triple overtime to dispatch the Knights.

Rutgers entered the game minus its 2 top big men due to injury and its top scorer, sidelined by an unspecified violation of team rules. That proved to be the key to this matchup. Rutgers gamely tried but offered little resistance to a hot-shooting Northwestern team who hit three-point field goal after three-point field goal enroute to a 30 point halftime lead, which they never gave up and cruised to a 39 point victory, mercifully not going for the 100 point mark. The Knights looked disorganized and, after awhile, disheartened. A picture of their beleaguered coach, looking sleep worn and frustrated with his team's inability to execute the fundamentals of the offense they practice. This kind of performance, no matter what the reasons--bad chemistry, individual motivation over team goals, lack of key players, still should not come with such a heavy price attached to it. Not at this level. Seeing the final score and having witnessed the massacre, I could only ask myself--Really?

At 7:00 I turned on the computer for the webcast of my alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College, hosting Swarthmore College in the Centennial Conference Tournament championship game on F&M's home floor in Lancaster, PA. These were the top two seeds, the two best teams in the Conference, vying for the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament that goes to the winner. F&M, coached by D III's winningest coach and an almost perennial post-season team, up against Swarthmore, who had never made it to the CC final. The two regular season games were close F&M wins, including the one in Lancaster which resulted in coach Glenn Robinson's 900th career coaching victory. So I was nervous about the game.

The first 20:00 was a blowout. The Diplomats dominated the Garnet from every aspect, leading by an astonishing 50-26 at the half. Yet I had seen some spark coming from Swarthmore at the tail end of the half which gave me pause to think this may not be over.

Swarthmore came out on fire at the outset of the second half and F&M did not. It was a reversal of fortunes. F&M had no answer for the shooting, rebounding and hustle evidenced by the Garnet. The game kept getting closer and closer and I was edgy. Then with a bit over a minute left in the contest, Swarthmore pulled to within one point at 62-61. Somehow, the Diplomats hit just enough baskets and free throws when the Garnet started to foul in order to give them more possessions and a greater chances to tie or lead if F&M did not make its foul shots.

It was a scrappy, determined effort by a Swarthmore team which was missing its top scorer. Sure F&M won at home. But it was far from pretty. Given a lead almost like the one Northwestern had over Rutgers, the Diplomats hung on for a victory that should never had been so close. Was I happy? Yes. Was I elated? No. Just like the game a couple of hours earlier, I again asked myself--Really?

With my wife in tow, we marched to den TV to watch the Golden State Warriors, they of the record-setting win total and defending NBA champions, take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in OKC, a team with two superstars and only 18 losses thus far this season. As soon as I turned on the screen, I saw it was 9-0 in favor of the Thunder. I remarked to my wife that this might be time for the Warriors to lose only their sixth game as opposed to their gaudy 52 wins.

The Thunder were clicking on all cylinders. Their stars, big man and high-scoring Kevin Durant was having a high-scoring night, virtually unstoppable in an array of three point attempts and on shots closer to the basket, while fellow All-Star guard Russell Westbrook was a bull, strong finishes to the hoop along with stifling defense. With that one-two punch and the role players at the top of their game, the Thunder kept thwarting advances by the Warriors and maintained a sizeable enough lead. Through three quarters and into the fourth stanza.

In the third quarter, the reigning Most Valuable Player of the NBA last season and the likely MVP again this season,Stephen Curry, had been kept somewhat in check by the Thunder's switching defense. Given his herculean performances in the three prior games on this elongated 7 game road swing, it seemed inevitable that he, like the Warriors, were destined to have an "off" game. "Off" to Curry meant that he would score below his season's average of 30 plus points per game.

But it was that third quarter which changed the dynamic of the battle. Curry got tangled up with Westbrook on a drive to the basket and turned his left ankle. The Warriors had to foul to stop the game so that they could substitute for him. Curry hobbled to the dressing room. The game's outcome seemed to be preordained. No Curry meant no win this night.

Magically, he reappeared and was immediately reinserted into the game. With a fierce determination, Curry started to take over the game, bombing away behind the three point arc with virtual unerring accuracy. All the work of his cohorts, especially his teammate Draymond Green, who scored little, rebounded and passed like no none and had a halftime profanity-laced tirade which was so loud that the ABC sideline reporter felt compelled to report apparent disharmony to the national TV audience, suddenly mattered.

Even so, in the last two minutes of the the game, the Thunder still kept their lead. But with another Curry trifecta and a bad pass by Durant scooped up by Green on a heady play before the ball went out of bounds to end any Golden State hope, Durant made a colossal error. He fouled Andre Iguodala as Iguodala went to shoot a last second desperation shot to try to tie the game. Iguodala, a seasoned pro, an Olympian and last year's NBA Championship MVP, sank both foul shots despite having only a 60+% seasonal average at the free throw line.
Instead of a Thunder win over the Golden State juggernaut, there would now be a 5 minute overtime session.

That's when Curry made an awe-inspired statement. Dancing and prancing around an array of defenders, he launched three pointer after three pointer, all seemingly touching nothing but net on its way through the hoop. And Durant committed his sixth and final foul early in the overtime period foolishly trying to block a Curry shot. That proved to be game, set and match, although the game's score vacillated back and forth between the two teams until it came down to the end.

Who had the ball as time was rapidly running down and the score tied? Steph Curry of course. No timeout by Coach Kerr. Steph came over midcourt and without hesitation let the ball fly. It's high arc was majestic. The downward flight proved to be the dagger to the OKC heart as it swished through the cords. Nobody shoots like that.

Curry finished with 46 points, more than half obtained after his ankle injury. He shot an amazing 12 for 20 from three point territory. That tied the NBA game record for three pointers made. He also broke his season record for most total three pointers as well as continued his record streak of having made at least one three point goal in each game he has played. You have got to be kidding...

Three games. Three different paths to victory. The final one punctuated by a inhuman performance by a player who may be the best shooter and perhaps the best player to play in the NBA in a contest for the ages. What a day.

Can you blame me if I once more say Really?