There is a lot of sports to discuss. Some of it is familiar. Some isn’t. Most of the events of the week I watched. Or saw highlights. Let’s get going.
Since the penultimate weekend of January, scoring once more has taken off in the NBA. On a night where Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks put up 73 points to help the Mavs win a tight ballgame over the Atlanta Hawks. This is the fourth most-points in league history, only surpassed by Wilt Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant. For the season, Doncic is averaging 34.4 points per game, along with 8.6 rebounds, 9.4 assists while shooting a robust 48.8% from the floor. He should be this good—Doncic is receiving $40.06 million for his work. And as tremendous as Doncic’s average is, he still trails Joel Embiid of Philadelphia; Embiid is averaging 36.0 per contest. Doncic is third in the NBA in assists and second in 3-pointers made, significantly behind the superlative Stephon Curry.
Yet Doncic and his Dallas team finds itself in eighth place in the Western Conference. Which is why the stellar play of Nikola Jokic and Embiid make them the frontrunners to be the NBA M.V.P. Maybe his 45 point night on Monday will get him into the conversation; but I rank him about fifth at best unless the Mavs go on a run to threaten the top teams come the end of the season.
On that same night, Devin Booker scored 62 points for Phoenix in a loss to Indiana. During that week, Booker averaged 42.0 points per game, along with 5.0 rebounds and shot an amazing 63.9% from the field. Which is why Booker, not Doncic, was named Western Conference Player of the Week. Booker’s play alongside perennial scorer Kevin Durant, who scored 43 points last week, is why the Suns are surging and have a slot in the playoffs if the season ended today.
I don’t have an answer as to why the scoring is up in the NBA. Sure, the players are bigger and better shooters. Yet there seems to be a modicum of defense being played.
My wife and I watched the Los Angeles Lakers travel to San Francisco to take on the Warriors in the featured Saturday night game on ABC. Lebron James against Curry. Two teams headed in a downward direction after so much success, which included the Lakers win in the Play-In Tournament.
Whenever the two surefire Hall of Fame players meet, there are fireworks. This game did not disappoint. It took double overtime to determine a winner. Lebron getting fouled with just a second or so left on the clock led to free throws sealing the outcome; the wide disparity in foul shots in favor of LA (43-16) contributed to the Lakers’ win.
Lebron ended the night with a triple double. Curry scored 46 points in a losing effort, again and again reducing the Warriors. Supporting players D’Angelo Russell of LA and Klay Thompson of GSW hit key shots to extend the game.
It was a magical, throwback evening. Good if you rooted for LA but not if you were a Warriors fan. This is what superstars can do in the NBA. Cheers to two of the best ever.
I finally watched some college basketball this week. I saw two Franklin and Marshall games. In the first one, the Diplomats knocked Gettysburg from a three way tie atop the Centennials standings. Saturday’s trip to Westminster, Maryland to take on a determined McDaniel squad took two overtimes for the men from Lancaster to prevail.
Knotted with #16 John Hopkins, both teams could settle the top seed for the playoffs on February 6th in Baltimore. The Massey Ratings, the definitive guide to DIII sports, has F&M ranked only #56 because the three losses the team has suffered were to the only teams played so far which are ranked higher. They have to keep on winning and beat Hopkins to get into the NCAA’s.
I saw #1 UConn roll; #2 Purdue handle Rutgers in Piscataway; and I watched #4 Houston defeat Texas in OT. I caught Northwestern once more take out a Top 25 team, this time then-number 10 Illinois, which went down in overtime.
Princeton, my sweetheart team in the Ivy League, took it on the chin from a very formidable Cornell squad in Ithaca on Saturday. New Mexico, one of my dark horse teams, is now ranked #19. I briefly caught now-#6 Wisconsin clobber Michigan State; this is a legitimately good team.
A lot will happen with the ranked teams this week. Duke and North Carolina meet in Durham on Saturday. Tennessee and Kentucky tangle. As does Houston and Kansas.
It is the end of January entering the beginning of February. Most schools have already played 20 games. It will take the conclusion to the regular season and the conference championships to settle everything. Even then, as we learned last year, the seedings for the NCAA Tournament are a crapshoot, negating the strength of schools like FAU and San Diego State along with Princeton.
I doubt the Selection Committee will deviate from its analytics. Which may lead us to more March Madness.
There was some tennis to report. Coco Gauff could not make it to the finals. The reigning US Open champion lost to eventual winner, second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka.
On the men’s side, #4 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy disposed of the perhaps G.O.A.T., Novak Djokovic in four sets. He then dispatched third-seeded Daniil Medvedv in a thrilling come-from-behind five set match. Keep an eye on this 22 year old. Stardom may be in his future.
Quickly throwing in some hockey, defending Stanley Cup champs, the Vegas Golden Knights, came to the Metropolitan area this past week. New Jersey downed the Knights in OT. Then the team regrouped and trounced the Rangers and Islanders. I think the Cups goes through the desert once more.
Sentimentally, newly-installed Islanders head coach, Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy, led his team to Montreal, where his retired number hangs from the rafters. The cheers before the game for their hero were loud and emotional. The Canadiens fans went home even happier, as the Habs won the game.
Oh, yeah, there was some football, too. The two teams which will play in the Super Bowl were determined on Sunday. In two very hard fought, sometimes chippy affairs, Kansas City and San Francisco emerged victorious.
If you didn’t watch the games, shame on you. Both matchups screamed of multiple storylines going into the games as well as what transpired.
Kansas City had been maligned for its less-than-sterling play during the regular season. While the Chiefs and QB Patrick Mahomes II did win the AFC West, it wasn’t as if KC was dominating. Future Hall of Fame tight end and Taylor Swift’s beau took abuse for his lackluster games; too many people tried to blame it on a lack of focus, with his attention on his girlfriend, not his game.
Meanwhile, Baltimore, led by a sure bet to win the league M.V.P. award, Lamar Jackson, and a stifling defense, continued the kind of play that had been dismantling teams all season and in its playoff win over Houston. With KC not having played a road playoff game in the Mahomes era, so-called experts doubted the team could win at Buffalo and when they did, still felt that Baltimore would emerge as the AFC Super Bowl representative.
Except that with some good defense, including forcing a fumble on a run near the goal line which would have tightened the contest, and Mahomes and Kelce having another playoff monster game, KC proved its doubters wrong. That post-game smooch between Trav and Tay plus the heartwarming finger pointing between Chiefs coach Andy Reid and Swift punctuated why this team deserved to be in the Super Bowl—again.
Did the Ravens choke? I don’t know. Could the play calling have been better? Yes. Untimely penalties? Absolutely. Did the karma favor KC? Perhaps. Baltimore will lick its wounds and watch KC try to secure its dynasty status.
Kudos to the 49’ers. At home against upstart Detroit, almost everyone’s darling—a team which had not won a championship since 1957—SF took a beating in the first half.
With a lot of luck on a pass deflecting off of a Detroit defender and into a Niners receivers arms, along with some boneheaded decisions to go for it on fourth down by Lions head man Dan Campbell which did not work out, a totally revitalized SF group outplayed the Lions in the second half, overcoming a 17 point deficit and hanging on to win by three points.
Those naysayers who have jumped on the anti-Brock Purdy bandwagon should think twice about his ability to play in big games. He did it against Green Bay and followed up his winning football in masterfully guiding the Niners to victory.
On paper, the Niners are the stronger team on both sides of the ball. But this is Kansas City, and Mahomes, Kelce and company don’t lose very often on the big stage.
Which is why, mentioning stages, there is at the subplot of whether good luck charm Swift can jet from Tokyo, where her Eras Tour restarts in February, to Las Vegas in time for the game, then hurry back to Japan and Australia. Good luck seems to be on her side lately.
That’s it. That was my week that was in sports.
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