My wife and I were attending my grand daughter's high school graduation, so we did not witness first hand the ass kicking the Cavaliers gave the Warriors last night at the Q, an arena next to the flame throwing Cayahoga River - Flow on big river. An arena named for Quicken Loans, which will be the first mortgage company associated with the mortgage and banking scandal of 2019. (Remember, you heard it from me first.)
My wife and I were delighted we didn't watch that game on live TV. Later, Melanie and I watched it on tape. Here was my first thought half way through the first quarter. I've said it one, and I'll say it again: "He who gets the first punch in, gets the first punch in." The Cavs punched first, and kept punching (metaphor for setting the alpha-dog-tone of the game). The Warriors needed to punch back immediately and didn't. The refs didn't help. They allowed the Cavs to be the aggressors, perhaps not intentionally. However, it has always been this way in the NBA as far back as when I played that referees become more and more inclined to see the second foul than the first. To punish the counter-puncher and not the aggressor. It has always been very difficult to counter-punch in the NBA. Historically, any chance a team has to change tempo significantly comes at the start of the third quarter. That did not happen last night. So, the series goes back to Oracle on Monday night. It is what it is.
Steve Kerr is correct to say that his team is not worried about history, but they damn well better be worried about who gets the first punch in in game five.
That's all I have to say about the upcoming game five. Except this: Recently, archaeologists in Mexico found an Aztec ball court, ancestor of the game of basketball, (the stone hoop was mounted on the wall perpendicular to the playing surface.) Nearby the court, they also found the sculls of the players on the losing team that had been sacrificed to the Gods. During game five, I will be paying attention to the shape of the Cavs' heads and wondering. Just wondering.
Here's a little quatrain about the great Laker's center, Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
Sky Hooks From the Stands by Tom Meschery
Jabbar's arm high in the air
His hand cradling the ball
I'm waiting for it to fall
From the sky, holding my breath.
