The Bubble #1

Guess I better be legit and say something about the Bubble. I've been reluctant because I believed the league would have been better to have frozen at the playoffs at the start of the COVID 19 shutdown. Yeah there were/has been a few instances of drama, but come on, no way these teams competing for the 8 spot had /have any chance of a an upset. So, we have Blazers instead of the Griz? 

Frankly, I wouldn't have minded if the first round  had been eliminated, or at least made a best of 5 series. Okay, okay, I get the $ thing. In a five game series I still wouldn't have missed that sensational last second 3 by Doncic, And the fifth game would have mercifully ended the series, so we could get to the real competition. While I'm on the Mavs, Doncic is playing with a sprained ankle and Przingis is sitting? It's playoff time, dude! 

Based on what I've seen, I have the Clippers playing the Bucks for the Championship, Probably most fans do, so no crystal ball. I'm a little concerned that teams have figured out how to play Antetekompo's twisting dribble penetration better. Saying that, he's still a FORCE. Both teams are seriously DEEP. 

Boards, defense and bench production are usually the definers of NBA Champs.  

In the West: Lakers have a chance to beat the Clippers. Some have opined, the Lakers don't need Avery Bradley. Wrong!

The Eastern Conference is a little more interesting. The Celtics have been playing inspired ball. But truly weak at the 5 spot. Raptors could make a series of it, if Ibaka and Gasol can be a consistent force on the boards. And then, there is the Miami Heat, my favorite upset team. I say that knowing they're a long-shot. But you gotta love the way they play together with their mix of young and vet players. go Igudala! How about coming back to the Warriors? You don't need the $. Vets max and lots of glory. Retire as a Dub. 

Back to the Heat. This is Spoelstra's best coaching season. He gets my vote for Coach of the Year.  

Another black man shot by police. In the BACK. That's not even right in B Westerns. You shoot someone in the back if you are a coward. The act speaks for itself. BLACK LIVES MATTER MORE THAN EVER. 

KINTSUGI     By Tom Meschery

     For Maurice Stokes & Jack Twyman

            When Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage
            by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when a thing suffered
            damage and has a history, it becomes more beautiful.
 
He fell on his head in 1957, which qualifies as history.
The damage was vast, paralyzed from the neck down.
 
You are too far away, too young, still flying through the air
with reckless abandon as if you have grown wings, falling
 
never enters your mind. Your legs propel you. You lift off
You keep your eyes on the spot of glass the ball will touch
 
and drop soundlessly through the net. You will descend
You’ve done this hundreds of times. No harm will befall you.
 
How do we repair our broken country? There’s not enough gold.
So much for metaphor. There was, instead, a teammate’s goodness,
 
a history of care: money raised, hospital bills paid, hands held.
It was the kind of righteousness like a salve keeping Maurice alive.
 
You were too young. Your wings were new to you. You yearned
for flight. It is not hard to imagine youth suspended in air.
 
The goodness was like gold. You could see beauty shining through
his skin. It healed but didn’t cure. The cracks were too grave.