I did not know Willis Reed well, only as an opponent during my years playing for the Golden State Warriors and Seattle Sonics. But that was enough for me to gauge the man he was: a smart and ferocious competitor. Never dirty, but God, you never left the court after a Knicks games without some kind of bruise that Willis gave you like an unwelcome gift. Off the court, Willis Reed was a gentleman, as the word had developed out of two words: gentle and man.
Etc
It is a fact that a human being's brain does not reach full maturity until approximately 26 years of age. Ja Moratnt is 22. Since One-and-Done, the NBA is full of players whose brains are not fully developed. Now the NBA is going to allow 18 years old's to enter the draft. More must be done on the league level to better prepare these kids for life in the glamor of pro sports. One of the things the NBA could do that they may not being doing now, is provide workshops for the parents, older sibs, and close relatives of these young stars.
Golden State Warriors: I'm not going to go into the worst road record in their history. What's done is done. They just won two back to back road games. I'll savor the wins. I might be wrong, but in the last two games I thought I saw a strengthening of the rotation. Kerr's system is alive and well. I'm still of the belief that the Warriors, despite missing Andrew Wiggins terribly as well as Little Glove, are a very dangerous team in a 7 game series. Opponants beware!
Sure the Celtics handed it to the Kings a couple of nights ago, but I don't think there has been a team in the NBA this year that has been more fun to watch. How come Malik Monk is not in the discussion for Best Sixth Man??? And if Mike Brown is not The Coach of the Year, it will be criminal. Light the Beam!.
I'm tired of the analytics guys dissing on the two-point-shot. I think DeArron Fox of the Kings has proven that the two-point-shot at a particular time in the game can be the kind of dagger shot that wins games. Time and again, in crucial moments, mostly towards the end of games, he speed-dribbles into the paint and scores on a quick jumper. This is particularly important when a team is protecting a small lead. Just for instance: a team is not up by 2, now the team is up by 4. Depending on the minutes or seconds remaining in the game, One can argue that it would be a bigger advantage had he hit a 3. Granted. But if you have, for a lack of a better term, a 2 point specialist, such a KD, for example, Fox, or Derozen, or as quiet as it's kept Steph Curry, those kind of players who can deliver quick dagger makes, the result can be demoralizing.
As for March Madness: My Gaels lost in the second round, but did a great job getting as far as they did. Proud of them. My brackets were busted in the first round. I should know better than to even try. But I'll be back with my pencil foolishly next season. It's addictive.
WILLIS REED By Tom Meschery
Center for the New York Knicks 1977 NBA Championship
and made sports history. I limped
to the kitchen for a beer
feeling this pain not in my leg,
but in my heart. Only two years
out of the league and already
my body breaking down. A simple
maneuver with the lawnmower
and I heard my muscle tear. No
thanks to you, I’ll probably hear
somebody at work tomorrow
say, look at Willis, only one
good wheel and able to out play Wilt:
Horse-laughs, then the bright eyes
of h dandelions staring up at me
from the lawn, daring me to return.
2 comments:
Tom - I've just finished "The Case of the '61 Chevy Impala" and loved it! Very impressive period-feel, and the character-management was superb. Haven't enjoyed a Bay Area crime-novel so much since Joe Gores - who taught me to skip-trace (and let me ride along on a repo in Sausalito).
I arrived in this world nearly ten years after you, and in the Bay Area two dozen years subsequent to that moment (1972) to teach Javanese Classical Singing at Mills. After a bit of this and that I became the night-shift supervisor for Bank of California's SF data-center, where one of my people was Nancy Lee - married to your old teammate George Lee. My wife and I lost touch with them when I moved-on to do finance and lobbying for St. Luke's Hospital (from which I retired after nearly 40 years).
I have to say I wasn't following sports much (didn't watch TV after the '69 moon-landing until I got married in 1978). You went off to Seattle five years before I arrived in SF, and the Dubs had moved across the Bay. But whenever I caught a game - or sent my boys to those 4 tickets/4 hotdogs/4 drinks promotions - I always saw your name hanging in the rafters. And I could tell the kids, "Yeah! folks that I know used to say Meschery was a hecka' good guy!"
So - don't know if any of that background makes my praise for your book better or worse. I'd be glad to get more detailed if that's ever something you want. You got my email...
PS: I started your book yesterday, then put it down to watch the Kings/Warriors game. This morning I was riding up Hickey Blvd. (SSF) when a car pulled off Junipero Serra just ahead of me on its way to 280.
It was a 1961 black Chevy Impala couvertible (top-down) with white fletchings. Fitted out as a low-rider, but....
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