Basketball On The Internet.

BOB'S CORNER: Our man in the USA, BOB CRAVEN, reports the first of the major individual awards for the 2022-2023 NBA season is in and, no surprise here, as it was almost unanimous - Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies is the Defensive Player of the Year. 

The 210cm, 109kg centre/power forward, Jackson led the league in blocked shots and, at only age 23, has already been in the league for five seasons. 

Veteran 216cm post player Brook Lopez of the Milwaukee Bucks, at 35 and in his 15th season, was a distant second in the voting.

You probably noticed the crazy play last Monday in Game 2 of the first-round playoff series between the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors. 

GSW's forward, Draymond Green blatantly stomped on the chest of Kings' centre, Domantas Sabonis, while Sabonis was prone on the floor after falling during a rebound melee. 

Green was tossed from the game and subsequently suspended by the league for Game 3. 

Incidentally, going back to his college days at Gonzaga, Sabonis had always been listed as being 210cm tall.  I notice now (not sure when it changed) that he's listed as 216cm.

NCAA men's basketball Player of the Year, 224cm Chinese-Canadian centre Zach Edey of Purdue U. in the Big Ten, has declared himself available for the NBA draft. 

He has not hired an agent so he could conceivably come back to play one more year in college.  Interestingly, most draft projections don't have him going in the first round, as he's deemed a bit slow of foot.

HEAD coach Mike Brown of the Sacramento Kings was the unanimous winner of the NBA's Coach of the Year award. 

It was an easy call after his first season in Sacramento saw the Kings end a 17-year playoff drought. 

Brown won the award for the second time, adding this trophy to the one he won after he and LeBron James led Cleveland to a 66-16 record in the 2008-2009 season.

AFTER being upset in Game 1 at home by the Miami Heat when they shot only 11-of-45 from behind the arc, the Milwaukee Bucks really turned that around in taking Game 2 easily 138-122.

They were up by 33 after three quarters and were playing without star Giannis Antetokounmpo since the first quarter of Game 1 due to injury.  This time they shot 25-of-49 from deep, tying a playoff record for made 3-pointers. 

One of many heroes in that game was veteran Aussie sharpshooter, Joe Ingles who scored 17 points in 25 minutes, including 5-of-6 from 3-point land, and added four rebounds and four assists for good measure.

GIVEN that this is a busy time of year for the NBA, here are a number of interesting anniversaries from over the last three days:

1962--Boston's Bill Russell scores 30 points and grabs 40 rebounds to lead the Celtics to a 110-107 OT win over the Lakers, winning their fourth consecutive NBA title.  Russell's 40 rebounds matches his NBA Finals record set on March 29, 1960.
1965--The Boston Celtics have five players score 20 or more points in a 129-123 victory over the Lakers in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.  It's the first time in Finals history that there are five 20-point scorers on one team.  John Havlicek leads Boston with 24 points, Satch Sanders and Bill Russell each score 23, Tommy Heinsohn adds 22, and Sad Sam Jones finishes with 20.  Jerry West leads the Lakers with 45.
1966--Bill Russell is named the coach of the Boston Celtics, becoming the first African-American head coach of an NBA team.
1967--Rick Barry scores 55 points as the San Francisco Warriors beat Philadelphia, 130-124, in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
1986--Michael Jordan of the Bulls sets an NBA single-game scoring record with 63 points in a 135-131 double overtime loss to the Celtics in Game 2 of the first round in the Eastern Conference.
1992--Michael Jordan wins his sixth straight NBA scoring title with a 30.1 ppg average.
1998--Jordan scores 44 points to lead the Bulls over the NY Knicks 111-109, securing his record 10th NBA scoring title with a 28.7 ppg average.

And a note here that isn't an anniversary, but it's still extraordinary, and it's a game I remember watching on the tube as a young guy in my third year of high school.  I saw a note about it online and remembered what an extraordinary game it was. 

On December 8, 1961, the LA Lakers defeated the Golden State Warriors 151-147 in 3OT's. 

In that game, Wilt Chamberlain scored 78 points and had 43 rebounds. 

The Lakers were led by Elgin Baylor who scored 63 points, grabbed 31 rebounds, and dished out seven assists.

IN one of the loser-out NBA play-in games, it's too bad Josh Giddey (and the rest of his teammates) on the Oklahoma City Thunder picked that game to play a clanker against the Minnesota Timberwolves, losing by 25 points and being out of it from the second quarter on. 

Giddey totalled six points on 2-of-13 shooting, including 0-of-4 from outside the arc.

I mentioned in a earlier submission that the Dallas Mavericks were courting trouble with the league when they tanked in their last game against Chicago, despite still having a slim chance to get into the playoffs with a win. 

They held out several key players and only played superstar Luka Doncic for the first quarter. The league indeed slapped them for "conduct detrimental to the league", levying a find of US$750,000. 

A big number for sure, but really only lunch money for Mavs owner, billionaire Mark Cuban.

THE NBA playoffs are well underway. Game 1s for all 16 teams are in the books and there were some items of interest there. 

In the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat upset the Milwaukee Bucks in Milwaukee.  All-Star Bucks big man, Giannis Antetokounmpo went down in the first quarter with a lower back injury after scoring only six points and did not return. 

No official word on his condition but it's thought not to be serious.  And the NY Knicks nipped the Cavaliers in Cleveland 100-97.

In the Western Conference, there were two surprising results - the Phoenix Suns, one of the league's top teams, lost at home to the LA Clippers. 

The Suns made a huge trade near the end of the season to acquire future Hall of Famer, Kevin Durant, in an attempt to get them at least to the championship finals. 

With Durant in the lineup, they were 7-0 to finish the season before they pulled him for the last couple of games, as those were then meaningless for playoff seeding.

The LA Lakers went to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies and not many people were giving them much of chance to take that series.  However they took the Grizzlies out behind the woodshed and whupped 'em in the second half, after Memphis had taken a six-point lead at halftime.

The Lakers won the second half 69-49.  At age 38, Lebron James didn't have to do everything for the Lakers and he didn't try.  He did score 21 points, grab 11 boards, dish out five assists and block three shots.

Forward Rui Hachimura, a Gonzaga grad, led the Lakers with 29 points in 30 minutes off the bench.

Oh, and one final anniversary of note:
2003--Michael Jordan of the Washington Wizards played in his final NBA game. The Wiz lost badly.