What a great night of sport as the Arizona Diamondbacks punched their ticket to the World Series by beating the heavily favored Philadelphia Philles on the road in Game 7. Arizona and the Texas Rangers will now meet in the World Series which begins on Friday night. If you had a ticket in Vegas before the season to have these two highly unlikely foes meeting in the Fall Classic…congrats because that would be a heckuva pick.
Now… on to the two NBA season openers.
The defending champ defending champ Denver Nuggets easily dispatched of the LA Lakers in a game in which once again the grotesquely overpaid Anthony Davis went poof into the night in the second half. I’ll even go a step further… behind LeBron’s solid play in 29 minutes it could once again be said Austin Reaves in fact might have been the Lakers’ second best player in this game.
As you well know, I love Austin Reaves from his days of being a Big 12 First Teamer at OU, but the fact of the matter is that if Anthony Davis can’t remove the passive-submissive parts of his basketball game these Lakers will not be all that much in this NBA basketball season.
Here’s some more Austin Reaves love on my blog two weeks prior to the Bedlam Game….Austin went undrafted in the same draft in which Cade Cunningham was the first pick of the draft. To date…..Austin has had the more substantial NBA career.
And to think, the Wizard of Oz who runs the process for Clay Bennett could have had Austin with one of those second round pics of his, but has Lindy Waters instead. Fate can be fickle, eh? Speaking of karma and fate…I wonder what the chances are of USC coaching phenom Lincoln Riley going either 7-5 or 8-4 with Heisman winner Caleb William’s father as his new defensive coordinator?
Insert pic of Mike J smiling while frolicking at Bonnie Brae Park in Denver with the grandchildren playing soccer with a walker stripping the ball away from Robert and Aubrey. If only Anthony Davis had that TSNS he could be something special.
Anyway….if Denver stays away from serious injury to any of its first six core of Jokic, Jamal, Aaron, Michael, KCP, or Christian–I would have to pick Denver as my solid favorite to repeat as NBA champions.
No other team in the league from my perspective has a top two combo remotely close to Jokic and Jamal. Tell me who’s second in this regard.
Maybe the two kids in Boston, but they still posess damaged basketball souls from last season’s loss to the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. But we don’t know how much Jrue Holiday can repair those two tortured souls?
As far as the bench, it is true the Nuggets lost Bruce Brown to the Pacers, and Uncle Jeff to the Houston Rockets despite Coach Malone’s intoxicated plea for them to remain with Denver for the repeat effort. But the truth be told…. Reggie Jackson should be able to replace Bruce Brown and the young Zeke Nnaji could surprise as Jeff Green’s replacement.
As far as the Warriors’ close loss to the Phoenix Suns last night, I’ll say this about both teams….I don’t want to write anything further about either team on my blog until I see all the pieces in place on the floor. I have both Golden State and Phoenix in my Top 6 in the West, but I want to see Beal play with Kevin and Booker in a real game. And likewise, I want to see what the Warriors look like with Draymond and Chris Paul togther on the floor when it matters
I think I’ll now go see the Thunder play the Bulls in Chicago in Chet Holmgren’s first REAL NBA game.
MJ