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Total Members Voted: 2

Voting closed: June 01, 2022, 11:20:06 PM

[bodiddley]

One thing interesting in the Caucasus.
Azerbaijan, Armenian and Georgian all come from different language groups.

Azerbaijan is a Turkic language and is mutually intelligible with Turkish.

Armenian has Indo-European roots.

While Georgian is an indigenous Caucasian language known as Kartvelian (after one eastern province of Georgia which was an independent kingdom off and on for hundreds of years).   
Kartvelian is not believed to be connected to any other spoken language.  Georgian is the dominant form, but there are three small offshoots spoken by minority groups, including a small population on the Turkish Black Sea coast of around 20K.

[bodiddley]

How an Outrageous NBA Transaction Supports Elizabeth Warren’s Case to Be President

 “the public sector socializes risks, while rewards are privatized”

Warren's concern is that the US or state and local Gov'ts spend a lot of money luring a sports team, building a stadium, investing in R&D for drugs or whatever -- and then hand its investment off to the private sector. 

In the Nets case, if the State of NY got back say a 30% investment in the Nets for all of its eminent domaining, infrastructure work, and huge tax breaks, that would be worth $800M now.  About what was spent.  In 2009 the Nets were bought for $900M, so giving up a 30% stake to get to Brooklyn and get $800M worth of assistance  would be quite reasonable.

What could also be done is the gov't could monetize its minority ownership by selling its stake to fans.  Who would probably pay a premium to own shares in their favorite team.  (the gov't could also sell its minority stake to a rich investor group).  it'd probably be wise to have the gov't hold its stake for a 10 year period before selling.

Never understood why teams were owned by ultra-rich men, and not publicly trade companies where fans could own part of the team.  I think Green Bay Packers are the only American sports team operating on such a model.

[bodiddley]

Russell famously finished his career 10-0 in Game 7s and 16-2 in close-out games. Chamberlain was 4-5 and 10-11, respectively. The two titans met eight times in the playoffs, and Russell won seven of those series, including four Game 7s by a grand total of nine points.

Those four Game 7s ...

1962: Celtics 109, 76ers 107
1965: Celtics 110, 76ers 109
1968: Celtics 100, 76ers 96
1969: Celtics 108, Lakers 106

Interesting how close the series was.
4 G7's in an 8 year period between the two teams.
3 of them decided by 2 points.
Things could easily have gone differently.

[bodiddley]

During the Medal of Freedom award ceremony, Bob Cousy said the medal was made all the more special because it had been presented by the "most extraordinary" president in his lifetime.

[bankshot1]

Russell famously finished his career 10-0 in Game 7s and 16-2 in close-out games. Chamberlain was 4-5 and 10-11, respectively. The two titans met eight times in the playoffs, and Russell won seven of those series, including four Game 7s by a grand total of nine points.

Those four Game 7s ...

1962: Celtics 109, 76ers 107
1965: Celtics 110, 76ers 109
1968: Celtics 100, 76ers 96
1969: Celtics 108, Lakers 106

Interesting how close the series was.
4 G7's in an 8 year period between the two teams.
3 of them decided by 2 points.
Things could easily have gone differently.

The Russell-Wilt wars of the 60s were speciial and likely never to be repeated in any sport. Those guys faced each other almost 150 times, thats almost 2 regular seasons worth of games, with these guys literally battling each other every night. For context, we view Magic-Bird as another great NBA rivalry , but they went head to head (but did not guard each other) I think 37 times. (or something like that) .

But I digress.

I was lucky enough to see a few of the Russell-Wilt battles in person, and Russell and the Celts usually sent me home happy. But the one I remember most vividly was a game the Celts lost to the 76ers, and it occured in the only play-off series Russell lost to Chamberlain, the year Wilt had his dream team, in the '66-67 season.

It was game 2 of the ECF, and Phily had won the first game at home. Game 2 was a Sunday matinee and I had scored tickets (cheap seats were all I could afford) and saw the batle from high above courtside (Johnny Most reference) in the 2nd balcony at the Garden. LSS, Celts fell behind in 3Q and never recovered, and as the clock hit triple zeros, Wilt took the ball and punched it straight up in the air, almost hitting the huge old scoreboard that hovered over mid-court at the Garden.

My friend and I, both a little dejected with the Celts loss decided to kill some time before taking the "T" back home, so we went into the Pinball Arcade to play some games and wait until the crowds thinned out. After dropping a few dimes, we headed towards our train, when suddenly I found myself walking next to a mountain. I looked up and saw a chin and goatee, it was Wilt. and he was fucking huge.

As I looked up, mustering as much courage and sportsmanship as I could, I said, "good game Wilt" and he looked down responded

"Good game? Kid that was a great game"

Then laughed knowing he was headed back to Philly up 2-0 and secure in the knowledge that finally he had a stranglehold on Russell.

And he didn't let go.

The 76ers won the series in 5 and then beat the SF Warriors for the championship.

That 76er team was among all-time greatest NBA teams. 

boxscore from that game

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/196704020BOS.html

[bodiddley]

In the clinching G5 in PHI, BOS led 37-26 after 1Q.
Got smoked in the 4Q 40-22.
6ers took 56 FT's
Wilt capped off the series with 29 points, 36 Rebounds and 13 Assists.
Quite a title clinching stat line.

I'm reasonably familiar with Wilt's Laker teams from various replays and youtube vids.  But I have barely seen any of Wilt's PHI teams play.  So really have just seen old Wilt.  I should try to watch some PHI Wilt games.

[bodiddley]

I didn't realize that the FIBA World Cup had 32 teams.

The USofA plays in Shanghai in the opening group play.
USA, Turkey, Czech Republic, Japan.
A fairly solid group.

China has a rather easy group.  Poland, Venezuela, Ivory Coast.

I saw a replay of a Serbia v France tune-up game form a couple days ago.
Franc looked exactly the same.  Does some fakes, but doesn't go anywhere.  Though they play a typical Euro game, where everyone touches the ball and can initiate a play.  The ball seemed to move better with the small backup PG in.

France has Gobert, Batum, Fournier, Franc.
And there other guys looked scrappy.
They should do fairly well.

[bodiddley]

Saw the 2nd half of China v. Ivory Coast.
Was a 5 pt (or so) China lead, and then CHina took over the last 1/3 of the game.
Wasn't really clear what IV was trying to do.
They constantly overpassed, resulting in shot clock violations and last second shots.  They seemed to want to post up but China has a lot of size down low: ex-Laker scrub Zhou Qi; Yi jianLian, and Wang ZW (looks like a Chinese Mozgov).

China got good guard play.
IV had terrible interior rotations, so any Chinaman who drove tended to score -- guards or Bigs. 

The Beijing court was horrible.
The stands are at least 20' away from the court.  The court is ringed by a wall of garish advertising that blinks and changes frequently, with bright colors and size-shifting Chinese characters .  Real gaudy and distracting.  The whole arena looked designed for maximum security and max advertising.  Yuck.  As the Chinese team exited the court, fans were reaching out for high-fives, except they appeared to be about 20' above the exit area, and no Chinese players are that tall yet.  It looked pathetic.

Now I'm interested in seeing what the Shanghai court looks like.

[bodiddley]

SH court also = max security, max ads.  Stands must be 25' from the court and 14' high up.  Same glaring ads.  Yuck. 

USA v. Czech
Team US got out to a slow start every quarter.  Not sure why.  Just one game, but not a good trend. 
1Q was close and low scoring.  I thought Derrck White upped the defensive intensity.  And Kemba was good.

Mid-2Q, US started to pour it on.  Tatum looked sharp on both ends.  Barnes was solid and smooth. 

Smart and DWhite picked folks up in the backcourt 3Q. 
Mitchell and Joe Harris are the weak link defenders. 
They both tried, but Donovan made some poor fouls, Harris got out of position a number of times.  Harris also looks chunky.  Shot 3's well and played hard.  While Mitch went on some scoring jags when needed.

Plumlee, Lopez and Middleton were quiet.

Czech has a fairly solid team.  Satoransky and Plevan their big C were the main scoring options.  With other guys solid 3 point shooters.  They rebounded fairly well.  I gave them credit for a late 2Q 7-0 run to keep it close-ish (down 14 at the half).  And they started the 3Q well. 

You could see a few times where the US team wasn't so used to playing together.  Like when Tatum ran into Brook twice while operating a PnR.
And the passing could have been sharper/more.

[kiidcarter8]

Better be careful

Third game is Hachimura. 

[bodiddley]

Forgot to mention that Kemba played some solid defense on switches and when Satoransky tried to post him up.  The Czech tried to take advantage of his size, but Kemba was tough and crafty.  Still a strategy other teams might try as well.

[kiidcarter8]

Watanabe (Grizz) is a nice talent.  Looking forward to seeing Japan

[bodiddley]

USofA barely escaped Turkey.  1 pt win in OT.
Basically Turks missed FT's to end reg and OT, and USA made FT's.
I only saw highlights.

Tatum got injured (ankle) on the final US play, dishing to Middleton who got fouled and made 2 FT's with 2.1 secs left.  Turkey really blew it with their missed FT's.  Will likely sit next game v. Japan, and has some time to heal up.

Some FIBA rules.
A tied game (or 1 pt Turk lead).  Myles Turner got stripped and Joe Harris grabbed the guy to stop transition hoops.  Got called for unsportsmanlike play for not going for the ball.  Turkey got 2 FT's (missed both) and the ball. 

I also saw highlights of Brasil v Greece.
Down 3, a Greek player was fouled with almost no time left.  Made the first tow, the 3rd hit the rim and had a good chance of dropping, but a  Brazilian Big whacked the ball off the rim.  In int'l rules, once the ball hits the rim there's no goaltending (well probably if you punched up through the hoop).  So a real heads up play by the guy from Brasil.
I bet most Americans would stand there waiting for the ball to clear the rim.

[bodiddley]

US-Turk boxscore:
https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/game/0209/USA-Turkey#tab=boxscore

5 turnovers for Barnes.  Middletona dn harris the only ones who shot well.

Semi Erden starts at C for Turkey (because Kanter is persona non grata).
I thought he had some nice skills when he played for BOS.  Thought his NBA tenure would last longer.  Erden had the game high +/- for Turkiye, despite not scoring and fouling out.

Ilyasova 23 & 14.  And had a late-regulation tip-in that gave Turkey the lead with 15 or so secs left.  Had 4 fouls last 9 mins and US couldn't foul him out.  [just 5 fouls in 40 minute FIBA]

Speaking of lasting long, Anderson Varejao is out there for Brasil.  Looked real good.  Got in a nice rhythm.  Went for 22 & 9 and bothered the Greeks on D. 
Barbosa also for Brasil.

[kiidcarter8]

Yeah - competitive game (notice I didnt say good)

Japan played fairly well, lost by 12.  First win vs European squad has to wait.

(Bit the bullet and paid the 4.99)