The focus this week is on the NBA Finals Game 4. But the priority is in remembering and appreciating the great Jerry West!
- Jerry West‘s death brings back a lot of memories. My memories were of him as a basketball player. Younger people remember him as a coach and the builder of great teams. West played in an era where he and Oscar Robertson were considered the gold standard of guards. For young people go on YouTube and watch him play. As a shooter he was incredible. In the era before the three point shot West could hit from anywhere. The logo, as he was called, was fun to watch even if you weren’t a Lakers fan. Go back on YouTube and type in, “Jerry West half court shot”, in the 1973 Finals and look at the three quarter court shot he made in the Finals against the Knicks to send the game into overtime. For those trivia lovers, West was the only MVP of the NBA Finals to play on a losing team. He averaged 37.4 points per game with 7.4 assists in that series. That was 1969 when the Lakers lost to Boston in seven games. Rest In Peace Mr. West.
- Give Dallas a lot of credit. They were down 3-0 in the series and they know no team has ever come back to win a series with this deficit. They came out and out played Boston in every phase of the game. The Mavericks out hustled Boston, out shot Boston, out rebounded Boston and were first to all loose balls. Those are the perfect ingredients for a blow out a which is what we got.
- Dallas’ defense was outstanding. They took away Boston’s dribble drive and made the Celtics play in a way they aren’t comfortable.
- As for Boston they can be one of the most maddening teams to watch. They play well for a stretch of games and then they have a game like last night where they aren’t competitive. This has gone on all year. There have been times when things start to go awry they play hero ball. It seemed they were getting away from panicking but last night they went back to hero ball when things got tough.
- Dallas has been keeping a weak side big defender in the paint. This takes away the dribble drive layup. If the Celtics are going to open up the lane for the drive they need to go back to ball movement on the drive and have more success shooting threes. Boston has only shot well from three for one quarter in the series. That was the third quarter of game three.
- Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving have hurt Boston going to the basket on dribble drives. Boston has guarded this playing straight man without help. Doing this took away the threes and lobs and over the course of the game wore down the duo. The strategy worked in the first three games. After last night the Celtics may want to rethink their strategy.
- Jaylen Brown may be the best star that gets the least credit. He can shoot, go to the basket and defend. He also is a clutch player. How he didn’t make all NBA is something I can’t understand.
