Nunnie on the Sideline
By “Nunnie” Robinson, Westside Gazette Sport Editor
March Madness normally applies to college basketball, but we got a preview of what’s to come via the NBA. I witnessed the Miami Heat, with several key players out injured, take a commanding lead against the Detroit Pistons on the road only to have the Pistons tie the game with a chance to win in the final seconds. Detroit’s young superstar, Cade Cunningham, missed an ill-advised three pointer, leaving too much time on the clock. The Heat’s Terry Rozier grabbed the rebound, dribbled down the court feigning an attack to basket, then wisely passed the ball to a trailing Bam Adebayo, who sank a game-winning three point jumper, keeping alive the Heat’s chances of avoiding the play in where teams finishing in positions 7-10 in the Eastern and Western conferences compete to advance to the NBA playoffs. The second example of NBA Madness on Sunday involved a hotly contested game between the defending champion Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks in Dallas. Nuggets veteran all-star guard Jamal Murray missed a short go ahead jumper with 2.5 seconds remaining in game. The Mavericks called an immediate time out, allowing them to advance the ball to half court. Remember Dallas’ Luka Doncic had just made a three pointer to tie the game at 105. To be certain, Denver was not going to allow Luka to beat them, something Mavericks Coach Jason Kidd was prepared for. So he designed a play for erstwhile superstar Kyrie Irvin who circled around the baseline, running away from basket, caught the ball, dribbled twice toward top of circle and made a seemingly impossible semi, left handed hook shot beyond the free throw line to win the game. It was a phenomenal shot that kept the Mavericks within striking distance of the New Orleans Pelicans as they push to avoid the play in mini-tournament. The competition is serious at this stage of the year in the NBA
The top seeds in the NCAA tournament are set. For the women South Carolina, Iowa, Southern California and Texas lead the charge. On the men’s side, U Conn is not only the #1 seed overall, but is also the only one of the remaining three – North Carolina, Houston and Purdue – to win its conference tournament championship. Intentionally or not it also appears that U Conn has the toughest draw in the east with two of the teams who made the final four last year, FAU and San Diego State, in their region along with the Iowa State Cyclones, who handed the Houston Cougars a devastating shellacking. And dare we fail to mention Illinois and Auburn, Big Ten and SEC tournament champs respectively. In the women’s second regional in Albany, New York, the Iowa Hawkeyes, led Caitlin Clark, are the number one seed, but why would you stack that region with the number two seed UCLA and LSU, who won the national championship last year by defeating Iowa. It would be better from a competition and fan perspective to have the top four in different regions, certainly LSU and UCLA. The deadline for completing brackets is fast approaching. You can bet that there will be game winning shots, lower seed upsets, and controversial endings, for without them, March Madness would be only a myth.
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