NFL
By: Greg Rector
Injuries Everywhere
This is the NBA. The Raptors were minus 6 players from either injury or the flu bug Saturday night in their overtime loss to Atlanta. The Sixers will be minus both James Harden and Tyrese Maxey for the next while. Miami has missed Bam Adebayo, the Bucks have yet to see Khris Middleton. When healthy the Memphis Grizzlies have not lost a game with their starting five, the trouble is they are 5-6 when they haven’t had the lineup they want to use. Injuries happen to every team, but the impact is very real.
Awful Officiating
The same old problem as it’s been for oh so long in the league. There simply isn’t any consistency and the referees are impacting games when they shouldn’t. No idea from one crew to the next as to what they will allow or what they will clamp down on in a particular game. Oh, and of course then there’s what will cause you to be called for a technical foul. Jason Tatum clapped his hands and drew a technical. He wasn’t showing up or disrespecting anyone, especially the game officials. I feel bad for the rookies who annually get called for things they see veterans get away with every night. It’s ridiculous and they should be treated identically as a veteran. The league is hard enough without seeing them baffled as to their offense when an identical play isn’t a foul at the other end of the floor.
Giannis
Not a good look for the Bucks superstar for getting into an altercation with the stadium worker in Philadelphia it was dumb on his part. I get the frustration after a 4/15 night from the free-throw line, but you can’t take that out on others. Of course, social media had a field day with that.
Hot and Cold
Who had the Indiana Pacers being 9-6 or the Washington Wizards at 10-7? Y’all are lying if you said you did. They join the other early-season surprises in Portland and Utah. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Cavaliers have cooled off and find themselves with the same 9-6 mark as Indiana. The Boston Celtics are beyond hot right now. A nine-game winning streak and they are playing at a level above any other team. On the ice-cold front, it’s the Pistons, losers of seven straight games. Now on the player side of things, folks are all over Klay Thompson for his recent struggles. On the other side of the equation look no further than the Thunder and Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander who has been on a major roll for OKC.
The Parity Watch
Nine teams in the west and seven teams in the east have winning records. Two teams are at .500 and there are 5 more teams just one or two games below that. It’s why the games are at a better level competitively than in many other recent seasons.
The Return
Kyrie Irving apparently met all the conditions set forth by Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai and returned Sunday night to the Nets lineup. Let’s hope we talk a whole lot more about what he does on the court and not off of it. Not getting into his free speech rights or how he’s being unfairly treated. That’s for other forums. I’ll be totally fair here though and ask why the league hasn’t spoken out or investigated Joe Tsai and his situation with human rights in China? I will not play favorites.
As always enjoy the week ahead in the Association.
Find me on Twitter @GregCowboys
