NBA: Love in a hopeless place.

 

“We found love in a hopeless place” – Rihanna

I didn’t think my night would go this way. Last night, I went back to the Dark Horse for the first time in a while to watch a couple of College basketball games. After watching a few minutes of Duke play I decided that Jahlil Okafor will be an all-star for the rest of his life. Then I saw Kentucky play and decided that the college basketball season is already over. But college basketball isn’t really my thing. The NBA is my one true love. A wise (and happily married) man once told me that you know that she’s the one when you can enjoy being with them when there’s nothing to do. No big plans, no amazing date, just a regular Tuesday night in your living room. I’ll watch college basketball when the best teams (or players) are playing. I’ll watch and enjoy the NBA even when the dregs of the Eastern Conference are going against each other.

Tonight was going to be an unmemorable night. I started my night by watching the Sixers and Celtics. Nothing stood out to me. The better team (a phrase which when used here means “Not the Sixers”) won the game comfortably. I could have turned to the Mavericks/Wizards game, but I’ve watched a lot of both teams and I didn’t feel compelled to see them tonight. Then I got an alert on my phone that the Nets-Bucks game was close. Sure, I could watch good teams, but since I already devoted part of my night to watching bad teams, why wouldn’t I continue.

I haven’t followed much of the Bucks or the Nets this year but there were some things that I noticed. First, if the playoffs started today, the Bucks would be have home court advantage. The Nets would have a lottery pick. This is the opposite of how things should have been. When the game went into overtime I was intrigued. Second, I realized that this game was Jason Kidd’s homecoming, his first game back in Brooklyn since his ignonimous exit last year. (I also realized that I still can’t remember that that the Nets play in Brooklyn now). Seeing the game enter OT seemed appropriate.

The end of overtime seemed to end as many Nets games had. The game was tied and the home team had the ball. Everyone in the arena knew that Joe Johnson would get the ball. Everyone in the arena knew Joe Johnson would take the last shot. And everyone knew that he would hit it.

Brandon Knight didn’t get the message. Joe Johnson was mobbed as soon as he touched the ball and when he tried to pass the ball out to another player Brandon Knight stole it easily. He then ran down the court with no one in range. With Bogdanavich a bit too slow to catch Knight, Knight had an easy game winning layup to take

http://giphy.com/gifs/milwaukee-bucks-joe-johnson-brandon-knight-5xaOcLrJIq5I6zQdGKY

Of course, he missed the shot and the game went into Double Overtime.

In Double OT, the Nets had a 3 point lead when Brandon Knight hit the game tying three. Again, the Nets had the ball with the ability to send the Brooklyn crowd home happy. Again the Nets couldn’t connect leading to the first triple OT game of the season. The Bucks finally handled business and finished the game, handing the Nets the most brutal of losses.

There’s no such thing as a bad night of NBA basketball for me and even on a night where I’m watching bad teams play basketball, there are things to enjoy. Kevin Martin hit 7 threes and led the night in scoring. Kobe Bryant is firing uncontrollably into the night. Reggie Jackson and Brandon Knight both went 5/20 from the field. Zach Randolph had an 18 and 18 double-double. Larry Sanders played 14 minutes in a triple overtime game.