to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy… and to laugh along the way
Kai Sotto, that gentle giant who has found himself a special spot in the Philippine National Basketball Team named Gilas, has been improving his game lately. And reports have it that he is now in the radar of NBA scouts in search for tall durable talents who can bang bodies with the big bad behemoths in the NBA.
The short format has been interesting but brutal for the likes of the record-setting Cleveland Cavs (21-3) and the defending champs Boston Celtics (19-4). Despite their league-leading numbers in the regular season, one miscue was all it took to take them out of contention. Gone too were some of the games biggest stars in Lebron James, Kevin Durant, NIkola Jokic and Joel Embiid. My picks to go to the semis next week: it will be the veterans from the Knicks and the Bucks in the east; while the upstarts in the Mavs and the Rockets will do battle in the west.
The NBA Cup is a mini-tournament held within the ongoing NBA season. It is on its 2nd iteration, after a very successful 1st edition last year which was eventually won by the Los Angeles Lakers over the Indiana Pacers. That pioneer edition, then called the NBA In-Season Tournament, has since been renamed into the Emirates NBA Cup, after its top sponsor.
The Golden State Warriors, on their first season minus one of the club’s most celebrated gunslingers in Klay Thompson, ambushed the reigning champs Boston Celtics 118-112 to send a strong message to the rest of the league.
Team USA may have annexed both the men’s and women’s 5×5 golds in Paris, but it doesn’t have a lock on the same next Olympics. Although there will be a huge advantage with the homecrowd in Los Angeles in 2028, the reality is that the world has been catching up on the US side.
There’s a kill-or-be-killed, lose-and-you’re-gone shootout in the NBA’s wild Western Conference. The defending champions Denver Nuggets have been dragged into a mad and messy maulfest by a disrespecting young team from the Minnesota Timberwolves, with their 2nd round playoff series heading for a climactic Game 7.
Color My World 