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I’m a big fan of sports of all kind, and spend most of my free time doing some sort of activity involving them.  I’ve been accused of having “narrow interests” and “not being well rounded.”  I resemble those remarks!  If left to my own devices, I would not work, spend my time watching replays of the previous nights games, and using all sorts of different simulations.  This recap pays tribute to my stupid one track mind.

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The Magic at full strength have a great, young frontcourt, and that was on display last night.  They totaled 78 points, 22 boards, and 6 assists last night.  If you own Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr., and Paolo Banchero, well, that’s kinda weird to have three guys from the same team.  But any of them are legitimate starters going forward, and they all still have some upside.  Unfortunately, if you are holding Bol Bol, he looks like the fourth wheel of this tricycle.  I would hold him and see, but I’m not optimistic.  The other three are better players.

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As a middle school teacher at age 45, with increasing amounts of gray hair (which I blame on my students), a constantly expanding and then shrinking waistline, and genuinely nerdy tastes to a middle school kid, I’ve been called boomer numerous times.  I literally have a kid calling me a boomer right now, at this very moment!

At a certain point, my give-a-crap meter about such things broke and I just decided to own it.  So the levels for this weeks recap are my top four boomer-like tendencies.

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If you haven’t watched the ending, it’s everything that makes basketball great.  Kudos to Will Hardy, the Jazz coach, for not calling a timeout and letting the end game flow.

My first take is that the Jazz may not be as big of sellers as we all assumed they would be.  They have a solid young coach, a breakout star in Lauri Markkanen (28 and 8 tonight), and, when Mike Conley (18 points, 7 dimes, 3 swipes) plays, they are downright good.   I was monitoring guys like Walker Kessler, but I’m thinking now they keep the group together and figure things out.

Kelly Olynyk (5 points, 6 boards) would be a logical piece to move if they decide to do so, as is the aforementioned Conley.  I just give the Jazz some credit for not going scorched earth on this and playing well and hard, even if the end result was a close loss to the surprising…………..

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School for us is back tomorrow, which means that the past two weeks were spent keeping the kids gainfully occupied. (Teachers, man, you guys are the best! Oh, my regular job is also a teacher!) But everyone needs to figure out ways to get, you know, alone time. So, in lieu of ranking teams and writing up two weeks of inactivity by me (more below), I’ll place the teams in tiers according to the best ways of sneaking in alone time during the busy holiday season.

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Yes, I spent a couple nights watching the NBA, and yes of course I had thoughts.  My first thought was should I watch Manifest?  The answer, of course, is yes.  Who wouldn’t like a Lost knock off, right?  It’s kinda dumb and a good excuse for 40 minutes to make fun of everything you’re watching with your lovely wife.

I’m gonna name each category after my favorite TV shows I’ve seen, in no particular order.

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At this point, PB & G and Kostas would nab the first round byes.  If I were a better writer I would have put in the first sentence that there are six playoff teams in here.  Kostas killed me 8-1, and Pub G (Remember that game?  It was so much better than Fortnite!  You could hit people with cars!)  had a big win vs. the JokerSmokers (tie last week, loss this week!).  Son continued his rise into the playoff contention with another win.

3 vs 6 would be Kostas vs. Son

4 vs. 5 would be PhilOssie vs. Beats by Dray

There is an impeding Vikings-style shield wall level blood bath for the six spot.  Son, High Risers, and the Infector are all within two games, and the Oracle is two back of that.  Lotta hoops to be played here!

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Bol Bol has the coolest name in the NBA.  He is 7-foot-2 and having a breakout season in year four of his career.  He can also do this:
 
He’s an actual unicorn, but that’s not my main point.  I had forgotten Bol Bol was even playing Bol in the league until this season!  I’d given up on him, and clearly was wrong to do so.

With the NBA for some reason deciding they want to draft teenagers and make them a part of the league, development has to be viewed differently.  Obviously, some kids like Ja Morant come in and are obvious supernovas of basketball talent, but others take years, and even multiple teams to make their mark.  Just this year, Wendell Carter Jr. and Lauri Markkanen are infuriating Bulls fans with their breakouts in their mid 20s.  I went back to the drafts since 2018 and picked one late developer to keep an eye on, similar to Bol Bol.  Who will be the next guys to surprisingly break out?

Please, blog, may I have some more?