by gordie | Dec 4, 2022 | NBA, Philadelphia 76ers
On April 27, 2020, Mark McNamara’s heart gave out as he stood outside a museum in Ely, Nevada. The long-retired NBA center, who began his eight-year career in 1982 as a first-round draft pick of the 76ers, died later that day at age 60. Before his time, as the phrase...
by gordie | Nov 24, 2022 | NBA, Philadelphia 76ers
The fan standing along the railing in the Wells Fargo Center’s lower stands was a guy in his 20s. No more than that. As Ben Simmons exited the court late Tuesday night, his Brooklyn Nets a 115-106 loser to the Sixers’ JVs, the fan’s eyes were bulging. His voice was...
by gordie | Oct 22, 2022 | NBA
Game point, Sixers down one. Final seconds melting away. James Harden with the ball in his hands, Jrue Holiday in a defensive stance. Such a delicious matchup, on so many levels. Harden is an elite scorer, Holiday an elite defender – “the head of our snake on...
by gordie | Aug 8, 2022 | NBA
In 1987, Bill Russell was not quite 20 years removed from his dominant days with the Boston Celtics when he embarked on an ill-fated 58-game run as coach of the Sacramento Kings. Sports Illustrated’s Jack McCallum came calling just as the season was getting under way,...
by gordie | Jun 20, 2022 | NBA
Pigeonholing Stephen Curry as a point guard seems foolhardy, a matter of placing limits on a basketball player who refuses to be limited, whether by his program height, the geometry of a game played on a 94-by-50-foot rectangle, 75 years of NBA history or, really,...
by gordie | May 29, 2022 | MLB, NBA, NFL
Roger Angell wrote long, long after it was fashionable to do so. Ray Didinger spoke evenly, even as hot takes became all the rage. You wanna call them dinosaurs, fine; have at it. I choose to believe that is true only in the sense that they have left (or are about to...
