An advice column for people who live with people who live for sports
What happened on Sunday, January 25, 2015?
He’s no LeBron James, but…: The Miami Heat signed a player named Hassan Whiteside earlier this season. Whiteside had been drafted in the second round by the Sacramento Kings in 2010 but didn’t make it as an NBA player at the start of his career. He bounced around, playing in the NBA Development league as well as in China and Lebanon before being picked up by the Heat. Now he’s basically crushing it in Miami. Yesterday he had a very rare triple double (when a player records ten or more in three positive statistical categories) made more rare by the fact that his triple was in points, rebounds, and the most unusual of triple-double categories, blocks! The Heat won, 96-84, against the Chicago Bulls. Line: Hassan Whiteside is awesome!
Meanwhile, back at the LeBron: Not to be outdone by his newfound star replacement in Miami, LeBron James led his team to a 106-98 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Cleveland Cavaliers, after spending a month or so in crisis mode, are firmly in the fifth playoff seed in the East and moving up. The Thunder are in more trouble. After this loss, they are 22-22, and three games out of the last playoff spot in the West. Line: Reports of the Cavalier’s demise were greatly exaggerated.
Hockey and football have exhibitions: The National Hockey League held its mid-season all-star game in Columbus Ohio yesterday and the National Football League had its own exhibition, the Pro Bowl, in Arizona. Neither game was worth watching but both were indubitably watched in great numbers. Line: No, I didn’t watch the All-Star game or the Pro Bowl. What do you think I am?
Duke beats UNC: Duke vs. the University of North Carolina is the most storied rivalry in college basketball. The women’s basketball teams added a new chapter to that rivalry last night when Elizabeth Williams scored 33 points to push her Duke team narrowly ahead of UNC in a game that needed overtime to settle on a winner. The final score was 74-67 in favor of Duke. Line: There’s nothing quite like the Duke vs. UNC rivalry in college basketball.