Basketball On The Internet.

BOB'S CORNER: Our Patty not only is back but back in the black with his shooting for the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, according to our USA correspondent Bob Craven. There's all that and much more, with a host of anniversaries in this week's US round-up by our Seattle-based former American import.

AUSSIE Olympic superstar Patty Mills has picked up the pace again for the Brooklyn Nets by scoring 21 points in 22 minutes in a blow-out win. 

The Nets will need him even more in the coming weeks as the other day, Kevin Durant, the NBA's leading scorer, went down with a strained knee ligament and will be out for up to six weeks.

Mills is back starting for the Atlantic Division leading Nets and playing significant minutes. Last night in 38 minutes, he scored 17 points and added 5 rebounds.  He was 6-of-10 from the floor, including 5-of-7 from behind the arc.

Also last Saturday night, Jock Landale started in the middle for Coach Pop and the San Antonio Spurs and managed a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards in somewhat limited minutes.

HALL of Famer Joe B. Hall, former longtime coach of the U. of Kentucky, has passed away at 93.

He took over the storied UK program after the retirement of legendary Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp in 1972, after seven years as an assistant and won an NCAA title in 1978.

UNDEFEATED and #1 ranked Baylor U. Bears men’s team created some negative NCAA history this week, becoming the first #1 ranked team ever to lose two consecutive home games in the same week. 

In so doing, they have almost certainly opened the door to #2 Gonzaga U. to reclaim the top spot, as they won both their games convincingly and scored 110 and 117 points in doing so.

Especially effective for the Zags was Player of the Year candidate, 208cm power forward Drew Timme (below).  In those two games, he scored 30+ points in each, and shot 13-of-14 and 14-of-18 respectively from the floor.  In the first of the two games, Gonzaga shot just under 70 per cent from the floor as a team, the highest percentage in the NCAA so far this year. 

In both games, they shot well over 50 per cent from the floor overall, and from beyond the arc.

A QUICK sad cultural note from the early days of rock ‘n’ roll:  Dallas Frazier, a songwriter who wrote several hits for others, has passed on at 82. 

His best-known compositions were “Elvira” for the Oak Ridge Boys, a number of hits for C&W star Tanya Tucker, “Mohair Sam” for Charlie Pride, and — best of all — the 1960 novelty hit “Alley Oop” by the Hollywood Argyles that reached #1 on the pop charts.  (“Alley Oop, Oop….Oop….Oop-Oop.”)

THERE'S going to be something new in US women’s pro basketball starting this coming week. 

The inaugural Athletes Unlimited Basketball season will start January 26 and it’ll be a lightning season of five weeks duration, and while the game will still be basketball, almost everything else related to how it’s set up and structured will be different. 

One of the main reasons for its existence is to give US-based players, if they want to, a way to stay in the US during the WNBA off-season and make some money, rather than heading off around the world to play.

The league will be run by the players with 44 players split evenly between four teams.  So far, 11 WNBA players have signed up, including Mercedes Russell (below) of our Seattle Storm and the Dandenong-based Southside Flyers during the ’19-’20 season. 

The first player draft to fill the teams will be this coming Sunday.  How things will work is pretty complicated, but a quick look at it says that players will earn points based on their team’s results as well as some individual stats. 

At the end of each week, the leading four players will draft the teams for the next week’s round of games.  At the end of four rounds, players will split a pot of at least half a million US$, with the top individual payouts set at US$50,000.

JOEL Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers played an exceptional game in a win against the Orlando Magic, tying his career high of 50 points.

And he did it in only 27 very efficient minutes over the first three quarters.  He only played 50+ seconds in the fourth quarter before being rested for the night. 

Embiid was 17-of-23 from the floor and 15-of-17 from the line, while adding 12 rebounds and three blocks to his stat sheet.

Basketball anniversaries from the third week in January:

1892—The rules of Basket Ball are first published in Triangle Magazine in a piece written by Dr. James Naismith.

1896—In the first college basketball game played with five players on each side, the U. of Iowa invites players from the U. of Chicago to play an “experimental” game.  Chicago beats Iowa 15-12.

1945—U. of Kentucky men defeat Arkansas State 75-6, setting an NCAA record for fewest points allowed.

1947—Providence Steamrollers’ guard Dino Martin becomes the first NBA player to score 40 or more points in a game in a 91-68 win over the Cleveland Rebels.

1952—The NBA’s first superstar, 208cm big man George Mikan, scores a career high 61 points in a 91-81 win in 2OT’s over the Rochester Royals.

1953—Clarence “Bevo” Francis, a 206cm post player, scores 116 points in a game, setting an NCAA record.  He scored over 100 points twice in his career.  His father nicknamed him “Bevo” after his favorite brand of malt beverage.

1958—The Big O, Oscar Robertson, scores 56 points, outscoring by himself the entire team from Seton Hall U, which totaled only 54 points.

1958—Bob Pettit of the St. Louis Hawks becomes the first MVP of the NBA all-star game from the losing team.  He scores 28 points and grabs 26 rebounds in a 130-118 loss.

1962—In a win by the West over the East in the NBA’s all-star game, Bob Pettit of the St. Louis Hawks grabs an all-star game record 27 rebounds and again is named MVP.

1965—In one of the biggest trades in NBA history up to that time, the SF Warriors trade Wilt Chamberlain to the Philadelphia 76ers for Connie Dierking, Lee Shaffer, Paul Newman (no, not THAT one) and bunches of cash.

1966—Legendary Boston Celtics coach, Red Auerbach, records his 1,000th career win.

1974—UCLA’s record 88-game winning streak is stopped when Notre Dame, led by big John Shumate and Adrian Dantley, overcomes an 11-point deficit in the final 3 ½ minutes of play to win 71-70.  I remember watching this on TV and being stunned.  The firepower UCLA had was incredible:  Bill Walton, Dave Meyers, Jamaal Wilkes, Marques Johnson……….

1974—Essex Community College beats Englewood Cliffs in basketball, 210-67.

1990—Golden State coach Don Nelson joins Lennie Wilkins as the only people to both coach and play in 1,000 games in an NBA career.

1993—Mark “Mount” Eaton blocks two shots in a game against the Seattle Supersonics and becomes only the 2nd player in NBA history, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to record 3,000 career blocks.

2001—The NY Knicks lose 76-75, but in so doing they hold their opponent to under 100 points for the 29th consecutive game, snapping a 46-year-old NBA record set by the Ft. Wayne Pistons.

2006—Larry Brown becomes the fourth coach in NBA history to win 1,000 regular season games as his Knicks defeat Atlanta.  He joins Lennie Wilkins, Don Nelson and Pat Riley in the 1,000-win club.

2012—Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic breaks Wilt Chamberlain’s almost 50-year-old NBA record for most free throws attempts in a game, making 21 of 39 in a win over the Golden State Warriors.  Chamberlain shot 34 (made 19) for the Philadelphia Warriors in a win over the St. Louis Hawks on Feb. 22, 1962.  Exactly 14 months later to the day, Howard would again attempt 39 free throws, this time for the Lakers against the Magic, as his former club tried the Hack-a-Dwight against him.

2013—Steve Nash, then with the LA Lakers, records his 10,000th career assist.

2019—James “The Beard” Harden, then of the Houston Rockets, scores 38 points in a loss to the Orlando Magic, his 16th consecutive game with 30 or more points, matching Kobe Bryant’s NBA record.  On a side note, he shoots 1-of-17 from 3-point range, tying the NBA record most 3-point attempts missed in a game.

2019—“The Beard” becomes the first player to score 55+ points in two consecutive games since 1962 (Wilt, of course).