Basketball On The Internet.

BOB'S CORNER: Today our US correspondent BOB CRAVEN is providing a quick potpourri, ranging from triple-double news, (and not only by Russell Westbrook) and some notes on Ezi Magbegor of Seattle Storm in the WNBA, just after their first preseason game, the regular season now fully underway.

LET'S start with up-and-coming Aussie star, the delightful Ms Magbegor.

Recently she was the subject of a nice article in our SEATTLE TIMES Sports Section about the Seattle Storm getting ready for the upcoming WNBA season.

Seattle coach Dan Hughes was forced by a cancer scare and Covid issues, to miss the most recent, Covid-truncated WNBA season. 

As a result, he mentioned he’d never coached Ezi Magbegor before, and had only been able to watch some games on his laptop. 

The sportswriter said Hughes noted it’s one thing to watch Magbegor be dominant in spurts (last season—her first), and another thing entirely to see the 21-year-old exhibit maturity and poise up close and personal that belies her age. 

Hughes said, “Wow, she’s a lot of fun to coach and not virtually. You can just see her growing in her ability to understand the game, and to impact the game in some phases. She’s a better shot blocker. Those are the kind of things that are hard to see if you’re just watching (video).”

The article went on to say “she figures prominently in the Storm’s future, considering her salary-cap-friendly contract ties her to Seattle for at least the next three years if the team exercises options.

“More to the point, she factors into the defending WNBA champions’ immediate plans due to the absence of several front court veterans, including Breanna Stewart and backup centre Mercedes Russell, who have been playing overseas, and who, when they return, will have to go through a period of Covid-related isolation prior to being able to practice or play."

Hughes expects her role this year to expand to take more advantage of her length, and to get more physical and work on her quickness. She has also been working on her mid-range and 3-point shot (she attempted only three 3-point shots last season.)

Also mentioned was that she is a psychology major at Deakin University in Geelong and is currently taking online classes. She expects to earn her degree sometime next year. She is one of 18 hopefuls contending for the 12 spots on the Aussie national team that’s headed to the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

* * *

THE Storm played their preseason opener in Phoenix, Arizona against the Phoenix Mercury. 

Seattle took the road win 88-71 and was led by Magbegor, who tallied a game-high 17 points, and added seven rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Breanna Stewart was out of quarantine for their next game, with Mercedes Russell available right behind her.

* * *

MEANWHILE in the NBA...

IN my recent post on “unbreakable” NBA records, I mentioned that one of those was the largest ever margin of victory — 68 points. 

Well that one came oh-so-close to being broken when the Indiana Pacers destroyed the Oklahoma City Thunder, 152-95.  However, with about four minutes left in the game, Indiana was ahead by 67, but the Thunder managed to score the game’s next 10 points to avoid the embarrassment of breaking that record. 

They still did manage to get a record almost equally embarrassing:  the 57-point home defeat is the largest in NBA history.  The 152 points scored by the Pacers is also an all-time team record for most points in a regulation game.

Also in that game, Pacers’ All-Star big man, Domantas Sabonis (yes, he’s a son of Arvydas Sabonis, one of the greatest players ever), was coming back from missing six games due to injury.  And, what a comeback it was:  he managed a triple-double with 26 points, 19 rebound and 14 assists, which is great in its own right. 

However, he finished the first half with a line of 22, 11 and 11.  Since the NBA started issuing official play-by-play stats for games for the 1997-1998 season, Sabonis became only the third player to record a triple-double by halftime. 

The other two are Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Russell Westbrook (twice) of the Washington Wizards.

By the way, Sabonis was born in Portland, Oregon, close to my hometown of Eugene, while his dad was playing for the Trailblazers, where he was considered one of the greaterst big-man passers of all time (See below). Since Domantas has Lithuanian and American citizenship, for national team status, he chose the former. 

I’m not sure, but he also may have a claim to Spanish citizenship. When dad Arvydas retired from competition, he moved the family to Málaga, Spain, where I believe they might still be based.

Speaking of Russell Westbrook, I am not his biggest fan all the time as he seems to do an inordinate amount of “stat-chasing” on occasion. 

However he is a great player, and he does work hard for a lot of what he gets. 

In watching video, I see him repeatedly take the ball right to the rim, even if it’s being protected by one (or more) much taller players and, more often than not, he gets the score, and sometimes more.  A week ago, he had another remarkable game that puts him in the books with elevated company.

He had another triple-double with a line of 14-21-24. This game secured his fourth season of averaging a triple-double. Other than one season early in his career when Oscar Robertson averaged a triple-double, Westbrook’s now-four seasons are the only ones ever in the NBA.

That game was also only the third game in NBA history where a player had 20+ rebounds and 20+ assists.  He and Wilt Chamberlain have the other two. Just the other night, Westbrook added another triple-double, giving 181 in his career.  He is now tied with Oscar Robertson for most career triple-doubles, and he still has a few games to play this season before the playoffs start.

BRADLEY Beal of the Washington Wizards and Steph Curry of the Warriors are locked in a very tight battle for this season’s top scorer—and there’s less-than-a-handful of games left in the regular season.

A couple of days ago, Beal scored 50 for the Wizards in a win, while the Warriors (who played a couple of hours after the Wizards) were winning a blowout. 

The Warriors’ coach had previously said that if they were winning by a blowout, his starting lineup (including Curry) would not play at all in the fourth quarter. 

Curry was working hard to at least match Beal’s total of 50 so he would not lose any of the very slim lead he currently had in the scoring title race.

In the end, Curry ended up with 49 points in the 29 minutes he played, 14-of-26 overall from the floor, including 11-of-21 from 3-point range. 

He scored 20+ points in two different quarters in the game, only the third time in his storied career he has done that. 

It was also his NBA-record 22nd time he has hit at least ten 3-point shots in a game in his career.  His teammate, Klay Thompson (out injured), ranks second in this category with five.