An injury to Stephen Curry was reason for the Golden State Warriors to be worried. But things can change, sometimes dramatically and suddenly, and now the defending NBA champions are actually catching a lucky break.
Basketball
If he wins games as quickly as he did the news conference, Marvin Menzies will have spun some magic as UNLV’s new basketball coach, a position solidified when the regents voted 12-1 in favor of approving his five-year contract.
Kevin Durant was as bad as he gets Monday in a loss to the Dallas Mavericks, so the expectation for a fallen superstar is to see him rise again. Durant delivered 34 points Thursday to lead Oklahoma City to an NBA playoff win.
Shane Christensen played high school basketball for Bishop Gorman, and college basketball for Montana. More recently, he has been spinning the basketball on his finger, nose, face and head for the world famous Harlem Globetrotters.
If it takes more than 10 minutes to approve Marvin Menzies as UNLV coach past public comments, all 13 Nevada regents as elected officials should be reassigned as sign-flippers on local corners while wearing parkas during the summer months.
I’m not sure on whose name the Ferris wheel will ultimately stop as UNLV’s next basketball coach, but the circus ride needs to be followed by a thorough, honest evaluation of the search process and those who directed the program to this point.
During a season of instability, reports circulated about the Cavaliers’ demise. Players posted cryptic messages on Twitter, trade rumors swirled, the media hit the proverbial panic button and LeBron James talked of someday forming a new dream team. And, of course, there was a coaching change in January.
Most believe UNLV basketball coach Chris Beard will take the Texas Tech job. Why wouldn’t he? Why shouldn’t he? No one could have seen this coming.
When word got out that Chris Beard was going to be the new UNLV basketball coach, a 45-year-old man from Las Vegas named Che’ Jones wrote a letter and attached a resume about his dream. He wants only to be an assistant basketball coach at UNLV.
There are 14 games on the schedule as the NBA wraps up the regular season. No game will be hyped more than Kobe’s career finale, although there probably will be no playoff implications when the Lakers host the Utah Jazz.
South Point oddsmaker Jimmy Vaccaro posted this proposition bet Monday: How many games will the Golden State Warriors lose in the NBA playoffs? The total is 5½, with the under favored at minus-130.
They made Chris Beard sit there for more than two hours while they discussed whether he was worthy of making $900,000 next season for drawing up X’s and O’s on his now famous dry eraser board, and $1.4 million a couple of seasons down the road, provided he is as successful here as he was at Arkansas-Little Rock last season.
UNLV officially has its coach and you couldn’t have hoped for a better opening message from him, one about building and winning and sustaining a level of success all the right ways, that the goal is not to get things done quickly but rather correctly.
In a town where there is no patience for its basketball program struggling in the least, a large dose is needed now as Chris Beard is set to officially assume control of UNLV on Friday.
Ten years ago, the death of an 11-month-old little girl pointed Kris Jenkins on a journey that was both frightening and unknown. Pointed him towards his destiny.
