INDIANAPOLIS — Here’s a description of an NBA great, by a teammate. I’ve changed a few names to pronouns, to keep the mystery alive for awhile.
“For the rest of the third quarter, I just watch (him). Occasionally he infuriates me when he doesn’t pass the ball as much as I would like, and (an all-star teammate) sometimes, after running six times up the floor without getting a shot, will throw up his arms in anger and shout ‘pass the … damn ball.’ But there is no denying (his) ability.
Bill Haisten: Recovery from a Game 2 loss might have been impossible
“I am on the same court but I’m a spectator. He plays with smooth and effortless grace, as if he were a dancer revealing the beauty of a body in movement. It’s somehow right that he doesn’t sweat much.
“His build is perfect for basketball: tall, erect, and thin. He can move with deceptive speed. The jumper, its fake, and the drive are his repertoire — he does not have a lot of moves like (Earl) Monroe. He is classic in his economy of motion, though an occasional behind-the-back dribble shows there is still a flirtation with flamboyance.
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NBA Finals
Oklahoma City at Indiana
7:30 p.m., Wednesday
Gainbridge Fieldhouse
TV: ABC, Radio: KYAL-97.1
“(Coach) says that people should get to see him practice, for that’s where he plays complete basketball. Tonight he’s doing a pretty good job of it in Los Angeles. He shoulder fakes and hits two jumpers; a third time he draws the foul, and follows with a baseline drive and a fade-away, at which several players on the Los Angeles bench shake their heads in awe. The next time downcourt he uses a change of pace dribble that makes the defensive man look ridiculous: Tonight he could make anyone look bad.”
I got that note from longtime Tulsa sportswriter Ken MacLeod, formerly of the Tulsa Tribune and now with Golf Oklahoma.
MacLeod is an ardent Thunder watcher, and my note from the other day, detailing how few passes (not assists, passes) the Thunder threw in Game 1, caused MacLeod to reminisce.
“Brought me back to another team that had to balance the instincts of a wondrous individual talent and figuring out how much he should take into his own hands while keeping the team flow humming,” MacLeod wrote.
APTOPIX NBA Finals Pacers Thunder Basketball (copy)
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shoots against Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith during the second half of Sunday’s Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Kyle Phillips, Associated Press
He remembered that passage from a book he read. It made him think of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The book? Bill Bradley’s Life on the Run. Bradley’s subject? Walt Frazier. The legendary New York Knickerbocker guard from 1967-77.
The Wednesday ScissorTales praise OKC’s defense on Pascal Siakam, list the Pacers’ all-time leading scorers and wonder about a potential championship parade route for the Thunder. But we start with the remarkable comparisons between Gilgeous-Alexander and Frazier.
I never made the Frazier/SGA comparison, but it certainly seems to fit, don’t you think? Those words of Bradley easily could be said about Gilgeous-Alexander.
The occasional excessive shots (30 in Game 1 versus Indiana). Smooth. Effortless grace. Perfect build for basketball. Deceptive speed. Economy of motion. Shoulder fakes. The baseline drive and fadeaway. Change of pace dribble.
Sounds an awful lot like SGA, but it’s a first-person description of Frazier.
Let’s be clear. Frazier never was as good as Gilgeous-Alexander has become. Frazier’s highest finish in Most Valuable Player voting was fourth.
But what I found cool about the comparison was the similarities with the players despite differences in the games. Frazier peaked more than half a century ago. The modern NBA is nothing like the old NBA. No 3-point line. No international players. Limited physicality on defense. Not much parity. The 1970 NBA consisted of 16 teams.
Yet two players so distant in history and environment, could somehow be connected in how elegantly they play the game.
“In 1970, Walt Frazier, much like SGA, was a tall, slithery guard who could seemingly penetrate at will, a master of the mid-range game, the fadeaway, the stepback, but surrounded by great players who preferred constant motion and the ball moving,” MacLeod wrote.
“Clyde (Frazier’s nickname), like SGA, had to figure out how to blend his incredible individual skills while also surrounded by brilliant teammates and get the best out of them. He did OK in Game 7 of his first NBA Finals, with 36 points, 19 assists and seven rebounds in the famous Willis Reed Game against the Lakers. Hopefully SGA’s first finals ends as well.”
MacLeod was born in New York and kept those allegiances, even as he was raised in Ohio. His hero was Frazier. And he salutes Gilgeous-Alxander.
“I think they are quite similar and they really have to thread the needle in running their respective teams to maximize results,” MacLeod wrote.
Frazier remains a New York icon, with decades as a Knicks’ television analyst. Frazier also was the original king of cool, with his wardrobe setting fashion trends. Hmm. Just like another elegant guard from a half century later.
NBA Finals Pacers Thunder Basketball
Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam leads the Pacers in scoring this series, 17.0 points a game. Kyle Terada, Associated Press
Thunder guarding Siakam
Pascal Siakam leads the Pacers in scoring this series, 17.0 points a game. Indiana does not have a 20-point-a-game scorer for the very best of reasons: no Pacer has reached 20 points in any single game this series.
In Game 1, Siakam led Indiana with 19 points, followed by Obi Toppin’s 17, Myles Turner’s 15, Tyrese Haliburton’s 14, Andrew Nembhard’s 14 and Aaron Nesmith’s 10.
In Game 2, Haliburton had 17, Turner 16, Siakam 15, Nesmith 14, Bennedict Mathurin 14, Nembhard 11 and T.J. McConnell 11.
The Thunder defense, led by Luguentz Dort, has done yeoman’s work on Haliburton. But maybe it’s time we praised the defensive work on Siakam.
The 6-foot-9 forward, a nine-year NBA veteran, led the Pacers in scoring this regular season, 20.2 points a game. Over the last six seasons, with Toronto and Indiana, Siakam has averaged 22.2 points a game. Siakam is no superstar, but he’s a skilled and savvy veteran who is a two-time all-star and two-time all-NBA.
He’s also a matchup nightmare for teams without a true power forward, which includes the Thunder.
But Jalen Williams, giving away about three inches and at least 10 pounds, has dogged Siakam consistently. Siakam has made 10 of 26 shots.
Mark Daigneault warns that containing Siakam isn’t necessarily a given.
“I don’t want to, like, make that a foregone conclusion at this point,” Daigneault said. “They’re coming home. He’s going to be very aggressive, Haliburton is going to be very aggressive. They play really well here.”
Williams’ defensive versatility is invaluable to the Thunder. He consistently guards up — Aaron Gordon in the Denver series, Julius Randle in the Minnesota series — and while it hasn’t always gone great, Williams has held his own.
And if the Thunder holds down Haliburton, and Siakam can’t shake free, huge advantage, OKC.
“He’s obviously a really good player,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Siakam. “He can attack you in many ways. Very versatile. We’ve seen it throughout the playoffs. He’s won at a high level. He knows what it takes.
“Honestly, with guys like that, you just try to make it difficult for them. They can almost check every box. You just try to make it as complicated for them as possible. It’s a hard job. But if you want to win, you’ve got to get it done.”
The Thunder has gotten it done through two games. Keep doing it, and an NBA championship gets nearer and nearer for Oklahoma.
Pacers have led less than two minutes
The Thunder has outscored the Pacers 233-218 in this series.
Indiana has led for one minute, 56 seconds total, including just 0.3 seconds in Game 1.
But none of that matters. The series is tied 1-1.
“Everything that’s already happened doesn’t matter, other than the score of the series,” Pacer coach Rick Carlisle said. “We have to move forward. There’s a lot of things we have to do better. We realize that.
“I think we’ve lost, at least by scoreboard, six out of eight or seven out of eight quarters. We’re playing a great team. So we’ve got to make adjustments. We got to play better.”
Well, the Pacers actually have won three quarters in this series — 31-28 in the third quarter of Game 1, 35-25 in the fourth quarter of Game 1 and 33-30 in the fourth quarter of Game 2.
The List: Indiana Pacers’ greatest scorers
One of the laments of my sports history is that I never got to see much of the American Basketball Association. The late, great ABA existed for nine seasons, 1967-76, before four of its franchises joined the NBA and the others disbanded.
The ABA had no network television to speak of, and I followed the ABA through a few magazines but mostly through trading cards. I devoured the backs of cards of players like Zelmo Beatty and Louie Dampier.
The Indiana Pacers were the ABA’s greatest franchise. Indiana won three of the ABA’s nine championships, and some of the league’s greatest players were Pacers — Roger Brown, Mel Daniels, George McGinnis.
The Pacers have been in the NBA for 49 years, but five of their top 10 all-time leading scorers were part of Indiana teams from the ABA days.
25,279: Reggie Miller, 1987-2005
12,871: Rik Smits, 1988-2000
10,780: Billy Knight, 1974-77, 1978-83
10,058: Roger Brown, 1967-75
9,580: Jermaine O’Neal, 2000-08
9,571: Danny Granger, 2005-14
9,545: Jermaine O’Neal, 1971-75, 1979-82
9,535: Vern Fleming, 1984-95
9,314: Mel Daniels, 1967-74
9,257: Freddie Lewis, 1967-74, 1976-77
Mailbag: Thunder parade route
The Thunder’s success has fans thinking of all kinds of things. Even things the basketball gods would say to wait on.
Mark: “My brother is a Dodgers fan who now lives in Garland, Texas. He has attended lots of Texas Rangers ballgames in recent years. When the Rangers won the World Series a couple of years ago, they had a parade. My brother attended and was disappointed in how it was conducted, ability to see players as they toured through town, etc. He commented jokingly (as a Dodgers fan) that ‘It’s like they’ve never had a World Championship parade before!’ We laughed. But that’s OKC. We’ve never had a world championship parade before. If we did (insert premature wishful thinking here), how would or should it look? Who has the best championship parades, how do they look, why are they special and what would the fans and players enjoy?”
Berry: We’ve been talking about the parade route for years. And I always advocate for water. Put the ballplayers on boats and go through the Bricktown Canal or along the Oklahoma River or both.
Some say you can’t see the players good enough from the riverbank, but if the boat(s) went along one shore, then turned around and came back along the next shore, everyone should see great.
The Bricktown Canal is one mile long. Now that would be a sight; fans on the balconies and hanging out the windows and packing the walkways along the canal.
If the Canal wouldn’t accommodate all the people, do both. Canal, then along the river.
Best parade? I have no idea. I’d guess the “Canyon of Heroes” — the section of Broadway Avenue in New York’s Lower Manhattan, site of ticker-tape parades for more than a century.
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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