Hyper by Lawrence Ambrose

Author:Lawrence Ambrose [Ambrose, Lawrence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

RAGNAR AND THE SACRAMENTO Kings were back in town playing LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers, and I had front row seats courtesy of the Kings' star player.

The Kings had made a couple of incredible trades/Acquisitions during the off-season. One was Harry "Spider" Nelson. 6'10", with long arms and a whippet-thin but muscular body, The Spider had been a college star but had battled injuries early in the NBA – most pundits attributed them to his slim build – but now in his third year, after being snapped up for a song by the Kings, he had strengthened his body enough to withstand NBA rigors and was finally coming into his own. He had exceptional leaping ability, long arms and monstrous hands, and played around the basket with a strangely ballet-like grace. Opponents didn't know where he was coming from on either offense or defense: a swooping block or a plucked rebound from the air high over the rim could result in a precision full-court pass or a thunderous dunk. He was almost impossible to guard, incorporating an array of feints and spinning moves that could carry him from twelve feet out to the rim in the space of a breath. If by some miracle you did guard him, he could pass with the best of them.

The other new player, Jack O'Connor, was called the "second coming of Dave Cowens." A six-nine, red-haired white guy with decent hops and exceptional strength and skills but whose best attribute, as was the case with his Celtic prototype, was playing like a madman. First starting as a power forward, his fiery, bruising, perpetual motion style under the backboard soon earned him solid stints at center.

With a 37-11 start and first place in the Western Conference, the Kings were back. People were saying it was like the heydays of Vlade Divac, Chris Webber, Peja Stojaković, Jason Williams, and Mike Bibby. Those guys were before my time, but from the tapes I'd watched they'd come within one mis-tap by Vlade of winning the NBA championship. Now, with Ragnar's leadership, the championship was within reach again.

I was here with Jim Jackson, sitting three rows back, slathered in Andrydox, so no one paid much attention to me. They probably assumed Jim and I were with one or both of the boisterous thirty-something couples on either side of us since two guys our age obviously couldn't afford $400 tickets.

"Man, I can't believe this," said Jim. "This is like a dream come true."

"For me, too. I just hope they don't plan on resting LeBron tonight."

LeBron James, now thirty-four, often found his minutes reduced in back-to-back games. It was a novel body-saving strategy that had paid big dividends for Cleveland in the playoffs, where a healthy King James had been able to lead his team to two finals and one championship in the last three years. I thought it might be a winning strategy for the team, but at times it was a bitter loss for the fans.

But tonight was a

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.