August 13, 2020

 


As we get deeper and deeper into the restart the games become less and less significant due to teams getting eliminated from the playoffs due to their records.  Our first game of the day was the guaranteed number one seed in the Western Conference Los Angeles Lakers against the soon to be going home Sacramento Kings. 

 

The Lakers rested Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma while Lebron only played sparingly during the first half.  The highlight of the game was me catching James on the bench eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich during the second half.  I also captured him performing general hygiene practices while the game continued in front of him.  He must have gone through three or four wet ones wiping down his body during the third quarter.  Because of the interest and importance of this game, both bench shenanigans by Lebron were aired on the talk shows the following morning.  Sometimes it pays to look away from the court action and see what the other players are doing.

 

Our nightcap was Utah against San Antonio.  That game, as a result of games earlier in the day, meant nothing in regards to playoff seeding as well.  The Jazz will face Denver in the first round of the playoffs and the Spurs, for the first time in 22 years, will not participate in the playoffs.  That is quite an amazing run that Greg Popovich, head coach of the Spurs, has been able to endure.  Each year it seemed like he was able to find talent from around the world to add to his team.  His rosters have consistently been packed with perhaps the most international complement of players.

 

The game was delayed at the start of the second half because, ironically, the timekeeper had a small accident with coffee and his shirt and didn’t get back into position to start the clock to begin the third quarter.  We waited patiently, the referees nervously looking at the entrances to the court, the players standing under the rims, as the poor timer came running in after roughly a two minute delay. 

 

The was another contest decided by the reserves as they played a majority of the minutes. Donavan Mitchell, the fellah that made fun of my Rice basketball shirt, was pretty animated while on the bench.  Across the court from where both teams sit during the games, is a large television screen that shows what we are putting on the air.  It is pretty much a live feed of our broadcast and it is obvious when anyone is watching the screen and not the game.  I was shooting Donavan quite a bit to capture his reaction to good plays by his teammates and whenever Howie would take my camera I could see that Mitchell was enjoying seeing himself on the big screen.  It became a little too obvious as he started really playing to the camera and we ended up taking him more and more.  I think we game him more air time as a bench player than when he plays.  He was enjoying himself thoroughly hamming it up whenever he saw himself.

 

I saw Mitchell at the resort later that evening as I was getting a snack.  I told him he owed me a pair of shoes for putting him on the air so much.  He said “Was that you?” I said it was and I wear a size 12.  I will never get those shoes.

 

I checked in on my father before going to bed as today was the first round of the Pierce Invitational that both of us missed for the very first time.  He had been to the eye doctor earlier in the day and apparently cried on the drive home as he sobbed to my sister who took him to the appointment “They’re probably all teeing off now…I wonder how the mixer was last night…I bet they are all having fun…I don’t like getting old…”

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