NBA Finals Heat and Nuggets, Meet the Indiana Fever, and Local News

Welcome to the Torg Stories podcast. In this episode we try to believe that the Miami Heat are at least the 2nd best NBA team, Tyler Herro’s fits, introduce ourselves to the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, read local news from Los Angeles and Boone, and wrap up with a personal look back at last week and ahead to what’s coming. Anne, the Nuggets win two in Miami by almost identical scores: 109-94 on Wed and 108-95 on Friday to take a 3-1 series lead. What was memorable for you in those two games?

Memorable from game 4 for me:

1. The Bam and Aaron Gordon Dunking, including delay of game on Bam missed dunk and then Jokic trying to fix the rim by hanging on it.
2. Additional trapping and doubling of Jokic and Murray early that seemed to go away after the first half of the 1st quarter.
3. 6 more made threes for the Nuggets. Gordon’s 3-4 and Brown’s 3-5 stand out.
4. 11 Nuggets steals to 2 Heat steals.

I want to introduce you to an idea called the believing game. We’re going to take a second to believe the Heat are at least the second best team in the NBA. But first, I want to read you a quote from the writer who coined the phrase, The Believing Game.

In the writer Peter Elbow’s article, The Believing Game–Methodological Believing, he writes, “In contrast, the believing game is the disciplined practice of trying to be as welcoming or accepting as possible to every idea we encounter: not just listening to views different from our own and holding back from arguing with them; not just trying to restate them without bias; but actually trying to believe them. We are using believing as a tool to scrutinize and test.”

The prevailing though about the Heat is that their players aren’t as good, that they have overachieved by beating the Bucks and Celtics, and it isn’t hard to explain why their roster is less than the teams they have been beating. In my world, the English teacher world, we are often trained to poke holes in everything to test all ideas, so much to the point that it can seem like no true statement can be spoken. There’s a writer Peter Elbow who tried out the opposite kind of thinking. What if what “they” say is true? So not, the Heat aren’t good, they should have never made the finals, BUT instead…

Let’s believe the Heat are the second best team. Point to what you think are the main reasons the Heat are good.

1. #1 in 3P% just above the Nuggets and 5th in 3s per game with 15.6. How do they get those threes?
2. They are #1 and shoot 5.4% better from 3 than their opponent.
3. 3rd with fewest turnovers per game 11.1. The Nuggets are #1.
4. 6th in defensive 3-point percentage.

Barring injury, give me a formula for how the Heat win this series?

1. They double Jokic and Murray a lot and the other guys miss.

Guess the player or team with this statistic:

1. Two players with most 3s made a game with 2.5: Jamal Murray and Gabe Vincent. Kevin Love right behind at 2.3.
2. starter with better field goal percentage at 66.7: Aaron Gordon
3. starter with best three point percentage 71.4: Aaron Gordon
4. Leads all players in assists per game with 10.5: Jokic
5. Do you know what +/- is? Leads all players as a +13.3: Aaron Gordon.

Meet the Indiana Fever:

My first thoughts on the Fever:

1. I know of Grace Berger from watching a lot of Indiana the past 5 years. More minutes please!
2. Aliyah Boston was the #1 pic and I’ve seen her a lot.

Is college women’s basketball bigger than it was five years ago?

• last year the most watched women’s title game since records started back in 1992.
• With Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese, I think some viewers will follow young women like that into watching WNBA games, right?

This is their 24th season. 8 winning seasons. Won the title in 2012 with Linn Dunn. 6th year playoff drought.

Owned by Herb Simon, who also owns the Pacers and Simon Malls.

On August 12, 2017, the Fever were defeated 111–52 by the Minnesota Lynx, making it the largest margin of defeat in WNBA history, in which they allowed a league record 37–0 scoring run during the game.

Linn Dunn is back to the franchise as a general manager.

• Women’s basketball Hall of Fame. Head Coach United States Olympic team.
• Purdue for 9 years. Final Four once in 1994. 3 Big Ten Titles.
• Fired at Purdue with assistant Machelle Joseph. Joseph fired after 16 years at GA Tech.

Christie Sides is the coach.

• Looks like first head coaching job. Was at Louisiana Tech, with the Sky, the Dream, and other places.
• Player of the Year in Louisiana.
• Went to Final 4 as a player Louisiana Tech.

A few more Indiana Fever Notes:

1. Kelsey Mitchell 17.4 ppg, Aliyah Boston 15, and NaLyssa Smith 13.
2. Good size with Boston at 6’5 and Smith at 6’4
3. Boston shooting 65% from. the field.
4. Berger 3rd in assists and 10th in minutes.
5. Fever 2-5 in 9th place. Lost by 5 to the Sky, 4 to the Aces, and 3 to the Sun. Look like a young team down the stretch.

LA Times Local Headlines from Anne

Watauga Democrat Local Headlines:

1. Western Watauga Branch Library to close June 12-15 for carpeting installation.
2. More than 3,600 App State graduates earn degrees during commencement.
3. Wildfires in Canada causing hazy conditions across High Country.

Personal news from last week:

1. June is for high school basketball now. We had two practices and played three games at East TN State University. I coached the JV and assisted with the varsity.

Looking ahead to next week next week:

1. We have two more practices and it’s a new NCAA live exposure period. Two games at RISE facility near Winston Salem.

Thanks for listening to the podcast!