Vol. 1 No. 13 — November 20th, 2019

Welcome to the lucky 13th edition of the Rathbun Roundball Report, Subscriber First Name!

Already one month into the regular season and lots of action to cover! Let’s get to the basketball news!

Portland Trailblazin’

Last season, the Portland Trail Blazers were one of the NBA’s feel good stories.

Portland won 53 games, its most in five years. Tremendous playoff success followed, with the Blazers making it to their first Western Conference final since 2000.

Last summer, the Blazers kept their core together, but retooled their bench. But the vets that went out the door left the team a bit thin when it came to chemistry.

The team started 3-2, but then hit the skids. Team morale worsened when it was learned that starting power forward Zach Collins would be lost for up to four months after shoulder surgery. After watching Portland first hand, it was obvious they needed a power forward who could score.

An overtime win of the Hawks was the only win over a seven-game stretch. Going nowhere, the Blazers made their move.

Enter Carmelo Anthony.

Tuesday, he signed a non-guaranteed contract that goes through January. If he stays, the contract becomes guaranteed for the rest of the season.

It’s a move that may very well save the Blazers’ season.

That Carmelo started the first game he played for Portland (last night in New Orleans) speaks to why they signed him in the first place — this team is so shorthanded along the front line that the guy they just signed got thrown into the fire.

Anthony responded like the scoring veteran that he is. His first bucket was a wing three where both defenders went to CJ McCollum and left ‘Melo wide open. Bottoms.

Although the Pelicans won last night’s game, Melo finished with 10 in 24 minutes. A few more games, and a few more practice sessions will be just the tonic to get Melo going again.

He will be a big help to the Blazers.

Virginia and Vermont

Last night, I was interested in watching the Vermont-Virginia game from Charlottesville.

The Catamounts proved that they are one of the nation’s very best mid-majors as they played the Cavs right to wire before losing, 61-55.

The No. 7 Cavaliers had to withstand a 3-point shooting display by Anthony Lamb to win.

Lamb scored 30 for Vermont (4-1), including 25 in the second half, to nearly match the point total of the Cavaliers' first two opponents of the season, who each managed just 34 points

Virginia led 24-18 at halftime, but Vermont used a 10-2 run to start the half to take its first lead since the early going. Lamb had seven points in the run, including the last five, and tacked on his team's next 12 points with four 3-pointers as the score was tied five times.

In winning the national championship last season, the Cavaliers showed the world that they had a world-class defense.

But the Catamounts hang their hat on defense, too, and came into the game with a 107-9 record since the 2011-12 season when holding their opponents to 60 points or fewer.

It was a great battle, one that both teams will benefit from.

Wrapping up the Mid-Majors

Last night was the night for mid-majors across the country.

Boston University’s balanced offensive attack was more than enough to counter South Carolina star guard A.J. Lawson in a 78-70 upset victory in Columbia.

The Terriers were led by Javante McCoy with 17, and consistently whipped the Gamecocks on backdoor cuts and outlet passes for uncontested 3-pointers.

It was the Terriers' first win in program history over an SEC team, although they beat current SEC member Texas A&M in 1986, when the Aggies were in the Southwest Conference.

The real stunner was at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, IL.

There the Radford Highlanders drilled nine three-points and held off ice-cold Northwestern, 67-56.

The Highlanders got an impressive win against a Big Ten foe as they look for a third straight 20-plus win season under coach Mike Jones, who’s in his ninth year at the Big South school. Radford was 22-11 last season and 23-13 in 2017-18.

Well wishes to Auburn

All the best for a speedy recover to Auburn’s Marquis Daniels. He was injured in an automobile accident over the weekend.

This update from Tom Green at al.com:

Daniels, the Tigers’ director of player development, was involved in an automobile over the weekend in Auburn and was transported to Birmingham for treatment, the team announced Sunday afternoon. Although he is expected to make a full recovery, further details about the accident or the extent of his injuries have not been disclosed by Auburn. Coach Bruce Pearl said Monday that he did not know how long Daniels would remain in the hospital or when he is expected to return to the team.

A two-time All-SEC selection at Auburn during his college career, which spanned 1999-2003, Daniels played 10 seasons in the NBA with four different franchises -- the Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics -- before retiring after the 2013 season. Daniels returned to his alma mater last season, working on Pearl’s staff as a graduate assistant while earning his master’s degree from Auburn. This offseason he was promoted to director of player development.

See you next week, thanks for subscribing!

If you missed last week’s report! Don’t fret!

All of our publications are archived at bobrathbun.com!

Just load the site on your favorite browser and click the link at the top of the homepage labeled “ROUNDBALL ARCHIVE” enter the password: roundballer2019

Every week’s edition will be archived for your convenience. If you have any trouble accessing the database, please contact bob@bobrathbun.com for support.