As Jon Landau might say: I have seen basketball’s future and its name is Luka Doncic. The Mavericks wunderkind had possibly the finest game of his career on Saturday night, putting up 36 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high 19 assists in a victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Doncic is finishing up the best season by a 20-year-old in league history, averaging 29.1 points, 9.5 rebounds and 8.9 assists while leading the most efficient offense of all time. Well, it’s either him or LeBron James. Doncic, LeBron and Magic Johnson — three playmaking polymaths — lead my Age 20 All-Star team:
Forward | LeBron James, Cavaliers [2004-05]
Forward | Anthony Davis, Pelicans [2013-14]
Center | Shaquille O’Neal, Magic [1992-93]
Guard | Magic Johnson, Lakers [1979-80]
Guard | Luka Doncic, Mavericks [2019-20]
BENCH
Forward | Chris Webber, Warriors [1993-94]
Forward | Adrian Dantley, Buffalo [1976-77]
Center | Andre Drummond, Pistons [2013-14]
Guard | Chris Paul, Hornets [2005-06]
Guard | Kobe Bryant, Lakers [1998-99]
Rookies of the Year | Adrian Dantley (1977), Shaquille O’Neal (1993), Chris Webber (1994), Elton Brand (2000), Mike Miller (2001), Amare Stoudemire (2003), Chris Paul (2006), Derrick Rose (2009), Tyreke Evans (2010), Karl-Anthony Towns (2016)
NBA Finals MVP | Magic Johnson (1980) — Kevin Brewer
Giannis Antetokounmpo was sui generis. LeBron James and Luka Doncic were position-less basketball polymaths. Kawhi Leonard and Anthony Davis moved to Los Angeles — but to different teams. Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook traded teams. Paul won the deal. Jimmy Butler took his talents to South Beach. Zion Williamson made his debut. Vince Carter played his final — and record 22nd — season. Michael Jordan took everything personal in The Last Dance.
The league also lost David Stern, Kobe Bryant, Jerry Sloan and many games to the COVID-19 pandemic.
My 2019-20 season in review, with awards and All-NBA teams, and all statistics through March 11:
TEAMS
Best record | Milwaukee Bucks, 53-12, a 67-win pace
Worst record | Golden State Warriors, 15-50, a 63-loss pace
If Mark Harmon did not exist, man would have to invent him — out of necessity or desire for someone so good and true that he seems too good to be true.
Harmon has played many roles on television and in life. Quarterback at UCLA. Dr. Bobby Caldwell on St. Elsewhere. Special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS. And one that is more obscure: the greatest athlete in the history of Battle of the Network Stars.
But make no mistake. Every part of this story — from the obstacle course to the Tug of War to the time he saved a young man’s life by pulling him from a burning automobile — is true. That’s the way Thomas Mark Harmon would want it.
Like some sort of half-athlete, half-actor mythological creature, Harmon was born in Burbank, Calif., the son of Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon and Vogue model and B-movie actress Elyse Knox. Which meant he was perfectly cast in Battle of the Network Stars (1976-1985, 1989), a biannual made-for-television special in which stars from the three broadcast networks competed in various sporting events.
Judy Norton-Taylor will forever be known as Mary Ellen Walton, the oldest daughter to John and Oliva on The Waltons (1972-81), the earnest television series about a Depression-era family in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. The family drama was watched by more than 20 million viewers a week.
To millions less, Norton-Taylor is simply the greatest women’s athlete in the history of Battle of the Network Stars (1976-85), the biannual made-for-television special in which stars from the three broadcast networks competed in various sporting events. “A female superstar,” Howard Cosell said.
Norton-Taylor could do it all — and play through pain. Her signature events: the obstacle course and 3-on-3 football. She won the women’s obstacle course in each of her three appearances — beating Kristy McNichol (thanks to a 3-second penalty), Susan Richardson and Randi Oakes — and she holds the all-time record for touchdown catches. Battle IX was her masterpiece, arguably the best individual performance in the show’s history, helping CBS win six events, three with a broken finger. “It was a good weekend,” she said. Battle X was nearly as good: five wins, two with a sprained ankle.
Today, Norton-Taylor is Judy Norton, but she is still a hyphenate — actress-writer-director-producer and singer. Finding Harmony and Another Day in Paradise — two films she wrote and co-starred in — are scheduled for release later this year. Her IMDb page lists five films in pre- and post-production. Still in the development phase: a stage musical based on the life of Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis.
Jerry Sloan was all those stories told by grandparents everywhere. He grew up on a farm in Gobbler’s Knob, about 16 miles from McLeansboro, Ill., the youngest of 10 children. His father died when he was 4 years old. His elementary school was one room. Basketball practice was before school — and after school. He hitchhiked home every day.
Sloan fought his way out of that hardscrabble rural town, leading Division II Evansville to consecutive national titles. He became a six-time All-Defensive team guard with the Chicago Bulls and then the longest-tenured coach in professional sports with the Utah Jazz. Sloan, who won 1,221 games and led the Jazz to two NBA Finals, died on Friday. He was 78 and had suffered from Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
“He was a mentor for me from afar until I got to know him,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “A man who suffered no fools, he possessed a humor, often disguised, and had a heart as big as the prairie.”
