5 QUESTIONS FOR ELVIN HAYES

Hall of famer Elvin Hayes weighs in on Rockets-Thunder, NBA playoffs

Rockets Harden Westbrook
Composite photo by Jack Brame

I had a chance to connect with basketball royalty, "Big E" Elvin Hayes. 12x NBA All Star, NBA HOF, and NBA Champion.

SportsMap: What grade to you give commissioner Adam Silver in his handling of the pandemic/creation of the bubble?

Elvin Hayes: I think he has done an excellent job of getting basketball back where it needs to be. I'd give him an A. He gets a 10 out of 10 in my book.

SM: Would you have adapted to the bubble as a player ? Would you have thrived with it being the same court, same atmosphere each night, etc?

EH: No I wouldn't have. I think that is a very difficult situation for teams playing in one place. I wouldn't have been successful in that situation. I preferred going city to city. To me, it's more like a scrimmage than a game.

SM: There's a cloud of uncertainty with Russell Westbrook. Realistically how far can the Rockets go if he's limited?

EH: Houston can't go far without Russ. He's come in and taken them to another level. Without Westbrook, the Rockets will be really hurting.

SM: So for the first round matchup vs. the Thunder, these teams know each other really well. Does Chris Paul control the tempo of that series, or does James Harden rule the day?

EH: I'm a big fan of CP3. Chris has a very positive effect with Oklahoma and I've seen him this regular season elevate his teammates to play better. OKC has defeated Houston in the past because of Chris Paul. He's the key to that series. He's a floor general. James is a great player, but Chris guides that OKC team and will give the Rockets a hard time.

SM: Who do you think wins the NBA Title?

EH: Milwaukee. This will usher in the Giannis era of basketball.

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Jake Meyers is the latest Astro to be rushed back from injury too soon. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

Houston center fielder Jake Meyers was removed from Wednesday night’s game against Cleveland during pregame warmups because of right calf tightness.

Meyers, who had missed the last two games with a right calf injury, jogged onto the field before the game but soon summoned the training staff, who joined him on the field to tend to him. He remained on the field on one knee as manager Joe Espada joined the group. After a couple minutes, Meyers got up and was helped off the field and to the tunnel in right field by a trainer.

Mauricio Dubón moved from shortstop to center field and Zack Short entered the game to replace Dubón at shortstop.

Meyers is batting .308 with three homers and 21 RBIs this season.

After the game, Meyers met with the media and spoke about the injury. Meyers declined to answer when asked if the latest injury feels worse than the one he sustained Sunday. Wow, that is not a good sign.

 

Lack of imaging strikes again!

The Athletic's Chandler Rome reported on Thursday that the Astros didn't do any imaging on Meyers after the initial injury. You can't make this stuff up. This is exactly the kind of thing that has the Astros return-to-play policy under constant scrutiny.

The All-Star break is right around the corner, why take the risk in playing Meyers after missing just two games with calf discomfort? The guy literally fell to the ground running out to his position before the game started. The people that make these risk vs. reward assessments clearly are making some serious mistakes.

The question remains: will the Astros finally do something about it?


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