Prayer of a chance?

Reader question:

Please explain “prayer of a chance” in this: Without all players back healthy, no one can say we don’t have a prayer of a chance this time.

My comments:

“We” weren’t able to win last year because of injuries. This year, everybody’s back healthy. We have a chance, even though it may be a small chance. No one can say we don’t.

“A prayer of a chance” means a small chance – very small.

Actually, a “prayer of a chance” is nothing more than a prayer, or as American basketball players say, a Hail Mary – referring to a toss to the basket that is very unlikely to go in.

Hail Mary?

This is the Christian prayer – a prayer Christian say when they cry out for help. Precisely, this is a Catholic thing, as Catholic.com explains:

Catholics see the Hail Mary, also known as Ave Maria, as the oldest Christian prayer because it was spoken at the moment when Christ, the Son of God, was conceived in the Virgin’s womb, at the very beginning of Christianity when the divine Son of God became the human Son of his mother, Mary.

It is the most repeated prayer because it perfectly fulfills the first Christian prophecy, spoken by the same holy mother when she said, “Behold, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed.” The Hail Mary is used in the Catholic rosary as well.

It is the most imitated because its structure is used constantly in Christian prayers, whether long or short, public or private. It moves from announcing and praising the work of God to asking for something because of his work just praised.

It is the most powerful prayer because right in the heart of the prayer it focuses on the holy name of Jesus, in which we ask for all we need as Jesus taught us: “Everything you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”

We’ve strayed pretty far, but you see the power of the prayer.

Which leads us back to “prayer of a chance”.

As we can see, people pray when they’re confronted with a difficult task. When the task is easy, nobody bothers any heavenly gods – apparently for fear of getting the gods annoyed.

And the message of the prayer is always clear: Give us a chance!

Hence, figuratively speaking, if something has a prayer, it has a (prayer’s) chance (of succeeding).

On the other hand, if it doesn’t have a prayer, it has no chance of success.

Like, no chance at all.

In other words, it’s utterly impossible.

Now, let’s read a few media examples for greater illumination:

1. There were a number of people at the show last night (and one who wasn’t at the show. So much power to you, Natalie Portman), who knew they had absolutely no chance of winning. None. Sometimes Oscar races are legitimate-ish races, and there’s more and less likely contenders, but this year the lineups in the acting categories were like baseball divisions the week before the postseason. Two are neck and neck, the others don’t have a prayer.

Meryl Streep was never never going to win this award ever. It was a silly-ish nomination for a silly-ish role. But we’re now at the point where I don’t know what we would do if we had an Academy Awards without Meryl.

Even before Donald Trump decided to make her the subject of his ire, she was the official portrait of excellence. Lainey pointed out earlier that Meryl loses the Oscar 85% of the time, but last night we did a different calculation and noted that she has been nominated for roughly 40% of her acting roles. 40% of the time, she is in the top 5 people in the profession.

And she’s erudite and compassionate, she’s genuinely interested in all her colleagues, or at least she fakes it really well – basically, Meryl Streep is a model citizen for the acting profession. An ambassador, not quite a queen but well above a mascot, who represents the platonic ideal of what a successful actor should be.

She was there to play the role of Meryl Streep, model actor. To annoy the US president and everyone else who scorns the ‘media elite’ by being utterly above reproach, but not so perfect she can’t, say, throw some spicy words at Karl Lagerfeld and Women’s Wear Daily.

I can’t imagine an Oscars without Meryl – the fact that it’s an honour for the work she does is… not beside the point, exactly, but at this point, about equally as important.

- Meryl Streep had no chance at the 2017 Oscars, LaineyGossip.com, February 27, 2017.

2. Fox News legal analyst Andrew McCarthy in a recent article for the National Review had grim predictions about former President Donald Trump’s ability to win the 2024 election. “I persist in the conviction that Trump doesn’t have a prayer of being elected president again,” McCarthy wrote, citing the former president’s “unfavorability” that “hovers around 60 percent.”

“The problem for Trump is he has no upside,” McCarthy wrote. “He is as known a quantity as has ever sought the presidency. In a normal race, the 46 percent of Republicans who do not favor Trump could be expected to ‘come home’ in droves in the general election if he is the nominee. That is not true of Trump.” He continued by arguing that while “chances are better than ever” that President Joe Biden will not be the Democratic nominee, blue voters, “unlike the Republicans – are not going to have a quarter of their base refuse to support the nominee.” McCarthy claimed that Democrats would even likely push for a Biden re-election if push came to shove, as they care “a lot more about retaining the presidency than his character – or lack thereof.”

McCarthy closed his op-ed by urging GOPers not to remain “mesmerized by today’s polling, which reflects understandable voter angst against Biden,” but instead focus on “what the chessboard is going to look like a year” from now. “I simply don’t see how Trump gets to 42 percent of the electorate,” he continued. “The country has already made up its mind about him. From here, there’s no up, only down. If we nominate him, he’s going to get drubbed.”

- “He’s going to get drubbed”: Fox News legal analyst says “Trump doesn’t have a prayer” in 2024, Salon.com, August 1, 2023.

3. The Warriors are off to a great start this season, boasting a 4–1 record entering Thursday.

Golden State has now fully integrated last year’s trade deadline acquisition in Jimmy Butler and are reaping the benefits of a fully engaged, invigorated Jonathan Kuminga. Steph Curry is performing as expected, averaging 27 points per game and leading the NBA in made three-point shots. There have been some rocky moments as new rotation players like Al Horford get accustomed to playing in Steve Kerr’s system but overall the team couldn’t have hoped for a better beginning stretch of the season.

Thursday night brings a difficult test, however, in the form of a trip to Milwaukee to play Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks. Like the Dubs, the Bucks also only have one loss to kick off the year but have largely been propelled by the singular greatness of Antetokounmpo. The two-time MVP's stat line to start the year is ludicrous: 36.3 points, 14.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game. The Warriors have their work cut out for them as far as limiting Antetokounmpo and the game should be quite competitive.

It also serves as an opportunity to reignite a long-running narrative in NBA circles: that Golden State would be a perfect landing spot for Giannis if the Greek superstar ever did request a trade out of Milwaukee. That, of course, still hasn’t happened but appears more likely than ever before thanks to reports from just before the season that the Bucks held possible trade talks with the Knicks surrounding Antetokounmpo.

For his part, the superstar forward has consistently stated his focus is in Milwaukee when asked about those reports but also that he thinks it’s human to change his mind down the road. Overarching above all these recent developments is Antetokounmpo’s long-standing refrain that his first priority is winning and he doesn’t want to be part of an organization that isn’t both capable of and dedicated to pursuing championships.

While the Bucks appeared to take a step back in that regard after losing Damian Lillard to a torn Achilles and replacing him with Myles Turner, it’s still so far so good on the winning front with a 3–1 start. But if things go sideways and losses start to pile up or it becomes abundantly clear Milwaukee doesn’t have a prayer of winning a title even with Giannis at full capacity ... anything can happen. If he does wind up on the trade market the Warriors figure for a perfect match for a pretty simple reason: Antetokounmpo can do everything on the basketball floor except shoot. Pairing him with the greatest shooter ever in Curry seems like it would make for a tremendous one-two punch.

Would Golden State be interested?

- What Would a Potential Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade to the Warriors Look Like? SI.com, October 30, 2025.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）