“Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” -- Vince Lombardi
You know, when I used to play tennis competitively I had a distinct M.O.. Oh, I could hit the ball very hard when I wanted to, but so could a lot of guys. But what I had that most did not was good coaching that allowed me to hit balls off both sides with various spins, and great endurance. And so I would grind people into dust. I would often drop the first set and not even care, I was just going to keep the ball alive, grind you left, right, short, then topsin lob you if you came in. Make every rally a dozen strokes or more if I could and rarely go for winners unless they were sure things. And there was a mehod to the madness. Because once guys started to tire, they would start to screw up. Even if they did not quit, fatigue does funny things to your head. You start to hesitate before chasing that ball, you start to go for big winners to try to end points early because you don't want to run anymore. If you dive for a ball, you don't get up you just let the point end. If you're lobbed over, you don't chase. The serve goes downhill, errors pile up as focus and form falter. Frustration results, and eventually in your heart of hearts you don't really want to be there and compete anymore. Then I had you.
Well my diagnosis of what happened tonight has a lot to do with tha very syndrome. We looked tired and a step slow, especially our main guys, and I don't think they in the end really wanted it the way they normally might. Reke found a second wind and sucked it up for decent play after half. DeMarcus never did -- something we have seen from him as far back as his first summer league, and possibly when he was sick earlier this season. Just a big kid, and when he's not feeling well maybe he doesn't fight through it. Guys tried to homerun it and juat take quick selfish shots. Hustle plays and the little things were forgotten about. Every shot by the opponent was a cause to hang your head. Think we were a tired team halfway beaten before the opening tip even went up.
Theme = you want some Pretty Boys? Gag. Oh, alright., as long as we're having a bad night, might as well go for the capper.
Boxscore
Salmons ( F ) -- big stage and needed a bounceback, and so promptly airballed his first shot and was off to his normal races. In his last 5 games he has shot 7-31 while averaging 3.2pts. This is a starter mind you averaging 25+min a game. Its just...he had a three game hot streak back there a couple of weeks ago, and now he's right back to being THE worst starter in the entire NBA. And we just won't quit playing him. Completely inexplicable. Somebody give me one reason why this wasn't another F? Missed everything again, many of them easy. No assists and didn't move the ball. He grabbed a couple of rebounds, but come on. Makes it so hard for our young starters. If an average SF starter might score 12-14ppg or something, and ours might give you 2 or 3 pts a game...you're asking 21yr old kids to make up an extra 10ppg just because you can't find one semi-competent veteran to plug a roleplayer hole? Grrr...
Channing Tatum -- I couldn't decide whether to go suit or cheesy beefcake, so I found this and went both. Thought of cheating and using a pic of he and gf (or former gf?) Jenna Dewan, because she's hot, but decided to play it straight.
Thompson ( D ) -- behind Linsanity, people forgot that Amare was back, or at least whatever is left of him, and JT could not handle him. Jason looked gassed too and really didn't get anything accomplished. No boardwork, not able to finish over Chander, and no ability to stop Amare in the early going while the Knicks were still using him. Never gathered hismelf and really looked like he had a plan or was thinking. Made a couple of good plays to start the 4th, making a good little pass to IT cutting inside and blocking a shot, and maybe that was just enough to head to the bench feeling good about himself, as he was done for the night a few minutes later.
Tom Hardy -- I know a girl who is totally obsessed with Tom Hardy and his big kissable girly lips. His ability and willingness to compeltely trandform his look from role to role is impressive though.
Cousins ( C- ) -- briefly got off to a good start wiht scores inside and out. But you could just sense it was jnot the same physical relentless guy int ehre from the start. Twice Reke drove and dropped passes off to Demarcus right on the rim, and both times Cousins did some ugly underhand flip thing off the bottom of the backboard. Wasn't get much accomplished on the glass, and kind fo created his own foul trouble in a lazy reaching sort of unfocused way -- and again see my notes on fatigue above. Then lost his cool because of it. Knocked down some long jumpers, but that was kind of it. And I will note here as I have elsewhere, that I have a lingering suspicion that as many advances as DeMarcus has made, that he still may struggle to fight through fatigue, and you may especially see it in his rebounding. That was the story of his very first summer league for us -- he went from dominant to just a jumpshooter with no rebounding in the space of a week as he got more and more tired. When he was under the weather around the time of that Houston trip early in the season, again he produced his word borading efforts of the season. And here again -- just not the same physical force he normally has been. Reminds you he's still just a kid, and he needs to learn to suck it up in these situations.
Milo Ventimiglia-- you know, in certain shots this guy projects a certain whiny arrogance that makes me want to hit him. In my experience that is almost a 100% guarantee that women like him.
Thornton ( D+ ) -- spotted up for threes early, but only hit 1 of 3. There may have been a plan on our part, or maybe it was just on his, for him to aggressively attack Lin on offense, because he was nothing if not aggressive early. And so were the Knicks, who were going t protect Linsanity at all costs, and were actually resorting to doubling Marcus out near the three point line to get the ball out of his hands. You see that with Reke, but don't think we've seen that thrown at Thornton all year, and he looked flustered by it. On the other end fo the floor unfortunatley Marcus was again not doign much. Staying in Lin's general vicintiy, and calling it a day. Still was easily our leading scorer in the first half, but it all felt very forced as he (and little IT) were really chucking the ball up at a shot a minute rate. Came out in the third and was still forcing at every opportunity, but they weren't falling, and became the first of the big three guys to sit the rest of this one out.
Ed Westick
You know, when I used to play tennis competitively I had a distinct M.O.. Oh, I could hit the ball very hard when I wanted to, but so could a lot of guys. But what I had that most did not was good coaching that allowed me to hit balls off both sides with various spins, and great endurance. And so I would grind people into dust. I would often drop the first set and not even care, I was just going to keep the ball alive, grind you left, right, short, then topsin lob you if you came in. Make every rally a dozen strokes or more if I could and rarely go for winners unless they were sure things. And there was a mehod to the madness. Because once guys started to tire, they would start to screw up. Even if they did not quit, fatigue does funny things to your head. You start to hesitate before chasing that ball, you start to go for big winners to try to end points early because you don't want to run anymore. If you dive for a ball, you don't get up you just let the point end. If you're lobbed over, you don't chase. The serve goes downhill, errors pile up as focus and form falter. Frustration results, and eventually in your heart of hearts you don't really want to be there and compete anymore. Then I had you.
Well my diagnosis of what happened tonight has a lot to do with tha very syndrome. We looked tired and a step slow, especially our main guys, and I don't think they in the end really wanted it the way they normally might. Reke found a second wind and sucked it up for decent play after half. DeMarcus never did -- something we have seen from him as far back as his first summer league, and possibly when he was sick earlier this season. Just a big kid, and when he's not feeling well maybe he doesn't fight through it. Guys tried to homerun it and juat take quick selfish shots. Hustle plays and the little things were forgotten about. Every shot by the opponent was a cause to hang your head. Think we were a tired team halfway beaten before the opening tip even went up.
Theme = you want some Pretty Boys? Gag. Oh, alright., as long as we're having a bad night, might as well go for the capper.
Boxscore
Salmons ( F ) -- big stage and needed a bounceback, and so promptly airballed his first shot and was off to his normal races. In his last 5 games he has shot 7-31 while averaging 3.2pts. This is a starter mind you averaging 25+min a game. Its just...he had a three game hot streak back there a couple of weeks ago, and now he's right back to being THE worst starter in the entire NBA. And we just won't quit playing him. Completely inexplicable. Somebody give me one reason why this wasn't another F? Missed everything again, many of them easy. No assists and didn't move the ball. He grabbed a couple of rebounds, but come on. Makes it so hard for our young starters. If an average SF starter might score 12-14ppg or something, and ours might give you 2 or 3 pts a game...you're asking 21yr old kids to make up an extra 10ppg just because you can't find one semi-competent veteran to plug a roleplayer hole? Grrr...
Channing Tatum -- I couldn't decide whether to go suit or cheesy beefcake, so I found this and went both. Thought of cheating and using a pic of he and gf (or former gf?) Jenna Dewan, because she's hot, but decided to play it straight.
Thompson ( D ) -- behind Linsanity, people forgot that Amare was back, or at least whatever is left of him, and JT could not handle him. Jason looked gassed too and really didn't get anything accomplished. No boardwork, not able to finish over Chander, and no ability to stop Amare in the early going while the Knicks were still using him. Never gathered hismelf and really looked like he had a plan or was thinking. Made a couple of good plays to start the 4th, making a good little pass to IT cutting inside and blocking a shot, and maybe that was just enough to head to the bench feeling good about himself, as he was done for the night a few minutes later.
Tom Hardy -- I know a girl who is totally obsessed with Tom Hardy and his big kissable girly lips. His ability and willingness to compeltely trandform his look from role to role is impressive though.
Cousins ( C- ) -- briefly got off to a good start wiht scores inside and out. But you could just sense it was jnot the same physical relentless guy int ehre from the start. Twice Reke drove and dropped passes off to Demarcus right on the rim, and both times Cousins did some ugly underhand flip thing off the bottom of the backboard. Wasn't get much accomplished on the glass, and kind fo created his own foul trouble in a lazy reaching sort of unfocused way -- and again see my notes on fatigue above. Then lost his cool because of it. Knocked down some long jumpers, but that was kind of it. And I will note here as I have elsewhere, that I have a lingering suspicion that as many advances as DeMarcus has made, that he still may struggle to fight through fatigue, and you may especially see it in his rebounding. That was the story of his very first summer league for us -- he went from dominant to just a jumpshooter with no rebounding in the space of a week as he got more and more tired. When he was under the weather around the time of that Houston trip early in the season, again he produced his word borading efforts of the season. And here again -- just not the same physical force he normally has been. Reminds you he's still just a kid, and he needs to learn to suck it up in these situations.
Milo Ventimiglia-- you know, in certain shots this guy projects a certain whiny arrogance that makes me want to hit him. In my experience that is almost a 100% guarantee that women like him.
Thornton ( D+ ) -- spotted up for threes early, but only hit 1 of 3. There may have been a plan on our part, or maybe it was just on his, for him to aggressively attack Lin on offense, because he was nothing if not aggressive early. And so were the Knicks, who were going t protect Linsanity at all costs, and were actually resorting to doubling Marcus out near the three point line to get the ball out of his hands. You see that with Reke, but don't think we've seen that thrown at Thornton all year, and he looked flustered by it. On the other end fo the floor unfortunatley Marcus was again not doign much. Staying in Lin's general vicintiy, and calling it a day. Still was easily our leading scorer in the first half, but it all felt very forced as he (and little IT) were really chucking the ball up at a shot a minute rate. Came out in the third and was still forcing at every opportunity, but they weren't falling, and became the first of the big three guys to sit the rest of this one out.
Ed Westick
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