Saturday, March 16, 2013

Persistent

Watching the Magic slowly eat a way a 27 point lead, became exciting.  More exciting than many of us truly wanted.  When a game gets set on cruise control, with your team up big...the last thing you want is a creeping uneasy feeling of becoming "that team".  There are many ways to make SportsCenter, but dropping a 27 point lead, not in anyone's top 50.

Personally, I wasn't truly bothered until we put the starters back in, and still the lead cut to inside 5.  I never felt like we were in danger of losing the game, but I knew it was a possibility...the NBA is funny like that.  

Many times, in our own sports careers, or work, for that matter, we are faced with such daunting tasks that seem completely overwhelming, and you'd rather just concede the situation and move on.  Sometimes the NBA plays out like that...other times, it becomes a thing of inspiration.

To say it another way, the Magic figured out a way to inch back into a game that was gone...get on the flight home gone.  They had their a**e* whooped by everyone who stepped on the court in the first half.  Leading to a new Thunder record for points scored in the first half.

But, in the NBA, and sometimes in other sports, the game plays out like this:

- team gets up big, or half big (15-30 points) early.  
- other team either folds, or goes on life support.
- other team searches for some way to stop the bleeding, and start to crawl back in game.
- time outs are called...which can literally kill the crawling back process.
- other team gets on a roll and makes a run in the mid 3rd quarter to 4th quarter.
- team either puts down the run, as lead gets cut to reasonable striking distance, or allows it to slowly eat the lead.

End result:  many NBA teams show tremendous maturity and resilience when down by a lot.  A combination of coaching, basketball IQ, falling shots, and energy tend to blend together in some sort of function for comeback victories.  

I'm not talking, really, about the Thunder /  Magic game, but about the NBA in general.

The tough part is...with this being a trend we've all seen...spawning the moniker, "I only need to watch the last two minutes", it becomes difficult to figure out if this the law of historical averages, or due to a flaw in your team's performance.

The Thunder put down the rally, taking longer than we'd have liked, and won the game.  Extending our insane home court record...much to our pleasure...and setting us up for an OU football-type letdown sometime next year, or the next, when we drop 3-4 straight at home...I'll just call it now.

Other Things of Note:

- PJIII:  Got some great minutes, and improved his stock in his performance.  The athleticism and NBA IQ is coming along just fine...he knew where to be, where to cut, and hit the boards...along with making the shots given to him.

- Collision:  Great job moving off ball, dishing and scoring...nice to see the Collison grit applied on offense and pay off with some points for the Dirt Worker.

- Everybody else:  Simply showed up and did their job...even proud of Perk getting the accidental technical and moving on.

- Ronnie Brewer:  kept his sweats on the entire game...wife believes this is becoming a form of protest.  Up 27, you say...who else didn't get in the game...uhm...nobody.  (Liggins and Lamb had PikePasses for the evening)
#BrooksPrestihateBrewersguts  

I said it, as farfetched as it sounds, each game he gathers rust, is a game lending credibility to the most far-fetched conspiracy theory filled with absolute lunacy...he was traded to kill his career.  Maybe he shoved Presti's wife once, who knows...at least they could buy him some pom-poms and a recliner.

Next Up:  Dallas on Sunday @ 6:30pm

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