Re: In praise of sluggish play

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

Last night was the fourth game in five nights. None of us like it, but in
the NBA you see games like that in those situations. 

I hope this team doesn't start using the schedule as a crutch like they did
last year when the record on the road and in back-to-backs was abysmal. The
bottom line is every team faces the same schedule and you have to find a way
to get it done. Last night was a great example of a game that, hopefully
they can pull out during the regular season. They played awful, were
sluggish for four quarters and still managed a tie with four minutes to
play. Sometimes in the NBA, you have to win games when you don't play well.
They didn't tough it out last night, and that's the most disturbing thing
about the game.

Didn't watch this one, but looking at the stats, you see why so many of us
are so down on Kenny Anderson. His energy level never is what I'd call high,
but he is flat-out awful in tough stretches of the schedule like this. He
just mails it in. You want to know why Chris Herren will make a difference
in this team? Imagine his energy in that game last night. 

This is a bad rebounding team, but they're going to get absolutely killed if
Vitaly plays as much as he did last night without grabbing a single rebound.
If he's not rebounding and he's not scoring, what is he contributing? He's
not an impact defender, that's for sure.

We've been holding our breath waiting for Evil Toine to return, and he did.
Impossible to tell how much of it was conditioning or following Kenny's
sluggish lead, but it's discouraging after seeing him play so well for the
past few games. Again, if this team is going to have a chance, he has to
rebound, and he can't take nights off.

Moiso grabbed seven rebounds in his short stint on the floor. I know it's
looking more and more likely that he ends up on the injured list, and it
makes some sense, but that is one thin frontcourt without his availability.
Pitino has a tough decision to make, especially since it sounds like McCarty
may not be the automatic injury casualty most of us assumed.

Anyway, this is one of those games you forget about (although I'm glad
Pitino made the team practice today so the players don't forget about it).
If it continues to be a trend during the season, then we worry. For now, I'm
hoping for a good outing Friday to wash the bad taste out of our mouths.

Mark