There was some discussion in the Portland/NY Knicks thread (earlier on the forum) about player motivations in the NBA and the challenge of trying to predict "patterns of behavior" for these multi-millionaires with IQs the size of grapefruits.
I made a late play on the Knicks in the game in question, thinking that the public was over-reacting to NY's well-publicized troubles and injuries (Camby), combined with Portland's "I don't give a sh*t" attitude in most road games. Yet, I was also furious last night watching the disgraceful effort on the part of Toronto playing in Sacramento. I couldn't believe my eyes! The Raptors were on the bench, down by 10-15 points in the fourth quarter, and were laughing and joking around. It made me want to vomit. I'm sure you all (who gamble on the games) get angry and emotional when you see your team losing. It would seem that the ATHLETES themselves who have MUCH MORE AT STAKE (career, reputation, etc.) would go through the same gambit of emotions. But many of these players don't have any pride in themselves. They just go through the motions and collect a freakin' paycheck. Sure, they occasionally show off in dramatic fashion, but a TEAM WIN is a totally alien concept in the NBA. It all -- me, me, me, me.
Which brings us to tonight's NBA angle:
As angry as I am with the Raptors right now for that sh*tty effort in Sacramento last night, I came to the conclusion that they are a strong play tonight. Here's my thinking. Raptors know they can't match up with Kings on the road, and once they fell behind by more than 10 points, the Raptors pretty much packed it in. They went through the motions (Let's get the game over with). If you saw the game, you witnessed the Raptors dribbling the ball to the half-court slowly with no sense of uegency, committing a number of 24-second violations, etc. This tells me Raptors didn't want to spend any energy in what almost certainly would be a loss. This point was made CLEAR when Wilkens REMOVED star Vince Carter from the lineup with about 7 minutes left in the game. Raptors got to within 10 points and Carter was still on the bench. Carter didn't even protest (he normally would be in ANY WINNABLE GAME). I conclude that Wilkens and the Raptors mailed it in last night (I expected them to use the game as a TEST, in a shootout which is why I had the OVER -- was I wrong!). The fact was -- they wanted to get out of town healthy and semi-fresh for night's game and beyond. The Carter sitting on the bench thing is an indication that Raptors are going to put MORE EFFORT into the game tonight and should win versus an inferior team. Wilkens may have even removed the starters (which hurts their scoring averages) in an effort to (1) MOTIVATE them to give a better effort in the future...if you don't play well, I'll get someone off the bench to take your place and (2) to keep the starters fresh for tonight's back-to-back road game.
Kings played a tough zone defense last night (it was brutal), whereas the Warriors have a reputation for a very soft defense (Admittedly, I haven't seen them play this season -- but last year this team was horrible defensively). Raptors are the play here, I belive, based on the circus last night in Sacramento.
Then again, who can predict which way a grapefruit will roll?
-- Nolan Dalla
I made a late play on the Knicks in the game in question, thinking that the public was over-reacting to NY's well-publicized troubles and injuries (Camby), combined with Portland's "I don't give a sh*t" attitude in most road games. Yet, I was also furious last night watching the disgraceful effort on the part of Toronto playing in Sacramento. I couldn't believe my eyes! The Raptors were on the bench, down by 10-15 points in the fourth quarter, and were laughing and joking around. It made me want to vomit. I'm sure you all (who gamble on the games) get angry and emotional when you see your team losing. It would seem that the ATHLETES themselves who have MUCH MORE AT STAKE (career, reputation, etc.) would go through the same gambit of emotions. But many of these players don't have any pride in themselves. They just go through the motions and collect a freakin' paycheck. Sure, they occasionally show off in dramatic fashion, but a TEAM WIN is a totally alien concept in the NBA. It all -- me, me, me, me.
Which brings us to tonight's NBA angle:
As angry as I am with the Raptors right now for that sh*tty effort in Sacramento last night, I came to the conclusion that they are a strong play tonight. Here's my thinking. Raptors know they can't match up with Kings on the road, and once they fell behind by more than 10 points, the Raptors pretty much packed it in. They went through the motions (Let's get the game over with). If you saw the game, you witnessed the Raptors dribbling the ball to the half-court slowly with no sense of uegency, committing a number of 24-second violations, etc. This tells me Raptors didn't want to spend any energy in what almost certainly would be a loss. This point was made CLEAR when Wilkens REMOVED star Vince Carter from the lineup with about 7 minutes left in the game. Raptors got to within 10 points and Carter was still on the bench. Carter didn't even protest (he normally would be in ANY WINNABLE GAME). I conclude that Wilkens and the Raptors mailed it in last night (I expected them to use the game as a TEST, in a shootout which is why I had the OVER -- was I wrong!). The fact was -- they wanted to get out of town healthy and semi-fresh for night's game and beyond. The Carter sitting on the bench thing is an indication that Raptors are going to put MORE EFFORT into the game tonight and should win versus an inferior team. Wilkens may have even removed the starters (which hurts their scoring averages) in an effort to (1) MOTIVATE them to give a better effort in the future...if you don't play well, I'll get someone off the bench to take your place and (2) to keep the starters fresh for tonight's back-to-back road game.
Kings played a tough zone defense last night (it was brutal), whereas the Warriors have a reputation for a very soft defense (Admittedly, I haven't seen them play this season -- but last year this team was horrible defensively). Raptors are the play here, I belive, based on the circus last night in Sacramento.
Then again, who can predict which way a grapefruit will roll?
-- Nolan Dalla
