Texasalsa: Think about what Cabbage said.. For the love of GOD! He is a freaking rookie carrying a team on his back [This message has been edited by Francis3 (edited February 24, 2000).]
I have and i agree. but he has to trust his teammates too. he can't win games by himself he needs the 4 other guys on the court to help him. ------------------ --TEX
DS: Basically you and others are saying Francis should take over the game at the end. I agree with that. He must do it in several different ways to be a superstar PG. Isiah put up plenty of the Cuttin-no's as well, and he's the prototypical PG. About the game: I thought his 3s were too quick, and one was a yard behind the arc. But, that's not important to the thread. The only reason I jumped in here was all the counter arguments in this thread can continue being made for this season and next. The fact remains, we lost that game in the last 3 minutes, and we continue to lose games. The guy with the ball in his hand and taking the shots and allowing Wesley an easy shot...should not walk away with anything more than disappointment in his performance. I can only hope Francis would agree with us here. If he thinks he was the player of the game, we have a problem.
Can't we all be thankful at the star-in-the-making Stevie is? Yeah, he is a rookie, yeah, he has made some mistakes, but think of it this way: WE COULD HAVE MATT MALONEY INSTEAD!
I gotta back Texasalsa here. I love the underdog. DS, DaDakota...I thought you both said you didn't see that game!? If so, you should defer to the eye witness. The man is saying we have seen better 4th quarters by Francis. He threw up two Cutinn-no's at a very crucial moment in the game. I think all these remarks regarding Francis's future are acknowledged by the thread author. If he has a bad 4th quarter, it doesn't mean we think he sucks. We are just saying he had a bad 4th q. and shouldn't walk away thinking he had a good game. Those attacking Texasalsa here, either didn't see the game and are reading stats only, or you want constant drumbeat unison regarding our franchise. Here's to talking about what you see, and not relying on the masses!! Cheers to Texasalsa.
I agree mostly with TexasSalsa and heypartner. The game was on TNT, so I finally got to watch another one . Francis played very well in my mind for 42 minutes... but he played stupidly the last 6 minutes, when it mattered the most. I think that Francis biggest problem is that sometimes he plays for the wrong reasons: 1. stats, 2. glitz, and 3. to be the hero. I don't think he does this all the time... I love the way he plays most of the time-a scoring point guard who actually passes. But occasionally, he does fall into Allen Iverson mode. He did this during the final 6 minutes of the last game. That said, he is a rookie... and once he learns that he HAS to utilize his teammates to win, I think this will end. I don't think Stevie is inately selfish, just young and basking in the limelight.
I think he was possibly tired. Settling for jump shots is a characteristic of a tired player. 45 minutes is a long time to play for a point guard who is the focal point of an offense. I think his minutes should rarely exceed 40. We could be auditioning Bryce Drew for trade during those few extra minutes Francis should be resting.
