One thing I love about our team this year is their composure. In the last few seasons, when we would get down by 8-10 in the third, you could pretty much stick a fork in us. Or if we were in a close game in the last few minutes...time and time again we would see us fall apart from boneheaded plays and lack of composure. With this new squad, I don't see nearly as many untimely turnovers, and unless we're getting blown out we are consistantly able to get ourselves back in the game. If we're up a big margin, we're able to withstand the opponents push to come back and keep our cool to regain the momentum and put it away. I never get the feeling that the players are worried and startled, and I believe this is what JVG talked so much about last season. I really like the cool and composed personality of the team!!!
Agreed... frankly, I think a lot of us got so used to having a "young" team around, that we excused those mistakes. We were so used to having a veteran team for so long, that when Francis and Mobely took over... we were happy to have a breath of "young" air (after watching Hakeem and Charles drag their tired old legs up the floor), and we understood that eventually they would "get it" and stop making the young mistakes. Well, before we knew it, they were in the league for 5-6 years, and were still doing the same thing. No more... I think we've got a great mix of young/old talent... and they all play like veterans. Besides Yao's occasional dumb foul, there aren't many rookie mistakes being made on this team ever.
Spot on! I've been thinking the same thing. Over the last several years, if we were behind or things started to go bad in the 4th, I would not have a good feeling about the outcome. You could almost count on the team to come up short, or to crack under the pressure when the other team would mount a run. This year, the team has such composure when things aren't going well, that I never (or seldom) feel they can't turn it around. They don't panic and they don't try to do too much. That feels a lot like the good old days of Clutch City.
The main reason is we have the 2 time defending scoring champ. Seriously, when we were down w/ Steve, it was harder to come back, cause he couldnt just take over and score 8-10 points in a couple of minutes.....TMAC does this repeatedly, plus we can run and hit 3s now w/ Barry, Wesley, and Sura........and now also Padget But its just scary how this team can just drop 40 points in a quarter at any given time..........just as scary as scoring 14 the next
