Our toughness quotient has skyrocketed with martin gone. This team is a mentally tough as you can be. No doubt they have championship calibur toughness. Scola, Lowry, Dragic, Parsons, and Camby are as tough as they come. Lee used to be a bit of a shrinker, but he has come up clutch often this year. I haven't really gotten a gauge on Ppat and Bud. Don't really question pattersons physical toughness. But his clutch performances seem to vary wildy. Bud is soft, but soft players can be clutch, although i haven't seen much of that either. This team lacks the talent to win it all, but talent and toughess are two different things. I think the thuggish physical toughness is overrated. As long as you don't shrink when challenged I'm OK, retaliating isn't really necessary.
Every heard of what the Pistons did in 2004? No superstar on that team, it can be done but it will take all out effort every game.
This is a good point, with Dragic starting, and Kmart out, the flopping quotient has gone way down, and the enjoyment of watching the games has gone way up. Seems like even Scola is flopping less these days. DD
Reminds me of Pistons vs Lakers dream team ( the most talented ever assembled ). But Pistons, with no superstar, beat them by playing tough and playing as a team. So I'm so confident that thsi team now will surprise a lot of people.
Losses a month ago to teams we should beat, like Cleveland and Toronto, took the wind out of wins against teams like OKC. That's a sign of an immature team -- get up for the marquee teams but don't pay attention and get beat by the patsies. But, that was a month ago, and they seem sharper now. Losses to Dallas and Indiana could be the result of being outplayed and not because they didn't really try. I think they've got it together in time for the playoffs, which is good, but that don't have it like a veteran team like the Spurs do (which is reflected in the standings). We're revved up to the level that the Spurs idle at.
Seems like some people are confused. OP is asking the toughness level. What does that have to do with talent? We are as tough as a contender is not equal to we are a contender.
I'm not a Lowry-basher, but this is so true. I hate when players fall down with no-call and end up entirely out of the play.
Actually the Rockets have been pretty good against the patsies. The Toronto and Cleveland losses were bad. But besides those, their only loss to a bad team was to the Warriors (if you don't count Minnesota).
We are one of the more mentally tough teams out there. We play together, don't fold easily, keep fighting. Goran, Kyle, Lee, Parsons, Camby and Scola are all keys to this. Physically, we were one of the least tough teams out there earlier this year. Camby has helped immensely in that regard...but we're still not one of the best in that category. I'm not saying we need a hot-tempered guy, but I don't like that we take crap (see Love stomp) so often. One thing Rafer brought (and Artest for that one year) is the tangible toughness.
I think it takes a huge amount of toughness to "take crap" so often. Our guys play through the cheap shots and retaliate through their play rather than doing something stupid and hurting the team in the process. It's a sign of maturity that they are able to control themselves in situations where other teams may lose it. I am personally very glad we don't have any players who would go after another player.
It's somewhere between turning the other cheek and getting tossed from the game. Getting the W is the sweetest revenge.
While I agree with that approach in real life situations, I think in the NBA, having a guy like that makes opponents think twice about pulling cheap ****, while a "mature" team that doesn't fight back will constantly get punked by guys like KG, Love and Bynum. Sure, we determine how cheap shots affect us, but I guess I want it mostly for the respect factor - from the media and other teams.
Lowry is a testament to that. He prefers to go after the refs.. I'm sure the legal experience has helped him mature.
