Fatigue versus Intensity Intensity is obviously paramount to any and every NBA team. When you look at past champions, it often seems that the most focused and most intense ("wanting it more") are the teams that come out winners. Case in point - Dwyane Wade. His style is all out, all the time. He rarely plays a conservative brand of basketball when he does. All out on a steal, all out on a block, all out on a rebound etc. When playoff time comes around, he is able to elevate his level of play (albeit his level of play is already high, so it doesn't need to go much higher) and deliver. Yet Miami as a team did not play at a high level in the regular season. However, it can also be argued that the MVP of the last two years, Steve Nash, plays a similar brand of intense basketball, albeit one that is perhaps at breakneck speed (and without defense). However, it is also clear that his age has caught up to him, and come playoff time, he slows down. While his productivity is still high, it is always clear that fatigue plays a role in Nash's playoff performance. With our team, it seems that we have quite a few players who have begun the season with the long haul in mind. Tracy is obviously worried about his health, and does not want to jeopardize it with any sort of recklessness. Bonzi seems to save his best/care more for the playoffs(ala Horry?). Yao has traditionally started seasons off slow and hit stride somewhere around the middle of the season. Rafer has not ever shown much intensity at any point in his career (minus maybe in Miami), as it does not mesh well with his game. Out of our starters, only Battier and to some extent Snyder have attempted to come out of the gates swinging. Now Battier is known to become less effective in the playoffs, and Snyder is still somewhat unknown on this regard. Now there are two opposing sentiments that I would like to consider: 1) "We have not yet proven anything, and so we need to lay it all out there on the floor" 2) "We are a half-court team built for the playoffs and so our regular season will develop our chemistry and have us ready for the playoffs" To what extent should we consider saving our best for the playoffs, perhaps looking for a midseason run, and to what extent should we simply try to make the biggest splash in the regular season as we have not yet proven anything? Is it more important for our team to play its highest level of basketball during the regular season so that we are ready to play at that level during the postseason, or is it more important to save our energy so that we play our best ball during the postseason? Considering our injury history, is our team capable of pulling a "Wade" and playing hard throughout the season without detriment to the postseason?
good thoughts in the midst of the crap floating in other threads Interesting to say the least. We just might be way better when Playoffs roll around because of our roster. It does seem like Mcgrady turns it up a few notches for the playoffs. Same with bonzi. Yao will always be a rock. I give ur thread a 5
Can't expect that from Yao and Tmac. They are the Mr Nice guys of basketball. Spice girls of basketball. However we can get that intensity from Span adn I hope he changes the level when he finally plays.
Spice girls are not nice! One of them fell to the floor and the other 2 bit**es just pretended they didnt notice. Yao and Tmac help their fallen teammates off the floor after every play. I wish they wouldnt though. Next time Rafer ignores Yao in the closing minutes of the game and throws up garbage, Yao should pick him up, break him in two and ask the ballboy to sweep up the pieces to be delivered to JVG. May be then the r****ds would know not to ignore the giant who is shooting 60%+ from the floor. I swear, if Rafer was playing with Hakeem, Hakeem would have shipped his @ss to some concentration camp in Nigeria.
Considering the first game performance, I would be very happy if they can just make into playoff this year. It's a little funny to hypothesize why they don't have intensity, are they saving energy for playoff, etc... the team needs to wake up, work their a$$, and get into the playoff picture first before thinking about saving any energy. I dunno why everyone (including the players?) always tends to think it's given that Rockets can be in the playoff. It's not and there's no guarantee, even with both Yao and T-Mac healthy all season long. The West is just too powerful, and we don't need 5 consecutive losses before the starters start to "wholeheartedly" play.
