Look, its disappointing to blow a 16-point lead on the road, but some of the emails and IMs I had the, ahem, pleasure of receiving after this loss were shockingly amusing. In fact, they're so entertaining, I'm going to run a few of them here today. The first one comes from Fozzie, a guy I've met once or twice who tends to swing like a pendulum. Highly enjoyable emails, highly dubious opinions. Sorry, Fozzie, its true.
After the jump, actual emails from actual readers.
"WTF!!! THIS TEAM IS SOFTER THAN COTTON CANDY AND NOT NEAR AS MUCH DELICIOUS. THEY NEED TO BENCH LAWSON HE CANT REBOUND HIS WAY OUT OF A BAG OF POPCORN, WHY ISN'T WALKER PLAY IN THE SECOND HALF, MILLARD IS HORRIBLE. WHY THEY DONT CALL TIMEOUT TO SET UP A FINAL PLAY, ARRRRGHHH! I KNOW YOULL SPEW YOUR DISGUSTING POSITIVITY BUT YOU SHOULD PRINT THE TRUTH, THIS IS AN UNDERCHIEVING BUCHN OF BUMS WHO ARENT TOUGH ENOUGH TO PLAY TRACK MUCH LESS BASKETBALL."
Wow, step off the ledge there, bud. First of all, are you at all aware that there's a SHIFT key on your keyboard? Yeah, you use it to capitalize the initial letter of the first word in a sentence, and occasionally other words. That CAPS LOCK key is tempting, I know, but you've got to use discretion, man. Treat it like the button on the key remote for your car that honks the horn...use it sparingly.
As to your points, I agree that through four games, this team has shown a maddening ability to avoid contact. That's part of the reason they get beat on the boards, and part of why they get beat in the paint. Kenny Lawson is struggling, but remember Anthony Tolliver? I'd peg his ability as a sophomore as somewhere between awesome and incendiary, with the latter being far more prevalent. He's in the NBA now. Give it time. I promise you, you'll need a new analogy for him soon enough.
I also find it...interesting that Walker played just three minutes. Chalk it up to Chad Millard having a good game and taking his minutes. No, he is not horrible, despite what your eyes lead you to believe.
As for the timeout thing, its been debated ad nauseam and you know what? No matter what people say on blogs or on message boards or in emails written in ALL CAPS, Dana Altman's strategy is to trust his players to run a play in that situation. Its almost always been that way, and it will probably stay that way. No use complaining about it. My advice is to eat more mini donuts.
Here's another take from a guy I've never met but who emails me frequently with thoughts. He calls himself Billy Pecker, which I'm guessing is not his real name.
"The season is over. Losing to Arkansas Little-Rock is inexplicable, unexplainable, unfeasible, incredible. It makes me incredulous, obnoxious, boisterous. Yabba Dabba, Scooby Doo, Woo woo, we stink. Hallelujah, holy sh**, where's the Tylenol?"
I don't care who you are, that's funny.
Finally, here's excerpts from an IM that I had on Facebook with a friend of mine who is a Grad student in Indiana.
Indy: "What's the deal...losing to UALR?"
Me: "Yeah...blew a 16 point lead."
Indy: "Dare I ask?"
Indy: "Not one of your patented Polyfro Length Replies either. Twenty words or less."
Indy: "OK, Go!"
Me: "Annoying band, by the way. I keep waiting for the sequel to the video on treadmills, and I never see it."
Indy: "You're one over your word limit and you haven't mentioned the game yet."
Me: "Fine."
Me: "Jays got 20 fewer rebounds than UALR. Had a big lead due to hot shooting. Cooled off, lost."
Indy: "Ouch."
Me: "Got outrebounded 25-9 in the second half. Seriously."
Indy: "Sounds like they need to nut up."
Me: "What does that even mean? I hear that phrase more and more and I wonder less and less what it means and how it is applicable in every day life."
Indy: "If you have to ask..."
Me: "You sir, are ridiculous."
*****
You know, I love Cliffs Notes. So here's the Cliffs Notes version of the game. The Jays shot relatively well in the first half, made a bunch of three pointers, avoided turning it over and were basically even on the glass. Hence, they had a 7 point lead.
(To be fair, the boards were 21-17 in favor of UALR. Not great, not awful.)
In the second half, they cooled off slightly from the floor, made fewer threes, and got destroyed on the boards. 25-9, as a matter of fact. If I may be so inclined as to inject opinion here, if you get outrebounded by 16 in a half on the road and lose on a tip-in with less than a minute left, you are fortunate.
Look, its clear, this team needs to be tougher. They need to play better. No one is disputing that. Clearly you cannot continue to get your butt kicked on the boards and win, especially on the road. Can they fix this in-season? Maybe, maybe not. Will guys get benched? Will the team start practicing SIU-Style with clubs and fists? I kid, I kid. Will the coaches change schemes to try to cover up deficiencies? Will they ride it out and hope for organic improvement? Buckle up, folks, its gonna be interesting to see this.
My hunch is we'll see a different team on Saturday. The effort will be ratcheted up, the defensive intensity will be better, and yes, the rebounding will improve. If those things don't happen, it will get ugly. Garments will be rendered and remotes will be chucked in the House of Univers. Lets hope it does not come to that.
You bet.
*****
For those of you new to the site this year, I'll remind you of my policy: I do not pick a Player of the Game after a loss. It is my belief that you shouldn't celebrate individual greatness when you lose. Hence, no POTG today.
