That was embarrassing .
Everything was going good. We grabbed a 23 point lead in the first half. We completely took the crowd out of the game. We held Josh Smith to zero points in the first half. Thaddeus dropped 17 in the first quarter. Then the guy I have always defended, Mo Cheeks, made a series of coaching blunders that cost us the game.
1. Thaddeus was clearly our best player in the first quarter. He was on fire, scoring from everywhere on the court. Then Mo took him out and held him out for almost the entire second quarter. Why?
2. Why doesn't M16 get to play Mr. Cheeks? He's done everything right and is clearly an upgrade over Reggie Evans. All I ask for is a little playing time.
Turnovers were also a factor in the loss. We had 18, which seems to be an regular occurrence for us. Our so called franchise player had 6. I'm super excited we have him locked up to a huge contract. He's completely non-existent except for a couple dunks here and there and an array of ugly jumpshots.
They only had 9 turnovers by the way. And Joe Johnson was a man tonight. I have to give credit where credit is due. The 30-foot dagger he hit was ridiculous.
Bottom Line: We are still learning how to play as a team. We are still learning how to play as the favorites. Mo is still learning how to coach. We are still learning how to hold leads. This loss is extremely hard to swallow, but it's a process and we will get better.
Player of the Game: Thaddeus Young
Record: 1-2
Favorite Open Thread Comment: "i like this right now. There are no commentators so all i have is the picture and crowd noise. I wish they would make that an option."--Ben16