An aspect of this team that we may be overlooking...

[Chris]

This is not an athleticism thing, it is a focus and effort thing.  The C's were not beaten last night because they were slow, or couldn't jump.  They were beaten because they were only competing for maybe 3/4 of the time.  And this is the problem they have had all season.  They would go hard for 20 seconds, and then let up for 5 seconds.  They would get a stop, and then not box out.  They would beat their man to the spot, but then not get their hands up, or rotate to the wide open guy on the weak side.  They would get a decent shot at the basket, and then forget to get back on defense.

The 'mental lapse' excuse is wearing thin. Yes, they're mentally soft. But at some point -- when you're dominated night after night in key aspects of the game -- the physical capabilities of the team have to come into question.

I left the game midway through the 3rd quarter, disgusted. Last Cs game I'll see this year. But I saw enough of it to know that the Griz were faster, quicker, healthier, stonger, more agile and in better shape than the Cs.

Pierce's injuries have left him out of shape (not like conditioning was his strong suit). Davis' injuries have left him out of shape(not like conditioning was his strong suit). Rasheed is healthy and highly out of shape. I've seen 75 year old men run with more stability than Garnett. That's not mental, it's physical. Add the mental lapses you mention and you get the embarassment and frustration we're all feeling at the moment.

If they simply don't have the athleticism to execute properly, how do you explain the last 6 minutes of the Wizards game?  Or the first half of the Cavs game?  Or much of the Lakers game and Magic game?

This team may not be filled with high flyers, but they don't need to be to be effective.  They have shown that when they are focussed, they can still lock down on defense, and hold their own on the boards.  Maybe not at a 2008 level, but somewhere in that ballpark. 

What we saw last night, and against the Nets, and the first 40 minutes against the Wizards, etc. was a team simply not executing.  We know its not because they CAN'T execute, because they have shown that they have the physical ability to do it (against much better teams than the Grizzlies), but for some reason, they just didn't.

To me, that comes down to some combination of three things: Fatigue, effort, and focus.