This is all part of the growing for this team. They have to learn as a group that there are no shortcuts, there are no easy games, no matter what the previous game's scoreline was. We've dominated for large stretches of this series, but we've lost key moments that have led to losing games. The team has to recognize those moments, those are the moments that determine championships. Championship players recognize those moments and seize them. They're the better team but they have to play better, all the time, not just most of the time, because moments can swing games.
I'm fatalistic when it comes to these things. If we don't win this series it will be because we were unable to recognize those moments and rise to the occasion and we will not have deserved to move on. But I think they will. When their backs are to the wall are when they play to their best. Just as Buckets redeemed his legacy by dragging the Heat to victory in G6, so now the Jays have to do the same in a G7 with everything up for grabs. Can they rise to the occasion?
I will say that I don't think Smartacus is 100% and he may be forcing himself to do things he's not capable of doing. I'd rather he sit out if he's not 100% because he doesn't make the greatest decisions when he's not 100%. He tends to start to play hero ball when he senses the Jays aren't fully into the game and we don't need that.