The reason we consistently suffer these types of losses in the Tatum/Brown era is because Tatum and Brown are not naturally nasty and gritty. This is difficult because they are the two players on our team with the talent to be statement players. Smart, Grant Williams, Horford, Derrick White, Pritchard (Heck, even Nesmith) all have it more natural grit and nastiness than Tatum and Brown. Tatum and Brown are very "nice" guys, truly good kids. Ime has talked to both of them about being less nice when it comes to playing the game of basketball. The problem is that all of these other players on our team with that natural grit don't have the required talent to put the team on their shoulders. On our roster those two guys are Tatum and Brown. So there is a problem. It's not a problem when everyone is on fire - it becomes a problem when things are going sideways, you're getting punched in the head and the game has turned into trench warfare. That's when you need Tatum and Brown to be nastier than the other side, more mentally tough. They struggle in those moments and that's why we consistently lose these types of games.
Brown's a super bright kid who grew up in a very good family situation going to great schools. Tatum is just an emotionally close to the sleeve guy who doesn't have a raging emotional engine in him. Tatum's a beast and Brown is really good but there is another level of mental nastiness and grit that you need to step on people's throats (figuratively) in closing games. This is a basketball quality that applies in a physical pick up game on the playground in 8th grade, a tense state tourney game in high school, etc., it's at any level of the game. It's the KG, Rondo, Perkins nastiness gear.
It's a basketball 101 thing that Tatum and Brown do not have yet when things are going sideways.
It's a KG/Kobe/Bird mental nastiness that says here's the line in the and and I'm willing to get very nasty and I have another whole gear to go to to hold that line.
We can win - but Tatum and brown can't lay down, Smart can't be the guy taking the most shots for us, brown can't score two points in the fourth, etc. Tatum and Brown need to paly with more emotional and physical intensity out of the gate or Jimmy Butler, Bam and Lowry (all of whom have that nastiness and grit in spades over Tatum and Brown) will be more than happy to take our candy, and send Tatum and Brown home where they can basically suck their thumbs all summer. It's a man's game and those two have to "take" victories. They can't take nights off and they can't accept losing when things are going sideways - next gear mentally - and figure it out or go home.
I think we can win, but we certainly are making it as difficult as possible for ourselves, which is just terrible. I would set double screens at the top to of the key for Tatum to get him loose.
Tatum and Brown need to find mental grit and toughness - the kind that comes naturally to Jimmy Butler, KG, Rondo, Wade, etc., or we lose. They cannot accept mediocrity from themselves in game that matter most - it's unacceptable, they are the alphas on this team, they need to act and play like it.
Topic: How are we feeling heading into game 7? (Read 9996 times)