Something else i want to get off my chest:
I think we intentionally let teams hang around after we've built a lead.
I think our guys do love to play, and they put up stats. So when we get a decent lead, the mindset is to conserve energy, take the foot off the pedal, then play hard again when the other team comes back.
Which is COMPLETELY BACKWARDS.
Why not just continue to play hard and push the gane out of reach, then rest while the bench finishes things off? Maybe because you can't accumulate stats sitting on the bench?
IMO Smart and Tatum are the ringleaders for this. Smart is great when the game is hanging in the balance. But he's awful when we're ahead. There have been so many games that should have been blowouts but stayed close due to sheer laziness.
Joe needs to start benching guys for complacency.