And I don't think I've ever seen a player play physical defense like that for nearly 30 minutes without a single whistle. Not Payton or any of the top wing defenders of the last three decades.
That does remind me a bit of Game 5 of the first round of the 2009 playoffs. Between two losses where he fouled out, Kendrick Perkins played an amazing 48:20 in an overtime win. 16 points. 19 rebounds. 7 blocks. 0 fouls.
Yeah, a slight statistical improbability.
Sort of like our team getting 13 steals and 9 blocks while only committing 21 total fouls, including the 11 on JO and Steimsma.
STL+BLK = 22
PF = 21
Incredibly unlikely.
This team either suddenly put on the best defensive game ever played in the history of the NBA after stinking it up for the last month, or something's up, folks.
Must be our defense.
Or the sudden drop in ticket prices...
Huh, Orlando was only called for 16 personal fouls as well. Clearly the refs were letting them play tonight but the conspiracy is way off base. (and it was a slow paced game only 89 possesions)
Was there a conspiracy when we only fouled the wizards 20 times in a faster paced game?
Against the Whiz, we had 20 fouls, but only 9 STL+BLK.
That's the point: This crazy good, all-world, all-time defensive game against a winning team might have had something to do with the officiating.
And to have such an all-time defensive game when third-stringers are the starting backcourt...with a rookie 2nd rounder that hadn't really cracked the rotation getting primary backup minutes...
And when it was recently reported right here on CB that the C's recent skid was starting to affect ticket prices to the tune of a 32% drop...