steph

I hate mayo. That’s my  big food phobia. It’s no secret, everyone who knows me knows I’m irrationally disgusted/fearful of the goopy, congealed, smelly grossness. The thought of it makes me cringe. It’s to the point where I won’t take the jar out of the fridge – that’s if I allowed it in my refrigerator. 

I’d wager there are a few more mayo haters after that last one. We have every right to be angry after we let a rookie torch us for 14 points in the 4th quarter, ESPECIALLY after scoring only two the whole game. If you’re keeping track, that’s TWO rookies we’ve been destroyed by (Rose did a number on us back in January) late in the game. 

I think Andrea, broken English and all, captured the state of the team the best.

“We have to start winning because we are playing very bad.”

A bit of perspective: we lost to a team that played Greg Buckner 31 minutes. In a game where a chubby rookie from Spain outscored and matched the rebounding output of our big, $20+mil off season acquisition. Against a perennial bottom feeder not yet acclimated to it’s brand new coaching staff (Henry Bibby and Damon Stoudamire became offiicial assistant coaches under interim head coach Lionel Hollins). This is worse than bad. Can Colangelo fire himself? 

One look a the numbers and it’s clear our offensive flow has hit menopause. 29.5% from the field. 21% from downtown. Bargnani was 1-11. Parker was 2-10. The only player to shoot over 50% was Joey Graham, going 6-10 for 14pts.  If we can’t score against a defensive juggernaut like the Memphis Grizzlies, then we’re screwed because we couldn’t properly defend my Thursday night co-ed TCSSC team. 

The media will of course make it first mention that we were without Bosh for this game. Like that’s some sort of excuse. The Grizzlies were without THREE starters, Gay, Lowry, Darrell Arthur. For all intents and purposes Gay is their franchise player, and a young squad like Memphis should have been derailed without their cornerstone. Of course, the Raptors pose about as much threat as a wheel-chaired carjacker, and it’s clear there’s no team in the league that’s the least bit concerned about playing us. In battle, mental weakness is far more dangerous than physical deficiencies, and we’ve shown over and over that we just don’t have the headspace (and maybe the capacity) for focused, disciplined production.

I think it’s time we turned on the houselights. At least for 2008-2009, the show is over.  There’s plenty of reason to be disappointed and plenty of people to point fingers at. But the most productive use of our time between now and the off-season is to set ourselves up for one of those overnight rebuildings that have become NBA vogue. A couple of key arrivals paired with the right departures, and we’re a playoff team again. 

But until then, I’ll repeat the question: Can Colangelo fire himself?