Pierce was flat and aggressive in the second half. He missed most of his shots in the fourth quarter and overtime, he was exposed defensively.
I get that he scored a lot and without him we would have been blown out but it is true he can not carry this team on his own.
I am not blaming Pierce for this teams woes. He is 35, it is what happens. I have never said we should trade him. I am just stating that is age is really starting to show, particularly on the defensive side.
Please stop attacking me because I state an uncomfortable truth about Pierce.
Maybe avoiding sarcasm like "have you been asleep?" would help your case a bit (?).
Dunno, but you're right that Pierce's age is showing some, as is KG's ... why
wouldn't it? It is what it is.
KG has been the most consistent force on the team in the last two seasons, but he's not what he was ... he doesn't go strong to the hoop as much as he used to, nor is he the post threat he was, but he's still doing his job as well as anyone, and Paul is the King of Intangibles, and still the core emotionally, as well as the "clutch" guy he's always been.
Roles have changed, and this largely new team is not any one player's responsibility, nor should any individual be expected to "carry" the team night-in-and-night-out.
Let's face it, this team is in a funk, but there are also clear reasons for it, and however much you want to rationalize it away, it just plain
takes time, and a period longer than from the end of October to Christmas.
If you had told me (before the season started) that we'd be at .500 right now, I
absolutely would've said: "Sounds about right." A bit disappointed? Sure. But still about right.
I didn't expect much before the break and I still don't, though I
would be surprised if we were much
below 50% at that time.
After that I think we'll be on a clear upswing, if not a true
tear, and things will look a lot more optimistic.
There's a lot of good things happening right now, even during the losses, and the things that are
causing the losses are obvious and tangibly correctible.
Chemistry is the biggest problem overall, because it affects almost everything, (and I really wish this organization would get back to Ubuntu and prioritize that), but again, that comes with time together.
As far as anyone calling you a bad fan, I hope that's not happening, because each of us is entitled to our own view of what a "fan" is and how one should act, and there really is no right or wrong, good or bad.
Bottom line is I agree with you about the age thing, because it's just plain inescapable, but I disagree about how it affects the team.
There's some great discourse going on here about the team's present problems, though, so I respect you for sticking to your guns ... just maybe not take it quite so personal, and avoid the sarcasm.
Trust me, as most here will attest, I've been guilty of the same plenty times myself, so I don't mean it condescendingly at all.
Most of all, I'm hoping that come post-break you're not telling us all: "I told you so!", cuz that would truly suck ... for the team, not us personally, (I'm quite used to hearing it on a personal basis).
Here's hoping we're
all feeling better about things by then, and I'm sure that
you would be as pleased as any of us.
TP for hanging in there.