Because I was "off"
last night, I didn't feel like proving that Bass had a bad game. I don't even remember who I was arguing with about it.
Now that I'm not in a haze
...
Bass had an excellent 1st Q, I won't deny that, the eye test and his stats say that.
1st Q
Bass had 8pts/1rb/1ast/1blk in less than 8mins (his only assist and was 3-3FG and 2-2FT) and held Love to 0-5 shooting (he was 1-6FG 2-2FT in the first Q and 5pts)
Now let's look at what went down AFTER that good first Q
Bass went 3-7FG 1-2FT for 7pts (2pts each 2nd and 3rd and 3 in the 4th)
He had 1rb in the 2nd Q and 3 in the 4th
All of his PF(3) came in the 3rd Q
He had 4 turnovers, 1 3rd Q and 3 4th Q
He was mostly on Love but Pek had his way with him too, Love was 5-11 (1-3 from 3) after Q1 (1-6), to end the night he was 6-17 with 23pts (18pts after Q1 5-5FT).
It was also brought up that Bass had a +/- of +5 (Fav was a +4, only 2 in plus side).
Well let's look at the +/- of two of the T-Wolves to show you why you have to take it with a HUGE grain of salt b/c they don't tell the whole story.
32mins: 7/16FG (2/4 3s 7-7) 23pts, 12rbs (2OR), 2ast, 1stl and
7 turnovers/3PF 30mins: 8/9FG (4-5FT) 20pts, 12rbs
(8OR), 1stl and
NO TURNOVERS/0PFThe first set of stats were Love's, he was +20
The 2nd were Pekovics', he was +5
So, Bass had 1 great Q and 3 terrible ones... like I said last night, he wasn't terrible like Sully was (14m 1/6FG 1/2FT for 3pts, 4rbs (3OR), 1ast, 3PF, 1 turnover), but he was pretty bad for the majority of the night. Bass played 30mins and managed 3 more rbs than Sully, 12 more pts (8 to Sully's only 3 in Q1), 1blk, and 3 more turnovers. While Bass had far more pts than Sully that's the only place he out performed him in 16 more minutes. They both didn't defend well (Bass was good first Q but you see what happened after that).
Bass, for the last time, wasn't terrible (Sully, yikes) but he didn't play much better than Sully after the first Q. Sully coming off the game the day b4 where he went HAM on the Blazers, a bone bruise, and he isn't in great shape, unlike Bass who is always in top shape and rarely an injury to talk about, the guy is a specimen and a picture of health (a great thing BTW)! Bass had all the reason in the world to play better and he came out HOT in the first quarter after having a few terrible games in a row (he was ABUSED by LMA and gave NOTHING to offset it)!
I'm telling it like I saw it, just b/c you don't agree with me or don't like it, doesn't mean I'm hating on Bass. It also doesn't mean I secretly don't like him either, you can believe that but all I can do is tell you how I feel about him, it's not like I can prove that I do b/c lying about what I see from him is not something I'm going to do. When he plays well, I'm always cheering him on and talking it up. When he plays bad, most of it I let pass b/c everyone has off games but he hasn't played a good game in a while, there's only so much I can take.
AB is my favorite player on the team (2nd fav w/ KG), I almost hated Doc last season for letting him play so much when he was TERRIBLE. I wanted AB sat so many times during the playoffs it would have been funny if it wasn't making me lose my mind, I was ticked. He was garbage out there and I said it many times. It's one of the reasons I didn't care that Doc left (I thought CBS was the same the first 4 games but saved himself after, THANK GOD). AB should NEVER EVER play PG, he is so bad it makes my blood boil... how can someone be that bad of a ball handler I don't know. I love the kid as a SG but if he ever has to man the pt again for a good stretch, I may change my mind and beg for him to pack it up (yep, he's that bad)! I can keep going on the things I have said about AB but it's not about him.
Bass will turn it around on offense (he did last game overall 6-10) but his defense (HELP DEFENSE especially) is something that won't be changing. He's great on a contender where he doesn't have to try to be the man or one of the big dogs. I loved Bass' play even more when he had KG to take care of his defensive liabilities.
BASS IS A 3 ON D!
Okay, I'm done!