Another up and down game of runs. No consistency. Hard to believe that the team that looks so good is the same team that looks so bad 4 minutes later.
At the end, they looked tight and nervous. Except Paul who was maybe a little too loose. Too much isolation in the 4th quarter for my taste. Should have had the ball in Gary's hands more, maybe running Paul and Ricky off of screens. Oh well.
I tip my hat to the Wiz, who were on fire early and closed it out late. It always seems to be a random guy that steps up and beats us from the Wiz (Laettner last year is an example). This time it was Jared Jefferies, card carrying memeber of the "shouldn't he be better than he is?" club.
Jefferson looked good on a few offensive sets, even getting plays called for him. He still looked like a talented but clueless rookie on defense. Getting a block one minute, and 2 quick fouls the next. He'll get it.
Biggest thing I noticed about watching this team live is that they look just like guys you might find playing pick up basketball down the street (only, um, much bigger). Blount and Perkins are the lumbering giants, Raef is the token white guy that can shoot, Jiri is "that fundamental guy" that gets no respect, Davis is the thug (of course), and Gary is the mouth. Paul's the only one that really doesn't fit. He's got a swagger that sets him apart (I'm not always sure that's a good thing, but that's him).
Looking ahead, all logic in the world points to us getting beat resoundingly by the Spurs. The only silver lining I can think of is the fact that when we are on, there's not much stopping us. On the flip side, you know that the Spurs are experts at not making the mistakes that we pounce on when we are doing well. I don't think they'll give us the opportunity to beat them. But you never know.
Feel free to leave your thoughts here.