published: 2008-03-25
You have to put on the life vest and start swimming
by MANU 
1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15. No, I am not proposing a math challenge like Adrian Paenza, no crosswords nor anything to think too much: I simply referred to the days we had to play on March's first half. 10 games in 15 days! I don't know if it is my memory failing, but I don't remember a calendar like this since I am in the NBA. It wouldn't have been this hard if it wasn't that from those 10 games, 6 or 7 were played at home, but it actually was the opposite, just 3 in San Antonio and the rest going through different cities. Totally Crazy!, but there's not much you can do, you have to put on your life vest and start swimming.
With all this i am meaning that i am waiting for the streak to change itself? NO way! Not at all… I am a guy that never used excuses, and the fact that we played lots of matches is not one of them. I am angry, a little sad and willing fiercely to revert this situation. After a match like the one against Boston, I think a thousand times what happened, the shots I missed, the ones they made, the plays we set, the ones we could have done, the wrong choices and many other things. Are all players like this? Truth is I don't think so, I sometimes see some colleagues or rivals very relaxed, easy and smiling after the losses and I think: why I can't be that way? At the end of the day, they are only a couple of games of the 82 that the regular season have, aren't them?. No, there's nothing I could do, I am this way and it really bothers me to lose, it must be on the genes.
Unfortunately we are going through a difficult moment. I do not think it is a crisis we cannot get over of, nor something less, but with the parity that the west conference has, each game that you lose, is a step further from having home court advantage in the playoffs. I can't believe last week we were first! Then we lost 2 games and were third and now 6th!!!
Anyhow, how could it be that we go from being so good to be so bad in such a short period of time? Or from playing so bad to do so very good? No, little has changed. On those 11 games in a row we won, we didn't play impeccable. We simple close on a better way some games, the ball was falling in more and the rivals we faced were not as good as the ones we faced this month. It is good to remember that we defeated, Milwaukee, Minnesota and New York, teams that will not play the playoffs, with last second shots. We didn't play great either; it is just that many people forget about that because next to those games there was a W instead of a L. We were not that good then, and we are not that bad nowadays, that we have clear.
The good thing about this? We still have 15 games left, we have a lot to work on and we are just 3 W's from leading the conference. The bad thing? That we only have 15 games, we are not playing well and we are just 3 games from being out of the playoffs. Incredible isn't it?
Changing subject, I think that Luis's Rockets streak deserve its own paragraph. They actually deserved a whole column, but they are our rivals and possibly we will meet in the playoffs, so my ego does not let me talk about them. Anyhow I do think it is admirable what they are doing, 22 games in a row, second best in NBA's history. How about that? That shows how difficult it is to make it happen. Not even the Bulls on their 70 wins season did something like that. Reach 10 happens often but from there on it is really tough because you get to feel complacency and get your guard down, you get that attitude that you are more than what you actually are as the kids in the hood' say, but it didn't happen to them. They don't even look hurt after they lost Yao Ming, an All Star and decisive player in their system and also in a lesser way Carl Landry's, a player that was giving them quality minutes and aggressiveness from the bench. Clap, Clap! My respects to the Rockets, from being 10th before the streak to first place and play on an unselfish way and also obviously to our beloved Luis Scola, that is having a great season and not only becoming a key piece in their team, but surely one of the best 3 rookies of the season. If his team and him continue this way, his stock will be on the rise and will have great chances of being named ROY, prize reserved only to a few. Luifa Friend! You have my vote! But we players don't vote though. .
