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Shoot bad, look bad.
The Tigers weren't actually as bad as the score last night. In a lot of ways they actually played pretty well. They were aggressive offensively and spent a lot of the night generating good shots and high percentage plays towards the rim.
They just weren't hitting; shit happens. Regression was always going to happen and sadly it hit us hard last night. They had plenty of good looks that even looked true heading towards the rim that were just off. It reminded me of the UConn Elite 8 game where they outplayed Uconn something awful but lost because they were just a tick off on their shot.
Those games happen and when they do, that's when having a guy like MPJ is invaluable. He could've pulled them from the fire and maybe kept them in that game long enough to find their shot. At that point maybe Utah doesn't come out of the half white-hot and make it a bit of a walkaway.
This game doesn't actually change my perception of the team that much. Tilmon's foul issues worry me more than they did because at least 3 of them were just him getting abused by an experienced big; he bites so hard on those back to the basket hip fakes that he has no choice but to foul. But experience will help him 'feel' that fake. Right now his eyes are tricking him but an experienced big doesn't use his eyes; he bodies up and feels the weight transfer and that's what tells him where to go.
Eh, these games happen to solid squads. They don't happen to great ones but this isn't a great squad without MPJ, especially not as young as they are. The team they had on the court last night was solid and young. They'll get better and they'll get Porter at some point. Doesn't bother me much.
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