We've seen it before. Syracuse.
UMass. Nights where the opponent banks in a 3 from the corner while we miss a dunk. And the follow up dunk. And both the FT from the rebound of the 2nd missed dunk. Every loose ball seems to ricochet off 3 people's knees and right into the hands of their best shooter, who happens to be wide open.
This was that night. We simply were not going to win. Every time we had a chance to gain 2 points we would do something self defeating, like miss the front end of a 1-1 and then reach over the back to foul the rebounder. Or bobble a wide open dunk out of bounds.
I'm not just focusing on the inevitable mistakes that are just part of the game. Some games it's just the norm. You're just not going to win those games on the road even against bad competition. This was one of those games. Turn the TV off and go to bed.
Then. . . what to my wondering eyes should appear. . .
but a sled full of toys and 8 tiny reindeer? No, no, get that s**t out of the way, obviously Santa is there, I'm talking about what's happening behind that.
JOHN CROSBY?
John Freakin' Crosby, to save our bacon. Go back to the play by play. 6:18 left, XW turns the ball over and SS gets his 4th foul. We're down 11 and all seems lost. In subs
JFC.
-Turnover by Davidson / steal by KP
-Assist
JFC to Cooke, down 9
-Foul by Pollard, back down 11
-Basket by
JFC with the foul, makes the FT, down 8
-Missed 3 by Davidson, rebound to
JFC (who ripped it out of a pile IIRC)
-1-2 FT by Pollard, down 7
-Steal by Pollard (diving on the floor, I seem to recall JFC being in the mix)
-Layup Pollard, down 5
-Steal by
JFC, 3 by KD, assist Cooke, down 2!!!
-
JFC subs out at the 2:50 mark, 3 minutes and 30 seconds later we go from dead in the water down 11 to down only 2.
Obviously he wasn't a 1-man wrecking crew, but IMO the stats don't show the energy he brought for that 3:30. He brought it to himself, he brought it to KD / Pollard who did some heavy lifting, and he rattled Davidson with his energy. The team was dead and he lifted everyone, with Pollard right there next to him feeding off each other.
It would have been more believable if you had told me Santa Claus checked into the game.