Change of attitude

[DERRENMATTS]

I don't know you all feel about this, but I'm seeing a slight change in certain players' demeanor compared to ealier this season.

Maybe the player I've noticed this the most in is Marcus Smart. It seemed to me that after last season's success, he felt that we (this team) have attained elite level status. Like we were on the same plane as the Cavs and the Warriors (ironically, we did beat these teams).

It was an attitude of "we're better than you and you aren't deserving of our 100% effort". We entered into games thinking we can coast a bit and still win.

That's why we were losing to teams we should have dominated, and had many close games against teams who we should beat easily.

But that attitude has changed. I don't see it in Marcus anymore. He looks like he's taking each game as a business, and is being cautious not to be casual.

I think Crowder had some of this as well. Maybe IT.

[jmost]

I'm still seeing an awful of casual play. Lazy passes especially. And falling behind by double digits to teams we should dominate - even though we've been coming back to win most of them. IMO there's still a lot of room to tighten things up.

[eja117]

Sometimes I think Steven's style of settling for jumpers creates a kind of lazy finesse ball that results in almost no rebounds. It can be frustrating. There has been a certain softness this year, but on the other hand players are playing well and hard. Maybe when you don't bang so hard you have more in the tank at the end.

I also think they really want the [HASH]1 seed and more incentive to do well in the playoffs and get a good free agent and get good contracts.

[afceltic]

They are still soft as hell. They don't have that KG type of player who demands toughness out of them on every play yet.