My mind’s been mush all week. There’s a bug going around the family that finally found me. My ADHD is turned up to 11. I’m absolutely burnt. The harder I try, the worse it gets, like your car’s stuck in the snow and you keep hitting the gas, going nowhere as the rut deepens. I’m behind on work. Focus is difficult, so I step away, do something, anything else, to change my focus, break free from the rut. But doing something, anything else triggers the cortisol chorus of guilt: “Shouldn’t you be working?”
Breaking the cycle means starting small: break the work into smaller pieces. In last night’s 127-97 Knick win over the Portland Trail Blazers, Mikal Bridges only made three baskets. But one of them reminded us — and two Blazers in particular — of the multiplying power of one small step.
In the final minute of the third quarter, the Blazers were down 16, a swing spot, score-wise; give up a 3 and you’re down 19 and getting blown out; make a 3, you’re down 13, just a mini-run from a competitive game. After Bridges missed a corner 3, Shaeden Sharpe rebounded near the foul line, passed to Jerami Grant and got the ball back as he crossed midcourt. 48 seconds in the quarter, 18 on the shot clock. Perfect time to run a little clock and get a quality two-for-one. Entering the fourth down 12 or 13 instead of 16 is big psychologically. The Blazers ended the frame down 18.
Sharpe took two dribbles, went around a Donovan Clingan pick, then the career 33% shooter from deep launched from there with 16 on the shot clock and of his teammates behind the arc, while every Knick besides Jalen Brunson, Sharpe’s defender, was either in the paint or the midrange. Sharpe missed, the Knicks rebounded and while Bridges missed a 3 on the other end, he took it with 30 seconds left, leaving just enough time for a New York two-for-one.
With 16 seconds left and Caleb Love dribbling the time down near center court, Sharpe, guarded by Bridges, went to the corner nearest celebrity row, hunched forward and rested his hands on his knees. He held that pose while Love, smothered by Landry Shamet, struggled to get free. He held it while Love lobbed a no-chance 30-footer (with eight seconds left in the quarter and five on the shot clock). He held it even after the shot missed.
To be fair, no Blazer besides Clingan came inside the arc to crash the offensive glass. Maybe their emphasis was getting back in transition if the Knicks made one last push. Spoiler: they didn’t.
As Love’s shot went up, Bridges rotated 90 degrees, from facing Love at the top of the key to facing Sharpe in the corner, to box him out. As soon as Bridges saw Sharpe doing his still-life schtick, his head whipped around to follow the play, rotating his body back to facing midcourt instead of the sideline. Once Bridges realized Diawara had the uncontested rebound, he took off, launching off a slight spring in his step. The flat-footed Sharpe didn’t flinch until Diawara was passing to Brunson, who got the ball with four seconds left.
Brunson took two dribbles, during which time the non-Sharpe Blazers all turned their attention on him, meaning the only Blazer aware of Bridges was the cornerback who’d just been beaten by the receiver. Sharpe got the attention of Sidy Cissoko, normally a good idea. Cissoko is 21 and has a 6-foot-10 wingspan. But Cissoko, like Sharpe, picked a bad time to disassociate.
When Diawara got the rebound, Cissoko was at the 3-point line. When Cissoko first realized Bridges was streaking by, he was at the other 3-point line. For the two seconds in-between, he showed all the hustle of late-stage Barry Bonds after drawing a walk, lollygagging with some extra L’s and G’s thrown in. So it didn’t matter how hard he ran once he recognized Bridges was a threat, the centimeters away he was from deflecting Brunson’s pass. By not taking that first small step toward their larger goal, Sharpe and Cissoko could never get caught up.
By the way, I’m not down at all on Sharpe or Cissoko for these lapses. If there’d been a camera on me at work when I was their age, you couldn’t seen my first day at Wal-Mart, when the lawn and garden manager going on break gave me their medieval dungeon master-sized set of keys and I promptly clipped it around my eyebrow ring, never considering the strength-to-weight ratio of an eyebrow ring versus 10 literal pounds of keys. Reader, it hurt.
Five wins in a row has the Knicks, per sprewellhasmouthstofeed, “grooving.” Next game’s in seven hours, when the Lakers make their annual pilgramage to the Mecca. If you’re struggling with something, do something small. Do small things consistently. Most snow, eventually, melts.
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