Hawks coach Drew calls out team for playing soft (Yahoo! Sports)
ATLANTA (AP) — On the flight back to Atlanta, Hawks coach Larry Drew watched tape of his team getting pushed around in Game 1 of the playoffs.
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A ‘soft’ Kentucky team steps closer to the edge with loss at Arkansas
The Wildcats don’t have any bad losses, but they might not have the wins to make the NCAAs.
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Report: Kobe called teammates soft
Throughout his career, Kobe Bryant has earned a reputation for being one of the most mentally tough and competitive players in the NBA. He will play in conditions that other players wouldn’t dream of. Bryant’s will to win and to be the best are his defining characteristics as a player. Mike Bresnahan reports that on [...]
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Thunder can’t afford to play soft in paint
Coach Scott Brooks must get the Oklahoma City Thunder, with Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka, to play tough vs. LeBron James and the Miami H …
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Pacers, Heat respond to Bird’s ‘soft’ comment (Yahoo! Sports)
MIAMI (AP) Larry Bird called the Indiana Pacers soft. His team agreed. LeBron James thought otherwise.
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Larry Bird calls Pacers ‘soft’ after Heat loss
Pacers President Larry Bird called his team “soft” after a 115-83 demolition by the Heat on Tuesday night.
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Larry Bird: Pacers ‘went soft’
#bbpBox_205159847086403585 a { text-decoration:none; color:#0084B4; }#bbpBox_205159847086403585 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; }RT @MikeWellsNBA: Larry Bird: “I can’t believe my team went soft. S-O-F-T. I’m disappointed. I never thought it would happen.”8 minutes ago via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite@sam_amickSam Amick
Larry Bird has done an excellent job with the Indiana Pacers, but even he was appalled by how his team played Tuesday night against the Miami Heat. The team seemed to wilt in the third quarter and Bird was not happy about it. In fact, Bird called the team he built “soft.”
See, I am not 100 percent certain they played soft, but they did play scared. The Heat were almost gleeful in getting some cheap shots in on the Pacers. The team did not fight back. There needs to be a time when you take a stand and deliver a shot that shows you will not be intimidated.
Larry Bird played back in the 1980s when the competition was much stron…
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Indiana Pacers: Larry Bird Calls Team “Soft” After Game 5 Blowout
If you’re named the NBA‘s Executive of the Year, is there no filter as to what you’re allowed to say about any team?
This is including your own team, by the way.
Apparently that rule doesn’t apply to Larry Bird, as he vented his frustration to reporters after the Pacers were annihilated by the Miami Heat in Game 5 on Tuesday as the series now shifts back to Indiana for a must-win situation.
Larry Bird: “I can’t believe my team went soft. S-O-F-T. I’m disappointed. I never thought it would happen.”
— Mike Wells (@MikeWellsNBA) https://twitter.com/MikeWellsNBA/status/205159405476519937” data-datetime=”2012-05-23T04:53:08+00:00″>May 23, 2012
That tweet came courtesy of Pacers beat writer Mike Wells in the postgame interviews after Indiana’s 32-point loss.
I’m not sure if this was a way to rally the troops for a do-or-die Game 6 coming up in a couple of days, but this doesn’t seem like the best way to do it. We all know how much of a competitor Bird is, and has been for the entirety of his NBA career as a player, coach and now executive.
But when you’re one game away from your season coming to an end, this isn’t the time for words like that. And this surely can’t resonate well with the Indiana players, who feel like they have done everything they can in these last two games to take control of this series by the horns, but haven’t actually done so.
When Miami has LeBron James and Dwyane Wade playing at the level they’re playing right now, it’s hard to think any team in the league can contain them for an entire 48 minutes, let alone a young Pacers team who hasn’t experienced this kind of playoff success in their careers.
It also doesn’t help when your star player, Danny Granger, is ruled out for the entire second half, losing all scoring ability from the perimeter. Paul George has the capability to be that guy, but Granger is the guy that most of those young players look up to. When he’s not playing, it’s tough for Indiana to compete at the level they want to play at.
Nevertheless, it’s still a 3-2 record in favor of the Heat going into Game 6. Bird better hope that those words rallied his team together in a big way and that they can bring the series back to Miami for Game 7.
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Two down, two to go in soft stretch for Bucks
MILWAUKEE — If the Milwaukee Bucks are going to make a serious push for the playoffs, this is the week to do it. Two games into a stretch of four for the Bucks playing against below. 500 teams, so far, so good.
A road win Monday over the Wizards was followed Wednesday by a 107-98 victory at home against the Kyrie Irving-less Cleveland Cavaliers.
With 12 regular season games remaining, Milwaukee is now just 1.0 game back from the New York Knicks for the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot.If the Bucks do pass the Knicks and qualify for the postseason, a date with the top-seeded Chicago Bulls likely awaits. If that happens, expectations will be high in Milwaukee’s locker room.”If we’re fortunate enough to get there, we’re going to compete and we expect to win,” Mike Dunleavy said. “We’re going to not only in the next few weeks try and get wins and get in the playoffs, we’re going to prepare ourselves to play one of these teams, go in there and go on the road and get a win when we need to get a win.”Wednesday’s matchup with the Cavs was the first of five consecutive games at home for the Bucks. Next up is the NBA’s worst team, with the 7-45 Charlotte Bobcats traveling to Milwaukee on Friday, followed by the Portland Trail Blazers (25-29) on Saturday. After a difficult matchup with the Western Conference’s top team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, coming up Monday, the Bucks’ home stand will conclude with an ultra-important game against New York.”We haven’t necessarily played well at home, haven’t protected our home court and now is the time of the year we have to do it,” Dunleavy said.After beating the Cavs, Milwaukee is now 13-12 at home this season.But even without Irving, who is a sure thing to win rookie of the year, Cleveland outscored the Bucks in the final three quarters to keep the game close until the final minute.”It’s a team we feel like we should handle a little bit easier than we did,” coach Scott Skiles said. “We won the game. It’s good to see. You have to give them a lot of credit. Without Kyrie and being down like that at the end of the first quarter, that’d be a very easy game to just mail in. They hung in there. They took it to us a little bit in the second half.”We won the game. We’re happy to have the win. I don’t want to minimize it. We’re happy to have the win.”This would’ve been a devastating loss.”Fortunately for Skiles and the Bucks, Monta Ellis took over in the fourth quarter. In the final 4:32 of the game, Ellis made all eight of his shots and scored 16 points.”He made some tough shots,” Cleveland guard Anthony Parker said of Ellis, whom he was guarding that entire time. “He’s a guy that’s super fast. He’s such a good player that once he gets it going, it’s tough to stop.”Ellis finished with 30 points and said afterwards that he’s not worried whatsoever about what the Knicks — or the seventh-seeded and struggling Philadelphia 76ers — are doing.”We just have to worry about us,” Ellis said. “We can’t worry about the next team.”Though Ellis may not be interested, the 76ers lost to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, and the Knicks play at Orlando on Thursday night.Follow Paul Imig on Twitter.
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Pau Gasol shedding his ‘soft’ label
LOS ANGELES — Pau Gasol has been called many things in his career: NBA Champion, four-time All Star, one of Europe’s best players. But one of the monikers the native of Barcelona, Spain has heard much too oftenespecially during this tumultuous seasonhas a hugely negative meaning when referring to a 7-foot, 250 pound power forward: soft.
In his last five games, the personable Spaniard has struck back at his critics, turning into a physical force on offense, defense and rebounding-wise. It continued Tuesday night at STAPLES Center as Gasol posted 20 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks to lead the Lakers to an 86-78 win over the Atlanta Hawks. In his last five appearancesfour on the roadhe’s averaged 18.6 points, 13 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. He put together a 25 point, 14 rebound game in Boston and a 16 17 game against Toronto, both wins for the 17-12 Lakers.
Gasol, who has collected 7 straight double-doubles, said: “I’m just trying to be more aggressive out there; more energetic out there. You know, just produce any way that I can.
“My rebounding has been good, and I’ve been knocking down the open-look shots that I’ve been getting lately.” (Including a long three-pointer, his first of the season at STAPLES.) Coming off a rough six-game road trip, it wasn’t easy the first time playing at home.
“Your body doesn’t feel the usual when you come back from that kind of trip,” he pointed out. “With the time difference and everything, it takes a game to get back to normal. But we fought throughout, we pushed ourselves and we found a way to win against a very quality team.”
It was another outstanding defensive effort for the Lakers, holding the Hawks (18-11) to a total of 27 points in the second and third quarters.
“We’re a very good defensive team,” said Kobe Bryant, who had an off-night offensively, scoring just ten points on 5-18 shooting. We’re one of the tops in the league. Obviously we’re at home where our momentum can carry us a little bit.
“We were able to get some steals and some defensive rebounds and turn them into easy points. It’s been very tough for us to get those easy baskets.”
Bryant also had praise for backup point guard Steve Blake, who ran the team brilliantly, scoring 5 points and handing out six assists in his 29 minutes of play. “He’s a point guard through and through. With him out (for 13 games with a rib cage injury), we had guys playing out of position. Him coming back gives a little more stability to our lineup.” Andrew Bynum scored 15 points with 15 rebounds and rookie guard Andrew Goudelock contributed ten in just 13 minutes played.
But it was the continuing gritty play of Gasol, who is not an All Star for the first time since 2008 which pushed the Lakers to victory.
“We played a good game at some points; at other times not so good,” he said “and I’m glad I was able to have an effect on the outcome.
“We got good performances from a lot of the guys, and that’s important. But we’ve got to get more consistent and play the same way throughout every game. We need to give the maximum effort on both ends of the floor, and then we can be the type of team we want to be.”
The Lakers have some obvious shortcomings at the point guard positionlack of speed and long runs of inconsistent play. There has been talk about the Lakers bringing in Gilbert Arenas to strengthen backcourt, but Gasol isn’t sure that’s necessary.
“I don’t have any say about what they do upstairs,” Gasol said with a smile, “but as I’ve said if they can get a player that will help us get better. I’m fine with that. As a player, your mindset is to just work with what you have. And in my opinion, I think we do (have the talent) to win a championship.
“We have three All Star-caliber players, we have experienced players and we have some youth who can gives us speed. Now, it’s up to us to come out, play hard and deliver.”
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