The Ball of Attraction

Isiah Thomas was on the May 7 Golic and Wingo. He said something I never heard before. When an NBA team is down 3-0 in a play-off series, it takes all 12 men on the roster to be committed to winning the next game, but it's hard to get all of them to be that committed.

Then Thomas said something else: the ball seems to be attracted to, or winds up in the hands of,  players who aren't committed, leading to missed shots and other mistakes. As I understood him, Thomas wasn't saying the player isn't trying, but that his mind, his lack of belief that winning is possible, affects his performance.

In games and in life, confidence matters. Confidence in yourself, confidence in those around you. When you don't have it, your performance will suffer, which means the performance of people around you will suffer.

Take the ball. Score. Win.

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