The Bulls lost in Boston on Friday, at the TD Garden. Second defeat by more than 35 points in a short time, after Toronto. The Celtics had pulled clear after one quarter. Up to 32 points ahead in the second. Payton Pritchard, Jayson Tatum and Paul George scored 74 between them. Noted.
Caleb Wilson scored 23. Rookie, twenty years old, born in Atlanta. After the game he said this, to Basket USA: “It’s my role to be a leader on this team, and everything has to start with me. I know I carry a share of responsibility for our bad start to the game, whether I’m the youngest player on the team or not. I own that responsibility, and it won’t happen again.”
At our place, the bad start to a game has a minute. It’s on the scoresheet, bottom left, with the score at the end of the first quarter. Nobody comes to the table to claim it. Usually, people come and ask me to correct it. He takes it. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone claim a line of the sheet instead of disputing it.
He added that he agreed with Buddy Hield: the team needs “a minimum of pride and passion”. I’ve no column for that. I’ve got six columns, and none of them is called pride. Passion shows on the shot clock, when the parent running it forgets to reset it because he’s watching the game.
A boy who says “it starts with me”, at our place I’d hand him the key to the hall straight away, mind you.
I’m not here to judge promises. The sheet promises nothing. It waits for the next first quarter, and it will write it down as it comes.
Wilson, 23 points, responsibility taken. It’s on the sheet.
It’s true, we checked: Basket USA.
