Patrick Sparks Tidbits

Because it was yet another subpar performance by Patrick (thus raising the question whether his "par" should be about what David Duval's now is), a couple of observations seem to be in order. (1) The hideousness of Patrick's shooting and his lack of confidence is not only observable during games, but before them as well. I watch Patrick warm up for about ten minutes before every game. Normally his pregame shooting is uncanny, usually making about 55 of the 60 threes I watch him shoot. Tonight it was a different guy. I saw him take 30 shots and make 10....by far the worst performance I have ever seen from the kid. It is clear that this is all in his head now, and when that happens, folks rarely recover. (2) Tubby laid into Sparks at halftime unlike anything I have ever seen. As the team was walking back to the locker room, Tubby got in Sparks' face and berated him for his errant lob pass to Rondo with a tone of voice I have never heard from the man. Sparks walked emotionless throughout the incident. (3) Oscar Combs pointed out to me at halftime that Sparks' only made three was one with the shot clock running down and no other option but to shoot....thus leading creedence to the theory that his problems are in his head. When the situation forces him not to think, he reaches success....otherwise there are problems.