The numbers don't really tell the story. We can see that the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, that nine different players scored in double figures, and that they shot 62 percent from the floor. It is like counting how many colors Michelangelo used. I am sure that number is impressive, but is viewing it through statistics really the point?
The biggest margin of defeat in NBA history was 73. 48 minutes of incompetence and indifference. You can't take a second to lose every quarter by at least 15 points. The consistency is amazing. Anything this thorough, this complete, even an ass-waxing, is worthy of praise and awe.
The team got into town at 2 a.m. after playing the night before and just didn't have the legs. Everyone was hungover and things just went wrong. Couldn't get a bucket to fall. The other team couldn't miss, everything went wrong, the coach pulled the starters for the second half, and the bench sucked. It is all explicable.
Is it possible to be so far beyond that? It is almost proof of a higher power. It's not only that the 10 professionals are so hapless at their jobs that they are doomed for the night, but that they are doomed for the opponents as well. Football coaches talk about winning. Imagine winning in a second. They were behind their counterpart on the floor. It is amazing.
It is beyond giving up. Teams have tanked a lot of times. A team knows it is all for shit by the 2nd quarter. Part of a coach's job is knowing how to lose a game. How did the Knicks do last night? Who were they playing with? Drive home safely.
This was inspiration. It was by a muse. It is Exile on Main Street. It is Mad Max:Fury Road. It is the intersection of human creativity and divine. Is that scene in Shawshank when the inmates stop and are rendered motionless at the aria? That is this. We don't have to comprehend it. It is better if we don't. Comprehension is not the point. You should know that there is more to the world than what we see every day.
