Byline: K.C. Johnson
CHICAGO _ Watch, if you can, an entire Bulls game. Look down near the basket, where forward Elton Brand is facing double-teams consistently and triple-teams occasionally. Magician David Blaine, frozen in a block of ice, has more room to operate.
But defenders are hardly Brand's most formidable opponent these days. They can be overcome with a head fake, a power move and a feathery soft touch.
Brand's biggest challenge is the wearying and corrupting forces of losing. This is a player whose junior high team went 33-1, who won two state championships in high school and who lost at Duke about as often as people spell Mike Krzyzewski's name correctly.
And now he enters each game with his lunch bucket and his pride and emerges with the lunch bucket, minus the lunch money. With 78 losses in his first 96 NBA games, Brand is the star of a Bulls team getting bullied about _ they'll take a 1-13 record and a nine-game losing streak into Thursday's game at comparably inept Atlanta.
"This year is more difficult," Brand said after a three-hour practice on Wednesday. "Last year I didn't know what to expect. This year I thought it would be a little better, so it is tougher to deal with.
"This hurts. I come into every game with the mindset we can win. Losing game after game, I just don't want to become numb to it. I never want to be just like, `Oh, well, we lost another game.' And I won't."
And therein lies one of Brand's best attributes. Beyond the double-figures totals in points and rebounds he seems to achieve every night, beyond the improving defense and the rock-solid work ethic, Brand has an aversion to losing. He feels each loss and feels it deeply, which makes his consistent performances and outward professionalism all the more impressive.
"I come out to play every night," Brand said. "That's just in me. That's just who I am."
Brand is averaging 18.1 points and 10.4 rebounds, numbers eerily similar to the 20.1 points and 10 rebounds he averaged during his rookie season. Given that he is putting up such numbers in the face of such defensive pressure, a case could be made that Brand is having a better sophomore season.
Those numbers also fail to weigh the psychological benefits a frightfully young team derives from knowing it has at least one constant positive, one rock.
"You hate to say it this way, but his numbers are almost a necessity with our club where it is right now," coach Tim Floyd said. "It's so important for everybody. Just having a consistent scorer sure eases the discomfort that we're in right now."
His early-season slump is over. Brand made the official declaration after the first game of the recently concluded seven-game trip, when he shot 7-for-14 against Houston. Since then, save for a 5-for-16 clunker against Utah, Brand has shot at least 44 percent in every game and 50 percent or better in four of the eight. His shooting percentage has climbed back to a respectable 42.3 percent. Brand shot 48.2 percent last season.
Then again, with several veterans on the Bulls last season, Brand didn't have to juggle the title of leader with go-to scorer.
"I just do my best to talk to the young guys, keep their spirits up," Brand said. "But I mostly try to lead by example_play hard and keep them playing hard. This is only my second year in the league, so I have to focus on myself as well. I have to keep myself upbeat and keep myself playing hard."
Floyd doesn't want to think about where the Bulls might be without Brand. Where they are with him is tough enough. But he also makes sure never to take his talents and his consistency for granted.
"You like to have the percentage he's shooting of late as opposed to what he was shooting earlier," Floyd said. "Those numbers can even increase if we can get him to the foul line like he was last year.
"But beyond all that, I know this: We're lucky to have him."
X X X
(c) 2000, Chicago Tribune.
Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
No comments:
Post a Comment