In Reply to: There it is…toughness, we were soft. posted by Cachorro on January 03, 2026 at 20:56:56
Ten days not playing creates rust - in the body, getting back up to speed, and that includes in the mind. The talking heads were talking about it before the game. Cronin acknowledged that was his big worry going in.
The first half demonstrated how much effect it had.
But the second half, we did not play soft. The injury to Skyy Clark - which depending on its severity and how much time he will lose - could further lower our ceiling this season - forced Donovan Dent to look to take over the game and for a long stretch he did just that.
With a donut hole at the center position and lacking Clark's deadeye accuracy in shooting, that second half pretty much sets the model for the rest of the season. Give the ball to the more than a million dollar man and everyone else is collateral. It's got to be Dent's show.
But the comment about soft - yes, we were clearly soft in the first half. We weren't able to engage, to compete. But we did get past that part in the second half, Even without Clark. We got past the rust and were playing again.
That too ought to be acknowledged.