Well, (2) ways to view last night's beat down at home:

1. Anomaly--Tatum 8-10 from 3. Giannis 11/27 and 0-5 from 3. Numbers could be flipped in a nano second on either court. 'Tis the nature of the NBA with the proliferation of the 3. Caitlyn Clark is making it perfectly clear that distance is not a limiting factor for humans to make a basket. (Caitlyn is amazing, logo legend, shooter from Iowa).

2. Celts in 4. Message game. Last time we barely won--in OT--and the Celts were missing Tatum, Brown and Smart. All it takes is strong application of the fence and Giannis is left to jump up in the air, pirouette and hope to find a statue on the perimeter. I do question this offensive regimen. On the break, (turnover or long rebound), with numbers--yes by all means, Giannis is unstoppable--a nuclear weapon as Phil Jackson used to say 'bout MJ. But as a set? No. Too easy to defend and of course the jumping pirouette pass is one of the easiest to intercept--thus our high turnovers. I also question the introduction of a new cog--Goran D.--this late in the season. Great player, a perfect anti-turnover solution, but there is chemistry that needs to learned. Ingles--a savvy, intuitive passer--is still a work in progress--this takes time. Maybe we hold on to home court advantage....but crud...that only seems to put more pressure on us--2 of the last 3 years we lost several key games at home. Many were not close (Celts again and Raptors). Many find hope in Holiday and Lopez having career years--and they've been a joy to watch--but don't let that fool you. The regular season means nothing, intensity changes and sometimes big regular seasons only taps guys out.

Glass is half-empty right now. One ray of hope: Grayson Allen--who many Badgers fans have yet to accept (Duke vs Badgers...final four...he and Tyus Jones erased our 8 point lead in no time, late in the 2nd half). Well, I now see a maturing young man, enormous talent. He torched the Bulls last year in the playoffs--(and the Bulls were good last year--at least early in the season), but then went silent against the Celts. I hope coach Bud has the vision to use him and he gets off more shots. Did anyone see his dunk against the Pacers the other night? His elbow was way above the rim, his head almost hit the backboard. He can sky! He's a vastly underrated driver--not yet another perimeter statue and plays some D too. Go Grayson!