recall bias
Were the 2008 NBA Finals a "six-game sweep"? Or is that recall bias in action?

recall bias (ri'-kahl bi'-uhs) noun. Intentionally or unintentionally innaccurate recollection of past basketball or basketball-related events due to personal biases.

Usage example: I remember Kobe quitting during Game 7 of the Lakers' 2006 first round series against the Suns. But other people remember it differently. What gives?

Word History: A few years ago, I jokingly told my buddy Mister P that he sufferes from recall bias because, after a pickup game, he can't seem to accurately recall how well (or how poorly) he actually shot the ball. Specifically, unless he hits 80 percent of his jumpers -- which is fairly unlikely -- he'll tell me something like, "I shot like shit tonight." Is going 4-for-10 on threes in a pickup game "shooting like shit"? It feels that way to Mister P. So much so that he might tell you he went 2-for-10 or provide some uglier (and equally inaccurate) shooting statistic.

When I give him the actual number, it almost always takes him my surprise.

According to mediLexicon, recall bias is "systematic error due to differences in accuracy or completeness of recall to memory of past events or experiences." Furthermore, the article Recall Bias can be a Threat to Retrospective and Prospective Research Designs says "[recall bias] arises when there is intentional or unintentional differential recall (and thus reporting) of information." Stuffy scientists may tell you I'm bastardizing the definition a little -- or a lot -- but the point is, the way we remember things is highly dependent on our point of view and personal biases.

That's why it can be so hard to find "The Truth" when talking about basketball, whether you're discussing the results of a weekly pickup game or the NBA Finals. In fact, let's take the 2008 NBA Finals as a perfect example. After the Celtics clinched the title with a whopping 131-92 win in Boston, Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe said: "What we had, ladies and gentlemen, was the first six-game sweep in NBA Finals history. The Celtics dominated the three games in Boston, and they absolutely, positively could have won all three games in LA."

Really, Bob? In Game 1, Boston was behind by five points at halftime and led by only four points heading into the fourth quarter before winning 98-88. A solid win, but hardly dominating. In Game 2, the Lakers outscored the Celtics 41-25 in the fourth quarter and nearly pulled off one of the great comebacks in Finals history. In Game 4, the Celtics did pull off one of the great comebacks in Finals history: L.A. jumped out to a 35–14 lead after 12 minutes -- which was the largest first-quarter lead in NBA Finals history -- and led by as many as 24 points in the third quarter before Boston's comeback.

Still, the Celts' performance in the Game 6 clincher was so overwhelming that, in retrospect, it may have seemed like the Lakers never really had a chance. It certainly seemed that way to Ryan, not to mention ESPN's Marc Stein.

And yet...if we add L.A.'s Game 2 comeback and subtract Boston's Game 4 comeback, the Lakers could have won it in five or six games, right? Or maybe it would have gone to seven. Who knows? The point is, the series wasn't a sweep, and only the final game was truly uncompetitive.

So why did Ryan and Stein -- and so many other people -- see the series as so thoroughly lopsided? Recall bias. It's funny, too, because recall bias usually affects more subjective judgements. Such as, say, whether or not Kobe quit on his team during Game 7 of the Lakers' first round series against the Suns back in 2006. With the 2008 NBA Finals, we have actual scores and results that show us close games and near misses, not to mention the fact that six games does not equal a sweep.

Regarding the "Did Kobe quit?" question, that's been a hot topic of conversation on this site. In fact, it still pops up in the comments section now and again. As everybody knows, Mamba had led an undermanned Lakers squad to a decisive seventh game against a superior Phoenix team. L.A. fell behind by 15 at halftime despite Kobe's 23 points (including 18 in the second quarter). So, in the second half, Bryant came out and...took three shots (missing them all) and scored only one point as the Lakers lost 121-90.

Did Kobe quit?

Kobe says he didn't quit, that his passive play really was part of the game plan. And Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com (like many before him) has provided many facts and figures suggesting that the 2006 Lakers had a better chance of beating the 2006 Suns when Kobe wasn't taking lots of shots and scoring 40+ points. That Lakers team, they will tell you, beat that Suns team by pounding the ball inside against a smaller Phoenix fountcourt.

Of course, Mamba's (and McMenamin's, and whoever else's) insistence that he didn't quit could easily be recall bias. Certainly, anybody who watched Kobe throwing listless passes to Kwame Brown in the post and then parking himself five feet behind the three-point line and just watching the play unfold with a surly scowl would tell you there might be some recall bias going on. Conversely, Kobe supporters will insist that Bryant's words are the key testimony -- after all, he lived the situation and anyway why would he misrepresent the truth about whether he quit on his own team? -- and that the facts clearly indicate he couldn't have quit. After all, he was just doing what Phil Jackson told him to do.

The real whammy is this: Both sides of the argument, and Kobe himself, could all be (and probably are) suffering from recall bias. Frankly, everybody involved has reasons to recall events in their own specific way...reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not Kobe actually did quit. My point is not to re-open this particular can of worms -- let's face it people, we're never going to know one way or another -- I'm only trying to illustrate why determining what really happens from situation to situation is quite tricky.

On the subject of recall bias, consider the curious case of Gilbert Arenas, the former Clown Prince of the NBA. From the beginning, Arenas was just as eccentric as, say, Dennis Rodman or Ron Artest ever was. And yet his shenanigans were always met with laughter and approval. Choosing the number zero because that's how many minutes people predicted he'd play in the NBA? Ha, ha, that's Gilbert. Stuffing the ballot box to make the All-Star team? Ha, ha, that's Gilbert! Concocting imaginary feuds with various opponents to psyche himself up for games? Ha, ha, that's Gilbert!! Relentless practical joking, which included the theft and even destruction of his teammates' personal property? HA, HA, THAT'S GILBERT!!!

A few years back, those were the kind of things that built to his reputation as one of the great whimsical figures in league history. His high-scoring performances and game-winners helped, but Arenas was becoming a legend for just being Gilbert.

Then Arenas brought unlicensed (and unloaded) handguns into his team's locker room to threaten a teammate. Suddenly, perception shifted. Now Gil's past behavior wasn't funny anymore. In fact, people were suddenly looking back and seeing those incidents -- like, say, shooting a teammate's cousin with paintballs until he cried -- in a much darker light. His behavior was now deemed the product of a troubled mind rather than a fun-loving, whimsical one. Once Arenas crossed that line, finger guns would never again be funny.

Take this most recent incident, in which Arenas faked a knee injury so his teammmate Nick Young (who ended up scoring a team-high 24 points on 10-for-14 shooting in a 107-92 win) could get a rare start:

Following the game, Arenas told reporters it was all a ruse in order to give Young the opportunity for more playing time.

"I know he's kind of frustrated he's not getting a chance to crack the three position, especially since we're going three guards, so I told him I'd go ahead and fake an injury or say something's wrong with me so you can start," a smiling Arenas said in the locker room.

When asked about the health of his knee, Arenas said, "I'm fine," and indicated he would play on Thursday in the Wizards' final home preseason game against Milwaukee.
Arenas was fined, as he should have been. You can't lie to your coach, no matter how seemingly noble the reasons were...even if the teammate you "sacrificed" for played great and your team won. However, the situation didn't end with a fine. Arenas is being crucified on blogs and in newspapers everywhere. Which is probably fair, but think about it. Imagine if the "Ha, ha, that's Gilbert!" Arenas of, say, four or five seasons ago had done the exact same thing. Would he still have been fined? Probably. Would the general public have thought any less of him for doing it? Probably not. Hell, he might have been celebrated. Now when people think back to what Arenas has done, they perceive his actions and motives very differently.

If you think about it, the situation can be downright scary. What's real? We live in a Wiki culture where the truth seems to be defined by a general agreement of the majority. But that's dangerous. As Leonard said in Memento: "Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts."

But what constitutes the facts? People like ESPN's John Hollinger are trying to formulate statistics that can give us the objective reality of basketball, but those numbers tell us that Corey Maggette is better than Kevin Garnett. And that's not right. It couldn't be.

If we can't have 100 percent accuracy in our memory or statistics, what can we believe in?

Whoa. I didn't mean to make this post so heavy. Honestly, I was just wondering why, when I make a sweet move in pickup ball, it looks so damn clunky on video. Sorry 'bout that. I promise to stop talking about social construction of reality and get back to fart jokes asap.

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37 Comments:
Anonymous Cetti said...
I was just wondering why, when I make a sweet move in pickup ball, it looks so damn clunky on video.

Hahaha now THAT is the best example you could possibly give for the word. Made the same experience several times.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
"We live in a Wiki culture where the truth seems to be defined by a general agreement by the majority."

Clarification: I think it is the age of Science that gives this definition of truth. The Internet age simply made it easier to find out what the global majority says.

Blogger Cortez said...
"...but those numbers tell us that Corey Maggette is better than Kevin Garnett. And that's not right. It couldn't be."

I repeat...

"Stats are for losers."
~Mike Ditka

And before anyone starts yapping about that quote, it was given within a certain context that has a relevant connection to this post.

And 4-10 in a pickup game could be shit if you got 10 wide open stand still jumpshots that you can hit with your eyes closed. Plus, not cleanly stroking the 4 you did hit.

Anonymous Dr. J said...
This is probably your best post yet. Yeah, we all suffer from recall bias, at not just in basketball. I thing this is especially true when it comes to relationships with women. You thought it was great, she didn't know why it lasted so long. However, whats even worse from a major case of recall bias is no recall bias. Its better to let your friend think he plays "ok" defense than to remind him that he got dunked on by 4 people in one game. Because if he could forget that, maybe you should too.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
And 4-10 in a pickup game could be shit if you got 10 wide open stand still jumpshots that you can hit with your eyes closed. Plus, not cleanly stroking the 4 you did hit.

Fair enough. For the purposes of this post, we're going to assume that it was a good 4-for-10.

However, whats even worse from a major case of recall bias is no recall bias. Its better to let your friend think he plays "ok" defense than to remind him that he got dunked on by 4 people in one game. Because if he could forget that, maybe you should too.

I think that treads into the waters of response bias, where "respondents answer questions in the way they think the questioner wants them to answer rather than according to their true beliefs. This may occur if the questioner is obviously angling for a particular answer (as in push polling) or if the respondent wishes to please the questioner."

And yeah, we do that all the time. Little white lies are pervasive in our culture. Few people will tell their girlfriend she looks fat in that dress, or confirm that their mom really was a bad mom, etc.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
You look so klunky because you were put together in a creepy castle and given life with 1.21 Gigawatts.

If you think recall bias sucks in sports, go read up on police using witness statements. Hell, more often than not witnesses make investagors' jobs *harder,* not easier.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
You look so klunky because you were put together in a creepy castle and given life with 1.21 Gigawatts.



1.21 GIGAWATTS? GREAT SCOTT!!

Blogger Dan B. said...
The human brain is interesting, isn't it? Recall bias is exactly why I take a camera with me whenever I head to the bowling alley for a practice session before a tournament or when I'm in a slump. I'll throw a shot that hooks early and jumps high on the headpin and leaves a split, but say to myself "Wow, I don't know what happened there. I felt like I threw it pretty well!" Then I'll go back and watch the video and see that I was doing something obviously wrong, but my mind had convinced itself that I was doing it right. But there's no way I would have noticed that just from thinking back to five seconds ago. Now extrapolate this over a longer timeframe, such as remembering the 2008 Finals here in 2010, and you'll really see a big distortion in perception versus reality.

Also off-topic, here's video of Brett Favre getting hit in the groin by a football and dropping like a rock. I can't stop watching this video.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
DanB - Everything about that video is amazing. The way everyone walks by, not even checking to see if he's okay, the way he's looking around for anyone to give him attention like a child, just incredible.

Blogger Dan B. said...
1.21 GIGAWATTS? GREAT SCOTT!!

Woah, this is heavy. Almost as heavy as Eric Stoltz playing Marty McFly.

Anonymous Joe said...
Not on topic exactly, but I didn't know where else to submit this. I would call it a worst of the preseason night on the part of ESPN.

Great headline on ESPN.com about Bosh stepping up in the absence of Dwyane and LeBron. I saw the picture and caption and thought, "OK, so Bosh beats the Hornets and now he's awesome. . ."

Then I look at the rest of the stories and saw, "Hornets knock off short handed Heat," or something like that. The final score wasn't even close. It was a 14 point victory for NO.

Looking at the picture and caption you'd have thought Bosh single handedly destroyed the Hornets to the point where the entire city of NO was investigating whether there were multiple Bosh's present on the court at any given time, and whether or not the George W. Bush administration was involved.

Then I thought maybe Bosh must have scored all 76 Heat points by himself on 24 for 11 shooting in 7 injury plagued minutes while his teammates continually fed the ball to Chris Paul in the open court.

Before looking up the box score I decided to guess what his stats were. I guessed 24 and 8 (near his season or career averages). I checked and he had. . . 25 and 5.

So basically Chris Bosh in Miami with the same stats and results as Chris Bosh in Toronto (good or great stats and crappy results) is suddenly fantastically awesome for simply being on the Heat.

By the way, for any Bosh apologists out there I think his line was just fine, and he's not the guy I'm getting on; it's ESPN who the WoTPsN mention should go to.

I have a feeling I'm going to get REALLY sick of ESPN by the time this season is over.

Blogger Will said...
I think Ahhhnold is the only person to whom this doesn't apply. After all he has Total Recall.

Blogger Dan B. said...
Will -- Damn... I think this is your second or third straight comment that has made me laugh out loud. Good job.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
The way everyone walks by, not even checking to see if he's okay, the way he's looking around for anyone to give him attention like a child, just incredible.

That's the thing. I understand getting whacked in the jimmies hurts. But the way he flops down and writhes is even more hilarious when you notice everybody just flat out ignoring him. Seriously awesome.

Woah, this is heavy. Almost as heavy as Eric Stoltz playing Marty McFly.

Dude, I saw that yeterday and was floored. It's not quite Kurt Russell as Han Solo, but still. The idea of somebody else being Marty McFly? Eh, make like a tree...AND GET OUTTA HERE.

Blogger Will said...
Dan B- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxNiMwf4s0o

Blogger Basketbawful said...
I have a feeling I'm going to get REALLY sick of ESPN by the time this season is over.

Yep.

The thing is, I know why they're doing it: The coverage will generate page views, one way or another, which is how ESPN gets advertising dollars, the lifebread of all online sites.

Sure, it's annoying, but it's going to be a money-spinner for them. I think most people would choose to make money rather than not make money, y'know?

Anonymous kazam92 said...
Nice read. I suffer from recall bias at times

Anonymous JJ said...
Thanks for the interesting post. It reminds me of that saying that goes something like "only the winners write history."

By the way, I couldn't help but notice the sentence, "when I make a sweet move in pickup ball, it looks so damn clunky on video." So, since you admit you have videos of your pick up games, can we haz video linkz pleaze?

Blogger Wild Yams said...
With regards to ESPN's upcoming Heat coverage this year, did anyone else see this line from Henry Abbott on TrueHoop the other day:

"There will be some urge to say that this is a fan element to all this. As if we're part of some ESPN effort to hypnotize America into loving LeBron James or something."

While I don't know if Abbott is under orders from ESPN to do this, hasn't his bizarrely frenzied defense of LeBron all summer really come across like he personally truly is trying to get everyone to love LeBron? IMO he's taken it upon himself to be LeBron's biggest defender because LeBron is the best example out there for why advanced statistics are right (because his PER is always so high), and since Abbott worships at the Altar of PER, he sees LeBron as his champion. I think suddenly having his golden boy be widely hated made Abbott freak out, and he's been in the spin zone ever since. I don't think Abbott's obsessive crush on LeBron is why we now have "The Heat Index", cause that's more just about page views, as Mr. Bawful said. I just thought it was funny to see Abbott try to pretend he doesn't have a dog in this fight.

Blogger Unknown said...
Great post. I like the Arenas section, especially because I sort of liked him a little bit more for doing that. He knows he's being shipped out eventually, so why not help out a few other guys on the squad.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
While I don't know if Abbott is under orders from ESPN to do this, hasn't his bizarrely frenzied defense of LeBron all summer really come across like he personally truly is trying to get everyone to love LeBron? IMO he's taken it upon himself to be LeBron's biggest defender because LeBron is the best example out there for why advanced statistics are right (because his PER is always so high), and since Abbott worships at the Altar of PER, he sees LeBron as his champion. I think suddenly having his golden boy be widely hated made Abbott freak out, and he's been in the spin zone ever since. I don't think Abbott's obsessive crush on LeBron is why we now have "The Heat Index", cause that's more just about page views, as Mr. Bawful said. I just thought it was funny to see Abbott try to pretend he doesn't have a dog in this fight.

First off, I am not trying to defend Henry, nor am I trying to speak for him. However, as a member of the TrueHoop network, I have some inside knowledge of his thought process regarding LeBron and The Heat Index.

Henry is very, very concerned with The Truth about basketball, which is why he named his blog TrueHoop. He seemed to feel as if all the negative publicity about HOW LeBron left Cleveland was detracting from real and meaningful basketball matters, and his efforts, I believe, were directed toward providing information and perspective on those matters. You can argue about whether the efforts came across as intended or whether they were misguided, but I believe that was his goal, not to shine a happy spotlight on LeBron.

If course, Henry is as susceptible to recall bias as any of us. And he does seem to genuinel like LeBron (relative to, say, a Kobe Bryant), perhaps because LeBron plays basketball at a high level while doing it the "right way" (i.e., his all-around and reasonably unselfish game). And LeBron certainly helps make a case for advanced stats, which Henry trumpets. This is all conjecture, of course, and Henry -- if he does have a LeBron bias -- might not even know about it.

As for The Heat Index, the only reason I haven't blasted it here on Basketbawful is that it is specifically a TrueHoop endeavor (although that may not be clear in the marketing), and there were a great many factors that went into its creation...and although I can't give details, I can tell you that the motives were (in essence) to allow interested parties to follow an interesting story in new and unique ways, to better the TrueHoop network, and to help ESPN make money (that part being the hook that was used to sell the first two parts).

Ramming the Heat down peoples' throats honestly never even occurred to the group involved. But that was how people interpreted it. Recall bias? Possibly.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Not trying to bug anyone, but we still have some spots left in our Fantasy League!

http://basketball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/nba/75619

PW: celtics

Anonymous AK Dave said...
Looks like the Technical foul rules are going over about as well as we thought...

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Looks like the Technical foul rules are going over about as well as we thought...

Not that I'm in support of the new tech rules, but we all knew there was going to be a shakeout period as the officials and players got used to the new rules. Mistakes were gonna be make -- high-profile ones -- and guys were gonna get T'd up and tossed.

Major changes rarely go smoothly. And I certainly hope the excessive teching doesn't extend too far past the preseason. But, you know, change is never easy, and I quite honestly could do with a little less beefing at the officials.

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Mr. Bawful - Like I said, I think "The Heat Index" is just about page views. ESPN is assuming (and rightly so, probably) that people will be fixated on the Heat, and that's why they created it. I don't think Abbott's obsession with LeBron factored into it.

But Abbott definitely has an agenda when it comes to LeBron (as he does with a couple other things). It's probably a number of things that go into why he's so biased in favor of LeBron, but whatever they are, clearly LeBron can do no wrong as far as Henry is concerned. Unfortunately, IMO, Abbott's blatant biases tend to make his blog rather unreadable at times. Luckily he's got a number of other people who write on it now, people who are much better at hiding their biases.

Blogger Paul said...

Major changes rarely go smoothly. And I certainly hope the excessive teching doesn't extend too far past the preseason. But, you know, change is never easy, and I quite honestly could do with a little less beefing at the officials


I'm with you on that one.
Probably not the best analogy as an NBA job can't be compared to anything else out there.
But aren't the players and officials "kinda like co-workers"?

God knows I would not tolerate verbal abuse from a co-worker or my immediate supervisor for that matter.
I'm pretty sure the players would not tolerate verbal abuse from the officials.
And I'm 100% sure their egos wouldn't be able to manage referees calling them out through the media outlets.
So yeah, I'm ok with the new rule but more than anything because referees should not be more subjected to public humiliation than the average Joe especially at their place of work.

On that same note, the new rule still does not address most of the major issues regarding call interpretation so the league should continue to be held accountable for the way it has mishandled the issue over the years.

Blogger Paul said...
This is all conjecture, of course, and Henry -- if he does have a LeBron bias -- might not even know about it


So what you are saying is that Abbott and Lebron could be like a bizarre "Basketball Blog" version of Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd?


Wonders how many more Pro-Lebron articles will help Henry realize that's he is not in for just the "True-Hoop" but for "True-love"


IMO, Abbott's blatant biases tend to make his blog rather unreadable at times


I think Abbott posted about 20 Pro Lebron articles since July before I lost track of the updated count.
Some of the articles were very empty of actual ideas,good arguments or news.

I personally stopped visiting truehoop a while ago. Hoopshype gives me links to almost everything that is newsworthy and I'm really not missing Abbot's articles since July this year.

Anonymous The Other Chris said...
A delightful tidbit from 48 minutes of hell:

"It should be noted that Laker fans come in three distinct camps: actual Laker fan, celebrity Laker fan, and future Heat fans."

I heart this quote.

Blogger chris said...
Hey, can we have a "Purple Pauper Meter" if there's a Heat Index?

not that anyone really is paying attention to Tyreke The Freak and Run DMC when THE GREATEST TEAM IN ASSOCIATION HISTORY is in South Beach.

well, greatest on paper.

Anonymous Cetti said...
this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5z-EPqgK8Q makes the Favre video even more awesome.

Blogger Factfinder said...
Nice Memento reference! I love that movie.

Anonymous bizarro said...
great article. And by the way, Kobe did quit in 2006. Why? because he's a b*st*rd. And that's a fact.

Blogger Caleb Smith said...
"but those numbers tell us that Corey Maggette is better than Kevin Garnett. And that's not right. It couldn't be."

That's not really fair. I'm pretty sure Hollinger himself wouldn't agree with that. What those numbers say is that according to this particular metric, which even Hollinger states is an incomplete one because it can't take into account defense other than steals/blocks, Maggette was more productive than Garnett LAST YEAR. So if you break it down, its saying that Maggette was better OFFENSIVELY than Garnett last year... and that doesn't seem too odd at all. Maggette after all is a highly efficient scorer. Garnett after all is... well, old and rapidly declining.

Statistical analysis isn't perfect, but if you analyze it correctly I've come to believe its quite a bit more reliable than basic perception and memory. There are simply too many biases inherent in our own thinking for it to be a reliable source - recall bias is just the tip of the iceberg. Still, you really need both sides of the coin to really know what you are talking about.

Blogger Benway said...
-Bawful:
Hate to point out the obvious, but I think yr moves may look clunky on video b/c you are a white guy playing basketball.
I thought about it.
That's definitely the reason.
Especially if yr cam shoots HD.

And Chris Bosh? Maybe some of you remember this moment a few months ago: after he signed with MIA, when asked why he chose MIA, he responded (something to this effect), "B/c I'm a winner. I've always been a winner."

My first reaction was that this statement seemed to be a bit inaccurate. So I looked it up, and the evidence proved my initial inclinations: The teams Chris Bosh has played on have collectively won a sum total of Dick All. So for him to be so presumptive... well, the whole thing seemed very Tracy McGrady/Devin Harris-esque.

Right then and there, I grabbed a half-Spock/half-Virgin Mary penknife, stabbed Gregg Easterbrook in his ear & used his brainblood to scribble in the TMQ notebook: GAME OVER. HEAT LOSE.
Christ I hate Easterbrook.

(I am also not fond of Jemele Hill, and Dwyane Wade spells his name like an asshole.)

Blogger Dan B. said...
Random Gregg Easterbrook smack? You're all right, Benway...

Anonymous AK Dave said...
I would like nominate Benway's comment for comment of the fucking year.

The teams Chris Bosh has played on have collectively won a sum total of Dick All.

My hat is off, sir.

WV: laberwor (where the NBA is headed)

Anonymous LakersNation said...
To be honest, I feel recall bias is a huge part of the reason why everyone says "Rajon Rondo can't shoot". I think its a bandwagon perception stemming from the Celtics fans from whenever Rando misses an important shot. Worst of all, he now looks uncomfortable when he shoots, as if he can see the Coach and all the Boston fans in the nation starting a silent prayer whenever he gets the ball a good 15 ft from the rim. Boston players and fans need to incourage he shooting, at least during the regular season and see what he can really do. It would be much better to have Rando as a actual perimeter threat than to watch Kobe play defense a good 5 ft away from Rando daring him to shoot. Man, typed ALOT more than I meant you. Darn you Basketbawful, DARN YOU!