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| My first hero created my first love. Boxing. |
Growing up as a kid, I did whatever my big brother did. He loved boxing so I loved boxing. I find the sport to be the pinnacle of all sports. No matter what sport you talk about, we always use boxing to make an analogy of what the highest level of competition demands. Slip up on the hoop court and you might go down 10 or 20 points. Slip up in the ring and your ass is on the line for real.
At the highest level of basketball, the comparison's to boxing become apparent as the contact can feel like boxing without fist. A few may have the defensive skill like Floyd Mayweather, but even he gets hit. Inside of you must be a sadist who craves this sort of pain or you will run from it when it's time to deliver it yourself.
Not every player is capable of composing himself to hit big shots when big shots are needed. Some players are not even good to have on the floor if the game is too tight, but every player on the planet has the ability to battle like a boxer. I have won plenty of games without winning the boxing match within every game of basketball. I have lost games when I lost both of these battles, but I am convinced that in the war to win hoop games, you need to always win the fist fight.
The Denver Nuggets don't really have to get better at basketball right now. They have proved that they can get looks and play defense even if they are inconsistent with both. The Nuggets need to become better fighters. They must learn to take a punch and counter. They must bob and weave and jab a lot and realize that you have to take the fight out of the judges hands, which means if you keep it close, you'll need some luck.
The practice before the 76'ers loss, Coach Shaw said the competition got so fierce that his guys were at the edge of fighting one another.
At least they've got it in them.
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