HORNETS -at- LAKERS - 2/20 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Attack of the Bugs... As you look out the window at the neighborhood kids messing with your lawn gnome in the front yard, the phone rings. You pick it up, but still keep one eye on the yard. "Get ready," she says, making you raise an eyebrow.

"Get ready for what?"

"A black cloud moving with a purpose. The bugs are back."

Mere seconds later, you're startled as a hornet smacks into the glass, thumping it with a crunch. It bounces off the window a couple more times before landing and staggering around. You think back to the swarms of dying hornets on your car windshield. Another bug hits the glass. She did it again. How does she know about these things before they happen? "You better get inside," she says.

"I am." Then you remember the kids out front. You drop the phone by the front door and run to the garage where you grab two cans of bug spray. You hear a scream and bolt out the door to the front yard. The kids are swatting at several swarming bugs. Seconds are ticking away as you pop the lids off the cans of spray with your thumbs. Time to defend your home, your neighborhood. With a can in each hand like the pest control version of the two-gun kid, you blast away.

Hornets hit the ground right and left as you unleash a cloud of toxic death. The first can goes empty and you toss it. The second can seems less effective. These hornets won't go away. "Get in the house!" you yell. The kids run for your open door and you trail them, beating a retreat and spraying lamely as you go.

You slam the door and lean up against it, a can of spray in one hand and something else in the other. The kids stare at you like you're insane. "Why'd you grab the lawn gnome, mister?"

"I..."

You hear the disconnect tone from the phone on the floor. As you pick it up, a monotone operator voice says "If you'd like to make a call, please hang up." You're about to turn it off when you hear a different message: "If you'd like to hear about the Four Horsemen, press one." You stare at the phone dumbly for a second before hitting the button. It's DancingBarry:

Three of the Four Horsemen were here. It was messy. Early successes were swept away. The Death Riders struggled and were twice beaten back. At the end of the battle, one of them took charge. He single-handedly stopped their opponent on one end and delivered a blow to drive them back on the other. It was not easy.

I will continue to track them...

With 20 seconds left, the Hornets had a 3-point lead and stole the ball. Chris Paul pushed out the break. Four Hornets against one Laker, Derek Fisher. Paul faked a pass and attempted score, Fisher beat him to the spot and drew the charge.

Out of a timeout, the Lakers ran a split play, and again Paul made a mental error that DFish would capitalize on. Fish got space, took the pass from Pau and tied the game up with a three. Chris Paul would foul out in overtime, and the Lakers would snap the Hornets 13-game overtime win streak, 115-111.

The Laker starters built up leads twice, only to see the second units drain them away. They lost a 16-point lead, getting out-played badly in the first 6 minutes of the fourth quarter. Phil said he wanted to see the bench find their way. "I didn't want to destroy their confidence," he said, "and they went out there in the fourth quarter and couldn't quite get it done in that quarter."

One thing about this Laker team, they don't go away easily, either. They made some clutch plays to pull this one out. "We have strong will," Odom said in the times. "Last season was a long season but it taught us a lot. We think we can pull out a win."


Kobe -- -- This was a poor game from Kobe until overtime. Hard to believe when he scores 39 points, but it's true. His jumper was not falling at all. He kept taking them and kept missing. Some of the shots were very easy for him, some were just poor shot selection (difficult shots he shouldn't take when he's not feeling it). In the overtime, he finally started to attack the paint with consistency and good things happened. He was lethal and brilliant in those 5 minutes. "He got deeper penetration," Phil said of Kobe's OT. Defensively, a weak game. He gave up open jumpers and threes, leaving shooters and not rotating. Rasual Butler had 31 points...31. If the Lakers get more of a normal game from Kobe, I actually don't think this is a close game. The Stats: He scored 39 points on 13-30 shooting (1-2 from three, 12-12 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 45 minutes. He was a +19. The Action: He hit a turnaround in the paint. He missed a turnaround. He missed a tough one with his left off the glass. He missed a short wing jumper. He hit Luke for a three. He leaked out, took the long outlet from Luke and scored the And-1 reverse, he made the FT. Out in transition, he earned FTs on the drive, he made both. He missed a wing jumper. He missed a turnaround. He bricked a tough fallaway (should have reset the offense). He kicked to Trevor for a three at the end of the quarter. He backed Posey down and scored the easy layup. He missed a good look at a wing jumper. He missed a layup over Posey in the post. He drew FTs on a 15-footer, he made both. He sank a three off the Pau pinch post. He dunked off the cherry-picking transiton play. He missed a pull-up off the glass. He hit Pau for a score at the end of the half. He had 16 points on 5-16 shooting and 3 assists. Second Half: He posted up, froze his man on the pivot in the lane and hit the short jumper. He bricked badly trying to go glass on the fallaway, he wanted the foul. He missed another turnaround in the post. He got hit from the side, but still finished the lob (he was ticked at the no call). He shed Butler under the hoop and scored the layup off the offensive board. He was handchecked several times on a drive and finally got the call, he made both FTs. He dunked on the break with DFish. He missed a three. Back in and he gave up a wide open three to Posey. He drew a double and hit Fish for three. Soft rotation and he gave up another three. He missed another pull-up jumper (attack, please). He did attack next time down and scored the layup. He was called for a travel while pivoting. He settled for another long wing jumper, missed (sigh). He attacked and threw the ball away with 24 seconds left. Overtime: He swished a short fallaway in the post. He posted up, spun baseline away from the double and finger rolled it in. He faked a three in transition and jump passed to LO under the hoop for FTs. He posted up and missed the turnaround (wanting the foul). He was tripped by Chris Paul on a double team (fouling Paul out), FTs for Kobe, he made one (talked with Posey), then made the second. He attacked off the high screen down the lane, took contact and scored a big And-1 on West (got hit on the head), he made the FT to give the Lakers a 4-point lead with 23 seconds left. He gave up a three (not dropping to the level of the ball). He was fouled on the in-bounds up by 2 with 3.5 seconds left, he rolled in the first FT, and iced it with another one.

Gasol -- -- The stat line will show a fairly efficient double-double and good passing, but Pau struggled to impose himself on the game. He didn't do a good job fighting for low position, especially when he was with that second unit and the offense could have used that (we miss Bynum here). Neither he nor LO really played physical ball in the paint. Defensively, he was playing reasonable until crunch time. When we needed to protect against three-pointers, he had some brainlock moments. (He even challenged the final three, when were were up by 4 and it was a buzzer-beater attempt. Not smart.) So much for getting him rest in this game. Phil tried to go with Powell and Lamar when Pau wasn't on the floor, but Powell was having a poor game. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 8-14 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 12 boards (5 offensive), 6 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 49 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: He dunked off the no-looker from Luke in the lane. He scored a layup working the two-man with Luke. He missed a tough fallaway. He tried to spin around Posey in the post and coughed up the ball. He was rejected at the rim on a layup (should have tried to dunk it). He dunked off the bounce pass from Fish. He scored off the glass when Kobe hit him down low. He had 8 points, 5 boards and 3 assists. Second Half: Poor post entry pass, dunk the other way. He missed a short one-hander taking contact and no call. He attacked from the posted and drew FTs this time, he made both. He dunked off the dive cut. He dunked off the no-looker from LO. He swished a turnaround in the post. He was hacked in the post to earn FTs, he made both. He lost his man on the other end and gave up a dunk. He missed a face-up jumper. He airballed in the lane taking all kinds of contact. He tipped in an LO missed drive. Overtime: He won the jumpball, then drew a foul on iso in the post. He was called for an And-1 foul with 20 seconds left when we need to protect against a three (arrgh!).

Lamar -- -- "We got the last punch and we were able to win the game," Lamar said. "Most likely we will see them again." Lamar got back into the crazy rebound numbers with 17 boards. The Hornets were getting to the offensive boards early on, but eventually we clamped down. He went up against West and did a solid job. West actually hit some tough shots and certainly didn't go off like the last time we played (when LO missed the game). Lamar and Luke did and excellent job in stopping that. LO missed a few chippies, but it would have been nice to get him in the post more. He clanked his first three FTs, but made his next four. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-11 (0-1 from three, 4-7 from the line) to go with 17 boards (4 offensive) The Action: He sank a wing jumper off the high pinch post. Nice jump of a passing lane to deflect a pass and force a shotclock violation. He grabbed a Kobe miss and reset the offense. He grabbed a rebound, pushed it out, hesitated, then attacked to his right and finished the And-1 with his right, he missed the FT. He threw a pass away trying to hit Pau. He missed a pull-up jumper. He missed a jumphook. He drew FTs in transition, then bricked both. He then missed a three on his next touch. He drew a charge on West. He had 4 points on 2-5 shooting and 9 boards. Second Half: He missed a layup on a drive, opting to not use the glass. He missed a layup and passed instead of going back up strong. He attacked to his left and this time used the glass to score the layup. Posting up, he hit Pau diving for a dunk. He pushed out the break, had his heels clipped by Paul, kept his feet and whipped a no-looker to Pau for the dunk. He powered in a layup, taking contact and no call. He drew FTs on a drive, this time he made both. More contact from Paul, but no call (those are the kinds of calls Paul gets all the time). Nice lob pass to Kobe who spun backdoor. He missed a drive, but Pau tipped it in. Overtime: He was fouled off the jump pass from Kobe in transition, he made both with 2:38 left. He missed a turnaround over Peja.

Luke -- -- Peja vs. Luke ... $13 million vs. $4 million. Great game from Luke. He out-played Peja badly. The difference between Luke on the court and off the court was huge in this game. In fact, he led the team with a +25. "We stopped moving the ball as much," Luke said of those runs the Hornets made, "and once we got stagnant and started settling for shots, they were able to get rebounds, get out and run and hit some big-time three." When Luke and the starters got on the floor, the spacing was better. The passing improved. We played with more purpose. He hit his shots (made his first 5 attempts) and set up teammates for point-blank scores. Well done. Defensively, he could manage Peja fine who was struggling (2-11, 5 points), but Luke also secured the glass on that end. There were no early leak outs or ball-watching like others. He went after boards. Great game. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-7 shooting (2-3 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 4 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 34 minutes. The Action: He attacked from the post and no-looked to Pau for the dunk. He fell down in the lane losing the ball, points the other way. He sank a wing jumper working the screens on the weakside. He set up Pau for a layup off the two-man game. He swished a wing three on the Kobe kickout. He hit Kobe with a long outlet for the And-1 layup. He drew FTs dribbling around Paul and protecting the ball well, he made one. Back in and he swished a 10-footer off the in-bounds play. Nice weakside D to help draw a three-second violation. He had 8 points on 3-3 shooting, 4 boards and 3 assists. He was a +13 to lead the Lakers in the half. Second Half: He attacked baseline and powered in an And-1 layup, he made the FT. He jab-stepped and swished a three as the shotclock buzzer went off. He threw a pass away while pushing the ball up court, layup the other direction. He missed a floater in the lane. Overtime: He missed an open corner three. "That one felt great," Luke said afterward. He gave up a three not staying tight on his man.

Fisher -- -- DFish with the Clutch Performance of the Night. Who would have thought he would be the one with the big plays and Chris Paul the one making multiple bonehead errors? He saved the game by drawing a charge on Paul on a four-on-one break with 20 seconds left down by 3. That would have iced the game for the Hornets. Then, out of a timeout, Fisher drained the three off the split play with Kobe to tie it up and send the game to OT (here, it's CP3 not protecting the three line). Once in overtime, DFish also made four clutch FTs in the final 14 seconds. That charge he drew was Paul's fourth foul. Paul then picked up two more in OT to foul out for the first time in his career. Fish was struggling with his shot most of the night, but he was golden when the Lakers were down. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 3-10 shooting (2-7 from three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +24. The Action: He missed a corner three. He got tapped on a corner three. Paul then fell on the other end getting contact with Fish, and Fish had to sit with his second. Nice extra pass to get Pau a dunk. He missed an early offense three. Good reach from behind on Paul to deflect the ball away at the end of the half. Second Half: He drained a wing jumper off the pinch post. He missed a long three. He swiped a Paul pass, pushed out the break and fed Kobe for the dunk. He up-faked to lose Paul, then drew FTs on him, he made both. He got rejected badly on a drive. He drained an open three when Kobe was doubled. He was called for a charge, erasing a runner in the lane (technically, that should have been an And-1 for Fish as Posey's heels were above the restricted area). He drew a moving pick on the other end to get it back. He missed a three with a minute left. He drew a charge on Paul on a four-on-one break with 20 seconds left. Huge stop, Paul tried to fake behind his back and score. Out of the timeout, he tied it up with a three on a split play with Kobe and Pau. Good challenge on Paul's jumper at the buzzer. Overtime: He missed a wing jumper. Nice reach on West's drive to strip him. He gave up a layup to Daniels. He was fouled with 14.3 seconds, up by 1, he made both FTs. He was fouled again after grabbing a board, he made both.

Ariza -- -- This was one of those rare games where I couldn't wait to get Luke back in for Ariza. It wasn't that Ariza was playing particularly bad, it's just that our offense was struggling and didn't have purpose. Luke was making click and the team needed that. Had Ariza defended the 1 and taken some of Farmar's minutes, you could have maybe put both Ariza and Luke on the court. I think that probably would have worked better for some of those second-unit minutes. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-5 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -21. The Action: He lost the handle in transition. He filled the lane on the break and drew FTs, he made one. He swished the open sideline three off the Kobe kickout. He missed a corner three. Second Half: The Hornets tried to rub screen Trevor, he reached out to swiped the ball and dunked it on the other end instead. He hit the backboard on a halfcourt heave at the buzzer. He gave up a three, cheating too far, then gave up an And-1 with a reach. He was fouled at the rim on a dive cut, he made one FT. Overtime: Did not play.

Farmar -- -- Farmar gets a good chunk of the blame for the second unit's poor play. He has to floor general. He has to get them attacking with purpose. That means organizing the offense, getting your bigmen going and setting up shots for your shooters. If we have a mismatch, we need to exploit it. The second unit didn't know what they wanted to do or where they could get it done from tonight. Nearly cost the Lakers the game. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-6 shooting (1-2 from three, 1 board, 1 assist and no fouls in 12 minutes. He was a -18. The Action: He swished a wing three on the inside-out sequence. Nice challenge on Paul's drive to force a miss and avoid a foul. He missed a 19-footer. He missed a teardrop in the lane. Second Half: He up-faked to lose a defender then hit the wing jumper. He whipped a bullet through traffic to Powell for the dunk. He missed a wing three on the next set. He bricked a turnaround in the paint on the next trip. Overtime: Did not play.

Vujacic -- -- Again, I think we need to set up Sasha for a shot to get him going. Something where he can shoot in rhythm and not rush the jumper. That second unit needs to play with purpose. They looked like they were trying to get their shots off instead...Sasha included. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting (both threes) to go with 1 board, 1 block and 2 fouls in 8 minutes. He was a -15. The Action: He missed a quick heave from three. He then gave up a three on the other end. Second Half: He had a wing three rattled out, then he gave up a three at the other end. Deja vu. He tied up a bigman under the hoop, then was called for a foul on the jumpball. He sat for Kobe. Overtime: Did not play.

Powell -- -- He came in at the PF spot with Pau to start the second quarter. If we are going to feature Powell in the offense, we need to set him up on pick and pops. Instead, we have him trying to create for himself. That's not playing to his strengths, and it doesn't help that second unit to survive their minutes. The bench +/- numbers were ridiculous in this game. Powell was a -19 in 12 minutes. Against good teams, we really need to script our second unit's minutes better. Give them a plan of attack...whether that's Pau or Lamar in the post, or working the pick and pop with Powell. Execute with some purpose. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting, 3 boards (2 offensive), 1 assist and 3 fouls in 12 minutes. The Action: He missed a short jumper with the shotclock low, bounced up to get his miss, but was tied up. He tried to power up in a crowd, took contact and no call. Second Half: Nice close out on Peja in the corner to force a miss. He tried to create off the dribble against Posey and missed a pull-up jumper. He missed a 17-footer way short. He dunked off the bullet feed from Farmar. Overtime: Did not play.

Brown -- -- He came in with Kobe for Sasha and Farmar. This was an interesting athletic lineup with Shannon, Kobe and Ariza. When they get used to playing with each other, that could be interesting to watch. Nice to see Phil try to get him some minutes. If or Farmar isn't getting it done, Shannon may get the call more. He played okay, but not a lot of action to really get it going. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board in 3 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He cut from the weakside when Kobe was in the post and drew FTs, he made both. He bricked a three on a similar play (settling, instead of cutting this time). He missed an open corner three. Second Half: Did not play in the second half. Overtime: Did not play.

Phil -- -- First off, the high post, split play with Kobe and DFish running off Pau was an excellent play call by Phil. Kobe drew attention and Fish got open for the big three to send the game into overtime. Very nice call... Secondly, Phil went with the same combinations and rotations in the second half that got worked in the first half. That nearly lost the game. He didn't want to hurt their confidence, but clearly they were playing without purpose on the floor during both stints. There were no adjustments... Strong start of the game by Luke, setting up players for scores and hitting his jumper. He helped set up or score 12 of the Lakers first 16 points. The Lakers led 16-9 at the midway point of the first quarter... The Lakers led 28-20 after the first quarter. Good D, even though they did give up a few offensive boards... The second unit with Pau, Powell, Ariza, Sasha and Farmar were out-scored 7-0 to start the second quarter... After a timeout, Phil went with a Powell, Lamar, Ariza, Kobe, Brown lineup... The Lakers scored just 4 points on 1-13 shooting after 6 minutes of the second quarter. Phil went back to the starters... The Lakers lost the second quarter 21-17, shooting just 6-25... The Lakers led 45-41 at the half. They shot 35.6 percent in the half to the Hornets 37 percent. The Hornets were 3-18 from three. The Lakers were 9-14 from the line... The Lakers were in the bonus at the 8:30 mark of the third. They got to the line several times... The Lakers started the half on a 14-6 run and led 59-47 when the Hornets called a timeout... The Lakers won the third by 9 points and led 79-66 going into the fourth. The second unit, which gave up the lead in the first half, would be put to the test again... Phil went with Pau, Powell, Ariza, Sasha and Farmar. Pau had rested for a minute at the end of the third. The lead was drained to 87-82 before the timeout came... With 7 minutes left, he brought in LO for Powell and Kobe for Sasha. Then Fish for Farmar shortly later... The score was tied 93-93 when Luke returned for Ariza, getting all five starters back in... Down by three with 37 seconds left. No timeout, despite it being a two-for-one situation if you wanted to work something quick out of a timeout. We turned it over, the Paul gave it right back with 20 seconds left. This time, we called a timeout... The Lakers ran one of those Sacramento Kings split plays that Peja made a living off of with Kobe and Fish working off Pau. It suckered Paul away from DFish, who drained the three to tie it. Overtime... Overtime: The Lakers attacked the paint much better in OT instead of settling for jumpers. Defensively, they showed that amazing ability to give up threes when you want to give up twos... The Lakers shot 32-38 from the line. A lot of fouling by the Hornets. A lot they didn't call, too... The Lakers shot 41 percent for the game, the Hornets 46 percent...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The second unit just got lit. Rasual Butler also quietly lit up the Lakers in the second half.

[jack13]

Thx DB.
_________________
"These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess." Kobe Bryant

[najim]

good game, thanks!
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This is what a B. Scott offense looks like: http://i.imgur.com/q2hlUZc.jpg
(everyone standing still, and three guys pointing to each other)

[Tony Almeida]

Thanks, DB.

Kobe -- 13-30

Like the last game, we would have been doomed, but again...

Luke -- 34 minutes



Anyway, I had flashbacks of the Finals tonight. Losing a big lead, Kobe clanking the jumpers, struggling to figure out why Posey is allowed to get away with so much crap, tossing my remote at the screen when Posey hits a big three, my dislike of Breen's "play by play" and apparent giddiness during opposing team comebacks, etc.

Thankfully, Fisher came through in the clutch at the end of the 4th, big time. At that point, despite Kobe's struggles throughout the game, felt that he was going to have a big OT and help finish the game off.

It wasn't pretty, but a win is a win.

[abciximab]

missed most of this one. thanks for the recap!

[Qsmiff]

CP3's late 4th quarter mistakes and Fish's big time shot kept hard-headed Phil and Kobe from having to wear the "yoke" for tonight's game...all in all this team is developing the grit it takes to bring "little Larry" home where he belongs.

[Freddie Buckets]

Very poor game by both teams I think, Lakers lucky to come out with a win tonight.

[PopcornMachine]

[big E]

the second unit was pissing me off severely. at least the end of the fourth and ot made the game somewhat interesting.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB!

Fish... wow was he clutch.

[AceFresh]

Nice DB!,
always great to read t&r.

[The Predator]

[Nobody]

Poor defense and a lot of missed shots he normally makes by Kobe, but there was absolutely no reason for this game to be as close as this after we had 10 and 15 point leads. I mean, the second unit was pathetic tonight, one on one offense and no defense. I know this will be good for the team in the grander scheme of things, but watching our second unit cough up considerable hard earned leads against top teams is very very frustrating. I had a bad feeling in my gut when the 4th started that the lead would soon dwindle because Scott left his starters in while Phil went with the bench+Pau. Sasha is a disgrace to the great Slovenian nation this year, I'm ashamed of him and I don't even like him to begin with.

Anyway, a win is a win and thanks for the write up.

[sia_kb8]

Very poor game by Kobe and very bad time-out management by Phil. Even if he did not want to put the starting unit in, he could have guided the 2nd unit to play better and run their sets. Got lucky and needed some huge clutch plays by Fish to win. Hope we learn from tonight.
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[mhan00]

someone needs to tell sasha that he's allowed to toss in a pass to repost pau after pau kicks the ball out to him with great position. jacking up the shot with a defender running at him is not a good attempt.

[Dr. Laker]

[Sage_10]

Poor game by Kobe and the bench. But they still got it done, that's how championships are won. Thanks DB!
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"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[Rick12322]

Thanks again DB, I feel lucky we escaped with a win. It was ugly, and our decision making is not up to par for a championship contender. You'd think Phil would call a time out and remind these dummies of simple basic things like not to give up 3 pt. plays when you have a 4pt. lead in the closing minute. Our end game scenarios must be the laughing stock of the league.

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

happy for the win, but im still very concerned with this teams knack of blowing big leads and leaving 3 point shooters WIDE OPEN.


props to OT kobe, luke and d-fish (he finally redeemed himself for fouling mason jr in my eyes)


bench mob was horrible, phil needs to call timeouts once in awhile to stop big runs. lol @ mark jackson talking about how cool phil was on the bench and if he was coaching people would think he was ordering a steak the way he would be yelling KOBE!, KOBE!, KOBE!

thanks DB
_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[Luca Brasi]

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

[Luca Brasi]

[dna.]

Phil's usual stubbornness of leaving the second unit on the floor until ~6 minutes left in the 4th quarter (or whatever clock is in his head goes off), despite how pathetically bad they might be playing, damn near lost this game for us. And it probably should have, if not for some great plays by Fish and some lucky mistakes by the Hornets.

A win is a win I guess, and it is only the regular season of course. But it still really pissed me off that Phil almost lost the game for us just with pure stubbornness.

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]