It’s not for everyone - the celebrations after made shots. It can bring attention to individuals in less than admirable ways. It can also draw the ire of opponents, inspiring them to compete harder (or dirtier/angrier) than they had before. Officials often don’t appreciate such signs of taunting either.
That’s exactly what happened to Desmond Bane on Wednesday night. He made a difficult shot in the face of his defender, Caleb Martin. He proceeded to make sure Martin knew the shot was made beyond just the clear evidence of the ball going through the rim and net. Martin took offense. Officials gave the eternal cop-out of two technical fouls.
The world kept spinning. Memphis won the game 117-111, in large part because of Bane’s contributions.
The funny thing about that though, is that the night before it could be argued that the Grizzlies lost for the opposite reason. As well as Desmond Bane did Tuesday night against the 76ers (21 points, 10 rebound, 6 assists, 5 made threes), he did that poorly against the Denver Nuggets Tuesday evening (5 assists and 5 rebounds, but only 5 points on 1-10 shooting).
So within a span of 24 hours, Bane went from an abysmal shooting performance to an electric one - at least from beyond the arc. He went from a star-caliber player whose lack of scoring directly impacted winning to angering an opponent after a celebration driving home the point that he (Martin) was losing.
How do you get from that point A to point B?
Confidence.
After Bane’s poor performance on Tuesday night, he spoke with the media about his play and said the following -
Desmond Bane:
— Damichael Cole (@DamichaelC) November 20, 2024
“I feel like we have this talk every single year. ‘What’s it going to take? How long is it until you get back in your rhythm or what not?’ It’ll come. I put the work in and time in. I’ve been doing this for five years now, so it’ll start to click.”
The fact that Bane can, realistically, feel that way after such a poor outing is a type of mental toughness that is not always on display these days. But it is far more common among professional athletes than it is us common folk. They are more scrutinized today than ever before (says the podcaster/newsletter writer about a specific NBA team). Game to game, shot to shot, they’re judged. There is more media, and ways to access it, than ever before to shake the internal belief of these men and women who play games for our entertainment.
And yet, Bane’s lack of doubt that he’d turn things around doesn’t seem contrived. He’s said similar things since he arrived in Memphis (as he alluded to in the quote). And it does always seem to be a self-fulfilling prophecy in the best way.
He knows the time and work he invests. And he knows it will pay off.
So no, pointing at an opponent and at best celebrating your success at the expense of an opponent on a particular play, at worst taunting, isn’t for everyone. But it’s another way Bane - and the Grizzlies over the years - have displayed the type of confidence that got them to the top of the Western Conference. Bane is a major engine for that belief.
Perhaps this spark will ignite confidence across the entire Memphis roster moving forward.
