I also had a pretty heated exchange with a delusional fan who said that the reason the defense played better late in the year last season is because they liked TA better than TM.
W
T
F
?
So he accused the defense of sand bagging and jaking because he didn't like Taylor. I recall the 90s when there was a huge split in the team over whether Tommie or Brook should pay, but could you imagine anyone on those defenses jaking because the guy they liked better wasn't the starter?
Yeah, me neither.
I don't think the defense - or offense - sandbagged Taylor. I think he was pretty well liked and a lot of players understood he wasn't a media guy and tried to protect him from that.
But I do think they may have played a little harder for Tommy. Not because they liked him better than Taylor, but because the season was on the verge of collapse and everyone knew they had to pull it together. This is a team that doesn't handle expecations very well, and when Taylor went down and people started writing us off, I think it took some of the pressure off.
I've heard there's a superstar syndrome on some teams, especially in the NBA. When the offense revolves too much around one player, teammates aren't as engaged. When the single best player on a team goes down, sometimes the whole team plays better.