Nemanja Bjelica allegedly suffered from “back tightness”, which prevented him from playing in the Kings’ game against the Raptors three days ago. But how sure are we that “back tightness” was the real reason he was held out? “Back tightness” sounds like something you would make up so that people don’t get suspicious when they look at the box-score. It’s in the same category as “left quad soreness” and “pinky toe strain”. I would believe “back spasms”, but not “back tightness”. Nuh-uh. I’m not a rube. DTB is not a rube.
I’m thinking that what really happened is that Vlade Divac took notice of Bjelica’s run of weak performances (eight games in a row of single-digit scoring), and, as one Serbian to another Serbian, just beat the ever-loving crap out of him. With love. An ass-kicking filled with love and respect. After a game to recover from the severe beatdown that he received from the older, flabbier man who is still a very capable fighter, Bjelica returned to the lineup with a new sense of purpose, a new vision of what he’s supposed to be doing out on the court.
Nemanja always looks a little bit down in the dumps, so it’s hard to tell if he was looking like his normal self this game or if he was actually still sore from getting his clocks cleaned by one Mr. Divac. If I was a reporter in the locker room, I would be investigating his body for bruises, but the Kings took away my press pass after I emptied an entire nacho cheese dispenser into DeMarcus Cousins’ locker and told him that he had been visited by the “nacho cheese fairy”. Some people are so touchy these days. It was friggin’ six years ago, guys. Come on. Give me back my press pass.