It surprises me that, during the full minute-plus runtime of this video, the word “confidence” (or its derivatives, like “confident” or “confidently”) was not uttered even one time. I think. I don’t listen to the commentary as closely as I should when I make these things, so it’s possible that somebody uttered it while I wasn’t listening. But I don’t think so.
Usually, when a young player goes through a slump and then has a good game, the commentators are all about the concept of “confidence”. Making shots is a magic thing that will restore “confidence” to the player who lacks it. Even just one good possession has this magical restorative property. Kevin Hurter is the slumping player in this example; this is only his second double-digit game, and he made a routine out of shooting poorly from the field for the first weeks of the season. But now, through the magical magic of making shots, the glorious power of “confidence” is once again flowing through Huerter’s veins. The fact that the commentators didn’t make note of this magical occurrence is, frankly, insulting.
Now I must make a personal plea to Kevin: please lend me some of your newfound confidence. I was a brick machine in my last pickup game and now I’m afraid to play my true game, which is to shoot midrange jumpers of the pull-up or catch-and-shoot varieties. Please give me some of your confidence so I can go back to being the Larry Bird/Dirk Nowitzki/Alex English hybrid that people have likened me to (okay, the Alex English part is made up).