https://youtu.be/Ptw5z8urhLk
Daniel Gafford went from not really playing on the Bulls (who are, it should be noted, a WORSE team than the ‘Zards) to being one of the most vital role-players on a ‘Zards team that won fifteen out of their final nineteen games and have now sneaked into the playoffs. I don’t consume very many works of fiction (other than my own), so I don’t know if there’s a proper name for this thematic device. It’s not really a “redemption arc” because Gafford’s not being redeemed from anything, and it’s not “rags to riches” because Gafford was roughly as rich with the Bulls as he is now with the Wizards, and he’s not even that rich in the context of all NBA players. I know! It’s “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. The Bulls thought Gafford was trash, but the ‘Zards found out he was actually treasure. Nothing less to be expected from the franchise who paid Cristiano “Crappy Brazilian Shaq” Felicio 32 million dollars.
Gafford is turning into Tyson Chandler before our eyes and we’re all here to witness it. He didn’t have a dominant scoring performance, being the ‘Zards fifth-leading scorer in this game, but as fans of Tyson Chandler will know, you don’t have to be a bigtime scorer in order to win awards or championships. There’s this thing called “defense” (which I don’t know much about, nor do I care about it very much) that can extend your impact on the floor well beyond things like field goals and assists. Gafford knows what defense is and was applying his knowledge to make the entire Pacers team into his eternal bitchslaves for life. Especially Domantas Sabonis, who got bitchmade so hard that he purposely fouled out so that he wouldn’t be made to feel like a bitch for a single second more.
The real test for Gafford starts in the first round when his primary matchup will be Joel Embiid. Not a lot of defenders have any amount of sustained success against Embiid, but if Gafford puts up a decent fight against him, I can see the ‘Zards maybe taking one game off the Sixers. Possibly two if things go really right. And if Gafford gets steamrolled, well, it happens to the best of them. Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and go down on the other end and dunk on his head.