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One aspect of the athletic intelligence that interests me is the apparent ease with which players seem able to take film images from the elevated, half-court broadcast camera, and translate or ‘map’ them onto their own on-court perspective. They all do it (though presumably it’s more intuitive for some than for others), so I guess it isn’t *that* rare a skill, but it would certainly seem to require a form of spacial awareness beyond anything I possess.

I’d be really interested in a sort of E1P addendum, describing how players and coaches think through that translation process. Somewhere I think I read a quote from GPII on the subject (the context being his dyslexia, and the confidence he gained by discovering in himself this other form of intelligence), but otherwise I’ve never seen it explained.

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This is likely the sort of spatial cognition capability that is usually by measured by 'Mental Rotation Tasks', but with an added kinetic and 'allocentric' component.

[[ There is a correlation in mental rotation and motor ability in children, and this connection is especially strong in boys ages 7–8. The study showed that there is considerable overlap between spatial reasoning and athletic ability, even among young children.

A mental rotation test (MRT) was carried out on gymnasts, orienteers, runners, and non athletes. Results showed that non athletes were greatly outperformed by gymnasts and orienteers, but not runners. Gymnasts (egocentric athletes) did not outperform orienteers (allocentric athletes).[22] Egocentric indicates understanding the position of your body as it relates to objects in space, and allocentric indicates understanding the relation of multiple objects in space independently of the self-perspective. ]]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_rotation

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Wow, super interesting. Thanks!

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Today is the 3rd DAY of the DUBS reign on the throne of the WC...beginning to get familiar, like we belong...PLAY #3 for a WIN...

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Nov 22·edited Nov 22

Absolutely hilarious, Eric. Laughing ''in your face'' by KERR AT OPPOSING COACH HE STOLE THE COLLEGE PLAY FROM, and the arms angles comparisons of the celebrations by bench had me in stitches...Definitely makes one feel...redeemed....LOLakers...lolol

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Just here to say thank you. I love these E1Ps!

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Nov 22·edited Nov 22

Final plays of the Lakers-Magic game: https://streamable.com/uo09ht

Edit: Apparently, the Magic didn't have KCP while the Lakers didn't have Rui tonight.

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Nov 22·edited Nov 22

Very much appreciate this...I fell asleep in Greece after I rang the bell about the game and missed the end....woke up 3 hrs later, and, voila, I did not have to go looking for the end...lol...and, WE thought WE had FTs problems...

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Magic didn't have Paolo Banchero

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Oh, right. I forgot about him, too.

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It's actually amazing how consistently crap LA's bench is lol. They have no shot to compete without a major move. I don't think a smaller scale move like Schroder would even be enough

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I think they were deluding themselves that they were competitive with a 6 game win streak. However when those 6 wins are against the Sixers, Raptors, Grizzlies, Spurs, Pelicans, and Jazz pretty much all of them missing star players it takes some of the shine off it

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They moved Knecht into the starting lineup and bolstered it. But now DLo is stinking up the bench.

Also, I think Schroder will actually improve their bench. They'll need to persuade the Nets to take their bad players (DLo, Vincent, Christie) for the Nets role players. But the question is, will the Nets GM take the bait?

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It will improve their bench surely but that probably means D Lo their only trade chip is gone in a potential Schroder trade. They'll have nothing left worth a damn to trade for other pieces once that happens. They DESPERATELY need athletic wing defenders that can actually play in crunch time

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That Gabe Vincent contract looks worse and worse after every game he plays.

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and no, I don't think Vanderbilt coming back is enough. They're going to get fried in the playoffs if they don't acquire a KCP type of wing

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It's not quite as annoying watching Franz succeed as it is Haliburton. Especially when it's against the Lakers. But it is a little annoying.

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I'd never be able to find the clip but I remember Bob Myers explaining that pick to like Ryen Russillo or someone by pointing to the implied ceiling that Kuminga had versus Wagner. Well, look at their "ceilings" now Bob, turns out that there's a lot more that goes into ceiling than athleticism. So glad he's not the GM anymore.

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They picked Jacob Evans at like 30th and never went polished prospect again.

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Well, Halliburton might be broken. He's been terrible this year and wasn't good the 2nd half of last year. I like him, so I hope he finds his form.

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AD misses two free throws, then Franz hits a game-winning 3. Happy with that.

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I hope Kerr uses AD’s missed crucial FTs to hammer down on our players the importance of making their FTs.

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Franz Wagner hits a stepback 3 to give Magic the 1-point lead with 2.5 seconds remaining. AD couldn't respond with a mid-range jumper. Magic beat the Lakers 119-118.

Lebron and AD went 2/6 FTs in the final minute of the game.

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Yea that FT fail really stood out. Gassed probably.

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Lebron played 37 minutes, AD played 38 minutes, and Knecht played 39 minutes. That's a lotta minutes.

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And I hope they continue to do so.

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ORLANDO giving Lolakers a run in their LA crib...

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LeBron just made three 3 pointers in a row. Just retire motherfkrr. 😭

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Seeing Shaun Livingston out there reminded me just how lucky we were to have him for all those years. That guy was a treasure.

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Size, ball control, and a great midrange shot.

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His midrange turnaround shot was money. I loved to see him shoot that.

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SPURS with a fine team effort become the 12 th team in the WEST with a .500 or better record. Led by HB'S 25 POINT DOUBLE/DOUBLE and a 61.5-80-83.3 SHOOTING IN 36MINS PT (8-13 FG/4-5 3PTS/5-6 FT), AND 10 REBS-5OR, and PAUL's 13 PTS-10 ASSISTS DBL-DBL, they down lowly UTAH.

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Thank you Raptors for beating the Wolves 110-105. Now, Orlando, can you please do the same against the Lakers?

Spurs played all 10 of their players today against the Jazz. Eight of them scored in double digits. Now that’s strength in numbers without Wemby.

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Thank you Orlando for beating the Lakers by ONE point! 👌

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Three teams are tied with a 9-7 record in the West (Suns, Grizzlies, Clippers). Three other teams are tied with an 8-7 record in the West (Mavericks, Wolves, Kings).

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Conley was out for the Wolves but they basically played a 7 man rotation in November. Woof.

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Nov 22Liked by Eric Apricot

Eric just keeps getting better and better. There isn't a lot of good stuff happening right now, so this is very welcome indeed. " Christ the Threedeemer" is next level!

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