My Sophomore Crush: Bryn Forbes and a comeback win over the Mavericks
It’s summer — popsicles, beaches, campfires and summer love. As the heat rises, time slows and crushes develop. We’re leaning into that amorous mood this week at The Step Back, sharing our sophomore crushes. Last year may have given us an uninspiring rookie class, but we’re feeling pretty enamored with the future.
It can happen in an instant, and usually when you least expect it. Walking through the halls at school, the water cooler at work or maybe your daily, mundane walk through the park can morph into a potentially life-altering moment when you are struck with a crush.
I’m not a believer in love at first sight, but I’m certainly a believer in crush at first sight and it’s initially all about the aesthetics. Most people don’t see someone they’re attracted to and think “I bet he/she will be a great parent.” No, we think about their looks, the way their hair falls over their eyes, their smile or the way they carry themselves. Something about this individual draws us in, and we suddenly have a crush.
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The same type of emotion happens when avid basketball fans watch the game they love and adore. And again it’s not usually — at least for me — a feeling that rushes over instantly, but one that hits me after seeing something aesthetically pleasing.
I watched the Spurs a lot last season because I live in the Pacific Northwest and they drafted local kid Dejounte Murray. I watched in hopes of seeing him play meaningful minutes as a rookie and I watched because as long as Popovich is there, they’re still the Spurs.
Through the season, I caught glimpses of Bryn Forbes, but he was always an afterthought. During garbage time, when the game was basically over, Forbes came in and hit a few buckets and I heard the name while finishing cooking dinner or something. A lot of people are crushing on Forbes based on his performance at the Las Vegas Summer League last month, but for me in happened last April — and it hit me like a ton of bricks.
The Spurs were doing that thing where none of their main guys played, so Forbes gets huge minutes (29) and drops 27 points (10-of-19 shooting) and six assists in a comeback win over the Mavericks. However, those facts are inconsequential to why I started a huge man crush with Forbes. It’s sometimes hard to explain to people why someone becomes your muse — even if it’s only temporary — because these are feelings one simply cannot explain, unsolved mysteries if you will.
Almost any NBA player can score 27 points in a game if given the green light, so what was it about Forbes I was clinging to? It was an accumulation of three very specific things during this game building to my confidence to burst from the seams with adoration for this undrafted, unheralded, rail-thin hooper.
My interest is peaked…
Wait, wait, wait. Forbes just pulled up for 3 with nine seconds on the clock on a 3-on-1 fastbreak? We might have something here. This J.R. Smith-esque level confidence from an undrafted rookie named Bryn Forbes. What is happening to our beloved constructs of the Spurs? Where are the
boring
Spurs we’ve all come to love and hate congruently?
Others are hating…
There’s always this allure of what others don’t like. When your mother says “That lady is too young to be wearing ruby red lipstick!” there’s a certain attraction that comes along with doing what others don’t like.
Did you catch it? Right there at the end the commentator says, “I’m so sick of Forbes.” He’s a 23-year-old undrafted rookie having a career night — the first NBA game he’s had more than eight points in — and he’s getting hate.
By this point I’m like 70 percent crushing on this guy.
He might as well have dropped Magnum…
Almost any crush is spurred on by a look or a sign. There’s something that one side, or both, perceives was directed to them and then the attraction is full blown.
Is this guy serious right now? Look at those gorgeous pearly whites he just flashed for me. I’m full on smitten after this smile and I wasn’t hearing any Forbes slander for all of eternity. Not only does he smile, but the timing of it after the commentator saying “I thought he was going to cool off” is just pure gold.
Next: DeAndre’ Bembry has great hair and he can play
Skeptics are reading this and laughing at the fact I think that smile was directed at me, but it was and I’ll hear no different. Think what you will, but this moment is frozen in time for Forbes and I, and the rest of you can’t get in on it now that he’s on the map. Get over yourself!