Insulin Deprivation Technique Works for Morrison

Adam Morrison, a rookie and a member of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats, was on fire in the second half of a Wednesday night game in Minneapolis against the Timberwolves. He scored 26 points in the game and all of them came with 6 minutes left in the third quarter. He went on to outscore the T’Wolves from that point on; Morrison 26, T’Wolves 25. The inconsistent Bobcats won too, after being down by as much as 17 points in the first half. The final was: Bobcats 100, T’Wolves 95.

This game would not have made headlines regularly; these two teams have been underperforming all year long. But the Bobcats’ comeback from 17 points along with the unusual feisty performance from Morrison made their season watch-able from here on.

Reporters asked Morrison what got into him, “Things just clicked. I just finally got into a rhythm. I was beat, though. I felt like I was going to die out there! [Severe panting] Coach said he’d reward me after the game and hopefully he does.” Morrison was rather mum on his upheaval and nearly collapsed on his way to the locker room.

Yet Bernie Bickerstaff, the Bobcats coach offered his cynical approach, “A.M. [nickname for Adam Morrison] has been spotty this season. He’ll go off for 20 one game and the next he’ll sputter and only deliver 8. We can’t have that, I mean we picked him third in the draft last year for a reason. Look at his career as a ‘Zag [Gonzaga College]—he’s supposed to be the next Larry Bird or something. Me and J.B. [assistant coach and son J.B. Bickerstaff] have been tinkering with Morrison’s insulin supply all year. As y’all know he’s a diabetic. So we give him boosts before every game and sometimes during the game too, if needed. So far this season, we’ve noticed the lack of a spark, no motivation to just take over the game. So, we decided it was best for A.M., his game, our team, fans and franchise to not administer his insulin fix before the game. After the first half, our experiment wasn’t working, A.M. was 0 for 5. J.B. almost gave in. I put my foot down. A.M. was begging me, and even hyperventilating. I slapped some sense into him, as I said, ‘A.M. do you hear me! You are O-phering right now. You need to be hungry, um, say like a Bobcat! You need to find your game in your gut. So we ain't giving you insulin and we’ll only give it to you if you win this game! Go out there and win it or die!’ A.M. responded like a man. With some time to go in the third quarter, he went off, he found his game. Running on empty, A.M. straight whopped the Wolves into submission. He just did a stutter step, backed up and let ‘em rip. That kid’s going to be great… if you toy with his insulin, that is!”