I mentioned this in another thread. So, we have to lose games. I'm hoping we lose no more than 22 and that looks possible. Last night's loss was so painful for me especially since it was at home to a Western Conference playoff team. We are 3-5 against the West playoff teams. But it brings me to this question. Since we have to lose games, who would you rather lose to? The Hawks or the Hornets? The Warriors or the Wolves? It sucks to lose to a top team but people really bitch about losing to bad teams (which has only happened twice- Kings and Wolves) or almost losing to bad teams. Thoughts?
I think there's a mild panic attack after losing a close one against a rival and a huge meltdown if we lose back to back. We've had a lot of win streaks and I tell myself what I heard Stotts, LA, Wes, Nic and other guys echo...we're winning and not playing as good as we can. This tells me finishing strong is important to the team. We're rarely going to shoot 20% from 3pt range. Dame, Wes and Nic are not often going to have off nights shooting. I think the Lakers buzz was a detriment to the hunger of the team and the Clips had a good game plan. There are positives to come out of it. Meyers Leonard for one. There's usually a drop off before the allstar break and we've only lost 1 here. Patience is due.
If we ONLY lost to bad teams (and only rarely) that would be preferable. If we were routinely beating the good teams I wouldn't mind a lapse against the bad teams, from time to time. Losing at home to teams that are our "peers" isn't acceptable. With that said, it's a single loss that won't have any impact on whether we win a championship. More disturbing than the loss is the (get ready for the beaten dead horse, ass jacks!) fact that Stotts still doesn't have an answer for Dame getting doubled above the 3-point line.
Popovic rests his big 3 often against better teams ...it's all about the playoffs and getting home court. Regular season you just need to be in the top half.
True but his big 3 has the experience out big 3 needs, so they can afford to rest more. That and we are younger.
Im not worried about last night by the way. I feel we went cold in the late 4th and got a bum call on us that killed any chance we had. That wont happen everytime.
I always thought being close to sweeping the bottom feeders and splitting with the contenders was the bottom line. So far we're on our way to doing that. The whole key to this season is to be peaking at playoff time and healthy.
I think for this team to win 60, they need to learn to hate losing the way Michael Jordan did. I think this is a bunch that is ok if they drop one here and there. And winning 60 isn't as important as just playing well enough going into the playoffs. Which is a shame because if they could stay focused long enough to win each game, they could have home court advantage all through out the playoffs. And you know how dangerous they would be in that situation. I just don't see them doing that.
Great thread KS! As much as I hate losing to anybody, in general I'd rather lose to mediocre teams on the road. Beat the bad teams, and win more than you lose against the good teams. But it also matters HOW you lose. Sometimes you just get beat by a good team that played well (Hawks/Memphis), which you can live with. Losing to really bad teams when we don't show up to play infuriates me (Minn). But the absolute worst is when we lose because we beat ourselves. Not being able to inbound the ball vs Golden State was shocking and embarrassing. That should have been a "W". There are others ways to lose that sting more than usual, such as bad officiating, or a lucky shot at the buzzer. I agree with you on the loss to the Clippers. I really wanted that game & it was tough to shake it off afterwards. It was painful for the reasons you mentioned, and 1) Clips are flopping cry babies that pester the officials all game (Wes never TOUCHED Redick when he got T'd trying to get to the FT line, but it looked like a Tyson uppercut the way JJ whipped his head back). Lob City? More like Sob City. But it worked. They wore Ed Molloy's crew out - 13 FT's in the 4th, almost all of which were foul on the floor calls with us in the penalty. 2) Similar to the Golden State game, we blew this one. Just when it looked like we were taking control of the game, we forgot about LA who was unstoppable & decided to force contested 3s instead of riding the train. Wesley forced a couple of 3s that were egregious, maybe the worst was around the 3 min mark when he got the Off Reb on a Lillard miss, he stepped back behind the line, and had to shoot a RAINBOW over the defender just to get it off, with a fully reset shot clock! There was absolutely NO reason to take that shot, other than we were down by 3. But there was PLENTY of time left - we didn't NEED a 3 at that point. The only time you take that shot is with time running out. If teams are defending the 3 well, we've got to make the smart play, especially down the stretch. 3) we're now 0-2 vs the Clips. Those tie breakers end up being huge at the end of the year. Best we can do is tie season series with them now.
For one, stop bringing a screen to Dame - he'd be better going 1/1 than getting trapped above the 3-point line. Another suggestion would be to have Nic initiate the offense from the top of the floor and bring Lillard off a side screen to retrieve the ball in motion. Or just start with Dame in a side P/R, which creates different angles. Or instead of running that stale pick/pop that leaves LMA as the only open player - but without a clear passing lane - throw a pick in the middle of the key and have whoever is the weakside wing cross the court in the same direction Dame is going to create a passing opportunity for him. In this example I'd start with Nic in the right corner and Wes in the left corner, with Kaman/Rolo setting a screen in the middle. As Dame uses LMA's screen Wes is running over the top of the K/R screen and Nic is running the baseline in the opposite direction. Timing to all this movement is key, but Dame could hit Wes as he clears the K/R screen, and if Nic's defender cheats because he sees Wes coming to the ball then that leaves Nic open along the baseline for an oop. Or load both wings on the weak-side, set a pick on the baseline and have one wing curl off that screen to the strong-side as Dame is using LMA's screen. But I'm not a coach and Stotts is. He should have better ideas than these.
When a team like the Spurs shoots 16 more shots in a qtr, you're going to have a hard time winning. Defense has slipped the last two games and turnovers haven't helped. No sharp cuts or crisp passes to be found. Lazy passes have killed us recently. With Wes I think it's injury and he should rest, with Nico I think it's mental..he's overthinking everything. This is a coaching issue. It needs to be addressed and if you have to bench a couple of starters for a stretch, that might be the option.
The Blazers have lost too many games at home they should have been more intent on sending statements on. Memphis, Atlanta and Clippers are all games they had a chance to do that in and didn't. Especially the Clippers where they already lost once to them and the Blazers barking up on a schedule that has Memphis and SA back to back. They really should have won that. I don't know what it means that they didn't. That they aren't maybe elite or what. I still think it's a team that gets a laxed at times. This laxness is why I don't think they will win 60. And it doesn't help that Nic is playing the way Nic is playing.
we've been running ok considering the injuries, but against good teams and being down rolo and batum playing like a pile of hot shit - we're gonna struggle sometimes.
