Okay, so there are a bunch of new threads about how bad we are and who we should now be starting... WTF people?? We just played GS OKC Spurs All at home... They have combined 91-9 at home this season. Two of the teams are having historic season. All of a sudden we are hitting the panic button?? Man some of you are really only fast food thinkers... We are still 35-34 with a winning record and a good chance to make the playoffs in a 5-6 seed if we can take care of business against the teams we are fighting for for playoff positioning. Dallas, Phoenix, Utah, Memphis, Houston... they all lose to these three teams too... so chill the fuck out people!!!!!
Who is panicing? Many don't even want us to make the playoffs. I chalked all those up as losses right off the bat. 6-9 is incredibly tight now. We should be able to win 9 of our next 13 games though.
I think alot. Panicking may not be the right word, but with these three loses I feel the vibe around here.. Its permeable man... And many of the posts regarding our team BASED on the last three games have been less than positive. NO these games weren't positive, but it doesn't mean we have the worst big man combo, or a few other threads and many comments have been steering towards...
Its not panicking its realizing that making the playoffs is absolutely pointless this year when our team is not a finished product. We don't even make the games competitive against these West playoff teams. Again I'm at the point right now I'm just getting the "I told you so" posts ready when we get bounced off the playoffs quick because clearly everybody would agree we're still an unfinished product but somehow at the same time don't care that we're losing an asset that would help our team. ah well
You can go away, your pigheadedness is only superseded by your incorrectness. There is a point to the playoffs or the organization would be tanking. DO you REALLY think you know better than the Blazers organization? Gimme a break man..... Get your posts ready there... lmao. Man how some people can have such thick blinders on and still make their way around thier house to their PC is beyond me.. must take serious skills....
Also, Your are simply wrong. If we dont get a pick this year we get it next year. IT will be better to have next year when we know for sure who is not working out. Are you that narrow minded you dont get that??? Tools are meant to stay in the shed... dont become one....
I would submit there is a point to being competitive in the Playoffs. If they get swept or win just 1 game because the other team got bored, it was never a competitive situation and all you learned is that you weren't even close to being a contender.....which you very likely knew already. If they can win at least 2 games and it is a tighter series, then you learn what it is like to be in the pressure of a Playoff series. Getting blown out....there is no pressure and it's just a #1-16 seed like in college basketball.....basically pointless. The only reason some of those games are even close is because the #16 seed was overlooked or it was tough for the higher seed to get up for them.
I can go with that, but take it one step further. We can win only one game and still be competitive. Just cant get blown out. But here is the key. Making it to the playoffs, we get to see from the opposing team, the very things they do to advance and be an elite team. Sitting on the outside watching it on tv is a fraction of the view and thus the experience that could be obtained by making the playoffs but still losing in the first round. Even if we don't win a game, we can evaluate the opposition and what they do when there... There is a value to the playoffs even if we don't win a game. When gaining experience, you often fail. That's what experience is about. Look at GS the year before they won it all. Do you think if they didnt make the playoffs they would have still won it all? They were bounced in the first round and won it all next year. I dont think they do if they didnt make the playoffs the year before. Experience is part of the uphill road to be the best. And it takes time and there will be losses...
1977 Trail Blazers...had never been in the Playoffs once in franchise history. I've been on both ends of the spectrum. You learn very little from getting blown out other than you aren't very good and have a long way to go. More blowouts I suppose are more experience of something you already knew. Competitive losses show you how close you are getting and what small adjustments, improvements, changes in intensity need to be be made. That is something you can't experience from a blowout. Winning a series or two shows you what you can do, and gives you some confidence to build on that for next time. Winning it all takes away that 'sphincter' factor and the pressure in tight moments is not as great. Certainly it can happen like what occurred in 1977 but that is the exception rather than the norm. Portland got crushed by the Spurs the last time they played them in the Playoffs and their 1 win was because an unknown Barton off the bench went nuts...similar the one game Portland won against Memphis with CJ. Those players weren't scouted for and it was tough for the other team to really be up for the Blazers up 3-0. Did the 4-1 pasting the Spurs game the Blazers help them against Memphis? It sure didn't seem to.
It's funny. You get ready for your "I told you so" posts, but are never around when you're wrong. You always conveniently are "busy". No one takes your "I told you so" posts seriously if you can't admit you're wrong. So don't waste your time. No one will listen to you.
Now you know some of our pain from the super homers. When we go on a little win streak and hear about how we should keep the entire team together, when we aren't talented enough to compete for a championship, and that we will be contenders as soon as next year. It is super annoying. On the other end of the spectrum it's super annoying when people say we need to blow up the team and that we are terrible when we go on losing streaks.
Also, for the record, you don't get a "told you so" Because we can "told you so" all year about Dame. YOU WERE WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG. TOLD YOU SO. There.
There's nothing to panic about. They've exceeded my expectations as I predicted 33 wins +/- 3. And I'm happy they proved my initial prediction wrong. Our team is a work in progress and I'm proud of our players whether we make the playoffs or not this season.
Here's the problem, the hype got out of control for a while there. We thought the team was further along than they actually were. The last few weeks have been a real eye opener, and it has been sobering because it's putting us in our place. I'm not sure if I thought we could get out of the first round, but I thought we would be competitive (as TBPup said.) Right now, with how we're playing against top competition, we're not even looking competitive. And for those of you who say this is an overreaction: We lost by 23 to Boston - 4th in the East. We lost by 2 to the Raptors - 2nd in the East. We lost by 20 to the Pistons - 9th in the East. We lost by 16 to the Warriors - 1st in the West. We lost by 34 to the Thunder - 3rd in the West. We lost by 8 to the Spurs - 2nd in the West. Obviously we picked up a couple nice wins over the Bulls and Pacers, but our other wins came against NY, Orlando, and Washington. I don't expect us to win every game, but I want us to at least be competitive.
We also have wins against Cleveland, OKS, GS, And many other playoff caliber teams. NO, we arent on the level of the SPurs or the GS, but show me any team in history that is other than Jordan's Bulls? Teams go through waves... ups and downs.. .this team is still learning about themselves. I expect this type of stuff this first year. Did I expect to win it all after we beat GS? No, but its a good sign we are improving and we can be competitive. Were we against the games you listed? NO.. Not all, but we were with Toronto and the SPurs..Those werent blowouts.. We hung in there most of the game. Ive never said we have all the pieces, what im saying is let it bake longer to see where the problems are AFTER we have let them get experience together... not before.... This wont be answered probably until middle of next season.... Again... players take time to learn about each other and gel... We started the gel quickly, but it is far from completed....
This is a great reminder of the distance remaining between us and champion caliber teams. I'm glad this stretch came after some huge successes in the season too because it's an honest gauge of our progress; a team wide heat check for the season. Neil should be able to take these three games and figure out exactly what we need to be competitive with the top tier. It kinda sucks because it's a wet blanket on the enthusiasm I was feeling but otherwise it's a massive opportunity for growth. I think the team sees it as such too.
Sure, we have some solid wins over the course of the season, but I'm talking about over the past couple weeks. We're clearly struggling as the season comes to a close, which is not an ideal time to have a "down," as you put it. I think a lot of teams didn't take us seriously over the first half of the season or so, but Dame's play since the All-Star break and our team's success have put us on the map. They're not sleeping on us anymore. We're getting their best. Looking at the potential first round matchups, I still think the Spurs are our best shot at an upset.
