Some thoughts on the first round

1) A Confession. My prediction was 47 wins and a 1st round playoff loss. While this was more optimistic than most at the time, I'm stoked that I was not optimistic enough.

2) Playoff Experience is so overrated. Our playoff experience guys have not stepped up more than our inexperienced guys.

3) Dorrell Wright has been terrible. I know some posters will point to a 3 minute stretch where he played well, but on the whole he's been horrid.

4) I'm not happy with Mo Williams. He's had some really great minutes out there and I've been thrilled! However, in the playoffs every possession matters and he's just thrown away a bunch of them.

5) Forget the game winner for a moment, Lillard has been ridiculous. Up in every statistical category in the playoffs while maintaining or improving his efficiency - just wow! Superstar level achieved.

6) LMA has really stepped up his leadership and his game for the playoffs. I never thought I'd see this, but am so happy about it.

7) Coach has done a great job outcoaching McHale in the series.

 

As bad as Dorell and Mo played in the majority of the games, they still helped us get a couple crucial wins. Think about it, without Mo we don't win game 4. Without Dorell I don't think we win game 1. So even if they played like complete shit in five out of the six games, they each helped get us one of four crucial wins. So I guess I can't be that mad at them. Mo is Mo. I just wish Stotts wouldn't use him like his own personal security blanket. He plays him too much, even when it's obvious he's a detriment to the team. His horrible defense was making life extremely hard on us. I'm not looking forward to Patty Mills or Jose Calderon lighting him up.

 

The reason we get into situations where they need to "save us" is because they played crappy in the first place. Mo has played well for the last 15-20 games and for the most part he's played well in the playoffs. However, I can remember strings of 4 turnovers in 5 possessions that absolutely kill what we're trying to do and Mo has been right in the middle.

Good Mo = Good.
Bad Mo = Unacceptable.

The good news is that we've moved on. Hopefully Mo will cut down his "Bad Mo" possessions. If he does, I think we have a real shot to advance.

 

I can live with the shots and the bad passes, but the defense is beyond horrible. He was letting Jeremy Lin just abuse him.

 

Arrgh! Bad Memories!
He overplayed him so much Lin drove around him again and again. Then, seeing the error of his ways he did the opposite and backed way off him. I told my son "watch, he'll hit the 3" and Lin did. Why can't he just play regular defense on the guy?

The good news here is that I think/hope/pray this is correctable.

 

I don't buy the D Wright angle here, he had 9 blocks in limited minutes, rebounded and hit a game winning 3 at the buzzer. Only LA and Rolo had more blocks in the series and they played major minutes. The guy deserves some credit. Mo helped us win a game and since then has played injured. Mo leads the league in assists off the bench and cranks up the tempo when the starters are slowing down. Stotts knows what he's doing

 

Yesterday was a reminder of why I was so nervous about Game Six. Every single team that got to a Game Seven back on their home court yesterday made it through. That could have been us.

Thank you, Damian Lillard. You not only won a game, you saved our season.

 

Well, I agree with the last part. After playing Wright for ONE minute, he yanked him and put in Robinson. Everyone has applauded the move.

 

I think we would have been sunk if we had gone back to Houston. To lose a 3-1 advantage would have just been so deflating.

 

I had it as my "key to the game". LOL

I don't deny that Wright has played some good defense at times in this series. I'll give him credit for that. He had those big shots in game one, that frankly surprised me. But I feel like he and Mo cost us game 5, and I was so relieved to see Stotts with the quick hook in game 6 in favor of TRob. And since it worked out so well, everyone who was calling for that move gets to look like a genius (this time).

 

As was pointed out to me the other day, both LaMarcus and Batum have previous playoff experience. Those two are grizzled vets. LOL And Dame is Dame, so, there ya go.

But yeah, most of us were just hoping for some good playoff seasoning this year, and a playoff run next year thanks to this year's experience. Funny how expectations change.

 

Besides game two, wright was a complete liability with the ball in his hands. For a guy who supposedly brings outside shooting, he is insanely inconsistent.

 

and he and Mo are our "winning in the playoffs experience guys." They didn't up their games.

 

I guess my 2 thoughts would be:

1. Hopefully this will give us an opportunity to see good Mo due to the law of averages.

2. I still think we are due for that really really good 3 point shooting game that we have once in awhile which come in really handy in this series.

 

LOL at #2.

 

I started bagging on Wright and Mo early in the season. I'd rather see Claver or T-Rob get Wright's minutes, and hope we can upgrade our backup pg position next year.