Another "Who's Best" thread Just kidding, I bet I threw you off with the name, huh. I wanted to comment on how the first few weeks of the season don't really matter as far as records, standings, or even momentum go. To illustrate this point, remember the Spurs? They were under .500 for a few games, and the "experts" said that they weren't the same team anymore because they lost Robinson and a few other players. They proceeded to go on a 13 game win streak, and have lost only 1 out of their last 16 (or something like that). The Wolves started off with an average record as well. However, they're now one of the hottest teams in teh league, and they still don't have Wally, Troy, or Olowokandi back yet. The Lakers had a crazy record to start the season. Injuries quickly took their toll though. They lost 4 straight games, finally beating two average teams. Now that Kobe's down, expect more losing. Another team that I bet most people don't really care about is the Warriors. They had a .500 record a couple of weeks ago, and they had just beat the 2 top teams in the league (Kings and Lakers) at home. They went on a road trip, lost 9 games in a row, and have lost 11 of the last 12 games. It seems like their season is slipping away, just after it appeared that they were poised to make a run for the playoffs. It just goes to show how quickly a team's fortunes can change, even when injuries aren't in the equation.
True, the first part of the season doesn't matter quite as much as the latter part, due to the fact the playoffs come at the end of the year, not after the first month or two, but I've never completely agreed with this argument. Reason being simply this: every game you play counts for either a win or a loss. Whether your wins come early, mid-season, or late, they count just the same. Winning games early will help put you in a better position later down the road, losing early makes it tougher to catch up. Every year there are teams that start off poorly, then catch fire at the end of the year, but end up just short of the playoffs. If they would have won a couple more games early, they would have made the postseason. Same goes for teams that start off hot and lose steam down the stretch. People always try to argue this in baseball, because there are so many games, the first 70 or 80 don't count. That just doesn't make sense to me, a win is a win, a loss is a loss - bottom line.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting OgShowtime:</div><div class="quote_post">Winning games early will help put you in a better position later down the road, losing early makes it tougher to catch up.</div> You're right... I knew SOME part of my argument didn't make sense.
Yeah...the first part of the season is just as important as the second part, simply because playoff positioning and standings often come down to just one or two games...and those are usually games in which the team didnt take seriously or play hard simply because it was an "early" game...
Very true. The early part is only not significant for teams, like Atlanta and Miami and GState, who already figure they're heading back to lotto land.
