I never took it as disrespect. Agreed with some stuff and disagreed with other, but you have always been a class guy.
So back on topic, the loss did cut deep because we would be in a much better spot than we are now if we had won those last two games. They can be made up, but it means working that much harder down the stretch. With that said, i have faith in Dame going down the stretch. Dame culture is a thing.
We already made it up with OKC and they are on the road in Utah tonight so we could actually move ahead of them. It's a dog fight and could very well go down to the last day like in past years.
To me this is what makes the NBA great when you have a cluster of teams down the stretch playing playoff basketball before the playoffs start! The Playoffs have started baby!
I think the point is being missed. We would be in a better position now if we would have won those two games. Nobody said it would be easy, but why make it harder than it needs to be? I'm not nitpicking, but i'm confused as to why this isn't the consensus. Yes some games we lose we should win and some games we win we should lose, but the fact of the matter is, winning the games you should win, makes the games you aren't supposed to win a non factor. The moment you lose the games you should win, then the games you aren't supposed to win now turn into must win games making it MUCH harder. That's all. Not ragging on anyone's opinion, just reaffirming the OP.
I was just thinking about that this morning, we could be only 1.5 games behind Denver. Now we in a much bigger hole. Also this morning it was cool seeing Stephen A give a shoutout to Dame.
Like i told hjock, we can't take back losses so playing the what if is nothing but pie in the sky. If we can count 2 wins that were losses why can't OKC. Nobody is saying it wouldn't have been easier, but the fact in regards to OKC we already got back what we lost. I expect much the same in the next 17-20 games by many teams.
Saying it now makes it that way, but I said it on the days of those games that those needed to be wins if we wanted a chance at the 2nd seed for sure and probably the 3rd seed too.
Yeah, we caught back up with OKC. But, I was looking more at the bigger picture, the fight for home court advantage. Before the Thunder game, we were in 4th jostling for 3rd, with a chance for 2nd. Now with that loss, not to mention the loss to Memphis, the Blazers are trying to keep 4th. The Blazers have a better remaining schedule then OKC so that is helpful. But, there is practically no chance at 2nd unless Denver dives (We could be 1.5 games behind them now) and third will be really hard to get with Houston playing the way they are, plus they also have a pretty easy schedule to finish the season. The Blazers had some air and they gave it up. Now they are fighting OKC to get HCA so when we play them in the 1st round, we at least have that because it's going to be hell to beat them in a series.
Yes, we all want the team to have won those games, but that's not reality though. Not sure why so many want to reinvent history? If we reinvent ours then all teams should be able to reinvent theirs. The reality is according to NBA TV we have the 5th best record since the all star break and 7-3 in the last 10 games. That's pretty good and more than most expected during that time. Many were predicting a 3-4 road trip and we had a 5-2 road trip. Would I like it to be better? Sure, but I am also being realistic.
I think the reality many of us are saying is we just missed a HUGE opportunity, and that is very real.
But this thread is literally about why that loss hurt. Not about how well they lost thats reality, wishing they won is worthless. The article and most of the posters are only discussing that the loss sucked, and was hard to swallow, especially when they had just lost to Memphis. They ARE being realistic, because they did lose and are discussing that, the loss/es make the Blazers job down the stretch much tougher to get HCA.
Ughhhhh I just typed out a long response but I'm trying to be respectful of what @Chris Craig asked yesterday in this thread so unfortunately I have to bow out of this one.