Well jeez, there is a good chance we could end up a 7th or 8th seed. I doubt Sacramento can catch us though, thankfully. And no I don't see anything beyond a first round exit, as much as it pains me to type it.
See this is the reason I am so frustrated. Look at our record when we have 25+ assists versus when we don't move the ball. Just the Memphis game alone showed the difference between crisp passing and movement instead of one player constantly attacking on his own. Playing through Nurk and moving the ball around has PROVEN (not yelling, just emphasizing) against good teams to be how we can take that next step in the playoffs. Instead, when we play a tough team we go back to letting teams trap Dame on the pick and roll. What's the worst thing to do when that happens? Move the pick back further towards half court, which is exactly what we do. How many times did Nurk touch the ball in the high post in the 2nd half last night? The answer is not many. These things are indeed correctable but for four fucking years now it's the same shit. So no, I completely disagree that this team has the ceiling of maybe a 1st round victory. Other than if the Warriors are playing well, if we played the way that has proven to work I think it's possible to at least give every other team a good series. To me the West is wide open 2-6. Denver - No playoff experience. Houston - Harden often disappears in the playoffs, Paul has lost a step, but this is still a scary team. Definitely more beatable than last year though. OKC - George is definitely improved this year but before this season hasn't been clutch at all. Westbrook can still shoot them out of games. Utah - They're decent and would be very difficult to beat if they had home court but certainly aren't invincible.
I think DEN is head and shoulders ahead of us, inexperience be damned. Their advanced numbers and depth far outweigh any potential advantages we might have. I'd outline it as : 1. GS 2. DEN 3-6. OKC/HOU/POR/UTA 7-9. SAS/LAC/SAC
You may be right, but I hate giving any team an advantage that hasn't played a single playoff game in 6 years. Every year there are guys that disappear in the playoffs, it's impossible to know if anyone on that team will be like that. Obviously they're better this year than the last couple years but they've lost some regular season games the last two seasons that were basically playoff games they had to win.
One thing to keep in mind is Dame's minutes. We went all out to try to secure HCA last year and ran Lillard into the ground by the end of the regular season. Then we promptly lost that very advantage in the first quarter of Game 1. I'd rather have a fully healthy and rested Dame try to go into OKC/HOU/UTA to steal one of the first two games. That will secure HCA as well. I'd be perfectly fine dropping to 6 to rest him while dropping a few games. Just stay out of 8.
You can never tell what a team is going to do. Last year there was a team that hadn't had a single Playoff win in going on 7 seasons. They hadn't won a Playoff series since 2008. Sadly, that team was New Orleans.
Yup, that was what I was trying to say that it's hard to tell one way or another for a team with no experience. Denver could be just as good as in the regular season or Jokic could go all Cliff Robinson/Lamarcus Aldridge (Before Game 1 and 2 of the Houston series) and completely pucker up when the pressure is on.
Lots of reason to believe, TBPup. Read your own post. Only 1 playoff team has won the season series against us. We’ve gotten two wins over GS, Houston, Utah, and SA. We’ve won pressure filled games in Houston, at Golden State, and in Utah. And our conference record will shoot up as we still have six games left against sub .500 West teams. Losing to OKC 4 times sucks but that’s just one team who we may not even face in playoffs and even if we do, the games were close. I doubt OKC can beat us 8 times. Truly. Also, we’ve shown we can win tight playoff type games as we won three straight overtime games at one point including AT Golden State, the #1 seed in the West. How many teams have beaten GS 4 times over the last two seasons? I wonder. This gives our team much confidence when we face them in second round or WCF.
Only one bottom 4 seed has won a championship all time and that team was the defending champs. Do you really want to start every series on the road? I don’t.
AMEN. I have HIGHLY ENJOYED this season and that can’t be erased by a bad playoffs. We got to see Dame hit 10 threes in a game, Layman score 20 in a quarter (the loudest the arena was all year), Hood score 21 in a quarter on the road, a 5-2 road trip, a complete home rout of the Warriors (a HIGHLY entertaining game) and a tight OT win over GS with Dame hitting a game winning three. Also Nurk and CJ getting triple doubles, and Nurk getting the first ever 20/20 5x5. The whole thing has been fun which is what it’s all about. I believe we can win the championship this year but even if we lose in the first round, it won’t erase all the fun I’ve had, that’s for sure.
But we have. We beat GS, SA, Houston, and Utah twice. It does not matter if those teams didn’t have their full roster (Does anyone care that we were without Nurk in 2017 when bashing Stotts’ playoff record?) The teams aren’t set at 100% health to start playoffs. Every title Golden State has won in the last four years was against teams with injuries to Conley/Kyrie/Kevin (2015), Kawhi (2017), and CP3 (2018).
One of the toughest teams to play in the west after a grueling 7 game road trip with 1 day of rest. I know that is not an excuse BUT I think in this case it is a factor. I do not think we will make it pass the 1st round ( I hope I am wrong in this) but this season we have 3 teams that got our number Denver, Utah, and OKC. GSW is GSW they become a different team in the playoffs it is like they play the whole season in 4th gear and when the playoffs hit they grab 5th. Denver I believe is the litmus test. We need both wins. If we don't win both of those games you can probably count us as a 1st round exit since one of those will be our opponent in the first round.
I do not think this season is a loss. We have developed players and we evaluated others to include the coach. I am happy that we are not the Kings, Sixers, or Wizards. The Pelicans have got to be ecstatic that their All-Star gave them the heads up and they will come out of this season winning the Lottery. Any win in the post season will mark us as a better team than last year.
actually, it does look like an excuse prior to the OKC game, the Blazers played 7 games in 15 days with a day of rest between each game; OKC had played 7 games in 14 days, and they had two sets of back-to-back games, plus a 3-games-in-4-nights grind....just before playing Portland. And last night they just completed their 3rd back-to-back set since the all-star game, and their second 3-games-in-4-nights grind. 9 Games instead of 8, three back-to-backs, and a pair of 3-games-in-4-nights....all in one less day than Portland's schedule c'mon man....really? say Portland gets HCA and then gets eliminated 4-1 in the first round. How is that "better then last year" rather than confirmation of two depressing things: 1) Portland is on a suck-ass treadmill, and 2) they just wasted another year of Dame's prime...?