I find that I can't escape the agony after losses like this no matter what I do. Like you, I usually go to bed. When it's early I try to read or watch a movie, but the frustration lingers. One thing I WONT do is watch the doom and gloom Talkin Ball guys. I usually don't come on here after tough losses either. Tonight was so bad I suppose I was just looking for a morsel of something positive. As a fellow ride or die Blazers/Ducks guy, it's been all heartbreak since Jan 12. Up until that day, it felt like our year. Mariota was an unstoppable force, and Lillard was starting to make noise as a dark horse MVP candidate. Then the Ducks get slapped around & pushed back into the "these guys are too soft to ever win the big one" category. Couple days later Blazers melted down late in the 4th in a loss to the Clippers as Chris Paul owned Dame on national TV, and thus began his decent back to earth. These losses aren't Dame's fault, but we win most of them if he's his usual Mr. Clutch self. When he's just average, that's not good enough to make up for the deficiencies of Batum and (once again) a less than stellar bench. I try to I imagine how we can get better. It seems pretty clear we need some help on the perimeter. How nice would it be to bring Jeff Green off the bench? That ship has sailed but hopefully there's another move out there before the deadline. If there is a positive of losing all these games at least it's before the trade deadline.
We also lost to Cleveland without Lebron James. Washington's been in a tailspin. Toronto took a miraculous comeback. This team is far from complete.
Id disagree with this. There is a monetary value to both the team and the city for winning. Much, more at stakes than just records, stats and memories. Not only are there potential advertising deals, but the city is noticed more, which attracts a multitude of business opportunities.
My general attitude towards losses, pain is weakness leaving the body. You learn more from losses than you do from wins. With each and every tough loss comes some knowledge of how to be better prepared next time around.
3 steps for loss anxiety Take a shovel, go outside, dig a hole and scream in it, then fill it back up Do an hour of yoga Have aerobic sex with your loved one problem solved
In a vacuum maybe there's some truth to this. But in reality the psyche of a team is a fragile thing. When you start losing close games & blowing leads what you "learn" is doubt. Closing out games has been an issue for this team the last couple of seasons, especially against good teams. When any team has a lead in the last few minutes, you want to run clock. The problem with that for our team is we don't really have a steller 1 on 1 guy who can get his own look when the shot clock is running down. We rely on ball movement to get good looks, so when we hold it at the end of games and try to make offense in 7/8 seconds vs a set defense it's not pretty. So to compensate for that a lot of times we don't try to run clock. We take the first good look we see as if it were the middle of the 1st quarter. That leads to plays like Wesley's ridiculous reverse layup attempt with 20 seconds left on the shot clock up 8 with 1:50 to go. We consistently give up big leads down the stretch of games because of this, and it goes back to last season. W'e've lost enough games this way to where I don't know how much more we need to "learn".
Good post. The only thing I'd say is we DO have a guy that can do that, Dame. I think he can create his shot any time any where. But yeah... Wes, hes not. That 4th quarter was baffling last night.
Yes, consequences for the franchise obviously, but not for you as a spectator. Sports are meaningless entertainment.
