This is not a very good team. Of course, I'm basing this solely on tonight's performance. It's just one loss, right? Just one loss to one of the stellar teams in the West. That's why this is a knee-jerk reaction. I'm not using the previous 44 games as any basis for evaluation; I'm not accounting for Ariza's three-month shooting slump; I'm not accounting for our lack of interior presence; nor am I bemoaning the lack of scoring from our starting five; I am also not considering our absolute lack of defensive hustle in 2010 to date. I'm doing none of those things. I'm just looking at tonight's performance - nothing else - so I apologize for this knee-jerk reaction. I'm not a serious fan, just a guy who gets upset by a single loss that is totally disconnected from the rest of the season and from which no judgements should be made. (Most of all, I'm forgetting that this is the easy part of the schedule! How foolish of me. Thank God those stinker teams Portland and Phoenix come to town next. Those should be gimme wins. Whew!)
Ariza is our main go-to guy. That alone should explain everything. What were you expecting title contenders?
okay 1 thing ive learned,all the knee jerk threads started in last 2 weeks have been from 2009 members and newer
What we are seeing is a team that has been busting their butts to overachieve starting to wear down. That and #1 just flat out can not shoot the ball. Pretty simple.
Not calling out the OP(even if it seems I am) but am very curious about some people's expectations heading into this season. Title contenders? Make the playoffs? What? Of course this is not a very good team. They overachieved up until recently. Teams have tape and have figured this particular team out. They're playing 2 on 5 every night and that's if they are lucky. Brooks is and will be inconsistent and will have off nights or nights when in foul trouble like tonight, and Scola almost the same - he'll have off nights or nights when in foul trouble. These struggles don't surprise me. Most knew(or should've known) it was going to be an iffy year where we'd be lucky to compete for something meaningful. Though at the same time, I can't really complain. For the most part, they haven't gotten blown out. They've also play hard every night. Unfortunately, heart and hustle can only take you so far. I'll use the common cliche, it is what it is.
Of course the original post was sarcastic! This is a hard-working, scrappy team (minus the recent defensive lapses) that could win 40-45 games with a few of the right bounces. Forty-five wins from this team would be a major feat. I never expected 55 wins or a title or anything better than a #8 seed (at best). It seems that after the early rabbit start some CFers got their hopes a little too high, and those of us trying to bring them back to reality were labeled as having "knee-jerk" reactions. Unlike last year (when I thought we could 60 games with a fully healthy squad), every win this year seems like a gift, and every loss is hardly a surprise or cause for heartbreak. I still have high hopes for the rest of this decade. We have a lot of the right pieces in place, good management, and solid coaching.
