To have lost some many big leads you had to have built big leads.

Increasingly I am resigned to the fact that we will be only the #7 seed while up until recently a #4 seed was available and we certainly did not play to take advantage of that opportunity. However, having gotten pass that we have to then ask how ready is the team for competing in the playoffs? At this point only time will tell but there are some positive things that give us hope, one of which, is that we have shown the ability to build leads against the best in the west. That must be worth something and I feel like we have not sufficiently appreciated that.

To me it should be no surprise that we build leads since our strengths suggest that we should be able to. Specifically, strengths like defense and low post scoring with timely 3-point shooting, and rebounding will all typically put us in a position to win. I guess the trick would be to find a way to build and maintain leads. Turnover reduction and smarter play would go a long way towards maintaining leads. It is not like we have not shown the ability yet to persevere since we did it against Dallas, Minn on two occasions, Lakers on two occasions and against Memphis.

 

Codell, I put it at 1-0 as I am sure you can see this year should be voided just based on EG.

Having said that I think the team is closer to my expectation than yours. I believe the team is closer to contending status than you believed. I am not sure how you feel at this point but to me, this team could be like the Rocket 86 team that went to the finals beating the great Laker team to get there. That team was not slated to go to the finals but was able to put their dominance (Twin Towers) to work in the playoffs. Could it happen this year? It would not surprise me.

 

Although it is not a certainty, it is quite possible that Dall, Memphis and Houston are tied by sunday night. One cannot be certain because of Houston's inconsistent play. If we were going to get last night's play, I would like our chances to be practically tied with Dall and Memphis by sunday night. The playoffs have indeed started.

 

How much sense it makes to void the bet for EG missing games because of injury but not void it because he was actually cut. At this time of the bet, EG being cut was not even a consideration. Any reasonable thinking person would see that the team has been adversely affected by his absence. I did pay up on YR1 or I am willing to.

I do not recall your actual projection but I do recall you saying they are a few years away from contending and I said why not contend this year. Are we contending this year? I would say we are close and ultimately it depends on what we do in the playoffs.

 

I did not say I did not agree. I asked if it made sense, or was fair, to void such a bet based on time lost to injury but not void it because someone who would have reasonably be relied upon was eventually cut, for non-basketball reasons?

 

If you think that I placed no reliance on EG, you are dead wrong and my unfair criticism of CD and JVG is further proof. Plus you know how I feel about MoT and his ability to play the better PF's. So I must have some reliance on EG. At the time there was no way of knowing he would shoot at a woman and so on and so on. At best, you should accept my sig for one year.

 

One year.

 

It is really unfortunate that you would react that way. For the most part I believe we conducted this thing over the 2year period fairly despite our many heated exchanges. I do not recall it getting personal. So you should resist going personal. Anyway it is up to you if you want to honor me in your sig in that fashion.