How possible is that we get 60 wins?? Not so good, but maaaaaaaan we are lookin good. Maybe next year??
Well let's see if we can do ok against OKC or the Clips. Not only have we not beaten these teams at all, we haven't even been that close. I don't see how people can see us as champions when we are so bad against these two teams. It's very possible that the road to the NBA title will likely go through one of these teams. Assuming we end up 2 or the 3 seed, we'll have to play potentially a memphis, dallas, or phoenix in the first round. Memphis is not going to be easy if we draw them. If we end up 4 or 5 - we may get the LAC. Even if we draw portland - that still is a longer road. The 2nd round will get us a matchup with OKC or SA. That's going to be a massively tough series. And the WC finals would be OKC, SA, or LAC. No matter how you cut it, we will have to play 3 of these 5 teams if not 4 for the title: LAC, OKC, SA, Miami, Indiana. 4 of those teams are veteran teams. I wouldn't count these regular season games all that much. We beat Miami and Indiana at home when both teams weren't playing there best game. Either one of them will disrupt our offense. LAC & OK really look like they give us fits. It's not that we can't beat them, we can't even keep it close (5 points or less) in the last minutes. That's scary.
We should aim to secure a foothold on the 3rd seed. I have no doubt we can defeat Golden State in the first round. I believe we can grind out a win against San Antonio in the Semifinals. And I don't know about OKC, but we can hope whomever they play in the Semifinals will wear them out. Hell, I'll hope Portland upsets them and we can play them in the WCF!!! These upcoming playoffs will be all about match ups. We may indeed have a chance to hoist the trophy depending on how things pan out.
As many have said already, it depends on the match-ups. The Rockets could lose in the first round, also could get to WCF. My guess is they will not make the WCF. They need another year of playing together, and either Jone/Dmo develop into a good defensive 4, or add a couple more players.
Still gotta beat OKC and/or Clips - or avoid them altogether in the playoffs, if that's even possible.
These two wins against Miami and Indiana are impressive. So was the win against Phoenix. I would still rank them behind OKC, SA and the Clips. In the playoffs, it's about adjustments and match ups, which boils down to coaching. Can McHale bring it in the playoffs with the deep roster he has against the likes of Pop, Doc, and Brooks?...well Brooks isn't elite but Durant and Westbrook are.
Not to take anything away from that, but exactly how many teams this season have actually had the Heat and Pacers on their schedule the same week? Hmmm? I bet it's a rather small sample size.
H2H regular season performances are not all that meaningful when it comes to predicting how teams will play vs. each other in the playoffs. There are examples of where one team play another well in the regular season and then go on to lose in the playoffs to the same team. Too many factors in the 82 game season affect the h2h games: health status of each team, whether the teams are rested or tired, whether the teams are hot or in a funk when they played vs each other... All these things can be different come playoff time. I would not count on HOU to lose to OKC or LAC any more that I would count on them to best the Spurs.
The West is so tough what you said can applied to each playoffs team. There is no clear cut favorite imo. To me it will be the team that gets rolling at the right time. The Rockets can be that team 4 sho. Ive seen teams dominant a team in the regular season but lose to that exact team in the playoffs. You can best believe whoever plays the Rockets will have their hands full come playoff time.
I agree that any individual game isn't telling. Indiana and Miami aren't playing their best basketball right now for instance. Right now SA is hot and even OKC has cooled a bit. So regular season is different - and very different from a 7 game series. But that's exactly why I am not betting we're going to win a ring this year. We are not an experienced team. We're getting there. But there are some big things that an experienced playoff team will be able to exposed. Here's where I think we will have trouble in a 7 game series against OKC, the Clippers, or a SA 1. Turnovers. Many of these are just result of inexperience. What's alarming though is our turnover differential. We're worst in the league by a sizable margin. Not only do we turn the ball over a lot, we don't force a lot of turnovers which means we don't disrupt opposing teams passing or force them to make mistakes. 2. 3 pt fg%. It's very average. 35% is playing with fire for us. Let's hope that improves the last 20 games 3. TJones / Dmo - I fear these guys are really going to get abused in a 7 game series on defense. 4. The bench. It has been weak all season. And the question here is which Jeremy Lin is going to show up? Clippers, OKC, SA, Miami - all have guys off the bench that can really score. And their bench is filled with vets who have proven playoff experience. 5. General experience. We've never been in a nail-biting 7 game series with that sort of pressure. How will this team respond to losing a game by a few point at home and then having to go on the road into the teeth of another team's screaming fans in a must-win situation? It's a lot to ask of a young group. So yeah, it's not so much that we can't beat OKC or the Clips - it more why we can't beat OKC and Clips and the reasons listed above really get driven home. You look at our loses to those teams, and you see that emergent pattern. Doesn't mean that we can't win a ring, just means that we still need to grow a bit before we're really there.
If the grizz can take out the thunder and or clips, then I like our chances. Our bench is my concern. But I feel u bro, we got a puncher's a chance.
