Because the playoffs are a different animal where stars reign and depth loses importance. The Nuggets are quite a bit different, too, without Gallo and possibly Lawson. (No, I'm not jumping off a building because of one loss in Denver, without Parsons and Delfino, on the second night of a back to back when we got in at 5 a.m.)
Because he is smart enough to see sometimes the schedule dictates wins and losses. OKC came in here after the All Star break and that usually favors the home team but in this case we hosted the All Star so no one on our team had to travel from all parts of the world to get there. And the worst place to play b2b Afterall Denver lost Minny and the Wizards at home and they had Gallo and lawson at the time. So they are beatable.
Looks like Denver will stay at #3, with warrior's ridiculously tough schedule, I'd say we will get Nuggets. I dont fancy the matchup much, but we got a chance.
at worst, vs Den would still be an hilariously amazing series where every game is 250+ combined points
Morey sounded pissed/tired and not his usual charming self. The best answers: When asked how he thought LA would fare against the Spurs. "They have no chance" - no diplomatic kind words, just simply "no chance". He clearly has no respect for the Lakers. What happened in the game last night: "Early fourth quarter..." and then trailed off clearly catching himself before getting a league fine for the blatant officiating. Do we have any advantages over OKC? "Not giving away our strategy"
Morey said OKC has very few weaknesses and that there are only few things that they might be able to exploit. Sorta have to hope they beat themselves with specific lineups. Pretty sure he was primarily hinting at OKC potentially playing Perkins way more than they should. Say what you will about small ball, but it's proven to be a good strategy against OKC. I like how Morey chuckled before answering the question. EDIT: Morey interview starts 35:54 <iframe width="658" height="371" scrolling="no" src="http://www.sports790.com/player/embed.html?autoStart=false&useFullScreen=true&mid=23111535&osu=null&startButtonColor=0xffffff" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" ></iframe>
~36:00 Spoiler <iframe width="658" height="371" scrolling="no" src="http://www.sports790.com/player/embed.html?autoStart=false&useFullScreen=true&mid=23111535&osu=null&startButtonColor=0xffffff" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" ></iframe> Early in the 4th was a tough time for us, where they got the game close and then when the starters got in, it was tight and they outplayed us from there. I think we're a little out of sync. Didn't play well these last 2 games. We got away from transition. Didn't get a lot of points in transition. In terms of which guys Coach McHale will play, that's settled down. In terms of, among the bigs, he settled in on Greg & Terrence but in terms of people feeling like our offense is flowing and smooth, we're not totally in sync right now. We're still getting into it. We missed a lot of easy stuff in transition. We're best in transition. Thats when we move the ball best. A lot of things reminiscent of when we were struggling in January. Moving of the ball isn't as crisp. Getting up the floor isn't as crisp. Hopefully turn things around. In general, we got a bit of a take turn offense the last couple games where sorta "Hey, James will do something and Jeremy will do something and Chandler" vs getting opportunities off ball movement. Losing the last couple, a lot of things to improve. We got 8 guys pretty much playing well. The starters with Greg, Terrence, Patrick and...I guess Carlos had, since he's been sick hasn't played well but I guess I expect him, as a vet, he'll step up. We got 8 guys playing solid. We expand to 9 every once in a while. OKC is healthy as well, more or less. It will be an interesting series. We've settled in on 8 guys who are helping us win. There aren't many (weaknesses) (with OKC). Not much sleep. We've been breaking them down for some time. They do have a couple of weaknesses but I probably don't want to talk about them. ... I'll say this, a lot of the things are really getting(?) OKC to beat themselves a little bit. They're obviously more talented. ... There are a couple of lineups, ways they play that they aren't as good. Hopefully we can get them into those things. If you go back to our title teams, Rudy was excellent finding these ways to get teams into tough situations that are a little bit self inflicted for them. If you take a step back and look at the big picture, 45 wins, make the playoffs, we achieved every goal we set for ourselves in the regular season. I think the problem is, we had it really close and very likely to get one better and line up potentially an easier opponent. The reality is we weren't going to be favored against anyone. I do think OKC is the toughest of any opponent we could have drawn. That said, we actually have had quite a bit of success playing them but in my mind, they're the most talented team and biggest hill to climb. Chandler uniquely can bother Durant. He's such a great player, no one stops him but generally almost everyone who guards Durant, Durant still has an easy shot at the basket. Its hard to find someone who has the quickness to stay with Kevin and can bother his shot a little. That helps. That said, like when we had Shane guarding Kobe, it's about slowing him down a little bit, and little less efficient. You're not stopping Durant but if you can get him into some bad looks and bother him a little more, Chandler has been able to do that. That is one advantage we have over almost any team in the league. No. None. No chance of LA beating San Antonio. Gasol & Howard were incredible. They came to play. Dwight is one of the bigs that gives Omer problems with his speed and strength and quickness. Rare to see Omer struggle. Pau, just dont have a great answer for him defensively. We had a big edge at the other 3 spots, should have been able to execute against that. The Spurs are I think gonna be machine like against the Lakers, I do.
You are like a god to me. "Not 'the' God. 'A' god." --- Bill Murray, "Groundhog Day" You must be a court stenographer. Thanks for the recaps.
Daryl is probably sick and tired of the blatant bs of this league. I can almost guarantee you he'd be fined if he spoke how he really felt about last night's officiating.
The stupid part is that it doesn't have to be rigged the way Stern is rigging it. Look at the NFL and MLB. Yeah, sometimes random teams get to Superbowls, and sometimes mediocre QB's win championships. Sometimes powerhouse teams lose in the first round, and sometimes underdogs like the Rockies can make it to a World Series. It actually adds color to the playoff landscape; there's more wealth to spread around, and EVERYONE thinks they have a chance if they can just make it to the Dance. Not in basketball. Nope. Money reigns supreme there.
So true how the NBA is a money and star driven league. That's why the mlb and nfl are good ole America's sport, everyone has a fair chance and that's what makes it so exciting and special. Over time as these small markets bring in less and less revenue due to predictability, this whole big scam will stop working and they'll have to find a new one. I can see some changes possibly happening within the next 10 years.
i'd say he's more pissed with the way mchale coached and how the team played than he is with officiating.
