observations from tonights game....some reasons for optimism

[vinnie]

I'm feeling better about a high lottery pick with every game.

I'm not seeing more victorys than I have fingers and toes for this team ...best case.

You can shake it up , and toss this salad anyway ya want, but it still is a loss.

Close ...you know don't count....only "W"'s 

Dude, this team wins 38 to 41 games and finishes in the 3 to 6 range.

Not sure where your math is, but 38-41 wins is definitely not going to put someone in the 3 spot. If you had said 6-8 spot then maybe. Unfortunately what we saw tonight is probably what we will see against all of the better teams this year. Down in a hole. A run to make it semi interesting. a 7-12 pt loss by the time it is all over. Sure we are going to squeak out a win here and there against the better teams, but we will also lose a few to the worse teams to take that away.

We are on pace to win 21-22 games. That doesn't put us anywhere NEAR the playoffs. Even if we make a pretty good improvement we aren't looking at more than 30-35 wins max. That is an eighth seed at best and a first round sweep out the door. I for one would rather see more PT from the younger guys because when all is said and done, it ain't going to matter!

This. I predicted 38 wins. Think tht is ou of reach.  33-35 looks more realistic now.

[chambers]

Best loss we've had all year.
People are talking about the Thunder missing threes but we missed some easy shots too. Westbrook was hitting threes which is what we are encouraging.
We are getting quality looks and not finishing which will change.

OP's point about turnovers is the best part about this loss.
They scored so many points off mistakes that are very fixable.
Even Rondo was turning the ball over through dribbling errors.
It takes time for things to come together but that last unit reminded me of our closing unit with Posey in 2008.

Paul is getting his groove, KG is forcing himself to run hard and is getting his legs.
We didn't have Dooling either who is the captain of our second unit, and Bass was relatively quiet- as was Ray.
Starting unit was good though, and I like JO's hustle and heart.

Our defense for the most part is very good- the Thunder hit tough contested jumpshots all night. I will admit we did have defensive lapses at important times where they scored easily in the paint but we forced them to move the ball and have Durant hit a long jumper in Pierce's face (Westbrook similarly).

This game was a stepping stone. We have 50ish games left, so much time to get this squad into gear for the playoffs.

[j804]

Best loss we've had all year.
People are talking about the Thunder missing threes but we missed some easy shots too. Westbrook was hitting threes which is what we are encouraging.
We are getting quality looks and not finishing which will change.

OP's point about turnovers is the best part about this loss.
They scored so many points off mistakes that are very fixable.
Even Rondo was turning the ball over through dribbling errors.
It takes time for things to come together but that last unit reminded me of our closing unit with Posey in 2008.

Paul is getting his groove, KG is forcing himself to run hard and is getting his legs.
We didn't have Dooling either who is the captain of our second unit, and Bass was relatively quiet- as was Ray.
Starting unit was good though, and I like JO's hustle and heart.

Our defense for the most part is very good- the Thunder hit tough contested jumpshots all night. I will admit we did have defensive lapses at important times where they scored easily in the paint but we forced them to move the ball and have Durant hit a long jumper in Pierce's face (Westbrook similarly).

This game was a stepping stone. We have 50ish games left, so much time to get this squad into gear for the playoffs.

I agree with a lot of what you said, and it was nice to actually see some life in them today. The main thing is though can we keep it up. Will we have 1 game like tonight laying it all out there for every 10 stinkers where we look like we don't even want to be on the floor.

I'm hopin the awful start is mainly no preparation time and them out of shape, the lockout, schedule etc time will tell

[mctyson]

all in all, I have a feeling we arent as bad as our record suggests. we were able to push the best team in the nba against the ropes. and hopefully we can pull it together against the bottom-feeder teams we will be seeing coming up and start to get our stuff together..im not too confident, but it would be nice if we can finally regain our form. I think we're close

People quickly forget, but this team was the best team in the NBA, record-wise, for the first 2/3 of last season.  Then they lost in the second round.

The year prior to that, they were playing like a .500 basketball team going into the playoffs - and then they were a few minutes away from winning another NBA championship.

I feel like since Ray and KG came to this team, every fan has had a least one moment each year where they have said "that's it, we are done" due to the age of the players.  And almost universally, everyone is wrong about it.

Moral of the story:  they are 12 games into the season, and have played 5 games against (arguably) the best 4 teams in the league.  If they are struggling to make the playoffs a few months from now, I will accept every comment about this unit being "done." 

But I could care less if they are a 4, 5, 6, or 7 seed.  In order to get where they need to go, they have to beat the Heat, Bulls, or (really??) Pacers anyways, so whatever round they play them in is meaningless to me.

Here are my other reasons for optimism:

1) Pietrus is currently looking like a HUGE addition to this team - Posey 2.0

2) Ray Allen is still great.

3) Brandon Bass >>>> BBD

4) Rondo is awesome.


My reasons for pessimism:

1) KG

2) KG

3) J.O.

4) KG

[greenhead85]

Optimism:

          Another loss (and more losses), the higher we get in the draft.

Pessimism:

          Stern will accuse us of tanking our games - even if we are legitimately losing.

[cman88]

all in all, I have a feeling we arent as bad as our record suggests. we were able to push the best team in the nba against the ropes. and hopefully we can pull it together against the bottom-feeder teams we will be seeing coming up and start to get our stuff together..im not too confident, but it would be nice if we can finally regain our form. I think we're close

People quickly forget, but this team was the best team in the NBA, record-wise, for the first 2/3 of last season.  Then they lost in the second round.

The year prior to that, they were playing like a .500 basketball team going into the playoffs - and then they were a few minutes away from winning another NBA championship.

I was actually just thinking about this as well...theres something to be said that both last year and the year before...we peaked early..before looking equally as bad as we do now the 2nd half of the season.

theres still time for us to turn this around..afterall we are only 12games into the season..and all that matters is how you play in april/may...not saying it will happen, but im willing to see if we can..

KG is what he is at this point...but I think Pierce/allen can still play at an all-star level. I think pierce is obviously working himself into shape..and thats his fault for hurting his team by not taking care of himself in the off-season