I think we might pull off a win in game 7, but tonight I'm totally expecting a blowout. We couldn't have gotten more lucky than the last two games. Game 4, our 3rd string PF (12th man at the start of the year) hits two unbelievably miraculous shots at the end including a game winner. That, my friends, is more leprechaun than basketball. In game 5 we were horrible. Terrible defense and couldn't hit a shot to save our lives. Any other team closes out that game with their 14 point lead. Somehow Stephon Suckbury (shooting something like 28%) randomly goes off for 12 points in the 4th. LUCKY... And then the refs hand us a free possession off a bogus call that should have been an airball. Unbelievably lucky. The Leprechauns are overworked, if you ask me. How do we expect to win tonight?... Mikkie Moore going to have a triple double?
Didn't you say we didn't have it and were gonna lose by 27 last game? If so I feel pretty good about this one.
...except for the presence of Bavetta - I'm never comfortable with him out there. Hopefully we can play well enough to not have to worry about things like that.
This Orlando team is starting to self-destruct; if we can get an early lead there's a good chance they'll start backbiting one another and we can get the team to implode early. Can't assume that'll happen with this bunch though.
Yeah I did. Amazing how lucky we got to win. We stole the last two games from them. I don't count on us stealing another.
Btw that "orlando is self destructing" stuff is total hogwash. Media spin. Don't buy into it. It's total nonsense. If they come out tonight and beat us by 36 points would anyone really be that surprised?
I would. And there is some truth to the fact that there's a lot of tension in the Magic locker room right now. Losing multiple games you should've won and blowing leads all playoffs will do that to any team, and this is clearly not the most mentally resilient bunch.
I think there's two directions they can take that tension in, though. If they get up early on us, they're gonna be hungry for blood, and to finish us before we have a chance for a crunch-time comeback. But if we can build a substantial lead early, this team has shown us that they'll fold and start pointing fingers at each other. That's a huge 'if', though, given how we've come out early in this series.
I'm not saying we will blow them out, but I am saying if we can gain an advantage, all the negativity and blaming we saw after Game 5 is gonna start to come out on the court tonight. Hopefully Doc and the guys can put us in a situation to see if I'm right.