He said the same thing any objective observer would after the last couple of months. The C's haven't exactly looked like contenders over that stretch...and say what you will about injuries and whatnot, the product on the court did not suggest a champion--not because of the record, but by playing such poor ball.
So...do we have to win w/o PP and Quisy to show we're a contender? I don't think so. We need to:
1) Look solid defensively for 48 minutes, not just on LeBra, but as a team-intensity, sharp rotations, hands-up, etc...get stops when absolutely needed, and get multiple stops in a row for stretches.
2) We need to score-doesn't matter who or how, but going on 6-minute scoring droughts is no good, and we should be good enough that someone can buy a bucket if we really need one, even w/o PP, even if its at the FT line or looks like garbage.
3) Hold our own on the boards.
Even if we don't win, we need to look good sharp. We can't fold. The last few games have been encouraging on the floor (though I've been secretly wondering whether we came out of the gate after the break so well because we needed the rest?). We'll need to sustain the recent solid play to be taken seriously. A "flash" of solid play isn't enough--even young hotshots and way-past prime teams can show flashes; we need to prove it every night. We haven't come close to that, excluding the 1st half/4th quarter spurts, which are only fool's gold, rather than a sign of a contender.
