Tommy Heinson's comment: blowouts vs. close losses. Which would you rather?

[Zev Love X]

I heard Tommy Heinson say in the game he'd rather lose like this blowout to Philly rather than a close game by a couple points and that surprised me but the more i thought about it the more it kinda made sense. Still not sure I agree though.

As far as after effects this game has none for me. I called us having no chance after last night's game went to overtime knowing this would be a back to back. So it wasn't like one of those losses that stings a while after where you had a chance to win. Whachall think?

[theswitch]

I'd rather have KG play 23 minutes and lose by 30 than 38 and lose by 2. Moral victories don't count.

[BASS_THUMPER]

id rather get blown out....


*sippin*

[ManUp]

I'd rather win so the one that makes me feel like I was working towards that end.

[Celtics18]

I'll take the close losses.  I've always taken pride in the fact that this team rarely suffers crushing blowouts like the one they suffered tonight.  Even when they are playing like garbage and getting outplayed, they usually find a way to fight back in the thing.  Alas, not tonight.

[mattstermh]

In a blowout loss you are forced (if you have a brain) to really examine what your team did wrong and work on it in practice.  In a close game, it is easy to overlook the "minute" mistakes which may ultimately end up as truly catastrophic errors.

[LooseCannon]

Average margin of victory is better than past wins and losses in predicting future wins and losses, so a team with more close losses is probably going to do better in the future than a team with more overall wins because it takes down those close games but more blowout losses.

[lightspeed5]

close loss. reason: you count it as a potential win in your head, meaning they almost did everything right, instead of completely screwing over.

[BballTim]

I'd rather have KG play 23 minutes and lose by 30 than 38 and lose by 2. Moral victories don't count.

  This year, go with the blowout for this reason.

[scaryjerry]

losers mentality to rather get blown out, and really  tommy just letting the boys off the hook and making excuses for them...the year we won the championship the 16 games we did lose were all close...good sign  to compete hard and never get blown out even if you lose on a buzzer beater sorry

[SHAQATTACK]

how about they play hard and try to win...what is the point showing up to get blown out.  Then they should do this the last 30 games so we can get a lottery pick.

[Celtics4ever]

I hate losing either way.

[2short]

Veteran team - blow out loss, they get a rest, young guys who don't get court time play and the vets know it isn't a season ending loss, its a loss

young team-close game, they have to learn to fight every minute of a game, know the nba is about runs, learn to play good defense and rebound if shots aren't falling

[Fan from VT]

I'd rather lose close games because it means the team is better. Good teams  just don't get blown out very often.

[Employee8]

A loss is a loss is a loss.  We lost only 1 game last night, not 3 and I personally don't mind it, not at this stage of the season.

Each loss has its own different harmful effect on the fans and on the team.  I think last night, it didn't bother either one of us.  I kind of expected a loss but I was hoping that the starters wouldn't play much and that the bench players would play hard.  I wanted full effort and I think we got about 80% of it from them, which was rather discouraging.  They didn't get the 50/50 balls and passed up easy rebounds.  There were 4 Celtics in the paint for a defensive rebound and one lone sixer grabbed that offensive rebound.  That's a disappointing showing.

Last night, I saw Ray talking to Avery on the bench and it looked like he was giving him some pointers and that's the most valuable stuff that I can take away from last night, seeing the rookies and the youngins develop.

It wasn't a must win last night although it was good to see Doc blow up at the team.  Greg Dickerson was saying that he said "mental focus" at least 7 or 8 times during a timeout and that's all he wants from them.  Play hard, put all your best effort out there.  That's what I want out of a coach and that is what I want out of a team.

If we have to lose, then some days, I prefer close losses.  Some days I prefer blowout losses.  There are valuable lessons learned from each type of loss, which translates to more wins baby!