Alright, so drama drama, yeah, yeah, don't care.
In the end what we do on the court will sink us or elevate us. Will the drama determine what we do on court? Possibly. But in the end it does not matter in and of itself. DeMarcus Cousins could punch a hole in a coach's chest, pull out his still beating heart, and eat it...and if we ran off the next dozen games in a row, we're still going to the playoffs (not that I am suggesting this as an inspirational tactic). So this thread ain't about that stuff. This thread is about basketball.
Our situation:
2-7 record
33 Hm games remaining
39 Rd games remaining
1 neutral site game (Mexico City)
-- we burned through a lot of our home games in that wasted streak. On the other hand we burned through a lot of our games against the West contenders too.
Our likely competitors for #6-#8 (I am opening Memphis's slot up at this point, because they look decrepit);
Utah 4-4
Minnesota 4-4
Denver 4-4
Phoenix 4-4
Dallas 4-4
Portland 4-5
Memphis 3-6
Yes that's right, half the vaunted West is 4-4. In fact the mediocrity fest extends up to the supposed powers. Beyond the Warriors and Spurs, OKC is 5-3, the Clippers are 5-4, and Houston is 4-4. Nobody is running away.
Playoff seedings as of today:
#1 Warriors: 10-0
#2 Spurs 6-2
#3 Thunder 5-3
#4 Clippers 5-4
#5-#10 all 4-4
Kings: 2.5 GB, not just of the playoffs, but of the #5 seed. So let's put away the tissues about the 1-7 start. nobody has run away and hidden. Half the playoff bracket is suddenly available, and we've got 73 games to make up 2 1/2 games.
Upcoming games:
11/13 BKN (1-7)
11/15 TOR (6-3)
-- need these two, Toronto will present a challenge roughly at level of Detroit, put good defenders across from Boogie and Rudy, and try to win it against our weak backcourt, win and we're 4-7
11/18 @ATL (8-2)
11/19 @MIA (6-3)
11/21 @ORL (4-5)
11/22 @CHA (4-4)
11/23 @MIL (4-5)
-- a toughish East swing, still, a good team aims for 3-2 there to continue momentum, and we need to start acting the good team if we're going to be one. Must go at least 2-3 to keep the hole from deepining. Could be 7-9 or 6-10 after the trip at those numbers.
11/27 MIN (4-4)
11/28 @GSW (10-0)
11/30 DAL (4-4)
-- you concede the Warriors loss, but need to find a way to beat two of our main playoff comeptitors on our home floor. Boogie has to explain the pecking order to KAT, and Rondo prove something to DAL. If we do it right, go 2-1, and maybe we're 8-11 at the end of the month.
Future Speculation
December -- looking beyond that, if we were 8-11 by the end of November, a tough December schedule looks to me like we'd do well to be 14-16 by the end of December, still never having been .500 since after the Lakers game.
January -- ironically the schedule suggests our first shot at .500 could come against the Lakers on Jan 7, at which point we'd be 17-17. The next night we'd play the Warriors, probably go back to 17-18, then have enough winnable games from that point on to maybe finish the month 23-22 or some such.
That far out that's of course pure speculation -- the landscape could have changed, good teams gotten going, bad teams fallen back, injuries, trades, etc. Still, from where we sit now, it looks to be a 6 week slog back up to respectability, and then a dogfight from there on out to hold it together. I could see Boogie begin to go epic though once he finally gets the scent of playoffs in his nostrils. If that happens, we might make a real run.
In the end what we do on the court will sink us or elevate us. Will the drama determine what we do on court? Possibly. But in the end it does not matter in and of itself. DeMarcus Cousins could punch a hole in a coach's chest, pull out his still beating heart, and eat it...and if we ran off the next dozen games in a row, we're still going to the playoffs (not that I am suggesting this as an inspirational tactic). So this thread ain't about that stuff. This thread is about basketball.
Our situation:
2-7 record
33 Hm games remaining
39 Rd games remaining
1 neutral site game (Mexico City)
-- we burned through a lot of our home games in that wasted streak. On the other hand we burned through a lot of our games against the West contenders too.
Our likely competitors for #6-#8 (I am opening Memphis's slot up at this point, because they look decrepit);
Utah 4-4
Minnesota 4-4
Denver 4-4
Phoenix 4-4
Dallas 4-4
Portland 4-5
Memphis 3-6
Yes that's right, half the vaunted West is 4-4. In fact the mediocrity fest extends up to the supposed powers. Beyond the Warriors and Spurs, OKC is 5-3, the Clippers are 5-4, and Houston is 4-4. Nobody is running away.
Playoff seedings as of today:
#1 Warriors: 10-0
#2 Spurs 6-2
#3 Thunder 5-3
#4 Clippers 5-4
#5-#10 all 4-4
Kings: 2.5 GB, not just of the playoffs, but of the #5 seed. So let's put away the tissues about the 1-7 start. nobody has run away and hidden. Half the playoff bracket is suddenly available, and we've got 73 games to make up 2 1/2 games.
Upcoming games:
11/13 BKN (1-7)
11/15 TOR (6-3)
-- need these two, Toronto will present a challenge roughly at level of Detroit, put good defenders across from Boogie and Rudy, and try to win it against our weak backcourt, win and we're 4-7
11/18 @ATL (8-2)
11/19 @MIA (6-3)
11/21 @ORL (4-5)
11/22 @CHA (4-4)
11/23 @MIL (4-5)
-- a toughish East swing, still, a good team aims for 3-2 there to continue momentum, and we need to start acting the good team if we're going to be one. Must go at least 2-3 to keep the hole from deepining. Could be 7-9 or 6-10 after the trip at those numbers.
11/27 MIN (4-4)
11/28 @GSW (10-0)
11/30 DAL (4-4)
-- you concede the Warriors loss, but need to find a way to beat two of our main playoff comeptitors on our home floor. Boogie has to explain the pecking order to KAT, and Rondo prove something to DAL. If we do it right, go 2-1, and maybe we're 8-11 at the end of the month.
Future Speculation
December -- looking beyond that, if we were 8-11 by the end of November, a tough December schedule looks to me like we'd do well to be 14-16 by the end of December, still never having been .500 since after the Lakers game.
January -- ironically the schedule suggests our first shot at .500 could come against the Lakers on Jan 7, at which point we'd be 17-17. The next night we'd play the Warriors, probably go back to 17-18, then have enough winnable games from that point on to maybe finish the month 23-22 or some such.
That far out that's of course pure speculation -- the landscape could have changed, good teams gotten going, bad teams fallen back, injuries, trades, etc. Still, from where we sit now, it looks to be a 6 week slog back up to respectability, and then a dogfight from there on out to hold it together. I could see Boogie begin to go epic though once he finally gets the scent of playoffs in his nostrils. If that happens, we might make a real run.
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