Next 10 games are brutal

[dviss1]

Milwaukee? They have a .200 winning %

I see one game where we shouldn't be favored. If we go 6-4 that would be a fail

1.) Milwaukee on the road (we should beat them easily)
2.) Chicago at home (should beat them)
3.) golden state on the road (b2b) (should not beat them)
4.) New York at home (should easily beat them)
5.) Phoenix on the road (should beat them..they came back to earth)
6.) Lakers on the road (should beat them, unless Kobe is back)
7.) Indiana at home (b2b) (tough game, we are at home and should win)
8.) OKC at home (see above)
9.) Utah at home (should kill them)
10.) Dallas at home (b2b) (should kill them)

People acting like MM is optimistic aren't reading between the lines. If we go 6-4 in this trip there would be no shame in that at all.

CHI, OKC, GSW, & IND are all teams that if we lose to we should not be ashamed that we lost to them. Saying that we should is not homerism at all. It's more negative Nancy stuff...

 

[e_blazer]

6-4 is 60%. 60% for the season is 49 wins.

True overall, but after a 9-2 start, winning 60% of our remaining games would result in 51 or 52 wins.

 

[Mediocre Man]

People acting like MM is optimistic aren't reading between the lines. If we go 6-4 in this trip there would be no shame in that at all.

CHI, OKC, GSW, & IND are all teams that if we lose to we should not be ashamed that we lost to them. Saying that we should is not homerism at all. It's more negative Nancy stuff...

No it isn't.

Portland has a better record than all but 1 of those teams, and almost all of the hard games on that schedule are at home. There is no reason to think that if we go 6-4 it is acceptable.

 

[Strenuus]

Record doesn't depict all, however.

GS on a back to back after a tough game against Chicago is going to be extremely tough.

If we go strictly by record, we'd be of the same journalistic integrity as ESPN. There's more to it than just a record, IMO.

 

[HailBlazers]

That's one thing I love about Stotts. He stays with the hot hand. Something Nate never grasped. And that only gives players more incentive to play hard, especially the bench players.

Yes! I'm so glad T-Rob is getting some burn. It's really awesome to see him work through his errors to make an outstanding play here and there.

 

[Boob-No-More]

People acting like MM is optimistic aren't reading between the lines. If we go 6-4 in this trip there would be no shame in that at all.

CHI, OKC, GSW, & IND are all teams that if we lose to we should not be ashamed that we lost to them. Saying that we should is not homerism at all. It's more negative Nancy stuff...

Yep, he's deliberately setting himself up for disappointment. Anything less than 9-1 will be a failure by the team, he'll be disappointed and we'll hear about it.

I agree, ANY win over CHI, OKC, GSW and IND would be a BIG win. Those are 4 of the top teams in the league and all are playing very well right now. CHI got off to the slow start, but they have won 5 in a row and absolutely dominated IND over the weekend.

Given the quality of the competition, and the number of b2bs, I'd be happy with 6-4, and ecstatic with 7-3. Seriously, it's one of our tougher 10-game stretches and if we can win 60% - 70% of those games, it bodes well for the rest of the season. 6-4 would make us 15-6 after 21 games. That's on pace to win 59 games - something this franchise has only done 3 times in 43 years. How could anyone not be happy with that start?

BNM

 

[Strenuus]

@ BNM - It's a clever way to be a Negative Nancy for him, though. Gotta give him credit. Be OVERLY optimistic, and still say they did bad with the (expected) result.

Well done. lol.

 

[Mediocre Man]

You people are ridiculous. Being happy with 6-4 is unacceptable for a team with the 3rd best record in the league. Our schedule has been cake so far, but the record is still the record. It is a better record than all teams except Indiana.

 

[Strenuus]

Yep, he's deliberately setting himself up for disappointment. Anything less than 9-1 will be a failure by the team, he'll be disappointed and we'll hear about it.

I agree, ANY win over CHI, OKC, GSW and IND would be a BIG win. Those are 4 of the top teams in the league and all are playing very well right now. CHI got off to the slow start, but they have won 5 in a row and absolutely dominated IND over the weekend.

Given the quality of the competition, and the number of b2bs, I'd be happy with 6-4, and ecstatic with 7-3. Seriously, it's one of our tougher 10-game stretches and if we can win 60% - 70% of those games, it bodes well for the rest of the season. 6-4 would make us 15-6 after 21 games. That's on pace to win 59 games - something this franchise has only done 3 times in 43 years. How could anyone not be happy with that start?

BNM

Pretty much what I'm saying. 6-4 is good (and expected) 7-3 has got my ears perked!

 

[Mediocre Man]

@ BNM - It's a clever way to be a Negative Nancy for him, though. Gotta give him credit. Be OVERLY optimistic, and still say they did bad with the (expected) result.

Well done. lol.

How is anything I have said being overly optimistic?

 

[Strenuus]

You people are ridiculous. Being happy with 6-4 is unacceptable for a team with the 3rd best record in the league. Our schedule has been cake so far, but the record is still the record. It is a better record than all teams except Indiana.

lol. It's a clever way to do it, so I applaud at your innovation.

But it doesn't take a way the fact that we're going up against much better teams - and to expect a fair return. 6-4 is more than acceptable.

Record is only one variable. There are a ton more. Schedule, injuries, how well the other team has been playing (like Chicago, who beat Indiana). etc. Etc.

We are taking all variables into account. It's cool, you should try it.

 

[Strenuus]

How is anything I have said being overly optimistic?

9-1 is overly optimistic. lol. Even MAGS isn't saying that.

 

[Mediocre Man]

9-1 is overly optimistic. lol. Even MAGS isn't saying that.

I never said 9-1. I said Indiana is the only team we are playing with a better record.

6-4 is more than acceptable? So you would be happy with 5-5?

 

[Strenuus]

I never said 9-1. I said Indiana is the only team we are playing with a better record.

6-4 is more than acceptable? So you would be happy with 5-5?

If you read MY prediction, I said 7-3. So. Um. There you go.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

10-0 A+
9-1 A
8-2 A-
7-3 B+
6-4 C
5-5 D
4-6 or worse F

 

[Strenuus]

I never said 9-1. I said Indiana is the only team we are playing with a better record.

6-4 is more than acceptable? So you would be happy with 5-5?

And again, record isn't everything. It's how they have been playing lately. Chicago has a damn good chance at beating us. GS probably will. More than record, it's matchups and recent play.

 

[Boise Blazer]

Speaking only for myself here, I was never saying that I was happy with 6-4 but knowing that would put us over 50 wins for the season makes me optimistic that if we can get OVER 50 wins while performing UNDER expectations (6-4) then thats a great feeling.

 

[dviss1]

Record doesn't depict all, however.

GS on a back to back after a tough game against Chicago is going to be extremely tough.

If we go strictly by record, we'd be of the same journalistic integrity as ESPN. There's more to it than just a record, IMO.

You also have to understand that it was MM who was saying that our GOOD record doesn't matter and that it doesn't make him believe more. Now he's using it to say how well we should do.... You should be a Republican Politician MM.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

I look at it in a weird way: If we go .500 the rest of the way we win 44.5 games this season. I think we'll go better than .500. But, I agree that a 50-win season would be great.

Speaking only for myself here, I was never saying that I was happy with 6-4 but knowing that would put us over 50 wins for the season makes me optimistic that if we can get OVER 50 wins while performing UNDER expectations (6-4) then thats a great feeling.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

I never said 9-1. I said Indiana is the only team we are playing with a better record.

6-4 is more than acceptable? So you would be happy with 5-5?

Just to pipe in: teams go through hot and cold stretches, easy and hard stretches. Going 5-5 would still leave us at 14-7. If you'd told me in July we'd be 14-7 after 1/4 of the season, I'd be very happy. We were 9-12 last season.

By comparison, we were 15-6 in 1989-90 (with a 7-game winning streak in there), and 16-5 in 1999-00 (with a 6-game winning streak).

If we go 7-3 in the next ten, we are for real. If we go 6-4, we're probably for real. 5-5? We're in the mix, which is a damn sight better than last year.

I'm just here to have fun though.

 

[dviss1]

@ BNM - It's a clever way to be a Negative Nancy for him, though. Gotta give him credit. Be OVERLY optimistic, and still say they did bad with the (expected) result.

Well done. lol.

It's not well done though. I've seen it before. Inflate your "expectations" only to bitch about being right about not being a believer yet...

It's shameful really...

 

[SlyPokerDog]

10-0!

 

[BlazerCaravan]

It's not well done though. I've seen it before. Inflate your "expectations" only to bitch about being right about not being a believer yet...

It's shameful really...

It's frustrating that people increase their expectations such that the team can never exceed them. Not allowing one's self to be delighted so they can claim intellectual superiority over their emotions is kind of sad. But it takes all kinds.

 

[Mediocre Man]

And again, record isn't everything. It's how they have been playing lately. Chicago has a damn good chance at beating us. GS probably will. More than record, it's matchups and recent play.

Why does Chicago have a damn good chance at beating us? Because they have won 5 straight? Guess what, we have won 7 straight and Chicago is 1-3 on the road this season. It's not like they have dominated us 58-54 all time.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

No it isn't.

Portland has a better record than all but 1 of those teams, and almost all of the hard games on that schedule are at home. There is no reason to think that if we go 6-4 it is acceptable.

So you predict 9-1, putting the blazers at 18-3

Wanna bet?

 

[dviss1]

It's frustrating that people increase their expectations such that the team can never exceed them. Not allowing one's self to be delighted so they can claim intellectual superiority over their emotions is kind of sad. But it takes all kinds.

But that's the thing.. the "Increase of expectations" isn't really happening. It's fake. It is only being said so later if the team goes 6-4 (which again would put us on pace for 50 wins) MM can find something to be negative about. It's premeditation like this that just makes you feel weird about some people.

Yes I said it MM. That whole schtick is just weird to me...

 

[SlyPokerDog]

We will beat a team most of think we'll lose to and lose to a team most of you think we should beat. It's how it works.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

So you predict 9-1, putting the blazers at 18-3

Wanna bet?

there's what you think will happen, and what you won't be disappointed with... I think MM is setting his bar for the latter at 9-1, but we haven't heard what his prediction is.

 

[Mediocre Man]

So you predict 9-1, putting the blazers at 18-3

Wanna bet?

How in the hell did you get that from anything I have said?

 

[Mediocre Man]

there's what you think will happen, and what you won't be disappointed with... I think MM is setting his bar for the latter at 9-1, but we haven't heard what his prediction is.

I didn't give a prediction, but I did say earlier what I thought was and was not a tough game.