To fail is to come up short of expectations. To have success is to meet or exceed expectations. Expectations are variable, but I believe expectations for a team to progress from being a lotto team to winning a 1st round series without HCA, seems more than just a little unreasonable.
But I think some fans had extremely low expectations going into the season. I don't know how anyone could have thought we'd miss the playoffs. When I made my prediction, I looked at our exceptional starting five, the fact that we almost made the playoffs last year with zero bench, and the addition of some nice pieces for our second unit. That's why I figured 5th or 6th and around 50ish wins, but the team exceeded my expectations earlier in the season. I didn't think we'd be that good, that fast, so our mini collapse was a little disappointing.
In the spirit of trying to be realistic in my expectations, I'm not very optimistic about our chances in the playoffs because of three factors:
1) We are still a young team. I'm hoping that Mo, Dorell, and LA can impart wisdom and get the team ready for the intensity of playoff basketball.
2) We most likely won't have HCA. This can make all the difference in a series against a difficult opponent.
3) We're probably going to play against Houston, which means we're going against an opponent that we have not played well against this season.
Those three factors have me worried, but I'm also trying to be optimistic because we've never seen Dame in the playoffs and the dude always plays well when the stakes are high. I'm also expecting Mo to step up his game for the post season. I'm hoping that we see our guys at the very best, because that's what we'll need to get out of the first round. No coasting, no mailing it in, and certainly no taking a team for granted.