mhectorgato wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
I'm not quite as sure as the first round as you are, but am not too far behind.
I think we've made strides this season in focus, part maturity and part SVG. But we've still had too many mental lapses for me to feel it's a lock.
For instance that 2nd half of the GSW game. The way they came out after half had a playoff feel to it. They stepped up their intensity, and we looked lackadaisical out there in comparison. We made far too many lazy passes, watched missed rebounds bounce away. Whereas they were diving for loose balls, they were fighting for virtually every rebound and they were poking and swiping continually on defense.
Had we stepped up our game to match their intensity, I'd be a lot closer to you in this feeling.
While I agree with you on our occasional mental lapses, I do have to take the team we played into consideration without it coming across as an excuse. Warriors are a great team and the fact that we out played them in the first half was DH had dominated completly and Barron had not turned on the after burners.
We both know a regular season game is much different than playoff game. Now that been said, none of the teams we match up will have the maturity of GSW. I think our players just cant wait for the playoffs to start. This year our guys really want this and it shows.