KqWIN wrote:Inigo Montoya wrote:KqWIN wrote:That DEN series was on a razors edge. Both teams were missing players, it was played in a bubble, the game was lost on a last second shot that almost went...Come on now. I know Inigo loves misery, but of course that series could have ended up differently. Especially with different rosters this time around.
Of course it could have ended differently, but it also could have ended with a DEN win anyways. Yes, the game was played in a bubble, but both teams were subjected to this so I don't think it really matters--this particular point is a wash (in fact, it may have benefited the Jazz because the Nuggets would have had home-court advantage in regular circumstances). The thing is, that even if we did manage to go past DEN, we'd still have to face the Clippers, so we'd still be unlikely to move on.
We were an 8 second violation from sweeping the team the beat the Clippers. My point is, it was unlikely that we beat the Nuggets. It also wasn't unlikely that we beat the Clippers. These series are so damn close, the assertion that we couldn't have won or that it was unlikely is unreasonable.
It would be the equivalent of saying, "I don't know how DEN can beat us" had Conley's shot rimmed in. That would be ridiculous.
Not saying we couldn't but I am saying unlikely, which I don't think is unreasonable. We weren't favorites to beat the Clippers had we matched up with them, which essentially means that beating them in a series is more unlikely than it is likely. That's what being favorites and underdogs mean (unless, you're saying we would have been favorites to win a series vs the Clippers?).
I also don't really agree with the framing of being the team that was 8 seconds away from beating the team that beat the Clippers. While it's technically true, it really doesn't mean much. It's like saying (I'm making this up, just to illustrate) that the 19-win Cavs beat us and we beat the Lakers, so the Cavs could beat the Lakers (not the perfect analogy, I know). Fact is, it comes down to matchups and the Nuggets were a better matchup vs the Clippers than we would have been. They were more equipped to deal with Leonard and PG13. Just because we almost beat the Nuggets doesn't mean we would have beat the Clippers--it's a different matchup. Would it have been impossible? No. But it would have been unlikely. I don't think we would have made it a 7-game series either.