Epicurus wrote:BlazersBroncos wrote:The Blazers will lose all those games. The Moda Center will be destroyed by a large meteor. Portland will be overrun by Polar bears and penguins. The Pacific Ocean bordering Oregon will dissolve into sand dunes. I mean if doomsday predictions are an indicator of sophistication, then why not go all out.
Its not a doomsday prediction to say this team pretty much sucks and will likely be cemented out of the playoffs after these next dozen games. Its a reasonable one.
Also your doomsday machinations sound trippy as hell. Sign me up.
The difference between NBA teams is marginal. Just about every team stat shows the difference between the median team and top team is not very great and that between the bottom team and the median team is also not very great. Besides which, and shouldn't need to be mentioned this season to any Blazer fan, health in game matters. Ignoring factors is not that reasonable, in my view. Even suckitude is conditioned by comparative health and even who bring what that night. I guess that is why the games are played.
The only team stat that actually counts toward anything in the end is W/L record. And right now the difference in percentage in the West is 21% vs. 79% (10/36 vs. 35/9). That's about as un-marginal a difference as you can get.
Is relative health a factor? Of course. It's the reason why pre-season predictions are just about useless and relative health is one of the main factors in determining the NBA champion.
This next stretch of games is going to codify the season. IMO, either the Blazers find a way to win a few that they shouldn't or they lose big time and kiss any question of the POs goodbye.
I see no reason to believe the team can go say, 2-9 over the next 11 games and then suddenly turn that around and win 20 of the next 24..."easy" schedule, CJ/Nurkic back or no.