Friday night's game against Memphis is ridiculously huge

[TAFKASP]

I still think Phoenix and Dallas will be replaced with Memphis and Minnesota. I know the Suns haven't fallen like we all thought they would, but at some point, the level of talent has to catch up with them right? They're not even playing with Bledsoe right now! Son of a bitch, man!

We're over half way through the season, the flukes have been exposed by this point. The Suns are a legitimate playoff team that has beaten legitimate playoff teams.

The same view should be applied to the Wolves, they've played over half their schedule, what have you seen that makes you think that they aren't exactly what we've seen of them so far? The single factor that is keeping them from being a 4-8 seed is they have absolutely zero ability to make a defensive stop at the end of close games, and they damn sure don't have the ability to make numerous defensive stops.

We have more reason to believe the Suns will keep on doing what they've been doing right than we have that the Wolves will be able to change what they've been doing wrong.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

SP you must have a short term memory, because while our defense has definitely hurt us, we have found many other ways to lose close games: Kevin Love forgot how to shoot free throws, K-Mart forgot how to dribble, a ref forgot how to blow his whistle, Kevin Durant became in-human, and Gerald Green chucked in a tough fade-away from the corner. Not to mention several stupid Ricky Rubio turnovers and Pek missed shots to win games.

We could and SHOULD easily be 3 to 5 games better than we are right now which would put us right in the Phoenix/Golden State mix.

Off to the game--lets pull this one out!!!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Hope it's live in there tonight! Our guys could use the energy. Turiaf can't create it all on his own no matter how hard he tries lol.

[TAFKASP]

SP you must have a short term memory, because while our defense has definitely hurt us, we have found many other ways to lose close games: Kevin Love forgot how to shoot free throws, K-Mart forgot how to dribble, a ref forgot how to blow his whistle, Kevin Durant became in-human, and Gerald Green chucked in a tough fade-away from the corner. Not to mention several stupid Ricky Rubio turnovers and Pek missed shots to win games.

We could and SHOULD easily be 3 to 5 games better than we are right now which would put us right in the Phoenix/Golden State mix.

Off to the game--lets pull this one out!!!

Everything that you listed could be offset by an average defense, and everything you listed will happen from time to time. You're gonna have a bad call go against you, Durant or James are going to score a thousand points, you're going to fumble a ball, but if you play decent, average defense you don't go 1-11 in those games. Watching this team play 4th quarter defense makes it look like the hoop on their end is four feet wide, and every Wolves player looks a full foot shorter than they do in quarters 1-3. Any team that has to rely on being perfect on the offensive end, or refs not making mistakes, or superstars playing like Wes 'Smiles' Johnson to win consistently will never win consistently.

I don't mean to be a downer, but this team is exactly what it is 40+ games into the season. Barring a trade or an existing player that suddenly becomes far more effective than they've ever been in their career its going to be a real stretch to make the playoffs. And if they do, its not going to be pretty.

[60WinTim]

Actually, SP, if the Wolves make the playoffs, it means they will be playing at a very high level from here on out, which means the playoffs could be quite pretty!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Actually, SP, if the Wolves make the playoffs, it means they will be playing at a very high level from here on out, which means the playoffs could be quite pretty!

Especially if we catch someone like Portland in the first round and then Golden State in the next. Just saying they'd both be winnable series. Hmmm. Let's focus on Memphis first. Lol

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

SP you must have a short term memory, because while our defense has definitely hurt us, we have found many other ways to lose close games: Kevin Love forgot how to shoot free throws, K-Mart forgot how to dribble, a ref forgot how to blow his whistle, Kevin Durant became in-human, and Gerald Green chucked in a tough fade-away from the corner. Not to mention several stupid Ricky Rubio turnovers and Pek missed shots to win games.

We could and SHOULD easily be 3 to 5 games better than we are right now which would put us right in the Phoenix/Golden State mix.

Off to the game--lets pull this one out!!!

Mstermisty, That's what is so frustrating about this. We all try to put a finger on the cause of all these close losses - tonight folks legitimately point the finger at Adelman for benching Rubio (and none of us really knows if that cost us the game or not, but it certainly seems questionable to bench your starting PG that piloted the 3rd quarter comeback). But the fact is we've invented a bunch of different ways to lose the close ones and some of it is also just bad luck.

(color me pulling what hair I have left out....)