It's painful to watch a close analysis of a heartbreak, but the Thinking Basketball guy is really good and maybe this can hold some lessons for how to cope with Dallas in the next one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5stStUZt80
I've said it before, but again, with two really close losses, even though the games didn't feel good, we are like, two made 3 pointers and 1 FT or one different officiating call away from being up 2-0. That's really basically nothing. Almost chance, really. And if that were the case, the entire narrative about this series would be completely different.
JVG (who I really miss, by the way) used to point out this idea when he'd highlight how, in games with a last-second shot to win, when the ball is in the air, depending on what happens, the whole narrative of how the media would respond was up in the air too--ball goes in, good coach! ball misses, bad coach! JVG's point is that how we talk about games is often a huge exaggeration of the reality, and overlooks the significance of the element of chance and contingency. People are talking about us like we're cooked, and I don't think that's the case. That said, if we'd have won both, we know pundits would be predicting the series was over for us too. Both interpretations are/would be big exaggerations from a messy, close reality.
This is not to say that we've played great. We haven't. We've made plenty of mistakes. But we've also done some things well too. We can't get too down on ourselves. There's no choice but to fight to the end, and who knows how it will go. But reviewing what has worked and what hasn't should help the team adjust. Let's hope they've got an answer tonight and play better.