Is moodiness working in our favor?

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Throughout the year, we lost a bunch of games we should probably have won, largely because of a lack of effort.

This, understandably, led to a lot of questions about our team's attitude, mentality, and consistenscy.

In other words, the big questions about our team weren't REALLY about whether we had the talent to content, but whether we had the mental makeup to contend. And for the most part, the answer seemed to be "no."

A lot of the explanation for that from the regular reporters seemed to point to the lack of team chemistry and mental resilience, and frankly, watching the regular season, that seemed pretty accurate.

Finch himself seemed unsure where or not the team could flip a switch.

But so far, it seems like we have (knock on wood). Given our injuries, we're outperforming expectations so far.

Why?

I wonder if it isn't the exact thing that we thought was a weakness.

This team is moody, whiny, and emotional. And that was a real weakness during the season. We complained to refs, seemed annoyed with each other, seemed to be depressed by losses, etc.

But once we got a couple wins in the playoffs under our belt, and especially when Dante and Ant went down, it was like this team just completely transformed. The emotional nature of the team that had previously given in to hopelessness all of a sudden switched completely to determination and drive.

This was especially the case with the Donte injury. I honestly think, as much as losing him hurts us, it actually has helped us even more by giving our otherwise emotionally divided team something to rally around. Instead of complaining to refs, it was like our emotional focus all of a sudden woke the fuck up and realized this is it. Donte is out. He might never play for us again. The Ant injury amplified this. It was like guys all of a sudden switched their moodiness from selfish pettiness into a kind of intense determination. Like they realized this might be one of our best chances to really make a run. Rudy has kind of always played like this, but he's stepped it up, and everyone else has as well.

Let's hope they can keep this ball rolling, because the road will get tougher and we will need to maintain our mental resilience if we really want to be a contender.

Let's do this! Let's keep turning our emotional moodiness from a weakness into a strength and keep the ball rolling!

[Carlos Danger]

Not one single person responded to your thread. That's bullshit. I'll help you out.

Here's my take:

1.) We all wanted home court advantage in the playoffs. Well guess what? We have that now. It's a best of five series and we have Home Court advantage. #winning

2.) As far as the last game...I don't know what's better or worse, losing a close game or losing big. In the end, they both are losses - so my thought is does it really matter? We got what we wanted...to split in San Antonio is a "win".

3.) This team continues to be inconsistent game to game. They are not dominating. But they can dominate sometimes. Maybe we are still that one catalyst player away. Or maybe they will finally reach down deep and give max effort for the rest of this playoff run. We shall find out soon.

[FNG]

Not one single person responded to your thread. That's bullshit. I'll help you out.

Here's my take:

1.) We all wanted home court advantage in the playoffs. Well guess what? We have that now. It's a best of five series and we have Home Court advantage. #winning

2.) As far as the last game...I don't know what's better or worse, losing a close game or losing big. In the end, they both are losses - so my thought is does it really matter? We got what we wanted...to split in San Antonio is a "win".

3.) This team continues to be inconsistent game to game. They are not dominating. But they can dominate sometimes. Maybe we are still that one catalyst player away. Or maybe they will finally reach down deep and give max effort for the rest of this playoff run. We shall find out soon.

I'll answer your question 2, Anthony. With what I know about the psyche of this team, absent a win, getting blown out in Game 2 was the best thing that could have happened to us. If we had lost a close game, I think we would have come back home feeling cocky at 1-1...and we know how this team plays when they are overconfident. But there's no way our guys can think they are the superior team after Wednesday night. They have to know they need to bring their A game to beat one of the two best teams in the Association. That plus a loud, liquored up Saturday night crowd gives us a chance to win critical game 3.

[Q-is-here]

Not one single person responded to your thread. That's bullshit. I'll help you out.

Here's my take:

1.) We all wanted home court advantage in the playoffs. Well guess what? We have that now. It's a best of five series and we have Home Court advantage. #winning

2.) As far as the last game...I don't know what's better or worse, losing a close game or losing big. In the end, they both are losses - so my thought is does it really matter? We got what we wanted...to split in San Antonio is a "win".

3.) This team continues to be inconsistent game to game. They are not dominating. But they can dominate sometimes. Maybe we are still that one catalyst player away. Or maybe they will finally reach down deep and give max effort for the rest of this playoff run. We shall find out soon.

I just felt like we were overwhelmed by talent, youth, and good health on Wednesday. Our effort was there, but once the shots weren't falling it was nighty night.

[mjs34]

Not one single person responded to your thread. That's bullshit. I'll help you out.

Here's my take:

1.) We all wanted home court advantage in the playoffs. Well guess what? We have that now. It's a best of five series and we have Home Court advantage. #winning

2.) As far as the last game...I don't know what's better or worse, losing a close game or losing big. In the end, they both are losses - so my thought is does it really matter? We got what we wanted...to split in San Antonio is a "win".

3.) This team continues to be inconsistent game to game. They are not dominating. But they can dominate sometimes. Maybe we are still that one catalyst player away. Or maybe they will finally reach down deep and give max effort for the rest of this playoff run. We shall find out soon.

I'll answer your question 2, Anthony. With what I know about the psyche of this team, absent a win, getting blown out in Game 2 was the best thing that could have happened to us. If we had lost a close game, I think we would have come back home feeling cocky at 1-1...and we know how this team plays when they are overconfident. But there's no way our guys can think they are the superior team after Wednesday night. They have to know they need to bring their A game to beat one of the two best teams in the Association. That plus a loud, liquored up Saturday night crowd gives us a chance to win critical game 3.

Drew, with regard to #3, I think the inconsistency is less about effort and simply about our perimeter shooting. Our offense stagnates whether Ant is playing or not when we can't make shots. It pushes Ant and Randle into more isolation because we aren't getting results moving the ball around the perimeter. I think if we had more back cutting and screens we could overcome some of that.

In the Denver series w/o Ant we saw Finch calling more plays from the sideline, and that really seemed to help. I think we need to see more of that, or we need a completely different offense.

FNG, I don't think the "loud, liquored up Saturday night crowd" is going to have much effect with the game being played on Friday night!

[Wolvesfan21]

SOND summed it up perfectly well.

The thing for me too is, that it's really hard for me to 100% be all in rooting for us. For me it's not a likable trait to half ass games. In fact it's the exact opposite. I even prefer to see the underdog less talented team outperform who plays at peak capacity, versus the talented capable loser who just shows up after getting their asses whooped. It just bothers me to watch a professional or really any competitor not playing close to their max effort (that I root for).

So bottom line is I still obviously want them to win, but it's tough for me to be 100% all in with this team. Their effort sort of corresponds to how much I care. They don't care, why should I?

[FNG]

Not one single person responded to your thread. That's bullshit. I'll help you out.

Here's my take:

1.) We all wanted home court advantage in the playoffs. Well guess what? We have that now. It's a best of five series and we have Home Court advantage. #winning

2.) As far as the last game...I don't know what's better or worse, losing a close game or losing big. In the end, they both are losses - so my thought is does it really matter? We got what we wanted...to split in San Antonio is a "win".

3.) This team continues to be inconsistent game to game. They are not dominating. But they can dominate sometimes. Maybe we are still that one catalyst player away. Or maybe they will finally reach down deep and give max effort for the rest of this playoff run. We shall find out soon.

I'll answer your question 2, Anthony. With what I know about the psyche of this team, absent a win, getting blown out in Game 2 was the best thing that could have happened to us. If we had lost a close game, I think we would have come back home feeling cocky at 1-1...and we know how this team plays when they are overconfident. But there's no way our guys can think they are the superior team after Wednesday night. They have to know they need to bring their A game to beat one of the two best teams in the Association. That plus a loud, liquored up Saturday night crowd gives us a chance to win critical game 3.

Drew, with regard to #3, I think the inconsistency is less about effort and simply about our perimeter shooting. Our offense stagnates whether Ant is playing or not when we can't make shots. It pushes Ant and Randle into more isolation because we aren't getting results moving the ball around the perimeter. I think if we had more back cutting and screens we could overcome some of that.

In the Denver series w/o Ant we saw Finch calling more plays from the sideline, and that really seemed to help. I think we need to see more of that, or we need a completely different offense.

FNG, I don't think the "loud, liquored up Saturday night crowd" is going to have much effect with the game being played on Friday night!

Hahaha, very true!