The Optimistic Thread! (TRD's FREEDOM THREAD!)

V1n5anity wrote:

Weezy wrote:That was a fantastic team win against a good team. With no Dwight or MWP (half our defense) every player that stepped on the court needed to step up, and pretty much every single one did. Kobe, Pau, Nash, Clark, Jamison, Blake, Meeks, all contributed, played defense, hit some big shots. Hell even Sacre had a few good minutes. Proud of this team tonight, something I haven't been able to say a lot this season. We blew a lead, but it was only 12 points, we were on the road, we played defense and deserved to win the end so I'm proud of this win.

Kobe played defense?

He did, actually quite well. He rotated pretty well (granted, he left Wallace open for jumpshots, but it worked, he only made 1 jumper all game long), he got like 4 steals, he boxed out..

V1n5anity wrote:

Weezy wrote:That was a fantastic team win against a good team. With no Dwight or MWP (half our defense) every player that stepped on the court needed to step up, and pretty much every single one did. Kobe, Pau, Nash, Clark, Jamison, Blake, Meeks, all contributed, played defense, hit some big shots. Hell even Sacre had a few good minutes. Proud of this team tonight, something I haven't been able to say a lot this season. We blew a lead, but it was only 12 points, we were on the road, we played defense and deserved to win the end so I'm proud of this win.

Kobe played defense?

Yeah, he did, he kept doubling the guy with the ball, giving good help, got some steals, deflections. His other defense was to let Wallace take open 3's, of which he made like one. He also had 8 rebounds, which is a part of defense. Really though my point was that the TEAM played defense, not sure why you felt the need to single out that one line of my post.

so i was watching the chook team highlights and one thing that i really liked seeing was the team showing some ferocity and attitude. particularly on that late clark jumpshot after he got set up beautifully by nash. yea the game was close, but everyone seemed genuinely invested the whole game. antawn was fired up, earl was fired up, kobe was intensely tuned into what was happening. it's not even cockiness or bravado, it's passion. passion for the team...and that was refreshing to see. it seems like guys are believing in what they can do both individually and collectively, even when key players are missing (dwight, metta, pau).

rooting for the team to go 56 - 26

lakersyunowin wrote:so i was watching the chook team highlights and one thing that i really liked seeing was the team showing some ferocity and attitude. particularly on that late clark jumpshot after he got set up beautifully by nash. yea the game was close, but everyone seemed genuinely invested the whole game. antawn was fired up, earl was fired up, kobe was intensely tuned into what was happening. it's not even cockiness or bravado, it's passion. passion for the team...and that was refreshing to see. it seems like guys are believing in what they can do both individually and collectively, even when key players are missing (dwight, metta, pau).

Agreed to the millionth degree.

I've been hoping for this for so long. If they lost that game, I'd say "hey alright they just weren't as good" because they tried their ***es off for that game. What I couldn't stand watching was the team that just didn't have the fire, the passion, and the energy to play basketball night in and night out. That was unacceptable.

We saw legends like Nash and Gasol and Dwight Howard playing almost at half speed. That's something I never wanted to see and never want to see again...

Now we're seeing what a motivated Nash looks like. We're seeing a new side of Kobe. Our bench production is escalating because we're seeing not only effort but efficiency and heart.

This is Laker basketball.

I think I heard someone say that the Nets were 17-0 vs teams with losing records. If that is correct, we broke their streak

Optimistic side of these devastating injuries:

The players left will be playing with a chip on their shoulder, as they probably are aware that most people are counting them out now. Our chemistry and camaraderie will continue to grow, and if we continue to win at this pace this confidence and momentum will carry into the post season (if we make it) and will put us in position for a deep playoff run once pau and howard get back (if they do at all).

This team will play inspired ball until Dwight returns and he can hold us down until Pau returns. The all star break gives us about a week of "free time" for Pau to recover.

DanielBeltz24 wrote:This team will play inspired ball until Dwight returns and he can hold us down until Pau returns. The all star break gives us about a week of "free time" for Pau to recover.

free week or not, Pau is going to be out a lot longer so that all-star break won't really help Pau.

My optimism for the day:

7. Utah 28-22 11 games back
8. Houston 27-24 12.5 games back
9. Portland 25-24 13.5 games back
10. Lakers 23-26 15.5 games back

We're only 2 games back from Portland and 3 games back from Houston. We need to win tonight and keep making up ground, but we're not out of the race yet.

Hopefully Houston has no more 23 3PT games.

Don't know how we're going to handle this Pau thing. If Dwight can come back, like tonight. And stay healthy I'm optimistic.

Let's keep up this 3-1 thing!

See me tomorrow for Optimism... Tonight, a loss to THOSE guys hurts my soul.

There's always next year!!

We are still on a decent pace to make the playoffs.

Really, I feel the team could not have played worse, and at their worst. . . I might be able to deal with this once every 4-5 games. This low isn't quite as low as the lows earlier in the season, and this one is at least a bit understandable.

OK I am back..........

Charles Barkley said we have ZERO chance of making the playoffs... Yes I am now more optimistic than ever.

i'm still a bit shell-shocked by tonight's game. hopefully the win will be cathartic and they will put that mess in boston and all that drama behind them. whatever issues that might remain, they might just have to treat each game as business. leave the personal stuff at home. a win in miami would do wonders for this team's spirit and playoff chances.

We're now 7-2 in our last 9 right? I think we went 6-2...

If that's true, that's the only way we're going to make it back to the playoff race.

puffyusaf#2 wrote:OK I am back..........

Charles Barkley said we have ZERO chance of making the playoffs... Yes I am now more optimistic than ever.

We all know there's a Charles Barkley Kiss of Death®, but he appears to have the opposite effect on the teams/players he belittles as well (Kobe will never score 30 a game consistently anymore).

Beaten CHA 2 straight times when having a 18+ deficit against them. Monkey officially off back against this team.

First 8th seed to win an NBA championship? That would be cool as hell

I won't see the game tomorrow until I get home from duty. I am calling the Lakers win by 11. Optimism inserted

We'll only lose by 30 tomorrow instead of 40!

I looked at the remaining schedule. If this team continues to play like they have been lately, I count enough wins to get to 43. But that is provided we take care of business against certain teams. This year, I thought there were numerous games I counted as wins going in where they lost.

I only saw one game where I thought it was a sure loss and we won. That was OKC at home. So it stands to reason the games I counted as sure losses will likely end up a loss, but some of the games I counted as wins could end up a loss. Basically the way I see it, best case scenario is 43-39. Would that be enough to get to the playoffs?

One thing that would be encouraging is this road trip. Aside from the bad 4th quarter in Phoenix, they're taking care of business against the lesser teams. That wasn't the case a month ago. The only scenario I could see us getting in is if we continue that against the lesser teams.

I doubt we'll beat the Clippers, OKC or Spurs in any of the games this year, home or away. Miami today is likely a loss. The road game in Denver is most likely a loss.

If we can take some of what I consider toss up games, we can make a move. Those would be home games against Boston, Chicago and Memphis. We couldn't beat them on the road, but there is a 50/50 chance at home, IMO.

Other toss ups are road games with the Warriors, Blazers and Jazz. The Warriors have a better record, but I believe we match up OK with them. Blazers are all over the map. Sometimes good, sometimes horrible. There's nothing about the Jazz that makes them too tough to handle.

So basically, take care of business against the middle of the road and lesser teams and win some of the toss ups and we're in. Maybe even with 45 or more wins. But that is a tall order. We haven't done that with any consistency this season. And the injuries are a real problem.