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

therealdeal wrote:Yeah that game wasn't as bad as it could have been. Even when we went down by 18 and could have folded, we came back and cut it to single digits.

We just ran out of gas. Kobe hinted as much and it was fairly obvious. I'll chalk this one up to a stupid schedule.

On Thursday we need to come out and dominate the Wolves.

Two days rest would help the senior citizens on the squad...

lets show show some Eastern conf. love tonight....go Bucks, Hawks, Knicks!

khmrP wrote:lets show show some Eastern conf. love tonight....go Bucks, Hawks, Knicks!

OMG...

dj vitus wrote:

khmrP wrote:lets show show some Eastern conf. love tonight....go Bucks, Hawks, Knicks!

OMG...

yes sir!!!

Rooscooter wrote:Back to back..... a team that has speed and altitude on their side..... and we haven't exactly been decent on the road this year (or anywhere else for that matter).

For some reason I'm optimistic. Must be the vodka......

See?!..... this is what happens when I'm optimistic.....






..... and drunk

We're beating the bad teams. Earlier this season that is a game, maybe even a loss, but not now. Yeah, Minny sucks, big you still have to beat them, and we beat them down, just like we should.

Yeah I know we haven't beaten a real quality opponent in a little bit, but definitely we're beating the teams we should have been beating all season long.

My optimism: It looks like we've got Playoffs-Kobe going already. The man's focus is through the roof right now. He seriously hasn't looked this good since the 2010 playoffs. He looks fantastic.

2 games back. closin up that gap

No starter played over 35 minutes in this game, great for our guys! The most was Howard with 33

I woke this morning with a real big smile after finally beating that awful flu I was battling against...

The Lakers are a game below .500, but are playing .710 ball since the 25th of January. We're doing extremely well right now.

But what has me most excited is our leadership. Dwight has bought in apparently. He's working hard EVERY possession for his part. There's a few instances of lapses in concentration, but I think it's only because he's quick to frustration with refs/the opponent, not necessarily quick to frustration with the team. Weezy and I discussed last game how he wasn't getting touches and he said "well if Dwight wants more, he should demand more" and I think Weezy was right.

Dwight has become more accepting of Kobe's shooting and Nash's shooting. Even though he only had 6 shots he CONTINUED to set good screens and challenge shots around the rim effectively. He rebounded well and worked his tail off.

Since Dr. Buss's passing Dwight's averages are: 15.6 pts/ 13.6 rbnds/ 1.2 asts/ 2.4 blks/ 1.0 stls 63% (30/48)

His shot attempts are down, but his work on the boards is up from his league leading 11.9 rebounds and he's blocking a small amount of more shots. I'm proud of the way he's worked the last 5 games and he's really winning me back over.

Our second leader Kobe Bryant though... He's done the same thing as Dwight, but on the offensive end. On the flashy side. While Dwight does the dirty work, Kobe is leading with fire and that deadly poison we're used to seeing in the playoffs.

Kobe's averages since Dr. Buss's passing (aka All-Star Weekend) are:
31.2 pts/ 6.8 rbnds/ 8.6 asts/ 0.8 stls/ 50% FG/ 43% 3PT/ 80% FT

Those are quite simply amazing numbers. He's not just walking, talking, and dunking on anybody in his way right now. I haven't seen him look this spry in a long time. I keep citing the 2010 playoffs against the Suns, but this might be more like his 2009 playoff run where he just would not be stopped. He's been incredible. I'm not sure if he can keep this up IN the playoffs, but certainly if he keeps playing like this we're going to MAKE the playoffs.

Lastly is Nash. He's been exactly what the doctor ordered for our team. When the time came for us to put points on the board, he stepped up. When we need to get other guys going, he's already doing it.

Since Dr. Buss's passing he's averaged: 12.8 pts/ 2.8 rbnds/ 5.8 asts/ 50% FG/ 62% 3PT/ In just about 32 minutes a game. At times he's our unstoppable scoring machine and at other times he allows everybody else to get going. And he's doing a good job of being our "Fisher". He's bridging the gap between our heads and he's doing a great job of it.

^Howard also held himself accountable by admitting he is not in the best shape conditioning wise so he addressed it. Should this even be an issue this late in the season? Perhaps not BUT at least he is doing something about it. Wind sprints and laying off the sweets...

Well said real. Hopefully Kobe/Dwight can keep it up. It definitely helps when we're at home. The gap is closing and we're playing excellent, but I want to see us continue to improve.

Oh and 52 bench points last night.

Well, we finally have built some momentum. Now, we get a barometer of where we are when we face the Hawks & OKC. After that we do have a very favorable March schedule; we should pile up the victories and hopefully give ourselves a shot at making the PO's...

As for last nights game, Kobe continues to amaze, Dwight has bought in the last 4 games to his reponsibilitiy of rebound & playing defense & the team is following suit. I wished we would have started this a month ago; but that aside, let's continue winning games and building momentum...

Although they were fantastic from outside last night, I don't want this team to fall in love with the three, with our transition defense being the worst in the league. Those long misses will KILL us.

I hope these guys do more what Earl Clark did last night and 1. Take it closer to the basket, 2. Get the easier basket back moving the ball.

Good luck to the magic and bobcats tonight!

we made it to 0.500. how sweet would it be to make it over against okc

Kobe is dunking us back into relevancy.

Optimism is that we beat OKC by 7 and it is on the back of monster 20/20 game by Dwight.

If we only had THIS team all season we would be in the middle of the pack in the West, this team has definitely turned the so called corner. Lately we're winning almost all home games, more than half our road games, the bench of Jamison, Blake and Meeks have been really consistent and a huge factor. Nash has found his niche, Kobe is balling, Dwight for the most part is doing the dirty work regardless of his offense, and although his numbers have dipped Clark's energy is always there. If we make the playoffs and Pau returns we could be in for a competing first round.

I don't know if the Houston Rockets will drop out. Their schedule the rest of the way is completely butter soft. They play like 2 tough games the rest of the way, the Spurs and the Clippers. And, the Grizzlies too. Other than that, soft schedule. Our schedule is far tougher the rest of the way.

It is awesome though that the final game of the season is against the Rockets.

If anything, I think the Warriors will continue to lose and fall out of the playoff race. We're only 3 back in the loss column to the Warriors and Jazz, and 2 back to the Rockets. The Rockets will stick, the Warriors are going to fall off and we'll make up that ground.

^ Nah, I think Rockets are going to make it. I think Utah is our only chance because both GSW and Houston have the high octane offense to put bad teams away. Utah is inconsistent, and don't have that go-to guy to carry them down the stretch. Although everything changes if someone on those teams gets hurt. GSW already has bogut out, and we have Gasol out.

This loss was very frustrating to me. I felt like we could have stole this game tonight. We got it close but just couldn't finish. Anyways, it was a better effort then I expected. We're improving. Slowly but surely. Give me a top flight SF next year, Mitch, and we'll be contenders.

Like borri (I think) pointed out, Utah's loss last night made losing tonight @ OKC a lot easier to take.

We're back below .500 but I believe by Sunday night we'll be 2 games over. We're playing @ NO tomorrow, then home games against Raptors (should be one of the easiest games we play) and Bulls (tough one, but we should be able to pull it out).

As bad as we played tonight, this ain't over yet. Our focus right now is merely winning RS games. We'll worry about playoff matchups when we get there..
At the very least, we can hope for some entertaining games.