Can this team just "turn it on?"

[SKelly]

I think they can just flip the switch and play their best basketball. They've played with eachother long enough, they know eachother, and know what it takes to get it done. It's just irritating to watch a team underachieve almost purposely. I'm not worried at all though.

[Black Dynamite]

Who here thinks in a 7 game series we'll fail to show up 4 times?.

Maybe kilo. outside of him nobody should think that.

Not true. I think we can "show up" and still lose. Everybody else seems to believe we are unbeatable when we "show up". Show up doesn't mean our three pointers are falling, showing up means we come ready to play and look to dominate. We can come with all the will in the world to win, but you can't will shots in, some times they just don't fall.

Basic point you think this team can lose a 7 game series in the east. I happen to differ otherwise. Losing One game vs 4 of them is a whole other thing. I dont think theres a legitimate team to win 4 games on us in the east outside of Miami on steroids.

[Black Dynamite]

I think they can just flip the switch and play their best basketball. They've played with eachother long enough, they know eachother, and know what it takes to get it done. It's just irritating to watch a team underachieve almost purposely. I'm not worried at all though.

Shit we cared alot less last year during the season so i think we have imporoved immensely this year in that department. I didnt expect us to hold it all season every game though.

[SKelly]

Shit we cared alot less last year during the season so i think we have imporoved immensely this year in that department.

Exactly. This is why Flip can not be blamed at all for this. Anyone that puts them taking it easy on Flip's shoulders just has sour grapes that LB is gone. The fact is that we took plenty of nights off under Larry Brown. All of the blame is on the players here.

[Black Dynamite]

Shit we cared alot less last year during the season so i think we have imporoved immensely this year in that department.

Exactly. This is why Flip can not be blamed at all for this. Anyone that puts them taking it easy on Flip's shoulders just has sour grapes that LB is gone. The fact is that we took plenty of nights off under Larry Brown. All of the blame is on the players here.

yea you got it on this topic. but thats not what worries me. what worries me is our tendency to not adjust properly from time to time. Our players are by far the best group in the league but Flip can get outcoached very easily it seems. Maybe its the lack of good assistants(i think all his assistants are garbage). Who knows. but I dont like him not getting that we cant run with teams like washington and Dallas. we got one win against a fast paced team(early season phoenix, though i thought we still ran good half court sets), now we seem to think we can run washington out of the building on its home floor.

It was embarrassing loss for a reason. for every tough shot they had, they got 2 easy ones. Things like that irk me. but can washington beat us in a 7 game series? no. Can any other team in the east? IMO no. Its the west i worry about. they have fast paced teams like washington that can actually win games(i.e. Dallas, Phoenix, and Denver). I do think we have to grind it out more when we face teams like that. Last night was a perfect example of such.

Either way JMHO.

[Kilo]

When is Hughes do back for Cleveland??

[Glenn]

Didn't deserve a new thread... Bill Simmons

1. Detroit

What's to like: Best starting five alive ... playoff experience ... built for the spring ... great fans ... two of the best crunch-time guys in the business (Billups and Hamilton) ... swagger galore in big games ... a healthy amount of luck that ranges from "the best player on the other team gets hurt with their team leading 3-2 in the conference finals" to "the best player on one of our biggest rivals gets suspended for an entire season and the ensuing fallout destroys our heated rival."

What's not to like: First, their bench is even worse than last year's bench (and that's saying something). Second, they have had a remarkable run of luck in the injury department -- three seasons and counting without anything as much as a badly sprained ankle. How long can that continue? Third, I miss Darko and his brooding, Macaulay Culkin-like presence during timeouts.

Mitigating factor: When the worst thing you can say about them is, "They're overdue for some bad luck," that's pretty good. As far as I'm concerned, they're still the favorites, bad bench and all. Until next month.