This seemed to be the difference between this game and the previous 11. We never let up for 48 minutes. We made a concerted effort to keep Gordon from killing us on the boards again (3rebs, 0 offensive) which was huge. No meltdown at crunchtime. We hit the timely shots & the Nuggs didn’t.

And this is what has frustrated me about this team this year..they don’t bring those 3 things every night. When they do, they can hang with anyone. Just stay focused on this 1 game Mon, don’t worry about the past or the future..just stay in the moment.

This is the basic problem between the Nuggs and the Lakers. We have to play damn near flawless basketball for 48 minutes…the Nuggs don’t.

ESPN Sources: Juwan Howard has agreed to join the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant coach. Howard spent six NBA seasons as a Heat assistant before returning to Michigan for five years as head coach. Howard arrives as part of Jordi Fernandez’s first staff. pic.twitter.com/RMjNVgpiel

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 26, 2024

“It’s just 1 game”..nah…it’s 9 games in a row. They have zero fear of us and the damn crowd is chanting Who’s Ur Daddy.

Our depth is supposed to be our strength but we only had 1 guy off the bench with a shot ATTEMPT. That’s crazy. DeAndre Jordan had a bigger impact than any of our reserves…think about that.

They only shot 6 free throws which seems great. Then I look & see they only had 4 turnovers. That kinda tells me we aren’t being aggressive enough on D. Gotta break some eggs to make an omelet.

7 turnovers from Lebron. Can’t talk about playing perfectly and then come out and do that.

Not sure what the answer is…our guys have acknowledged they have to be perfect just to have a chance…that’s damn near impossible and a whole lotta pressure.

These games have pretty much all come down to late game execution. Focus & attention to detail. Every time it’s close down the stretch, the Nuggs have had the answer. None of all this other analysis will matter if we can’t correct the crunchtime issues.

“It’s a combination of a couple different things. That’s why I mentioned consistent discipline with our execution, make sure we get the right shots that we know makes us that much more hard to guard,” Ham said of the late-game problems. “And give them credit. They had different guys step up and make big shots for them. We’ve had unfortunate turnovers, unfortunate missed blockouts. And they’re a championship team. So, you have to do the little things.

“The intangibles have to be on point.”

Old John McKay line when asked about his team’s execution after a bad game…

“I’m in favor of it”

One minute you’re talking about the 6th seed with a week’s rest and the next you’re looking at needing to win 2 road play-in games just get your foot in the door. Don’t blink….

AD told us 3 weeks ago that seeding didn’t matter to them. Just play who’s on the court against you and let the chips fall where they may. Can’t control how many games these other teams win or lose in this final week. All this hand-wringing & conjecture…lol. If you’re going into the postseason worrying about ducking & dodging certain teams then you ain’t gonna get that ring anyway. Hell, we could get to #6 and end up with #3 Nuggets as the reward in the 1st round. I almost rather see us in the play-in without the week off to possibly disrupt the groove we’ve been in. LET’S ROLLLLL!!!!!!!

By the way….anybody still wish Doc Rivers was coaching us???

I understand we want the highest seeding possible and avoid the play-in, but the matchup seems like the more important piece and it’s something we have little control over. How good is that 6th seed if we end up facing the Nuggs as the 3rd seed in the 1st round? I would almost rather face GSW & PHX in the play-in games and then face a #1 seeded OKC in the 1st round. The trick is to avoid DEN & SAC as much as possible….imho

KD, Book, Beal
Luka, Kyrie
Steph, Klay, Draymond
Lebron, AD

2 of those 4 groups will be gone after the play-in if the standings hold. West is a cold piece.

How do I know this? Because AD said it himself last week. They don’t care about the play-in or the seeding. They believe they can flip the switch and make another run like last year from any position. The 10 teams were decided weeks ago so they knew they were in the tournament unless something really crazy happened. It’s a dangerous mindset (which he probably shouldn’t have said out loud) IMHO because they had some very favorable matchups and you can’t count on that happening again. And bad habits developed over 82 games don’t just suddenly disappear.

But if they don’t care then why should I give a damn?

Is anyone able to get in contact with Tom outside of the board?

I know he was probably upset with the Lakers inactivity at the trade deadline but it’s not like him to go dark for this long. I’m hoping he’s not having any health issues again…

Sooo….nothing happened. Feels like the organization believes it can somehow reproduce what happened at the end of last season but Rui & AR were playing much much better than they are now. Maybe those coupla months last season were just outliers…in any case, these 2 need to step it up big time now that they know they’re on the squad for the duration.

Dejounte Murray. We didn’t get him but neither did anyone else. Hawks asking price might have been way too high considering all the picks they gave up to get him in the first place. Not gonna fret over the details because nobody really knows. Those who tell don’t know and those who know don’t tell.

Most of the major moves went down in the East so it won’t affect us anyway…we ain’t getting that far. Dallas made a low-key move to add some size with Gafford & PJ Washington

A few names might shake loose on the buyout market (Lowry, Dinwiddie, Gallo, Joe Harris) where we’re positioned to make a move with that open roster spot and cap situation. Don’t see anything major but somebody could come in and mesh well with what we’ve got going on.

Now we go into the final 28 games still around .500 and the 9th seed hoping to thread the needle like last year. Only the opposition looks improved and we still can’t execute during clutch time against the Nuggs. Need the role players (JV, Cam, Gabe, now Christie) to finally get healthy and for D.Russell not to take his usual nosedive when the stakes are highest.

We’ll see what happens.

This is the thing I hate most about Lebron’s leadership style..or lack thereof. This cryptic passive-aggressive boolsheet. If you’ve got something to say then say it with your chest. You’ve earned that privilege.

He’s had some unfortunate injuries this year and it’s led some in the media to call him inconsistent. But he’s been pretty steady when healthy..especially after getting rid of that mask. He’s one of the few guys we have who plays with energy on both ends night in & night out. Hate to see him get tossed into a trade as some kinda salary filler.