curious z-man, did you drop any weight the last month or so…not always the case, but last bunch of years was mostly a causal beer drinker, bit of a soda fiend though…

when I started watching my sugar and got more careful with my fluids intake was able to drop like 10 to 15 pounds…

a slim telly could totally slay the ladies (lady in your case) 😊

As I wrote above, and not for the first time, our record against good teams is around .500, and this is not very encouraging.

the regular season can be a bit agonizing riding the ups and downs of team performance, injuries and whatnot – gotta get to the post-season and just figure out a way to win 4 games each series…

was thinking for a minute that the top 4 in the east could compete with the top four in the west…top clubs in the west are doing much better against plus .500 squads though…

We get our shit together, we can beat anyone.

If we get it together, we may have a chance, however low. But we have yet to show this. As I wrote above, and not for the first time, our record against good teams is around .500, and this is not very encouraging. Can we get it together and have that low chance?

Every team that’s not tanking is contending for a title.

Now, do we have a realistic chance of winning a title? That’s another question altogether. We’re currently listed fourth on the NBA Power Rankings. That means there are three teams currently considered having a better chance, and 26 teams with lesser chances.

Do *I* think we have a realistic chance of winning a title? We get our shit together, we can beat anyone. So far, however, we’ve been wildly inconsistent, so I’m not holding my breath. I am going to try and enjoy the ride as best I can, however, even though I’m not a big fan of roller coasters.

There is, however, another type of hyperbole which is as old as it is bizarre. I mean the reaction of the medieval peasant whose thinking is neither penetrating, nor flexible, nor patient, and throws hyperbolic jaw-dropping expressions and grimaces at anything he does not like, understand, or agree with.

Underestimate medieval peasants at your own peril. They produced such thinkers as Kepler and William of Ockham 🙂

I don’t know where you guys come up with this stuff sometimes?….I don’t get all the kvetching? …. WTF?

For the past couple of seasons, since the “contender” narrative came along, I never supported it even once. I never thought we had the roster for that and posted comments on this issue several times. I think you are correct, this team is roughly top five to top ten in the league. At the same time, we know that the Eastern Conference has been wide open this season. Even Detroit was not deemed to be the favorite until very recently. Furthermore, the additions to the Knicks roster last summer and this February, as well as the improved defense during the past several weeks, slightly added to this team’s potential. Hence, a run to the ECF could not be excluded. Not likely but not shocking either. For this possibility, I commented, we would need some better coaching in terms of game preparation, game strategy, and in-game adjustments. Now, there is no doubt Mike Brown is a very good coach. There is no such thing as bad coach in the NBA. I just happen to believe that coaches such as JVG, Thibs, Spoelstra, and others, are better at those things. In such a scenario, we would not have been leveled by the Pistons three times, would have performed better than .500 against good teams, and so on. Other things equal, we would take our chances against the Pistons or any other team in the ECF for a trip to the NBA finals as underdogs. I may be wrong in my overall assessment – I understand that. As I wrote, the future will tell.

If the use of the words “contending for a title” was hyperbolic, then this was my fault. Wrong words! There is, however, another type of hyperbole which is as old as it is bizarre. I mean the reaction of the medieval peasant whose thinking is neither penetrating, nor flexible, nor patient, and throws hyperbolic jaw-dropping expressions and grimaces at anything he does not like, understand, or agree with.