Post by moreese on Dec 5, 2007 18:18:18 GMT -5
If there was ever a time to fine a sportswriter, now is the time. I'm trying to rationalize this. We have the league's best record at 14-2, and we have one of the highest average margin of victory in league history at 13.5. Both of our losses came to #1: The defending Eastern Conference champs and #2: The second best team in the Eastern Conference this year. In both losses we missed game winning opportunities (Pierce's missed 3 against Orlando and Allen's missed free throws against Cleveland). Both games were on the road, and the Magic game was on the tail end of 4 games in 6 nights. Somehow Stein has managed to turn this into a negative, claiming that we haven't played anyone and that the one time we played a true contender, (the Magic) we lost.
If you remember correctly, people were saying the exact same things about the Patriots before they demolished the Cowboys in front of their fans. I'm not sure when this happened, but somewhere along the way sportswriters and fans alike got confused about how professional sports works. We were reminded of this in consecutive weeks when the Patriots struggled mightly to defeat the same caliber opponent they were beating by 40 earlier in the year. NO TEAM IS A GIMME. These teams all get paychecks to do what they do. They are all very good at it, and although some teams are better than others, no team is supposed to beat teams by an average of 20 points at home. This means you are really really good, and you don't have to play the Spurs or the Suns to prove it. It's just common sense, when your average margin of victory is the best all time! Even better than the '72 Lakers (12.3) or '86 Celtics (9.4) or even the '96 Bulls (12.2). Plus when you have the 14-2 record to back it up, you should be NUMBER 1, period!
What makes this even funnier is that Stein has rewarded Orlando, (by giving them the number 1 rank) not because they are beating any of the top teams, but just because they are playing them. Orlando has played the Pistons, Suns (twice), Spurs and Boston. Their record is 1-4. So let me get this straight, losing to the Suns twice gives you more credibility on the Power Rankings than beating the Knicks by 45? Your thoughts please.
If you remember correctly, people were saying the exact same things about the Patriots before they demolished the Cowboys in front of their fans. I'm not sure when this happened, but somewhere along the way sportswriters and fans alike got confused about how professional sports works. We were reminded of this in consecutive weeks when the Patriots struggled mightly to defeat the same caliber opponent they were beating by 40 earlier in the year. NO TEAM IS A GIMME. These teams all get paychecks to do what they do. They are all very good at it, and although some teams are better than others, no team is supposed to beat teams by an average of 20 points at home. This means you are really really good, and you don't have to play the Spurs or the Suns to prove it. It's just common sense, when your average margin of victory is the best all time! Even better than the '72 Lakers (12.3) or '86 Celtics (9.4) or even the '96 Bulls (12.2). Plus when you have the 14-2 record to back it up, you should be NUMBER 1, period!
What makes this even funnier is that Stein has rewarded Orlando, (by giving them the number 1 rank) not because they are beating any of the top teams, but just because they are playing them. Orlando has played the Pistons, Suns (twice), Spurs and Boston. Their record is 1-4. So let me get this straight, losing to the Suns twice gives you more credibility on the Power Rankings than beating the Knicks by 45? Your thoughts please.
