Originally Posted by
Pelicanidae
My final verdict on this game before I go to bed for a few hours (it's 4:10am here):
We barely lost a tight game to a team that's been quite good so far. Yes, there's stuff that we can point at and critique, and some blame to be pointed around, but those are minor issues based on this one game rather than huge sweeping statements about the team in general.
7 games in, some trends have emerged. We have issues with our bench depth, our shooting is poor, and we have very inconsistent guard play. Those are just realities that, unless we make a trade, are probably going to be defining features of this season.
We've also established some other trends: Ingram's playmaking is progressing nicely, Zion has had a number of games now where his defense has been outright good, even if there have been holes in places, and the entire team is seeing the benefit of the defensive scheme despite occasional mishaps, and generally the team has passed the ball well the majority of the time.
Are we going to be a top 3 seed in the West this year, based on an analysis of how we've looked early? No. Could we still be a playoff team at the end of the season? Yeah I think so, although it's not written in stone. Is that okay? Absolutely it is.
We're 4-3, with two games coming up against Charlotte and OKC. Those are both incredibly winnable games. We walk out into the road trip 6-3 and we go from there. All's okay so far.