While tonight was frustrating to say the least (only a few hours of sleep after a 7 am shopping excursion), the most irritating loss to date for me is easily the season opener at home against Boston. Tonight was aggravating because the team gave piss-poor effort most of the game, failed to close out quarters, and never seemed to get into an offensive flow. But what does a November loss in Charlotte mean in the grand scheme of things?
For instance, last season the Lakers opened up the season hot, losing only three of their first 24 games. Two of the three losses came on the road at Indiana and Sacramento and the lone home loss was against Detroit. Aside from the Pistons (7-2), Indiana (7-10) and Sacramento (6-16) were still sub-500 teams after defeating the soon-to-be-champion Lakers.
Then came a January 27th loss at home against the 18-26 Charlotte Bobcats. I actually caught the end of the double overtime game on league pass and promptly sent a “damn, the Bobcats?” text to one of my friends, who happens to be a Lakers fan. He text back that the team showed no heart, but would beat my beloved Cavaliers in Cleveland a week in a half later. My friend is no Nostradamus, but he was spot on this time, as the Lakers handled the Cavs by ten in Quicken Loans Arena.
The Lakers would lose to the Bobcats again in March, prompting another playful interaction. “We play down to our competition and lose to shitty teams, but we make sure to play well against the good teams,” my friend rebutted. And why not? What were the odds that the Lakers would meet the Bobcats in the Finals last year? 1,000,000-1? Those odds soon changed to impossible after the Bobcats failed to even qualify for the playoffs.
But what about the odds they would meet the Jazz in the playoffs, a team they were 2-1 against in the regular season? Pretty good odds I’d imagine, as they would later meet Utah in the first round. And then their second round opponents, the Houston Rockets, a team they were 4-0 against in the regular season. Or how about the Nuggets, a team that was only 1-3 against LA before meeting the Lakers in the Conference Finals?
Truth be told, one of the only “good teams” that the Lakers struggled with in the regular season last year was the Orlando Magic. They lost both head-to-head matchups before beating them 4-1 in the NBA Finals.
So what is the point of this trip down memory lane dealing with a team that already walked the path the Cavaliers covet? To put it bluntly–this loss doesn’t mean a thing. After a slow 3-3 start through their first six games, the Cavs are 8-2 in their last ten games since. Their only two losses have come on the road and they are 3-0 against teams currently in the playoff picture (@Orlando, @Miami, and @Indiana). Their eight wins have come against teams with a combined 53-66 record (44.5% WP) as of 10:45 PM tonight. The two losses have come at Washington and Charlotte, teams that the Cavaliers have already defeated at home this season and, more importantly, featured a subpar 11-18 combined record (37.9% WP) even after both teams won tonight (9-18, 33.3% WP entering tonight).
Thus, the moral of the story is not exactly “don’t worry, be happy.” It’s more like “make sure to watch the game tomorrow night.” Hosting a 12-4 Dallas team isn’t quite a must win, but it’s a barometer game, much like the wins down in Orlando and Miami. Beating quality playoff teams means you’re a better, more quality team, capable of winning four seven game series in the playoffs. And, conversely, losing at Charlotte doesn’t mean a thing. That’s the lesson my friend taught me, and I’m running with it.
