I just walked/jogged home from the game, I'm 75 percent drunk, 25 percent angry, 69 percent horned up, and a good amount of tired, but here goes:
We're significantly less talented than every team we've lost to during this losing streak. If you disagree, you're stupid.
Talent matters in this league. It matters a fucking lot. If end of bench players were as effective as stars, there'd be no such thing as max contracts. Or stars. And you generally can't just "scheme" farty end-of-bench turds into being better than stars. If you disagree, you're stupid.
And I'm pretty fucking sick (especially at this drunken moment) of the focus on the negatives when it comes to JBB in here.
Every time we play one of these top 5-10 down to the wire and I come in here and read about how that team just basically "coasted" and "toyed" with us for 3 quarters without a care in the world before cranking it up in the 4th without ever feeling in danger, I get so mad I just want to dance! More talented teams routinely absolutely beat the brakes off less talented teams right from the tip. I know because I've seen my Cavs get fucking red assed from the word go constantly over the years. That's not happening this year. No matter how many significant players are out, we're constantly battling. Not buzzword "battling," but for real gutting shit out. And that's a testament to JBB and it's not just handwaved away because of disagreements with how much he doesn't play your favorite shitty player who shouldn't be playing in the first place.
Speaking of players who shouldn't play, I just want to say that Dylan Windler fucking sucks. I've never seen a player get so much unearned goodwill in here. It's like when Luke Jackson would get a standing ovation in the arena just for... Standing. But Windler wasn't a high pick. He's like 38 years old. He's not an Uber athlete. He just looks like he'd be a smart savvy player with a good 3-ball because he's a lanky somewhat sinewy white dude who could do it in college but there are millions of him who were great in college but shit in the league and there will be millions more. It's not automatically JBB's fault for not "putting him in a position to succeed" as though it's a forgone conclusion he has it in him. Nor for Okoro. Sometimes players just aren't good. If every damn pick panned out, we'd be the exception not the rule.
Finally, fuck these refs. And these rims!! What the freaking crap!! Why were so many goddamn layups rimming out?? Why are the goddamn refs calling fouls on zero contact and blowing the whistle fucking instantly where they ANTICIPATED contact MIGHT happen?? Why can't I watch Crowder get mauled by fucking rabid possums after he clutches this face after ZERO contact then laughs about it as he walks to the FT line??
We have to pay fucking perfect against the best of the best to pull these games out at the end, particularly when the refs are CLEARLY favoring the other side. And we're RIGHT THERE! Couple rubber rim jobs in our favor, couple shitty calls don't get shoved up our asses... We win these. We're SO CLOSE. And it's not a mark against JBB that we're not there yet... It's a testament to him that we're that close every damn game against the best the league has to offer even without our best players.