Previous Entries

First 8: 2011-12 (2-6) vs. 2012-13 (0-8)

Second 8: 2011-12 (1-7) vs. 2012-13 (5-3)

Third 8: 2011-12 (1-7) vs. 2012-13 (2-6)

Scheduling

Fewer home games and Western Conference opponents are really the only difference. Sadly though, because we only played one Western Conference team, I would have expected at least a 4-4, but 3-5 is about right. Just goes to show, last year we really hit something after that 4-20 start.

Offense

This may not be a fair comparison, as last year we started going after the 4-20 start and we haven't hit that yet this year, but let's see what we have.

Definitely not as much progression as in the previous 8 game segment, but at least there is some. Five of the 9 categories are green, but of those that are green, only two show significant improvement (3P% and Offensive Rebounding, thanks Andre). The positive though is that the negative categories aren't obscenely bad.

Defense

Again, not as much improvement over the last 8 game segment, but 4 of the 6 categories are green, so that's encouraging.

Summary

I think this MAY go to show (though I'm sure more analysis could be put into it) that last year after the 4-20 start we really hit something. I would have thought with the schedule, and how we played the previous 8 games, that this segment this year would be much better than 3-5. Comparatively, at this point last year we were 10-22. At this point this year, we're....10-22. So, if we are where we were last year at this time, assuming we finish with the same win percentage, we're looking at 31 wins this year. If we go the other route and imagine we go .500 from the first 24 games (4-20 last year, 7-17 this year), then we should end the year with 36 wins. To get there, we'd have to finish the season 26-24 after starting 10-22. However, we'd still be likely out of the playoffs. :( At least we can say we beat Miami once this year. :)

Preview

In our next 8 games, we have:

• 6/7 home games, 2/1 road games
• 2 Western Conference, 6 Eastern Conference
• 4 teams from last year's playoffs
• 4 games against .500+ teams
• 1 game against Charlotte
• A possible international embarrassment, or a possible "notice me" game if we win.

Sorry for this one being late. Holidays took up most of my time. I'm going to update the other posts with the new color scheme and get the next 8 up as well. Thanks for reading.