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max
So how many times do I have to be shocked to think they are better than 7 wins?
I see a team that is starting to feel it.
It's a very good question, Max. And you do well to mention the difference between winning several games to get out in front and winning a few games when you're already 2-3 games below .500, out of the playoffs, and looking merely for a .500 season.
Every season, we have had a chance to climb back to .500. Every season we have failed. We have tended to win games in the comfort zone of a really poor record, when nothing is expected. And we've lost every time we had a chance to re-enter the far less comfortable zone at the edge of the playoff picture.
I guess, for me, it's as much about the comfort zone issue as it is about actual W/L numbers. I mean, numbers are numbers. If we got to, say, 6-3, then it's hard to hold out against the possibility of an 8 or nine game win total.
But, what I am looking for is a sustained pattern of maintaining competitive discipline outside the comfort zone of mediocrity. Can Fisher prepare a team to take advantage of opportunities other then when no one expects them to do anything?
At 3-1, we can't say that this year's team has shown us it CAN'T win big games that might lead to contention. Fisher didn;t have them ready for SF, but since then, they have indeed played tough. As I say elsewhere, they've beaten teams they know how to beat when no one expected them to do it. That's a good thing.
But can they take the next step and win games that take them through the gate into contention?
We don't know that, and I don't think much this season tells us they can do it. Remember that opening Week nightmare against a team reputed to be bad.
I dunno. I don't trust Fisher's preparation except in small spurts within the season. Can he put out a competitive team 4, 5, 6 times in a row?
