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Why is this team so much tougher?

Look, I like Memo as a person. Really nice guy: met him at a buffet restaurant once - he put his plate down to shake my hand and ask me how I was doing. But I've noticed that this team has heart. Case in point: last night Deron gets the ball swatted into the stands by Howard, the very next inbounds, he takes it right back into Howard and scores in his face. Memo isn't doing that - he disappears for 3 plays after which he shoots a long 3. Moxy, swagger, killer instinct - call it what you will - but this team is starting to believe they can turn it on whenever they want and come back from any deficit at any point in the game, even on the road. They had this same attitude the year someone mentioned above (comeback kids). The difference this year is that Deron is more mature and has more solid pieces around him. I like that they are starting to feel they are never out of any game as long as there is still time on the clock. They just keep fighting. Here's hoping they keep this attitude going (so much of this is mental - they have the talent).
 
I think its that Sap and Jefferson both feel like they have a lot to prove. Sap that he is a legit starter and has actual skills, and Jefferson that he is one of the dominant big men in the league and an allstar.
 
Beating 2 teams that are as good as LA, back to back, wasn't good enough for you?

Mate, who cares about top Eastern conf teams if we never get to the finals to play them because LAL don't even break a sweat to eat us alive past few years? We beat Cleveland last year in a similar manner which probably gave us some boost for that incredible winter stretch so I'm hesitant to claim we are definately consistently tougher than last year. I don't want to rain on our parade but these back-to-back wins may be just a theory of probability fluke. I am not saying they are - I am saying this may be the case. Remember us being hyped up after pre-season stretch and getting Al on the block? This was painful reality check for us and the team. I would rather wait and see how it goes with season maturing before shouting how good we are only after 2 really good games.
 
I still don't understand how we are a tougher team on defense when
1) we given up the 7th most points to opponents (104 PPG)
2) are the 8th worst rebounding team
3) give up the 5th most rebounds to the opponents

Yeah we didn't quit the last couple of games and managed to win, but we did the same back when we had Fisher. There are still lots of concerns and a lot of games to be played.

Tougher mentally. They don't give up, and can put the clamps down when needed. Now they need to be more consistent, and show that mental toughness as the start of a game.
Toughness, not where they rank defensively in the league.
 
He gets what you're saying. We all do.

I don't think you do. I guess the title of the thread is being interpreted differently. I'm saying this team is so much tougher *than other teams*. I'm not comparing this team to last year's Jazz team, which it sounds like is the common interpretation. In that case, we are now on the same page.
 
Mate, who cares about top Eastern conf teams if we never get to the finals to play them because LAL don't even break a sweat to eat us alive past few years? We beat Cleveland last year in a similar manner which probably gave us some boost for that incredible winter stretch so I'm hesitant to claim we are definately consistently tougher than last year. I don't want to rain on our parade but these back-to-back wins may be just a theory of probability fluke. I am not saying they are - I am saying this may be the case. Remember us being hyped up after pre-season stretch and getting Al on the block? This was painful reality check for us and the team. I would rather wait and see how it goes with season maturing before shouting how good we are only after 2 really good games.

If you're wagering an entire season's success or at least success up to this point on one particular game, then it seems even more fluky than deriving positives from two road games against equally good teams.

It's still the regular season and any win where it wasn't expected is always good. We'll worry about LA when/if we get them in the playoffs again.
 
Quite a few good points in this thread.
I think the main differences in toughness is they believe they can overcome anything for reasons in this order.


1- No Boozer
2- Add Raja
3- Add Jefferson
4- Playing as a team defensively and as to effort (Unity).
5- Memo out
6- Another year together (for the most part) for chemistry and learning the system.

The team has better balance, and the players know what their role is, so they're more focused.
 
If you're wagering an entire season's success or at least success up to this point on one particular game, then it seems even more fluky than deriving positives from two road games against equally good teams.

It's still the regular season and any win where it wasn't expected is always good. We'll worry about LA when/if we get them in the playoffs again.
There is nothing in this post I can argue with :)
 
It's defense and Raja, Fess, and Big Al are contributors here. While we still need to work on boxing out and are giving up a lot of points, you might note that contrary to years past, we can make stops at crunch time, which has enabled us to make those comebacks, where in the past we couldn't make those stops.
 
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