I think they're still good enough to win one round over most of the crappy teams that will be in the bottom half of the eastern playoff bracket. But getting past the second round is looking very unlikely at this point. The thing that pisses me off more than anything is that they run a defensive system that requires them to be absolutely perfect all the time, if anyone mistimes a rotation, or a help, or a double-team, it's super-easy to exploit. A good system should be about making things easier on your own players and making it harder on the other team, but Casey seems determined to run a system that's the opposite. And last night was another game where JV's fourth quarter absence looked huge. 14-9 in 21 minutes, 7-of-7 shooting. And J.J. doesn't get any time until 4 minutes left in the 3rd, then plays 13 straight minutes and is stuck guarding Aldridge for a significant portion of his time on the court.
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