Welcome to the part of my website created to give fans a behind the scenes look at life as a professional basketball player. This page will be constantly updated to reflect my thoughts on the coach, practice, the team, and of course the game itself.

Hitting the Homestretch

We're now hitting the homestretch with the playoffs beginning in a matter of weeks. We've secured a playoff spot and we're sitting comfortable with nearly 20 games being above .500.

Now, our focus is more about how do you approach these games no longer thinking about how to make it to the playoffs - but more about how are you going to play in the playoffs. Approaching these final regular-season games should be an opportunity for us to learn different things. (Working on your zone, working on your defense, working on certain principles that's going to help you in the playoffs).

This is a unique opportunity for us to really 1) Do a great thing. This team really hasn't had a winning season of this magnitude in a very long time. We could accomplish that goal. We can also put ourselves in a position to get home-court advantage. These are important intangible goals. 2) Use this time to rise and take our skills to a different level as the season ends. By the time the playoffs come, you want to be at your peak performance. You want to be at your best. So it's not a good idea just to let these games go by, win or lose, and just say that you'll pick it up once the playoffs start. We know that you have to finish strong, you have to take this opportunity to learn and to build from where you are. And hopefully we can finish on a high note, take some time to rest our bodies and do everything we need to do to really be effective in the playoffs.

Going back to last season, where we had to virtually win every single game toward the end just to make it to the playoffs, what made that really effective for the Warriors was that we had to play the last several games like we were in a pressure-cooker situation - because we were. Every game felt like it would be the end of the road if we lost. Every game had so much significance that by the time the playoffs came, our mindset was "We've been doing this for two months. What else is new?" We carried that momentum into the first round against a team that started the season extremely strong and let the last part of the season go. Dallas had to build itself back into the playoffs. And that is extremely hard to do. As a result, we beat them in six games. So, no matter where you are in the standings, it's important that you stay at an even keel and you get better as the season ends.

This season, our coaches have done a wonderful job of repeatedly putting it in our heads: "It's not about these last games. It's about how can we build ourselves to be a better playoff team?" These are all the important things we need to think about. And I have no doubt that we'll come well prepared come playoff time.

- Adonal