These playoffs differ from last two

Two disappointing playoff endings don’t necessarily mean two disappointing playoff runs. Avery Johnson explained the distinction when asked to assess the difference in preparation for the Finals season of 2006 and last year’s first-round upset.

“That’s a deal where you have the two best teams in basketball,” Johnson said the matchup with Miami two years ago. “Somebody is going to lose and for a year we heard how that was such a bad thing. Last year was bad. To do what we did in the regular season and not be able to carry over into the playoffs, that wasn’t all that good.

“This year we’re in a different situation. We’re a seventh seed, we’re a team that’s a different team now than what we were earlier in the season, but at the same time we’ve been down before. We have a few guys on our team that were here when we were down 0-2 after losing two at home, so that’s a reference point. Most of guys have had some different experiences, and hopefully we can rely on some of those experiences and it can be a sense of motivation.”