Believing you can do something, and actually going out and doing it are two different things.
Take Deron Williams and the Brooklyn Nets for instance.
While speaking to ESPNNewYork.com in advance of the Nets hosting the Heat Friday night, Williams says the Nets believe they are a better team then the Miami Heat.
“I don’t know if we felt we were a better team than the Heat last year,” Williams said during a sitdown with first-year Brooklyn coach Jason Kidd for ESPN’s “SportsCenter” conversation. “And so I think in order for us to be able to beat them this year, we have to feel like we are a better team and we can beat them. And I think we do.”
“They [Pierce and Garnett] definitely have their rivalries, their dislikes,” Williams said. “As a team, if one guy has a beef with somebody, we all have a beef with them. That is how we are going to attack it this year.”
“Our mentality has changed,” said Williams, who played just 22 minutes due to a minutes restriction for his ankle in a 98-94 loss at Cleveland on Wednesday. “That is how you got to attack it if you want to win a championship. You got to feel like you are the best team. I am sure they feel like they are the best team, the Bulls feel like they are the best team, Oklahoma City feels like they are the best team.
“That is the way we are going to attack it.”
It sounds good, it sounds believable, but the Nets can’t believe their way to an NBA title, they must go out and win one.