I started this thread simply to discuss our seeding, as well as the other teams we are in the hunt with for our playoff spots. I will also try to upload some graphs I made of what is to come. I will start with this page, which shows the top teams in our conference, and the rankings of teams left to play. The rankings are simply overall NBA records, which is not necessarily rankings by team strength. It still gives an idea of how many teams each of us has left to play in each tier. For instance, we have 4 teams left to play in the top 5 and Utah only has 2. These rankings are of March 1, 2019. Obviously they will change continuously, but just looking ahead from today is what I am going with.
My biggest concerns are Utah and Portland. We especially have to be worried about Utah. They're only 2 games back of us, I think, and they have one of the easiest strengths of schedule remaining. I think they still have to play the Suns 3 more times, hehe. And Portland seems like they can't lose as of late, making it difficult to beat them out for 3 if OKC falls in the standings.
This is a graph I made showing NBA rankings as of March 1, 2019. I listed them from 1 to 30 on the left side of the chart. I also listed the top 13 teams in our conference across the top, and the teams we have left to play below each, by ranking number. It's an odd chart I know, but gives an idea of who is playing tougher teams each day. I used this to come up with the tiers on the chart above. If a team is ranked below 30 I simply put the name of the team.
Exactly!!!! Overtaking Portland won't be easy. Utah has the easiest schedule, so will probably move up. OKC has a tough schedule, which is good.
I did this for myself, since I will be in Costa Rica most of this time, but will be back just in time for the playoffs. I'm not about to miss half the playoffs like I did last year when I was in Ireland. So, I made this schedule to keep up with stuff for myself, but wanted to share them, in case they even remotely interesting to anyone else. I'm just going to use a red pen and draw a line through team losses and circle the wins on the chart, just to get an idea of who was beating the top teams with a quick glance. Also, I wanted to start this thread to hear what everyone is saying about the teams and scenarios that will be ahead.
So many changes happen with so many games left. These seeding threads are pretty pointless and extremely premature. Games are lost that people don’t think Would of happened all the time. Games are wins that people don’t expect happen. A week ago people on this board were posting as if the rockets had no shot at even a 3 seed. Look at it now Health and playing at their best going into the playoffs is this team’s priority. Doesn’t really matter what seed it is tbh
Useful data about our competitors. I don't think it really tells anything about the Rockets' chance, though, because the Rockets tend to play to the level of whatever team they're facing off against. Like, if the Rockets had Utah's schedule, I wouldn't feel any more confident. In the spirit of Houston sports, it's probably good that we do have a decent number of challenging teams in front of us, because we'll probably win those games. Because Houston sports.
True. I never underestimate our competitors, regardless of their ranking. It's just more of an overall look at who is beating who, and who has the toughest match ups, especially down towards the finish.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2019-nba-predictions/ Currently 538 has Houston, OKC and Portland projected to all finish 51-31, tied for 3rd best record.
Advanced stats projections for our team are just going to be so off because of how unrepresentative our past play was of our future performance. Hard to gauge the team when half of its top 4 players are out any given night for 70-80% of the year. All we need to do is to have a top 10 defense in the last 20 games, and maybe then we will have a shot at winning it all. Until then, we probably only have an outside shot at beating the Warriors. Losing after beating the Warriors is a heavy possibility.
Its also a possibility the Warriors crumble in the first round. Now that would be almost as awesome as us winning it all.
I'll give you my take on that when I return. I've only been to a couple places on the Pacific side which were both really nice. This time I am staying on the Caribbean side, which I hope is even more beautiful.
Don’t care about the PO TBH. We have a GM and team owner who won’t spend or make the right player moves in order to make the team better. It’s been very convenient for there to be so many injuries and blame it on that for the seasons failiures when in reality it’s been bad management and ownership.
