Dr. Tiebreaker or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Watch the Game

I've got my cowboy hat, now all I need is a bomb.......

To be honest, I have one very simple request of the Rockets, and it so damn simple that it only involves 1 statistic: Win 16 games in the postseason.

 

To hell with tiebreakers. The last time one of my favorite teams were in a tiebreaker, they ended up watching a team they beat play for a Championship.

Let's go ahead and stay away from that situation as much as possible.

 

It's really not that complex....

For us...we beat L.A. and we got the 2 seed. That's the toughest game remaining. Portland and Orlando are tough too - but we won't lose both, and if we beat L.A, then losing one game won't matter.


Denver will likely lose two...so again, that L.A. game is huge.

SA - well, that's the wild care - their play of late sucks...but it is the Spurs. You just don't know how the will respond to the threat of losing the 2 seed.

Personally, I want the 2 seed to play the jazz. i want revenge

 

I want revenge too! ....


...but they own us.

 

Team goals:

1. Make the playoffs (Done)

2. Get homecourt in the 1st round (pending)

3. Advance to the 2nd round (pending)

4. Win the western conference (pending)

5. Win the championship (pending)

Just try to win every game and not worry about possbile matchups.

 

Lol @ "I want revenge against the Jazz."

If we play the Jazz in the first round, start looking forward to the draft.

 

we haven't got a first rounder this year.

 

Thanks for that. I was trying to figure that stuff out and my brain just locked up on me.

 

IIRC I think the division leader tiebreaker only apply to in-season standings. In the post season it is not considered. I'm not too sure though.

 

there ARE millions of possiblities but you have to focus on the most likely case.

since denver has the easiest schedule left, denver may very well end up at the 2nd seed unless their knuckleheads (denver is made up of a bunch of knuckleheads. they don't care about winning but being show boy).

spurs and rox have pretty much equal toughness schedule left. since 2-2 btw two teams, the division record will be used next. however, we are just down 1 on win column. it could end up both team has similar the division record. the next is conf record. rox has 1 less loss so it could become a decisive fact. plus, spurs is not playing very well recently. they lost to some bad teams like rox did during the middle of the season.

adding them up, rox may very well take the devision and go into the PO as the 3rd seed.

 

you're kinda right. it is used for standing (no matter in regular or playoff) but not for HCA. it means you could be one seed below a team but you have the HCA.

 

Winning a division championship would be no small accomplishment and would signal the end of Spurs tyranny over the division. Honestly, if we can't beat Utah in the first round with HCA, considering their road woes, then we deserve our fate. There's a lot of fear on this board concerning the Jazz. They are probably laughing at us over there on their board. The fear stops here!

 

Personally, I say play your best and let it sort out itself. Of course, I'm also in the corner of those thinking a victory over the Jazz would be the sweetest way to start this, and I think we can handle them, so most of your post doesn't make me freak out worrying about them having the ultimate doomsday weapon or stealing our precious fluids. (yes, I got it).

Bottom line is, you appear to not want the Jazz, and be afraid of the lakers. While I admit both teams are daunting, I think you have to go into it thinking you can beat your opponent if you play your best, and refuse to enter into this thinking anything but "We can win it all if we play our best."

Yeah, we match up better with others, but as we've seen in the past, winning when you didn't face the best, or face your nemesis, there are always asterisks in some people's minds.

 

when you play paper, rock, scissors - if you keep choosing paper, and the other guy keeps choosing scissors, you're not going to get very far.

it doesnt matter how badly you want revenge, scissors still beats paper. might as well just bang your head on a brick wall.

 

I'd worry about keeping homecourt advantage first before trying to avoid the Jazz.

I'd rather play the Jazz with home court advantage than anyone without it. Granted, I'd put the Jazz last on my list of people I'd want to play, even with home court advantage.

But overall, homecourt advantage is so key. Utah is horrible on the road, Dallas horrible, Portland horrible, Hornets mediocre, Rockets mediocre, Nuggets mediocre. All of the playoff teams are pretty strong at home, though.

While it'd be great to have homecourt through 2 rounds (which means, finish with the 2 seed), I'd be less concerned about it then, for some reason. First, I think the Rockets just need a hint of playoff success to really get on a roll. And second, teams like the Lakers especially, and the Spurs, too, are just so good and poised that if they're going to beat you, they can do it on the road or at home...if they're not better than you, though, then they're not. As opposed to a Jazz team, as an example, which is literally night and day away from home.

In either case...yes, I think just sit back and watch...it will likely come down to the last day of the season when the Rockets play the Mavs, Hornets play the Spurs and Nuggets play the Blazers anyway.

 

Yep, no rest for anyone this year. I think you might have 2 or 3 spots settled going into that last day.

 

I'd generally agree with this statement, though would also note that the difference between the 2 teams in the playoffs is really a few minutes where the Jazz closed out Game 7 and the Rockets didn't. Last year, sans Yao, doesn't count.

Record this year is hard to use as a gauge either. Both teams have had injury problems most of the year. The one game where both teams had the players likely to play in the postseason was the March 4th loss by 7 in Utah...which isn't that surprising. Utah wins at home and sucks on the road.

Just saying, if choosing between 3rd seed and 2nd seed, and 3rd seed avoids Utah, I'd probably go that route...HOWEVER, the ultimate goal is a championship, and the 2nd seed gets you another round of home court, so it's almost a toss-up. Especially considering it's not like the Blazers, Hornets or any other first round match-up will be a walk in the park, either.