Yes. BUT the Rox have a single magic number that takes into account all three teams. If it were 3, that would mean the Rockets would be #1 if, for instance, they won their next game and Toronto and GS both lose. But they wouldn’t. It’ll take a few more wins by us and/or losses by them.
Magic number is defined as the number of wins we need in order eliminate any team to mathematically catch us. If we win 63 games, no team can catch us even if they go undefeated till the end of season. The current number magic # is 3
You aren't adding both Warriors and Toronto together though. It just so happens that the number for both is 3. If Rockets win the next game and both other teams lose the next game then the number is 1. And if the Rockets win three games and then lose out the rest of the way, there will be no way for either Toronto or GS since we have the TB to get home court against us in the playoffs. Does that make sense?
Your thinker stressed out? Me thinks you don't have a grasp of what the magic number is. It's like you're making something up based on something else. Either that or you're Ken M'ing me. If you're Ken M'ing me, well done. If not, read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_number_(sports)
No, I've been a sports fan for 45 years now -- I know what a magic number is. It's almost always applied to a situation involving two teams. But here we have a situation involving three teams, so think outside the box. Imagine a single number that gets smaller each time we win or they lose. When it gets to zero, we have HC advantage. A truly magical number! [EDIT: I no longer think the number exists, b/c of tiebreaker discrepancy. Shame]
What? Magic numbers always apply to two teams. Us and them. So we've got a magic number against the Raptors and another one against the Warriors. If you apply the number to only wins, then yes we have one single magic number of three, but that's just a coincidence.
With Golden State's loss and our win, our magic number to win the West is 1. Tell em' Robert! Against the Raptors the magic number is now 2. Two victories would give us home court advantage throughout the playoffs. In our entire history, we've never had that.
After looking closer to the tiebreaker rules, it appears that the magic number is 2 and not 1 since we haven’t secured a division title. We are up 2-0 in H2H against the kings but there are 2 more games against them.
Magic number is now 1 for clinching the playoffs (Rockets wins and/or Kings losses) Magic number is now 5 for winning the Southwestern division. (Rockets wins and /or Spurs losses).
With the win against the Pelicans, the Rockets are officially in the playoffs. Magic number drops to 4 for the division title
I’m just hoping we can steal #1 spot. Denver has a very tough end of schedule. They play all the top western teams and play Portland twice. I’m thinking they could lose 6 or 5 of their last 11. Which today’s game was against Indiana and I marked it as an L . I’m glad they did lose. So now hoping we can get that 2 or would be amazing to steal back #1 but we would need more help from the warriors just like they lost against the mavs. We need more of that. We only have 8 games to go. 4 against sub 509 teams. Hopefully we stay focus and beat them. Sac twice, nyk and Phoenix. We have bucks, Denver, clippers and last game against okc. So if we win 6 of those games we could prob get #2 seed. And if we are playing focus and determined we could win those 8 games. Btw Denver has Rockets, okc, gsw, spurs, 2 blazers and jazz Detroit Washington and Minnesota
I think Warriors are positioning themselves to call the shot whether they want 1 or 2 seed. Home-court against the Nuggets is irrelevant. Nuggets will never make it to the WCF. But having the ability to call the shot on 1 and 2 seed and avoid Thunder in the first round or Rockets in the second round works to their favor. Also, Nuggets have some tough games remaining so they are going to drop some games. This lets Warriors rest up before players and drop some games as well.
Let's not get too fancy: Try to win out, and hope the Blazers lose one. They have a ridiculously easy schedule.
With the playoffs just literally a month away,I think the coacing staff should consider giving Chris Paul, James Harden and Clint Capela more rest now that the Rockets are a lock for the playoffs. Yes, of course the seeding has some impact as in it determines who draws who. But the injuries to the roster particularly the starters is the main concern. If Coach D'Antoni instead could field Austin Rivers, Kenneth Faried, Danuel House, Gary Clark, Iman Shumpert more for the remainder of the season, that would give them enough games to get the adrenalin flowing and just get them prepared for the playoffs. The strategy is to start the playoffs with a rested starting five, and a hungry bench with something to prove. Once the playoffs begin, with a healthly roster, I believe the Rockets can compete if not beat anyone one team in the NBA.
Unfortunately, the Rockets don’t have the luxury of resting their players if they want to keep the third spot. Portland have the same number of losses, already won the tie breaker and easier remaining schedule. On the bright side, Denver can slip possibly to the 4th spot due to tough remaining schedule. If the Rockets go 6-2, with 53-29 record they should be alright ...
