Small sample size, and you're also not playing a team 4-7 games in a row. I'm not saying Miami can't do it, but in a playoff conference where every team is good, it's a good question to ponder. The only teams in the West that I can see Miami having an easier time with (compared to the other 6 West teams), are Dallas and Golden State, and that's because they don't have that defensive anchor at the 5. You're too much of Miami homer to think about the question objectively, anyway.
> Can't think of anything to continue a discussion rationally. > Decides to take his ball and go home. kthxbai
I guess when announcers say "Portland has won game 1 and home court advantage" it confuses me as I knew the HCA belonged to the higher record Golden State, Portland, and any other team to win the first playoff game was followed by "and they gain home court" and I never quite understood
So, because Portland (and others) took game 1, Houston lost its HCA - Houston now has to win 4 games (and Portland 3) all while playing the same amount of games on their home court as Portland. Does that make sense? Portland doesn't necessarily have HCA in the physical sense, but Portland doesn't have to win as many games, while playing the same amount of games as the Rockets.
Doesn't care enough to continue pointless discussion with jaded WC fans. Decides to take his ball and go home. I've always been a respectful fan of another team on this board - I'd rather do that than pull a clippy/what/pacertom/grapenutz... or would you prefer me to be obnoxious about it? Urwelcomebai
You don't sound nearly as unreasonable as those other posters (and yep, I've see all of those guys in action on this board), but I just don't think Miami has a easy path to the WCF, unless they match up with Dallas and Golden State. The Spurs are the Spurs. OKC is OKC. The Rockets have Howard and Asik who can disrupt (though our perimeter defense is putrid), the Clippers have Jordan and Griffin who pose problems, and CP3. The Blazers have Aldridge and Lopez and Lillard. Memphis has ZBo and Gasol. All of the WC teams, sans Dallas and Golden State, have bigs who are good two-way players, and / or a PG that penetrate at will - all of which give Miami problems. Again, I'm not saying Miami can't do well, and get to the WCF / Finals. I'm just saying that it's not as easy as you're making it out to be. Miami against: San Antonio: 1-1 OKC: 1-1 LAC: 2-0 Houston: 1-1 Portland: 2-0 GSW: 1-1 Memphis: 1-1 Dallas: 2-0 They're 11-5, no doubt about that. But two games is too small, to proclaim that Miami won't have trouble. They DID go 4-0 against the Bobcats though.
I`m not really sure what the point of this thread is supposed to be, the NBA has never been fair, during the MJ era Chicago didn't just have the best player in the NBA they also had a team good enough to reach the finals without him is that fair? Prior to LBJ going to Miami he had to face Boston who had KG, Pierce, Rondo, Allen and Perkins when he had No Williams and Sideshow Bob is that fair? Last year Miami had to play game 7 every round while Spurs had like a week off to rest is that fair? LOL what is your point? If you didn't create this thread last year why are you creating this now?
You totally missed his entire point. What he is saying is teams with homecourt in the West are competing with over above .500 teams while the Heat get to walk through a bunch of scrub teams. No, it is not fair. As a result in the future rather than this format they will go to a top 16.
A simpler way to state this is by saying that if you have a HCA (in any sense of the term), winning all the remaining games on your home court is enough for you to advance.
THis is something everyone with an ounce of bball analysis ability has said since the beginning of the season. In the beginning of the season everyone said the West was wide open while the East was all Miami and Indiana. If this was his only point I'm not sure why make it now when everybody had been saying it since the season started, there is even a thread about it already open (ie Most lopsided season in history).
Was it Van Gundy that said the best 16 teams in the entire league make it to the playoffs and none of this mumbo jumbo conference divided crap? I think it's time to change the format once in for all. The Phoenix Sun not making the playoffs while the Bobcats do, is a disgrace to sports in general.
If they're gonna do that that they need to rework the whole "conference" thing as well because teams in the East play more games with East (low-end) teams than teams in the West.
Damn, these lebron nuthuggers are annoying. Say one slightly negative thing about the heat and it is like you insulted their womanhood.
In the end, sure. However, it doesn't have to be done all at once. Nothing wrong with fixing the play offs first. I can live with unequal schedules. The impact on record is real, but not nearly as large as the impact on play off seeding. Get the best 16 teams in the play offs first.
I don't know about destroying them but they will be exhausted that's for sure. Memphis plays defense and Dallas can match up well with the heat.
After losing HCA, if each team then wins their home games, Game 7 will never occur -- the higher seed will lose in 6 games. Thus, the lower seed has HCA, because all they have to do is win their home games....whereas, the higher seed would also have to win an away game.
