Memphis 37 24 .607 8 ½ Houston 35 26 .574 10 ½ Denver 33 29 .532 13 Utah 31 31 .500 15 Portland 29 32 .475 16 ½ 61 games down, 21 to go. MAGIC NUMBER = 16 - 1 for each Rockets victory! - 1 for each loss by the 9th place team in the West!
The Rockets can beat Minny in a best of 7 series. They might have a chance against the Lakers/Spurs to get out of the West. If they get out of the West, I bet that they can beat the girls (whoever) from the East. Unfortunately the girls from the East are all ugly.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm just getting excited that the Rox are finally gonna go to the playoffs.
Small asterisk though! We have to win the final game against Utah to win the tiebreaker if we end up with identical records.
After checking out the schedules of Utah and Portland (which IMO are the ONLY 2 teams that can push Rox out of the Playoffs right now), i have concluded that the ROX WILL make the Playoffs cuz their schedule is much easier than those 2 teams. Utah and Portland got some brutal tough TOUGH schedules. Seattle is 8 or 9 games behind Rox...so forget about them, they're done! But Rox still needs to take one game at a time and need to be careful and stay humble, cuz they have shown they still lose to some pathetic teams before...so who knows. But their schedule are much easier than those 2 teams...which means they will be in the Playoffs if they win games they're supposed to win. Now i am hoping they hang on to either 7 or 6 spots cuz Minnesota or Lakers are going to take one of those 2 spots and will face ROX. That's my predictions!!!
In other words, if the Rockets finish out the year with a mediocre 11-10 record, Utah would have to go 16-4 or Portland would have to go 17-4 just to TIE us. In other words, barring a total meltdown by the Rox COMBINED with a blistering finish by the Jazz/Blazers, we're in.
Well, what if I put it this way: if the Rockets play less than .500 and win 10 of the remaining 21 games then Utah would have to go 15 and 5 for the rest of the season. I don't think Utah is capable of playing .750 ball for the rest of the season. More importantly, I think we can play better than .500 ball.
To be honest, I'm worrying more about not dropping to the 8th spot more than anything else. I mean, is getting swept by Sacramento any more plesant than the lottery? I want to actually have at least a little hope of getting out of the first round. In which case, I'd want SA or Minnesota.
great entry.. it will be fun to start counting down to the playoffs.. is there any number where we automatically clinch? J
I believe I was the one that started the magic number thread last year . However, WE JUST BEAT MINNESOTA ON THE FREAKING ROAD.. HAVE SOME FAITH!!!
Most like Minny will take the 2nd, and Lakers will take either 4th or 5th. With Kobe injured again, I don't see Lakers get into top three seeds. Either Spurs or Mavs will take 3rd. We are better off playing Minny. So 7th seed is the position we should target on.
As long as we don't have to play the Kings, we have a chance. If we play the Kings, we are done. I saw them play the other day with Webber back and they are scary.
Aren't the Utah Jazz just 4 1/2 games behind? And isn't the Rockets' division record 5 -11 while the Utah Jazz have a 7 - 10 division record? It's too early to count out the Jazz, or even Portland. And is it true, that in the win against Minnesota, the Rockets just had two points? A win is a win, yes, but can we win ten or twelve more?
IMO the only teams we have NO CHANCE of beating in a playoff series are the Mavs and the Spurs. we've proven time-and-again that we can beat the Lakers and the Wolves. the Kings are definitely the best team out there, but i think they're beatable. the Texas teams have us beat before tip-off of every game we play against them. they're in our heads, period. once again: IMO. thanks,d.
