No. the Trailblazer would not be the 3rd seed; the Rockets will by the virtue of the Rockets winning the division, the Rockets will supplant the tiebreaker. That's just the way it goes. But if for some reason, there is a three-way tie between the Rockets, Nuggets, and Trailblazer, the Rockets still maintain the third seed but the Trailblazer gets the second seed by virtue of the tiebreaker over the Rockets.
https://www.nba.com/2015/news/09/08/nba-to-seed-conference-playoff-teams-by-record/ Changed the rules in 2016. Head to Head became First Criterion.
So true. A healthy Rockets team means everything. With Clint, James, Gordon or Paul out we are screwed. The opponents won't make a huge difference with our team healthy whether we play Utah, Clippers or Spurs. We are a better team.
Who has the tiebreaker between Blazers and Rockets? Do we have the tie breaker due to being division champs?
Portland has the tiebreaker. The division champs tie breaker only happens when there are multiple teams with the same record, which has a very low probability to happen.
We just need to keep up the momentum. Only two tough teams left to beat! Take down OKC and the Clippers and they could easily end up in 7th and 8th serds, which is what is very possible unless SAS or UTA just choke against an easier finish.
The Clippers game won't be tough, and I don't see the Rockets taking the Thunder game seriously. The Rockets will likely rest all of their starters against the Thunder.
If it ends up being a three way tie and Denver win the season series against Trail Blazers, then rockets would be 2 seed, Denver 3 and portland 4. This is because 1) Denver and Houston are division champs and 2) Houston has a winning record against Denver. If it’s a two way tie between rockets and Trail Blazers and nuggets has the better record, then Denver 2, Portland 3 and Houston 4 because Portland won the season series against rockets.
In other words, if both teams win out, Portland would be the third seed, assuming all else the same. We need the JailBlazers to lose one more game than us, correct?
Yes. They have a Denver B2B coming up. I doubt they won both. Might lose both. The risky wish would be, they beat Denver in both games, drag Denver down (to give us the 2 seed), and they lose a game somewhere else. I say that as a risky wish, because that could also mean we end up 4th, if we don't win out.
I don't know if the 2 seed would be a big advantage if we face the Clippers first round, which is very probable.
3 games back of Denver with 5 games left. Rockets hold tie-breaker over Nuggets due to 3-1 advantage in head-to-head. Nuggets still have 3 games remaining against Warriors, Spurs, and two games against the Blazers. Rockets remaining games quite winnable (Kings, Suns, Clippers, Knicks)
Getting #2 requires Denver lose at least 4 of their last 7 games (4 home and 3 away) They will likely lose @GSW and win vs Wiz and Wolves. That leaves vs Spurs, Portland @Portland and @Utah. Dont see them going 1-3 in those games
