No thread for this that I could see? Yesterday we jumped the Clippers to move into homecourt for round 1 of the playoffs. Personally I was pretty thrilled. And with Portland fading we might just be able to sneak up to that 3rd spot. Or is positivity illegal on the boards?
Honestly, didnt even notice. Its kind of obscure that you can have homecourt while being a low seed. And I doubt it will hold, although it'd be nice.
Im looking at the schedule, and a 2 seed is very doable. That would make us SW division champs. When was our last division win? Exciting times.
We would have home court advantage, but because the conferences must have the leader of each of the 3 divisions finish in the top 4 + 1 extra team (currently the blazers), that's why the clips are 4th. If the playoffs started today the rockets would have home court
We can't jump into 4th, but seeding only determines who you play, record determines where you play. Only the top 3 seeds are guaranteed first round home court advantage. I believe the Houston vs Portland series was the last time a lower seed (us) had home court.
Nba standings have the Clippers above up even thought their winning percentage is .006 less. I guess it's because they are a division leader?
If Asik gets healthy it should be a nice boost. Assuming he doesn't come back and loaf, he'll fit in much quicker than any deadline acqusition would. Unless we can get someone like Deng for him, Asik should stay. I think he's worth more to us than any other team at this point. Perhaps we can deal a combination of AB, Garcia, and D-Mo for that bench wing player we need so badly. With that, I think we could be in contention for the #3 or even #2 seed. I really want to see this team get focused over the stretch run.
Positivity is definitely welcome in almost every situation. But knee-jerks should be kept to a bare minimum. The WC changes every game - if OKC loses some steam, they could be staring at the 4 teams who have HC in front of them. If the Clips start winning again, they could easily get HC back. The point is, unless a current playoff team in the WC goes on a major losing streak, they could end up anywhere from #1-8, depending on how other teams do.
We owned home-court earlier in the season also, the way things are going right now if we don't play out of our minds and get to top 2 then the battle for homecoourt in the 4th/5th seed with be tight especially with Paul coming back this weekend. It's good to celebrate but it might be short-lived only to be regained later in the season.
We only have home court by percentage points, and it is over a team that has smashed us twice this season, which is missing their best player.
We should finish in the top 4 by season end. Blazers will drop off. In fact they have a tough back to back this weekend at Indiana and Minnesota.
Man, I hope this thread doesn't jinx it. The 2nd seed should be the goal for this team. They're already ahead of the Clippers. The Blazers have a tough 2nd half schedule. And the Spurs are riddled with injuries right now(although they keep finding ways to win). It helps that the Rockets have already clinched the season series with San Antonio and have a great shot at doing the same with Portland.
I agree, we lost to Dallas the last game of the season in the Artest season. If we won that we would won the division instead San Antonio won it and we went from 2nd seed to 5th. Last division title was what 97?
The Clips and Blazers shouldn't be underestimated just because the Rox have had a good run. Houston may have moved up to third in the West in point differential over the last dozen games, but they're still only seventh in the conference for the full season. The Blazers may seem to be losing ground, but they've had a relatively rough schedule recently. It gets tougher still for a while, but after their last Texas Triangle trip in March they'll have a cakewalk to the end, so if Houston wants to pass them, they have to put in the work immediately. The Clippers are looking vulnerable but come on. They just weathered a 4-week Paul absence and are still right with the Rockets. I mean, I'm excited too, but let's worry about winning games for now.
We don't have home court based solely on the Clippers losing. We've won 7 from 9 and 10 of 13 to surge into 4th best record. WC doesn't change every game. For a long time it's been OKC, SAS, Portland, Clips, Rockets. We've performed admirably the last 2-3 weeks to pass the Clips, and hopefully Portland are in our sights.
So injuries are an excuse for other teams, but not for us? We've only had our best lineup on the floor for a handful of games so far this season. What's the harm in being optimistic? The Clips have a much easier road home than the Rockets, so to maintain homecourt we'll do well. But then again, the Blazers have a rough ride home - catchable.
We were #1 or #7 at one stage. Don't count the chicken until they are hatched. I do like where we are going at the moment. We could end up anything between #2 to #5 with HCA.
