I don 't know what you guys think, but the southwest division is hard this season! Only Memphis is the "weakling" this year, without Battier off course! ... and Gasol! I think the only division that 's also competitive this season is the Pacific (Lakers, Clippers, Suns) ... Houston, New Orleans and Dallas ... who will be the second team this season behind San Antonio? Or will the Spurs struggle soon and finish lower in this division at the end? Goooo Rockets! (My first thread!)
i agree, definitely the toughest division in the league, which will only make us a better team come playoffs. Add in the Jazz and Hornets to the playoff picture mix 2007 Western Conferance Playoff Teams: (in no particular order) Spurs Jazz Rockets Mavs Suns Hornets Lakers Clippers
good observation. now, the spurs is already in mid season form, unless a major injury happen to them, i see them most likely to win the division and the west as well... but again the key thing is healthy for them.. i think the rox will finish at least as #5 seed in the west and win 55 games... but i'm hoping for a much better seed. rockets all the way baby
is it very obvious southwest is the toughest division in the league now? dallas is catching up now ...
Divisions don't mean squat in the NBA... they mean nothing, nada, zip. They mean even less now since the NBA changed the seeding rule in the playoffs.
Nothing new. SW has always been toughest. [When Utah was still in SW, there was a year every team finished .500 or higher]
55 wins will do better than 5th seed. probably no worse than 3rd under the new rules, although 8-4 (.667) extrapolated for the whole season does come out to about 55 wins.
It's too bad teams like Golden State won't make the playoffs when teams with losing records in the east will. I think it's time that the NBA moved to just a 16 seed format and eliminate western and eastern conference finals. It should just be set-up so the teams with the best two records are in opposite brackets. I think it would make the finals a lot more fun.
Anybody check the standings recently? To be in the playoffs in the West, you gotta be a .600 team. In the East, only 2 teams are above .500, and you could be in the .300's to make playoffs. It's horrible. I can't remember who said it, but I was thinking the same thing, no team in the East would make the playoffs in the West.
Can some one please tell me if the 4 Southwest teams(e.g Spurs, Rockets, Mavs, Hornets) and 4 Pacific teams(e.g. Suns, clippers, Lakers, Kings) all have better records than the Northwest teams(e.g. Jazz, Nugs) at the end of the season. Will the leader of northwest teams(e.g. Jazz) make the playoffs????
