The last game of the season for both teams is @ Utah. Before then, here's their schedules: HOUSTON: Vs Golden State Vs Portland @ Sacramento @ Seattle @ Portland Vs New Orleans Vs Phoenix UTAH: @ Portland @ Sacramento Vs Seattle @ Golden State Vs Denver @ Dallas Vs Phoenix Vs Portland In order for the last game to mean anything, Houston needs to win one more game than Utah. Utah has the tiebreaker, and so anything less would give Utah HC. However, even if Houston wins two more games than Utah, the last game will still carry significance since Utah can tie Houston with a win. Houston has 7 games left, and Utah has 8. Here's all the possible scenarios: Houston goes 7-0: If Utah goes 7-1 or better, Utah gets homecourt. If Utah goes 6-2 or 5-3, the last game of the season will determine homecourt. If Utah goes 4-4 or worse, Houston gets homecourt. Houston goes 6-1: If Utah goes 6-2 or better, Utah gets homecourt. If Utah goes 5-3 or 4-4, the last game of the season will determine homecourt. If Utah goes 3-5 or worse, Houston gets homecourt. Houston goes 5-2: If Utah goes 5-3 or better, Utah gets homecourt. If Utah goes 4-4 or 3-5, the last game of the season will determine homecourt. If Utah goes 2-6 or worse, Houston gets homecourt. Houston goes 4-3: If Utah goes 4-4 or better, Utah gets homecourt. If Utah goes 3-5 or 2-6, the last game of the season will determine homecourt. If Utah goes 1-7 or worse, Houston gets homecourt. Houston goes 3-4: If Utah goes 3-5 or better, Utah gets homecourt. If Utah goes 2-6 or 1-7, the last game of the season will determine homecourt. If Utah goes 0-8, Houston gets homecourt. I won't go on, because I assume both teams will do a lot better than even 3-4 and 3-5.
I get the feeling that anything less than 6-1 isn't going to cut it. The Jazz get the Suns and Mavs, but by then I doubt those two teams will be playing starters for heavy minutes. I'm still holding out hope, but Sunday's loss hurts more and more every day.
Ouch. I knew it was bad, but not that much... If we go 7-0, they only need to go 5-3 and beat us at their own court?!? To me it seems like a lost cause. Rockets will win in six games in the playoffs!
realistically, i can see utah going 6-2 or 5-3 to finish out... however, im not so sure we can run the table the rest of the way
I posted something similar to this into the jazz watch thread but basically losing the game sunday even though the rockets still are only 1.5 games behind with 8 games left they have pretty much lost homecourt. unless utah goes into some major swoon and lose to the teams they shouldnt lose to, then there is no real chance for houston to get hca. how much would it suck if the jazz are ahead of the rockets by a single game the last day of the season and they rest everyone knowing even if they lose and have the same record as the rockets they get home court? i dont like the secondary tie-breakers since it pits divisional records, the rockets could be atop their northwest division as well, but they are stuck in the southwest where the best teams are. if anything it should be like whoever has the best record in the opponents divison or something. if the jazz has a better w/l against the sw division than the rockets than yeah give them hc, but the northwest has seattle,portland,denver,minnesota all teams that are underachieving or bad.
Wow, this is a very tight race. Worries me but I'm sure we can pull it off. Thanks for that. This just makes it more exciting for me.
UTAH: @ Portland - tanking @ Sacramento - tanking Vs Seattle - tanking @ Golden State - real tough at home Vs Denver - fighting for playoff position @ Dallas - might be resting starters Vs Phoenix - might be resting starters Vs Portland - tanking We're looking at 2 losses here, which would require us to go perfect. HOUSTON: Vs Golden State - far easier on the road(but no cakewalk with a renewed playoff aspirations) Vs Portland - tanking @ Sacramento - tanking @ Seattle - tanking @ Portland - tanking Vs New Orleans - ????(if they're in - dogfight, if not - tank time) Vs Phoenix - might be resting starters 1 loss at max is my personal expectation, but running the table is not so much of a reach.
Wish the NBA could figure out a way to stop tanking. While it may help our beloved Rox, it might also hurt them if the Jazz play more tankers. It just defaces the game in my opinion.
I've got a good idea, I think... Playoff teams select 15-30, depending on record. Easy enough. As for teams that miss the playoffs, their winning % over the previous 2 seasons (not including the current one) is taken into consideration. Depending on how bad a team was the previous 2 years, they would have a better chance of landing the #1 pick. A rule would be that a team who won the #1 pick would not be eligible to win it again the next year, and in the case of an expansion team (who has no previous 2 years to look at) they would be granted the #3 pick by default. Does that make any sense? Is it fair? I guess teams could still tank in order to improve their chances in the NEXT lottery, but it's better than the current setup, I think. Or they could just give all teams who miss the playoffs the same chance at the #1 pick.
Does Utah not show up for some games, or do they just play this bad? Makes me bang my head against the wall more for the fact that we LOST against them. They've been playing so mediocore as of late. But so have we.
Doesn't look like the Rockets are that interested. They seem to be tanking. I am really shocked that they are not going all out to get home court. The last few games, they haven't looked liked a serious contender. But why ease off now and concede home court?
Utah sucks on the road. Sadly, we sucked more and they broke their 6 game road losing streak in Houston. This is no race. We're tanking to let our starters rest for the playoffs.....oh wait.
we are really on our sheer ascent... it seems serious now if utah tonight lose to portland the situation will be better
GRR, what kills me is that if we had won the game against Utah, the situation might just be inversed. Check out Utah's roster, they are THIN as HELL. Putting pressure on them...grah. Guess that's all in the past.
Boy these two teams must love each other very much. They just don't want to leave each other too far away.
