We're tied now 9-6 in division records and own the better record against playoff teams right now. We're #3, Blazers #4, Spurs #5. ESPN is always slow to get things right.
I don't get it. We're closer to the east coast than San Antonio is. Shouldn't we be getting the favoritism?
I said this in another thread, but I am just terrified the refs and/or Stern will pull a 2005 and give Dallas the win with the last game of the season, "forcing" us to a 4th seed to lose to the Lakers in the 2nd round. That San Antonio "win" should not be had. I hope and pray I'm proven wrong.
The Lakers will be ill-advised to beat the Jazz. A win means nothing to them and only will solidify the Jazz as their first round matchup, which is pretty much the toughest they can get. If the Jazz take the win, they are likely to end up 7th. This is why it would be advisable for us to lose to the Mavs to avoid them. Again, ANYTHING but the Jazz in the first round. Even losing HCA. I want to see us out of the first round.
the lakers are good enough that it doesnt matter who they play in round 1. they are the only team in the west that can say that.
and LA is also good enough to beat utah tonight with a mediocre game. i don't see how the jazz win unless the lakers lay down for them.
lakers won't purposedly lose a game. they may play key players less minutes. however. on the other end, jazz sucks on the road no matter whom they face, a good team or bad team. how many teams they beat on the road? they lost tons of road games vs bottom dwellers. i guess lakers put half of their effort. they will have no problem to beat jazz.
Beating the Jazz tonight would not be a meaningless win for the Lakers because it would set the tone for the playoffs and let the Jazz know that if they can't beat LA with LA relying heavily on its lesser players in the last regular season game, they have no chance with Kobe and Pau in playoff mode. As far as the Rockets are concerned, put me in the "bring it on" camp. If we get Utah, so be it. I ain't scurred! It's crazy talk to put avoiding Utah over home court advantage in the first round. HCA is very important. Seriously, wtf.
And even crazier to put avoiding Utah over home court advantage in the first AND SECOND rounds, which will happen if the Rockets win and the Blazers win at home tomorrow.
We'll know if the Jazz win or lose tonight. If they happen to win, its not a sure thing that we get them if we beat the Mavs. The Blazers still have to beat the Nuggets. So lets assume that the Blazers beat the Nuggets. That means if we lose, we are getting at least 4th. So now we are back to first matchup vs the Jazz or a 2nd round matchup vs the Lakers. I'll choose a 1st round matchup against the Jazz over a 2nd round matchup against the Lakers. Especially when its 2nd vs 4th seed. The symbolism of winning the 2nd seed.... something we havn't done since the championship years. You can talk about the championship is more important, if we get the #2 seed and lose in the 1st round... it was worth it. Because think about what would happen if we got the #2 seed and we won, and maybe we make it all the way to the WCF. Talk about momentum going into next season. On the other hand if we tank against the mavs, get an easy win against an injured Spurs team in the 1st round before getting destroyed by the Lakers. Who cares? We get out of the 1st round, but we didn't really accomplish anything. No momentum going into the offseason other than this imaginary monkey off our backs.
There still exists the possibility of Utah beating LA but still remaining in 8th place. It would be bad precedent to lose to the team you're going to face in the playoffs at home. Plus, Utah is the one playoff teams that's struggling the most right now. They're 2-6 in their last 8, possibly 2-7 after tonight. They're limping into the playoffs. My scenario thread: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=166318 shows that there are 10 scenarios where Utah finishes 8th, 4 where Dallas finishes 8th, and 2 where New Orleans finishes 8th.
I was going to say.... so lets assume the Jazz beat the Lakers today (because if they lose then there is no debate). Do you lose to the Mavs tommorow? Without knowing whether the Blazers beat the Nuggets or whether the Hornets beat the Spurs, I don't think you can. If they decide to tank, and then it turns out the Spurs beat the Hornets and the Blazers beat the Nuggets, suddenly we look really stupid because we just gave away the #2 seed for nothing.
Here are the possible scenarios where Utah beats Lakers and we tank (or legitimately lose) the Dallas game: Utah beats Lakers, Dallas beats Houston, New Orleans beats San Antonio, Denver beats Portland 1. LA Lakers 2. Denver 3. Houston 4. Portland 5. San Antonio 6. New Orleans 7. Dallas 8. Utah Utah beats Lakers, Dallas beats Houston, New Orleans beats San Antonio, Portland beats Denver 1. LA Lakers 2. Denver 3. Portland 4. Houston 5. San Antonio 6. New Orleans 7. Dallas 8. Utah Utah beats Lakers, Dallas beats Houston, San Antonio beats New Orleans, Denver beats Portland 1. LA Lakers 2. Denver 3. San Antonio 4. Houston 5. Portland 6. Dallas 7. Utah 8. New Orleans Utah beats Lakers, Dallas beats Houston, San Antonio beats New Orleans, Portland beats Denver 1. LA Lakers 2. Denver 3. San Antonio 4. Portland 5. Houston 6. Dallas 7. Utah 8. New Orleans
and this is the reason why I don't want the rockets to tank on wednesday no matter if Utah wins or loses
EXACTLY. As long as the Rockets take care of what THEY need to do, then the only thing that matters is that we will not only be division champs, but we will also lock up home court advantage, no matter what. Regardless of what everyone else does, we NEED to win. Plain and simple.
