Ok so there are 3 divisions. The leaders get 1st, 2nd, and "4th"? How come Utah wouldn't get 3rd? It just sucks because, if thats the case, then record wise it doesn't really matter if we're above the Jazz or not, because they'll get 4th no matter what. Right? I'm confused!
The rules are the top 4 seeds from each division go to the three division winners and the winningest non-division-winner. The 4 are ranked by record. Then seeds 5 - 8 are divied up record. This was the stupid reaction by Stern after Dallas and SA met in Round 2 a few years ago. I'd favor all three division winners get in, but 1 - 8 is seeded by record.
If we have a better record than Utah, but there are still two teams in our division with a better record (likely), then yes we can not have any higher than a 5th seed. Worst case scenario, we would have had a 3rd seed otherwise (better record than anyone in the Pacific division) ... but more likely we'd have a 4th seed. In that case, the "seed" really makes no difference since home court advantage goes to the team with the better record anyways. This was the case last year. I can't see us beating out San Antonio or LA right now, but there is a chance we leap ahead of the other teams. That would give us a 3rd seed.
looks like 9 teams still in the hunt. Can we win 55 game or more? I mean obviously 60 games is out of the question at this point. 50 games is certainly doable.
The league just needs to eliminate divisions all together and add 4 games to the schedule for a total of 86 games 15 non-conference opponents x 2 games=30 games 14 conference opponents x 4 games=56 games With the schedules balanced, the top 8 teams from each conference make the playoffs. If records are tied, first tiebreaker is head to head, 2nd tiebreaker is conference record.
But how does Home Court play into this. So let's say Utah gets the 4th seed and San Antonio the 5th seed with a better record. Does that mean that the Spurs get the home court advantage? That's what I'm not sure about.
The Rockets were a 5th seed last year, with home court advantage. Seeding determines which teams play against eachother, and record determines who gets the home court advantage.
In that case, I don't see what the big deal is about the current seeding. Because the 4 teams with the best record still get home court in the first round. So I don't think we should be complaining. If a team wants to win it all, then they'll have to defeat whichever team they face.
