Yep. See, when I was growing up, you had to learn to calculate the magic number when it was really big, because, being a Cub fan and everything, you never had a chance to calculate it when it was small. I do plenty of rooting for the Astros now, though -- whenever this town has a chance to go sports crazy, it's good for all the teams. Tim
Actually, if that 3-way tie occurs, Utah is 7th, Rockets are 8th, and Portland is out. For if they tie at 46-36, that would include a Utah victory over the Rockets. According to the 3-team tiebreaker, the first criterium is winning % against the other 2 teams. Both Houston and Utah would be 5-3, and the 2nd criterium would come into play, Conference winning %. That goes to Utah.
You are mistaken. Utah's record would only be 4-4. They only have two wins over Portland. So we would be 5-3, Utah 4-4, Portland 3-5.
Since the Jazz lost tonight, the MINIMUM number for 7th seed is reduced by one game, it's the same number as the 8th seed,4. TEAM --- Standing -- Worst Case ---------------------------------------------- The Jazz 39-37 ----- 45-36 -----+6 Portland 39-36 ----- 46-35 -----+7 (We OWN tie break) Nuggets 40-37 ----- 45-37 -----+5 Houston 42-33 So, 3 wins is not enough since we dont' have tie-break over the Jazz or the Nuggets if they finish at 45-37. 46-36 will gurantee us a 7th seed since the Blazers are the only team can end up with the same wins, but we own the tie-break over them.
When can we start celebrating the fact that we are in the playoffs... 8th or 7th, does not really matter. Anyone? Is the time NOW? SS999
at this point i think it would be almost funny if the rockets didnt make the playoffs. we all know there would be changes then. and if there wasnt i dont think this team would ever recover anyways with the players that it has. there confidence would be shot.
Hey, let me ask you? do you want to celebrate to see this team suckly playing as we go towards the playoffs?
It appears our magic number goes backward---increasing instead of decreasing... Even if we do make playoff and do squeeze through the 1st round, some major overhaul is needed.
Did I just read that right??? Maybe some changes are needed if we only barely make the playoffs and get raped in the first round. But if we make the playoffs and get by the first round (regardless of whether we just barely "squeeze" by or whatever), this team will have overachieved for the first time since 2001 - and in a BIG way. We would be just fine if we made the Conference Semifinals this year. That would be huge. You sound like you wouldn't even be surprised if it happened... Hell, I'd be pleased even if we just took the first round to 6 or 7 games.
rockets are in for sure. Have you seen the other team's schedules? Portland: Hornets, Lakers, GSW, Spurs, Nuggets, Spurs, Lakers Utah: Clippers, Grizz, Dallas, Houston, Minny, Suns Denver: Suns, Houston, Portland, Kings, Spurs
Yeah, they'll make the playoffs alright. I can't wait to see all of the articles in the Chronicle where Steve Fancy, Mobley and Mo Taylor all strut around like roosters in a hen house as if they'd actually done something significant. Well, they'd better enjoy their "moment" in the sun because at this rate, they don't figure to be there long at all.
Blazers lost tonight... does that mean anything? (probably not, since they were already in the 8 spot)
It does mean the Magic number is reduced by 1 for Rox, because Portland is currently the number 9 team in the west.
With the Portland loss, the Magic Number is now 3. The most Utah, Denver, and Portland can win is 45 games. In the event of a 4-way tie, regardless of whether we lose to Utah and Denver later, we'll have at least the 2nd best record against the 4 teams along with Denver. Denver at best would be 9-3, we'll at worst be 6-6, Utah at best would be 5-7, and Portland at best would be 4-8. If we win three more games and Denver, Utah, and Portland win all of their games, we'll be the 8th seed. Therefore the magic number to make the playoffs is 3.
