i'm pretty sure 3 wins does not do it. first of all, portland and denver have a game left to play so both can't finish with 45 so no 4 team tiebreaker if we win 45 (obviously it can happen at other win totals). if denver wins the portland matchup and wins out and the jazz win out, they'll both have 45 wins. if we win 45, we go to the 3 team tiebreaker. we will be 1-3 against denver and 2-2 against utah if both win out for a 3-5 record. utah will be 1-3 against denver and 2-2 against us for a 3-5 record. denver is 6-2. they get the 7th seed i assume from this. next tiebreaker is conference record which the jazz will win meaning we would lose out and be the 9th seed. our magic number over portland is 3. our magic number over utah is 4. our magic number over denver is 4. since we have to beat 2 of these teams and our second best situation is a magic number of 4, our magic number is 4. if we beat utah, our magic number with them will drop by 3 b/c of our win, their loss, and the tiebreaker going to us.
there is no way in the world that Denver, Portland and Utah will win all their rest games. They have tough schedules and I don't think Lakers, Spurs, Minny, Kings, or Mavs are all ready to lose to them.
It said on the Rox website that (on the crawl above the picture) ANY COMBINATION of Portland losses, and Rockets wins which total 4 will get us into the playoffs..... BUT, I just checked, and now its saying any combination of Denver losses, and Rockets wins which total 4 will get us in.... So I'm not really sure about this... Portland lost last night so does that mean the magic number is now 3?? Or are we wishing for Denver losses now??
I was born the year after the CUBBIES last world series appearance and became a fan in 59. I see in your bio that you were born after the 69 season, so I can understand you not having a grasp on a magic number that reaches single digits but not 0. By the way, my best friend at that time was a mets fan.
The magic number is any combination of team A wins or team B losses that allows team A to finish ahead of team B. Since Denver, Utah & Portland all have 37 losses at this time; the magic number for each is the same(4). Any combination of 4 Houston wins or Denver losses means that Houston finishes ahead of Denver in the standings. The same goes with Utah & Portland. Looking at the schedules, it really depends on which games the Rockets shows up for the rest of the season. They are capable of winning all of them with the possible exception of the Mavs game on the 14th. Certainly a win against Denver & at Utah are huge since they would knock 2 off the magic number for each of them.
There seems to be lots of confusion on exactly what our magic number is. Here is my clarification. Our current magic number to clintch playoff is: 4 Everybody agrees that magic number is at least 4. Here is the simple reasoning why 3 doesn't work. 1. Current record is Houston 42-33, Denver 40-37, Utah 39-37, Portland 39-37. 2. Win 3 Houston wins, Houston record 45-37. 3. The best Utah can do is 45-37. 3. Denver has a game remaining vs Portland. The best Denver and Portland can do is a) Denver 45-37, Portland 44-36, if Denver beats Portland. b) Denver 44-36, Portland 45-37, otherwise. 4. For case 3a), Houston, Utah, and Denver in a 3-way tie. The 3-way first tie breaker is head-to-head record: Houston 3-5, Utah 3-5, Denver 6-2. The second tie breaker is conference record, which Utah does better than Houston. So in this case, Denver 7th, Utah 8th, Houston 9th.
So basically what you'll are saying is the 3-way tie is first broken by interteam record then by conference record for the remaining teams? Are we sure the whole situation isn't solved by each team's interteam record and then if there's a tie within interteam record, by conference record?
Nevermind, it doesn't matter anyway because we'll have a tied interteam record with Utah if we lose to them or Denver.
no, it doesn't, b/c we have the head-to-head tiebreaker with portland, meaning we simply have to tie them, not outright be ahead of them, to finish ahead of them. denver we lose the tiebreaker b/c we are 2-2 vs them and lose the conf. record tiebreaker, and with the jazz it has yet to be determined and so you can't assume we win it. if we beat the jazz, we get the tiebreaker, if they win, they'll get it based on conf. record. magic #=4. the reason the magic number is so confusing right now is because we have more than 1 team chasing us, meaning they keep switching out who the 9th seed is and thus who we have to beat out changes. so even though portland lost, reducing our # to 3 against them, denver or utah became the new 9th seed that we needed to beat and our # with them is 4 and so our # is still 4.
OK , OK Something positive after losing to Sacramento.... I think we can win the next four to make sure we clinch a playoff spot @Golden State W @L.A. Clippers W Denver @ home W @Utah W We may lose @ Seattle, and to Dallas at home. Plus , I'm pretty confident that Denver, Portland and Utah will lose some games since their schedules are pretty tough. We should get the magic 4 games we need!!
As far as I'm concerned, the magic number is 3 if one of those wins is against Utah. I'd like to see us get that (three wins and one against Utah) regardless of how the other teams perform. It is completely possible for us to win every one of our remaining games; none of the teams left are good except Dallas.
so the Jazz won tonight and that brings us back to the feeling that we had last year where our playoff hopes were contingent on the other team losing. We'd better break out of this mentality where we think that we've already won, otherwise our team will always be losers in the long run.
The magic number is a number that mathmatically prevents team B from finishing ahead of team A. It is a quick way to guage the number of wins you need to secure your position without "if"ing yourself to death. It doesn't take into account the schedule. The Rockets win 4 games, they finish 7th. Noone else can pass them.
TRAGIC Number (i.e. if the number of wins by Rox + number of losses by 9th seed is equal to or lower than this number, we miss playoff) = The Magic Number - 1
My prediction... ROX finish 46-36 - Make Playoffs Nuggets finish 41-41 - Do not make playoffs Jazz finish 42-40 - tie Blazers for last spot Blazers finish 42-40 - tie jazz for last spot... winner of their series advances. Chill... ROX are gonna pull it out!
As a native houstonian of 34 years, i have endured, along with many of you, countless collapses by houston sports teams. I like to think that the houston sports jinx does not apply to our Rockets, due to the championships of the mid 90's. That somehow those titles washed away any houston jinx clinging to the Rockets. I still believe, but my belief is being challenged by the Rockets play of late. I still think we will make the playoffs. But would anyone of us, any native houston sports fan, really be shocked if the Rockets totally collapsed and missed the playoffs? I wouldnt be. Dissappointed yes, shocked no. Thats a sad fact. Hopefully the Rockets will bust out of this 4 game slump and reassert themselves, especially in the final minutes of games, starting with Golden State tuesday night. Guarding against total collapse - a Rocket fanatic
April 5 - Clutch "The Rockets Bear" has established a campsite at Toyota Center on a second floor balcony to show his support as his favorite team vies for an NBA playoff spot. Confident that the Rockets will accomplish the task, Clutch is vowing to eat and play on the balcony 24 hours a day, seven days a week come rain, shine or dark of night until the team clinches a playoff spot. I'm thinking about joining him.
