if the rockets win the next 2, they are in, end of story. magic # with portland and utah would go to zero and thus secure the playoff spot.
If the Rockets win the next 2 games they will clinch the #7 seed. The magic # with Denver will go to zero as well.
My analysis is lengthy, here is the short result. Case 1: Rox win the next two vs. Denver and Utah As the above posts, Rox is #7 no matter what. Case 2: Rox win one lose one of the next two Rox need to win one more, (Seattle, Dallas) to garentee #8 Case 3: Rox loses next two, and Portland beats Denver on 4/10 Rox need to win both Seattle and Dalls to garentee #8 Case 4: Rox lose next two, and Portland lost to Denver on 4/10 Rox need to win both Seattle and Dalls to have a chance in playoff. The worst case is Portland, Utah, Denver win all games not mentioned, Rox is out of playoff. If interested i canpost my full length analysis.
Hopefully we will know Saturday night. Utah loses to Dallas tonight Houston Magic number 2 on Utah Houston beats Denver tomorrow San Antonio beats Portland tomorrow Houston Magic Number 1 over Denver, Portland, and Utah Houston beats Utah Saturday Playoff spot clinched
Here are what going to happen!!!! UATH will lose to Mavs, win over Rox, lose to Wolves, and beat Suns and with final records 43-39 Nuggets will lose to Rox, beat Portland, win over kings, and lose to Spurs and with final records 43-39 Portland will lose to Spurs, lose to Nuggets, lose to Lakers, and beat Spurs at home and with final records 42-40 and Finally Rox will beat Nuggets, and lose to UATH, and lose to Supersonics, and lose to Mavs at home and with final records 44-38 Rox will be the #7 into the playoff where Nuggets wins tie break with UATH in 8 spot. Anybody against me for the prediction????
I think Nuggets will be more focus on Portland's game instead of VS Rox on Friday. Therefore, if Rox can have large margin in 1st Q, Rox will beat Nuggets easily. Nuggets want to save more energy for Portland AT HOME and believe they have more chance to beat Portland. If Rox VS Nuggets become a very tie game I believe Rox will pull out to win this game since Nuggets has pressure (MUST WIN) over Portland at home. This is 82 games season all about. These four teams all complete 78 games now, and Rox is 2 games ahead of them, pressure is on the other 3 teams.
Plus, Spurs and Wolves will compete for 2nd spot because they dont want to be at 3nd or 4th to face either Memphis or Dallas, so Spurs and Wolves will fight hard in remaining games. Too bad Portland will play Spurs twice, and Nuggets play Spurs once. UTAH must face wolves alway. In addition, if Lakers cannot catch up Kings in the 1st spot, Lakers will be lock at either 3nd or 4th spot, seems like Lakers will lock in 3nd place where Dallas or Memphis wants to avoid against them. Therefore Dallas will play hard and beat Utah today and beat Rox last day. As above, not only UTAH, Rox, Nuggets, and Portland are fight hard for 7 and 8 spots. Kings, Lakers, Wolves and Spurs are also fighting hard for 1 to 4 spot. And Memphis or Dallas will like to be lock at 5th spot to avoid Lakers, therefore I believe Rox will be lock in 7th spot even if they lose 3 of last 4 games because all these top 4 teams are targeting top 2 spots, and will play as hard as those 3 teams (nuggets, jazzs, and portland) in final week.
Alantong, I'm gonna have to agree with you. Look at my prediction from last week. Rockets: (42-34) 6 games left @Golden State L, 42-35 @LA. Clippers W, 43-35 Denver W, 44-35 @Utah L, 44-36 @Seattle L, 44-37 Dallas L, 44-38 Jazz: (41-37) 4 games left @Dallas W, 42-37 Houston W, 43-37 @Minnesota L, 43-38 Phoenix W, 44-38 Nuggets: (40-37) 5 games left @Phoenix W, 41-37 Houston L, 41-38 Portland W, 42-38 Sacramento W, 43-38 @ San Antonio L, 43-39 Trailblazer: (39-37) 6 games left @LA. Lakers L, 39-38 Golden State W, 40-38 @San Antonio L, 40-39 @Denver L, 40-40 San Antonio W, 41-40 LA. Lakers W, 42-40 In conclusion the last 3 playoff spots are: 6. Memphis or Dallas 7. Utah Jazz (44-38) tie-breaker 8. Houston Rockets (44-38) 9. Denver Nuggets (43-39) 10. Portland Traiblazer (42-40)
Man, this is one of the most interesting playoff runs I can remember. The top 4 teams all have a chance at the top seed. They all want the #1 seed, not only for the home court, but also because the 8th seed team is the only easy matchup for them. Nobody wants to play the Mavs, the Grizzlies or even the Rockets in the first round. Then in the middle, there are the Grizzlies and the Mavs. Both of them want to avoid the Lakers, who most likely will end up third seed. So they are fighting to avoid the 6th. However, since the top 4 spots are such a toss up, anybody can end up anywhere from #1 to #4, the Dallas-Memphis race might turn out to be meaningless. Then at the bottom, there are 4 teams fighting for 2 spots. And they are playing each other down the stretch. Very very interesting!
the utah game could actually be a four game swing for us. if we beat utah on saturday, it is worth two games to us, because we win, they lose, and we win the tiebreaker. if we lose, it is two games the other way. wow. this is gonna be quite a ride.
So we are near the finish line for the playoff race. Looking at the remaining schedule for each of the FOUR(4) teams, all 4 teams have very difficult schedule remaining. Obvisouly, if the Rockets can win three games out of next four, we will be 46-36, and locked into the 7th seed. But we all know it's unlikely for the Rockets to win more than TWO remaining games based on the schedule, here is my prediction for the remaining games for each of the four teams. Projected Season Finish ------------------------------- 7th Houston Rockets 44-38 8th Denver Nuggets 43-39 9th Utah Jazz 43-39 10th Portland TrailBlazers 42-40 The Jazz 41-37(finish 43-39) ----------------------------------------------- Thu, Apr 8 at Dallas Sat, Apr 10 vs Houston (W) Mon, Apr 12 at Minnesota Wed, Apr 14 vs Phoenix (W) The Jazz has the easiest schedule among 4 teams. I'd pencil them wins for the two home games against us & Phoenix, so my prediction for the Jazz is 43-39 Portland 41-37(finish 42-40) ------------------------------------------------ Fri, Apr 9 at San Antonio Sat, Apr 10 at Denver Mon, Apr 12 vs San Antonio (W) Wed, Apr 14 vs LA Lakers The Blazers have a tougher schedule than the Jazz, I expect them to lose two of their away games, and one of the home games, that'll make them 42-40, which will put them out of the playoff. Nuggets 41-37(finish 43-39) ----------------------------------------------- Fri, Apr 9 at Houston Sat, Apr 10 vs Portland (W) Mon, Apr 12 vs Sacramento (W) Wed, Apr 14 at San Antonio Because of their altitute advantage, Denver should win at least one home games. I expect them win both of their home games, which will make them 43-39 Houston 43-35(finish 44-38) ---------------------------- Fri, Apr 9 vs Denver (W) Sat, Apr 10 at Utah Mon, Apr 12 at Seattle Wed, Apr 14 at Dallas The best shot for us is to win the home game against the Nuggets on Friday, and that's exactly what I'm predicting will happen. So we'll end up with 44-38. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So based on my prediction, Friday's game against the Nuggets is a MUST win game for us to be the 7th seed. Otherwise, Denver will be 7th seed, we'll end up tied the Jazz with the same records, end up be the 9th seed due to their better conference record.
So, one more win than last year after a head coaching change and two free agent signings. I hope nobody is actually satisfied with that...
Plus our SF spot got weaker. JJ has done well, but we got virtually nothing out of Pisskowski and Snackbar. I would take last year's rotation of Rice/Posey/J-Hawk over JJ/Pisskowski/Snackbar any day...
of course no one is satisfied, but we all knew jvg was going to take this season to get to know the team. well, the honeymoon is over and i guarantee you he's not satisfied. it's gonna be a busy offseason.
This is a pretty lame excuse. First of all, with EG's style, do you think he'd be able to keep his starting job under JVG? Not a chance! Second, about the quality of the bench players? Those are proven better players, but just didn't perform up to their level under JVG. Don't you think the coach could be the problem? Lastly, the only significant difference is the natural improvement of Yao, which is better than most of us expected. I don't think there is any argument this years' team is better, but they justs haven't played better this year. You can point your finger to this & that, but ultimately, JVG is the one we hired to take this team to the next level, but it hasn't happen yet!
Let's see. A mobile power foward who rebounds and blocks shots? Who can also contribute on the offensive end? Not a chance at starting? I don't even have to comment on that one, your basketball knowledge shines through. Right now our PF is not mobile, blocks shots and rebounds, and can't contribute on the other end. I guarantee you EG would be starting for life. Agreed. But I think it's fair to give him 2-3 years to see what he does with the roster. He took over this team from Rudy's days, this isn't exactly the squad he assembled. 2-3 years, and I think it will be fair to judge his progress with the team
