from NBA.COM, it should be right? right? do We have the tiebreaker? Denver3 48 26 0.649 11.0 30-15 9-3 28-8 20-18 8-2 W 3 Houston4 48 26 0.649 11.0 31-14 8-6 30-8 18-18 7-3 W 1
Rockets have better conference record so SHOULD have the tie. Wonder if Feigen had his blog tonight and if anyone asked this. Would be nice to get some clarification from someone within the league on this.
Read the exchanges between Scribo and me starting with post #528 on page 27. That should fill you in.
It seems to end with you two thinking the NBA tiebreak rules dont make any sense. I realize that as of the standings right now it says 4th, but if the POs started tomorrow would that mean Rockets would host Utah? Even though the 4-5 on paper is Rockets/Portland. Looking for definitive work on this division leader stuff. Extrapolating and interpreting between a couple of enthusiasts is one thing. Maybe Clutch can find this out for us.
<B> Games H2H Div Con Overall Magic </B> <B> Team W/L L10 H2H Left TB Div TB Conf TB TieBreak Number Diff</B> 1 Lakers 58-14 8-2 0-3 1A L 38-7 L No*<B> 21</B> (-1) 2 Spurs 48-24 6-4 2-2 None T 9-5 L 31-13 L No<B> 11</B> (-1) 3 Rockets 48-26 7-3 8-6 31-14 4 Nuggets 48-26 8-2 3-1 None W 30-15 W Yes*<B> 8</B> (-1) 5 Blazers 46-27 6-4 1-1 1H T 24-19 W Yes<B> 8</B> (-1) 6 Jazz 45-27 6-4 2-2 None T 31-12 L No<B> 8</B> (-1) 7 Hornets 44-27 5-5 2-1 1H W 7-4 L 26-16 W Yes<B> 8</B> (-1) 8 Mavericks 43-29 6-4 2-1 1A W 5-7 W 23-21 W Yes<B> 6</B> (-1) 9 Suns 40-33 6-4 2-0 1A W 24-19 W Yes*<B> 1</B> (-2) * Indicates the Tie Break is final For more information on the Magic Number Chart or about seeding or tie break rules, read the FAQ <B>Clinched the #9 seed</B> Here is the latest batch of Magic Numbers after all games were played on <B>March 28</B>. The Rockets took care of business tonight with a thorough beatdown of the Clippers. LA’s JV team is a joke, but it was nice to see us dominate a game that we’re supposed to win. We’ve got to take full advantage of the few Probables left on our schedule. All Magic Numbers drop 1.The Rockets now get another 3 day break before traveling to Phoenix on Wedneday, where they can clinch a Playoff berth with a victory. I’m keeping the Rockets at #3 even though most major outlets have them at #4. Cannonball and I hashed this out pretty thoroughly on pages 27 & 28. To summarize, it looks like the NBA uses 2 different sets of criteria to seed teams. 1 for the regular season and 1 for the Playoffs. You can view the rules here. Using the rules under the section titled Playoff Tie-Break Procedures, the Rockets are the #3 seed. It’s confusing and stupid the way the NBA is ranking them now, but I am confident that we would be the #3 seed if the season ended today due to our 3-1 record against the Nuggets. If someone knows how to get ahold of an official NBA source, I'd love confirmation, but the rulres seem pretty straight forward. The Suns had their playoff hopes on life support and needed a victory tonight to keep their slim hopes alive. Instead the Jazz found themselves in the daunting position of being down 21 in the third quarter in Utah. To their credit they staged a furious rally to take a seven point lead with 2 minutes left, but then they turned their brains off as they allowed Utah to stage their own rally to force overtime and eventually win in the extra period. It’s a crushing loss for the Suns, who missed out on a chance to win the tie break over the Jazz. Phoenix could still conceivably catch Dallas, but it seems pretty bleak at this point. Mehmet Okur finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds, and Deron Williams was stellar with 21 points and 13 assists for the Jazz. Steve Nash had 20 points and 6 assists, and Shaq added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Suns, who lose an additional Magic Number. They’re down to 1 now, so a single Sun loss or Rocket win clinches a Playoff spot for Houston. GolXen State was going nowhere this year, and it got worse when they lost Captain Jack for the remainder of the season. Still they showed up pretty impressively in the first quarter against Enver, but that early lead quickly evaporated and turned into a rout as the Nuggets walked away with an easy victory that saw them resting their starters in the fourth quarter. Carmelo had 31 points, 6 boards, and 5 assists, and the Birdman added 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets, who maintain a 1.5 game lead over Portland for the Northwest division lead. Kelenna Azubuike had 21 points and 9 rebounds, and Jamal Crawford added 30 for the Warriors. Apparently a junior college team showed up to play Portland instead of the Grizzlies. The Blazers led early and manhandled Memphis. Brandon Roy had 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists, and LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points and 7 rebounds for the Blazers. O.J. Mayo had 12 points and 5 assist, and Rudy Gay added 10 points for the Grizz and a pretty sorry leaderboard. 4 games are on the schedule tomorrow including a huge Spurs at Hornets matchup. We really need San Antonio to lose this game to have a shot at the division title. If they win, they likely take the tie break from us, and we’re not making up 3 losses with 8 games to play. I’ll post a detailed look at the tie break tomorrow evening. On tap for Sunday: Mavs at Cavs, Lakers at Hawks, Spurs at Hornets, Suns at Kings
On a slightly sour note Scribo: Not saying it will, but if the supposed regular season rules end up putting Houston at 4 even though tied with Denver and possessing a 3-1 H2H lead the conspiracy theories are sure to abound, regardless of who is in the 5 spot. Simply for the fact that the 4-5 winner plays the Lakers and the Rockets havent fared well against them all year but the 3-6 winner will get the 2-7 winner and the Rockets have shown they can compete with every other western team. Oh, and if Utah is in the 5 spot, the conspiracy theorists will have a field day.
I think we concluded that the "division leader" tiebreak only applied to regular season standings and that they don't use it when seeding for the playoffs. I don't think that's a definite answer but it seems to be the best assumption at the moment. One thing that seems to support this is that the "division leader" tiebreak is listed only under "tiebreaker basis" with nothing indicating that it's for use of playoff tiebreakers. The criteria that Scribo uses, which doesn't include the "division leader" tiebreak, is listed under "Playoff Tie-Break Procedures" meaning that those tiebreakers are used specifically for playoff seeding. And as I've said before, the use of the word "leader" instead of "winner" makes it sound like it's for use in season. If it were meant for use in playoff seeding, they'd use the word "winner". If the playoffs did start right now I do think we would be #3 facing Utah.
the stupid suns and grant "over the" hill. i was rooting for them all night long. looks like they've missed their last chance to get a ticket for the post-season (and will that make it the first time ever for shaq?). tomorrow's matchup between san antonio and new orleans will likely decide our last chance to have a shot at the division title. i generally like the spurs way better than the hornets, but for once i hope the hornets can use their home court well tomorrow and beat the spurs. i'd give them a 50% chance. mostly likely we will end up being the 3rd seed when the playoffs kick off in april (an amazing feat if we achieve that). i feel denver somehow will wilt in a couple of easy games and we will go 7-1 for the last 8 games. it's all of the matter who will be the 6th. i think it will be either the blazers, hornets or the jazz (i'm a genius, i know ), with the hornets being the likely one. but again, we've seen strange things happen in the last couple of weeks of the season.
Yahoo too. If it was only ESPN.com, I would have blown it off as a mistake. What made me concerned was that NBA.com had us #4 as well. You'd think that they would be the most reliable source.
But would the conspiracies be that far-fetched? Stern hates the Rockets ever since Akeem was drafted....ahhh....nevermind this has all been expressed before.
Yeah, if the Rockets can go 7-1 the rest of the way (assuming loss to the Lakers), then the Spurs would have have to lose 3 games for us to tie. And we need the Spurs to lose a division game or else they'd win that tiebreak. SA's two best opportunities for losses are @NO and @CLE. Losing at New Orleans would give the Spurs and Rockets the same division record (assuming each team won all other remaining division games). If the Spurs lose those two games, they'd still need to lose one more in order for us to have a chance at the division. That means they'd likely have to lose against Portland, Utah, or New Orleans at home. So if the Rockets are to win the division, here's how I see it most likely happening. 1)Rockets go 7-1, losing to LA and winning the rest. 2)Spurs losing @NO, @CLE, and one of POR, UTA, or NO at home. That would make the Rockets: 55-27 overall 10-6 in division 37-15 in conference And the Spurs 55-27 overall 10-6 in division (if losing 3rd game to POR or UTA) or 9-7 if losing to NO twice 37-15 in conference If the Spurs lost twice to New Orleans then Houston would win the tiebreak based on division record. If they don't and we're tied in overall record, division record, and conference record then we go to the next tiebreak which is record against conference playoff teams. In this scenario it would end up: Rockets: 15-12 Spurs: 12-13 Rockets win tiebreak and win division. Of course, I fully expect Utah to fall to #7 so our reward for winning the division and being the #2 seed would be facing Utah in the first round again.
You know, I've been trying to get healthy enough to join the Air Force or Navy as a musician. The Navy has a band up there in Silverdale. So if I ever go into the Navy and get stationed up there, we'll have to hang out and talk Rockets.
They are all incorrect. Here is the info straight off the NBA standings release... TIEBREAKER BASIS: (1) Division leader wins tie from team not leading a division (2) Head-to-head won-lost percentage (3) Division won-lost percentage (4) Conference won-lost percentage (5) W-L Percentage vs. Playoff teams, own conference (6) W-L Percentage vs. Playoff teams, other conference (7) Net Points, all games Teams 1 to 4 in each conference are the three division winners and the team with the next best regular-season record, with the seeding of these four teams determined by regular-season record. The playoff-seedings of Teams 5 to 8 are based upon regular-season record. ------------------------------------ As (1) indicates clearly...Denver would win a head-to-head tiebreaker for playoff seeding if the Nuggets win the Northwest Division and the Rockets finish 2nd in the Southwest Division and they each finish with the same record. Basically a reward for winning a division is that (1) tiebreaker to trump the head-to-head tiebreaker.
