and i'd tank a second round series if i know it's the jazz waiting in the wcf's. i mean what's the chance? why advance if next it's a sure loss?
i say we'd better make sure we LOSE the hca by losing as many games as we can out of the remaining 5, so there is no chance for a 3-6 matchup b/w us and the jazz to happen.
I really don't want to face the Jazz, but I want the division title. I think it's crazy to be talking about tanking to get the #4 or #5 spot. Let's go for the division title and the #3 seed. The Jazz will probably fall to #7 or #8 anyways, but winning the division is a statement and a milestone. It's more important to enter the Playoffs on a roll with momentum. If we somehow draw the Jazz, it was meant to be and we'll deal with it. Things just seem to be falling into place for the Rockets, and I think we will beat the Jazz if we face them again.
Division champs is good but what I'd really like to see is the Jazz falling to 8th. Spurs losing Manu now doesn't help that but I'm keeping the hope alive.
Tanking would be the worst thing to do. We tank to the 4th or 5th spot, win in the first round, then face the LAKERS. I would rather be a division winner in the 2nd/3rd seed and play a tough first round matchup between the jazz or quite possibly the hornets.
Man, this news changes everything. You've got to wonder if the Spurs can beat the Blazers, Jazz, and Hornets at home. Before I had them going 2-1, losing to the Blazers. Now I could see that being 1-2 or even 0-3. I'm also curious how this affects the Blazers, Jazz, and Hornets. If the Jazz pick up a win in SA, that likely insures they don't fall to #8. If the Hornets win that game, they take the season series 3-1 and could overtake the Spurs for the #5 seed. I need to go have a margarita and let this percolate a while. I expected this to be a pretty quiet day, but this could cause major shockwaves through the standings and alter them pretty dramatically.
Meanwhile, I will be playing a sad song for the Spurs on the world's smallest violin. to the tune of "nanny nanny boo boo"
what's more important, winning the division and then losing to the jazz in the first round, or tanking to get the #4 seed, playing portland and more than likely advancing to the 2nd round? i choose the latter. i dont care if we somehow get the first seed and the jazz are the 8th seed. we are NOT beating the jazz in a 7 game series.
Maybe, maybe not. But... The chance of us getting 2nd is slim. Denver has been playing CONSISTENT basketball, and they are on a roll. I believe Jazz is a lock at 7 or 8. If we do win division, we'd get 3rd, and play against Hornets, Blazers, or Spurs. Of course, if Denver falls back to earth, then you might have a valuable point.
OK im assuming we finish either 4-1 or 5-0 to close out the season. and grabbing 2nd,3rd seed. That would put us in a potential first round match up with either dallas, utah and new orlean. New Orleans 47-29have a brutal schedule, all of their games is against contenders @miami, phenoix, @dallas, dallas @houston,@SA im assuming they are taking their home games and the game against miami, that would put them with 50-32 the jazz are 47-30 they have @dallas @SA, clips,GS, @LAL they finish 50-32 as well losing to LAL @Dallas Dallas 46-31 Utah,NO,@NO,mini,houston they lost to NO and houston to finish 49-33 that would put utah 6th NO 7th and dallas 8th if we are 2nd then its all good if we are 3rd then its jazz again
for the remaining part of the regular season and the final standings, I can't see Manu's out making a big difference. the spurs was playing without him like 10-15 games lately. and when he finally returned, he was playing very bad. like in the cavs game, he did nothing except jacking up 3's. and those shots barely fell. my question is: since he is either absent or doing negative jobs for the last 1/4 season, now what more harm could his exit do to spur's several remaining games, anyway? however this is a huge blow for spurs' playoff options and confidence.
Id like to know who has the tiebreaker between Utah, N.O. and Dallas. Id love to get 3rd and face Dallas.
There are still 3 games to be played between those teams, but the Jazz would definitely win the 3 team tie break. If the Hornets win 1 more game against the Mavs, they would be second. If the Mavs sweep both games, they would be second. The Hornets and Jazz own the 2 team tie break on Dallas, and the Jazz own it over the Hornets. <B>Jazz (5-1)</B> vs Hornets: 3-0 (No games left) vs Mavs: 2-1 (1 away) <B>Hornets (2-3)</B> vs Jazz: 0-3 (No games left) vs Mavs: 2-1 (1 home, 1 away) <B>Mavs (1-4)</B> vs Hornets: 0-2 (1 home, 1 away) vs Jazz: 1-2 (1 home)
you guys are forgetting the fact that Spurs got to where they are now, today, without some of their healthy players too. Manu was not in the lineup much this year and they still be able to take down teams. Granted now they are guarantee not to beat the Lakers, however, they are still a threat to seed 2 to 8 in WC. no way Spurs after getting this far is going fold without a fight. I still think they have a chance to hold onto seed 3. we need to take care of our remaining games before getting ourseleves way ahead. We will face whoever we play, there is no guarantee we can beat anyone in the playoffs. They are all 50 above wins team.
I agree. I think 1 game in the loss column with 5-6 games left in the season may be too much to overcome. I put the odds at 60% that the Spurs win the division and 40% that the Rockets do.
But then you get the Lakers in the 2nd round. We'd have a really good shot at the Trailblazers or Spurs in the 1st but then we'd get waxed in the 2nd round easy. On the other hand, if we take that Jazz in the 1st round, and then play the winner of Nuggets/Hornets/Mavs in the 2nd round, we could definately get to the WCF. The Jazz are the hardest matchup, but we can still beat them. We took them to 7 games with guys like Hayes, Howard and Head in the line-up.
This really bothers me how many people want to "avoid" the Jazz. I hate the Jazz. And I hate that we haven't had playoff success against them, but in reality what could be better than dropping them in the first round? If you don't have confidence in your team to beat them, maybe we should reconsider how good we actually are. I for one am not going to be happy with a first round victory only to get smacked in the second. I want to make at least the WC Finals. And if we really think we're capable of that, then we're definitely capable of beating a bunch of floppers. And by the way, I can only imagine what the Jazz fans are saying about all of you and how scared you are of their team. Unreal. I will be honest and say the Lakers will be tough to beat, but besides them, I like our chances against anyone.
