am i the only one that's pretty sure that denver is going to lose two more games? they have a very good chance of losing @ LAL. they have a very good chance of losing @ POR. no?
everyone needs to keep this post in mind. let's end this silly do we play utah or do we avoid them discussion.
Morey thinks there is a 62% chance the Rockets play either the Blazers or the Spurs in the 1st round. Interesting. So one could infer he is giving the Rockets just a 38% chance of winning the division while not dropping a game to the Blazers (i.e. 38% chance of getting the 3 seed). Most posters here predict the Rockets to be playing the Jazz/Hornets/Mavs.
We have some clarification on tie break procedures from Hollinger in this article. The division leader rule is in fact a new rule implemented for this season. I imagine it's directly a result of last year's race where the Rockets nearly wound up the #1 seed even though they didn't win their division. I trust Hollinger on this one. It's good to get confirmation. So we can finally put together a new Order of Operations for seeding. 1) Determine the 3 division winners. If 2 teams are tied, use 2 team tie break rules to pick the winner. If more than 2 teams are tied, use multiple team tie break rules to pick the winner. 2) Order the teams 1-8. Division winners automatically beat out non-division winners in the case of a tie. To break ties between 2 or more division winner or 2 or more non-division winners, use 2 or multiple team tie breaks where appropriate. 3) Are all 3 division winners in the top 4? If not take the division winner out of the top 4 and move them to #4, bumping the teams in between down a spot. 4) Home court in each round is decided by the best record, regardless of seed. In case of a tie, use 2 team tie break rules to break the tie.
The funny thing is ... that Denver/Portland game is 6 days away, and Rockets fans have no idea whether they will be rooting for Portland, Denver, or nobody. It could go any of those three ways. I predict nobody, as the game might not have any implications on Houston (i.e. Denver already has clinched a better record than the Rockets and Houston will have already clinched a better seed than Portland)
What about a 3 or 4 way tie involving both division winners and non-division winners? Do you pull the division winners out first and place them in the higher seeds? Let's say Denver, Houston, San Antonio, and Portland all finish at 54-28. What happens? Are all 4 crowned Division Co-champs of their respective divisions?
Figure out the division winners first. The Nuggets own the tie break on the Blazers and get the Northwest. In your scenario, the Rockets would have the tie break on the Spurs and would win the Southwest. As division winners, put the Nuggets and Rockets at the top. The Rockets have the tie break over the Nuggets and would be the #2 seed and the Nuggets #3. For the non division winners, the Blazers have the tie break on the Spurs so they grab the higher seed. Put the Blazers at #4 and Spurs at #5.
Before this year, you would break a multiple team tie by looking at their cumulative records and a division winner could have wound up at the bottom. This was the case in last year's Lakers-Hornets-Rockets scenario. In this year's case, the Spurs could win the division and would lose the 3 team tie break with the Rockets and Blazers. Now a division winner automatically goes to the front of the line. I follow league rules pretty closely, and I've been obsessing over the tie break rules all season. I still don't know when this rule was passed. I guess the NBA is trying to insure that a team who wins its division doesn't get a lower seed than a 2nd place team from the same division. I understand it, but I don't like it. Give the 3 division winners a playoff berth and seed them 1-8 by record.
This is so stupid. Can they dedicate a whole press conference with Stern to explain this. I still don't get the tie-break procedures.
hmm, so this "determining division leaders first" is new to this year. got it. but this nba division thing is looking more and more stupid than ever by the minute.
Wow the tiebreaker situation for the Rockets and Spurs are absolutely crazy they are up to the 4th tiebreaker
how crazy is this.. We win. Spurs are idle and drop 2 spots. I know its just temporary, but to see how volatile the standings are just by one team win is just crazy interesting!
