It’s time for another Friday look at the State of the Western Conference Playoff Race. I’m using Magic Numbers from 3/5 in this post. I’ve changed up the format a bit again, and I like this final look and am going to roll with it for the rest of the season. <B>Rockets</B>: Suns, Grizz, @Nuggets, Lakers, @Bobcats, Spurs, @Hornets, Wolves, Pistons, @Spurs, @Jazz, Clippers, @Suns, @Lakers, Blazers, Magic, @Kings, @Warriors, Hornets, @Mavs <B>Last Week: 2-2</B> @Bulls 105, ROCKETS 102 ROCKETS 105, @Wolves 94 @ROCKETS 107, Raptors 97 @Jazz 101, ROCKETS 94 We had an okay week that featured 2 expected wins over bad teams, a closely fought game in Utah against a red-hot Jazz team, and a demoralizing 4th quarter collapse in Chicago. Still we’re the #5 seed, only percentage points away from home court advantage. Kyle Lowry is showing he can be a solid point guard from this team, Carl Freaking Landry is back, and Luis Scola has turned into a double-double machine. I feel good about where we stand right now. We have huge games with the Suns and Nuggets this week where we can clinch a tie break with a victory. Doing so would reduce that opponent’s Magic Number by 3. Uh, there’s also that showdown with the Lakers. The Rockets have 7 Probable and 13 Contender games left on their schedule. We went 2-1 against Probables last week, and I think we’ll drop another before the end of the season. I’ll say we go 6-1, which would drop all Magic Number by 6. I’m going to assume this when calculating the rest of the teams. We’ve shown we can play with the Contenders over the last few weeks, and I think we’ll do all right with our remaining contests. Since 7 are on the road, I’ll go with a conservative 6-7 mark in these games. That would give us a 51-31 record and the #6 seed. I don’t like where this situates us, but there’s still 20 games to change the standings and get a different partner at the dance. I tried to be conservative with my guesses for the Rockets and was maybe a bit more liberal with other teams. We likely will have a completely different State of the Race next Friday if the past 3 are any indication. <B> Top Eight West Contenders</B> <B>Suns</B>: @Rockets, @Spurs, Mavs, Cavs, Thieves, @Warriors, 76ers, Wizards, Nuggets, Jazz, @Blazers, @Jazz, @Kings, Rockets, Kings, @Mavs, @Hornets, @Grizz, @Wolves, Grizz, Warriors <B>Last Week: 2-2</B> @SUNS 133, Raptors 113 @SUNS 118, Lakers 111 @Magic 111, SUNS 99 @Heat 135, SUNS 129 The Suns looked like they were about to drive off a cliff. A’mare went out, Steve Nash rolled an ankle, they got blown out in LA, and they faced a hellish stretch of 7 games against Contenders. Then they took care of business against the Raptors, and Shaq got nasty, scoring 45 in a surprising win over the Lakers. Despite taking the first game of their 7GoD, the Suns dropped 2 straight in Florida. Now they find themselves 2.5 games out of the Playoffs with 4 tough games up next. They staved it off for a week, but it certainly seems like the season is about to come crashing down for the Suns. The Mavs and Suns are tied 1-1 in their season series with a game remaining in both Phoenix and Dallas (which is on Tuesday). If Dallas takes both of these games, the Suns are finished. With our 6 Probable victories, we knock the Suns out with a combination of 11 Sun losses and Rocket Contender victories. We only play the Suns 3 times this year and have already taken the first game. The Rockets need a victory tonight or in Phoenix on April 1 to take the tie break. A single victory for the Rockets would drop the Suns down 3, and a pair of victories would knock their number down 5. Phoenix has 10 Probable and 11 Contender games left on their schedule. The Suns have looked great against bad teams, and they’ll likely take all or almost all of their Probable games. It’s those Contender games that will drag them down. I don’t think they’ll win more than 3 of these games, finishing 12-9. If we win just one more game against Phoenix, we should close the Suns out and clinch a Playoff berth. Even if the Suns get a clean sweep, we’d likely only need a few Contender victories of our own to clinch over them. Likelihood: Excellent Magic Number: 17 Magic Number over Rockets: 26 Magic Number over Lakers: 37 Magic Number over Mavericks: 24 Projected Record: 46-36 Projected Seed: #9 <B>Mavericks</B>: Wizards, @Suns, @Blazers, @Warriors, @Lakers, Pistons, @Hawks, @Pacers, Warriors, Nuggets, @Cavs, @Wolves, Heat, @Grizz, Suns, Jazz, Hornets, @Hornets, Wolves, Rockets <B>Last Week: 3-2</B> @MAVS 110, Thieves 108 @MAVS 109, Raptors 98 @Thieves 96, MAVS 87 @MAVS 107, Spurs 102 @Hornets 104, MAVS 88 It was an up and down week for the Mavs. They nearly lost to the Thieves once and got beaten by them in OKC a few days later, which prompted a tirade from Mark Cuban. They handled the woeful Raptors, had Jason Terry return, and won a hard-fought game over the Spurs. Then they got pasted by the Hornets. This team is wildly inconsistent and seems destined to play about .500 ball. While I don’t see them missing the playoffs, they don’t seem capable of rising above the #8 seed. With our 6 Probable victories, we knock the Mavs out with a combination of 13 Mav losses and Rocket Contender victories. If we beat the Mavs on the last game of the season, we drop their Magic Number by 3. Even if the Mavs win the last game in Dallas, we should wind up with a better division record (we’re 5-5, they’re 5-7) and take the tie break, reducing their Number by 1. Dallas closes with 12 Contender and 8 Probable games. They’ll probably blow a few easy games and split the Contender games for a 12-8 finish. If we take the game in Dallas, we’d only need 2 more Contender victories. Otherwise we’d need 4 more (5 if we wind up with a worse division record). Likelihood: Very Good (Excellent if we win that last game in Dallas) Magic Number: 19 Magic Number over Rockets: 23 Magic Number over Spurs: 26 Magic Number over Hornets: 24 Magic Number over Suns: 19 Projected Record: 48-34 Projected Seed: #8 <B>Nuggets</B>: @Jazz, @Kings, Rockets, Thieves, Clippers, Nets, @Grizz, Wizards, @Suns, @Hornets, @Mavs, Warriors, Knicks, Jazz, Clippers, @Wolves, Thieves, @Lakers, Kings, @Blazers <B>Last Week: 2-2</B> @NUGGETS 90, Lakers 79 @Pacers 100, NUGGETS 94 @Pistons 100, NUGGETS 95 @NUGGETS 106, Blazers 90 Meet the Western Conference’s most inconsistent team. If they had a ‘C’ in their city or team name, I’d take that away instead of the ‘d’. The Nuggets seemed ready to implode and blew several easy games, and then they shellacked the Lakers, holding them to the second lowest field goal percentage in team history. They follow that up with bad losses to the Pacers and Pistons. Enver finished the week with a home against the Blazers with the division lead on the line, and they blew Portland out. They go into this week as the Northwest division leader, but I think Utah will wrest that away by next Friday. With our 6 Probable victories, we knock the Nuggets out with a combination of 16 Nugget losses and Rocket Contender victories. If we beat the Nuggets in Enver on Monday, we take the tie break and drop their Magic Number by 3. If we lose that, the tie break comes down to the Conference Records, where we’re tied. Enver has 8 games left against Contenders and 12 Probables. Normally I’d say that schedule favors the Nuggets, but how do you predict what this team will do? I think it’s near certain that they’ll take down Contenders convincingly and lose to dregs like the Kings and Thieves. I’ll say they go 11-9 down the stretch, but that’s a shot in the dark. If we win in Enver on Monday, we’d only need 4 more Contender victories. If we lose, we’ll probably need 7 more Contender victories (6 if we wind up with a better conference record). Likelihood: Good (Excellent if we win in Enver) Magic Number: 22 Magic Number over Rockets: 20 Magic Number over Blazers: 20 Magic Number over Jazz: 22 Projected Record: 51-31 Projected Seed: #7 <B>Blazers</B>: Wolves, Lakers, Mavs, Nets, @Hawks, @Grizz, @Pacers, @Cavs, @Bucks, 76ers, Suns, Grizz, Jazz, @Thieves, @Rockets, @Grizz, @Spurs, Lakers, @Clippers, Thieves, Nuggets <B>Last Week: 3-1</B> BLAZERS 102, Wolves 82 @BLAZERS 102, Spurs 84 @BLAZERS 107, Pacers 105 @Nuggets 106, BLAZERS 90 The Blazers were rolling along this week with victories over a couple of patsies and a convincing rout of the Spurs. Portland looked like they were going to take the division lead from Enver, but the Nuggets blew them out. While the Blazers seem capable of dominating teams at the Rose Garden, they have dropped their recent Contender games that are on the road. With our 6 Probable victories, we knock the Blazers out with a combination of 15 Blazer losses and Rocket Contender victories. If we beat the Blazers in Houston on April 5, we take the tie break and knock their Magic Number down 3. The Blazers have 8 Contender and 12 Probable games left on their schedule, and I think they’ll finish strongly at 15-6. If we take the game on April 5, we’d only need to win 6 Contender games to close Portland out. Without that victory we’d have to take 9. Likelihood: Dicey (Very Good if we win April 5, Unlikely if we lose) Magic Number: 21 Magic Number over Rockets: 22 Magic Number over Nuggets: 23 Magic Number over Jazz: 22 Projected Record: 53-29 Projected Seed: #5 <B>Hornets</B>: Thieves, @Hawks, @Wizards, @Bucks, @Bulls, Rockets, Wolves, Grizz, Warriors, Nuggets, @Knicks, Spurs, @Kings, @Clippers, @Warriors, Jazz, @Heat, Suns, @Mavs, Mavs, @Rockets, Spurs <B>Last Week: 4-0</B> @HORNETS 95, Bucks 94 HORNETS 99, @Nets 96 HORNETS 98, @76ers 91 @HORNETS 104, Mavs 88 The Hornets are one of the 2 hottest teams in the West right now. David West was just named Player of the Week, Chris Paul seems like he’s on a mission to get the MVP, and Tyson Chandler has a chip on his shoulder to prove the Hornets shouldn’t have traded him. They’ve won 6 straight games (who hasn’t had one of these recently?), but 5 of those were over JV teams. They did, however, smash the Mavs last night. Unfortunately, they have a cake walk of a schedule the next 5 games (the last 4 are on the road), and the Rockets could face a Hornets team March 16 on an 11 game winning streak. With our 6 Probable victories, we knock the Hornets out with a combination of 16 Hornet losses and Rocket Contender victories. The Rockets have 2 games left with the Hornets, 1 home and 1 away. If we take both, we knock their Magic Number down 5. If we split, we knock it down 2. The Hornets have a 6-3 division record compared to our 5-5 record, so New Orleans would probably win the tie break if we split the season series 2-2. The Hornets have 10 Contender games and 12 Probables left on their schedule. It’s completely frontloaded with Probables, but the Hornets close the season with their own Seven Games of Doom. I think they’ll feast on this easy portion, but ultimately fall back a little to finish 16-6. If we take both games from the Hornets, we’d need only 5 more Contender victories. If we split those games with the Hornets, we’d need 8 Contender victories. If the Rockets get swept in those 2 games, we’d need 10 Contender victories. Likelihood: Sketchy (Really Good if we win both games, Difficult if we split, Bleak if we lose both) Magic Number: 22 Magic Number over Rockets: 22 Magic Number over Spurs: 26 Magic Number over Mavs: 20 Projected Record: 54-28 Projected Seed: #4 <B>Jazz</B>: Nuggets, @Raptors, @Pacers, @Hawks, @Heat, @Magic, Wizards, @Thieves, Rockets, @Suns, Suns, Knicks, @Blazers, Wolves, @Nuggets, @Hornets, @Mavs, @Spurs, Warriors, Clippers, @Lakers <B>Last Week: 3-0</B> @JAZZ 102, Kings 89 JAZZ 112, @Warriors 104 @JAZZ 101, Rockets 94 The Jazz keep on rolling with another perfect week, including 2 Probable victories and a flop-filled win over the Rockets. That’s 9 straight victories for Utah, who seem poised to take the division lead. They host Enver tonight in a contest that could get them within a ½ game. They have a 5 game road trip against the East coming up that’s backloaded with 3 contests against Contenders so hopefully that winning streak will get snapped soon. With our 6 Probable victories, we knock the Jazz out with a combination of 15 Jazz losses and Rocket Contender victories. We wasted an opportunity to take the tie break from them on Wednesday, but we still have one more shot in Utah on March 24. A victory that night would drop Utah’s Magic Number 3. While the Jazz are hot right now, they have one of the toughest closing schedules with 8 Probables and 13 Contenders. We’ve seen this with the Rockets and other teams. It takes a lot of energy to sustain a long winning streak, and there’s usually a falloff when it finally ends. Furthermore 10 of their Contender games are on the road where they don’t get the same favorable calls as evidenced by their 11-17 away record. Still I think the Jazz will close strong at 15-6. If we win our last game in Utah, we would likely need 6 more Contender victories to close the Jazz out. If we lose that game, we need 8 or 9 Contender victories depending on the outcome of the Conference Record tie-break (where we both have 11 losses). The Jazz have clinched the tie break over the Hornets. Likelihood: Dicey (Good if we win in Utah, Tough if we lose) Magic Number: 21 Magic Number over Rockets: 22 Magic Number over Blazers: 22 Magic Number over Nuggets: 23 Projected Record: 54-28 Projected Seed: #3 <B>Spurs</B>: Wizards, Suns, Bobcats, Lakers, @Rockets, @Thieves, Wolves, Celtics, Rockets, Warriors, @Hawks, Clippers, @Hornets, Thieves, @Pacers, @Cavs, @Thieves, Blazers, Jazz, @Kings, @Warriors, Hornets <B>Last Week: 1-3</B> Cavs 97, @SPURS 86 @Blazers 102, SPURS 84 SPURS 106, @Clippers 78 @Mavs 107, SPURS 102 The Spurs had been rolling along until they hit a buzz saw this week, going 1-3. Granted, the 3 losses were all to Playoff Contenders, and the lone win was against the Clippers. Tim Duncan was out for the Cavs game, but I’d still expect the Spurs to get at least 1 of these Contender battles. At some point, they’ll get Ginobili back, and Popovich usually finds a way to motivate this team. The sky is not falling in San Antonio, but they don’t look like quite the lock for the #2 seed. It’s a shame the Rockets couldn’t do better than 2-2 and take advantage of a rare bad week by the Spurs. With our 6 Probable victories, we knock the Spurs out with a combination of 18 Spur losses and Rocket Contender victories. The Rockets have 2 games left with the Spurs, 1 home and 1 away. If we take both, we knock their Magic Number down 5. If we split, we knock it down 2. We will probably lose the divisional tie break, but the Spurs have 5 losses compared to our 4 so it’s possible we could take this. They’ve got 12 Probables and 10 Contenders left on their schedule. I’m going to assume they’ll steamroll the Probables, maybe dropping 1. I thought they would likely dominate the Contenders as well, but this last week was eye-opening. I still think they’re the Spurs and will find a way to right the ship, but it doesn’t seem too reactionary to assume a 4-6 or a 5-5 record against the Contenders. I’ll predict a 16-6 finish. If we take both of our games from the Spurs, we’d still have to win 7 games against Contenders. If we win only 1 game, we’d have to win 10. If we lose both, we’d need at least a 12-1 run. Likelihood: Very Unlikely (Dicey if we beat them twice more, Very Unlikely if we beat them once, Bleak if we lose twice) Magic Number: 24 Magic Number over Rockets: 20 Magic Number over Mavs: 18 Magic Number over Hornets: 21 Projected Record: 56-26 Projected Seed: #2 <B>Lakers</B>: Wolves, @Blazers, @Rockets, @Spurs, Dallas, 76ers, Warriors, @Bulls, @Thieves, @Pistons, @Nets, @Hawks, @Bobcats, @Bucks, Rockets, Clippers, @Kings, Nuggets, @Blazers, Grizz, Jazz <B>Last Week: 1-2</B> @Nuggets 90, LAKERS 79 @Suns 118, LAKERS 111 @LAKERS 99, Grizzlies 89 Thanks a lot, Lakers. You’ve got the #1 seed just about locked up. Your only task left is to take down Contenders and lose to the Rockets. Phil apparently didn’t get this memo as they bombed 2 games to Denver and Phoenix. They’ve got a 4 game stretch against the Rockets and 3 other Contenders coming up, so hopefully they’ll get back with the program. With our 6 Probable victories, we’d need a combination of 20 Laker losses and Rocket Contender victories. If we take both games from LA, that becomes 15, which would be extremely unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility. The Lakers have 9 Contender games left and 12 Probables. LA will crush the Probables, but I think they’ll drop a few games to Contenders down the stretch, particularly in the last 4 games after they’ve clinched the #1 seed. I foresee a 17-4 finish. Magic Number: 32 Magic Number over Rockets: 11 Magic Number over Suns: 7 Projected Record: 66-16 Projected Seed: #1 <B>Projected Matchups</B>: #1 Lakers hosting #8 Mavericks #2 Spurs hosting #7 Nuggets #3 Jazz hosting #6 Rockets #4 Hornets hosting #5 Blazers <B>This Week’s Key Head to Head Matchups</B>: Friday: Suns at Rockets Friday: Nuggets at Jazz Sunday: Suns at Spurs Monday: Rockets at Nuggets Monday: Lakers at Blazers Tuesday: Mavs at Suns Wednesday: Lakers at Rockets Wednesday: Mavs at Blazers Thursday: Lakers at Spurs
Nice work as always Scribo. I was about to update my other thread, but this is infinitely better. Yeah, Utah's last 4 victories haven't been surprising to me. If they can get this streak to 20 though, then it will be very serious and scary. Their road heavy finish is really going to show if they're the best, or just like the rest of the Western playoff teams.
We need a HCA. Do not know how to get it, but we really need it. The great thread, but I just missed this one because too many ones over there.
I know it could very well happen again...but i don't see us playin the jazz. Rockets/Blazers....yall watch.
I take a look at the remaining schedules like every other day for the Western conference. While anything can happen, the evidence strongly points to the following: 1) Lakers 2) Spurs 3) Nuggets 4-7) Toss Up Among Jazz, Blazers, Hornets, and Rockets 8) Mavs, with a small chance for the Suns Just take a long hard look at all the schedules and try to be unbiased. Know that anything is possible, but teams will really have to play out of character in order for the above not to happen. Scribo, I need to re-evaluate your post. I think you're being too critical with Denver and your shot in the dark record is off....but I could be wrong. You're giving way too much credit to the Jazz too, even though you think they'll drop off with the road record. There's just so many intergames left that I'm not sure of anything other than Lakers are 1 and Spurs are 2....but I'm really leaning to Nuggets 3. Just look at the following stretch for them: @Sac, Hou, OKC, LAC, NJ, @Mem, Was....how do they not go at worst 6-1.... I think that if Denver wins tonight, they win the division. I'm going out on a limb, but if they win tonight, then by March 23rd, they'll be going to Phoenix with a 47-23 stranglehold on their division. And Utah would be 42-27.
It's tough to call this race, and I'll write in more detail tonight after the Jazz-Nuggets game. I don't know what to think of the Nuggets. They have looked dreadful against some really bad teams and have played well against the good teams. In the last month, look at their record: @Nets: Loss @Heat: Win @Magic: Win @76ers: Win @Bulls: Loss @Bucks: Loss Celtics: Loss Haws: Win Lakers: Win @Pacers: Loss @Pistons: Loss Blazers: Win Normally I'd say they have 12 Probable games left and only 8 against Contenders, so they're looking good. Yet this is a team that seems to play down to its level of competition, and I pretty much expect them to blow quite a few games they shouldn't. I could easily see @Kings, Rockets, Thieves, Clippers, Nets, @Grizz, Wizards being a 3-4 record for the Nuggets. That's the rub with this team, you just don't know. It wouldn't surprise me if they went 3-0 against @Suns, @Hornets, @Mavs, nor would it surprise me if they went 0-3. The Jazz are going to have a very telling end of their season with the brutal schedule they have left. I wouldn't be surprised to see them play .500 ball, dominate that schedule, or go on some losing streaks. I just feel they have a good roll right now and will probably fare well. However, I'm completely guessing at all of this based on gut feeling. Nothing will surprise me at this point with seeds 3-7. I'm sure when I do this again next week, I'll have shaken up my proposed rankings again based on this next week's results.
I don't find Denver's losses that surprising this last month. @Nets: Loss - Bad Loss @Heat: Win @Magic: Win @76ers: Win @Bulls: Loss - 19-11 at home for the Bulls and Denver is 17-15 on the road. @Bucks: Loss - Bucks are 18-12 at home Celtics: Loss - not surprising Haws: Win Lakers: Win @Pacers: Loss - 19-11 at home and have beaten many good teams @Pistons: Loss - Detroit underachieves, but have been playing well lately Blazers: Win So...yeah, their play hasn't really been that surprising.
<B> Games H2H Div Con Overall Magic </B> <B> Team W/L H2H Left TB Div TB Conf TB TieBreak Number Diff</B> 1 Lakers 50-12 0-2 1H,1A L N/A X 33-6 L No<B> 31</B> (-1) 2 Spurs 41-20 1-1 1H,1A T 8-4 L 26-10 L No<B> 23</B> (-1) 3 Rockets 40-23 5-5 25-11 4 Nuggets 40-23 2-1 1A W N/A X 24-12 W Yes<B> 20</B> (-2) 5 Hornets 38-22 1-1 1H,1A T 6-3 L 22-14 W No<B> 21</B> (-1) 6 Jazz 39-23 2-1 1A W N/A X 28-11 L Yes<B> 20</B> (-1) 7 Blazers 38-23 1-1 1H T N/A X 19-18 W Yes<B> 20</B> (-1) 8 Mavericks 37-25 2-1 1A W 5-7 W 20-18 W Yes<B> 18</B> (-1) 9 Suns 34-28 2-0 1A W N/A X 20-15 W Yes*<B> 14</B> (-3) 10 Warriors 21-41 3-0 1A W N/A X 12-23 W Yes*<B> 1</B> (-2) 11 Wolves 18-43 3-0 1H W N/A X 9-29 W Yes*<B> Lobotomized</B> 12 Grizzlies 16-44 1-2 1H L 4-9 W 10-29 W No<B> Hibernated</B> 13 OKC Thieves 16-45 3-0 None W N/A X 10-28 W Yes*<B> Dislocated</B> * Indicates the Tie Break is final <B>Clinched the #10 seed</B> Here is the latest batch of Magic Numbers after all games were played on <B>March 6</B>. What an exciting win for the Rockets. They played great defense in the first half and hung to win a wild finish despite Steve Nash’s late-game heroics. Aaron Brooks set a career high with 30 points, and Scola put up another double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Artest and Yao were huge as well with timely shots and rebounds in the closing minutes. It would have been nice if we had defended some of those late 3’s the Suns put up and hit our free throws, but it was a clutch finish for a team that had played poorly down the stretch in recent games. Happy Birthday, Shaq! The Rockets victory moves them back up to the #3 spot and drops all Magic Numbers 1. Phoenix is now 1-3 on their 7GoD stretch with their next 3 games @Spurs, Mavs, Cavs. It's not looking too good for Phoenix, who are now a full 3 games behind Dallas. The victory tonight also gives the Rockets the season tie break over the Suns, so Phoenix drops a total of 3 (1 for the Sun loss, 1 for the Rocket win, and 1 for losing the tie break). The last week wasn’t great for the Lakers, and the Wolves were the unlucky team to travel to LA as the Lakers took out some frustration and pummeled Minnesota. Gasol had 21 and Kobe had 23 before sitting out the fourth with the Lakers comfortably ahead. The loss officially closes out the Wolves. I feel bad for Minnesota. They seemed like they were finally turning a corner with the franchise, but then Al Jefferson tore his ACL. I hope Jefferson can come back healthy next season, but it certainly seems like this franchise has been cursed since they did the secret deal with Joe Smith. I’m curious if McHale will be back as coach next season. At least for their sake, he’s no longer the GM. Next up: the Warriors and the #9 seed. The Spurs were another team looking for some redemption after a 1-3 record last week. All three of those losses were against Playoff Contenders. San Antonio is good about beating bad teams, and they got a welcome tonic when the Wizards came to town. True to form, they demolished Washington with ease. Tony Parker had 19 points and 7 assists in just 24 minutes of play as the Spurs rested their starters. The Nuggets faced another division rival for the second night in a row and built a 19 point lead on the Utah Jazz. Deron Williams, however, had a huge third quarter and rallied the Jazz to victory. Williams finished with 25 points and 11 assists, while Carmelo had 20 and J.R. Smith had 27 in a losing effort for Enver. It’s the 10th straight victory for the Jazz and drops the Nuggets an additional Magic Number. I’m not sure how the Northwest division race will shake out. The Blazers, Nuggets, and Jazz are within a game of one another. There are still 4 head-to-head contests between the teams, and it might come down to tie breakers. Here's how they’re faring against each other so far and their division record. Jazz (9-3) Against Blazers: 2-1 Against Nuggets: 2-1 Nuggets (8-3) Against Blazers: 2-1 Against Jazz: 1-2 Blazers (6-5) Against Jazz: 1-2 Against Nuggets: 1-2 Remaining Games Mar 31 – Blazers at Jazz Apr 2 – Jazz at Nuggets Apr 15 – Nuggets at Blazers Right now the Blazers seem to be at a disadvantage with losing records to both teams as well as the worst divisional record while the Jazz seem in the best shape as far as the tie breaks go with 2-1 marks against both teams. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d order them Jazz, Blazers, Nuggets at the end of the season. Kim thinks the Nuggets will win the division and makes some really good points, but they could finish in any order and it wouldn’t surprise me. Remember that a division winner is guaranteed a top 4 seed, although home court will be awarded to the better team in each round. You can read the FAQ for a refresher on seeding and tie breaking rules. The Detroit Pistons looked like they were in danger of missing the Playoffs, but ever since Iverson went out with an injured back, they have looked like a threat to get home court in the first round. They had won three straight (all over Contenders) so had to be feeling good about drawing Golden State at home. The Pistons built a huge first half lead and cruised to a win. I think I’m going to upgrade the Pistons to Contender status for next week’s State of the Race. Rip Hamilton had 22 points for Detroit, and Jamal Crawford had 25 points and 8 assists for the Warriors. Golden State drops an additional Magic Number. On tap for Saturday: Thieves at Hornets, 76ers at Grizz, Wizards at Mavs, Warriors at Bucks, Wolves at Blazers
lol @ "lobotomized". second time in my life i've seen that word - with the first being learning the word. so, if the playoffs start tomorrow, we'd be playing against the jazz (with hca) again? just saying...
The Rockets took a HUGE step towards securing a playoff spot by beating the Suns. It seems unlikely (though possible, of course) that the Suns can catch the Rockets now.
Scribo your work is awesome and greatly appreciated One thing you might think about adding is maybe the last 10 games record. It'd be cool to know whether a team's hot or not
Thanks, Scribo. I check this thread daily to see if the Rockets have moved up in multiple ways. It seems like the Rox can clinch a spot this year sooner than last season, but maybe I'm looking at the statistics incorrectly.
Last year we clinched on April 6 with a 6 game lead over the Warriors. We're 5.5 up on Phoenix with the tie break, so that's essentially a 6.5 lead. With the way the Suns have been playing, I could definitely see us clinching a Playoff spot by the end of March or on April 1 when the Rockets play in Phoenix. So probably a week earlier. There's the scrum for spots 2-8 this year, but there's not the drama of being a #3 seed and maybe falling out of the playoffs with a few losses like last year. Phoenix is clearly behind the pack and needs to get on a serious roll if they want to put a scare in the top 8.
