Maybe it me but the Western Conference it very tight right now!!!

6 teams in
4 teams without a chance
The other 5 fighting for the last 2 spots

Nothing any tighter the before, business as usual

 

Somehow Rockets managed to slip back to top 8. Hahaha!

Western Conference
W L PCT GB HM RD CONF DIV PF PA STRK L10
Phoenix 30 4 .882 - 15-2 15-2 18-3 5-1 109.7 98.4 Won 6 9-1
San Antonio 28 8 .778 3 17-1 11-7 15-6 3-2 97.3 85.9 Lost 1 8-2
Seattle 24 8 .750 5 12-3 12-5 13-3 6-1 100.1 95.1 Won 1 6-4
Dallas 22 10 .688 7 12-6 10-4 12-7 5-2 102.0 95.6 Won 5 8-2
Sacramento 21 11 .656 8 12-4 9-7 10-9 2-2 101.8 98.6 Lost 1 6-4
LA Lakers 18 14 .563 11 12-6 6-8 12-10 4-3 98.7 97.9 Won 2 5-5
Minnesota 17 16 .515 12 ½ 9-6 8-10 12-7 1-2 99.4 97.2 Lost 2 2-8
Houston 17 17 .500 13 11-8 6-9 11-9 4-2 91.6 90.9 Won 1 6-4


Memphis 18 18 .500 13 11-8 7-10 11-11 2-4 93.1 91.4 Lost 1 7-3
LA Clippers 16 16 .500 13 11-9 5-7 8-13 3-4 95.1 95.2 Lost 1 5-5
Portland 15 18 .455 14 ½ 8-6 7-12 5-10 2-3 92.4 94.8 Won 1 3-7
Denver 14 19 .424 15 ½ 10-8 4-11 4-14 1-4 94.9 98.1 Lost 4 1-9
Utah 12 24 .333 19 7-9 5-15 8-12 3-3 94.1 97.7 Won 1 1-9
Golden State 11 24 .314 19 ½ 8-9 3-15 5-16 1-5 93.4 98.7 Lost 6 4-6
New Orleans 4 29 .121 25 ½ 2-12 2-17 3-17 0-4 86.7 95.3 Won 2 2-8


http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/stand...ce&column=gamesBehind&order=null&seasontype=2

 

Thas crazy. We only need to win 1 to catch Minnesota. Just goes to show you how horrible Minnesota is playing. This year is full of teams no one thought would do well (Phoenix, Seattle) and teams that were expected to do well........not doing well (Minnesota, Denver). Interesting to say the least.

 

I predict everybody comes back to the pack except Phoenix and San Antonio.

 

Imagine if we would have beaten those leastern conference teams like knicks, hawks and bobcats(2 times), our record will be 21-13, number 6 seed!!!!

 

yeah.... but hell you could make that argument for the other 30 games we played.

 

i should expect the bias here but memphis/clips/houston are all tied for 8th right now hopefully we can steal another from SA and beat dallas tomorrow

the story of the rockets they always lose some close games against teams they should beat, i can remember at least two losses yao's rookie year where we should have won, had we even gotten one of those we'd been in the playoffs that year

 

Western Conference
W L PCT GB HM RD CONF DIV PF PA STRK L10
Phoenix 30 4 .882 - 15-2 15-2 18-3 5-1 109.7 98.4 Won 6 9-1
San Antonio 28 8 .778 3 17-1 11-7 15-6 3-2 97.3 85.9 Lost 1 8-2
Seattle 24 8 .750 5 12-3 12-5 13-3 6-1 100.1 95.1 Won 1 6-4
Dallas 22 10 .688 7 12-6 10-4 12-7 5-2 102.0 95.6 Won 5 8-2
Sacramento 21 11 .656 8 12-4 9-7 10-9 2-2 101.8 98.6 Lost 1 6-4

LA Lakers 18 14 .563 11 12-6 6-8 12-10 4-3 98.7 97.9 Won 2 5-5
Minnesota 17 16 .515 12 ½ 9-6 8-10 12-7 1-2 99.4 97. Lost 2 2-8
Houston 17 17 .500 13 11-8 6-9 11-9 4-2 91.6 90.9 Won 1 6-4

I see Minn jumping back up there but I'm still not a firm believer in Seattle.

 

Rockets leads Clippers/Memphis because of the tie breaker advantage. No bias here.

Western Conference
W L PCT GB HM RD CONF DIV PF PA STRK L10
Phoenix 31 4 .886 - 16-2 15-2 18-3 5-1 110.1 98.6 Won 7 9-1
San Antonio 28 8 .778 3 ½ 17-1 11-7 15-6 3-2 97.3 85.9 Lost 1 8-2
Seattle 25 8 .758 5 13-3 12-5 14-3 6-1 100.2 95.2 Won 2 7-3
Dallas 22 10 .688 7 ½ 12-6 10-4 12-7 5-2 102.0 95.6 Won 5 8-2
Sacramento 21 11 .656 8 ½ 12-4 9-7 10-9 2-2 101.8 98.6 Lost 1 6-4
LA Lakers 18 14 .563 11 ½ 12-6 6-8 12-10 4-3 98.7 97.9 Won 2 5-5
Minnesota 17 16 .515 13 9-6 8-10 12-7 1-2 99.4 97.2 Lost 2 2-8
Houston 17 17 .500 13 ½ 11-8 6-9 11-9 4-2 91.6 90.9 Won 1 6-4


Memphis 18 18 .500 13 ½ 11-8 7-10 11-11 2-4 93.1 91.4 Lost 1 7-3
LA Clippers 16 17 .485 14 11-9 5-8 8-14 3-4 95.2 95.4 Lost 2 5-5
Portland 15 18 .455 15 8-6 7-12 5-10 2-3 92.4 94.8 Won 1 3-7
Denver 14 19 .424 16 10-8 4-11 4-14 1-4 94.9 98.1 Lost 4 1-9
Utah 12 24 .333 19 ½ 7-9 5-15 8-12 3-3 94.1 97.7 Won 1 1-9
Golden State 11 24 .314 20 8-9 3-15 5-16 1-5 93.4 98.7 Lost 6 4-6
New Orleans 4 29 .121 26 2-12 2-17 3-17 0-4 86.7 95.3 Won 2 2-8

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/stand...ce&column=gamesBehind&order=null&seasontype=2

 

6 teams in? I don't believe Lakers could lock the 6th seed.

 

yeah i agree. If anything i see the Wolves getting back on track and reclaiming that 6th seed. Lakers will finish 7th or 8th.

I see the Rockets/Nuggets/Lakers/Grizzlies fighting it out for the last 2 spots.

 

The Rockets are better than the Griz and Nuggets so i think they can out play those teams for one of the last positions. Also even though the Lakers beat Houston twice this season, I think most will agree the Rockets have a better team. I feel confident that this team will make the playoffs. Do we make any noise there though?

This is a side topic but does Houston stand a chance against any of the top teams Pho, Seattle, or SA? I think they honestly somewhat do. The NBA is all about matchups and Yao matches up decently against SA's front line and T mac well T mac is T mac and when he is on is unstoppable against anyone. Also both SA and Houston are defensive oriented teams so most likely will always play close games, something i think houston has an advantage over SA b/c of SA's horrible free throw shooting and T mac's clutch play. I think against both Seattle and Pho Hou stands a chance just b/c both those teams are soo thin up front. I think in a playoff series Yao could dominate against those two teams if they religiously pound the ball into Yao.

I'm not saying they will win but they do stand a chance

 

I think the last two playoff spot will depend on who has the easiest scedule.

 

The top 5 teams are in. The last 3 spots are wide open.

 

Hopefully they have learned from those mistakes...

 

Hey Gucci you know everyone says Phoenix is for real but Seattle no... Just for the record Seattle is undefeated against the top 8 teams in the West except for 1 loss against Phoenix by 2 points. They even beat the best team in the East Miami, twice. They are 8 games ahead of Minny right now. They will easily win their division barring injury.

 

Clippers have a very tough schedule, count them out
Rockets pretty tough- they will have to play much better against good teams to make #8
Minn- fairly tough- but could easily turn it around
Memphis- easiest schedule- if they hold up should make #8
Lakers- medium schedule- should make it.

Rockets will need to really play intense and steal some wins and win the winnable games.

As of today I would predict

Lakers#6
Minn #7
Memphis #8
Rockets #9

Sad but look at the schedules. We had our best shot already against the east. Losses to NY, Charlotte (2), Atlanta- that's sick

 

Yeah my gut feeling tells me that those losses come back and bite us when April rolls around.

Hopefully we can take 1 more from the Grizz and the next 2 from the Nuggets so we can own the tie-breakers against them. Big game against the Grizz coming up next week.

 

The fact remains that every team (especially the ones at the top) have about 5-7 games they wish they could have back and another 5-7 games where they over achieve.

Even the 70 and 72 wins Lakers and Bulls teams respectively had at least 2 games they wish they could have won easily. It is happens every season and I am guessing we all know that.

PS. Talking about the Bobcats, those guys play tough and hard every night at home and on the road. They are always in every game and that is a credit to how tough they are. The only thing "expansion" about them is their uni.