New Orleans schedule is crazy. The worst teams they play are Indiana and Utah and both of those team are fringe playoff teams like they are.
I'm not worried about the rockets tonight. The celtics absolutely need to win tonight. Fortunately, the Bulls are giving them a run for their money for that number 1 seed so that should hopefully push them to play well.
Tonight's games: Memphis @ Boston (good thing Boston is still fighting for that #1 seed) Utah @ OKC GS @ Houston Phoenix @ Toronto (I still hope the Suns can get in together with Houston) SA @ Denver (not sure how much fight is in the Spurs w/o Duncan)
Side-note regarding possible 3-way tie between New Orleans, Houston, and Utah: Because of Houston's win over Utah on Sunday the Rockets can now win a 3 way tie between NO, Utah and Houston if the Jazz can win 1 of the 2 remaining games against New Orleans coming up and Houston wins the game @ New Orleans. I had previously posted that Houston could potentially win a 3 way tie between Memphis, Houston, and New Orleans, but the 3 way tie would be much more important as Houston could essentially latch Utah onto a tie with New Orleans and overcome New Orleans H2H tiebreaker over Houston. Example: Let's say Utah and New Orleans split the remaining 2 games. You break the tie by taking the cumulative record between the 3 teams. Houston: 2-1 vs. Utah, 2-2 vs. New Orleans (4-3 total) Utah: 1-2 vs. Houston, 2-2 vs. New Orleans (3-4 total) New Orleans: 2-2 vs. Utah, 2-2 vs. Houston (4-4 total) It's also possible Utah sweeps the remaining two games with NO. If that were to happen (and again we have to beat NO for this to even be possible) then Utah would be 4-3 along with Houston. So you knock NO out of the tiebreak and it reverts to H2H between Utah and Houston, which of course the Rockets won 2-1. So basically we beat NO, and Utah beats NO 1 out of 2 and Houston could sneak in on a 3 way tie.
I think we're going to end up tied with Memphis, 45-37, and we'll sneak in since we own the tie-breaker. If New Orleans would lose a couple of the games they're supposed to win, that would really help. The bad thing is that even if we beat them on April 6th, they hold the tie-breaker due to the division records. So the only way for us to pass them is for them to have a big break down. Lets just hope we can win the games we're supposed to, as well as the ones we may be slightly favored in (like Atlanta and Philly), and Memphis loses the ones they're supposed to. Pugs
Memphis and NO play each other twice. With the way Memphis is playing and the Hornets' brutal schedule, our best bet may be for Memphis to sweep NO in those games.
I think we are the only team who can make it now from the outside...Utah are gone, finished, out of it because now Deron is gone they just can't manage. Phoenix are also in trouble, and down 9 at home to toronto. if they lose they're back to .500 If we are taking anyone's spot it's new orleans and we need them to lose starting tomorrow at Utah
Here are the Magic Numbers after all games played on <B>March 23</B>:<B> Games H2H Div Con Over Hou Magic Opp Magic Team W/L H2H Left TB Div TB Conf TB TB Number Number</B> 1 Spurs 57-14 0-3 1H L 10-4 L 35-8 L No*<B> --</B> Clinched 2 Lakers 50-20 1-2 None L N/A X 30-11 L No*<B> --</B> Clinched 3 Mavericks 49-21 0-3 1H L 6-8 L 27-13 L No*<B> --</B> Clinched 4 OKC Thieves 46-24 1-3 None L N/A X 24-17 L No*<B> 21</B> 2 5 Nuggets 43-29 2-2 None T N/A X 24-19 L No<B> 16</B> 6 6 Blazers 41-30 1-2 None L N/A X 23-18 L No*<B> 15</B> 7 7 Hornets 40-31 1-2 1A L 8-4 L 22-20 L No*<B> 14</B> 8 8 Grizzlies 40-32 3-1 None W 5-8 T 24-19 L Yes*<B> 12</B> 9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9 Rockets 38-34 4-9 22-24 10 Suns 36-34 1-2 None L N/A X 19-22 L No*<B> 11</B> 12 11 Jazz 36-36 2-1 None W N/A X 18-25 W Yes*<B> 8</B> 13 12 Warriors 30-42 3-1 None W N/A X 17-27 W Yes*<B> 2</B> 19 13 Clippers 27-45 2-1 1H W N/A X 16-27 W Yes<B> Clinched</B> -- 14 Kings 18-52 3-0 1H W N/A X 11-31 W Yes*<B> Clinched</B> -- 15 Wolves 17-54 2-1 1A W N/A X 7-38 W Yes<B> Clinched</B> -- * Indicates the Tie Break is final Hou Magic Number is magic number needed for Rockets to clinch record over that team. Opp Magic Number is magic number needed for respective opponent to clinch a better record than the Rockets. <B> Portland Memphis Phoenix Utah Houston New Orleans</B> 3.15 DAL W 3.14 LAC W 3.13 ORL L 3.14 PHI W 3.14 PHO W 3.14 DEN L 3.17 CLE W 3.17 @ NYK L 3.14 @ HOU L 3.16 MIN W 3.16 CHA W 3.16 PHO W 3.19 PHI W 3.19 IND W 3.16 @ NOH L 3.20 @ HOU L 3.18 BOS W 3.19 BOS L 3.20 @ LAL L 3.21 UTA W 3.18 GSW W 3.21 @ MEM L 3.20 UTA W 3.24 @ UTA 3.22 WAS W 3.23 @ BOS W 3.20 @ LAC W 3.23 @ OKC L 3.23 GSW W 3.25 @ PHO 3.25 SAS 3.25 @ CHI 3.22 @ LAL L 3.24 NOH 3.27 @ MIA 3.27 @ LAL 3.27 @ OKC 3.27 SAS 3.23 TOR W 3.26 DAL 3.29 @ NJN 3.30 POR 3.28 @ SAS 3.30 GSW 3.25 NOH 3.28 WAS 3.30 @ PHI 4.01 MEM 3.30 @ NOH 4.01 @ NOH 3.27 DAL 4.01 LAL 4.01 SAS 4.03 IND 4.01 OKC 4.02 MIN 3.29 @ SAC 4.03 @ SAC 4.03 ATL 4.06 HOU 4.03 DAL 4.05 LAC 3.30 OKC 4.05 @ LAL 4.05 SAC 4.08 PHO 4.05 GSW 4.08 SAC 4.01 LAC 4.07 POR 4.06 @ NOH 4.10 @ MEM 4.07 @ UTA 4.10 NOH 4.03 @ SAS 4.09 @ SAS 4.09 LAC 4.11 UTA 4.08 LAL 4.12 @ POR 4.05 @ CHI 4.11 @ NOH 4.11 DAL 4.13 @ DAL 4.12 MEM 4.13 @ LAC 4.06 @ MIN 4.13 DEN 4.13 @ MIN 4.13 @ GSW 4.08 @ NOH 4.10 @ DAL 4.11 MIN 4.13 SAS
It's looking more and more like the Rockets will be on the outside looking in due to other teams continuing to win games. Even with the Rockets relatively easy schedule down the stretch, I honestly do not see them doing better than 7-3. Part of that is playing the Heat, Spurs, & Dallas, 2 back-to-backs, and the fact that this team cannot win more than 5 games in a row. (They are currently on their 3rd 5-game winning streak this year.) So with a 7-3 finish, that would require the Blazers to lose 8 games, the Hornets to lose 7 games, or the Grizzlies to lose 5 games. Frankly, Portland is just playing way too well to fall out. They still play Golden State twice and Utah once, which means all they need is to win 1 remaining game against a team over 0.500. Everyone keeps pointing out New Orleans, but as bad as they have been they are still 7-6 since the ASB. For Houston to overtake them, we would need them to completely fall apart and go at least 4-11. I just don't see it happening. Say they split their 6 games left against the Jazz, Suns, and Grizzlies and then beat Indiana that is already 4 wins. Lastly would be the Grizzlies who just keep winning. Their next two games are big against the Bulls and Spurs. If they do not lose those games, we will not catch the Grizzlies given their hardest games left are 2 games against the Hornets and 1 @ Portland. All of this will really make it remarkable if the Rockets do pull this one off.
