Well Utah is not going to help us since they've lost 8 straight and without Harris, should be an easy win for the Hornets. Landry has stepped in admirably for the injured West. Very underrated trade by the Hornets to get Landry at the deadline. It's been a fun end of the season though, the Rockets are gelling and are a lot of fun to watch. Too little too late.
Not us. Our best chance to get in is to win the rest of our games and have one of the following scenarios happen. Portland goes 0-5, or... New Orleans goes 1-4, or... Memphis goes 2-3. If we lose 1 game, New Orleans has to go 0-5 (which includes our game against them) or Memphis has to go 1-4. If we lose 2 games, our only hope is that Memphis goes 0-5.
Virtually no chance of that happening. Teams that have something to play for have a huge advantage in games at the end of the season. It would be an unbelievable choke job if any of the teams ahead of us slipped out of the playoffs.
I agree. I believe our only hope is a Hornet's choke job. Though at this point it is a big longshot. Their schedule: Rockets Suns @Grizzlies Jazz @Mavericks Even if we assume they lose to us, the Grizzlies, and the Mavericks - we still need either Phoenix or Utah to win in New Orleans.
So you're telling me our playoff hopes lie on Aaron Brooks' shoulders?? Welp, it sounds like we're ****ed.
The Hornets. Obviously, if the Rockets lose to New Orleans this week, they're screwed. But even if the Rockets win, they'd go to 2-2 against the Hornets on the season, meaning that the next tiebreaker would be Division record. The Hornets are currently 8-5 in the Southwest Division (and can do no worse than 8-8). The Rockets are currently only 5-9 in the Southwest Division (and can do no better than 7-9 even if they win out). Sorry, but the only slightly realistic hope of the Rockets getting into the playoffs is a collapse by Memphis (the Grizzlies' win over the Hornets the other day REALLY hurts because of the tiebreaker issue). Portland and New Orleans are (all but mathematically) in already.
I didn't think about this. Since none of them are division champions, the team with the best record between the two other teams will come out on top. I believe the Rockets would make it in in that case given we beat the Hornets.
Think of it this way: The Rockets were, at one time, in 11th place in the West. They needed to play well and have 3 teams in front of them fall off th race. That's a lot of things that had to go right for them to get in. Well, the Rockeets have played well, but only got 2 teams (PHX, UTA) to fall off the wagon. Denver, Portland, New Orleans and Memphis have each survived the loss of a star player. Kudos to them. These teams deserve to be in the playoffs as much as the Rockets do, if not more so. Right now, I am just rooting for the Rockets to win each game. Pretty simple really, for a fan. You play the game to win. The best thing for this team to do is to carry some winning momentum into the next season (and hoping that their recent performance is reflective of what they can do on a sustained basis).
A three-way tie between Memphis, New Orleans and Houston means the Rockets are in. http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/7164305 Current Standings between teams: Hou - 4-3 with one remaining (NO) Mem - 2-5 with one remaining (NO) NO - 4-2 with two remaining (Hou, Mem) So the Rockets and NO are both in if there's a three-way tie between those teams no matter what else happens.
What about a 4-way tie involving Portland? Or a 3 way tie involivng Portland, Houston, and either Mem or NO?
Wow, interesting kink in the scenarios. If we tie NO and NO alone for the 8th seed, they get in. But if it's a three way tie with Memphis, we get in along with Memphis and NO is out. Still not likely since we'll have to count on teams like the Clippers and Jazz to pull off victories.
