Tie breaker scenarios for the Rockets, Spurs and Blazers

Hadn't seen this posted... a pretty neat summary.

http://www.oregonlive.com/nba/index.ssf/2009/04/tiebreaker_scenarios_make_for.html

With the race for seeding in the Western Conference standings coming down to the final regular-season games, the potential for ties in the season-ending standings is a growing possibility.

And if tiebreakers are needed to sort out the second through eighth playoff seeds, the Blazers fare poorly in most scenarios.

Like every other playoff-bound team in the conference, the Blazers can improve their chances by winning. Many of the top eight teams play each other in the closing week -- including Denver and Portland in the last game of the season Wednesday night.

"It will go down to the last game," New Orleans coach Byron Scott said. "Same as last year."

If Portland and Denver end the season with identical records, the Nuggets would win the division title via tiebreaker. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition. If the Blazers defeat the Nuggets on Wednesday, both teams will have won two games. The next tiebreaker is each team's record against Northwest Division opponents. The Nuggets have the better record against division opponents, 12-3 vs. the Blazers 9-5, and with only one division game left is assured of maintaining that lead.

Should the Nuggets win the division title and the second seed, the Blazers will probably fight Houston and San Antonio for the third and fourth seeds in the conference.

The Blazers' loss at Houston on Sunday means the Rockets win the tiebreaker if the teams finish tied in the standings. The Rockets won two of three head-to-head games during the season and own the first tiebreaker scenario.

However, if the Blazers and Spurs finish tied in the standings, the Blazers win the tiebreaker for the fourth seed and possibly home court advantage in the first round. The Blazers won three of four games against the Spurs this season.

Had the Blazers lost, the season series would have been tied and the next tiebreaker is each team's record against division opponents. The Blazers have a half-game lead with two division games remaining (San Antonio has one). If the Blazers and Spurs finish with identical division records, the next tiebreaker is conference records, and the Spurs hold a significant advantage.

It gets really complicated if Houston, San Antonio and Portland finish in a three-way tie. The first step to break that tie is determining whether Houston or San Antonio wins the Southwest Division. Since the Spurs and Rockets split four games, division record would be the next tiebreaker. San Antonio has a half game lead now, but if each team wins it remaining division games, they would tie there, too. They also have identical conference records, which would push it to the fifth tiebreaker -- winning percentage against other conference playoff teams.

The Southwest Division winner would get the No.3 seed, and the tiebreakers would be applied to the other two teams for the fourth seed. It would be to Portland's advantage for Houston to be the third seed so the Blazers could earn home court advantage against the Spurs.

In the lower half of the conference, it seems unlikely that New Orleans, Utah or Dallas will move higher than sixth. Multiple scenarios exist where the three teams could finish tied. Adding to the plot, Dallas and New Orleans have home-and-home games tonight and Sunday.

"Knowing the importance of each game and the sense of urgency, we treat every game like it's a Game 7 playoff game," Dallas guard Jason Terry told the Dallas Morning News. "We go out there and fight and scrap and do whatever it takes to win."