Teams that we DON'T wanna meet in the playoffs: Suns. Warriors. Mavs and Hornets. Damn that's four, including the top three. I say Portland and Warriors drop.
Denver is on a 6 game losing streak on the road. They play Memphis tonight. It's going to be tough for them to make the playoffs, if this continues into the 2nd half. Things are rough for them losing Melo and Nene.
The Lakers injuries really helped increase our chances. But you know, I wouldn't be all surprised if we missed the playoffs. I saw the Nuggets miss out. Then whichever team gets a huge injury.
Spurs are in free fall. Their record is 5-5 over the last 10 games and now they are on their rodeo road trip. This means that their schedule is going to be brutal and they are only 3 games ahead of us. Can the Rockets leapfrog the Spurs? The way they are playing right now and the loss of Tony Parker means that they might not even make the playoffs.
the spurs are 3.5 ahead of houston now, with 4 in the loss column. they have 7 of their 9 game road trip left starting in Phoenix. they are still 12 games over .500. like i said it will be very hard for the Spurs to fall out of playoff contention, but here's hoping the Lakers and Spurs lay big fat eggs on their road trips
Come to think of it, with Adelman as coach, I am not too worried about who we face during playoffs. I just hope all our players are healthy and has a lot hearts and will to win (and lots shooting and FT practise too). This is because, no matter how mismatch our team to others, I trust coach Adleman will make the right move and counter them. Our current bench is deep enough to play a variation of teams and game plans.
If the Rockets do make the playoffs, I would say two teams out of Portland, LAL and Denver won't make it.
Warriors and Portland, possibly Denver. The Warriors and the Nuggets are very inconsistent and play awful D, and the Blazers couldn't continue their hot streak forever.
It's easiest to start with who will definitely make the playoffs. In Group A, you have the absolutely, no way they miss the playoffs teams. New Orleans Dallas Phoenix In Group B, you have the almost assuredly they'll make the playoffs. 2Utah San Antonio In Group C, you have the rest. Lakers Denver Portland Golden State Houston ----------------------------------------------- My reasoning on Group A is pretty obvious. Even if Chris Paul gets injured for the rest of the year, the Hornets do finally have more pieces to the puzzle and have build enough of a lead to at least make the playoffs. Dallas and Phoenix are obvious. On Group B, some might question these 2 teams. First, I think Utah wins their division. With Korver finally acclimated, they now have that 3 point shooter that they so badly need. They go from likely out of playoffs to winning their division by just adding that 3 point shooter. AK47 is way too streaky of an offensive player. Williams and Boozer do serious damage, but you saw what happened without Fisher at the beginning of the year vs. how they've come on lately. San Antonio...I see what you guys are seeing. They could very well go 3-4 leading up to the all star break, which would put them at 31-20. If the Rockets can finally protect home court, no reason they shouldn't win out till the all-star break to have the same record. And I know Parker is injured. Nonetheless, they're the Spurs. You don't win 4 championships over what, 7 years (or 9 years, whatever) by not knowing how to win. Finally, Group C. 3 slots for five teams. Injuries and schedule will be as important as anything here. In terms of % of games played at home thus far, you have: Lakers - 56% Denver - 55% Portland - 50% Houston - 47% Golden State - 46% In terms of % of games played against WC teams thus far, you have: Denver - 64% Houston - 62% Lakers - 60% Golden State - 59% Portland - 57% Finally, in terms of injuries, arbitrarily ranking from team most currently injured/likely to have an injury to least, IMO, you have: Lakers Houston/Denver Golden State Portland To summarize, Houston's clearly had the toughest schedule. Combined road games versus WC games, they're at the top. The Lakers, on the other hand, have played the most games at home thus far, are middle of the pack in regards to West vs. East, and are obviously currently very injured, in key ways. The Lakers are out, imo. After that it's tough. I'm going to call Golden State in. The only thing keeping them out is a Baron Davis injury or a Stephen Jackson blow-up. I'll wager neither happens very seriously and they make the playoffs. So I have Golden State in, Lakers out. Out of Houston, Denver and Portland, 2 teams make it. Portland is the youngest, and arguably the healthiest. Houston is experienced and should have an easier schedule from here on out. Denver's in the middle. Have played a lot of home games, but also a lot of games against WC teams. Are currently injured, but how seriously? I'm a homer. Houston's in. Portland's out. Denver gets the 8th seed. 1. Phoenix 2. Dallas 3. New Orleans 4. Utah 5. Golden State 6. San Antonio 7. Houston 8. Denver 2nd round: 1. Phoenix vs. 4. Utah 7. Houston vs. 3 New Orleans WC Finals: 1. Phoenix vs. 7. Houston Finals 7. Houston vs. Eastern Conf. Crap team Houston Wins!!! I'm a homer.
another injury to the Lakers - Luke Walton and they are heading for a 9 games road trip. I expect the Lakers will have 4 losses on this trip. Things are really getting interesting.
Hang up the Spurs wont make the playoff talk, craziness. Duncan, Manu, Finley..., they will enough to make the 4th or the 3rd seed, and all of sudden everybody is healthy coming to play off. Dont be fooled. Stockon said they are all going to play after Jordan company hit injuries in the championship series.
Considering the way the Spurs draft, and get lucky in the lottery, I'm hoping they actually make the playoffs. Of course, it wouldn't surprise me if the Lakers miss the playoffs, get a top 3 pick, end up with Beasly, and Kobe wins a few more championships over the next 5-7 years.
I hate to get ahead of ourselves, but heck. Likely we are going to meet one of the four in the first round. Give me Hornets anytime, they dont have much playoff experience. I am not too scared of them.
and despite this, people still contiued to post about how bad denvers D is. i guess people just dont read.
Spurs will make the playoff. Pop is seating Parker to let him heal a bone spur and be ready for the playoff. The problems for the Spurs are some of their healthy rotational players are not producing as they had in their past - Bowen, Elson, & Vaughn. That's why Pop tries to work Udoka and Bonner into the rotations. It causes their defense drop off. But the Spurs will put their game together. They are a veteran team and they still have Pop, TD and Manu. When the Spurs turned it on, they still could hold the Lakers to a 12 pts 3rd quarter. So, to think the reigning champ to drop out of playoff is a little bit out of line.
