Minnesota 29-23 Mavs 27-25 Suns 25-25 Kings 25-26 **************** Warriors 25-26 Spurs 22-26 Blazers 23-29 8.5 games behind HCA 6 games behind automatic playoffs We’re only 2.5 games behind Kings. We have to pass three teams. Who do we pass?
Do we need to list where we are with tiebreakers? We are up 2-1 over SAC with 1 more game Just beat Phx twice Not sure on the rest
Spurs Warriors Kings Mavs all made big trades. It's actually super hard to integrate new starters in the middle of the season with no practice time. The Lakers have this issue too. Wouldn't surprise me at all if some of these teams fall well short of expectations. Also odds are 1-2 teams have a big injury. Crazy that we're only two wins back.
Games against teams fighting for playoffs: Sat, Feb 8 @Minnesota (2 wins 1 loss so far for Blazers, last game) Mon, Mar 10 @Golden State (1 loss so far, 1 more game) Thu, Mar 27 @Sacramento (2 wins 1 loss, last game) Sun, Apr 6 vsSan Antonio (3 losses. last game) Fri, Apr 11 vsGolden State
Already played all games versus (or already won/lost series): Phoenix 2 wins 2 losses TIE Dallas 1 win 3 losses LOST Already lost 3 games to San Antonio. 1 remaining in Portland. LOST
Looks like it could be quite a race for the last seeds in the WC playoffs/ play-in. (Or just call them the play-in seeds). Other than the Blazers (9-1), none of these teams (current 8th seed and lower) are better than 5-5 in their last 10 games, and that lone 5-5 team is Phoenix
Looking at our brutal upcoming schedule. I see 8-10 more wins, which puts us at 33 wins. I get it, the great pessimist has spoken. But it’s legit what I see when I look at the schedule
starting at the 'realistic' targets: * Clippers own the tie-breaker * Dallas owns the tiebreaker * Phoenix/Portland have a 2-2 record * Portland leads Sacramento 2-1 with the 4th game, at Kings, on March 27 * Golden State leads series 1-0; 2nd game at GS Mar 10; 3rd game in Portland April 11 * San Antonio owns tie-breaker the next tie-breaker, since none of those teams are in Portland's division is conference record: Phoenix 16-14 Sacramento 16-17 Portland 14-24 with 30 games left, and only 14 left in-conference, that 10 loss hole Phoenix has Portland in is probably way too deep. If Portland went 10-4 they'd be 24-28 and the Suns would only need to go 9-13 to beat Portland. The Kings would have to go 9-10 to win tiebreaker. Portland's remaining conference record: @ Minnesota Timberwolves @ Denver Nuggets @ Denver Nuggets Los Angeles Lakers @ Utah Jazz @ Oklahoma City Thunder @ Golden State Warriors Memphis Grizzlies Denver Nuggets @ Sacramento Kings San Antonio Spurs @ Utah Jazz Golden State Warriors Los Angeles Lakers 10-4 isn't likely meaning probably the only teams the Blazer have a realistic shot of winning the tie-breaker are the Warriors & Kings. They'll have to have a better overall record for the rest, and they just about have to win at the Kings on March 27 so, on a practical level, having already won the tie-breakers, LAC has a 6.5 game lead; Dallas a 5 game lead; Phoenix a 4 game lead; Spurs a 2 game lead.
Good to know. So tiebreaker games are only against the Kings and Warriors. Blazers likely need to win these SAC or both GS for those tiebreakers. These games may be more significant as it would give the Blazers a win and the opponent we are competing with in the standings a loss. So out of our next 30 games these are 4 that may be more critical; 3/10 @GS 3/27 @SAC 4/6 SAS 4/11 GS Actually surprising we've already finished all our games against the LAC/DAL/PHX opponents. As others have said we do have a hard schedule. But we do have a third of the games against poor teams that should be easier wins; 2/22 CHA 2/24 @UTH 2/26 @WSH 2/28 @BRK 3/16 TOR 3/17 WSH 4/1 @ATL 4/3 @TOR 4/4 @CHI 4/9 @UTH Certainly think its very possible we are in the hunt for the playin into April. At the end of the year a lot of teams start tanking where it can become super easy to string together wins. Likely have some teams with more injuries too. Boston/Cleveland at the end of March could begin coasting. Same for 3 of our final 4 games - perhaps these teams have their position locked and decide to sit players; 4/6 SAS 4/7 @UTH (tanking) 4/11 GS 4/13 LAL
Can I just say it's patently crazy that the Blazers have won 10/11 and are still 13th in the West. When can you win >90% of your games over a month stretch and still not move up at all? West is crazy.
It’s not about how crazy the West is. It’s about the 13-28 hole we were in. We were 6. 7, 8 games behind the mediocre teams in front of us,
