6th place BABY!!!!!!!!!!

[OSUBlazerfan]

Hell YEAAA

lets keep it going

 

[illmatic99]

Out of the frying pan, and into the flame. I just hope we don't face Utah as a result.

 

[rocketeer]

portland's seed is less important than who they end up playing. get dallas in the first round and portland should be favored to advance. get denver or utah and the opposite is true. ideally portland would play dallas in the first round and get the winner of phoenix/san antonio in the 2nd.

 

[illmatic99]

Biggest key now is winning next Monday's game against OKC, where we can clinch our tie breaker vs. the Thunder. That could essentially eliminate any chances of us facing LA in the first round.

 

[TripTango]

portland's seed is less important than who they end up playing. get dallas in the first round and portland should be favored to advance. get denver or utah and the opposite is true. ideally portland would play dallas in the first round and get the winner of phoenix/san antonio in the 2nd.

Agreed, but since the Lakers are pretty much the only locked up seed at #1, avoiding #8 would be mighty nice.

 

[KingSpeed]

I disagree. We play the Lakers as well as any team in the conference. Everyone is celebrating our rise up the standings but a #6 seed probably means the Jazz or the Nuggets. We are 1-7 vs those teams. I'd much rather face the Lakers than either of those two teams.

 

[KingSpeed]

Biggest key now is winning next Monday's game against OKC, where we can clinch our tie breaker vs. the Thunder. That could essentially eliminate any chances of us facing LA in the first round.

But why are you so scared of us playing L.A.? L.A. is soft and we're so good against them. Meanwhile, the Jazz and Nuggets have our number. I want either L.A. or Dallas.

 

[illmatic99]

I'd rather play LA than Utah also. I was just mentioning that point about how we can completely eliminate any thought of us playing LA if we win that OKC game.

 

[Natebishop3]

Dallas is the team we want to face, and honestly if there was one game left and losing meant we'd face the Mavs, I would want to lose.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Why does no one ever mention the possibility of us playing the Suns in the first round?

 

[Draco]

I can't believe fans are thinking about tanking for the playoffs.

That was 3 years ago folks wake up we aren't a lottery team anymore.

 

[Mamba]

But why are you so scared of us playing L.A.? L.A. is soft and we're so good against them. Meanwhile, the Jazz and Nuggets have our number. I want either L.A. or Dallas.

Lol you won't win shit in L.A. and last time I checked, we took the last game in Portland...finally

 

[jlprk]

But why are you so scared of us playing L.A.? L.A. is soft and we're so good against them. Meanwhile, the Jazz and Nuggets have our number. I want either L.A. or Dallas.

I can't say it any more concisely than KingSpeed did. The Lakers are tough to us, but the alternatives are tougher.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Lol you won't win shit in L.A. and last time I checked, we took the last game in Portland...finally

But now Kobe's back, who's got a personal 9 game losing streak going.

 

[KingSpeed]

Dallas is the team we want to face, and honestly if there was one game left and losing meant we'd face the Mavs, I would want to lose.

Shit like that really makes a difference. I remember a few years ago, the rule (for that year only) was that the three division winners got the top 3 seeds. Denver was the NW Division winner but they were an extremely weak team in a weak division. Nonetheless, they got the #3 seed.

A very good Dallas team (the team that reached the NBA Finals and with a better record than Denver) was the #4 seed. Memphis and the L.A. Clippers, both of whom also had better records than Denver, were fighting for the 5th spot.

It was ridiculously stupid because getting the 5th spot meant that you started the first round on the road in Dallas but getting the 6th spot meant that you started the series at home against the weaker Denver team. And so the Clippers and Grizzlies played each other near the end of the season and both teams tried so hard to lose the game, it was an amazing sight to see. Sadly for them, the Grizzlies won the game and the #5 seed.

The Grizzlies ended up getting swept by the stronger Dallas team while the Clippers easily dispatched of the Nuggets in 5 games.

So who you play does make a difference. I remember in 94 & 95, the Sonics OWNED the Rockets during the regular seasons. The Rockets won the title in both years but they never had to face the Sonics because the Nuggets & Lakers knocked em out for them.

 

[KingSpeed]

Lol you won't win shit in L.A. and last time I checked, we took the last game in Portland...finally

Meaningless. Roy didn't play. Kobe didn't play. Roy has never lost to the Lakers in Portland. Kobe hasn't won there in years.

 

[KingSpeed]

Why does no one ever mention the possibility of us playing the Suns in the first round?

I think we can handle the Suns. They're a good team, no doubt but I have a lot more faith in our guys stealing the first game in Phoenix than I do of us stealing the first game in Denver or Utah.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

portland's seed is less important than who they end up playing. get dallas in the first round and portland should be favored to advance. get denver or utah and the opposite is true. ideally portland would play dallas in the first round and get the winner of phoenix/san antonio in the 2nd.

How great would that be, for Phoenix and Dallas to both finish ahead of Utah & Denver?

 

[craigehlo]

I disagree. We play the Lakers as well as any team in the conference. Everyone is celebrating our rise up the standings but a #6 seed probably means the Jazz or the Nuggets. We are 1-7 vs those teams. I'd much rather face the Lakers than either of those two teams.

I think the Spurs are the only team that might match up with the Lakers who would get the respect of the officials to pull an upset. Sad but true.

 

[rocketeer]

I can't believe fans are thinking about tanking for the playoffs.

That was 3 years ago folks wake up we aren't a lottery team anymore.

unless i missed something, that was just natebishop who also wouldn't have minded having a bad season this year just so nate could get fired.

as it is, i don't think it's going to even be possible for the blazers to tank for playoff position(unless they intentionally wanted the 8 seed to play the lakers). it's too close of a race between every one and even on the final day of games, there is a jazz/suns game at the same time as portland's final game which seems likely to effect the 2-5 seeding and keep the blazers from knowing who they could be matching up against.

 

[BGrantFan]

unless i missed something, that was just natebishop who also wouldn't have minded having a bad season this year just so nate could get fired.

as it is, i don't think it's going to even be possible for the blazers to tank for playoff position(unless they intentionally wanted the 8 seed to play the lakers). it's too close of a race between every one and even on the final day of games, there is a jazz/suns game at the same time as portland's final game which seems likely to effect the 2-5 seeding and keep the blazers from knowing who they could be matching up against.

Huh? Dude seems like a reasonable poster. Did he really post this?

 

[maxiep]

It's probably an unpopular thing to say, but I don't really care who we play in the first round. If we're going to make any noise, we have to beat all comers in the West. I say, bring it on. Let them worry about us; I won't worry about them.

 

[rocketeer]

It's probably an unpopular thing to say, but I don't really care who we play in the first round. If we're going to make any noise, we have to beat all comers in the West. I say, bring it on. Let them worry about us; I won't worry about them.

that's true, but just look at last year. portland and denver were approximately equal teams(i think portland was the better team). portland played houston who wasn't a great matchup for them(and was another equal quality team) while denver got new orleans that was falling apart and then dallas that wasn't a 2nd round quality team but lucked into facing a worn down and injured spurs team.

teams of equal quality but their opponents were of very different quality and that lead to very different results.

so yeah, you just have to beat everyone you play but it's definitely to your advantage to play the worse teams or the ones you match up best against.

 

[Minstrel]

unless i missed something, that was just natebishop who also wouldn't have minded having a bad season this year just so nate could get fired.

I think he was referring to people who were talking about potentially purposely losing the final game of the season if it would allow Portland to get a better match-up. It came up in a few threads.

 

[Chuck Taylor]

Why does no one ever mention the possibility of us playing the Suns in the first round?

It may have to do with the seeding in relation to the division winners. I can never remember....do the top 3 seeds go to the division winners? If so, the Suns are going to be looking at 4th.

 

[rocketeer]

I think he was referring to people who were talking about potentially purposely losing the final game of the season if it would allow Portland to get a better match-up. It came up in a few threads.

i know what he was referring to, though i was just commenting on this thread so if it has been coming up elsewhere then i definitely did miss it.

 

[Natebishop3]

unless i missed something, that was just natebishop who also wouldn't have minded having a bad season this year just so nate could get fired.

as it is, i don't think it's going to even be possible for the blazers to tank for playoff position(unless they intentionally wanted the 8 seed to play the lakers). it's too close of a race between every one and even on the final day of games, there is a jazz/suns game at the same time as portland's final game which seems likely to effect the 2-5 seeding and keep the blazers from knowing who they could be matching up against.

First of all, that's not what I said. I said I would take some satisfaction from Nate getting fired if we had self-destructed this season. I took a lot of heat for it and that was that. I don't see the relevance. What does it have to do with wanting to lose a game so we get a more favorable matchup in the playoffs? We got stuck with Houston last season, which was disastrous. I would have much rather had San Antonio or New Orleans. We're in a similar situation this year. Facing Utah or Denver would be a one-and-out matchup. I would much rather see us play Dallas.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

It may have to do with the seeding in relation to the division winners. I can never remember....do the top 3 seeds go to the division winners? If so, the Suns are going to be looking at 4th.

Oh yeah, that might be it. Explanation anyone?

 

[THE HCP]

http://www.sportstwo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156347

Let's keep all this talk together.

 

[rocketeer]

I don't see the relevance. What does it have to do with wanting to lose a game so we get a more favorable matchup in the playoffs?

draco commented that the blazers weren't a bad team anymore and shouldn't lose games on purpose. i replied that all i'd seen was you saying that and that in the past you'd said you would be ok with the team doing bad(or take some good out of it or whatever) as long as the end result was getting what you wanted. see how that is relevant? or how it is similar? bad season to get rid of a coach that you perceive is bad or a bad game to keep from having a matchup that you perceive is bad? shouldn't be too hard of a connection to make.

We got stuck with Houston last season, which was disastrous. I would have much rather had San Antonio or New Orleans. We're in a similar situation this year. Facing Utah or Denver would be a one-and-out matchup. I would much rather see us play Dallas.

yes, the best matchup for portland in the first round this year is dallas. yes, facing utah or denver would be bad for portland. but with a utah/phoenix game occurring at the same time as portland's final game and the standings as tight as they are, it seems unlikely to me that portland can control their 1st round matchup by intentionally losing a game.