Merged: Playoff Race

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
Spurs about to lose to the Celtics...only three back of them now.
 
Following up on my predictions here at around the 43rd game of the season where we were 26-17, let's see where we're at:

Entity said:
Even though the Eastern Conference has won more of the games versus the West, Portland has been really good against them, and could conceivably finish (23-7) against them this season.

...

Here's my reasoning: Portland is already (15-5) against the East, and (8-3) on the road with four road games left. The remaining schedule looks like this:

Jan 28th vs Charlotte
Feb 8th vs New York
Feb 20th vs Atlanta
Mar 2nd vs Indiana
Mar 13th vs New Jersey
Mar 15th @ Atlanta
Mar 18th @ Indiana
Mar 19th @ Cleveland
Mar 21st @ Milwaukee
Mar 23rd vs Philadelphia

It wouldn't be unreasonable to think Portland could win all six of those home games, and at least two of those road games.
Click to expand...

We went 7-2 against that schedule with one to play. Right now we're 22-7 against them with one game at home against Philly, our next game. Then we'll be done with the Eastern Conference.

If 50 wins are what Portland needs to get to the playoffs (probably less), then they'd need to go (27-25) against the West to get there.

...

Portland has 14 games remaining against the worst six in the West out of 29 remaining Western games, including four against both Oklahoma City and Memphis. If by ridiculous chance that Portland won every single one of those games, and lost every single game against a winning Western team, that would still put Portland at 48 wins on the season if they went (8-2) against the East for the rest of the year. As it stands, Portland has 8 home games out of a remaining 15 games against the Western Elite. Assuming Portland loses two or three games to the lower echelon, if Portland came out even (5-10) against the upper echelon (which is their current record against them), Portland could be right at 50 wins without any surprise victories, but giving them a few surprise losses.
Click to expand...

Currently 22-19 against the West. Would have to go 5-6 to meet my 50. There's a good chance we surpass my expectations. Since this post, Portland has gone 11-7 against the West, including 7-2 against the lower tier and 4-5 against the upper tier. I said if we lost two or three games against the lower tier (We still have 5 more games against them out of our remaining 12), and we won 5 of our 15 against the upper (we've won 4 already), that we'd get there. We still have 4 of our remaining 6 games against good Western teams at home.

Looking at the remaining schedule:

vs Philadelphia W
vs Phoenix W
vs Memphis W
vs Utah W
@ Oklahoma City W
@ Houston L
@ Memphis W
@ San Antonio L
vs LA Lakers W
@ LA Clippers W
vs Oklahoma City W
vs Denver W

10-2 could be attainable, giving us a 54-28 record (giving us a second half record of 29-12). I would have to think that 54 wins gets you a decent playoff seed.
 
Great game with Rockets vs Spurs right now! Rockets up by 1 with 29 seconds left. Spurs will drop to #3 if they lose.
 
Houston, despite having one more loss than San Antonio, is now the No. 2 seed in the West.. Shocking, as we were just battling Houston for positioning a week ago.

And now we're only 1.5 games behind the Spurs. This is getting crazier and crazier every day!
 
tlongII said:
Great game with Rockets vs Spurs right now! Rockets up by 1 with 29 seconds left. Spurs will drop to #3 if they lose.
Click to expand...

For some reason, the Spurs no longer seem like the scary team they used to be.

Does anyone else feel the same way?
 
yuyuza1 said:
For some reason, the Spurs no longer seem like the scary team they used to be.

Does anyone else feel the same way?
Click to expand...

Come playoff time, I still wouldn't bet against them yet since they still have Manu out. But their supporting cast is really mediocre or just plain old, and guys like Bonner and Mason are having career-like years.

They're heading on a downward slope for sure though.
 
The Spurs are definitely not as good as they used to be. Duncan has chronic knee problems, Ginobili is seemingly always hurt, and their role players basically suck.
 
Re: Merged: Who do we root for?

Who to root for between Denver and Phoenix? Denver loses and we win, we are tied for first in the division, but if Phoenix loses and we win, it's 2 more games off of our magic number, instead of 1. I suppose I would say Denver, since we still reduce our magic number, while also gaining in our division.
 
Re: Merged: Who do we root for?

RR7 said:
Who to root for between Denver and Phoenix? Denver loses and we win, we are tied for first in the division, but if Phoenix loses and we win, it's 2 more games off of our magic number, instead of 1. I suppose I would say Denver, since we still reduce our magic number, while also gaining in our division.
Click to expand...

I'm definitely rooting for Phoenix. I'm not the slightest bit worried about Portland making the playoffs, so Phoenix is no longer relevant. Phoenix can help by beating teams Portland is fighting with for seeding and losing to Portland.
 
Re: Merged: Who do we root for?

Utah or Phoenix tonight? I'm pretty torn. Utah of course they're in our division, but the Suns are starting to put a little scare in me with their vets realizing it's now or never. I'd like to see our magic number shrink.
 
Re: Merged: Who do we root for?

I'm rooting for the Suns. If the Suns win tonight and then we take care of business tomorrow, we pass the Jazz and drop two games off of our magic number.
 
Re: Merged: Who do we root for?

I just want the game to go to quadruple OT. We win no matter who wins.
 
Phoenix is definitely back in the race now after beating Utah. They're only three games behind Dallas. I'm getting a little nervous about the Suns.
 
Re: Merged: Who do we root for?

Tonight............ Go Dallas!
 
Hopefully the Knicks can beat the Hornets as well. Its a good possibility.
 
Knicks coming through big for us, by beating the Hornets at MSG. 2:00 left, Knicks by 10. That will put NO tied with us in the loss column.

Denver up 5 on Dallas at the half.
 
baring something miraculous, the division is gone. denver's schedule is so freaking easy to end the season, we'd have to only lose 1 more game the rest of the year to have a chance to make the last game of the year meaningful.
 
god dammit Dirk, he makes all kinds of ridiculous fadeaways against us and then goes 7/23 against Denver
 
Ok, we just need a 27 game winning streak and we are set!
 
If we can stay in 5th, i'm perfectly happy to play Denver in the first round, tbh.
 
MrJayremmie said:
If we can stay in 5th, i'm perfectly happy to play Denver in the first round, tbh.
Click to expand...

Without HCA, I wouldn't be. I can't see Portland having much chance of winning a game in Denver. I'd be happy to have Portland play Denver in round 1 with HCA.
 
Wow, the Warriors are kicking Denver's ass in Denver...I hope they can keep it up.
 
Phoenix has given up. 11 points in the 2nd quarter vs. Utah in a must-win game. The Blazers destroyed the spirit of the Suns the other night. THE BLAZERS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS, FOLKS!

UPDATE: hahaha what a jinx I am.
 
Last edited:
chris_in_pdx said:
Phoenix has given up. 11 points in the 2nd quarter vs. Utah in a must-win game. The Blazers destroyed the spirit of the Suns the other night. THE BLAZERS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS, FOLKS!

UPDATE: hahaha what a jinx I am.
Click to expand...
You got off tonight. No jinx necessary.
 
Without HCA, I wouldn't be. I can't see Portland having much chance of winning a game in Denver. I'd be happy to have Portland play Denver in round 1 with HCA.
Click to expand...

Minus HCA... So out of the top 4 seeds...

I'd rather play Denver then pretty much anyone else though (LA, SA, Utah, and maybe HOU) other than New Orleans and Dallas...

And horrid night for us. I really don't care of PHX wins or loses, I just want Utah, Dallas, New Orleans, Houston and Denver to lose.... Especially New Orleans and Utah.
 
The Cavs are stomping the Mavs on national TV right now and the Hornets are hosting the Spurs tonight. This could be a chance for the Blazers to put a little more distance between themselves and two of the teams behind them - without even playing today.

BNM
 
Boob-No-More said:
The Cavs are stomping the Mavs on national TV right now and the Hornets are hosting the Spurs tonight. This could be a chance for the Blazers to put a little more distance between themselves and two of the teams behind them - without even playing today.

BNM
Click to expand...

I'm actually kind of hoping that San Antonio loses and Phoenix wins. I'm still clinging to hopes that we can sneak into the top four, and I would like to see the Mavs sink out of the top eight.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top