Official - Who are we going to play thread

[PtldPlatypus]

I could definitely see Pop tanking tonight's game to get the Blazers in the first round.

Are the Blazers a more desirable first-round opponent than the Mavericks? Especially considering that a win over the Blazers will lead to a second round date with the likely well-rested Warriors?

 

[e_blazer]

As beat up as they are right now, I think that the Blazers are probably seen as one of the most attractive first round draws, but good point about the Warriors. Yeah, Pop will probably play to win tonight. I'd say a rematch of last year with the Rockets is the most likely outcome. Whoopie.

 

[HailBlazers]

http://www.blazersedge.com/2015/4/1...tiebreakers-san-antonio-spurs-houston-rockets

 

[riverman]

The reason I don't want the Grizz in the first round is mostly the travel distance. They should be required to relocate to Vancouver for the playoffs in the west

 

[S550]

Personally we should have no excuses with facing Houston, their missing two key rotational players one even being a starter. If anything that matchup should be considered fair for both sides. Although we lost our key defensive guy in Wes them loosing their key defensive guy in Beverley tremendously helps us as well.

Honestly we should be able to beat Houston. Let Harden get his and just stop everybody else. We have the better coach, LMA & Dame, a little deeper bench, I just can't see us loosing that series..

 

[Boob-No-More]

Here's yet another look at the possible scenarios for who we'll play in the first round:

Blazers Play Rockets if:

Rockets win, Spurs win, Grizzlies win
Rockets win, Spurs win, Grizzlies lose
Rockets lose, Spurs win, Grizzlies lose
Rockets lose, Spurs lose, Grizzlies lose

Blazers Play Grizzlies if:

Rockets win, Spurs lose, Grizzlies win
Rockets lose, Spurs win, Grizzlies win
Rockets lose, Spurs lose, Grizzlies Win

Blazers Play Spurs if:

Rockets win, Spurs lose, Grizzlies lose

This is basically the same info that yuyuza1 posted above, but parsed in a different format. Here's all the details in tabular form:

So, to avoid playing the Spurs (worst case scenario, IMHO), we want to avoid the case where both SAS and MEM lose and HOU wins. That's the only combination that lands the Spurs as the 5th seed.

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

The reason I don't want the Grizz in the first round is mostly the travel distance. They should be required to relocate to Vancouver for the playoffs in the west

Well, they'll have to travel just as far to Portland as we'll have to travel to Memphis.

Flight time isn't really significantly different for any of our three possible opponents.

The flying distance from PDX to MEM is 1852 miles with a flight time of 4 hr. 0 min.

PDX to HOU is 1825 Miles with a flight time of 3 hr. 57 min.

PDX to SAS is 1715 miles with a flight time of 3 hr. 45 min.

I'd rather they spend and extra 12 - 15 minutes in the air than have to face the Spurs in the first round.

BNM

 

[Pinwheel1]

Personally we should have no excuses with facing Houston, their missing two key rotational players one even being a starter. If anything that matchup should be considered fair for both sides. Although we lost our key defensive guy in Wes them loosing their key defensive guy in Beverley tremendously helps us as well.

Honestly we should be able to beat Houston. Let Harden get his and just stop everybody else. We have the better coach, LMA & Dame, a little deeper bench, I just can't see us loosing that series..

Based on your analysis/prediction on the Portland/GS and Portland/OKC games.......you are not making me feel good about our chances.

 

[magnifier661]

Lets bring on the Rockets. Have a rematch of last season's epic playoffs.

Houston Changes:
1.) Howard is a shell of the player we faced last season
2.) Beverly is out.
3.) They got rid of 3 key players (Lin, Parson, and that D league Scrub that won the game for them in game 4.
4.) They added Ariza, Smith, Terry, Brewer and DMo

Portland Changes:
1.) Wesley Matthews is out
2.) Aldridge, Batum, Afflalo, and CJ maybe injured
3.) Mo left
4.) Added: Kaman, Blake, and Afflalo

The real question is whether Batum is healthy. I think he is the key player to guard the Beard. If he is not playing well, then Harden could absolutely destroy us.

Aldridge's health is equally important because we really need him to dominate this series.

Dame's outside shooting MUST IMPROVE. If Dame can beast against Houston, especially from the perimeter, that will provide a HUGE advantage!

 

[S550]

Based on your analysis/prediction on the Portland/GS and Portland/OKC games.......you are not making me feel good about our chances.

Well we lost both those games like I said so you should feel good.. I don't know what your talking about

 

[KingSpeed]

Personally we should have no excuses with facing Houston, their missing two key rotational players one even being a starter. If anything that matchup should be considered fair for both sides. Although we lost our key defensive guy in Wes them loosing their key defensive guy in Beverley tremendously helps us as well.

Honestly we should be able to beat Houston. Let Harden get his and just stop everybody else. We have the better coach, LMA & Dame, a little deeper bench, I just can't see us loosing that series..

I agree

 

[BBert]

Mags:

Agree Batum is the wild card. We need him healthy and focused. He was huge in that series last year, somewhat of an unsung hero I think.

If Dame is healthy, he'll own the PG position. Rest his ass tonight.

LaMarcus is getting ready to activate beast mode, Part Deux.

Wes was fantastic on Harden last season. Harden will shoot a lot of free throws [/captainobvious]. We have no hope guarding him without Afflalo.

We've added Kaveman, Blanky, Meyers Laimbeibs and 3J McBuckets.

Advantage, Blazers.

 

[noknobs]

Personally we should have no excuses with facing Houston, their missing two key rotational players one even being a starter. If anything that matchup should be considered fair for both sides. Although we lost our key defensive guy in Wes them loosing their key defensive guy in Beverley tremendously helps us as well.

I'm sorry, but are you actually comparing Wes to Beverly in what they mean to their respective teams, and calling it "fair"?

They have two rotation guys out? So do we obviously (Wes & Wright), but also another FOUR rotation guys (including two more starters and the top two bench players) currently dealing with injuries, and that's not counting Aldridge who's got an injured hand and who's just coming back from an ankle injury. Only a Houston fan would think that's "fair"...

There's no fairness in sports, so Portland just has to overcome the injuries, but your post as usual is ridiculous.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Well we lost both those games like I said so you should feel good.. I don't know what your talking about

You are all over the place with your statements. You said re: GS "Personally there's no way we should loose this game, unless we don't show up. Golden state is playing for nothing but a little exercise before the playoffs.

Then during the game you said we were playing them closer than you thought.

Then you posted "It doesn't matter if their fully rested we still won't do anything this year. It's over. We have about a 30 percent chance of advancing out the first round ........

Now you say "Honestly we should be able to beat Houston. Let Harden get his and just stop everybody else. We have the better coach, LMA & Dame, a little deeper bench, I just can't see us loosing that series..

I get the impression that you don't even believe what you are saying.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Lets bring on the Rockets. Have a rematch of last season's epic playoffs.

Houston Changes:
1.) Howard is a shell of the player we faced last season
2.) Beverly is out.
3.) They got rid of 3 key players (Lin, Parson, and that D league Scrub that won the game for them in game 4.
4.) They added Ariza, Smith, Terry, Brewer and DMo

Portland Changes:
1.) Wesley Matthews is out
2.) Aldridge, Batum, Afflalo, and CJ maybe injured
3.) Mo left
4.) Added: Kaman, Blake, and Afflalo

The real question is whether Batum is healthy. I think he is the key player to guard the Beard. If he is not playing well, then Harden could absolutely destroy us.

Aldridge's health is equally important because we really need him to dominate this series.

Dame's outside shooting MUST IMPROVE. If Dame can beast against Houston, especially from the perimeter, that will provide a HUGE advantage!

They also lost Asik, who was their best defender on Aldridge. That kind of evens out us losing Wes, our best defender on Harden.

Still, the loss of Wes is huge if we play HOU. His defense on Harden in the playoffs last year is the best I've seen from ANYONE over the past two years. The key to stopping Harden is to not let him get his right shoulder past your chest. If it does, he's likely going to make the shot, and get the foul call EVERY time. Wes has a wide, strong upper body that allowed him to cut off Harden's drives and keep him off the line. He made Harden an outside jump shooter, and his shooting percentages were horrible in the series. Wes basically took away 2/3 of Harden's game - the best 2/3.

With Batum and Afflalo guarding him, I expect Harden to get to the basket and the line much more than last year.

But, same thing at the other end, they lost Asik, their best defender on Aldridge and Beverley, their best defender on Lillard. Should be an interesting series. Same two teams, still very evenly matched, but the dynamic will be different with so many key defensive players missing.

BNM

 

[illmatic99]

I'm hoping to start on Sunday instead of Saturday to get another day of preparation and rest.


Last year, wasn't our 4-5 matchup like the absolute last game of the all the Game 1s?

 

[THE HCP]

Yes it was! Late Sunday evening!

 

[Boob-No-More]

I'm hoping to start on Sunday instead of Saturday to get another day of preparation and rest.


Last year, wasn't our 4-5 matchup like the absolute last game of the all the Game 1s?

Yes, and Game 2 wasn't until Wednesday night, a full week after our regular season finale. If we have a similar schedule this year, that will be one game in 6 days, which should give the guys with nagging injuries extra time to heal.

BNM

 

[KingSpeed]

Yes, and Game 2 wasn't until Wednesday night, a full week after our regular season finale. If we have a similar schedule this year, that will be one game in 6 days, which should give the guys with nagging injuries extra time to heal.

BNM

That would be ideal.

 

[PDXFonz]

Although we only have one shot at playing the Spurs, it's still worrisome...The Spurs and Grizzlies both play teams that HAVE to win tonight to make the playoffs (Pacers to hold their spot, Pelicans to hold their spot, esp since OKC plays the Wolves and will certainly win). And the Rockets winning is pretty likely to make that full scenario play out.

It's funny, I actually see that rocket game as a potential loss. The Jazz have been one of the better teams in the league rexently.

 

[blue9]

Wes was fantastic on Harden last season. Harden will shoot a lot of free throws [/captainobvious]. We have no hope guarding him without Afflalo.

It's really too bad we never worked Gee into the rotation. After Wes he's our best defender at guarding ball-dominant SGs. I still expect Gee to play, but since Stotts is still coaching the team who knows what'll happen - he'll probably score 14 points and shut down Harden one night then get a DNPCD the next game.

 

[MarAzul]

I would rather watch a series with the Grizzles. It's not very good basketball watching Hardin chuck and flop.

 

[riverman]

I can't stand a 4th qtr playoff game full of free throws

 

[Boob-No-More]

Here's yet another look at the possible scenarios for who we'll play in the first round:

Blazers Play Rockets if:

Rockets win, Spurs win, Grizzlies win
Rockets win, Spurs win, Grizzlies lose
Rockets lose, Spurs win, Grizzlies lose
Rockets lose, Spurs lose, Grizzlies lose

Blazers Play Grizzlies if:

Rockets win, Spurs lose, Grizzlies win
Rockets lose, Spurs win, Grizzlies win
Rockets lose, Spurs lose, Grizzlies Win

Blazers Play Spurs if:

Rockets win, Spurs lose, Grizzlies lose

This is basically the same info that yuyuza1 posted above, but parsed in a different format. Here's all the details in tabular form:

So, to avoid playing the Spurs (worst case scenario, IMHO), we want to avoid the case where both SAS and MEM lose and HOU wins. That's the only combination that lands the Spurs as the 5th seed.

BNM

With HOU up 34 on UTA and NOP up 16 on SAS, it looks like this is going to come down to the MEM vs. IND game. If MEM wins, we play them. If MEM loses, we play the Spurs.

BNM

 

[magnifier661]

Okay so if Hou wins, SAS and Memphis loses we get Memphis?

 

[H.C.]

Okay so if Hou wins, SAS and Memphis loses we get Memphis?

No Spurs have 55 wins before tonight and Memphis has 54 before tonight.

 

[magnifier661]

No Spurs have 55 wins before tonight and Memphis has 54 before tonight.

Holy shit!!! We have to play the Spurs?!?!

 

[H.C.]

if they both lose, yes

 

[H.C.]

the Bright side there is a high chance the Blazers play sunday if they vs the Spurs.
Where if they vs grizz or rockets it's for sure to be a saturday game.

 

[Sinobas]

Looks like it all comes down to Memphis. If Memphis wins, we play Memphis, if they lose, we play the Spurs.