This is purely a matter of fan perspective. Every team is going to win or lose a certain number of times at the end of the season -- the final records don't care whether the games were played in November or March. As a fan, yes of course I prefer to clinch playoff berths early and often, but like it or not, this has a LOT to do with the strength of other teams in the conference.
I really don't understand all this "only what the Blazers do matters" griping. That's ONLY true if we win every single one of our games! If the season were an exam, it would be graded on a kind of curve -- only the top eight scores earn passing grades. This means that the performance of the competition is VERY MUCH a factor in determining our eventual success or failure. A simple examination of the playoff race in the East vs. the one in the West should be enough to confirm this.
Yes, of course we can make things easier on ourselves by winning out. Duh. However, realistically, the best any of the 2-8 seeds can hope for is to have MORE success than their rivals. I wouldn't be surprised at all of the final seeding shuffles completely over the course of the last few days of the regular season, and I won't be disappointed in the slightest if I find myself rooting for a Houston loss right alongside a Blazer win.
Shoulda had a headband.
