Blazers 6th Seed by week's end!
by RedUniInLA on Mar 15, 2010 9:37 AM PDT
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PrintYes, it's quite possible, Blazer fans. We are only half a game behind San Antonio, one game behind Phoenix and two behind the Sonics.
The Spurs are heading to FLorida to get beaten by Orlando and Miami, then a gimmie home game against the Warriors, then in ATL for Sunday. They could very well go 1-3 or 2-2 in that stretch.
The Sunshines have a gimmie against Minny, then a tough one against Utah, that I'm assuming they lose for my greedy purposes. Bringing the week to a crescendo, they have a game against the healthy-as-they're-going-to-get-for-now Trail Blazers who have been on a roll lately and are likely eager to play and beat an opponent above .500 after a string of lesser rivals. Suns 1-2 for the week.
The Blazers have a restful week, playing only Washington at home, then the big game against Phoenix, in Arizona. Go 2-0 this week and the team could be sitting in the 7th or 6th seed slot, with SA and OKC playing each other on Monday (with one of those two teams guaranteed to lose the game).
It may be about to get real.
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please dont talk about the suns hines. the short short days are over...
everywhere but in the stands of the rose garden
we'll catch Utah before we catch Phoenix I think
PHX’s schedule is easy. Utah’s, not so much.
Lover of everything Batum.
#88
Movin' up without playing a game...
I love it!
An offensive rebound in paragraph form. -Mr. Golliver
by you'vegottomakeyourfreethrows on Mar 15, 2010 9:47 AM PDT reply actions
I have a gut feeling....
that Utah will be in the bottom 4 when all is said and done. OKC might move up to that 4th spot. that said, if the Blazers move up to the 5th spot that would be a interesting match-up in the playoffs. 2 young teams, 1 who has been to the playoffs and 1 who hasn’t. I’d take that match up, even if they do have Durant.
I like that matchup
I have a chip on my shoulder because the Sonicthunder has a better record than us right now, when it’s the Blazers who are supposed to win a title first. Damn these injuries!
But, yeah, a first round match up with OKC would be an awesome chance to show who is the team of the future.
"Oh, and Ted, give my love to the Princesses. Ted2: Who? Ted: You'll see." - Ted, to himself on his and Bill's excellent adventure.
pretty long odds for that. we would have to pass SA, Phoenix, and Utah
that’s a lot of teams to reel in, with not much time left to do it. We still have to make up 3 losses on the Spurs, 2 on Phoenix, and 5 on Utah, since they own the tie breaker against us.
"I want to be traded to a contender" is almost always code-speak for "I'm a loser."
-Dave, 2/5/2010: http://www.blazersedge.com/2010/2/5/1297509/no-amore-for-amare
Believe Harder!
"Oh, and Ted, give my love to the Princesses. Ted2: Who? Ted: You'll see." - Ted, to himself on his and Bill's excellent adventure.
Maybe not by the weeks' end, but in the next 2 weeks!
Posted this in another thread, but it seems to fit here:
I think we will know in the next 2 weeks where this team ends up being seeded, and who it will match up against in the playoffs. The Blazers are currently 2 losses behind the Suns, and 3 behind the Spurs. Over the next 2 weeks the Blazers play the Wizards at home, (should be a win), then @ Phx, where a win could Tie them with the Suns if they slip up against Utah on Friday, followed by home a game against Dallas and a game at NO. That should be 2 wins minimum, hopefully 3-1, putting the Blazers at 44-29.
The Suns play 5 games in that span, with 2 tough games against Utah and Portland, and 3 cupcakes against, The Wolves, Warriors, and Knicks. Losses to Utah and especially against the Blazers would put them at 44-28.
The Spurs have a brutal couple of weeks. While the Blazers are playing 4 games, and the Suns are playing 5, the Spurs are playing 7, including 2 back to backs! Of those 7 only 1 game is against a non-playoff team, and the games against playoff teams are not the "bottom of the East" type of teams, accept one. They play @ Miami, @ Orlando, @ Atlanta, @ OKC, and home against the Lakers and Cavs. Even if the split those tough games, which their seasonal record against playoff teams suggests they will not, that is 3 losses, and puts them at 43-28 after the next two weeks.
However the Spurs could easily lose 4 or eve 5 of those tough games, and drop below the Blazers in the standings. Looking at the remaining schedules that Jscot has put up for us all, I believe the Blazers will end the season as the 6th seed and play Dallas in the 1st round.
Ben II Blazersedge.com || New to Blazers' Edge?
the ideal situation
that’s exactly where we want to be…it’s all about matchups in the playoffs, and we need to get Dallas in my opinion. Utah owns us, and Denver would not be good for us either. If we can get Dallas, Phoenix or OKC, those are the best matchups for us. Especially Dallas because we guard Dirk well with Nic and LMA, and Andre is a good counter for JKidd.
I really hope 6 and Dallas is where we end up!
by rip_city_swagger on Mar 15, 2010 10:27 AM PDT up reply actions
OKC continues to catch breaks, and capitalize on them
Every time they have a possible loss on the schedule, they seem to get a break of some sorts – last nights it’s Utah playing short two starters, helping OKC to an 8 point home win.
No doubt OKC is a good team, but the amount of good luck they have had this entire season is karmic. That said, they are about to enter a pretty difficult run of games, including 2 seperate 3-game east coast trips. They are still catchable.
"I want to be traded to a contender" is almost always code-speak for "I'm a loser."
-Dave, 2/5/2010: http://www.blazersedge.com/2010/2/5/1297509/no-amore-for-amare
OKC has been very lucky this season....
both KD and Westbrook are playing well and they have had vitually no injuries which has allowed their rotations and player’s roles to stay the same through out the whole year (lucky for them). They are basically this year’s Portland. Exceeding expectations. I agree that they are still catchable. Especially if we sweep them the rest of the way.
OKC has been lucky with injuries.
With Harden being the only significant injury this season. Catching teams with injured players is relatively normal in the NBA. Blazers couldn’t capitalize against the Jazz without Okur and AK47.
The Thunder have been beating up the east teams and the bottom feeders. Similar to the Blazers of last year.
"I'm at the thingamajig talking the yakety-yak" - Kenny Smith
A classic stance
I’m assuming they lose for my greedy purposes.
The good karma from your honesty should rule over the possible bad karma of your greed. I think we are all safe to chalk that game up as a win. Honest bias is actually quite refreshing.
21 + 52=
RedUniInLA: Blazer Homer since 1986
"Oh, and Ted, give my love to the Princesses. Ted2: Who? Ted: You'll see." - Ted, to himself on his and Bill's excellent adventure.
Can't see anything wrong with that
as long as you are honest with Faker fans about how we feel about them : > ).
21 + 52=
I have learned to box since moving to LA.
But have also learned the right moment to stop talking smack so I don’t get my pale a$$ beat.
"Oh, and Ted, give my love to the Princesses. Ted2: Who? Ted: You'll see." - Ted, to himself on his and Bill's excellent adventure.
"Games behind" is misleading at this point in the season. What matters now is games in the loss column
and the Blazers are far less likely to make up that difference any time soon.
While I mostly agree
The only thing is that we’ve still played more games than anyone else. We’ve played 69 games, PHX who has played 67, is the closest, those guys who used to live in Seattle have played 65, and SA has only played 64. (And though I highly doubt we’ll catch them, the only other team we really have a chance to catch is Utah, who have played 66 games). That means PHX has 2 more games with a possible loss (including one against us, which could be huge) OKC has 4 more than us to lose, and SA, with the already much spoken about brutal schedule, has 5 more possible losses than we do. Add to this the fact that we seem to be working on another amazing end of season stretch, and I see a very high possibility of those loss columns evening out in our favor.
Cake or Death?
The point is ...
that teams with fewer losses, regardless of the number of games played, control their own destiny. Yes, those extra games = more possible losses for them, but they just as likely = wins. We need to keep winning games, but it’s basically up to the other teams at the point (except for when we play those teams, it’s up to us). How’s that for muddy waters?
"These are dreams that we have." --Rudolfo Fernandez
I think the mathematically correct thing
is to weight the loss column difference by the two teams’ average winning percentage, and the win column difference by the teams’ average losing percentage. So if two teams are around 66% and one is 39-19 and the other is 39-22, you would say they are two games behind instead of 1.5.
But I just made all that up, so someone check my logic if you want.
Disclaimer: everything I know about basketball I learned on Blazersedge.
that makes the most sense
however, we have more information than just win loss; we know who will be playing whom. This means that we can likely make better predictions about the expected win percentage based on strength of schedule.
However, there are two different tactics that can be taken. The first is two look at just the current records, and compare them in a consistent way that will be meaningful at the end of season. This is what is happening with games behind and Loss Columns (and win column, as well). This is a more “don’t count your chickens” strategy, while the projections such as hollingers are more of an attempt to give best guesses.
jscots stupid projections are also a simple way to factor in schedules for predictions
I realize this has nothing to do with this post, but......
there was no way I would make a Fanpost out of this gripe.
What is the deal with Oregonlive??? I mean seriously. Is there a worse website?
If you click the “Trailblazers” link, it will direct you to a page that has “Sacramento Game Reaction” as the first post.
On the Main Page, links for “Blazers vs. Golden State” gameday is up there.
Who is running that site? How hard is it to organize articles by Date?
Thats all I got.
Ball handling and dribbling are my strongest weaknesses."—David Thompson
Yes it's terrible.
Look around the net. Most newspapers still have absolutely no idea how to make a good web site.
Disclaimer: everything I know about basketball I learned on Blazersedge.
I went to the O.Live site exclusively for years
and it’s worse now than it has been since I can remember. Maybe it’s because this site is just so much better, but the comments over there are generally moronic and the after-game breakdowns are generally a C- compared to Dave’s creative, insightful ones.
I do miss some of the people from the forum over there though.
"Oh, and Ted, give my love to the Princesses. Ted2: Who? Ted: You'll see." - Ted, to himself on his and Bill's excellent adventure.
I think Oden is back for the playoffs
as far as the healthy as we are going to get. Mike Rice has dropped a hint about oden every single broadcast every single game since the Pacer game. Management would not let him do that unless oden was on track to be back, they would have told him to knock it off by now otherwise…
"Oh Yeah!" ~ Kool Aid Man
San Antonio in Cat 4 Rocky Roads
is 5-11 with 9 left to be played..we are 9-10 with 4 left to played..I think we could pass them pretty easily
"Good, Better, Best, never let it rest until your good is your better and your better is your best." Tim Duncan
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