Sched Ahead Daily Update, Games of 3/17

by jscotjr on Mar 18, 2010 1:06 AM PDT

Better results for us last night. Also, Toronto wins and gets back to .500, so projections change slightly.

YESTERDAY'S GAMES

OKC @ Charlotte. Charlotte wins without G Wallace. S Jackson 20 pts 5 rbs 5 asts, S Graham 19 pts (7-9 FG), R Felton 17 pts (7-10 FG) 7 asts, T Thomas 11 pts 9 rbs. K Durant 26 pts (9-26 FG 0-7 3pt) 10 rbs, J Green 17 pts, N Collison 15 pts (6-8 FG), R Westbrook 15 pts (6-16 FG) 10 asts 5 to. OKC 2-13 3pt, Charlotte 5-7 3pt.
S.A. @ Orlando. Back to back for S.A., Orlando wins easily. V Carter 24 pts 8 asts, R Lewis 20 pts, D Howard only 24 minutes, J Nelson only 20. R Jefferson 20 pts, M Ginobili 18 pts. T Duncan 5 pts (1-10 FG, worst of his career) in 25 minutes. FG% Orlando 52%, S.A. 42%.
Chicago @ Dallas. Big lead for Dallas in the first half, held on for the win. C Butler 27 pts, D Nowitzki 26 pts 7 rbs 5 asts, J Barea 15 pts 5 asts. J Kidd 0-5 0 pts 3 to. A Law 22 pts. No D Rose, no L Deng, no J Noah, no wins in 9 games. J Terry back for Dallas.
Memphis @ Houston. Houston wins. A Brooks 31 pts (11-14 FG, 7-7 3pt), L Scola 20 pts, K Martin 18 pts. Z Randolph 30 pts 15 rbs, R Gay 14 pts. FG% Houston 53% Memphis 43%. Best Memphis can do is 49 wins, if they win all the rest, and they lost the tie-breakers. They will not win all the rest, and Portland and S.A. will both win at least 47 games. Memphis is dead. Four straight wins for Houston, who are still in with a slight chance.
Minnesota @ Utah. Utah wins easily. P Millsap 21 pts 11 rbs, K Korver 20 pts, C Boozer 19 pts 11 rbs, D Williams 9 pts 11 asts. A Jefferson 17 pts 8 rbs, C Brewer 17 pts, R Gomes 11 pts 6 rbs 6 asts. Injuries for Utah -- D Williams sprained left ankle, bruised shoulder getting MRI, A Kirilenko reaggravated strained left calf, W Matthews strained left knee.
N.O. @ G.S. G.S. hit 9 three pointers in the fourth quarter to come from behind and win. A Tolliver 30 pts 6 rbs 4 st, M Ellis 28 pts 13 asts 4 st, R Williams 22 pts (18 in 4th quarter), C Hunter 17 pts 8 rbs. D West 36 pts 15 rbs, D Collison 20 pts 14 asts 6 rbs 8 to, M Peterson 17 pts, M Thornton 14 pts. S Curry DNP ankle.

Chasing Pack Game by Game Table -- Remaining Games

Sorted by difficulty, with road games against elite teams (top four in each conference) grouped together, then road games against playoff contenders, then home games against elites, home games against contenders, and road and home games against bottom feeders. Second of back to back games in italics, opponents on the second of a back to back in bold, both teams on a back to back in both bold and italics. The more games in the top part of the table, the tougher the schedule, the more white space up high the easier the schedule.

Portland	Houston	New Orleans	Memphis

at Denver	at Boston	at Denver	at Orlando
at L@kers		at Utah	at Dallas
			at Denver
-----	-----	-----	-----
at New Orleans	at Chicago	at Memphis	at Milwaukee
at OKC	at OKC	at Houston	at San Antonio
at Phoenix	at San Antonio		at Oklahoma City
	at Memphis
	at Phoenix
-----	-----	-----	-----
vs Dallas	vs Boston	vs Dallas	vs Dallas
vs Dallas	vs L@kers	vs Cleveland
	*vs Utah*	vs L@kers
		vs Utah
-----	-----	-----	-----
*vs Oklahoma City*	vs Charlotte	vs Portland	vs New Orleans
	vs New Orleans	vs Charlotte	vs Houston
-----	-----	-----	-----
at Sacramento	at NYK	at New Jersey	at Sacramento
at Clippers	at Indiana		at Golden State
	at Sacramento
-----	-----	-----	-----
vs Washington	vs Clippers	vs Washington	vs Golden State
vs New York	vs Washington	vs Minnesota	vs Philadelphia
vs Golden State

Teams Just Ahead Game by Game Table -- Remaining Games

Portland	San Antonio	Oklahoma City	Phoenix	Utah

at Denver	at Atlanta	@ Boston	*at Utah*	at L@kers
at L@kers	at Boston	@ Dallas
	at L@kers	@ Utah
	at Denver
	at Dallas
-----	-----	-----	-----	-----
at New Orleans	*at Oklahoma City*	*@ Portland*	at Chicago	at Phoenix
at Oklahoma City	at Phoenix	@ Toronto	at OKC	at Toronto
at Phoenix			*at Milwaukee*	*at Houston*
				at New Orleans
-----	-----	-----	-----	-----
vs Dallas	vs LA Lakers	vs Denver	vs Utah	vs Boston
vs Dallas	vs Cleveland	vs LA Lakers	vs Denver
	vs Orlando
-----	-----	-----	-----	-----
*vs Oklahoma City*	vs Memphis	vs Phoenix	vs Portland	vs New Orleans
	vs Houston	vs Memphis	vs San Antonio	vs Oklahoma City
		*vs San Antonio*	vs Houston	*vs Phoenix*
		vs Houston
		vs Portland
-----	-----	-----	-----	-----
at Sacramento	@ Sacramento	@ Golden State	@ Golden State	at Indiana
at Clippers	@ New Jersey	@ Philadelphia	@ New Jersey	*at Washington*
		@ Indiana	@ Detroit	at Golden State
			@ Minnesota
-----	-----	-----	-----	-----
vs Washington	Minnesota	*vs Minnesota*	vs New York	vs New York
vs New York	Golden State			vs Golden State
vs Golden State

Projections

L.A. 60.2 wins (up from 60.0).
Dallas. 55.8 wins (up from 55.3).
Denver. 55.1 wins (down from 55.2).
Utah. 53.1 wins (down from 53.3).
Phoenix. 50.3 wins (up from 50.2 in 6th).
OKC. 50.2 wins (down from 51.1 in 5th).
Portland. 49.0 wins (up from 48.9).
S.A. 48.2 wins (down from 48.6).
Houston. 43.6 wins (up from 42.9).
Memphis. 42.6 wins (down from 42.8).
N.O. 39.2 wins (down from 39.9).

Tonight

N.O. @ Denver. Cat 4 "Rocky Road" back to back for N.O., Cat 1 "Cream Puff" for Denver.

In the top 9 teams in the West, every team has won at least 7 of their last ten games.

Tweet Comment 7 comments | 5 recs |

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Comments

the projected gap from 5 through 8 has gotten razor thin

"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

by douglast on Mar 18, 2010 1:31 AM PDT reply actions

No kidding.

Especially considering the fact that we play OKC twice and Phoenix once, SA plays both OKC and Phoenix, and OKC and Phoenix also square off. Should be an exciting finish to the season. Lets just hope we don’t have any more off-court problems spoil it!

"...it was like he brought his own personal cross-wind to the arena." - Dave

by DC Blazer on Mar 18, 2010 10:09 AM PDT up reply actions

Tonight it could get thinner

if Phoenix and OKC both lose (possible) and Portland and S.A. both win (probable).

by jscotjr on Mar 19, 2010 1:06 AM PDT up reply actions

Weekend Games to Watch

Friday:
OKC at Toronto: Probably too much to hope for a Raptors win, but hey it’s a road game for the Thunder, and Toronto is certainly capable of playing better than they have lately. Much more likely to get help here then…
GS at S.A.: Yeah, moving along…
Utah at Phoenix: Seeing it as near impossible to catch Utah, we obviously should be rooting for them to take care of the Suns in Phoenix. Utah has been much better on the road this year than in recent memory, so it’s not a long shot by any means, especially since they see themselves fighting off Phoenix to hold on to homecourt in round 1. big chance to make a statement for both teams.
Washington at Portland: Obviously, all the help in the world won’t mean a thing if we can’t take care of the lowly Wizards on our home court coming off 4 days rest.

Saturday:
GS at Memphis: Not much here, as Memphis’ chance of catching us is very small, but figured I would throw it in since there’s mot much else of note.

Sunday:
OKC at Indiana: Pretty much the last cupcake the Thunder have for awhile, as after this they go: Spurs, Rockets,
Lakers, Blazers. Then after a trip to Philly they get @Boston, @Dallas. Let’s just hope Indy gives them enough run to wear them out for the Spurs on Monday.
Spurs at Atlanta: The Spurs nasty closing schedule continues. This game marks the start of 5 straight against upper level playoff opponents, 3 of which are on the road, and the other 2 are against the top team from each conference.
Portland at Phoenix: HUGE opportunity for Portland to make up ground here. This isn’t a game you should count on winning, but it’s certainly a reasonable possibility and would almost be gravy in our quest to pass a team or two (or three?) A loss isn’t devastating, but a win is very very helpful.

Looking ahead, next week is going to tell us a LOT I think. It is very very possible that the Spurs and Thunder could BOTH lose 3 games next week. Our schedule is certainly no cakewalk, but it does contain a few “control your own fate” opportunities (Pho, @OKC, the toughest opponent is at home (Dallas), and the 4th game you really should get at this point (New Orleans).

Come March 29, if we aren’t at least in 7th place, that will be very disappointing, and it’s certainly possible will be in 6th within striking distance of 5th.

"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

by douglast on Mar 18, 2010 10:50 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

Is it possible to fix the weird font thing going on in the last paragraph? Can't read a few

sentences..which are sentences I’d like to read!

by Natsthecat on Mar 18, 2010 4:08 PM PDT up reply actions

no, but I'll repost it

Looking ahead, next week is going to tell us a LOT I think. It is very very possible that the Spurs and Thunder could BOTH lose 3 games next week. Our schedule is certainly no cakewalk, but it does contain a few "control your own fate" opportunities (Pho, atOKC, the toughest opponent is at home (Dallas), and the 4th game you really should get at this point (New Orleans).

Come March 29 if we aren’t at least in 7th place, that will be very disappointing, and it’s certainly possible will be in 6th within striking distance of 5th.

"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

by douglast on Mar 18, 2010 8:06 PM PDT up reply actions