Sched Ahead Daily Update, Games of 3/18

by jscotjr on Mar 19, 2010 1:03 AM PDT

Not much of interest, Denver wins as expected.

YESTERDAY'S GAMES

N.O. @ Denver. Back to back for N.O., Denver blow out. C Anthony 26 pts 18 rbs, N Hilario 20 pts 6 rbs 5 asts 5 st 3 bl, J Smith 17 pts, C Andersen 5 pts 13 rbs. D Collison 15 pts 6 asts, M Thornton 15 pts, D West 14 pts, D Songalia 13 pts 9 rbs, E Okafor 11 pts 10 rbs.

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 Utah	at Orlando
at L@kers			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.
Dallas. 55.8 wins.
Denver. 55.2 wins (up from 55.1).
Utah. 53.1 wins.
Phoenix. 50.3 wins.
OKC. 50.2 wins.
Portland. 49.0 wins.
S.A. 48.2 wins.
Houston. 43.6 wins.
Memphis. 42.6 wins.
N.O. 39.0 wins (down from 39.2).

Tonight

Washington @ Portland. Cat 1 "Cream Puff". A Blatche may or may not play.
OKC @ Toronto. Cat 4 "Rocky Road" for OKC. If Toronto loses, they drop below .500 and it will be recategorized to a Cat 3. Toronto just beat Atlanta, so watching this one.
Boston @ Houston. Cat 2 "Jawbreaker" for Houston. Houston have won four straight.
G.S. @ S.A. Cat 1 "Cream Puff" for S.A.
Utah @ Phoenix. Cat 4 "Rocky Road" for Utah, Cat 2 "Jawbreaker" for Phoenix. Utah has some injury trouble. D Williams, A Kirilenko, and W Matthews are all game time decision.
Minnesota @ L.A. Cat 1 "Cream Puff" for L.A. I think Minnesota is worse than N.J.

Watching games in Portland, Toronto, Houston, and Phoenix particularly. Good chance of getting some help tonight, but I think Phoenix will win.

Tweet Comment 10 comments | 9 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Hard to make a case for N.O. or Memphis now

But Houston is still too close.

"Their length," he said. "Aldridge is a tough matchup for us. Roy's a very talented ball player, an All-Star player. Miller is just an incredibly savvy point guard with what he's able to do out there on the floor. You throw in their shooters who have size and are able to see over things. They understand where they are as a ball club." - Kurt Rambis

by lee3022 on Mar 19, 2010 1:51 AM PDT reply actions

NEW ORLEANS is out of the running

might as well cut them from the updates altogether.

I’d be more interested in Dallas and Denver remaining games, as we could see where they are most likely to land in the first round of playoffs.
the win/loss projector is pretty unspecific, since teams like New Orleans and Toronto jump in and out of categories.

How am I not myself? How am I not myself?

by thankyouforblaze on Mar 19, 2010 3:52 AM PDT up reply actions

Yes, sir, the projections are flawed

That is part of why my father called them “stupid”. He does them for fun, not for science.

People wanted to see New Orleans left in. I am not sure why. The best they could win is 45, and that will not be enough.

by jscotjr on Mar 19, 2010 9:30 AM PDT up reply actions

Houston

Sir, I don’t think Houston can catch us.

We should get at least 47 wins. For Houston to match, they must win 12 of 16, and then we might win the tie-breaker. If we do better than 47, they will have to do even better than 12-4. Their schedule is too hard to catch us unless we have more players get hurt.

by jscotjr on Mar 19, 2010 9:27 AM PDT up reply actions

To be more specific

I am sure that we will one at least four of the bottom five games on our chart, and at least two of the top eight games. That would give us 47 wins and 35 losses. I think that is the worst we could do.

I am sure Houston will lose at least three of their top six in the table, and at least one of the next five. That would take them to 35 losses. I think that is the best they could do.

by jscotjr on Mar 19, 2010 9:43 AM PDT up reply actions

I think Houston would be more likely to catch the Spurs.

Who I thought also had a tough down-the-stretch.

#10 & #52

by idoltime on Mar 19, 2010 12:10 PM PDT up reply actions

It's possible, sir

I think they have a better chance to catch San Antonio than to catch us.

I am sure S.A. will win the bottom four games on their chart, and at least three of the remaining twelve games, which would get them to 47 wins. If Houston can beat them when they play, that would help their chances, and Houston would win the tie-breaker, so they might have a chance.

San Antonio has won 8 of their last 10, and is five complete games ahead with only 16 left. Even if Houston were to beat them, they would have to catch up four complete games out of the other 15. It is possible, with the difficult schedule, but not very likely.

by jscotjr on Mar 19, 2010 1:02 PM PDT up reply actions

Scoreboard watchers.

Check this out:

ESPN had a link too it, and its like Hollinger’s Playoff odds except for waaaaaaaay more information. My favorite part is the “who to root for” section.

by jnewhouse on Mar 19, 2010 4:36 AM PDT reply actions

First time posting a link

http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NBA/Western/Northwest/TrailBlazers.html

by jnewhouse on Mar 19, 2010 4:36 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Great Find!!!!! Thanks for posting this!!! rec

Blazer's Edge Ambassador to The Dream Shake Blog
I <3 LMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - LMA RULEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The PENDERBEAST is on the Prowl Looking for an Opposing 4 or 5 to DEVOUR!!!!!!!!!!
That PenderBeast Enforcer Guy seems just a little bit crazy.....and I am loving it!!!!
D. Cunningham - The D stands for DENIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You mess with the Inferno and You get BURNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by LaMarvelous on Mar 19, 2010 11:05 PM PDT up reply actions