Sched Ahead Daily Update, Games of 3/20

Denver and Dallas both lose, Utah wins. 

Yesterday's Update

Last Weekly Update

An interesting site that jnewhouse posted in a comment.

YESTERDAY'S GAMES

1. G.S. @ Memphis.  Memphis opens a lead in the 3rd and wins.  R Gay 25 pts, O Mayo 21 pts, Z Randolph 20 pts 13 rbs, D Arthur 16 pts 13 rbs.  M Ellis 28 pts 5 st, C Maggette 20 pts, A Tolliver 12 pts 11 rbs. 
2. Boston @ Dallas.  Back to back wins in Texas for Boston, with a good fourth quarter.  P Pierce 29 pts, R Allen 21 pts, R Rondo 20 pts 10 rbs 5 asts.  D Nowitzki 28 pts, J Terry 18 pts, S Marion 16 pts.  C Butler only 9 pts on 3-14 FG.
3. Milwaukee @ Denver.  Brutal back to back for Milwaukee after 2OT in Sacramento the night before, didn't matter, Milwaukee wins.  J Salmons 26 pts, C Delfino 21 pts, E Ilyasova 14 pts 10 rbs.  C Anthony 29 pts, C Billups 29 pts.  A Bogut only 15 minutes, 5 fouls, 3 to.  Horrible shooting for Denver, Anthony 10-29, Billups 5-17, J Smith 5-16, team 37%.  We were lucky, our horrible shooting night was against Washington.
4. N.O. @ Utah.  D West ejected for flagrant foul in first quarter, huge blowout for Utah.  P Millsap 22 pts 15 rbs, C Miles 19 pts, D Williams 17 pts 11 asts.  M Thornton 22 pts, D Collison 19 pts, E Okafor 14 pts 10 rbs.  DNP -- A Kirilenko, M Okur, most of N.O. players.  N.O. outscored Utah by 14 in the fourth to only lose by 20.

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.

Teams Just Ahead Game by Game Table -- Remaining Games 

Projections

1. L.A.  60.2 wins (up from 60.0).   
2. Dallas.  54.9 wins (down from 55.5). 
3. Denver.  54.2 wins (down from 55.4).
4. Utah.  53.0 wins (down from 53.1).
5. OKC.  51.0 wins (up from 50.7 in 6th).
6. Phoenix.  50.8 wins (unchanged, down from 5th).  
7. Portland.  49.1 wins.
8. S.A.  48.3 wins (up from 48.2).
9. Houston.  43.0 wins (up from 42.9).
10. Memphis.  42.8 wins (up from 42.4).
11. N.O.  38.8 wins (down from 39.1).

Toronto wins to get back to .500.  Recategorisations caused minor changes (< 0.3 wins) in the projections.

Tonight

1. Portland @ Phoenix.  Cat 4 "Rocky Road" for Portland, Cat 2 "Jawbreaker" for Phoenix.
2. Houston @ N.Y.  Cat 3 "Banana Peel" for Houston.
3. OKC @ Indiana.  Cat 3 "Banana Peel" for OKC.
4. S.A. @ Atlanta.  Cat 4 "Rocky Road" for S.A.
5. Washington @ L.A.  Cat 1 "Cream Puff" for L@kers.

If we win, our chances of top six, maybe top five, are very good.  If we lose, it will be hard to do better than seventh.