That was too bad, but some other games were good.
I am not tracking New Orleans now. I did a new table comparing the four teams most likely to contend for the 2-4 seeds.
An interesting site that jnewhouse posted in a comment.
YESTERDAY'S GAMES
- Portland @ Phoenix. I liked our defense, and we will win some playoff games if we defend well and can make any shots. If Brandon Roy had made any shots in the first half, we might have won easily.
- Houston @ N.Y. Houston almost lost, lucky for them N.Y. is bad. K Martin 28 pts, 7 to, C Budinger 18 pts, C Lowry 18 pts, A Brooks 16 pts (7 straight to put Houston in the lead in the last two minutes). D Lee 27 pts 20 rbs 6 asts, D Gallinari 26 pts, T Douglas 26 pts (6-10 3pt), T McGrady 15 pts 7 rbs 5 asts.
- OKC @ Indiana. Terrible for OKC, they were more than 30 pts behind. D Granger 32 pts 7 rbs, T Murphy 22 pts 13 rbs, R Hibbert 20 pts 8 rbs. J Green 20 pts, K Durant 16 pts (4-16 FG) 5 to, E Maynor 15 pts 11 asts 5 to, S Ibaka 10 pts 12 rbs. R Westbrook 0 pts (0-4 FG) 17 minutes.
- S.A. @ Atlanta. Atlanta wins in overtime. M Williams 26 pts 9 rbs, A Horford 22 pts 18 rbs, J Johnson 22 pts 20 asts, J Crawford 19 pts 5 rbs, 5 asts. M Ginobili 38 pts 6 asts, T Duncan 29 pts 13 rbs, R Jefferson 12 pts 8 rbs.
- Washington @ L.A. L@kers blowout in the first half, easy win. P Gasol 28 pts 12 rbs, K Bryant 24 pts, R Artest 16 pts, L Odom 4 pts 13 rbs 6 asts 4 st 3 bl. N Young 22 pts, A Thornton 18 pts, A Blatche 16 pts 12 rbs 5 asts.
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 | Memphis |
at Denver | at Boston | at Orlando |
at L@kers | at Dallas | |
at Denver | ||
----- | ----- | ----- |
at New Orleans | at Chicago | at Milwaukee |
at OKC | at OKC | at San Antonio |
at San Antonio | at Oklahoma City | |
at Memphis | ||
at Phoenix | ||
----- | ----- | ----- |
vs Dallas | vs L@kers | vs Dallas |
vs Dallas | vs Utah | |
----- | ----- | ----- |
vs Oklahoma City | vs Charlotte | vs New Orleans |
vs New Orleans | vs Houston | |
----- | ----- | ----- |
at Sacramento | at Indiana | at Sacramento |
at Clippers | at Sacramento | at Golden State |
----- | ----- | ----- |
vs New York | vs Clippers | vs Philadelphia |
vs Golden State | vs Washington |
Teams Just Ahead Game by Game Table -- Remaining Games
Portland | San Antonio | Oklahoma City | Phoenix | Utah |
at Denver | at Boston | @ Boston | at Utah | at L@kers |
at L@kers | at L@kers | @ Dallas | ||
at Denver | @ Utah | |||
at Dallas | ||||
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
at New Orleans | at Oklahoma City | @ Portland | at Chicago | at Toronto |
at Oklahoma City | at Phoenix | at OKC | at Houston | |
at Milwaukee | at New Orleans | |||
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
vs Dallas | vs LA Lakers | vs Denver | vs Denver | vs Boston |
vs Dallas | vs Cleveland | vs LA Lakers | ||
vs Orlando | ||||
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
vs Oklahoma City | vs Memphis | vs Phoenix | vs San Antonio | vs Oklahoma City |
vs Houston | vs Memphis | vs Houston | vs Phoenix | |
vs San Antonio | ||||
vs Houston | ||||
vs Portland | ||||
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
at Sacramento | @ Sacramento | @ Golden State | @ Golden State | at Indiana |
at Clippers | @ New Jersey | @ Philadelphia | @ New Jersey | at Washington |
@ Detroit | at Golden State | |||
@ Minnesota | ||||
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
vs New York | Minnesota | vs Minnesota | vs New York | vs New York |
vs Golden State | vs Golden State |
The Battle for Top Seeds Game by Game Table -- Remaining Games
If OKC has a good week, I will include them in this table.
Dallas | Denver | Utah | Phoenix |
at Boston | at L@kers | at Utah | |
at Orlando | |||
at Dallas | |||
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
at New Orleans | at Toronto | at Toronto | at Chicago |
at Portland | at Oklahoma City | at Houston | at OKC |
at Memphis | at Phoenix | at New Orleans | at Milwaukee |
at Portland | |||
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
vs Denver | vs L@kers | vs Boston | vs Denver |
vs Orlando | |||
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
vs Oklahoma City | vs Portland | vs Oklahoma City | vs San Antonio |
vs Memphis | vs San Antonio | vs Phoenix | vs Houston |
vs San Antonio | vs Memphis | ||
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
at Golden State | at New York | at Indiana | @ Golden State |
at Sacramento | at Washington | @ New Jersey | |
at Clippers | at Golden State | @ Detroit | |
@ Minnesota | |||
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
vs Clippers | vs Clippers | vs New York | vs New York |
vs Golden State |
Projections
- L.A. 60.2 wins.
- Dallas. 54.9 wins.
- Denver. 54.2 wins.
- Utah. 53.0 wins.
- Phoenix. 51.3 wins (up from 50.8 in 6th).
- OKC. 49.9 wins (down from 51.0 in 5th).
- Portland. 48.6 wins (down from 49.1).
- S.A. 47.9 wins (down from 48.3).
- Houston. 43.4 wins (up from 43.0).
- Memphis. 42.8 wins.
Toronto wins to get back to .500. Recategorisations caused minor changes (< 0.3 wins) in the projections.
Tonight
- Dallas @ N.O. Cat 3 "Banana Peel" for Dallas.
- Houston @ Chicago. Back to Back Cat 3 "Banana Peel" for Houston.
- S.A. @ OKC. Back to back Cat 4 "Rocky Road" for S.A., back to back Cat 2 "Jawbreaker" for OKC. OKC will play much better tonight, and S.A. will be tired after overtime, but S.A. has been very good.
- Boston @ Utah. Cat 2 "Jawbreaker" for Utah.
- Memphis @ Sacramento. Cat 3 "Banana Peel" for Memphis, back to back for Sacramento.
- Phoenix @ G.S. Back to back Cat 3 "Banana Peel" for Phoenix.
With D Rose back, Houston may have a tough game in Chicago. S.A. and OKC both lost last night. One will lose again tonight. Phoenix and Utah both could lose, if they are unlucky.
T Penn, K Pritchard, L Miller
Why do people think it is ok to say bad things about people when they don't know what has happened, or when the people who tell them bad things want to stay secret?
- If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
- If you really have to say something that isn't nice, man up and say it to the person, don't whisper around behind their back.
- If someone gossips about someone, and says not to say who told, don't believe them and don't repeat it. If they want to be secret, they might be lying, or maybe can't prove it. If you repeat what they said, you might end up saying something not true.
Are the rules different because it is basketball? I don't think so.
I think A Wojnarowski, D Jaynes, and some of the people they talk to must be not very nice people sometimes. Some people are saying bad things about Mr Penn, or about Mr Pritchard, or about Mr Miller, or the Vulcans whoever they are, and no one has any proof of any of it except that someone whispered something secretly.
Mum said I could post this last part. I hope it is ok, even though it isn't about basketball or the schedule. Father wasn't sure it was such a good idea for me to do these updates at all, but he said I could do it if I wanted and I didn't spend too much time. This one took a lot longer, but Mum said it would be ok this once.