Portland Trail Blazers 2019 NBA Playoffs Tiebreaker Scenarios

Anyone else ready for a headache? I’ve compiled all the Trail Blazers 2019 NBA Playoffs tiebreaker scenarios. For those needing a refresher on the tiebreak rules, click here, or scroll down and I’ve posted them at the bottom of the page.

Blazers Head-to-Head Tiebreakers.

Blazers have won the head-to-head tiebreaker against:

LA Clippers — the Blazers won the season series 3-1.

Houston Rockets — the Blazers won the season series 2-1.

Blazers have lost the head-to-head tiebreaker against:

Golden St. Warriors — the teams are tied head-to-head (2-2) but the Warriors have already clinched their division. Even if the Blazers win the northwest division, the Warriors will have a better conference record in any scenario where the teams finish the season tied so the Warriors have clinched the tiebreak over the Blazers.

Denver Nuggets — the Blazers trail the Nuggets 0-2 in head-to-head games with two remaining and the Nuggets have a better division record than the Blazers. Since the best the Blazers can do is tie the Nuggets head-to-head, Denver has clinched the tiebreaker via division record.

Oklahoma City Thunder — the Thunder won the season series 4-0.

San Antonio Spurs — the teams split the season series 2-2 but any scenario in which the teams tie also means the Blazers are not division champions and the Spurs have a better record so San Antonio has clinched the tiebreaker.

Utah Jazz — the teams split the season series 2-2 and the Blazers could, technically, close a gap and tie the Jazz in division record, but in that scenario the Jazz would have a better conference record so Utah holds the tiebreaker no matter what.

Multi-team tiebreaker scenarios

(I’m restricting this to most feasible or interesting scenarios — e.g. it’s unlikely the Blazers lose out and end up in a multi-team tie with the Spurs and/or Thunder. I’m also limiting to 3-team scenarios since nearly all 4-team scenarios are partially resolved by removing the division champs and resulting 3-way tie is probably included in my list.)

Nuggets/Blazers/Jazz — for this tie to happen the Jazz need to beat the Nuggets on Apr. 9. In that scenario the Jazz have a 5-3 cumulative head-to-head record and take the tie and division championship. The Blazers would be second (4-4) and the Nuggets last (3-5).

Blazers/Nuggets/Warriors — division champion tie is broken first and the Blazers would lose that to the Nuggets so the Blazers would finish last. Warriors/Nuggets head-to-head tie depends on the outcome of their game on April 2.

Blazers/Nuggets/Rockets — Rockets are first (head-to-head over Denver or division champion), Nuggets are second (head-to-head over Blazers), Blazers are last.

Blazers/Rockets/Jazz — If Denver has already won the division then the tiebreaker yields Rockets, Jazz, Blazers (in that order). If Denver has not won the division then the Rockets/Jazz still beat the Blazers, but their tie is not yet broken.

Blazers/Jazz/Clippers — Clippers would be last, but the Blazers/Jazz order would depend on the outcome of the Jazz/Clippers regular season finale.

Blazers/Rockets/Clippers — Rockets are division champs and Blazers then beat out Clippers for second.

Curious about any other multi-team scenarios? See a mistake? Ask in the comments and I’ll answer! Or on Twitter @EricG_NBA.

TIEBREAKER BASIS WHEN TWO TEAMS ARE TIED:

· (1A) Better winning percentage in games against each other

· (2A) Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division)

· (3A) Better winning percentage against teams in own division (only if tied teams are in same division)

· (4A) Better winning percentage against teams in own conference

· (5A) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in own conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position)

· (6A) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in opposite conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position)

· (7A) Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents (point differential).

TIEBREAKER BASIS WHEN MORE THAN TWO TEAMS ARE TIED:

· (1B) Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division)

· (2B) Better winning percentage in games against each other

· (3B) Better winning percentage against teams in own division (only if tied teams are in same division)

· (4B) Better winning percentage against teams in own conference

· (5B) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in own conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position)

· (6B) Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents (point differential)