Four in Five Nights? Big Deal.
posted: 4/12/2009 at 2:14 AM
It could have been easier, and maybe should have been, but no one really cares at this point. All that really matters is the Blazers are now 24 games over .500 for the first time this season, and continue to roll down the home stretch of the regular season.
It wasn’t attractive basketball in the first half, and the Blazers had to close the second quarter on a 10-0 run to take a 15-point lead to the locker room at halftime. It was a run that took just 1:36, and included a quick five points by Rudy Fernandez to end the half. He continues to be an incredible sparkplug off the bench, and we’ve seen this before from him.
In the second half, the Trail Blazers wanted to lower the boom early, and finish off the Clippers. But, it didn’t happen that way. The Clips, who are just about totally healthy for one of the few times this season, made a run and got themselves right back in the game. They battled back to tie it at 66, and then grabbed a two-point lead. It was short lived.
In the latter half of the fourth quarter, the Blazers put their foot on the gas and put the Clippers to bed for good. They used an 18-0 run to finish off the game, and ended up winning it 87-72. LaMarcus Aldridge had 21 to lead the Blazers, and was helped in the interior by Joel Przybilla, who had 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Brandon Roy was able to take a secondary role in this game, and took only 8 shots. He scored 15 points, and was 5 for 8 from the field. The Blazers, for the second-straight night, shot under 45 percent, but won again.
The final run by Portland was greeted with a lot of cheering at the Staples Center. We mentioned this on the TV broadcast several times, but there were a ton of Blazer fans in L.A. tonight. I’ve said that before about road games, but this was different. I’ve never seen it like this. There weren’t only hundreds of Blazer jerseys in the stands, but many signs and banners. This is very cool to see, and hear, in these road arenas.
It’s a pretty good sign when you sweep a four-games-in-five-nights set without playing your best basketball. This was both a second of a back to back, and the fourth in five nights, which is just about as tough as it gets in this league. What made that more difficult, is that this set started midway through a four-game road trip.
The Blazers are now 52-28 on this season, and at times I’ve got to say that several times to actually let it sink in. Now, they’ve got two games left at home, and the potential to finish with 54 wins. This final road win also meant the Blazers hit another goal- 20 road wins on the season. Nate McMillan listed that as something to shoot for before the season. What do we always say? Win your home games and split on the road. Well, the Blazers have been winning most of their games at home, and they nearly split their road games. And, you can’t really say this team can’t win on the road anymore. Portland has won 7 of their last 9 road contests.
The 52 wins equals a career best for McMillan in his coaching career, and even though he should be a front runner for NBA Coach of the Year, won’t be. The Blazers are also now 5-1 in April, and have clinched their sixth-consecutive winning month, which was also a goal of McMillan’s when the season started.
With this win, the Trail Blazers are now guaranteed no worse that fifth place in the Western Conference. If the Blazers simply win their final two games of the regular season (shouldn’t say “simply” but you get it), the Blazers are guaranteed at least fourth, because we own the tiebreaker with San Antonio.
There is an intriguing situation building in Houston right now. Yao, reportedly, has pain in his foot, and may be sidelined for the Rockets’ final two games. If the Rockets lose one of their final two games (home against New Orleans, and at Dallas), and the Blazers win their final two games, Portland will end up third in the west, regardless of what San Antonio does. That would mean a matchup with the sixth seed, most likely New Orleans, but possibly Dallas (the Hornets and Magic play Sunday).
The Trail Blazers will take Sunday off, and need a day of rest. Then, it’s right back to work on Monday when the Oklahoma City Thunder come to the Rose Garden. After that, it’s one day off on Tuesday, before the final regular-season game on Wednesday against Denver.
Off to bed. Enjoy your Easter.
RSS FEED
Mike: Great to hear from you.
I was really worried about this game all day yesterday. It is almost humanly impossible to play a game the night before with all the emotional and physical endurance you can muster up. It is like getting in a fist fight. It doesn't matter who wins after the fight you are completely spent. Our Blazers knows how to dig deep and win.
I told my wife after listening to the game on the car radio. (Comcast of course). That The Blazers played about four minutes of basketball, two at the end of the first half and two at the end of the game. The rest of the time we were sleep walking.
Nevertheless, we won. I do not think Denver will lose against the Kings, but we need to give our selves a chance.
Let's get it going. Rest up everybody it has been a rough week especially on us old fans. :)
hg
This team, which people were projecting to be an 8th seed team in the West, have over 50 wins!
Seriously, why isn't there any McMillan talk for Coach of the Year? He should at least be in the mix.
Man...what a season! I still can't help be reminded of the 77' season watching this one. There are so many similarities PLUS this team is better in alot of areas. The team play is outstanding and the defence has really stepped up which I believe is the reason we are winning alot of games now. Now if we can just make our free throws we wouldn't have all those heartattack/nailbiteres that us Blazers fans have grown use to! LOL Thank god for those blow out's latley to relieve some stress eh?
peace out,
daddy
MB, now I don't want to correct the man that always has to correct Mike Rice, but I was looking up the tiebreaker situation earlier (on wikipedia so who knows if it's 100% correct) but it says the top 3 spots go to the division winners, and the 4th spot goes to the team with the next best record.
So unless Sacramento beats Denver in Denver, the best we can get is 4, right? So we need to win both games PLUS have either San Antonio or Houston lose a game. Or if Houston wins both of their remaining games (and assuming San Antonio will as well) then Houston will win their division, leaving San Antonio tied with us, which puts us in 4th & SA in 5th.
Since SA and HOU split their season series, the next tiebreaker is division record, which if both teams (SA and HOU) win all their final games, both would have a 10-6 division record. So then the next tiebreaker would be wins against Western Conference Playoff teams, which Houston has a better record of 13-12 (with 2 divisional games left) compared to San Antonio's 11-13 (with one divisional game left).
Please correct me if I'm wrong MB, because if we can get that 3rd spot, that would we WAY COOL.
Great win considering it was 4th in 5 days and that the Clippers obviously wanted this one.
I predicted 52 before the season, but would be very happy if we won 54 instead! :)
Man, these guys have so impress me lately. They just keep getting better and accomplishing more and more! 7-2 on the road their last 9 games? Finishing 20-21 on the road? That's amazing!
I felt before the season that the playoffs was a goal and maybe even be able to win a round, but thought as long as the team grew during the season you never know. Well they have grown and if they continue to through the playoffs,,,,I'm going to say it, anything is possible!!
GO BLAZERS!!!
Oh, btw, I got my Blazers cap for emailing Courtside! Thanks!!
It is more a kids cap though or maybe I just have a big head. :)
GO BLAZERS!!
A win is a win, right? That said, last night's game was painful to watch. Painful not just because we never seemed to be fully in our rhythm (but we were always in control). Painful because the Clippers really do look appalling and their crowd lacked energy and enthusiasm making for a rather dull, uninspiring and flat game to watch on tv.
Mike, I know you were commenting on the sheer number of Blazer supporters in the Staples Center last night. I wonder if these are ex-Oregonian's, people who traveled or if they are glory supporters jumping aboard the party now that we are good? Perhaps a bit of everything?
I always find it odd how our nation likes to support whoever is good at the moment. How many Celtics shirts and hats did you see being worn after they won? How many Steelers and Phillies hats and shirts did one see the next day after their championship runs? Yawn. Tthese are the here today, gone tomorrow fans. People should support their home/local team, win or lose. Enough with the glory supporting. In sports, there is nothing I respect more than the proud Lions fan (you can put any number of teams here, I only use the Lions as an example because of their many years struggling to compete). Those who stand by their team through thick and thin are the true fans.
Rant over.
One last thing Mike, I have noticed a lot this year how loud the Garden is in comparison to other arenas. This is expecially apparent on tv. Memphis, Charlotte, LA Clippers are just a few examples. Granted, their teams struggle but even the decent teams don't seem to have loud, emotional fans like we have here in Portland. Yet, another thing for us to be proud of in the Rose City.
daddylogan,
The three division winners are guaranteed 3 of the top 4 slots in the playoffs. Which means if the division winners are the Lakers, Houston and Denver, and Portland has a better record than Houston, Portland will get the 3 and Houston the 4.
Whoops, that was me correcting Richard, not daddylogan.
As a Blazer fan for over 30 years, it is nice truly feel confident that they have a legitamate shot at winnning the whole thing. They have the talent and the resolve. But, there is one element that has been missing in previous years that is evident this year, "Team". These truly look like they enjoy playing with each other and play like they are having a great time. Refreshed. Thank you Nate McMillan.
Richard, we can win 3rd if Houston and SAS both lose one game. SAS has a back to back starting today. Houston has been reported as Yao missing their last two games. Portland and Houston has two games apiece left whereas SAS has three with one played today and one played tomorrow. So by tomorrow night we should have a better handle on where we all stand.
If SAC beats Denver
If Portland beats OKA
If Houston beats NOH
If SAS beats SAC, and GSW
That would put a 4 way tie for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th for the last game of the season. Since we play Denver the last game if we won we would be div. champs. If Houston and SAS win the last game Houston would win their div. If we beat Denver of course that would put them one game behind and SAS would be fourth.
I don't think Denver is going to lose tomorrow night but we can hope. But also we have to win one game SAS win one and Houston loses two in order for us to get 3rd.
If Yao is going to be out the last two games and SAS is playing back to back with Duncan's knees we have a big chance to win third. I think that is right. My brain hurts, let’s wait until after tomorrow night and Dave from Blazers Edge says he will update everything.
hg
MandS:
Maybe those fans were of Spanish ~accent watching Rudy and Sergio. they've ran into that before.
Just a thought
hg
There was really just the one point in last nights game that I had any doubt about the outcome. It was when the Clips were battling back behind Randolph's consecutive buckets and an offensive putback. Then, as has become commonplace, Steve Blake buried a jumper to momentarily stop the bleeding. Even though the LAC continued to climb out of their hole, and eventually took the lead, at no other time was I concerned about the Blazers winning this game. I guess that is the benefit of watching them come back on teams all year long. They just aren't ever out of it.
Not that 2 points is a huge deficit, but our boys were lathargic last night. It's to be expected with such an emotionally and physically draining recent stretch. Despite the lackluster play at times, the Blazers polished them of at the end. It was another double digit road win, getting the record to 20-21 outside the friendly confines of the RG, and nobody can say that they are a poor road team any longer.
Portland was represented well in the Staples Center last night. Makes me wonder if they were a bunch of laker fans looking for a new bandwagon. No, i know they were true Blazermaniacs by the way that place erupted when Rudy tossed that no look OOP to LaMarcus. That was pretty!
Well deserved day off today for the team. Enjoy it and come back strong Monday and Wednesday.
RIPCITY!!!!!!!!
This game went exactly how I thought it would. I knew the Blazers would come out flat and I knew they would be able to dig in and get the win when it counted. An obvious observation in retrospect.
I won't post long today and I'm only posting in hopes KP and Sarge see this.
Job well done, thank you.
Nate needs to get on these guys about free throws. Playoffs often come down to free throws. It is going to be devestating when we lose close games in the first round and missed a bunch of free baskets. fundementals!! Go get em' boys.
It could happen, we could take the whole enchilada.
No offense Mike, but I was really surprised when you and Rice predicted 47 or 48 wins for the season, like you were underselling the Blazers. I thought, based on what we did last season and considering the additions of players and experience (Roy,Aldridge,Outlaw), we should win 50 games. Over the summer I got excited and predicted 55 but after we got thumped by the Lakers in the opening game I tempered my final prediction to 52 and that is where I settled.
The thing is, a lot of Blazer fans said that 48 was a reasonable goal and that is all they were expecting. I disagree. Those same fans would be grumbling but saying I told you so, let's not get so fanatic.
I say let's be huge Blazer fanatics! Sure, winning the first round in the playoffs would be great but I think there's more we can hope for. I really believe we can beat anybody when we play Portland TrailBlazer Basketball.
I'm greedy. I want the whole enchilada.
Go Blazers!!!!!!!!
Mike, we don't own the tiebreaker with Denver, do we?
If we win all our remaining games, and Denver drops one, we would be tied for 2nd seed.
I'm new to all this playoff stuff, since it's been so long that I've cared. But as far as I'm concerned it goes whoever has best record in the confrence, than division, than whoever is better than the other team at winning against them, and than some coin toss. If we beat Denver, which we probably will knowing this Blazer team, than we could be tied with them in all these categories.
That would be awesome.
Oh and sorry to be a grammer queen but it's the Dallas Mavs not the Magic that New Orleans are playing about right now. Go NO! I hate Dallas.
As for the game, I saw the comcast replay since I had to work tonight, and I got bored at halftime... 5-5 with about 5 minutes left to go in the first? That seemed like a baseball game! Oh well, the only thing that matters at the end of the game is who won and who lost, and the Blazers won!
Herr: hg here. If Denver looses tomorrow night that would be one loss. If Portland wins out with their last game with Denver in Portland that would be two losses and we would win. Let's keep the dream alive.
hg
I know you said we can finish no worse than 4th if we win out BUT, what if...... Houston wins out, SA wins out, we win out and Denver wins Monday and of course loses to us Wednesday? That would have all 4 of us at 54-28 if I'm not mistaken. I've looked at the tie-breakers for more than two teams but let's be honest, that's a damn confusing scenario! Can you shed any light on this for us????
Hi Mike,
May I briefly impose on you? I don't know how to email Wheels, so could you forward the following to him?
Hey Wheels! Thanks for the Blazing Saddles reference during a recent broadcast. I found the quote you mentioned. Hope you enjoy it...
(from Wikipedia) "Homage was paid to (Gabby) Hayes in a different way in the 1974 satirical western Blazing Saddles. A look-a-like actor named Claude Ennis Starrett, Jr. played a Gabby Hayes-like character. In keeping with one running joke in the movie, the character was called Gabby Johnson. After he delivered a rousing, though largely unintelligible speech to the townspeople ("You get back here you pious candy-ass sidewinder. Ain't no way that nobody is gonna' to leave this town. Hell, I was born here, an' I was raished here, an' dad gum it, I am gonna die here an' no sidewindin bushwackin, hornswaglin, cracker croaker is gonna rouin me biscuit cutter."), David Huddleston's character proclaimed, "Now, who can argue with that?!" and described it as "authentic frontier gibberish."
Thanks, Sageduck1
Mike:
I am basically just happy we made the play-offs. With all the talk about the seeding, I keep looking up and down the charts trying to figure out who I would rather have the Blazers to play. Of course getting Second third or fourth with home court advantage would be the best. Nevertheless trying to figure out the bottom and who I would rather play and I come up with nothing.
That I suppose is because 2thru 8 is almost equal.
I think we match up with SAS or NOH because we beat them in the past.
Therefore, I am going to quit worrying and just take on whoever.
hg
Any possibility of the Blazers winning the division?? If we win the last two games, then we will have an identical record to the Nuggets, who I believe own us in the tiebreaker. So, technically, no chance to win the division.
Hey Mike seen you at the game friday and talk to you. My wife and I came down from seattle for the faker game.was a great game been a life long Blazers fan lived in Portland in 77 when the Blazers won the NBA Champion ship. The Blazers are such a good team that everybody said would be an eight seed if they made the playoffs. well I said our Blazers were going to finish 53 and 29 and we well get that I think. and maybe even one better. Well Mike it was nice to meet you and my wife enjoyed seeing you in person also, we watch every game on comcast or league pass. But you and Mike and Rabecca have been the best all year think you three and everyone in the truck and of corse the Blazers for a great year and lets keep it going.
hg (said): "Maybe those fans were of Spanish ~accent watching Rudy and Sergio. they've ran into that before."
Yes, maybe hg but I suspect we are picking up a lot of new fans due to how well we are playing. Don't mistake my intention of questioning this, I'm glad we are a team that people around the country admire and the money they spend buying our teams merchandise goes back to helping...OUR team and ultimately, OUR city. I do question, however, those "fans" who probably enjoyed making fun of us and saying how much we "suck" when times were much harder on the team and the city (three/four years ago for example). I'm sure some have since joined the party due to our steady improvement.
Of course, we are all proud of our franchise and so we should be. Many of us were proud to admit our loyalties to the team even in its dark days we were just not proud of some of our players actions, poor decisions or their egos.
You know that if the Lions were to go and win the Super Bowl next year that over night you would see people all across the country wearing Lions merchandise. The flip-flopping fan is what I do question.
But hey, who cares right? At the end of the day our proud franchise now has players and a coach that we long time fans can once again be proud of. Yet, another reason to shout out..."It's a great day to be a blazer fan!"
I was one of the two guys right behind the media table in Roy and Sheed jerseys (folks back home kept texting me to say I was on TV) and the Blazer fans at Staples last night were the real deal. I talked to about five or six, plus the two of us, and every single one was a SoCal college student from the Rose City.
Fourth seed, beat SAS, shock the Fakers in Staples.
hg
If Denver beats the Kings on Monday, then they clinch the NW Division. This will guarantee nothing less than a tied record with the Blazers. Denver owns the tie breaker because they have a better record in the NW Division. In order for the Blazers to win the NW Division, the Nuggets need to finish the season 0-2, and the Blazers need to finish 2-0. If this indeed happens, and the Blazers land the #2 seed, it would be (as Charles Barkley says) "A TRAVESTY!!!" if Nate doesn't win that COY award. Monday is a huge day....
HG you said "I don't think Denver is going to lose tomorrow night but we can hope. But also we have to win one game SAS win one and Houston loses two in order for us to get 3rd." If Denver doesn't lose tomorrow, we cannot get 3rd place. Reason being the top 3 spots are held for division winners. So if Denver wins, the best we can get is fourth.
Richard: I do get confused. If Denver only loses to us, they are division champions. If they lose tomorrow and to us we will be division champions and if Houston looses twice and SAS loses once, Houston will be tied for division champs with SAS.SAS would get div. champs because they own the tie. If Denver wins tomorrow and we win tomorrow and Wednesday, We would be tied with Denver for div. champs. They own the tie breaker we would be ahead of both SAS and Houston in win and losses so I thought that would put us third.
See why I am confusing, I confuse myself. There are just to many scenarios for me to track. I just thought that the top four seeds were for Div. champs and best record, didn't know the top three was division champs.
How about this senieo. if we have a better record or tied with SAS and Houston finishes below both SAS and Portland we would be 4th and have to play Houston at fifth with home court advantage. or if we stayed tied with SAS and Houston finished one game ahead we would get the home court against SAS.
I think I'd better wait until tomorrow night; many of the scenarios will be played out by then.
hg
hg
Cole; I meant to say that we have to win out and Denver has to lose out in order for us to win division champions. I have it all figured out in my head, I just forget or can’t explain it right on paper.
Also, I thought that if we tied with Denver that would put them division champs. But if we finished ahead of Houston and SAS we would be third. But I was wrong on that aspect as Richard pointed out that the three top seeds go to division winners regardless of win and Losses. But, it would give us home court advantage over either of them if we were to meet them somewhere in the play-offs. But, I think that would only happen if we were 2nd and Houston or SAS was third. The winner of fourth and fifth would play The Lakers the second round.
Again I don't think Denver will lose tomorrow night so I guess the best we could do is fourth with home court against SAS or Houston.
hg
MandS: Lech said he was at the game and those Blazer Fans were the real deal. They were Southern Cal students from The Rose City.
You are right about the pride. I have been a fan since 1971 and although I was hurt doing the Jailblazers era, I was still a fan. In fact I was such a homer I even defended the players. I live in Central Oregon and the only thing I knew is what I got over the news. Of course that is not always the truth.
It sure is a great day to be a Blazer Fan.
hg
If I had a choice of who I would like to face in the first round it would be the Spurs. They're worn down and injured. I like our chances against them but I like our chances against anybody as long as we have home court advantage.
Let's hope Outlaw gets his groove back tomorrow.
Go Blazers!
I've heard of winning ugly, but that was ridiculous. There must have been a lid on the hoop for most of the game. But a win is a win.
With Skinner, Zack & Fred Jones on the Clips, they had plenty of motivation to play well, and they knew, most likely, all of Nate's sets. Thankfully, they take one crappy shot after another.
That 18-0 run was impressive. Once Joel got in the game at the end there were no second-chance shots. Rudy has made several timely plays in each game recently, and we can expect more in the playoffs. Fine that Roy only takes 8 shots and Portland still takes it.
Hit those Oakies like a duststorm. Rip City.
Whew! I missed the game last night as I was too busy celebrating my birthday with friends, good tequila and cheap beer. I was relieved to see we walked away from that game unharmed, much the same way as I walked away from a heavy night without a bad hang over. A piece of advice: If you're going to drink tequila, spring for the good stuff and always accompany with Mexican beer. The difference is staggering{pun intended!}.
So I don't want to take the wind out of our sails, but I just looked at the box score and I'm kinda glad I missed that one. The two guys that I'm hardest on both had rough nights.
Sergio didn't get an assist and had two turnovers. Outlaw went 3-14 and only grabbed two rebounds...yikes. They musta been knackered.
Now let's have a nice, motivational win over OKC, then send the Thuggets on a one-way trip to Painville, USA. Those punks got it coming in a big way. Greg needs to give Birdman the hard goodbye. Maybe he'll knock that haircut back into whatever cave it crawled out of.
Go Blazers.
Playoff position:
If we win two, we're no worse than 4th since we own the tie-breaker over the Spurs (who lucked out big time tonight in Sacramento!).
We can't be 2nd unless the Kings beat Denver tomorrow in Denver. Not very likely...
We can be 3rd if Houston loses a game while we win two.
If we lose to Denver, we could finish 5th, but we can beat the Spurs even without home court.
The worst scenario is that we lose to Denver and the Spurs edge out the Rockets for 3rd. Then it's the Blazers vs Houston with them having the home court.
hg,
I believe the division leaders are guaranteed one of the top 4 seeds, but not necessary the top 3. So a team that isn't the division leader could take the 3 seed. I believe anyway. :) That's how a 5th seed could have HCA.
Hey MB, can you clarify?
Where we are sitting right now tied with the Spurs and Rockets we'll finish at 5th if it remains that way unless Denver loses out and we win out as was said.
I was looking at the schedule as well as all the tie breakers and it concludes as follows.
If we tie with any opponent within range (Nuggets, Spurs, Rockets) we lose with the exception of the 3-1 over the Spurs.
What I mean by that is if any three team or four team tie happens we end with the fifth seed due too conference record. (these are the nba tie-breaker rules)
The only way it would work in our favor is if we end in a tie with only the Spurs at the end of the season. The sad part is that doesn't look like it will happen with the way the schedules are broken up.
Let me elaborate.
Denver plays Sacramento (an easy win), and us. I believe Denver will take the Kings and lose to us. (Assume us, Rockets, and Spurs win theirs) Walla - a four way tie - Blazers fifth seed.
Now if Spurs lose one. Guess what a three way tie and we get fourth not as bad.
Same goes if Rockets instead Spurs lose one. Because it's still a three way tie, tie-breaker goes to conference record.
Best case scenario. Rockets lose one and Denver loses both (again I'm assuming we'll beat Thunder) We end with second seed even if we tie with Spurs.
So many variables, because I can't imagine Spurs will lose these two and Rockets won't just role over either. I prey for the Rockets to lose one because this could effect us dramatically.
to all that is concerned
In other news the Hornets beat the Mavericks today. The standings now look like this:
2. Denver 53-27 (Sacramento, @Portland)
3. San Antonio 52-28 (@Golden State, New Orleans)
4. Houston 52-28 (New Orleans, @Dallas)
5. Portland 52-28 (Oklahoma City, Denver)
6. New Orleans 49-31 (@Houston, @San Antonio)
7. Dallas 48-32 (Minnesota, Houston)
8. Utah 47-33 (Clippers, @L*kers)
Note that at this point the Blazers' demotion to 5th place is a technicality, though it may not remain so.
As we explained earlier in the week, the resolution of a three-way tie falls out like this:
If the Spurs win the division: San Antonio, Houston, Portland
If the Rockets win the division: Houston, Portland, San Antonio
The Rockets and Spurs have tied head-to-head this year. The next tiebreaker between them is division record. San Antonio has played one more game against the division so far than has Houston. The Spurs stand at 9-6, the Rockets 8-6. That's why San Antonio is 3rd right now and Portland 5th. Since both teams have 6 losses, however, the Spurs aren't really ahead until Houston loses another divsion game. If they both finish with 6 division losses Houston would actually win the resultant tie because of a later tiebreaker. So the Spurs are actually behind Houston until Houston loses, no matter what the standings say right now.
The main thing for the Blazers to concentrate on right now is winning out. As long as the Blazers do that there's no way in which they can finish behind the Spurs. In order to match Portland's record and invoke a tiebreaker both Houston and San Antonio would have to win out as well. If that happens Houston would take the division, leaving Portland and San Antonio to duke it out in a tiebreaker...a fight which Portland wins by virtue of its head-to-head success against the Spurs.
The Potential Four-Way Tie
Many of you have been wondering what happens if there is a four-way tie between Denver, Houston, San Antonio, and Portland for the 2-5 spots. There are a couple of different possibilities. We're only going to deal with the most likely one tonight, which is everybody winning out except for Denver's one loss in Portland. The other involves everybody else losing one while Denver loses two, which is not only unlikely, the potential outcome changes depending on which games Houston and San Antonio would lose. We're not going to deal with that until it happens.
Here is my understanding of what happens if all four teams tie with a 54-28 record. Keep in mind that this situation is unprecedented and the league doesn't do a very good job of sharing its policies, so there's always a chance for error. But I'm pretty confident on this.
In a four-way tie the rules for multi-team tiebreakers are invoked. These are:
1. Division winners finish on top.
2. Best head-to-head record among the teams involved.
3. Highest winning percentage in division IF the teams are in the same division.
4. Highest winning percentage in the conference.
5. Highest winning percentage against conference playoff teams.
6. Highest point differential.
Keep in mind that the top-most difference ends the process. If the tie is broken at Step 2 then Step 6 is never invoked.
Here's another key concept: Division winners are determined before any other tiebreaking criteria are applied.
And yet one more: If a multi-team tie gets reduced to a two-team tie at any point because of these criteria, the two-team tiebreakers are invoked instead.
This is important, because after the division winners are determined it's no longer a true four-team race, but rather two races of two teams: division winners versus each other, non-division winners versus each other.
The criteria for resolving a tie between two potential division winners fall under the two-team rules. They are:
1. Division Winner
2. Head-to-Head record.
3. Higher winning percentage in division (if in same division)
4. Higher winning percentage in conference
5. Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in conference.
Etc. (won't be invoked)
Thus in the event of a four-way tie Portland and Denver would go head-to-head under these criteria to determine the Northwest Division winner, Houston and San Antonio the Southwest.
Portland vs. Denver
Obviously the division winner criterion wouldn't apply, as that's what we're determining. In the case of a 54-win tie Portland would have beaten Denver in the final game of the season and thus the two teams would be tied head-to-head. Denver, however, would have finished 12-4 versus the Northwest Division while the Blazers would have finished 11-5. (Drat that first Thunder loss!) Therefore Denver would win the division by virtue of taking the 3rd tiebreaker.
Houston vs. San Antonio
The Spurs and Rockets would finish with identical records head-to-head, against the division, and against the conference. However Houston would have finished with a 15-12 record against Western Playoff teams while San Antonio ended up with a paltry 12-13. Therefore Houston would win the division by virtue of taking the 5th tiebreaker.
Next the two division winners go head-to-head while the non-division winners do the same.
Denver vs. Houston
The two teams are both division winners, so the first tiebreaker is a wash. Houston owns a 3-1 regular season advantage over Denver, so Houston would win this tiebreaker and the 2nd seed in the West while Denver got the 3rd.
Portland vs. San Antonio
The first tiebreaker is a wash here as well. Portland owns a 3-1 regular season advantage over San Antonio, so Portland would win the second tiebreaker and claim the 4th seed, San Antonio the 5th.
Final Seeding Results of a Four-Way Tie at 54 Wins:
2. Houston
3. Denver
4. Portland
5. San Antonio
Again the take-away point for the Blazers is to win their remaining games. As long as they do that they cannot lose homecourt advantage in the first round. The bad call against Sacramento won't matter. Nothing any other team does can make their position worse. Right now the Blazers control their own destiny, at least as far as getting a top four seed.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)
I don't think Dallas is a good match up. If we're ever going to be champions you have to beat the best though. 0-3 and we're due for a win, lets pound the Mavs if we get them.
What happens with the Blazers playoff seeding if Portland, San Antonio, Houston and Denver all end up tield at 54-28 ?
Doesn't Matter: this is from Blazer Edge. according to him if we win out we will be in fourth.
In other news the Hornets beat the Mavericks today. The standings now look like this:
• 2. Denver 53-27 (Sacramento, @Portland)
• 3. San Antonio 52-28 (@Golden State, New Orleans)
• 4. Houston 52-28 (New Orleans, @Dallas)
• 5. Portland 52-28 (Oklahoma City, Denver)
• 6. New Orleans 49-31 (@Houston, @San Antonio)
• 7. Dallas 48-32 (Minnesota, Houston)
• 8. Utah 47-33 (Clippers, @L*kers)
Note that at this point the Blazers' demotion to 5th place is a technicality, though it may not remain so.
As we explained earlier in the week, the resolution of a three-way tie falls out like this:
If the Spurs win the division: San Antonio, Houston, Portland
If the Rockets win the division: Houston, Portland, San Antonio
The Rockets and Spurs have tied head-to-head this year. The next tiebreaker between them is division record. San Antonio has played one more game against the division so far than has Houston. The Spurs stand at 9-6, the Rockets 8-6. That's why San Antonio is 3rd right now and Portland 5th. Since both teams have 6 losses, however, the Spurs aren't really ahead until Houston loses another divsion game. If they both finish with 6 division losses Houston would actually win the resultant tie because of a later tiebreaker. So the Spurs are actually behind Houston until Houston loses, no matter what the standings say right now.
The main thing for the Blazers to concentrate on right now is winning out. As long as the Blazers do that there's no way in which they can finish behind the Spurs. In order to match Portland's record and invoke a tiebreaker both Houston and San Antonio would have to win out as well. If that happens Houston would take the division, leaving Portland and San Antonio to duke it out in a tiebreaker...a fight which Portland wins by virtue of its head-to-head success against the Spurs.
The Potential Four-Way Tie
Many of you have been wondering what happens if there is a four-way tie between Denver, Houston, San Antonio, and Portland for the 2-5 spots. There are a couple of different possibilities. We're only going to deal with the most likely one tonight, which is everybody winning out except for Denver's one loss in Portland. The other involves everybody else losing one while Denver loses two, which is not only unlikely, the potential outcome changes depending on which games Houston and San Antonio would lose. We're not going to deal with that until it happens.
Here is my understanding of what happens if all four teams tie with a 54-28 record. Keep in mind that this situation is unprecedented and the league doesn't do a very good job of sharing its policies, so there's always a chance for error. But I'm pretty confident on this.
In a four-way tie the rules for multi-team tiebreakers are invoked. These are:
• 1. Division winners finish on top.
• 2. Best head-to-head record among the teams involved.
• 3. Highest winning percentage in division IF the teams are in the same division.
• 4. Highest winning percentage in the conference.
• 5. Highest winning percentage against conference playoff teams.
• 6. Highest point differential.
Keep in mind that the top-most difference ends the process. If the tie is broken at Step 2 then Step 6 is never invoked.
Here's another key concept: Division winners are determined before any other tiebreaking criteria are applied.
And yet one more: If a multi-team tie gets reduced to a two-team tie at any point because of these criteria, the two-team tiebreakers are invoked instead.
This is important, because after the division winners are determined it's no longer a true four-team race, but rather two races of two teams: division winners versus each other, non-division winners versus each other.
The criteria for resolving a tie between two potential division winners fall under the two-team rules. They are:
• 1. Division Winner
• 2. Head-to-Head record.
• 3. Higher winning percentage in division (if in same division)
• 4. Higher winning percentage in conference
• 5. Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in conference.
• Etc. (won't be invoked)
Thus in the event of a four-way tie Portland and Denver would go head-to-head under these criteria to determine the Northwest Division winner, Houston and San Antonio the Southwest.
Portland vs. Denver
Obviously the division winner criterion wouldn't apply, as that's what we're determining. In the case of a 54-win tie Portland would have beaten Denver in the final game of the season and thus the two teams would be tied head-to-head. Denver, however, would have finished 12-4 versus the Northwest Division while the Blazers would have finished 11-5. (Drat that first Thunder loss!) Therefore Denver would win the division by virtue of taking the 3rd tiebreaker.
Houston vs. San Antonio
The Spurs and Rockets would finish with identical records head-to-head, against the division, and against the conference. However Houston would have finished with a 15-12 record against Western Playoff teams while San Antonio ended up with a paltry 12-13. Therefore Houston would win the division by virtue of taking the 5th tiebreaker.
Next the two division winners go head-to-head while the non-division winners do the same.
Denver vs. Houston
The two teams are both division winners, so the first tiebreaker is a wash. Houston owns a 3-1 regular season advantage over Denver, so Houston would win this tiebreaker and the 2nd seed in the West while Denver got the 3rd.
Portland vs. San Antonio
The first tiebreaker is a wash here as well. Portland owns a 3-1 regular season advantage over San Antonio, so Portland would win the second tiebreaker and claim the 4th seed, San Antonio the 5th.
Final Seeding Results of a Four-Way Tie at 54 Wins:
• 2. Houston
• 3. Denver
• 4. Portland
• 5. San Antonio
Again the take-away point for the Blazers is to win their remaining games. As long as they do that they cannot lose homecourt advantage in the first round. The bad call against Sacramento won't matter. Nothing any other team does can make their position worse. Right now the Blazers control their own destiny, at least as far as getting a top four seed.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)
HG,
Thanks for the clear and concise potential playoff scenario break down.
All you Blazermaniacs out there need to read and study his post so we can finally put this to bed. I know it's confusing, but he is absolutely correct. I've been wanting to clarify the whole thing myself but was fearful of the inevitable annuerism that was sure to follow.
I hope HG recovers in time to enjoy the rest of the season. Thanks for taking one for the team!
The Blazers just need to win out and their home court berth will be locked up. It will be nice to have, but not critical to their post season success. As I have said before, I believe Portland will win enough on the road in the post season to make it to the conference finals. These last two games are incredibly important, though, in order to sustain the momentum they have generated the past few weeks.
What a great ride we have all had the priviledge to climb aboard the last three years. With Brandon driving the bus, and the rest of us playing the role of the overly anxious kid asking, "are we there yet", there's just one thing that is clear; ALL ABOARD!! LAST STOP, NBA CHAMPIONSHIP!!!! I, for one, am just enjoying the view.
RIPCITY!!!!!!
Remember two months ago when a few nuts used to come on here complaining that the team would be extremely lucky to secure the eighth seed with Nate in the driver seat. Are they all locked up in a padded room or have they finally recognized what should have been apparent all along: Nate is an AWESOME coach.
Nate should definitely be in the conversation for coach of the year, and in my humble opinion, he is deserving of the award. The trajectory of this team since his arrival, the fact that the youngest team could end up third in the Western Conference playoff race, the fact that his team has also battled injuries (including the loss of a starter for the entire season)...come on...Nate is getting shafted.
Oh yeah, MB, I too have to repeat how many wins the team has in order for it to sink in...two more would be incredible.
baddawg:
Thank you for your acknowledgement, but I acturally copied and Pasted that from Blazers Edge, because when I start doing all the sceneros I get confused.
Everybody that wants to know should read mine or Blazer Edge. It sure does clear things up.
I do believe we can win out.
I do believe Denver will beat Sac. tonight, that is out of our hands now. Losing to OKA that once was enough to do us under. Darn.
Lets beat OKA tonight and Denver Wed. and let the play-off began.
hg
Hey MB,
Do you know where I can post something for Kevin?
It was just I wrote something at Yahoo/Sports/Nba, and it was for the awards of a GM, and of course this one columnist wrote that the winner should be Daryle Morey, and I wrote how it should be Kevin (this was a reply comment).
Where can I post it, if I ever should. Because I think that Kevin should win, but I know this is not the time or place for it that is why I am lost.
Do you want me to post it somehwere?
If we wind up in 5th and playing Houston, part of the blame goes to last night's officiating at the Spurs vs. Kings game. The Spurs' game winning shot clearly came after the shot clock had expired. The officials even admitted as much, but said that shot clock violations are not reviewable.
Bad luck for the Blazin' Blazers.
woot! thanks mike, always appreciated. tie-breakers are very confusing by the way.
Mike, thank you for the wonderful updates all year. I appreciate them. I do not understand how you arrived at 24 wins over .500. I think you mean either that the team is now 12 games over .500 in terms of wins, or that the season is now 40 games past the .500 mark of the season.
Clarify please?
Tiffany: The refs might be like our own lovable reporter Jason Quick, they have their heads up some of the stars butts so far they can't see the fouls. He clearly states that Houston has the better team probably for the same reason he wouldn't vote for BRoy, and the same reason He spoke against the Blazers E-mail to the national media. He just doesn't want to be accused of being a homer. The refs don’t want to be accused of giving Portland an even break.
I think it is more of who they call the fouls on more than it is number of fouls. They called picky fouls on their second and third string players to make up for not calling them on their first stringers. They let our second string players play to make up for the fouls they call on our first stringers. Other words if you are an important Blazer player plan on getting fouls called. If they have unimportant players for the opponents plan on them getting fouls called. Doesn't that make it equal?
hg
Black out the Garden on Tuesday!Black out the Garden on Tuesday!
Black out the Garden on Tuesday!
Black out the Garden on Tuesday!
Black out the Garden on Tuesday!
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