2021 Western Conference race to the playoff

Post #81 » by **THE J0KER** » Sat May 15, 2021 3:49 am

Unfortunately, the Clippers are going to take full advantage of the situation by losing vs 2nd units of the two worst teams in the league Houston and Oklahoma which will prevent them to face last season WC finalists Lakers and Nuggets before the eventual 2021 final. In that case still much better for us to lose the last game vs Portland because the #3 seed will be less toxic with playing vs the Lakers in the 2nd round of the playoff instead of in the 1st round!

The best-case scenario is if we lose vs Portland and the Clippers beat OKC in the final games so with #4 seed Nuggets can't face Lakers nor Clippers before WCF but trust me, Clippers tanked today's game vs 16-54 Rockets 2nd unit with the purpose and they will go to repeat without shame the same against 2nd unit of 21-50 Thunder! But the good thing is that with an eventual win vs Clippers OKC can *improve* on standings from #27 to #25 place which will damage their lottery odds for 2021 TOP3 pick so I expecting they is going to *play* vs Clippers with 4th unit, so maybe our chances to escape LA teams before eventual WC final is not that bad at all?

skywalker33 · Post #82 » by **skywalker33** » Sat May 15, 2021 4:01 am

If we beat POR and LAC beats OKC we are still the 3rd seed due to tie breakers. And I’d LAL wins out POR drops to the play-in and the we play the 6th seed Lakers so we should want to lose to POR imo even if it has us facing DAL

TunaFish · Post #83 » by **TunaFish** » Sat May 15, 2021 1:14 pm

If the Clippers lose at OKC, Denver is locked into the 3rd seed whether the Nuggets win or not. If the Clippers win and Nuggets lose, then the Clippers take the 3rd seed.

If Denver wins against Portland, it doesn't matter what the Clippers do. Portland needs this game and Denver does not, so I would think the Nuggets will rest their key starters. Doesn't look like Denver cares one way or another. Not sure the Clippers do either. What a way to end the season.

And by the way, welcome back Monte Morris.

skywalker33 · Post #84 » by **skywalker33** » Sat May 15, 2021 2:44 pm

Glad to see Monte back but I'm still concerned that Barton hasn't been heard from. IS he going to be out for much of this playoffs like he was last year? Granted, he'll have another ten-ish day until playoffs start but he's been out since April 24 with a hamstring issue, how long do those take to heal up? It's close to GO time and he's MIA AGAIN this year ??

TunaFish · Post #85 » by **TunaFish** » Sun May 16, 2021 2:35 am

skywalker33 wrote:Glad to see Monte back but I'm still concerned that Barton hasn't been heard from. IS he going to be out for much of this playoffs like he was last year? Granted, he'll have another ten-ish day until playoffs start but he's been out since April 24 with a hamstring issue, how long do those take to heal up? It's close to GO time and he's MIA AGAIN this year ??

I saw Barton warming up pre game in Charlotte (my annual pilgrimage to North Carolina only this time with fuel shortages). He is definitely traveling with the team, whatever that means. I think he will be back but who knows when.

skywalker33 · Post #86 » by **skywalker33** » Sun May 16, 2021 5:44 pm

TunaFish wrote:
skywalker33 wrote:Glad to see Monte back but I'm still concerned that Barton hasn't been heard from. IS he going to be out for much of this playoffs like he was last year? Granted, he'll have another ten-ish day until playoffs start but he's been out since April 24 with a hamstring issue, how long do those take to heal up? It's close to GO time and he's MIA AGAIN this year ??

I saw Barton warming up pre game in Charlotte (my annual pilgrimage to North Carolina only this time with fuel shortages). He is definitely traveling with the team, whatever that means. I think he will be back but who knows when.

Well, Barton was seen in the Bubble last year and how many games did he play there ? I do hope you’re right, we need all the good players we can get on the court

skywalker33 · Post #87 » by **skywalker33** » Mon May 17, 2021 3:22 am

Well, rematch/grudge match / revenge games....POR again. Guess they really didn'y get to see what's coming, while we did.

skywalker33 · Post #88 » by **skywalker33** » Mon May 17, 2021 4:04 am

So, we should have 5-6 days before we play the Blazers, hopefully, we can get Barton and Dozier back healthy. In the meantime, a huge play-in game between GSW and LAL. If Lakers win, they're in our bracket playing the Suns. Not a good matchup for the Suns IMO. However, should GSW win, the same path towards us and we haven't had a lot of success against the Warriors either. Let's prey the Suns have one long hard playoff battle in them, but ONLY ONE.

Catchall · Post #89 » by **Catchall** » Mon May 17, 2021 4:10 am

So the Clippers managed to slip by you with an all-out tank. I thought the Jazz and Nuggets would meet up again. Guess it will have to be the WCF.

Good luck to you guys.

Post #90 » by **THE J0KER** » Mon May 17, 2021 9:17 am

skywalker33 · Post #91 » by **skywalker33** » Mon May 17, 2021 3:27 pm

Feels like GSW has a good shot at that #7 seed, but is that what we really want ? Can the Suns take them out for us ?

skywalker33 · Post #92 » by **skywalker33** » Mon May 17, 2021 5:45 pm

Something to keep an eye on in the playoffs, Markus Howard is averaging 19.3 points per game in the Nuggets’ final three games of the season.

Post #93 » by **The Rebel** » Tue May 18, 2021 3:38 am

skywalker33 wrote:Feels like GSW has a good shot at that #7 seed, but is that what we really want ? Can the Suns take them out for us ?

We obviously have nobody healthy that can even slow down Curry, but do we have anybody that can slow down Booker? Ayton has done as well as anybody on Jokic this year, and they have Paul, Crowder, and your boy Bridges to counter Gordon and our role players, and they have a ton of defensive forwards to throw at MPJ.

While a lot of people were wanting to avoid the Lakers, I think we wanted them in the 2nd round. While the refs are likely to screw us again, the teams we matchup best against do not have superstar guards that are going to put up 40 a night on us. We matchup much better against Lebron, AD, and Drummond than we do with the Warriors or Suns for that matter.

Post #94 » by **The Rebel** » Tue May 18, 2021 3:40 am

skywalker33 wrote:Something to keep an eye on in the playoffs, Markus Howard is averaging 19.3 points per game in the Nuggets’ final three games of the season.

If Barton plays like crap again or is out, and Dozier is out or playing like Crap, than I would not mind Howard coming off the bench and just focusing of scoring when Jokic leaves the court.

skywalker33 · Post #95 » by **skywalker33** » Tue May 18, 2021 4:29 am

Read on Twitter

Looks like Barton is closer than Dozier, hopefully they're both back

TunaFish · Post #96 » by **TunaFish** » Tue May 18, 2021 9:20 pm

Read on Twitter

Post #97 » by **The Rebel** » Wed May 19, 2021 1:25 pm

TunaFish wrote:

Read on Twitter

While that should feel like a good thing, to me it is also scary.

With Murray out than Barton has the best 2 man game capabilities with Jokic, but does he stick to the 2 man game or does he try to take over and beat the Blazers himself?

skywalker33 · Post #98 » by **skywalker33** » Wed May 19, 2021 3:26 pm

The Rebel wrote:
TunaFish wrote:

Read on Twitter

While that should feel like a good thing, to me it is also scary.

With Murray out then Barton has the best 2 man game capabilities with Jokic, but does he stick to the 2 man game or does he try to take over and beat the Blazers himself?

MAn, this tweet seems a little like de ju vue to me, feels exactly like last year's playoffs. Didn't Barton send out a similar tweet last year leading us to believe his return was imminent and then...nothing ??

skywalker33 · Post #99 » by **skywalker33** » Wed May 19, 2021 4:37 pm

So wouldn't it be so apropos if the Lakers lost tonight, either forcing them into a one-and-done situation or into the playoff leg with the Clippers, who did everything tankable to avoid them in the playoffs ??

TunaFish · Post #100 » by **TunaFish** » Wed May 19, 2021 8:40 pm

Interesting observations about MPJ and Rivers. He thinks MPJ needs to respond to tougher defense by driving more. He think Rivers is a better starting two guard than Barton and that Barton is needed on the bench.

Read on Twitter