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Who do we want to face? Who do we want to avoid?

Clippers scare me more than any other team in the West right now... a healthy Kawhi is terrifying

A playoff path with Grizzlies, TWolves, Thunder into Cavaliers in the finals feels like our easiest possible path (though with current seeding don't know how that would happen)

Clippers, Lakers, Nuggets into Celtics is probably nightmare path (though if we make it to finals I feel good vs any east team)

lakers, nuggets and celtics scare me the most.

Denver and the Clippers scare me more than any other team in the West because of Jokic & Zubac. Draymond has struggled against capable bigs who can finish around the rim.

The scariest road ahead is the Play-in. One or two losses is all it would take.

avoid the play-in.
then avoid nuggets and clippers.

I just say avoid the play in and let the chips fall where they may. Anything can happen in a seven games series. We go through who we go through. The other teams should fear drawing us in the first round.

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If OKC were to play the Cavs in the finals and the teams had the same record, does anyone know who would have home court advantage in the finals? I've seen answers all over the place. They tied H2H, so that tiebreaker is out (assuming it is a tiebreaker for the finals).

I'm mainly curious because OKC's next two games are against the Lakers (both games at OKC).

donkeylips wrote:lakers, nuggets and celtics scare me the most.

I wouldn't discount the Cavs either, they're a tough matchup for us. Dubs can have trouble with quick guards and big front lines and they have both...plus their secret weapon, notorious Warrior-killer Ty Jerome.

OKC may be a good matchup for us, but they're also really damn good, I don't think it would be easy.

If I were listing the teams to face in order of preference (disregarding current seeding/path scenarios):

West:
Dallas
Sacramento
Memphis
Houston
Minnesota
LA Clippers
OKC
LA Lakers
Denver

East:
Chicago
Atlanta
Miami
Orlando
Detroit
Indiana
Milwaukee
New York
Cleveland
Boston

I think we have a good chance of advancing past anyone not in bold, otherwise it's a dogfight with no margin for error. Minnesota is kind of on the cusp, we should beat them pretty easily, but Edwards, Reid, and DiVincenzo play us tough and present a lot of problems. Not a fan of Gobert, but the guy is 7-1 and takes away a lot of 2nd chance points with his rebounding.

statsman wrote:If OKC were to play the Cavs in the finals and the teams had the same record, does anyone know who would have home court advantage in the finals? I've seen answers all over the place. They tied H2H, so that tiebreaker is out (assuming it is a tiebreaker for the finals).

I'm mainly curious because OKC's next two games are against the Lakers (both games at OKC).

Using this from the rulebook:

Tiebreaker Basis – 2 Teams Tied
(-) Tie breaker not needed (better overall winning percentage)
(1) Better winning percentage in games against each other
(2) Division leader wins a tie over a team not leading a division
(3) Division won-lost percentage (only if teams are in same division)
(4) Conference won-lost percentage
(5) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for the playoffs in own
conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff
position)
(6) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for the playoffs in other
conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff
position)
(7) Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all
opponents (“point differential”)

1) same H2H winning % --> next
2) both division winners --> next
3) teams not in same division, doesn't apply --> next
4) conference W-L% --> Cleveland currently has 3 fewer losses in their conference than OKC does, so Cleveland should get HCA unless something drastic happens in the last 5 games.

I couldn't find anything stating the rules are any different for the Finals.

HiRez wrote:I couldn't find anything stating the rules are any different for the Finals.

Yeah, neither could I.

I was aware of the tiebreakers, but it gets kind of funky for the finals. Assuming the two teams have the same record and split their season series (as the Cavs and OKC have), dropping down to their conference records would seem to give an advantage to the team playing in the weaker conference. In this case, the Cavs will have a better record vs the East compare to OKC's record vs the West (OKC destroyed the East 29-1 this season).

AFAIK, no two teams have had the same record in the NBA finals. They've gotten close. In 2019, the Raptors had a 58-24 record (#2 seed in the East), while the Warriors had a 57-25 record (#1 seed in the West). The Raptors had HCA in the finals. If they had tied, the Raptors would have still had HCA as they beat the Warriors 2-0 during the regular season.

statsman wrote:

HiRez wrote:I couldn't find anything stating the rules are any different for the Finals.

Yeah, neither could I.

I was aware of the tiebreakers, but it gets kind of funky for the finals. Assuming the two teams have the same record and split their season series (as the Cavs and OKC have), dropping down to their conference records would seem to give an advantage to the team playing in the weaker conference. In this case, the Cavs will have a better record vs the East compare to OKC's record vs the West (OKC destroyed the East 29-1 this season).

AFAIK, no two teams have had the same record in the NBA finals. They've gotten close. In 2019, the Raptors had a 58-24 record (#2 seed in the East), while the Warriors had a 57-25 record (#1 seed in the West). The Raptors had HCA in the finals.

Yeah, it definitely does advantage the weaker conference. But probably the NBA just figures it will even out over time and it's rare enough to not be a common problem, so just live with it. Kind of the same thing as the play-in. You don't want to not deal with a potentially unfair tiebreaker? Win one more game during the regular season, problem solved.

before we talk about playoffs. lets get there first....

Watching OKC versus Houston and LAL, I am getting a 2007 Mavericks feel. “We’re a super team, so we can putz around the end of the regular season.”

They play the Lakers again next in OKC. Will they phone it in again?

HiRez wrote:

statsman wrote:

HiRez wrote:I couldn't find anything stating the rules are any different for the Finals.

Yeah, neither could I.

I was aware of the tiebreakers, but it gets kind of funky for the finals. Assuming the two teams have the same record and split their season series (as the Cavs and OKC have), dropping down to their conference records would seem to give an advantage to the team playing in the weaker conference. In this case, the Cavs will have a better record vs the East compare to OKC's record vs the West (OKC destroyed the East 29-1 this season).

AFAIK, no two teams have had the same record in the NBA finals. They've gotten close. In 2019, the Raptors had a 58-24 record (#2 seed in the East), while the Warriors had a 57-25 record (#1 seed in the West). The Raptors had HCA in the finals.

Yeah, it definitely does advantage the weaker conference. But probably the NBA just figures it will even out over time and it's rare enough to not be a common problem, so just live with it. Kind of the same thing as the play-in. You don't want to not deal with a potentially unfair tiebreaker? Win one more game during the regular season, problem solved.

In the long run it favors the stronger conference. For example, this year we potentially have a 49 win Western team in the lottery, while a 38 win Eastern team is picking later and losing in the first round.

watch1958 wrote:Watching OKC versus Houston and LAL, I am getting a 2007 Mavericks feel. “We’re a super team, so we can putz around the end of the regular season.”

They play the Lakers again next in OKC. Will they phone it in again?

OKC, Cleveland and even Houston all give me Atlanta 2015 vibes

they have a strong balanced attack but superstars win championships. SGA is the only bonafied superstar of the 3 teams and he hasn't done jack in the postseason yet

I think all three get quickly exposed in the playoffs

OKC v Wolves
Rockets v Clips
Lakers v Grizz
Warriors v Nuggets or Nuggets v Warriors

1. Avoid play-in
2. Avoid OKC in the WCSF

I think we need to distribute milk cartons with the photo of Moody on them.

I only fear 1 team and it's the Warriors, if they play to their potential Curry Dray and Looney are getting number 5!

If if was a 5th we'd all be drunk...

Malone fired...what is going on here.