RealGM

Ok, here are the standings as of 4/4/2008

Cleveland 61-15 (6 remaining games)
Lakers 60-16 (6 remaining games)
Boston 58-19 (5 remaining games)
Orlando 56-19 (7 remaining games)

Remaining Schedule for each team:

Cavs: Vs Spurs, Vs Wizards, @ Sixers, Vs Celtics, @ Pacers, Vs Sixers
Celtics: Vs Nets, Vs Heat, @ Cavs, @ Sixers, Vs Wizards
Magic: @ Atlanta, @ Houston, Vs Memphis, Vs Knicks, @ Nets, @ Bucks, Vs Bobcats
Lakers: Vs Clippers, @ Kings, Vs Denver, @ Portland Vs Memphis (don't play Bynum ), Vs Utah

The crappy thing about Lakers schedule: We play Portland on a back-to-back game right after Denver = little rest and prep

Bold are the tough games

The magic number is 4 Wins out of the 6 games to hold off the Magic (no pun intended) for the home court and 3 wins to hold off the Celtics

In my estimation the magic number is 6 straight wins and 1-2 Cavs losses.

Cross your fingers ladies and gents, we want home court throughout and it's within reach

I know I'm in the minority here but my belief is that we only need HC against the C's. I don't think we care as much about home court against the Cavs or Magic.

I say we rest our players, but just enough to ensure that the Cavs are the only team that beat us out for HC.

Rest. Defenately rest. Rest here on out. No starter plays more then 15 minutes, screw the fans they will thank them for it when there holding a trophey.
As for homecourt I don't think they would get it anyway. Cavs are just to good the year for us to make up 2 games.

if we fall another game behind the cavs I say rest.

I'm all for rest, Dexmor, but 15 minutes isn't enough. We aren't as deep of a team anymore. Guys like Ammo can't play big minutes. I say more 25-30.

for the cavs worst case scenario is they lose 4 games most likely the ones you mentioned- celtics, magic, sixers, spurs, and a real long shot would be washington catching them once but i doubt that


cavs really really want home court, and i don't think we should go all out trying to get it ourselves, rest is what we need, 15 minutes isn't enough, i don't know what is but nobody should play more than 38 min from here on out

let's get some blow outs people

I say we rest but as long as we're above the C's and Orlando. Were 2 games behind with about 9 games left. No need to exert only to get tired during the post season. Plus the Cavs will have heavy competition against the C's and Orlando as well as well as the other top contenders.

I believe our odds of going to the finals are higher in our bracket then the Cavs in theirs. Yes they have Lebron who can turn a game towards their way, but this is team basketball.... one man can't do it all..(just look at kobe). Even though i like Lebrons' chances more just because he's younger and rock solid, with the competitiveness and aggressiveness of the post season, you can't do it alone.

I agree with everyone else; we need to start resting our starters especially Gasol who's been logging some heaving minutes with Bynum out of the lineup. Kobe looks like he's definitely in need of some rest. I say no more than 25-30 min. for right now. If it really starts to affect our HCA against the Celtics then we play them a bit more.

lakersfanatic wrote:I say we rest but as long as we're above the C's and Orlando. Were 2 games behind with about 9 games left. No need to exert only to get tired during the post season. Plus the Cavs will have heavy competition against the C's and Orlando as well as well as the other top contenders.

I believe our odds of going to the finals are higher in our bracket then the Cavs in theirs. Yes they have Lebron who can turn a game towards their way, but this is team basketball.... one man can't do it all..(just look at kobe). Even though i like Lebrons' chances more just because he's younger and rock solid, with the competitiveness and aggressiveness of the post season, you can't do it alone.

It was done in 06-07 when the Cavs went to the finals; LeBron practically one-man-showed the playoffs.

AceFresh wrote: How did that end up for you?^

He said a "one-man-team" can't make the finals. We did. That was all I was saying.

RevMan26 wrote:

AceFresh wrote: How did that end up for you?^

He said a "one-man-team" can't make the finals. We did. That was all I was saying.

Do you want a cookie?

We are now 3 games behind the Cavs. I say rest our starters, especially Kobe, sit him out for a couple games. My god hes terrible right now

RevMan26 wrote:

AceFresh wrote: How did that end up for you?^

He said a "one-man-team" can't make the finals. We did. That was all I was saying.

True you guys did but my main point is it really takes a team to win it all.. right? You guys have some serious competition over there against the Cs and Orlando. But back to the Lakers, i say we rest. Now more since we lost to the bobcats yesterday hehe

RevMan26 wrote:

AceFresh wrote: How did that end up for you?^

He said a "one-man-team" can't make the finals. We did. That was all I was saying.

lebron is greaaaaaaat,and already an all time talent,but no one man team has ever made the finals. the cavs weren't as good as they are now,but they weren't as bad as the media made them out to be either.

i say shut down pau and kobe completely,,,,start ammo, start dj, start powell, give lamar limted action...

in my opinion this is a win win scenario, while it clearly rests pau and kobe, and the obvious benefits that gets us it also puts the onus and the burdon to succeed on squarely on the shoulders of those that are failing, as well making sure they are ready for the playoffs...

I'd say rest a little bit. We need their energy for the playoffs. I give up the home court advantage to Cleveland. This team know what to do during Road games and that's what great teams do. Or maybe if Boston or Orlando win the East, which are the teams that are down a few games from us. I think they won't be able to catch us. So if Boston or Orlando win, it would just be a waste fighting for HCA against Cleveland.

kobeaki wrote:i say shut down pau and kobe completely,,,,start ammo, start dj, start powell, give lamar limted action...

in my opinion this is a win win scenario, while it clearly rests pau and kobe, and the obvious benefits that gets us it also puts the onus and the burdon to succeed on squarely on the shoulders of those that are failing, as well making sure they are ready for the playoffs...

that will put them out of sync, you can't just take a week and a half off and come back playing at a high level, you have to give them some playing time

exactly Hermes, look at Dallas two years ago, yes it was a bit of a fluke matchup but momentum can be huge. Warriors came in on a hot streak and Dallas basically shut it down the last 3 or 4 games and they lost sync badly. Even last year look at what happened to the Celts, they started limiting minutes way too early imo. KG, Allen, and Pierce I think were all in the 28-30 min range for almost all of April last year and they came out really flat and nearly lost to ATL and Cleveland before they found their rhythm again vs Detroit. The west is way too tough to shut things down right now. I think for at least the next few games we need to take it a game at a time and use the effort thats needed to win in case Cleveland drops a few. When there are 5 games left or so and Cleveland is done with that Orlando/SA set then I think we can start reducing Pau and Kobe to 30 ish mins or give them every other game off but make sure they play normal mins in the last game against Utah. BTW we may want to let Utah win that game depending on what the standings are looking like. I do think Dallas is our best matchup for the first round, Every team in the west is still a tough team, I mean they are going to win 50 games in the West which is no easy feat but with Dallas I think the main things are that they simply don't have enough weapons to beat us in a series. They could make it interesting but their defense has gone downhill. They are not physical and won't wear us out and we can limit their main options more easily and when they are relying on Kidd, Dampier, Antoin Wright, etc to beat us... well I'll take that any day.

Home court is still not done.. with cavs loss today.. the diff is 2 games..

Cavs are tough at home mostly because they are a hot 3 point shooting team at home..

Loss to Wizards showed what those missed 3 pointers on the road do.. Zephars got a lot of run out layups..

Orlando game also could be a loss..

So we need to basically win all our games and hope that Boston or SA go away with a win.