Playoff Race and Scoreboard Watching

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Here are the Standings on 3/31, and the race for home court advantage

#4 LAL 0.0 GB.
#5 MEM 1.0 GB
#6 GSW 2.0 GB
#7 MIN 2.5 GB
#8 LAC 3.0 GB

With eight games remaining (seven for us), here are the schedules.

MIN: @DEN, @BRK, @PHI, @MIL, @MEM, vsBRK (btb), vsUTA


LAL: vsHOU, vsGSW, vsNOP (btb), @OKC, @OKC, @DAL (btb), vsHOU, @POR

MEM: vsBOS, vsGSW (btb), @MIA, @DET, @CHA, vsMIN, @DEN (btb), vsDAL

GSW: @MEM, @LAL, vsDEN (btb), vsHOU, @PHX, vsSAS (btb), @POR, vsLAC

LAC: @ORL, vsNOP, vsDAL, vsDAL (btb), vsSAS, vsHOU (btb), @SAC, @GSW

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Games tonight, 3/31

6:00 PM: LAC (42-32) @ ORL (36-39). LAC favored by 2.5

6:30 PM: BOS (55-19) @ MEM (44-30). BOS favored by 4.5. TNT/TruTV/Max

9:00 PM: HOU (49-26) @ LAL (45-29). LAL favored by 5.5. TNT/TruTV/Max

[TimberKat]

Games tonight, 3/31

6:00 PM: LAC (42-32) @ ORL (36-39). LAC favored by 2.5

6:30 PM: BOS (55-19) @ MEM (44-30). BOS favored by 4.5. TNT/TruTV/Max

9:00 PM: HOU (49-26) @ LAL (45-29). LAL favored by 5.5. TNT/TruTV/Max

I like ORL's chances. They are well rested at home. LAC did rested Kawhi yesterday vs Cavs.

HOU should do well too.

One thing bad with MIN is we don't have tie breaker for all the teams ahead of us. GSW, MEM, LAL. We loss two games to MEM by a total of 4 points and they sucked against over .500 teams all year. That was the reason they fired the coach.

[shrink]

The only team I’m worried about in the West is the Thunder. They are so good, that I wonder is their first round opponent will even make them sweat? I think that if a team gets past OKC, it will be in the WCF, and only after they faced some competition in the semi’s.

With that in mind, I would rank the best seedings as: 6 - 7 - 4 - 5 - 8.

I’m curious if there will be some late-season shenanigans for other teams to try to angle for the 6 seed?

[Biff Cooper]

GSW still has Mem, LAL, Den, Hou, and LAC.
LAC still has Hou and GSW
MEM still has GSW, Min, and DEN
LAL still has Hou, GSW, OKC, OKC, Hou
Den still has Min, GSW, Mem, and Hou

MN still has Denver and Memphis.

Quite a few opportunities remaining for at least one of the opposing teams ahead of us to lose. LAC and Min have pretty favorable schedules remaining. GSW and LAL have a lot of tough games left.

[Ethomasp31]

Games tonight, 3/31

6:00 PM: LAC (42-32) @ ORL (36-39). LAC favored by 2.5

6:30 PM: BOS (55-19) @ MEM (44-30). BOS favored by 4.5. TNT/TruTV/Max

9:00 PM: HOU (49-26) @ LAL (45-29). LAL favored by 5.5. TNT/TruTV/Max

I like ORL's chances. They are well rested at home. LAC did rested Kawhi yesterday vs Cavs.

HOU should do well too.

One thing bad with MIN is we don't have tie breaker for all the teams ahead of us. GSW, MEM, LAL. We loss two games to MEM by a total of 4 points and they sucked against over .500 teams all year. That was the reason they fired the coach.

Yeah but if we are in a three way tie with the Clippers, I think we will have most of the tiebreakers.

[Ethomasp31]

Games tonight, 3/31

6:00 PM: LAC (42-32) @ ORL (36-39). LAC favored by 2.5

6:30 PM: BOS (55-19) @ MEM (44-30). BOS favored by 4.5. TNT/TruTV/Max

9:00 PM: HOU (49-26) @ LAL (45-29). LAL favored by 5.5. TNT/TruTV/Max

I like ORL's chances. They are well rested at home. LAC did rested Kawhi yesterday vs Cavs.

HOU should do well too.

One thing bad with MIN is we don't have tie breaker for all the teams ahead of us. GSW, MEM, LAL. We loss two games to MEM by a total of 4 points and they sucked against over .500 teams all year. That was the reason they fired the coach.

Yeah but if we are in a three way tie with the Clippers, I think we will have most of the tiebreakers.

Not with the Lakers

[TimberKat]

I like ORL's chances. They are well rested at home. LAC did rested Kawhi yesterday vs Cavs.

HOU should do well too.

One thing bad with MIN is we don't have tie breaker for all the teams ahead of us. GSW, MEM, LAL. We loss two games to MEM by a total of 4 points and they sucked against over .500 teams all year. That was the reason they fired the coach.

Yeah but if we are in a three way tie with the Clippers, I think we will have most of the tiebreakers.

Not with the Lakers

Yes, it's complicated. Just win as many games as you can and hope one or more of those teams fall. If for some reason, OKC is without one of their big 3s, I think we have a chance to get pass them too.

[Klomp]

The only team I’m worried about in the West is the Thunder. They are so good, that I wonder is their first round opponent will even make them sweat? I think that if a team gets past OKC, it will be in the WCF, and only after they faced some competition in the semi’s.

With that in mind, I would rank the best seedings as: 6 - 7 - 4 - 5 - 8.

I’m curious if there will be some late-season shenanigans for other teams to try to angle for the 6 seed?

This is a very important point. We need to stay out of the 4-5 series and we need to stay out of the 8 seed, if possible.

I'm watching very closely what the Lakers are doing because they are the second team I personally am avoiding after the Thunder.

[cmoss84]

My most realistic best case scenario:
1. OKC
2. Denver
3. Houston
4. GSW
5. Memphis
6. MN
7. LAC
8. LAL

[TimberKat]

My most realistic best case scenario:
1. OKC
2. Denver
3. Houston
4. GSW
5. Memphis
6. MN
7. LAC
8. LAL

Looks about right. If you feel LAL could fall to 8, than I think MEM could fall to 6 or 7.

[Ethomasp31]

My most realistic best case scenario:
1. OKC
2. Denver
3. Houston
4. GSW
5. Memphis
6. MN
7. LAC
8. LAL

Looks about right. If you feel LAL could fall to 8, than I think MEM could fall to 6 or 7.

Well 7 and 8 are the same thing....basically 7 is who wins the 7/8 playin game. And yes if you look at the Grizzlies remaining schedule, there is a good chance they could fall to 7 or 8. Denver isn't going to fall below 3 in my opinion. I would love to play the Lakers in the first round. I would rather play them than Denver. The only thing about the Lakers is that they would get all the calls, but as a team I don't think they are that scary. Honestly, the second scariest team out west for me would have been a healthy Dallas team.

[TimberKat]

Celtics are basically locked into that #2 seed and don't know if there is any motivation for them to win tonight vs MEM.

[TimberKat]

Shameless Pelicans are shutting down Zion and McCollum for the year. Their next two games are vs LAC and LAL. Just more on how the NBA trying to help big city team

[TimberKat]

ORL really need some size in the middle. They make Zubac look like Yao Ming.

[Neeva]

Shameless Pelicans are shutting down Zion and McCollum for the year. Their next two games are vs LAC and LAL. Just more on how the NBA trying to help big city team

The league ain’t giving them Flagg

[TimberKat]

Shameless Pelicans are shutting down Zion and McCollum for the year. Their next two games are vs LAC and LAL. Just more on how the NBA trying to help big city team

The league ain’t giving them Flagg

Flagg is going to Dallas to complete the Luka trade. However, given how bad SAC and PHX are playing, I don't see how that could happen. I supposed if you lose the play-in game, you are still in the lottery

[winforlose]

Memphis now has 31 losses. We play them with a chance of giving them 32. Tie breaker will not favor us, I need to look into the 3 way tie with the clippers and four way tie with GSW, but a 3 way tie between us, Griz, and Warriors is a disaster for us.

[TimberKat]

Memphis now has 31 losses. We play them with a chance of giving them 32. Tie breaker will not favor us, I need to look into the 3 way tie with the clippers and four way tie with GSW, but a 3 way tie between us, Griz, and Warriors is a disaster for us.

They got a tough schedule. If we beat them, we will be ahead. Don't even have to look too far. We just have to win tomorrow night to be in the driver's seat for 6th. GSW play MEM tomorrow night

[Neeva]

I kind of like 7th better though? Rather play Houston than Denver.