NBlue wrote:I think we will need 39 wins. I think the Heat will also have 39 at seasons end. So we need to take those 3, beat the Heat on 3/26, take care of business against the Knicks & Hawks in April and then win one of our remaining games against the Sixers, Pistons, Pacers, Raptors, Celtics & Hornets. To me, that seems doable. Not sure we can do it -- but if we are worthy of the playoffs we clearly should. (Could also see us losing to the Heat and winning more of the other games in theory).
39 DEFINITELY gets you the 8 seed in my opinion.
I just think Miami's schedule is tougher than Orlando's overall. I only see three games where the Heat will be clearly favored to win and then like five 50/50 games on top of that. I'm not confident they can get to 39 wins with this schedule, although they have been a .500 team on the road this year. Most of their road games are against teams clearly better than they are.
vs Milwaukee
vs Charlotte
@ Oklahoma City
@ San Antonio
@ Milwaukee
@ Washington
vs Orlando
vs Dallas
@ New York
@ Boston
vs Boston
@ Minnesota
@ Toronto
vs Philadelphia
@ Brooklyn
Compare that with Orlando who has five games they'll be clearly favored to win (not saying the Magic will win them all, but they're all at home) with another four or five 50/50 games.
If Orlando wins that game in Miami on 3/26, that very well might be what gets them into the playoffs.