The Race for 3rd Breakdown

[mopper8]

Congrats on the big win, I have post going over this stuff on the Heat board. Right now, it's looking a lot like (3) Atl - (4) Bos - (5) Mia - (6) Mil

[evildallas]

Congrats on the big win, I have post going over this stuff on the Heat board. Right now, it's looking a lot like (3) Atl - (4) Bos - (5) Mia - (6) Mil

Yep, right now Atlanta and Miami control their own destinies for 3rd and 5th respectively. The big question for us is what lineup Cleveland plays on Wednesday (if Boston loses to Chicago it could be a real ugly game). I have faith that Miami will not slip up against New Jersey.

[HoopsGuru25]

Congrats to the Hawks for locking up the 3rd seed. They didn't even need the Cleveland game to do it.

Boston is basically the 2007 Heat w/ the exception of Rondo. I'm going to enjoy betting on Miami in the playoffs.

[Rod700]

So it all comes down to the Milwaukee game. The Hawks could almost guarantee that they face Milwaukee in the 1st round if they win.

That's it in a nutshell.

Milwaukee has the head-to-head tie breaker with Miami so Miami must finish a full game ahead on them. They are tied right now in record, so any Milwaukee loss should help Miami especially given the remaining schedule.

We have the same tie-breaker problem with Boston and must finish a game ahead. What might help us is that Chicago is in the same boat with Toronto. Toronto has the head-to-head tie breaker so Chicago must finish a game ahead. That gives them plenty of incentive against Boston on Tuesday. A slip up on either Tuesday against Boston or Wednesday against Charlotte could open the window for Toronto (playing Detroit and New York).

Could someone explain this to me? I know we have the 3rd seed now, but after the win Monday night, I don't understand why the Celtics loss was necessary for us to get the 3rd seed. You guys were saying we were "almost" guarantteed the 3rd seed after the Bucks win, and the announcers confirmed that we didn't have it locked up yet. I don't know why though. After the Bucks game, we had won 52 out of 81 games and the Celtics had won 50 out of 80. Even if we lost our last game and the Celtics had won their last 2 (which includes Chicago), then we would have both been won 52 out of 82 games and we own the tie breaker since we swept them this season. What factor could have caused the Celtics to get the 3 seed if they had finished with the same record as us?

[HoopsGuru25]

The Celtics owned the tie breaker vs. The Hawks because they won their division and we didn't. That is the most important(and ridiculous btw) tie breaker.

[Rod700]

I thought that might be the case. It was the only scenario I could come up with, but it just didn't seem right. I appreciate the explanation.