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Philly is really struggling and with very hard 6 games left they will finish wounded and with no confidence. Also with Young out they would be the perfect 1.round opponent. So I think it would be smart to finish 3rd and let Orlando or Cleveland worry about Detroit.

I think we could finish Philly with 4:1, but Orlando:Detroit could go 7 games.


PHI
40w-36l
2home (Cle,Bos)
4away (Cha,Chi,Tor,Cle)

MIA
41w-36l
3home (Ny,Norl,Det)
2away (Bos,Atl)

DET
37w-40l
2home (Njn,Chi)
3away (Ny,Ind,Mia)

CHI
37W-40l
4home (Ny,Phi,Cha,Tor)
1away (Det)


TIEBREAKERS:
MIA (2-1 Det,one home game left / 2-2 Phi)
PHI (2-2 Mia) / (2-1 Det)
DET
CHI (2-1 Det, one away game left, but a lot worst conference record)

1) Detroit can catch Miami if they go 5:0 with Miami going 1:4
2) Detroit can catch Philly if they go 5:0 with Philly going 1:5
3) Detroit can finish ahead of Chicago if they go 4:1 (winning home Chi) with Chicago going 4:1

Projection:
-Miami will finish 5th, because Philly schedule is deadly.
-Philly could fall all the way to 8th, but I think somehow they will win 2 of last 6 and finish 6th.
-It is open between Chi and Detroit for 7th, but I think Detroit will be ahead.

It's a little short sighted because I don't want to play Orlando with them having home court against us. While I'd still fully believe we'd come out of that series anyway, why make it harder on ourselves? And if Miami were to be the the 6 seed, you never know what can happen when DWade is on the court.

You never EVER want to be on the road in a series if you can help it. All this talk of the C's deliberately going for the 3 seed is stupid. They should try like hell to get the 2...you want as much HCA as possible!!

I think Chicago gets 7th seed, and Detroit gets 8th...so we keep 2nd seed, play the Bulls and get homecourt against the Magic. That's what I'd shoot for as of right now.

Regardless of who we play in the 2nd round you always try to get as much HCA as possible...talk of tanking position just for match-up purposes is stupid...

Regular season isn't important. DET could be the eight seed easily.

Difference between 2nd and 3rd seed. Is 2nd seed ORL has no chance, 3rd seed ORL has a chance to upset us.

If we get the 2nd seed locked up then we should expect an ECF appearance.

Homecourt advantage is all about game 7.

You want as much HCA as possible, regardless of the match-ups...

MyInsatiableOne wrote:You want as much HCA as possible, regardless of the match-ups...

I know. Kind of a silly argument.

Not to mention, the second seed guarantees that Boston will host their first and second round opponents. And, if Cleveland should lose in the second round, Boston becomes the top seed. Bottom line is the top two seeds are the best positions you can hope to be in.

Judging by the results of the past fifteen years, I'll prefer to have the second seed. Other than Detroit in 2004... You'll have to go as far back to 1982 as the last year the third seed won the eastern conference championship. It was Philadelphia. Philadelphia did so as the third seed in 1980 as well.


2008 - Eastern conference champion
Boston - #1 seed

2007 - Eastern conference champion
Cleveland - #2 seed

2006 - Eastern conference champion
Miami - #2 seed

2005 - Eastern conference champion
Detroit - #2 seed

2004 - Eastern conference champion
Detroit - #3 seed (defeated the #1 seed Indiana)

2003 - Eastern conference champion
New Jersey - #2 seed

2002 - Eastern conference champion
New Jersey - #1 seed

2001 - Eastern conference champion
Philadelphia - #1 seed

2000 - Eastern conference champion
Indiana - #1 seed

1999 - Eastern conference champion
New York - #8 seed (defeated the #2 seed Indiana)

1998 - Eastern conference champion
Chicago - #1 seed

1997 - Eastern conference champion
Chicago - #1 seed

1996 - Eastern conference champion
Chicago - #1 seed

1995 - Eastern conference champion
Orlando - #1 seed

1994 - Eastern conference champion
New York - #2 seed

Nice stats, bonsai. #2 or bust for the C's!!

Thanks.

But, what's discouraging if Boston doesn't clinch the second seed is this. I went back all the way to 1979 and what I saw was that the first seed won the eastern conference the majority of the times. While other times it was the second seed. The third seed accomplished this feat only three times. Yes, that would be three times in twenty plus years. Granted, the first round format was different back then. The first round series was once the best three-out-of-five.

Orlando losses their game tonight at Houston so we keep some breathing room at the 2 seed, specially if we can win tomorrow..which we should...

edit: nevermind just reconsidered what i wrote