Rival in playoffs

[bobobolas1]

Hey people. there is just 2games left for us and three for sas and noh.

First of all, i dont see the spurs winning in stapples and they have a really tough game vs Jazzs. So they are going for 3rd spot for sure

on the other hand, i was thinking that im not seeing noh losing with kings and clippers. So the other game is with the mavs....

Mavs now can choose if they want to meet in 1st round with Hornets or lakers. If they win, they will face Hornets in first round. If they rather to play with lakers, the just have to leave Dirk, josh and jason in the bench .

Hornets can also "let" mavs win in order to play @ them in first round. But i dont think so...

So, it is the importance of playing in 1st spot....
Vs Nuggets and Vs----> Jazz or rockets.

if we are in the 2nd spot the race could be Mavs and then----->suns or spurs in semifinals.

What do you think mavs will do? will we reach 1st spot? Its not easy...

[Sportfan]

If the spurs lose here, and lose to Utah they will most likely be 5th seed, with Houston getting third seed. And Manu is out indefinitely so its a good possibility.

And I would think the Mavs would much rather play the Hornets than Lakers, after the Lakers have beat them the last few games even with Dirk hitting great clutch shots. And if my memory is right one of those games was without pau?

[Dexmor]

Imo the Hornets will win the next 3 games because the 2 games are obvious and there is a good chance the Horntets will want the last win and the Mavs will just want to stay healthy although if they do win they get to play the Hornets and I think they want the Hornets over LA because they know if Bynum comes back they don't have a chance.

[Lakers8]

Im pretty confident the Mavs pull that win out. I think they are just hitting there stride, Dirk is playing awesome and they have kidd makin decisions. Plus they definately want to play new orleans in the playoffs, we own Dallas! Im more worried about us beating sacto more than the spurs.

[Dexmor]

I don't want to play the Mavs at all. Maybe we should just rest our guys and get the third seed to make sure we don't play the Mavs?
I don't know. Maybe were better off playing it straight and hoping the Hornets lose to secure homecourt all playoffs but the finals and maybe that could be what gets us Bynum back by having a sure thing to be round 2.

[KobeNLakeShow]

I just want to see the Spurs vs. Suns in the first round. That would take away one of the two teams that I might have some worries about. So hopefully the Spurs finish 3rd and the Suns finish 6th. As for us, I'm not really afraid of the Nugz or the Mavs or the Warriors for that matter.

Ideal scenario would be to finish first play the Nugz or Warriors and then play the winner of the rockets and jazz if things stay this way. Than in the conference finals we get to meet who ever survives from the Spurs/Suns. Fun stuff!!!!! CANNOT WAIT!!!!

[Dexmor]

The Mavs do scare me a little and the Mavs vs Spurs would also do that, hell every match up does that except 4and5 seed.
The Mavs are getting better with every game and Jason Kidd in the playoffs is bad news although A motivated Shaq is also.
So who is worse Suns or Mavs? It's hard to say.

[That Nicka]

Hornets win next two... Lose to Dallas

Spurs lose at Staples, win the rest

Lakers win out

1. Lakers
2. Hornets
3. Spurs
4. Jazz
5. Rockets
6. Suns
7. Mavs
8. Nuggets

[LA Warrior]

i think dallas is gonna play NO very hard because if they win it will give then confidence for the playoffs.

It's a win-win situation for us.

If dallas we get the nuggets that i think we have a very good chance with.

if dallas loses they lose confidence that they just got and face us 1st round.

[bobobolas1]

Hornets win next two... Lose to Dallas

Spurs lose at Staples, win the rest

Lakers win out

1. Lakers
2. Hornets
3. Spurs
4. Jazz
5. Rockets
6. Suns
7. Mavs
8. Nuggets

thats the scenario id like to find. The road to the ring would be Nuggets-jazz-spurs-pistons.......

[Sedale Threatt]

Thing is, Dallas is pretty much locked into that seventh spot. As such, the Mavs won't have anything to play for in the finale against NO and will probably just rest their players. IMO, the only chance we have of catching the Hornets is if they lose tonight against the Kings.

I wouldn't count on it, but they're no pushover at home, and the Hornets expended max effort last night. If we can drop clunkers to Memphis and Charlotte (damn I wish we could have one of those back), they can definitely drop the end of a back-to-back at Arco.

[bobobolas1]

Thing is, Dallas is pretty much locked into that seventh spot. As such, the Mavs won't have anything to play for in the finale against NO and will probably just rest their players. IMO, the only chance we have of catching the Hornets is if they lose tonight against the Kings.

I wouldn't count on it, but they're no pushover at home, and the Hornets expended max effort last night. If we can drop clunkers to Memphis and Charlotte (damn I wish we could have one of those back), they can definitely drop the end of a back-to-back at Arco.

yep, dallas is for sure in seven spot. but they can decide who is going to be in 2nd spot. Because if they win hornets they will face them in first round cause it would mean we are in 1st spot.

[Dexmor]

Thing is, Dallas is pretty much locked into that seventh spot. As such, the Mavs won't have anything to play for in the finale against NO and will probably just rest their players. IMO, the only chance we have of catching the Hornets is if they lose tonight against the Kings.

I wouldn't count on it, but they're no pushover at home, and the Hornets expended max effort last night. If we can drop clunkers to Memphis and Charlotte (damn I wish we could have one of those back), they can definitely drop the end of a back-to-back at Arco.

Your absolutely right. Even if Dallas play hard it will only be for 3 quarters.

[Sedale Threatt]

-= original quote snipped =-
yep, dallas is for sure in seven spot. but they can decide who is going to be in 2nd spot. Because if they win hornets they will face them in first round cause it would mean we are in 1st spot.

This is a good point, but who's to say they wouldn't rather play us than NO? Their three losses to us have been by four, four and two points. Granted, the Mavs have had a close loss to NO as well, with both splitting sound victories, but I wouldn't be so sure they'd prefer them over us.

[KB20]

This is where games like Charlotte, Memphis, and Portland come back to bite us in the @$$. We should be 58-23 right now with a comfortable lead over New Orleans. Now we have to win out and hope that New Orleans loses one of its last 3 games.

[tayzer]

I think they would rather play the Hornets because a full Lakers squad is pretty dangerous, and I don't think Dallas wants to be the guini pig.

[Sedale Threatt]

It's questionable at best that we're going to be 100 percent healthy for the rest of the season.

Regardless, I'm not saying they would or they wouldn't prefer playing us over NO. The only one who knows for sure is Avery Johnson. I'm just pointing out that, considering the many close games we've had, there's a decent chance they might not mind playing us.

[tayzer]

From the Dallas board, they seem to want to play the Hornets than the Laks in the first round. Hopefully, they can beat them, so we can get the first spot.

[Dexmor]

This is where games like Charlotte, Memphis, and Portland come back to bite us in the @$$. We should be 58-23 right now with a comfortable lead over New Orleans. Now we have to win out and hope that New Orleans loses one of its last 3 games.

Can you imagine the lead we would have if our Center was there. We would have a comfortable 10 game lead or Kobe would be about to return with 10 fingers and would have had the surgery and we would be 5th and get to play the Jazz but with all of our guys.

[Tommy Trojan]

I do not mind playing NO,Dallas, Utah, Houston, Denver just dont want to play the Suns and the Spurs without our big guy in there