The Race for 3rd Breakdown

evildallas · Post #1 » by **evildallas** » Thu Apr 1, 2010 6:08 am

UPDATED 4/13
Atlanta:
52-29
1 home game (Cleveland)

Boston:
50-31
1 home game (Milwaukee)
Milwaukee is the 2nd night of back-to-back.

We're 3rd. Now we just need a Heat win or Bucks loss to get Milwaukee in round 1.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #2 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Sat Apr 3, 2010 2:36 am

I don't want to be too optimistic...but the Hawks should get the 3rd seed unless they screw up. Boston losing to Houston at home was huge.

evildallas · Post #3 » by **evildallas** » Sat Apr 3, 2010 2:39 am

If Cleveland drops them this Sunday and we beat Detroit on Saturday it will go a long way for us.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #4 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Sun Apr 4, 2010 1:33 am

The difference between the 3rd and 4th seed is huge now. Bogut just went down with a pretty serious looking injury.

evildallas · Post #5 » by **evildallas** » Sun Apr 4, 2010 4:32 am

HoopsGuru25 wrote:The difference between the 3rd and 4th seed is huge now. Bogut just went down with a pretty serious looking injury.

I just saw that video. Nasty elbow injury.

FCNATL85 · Post #6 » by **FCNATL85** » Sun Apr 4, 2010 4:43 am

Actually it is key for us to win in CHAR so we can keep BOS at bay but we also help MIL to stay ahead of CHAR. MIA is almost garantee to win most (if not all) of its remaining games.
With Bogut down, ATL wants MIL in the 1st rd!

evildallas · Post #7 » by **evildallas** » Sun Apr 4, 2010 11:22 am

Cleveland really needs to beat Boston today because Charlotte is a very hard place to win.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #8 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Sun Apr 4, 2010 6:37 pm

Ugh. Cleveland has lost like once in the last month or so with Lebron healthy and they are getting smacked in the one game where we could use their help.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #9 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Sun Apr 4, 2010 7:51 pm

Atleast Cleveland made them work for it in the 4th.

evildallas · Post #10 » by **evildallas** » Sun Apr 4, 2010 8:14 pm

I thought Boston was going to totally unravel though but Cleveland couldn't close the deal. So much for our margin of error.

MaceCase · Post #11 » by **MaceCase** » Mon Apr 5, 2010 1:19 pm

Well it's going to be tight but I feel we might be able to pull it off just because there are still some goals I think Woody wants to achieve to liven up his resume. 50 wins is one and the biggest and also getting 20 road wins is or should be the other. We've already improved our road record from last year by a game but I think 20 would be the mark for a nice even number.

I guess we come all out on Tuesday trying to smash a division rival (our record against the southeast aint so impressive either), putting the fear of Moses in a potential 1st round matchup, securing our first 50 win season in donkey years and marching 2 wins closer to 20 wins on the road. and Oh yea, securing this 3rd seed thingy.

JoshB914 · Post #12 » by **JoshB914** » Wed Apr 7, 2010 3:58 pm

I think it's pretty clear that we aren't too preoccupied with our seeding whether it be third or fourth. That has shown clearly in our energy level over the last month. This team is cruising towards the finish line and getting ready for the postseason. Honestly I don't have much of a problem with that, I don't see much of a difference in playing Cleveland or Orlando in the second round as far as we're concerned.

evildallas · Post #13 » by **evildallas** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 3:52 am

Milwaukee is the big game now.

Hawkeyes · Post #14 » by **Hawkeyes** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 5:05 pm

Do we all agree that we'd rather face Milwaukee without Bogut in the playoffs as opposed to Miami?

evildallas · Post #15 » by **evildallas** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:23 pm

Hawkeyes wrote:Do we all agree that we'd rather face Milwaukee without Bogut in the playoffs as opposed to Miami?

I definitely agree with that. O'Neal has played too well against the Hawks this year for that be a comfortable series. Milwaukee is still playing well without Bogut, but they're playing more of a small ball lineup that I think we match up well against.

I think our best bet is to win over Milwaukee and hope to knock them to 6th. Miami should win out given their competition (@NY, Sixers, and Nets).

HoopsGuru25 · Post #16 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:26 pm

Chicago winning today would help us.

Post #17 » by **HMFFL** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:36 pm

Hawkeyes wrote:Do we all agree that we'd rather face Milwaukee without Bogut in the playoffs as opposed to Miami?

Even if Bogut was healthy I'd rather face Milwaukee.

Miami concerns me.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #18 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:54 pm

The Hawks were better than Miami in every metric last year. This year's Heat team significantly better when it comes to defense though. The Hawks averaged about 16 points in the 4th quarter in their 3 losses vs Miami this year. Miami also doesn't have useless players like Daquan Cook,Diawara,and James Jones in their rotation this year.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #19 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 11:54 pm

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.

evildallas · Post #20 » by **evildallas** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 12:35 am

HoopsGuru25 wrote: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).