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TheKingofSting wrote:

Joest2003 wrote:Hey can someone help me out. I know how the first round goes with 1 seed playing 8 and so on but how does second round go?? What seeds play who?

The 1-8 winner plays the 4-5 winner and the 2-7 winner plays the winner of the 3-6 matchup.


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Thanks man

My best case scenario has us facing the Heat in the 1st round and the Raptors in the second round. We would avoid the Hawks and the Cavs. So we need to lose our last game and the Heat need to win their's. What will probably happen is the Heat will beat the Celtics and claim 3 while we beat the Magic and claim 5. We would face the Hawks in round 1 and Cavs in round 2 if we're lucky.

I hope I did not confuse anybody keeping track at home.

I hope we just rest the starters tomorrow night. Strengthening our chances to go to the Eastern Conference Finals > Finishing fifth in the final regular season standings.




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TheKingofSting wrote:I hope we just rest the starters tomorrow night. Strengthening our chances to go to the Eastern Conference Finals > Finishing fifth in the final regular season standings.




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I agree. Rest everyone, lose to the Magic. We can beat Heat/Hawks and Raptors to get to the ECF. Home court is impossible and seeding in round one will not determine the quality of the opponent as all are so evenly matched.

There's a huge difference between the Raptors and Cavs though in the second.

MasterIchiro wrote:

TheKingofSting wrote:I hope we just rest the starters tomorrow night. Strengthening our chances to go to the Eastern Conference Finals > Finishing fifth in the final regular season standings.




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I agree. Rest everyone, lose to the Magic. We can beat Heat/Hawks and Raptors to get to the ECF. Home court is impossible and seeding in round one will not determine the quality of the opponent as all are so evenly matched.

There's a huge difference between the Raptors and Cavs though in the second.

Yup

Hawks can, and will kick our ass.

Its unfortunate, but true.

I don't see how why some fear the Hawks. They have no superstars and are very beatable. The Heat however have former stars that'll turn it up for the playoffs. And if bosh comes back... Well it won't be pretty. Much rather play the Hawks. Only positive in playing the heat is we won't be regulated to nba tv

Miami - relatively weaker perimeter defense, but having an elite shot blocker makes up for all of that. Our starters vs their starters is probably a plus for us since having Joe Johnson there makes them slower and weaker defensively - if they were smart, they would move Justise to start and Johnson coming off the bench. Otherwise it will be us trading threes against their twos. Without Bosh, they are definitely weaker. Experience might carry them through the first round, but I think their age will catch up to them in later rounds.

Atlanta is a lot closer to Charlotte in term of matchups. I expect all games to be closer with Atlanta. Whoever shoots better and executes better on defense will win. Atlanta also will not have too many surprises, so from coaching perspective, less pressure on Cliff to adjust, whereas with Miami, I think there will be more adjustment needed and I am not sure this is a strength of the coaching staff.

Having said all that, I'd rather throw the dice against the Heat. If our shooters get hot, there is noting they can do to beat us. With Atlanta, their three pointers can match ours. Their strengths matches ours and they have done it longer.

against Miami I think we would have to see a fair bit of Alfense, its a shame Al doesn't draw fouls.

copied from an article after Tuesday's results

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Two series are set — the No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. the No. 8 Detroit Pistons and the No. 2 Toronto Raptors vs. the No. 7 Indiana Pacers. Everything else is very complicated.

Miami Heat
No. 3 if they beat the Celtics OR the Hawks lose to the Washington Wizards
No. 5 if they lose to the Celtics, the Hawks beat the Wizards, and the Hornets lose to the Orlando Magic
No. 6 if they lose to the Celtics, the Hawks beat the Wizards, and the Hornets beat the Magic

Atlanta Hawks
No. 3 if they beat the Wizards and the Heat lose to the Celtics
No. 4 if they lose to the Wizards OR the Heat beat the Celtics

Boston Celtics
No. 4 if they beat the Heat and the Hawks beat the Wizards
No. 5 if they lose to the Heat and the Hornets lose to the Magic OR they beat the Heat and the Hawks lose to the Wizards
No. 6 if they lose to the Heat and the Hornets beat the Magic

Charlotte Hornets
No. 5 if they beat the Magic and the Heat beat the Celtics OR if they beat the Magic, the Celtics beat the Heat, and the Hawks beat the Wizards
No. 6 if they lose to the Magic OR they beat the Magic, the Celtics beat the Heat, and the Hawks lose to the Wizards

I'm not worried about Miami at all. They are easily my preferred matchup at this point. Their starting lineup is old and slow and their savior off the bench against us (Whiteside) is a low IQ player who might spend half the series in foul trouble.

I won't mind playing Boston, but they match up defensively very well against our top players and their weak front line might encourage Clifford to go with more Alfense, which could backfire drastically. Their overall talent level isn't as good as Atlanta, though, so I would still prefer them to the Hawks.

I want no part of the Hawks. They match up well against us in about every area, have more high end talent, have given us fits with their defensive pressure in the past, and just imagine what is going to happen when Cliff tries to have Al out there chasing Horford around the 3pt line. We don't really have much of an advantage at any position against them and they have more ways to exploit our weaknesses than we have to exploit theirs. No thanks.

This is going to sound pretty harsh and messed up, but I don't care. I hope the league randomly drug tests Al before the playoffs start and he gets suspended. I'm being dead serious.

Stun704 wrote:I don't see how why some fear the Hawks. They have no superstars and are very beatable. The Heat however have former stars that'll turn it up for the playoffs. And if bosh comes back... Well it won't be pretty. Much rather play the Hawks. Only positive in playing the heat is we won't be regulated to nba tv

Your superstar-based logic seems flawed.

And, either way, I'd say that Millsap and Horford are bigger "stars" than anyone on the Heat's roster right now (excluding Bosh who is rather unlikely to return to the playoffs) if that's the way you want to go about comparing these teams.

The bottom line:

The difference between the Cavs and Raptors is far greater than any difference between the three first round opponents we're comparing here. Therefore we should play for the second round and avoid the 4-5 matchup. The only way to lock into the 3-6 is to lose tonight vs. the Magic. We can't control what the other three teams do at the end. But we have a lock on a favorable path in the second round to the Eastern Conference Final.

This discussion is OVER



Clifford should rest key players and give some burn to the bench but it doesn't seem his style and MJ seems to really covet the 5th seed. That was his goal for us last season, the pu pu platter season.

For the record, the Hawks are deeper than the Heat and our depth is a strength against the Heat, but not against the Hawks. I also feel the Hawks play better perimeter D and are better coached. But we can't control who we face in the first round. We CAN control our second round opponent though by finishing 6th, while strategically resting up for the first round. So we should do what we can to rest and lose to the Magic to guarantee the 3-6.

Never play to lose. It sends the wrong message to the team.

phillycheese wrote:Never play to lose. It sends the wrong message to the team.

We don't have to play to lose. Just rest our top guys and hope we lose. Kemba, Nic, Lin, Cody, and Marv could use some rest.

MasterIchiro wrote:The bottom line:

The difference between the Cavs and Raptors is far greater than any difference between the three first round opponents we're comparing here. Therefore we should play for the second round and avoid the 4-5 matchup. The only way to lock into the 3-6 is to lose tonight vs. the Magic. We can't control what the other three teams do at the end. But we have a lock on a favorable path in the second round to the Eastern Conference Final.

This discussion is OVER



Clifford should rest key players and give some burn to the bench but it doesn't seem his style and MJ seems to really covet the 5th seed. That was his goal for us last season, the pu pu platter season.

I'm in. We also are less likely to play the Hawks if we lose, and I fear them almost as much as the Cavs, whereas I'm not scared of the Heat or Celtics much at all.

We could even make a decision at halftime. Start out with the plan of resting players and getting the 6th seed, but If it looks like the Heat are going to lose and the Hawks are going to win (which would make the Hawks the 3 seed), we could bring our starters out in the 2nd half and try to win for the 5th seed. I don't think we have much of a shot against Atlanta unless Kemba goes off.

I hope Horford leaves Atlanta and we find an upgrade for Al. I'm almost as tired of them as I am of Miami. That said we match up much better against the Heat than we do the Hawks. We need to do whatever we can to make sure we play them instead of Atlanta. The best case scenario is the Heat beating Boston to take the 3 seed and we rest players tonight and lose to Orlando.

Miami beating Boston on the road on the 2nd game of a B2B is easier said than done though.

jtsmith wrote:copied from an article after Tuesday's results

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Two series are set — the No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. the No. 8 Detroit Pistons and the No. 2 Toronto Raptors vs. the No. 7 Indiana Pacers. Everything else is very complicated.

Miami Heat
No. 3 if they beat the Celtics OR the Hawks lose to the Washington Wizards
No. 5 if they lose to the Celtics, the Hawks beat the Wizards, and the Hornets lose to the Orlando Magic
No. 6 if they lose to the Celtics, the Hawks beat the Wizards, and the Hornets beat the Magic

Atlanta Hawks
No. 3 if they beat the Wizards and the Heat lose to the Celtics
No. 4 if they lose to the Wizards OR the Heat beat the Celtics

Boston Celtics
No. 4 if they beat the Heat and the Hawks beat the Wizards
No. 5 if they lose to the Heat and the Hornets lose to the Magic OR they beat the Heat and the Hawks lose to the Wizards
No. 6 if they lose to the Heat and the Hornets beat the Magic

Charlotte Hornets
No. 5 if they beat the Magic and the Heat beat the Celtics OR if they beat the Magic, the Celtics beat the Heat, and the Hawks beat the Wizards
No. 6 if they lose to the Magic OR they beat the Magic, the Celtics beat the Heat, and the Hawks lose to the Wizards

Wow, so complicated! I just don't want us to play Atlanta that's all lol.