Probably a ridiculous idea, but I'm going to say it anyway.

We've secured a playoff spot, but with the Warriors loss, have likely coughed up the 6th seed. I think our best chance in the playoffs is to rest our guys (play Patty Mills, Luke Babbitt and Chris and Armon Johnson 35 mpg), lose out and play the Spurs.

Not showing up against NO and GS has fucked us. There will be no Dallas in round one. We're left with a Hobson's Choice: The smart move is to avoid the L*kers in the first round.

Nice going guys. You're not good enough to take anyone for granted and now you've likely given yourselves a 1st round exit.

 

My vote is to win every game they can and try to take some momentum into the post season. They will have to play over their heads to get out of the first round, no matter which team they draw.

Go Blazers

 

We stand a chance against SA. We stand no chance against the L*kers. I'm in no mood for my last basketball for two years to be treated like a pinata by the refs against the Piss & Purple.

 

A) The Warriors are up 17 on the Lakers so don't get so hard on our guys. The Warriors are playing like champs lately.

B) How do you know Mills/Babbitt and the Johnsons wouldn't win those games?

C) There are no banners for winning a round. The playoffs are about winning a title. Bring on the Lakers. Gotta be beat the best to be the best.

D) Why do you assume Spurs are an easier draw? Duncan has never lost in the first round.

E) We're still very much in the race for 6th.

F) Lakers could still finish third.

 

Why do we stand a better chance against the Spurs? They have the best record in the league, a championship core, and a great coach. Lakers are in a tailspin right now. Personally, I want the Lakers. Why run from a fight? Let's sweep the fuckers.

 

Speed, there's no reasoning with you. If you can't see why we match up better with the Spurs than the L*kers I can't help you. Vaya con Dios.

 

Maxie, Maxie, maxie, you're old enough to know that the regular season means NOTHING come playoff time. What we did against SA and what the Lakers did us in the regular season means ZERO. Calm down, enjoy the fact that we're a good team and just wait for the games to unfold. Again, why run from a fight like cowards?

 

The Blazers are going to finish with the 6th seed.

That said, it's not even a given Dallas ends up with the 3rd seed anymore. OKC is only 1 GB from Dallas and Dallas is starting to rest people.

Just let the last week play out and go from there.

 

Looks like Maxie has taken over Mixims role nicely.

 

Ummm the current Blazers roster with Gerald Wallace has only played the Lakers once. It was in LA, we were still developing chemistry, Camby got hurt, and we still had a chance to win. Our first loss against the Lakers were when Roy stopped being able to move and Aldridge was playing passively. The other loss was in overtime the night before the trading deadline when everyone feared they were leaving the team. The results of those games tell us nothing about how the current unit would fare vs the Lakers next weekend when the playoffs begin.

Maxie, the playoffs are a whole different beast. I know you know that.

 

Because a frontal attack is suicide. A smart attack is to hit where they're more vulnerable. Did we attack Normandy instead of Calais because we were cowards? Nope.

As for being calm, I am. We're good, but if we face the L*kers we're going to get rolled by a great team where the refs won't let them lose.

 

Here is NO's schedule:

Fri, Apr 8 vs Phoenix
Sun, Apr 10 @ Memphis
Mon, Apr 11 vs Utah
Wed, Apr 13 @ Dallas

I say at worst NO goes 2-2

Here's ours

Thu, Apr 7 @ Utah
Fri, Apr 8 vs Los Angeles
Tue, Apr 12 vs Memphis
Wed, Apr 13 @ Golden State

We would have to go 3-1 and the best I see us going is 2-2. That means at best the 7th seed.

And if your argument is that DAL may fall to 4th, then it makes even more sense to drop to 8th. I'll take SA and DAL over LAL and OKC.

 

Link?

 

You play every game like it's the last game you'll ever play.

That's what you get paid for, that's what you get cheered for, that's the only honest thing you can do.

To me it's six of one half dozen...

I think we rattle the Rapers pretty seriously, but I also think Memphis could slay them. In the end if you're good enough you'll win out, regardless of who you meet.

 

I see.

You're saying we should buy the refs, make it a sure thing.

 

I would pay the refs a lot of money if they would just call it fairly.

 

You are right. It is a ridiculous idea.

The last thing the Blazers need is to go into the playoffs on a 5 game losing streak. This isn't a battle tested post season juggernaut that can just flip a switch and instantly play their best ball.

If anything, Nate needs to shorten the rotation and only play the guys who will matter in the playoffs. To me that means, other than garbage time, we need to play our top 8 players in the same roles and combinations we will rely on in the playoffs. Gerald Wallace is still new to this team. Brandon Roy is still trying to adjust to his new role. Nicolas Batum is adjusting to coming off the bench. No need to disrupt that.

This team is way to inconsistent. Juggling the line-up to play the end of bench guys to tank to the 8th seed won't help solve that problem, and losing 5 in a row won't help anyone's self-confidence.

I find the following fact amazing (as there are usually some statistical outliers, especially for guys with small sample sizes). If you sort our current roster by PER, this is what you get:

Code:

1  LaMarcus Aldridge 	21.6
2  Gerald Wallace       18.8
3  Andre Miller         17.8 	
4  Wesley Matthews  	15.3
5  Marcus Camby         14.9 	
6  Nicolas Batum        14.7
7  Brandon Roy 	        14.1 	
8  Rudy Fernandez 	13.6

That's our current starting five, followed by our top three bench players. And, those are the guys who need to be ready and comfortable in their roles in the playoffs.

I say play those guys comparable minutes to what they will be playing in the playoffs and try to win out the last four games, hope that New Orleans loses at least once and we grab the 6th seed. That would have us matched up against Dallas, a team we've beaten twice recently, and give us some momentum going into the playoffs.

BNM

 

Once again, 8th seed please.

 

Once again, Dallas please

I don't care to run all the scenarios . . . I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope everything falls into place and we get Dallas in the first round and show them another quick exit from the playoffs. SAS may not be playing as well as they did the rest of the year but Dallas is flat out playing like shiet.