Close game in the third. I was torn for a while on who I want to win . . . the idea being that SA is already ahed of the Blazers so maybe it is better if Phx goes down to put more distance between them and the Blazers. But in the end, I want to see SA go down . . . because Blazers can catch them.
It's a win-win situation for us I think. If Spurs lose, we'd be 2 games behind them for second. If Suns win, we're 2.5 up on them. I'm kind of leaning toward Suns losing... I don't think we're good enough yet to hang with San Antonio over the final weeks of the season if it makes it that far.
We are not consistent enough to hang with the Spurs, the Suns on the other hand are a trainwreck waiting to happen and would put more distance between us and them.
I think sortof the opposite...Portland is good enough to hand with San Antonio in the regular season. But not good enough or experienced enough to win a playoff series against San Antonio if San Antonio had home court advantage. So I'd like to see Portland and their fresher, younger legs finish ahead of the Spurs in the regular season...then if the two teams do end up matching up in the post-season, Portland has a chance. I expect Portland to make the playoffs...now I'm looking for better seeding, which means rooting against teams ahead of Portland (Lakers being an exception, because they truly are uncatchable).
That's quite a step to make at this point. I just want to ensure us a playoff spot before getting into what seeds are best and what it'd take to get above the likes of the Spurs and Hornets.
i didn't even watch this game, because I loathe the spurs that much..........they are so not interesting............
Funny stats: Assists: Nash 18, Non-Nash Suns 4 All-star Shaq:5-14 for 13 points, 6 rebounds in 25 minutes.
#5 Seed - Portland 28 17 Almost four full games up from falling out of playoffs and 1.5 games from #3 seed. I really like where we are sitting, if we end up up here @ #5 I will be pleased. I think we COULD win a series if we end up against a #4 squad... Falling out of the playoffs - Utah 25 21
It might be, but I look at it like this: -They're currently the 5th seed -None of their players seem to be playing over their head or should be expected to be worse going forward -A few players can be expected to play better than they did in the first half (notably Oden, Bayless and maybe Aldridge and Rudy) -They've played more road games than they will in the second half -They've played a tougher schedule than they will in the second half All these things lead me to believe that making the playoffs shouldn't be viewed as all that dicey. Obviously, anything can happen and these don't represent a guarantee, but I think reaching the playoffs is a reasonable expectation and setting sights higher is a reasonable "upside" expectation at this point.
