I believe we can still win the tiebreaker if we win the rest of our division games and Utah loses the rest of theirs. We can catch Denver as well. Also, it's impossible to finish with a half game up on a team after every team has played 82 games. We will have to finish a full game above them. EDIT- Just realized that BrianWheeler already said that.
Sloan should start Harpring instead of C.J. Miles who is non-existent and just eats minutes. Miles won't win anything for Utah in the playoffs but Harpring can win at least one game in the playoffs by getting on someones nerves. Utah has somewhat been stumbling since Sloan cut Harpring out of the lineup, and he's one of those veterans that Utah needs on the road IMO.
I'm not sure it really matters who I want to win. Utah sucks on the road so I'm expecting the Nuggets to win, although it would be nice to see Utah win.
Go Jazz. NBA season is finally getting good again, and Blazers/Nuggets would be quite a game to finish off the reg. season with.
It's interesting because Houston, San Antonio and Denver seem to have an equal likely hood of finishing at #2, so Jocking for positions 7-5 doesn't make much sense. The biggest goal is to get home court.
Goals change as the team proves capable. If the Blazers reach the Finals, the goal will be to win the championship. I think this season has to already be counted a success...but no harm hoping for more and better.
I'm not woried about Utah. They are currently a game behind the Blazers and have five road games left against Western Conference play-off teams. They haven't won a single road game against a Western Conference team with an >0.500 record all season. In fact, they have exactly ONE road win all season against a team (76ers) that's currently above 0.500 - and that was back before Thanksgiving. They also have three back-to-backs in their last eight games - and they are all home/away or away/home back-to-backs. So, not only do they play two nights in a row, but have to travel in between. They will be lucky to hold off Dallas for the 7th seed. So, I'm definitely pulling for them to beat Denver tonight - although given their inedptitude on the road, it's a long shot. A win by Utah over Denver also helps Portland in the 2nd tie breaker (Division Record). Right now, Denver has a better division record (9-3) than the Blazers (8-5). So, we need Denver to lose as many in-division games as possible. The Blazers have 3 in-division games left - 2 against OKC and the season finale agsinst Denver. If the Blazers win all three, they finish with an 11-5 division record. Denver has four in-division games left - tonight against Utah, and Minnesota, home against OKC and then the finale in Portland. We need them to loose at least 2 of the 4 for the Blazers to have a chance at equalling Denver's in-division record. Since I can't see Denver losing to Minnesota or OKC, we need the Jazz to beat them tonight. Since the 3rd tie breaker is Conference Record, and Denver has a 4.5 game lead there, to win the division, we really need to either finish ahead of the Nuggets in the standings outright, or hope they lose 3 of their 4 remaining in-conference games. In either case, I never thought I'd say it, but "GO JAZZ!". BNM
Suns losing would be a loss for the Blazers.. the Suns are not a threat anymore.. they can only help us like they did last night.
Utah is not going to lose at HOME against Minnesota. So forget about the tie breaker. Let's remember our record on the road against western playoff teams is not good. So I would be happy with a split in the next 4 games. Then we have the Lakers at home. Not an easy schedule either. I will be happy with 4th (Ahead of NO, UT, Dallas and Houston)
Not at all related to what I said. I said goals change as the team proves capable. The Blazers have proven capable of competing for a high playoff seed, as evidence by being in the competition for one, thus a high playoff seed is the current goal.
Why does that matter? Once we clinch a playoff spot, the team should just go ahead and not worry about winning? And when we're IN the playoffs, the team and fans shouldn't care if we get swept? Ed O.
If anything, the past should be a lesson. When the Blazers made it to the WCF against LA, I thought "Hey, this is great, I can be pretty happy facing LA in the conference finals, and if we don't make it this year, we have a couple of more shots at it." Many people thought that way. Portland never made it back. The lesson being, take advantage of the situation presented to you while you can. You never know what will happen down the line.
