I'm hearing that if the Blazers were to ultimately (yet, of course, unlikely) face the Spurs in the WCF, the Spurs would have HCA. Doesn't head-to-head matter in the latter rounds???
Remember when the Blazers played the Jazz second round? Portland was division winner but Utah had a better record and HCA. Has that changed?
The Blazers tied the Spurs record-wise, though. I think this all boils down to stupid tie-breakers. It's still all too confusing to me, though. At any rate, probably moot as the chances the Blazers meet the Spurs in the WCF are about as remote as you and Shooter having drinks.
In the comments section of the article, Dave says he doesn't think we get HCA against SA, but then says he's not sure. He doesn't acknowledge that in the past seedings and head-to-head were independent, so that being a division winner didn't matter (or at least didn't matter as a first criteria).