I think so yes, I might be wrong but I also think they're the only team in the West that have locked up the season series vs Portland. Or wait.. have the T-Wolves also locked up the season series vs Portland? Ha, maybe.
Yes. LA would lose out first because they're not a division winner, and then Memphis would surpass us via head to head.
Quick update on the playoff predictor bots... After last night, Hollinger actually predicts us finishing ahead of MEM (55 wins for us, 54 for them) and taking the 2nd seed. Basketball-Reference, has us tied with MEM at 55 wins (actually 54.8 for us and 54.9 for them). Of course, these are just predictions based on simulations, but we will need to win tonight to keep pace with MEM, both with the bots and in the real world. Basetball-Reference gives us a 53% chance of beating WAS tonight, but has MEM at 76% odds of beating DEN. Go Blazers! Go Nuggets! BTW, Neil Olshey is a fucking genius. Not only did he get us a starting caliber SG in exchange for guys who weren't even in the rotation, one of those guys might actually help our playoff positioning more as a Nugget than he ever would have as a Blazer. BNM
Since the beginning of February, we're 12-4... 8 of those wins coming by 10 or more points. That's strong basketball.
some people around here are getting overconfident regarding playoff match ups. Dallas may end up being cream puff, but that's it. Houston, OKC and the Clips are all going to be tough match ups over a series. Not that the Blazers can't win, but it's not going to be a cakewalk. Players like Chris Paul and Westbrook will give the Blazers fits in the Playoffs.
I don't think most fans believe any matchup in the western conference will be a cake walk. The suggestion of teams you want to face are probabilities of having the best chance to beat. So OKC, Clips, Houston and Dallas are the best teams to face in the first round. Not because they suck, but because we have the best chance of beating them in a 7 game series.
No match in the West is going to be easy... including any matchup with us. I'm excited about the playoffs.
I'm probably going to regret saying this (with the possibility of a jinx and all) but since the All Star break the Blazers have made their wins look easy. They've been playing really good teams and the way they are playing right now reminds me of the Spurs in the play offs last year. Teams can kind of hang with them for a while but the Blazer's lead just slowly builds until it's just too late to catch back up. They're peaking at the exact right time and I don't see a bunch of other teams that are way better. This is looking a lot like the year Dallas won... I think a handful of teams could win it this year, including the Blazers. I'm more excited about the play offs than I have been in many years... I can't wait!!!!!
I dont want to make a big deal comparing us to the 2011 Dallas team but there is another almost shocking similarity. Dallas's third best player also went down for the year, Caron Butler, and everyone was also writing their playoff obituary long before the playoffs arrived.
Is it just my imagination, or has our defense been stellar lately? I watch games and think, how the hell are we not losing? And we hang around long enough for our offense to click.
Yes, but it's very chaotic. Most good defensive teams seem to have very good smooth rotations and look stifling on the defensive end. The Blazers, for whatever reason, don't look during the play like they are that good, but they have been getting great results. i can't pinpoint it, but the Blazers ar much better than the eye test would suggest, and I can't figure out why.
Our defense has looked very strong of late. The scores haven't shown that as well because we've tended to give up a bunch of points once the game is in hand, but we're forcing a lot of bad shots.
I see absolutely zero chance for OKC to catch us in the division standings, especially now that Ibaka is having surgery and will most likely miss 2 weeks +
I would also like to see the #2 or #3 seed and I think both are doable, if the Blazers can avoid stupidities like losing to Minny! I think GSW will live to regret. They do not match up well against either OKC or San Antonio. And why is half my cat's face cut off in avatar photo?
Their chances of catching us are nearly zero (0.1% from basketball-reference or 0.3% according to Hollinger's Playoff Odds), even with Ibaka. They are 9 back in the loss column. Even if they finish out 16-0, we'd have to play sub-.500 (8-10) ball for them to win the division. They're not going 16-0 and we're not going 8-10, let alone both of those things happening. BNM
I think its because our D is designed to make it hard to score at the rim and get off open 3s but if a team wants they can get as many open 20 footers as they want so when watching a game youll notice a team get a ton of open looks but they are very poor looks when looking at the avg % those shots are made at.
S SAS are now at 5, so gsw isn't worrying about them any more. Your cats face is cut off because it's probably a rectangular photo you loaded, but we are now only squaresville ma'am.
Second round? SAS could very well win in the first round, so I would expect GS should match up with them in the second round.
