Here is what it appears looking at the standings; If the Blazers win out, 6-0 they are guaranteed 9th seed. If Blazers go 6-0 and Memphis goes 3-2 or worse Blazers will have 8th seed (playin vs Memphis who is 9th) It the Blazers go 5-1 they need SAS to lose one game (4-1) to get 9th seed. If the Blazers go 4-2 they likely need SAS to lose two and possibly one loss from NOP or SAC NOP and Sac play each other twice, so it would only be if one of those teams won both games and all of their other 3 games they would finish above Portland. NOP and SAS also play each other.
Blazers have 6 games left. Win out they are guaranteed 8th or 9th. Lose one probably get 9th but could be 8th-10th Lose two and probably becomes more likely than not they are out of the playoffs.
Houston, Denver, Clippers and Sixers are just brutal. I don't know what to say about this monster schedule, before that we had the fucking Celtics. Give us a break Silver
Tbh I am not too scared about the rockets, Nuggets, or sixers. We always have a good matchup against them. I am really excited to watch the Nurkic vs Jokic battle though. It’s the clippers that scare me the most. They’re literally a better version of the Celtics
Nurk is great against great centers. I see us beating Denver and Sixers easily. Rockets are probably the toughest but we've beaten them 2 times before. I don't want to think about Clippers. They are shorthanded and don't have the size to contend with Nurk.
Next game against Houston and then Denver are huge. I think both opponents will still play hard to win. Clippers are on first of back to back when they play us... maybe they sit stars or get locked in their seed and only play stars 20ish minutes. Would they sit starters against us if they think we have the chance of giving LAL the toughest 1st round? Dallas may not have anything to play for and final game against Brooklyn they could likewise not care... Normal end of seasons for these last games teams are trying to get guys rest from months of too much play. Who knows, with the covid break maybe teams are more worried about getting ramped up for the playoffs and don't want to rest. Still even if teams try harder than at most end of season games I think the last few games could be easier for us as opponents probably won't play starters huge minutes or such. But that could also make it much easier for the teams we are battling, MEM, SAS, NOP, etc to win out on their final games.
It will be interesting to see if teams get locked into spots how they approach games late against the teams fighting for the last spots.
I don't see NO losing any more games. They will finish 34-38. Memphis has: UTA, OKC, TOR, BOS, MIL. Hard to imagine what will happen in those last three if seeding is already in place, but even on a generous estimate, that can 2-3, leaving them at 34-39, putting them behind NO. Spurs look ridiculously good with Demar at PF, but they have DEN, UTA, NO, HOU, UTA. I would project them to go 3-2, putting them at 32-39. So unless they win all of their remaining games, think they're pretty much done. PHX and SAC are too far away. So in summary: 8. NO-- 34-38 ?. MEM-- 34-39 ?. SAS-- 32-39 We have to go at least 4-2. Tall order. We have to hope like hell for NO to keep losing.
If you want to get in playoffs, and talk about upsetting the Lakers, we have to smash all teams in front of us. I think we must go 5-1 and we will get 8th seed. I dont care about tough schedules, if you get in playoffs your playing Lebron and AD, so these other teams can not be a threat to us.
