We got to take care of Denver. Its going to be a tough game, if we play like we did against Dallas and OKC we can do it.
The way I look at it, we have to take care of the teams we should beat, especially the scrubby ones such as the Knicks and Clippers who have beat us once already. Of course, you want to win against teams like Denver which would be excellent, but the games we need to take care of in order to try and think about moving up is beating the horrible teams. Beating teams like Denver or Dallas again will be very helpful to going up.
We've won what 14 in a row against teams under .500? I'm not really worried how we play against shitty opponents anymore.
I agree, Camby has made a difference and our team seems to be meshing. But not to long ago we did almost lose to the Wizards at home...
Denver is such a tough place for us to play. Hope we handle the NYC and some of our key guys can get some rest. Back to backs in Denver are hard cause the team doesn't get to the hotel til like 2:30 AM!
Do we want to just get as high up the rankings as possible, or do we want to make sure we match up with Dallas? Dallas looks like they're going to be #2, so don't we want to stay in 7th? It would make sense to shoot for moving up further if there was a realistic chance of getting home court. But is there? Lakers vs. OKC as a first round matchup: that I'd watch.
I want to go as high up as possible; Denver's been playing badly lately too, and even though they owned us this regular season, I think we could beat them as well. Plus, I'm not entirely sure Dallas will fold as easily as they do during the regular season. Just push and push, and win as many games as you can.
Either Dallas or Denver, I'm OK with; in their weakened state, I think we can take the Nuggs in a series. In fact, I think I'd prefer to have Denver in the 3-6 match-up in the first round--which I think we'd win--giving us either Dallas (whom we would beat) or home-court advantage over the 7 seed (whether OKC or SA).
I think my biggest thing is that we are hot and playing well. I really feel like when we are playing well and as a team that is motivated that we could beat anyone except maybe the Lakers.
I think we would rather play Dallas then Denver, but I wouldn't mind staying away from the Lakers as long as possible either. Whatever, the fact that we are talking about the playoffs after everything we've been thru this year is amazing!
I want to play Denver. They aren't the same team without K-Mart and they might be missing their head coach as well. I think that final game we have with OKC will be HUGE. If we win we'll have the tie-breaker versus both SA and OKC!
We already have the tie-breaker versus OKC, even if we lose that game. The season series would then be tied, but our conference record is and will still be better. However, that game will likely determine our seed, so your initial premise is still valid.
The top 4 isn't out of reach, until it is mathematically out of reach. Right now those teams in #2 through 4 aren't playing so hot. Utah is probably playing the best out of them. Don't be surprised if one of them skids out to 5 or worse.
I expect Utah to lock up the 2, and Phoenix to get up to the 4 spot, possibly even 3. I don't expect either Denver or Dallas to drop below 5 though.
I don't expect anything either. But when you have lost 5 out of your last 6 (Denver) and have games vs Dallas and Portland coming up, perhaps there is a little bit of destiny involved....
Wrong, when it is two teams in the same division, it goes by division record and OKC has a better record than us within the division (thanks Utah). They still play Utah and Denver, so they can lose those, but if we beat them it won't even matter assuming we do tie in records.
