Game Thread GAME# 74: CLIPPERS@ BLAZERS - APRIL 1, 2015 - WEDNESDAY, 7:00 PM (PST), KGW & NBATV

not sure about that one, the r*ckets are pretty unwatchable with flopping goat hidden dandruff but easily top 2 most annoying teams to watch

 

Well, a win tonight drastically improves our chances of getting HCA, which drastically improves the likelihood of winning one more game in a playoff series, which dramatically improves the likelihood of winning that series.

So, maybe not "must win", but it is the most important game of the regular season, so far. A win for us, and a loss for LAC and also tying the season series at 2-2, all greatly improve our odds of getting HCA over the Clippers if we meet them in the first round. A loss tonight puts us two wins behind the Clippers, who have an incredibly easy remaining schedule, and gives them the season series 3-1. This game tonight has huge implications concerning HCA, which will increase our chances of advancing in the playoffs.

BNM

 

What does it say about my perception of refs that I was surprised by several CORRECT calls Foster made against the Clippers late.

Of course, the Blazers weren't involved, so there's that.

 

Bring back Javie!

 

Actually, I noticed that. He even gave Meyers a favorable call last time he worked a Portland game

 

Javie is the refs version of Steve Kerr. My favorite ref

 

That replay works. I love that the viewers at home and the fans in the arena all get to see the same replays the refs do. It lets the refs call what they see on the floor and then double check it and make sure they get it right - right out in the open where everyone can see the evidence that supports the final decision.

BNM

 

I agree

 

Here's the exact wording for multi-way tie breakers from nba.com:

b. More Than Two Teams Tied

• (1) Division leader wins tie from team not leading a division.
• (2) Better winning percentage in all games among the tied teams.
• (3) Better winning percentage against teams in own division (only if all tied teams are in the same division).
• (4) Better winning percentage against teams in own conference.
• (5) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in own conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position).
• (6) Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents (“point differential”).

c. Guidelines For Applying Tie-Break Criteria.

• (1) (a) Since the three division winners are guaranteed a spot in the top four, ties to determine the division winners must be broken before any other ties.
• (b) When a tie must be broken to determine a division winner, the results of the tie-break shall be used to determine only the division winner and its playoff position, not any other playoff position(s).
• (2) If a tie involves more than two teams, the tie-break criteria in subparagraph b. shall be applied in the order set forth therein until the first to occur of the following:
• (a) Each of the tied teams has a different winning percentage or point differential under the applicable tiebreak criterion (a “complete” breaking of the tie). In this circumstance, the team with the best winning percentage or point differential under the criterion will be awarded the best playoff position, the team with the next-best winning percentage or point differential will be awarded the next-best playoff position, and so on, and no further application of the tie-break criteria will be required. ~OR~
• (b) One or more (but not all) of the tied teams has a different winning percentage or point differential under the applicable tie-break criterion (a “partial” breaking of the tie). In this circumstance: (x) any team(s) that performed better under the applicable criterion than any other team(s) will be awarded a higher playoff position than such other team(s); and (y) teams that had equivalent performance under the applicable criterion will remain tied, and such remaining tie(s) will be broken by applying, from the beginning, the criteria in subparagraph a.(1)-(6) above (for any remaining tie involving only two teams) or subparagraph b.(1)-(5) above (for any remaining tie involving more than two teams) and the guidelines set forth in this subparagraph c.
• (3) If application of the criteria in subparagraph a. or b. does not result in the breaking of a tie, the playoff positions of the tied teams will be determined by a random drawing.

So, as I said, Division winners are guaranteed no worse than 4th seed. So, first you determine the tie breaker for the SW Division crown - but all that does is determine the division winner (not any other playoff positions).

So, then you have two Division winners and three other teams, all tied with the same records. Next you look at winning percentages among all tied teams. So, in theory (I believe - I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong), it would be possible for say MEM to loose the SW Division tie breaker to SAS (this is hypothetical, as I haven't checked the winning percentages to break the 3-way division tie between MEM, HOU and SAS - plus HOU and SAS still play each other twice, so it could change), but still get the 2nd seed if their overall winning percentage is the best among the five tied teams (due to their 4-0 record against us). If that actually happened, MEM would be the second seed, in spite of not winning their division, SAS and POR would be the 3rd and 4th seeds (as Division winners) and HOU and LAC would be 5 and 6.

No wait, that's not right... In a five way tie the two division winners get the 2nd and 3rd spots and the other three get 4 through 6.

Oh fuck it. Let's just win out and take the 2nd seed outright!

BNM

 

In order to win tonight, I think LA has to have a huge game. If I were Stotts, I'd be reminding LaMarcus that the only reason he got to start the All Star game is because Griffin was injured. Looking forward to LA abusing the Blakester tonight.

 

The season series is irrelevant since we will be the division winner and own the tie breaker over the Clippers. I agree its a big game in that it gives both a win to us and a loss to the Clippers. The last games we played against the Spurs and the Rockets were both more important as both those clinched season series tiebreakers which could come into play and gave a loss to teams we may end the year close in the standings with.

If we win and finish tied or 1 game ahead of the Clippers in the final standings this game will have been worth more than a normal game. While that scenario is possible odds are strongly against such an exact outcome so most likely this game is just as important as any other game.

But when there are two losses between the 2-6th seeds and less than 10 games in the season EVERY game is critical. I'd love for us to get the 2nd seed and even the 3rd seed would set us up better for the postseason.

 

This is incorrect, division champs get seeded higher. It says so in bullet point #1 of your quote.

Division champs always get seeded above non division champs.

Entering the 2009 playoffs the Blazers were tied with Denver and San Antonio with 54 wins. Denver won the NW division and the Spurs won the Southwest. Even though we beat the Spurs 3-1 that year, we tied Denver 2-2 and the Spurs lost to Denver 1-2 they were seeded above us since they were division champs. That dropped us down to the 4/5 matchup against a difficult Yao Ming lead Houston team.

 

Getting the #2 seed would give us home court in the second round and an easier first round opponent in Dallas.

But getting up to the #3 seed would be a huge benefit as well. First we would play the team that stumbles the most out of Houston/Lac/SAS/Mem and would appear to be playing the worst. I suspect this may be the Rockets. But there is another benefit; I would not at all be surprised to see the winner of the 4/5 series end up beating Golden State. The west is very evenly matched this year. In that scenario we would have home court advantage in the conference finals.

 

We're going to beat them because we can and we want to!

 

After we crush them we'll give each team member their choice of Blazer bobble heads..Kaman, Blake or Jamal Crawfords