Getting home court advantage in the first round

I thought the division winner only trumps for a guaranteed 4th spot?

 

Houston @ Toronto on a back to back tonight! I know for a fact after TNT game and going thru customs, they didn't get to their hotel til 3AM last night! Go Raptors!!!

 

After Houston's loss tonight to Toronto, Blazers are only one game behind them in the standings. Houston plays 8 more times and Blazers play 6 more times. Here are their schedules

Houston:

vs. Thunder
vs. Nuggets
@ Lakers
@ Nuggets
@ Timberwolves
vs. Pelicans
vs. Spurs
@ Pelicans

Portland:

vs. Suns
vs. Pelicans
vs. Kings
@ Jazz
vs. Warriors
vs. Clippers

If Houston loses on Friday and we win on Friday, we will be in a virtual tie, but the Rockets have the tiebreaker. The most wins we can end up with is 55, and would require us to go 6-0 the rest of the way. The Rockets would have to go 5-3 which would put them at 54 wins, and give us HCA. Looking at the Rockets schedule, that seems pretty unlikely. The only two teams left that are difficult are against the Thunder and the Spurs, and both are at home. However, if Howard is out for an extended period of time, I suppose it's possible.

I'd say the chances of us getting HCA is pretty slim, but it doesn't really matter. As long as the Blazers take care of business in these last 6 games, they should roll into the playoffs with enough confidence to beat any team, HCA or not. We've seen what this team can do when they've got their mojo.

 

We're talking about tiebreakers. If we're tied with Clips, they have tiebreaker because they won division.

 

I see Spurs, OKC, and Wolves being losses for Rockets. Lakers and Nuggets on road aren't a given. Lakers destroyed Suns recently.

 

This

 

Home court advantage takes a backseat to how they're playing and doing healthwise entering the playoffs. I think they've a superior team if everyone is near the top of their game and they're clicking. Once their position is more or less sewn up and they're coming down the last few games, I definitely support resting/sitting out key players at the possible expense of a better record. Take a page from Pop & focus on the prize.

STOMP

 

Repped.

 

The SA game worries me. It is at Houston and it is the second to last game of the reg season for the Spurs. We need OKC to be closer to the Spurs than 3 games on that date.

Root for OKC tomorrow.

 

Why? Spurs win whether their starters are in or not. Whether they care or not.

 

Um Pop has his guys playing and they've won 19 straight. We need momentum heading into the playoffs. You don't blow a chance at HCA when you haven't won a series in 14 years. Aldridge had his rest. We're ready to go now.

 

Yeah are probably right, but in a must win for Houston, in Houston........I an not counting on it. I still would prefer the game mean something to SA. I hate OKC, but I think I will root for them tonight over the Spurs.