Jostling for position

for Utah, beating Portland improves the odds that the Lakers would be in the other bracket...assuming they are #1 seed....which is another reason to beat Portland. And the same is true for the Suns

for Denver, too many variables at this point to know how they will be seeing things Sunday morning

 

Try to keep up son! #BAM

 

The game against us was very important. The fact that LeBron didn’t play tells me something is really wrong with him.

 

if that's true, it's almost like the Lakers are conceding the 6th seed to Portland/Dallas

 

Vegas still has the Lakers as a 2.5 point favorite tonight and ESPN BPI match up predictor gives the Lakers a 65.9% chance of winning. So I don't think the Lakers are just giving up on this game. The bottom line with them is that I'm sure they think they can beat any team in the league if they are healthy and so they're going to prioritize being healthy when the games that count start above winning now but that doesn't mean they're giving up on winning games now and staying out of the volatility of the play-ins.

 

Nuggets for sure are going to tank that final game I think. Not sure of Jazz. Theyre still in a race for #1

 

Or LeBron’s injury is more serious than they’re letting on. I still don’t get why he didn’t play against us. It was the most important game of their season. A #7 seed, if they’re even able to get that, has never won a championship.

 

Minnesota is playing very well. They may beat Dallas on Sunday.

 

Raptors tanking by starting Trent Jr (2/11 from field).

 

I'm going to enjoy this while it lasts:

 

We are definitely on the right side of the bracket right now.

 

Did Elfrid Payton get hurt? I have been watching this game since late in third and Derrick Rose has not been out of the game.

 

Thibs went with the guy he could trust, I guess. It was pretty awful. Only Rose and Randle were allowed to shoot.

 

OK - do I have this right? Now Denver has edged ahead of the Clippers, we're currently matched up against Denver because we're 6 and they're 3. Great! BUT:
If we beat the Nuggets, they drop to 4 and we face the Clippers (boo) BUT
if we LOSE to the Nuggets, we drop to #7 and have to do the play-in (boo).
So... we're screwed either way?

 

Want Nuggets and Clippers to lose. Will keep the 3-6 Portland/Denver matchup and 4-5 Clippers/Mavs. Clips look like they’re tanking and may hold Leonard and George out of the game vs OKC

 

The problem is, like you said, they play OKC...

 

If Lakers lose next match, we are 6th. We just then need to lose vs Nuggets in order to keep them on 3rd position and play aganist them in PO first round, which is for sure better option than play vs Clippers.

 

This is the goal, and if the Lakers win against Indiana, it all depends on if the Clippers tank will be successful against OKC and of course we gotta beat Denver

 

that's pretty much the situation....UNLESS, Indiana beats the Lakers tomorrow. Then Portland can tank against Denver. But if Lakers win...yikes!!

and, the NBA purposely set up the final day schedule so teams can't game the system:



the three other games that have huge bearing on Portland start at the same time...so the Blazers won't really know the ramifications of a win or a loss