The nice thing about having a tough schedule to finish the year is that the Blazers control their destiny. Every W we get also gives an L to a ‘tougher’ team. To be the best, you have to beat the best. Bring ‘em on!
Actually I don’t think we control our own destiny regardless of the SOS. This will come down to the last night of the season and there will be 50 different scenarios.
What? “Great News”? It’s a strained patella tendon...... you new to following this team? Anytime the words patella tendon are put out there, that is not “great news”.
Controlling your own destiny in this situation is for the 3rd seed. If the Blazers win out they would be guaranteed to have the 3rd seed so yes they do control their own destiny. You can say that's stupid and won't happen but that is a different argument than saying they don't control it.
Sorry Washed Up Vet, it's not my fault you can't comprehend the meaning of controlling your own destiny.
Yep, with so many teams in the mix, it's logical that they are all playing each other a lot between now and the end of the season. Right now, there are five teams between 3 - 7 in the West that are all within one game of each other (and that doesn't even count DEN, LAC and UTA who are still in the mix for the playoffs). All of these head to head games are triply important. A win for you is a loss for someone you are fighting with for playoff seeding and also gives you a leg up on the first tie breaker. I checked all the major playoff projection sites this morning and all have either 4 or 5 teams in the West finishing with 46 or 47 wins. That means the tie breakers are vitally important this year. Owning the tie breaker could mean the difference between HCA and facing GSW or HOU in the first round. Last year, there were three 2-way ties in the East and one 2-way tie in the West. In 2015-16, there was a 4-way tie (all of MIA, ATL, BOS and CHO finished with identical 48-34 records) for the 3rd - 6th seeds in the East. So, a 4-way tie isn't unprecedented. Has there ever been a 5-way tie for playoff seeding in the NBA? BTW, in that 4-way tie in the East, MIA and ATL ended up coming out on top in the tie breakers and got HCA against CHO and BOS in the first round. In both of those series, the team with HCA won the series (MIA in 78 game over CHO and ATL in 6 games over BOS). Yep, it's going to be a real dog fight in the West and every game matters - a lot. BNM
Wonder how far down the list of tie breakers they will have to go. I don’t even know what they are past the 2nd or 3rd.
Things to consider... Spurs... The Leonard saga, something isn't going right there. How long til he comes back and where will they sit when he does? The rest of the team is pretty old. Minnesota... Butler is going to be out for a while, how far do they slip in the meantime. Realistically Porltand and New Orleans are positioning themselves to be 3/4.
From nba.com: a. Two Teams Tied (1) Better winning percentage in games against each other (2) Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division). (3) Better winning percentage against teams in own division (only if tied teams are in 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 winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in opposite conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position). (7) Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents (“point differential”). b. More Than Two Teams Tied (1) Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same 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 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) 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 not for any other purpose. (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 tie-break 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. BNM
