You had them winning 40 games this year, in your defense I don't think you said it was the maximum, you could have meant that was the minimum amount of games they would win.
but Portland would still have to beat one of those teams, assuming they make the 2nd round. I get that people want the Blazers to win a 1st round series. For me, I want them to prove they can beat a good team in the playoffs, not beat a weak team, so I'm not pulling for any perceived favorable match-up. If they get one fine, but beating a weak, flawed, 7 or 8 seed playoff team in the first round doesn't prove anything for a team that has taken 4 years to get there. Just like it didn't prove shit for New Orleans last year...they wilted when they faced a contender
There are no weak teams in the playoffs from the west. Pelicans lost in the second round and lost to the eventual world champions. They didn't wilt. They lost to a better team just like every team that played GS in the playoffs.
Actually there's a school of thought that knocking off the tough matchups early when a team has fresher legs is a good thing...boxers want the contender every match
Now that I'm looking at Houston's schedule, I'm kinda concerned about them. They should lose to Toronto tomorrow, then after that, they may well be favored in all but 3 of their remaining games. We're talking about the Blazers needing to go 15-4 to have a shot at the 2, but they may need to do that well or better just to avoid being passed by Houston.
We have to make up 2 games outsides of sweeping Denver. With their schedule and how they're playing lately compared to our schedule and how we're playing, it's definitely possible.
We should be favored in all but 2 though. The only games we shouldn't be favored in is (according to BPI) @ SAS @ DEN
The way the Pistons are playing, they shouldn't really be favored @ DET (BPI notwithstanding), and I certainly wouldn't bet on them to beat the Thunder on Thursday.
We beat Boston, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn on the road and lost off a game winner at Toronto. So I definitely disagree with that. OKC has the same record as us. We were still competitive in losses to them and we have a better roster and are playing better than when we faced them earlier. So yes, we should be favored.
We should just focus on the next game for now. However, I would like to see a rematch of Rockets vs Thunder and Harden scoring 80 points in OKC ... wouldn't that be fun?
