CelticsStrong
Celtics Basketball => Celtics Talk => Topic started by: jpotter33 on March 21, 2016, 10:55:57 PM
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I apologize if there's another thread out there like this already, but it looked like most of them dealt mainly with out draft picks rather than seeding.
The C's are in a dogfight with Charlotte, Atlanta, and Miami for the 3-6 spot in the East. After beating Orlando tonight and with Washington beating Atlanta, here are the current standings:
1) Cleveland 50-20
2) Toronto 48-21
3) Miami 40-29
4) Atlanta 41-30
5) Boston 41-30
6) Charlotte 40-30
7) Indiana 37-33
8 ) Detroit 37-34
9) Chicago 35-33
Some important notes:
1) Atlanta currently owns the tiebreaker against us, but we have a chance to tie the season series against them on this upcoming road trip.
2) We own the tiebreakers against both Miami and Charlotte, so they must have an outright better record than us to get the higher seed, unless it's a three-team tie, which has other standards for breaking the tie.
3) We play each of these three teams once more before the season ends (@ Atlanta, vs Charlotte, vs Miami), so we control our own destiny when it comes to seeding.
Here's the remaining schedule for each team:
Boston -
3/23 vs Toronto
3/26 @ Phoenix
3/28 @ Los Angeles Clippers
3/31 @ Portland
4/01 @ Golden State
4/03 @ Los Angeles Lakers
4/06 vs New Orleans
4/08 vs Milwaukee
4/09 @ Atlanta
4/11 vs Charlotte
4/13 vs Miami
Best case scenario - 9-2 (50-32)
Likely scenario - 7-4 or 6-5 (48-34 or 47-35)
Miami -
3/22 @ New Orleans
3/23 @ San Antonio
3/25 vs Orlando
3/28 vs Brooklyn
3/30 @ Los Angeles Lakers
4/01 @ Sacramento
4/02 @ Portland
4/05 vs Detroit
4/07 vs Chicago
4/08 @ Orlando
4/10 vs Orlando
4/12 @ Detroit
4/13 @ Boston
Best case scenario: 11-2 (51-31)
Likely scenario: 9-4 or 8-5 or 7-6 (49-33 or 48-34 or 47-35)
Atlanta -
3/23 @ Washington
3/25 vs Milwaukee
3/26 @ Detroit
3/28 @ Chicago
3/30 @ Toronto
4/01 vs Cleveland
4/05 vs Phoenix
4/07 vs Toronto
4/09 vs Boston
4/11 @ Cleveland
4/13 @ Washington
Best case scenario: 7-4 (48-34)
Likely scenario: 6-5 or 5-6 (47-35 or 46-36)
Charlotte -
3/22 @ Brooklyn
3/25 @ Detroit
3/26 @ Milwaukee
3/29 @ Philadelphia
4/01 vs Philadelphia
4/03 @ Cleveland
4/05 @ Toronto
4/06 @ New York
4/08 vs Brooklyn
4/10 @ Washington
4/11 @ Boston
4/13 vs Orlando
Best case scenario: 9-3 (49-33)
Likely scenario: 8-4 or 7-5 (48-34 or 47-35)
So how is everyone feeling about our chances of both A) getting back to the three spot, and B) having homecourt advantage in the first round? I think it will ultimately depend upon how healthy we stay and when Crowder comes back, but I think we can definitely still have home court advantage in the playoffs, even making it up to the three spot if Miami struggles with their playoff opponents that remain.
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Looking at the schedules I think it will come down between the C's and Heat. Those two are just the more consistent of the four teams. I think it will take at least 48 wins to get the 3 seed. It's going to be close and may in fact come down to that last game of the season.
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The 538 model is predicting a 4 way tie at 47 wins between the Heat, Hornets, Celts, and Hawks. They're also forecasting a 3 way tie for the 8th spot between the Wizards, Bulls and Pistons.
Looks like we're in for a wild finish!
http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-nba-picks/
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I don't want Indiana Atlanta Cleveland or Toronto in round 1. I'll take whatever seed gets us away from them.
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The 538 model is predicting a 4 way tie at 47 wins between the Heat, Hornets, Celts, and Hawks. They're also forecasting a 3 way tie for the 8th spot between the Wizards, Bulls and Pistons.
Looks like we're in for a wild finish!
http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-nba-picks/
Well, that would screw us for getting the third seed, because division leader is the first criteria for a tiebreaker in that situation, I believe. However, I think we'd be good for fourth, because we're 5-2 versus the other three teams that we're tied with. It's going to be an interesting home stretch, that's for sure!
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TP for the analysis, but just curious how you have Miami's best case scenario as 10-3 while likely doing as poorly as 7-6. The only game that looks like a definite loss is at San Antonio. I think they clearly have the easiest remaining schedule out of these teams.
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TP for the analysis, but just curious how you have Miami's best case scenario as 10-3 while likely doing as poorly as 7-6. The only game that looks like a definite loss is at San Antonio. I think they clearly have the easiest remaining schedule out of these teams.
Well, I put that there for two reasons. First, it's not a foregone conclusion that they won't be resting guys down the stretch. Both Wade and Deng have serious miles on their legs, so even fighting for this spot, they still might rest one or both of them a game or two, among others.
Second, they're 0-4 against us and Detroit, who they play three times in this stretch. Combining that with the San Antonio game, three Magic games (Magic will win one of them), a game in Portland, a game in New Orleans, and a late-season game against a Bulls team who is fighting for their playoff life, and it's not crazy to think that they can lose six games in this stretch. Further, they play Brooklyn once in that span, too, who they've lost to once this year already. Finally, 8 of their final 13 games are on the road, so it's not as crazy as you might think.
I mean, I definitely probably could have said that their best case scenario was better, such as 11-2. But I fully expect some rest games for Deng and Wade in there, so you never know.
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TP for the analysis, but just curious how you have Miami's best case scenario as 10-3 while likely doing as poorly as 7-6. The only game that looks like a definite loss is at San Antonio. I think they clearly have the easiest remaining schedule out of these teams.
Well, I put that there for two reasons. First, it's not a foregone conclusion that they won't be resting guys down the stretch. Both Wade and Deng have serious miles on their legs, so even fighting for this spot, they still might rest one or both of them a game or two, among others.
Second, they're 0-4 against us and Detroit, who they play three times in this stretch. Combining that with the San Antonio game, three Magic games (Magic will win one of them), a game in Portland, a game in New Orleans, and a late-season game against a Bulls team who is fighting for their playoff life, and it's not crazy to think that they can lose six games in this stretch. Further, they play Brooklyn once in that span, too, who they've lost to once this year already. Finally, 8 of their final 13 games are on the road, so it's not as crazy as you might think.
I mean, I definitely probably could have said that their best case scenario was better, such as 11-2. But I fully expect some rest games for Deng and Wade in there, so you never know.
Im not sure they will rest guys but I think for really veteran teams like Miami (Wade-Bosh-Deng have an absurd amount of playoff experience) home court is not nearly as important as it is for a younger team like Boston or Charlotte.
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I think of all the team's Charlotte has the easiest road from here on out, and last nights comeback win vs. San Antonio definitely helped fuel the fire. I had the game on NBA TV and was really hoping the Spurs would squeak it out.
A west coast trip to end the season for us is far from ideal, it's going to take a lot out of us to close out the season.. not to mention playing Toronto going into it is no small task. Miami also has to go to the West Coast but their trip is a tad easier IMO.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say Charlotte finishes 3rd, Miami 4th, Boston 5th, Atlanta 6th.
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Great thread. It'll be fun to see how it plays out. 2 losses to the Nets and 1 to the Lakers this year really are coming back to bite us :(
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Well done post, jpotter.
As long as they don't fall into a 4/5 matchup with ATL, I'm fine if they're 3 or 6. Obviously, home court would be nice but I'd rather try & deal with MIA than a series with the Hawks which I think would be a real, grind it out series. Then, on top of that, you'd have to face CLE in the next round.
Fine with playing MIA or CHA, though.
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Toronto is tough.
On the road in Portland, LA(C) and Golden State will be very difficult.
On the road in Atlanta right at the end of the season where seeding will probably still be important for both teams will be tough also.
Charlotte and Miami are tough opponents right now, but the Celts will get to face them at home.
Phoenix, LA, New Orleans, Milwaukee (at home) should be easy wins.
I don't know, man. Winning more than 5 of those matchups will be a challenge, unless some of these playoff teams end up resting guys despite the tight standings.
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Well done post, jpotter.
As long as they don't fall into a 4/5 matchup with ATL, I'm fine if they're 3 or 6. Obviously, home court would be nice but I'd rather try & deal with MIA than a series with the Hawks which I think would be a real, grind it out series. Then, on top of that, you'd have to face CLE in the next round.
Fine with playing MIA or CHA, though.
Oh, for sure. I think we matchup extremely well with Miami and Charlotte, even though I think Miami would be Cleveland's biggest threat outside of Toronto. An ideal playoff seeding would be Charlotte versus Boston in 3/6 or 6/3 and Miami versus Atlanta in 4/5 or 5/4, where hopefully Miami could take Atlanta and then give Cleveland everything they have in the 2nd round.
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Charlotte doesn't scare me that much in terms of their personnel, but they have a top 5 record since the All-Star break. They've been excellent.
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Charlotte doesn't scare me that much in terms of their personnel, but they have a top 5 record since the All-Star break. They've been excellent.
I absolutely hate their game. They play like the Warriors without the personnel to effectively play like that. We have success against them because of our outstanding perimeter defense and our ability to really guard the three point line. I think we'd pretty easily run through Charlotte.
Similarly, we're also a great matchup for the Heat due to our perimeter D that can contain much of their guard play/scoring. They also have absolutely no answer to IT defensively, which is always a measure of success for us (see last year's playoffs with Shumpert on IT).
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C'mon NOLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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OT for Heat at Lakers game.
This would be a huge loss for Miami in the home-court-advantage chase.
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Well, after five minutes of overtime with absolutely 0 defense played on either side, the Lakers beat the Heat at home. So as of March 31st, here are the current standings:
1) Cleveland 52-22
2) Toronto 50-24
3) Atlanta 45-31
4) Boston 43-31
5) Charlotte 43-31
6) Miami 43-31
7) Detroit 40-35
8 ) Indiana 39-35
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Well, after five minutes of overtime with absolutely 0 defense played on either side, the Lakers beat the Heat at home. So as of March 31st, here are the current standings:
1) Cleveland 52-22
2) Toronto 50-24
3) Atlanta 45-31
4) Boston 43-31
5) Charlotte 43-31
6) Miami 43-31
7) Detroit 40-35
8 ) Indiana 39-35
wow really no margin of error down the stretch. With GS coming up, Portland becomes almost a must-win.
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Getting back the third spot will not be easy. In the case of a 4-way we won't have the advantage because it goes to the division winner. (The other teams play all in the same division, so by definition one will be the division winner.) And our programme is not easy (Portland, GSW).
Charlotte seems to have the best programme (Philly, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Orlando).
Having said this, we play Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami at the end, so in a way we hold our destiny in our hands.
Personally, I would rather have the 6th rather than the 4th or 5th spot, but from what I remember from last season, CBS is not into this kind of tricks.
PS: I am writing this on the 31th of March so several of games mentioned in the first post have already been played.
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Getting back the third spot will not be easy. In the case of a 4-way we won't have the advantage because it goes to the division winner. (The other teams play all in the same division, so by definition one will be the division winner.) And our programme is not easy (Portland, GSW).
Charlotte seems to have the best programme (Philly, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Orlando).
Having said this, we play Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami at the end, so in a way we hold our destiny in our hands.
Personally, I would rather have the 6th rather than the 4th or 5th spot, but from what I remember from last season, CBS is not into this kind of tricks.
PS: I am writing this on the 31th of March so several of games mentioned in the first post have already been played.
If the Hawks had the third spot, though, then sixth wouldn't be ideal, because they're not a very good matchup for us. I'm pretty confident in playing either Charlotte or Miami, because we matchup well with them and have swept both of them so far this year. Atlanta has a tough schedule the rest of the way, though, with two against Cleveland and one each against us, Toronto, Washington, and Phoenix. It's going to be a very, very fluid next couple of weeks, and I think it will go down until the very last day of the season before 3-6 is settled, which coincidentally is the day we play Miami in the last game of the regular season. There will be huge ramifications for that game in Boston.
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Getting back the third spot will not be easy. In the case of a 4-way we won't have the advantage because it goes to the division winner. (The other teams play all in the same division, so by definition one will be the division winner.) And our programme is not easy (Portland, GSW).
Charlotte seems to have the best programme (Philly, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Orlando).
Having said this, we play Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami at the end, so in a way we hold our destiny in our hands.
Personally, I would rather have the 6th rather than the 4th or 5th spot, but from what I remember from last season, CBS is not into this kind of tricks.
PS: I am writing this on the 31th of March so several of games mentioned in the first post have already been played.
If the Hawks had the third spot, though, then sixth wouldn't be ideal, because they're not a very good matchup for us. I'm pretty confident in playing either Charlotte or Miami, because we matchup well with them and have swept both of them so far this year. Atlanta has a tough schedule the rest of the way, though, with two against Cleveland and one each against us, Toronto, Washington, and Phoenix. It's going to be a very, very fluid next couple of weeks, and I think it will go down until the very last day of the season before 3-6 is settled, which coincidentally is the day we play Miami in the last game of the regular season. There will be huge ramifications for that game in Boston.
Its an interesting dilemma. If you are really optimistic then you are only worried about Cleveland and just want to avoid them till the ECF. Thus you probably want the 3 or 6 seed.
However, Atlanta and Toronto (and Indiana fwiw) have been really tough matchups for us so a more pessimistic viewer would want to secure an easy first round match up. this would mean pushing for the not hawks wherever that may be. Then accepting that round 2 is probably where you meet your demise.
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Getting back the third spot will not be easy. In the case of a 4-way we won't have the advantage because it goes to the division winner. (The other teams play all in the same division, so by definition one will be the division winner.) And our programme is not easy (Portland, GSW).
Charlotte seems to have the best programme (Philly, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Orlando).
Having said this, we play Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami at the end, so in a way we hold our destiny in our hands.
Personally, I would rather have the 6th rather than the 4th or 5th spot, but from what I remember from last season, CBS is not into this kind of tricks.
PS: I am writing this on the 31th of March so several of games mentioned in the first post have already been played.
If the Hawks had the third spot, though, then sixth wouldn't be ideal, because they're not a very good matchup for us. I'm pretty confident in playing either Charlotte or Miami, because we matchup well with them and have swept both of them so far this year. Atlanta has a tough schedule the rest of the way, though, with two against Cleveland and one each against us, Toronto, Washington, and Phoenix. It's going to be a very, very fluid next couple of weeks, and I think it will go down until the very last day of the season before 3-6 is settled, which coincidentally is the day we play Miami in the last game of the regular season. There will be huge ramifications for that game in Boston.
True, but Miami won't be ideal either IMO. The best one will be Charlotte, but again, I doubt CBS will go down the road of manipulating results to get us the 'best' opponent. Just imagine we lose a couple of games on purpose and then get disqualified in the first round...
IMO the most likely result is 4th seed. We are unlikely to catch up with Atlanta and even if we do, they are likely to be their division's winner.
On the other hand, unless CHA or MIA win the division we hold the tie breakers; much depends on winning these two games against them.
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does the tech cousins got last night with 6 seconds left (resulting in his 16th of the year and missing 1 game..unfortunately his next game is tomorrow against Miami) get reviewed before the game is played or is there a chance he will play that one and then miss the following ?
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Will come down to last 3 games and hth -
Hopefully crowder back strong - otherwise celts not looking good for 3seed
I don't want Mia or Indy 1st round - unless home court
Might be ok with 6seed vs atl
Celts need to over-achieve either way to make 2nd round
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does the tech cousins got last night with 6 seconds left (resulting in his 16th of the year and missing 1 game..unfortunately his next game is tomorrow against Miami) get reviewed before the game is played or is there a chance he will play that one and then miss the following ?
It will be reviewed, but if it holds he misses the game against Miami.
It would be nice if the mods stickied an official seeding thread.
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I don't know if you guys saw this, but technically we still can't lock up a playoff spot tonight if we win and Chicago loses. There's a very rare possibility of the Pacers and the Bulls and us all tying and in that scenario we would lose out bc of tiebreakers.
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does the tech cousins got last night with 6 seconds left (resulting in his 16th of the year and missing 1 game..unfortunately his next game is tomorrow against Miami) get reviewed before the game is played or is there a chance he will play that one and then miss the following ?
It will be reviewed, but if it holds he misses the game against Miami.
It would be nice if the mods stickied an official seeding thread.
second that... i made one of these a few months back and asked it to be stickied and it never was. I eventually couldn't keep up with it and it became a big investment to dig it up when i was busy for a few days. Glad to see people finally caring about this.
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does the tech cousins got last night with 6 seconds left (resulting in his 16th of the year and missing 1 game..unfortunately his next game is tomorrow against Miami) get reviewed before the game is played or is there a chance he will play that one and then miss the following ?
It will be reviewed, but if it holds he misses the game against Miami.
It would be nice if the mods stickied an official seeding thread.
second that... i made one of these a few months back and asked it to be stickied and it never was. I eventually couldn't keep up with it and it became a big investment to dig it up when i was busy for a few days. Glad to see people finally caring about this.
Consider it stickied now.
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does the tech cousins got last night with 6 seconds left (resulting in his 16th of the year and missing 1 game..unfortunately his next game is tomorrow against Miami) get reviewed before the game is played or is there a chance he will play that one and then miss the following ?
It will be reviewed, but if it holds he misses the game against Miami.
It would be nice if the mods stickied an official seeding thread.
second that... i made one of these a few months back and asked it to be stickied and it never was. I eventually couldn't keep up with it and it became a big investment to dig it up when i was busy for a few days. Glad to see people finally caring about this.
Consider it stickied now.
Thank you. This is great. By the end of the night we could be alone in 4th and tied for 3rd if the Hawks lose against Cleveland tomorrow. We were discussing this in a separate thread but the Hawks have a brutal end of season schedule.
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Looking like we could finish up at 4 and 4 for the season due to injury. Man is Crowder valuable to this team. We are simply exposed without him in the lineup.
I am hoping we end up being a 4 or 5 seed because that gives us Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte or long shot Detroit in the first round. We should have a healthy Jae Crowder back and that gives us an excellent chance at a first round victory against those 4 teams.
If we slide or luck isnt with us we draw Toronto and that is a likely first round exit regardless. They have had our number this year and I dont see it changing for the playoffs.
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Looking like we could finish up at 4 and 4 for the season due to injury. Man is Crowder valuable to this team. We are simply exposed without him in the lineup.
I am hoping we end up being a 4 or 5 seed because that gives us Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte or long shot Detroit in the first round. We should have a healthy Jae Crowder back and that gives us an excellent chance at a first round victory against those 4 teams.
If we slide or luck isnt with us we draw Toronto and that is a likely first round exit regardless. They have had our number this year and I dont see it changing for the playoffs.
It really seems pretty unlikely (almost impossible) we will play Toronto in the first round. We are 4 games up on Detroit (the current 7th season) in the loss column and they have a pretty brutal end of season schedule with 4 road games and every team they play fighting for the playoffs (although wizards are pretty much done)
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With Jae only going to play tonight and probably not tomorrow, we really need a win tonight to stay in the home court advantage race. Somehow I saw that Portland is like 3 point favorites for this game. I don't see it. I think we matchup well with them and should take this game.
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Well, after some horrible officiating and our starting guards blowing the Trailblazers game for us with stupid, forced play at the end of the game, we're now solely in the sixth spot of the East:
1) Cleveland 53-22
2) Toronto 50-24
3) Atlanta 45-31
4) Charlotte 43-31
5) Miami 43-31
6) Boston 43-32
7) Detroit 40-35
8 ) Indiana 39-36
Between that loss and a probable loss to the Warriors tomorrow night, we're probably now out of the running for the number three seed and possibly even home court advantage, especially given the easier schedules for Miami and Charlotte coming up.
To me, it now becomes about positioning. Do what you can to avoid Atlanta in the first round is priority number one, and priority number two would be to try and avoid facing Cleveland in the second round.
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Yay draft pick positioning.
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Well, after some horrible officiating and our starting guards blowing the Trailblazers game for us with stupid, forced play at the end of the game, we're now solely in the sixth spot of the East:
1) Cleveland 53-22
2) Toronto 50-24
3) Atlanta 45-31
4) Charlotte 43-31
5) Miami 43-31
6) Boston 43-32
7) Detroit 40-35
8 ) Indiana 39-36
Between that loss and a probable loss to the Warriors tomorrow night, we're probably now out of the running for the number three seed and possibly even home court advantage, especially given the easier schedules for Miami and Charlotte coming up.
To me, it now becomes about positioning. Do what you can to avoid Atlanta in the first round is priority number one, and priority number two would be to try and avoid facing Cleveland in the second round.
Don't talk about round 2. Talk about how the Celtics are going to survive a 7-game series with whoever they face in the first-round.
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thanks for sticking this Donoghus
we are 6th seed now, and have a difficult schedule ahead
it would not bother me one bit if we stayed sixth
at any rate, we can play the rest of the season with very little stress
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Well, after some horrible officiating and our starting guards blowing the Trailblazers game for us with stupid, forced play at the end of the game, we're now solely in the sixth spot of the East:
1) Cleveland 53-22
2) Toronto 50-24
3) Atlanta 45-31
4) Charlotte 43-31
5) Miami 43-31
6) Boston 43-32
7) Detroit 40-35
8 ) Indiana 39-36
Between that loss and a probable loss to the Warriors tomorrow night, we're probably now out of the running for the number three seed and possibly even home court advantage, especially given the easier schedules for Miami and Charlotte coming up.
To me, it now becomes about positioning. Do what you can to avoid Atlanta in the first round is priority number one, and priority number two would be to try and avoid facing Cleveland in the second round.
Don't talk about round 2. Talk about how the Celtics are going to survive a 7-game series with whoever they face in the first-round.
Well, they're 4-0 against Miami and Charlotte, and they matchup very well with both of them. I'm not really concerned about playing either of them in the playoffs. We're also stumbling right now, but it's no coincidence that we've had major injury issues during this time, too.
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thanks for sticking this Donoghus
we are 6th seed now, and have a difficult schedule ahead
it would not bother me one bit if we stayed sixth
at any rate, we can play the rest of the season with very little stress
I'm only wanting sixth if Miami or Charlotte make it up to third, which is possible given Atlanta's really tough schedule the rest of the way.
The perfect positioning would be Charlotte third, Miami fourth, Atlanta fifth, and Boston sixth, because if Miami beats Atlanta, they have a decent chance of knocking off Cleveland in the second round. I also think we win pretty handily against Charlotte in the first round, too.
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Well, after some horrible officiating and our starting guards blowing the Trailblazers game for us with stupid, forced play at the end of the game, we're now solely in the sixth spot of the East:
1) Cleveland 53-22
2) Toronto 50-24
3) Atlanta 45-31
4) Charlotte 43-31
5) Miami 43-31
6) Boston 43-32
7) Detroit 40-35
8 ) Indiana 39-36
Between that loss and a probable loss to the Warriors tomorrow night, we're probably now out of the running for the number three seed and possibly even home court advantage, especially given the easier schedules for Miami and Charlotte coming up.
To me, it now becomes about positioning. Do what you can to avoid Atlanta in the first round is priority number one, and priority number two would be to try and avoid facing Cleveland in the second round.
Don't talk about round 2. Talk about how the Celtics are going to survive a 7-game series with whoever they face in the first-round.
Well, they're 4-0 against Miami and Charlotte, and they matchup very well with both of them. I'm not really concerned about playing either of them in the playoffs. We're also stumbling right now, but it's no coincidence that we've had major injury issues during this time, too.
Agreed. Avoid Atlanta at all costs. I'm hoping for Miami or Charlotte please. We can win a series against them
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Wade (neck) out vs kings.
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Wade (neck) out vs kings.
Oh wow, that's big, especially because that looked like a certain win for Miami with Boogie being suspended.
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Well, a lot is going to depend upon the result of this Cavs/Hawks game. If they win against Cleveland tonight, the number three seed is all but wrapped up for them out of our grasp. We won't want the number 6 seed then.
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Well, a lot is going to depend upon the result of this Cavs/Hawks game. If they win against Cleveland tonight, the number three seed is all but wrapped up for them out of our grasp. We won't want the number 6 seed then.
TP, completely agree. If the Hawks are the 3 seed I want no part of the 6 seed.
Trying to avoid the Cavs in the second round does no good if we can't get out of the first round.
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Lebron is pretty bad at clutch time for as good as he is.
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If the Cavs lock up the top seed, I wouldn't want to be in 4-5 seed matchup with the Heat, the leagues money men would be doing anything in their power to ensure a Lebron-Heat round two playoff series, the officiating could reach embarrassing levels. >:(
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Looks like Miami Heat destroying the Sac-town Kings.
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I'll GLADLY play Charlotte in the first round with them having home-court advantage. Upset city!
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miami only up 5
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2-point game between Miami and Sactown! Wow!
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Well with the huge win against GS, I think the 3 seed is back in play. We gotta win the ones we should, against LA, NO, and Milwaukee. Then got to take 2 out of 3 against Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte. I think 49 wins gets us there.
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Well with the huge win against GS, I think the 3 seed is back in play. We gotta win the ones we should, against LA, NO, and Milwaukee. Then got to take 2 out of 3 against Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte. I think 49 wins gets us there.
I think the game vs the Hawks is a must win. we hold the tiebreak against both heat and hornets, so as long as the loss is against 1 of them I think we're fine. better to win all of them though and end all probabilities. that'll keep us at 32 losses, 33 for the hawks who holds the tiebreak over us, 32 for the heat and hornets who we hold tiebreak over even if all three teams win all of their remaining games except the ones against us.
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Miami Heat (44-31)
@ Blazers
vs Pistons
vs Bulls
@ Magic
vs Magic
@ Pistons
@ Celtics
Charlotte Hornets (44-31)
@ Cavaliers
@ Raptors
@ Knicks
vs Nets
@ Wizards
@ Celtics
vs Magic
Atlanta Hawks (45-32)
vs Suns
vs Raptors
vs Celtics
@ Cavaliers
@ Wizards
Celtics (44-32)
@ Lakers
vs Pelicans
vs Bucks
@ Hawks
vs Hornets
vs Heat
Apparently depending on how we do in our final 3 games, we could end up anywhere between the 3rd and the 6th spot, however I am confident that the C's will end up above both Miami and Charlotte even if we lose to them, since they have a tougher schedule overall and I cannot see us losing both games against them at Boston.
Our main competitor for the 3rd seed is Atlanta and I do not see them losing any other game. In other words we would probably have to win all our remaining games if we want to hope for that 3rd spot to avoid a 2nd round matchup with the Cavs (going undefeated guarantees the 3rd seed anyway) which is highly improbable imho, but I don't see us go lower than 4th either.
My prediction is that we go 48-34 and get the 4th seed, facing the Heat in the 1st round of the playoffs. :)
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Miami Heat (44-31)
@ Blazers
vs Pistons
vs Bulls
@ Magic
vs Magic
@ Pistons
@ Celtics
Charlotte Hornets (44-31)
@ Cavaliers
@ Raptors
@ Knicks
vs Nets
@ Wizards
@ Celtics
vs Magic
Atlanta Hawks (45-32)
vs Suns
vs Raptors
vs Celtics
@ Cavaliers
@ Wizards
Celtics (44-32)
@ Lakers
vs Pelicans
vs Bucks
@ Hawks
vs Hornets
vs Heat
Apparently depending on how we do in our final 3 games, we could end up anywhere between the 3rd and the 6th spot, however I am confident that the C's will end up above both Miami and Charlotte even if we lose to them, since they have a tougher schedule overall and I cannot see us losing both games against them at Boston.
Our main competitor for the 3rd seed is Atlanta and I do not see them losing any other game. In other words we would probably have to win all our remaining games if we want to hope for that 3rd spot to avoid a 2nd round matchup with the Cavs (going undefeated guarantees the 3rd seed anyway) which is highly improbable imho, but I don't see us go lower than 4th either.
My prediction is that we go 48-34 and get the 4th seed, facing the Heat in the 1st round of the playoffs. :)
Thanks for posting this. I forgot to update it last night.
I disagree about the Hawks. They actually have a pretty rough schedule, and I think they lose two of the games versus Toronto, Cleveland, and us. If Washington is still fighting for the playoffs, then they won't be an easy out, either (they just lost to them a week or so ago).
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Good news for the seedings: Miami is down 17 to Portland at halftime. With the tiebreakers that they have already lost, I don't see them having home-court at all if they lose tonight. They play the Pistons twice (0-2 vs them this season), a Bulls team fighting for the playoffs, twice against the Magic (who sometimes like to show up an play excellent ball), and against us the last game of the season (0-2 vs us this season). There's no way that they're not losing at least two of those games the rest of the way.
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Well, after last night's win in Golden State and tonight's Miami loss to Portland, here are the current standings:
1) Cleveland 54-22
2) Toronto 51-25
3) Charlotte 44-31
4) Atlanta 45-32
5) Boston 44-32
6) Miami 44-32
7) Detroit 41-36
8 ) Indiana 40-36
This is pretty much the worst case scenario for us right now - facing Atlanta in the first round and a date with Cleveland in the second round. But don't expect it to stay like this, because we probably have the easiest remaining schedule of the four teams with Atlanta and Miami having tough schedules and Charlotte having a schedule about like ours, though we own the tiebreaker with them.
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So if Boston beats LA tomorrow, Boston clinches a playoff spot right
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No Irving tonight against Charlotte. Cleveland will probably win anyway, but they also might not.
I'm curious if Brad will ever start resting players. The team is so deep that no one plays a lot of minutes, but who knows.
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No Irving tonight against Charlotte. Cleveland will probably win anyway, but they also might not.
I'm curious if Brad will ever start resting players. The team is so deep that no one plays a lot of minutes, but who knows.
I think Cleveland is better without Kyrie. That means more Lebron handling and distributing the ball and less nonexistent defense from Kyrie.
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Miami Heat (44-31)
@ Blazers
vs Pistons
vs Bulls
@ Magic
vs Magic
@ Pistons
@ Celtics
Charlotte Hornets (44-31)
@ Cavaliers
@ Raptors
@ Knicks
vs Nets
@ Wizards
@ Celtics
vs Magic
Atlanta Hawks (45-32)
vs Suns
vs Raptors
vs Celtics
@ Cavaliers
@ Wizards
Celtics (44-32)
@ Lakers
vs Pelicans
vs Bucks
@ Hawks
vs Hornets
vs Heat
Apparently depending on how we do in our final 3 games, we could end up anywhere between the 3rd and the 6th spot, however I am confident that the C's will end up above both Miami and Charlotte even if we lose to them, since they have a tougher schedule overall and I cannot see us losing both games against them at Boston.
Our main competitor for the 3rd seed is Atlanta and I do not see them losing any other game. In other words we would probably have to win all our remaining games if we want to hope for that 3rd spot to avoid a 2nd round matchup with the Cavs (going undefeated guarantees the 3rd seed anyway) which is highly improbable imho, but I don't see us go lower than 4th either.
My prediction is that we go 48-34 and get the 4th seed, facing the Heat in the 1st round of the playoffs. :)
Thanks for posting this. I forgot to update it last night.
I disagree about the Hawks. They actually have a pretty rough schedule, and I think they lose two of the games versus Toronto, Cleveland, and us. If Washington is still fighting for the playoffs, then they won't be an easy out, either (they just lost to them a week or so ago).
I think the Hawks' schedule will turn out to be much easier than it seems, as I see both Cleveland and Toronto resting their starters since they got their seeds locked up (it might be too early for the Raptors game, but I am 100% sure that the Cavs will rest their Big 3, just like they did against us last year). Also, I expect the Wizards to be out of the playoff race by the time Atlanta plays them.
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Well, we have officially claimed a playoff spot! And after tonight's win and Charlotte's loss, we're now tied with Atlanta for the third spot in the East again!
1) Cleveland 55-22
2) Toronto 51-25
T3) Boston 45-32
T3) Atlanta 45-32
T5) Charlotte 44-32
T5) Miami 44-32
T7) Detroit 41-36
T7 ) Indiana 41-36
We now finish the season with four out of five games at home (NO, Mil, Cha, Mia) and one away game (Atl). We definitely control our own destiny. If we take care of business the next two games and win in Atlanta, we should have sole control of the third seed.
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Well, we have officially claimed a playoff spot! And after tonight's win and Charlotte's loss, we're now tied with Atlanta for the third spot in the East again!
1) Cleveland 55-22
2) Toronto 51-25
T3) Boston 45-32
T3) Atlanta 45-32
T5) Charlotte 44-32
T5) Miami 44-32
T7) Detroit 41-36
T7 ) Indiana 41-36
We now finish the season with four out of five games at home (NO, Mil, Cha, Mia) and one away game (Atl). We definitely control our own destiny. If we take care of business the next two games and win in Atlanta, we should have sole control of the third seed.
If we win the next 5 games, not only will we be a 50 win team, but also will be guaranteed the 3rd seed.
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Well, we have officially claimed a playoff spot! And after tonight's win and Charlotte's loss, we're now tied with Atlanta for the third spot in the East again!
1) Cleveland 55-22
2) Toronto 51-25
T3) Boston 45-32
T3) Atlanta 45-32
T5) Charlotte 44-32
T5) Miami 44-32
T7) Detroit 41-36
T7 ) Indiana 41-36
We now finish the season with four out of five games at home (NO, Mil, Cha, Mia) and one away game (Atl). We definitely control our own destiny. If we take care of business the next two games and win in Atlanta, we should have sole control of the third seed.
If we win the next 5 games, not only will we be a 50 win team, but also will be guaranteed the 3rd seed.
Atlanta, Cha, and Miami to finish will be interesting. all of us trying to avoid 4th and 5th...
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Well, we have officially claimed a playoff spot! And after tonight's win and Charlotte's loss, we're now tied with Atlanta for the third spot in the East again!
1) Cleveland 55-22
2) Toronto 51-25
T3) Boston 45-32
T3) Atlanta 45-32
T5) Charlotte 44-32
T5) Miami 44-32
T7) Detroit 41-36
T7 ) Indiana 41-36
We now finish the season with four out of five games at home (NO, Mil, Cha, Mia) and one away game (Atl). We definitely control our own destiny. If we take care of business the next two games and win in Atlanta, we should have sole control of the third seed.
If we win the next 5 games, not only will we be a 50 win team, but also will be guaranteed the 3rd seed.
Atlanta, Cha, and Miami to finish will be interesting. all of us trying to avoid 4th and 5th...
Problem is Atlanta has both the tiebreaker (division winner) and easier program (assuming Cavs and Toronto decide to rest players). It will be a very tight race.
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On a diff note, ET's eye injury might turnout to be serious.
"So he's got bleeding in his eye," said Boston head coach Brad Stevens. "They're looking at -- an internist is looking at him right now and we don't know the extent of the injury, but clearly he got some eye poke and hopefully not too much trauma. We'll find out as we stick around here."
source:
http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2016/04/evan_turner_injury_boston_celt.html
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On a diff note, ET's eye injury might turnout to be serious.
"So he's got bleeding in his eye," said Boston head coach Brad Stevens. "They're looking at -- an internist is looking at him right now and we don't know the extent of the injury, but clearly he got some eye poke and hopefully not too much trauma. We'll find out as we stick around here."
source:
http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2016/04/evan_turner_injury_boston_celt.html
It looked like a cheap shot from Randle to me, anybody see it that way? Looks like he popped him in the face. ET has been huge for us let's hope this isn't serious.
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On a diff note, ET's eye injury might turnout to be serious.
"So he's got bleeding in his eye," said Boston head coach Brad Stevens. "They're looking at -- an internist is looking at him right now and we don't know the extent of the injury, but clearly he got some eye poke and hopefully not too much trauma. We'll find out as we stick around here."
source:
http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2016/04/evan_turner_injury_boston_celt.html
It looked like a cheap shot from Randle to me, anybody see it that way? Looks like he popped him in the face. ET has been huge for us let's hope this isn't serious.
He is picking his spots so well lately. His post game is seriously good..
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Don't want C's to be first to play the Cavs ...that's all.
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Really big night for our playoff seedlings.
Charlotte currently down 11 to Toronto;
Atlanta up 9 on Phoenix;
Detroit and Miami just getting started.
It'd be nice to see three losses, but I'd be happy with Charlotte and Miami both losing to put them a game back of us in the standings, which one would think would virtually put them out of the race of passing us since we own the tiebreaker for both of them.
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Phoenix up 10 on Atlanta after the first quarter. But few teams have as blatant 4th quarter tanking instructions as them.
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Phoenix up 10 on Atlanta after the first quarter. But few teams have as blatant 4th quarter tanking instructions as them.
Oh man that would be perfect...a Suns win and a Hawks loss for playoff positioning.. would be a dream scenario if they win this.
Of course as you said I'm sure they're going to blow it.
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Phoenix up 12 at the half! This would be a HUGE result for us.
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Why is Phoenix so bad??
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Why is Phoenix so bad??
I mean, so bad. Since I have turned it on, only weird bad things have happened if you are a Suns fan. I guess we are not going to get lucky in this one.
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Getting to 3rd is pretty important, because we could avoid the Cavs until Round 3.
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Why is Phoenix so bad??
whole team basically fell off a cliff. injuries/dumb trades
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Getting to 3rd is pretty important, because we could avoid the Cavs until Round 3.
Yep. It's going to come down to the very last game, in my opinion.
Some people keep saying that Atlanta has an easier schedule down the stretch. I don't see it. They still have to play Toronto, us, and Cleveland, and as of now neither Toronto nor Boston will be sitting people. We, on the other hand, are 8-3 this season versus the final five teams that we play.
We'll HAVE to win in Atlanta, but if we do then I think we get the third seed.
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Here's the current standings in the East as of tonight:
1) Cleveland 56-23
2) Toronto 52-25
T3) Boston 46-32
T3) Atlanta 46-32
5) Miami 45-32
6) Charlotte 45-33
7) Indiana 42-36
8 ) Detroit 42-37
9) Chicago 39-39
10) Washington 38-40
We have two big games coming tomorrow night with Toronto in Atlanta and Chicago in Miami. A win in Chicago should ultimately take Miami out of the running for the third spot. Chicago pretty much has to win out to have a chance at the playoffs, so I expect a good effort from them tomorrow, even if they have lost three times to Miami already this year. The more interesting game is Toronto at Atlanta, because Toronto has beaten Atlanta three times this year already. We'll still probably have to win in Atlanta on Saturday to secure the third seed, but a win by Toronto would go a long ways in ensuring our third place status. There doesn't seem to be any indication that the Raptors will rest anyone tomorrow either.
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jpotter, a minor correction: atlanta currently holds the 3rd spot as they have the tiebreaker.
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If we beat the Heat and Hornets in the final match-ups coming up, it will give me a super-good feeling going against them in playoffs.
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Not looking all that great with the Bulls or Raptors helping us out tonight. Phoenix might help the Brooklyn pick, though!
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Current standings after tonight:
1) Cleveland 56-23
2) Toronto 52-26
3) Atlanta 47-32
4) Boston 46-32
5) Miami 46-32
6) Charlotte 45-33
7) Indiana 42-36
8 ) Detroit 42-37
9) Chicago 39-40
10) Washington 38-40
Toronto and Chicago both did not do us any favors tonight by losing to Atlanta and Miami, respectively. Right now, it looks like a three man race to the third seed with us and Atlanta being the two top contenders. Ultimately, it's going to come down to who wins on Saturday night in Atlanta. If Boston wins, then I think we take the third seed with the opposite being true if Atlanta wins. Atlanta still has us, Cleveland, and Washington left. Washington is most likely a win, and though Cleveland doesn't have anything left to play for, they've already been resting guys in games. As long as James plays they still have a chance. As for Miami, they have a home-and-home with Orlando, a game at Detroit, and a game at Boston to finish the season. I think it will be tough to win both of those Orlando games consecutively, and both in Detroit and Boston they won't be favored to win.
Ultimately, we control our own fate, and though we must take care of business tomorrow night at home against Milwaukee, the greatest test comes on Saturday in Atlanta. It's a must-win game if we want to take the third seed.
I see that game as a 50/50 game right now, but if we win it then I think we win out the season going into the playoffs with a pretty decent win streak.
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^TP to you potter for the daily updates man
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^TP to you potter for the daily updates man
Back at you!
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Miami up on Orlando by 2 at halftime in Orlando. Hopefully Orlando can pull off the upset and help us out.
Charlotte up 7 on Brooklyn at halftime. Given that it's Brooklyn, I'm obviously okay with a Charlotte win tonight.
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Miami loses to Orlando!
Essentially, it's now down to us versus Atlanta for the third seed!
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Need to finish Bucks and
Have a 38 point game from the IT ....at Atlanta
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What is our win loss record with ATL and Charlotte this year? I know we have the tiebreak for Miami, hopefully we can win the tiebreak for the other 2 as well.
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What is our win loss record with ATL and Charlotte this year? I know we have the tiebreak for Miami, hopefully we can win the tiebreak for the other 2 as well.
We beat Charlotte both times we played them.
Atlanta is up 2-1 against us.
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Big time game tomorrow. I really want to avoid the cavs until the 3rd round. We need that 3rd seed.
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Current standings as of April 9th:
1) Cleveland 56-23
2) Toronto 53-26
3) Atlanta 47-32
4) Boston 47-32
5) Miami 46-33
6) Charlotte 46-33
7) Detroit 43-37
8 ) Indiana 42-37
9) Chicago 39-40
Tonight is another big night for us. Ultimately, we have to win tonight in Atlanta in order to take the third seed. If we don't win, then by virtue of tiebreaker Atlanta would have to lose their remaining two games (@ Cleveland, @ DC who has been eliminated from playoff contention) and we'd have to win our remaining two games to still take third, which isn't happening. So we must win tonight to realistically be the frontrunners for the third seed.
Also, if we win tonight, then Miami should no longer be a threat to overtaking us. Their remaining games are vs Orlando (who they just lost to), @ Detroit (1-2 vs them this year), and @ Boston (0-2 vs them this year), and they've been absolutely terrible on the road. The Hornets play a back to back @ Washington (2-1 vs them this year) and then @ Boston (0-2 vs them this year), so as long as we take care of Charlotte at home they won't be a problem for us. Don't be surprised to see Miami in the 6th seed for the playoffs.
Cleveland is also playing in Chicago tonight, which is important for our seeding chances, too. If Chicago can pull an upset, which they owe us one after laying an egg in Miami the other night, then Chicago is still in the playoff race and Cleveland will still not have secured the first seed in the East. So if Chicago can pull an upset at home and Toronto takes care of business against the Knicks tomorrow, then Cleveland will still be playing for something when Atlanta goes to Cleveland on Monday, which could give us some further cushion on the third seed if we win tonight, though we'll still have to most likely win out for the third seed since the division-leading Hawks have the tiebreaker over us.
Phoenix is playing New Orleans tonight, too, which doesn't affect our seeding but does affect the Brooklyn pick. So it's another good NBA night for C's fans that all starts with our most important game of the year so far in Atlanta starting at 7:30!
If we happen to lose tonight, we're very, very likely to be the fourth seed in the East, as long as we don't implode in the final two games. And more than likely we'll be playing the Hornets, which is a good matchup for us.
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So how are things looking after today potential 1st and 2nd round matchup against who?
Ughh bummed about this loss today
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Well, after we gave away this Hawks game due to selfish and stupid play, we're pretty much out of the running for the third seed. Here's the updated standings for today:
1) Cleveland 56-23 (pending game against Chicago - Bulls up 11 with 6 minutes to go)
2) Toronto 53-26
3) Atlanta 48-32
4) Boston 47-33
5) Miami 46-33
6) Charlotte 46-33
7) Detroit 43-37
8 ) Indiana 42-37
9) Chicago 39-40 (pending game against Cleveland - Bulls up 11 with 6 minutes to go)
We still have an outside chance at the third seed. If Atlanta would lose at Cleveland on Monday (they'd still be fighting for the number one seed if they lose to Chicago tonight, so it's probable) and at Washington (unlikely) and we won out, then we would outright take the third seed. It's highly unlikely that Atlanta will lose twice, though, so we're pretty much primed to take the four seed.
We end the season with two home games against Charlotte and Miami, who are both a win back from us right now. Charlotte plays a back-to-back at Washington on Sunday and Boston on Monday and ending the season at home with Orlando. As long as we beat them on Monday, then they can't catch us in the standings. Miami plays at home against Orlando tomorrow, and then they finish with a back-to-back at Detroit and then Boston on Tuesday and Wednesday. They've been absolutely terrible on the road lately, and they're a combined 1-4 vs us and Detroit. Thus, they're most likely not winning both of those games, and it wouldn't surprise me to see them lose both of them and slip to the sixth seed. And, who knows, they're actually 3-1 vs the Hawks this year, and being in the sixth spot would have them avoid Cleveland until the conference finals. So they very well might rest guys and try to slip to the sixth seed in order to play Atlanta over us and avoid Cleveland.
We have both tiebreakers over Charlotte and Miami, so in any two-way tie or three-way tie we will win the tiebreaker. Miami has the tiebreaker over Charlotte, so if they finish with the same record, then Miami gets the higher spot.
Here's my guess: Miami's game plan will depend upon the result of our game Monday night. They'll still try for homecourt advantage, but that will be exceedingly unlikely if we win on Monday night, since they'd have to win in Detroit and Boston in consecutive nights. Thus, I bet they try to avoid us and Cleveland altogether and rest their guys on the final road trip in order to get the sixth seed.
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Cavs have something to play for Monday :D
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Wizards up 12 on the Hornets going into the 4th quarter. Would be huge for us if they pulled this out.
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Wizards up 12 on the Hornets going into the 4th quarter. Would be huge for us if they pulled this out.
Ugghh, but then that would almost guarantee that we play the Heat in the first round, though, which I'm still confident about but not as much as Charlotte.
Are Wall and Beal and everyone playing? If so, maybe there still is a chance that Atlanta could lose twice to Cleveland and Washington.
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Wizards up 12 on the Hornets going into the 4th quarter. Would be huge for us if they pulled this out.
Ugghh, but then that would almost guarantee that we play the Heat in the first round, though, which I'm still confident about but not as much as Charlotte.
Are Wall and Beal and everyone playing? If so, maybe there still is a chance that Atlanta could lose twice to Cleveland and Washington.
Still, anything that improves our chances of having homecourt is a win in my eyes. I'm not as scared of Miami if we're the team with HCA. I'd rather be the 4 seed against Miami than the 5 seed against Charlotte. We're a much, much better team in Boston.
Wall is still out and Beal has barely played today. Guys like Dudley, Gortat, Sessions, and Porter are really stepping up
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Wizards up 12 on the Hornets going into the 4th quarter. Would be huge for us if they pulled this out.
Ugghh, but then that would almost guarantee that we play the Heat in the first round, though, which I'm still confident about but not as much as Charlotte.
Are Wall and Beal and everyone playing? If so, maybe there still is a chance that Atlanta could lose twice to Cleveland and Washington.
Still, anything that improves our chances of having homecourt is a win in my eyes. I'm not as scared of Miami if we're the team with HCA. I'd rather be the 4 seed against Miami than the 5 seed against Charlotte. We're a much, much better team in Boston.
Wall is still out and Beal has barely played today. Guys like Dudley, Gortat, Sessions, and Porter are really stepping up
Let's hope they step up against the Nets too.
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TP to jpotter33 for updating this so consistently and thoroughly. This thread is better for grasping the Celts' playoff position at a glance than anything the pro media provides.
That said, I kind of want the reverse of what everyone else wants. I'm a dreamer, and I want this season to end in a glorious improbable upset of the Warriors, one reminiscent of the Football Upset That Shall Not Be Named from 8 years ago, this time the home team playing the role of GOAT-spoiler. To match that narrative, I want the C's to prevail as road warriors against the toughest possible round-by-round opponents. If they get the 5th seed, if they face the Heat, if they take down the Cavs, if they upset the Raptors, and then if they can shock the Warriors...perfect. The bigger the odds and better the opponents you vanquish, the more glory you collect from them. I learned that from the Iliad. #homer
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Reminder - Miami still plays Orlando tonight. My theory of them wanting to drop to the sixth seed is complicated now by Charlotte's loss, but still doable. Do they really think they'll win out with two games on the road against teams they're 1-4 against? I feel like that is increasingly unlikely.
However, it's virtually impossible for Charlotte to attain home court advantage now, so they might now prefer the sixth seed to the fifth seed. If I remember right, they're 2-2 vs Atl while they're 0-2 vs us. The sixth seed also would avoid Clevelabd until the ECF, so tonight's game in Miami and tomorrow in Boston will be interesting to see if anyone rests or not in a strategic seeding move.
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Current standings as of April 10th:
1) Cleveland 56-24
2) Toronto 54-26
3) Atlanta 48-32
4) Boston 47-33
5) Miami 47-33
6) Charlotte 46-34
7) Indiana 43-37
8 ) Detroit 43-37
With Charlotte's loss today, they're out of the running for the 4th seed, and they're pretty much set for the sixth seed, unless they win out and Miami loses out. As for Miami, since we own the tiebreaker they must play better than us to overtake us in the standings.
We really need a win against Charlotte in Boston tomorrow. That will give us plenty of assurance and not necessarily make the game against Miami a do-or-die for the fourth seed. However, if we win tomorrow and Miami wins in Detroit on Tuesday (1-2 vs. them this season so it's not necessarily guaranteed), then we'll have to win against Miami on Wednesday in order to have home court advantage.
Here's the interesting thing about the standings: we're not necessarily guaranteed to face Cleveland in the second round. There's two different paths that would change the standings. Firstly, if Atlanta loses out (@Cleveland and @Washington) and we win out (vs Charlotte and vs Miami), then we would move up to the third seed. Also, though, secondly Cleveland hasn't secured the first seed yet, and Toronto is in range of surpassing them. With Toronto's win in New York tonight, if Cleveland loses out (vs Atlanta and vs Detroit) and Toronto wins out (vs 76ers and @ Brooklyn), then they can overtake the Cavs with the first seed due to owning the tiebreaker.
Both of those options are unlikely, though they're not as unlikely as you would think. Cleveland is 2-0 vs Atlanta, but both games were close with the last one going into OT. Cleveland is also only 1-2 vs Detroit this year and have struggled with their guards and Drummond down low. With Atlanta playing some top-notch ball right now, it's not inconceivable to see them lose both games, especially if Coach Lebron decides he values rest over seeding again. On the flip side, you'd expect Cleveland to beat Atlanta at home, and Washington just beat Charlotte today. There are reports that Wall should be back to play against Atlanta in Washington, and Atlanta lost to Washington a couple of weeks ago in Washington.
So, again, there's still a fairly significant chance that we can avoid Cleveland in the second round as long as we take care of business at home. Which route do you think is more likely - Raptors overtaking Cleveland for the one seed or Atlanta dropping to the four seed?
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So, again, there's still a fairly significant chance that we can avoid Cleveland in the second round as long as we take care of business at home. Which route do you think is more likely - Raptors overtaking Cleveland for the one seed or Atlanta dropping to the four seed?
The latter. But it looks unlikely we'll get the 3 seed if Atlanta wins out. Celtics don't control their destiny for the 3 seed.
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So, again, there's still a fairly significant chance that we can avoid Cleveland in the second round as long as we take care of business at home. Which route do you think is more likely - Raptors overtaking Cleveland for the one seed or Atlanta dropping to the four seed?
The latter. But it looks unlikely we'll get the 3 seed if Atlanta wins out. Celtics don't control their destiny for the 3 seed.
Nope, we definitely lost our chance at controlling our own destiny last night in our loss. And if Atlanta wins either of the games then we can't get the third seed due to them owning the tiebreaker. So if Atlanta wins tomorrow, then we're hoping for Toronto to overtake Cleveland in the standings. If Cleveland wins tomorrow, then they clinch the first seed, and we're down to hoping that Washington can steal a game away from Atlanta at home.
I know statistically this isn't accurate given the differing probabilities of certain teams beating other teams and home versus away advantages, but in a way it's almost a 50/50 shot. Since Cleveland and Atlanta are playing each other, one of them has to lose the game, meaning we've already reached 50% of the losses that we need one of them to have. This means that as long as we take care of our remaining games at home (a good bet) or the Raptors take care of their remaining games (an excellent bet), then we have a 50/50 shot of either the Hawks or the Cavaliers losing their final game and giving us what we want.
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Go Cavs.
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Go Cavs.
Man, I just don't know who to root for. Atlanta losing in Washington seems like a decent bet, but Detroit has already beat Cleveland twice this year. If Cleveland loses tonight, they might be just as likely to lose to Detroit as Atlanta is to Washington, given the respective matchups.
However, hoping for a Cavs loss also has the benefit of Toronto playing hard against Brooklyn in the final game of the season since it would still matter to them. If Cleveland clinches tonight, then they probably rest everybody against Brooklyn.
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Atlanta winning would end the dream of the 3rd seed. C's need to win a round in playoffs and not worry about who they play in the 2nd round.
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So with the Heat winning tonight the Celtics are basically playing them tomorrow for home court and the 4th seed??
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So with the Heat winning tonight the Celtics are basically playing them tomorrow for home court and the 4th seed??
Yep, we own the tiebreaker...thanks to last night's performance, home court now relies on a win tomorrow. Better show up
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So with the Heat winning tonight the Celtics are basically playing them tomorrow for home court and the 4th seed??
Yep, we own the tiebreaker...thanks to last night's performance, home court now relies on a win tomorrow. Better show up
On Twitter the beat reporters are saying not just a Celtics win but a Hawks win as well would give us the 4th seed is that right? Or just a Celtics win?
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So with the Heat winning tonight the Celtics are basically playing them tomorrow for home court and the 4th seed??
Yep, we own the tiebreaker...thanks to last night's performance, home court now relies on a win tomorrow. Better show up
On Twitter the beat reporters are saying not just a Celtics win but a Hawks win as well would give us the 4th seed is that right? Or just a Celtics win?
I don't see how. We need to beat the Heat. If we win and the Hawks lose, we'll have identical records with the Hawks and Heat. Hawks own the tiebreaker over us and we own it over the Heat so we'd be 4th in that scenario.
Here's how it basically plays out as far as I know with tiebreakers
We win, Heat lose = 4th seed
We lose, Heat win, Charlotte loses = 5th
We lose, Heat win, Charlotte wins = 6th
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Celtics lose tomorrow
Atlanta lose tomorrow
Charlotte win tomorrow
Heat 3rd v Celtics 6th
that is another posibility
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So with the Heat winning tonight the Celtics are basically playing them tomorrow for home court and the 4th seed??
Yep, we own the tiebreaker...thanks to last night's performance, home court now relies on a win tomorrow. Better show up
On Twitter the beat reporters are saying not just a Celtics win but a Hawks win as well would give us the 4th seed is that right? Or just a Celtics win?
I don't see how. We need to beat the Heat. If we win and the Hawks lose, we'll have identical records with the Hawks and Heat. Hawks own the tiebreaker over us and we own it over the Heat so we'd be 4th in that scenario.
Here's how it basically plays out as far as I know with tiebreakers
We win, Heat lose = 4th seed
We lose, Heat win, Charlotte loses = 5th
We lose, Heat win, Charlotte wins = 6th
Is third place still possible if ATL loses and we beat Miami??
Wholly cow next game is like the biggest game of the year for all of these teams. It has come to this
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If Atlanta loses I believe in a 3 or 4 team tiebreaker division champ comes into play.
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So with the Heat winning tonight the Celtics are basically playing them tomorrow for home court and the 4th seed??
Yep, we own the tiebreaker...thanks to last night's performance, home court now relies on a win tomorrow. Better show up
On Twitter the beat reporters are saying not just a Celtics win but a Hawks win as well would give us the 4th seed is that right? Or just a Celtics win?
A Hawks win or a Hawks loss? If the Hawks win, it means nothing to us. If they lose, Miami>Atlanta>Boston because Miami won their division (Miami>Hawks in a tie breaker.).
Mike
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If Atlanta loses I believe in a 3 or 4 team tiebreaker division champ comes into play.
what?? please explain
We beat Mia and Atl loses. Do we end up with 3rd place?
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If Atlanta loses I believe in a 3 or 4 team tiebreaker division champ comes into play.
Oops, beat me by 2 minutes. TP. :)
Mike
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If Atlanta loses I believe in a 3 or 4 team tiebreaker division champ comes into play.
what?? please explain
We beat Mia and Atl loses. Do we end up with 3rd place?
If ATL loses and we win, 3 teams are 48-34 (assuming the Hornets lose; if Hornets win and we lose, we're 6; we own the tie breaker over Charlotte if we both win.).
That is not a good scenario for us. Miami wins the division and ATL>us. Miami owns the tie breaker over ATL.
Mike
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If Atlanta loses I believe in a 3 or 4 team tiebreaker division champ comes into play.
what?? please explain
We beat Mia and Atl loses. Do we end up with 3rd place?
If ATL loses and we win, 3 teams are 48-34 (assuming the Hornets lose; if Hornets win and we lose, we're 6; we own the tie breaker over Charlotte if we both win.).
That is not a good scenario for us. Miami wins the division and ATL>us. Miami owns the tie breaker over ATL.
Mike
mindblown lol
We just have to win and grab 4th place then
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So if ATL loses tomorrow we have no shot at 4th?
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If Atlanta loses I believe in a 3 or 4 team tiebreaker division champ comes into play.
what?? please explain
We beat Mia and Atl loses. Do we end up with 3rd place?
If ATL loses and we win, 3 teams are 48-34 (assuming the Hornets lose; if Hornets win and we lose, we're 6; we own the tie breaker over Charlotte if we both win.).
That is not a good scenario for us. Miami wins the division and ATL>us. Miami owns the tie breaker over ATL.
Mike
mindblown lol
We just have to win and grab 4th place then
yes but if atlanta loses we take 5th and play atlanta
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If Atlanta loses I believe in a 3 or 4 team tiebreaker division champ comes into play.
what?? please explain
We beat Mia and Atl loses. Do we end up with 3rd place?
If ATL loses and we win, 3 teams are 48-34 (assuming the Hornets lose; if Hornets win and we lose, we're 6; we own the tie breaker over Charlotte if we both win.).
That is not a good scenario for us. Miami wins the division and ATL>us. Miami owns the tie breaker over ATL.
Mike
mindblown lol
We just have to win and grab 4th place then
It's like an SAT problem:
"Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte and Miami are all within a game of each other. Atlanta is ahead of Boston but trails Miami in the season series. Boston is tied with Miami and owns the season series over them, but Boston trails Atlanta..."
Heck, that would have been an even more perfect SAT question if Miami began with the letter "D."
Mike
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So if ATL loses tomorrow we have no shot at 4th?
Correct. Weird, huh? We're hurt when the team ahead of us loses.
Mike
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You want the 3rd seed or the 6th if you can get it. 4 and 5 will play #1 in the next round. The 3-6 teams are so even it really doesn't matter where you end up as long as you are away from Cleveland in the second round. A series would be at least interesting with Toronto. I don't think anyone is getting by Cleveland this year in the east.
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I can't imagine Atlanta losing to a Washington team tomorrow who has nothing to play for and will most likely rest all of their guys, so we just need to make sure to take care of business at home. And we should get an extra home court boost by all of the Celtics legends in the building tomorrow.
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Guys...can anyone help me with one thing. Everyone saying C's can be 4th, 5th or 6th seed. But if i understand correctly the NBA tie-break procedure we can be 3rd seed also...
http://www.nba.com/news/features/playoff.tiebreakers/
b. More Than Two Teams Tied
(1) Better winning percentage in all games among the tied teams.
If we win against the Heat, Charlotte beats Orlando and Atlanta lose in Washington, then all 4 teams would have the same record 48-34.
On NBA.com it says that if its a tie with more that 2 teams you look up for better winning percentage in ALL games among the tied teams.
So we have then: ATL-BOS 3-1, ATL-MIA 1-3, ATL-CHA 3-1. Atlanta cumulative score 7-5, winning percentage 58,3%
For Boston: BOS-ATL 1-3, BOS-MIA 3-0, BOS-CHA 2-1. Boston cumulative score 6-4, winning percentage 60,0%
Miami: MIA-ATL 3-1, MIA-BOS 0-3, MIA-CHA 2-2. Miami cumulative score 5-6, winning percentage 45,4%
Charlotte: CHA-ATL 1-3, CHA-BOS 1-2, CHA-MIA 2-2, Hornets cumulative score 4-7, winning percentage 36,4%
So in that scenario, Celtics would get 3rd, Hawks 4th, Heat 5th and Hornets 6th seed.
This is all my math and my understanding of nba tie-breaking procedure.
But no one in US media noticed that Celtics can be 3rd seed...so please guys can someone prove me wrong? Did i miss anything?
Thanks, greetings from Croatia
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Guys...can anyone help me with one thing. Everyone saying C's can be 4th, 5th or 6th seed. But if i understand correctly the NBA tie-break procedure we can be 3rd seed also...
http://www.nba.com/news/features/playoff.tiebreakers/
b. More Than Two Teams Tied
(1) Better winning percentage in all games among the tied teams.
If we win against the Heat, Charlotte beats Orlando and Atlanta lose in Washington, then all 4 teams would have the same record 48-34.
On NBA.com it says that if its a tie with more that 2 teams you look up for better winning percentage in ALL games among the tied teams.
So we have then: ATL-BOS 3-1, ATL-MIA 1-3, ATL-CHA 3-1. Atlanta cumulative score 7-5, winning percentage 58,3%
For Boston: BOS-ATL 1-3, BOS-MIA 3-0, BOS-CHA 2-1. Boston cumulative score 6-4, winning percentage 60,0%
Miami: MIA-ATL 3-1, MIA-BOS 0-3, MIA-CHA 2-2. Miami cumulative score 5-6, winning percentage 45,4%
Charlotte: CHA-ATL 1-3, CHA-BOS 1-2, CHA-MIA 2-2, Hornets cumulative score 4-7, winning percentage 36,4%
So in that scenario, Celtics would get 3rd, Hawks 4th, Heat 5th and Hornets 6th seed.
This is all my math and my understanding of nba tie-breaking procedure.
But no one in US media noticed that Celtics can be 3rd seed...so please guys can someone prove me wrong? Did i miss anything?
Thanks, greetings from Croatia
Hawks own tiebreaker over Celtics tops all argument I think.
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Guys...can anyone help me with one thing. Everyone saying C's can be 4th, 5th or 6th seed. But if i understand correctly the NBA tie-break procedure we can be 3rd seed also...
http://www.nba.com/news/features/playoff.tiebreakers/
b. More Than Two Teams Tied
(1) Better winning percentage in all games among the tied teams.
If we win against the Heat, Charlotte beats Orlando and Atlanta lose in Washington, then all 4 teams would have the same record 48-34.
On NBA.com it says that if its a tie with more that 2 teams you look up for better winning percentage in ALL games among the tied teams.
So we have then: ATL-BOS 3-1, ATL-MIA 1-3, ATL-CHA 3-1. Atlanta cumulative score 7-5, winning percentage 58,3%
For Boston: BOS-ATL 1-3, BOS-MIA 3-0, BOS-CHA 2-1. Boston cumulative score 6-4, winning percentage 60,0%
Miami: MIA-ATL 3-1, MIA-BOS 0-3, MIA-CHA 2-2. Miami cumulative score 5-6, winning percentage 45,4%
Charlotte: CHA-ATL 1-3, CHA-BOS 1-2, CHA-MIA 2-2, Hornets cumulative score 4-7, winning percentage 36,4%
So in that scenario, Celtics would get 3rd, Hawks 4th, Heat 5th and Hornets 6th seed.
This is all my math and my understanding of nba tie-breaking procedure.
But no one in US media noticed that Celtics can be 3rd seed...so please guys can someone prove me wrong? Did i miss anything?
Thanks, greetings from Croatia
Hawks own tiebreaker over Celtics tops all argument I think.
But there isn't two team but four team tie-breaker...in that logic Heat own tiebreaker over Hawks.
Is it because Hawks or Heat will be divisional winners? Didn't the NBA change the rule that divisional leader must be top 3 seed?
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b. More Than Two Teams Tied. In the case of a tie in regular-season records involving more than two teams, the following criteria will be utilized in the following order:
(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.
Yep...divisional winners are first tie-breakers
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Call me crazy but if the goal is building "buzz" I think we'd be better off playing the first round on the road...and then winning that series. That'd be newsworthy much like the GSW win was, and seems like the kind of thing that'd help us with FAs.
And who knows. If we do that and then take CLE to 6 or TOR to 7 then we'd be media darlings given our lack of stars. It'd be a huge improvement over the first-round spanking we suffered last year.
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I can't imagine Atlanta losing to a Washington team tomorrow who has nothing to play for and will most likely rest all of their guys, so we just need to make sure to take care of business at home. And we should get an extra home court boost by all of the Celtics legends in the building tomorrow.
If Atlanta shuts everybody down to take the L would it lock them into a matchup with us?
They killed us pretty bad why wouldn't they do this?
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Ok so can someone explain this to me?
Is there a way for us to play Miami as the home court team? Would it require a win against them? Bc if we can beat them tomorrow I'll feel more confident we could beat them again in a playoff series.
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Ok so can someone explain this to me?
Is there a way for us to play Miami as the home court team? Would it require a win against them? Bc if we can beat them tomorrow I'll feel more confident we could beat them again in a playoff series.
if we beat miami and atlanta wins then we have HC against miami
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Ok so can someone explain this to me?
Is there a way for us to play Miami as the home court team? Would it require a win against them? Bc if we can beat them tomorrow I'll feel more confident we could beat them again in a playoff series.
if we beat miami and atlanta wins then we have HC against miami
And Atlanta probably will win right? Wizards have nothing to play for. I guess the burden is on us. Thanks. TP
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I wouldn't worry much about seeding. The fact is that Miami is a much better team since Johnson is there. They can finally spread the floor and Johnson is killing at the 3 pts line.
Charlotte get it together and are since the all star break the BEST team in the EAST.
Atlanta produces at a high level, they have no flaws.
You pick your poison!
We have a chance vs any of them, but it's all about us and our hustle on defense. It has been a couple of month that we didn't play hustle defense, let's face it.
Playoff is another style of BBall, hopefully we get it together at the right time.
Go celtics!
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I can't imagine Atlanta losing to a Washington team tomorrow who has nothing to play for and will most likely rest all of their guys, so we just need to make sure to take care of business at home. And we should get an extra home court boost by all of the Celtics legends in the building tomorrow.
If Atlanta shuts everybody down to take the L would it lock them into a matchup with us?
They killed us pretty bad why wouldn't they do this?
if atlanta loses , in 3 out of 4 subsequent scenarios we play them as the 5 and they are the 4 seed. in the last scenario atlanta would play charlotte ....so them losing on purpose wouldnt guarantee playing us and furthermore they would have cleveland in the second round
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If Boston beats Miami they will be either the 4th or 5th seed. Boston will be 4th facing Miami 5th if Atlanta wins. If Atlanta loses then Miami wins the tie breaker by winning the division and this gives Atlanta the 4th seed and Boston the 5th.
If Boston loses to Miami then Miami gets the 3rd seed. The Atlanta outcome does not matter then and Atlanta is the 4th seed. Boston is then 5th facing Atlanta if Charlotte loses, or 6th facing Miami if Charlotte wins.
The only way Boston gets home court is if Atlanta wins and Boston wins.
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If Boston beats Miami they will be either the 4th or 5th seed. Boston will be 4th facing Miami 5th if Atlanta wins. If Atlanta loses then Miami wins the tie breaker by winning the division and this gives Atlanta the 4th seed and Boston the 5th.
If Boston loses to Miami then Miami gets the 3rd seed. The Atlanta outcome does not matter then and Atlanta is the 4th seed. Boston is then 5th facing Atlanta if Charlotte loses, or 6th facing Miami if Charlotte wins.
The only way Boston gets home court is if Atlanta wins and Boston wins.
Very clear explanation, TP.
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Crazy night!
I just want to win tonight, I don't want to finish the season with 3 loses to our main competitors.
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If Boston beats Miami they will be either the 4th or 5th seed. Boston will be 4th facing Miami 5th if Atlanta wins. If Atlanta loses then Miami wins the tie breaker by winning the division and this gives Atlanta the 4th seed and Boston the 5th.
If Boston loses to Miami then Miami gets the 3rd seed. The Atlanta outcome does not matter then and Atlanta is the 4th seed. Boston is then 5th facing Atlanta if Charlotte loses, or 6th facing Miami if Charlotte wins.
The only way Boston gets home court is if Atlanta wins and Boston wins.
"If Boston beats Miami they will be either the 4th or 5th seed. Boston will be 4th facing Miami 5th if Atlanta wins." BUT not if Charlotte loses, in that case Boston will be 4th and Charlotte will be 5th
(sorry I dont know how to quote just a portion of someones post)
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(http://s22.postimg.org/x25ug3yvh/image.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/x25ug3yvh/)
Credit some guy on Reddit. This is assuming Miami would win last night against detroit (which they did).
So in these circumstances we can't play Charlotte at all? Is the picture even accurate?
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(http://s22.postimg.org/x25ug3yvh/image.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/x25ug3yvh/)
Credit some guy on Reddit. This is assuming Miami would win last night against detroit (which they did).
So in these circumstances we can't play Charlotte at all? Is the picture even accurate?
the second from the left result is incorrect, if orlando wins we play charlotte not Miami with HCA (which i wish wasn't the case as I already have game tickets for miami series and one flight based on us playing them game 1 and 2 and another flight if we play them game 3 and 4. although i'm a celtics season ticket holder and going to games here as well )
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If Boston beats Miami they will be either the 4th or 5th seed. Boston will be 4th facing Miami 5th if Atlanta wins. If Atlanta loses then Miami wins the tie breaker by winning the division and this gives Atlanta the 4th seed and Boston the 5th.
If Boston loses to Miami then Miami gets the 3rd seed. The Atlanta outcome does not matter then and Atlanta is the 4th seed. Boston is then 5th facing Atlanta if Charlotte loses, or 6th facing Miami if Charlotte wins.
The only way Boston gets home court is if Atlanta wins and Boston wins.
"If Boston beats Miami they will be either the 4th or 5th seed. Boston will be 4th facing Miami 5th if Atlanta wins." BUT not if Charlotte loses, in that case Boston will be 4th and Charlotte will be 5th
(sorry I dont know how to quote just a portion of someones post)
If Charlotte loses they are the 6th seed period. They will only have 47 wins and can only tie Boston if Boston loses. In this scenario Boston wins the tie breaker and will be the 5th seed against the hawks 4th seed.
I did leave 1 scenario out of my post though. If Atlanta, Boston and Charlotte all win. This results in a 3 way tie between Bos., Mia. and Cha.
Atlanta 49-33
Boston 48-34
Charlotte 48-34
Miami 48-34
Miami gets the 6 seed based on head to head games between the 3 teams. Boston 5-1, Charlotte 3-4 and Miami 2-5. The reddit post above is incorrect and hard to read. Crazy ending to the season with only 2 of 8 playoff series decided going into the last day.
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In other words...
LET'S GO CELTICS LET'S GO HAWKS TONIGHT!!!
;D 8) ???
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I realize the Reddit picture I got and posted is incorrect. Sorry about that guys.
SB Nation has a cool simulator though, which goes through game by game:
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2016/4/13/11420508/nba-playoffs-2016-eastern-conference-flowchart
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I dont mean to be a control freak, but maybe it's time to unsticky this thread :)
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Miami went from No.6 seed and playing the Hawks to No.3 seed and playing Charlotte with that Atlanta loss... this is absolutely ridiculous...
Do you think Atlanta lost on purpose so that they didn't have to face Miami in the 1st round? Man, I really hate this Hawks team... >:(
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In other words...
LET'S GO CELTICS LET'S GO HAWKS TONIGHT!!!
;D 8) ???
Did Atlanta tank on purpose to face the Celtics, the "easier" opponent?
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Miami went from No.6 seed and playing the Hawks to No.3 seed and playing Charlotte with that Atlanta loss... this is absolutely ridiculous...
Do you think Atlanta lost on purpose so that they didn't have to face Miami in the 1st round? Man, I really hate this Hawks team... >:(
Yes
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Just had a furious 1 hour skirmish with a muskrat that I exec-uted. Come and get your McWooden McLoving garland stick shift pick-ease.
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IMHO, the mods should unpin this post now that the new season has started.
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Tied for the 1 seed yo!! ;D
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I see the title has changed ... is this now the thread for the 2016-17 season? ???
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We are now 2nd (28-19).
If playoffs started today we would play Bulls (24-25)
Personally, I doubt Bulls make the playoffs, but they would make a good first round opponent.
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rather play wiz or raptors in second round? ,aka, who would we rather play cavs?
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Well, it looks like it's about time to start this thread back up! I'll get a more detailed post going started tomorrow and start updating it daily.
But anyways, some big games tonight for playoff seedings:
Celtics up 54-50 on Pistons at the half;
Utah just beat Washington in Washington, which is big;
and Portland is in a dogfight with Toronto in Toronto.
Ideally, we win tonight and both Washington and Toronto lose, which would put us 3 games up on Washington (4 wins, 2 losses) and 4 full games up on Toronto.
Hopefully Portland can pull off the win in Toronto, along with us finishing things right in Detroit.
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Well, it looks like it's about time to start this thread back up! I'll get a more detailed post going started tomorrow and start updating it daily.
But anyways, some big games tonight for playoff seedings:
Celtics up 54-50 on Pistons at the half;
Utah just beat Washington in Washington, which is big;
and Portland is in a dogfight with Toronto in Toronto.
Ideally, we win tonight and both Washington and Toronto lose, which would put us 3 games up on Washington (4 wins, 2 losses) and 4 full games up on Toronto.
Hopefully Portland can pull off the win in Toronto, along with us finishing things right in Detroit.
ATL aren't a big threat now, but still technically just 5 back of us.
Beat them tomorrow and even more separation as we head into a battle against CLE on Wed.
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It's that time again! I'm going to start updating our playoffs seeding outlook everyday until the playoffs. This year, there's a TON of variability in who we might end up playing in the first round. Here's the current standings:
Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 40-17 0
2. Boston 38-21 3
3. Washington 34-23 6
4. Toronto 35-24 6
5. Atlanta 32-26 8.5
6. Chicago 30-29 11
7. Indiana 30-29 11
8. Detroit 28-31 13
9. Miami 27-32 14
10. Milwaukee 26-31 14
Remaining Schedules -
Boston:
vs. Atlanta
vs. Cleveland
@ LAL
@ Phoenix (B2B)
@ LAC (B2B)
@ Golden State
@ Denver
vs. Chicago
vs. Minnesota
@ Brooklyn
@ Philadelphia (B2B)
vs. Washington (B2B)
vs. Indiana
vs. Phoenix
vs. Miami
vs. Milwaukee
vs. Orlando
@ New York
vs. Cleveland (B2B)
@ Atlanta (B2B)
@ Charlotte
vs. Brooklyn
vs. Milwaukee
So other than that West Coast trip with games against the Clippers, Warriors, and Denver and our two games against Cleveland at home, we have a rather easy schedule the rest of the way, including a 6 game home stretch toward the end of the year that we should sweep, along with ending 9 of our last 12 games at home and 13 of our final 23 at home with only 10 of those 23 against current playoff teams.
Catching up to the Cavs might actually be possible, because they have a rather difficult schedule the rest of the way. Highlights:
16 of their remaining 25 games are against current playoff teams, including 8 games against the Celtics (x2), Rockets, Jazz, Clippers, Spurs, Wizards, and Raptors, along with 3 more games against the Hawks;
What's more, 15 of their remaining 25 games are on the road, so as long as we play good ball there's a good chance that we can catch them with their difficult schedule and injuries and the fact that we play them twice at home.
Washington has a pretty rough schedule the rest of the way, so don't be surprised to see them fall. Highlights:
12 of their remaining 25 against current playoff teams, including 8 against the Warriors (x2), Jazz, Clippers, Cavs, Celtics, and Raptors (x2).
But a whopping 16 of their remaining 25 games are on the road, which is major.
The Raptors have an easier schedule than the Wizards, but with Lowry's injury, they shouldn't challenge us for the 2 seed. Highlights:
11 of their remaining 23 games are against current playoff teams, including 3 against Washington and the Cavs.
13 of their remaining 23 games are on the road.
The Hawks also have a decently tough schedule the rest of the way, so don't be surprised to see them battle with Washington for the 4 seed. Highlights:
14 of their remaining 24 games are against current playoff teams, including 11 against the Celtics (x2), Cavs (x3), Wizards, Memphis (x2), Spurs, Raptors, and Warriors.
11 of their remaining 24 games are on the road.
Ultimately, unless Lowry's injury really hurts the Raptors, they should take over the 3 seed pretty easily with Washington and Atlanta having significantly more difficult schedules the rest of the way.
Where it gets really interesting is our potential first round matchup:
Right now we're matched up with Indiana, but they're ultimately in danger of falling out of the playoffs with how tough their schedule is the rest of the way. Highlights:
Just started a 5 game road trip with a L to Miami followed by the Rockets, Spurs, Hawks, and Hornets;
13 of their remaining 23 games are against current playoff teams, including 8 against the Celtics, Cavs, Raptors, Rockets, and Spurs;
13 of their remaining 23 games are on the road.
The Bulls are in a bit better shape going forward, though it still remains to be seen how much losing Gibson will hurt them, and they still have a pretty tough schedule. Highlights:
13 of their remaining 23 games are against current playoff teams, including 9 against the Celtics, Cavs, Raptors, Rockets, Clippers, Grizzlies, Wizards, Jazz, and Warriors;
11 of their remaining 23 games are on the road;
They end with a soft schedule with their final 6 games against NO, New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn (x2), and Orlando.
The Pistons are also in a bit better shape going forward. Highlights:
11 of their remaining 23 games are against current playoff teams, including 8 against the Celtics, Cavs, Raptors, Jazz, Rockets, Grizzlies, and Wizards;
12 of their remaining 23 games are on the road.
The Heat have a difficult schedule coming up, as well. Highlights:
12 of their remaining 23 games are against current playoff teams, including 9 against the Celtics, Raptors (x3), Cavs (x3), and Wizards (x2).
But only 10 of their remaining 23 games are on the road.
Finally, the Bucks have a really difficult schedule coming up, as well. Highlights:
15 of their remaining 25 games are against current playoff teams, including 8 against the Celtics (x2), Clippers, Warriors, Grizzlies, Raptors, and Cavs.
Further, 14 of their remaining 25 games are on the road.
So it looks doubtful that the Bucks could ultimately climb into the playoffs, but the Heat could very well do so, meaning we will more than likely play one of the Pacers (2-0), Bulls (1-2), Pistons (3-1), or Heat (3-0), depending upon injuries and who actually plays well the rest of the way. The Heat and the Pacers are probably our best matchups, but we should ultimately beat the Pistons and the Bulls in a 7 game series, especially with the Bulls losing Gibson, who always seemed to kill us on the boards.
Several relevant games tonight for our seeding:
Toronto at New York
Milwaukee at Cleveland
Atlanta at Boston
Miami at Dallas
Indiana at Houston
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JPotter, why do you not include a section about the Cavs? We are as likely to catch them in the standings as we are to fall back to 4, if not likelier.
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JPotter, why do you not include a section about the Cavs? We are as likely to catch them in the standings as we are to fall back to 4, if not likelier.
Fixed it. Meant to put them on there, but they got lost in the mix and left off.
They have a pretty difficult schedule the rest of the way, too, so it's very possible that we catch them if we play good ball and stay healthy, especially with Lebron's tendency to prioritize rest over seeding.
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JPotter, why do you not include a section about the Cavs? We are as likely to catch them in the standings as we are to fall back to 4, if not likelier.
Fixed it. Meant to put them on there, but they got lost in the mix and left off.
They have a pretty difficult schedule the rest of the way, too, so it's very possible that we catch them if we play good ball and stay healthy, especially with Lebron's tendency to prioritize rest over seeding.
TP for the effort into putting that together.
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Do we want the #1 seed if it means facing a healthy Kyle Lowry in the 2nd round?
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JPotter, why do you not include a section about the Cavs? We are as likely to catch them in the standings as we are to fall back to 4, if not likelier.
Fixed it. Meant to put them on there, but they got lost in the mix and left off.
They have a pretty difficult schedule the rest of the way, too, so it's very possible that we catch them if we play good ball and stay healthy, especially with Lebron's tendency to prioritize rest over seeding.
TP for the effort into putting that together.
Yeah - definite TP. It is much better to just click on a thread than to compile all of the standings and ramifications on my own. Thanks!
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Excellent job jpotter33, TP
Hope this thread now becomes a place for good conversation like last year.
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Great post.... TP!!!
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lowry out until playoffs.
i doubt raps will stay for long in the second seed contention.
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Ahh, now I have a place to go since I don't have to spend much time in the BKN thread. :)
Of course, this has to be the game where Durant gets injured and GS can't close out the Wizards. Oh well.
Mike
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 41-17 0
2. Boston 38-22 4
3. Washington 35-23 6
4. Toronto 36-24 6
5. Atlanta 33-26 8.5
6. Indiana 31-29 11
7.Chicago 30-30 12
8. Detroit 29-31 13
9. Miami 27-33 15
10. Milwaukee 26-32 15
11. Charlotte 26-34 16
Important Seeding Games Tonight:
Cleveland at Boston
Washington at Toronto
Philadelphia at Miami
Dallas at Atlanta
Detroit at New Orleans
Indiana at San Antonio
The Boston/Cleveland and Toronto/Washington games are especially important tonight. If we have any hope of challenging the Cavs for the number one seed, it's virtually necessary for us to win tonight's game, otherwise they'd have an almost insurmountable 5 game lead on us.
But it's also very important to win to keep one of Washington or Toronto at bay. If we lose, then the winner of the Washington/Toronto game will only be one game behind us, which isn't good. However, if we win then we ensure that we keep both of those teams at 2 games behind us and one at 3 games behind us.
Tonight's results in these two games will go a long way in deciding the actual playoff seeding at the top of the conference.
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Even worse, Toronto was 3-1 versus us this season, and Washington is 2-1 with a game to play. I don't want it to come down to tie breakers.
Mike
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Great overall night for the Celtics seeding purposes. We really needed this game with Washington winning two difficult games in a row that they should've probably lost. We keep them at bay with a 2 game lead, and we're back to 3 full games above Toronto. Best yet, we're back within 3 games of overtaking Cleveland for the number one spot
Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 41-18 0
2. Boston 39-22 3
3. Washington 36-23 5
4. Toronto 36-25 6
5. Atlanta 34-26 7.5
6. Indiana 31-30 11
7.Chicago 30-30 11.5
8. Detroit 29-32 13
9. Miami 28-33 14
10. Milwaukee 26-33 15
11. Charlotte 26-34 15.5
Important Seeding Games Tonight:
Cleveland at Boston
Washington at Toronto
Philadelphia at Miami
Dallas at Atlanta
Detroit at New Orleans
Indiana at San Antonio
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We need Hawks to beat Le Whiner on Wed
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I suppose I should be rooting for Toronto tonight?
Mike
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I suppose I should be rooting for Toronto tonight?
Mike
I know I am...unless someone supports the counter well enough, if so please do before game
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I suppose I should be rooting for Toronto tonight?
Mike
I think I will be. I prefer both Washington and Toronto at 3 games away than Washington at 2 and Toronto at 4.
I still think it's going to be really tough for Washington to catch up with us if we play good ball the rest of the way, but I'd still prefer a bit more separation than just two games.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 41-18 0
2. Boston 39-22 3
3. Washington 36-23 5
4. Toronto 36-25 6
5. Atlanta 34-26 7.5
6. Chicago 31-30 11
7. Indiana 31-30 11
8. Detroit 29-32 13
9. Miami 28-33 14
10. Milwaukee 26-33 15
11. Charlotte 26-35 16
Important Seeding Games Tonight:
Celtics at Lakers
Toronto at Washington
Cleveland at Atlanta
Miami at Orlando
Clippers at Bucks
There are several more relevant games for seeding purposes tonight. But three in particular are especially important. We should win tonight in LA, and if Atlanta could somehow pull out a win against Cleveland (remember, Atlanta beat Cleveland in Cleveland earlier in the season) tonight, we'd be within two games of them for the first seed with a game against Cleveland in Boston still to go. Atlanta has the bigs down low and the perimeter D to give Cleveland issues, so it's not that much of a stretch.
As for the Toronto at Washington game, this one is a bit of a toss-up. Without Lowry, it's doubtful that Toronto will catch up to us. And it's still doubtful that Washington catches up to us with their really tough schedule remaining. On the other hand, Washington is still probably a better second round matchup for us than Toronto, but currently Toronto is three games back of us compared to just two games back of us in Washington.
So it's really a toss-up. I'll probably be rooting for a Toronto win tonight to keep both teams at 3 games away from us rather than Toronto 4 games away and Washington 2 games away, assuming that we do in fact win tonight. But rooting for a Washington win tonight to better ensure a 2/3 matchup with Boston and Washington is rational, too.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 41-18 0
2. Boston 39-22 3
3. Washington 36-23 5
4. Toronto 36-25 6
5. Atlanta 34-26 7.5
6. Chicago 31-30 11
7. Indiana 31-30 11
8. Detroit 29-32 13
9. Miami 28-33 14
10. Milwaukee 26-33 15
11. Charlotte 26-35 16
Important Seeding Games Tonight:
Celtics at Lakers
Toronto at Washington
Cleveland at Atlanta
Miami at Orlando
Clippers at Bucks
There are several more relevant games for seeding purposes tonight. But three in particular are especially important. We should win tonight in LA, and if Atlanta could somehow pull out a win against Cleveland (remember, Atlanta beat Cleveland in Cleveland earlier in the season) tonight, we'd be within two games of them for the first seed with a game against Cleveland in Boston still to go. Atlanta has the bigs down low and the perimeter D to give Cleveland issues, so it's not that much of a stretch.
As for the Toronto at Washington game, this one is a bit of a toss-up. Without Lowry, it's doubtful that Toronto will catch up to us. And it's still doubtful that Washington catches up to us with their really tough schedule remaining. On the other hand, Washington is still probably a better second round matchup for us than Toronto, but currently Toronto is three games back of us compared to just two games back of us in Washington.
So it's really a toss-up. I'll probably be rooting for a Toronto win tonight to keep both teams at 3 games away from us rather than Toronto 4 games away and Washington 2 games away, assuming that we do in fact win tonight. But rooting for a Washington win tonight to better ensure a 2/3 matchup with Boston and Washington is rational, too.
Hopefully the top 4 teams remain seeded as they are, dont want to play toronto if we dont have to. Smart and Bradley can effectively neutralize Wall and Beal if need be if we face them in the 2nd round.
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https://twitter.com/mcten/status/838171256553885698
Lebron and Kyrie both resting tonight vs the Heat. Should be a chance to pick up another half game on Cleveland. If they lose in Miami tonight and we win tomorrow in Phoenix, we'll only be two games back of them for the number one seed (1 win, 3 losses).
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Yeah, 40-22 is very solid. They need to keep beating the scrub teams- plenty of them left on the schedule.
A #2 seeding firmly places the Celtics as a top 6 team in the NBA this year. This would exceed my expectations for the team. Throw in two potential top 4 picks in successive years- there are few teams positioned better for the future than the Celtics.
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So far so good. Milwaukee up 11 on Toronto at the half, and Miami up 17 on Cleveland at the half.
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Oh boy, Carroll just sprained his ankle. Toronto can ill afford losing anymore players for any significant time. They might be lucky to keep home court advantage at this rate if Carroll is out for any significant amount of time.
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LeBron resting losing games
Celtics still play n hard.....nobody resting.
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Oh boy, Carroll just sprained his ankle. Toronto can ill afford losing anymore players for any significant time. They might be lucky to keep home court advantage at this rate if Carroll is out for any significant amount of time.
PJ Tucker will be good insurance for them going forward.
If we can hang on to 2nd, I think I'd prefer to see TOR drop to 3rd. WASH seems like a bigger regular season threat, but TOR a bigger playoff threat.
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Great night for our playoff seeding!
The Toronto loss puts them 3.5 games back from us now, and they probably lost Carroll for a couple of games after rolling his ankle.
The Cavs loss puts them only 2.5 games above us for the number one seed!
Now only if the Blazers take care of the Nets and the Bulls take care of the Clippers (Griffin watch), it'll be a perfect basketball night for Celtics fans!
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Great night for our playoff seeding!
The Toronto loss puts them 3.5 games back from us now, and they probably lost Carroll for a couple of games after rolling his ankle.
The Cavs loss puts them only 2.5 games above us for the number one seed!
Now only if the Blazers take care of the Nets and the Bulls take care of the Clippers (Griffin watch), it'll be a perfect basketball night for Celtics fans!
The bolded is probably good for them to be honest. Carroll has been hot garbage this season.
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I'm looking at the schedules and it's gotten a little tighter versus the Wizards. Rather than going through every game, I'm going to take a shortcut and look at how many "tough games" we have left. I'll define "tough" as top 4 in the conference (home team advantage).
Celtics: @LAC, @GS, CLE
Washington: @CLE, @LAC, @Utah @GS
We have two of our big 3 this week. Washington has all four of theirs in an eight day period at the end of the month. I'd love to come out of this week with two wins out of three, but one is probably more realistic.
We also play each other in Boston. Washington leads the season series 2-1 so, if we lose, we're in a big hole for the #2 slot.
Fortunately, we have a couple of factors in our favor:
With 19 games left, we only have eight left on the road. Washington has 21 games left and 15 of them are on the road. I'm hoping that schedule wears them down. Wall and Beal have been healthy and have played 59 and 57 games, respectively, of their total 61.
Even better: Washington has a brutal 18 games in March, including five back to backs. Ouch. Including tonight, we only have three.
And finally: Washington's last three games are 2X Miami and Detroit, teams that are battling for that last playoff spot. We've got Charlotte, Brooklyn and Milwaukee. Milwaukee is tied with Miami for ninth but, hopefully, they'll be eliminated by that last game so we can have the night off.
We've gotta get through these injuries and win the games we're supposed to win, since it doesn't look like the Wizards can be ruled out. Just ask Orlando last night.
Mike
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 42-20 0
2. Boston 40-23 2.5
3. Washington 37-24 4.5
4. Toronto 37-26 5.5
5. Atlanta 34-28 8
6. Indiana 32-30 10
7. Chicago 31-31 11
8. Detroit 30-32 12
9. Miami 30-34 13
10. Milwaukee 29-33 13
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Relevant Games:
Miami beats Cleveland
Milwaukee beats Philadelphia
Boston at LAC
Chicago at Detroit
Golden State at Atlanta
Indiana at Charlotte
Tonight is another big night for our standings. The Cavs inexplicably lost to the Heat at home again tonight, giving us another opportunity to come within two games of catching them for the number one seed. With as rough as their schedule is down the stretch and their tendency to rest guys for the playoffs, it's still very possible to catch them, even with our continued blundered games. But we can't continue to have games like last night, and we really, really need to try and take two of the next three games at LAC, GS, and Denver. Tall task, but it's doable.
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TP for the updates.
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Tonight is another big night for our standings. The Cavs inexplicably lost to the Heat at home again tonight, giving us another opportunity to come within two games of catching them for the number one seed. With as rough as their schedule is down the stretch and their tendency to rest guys for the playoffs, it's still very possible to catch them, even with our continued blundered games. But we can't continue to have games like last night, and we really, really need to try and take two of the next three games at LAC, GS, and Denver. Tall task, but it's doable.
Love the updates - thanks for keeping it current!
But I think Cavs fans probably think the same way tonight as we did last night. In fact, that is now back to back losses against the Heat. If we look at how they did just before the All-Star break in Jan, they had some solid losses against the Pelicans, Blazers, Mavericks, Kings, and Bulls (among others). I guess what it proves is even the best teams have let downs.
But I agree, if we are to catch them, we need to win the gimmes.
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Now we need to beat Washington to regain the #2 spot. Thanks for blowing up yesterday's game. ::)
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Well, with that loss, Washington is now just 1.5 games back from us. What's more, it's not a "true" 1.5 games back either. We're tied in the loss column, but they've simply played 3 fewer games than us, meaning they're 3 wins back. So they're a very real danger to surpass us in the standings, though of course they have a pretty difficult schedule to do that with.
But ultimately, we'll more than likely have to win our game at home against Washington in order to keep the second see. Not only would that help us record-wise, it'd also more than likely give us the tiebreaker if we end up with a tied record. Here's the playoff tiebreaker procedures:
(-) Tie breaker not needed (better overall winning percentage)
(1) Division leader wins tie from team not leading a division
(2) Head-to-head won-lost percentage
(3) Division won-lost percentage
(4) Conference won-lost percentage
(5) W-L Percentage vs. Playoff teams, own conference
(6) W-L Percentage vs. Playoff teams, other conference
(7) Net Points, all games
So since we'd be both be divisional leaders and tied in the head-to-head matchup, it'd go to division won-lost percentage. Luckily, we have some pretty bad teams in our division, and so far we've gone 8-4 against our division, while still having 4 games against the three worst teams in our division in the Nets (2), 76ers (1), and Knicks (1). Washington, on the other hand, is currently 6-5 in their division, and they still have 5 games left against Charlotte (2), Atlanta (1), and Miami (2), all of which will be difficult games for them given they're all in the playoff hunt.
If somehow we end up tied in the divisional record, then it goes to the conference record next, which we also have an edge on them with. We're currently at 26-12 compared to their 25-16, which is a significant lead with the schedule we have the rest of the way.
Thus, as long as we win against the Wizards at home in a couple of weeks, we'll more than likely own the tiebreaker against them, so that game is going to be extremely important for the race for the number 2 seed.
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Also, the Wizards are in a really tough road stretch right now. They're getting ready to play a stretch of 4 games in 5 nights all on the road with the second night of each back to back against tough opponents.
They play tomorrow night in Phoenix, followed by a really tough game in Denver the very next night. Then two days later they start with the Kings on Friday night and end up with the Trailblazers on Saturday night. So they could very well go 2-2 on that trip, giving us some breathing room, though we still really, really need to win at least one of these next two road games to keep the pressure on them.
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Phoenix has come back and is currently up by 6 over Washington in the 3rd! Let's hope they can pull off this crap game like they did last night with us.
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Phoenix has come back and is currently up by 6 over Washington in the 3rd! Let's hope they can pull off this crap game like they did last night with us.
Scratch that - now they're straight up DOMINATING the Wizards up 11. I just turned on the game, and they put on three straight HUGE blocks on Beal and Gortat on three straight fastbreak opportunities, which led to a Len dunk and a Warren three pointer.
Phoenix owes us this one after gifting them that game the other night.
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Phoenix has come back and is currently up by 6 over Washington in the 3rd! Let's hope they can pull off this crap game like they did last night with us.
Now up 11. 20-2 run to start the third quarter.
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Well, the Suns didn't beat the Wizards, but they really made them work. They'll have a tough time beating Denver in Denver on the second night of a back to back.
But again, they're now just one game (2 wins) back from us in the standings.
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Why didn't we grab Bogdanovic?
Hurts to see these mid season pick ups killing it
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Why didn't we grab Bogdanovic?
Hurts to see these mid season pick ups killing it
We have no use for him in this roster, plus he's not a good defender.
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If the Celtics loses 5 games in a row, there has got to be a players-only meeting.
And by looking at their next 3 games...@Warriors, @Denver, vs Chicago. Tough teams.
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If the Celtics loses 5 games in a row, there has got to be a players-only meeting.
And by looking at their next 3 games...@Warriors, @Denver, vs Chicago. Tough teams.
Theyve lost 2 in a row.
lets not jump the gun and call it 5 in a row.
They should lose to Golden State, but have a much better record than both Denver and Chicago who they get at home.
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Now Washington will get Denver probably without Jokic but Jokic will be back in time to play us on Friday. Washington is probably going to pas us tonight which sucks.
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If the Celtics loses 5 games in a row, there has got to be a players-only meeting.
And by looking at their next 3 games...@Warriors, @Denver, vs Chicago. Tough teams.
Theyve lost 2 in a row.
lets not jump the gun and call it 5 in a row.
They should lose to Golden State, but have a much better record than both Denver and Chicago who they get at home.
I don't think there's anyone in the league the Celtics should lose to. I think you're right that GS are the favorites in the matchup but the Celtics can hang with any team in the NBA and if Horford is back and KD is still out, the Celtics have every reason to win tonight.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 42-20 0
2. Boston 40-24 3
3. Washington 38-24 4
4. Toronto 37-26 5.5
5. Atlanta 34-29 8.5
6. Indiana 32-31 10.5
7. Detroit 31-32 11.5
8. Chicago 31-32 11.5
9. Miami 30-34 13
10. Milwaukee 29-33 13
Bold = games tonight
Relevant Games:
Boston at Golden State
Washington at Denver
Chicago at Orlando
Charlotte at Miami
Brooklyn at Atlanta
Toronto at New Orleans
Detroit at Indiana
New York at Milwaukee
Another huge night in the seeding race. But the three big games are Boston at Golden State, Washington at Denver, and Toronto at New Orleans. We should expect both New Orleans and Denver to give those teams good fights and challenges, but unfortunately it looks like Jokic is doubtful tonight for Denver (of course), which makes a Washington win more likely.
Thus, tonight is a really important night. With how Golden State has been playing lately without KD, there's a prime opportunity for us to win this game. They've not looked the same without him, and with Horford being back and rested and fully healthy, we need to get up for this game and take it. Washington could very well pass us in the standings by the weekend if we don't take at least one of these next two games at Golden State or Denver. But again, I like our chances against Golden State more than Denver, who has the size to really bother us.
It also should be noted that as of today, Detroit would be our first round opponent with Chicago dropping to 8th. Chicago has had injuries and has been dropping several games lately, and with a game coming up against them, they might be on the outside looking in sooner rather than later, which also benefits our Butler pursuit this offseason.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 42-20 0
2. Boston 41-24 2.5
3. Washington 31-24 3.5
4. Toronto 38-26 5
5. Atlanta 35-29 8
6. Indiana 33-31 10
7. Detroit 31-33 12
8. Chicago 31-33 12
9. Miami 31-34 12.5
10. Milwaukee 30-33 12.5
Well, this was a very interesting night for the Eastern playoff seedings. Boston, Washington, and Toronto all won, so the separation among the three stayed the same, though they all gained a half game on Cleveland.
Both Atlanta and Indiana won further separating themselves from the lower seed. But both Detroit and Chicago lost with Miami and Milwaukee winning, so now 7-10 is separated by only .5 games! That's going to be something to watch down the stretch, because ultimately the winner of that race will more than likely end up playing us in the first round.
To me, I rate those matchups as Miami, Detroit/Milwaukee, and Chicago, so that's how I'll be rooting from now on. (Chicago missing the playoffs also serves our potential Butler trade interests, too, so always root for them to lose!)
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If the Celtics loses 5 games in a row, there has got to be a players-only meeting.
And by looking at their next 3 games...@Warriors, @Denver, vs Chicago. Tough teams.
Theyve lost 2 in a row.
lets not jump the gun and call it 5 in a row.
They should lose to Golden State, but have a much better record than both Denver and Chicago who they get at home.
I don't think there's anyone in the league the Celtics should lose to. I think you're right that GS are the favorites in the matchup but the Celtics can hang with any team in the NBA and if Horford is back and KD is still out, the Celtics have every reason to win tonight.
Like I said. There is no one in the league this Celtics team should lose to. With full effort, they can beat anyone.
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If the Celtics loses 5 games in a row, there has got to be a players-only meeting.
And by looking at their next 3 games...@Warriors, @Denver, vs Chicago. Tough teams.
Theyve lost 2 in a row.
lets not jump the gun and call it 5 in a row.
They should lose to Golden State, but have a much better record than both Denver and Chicago who they get at home.
I don't think there's anyone in the league the Celtics should lose to. I think you're right that GS are the favorites in the matchup but the Celtics can hang with any team in the NBA and if Horford is back and KD is still out, the Celtics have every reason to win tonight.
Like I said. There is no one in the league this Celtics team should lose to. With full effort, they can beat anyone.
Dang ;D ;D ;D
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That game against Washington is going to be the biggest one of the year. This thing is tight.
Mike
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That game against Washington is going to be the biggest one of the year. This thing is tight.
Mike
Eh, the game against Cleveland is going to be just as important with the winner most likely getting the first seed in the conference. Miraculously, even with our bad losses lately, Cleveland's terrible play of late has kept us in the race for the number one seed.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2017-nba-predictions/
Have you seen the latest FiveThirtyEight projections? Right now it has us 4th in the league based on CARMELO projections, and we're also at a projected record of 53-29 with a 43% chance to get the top seed and a 6% chance at winning the overall title. We also have a +3.4 Point Differential/Game.
Cleveland is 7th in the league based on CARMELO projections, and they're also projected to have a final record of 53-29 with a 49% chance to get the top seed and a 4% chance at winning the overall title. They also only have a marginally better Point Differential/Game than us at +3.6.
The only reason that Cleveland has a better projected chance at the top seed right now is because they currently own the tiebreaker against us 2-1. However, if we can beat them in the final regular season game against them in Boston, then more than likely we'll win the first seed. This is because not only do they have a ridiculously tough schedule the rest of the way (as evidenced by them having a projected tied record with Boston when it's all said and done with), we'd actually own the tiebreaker against them if we beat them in Boston.
Since we'd both be division leaders and tied 2-2 head-to-head this season, it'd go to division record win-loss percentage, which we have a 2 game advantage on them at 8-4 compared to their 6-6 division record. So as long as we take care of 3 of our 4 remaining games @ Brooklyn/vs. Brooklyn, @ Philly, and @ New York and we beat Cleveland in Boston on April 5th (second night of a B2B for them), then we'll more than likely have the top seed in the conference for the playoffs. It ultimately wouldn't surprise me in the least to see Cleveland give up the chase for the number one seed at the end and rest Lebron and Kyrie quite a bit toward the end of the season.
EDIT: By the way, Washington is projected to finish 3 games below us at 50-32 in 3rd and Toronto 4 games worse at 49-33 in 4th. Unfortunately, though, the 1st seed would mean we'd be playing either Toronto or Atlanta in the 2nd round, which is less ideal than Washington, imo.
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Miami's likely gonna make the playoffs. Leave them for the Cavs.
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And by the way, the only relevant game tonight is Cleveland at Detroit. JR Smith is back tonight, too.
If Detroit can pull it off somehow, we'd be only 2 games back from Cleveland (1 win, 3 losses).
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Miami's likely gonna make the playoffs. Leave them for the Cavs.
Give me Miami every day of the week. Outside of Charlotte, who won't make the playoffs at all, they're probably our number one matchup. We're 6-0 against Miami the past two seasons with one more matchup coming up against them this season.
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Miami's likely gonna make the playoffs. Leave them for the Cavs.
Give me Miami every day of the week. Outside of Charlotte, who won't make the playoffs at all, they're probably our number one matchup. We're 6-0 against Miami the past two seasons with one more matchup coming up against them this season.
All those wins were without Dion Waiters playing. They're 20-4 since Jan. 17, the best record in the NBA. He's hitting 45 percent from 3-point range over his past 20 games.
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Miami's likely gonna make the playoffs. Leave them for the Cavs.
Give me Miami every day of the week. Outside of Charlotte, who won't make the playoffs at all, they're probably our number one matchup. We're 6-0 against Miami the past two seasons with one more matchup coming up against them this season.
All those wins were without Dion Waiters playing. They're 20-4 since Jan. 17, the best record in the NBA. He's hitting 45 percent from 3-point range over his past 20 games.
Again, Dion Waiters is no reason to be worried about Miami. We'd more than likely sweep them.
He's a good player, don't get me wrong. But if we can contain the Currys and Thompsons of the world with three of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, we can contain Dion Waiters.
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Pistons leading the Cavs leading to half-time.
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Miami's likely gonna make the playoffs. Leave them for the Cavs.
Give me Miami every day of the week. Outside of Charlotte, who won't make the playoffs at all, they're probably our number one matchup. We're 6-0 against Miami the past two seasons with one more matchup coming up against them this season.
All those wins were without Dion Waiters playing. They're 20-4 since Jan. 17, the best record in the NBA. He's hitting 45 percent from 3-point range over his past 20 games.
Again, Dion Waiters is no reason to be worried about Miami. We'd more than likely sweep them.
He's a good player, don't get me wrong. But if we can contain the Currys and Thompsons of the world with three of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, we can contain Dion Waiters.
Dragic is another one who plays well against us. He seems to know how to take adavnatage of IT size.
That are playing very good and are a threat!
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Detroit back up 4 with 8 to go! C'mon, Detroit, do us a favor and beat Cleveland!
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There will be no sweeps in the east this year .
Gaps are so small.
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Cleveland is REALLY struggling with Detroit's size.
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Cavs lose! Down just two games for the number one seed now!
The Cavs are in a BAADDDDDD way right now.
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Down goes Cleveland tonight! The Cavs look really vulnerable lately.
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Wow. Gotta be favorites for the 1 seed now given our crazy easy schedule.
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The Cavs are melting down and play a back to back against the Rockets in Houston on Sunday. We could be within one game by then if we keep the peddle to the metal.
Only real tough game we have coming up is a back to back against the wizards in a couple weeks...Which could be a huge game standings wise.
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Things are starting to get a bit tricky with the playoff seeding.
With us having a legitimate shot of getting the number one seed, that might put us in a precarious position if Toronto stays in 4th, since I think pretty much everyone agrees that Toronto is a worse matchup for us than Washington.
Ideally, we'd get the number one seed and Toronto would pass up Washington in the standings and get the third seed. That'd also help us out by having Toronto really push Cleveland in the second round. Then again, I wouldn't put it past Toronto to tank for the fourth seed and a matchup with us to try and avoid Cleveland as long as possible, though that's a dangerous game as close as this race is going to be to the end.
Just something to keep an eye on.
Toronto plays in Atlanta tonight, and Boston is in Denver and Washington in Sacramento.
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The Cavs are melting down and play a back to back against the Rockets in Houston on Sunday. We could be within one game by then if we keep the peddle to the metal.
Only real tough game we have coming up is a back to back against the wizards in a couple weeks...Which could be a huge game standings wise.
Technically, we could be tied with them after Sunday. If they would lose to both Orlando and Houston in their back to back, they would be at 42-23. If we'd beat both Denver tonight and Chicago on Sunday afternoon, we'd be 43-24 and tied with them in the standings.
Of course, they're not likely to lose both of those games, so assuming they lose only one of those games (probably Houston) they'd be 43-22. So we'd be just one game back of them if we take care of business the next two games.
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The Cavs are melting down and play a back to back against the Rockets in Houston on Sunday. We could be within one game by then if we keep the peddle to the metal.
Only real tough game we have coming up is a back to back against the wizards in a couple weeks...Which could be a huge game standings wise.
Technically, we could be tied with them after Sunday. If they would lose to both Orlando and Houston in their back to back, they would be at 42-23. If we'd beat both Denver tonight and Chicago on Sunday afternoon, we'd be 43-24 and tied with them in the standings.
Of course, they're not likely to lose both of those games, so assuming they lose only one of those games (probably Houston) they'd be 43-22. So we'd be just one game back of them if we take care of business the next two games.
both celtics and cavs are 5-5 over the last 10 games. the celtics had a chance to close the gap. but still enough time left to move into first. HCA would be nice.
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So I just realized the Bulls are actually out of the playoff picture as of now.
If playoffs started today BOS would play DET.
That would actually be a favorable match up for us!
Same with Miami. I feel we match up well against them.
Not really against Chicago or even Indiana.
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So I just realized the Bulls are actually out of the playoff picture as of now.
If playoffs started today BOS would play DET.
That would actually be a favorable match up for us!
Same with Miami. I feel we match up well against them.
Not really against Chicago or even Indiana.
Yeah, I think people are overrating Miami quite a bit. Detroit actually is a not-great matchup for us, but they just don't have the overall talent and chemistry to beat a team like Boston, imo.
I think Indiana would be a decent matchup for us, though. We'd just have to control George from going off, which would be difficult. But the rest of the team doesn't worry me at all. They don't have the advantages against us that other teams do, like significant size and rebounding.
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Welp, because we couldn't take care of business in Denver were now tied with Washington for the second seed in the standings (+1 win, +1 loss) (technically they have the tiebreaker so they're in second right now).
But luckily, they have a tough back to back tomorrow in Portland, so hopefully we can gain that loss back then and then take care of business at home against Chicago on Sunday.
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If the playoffs started today, the Celtics would have to face the streaky Pacers.
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I'm becoming more and more convinced that just keeping the number two seed might be the best scenario for us.
Toronto is clearly been much worse without Lowry, but he's expected back right before the playoffs, which will make them much, much better. If we get the number one seed, then we'll be playing one of Toronto or Atlanta in the second round, because Toronto simply isn't going to catch up to Washington or us, as evidenced by their blow-out tonight in Miami. Both of these teams are pretty bad matchups for us compared to Washington, so all in all keeping the second seed might be preferable.
Home court advantage won't really matter against Cleveland in the East anyways, and, hell, if we'd get a couple game lead on Washington we might even be able to rest players some games, specifically our heavy use guys like IT, Smart, Crowder, and Al.
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Wizards stun Portland with a 125-124 OT win. They're now half a game above Boston for the #2 seed.
What will the Celtics do now?
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Wizards stun Portland with a 125-124 OT win. They're now half a game above Boston for the #2 seed.
What will the Celtics do now?
Take care of their own business and dress up for a funeral in the wizards match to bury them.
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Wizards stun Portland with a 125-124 OT win. They're now half a game above Boston for the #2 seed.
What will the Celtics do now?
Take care of their own business and dress up for a funeral in the wizards match to bury them.
That would be a change of pace. There's no reason for the Celtics to be in the #3 spot right now except they've lost focus against bad teams.
I still think a minor deal at the deadline, that didn't disrupt things, could've brought a little energy to the club during these dog days of the NBA season.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 43-21 0
2. Washington 41-24 2.5
3. Boston 42-25 2.5
4. Toronto 38-28 6.0
5. Atlanta 37-29 7.0
6. Indiana 33-32 10.5
7. Detroit 33-33 11.0
8. Milwaukee 32-33 11.5
9. Miami 32-34 12.0
10. Chicago 31-35 13.0
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Relevant Games:
Boston blows out Chicago
Cleveland at Houston
Miami at Indiana
Several other big games tonight after we blew out Chicago at home and tied Washington back up in games behind Cleveland. If Miami can top Indiana tonight, then they'll be tied with Milwaukee for the 8th seed, and they own the tiebreaker against Milwaukee. And if Cleveland loses to Houston, then they'll only be 2 games ahead of both Washington and Cleveland going forward.
By the way, in the unlikely scenario there would be a three team tie for the number one seed among Boston, Washington, and Cleveland, Cleveland pretty much already owns the tiebreaker (I think if my calculations are correct), and pretty much whoever wins the remaining Boston/Washington game would get second.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 43-21 0
2. Washington 41-24 2.5
3. Boston 42-25 2.5
4. Toronto 38-28 6.0
5. Atlanta 37-29 7.0
6. Indiana 33-32 10.5
7. Detroit 33-33 11.0
8. Milwaukee 32-33 11.5
9. Miami 32-34 12.0
10. Chicago 31-35 13.0
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Relevant Games:
Boston blows out Chicago
Cleveland at Houston
Miami at Indiana
Several other big games tonight after we blew out Chicago at home and tied Washington back up in games behind Cleveland. If Miami can top Indiana tonight, then they'll be tied with Milwaukee for the 8th seed, and they own the tiebreaker against Milwaukee. And if Cleveland loses to Houston, then they'll only be 2 games ahead of both Washington and Cleveland going forward.
By the way, in the unlikely scenario there would be a three team tie for the number one seed among Boston, Washington, and Cleveland, Cleveland pretty much already owns the tiebreaker (I think if my calculations are correct), and pretty much whoever wins the remaining Boston/Washington game would get second.
It's going to be interesting to see which Cleveland ends up with the better record :laugh:
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I have a gut feelin the Cavs will monitor what is goin on with Miami. Meaning they will stay out of their way in the first round even if it means giving up the top seed...why because the cHeat seems to have the Cavs number, and with the Love onjury the Cavs may not have Love back in time or even at full speed by round one so theyd likly stay away and let whoever gets the top seed or second deal with the Heat.
I think there is no other team the Cavs fear except the Heat.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 43-21 0
2. Washington 41-24 2.5
3. Boston 42-25 2.5
4. Toronto 38-28 6.0
5. Atlanta 37-29 7.0
6. Indiana 33-32 10.5
7. Detroit 33-33 11.0
8. Milwaukee 32-33 11.5
9. Miami 32-34 12.0
10. Chicago 31-35 13.0
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determine.
Cleveland won, Indiana beat Miami.
Cleveland is now only 2 games ahead of Washington who is, technically, tied with the Celtics but the Celtics have lost 1 more game than the Wizards.
Indy's win keeps Miami 1 game back from Milwaukee and out of playoff picture.
Toronto is 3.5 games back from Boston/Washington so as long as everyone takes care of business, the top 3 look more or less set but there's still a lot of jostling to be done at the bottom and among that top 3.
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Back to sole possession of the 2nd seed by a half-game (1 win) over the Wizards after their loss to the Timberwolves!
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Back to sole possession of the 2nd seed by a half-game (1 win) over the Wizards after their loss to the Timberwolves!
We play Minnesota on Wednesday night lol.
Hopefully we take care of business against them unlike WAS, and then beat Brooklyn Friday night. Could be a good stretch going forward (easy schedule).
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Wizards stun Portland with a 125-124 OT win. They're now half a game above Boston for the #2 seed.
What will the Celtics do now?
Take care of their own business and dress up for a funeral in the wizards match to bury them.
That would be a change of pace. There's no reason for the Celtics to be in the #3 spot right now except they've lost focus against bad teams.
I still think a minor deal at the deadline, that didn't disrupt things, could've brought a little energy to the club during these dog days of the NBA season.
Yeah I know hence I suggested it. But still they look to b playing better especially the game against the Chicago bulls
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 44-22 0
2. Boston 42-25 2.5
3. Washington 41-25 3
4. Toronto 39-28 5.5
5. Atlanta 37-30 7.5
6. Indiana 34-33 10.5
7. Detroit 33-34 11.5
8. Milwaukee 32-34 12
9. Chicago 32-35 12.5
10. Miami 32-35 12.5
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Relevant Games:
Minnesota at Boston
Dallas at Washington
Charlotte at Indiana
New Orleans at Miami
Utah at Detroit
Memphis at Chicago
Milwaukee at Los Angeles Clippers
Another huge night for the Eastern playoff seeding. Specifically, both Boston and Washington play tonight, and Wesley Matthews is a game-time decision for Dallas at Washington, though Noel is back for sure. We'll probably need to win tonight to stay in sole possession of the 2nd seed.
Between the race for the 1st/2nd seed and how tight 6-10 is at the bottom of the conference, we'll probably be playing until the last two nights of the season before the actual playoff matchups become clear. Right now it's such a close race that the matchups are variable game-to-game.
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Boston wins and Washington loses. Great overall night moving us 1.5 games ahead of Washington and just 2 games back of Cleveland.
This is a big weekend for us with a significant potential to tie up Cleveland in the standings. They play Utah tomorrow in Cleveland (lost to Utah earlier in the year in Utah) and at the Clippers on Saturday (lost to the Clippers earlier this year in Cleveland). We play in Brooklyn on Friday and Philly on Sunday, meaning that if we win both games (we should) and Cleveland loses both to Utah and the Clippers (very possible), we'll be tied in the standings with Boston at 45-25 and Cleveland at 44-24.
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I ll go ballastic if Celtics drop,a,game to nets ......
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As of now the Heat holds the 8th seed in the playoffs due to percentage points of the Bucks (who is playing the Clippers). Absolutely remarkable run they've made to from 11-30 to 33-35 and a playoff spot at the moment.
Doubt any team wants the Heat in Round 1.
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As of now the Heat holds the 8th seed in the playoffs due to percentage points of the Bucks (who is playing the Clippers). Absolutely remarkable run they've made to from 11-30 to 33-35 and a playoff spot at the moment.
Doubt any team wants the Heat in Round 1.
That would be awful pairing up with MIA...
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538 has both the Cavs and Celts at 48% to get the top seed in the East.
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People are really overrating the Heat on here. Yes, they're hot right now, but there's a reason we've literally swept them in every single game we've played against them the last two years.
Outside of Whiteside, we match up really well with that team. I'd expect anything from a sweep to a pretty easy 5 game series. They're just a team that doesn't scare me, especially with home court advantage.
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Love is back tonight for Cleveland. They have two big games against the Jazz and Clippers this weekend, so he was needed. Could put a damper on the potential one seed chase. We'll see.
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People are really overrating the Heat on here. Yes, they're hot right now, but there's a reason we've literally swept them in every single game we've played against them the last two years.
Outside of Whiteside, we match up really well with that team. I'd expect anything from a sweep to a pretty easy 5 game series. They're just a team that doesn't scare me, especially with home court advantage.
I have to agree here, we should not be afraid of the Heat.
I actually think Whiteside is a negative for them in a matchup with us, we have bigs that pull him out of the paint and negate his strengths. The bigger issue for us is Dragic and his ability to control a game. I would expect us to advance quite easily in that matchup though
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I ll go ballastic if Celtics drop,a,game to nets ......
Get ready with your bazooka, Cs always play to the level of their competition and with no IT, its not going to be easy since the Nets have a grudge knowing we stole their picks from them.
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I ll go ballastic if Celtics drop,a,game to nets ......
Get ready with your bazooka, Cs always play to the level of their competition and with no IT, its not going to be easy since the Nets have a grudge knowing we stole their picks from them.
Eh...while I agree the Celtics play down to the level of their competition, I am pretty sure the actual players on the Nets don't hold grudges about any picks. Most of them were never even there when that trade happened, and they care primarily about their own careers and opportunities. They would prefer to not have a top 5 draft talent join the team each year and threaten their playing time and roster spot. Other than Lopez, those guys all want to get their first big contract, they need playing time and shots more than anything else.
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I ll go ballastic if Celtics drop,a,game to nets ......
Get ready with your bazooka, Cs always play to the level of their competition and with no IT, its not going to be easy since the Nets have a grudge knowing we stole their picks from them.
We beat the Nets by 19 the last game in Brooklyn, so your assertion appears incorrect.
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I ll go ballastic if Celtics drop,a,game to nets ......
Get ready with your bazooka, Cs always play to the level of their competition and with no IT, its not going to be easy since the Nets have a grudge knowing we stole their picks from them.
The Celtics actually have the best record in the East against teams under .500
this year Ive seen both the narrative that the Celtics cant beat good teams and dont beat bad teams.
So who does that leave? How the hell have we gotten to second in the East without beating the good teams or the bad ones? help me out here.
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I ll go ballastic if Celtics drop,a,game to nets ......
Get ready with your bazooka, Cs always play to the level of their competition and with no IT, its not going to be easy since the Nets have a grudge knowing we stole their picks from them.
The Celtics actually have the best record in the East against teams under .500
this year Ive seen both the narrative that the Celtics cant beat good teams and dont beat bad teams.
So who does that leave? How the hell have we gotten to second in the East without beating the good teams or the bad ones? help me out here.
Oh...they most often beat the bad teams, they just let them stay in the game too long most nights.
They beat good teams too, i.e. Cleveland and GS included.
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I ll go ballastic if Celtics drop,a,game to nets ......
Get ready with your bazooka, Cs always play to the level of their competition and with no IT, its not going to be easy since the Nets have a grudge knowing we stole their picks from them.
So who does that leave? How the hell have we gotten to second in the East without beating the good teams or the bad ones? help me out here.
We kick butt against the medium ones.
Mike
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I ll go ballastic if Celtics drop,a,game to nets ......
Get ready with your bazooka, Cs always play to the level of their competition and with no IT, its not going to be easy since the Nets have a grudge knowing we stole their picks from them.
So who does that leave? How the hell have we gotten to second in the East without beating the good teams or the bad ones? help me out here.
We kick butt against the medium ones.
Mike
That can't be, because we're going to lose in the first round.
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I ll go ballastic if Celtics drop,a,game to nets ......
Get ready with your bazooka, Cs always play to the level of their competition and with no IT, its not going to be easy since the Nets have a grudge knowing we stole their picks from them.
So who does that leave? How the hell have we gotten to second in the East without beating the good teams or the bad ones? help me out here.
We kick butt against the medium ones.
Mike
That can't be, because we're going to lose in the first round.
So we arent good against great teams, bad teams, medium teams or teams in our range in the East.
This leaves, by my count, the Memphis Grizzlies and the Utah Jazz.
We are bad against everyone else.
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Lebron, Kyrie, and Love all sitting tonight versus Clippers, so we should be only 1.5 games behind Cleveland after tonight.
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Lebron, Kyrie, and Love all sitting tonight versus Clippers, so we should be only 1.5 games behind Cleveland after tonight.
That is god news. I will have to watch it.
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Hornets up 2 over the Wizards in the 3rd. A loss for Washington tonight would be great.
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1 minute to go, and Hornets up 7 on the Wizards.
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Washington finally coming back down to Earth. Huge loss!
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Cleveland resting everyone and now down 15.
Might be 1.5 GB of 1 seed and now 2 games above Washington.
Let's hope the Celtics play with more fire and beat Philly tomorrow.
It may be a trap game and we have no IT but these games we can't afford to lose if we are serious about getting a 2 seed (or even 1).
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Washington finally coming back down to Earth. Huge loss!
They were bound to. The rest of the schedule is about to get brutal for them.
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That was some dumb basketball on both sides to end that game, about as bad as you can get with all those mistakes.
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Wizards will be ready come Monday. Regardless of tomorrow need to win that game. Would just about be a wrap on the 2 seed if so.
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Lebron, Kyrie, and Love all sitting tonight versus Clippers, so we should be only 1.5 games behind Cleveland after tonight.
This looks more like fear than rest.
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Hornets rock .....tanks for the win..
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Lebron, Kyrie, and Love all sitting tonight versus Clippers, so we should be only 1.5 games behind Cleveland after tonight.
This looks more like fear than rest.
I think they prefer to avoid Miami in the 1st round.
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Lebron, Kyrie, and Love all sitting tonight versus Clippers, so we should be only 1.5 games behind Cleveland after tonight.
This looks more like fear than rest.
I think they prefer to avoid Miami in the 1st round.
Yea LeBron/Kyrie looked pretty happy with them losing
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Miami could easily end up the 6th or 7th seed, no point in trying to avoid them, just get the best seed possible.
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Miami could easily end up the 6th or 7th seed, no point in trying to avoid them, just get the best seed possible.
With the Bucks losing tonight, Miami is now the 7 seed. Not that far behind Indiana either (2 games in the loss column).
Miami has a tough game vs Portland tomorrow, and Waiters is likely out with an ankle sprain. But the game is in Miami and their two most important players (Dragic/Whiteside) have been balling out. Should be a good matchup, as both teams are fighting for their 'playoff' lives, and I especially look forward to Lillard v Dragic and Nurkic v Whiteside. CJ might be the difference, although the Johnson brothers (Tyler and James) have been playing really good too.
Boston needs to just focus on winning their own games and whatever happens, happens. But if there was one team to avoid, it's obviously the Heat. This isn't just some streak they are on, watching their games and looking deeper into the numbers this is more likely far closer to what they are than their early season, injury plagued, poor play may have alluded to. People dismissing the Heat aren't paying enough attention to reasons behind Miami's success of late.
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Miami could easily end up the 6th or 7th seed, no point in trying to avoid them, just get the best seed possible.
With the Bucks losing tonight, Miami is now the 7 seed. Not that far behind Indiana either (2 games in the loss column).
Miami has a tough game vs Portland tomorrow, and Waiters is likely out with an ankle sprain. But the game is in Miami and their two most important players (Dragic/Whiteside) have been balling out. Should be a good matchup, as both teams are fighting for their 'playoff' lives, and I especially look forward to Lillard v Dragic and Nurkic v Whiteside. CJ might be the difference, although the Johnson brothers (Tyler and James) have been playing really good too.
Boston needs to just focus on winning their own games and whatever happens, happens. But if there was one team to avoid, it's obviously the Heat. This isn't just some streak they are on, watching their games and looking deeper into the numbers this is more likely far closer to what they are than their early season, injury plagued, poor play may have alluded to. People dismissing the Heat aren't paying enough attention to reasons behind Miami's success of late.
i don't remember who played when we last faced them we might have been missing some guys, still didn't it take like 40 from Isiah to put them away? I don't wanna see them you know Hassan will feast on the likes of Amir/Kelly at least 2-3 games in the series
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Lakers up 7 on the Cavs in the 4th. Would kind of be hilarious if cleveland kept us in the race for the 1 seed once again with a bad loss. However, I don't expect this to be sustainable for the Lakers.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 46-23 0
2. Boston 45-26 2
3. Washington 42-28 4.5
4. Toronto 41-29 5.5
5. Atlanta 37-33 9.5
6. Indiana 36-34 10.5
7. Milwaukee 34-35 12
8. Detroit 34-36 12.5
9. Miami 34-36 12.5
10. Chicago 33-37 13.5
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Relevant Games:
Chicago at Toronto
Phoenix at Miami
Detroit at Brooklyn
After last night's win, Boston should be firmly entrenched in the number two seed for the rest of the season. They pretty much own the tiebreaker with the Wizards now for sure with a significantly better conference record, and it's doubtful that Toronto can make up 3.5 games the rest of the way with Boston having a pretty easy schedule.
But this brings up an interesting dilemma for us - Toronto is a very real threat to take over the number three seed from Washington due to owning the tiebreaker, which would set us up for a second round matchup with Toronto. That's not as ideal as a Washington matchup. Further, Washington's schedule down the stretch is much more difficult than Toronto's schedule:
Washington -
vs. ATL
vs. BRK B2B
@ CLE B2B
@ LAL B2B
@ LAC B2B
@ UTH
@ GS
vs. CHA
@ NYK
vs. MIA
@ DET
@ MIA
Toronto -
vs. CHI
@ MIA
@ DAL
vs. ORL
vs. CHA
vs. IND
vs. PHI
@ IND B2B
@ DET B2B
vs. MIA
@ NYK
@ CLE
Complicating things even more is the possibility of us catching the Cavs for the number one seed, which is still very possible, though we can't have anymore brain-fart games like Phoenix or Philly. Our schedule is much easier than the Cavs' schedule the rest of the way, too:
Boston -
vs. IND
vs. PHO
vs. MIA
vs. MIL
vs. ORL
@ NYK
vs. CLE B2B
@ ATL B2B
@ CHA
vs. BRK
vs. MIL
Cleveland -
@ DEN
@ CHA B2B
vs. WAS B2B
@ SAS
@ CHI B2B
vs. PHI B2B
vs. IND
vs. ORL B2B
@ BOS B2B
vs. ATL
@ ATL B2B
@ MIA B2B
vs. TOR
With three back to backs left, I expect the Cavs to rest one or more of their stars on one of the games of each set of back to backs, so there's certainly some potential losses in there for them. As long as we play good ball the rest of the way, then we'll have at least a shot of overthrowing them for the number one seed, though we'll almost certainly have to beat them in Boston to get that seed.
So it's going to be a great race down the stretch for seeding purposes, and that's not even mentioning the tight race at the bottom of the playoffs, too!
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TP, as always, for a good post. Added bonus: The site is loading so slowly that, by the time this post is up, I'll be eligible to give you another TP.
Interesting note: CLE's last two games are against Miami and Toronto, two teams on the bubble for their current seeds. True, much of that is likely to be sorted out by the last couple of games but, if it's still close, CLE won't be able to rest starters those last couple of games.
Mike
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TP, as always, for a good post. Added bonus: The site is loading so slowly that, by the time this post is up, I'll be eligible to give you another TP.
Interesting note: CLE's last two games are against Miami and Toronto, two teams on the bubble for their current seeds. True, much of that is likely to be sorted out by the last couple of games but, if it's still close, CLE won't be able to rest starters those last couple of games.
Mike
Cleveland will rest their starters and sacrifice seeding if necessary. The question is what do the Celtics do if they could grab the top seed?
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I think if we beat the Cavs in our game with them, we'll get the #1 seed. Toronto will edge the Wiz for the 3, with the hawks, pacers, bucks, and heat rounding out the field.
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TP, as always, for a good post. Added bonus: The site is loading so slowly that, by the time this post is up, I'll be eligible to give you another TP.
Interesting note: CLE's last two games are against Miami and Toronto, two teams on the bubble for their current seeds. True, much of that is likely to be sorted out by the last couple of games but, if it's still close, CLE won't be able to rest starters those last couple of games.
Mike
Cleveland will rest their starters and sacrifice seeding if necessary. The question is what do the Celtics do if they could grab the top seed?
Who owns the tie-breaker between Clev and us?
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Do we really want the #1 seed?
That could mean playing MIA first round, then either TOR or ATL (aka BAD match ups for this team and Lowry will return by then too).
#2 seed could mean playing DET first round (great match up for us) and WAS second round (and with home court advantage we'd have a pretty decent shot).
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Basically a formality, but the Bulls loss officially clinches the Celtics a playoff spot!
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Do we really want the #1 seed?
That could mean playing MIA first round, then either TOR or ATL (aka BAD match ups for this team and Lowry will return by then too).
#2 seed could mean playing DET first round (great match up for us) and WAS second round (and with home court advantage we'd have a pretty decent shot).
looking at the schedules i think toronto will get to 3rd
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Do we really want the #1 seed?
That could mean playing MIA first round, then either TOR or ATL (aka BAD match ups for this team and Lowry will return by then too).
#2 seed could mean playing DET first round (great match up for us) and WAS second round (and with home court advantage we'd have a pretty decent shot).
looking the schedules i think toronto will get to 3rd
Possibly. That could change things I guess.
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TP, as always, for a good post. Added bonus: The site is loading so slowly that, by the time this post is up, I'll be eligible to give you another TP.
Interesting note: CLE's last two games are against Miami and Toronto, two teams on the bubble for their current seeds. True, much of that is likely to be sorted out by the last couple of games but, if it's still close, CLE won't be able to rest starters those last couple of games.
Mike
Cleveland will rest their starters and sacrifice seeding if necessary. The question is what do the Celtics do if they could grab the top seed?
Who owns the tie-breaker between Clev and us?
Currently Cleveland does due to beating us head to head 2 out of 3 times.
However, we have 1 more game against them in Boston, and ultimately whoever wins that game will more than likely have the tiebreaker. If Cleveland wins that game, then they get the tiebreaker outright. If Boston wins that game, then it's more likely that we'll have the tiebreaker in the event of a tie in regular season records.
This is because it goes to conference records after head to head matchups. Right now, they have a slight lead in the conference record at 30-11 compared to our 29-13. However, 11 of their final 13 games are against the East, and with Boston being 3 losses back of Cleveland, in the event of a tie it probably means that Cleveland lost against several Eastern Conference teams while Boston did well against them.
So if we want the number one seed and/or the tiebreaker, we'll almost certainly have to beat Cleveland in the final game, along with take care of business against virtually all of the remaining Eastern teams we face (IND, MIA, MIL, ORL, NYK, CLE, ATL, CHA, and BRK). It's definitely doable, but we'll have to play good ball the rest of the way and hope that Cleveland loses several more games the rest of the season.
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Do we really want the #1 seed?
That could mean playing MIA first round, then either TOR or ATL (aka BAD match ups for this team and Lowry will return by then too).
#2 seed could mean playing DET first round (great match up for us) and WAS second round (and with home court advantage we'd have a pretty decent shot).
Miami could easily be the 6th or 7th seed. You want to play the team that's playing the worst, that will be whoever is 8th.
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Seems Celtics just clinched! Yay!
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Also, a lot of people here are worried about the first round.
If we can't beat Miami in seven, then we can't beat Cleveland in seven. Important thing is to get home court. Beat whoever.
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TP, as always, for a good post. Added bonus: The site is loading so slowly that, by the time this post is up, I'll be eligible to give you another TP.
Interesting note: CLE's last two games are against Miami and Toronto, two teams on the bubble for their current seeds. True, much of that is likely to be sorted out by the last couple of games but, if it's still close, CLE won't be able to rest starters those last couple of games.
Mike
Cleveland will rest their starters and sacrifice seeding if necessary. The question is what do the Celtics do if they could grab the top seed?
Who owns the tie-breaker between Clev and us?
Currently Cleveland does due to beating us head to head 2 out of 3 times.
However, we have 1 more game against them in Boston, and ultimately whoever wins that game will more than likely have the tiebreaker. If Cleveland wins that game, then they get the tiebreaker outright. If Boston wins that game, then it's more likely that we'll have the tiebreaker in the event of a tie in regular season records.
This is because it goes to conference records after head to head matchups. Right now, they have a slight lead in the conference record at 30-11 compared to our 29-13. However, 11 of their final 13 games are against the East, and with Boston being 3 losses back of Cleveland, in the event of a tie it probably means that Cleveland lost against several Eastern Conference teams while Boston did well against them.
So if we want the number one seed and/or the tiebreaker, we'll almost certainly have to beat Cleveland in the final game, along with take care of business against virtually all of the remaining Eastern teams we face (IND, MIA, MIL, ORL, NYK, CLE, ATL, CHA, and BRK). It's definitely doable, but we'll have to play good ball the rest of the way and hope that Cleveland loses several more games the rest of the season.
Hey thanks for the info tp. I did end up looking up the head to head and I knew we needed to win to tie and 2-2 with the Cavs. With the way the Cavs have played lately, and them holding out guys for rest prior to the playoffs it isn't completely out of the question that we snag #1. I guess either at 1 or 2 we still end up seeing Cleveland in the ECF if we get that far and that is probably what we wanted either way. Too difficult to predict where everyone else will end up. Just get on a roll going into the playoffs and take our chances.
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I want the 1 seed pretty badly. Dont think we will get it, but the way I see it, #1 seed could be a big big sell to a guy like Blake Griffin.
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I don't care where we are seated 1 or 8. We have a date with Lebron at some point whocares when it is.
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I don't care where we are seated 1 or 8. We have a date with Lebron at some point whocares when it is.
I wanna watch as many Celtics game as possible so the longer we avoid them, the better.
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I don't care where we are seated 1 or 8. We have a date with Lebron at some point whocares when it is.
I wanna watch as many Celtics game as possible so the longer we avoid them, the better.
Who cares about LeBron. My only concern is getting past the first-round who could either be Indiana, Miami or Milwaukee. Next is playing Toronto whose proven to be a struggle for the C's to beat. If lucky the Celtics might get Washington who seem to struggle on the road.
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We have a chance at the tiltle, whatever small it is, I take it.
I only root for championship. 2nd is the first loser.
Go C's, make it happen!
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I would prefer playing Hawks or Pacers. Heat and Bucks playing better lately.
It will be interesting to see how can change in the standings.
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I want the 1 seed pretty badly. Dont think we will get it, but the way I see it, #1 seed could be a big big sell to a guy like Blake Griffin.
Yeah, that's the thing, though.
The number one seed is certainly a better selling point than the number two seed. However, if it sets us up for a potential second round matchup with Toronto rather than Washington, then that might be counterproductive, because getting to the ECF will be just as much of a free agent draw as getting the number one seed. I'm much more confident of getting past Washington (especially with HCA) in the second round than a fully healthy Toronto squad.
Ultimately, though, I think Toronto probably catches Washington for the three seed, so getting the one seed will definitely be important to try and avoid them and have Washington in the second round, all while assuring us HCA in the Eastern playoffs.
EDIT: I also don't want any part of a Milwaukee first round matchup either, because we've traditionally struggled with that team's length. I'll take any of Chicago, Detroit, or Miami for the first round, and Indiana wouldn't be too terrible either.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 46-23 0
2. Boston 45-26 2
3. Washington 42-28 4.5
4. Toronto 42-29 5
5. Atlanta 37-33 9.5
6. Indiana 36-34 10.5
7. Milwaukee 35-35 11.5
8. Miami 35-36 12
9. Detroit 34-37 13
10. Chicago 33-38 14
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Relevant Games:
Indiana at Boston
Atlanta at Washington
Detroit at Chicago
Cleveland at Denver
Milwaukee at Sacramento
Another big night for the Eastern playoffs race. There could be lots of movement tonight, too:
A Boston win and Cleveland loss puts us just 1 game back (2 losses) of Cleveland for the number one spot;
An Indiana loss and Milwaukee win puts Milwaukee at 6 and Indiana at 7;
A Milwaukee loss will put Milwaukee at 8 and move Miami to 7;
A Washington loss puts Toronto in the 3 spot;
A Bulls win and Pistons loss would put Chicago in the 9 spot and Detroit at the 10 spot.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 46-23 0
2. Boston 45-26 2
3. Washington 42-28 4.5
4. Toronto 42-29 5
5. Atlanta 37-33 9.5
6. Indiana 36-34 10.5
7. Milwaukee 35-35 11.5
8. Miami 35-36 12
9. Detroit 34-37 13
10. Chicago 33-38 14
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Relevant Games:
Indiana at Boston
Atlanta at Washington
Detroit at Chicago
Cleveland at Denver
Milwaukee at Sacramento
Another big night for the Eastern playoffs race. There could be lots of movement tonight, too:
A Boston win and Cleveland loss puts us just 1 game back (2 losses) of Cleveland for the number one spot;
An Indiana loss and Milwaukee win puts Milwaukee at 6 and Indiana at 7;
A Milwaukee loss will put Milwaukee at 8 and move Miami to 7;
A Washington loss puts Toronto in the 3 spot;
A Bulls win and Pistons loss would put Chicago in the 9 spot and Detroit at the 10 spot.
Sounds like an SAT question: Albert, Brenda, Charlie, David, Edward and Frank are standing in a line. Brenda is before Charlie but after Edward...
Assuming we maintain the tie-breaker against Washington, we're looking at a magic number of nine against them. Same with Toronto, for that matter, since they own the tie-breaker.
Mike
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The next 5 games are served up to the C's on a platter. Complacency will be the difference in whether they take care of business or not.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 46-23 0
2. Boston 45-26 2
3. Washington 42-28 4.5
4. Toronto 42-29 5
5. Atlanta 37-33 9.5
6. Indiana 36-34 10.5
7. Milwaukee 35-35 11.5
8. Miami 35-36 12
9. Detroit 34-37 13
10. Chicago 33-38 14
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Relevant Games:
Indiana at Boston
Atlanta at Washington
Detroit at Chicago
Cleveland at Denver
Milwaukee at Sacramento
Another big night for the Eastern playoffs race. There could be lots of movement tonight, too:
A Boston win and Cleveland loss puts us just 1 game back (2 losses) of Cleveland for the number one spot;
An Indiana loss and Milwaukee win puts Milwaukee at 6 and Indiana at 7;
A Milwaukee loss will put Milwaukee at 8 and move Miami to 7;
A Washington loss puts Toronto in the 3 spot;
A Bulls win and Pistons loss would put Chicago in the 9 spot and Detroit at the 10 spot.
Sounds like an SAT question: Albert, Brenda, Charlie, David, Edward and Frank are standing in a line. Brenda is before Charlie but after Edward...
Assuming we maintain the tie-breaker against Washington, we're looking at a magic number of nine against them. Same with Toronto, for that matter, since they own the tie-breaker.
Mike
Please stop making me laugh! Half of your TP's come from me laughing at your razor sharp wit; you make way too much sense for this board.
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Denver up 14 on Cleveland late in the 2nd right now in Denver!
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Denver up 14 on Cleveland late in the 2nd right now in Denver!
Now down 20 lol.
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The 1 seed is there for the taking if they want it bad enough.
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The 1 seed is there for the taking if they want it bad enough.
Our remaining game against Cleveland will be huge. Win that and we have a really good chance at the #1 seed (especially since the second tiebreaker is conference record and we should be only behind by 1 game (2 losses) on that after tonight)
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If you want to avoid Toronto for a possible playoff battle, then you need to hope Washington wins tonight.
And ofc, I want Cleveland to lose.
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If you want to avoid Toronto for a possible playoff battle, then you need to hope Washington wins tonight.
And ofc, I want Cleveland to lose.
I want Washington to lose because I think we have a good shot at taking the 1 seed, so we'd need Washington in 4th to play them in the 2nd round
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Boy, this Denver team is going to be a force in the next couple of years. I'm glad they're in the West.
It also helps to have such a huge HCA with the elevation, too.
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The 1 seed is there for the taking if they want it bad enough.
Our remaining game against Cleveland will be huge. Win that and we have a really good chance at the #1 seed (especially since the second tiebreaker is conference record and we should be only behind by 1 game (2 losses) on that after tonight)
If by some miracle the C's get #1 seed, it has to help give IT some consideration for MVP. Still think Harden, Westbrook or Kawai will win it though.
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If you want to avoid Toronto for a possible playoff battle, then you need to hope Washington wins tonight.
And ofc, I want Cleveland to lose.
Not if we're the 1 seed.
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If you want to avoid Toronto for a possible playoff battle, then you need to hope Washington wins tonight.
And ofc, I want Cleveland to lose.
I want Washington to lose because I think we have a good shot at taking the 1 seed, so we'd need Washington in 4th to play them in the 2nd round
Or the Atlanta Hawks should they stun the Wizards in the first-round lol. Then again, the Celtics need to take care of business in round 1. They've been first-round exits in their past two postseason entries.
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Would Cavs vs. Toronto and Boston vs. Washington be the most favorable 2nd round matchups barring any 1st round upsets?
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Man, Denver is making Cleveland look silly.
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Jokic, WOW !!!
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Going to be a single game out (2 losses) of 1st after tonight!
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Denver is going to be a top 4 team in the west by next year. Heard it here first. Jokic is the best big in the nba
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Denver is going to be a top 4 team in the west by next year. Heard it here first. Jokic is the best big in the nba
They are an upgrade from Jameer Nelson at point guard away from being scary good. You know what also makes them scarier? They are going to have oodles of cap space this summer. I 100% expect them to go hard after George Hill and Jeff Teague this summer. If they go after defensive-minded bigs this summer (a possibility because Jokic's defense isn't very good), I wouldn't be surprised if they go after Amir Johnson.
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Some interesting numbers coming from 538 following todays games
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2017-nba-predictions/?ex_cid=rrpromo
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Some interesting numbers coming from 538 following todays games
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2017-nba-predictions/?ex_cid=rrpromo
Definitely some interesting numbers. I like the 55% chance of getting the top seed from the Cs side, but I question the 3% at winning the championship from Cleveland's side...and we are at 7%.
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Clevland's schedule is brutal the rest of the way. Wizards, spurs, celtics, raptors, hawks 2x all left for them to play.We absolutely have a shot at the one seed.
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Some interesting numbers coming from 538 following todays games
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2017-nba-predictions/?ex_cid=rrpromo
Definitely some interesting numbers. I like the 55% chance of getting the top seed from the Cs side, but I question the 3% at winning the championship from Cleveland's side...and we are at 7%.
I suspect the 3% odds for the Cavs might be due to their projected playoff opponents of the Bucks, Washington, and Boston. Bostons path to the finals is a bit easier based on their CARM-ELO numbers for our possible opponents of MIA and the Raptors
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Clevland's schedule is brutal the rest of the way. Wizards, spurs, celtics, raptors all left for them to play.We absolutely have a shot at the one seed.
And they are on the tail end of a Back to back vs. Washington, Boston, and Miami. So there is a chance they rest players for those games. Plus they play the Raptors the last game of the season, and Toronto might still be battling for playoff position
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Clevland's schedule is brutal the rest of the way. Wizards, spurs, celtics, raptors all left for them to play.We absolutely have a shot at the one seed.
And they are on the tail end of a Back to back vs. Washington, Boston, and Miami. So there is a chance they rest players for those games. Plus they play the Raptors the last game of the season, and Toronto might still be battling for playoff position
I'm starting to think they'll pretty much give up the number one seed to us and prioritize resting players on those back-to-backs rather than fight it out until the end, though after Silver's complaints I bet they're rested on non-national TV nights.
I just think it'll be really difficult for them to get their guys the rest they want AND keep the first seed. I just don't think they'll be able to do both, especially with how poorly they've been playing lately, specifically defensively.
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Some interesting numbers coming from 538 following todays games
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2017-nba-predictions/?ex_cid=rrpromo
Definitely some interesting numbers. I like the 55% chance of getting the top seed from the Cs side, but I question the 3% at winning the championship from Cleveland's side...and we are at 7%.
I suspect the 3% odds for the Cavs might be due to their projected playoff opponents of the Bucks, Washington, and Boston. Bostons path to the finals is a bit easier based on their CARM-ELO numbers for our possible opponents of MIA and the Raptors
Cs had higher 538 odds for the title and lower chance for the top seed than the Cavs prior to tonight's win. That would seem to beg for a better explanation than who their EC playoff opponents might be. My guess is it was/is because of the Cs better road record. That being said, while i think the Cs are inching closer to be a real contender than I expected, I don't have them ahead of the reigning champs except in my sweet dreams.
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55% chance at the 1 seed, 7% chance at a title.
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I kinda like staying at no. 2 though. Id rather face the Wizards in the second round than the Raptors.
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Clevland's schedule is brutal the rest of the way. Wizards, spurs, celtics, raptors all left for them to play.We absolutely have a shot at the one seed.
And they are on the tail end of a Back to back vs. Washington, Boston, and Miami. So there is a chance they rest players for those games. Plus they play the Raptors the last game of the season, and Toronto might still be battling for playoff position
the issue is that if toronto is trying to stay out of 4th it would primarily be to avoid the cavs, which if toronto wins gives themselves the 3rd seed, but also drops cavs to 2cd toronto would be in a predicament-still facing cavs
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I kinda like staying at no. 2 though. Id rather face the Wizards in the second round than the Raptors.
Why fear thr Raptors?. We can beat em so long as we got our elite 10 healthy.
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I kinda like staying at no. 2 though. Id rather face the Wizards in the second round than the Raptors.
That is the mentality of someone with a lack of confidence. Come on man, we are talking about the #1 seed! We'd rather have home court advantage for game 7 vs. the Cavs! Go C's!
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I kinda like staying at no. 2 though. Id rather face the Wizards in the second round than the Raptors.
That is the mentality of someone with a lack of confidence. Come on man, we are talking about the #1 seed! We'd rather have home court advantage for game 7 vs. the Cavs! Go C's!
A fine line between "lack of confidence" and being "too overconfident" lol. There has been upsets before where the #8 seed stunned the #1 seed.
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I kinda like staying at no. 2 though. Id rather face the Wizards in the second round than the Raptors.
That is the mentality of someone with a lack of confidence. Come on man, we are talking about the #1 seed! We'd rather have home court advantage for game 7 vs. the Cavs! Go C's!
A fine line between "lack of confidence" and being "too overconfident" lol. There has been upsets before where the #8 seed stunned the #1 seed.
twice. and not since the 90's
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I kinda like staying at no. 2 though. Id rather face the Wizards in the second round than the Raptors.
That is the mentality of someone with a lack of confidence. Come on man, we are talking about the #1 seed! We'd rather have home court advantage for game 7 vs. the Cavs! Go C's!
Im looking at this from a matchup perspective. Historically we did better against the Wizards than the Raptors. The Cavs will be favored even if we end up being no. 1 seed though. Dont get me wrong, Im not one of those guys who think we have no chance, Im just saying these are the odds.
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I kinda like staying at no. 2 though. Id rather face the Wizards in the second round than the Raptors.
Why fear thr Raptors?. We can beat em so long as we got our elite 10 healthy.
Sure. But between the two, Id rather face the Wizards, get what I'm saying?
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I kinda like staying at no. 2 though. Id rather face the Wizards in the second round than the Raptors.
That is the mentality of someone with a lack of confidence. Come on man, we are talking about the #1 seed! We'd rather have home court advantage for game 7 vs. the Cavs! Go C's!
A fine line between "lack of confidence" and being "too overconfident" lol. There has been upsets before where the #8 seed stunned the #1 seed.
twice. and not since the 90's
The 2006 Dallas Mavericks say hi.
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I kinda like staying at no. 2 though. Id rather face the Wizards in the second round than the Raptors.
The Raptors will catch the Wizards. If you want Washington in the second round, you want the #1 seed.
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So who do we root for on Saturday when Cleveland and Washington play?
I think since the Wizards have 2 more losses than the Celtics but the Celtics have 2 more losses than the Cavs, I'll be rooting for the Wizards. A Wiz win would help put the Celtic's destiny in their own hands, moreso than a Cavs win, which would only solidify the Celtic's position at #2.
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So who do we root for on Saturday when Cleveland and Washington play?
I think since the Wizards have 2 more losses than the Celtics but the Celtics have 2 more losses than the Cavs, I'll be rooting for the Wizards. A Wiz win would help put the Celtic's destiny in their own hands, moreso than a Cavs win, which would only solidify the Celtic's position at #2.
I'll be rooting for the Wizards. Whether they win or not I think Toronto passes them, so we need all the CLE losses we can get. I'm ready to temporarily become a fan of the Hornets, Wizards, Spurs, Bulls, 76ers, Pacers, Magic, Hawks, Heat, and Raptors when needed
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So who do we root for on Saturday when Cleveland and Washington play?
I think since the Wizards have 2 more losses than the Celtics but the Celtics have 2 more losses than the Cavs, I'll be rooting for the Wizards. A Wiz win would help put the Celtic's destiny in their own hands, moreso than a Cavs win, which would only solidify the Celtic's position at #2.
The Wizards play at Clippers, Jazz, and Golden State, all in a row, next week. They're going to lose more than enough games for us to stay ahead of them.
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Who do we want to win this Heat/Raptors game?
I do not want to see the Heat
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Who do we want to win this Heat/Raptors game?
I do not want to see the Heat
Heat. I want the Raptors as far from the 3 seed as possible and since Atlantas been struggling a lot lately, that 5th seed could very well be up for grabs. The higher up the Heat get, the less likely they play the Celtics in the first round. I'd love to see a rematch between the Raps and the Heat this year.
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Heat is legit , I'd prefer avoiding them in first round .
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Raptors are getting the 3 seed. Need to go get the 1.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 46-24 0
2. Boston 46-26 1
3. Washington 43-28 3.5
4. Toronto 43-29 4
5. Atlanta 37-34 9.5
6. Milwaukee 36-35 10.5
7. Indiana 36-35 10.5
8. Miami 35-37 12
9. Chicago 34-38 13
10. Detroit 34-38 13
11. Charlotte 32-39 14.5
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Relevant Games Tonight:
Brooklyn at Washington
Cleveland at Charlotte
Denver at Indiana
Detroit at Orlando
Phoenix at Boston
Philadelphia at Chicago
Atlanta at Milwaukee
Another huge night in the Eastern playoff race with every contending team outside of Toronto and Miami playing. And there's a lot of movement that could occur once again tonight:
If Cleveland loses at Charlotte and Boston beats Phoenix, then Boston and Cleveland will essentially be tied in the standings (+1 win and +1 loss);
Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Indiana could all be tied in the standings with an Atlanta loss and Milwaukee and Indiana wins, which could very well impact us.
I'll actually be rooting for Washington to win tonight over Brooklyn, because a Brooklyn win would really bring our top lottery odds into question the rest of the way.
So it could be a very good night for us! Go Boston, the Washington Celtics, and the Charlotte Celtics!
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Wow, so both Indiana and Atlanta lost, meaning Milwaukee and Atlanta are now tied for the 5th seed at 37-35 and Indiana falls back to the 7th seed at 36-36. Additionally, Chicago, Detroit, and Charlotte all lost, putting them even farther from the 8 spot.
Don't be surprised to see Indy fall to 8th, and Atlanta could fall to 7th, meaning a tough potential first round for us.
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Lebron suffered a scratched cornea last night, has blurred vision and may miss tonight's game against the Wizards:
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2017/03/lebron_james_suffered_scratche.html
Could be a good break for our quest for the #1 seed.
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Hebron suffered a scratched cornea last night, has blurred vision and may miss tonight's game against the Wizards:
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2017/03/lebron_james_suffered_scratche.html
Could be a good break for our quest for the #1 seed.
Have to be a bit wary of WAS too.
A win tonight hypothetically and they are still just 2 back of BOS for #2 seed.
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Wow, so both Indiana and Atlanta lost, meaning Milwaukee and Atlanta are now tied for the 5th seed at 37-35 and Indiana falls back to the 7th seed at 36-36. Additionally, Chicago, Detroit, and Charlotte all lost, putting them even farther from the 8 spot.
Don't be surprised to see Indy fall to 8th, and Atlanta could fall to 7th, meaning a tough potential first round for us.
Indiana doesn't concern me in least. I think we'd beat them in 4 or 5 games easy. Not a lot of talent on that team outside of PG13. Teague is overrated, Turner is too inexperienced, and Monta just flat out sucks.
Atlanta only concerns me if Millsap comes back and is healthy enough to contribute. I do think a front line of Howard/Millsap could spell problems for us.
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My "i dont want to play them" ranking
Cavs
Raptors(completely dependant on Lowry's health)
Wizards
Hawks
Milwaukee
Miami
Chicago
Detroit
Indiana
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Hebron suffered a scratched cornea last night, has blurred vision and may miss tonight's game against the Wizards:
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2017/03/lebron_james_suffered_scratche.html
Could be a good break for our quest for the #1 seed.
Have to be a bit wary of WAS too.
A win tonight hypothetically and they are still just 2 back of BOS for #2 seed.
also a Washington loss leaves them a half game up on Toronto for the 4 seed.
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Wow, so both Indiana and Atlanta lost, meaning Milwaukee and Atlanta are now tied for the 5th seed at 37-35 and Indiana falls back to the 7th seed at 36-36. Additionally, Chicago, Detroit, and Charlotte all lost, putting them even farther from the 8 spot.
Don't be surprised to see Indy fall to 8th, and Atlanta could fall to 7th, meaning a tough potential first round for us.
Indiana doesn't concern me in least. I think we'd beat them in 4 or 5 games easy. Not a lot of talent on that team outside of PG13. Teague is overrated, Turner is too inexperienced, and Monta just flat out sucks.
Atlanta only concerns me if Millsap comes back and is healthy enough to contribute. I do think a front line of Howard/Millsap could spell problems for us.
Yeah, I was meaning more Atlanta not Indiana. They don't really scare me either.
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My "i dont want to play them" ranking
Cavs
Raptors(completely dependant on Lowry's health)
Wizards
Hawks
Milwaukee
Miami
Chicago
Detroit
Indiana
That's about how I see it, too. I'd say my preference for matchups goes like this:
Chicago
Indiana
Detroit
Miami
Milwaukee
Atlanta
Washington
Toronto
Cleveland
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My "i dont want to play them" ranking
Cavs
Raptors(completely dependant on Lowry's health)
Wizards
Hawks
Milwaukee
Miami
Chicago
Detroit
Indiana
That's about how I see it, too. I'd say my preference for matchups goes like this:
Chicago
Indiana
Detroit
Miami
Milwaukee
Atlanta
Washington
Toronto
Cleveland
Agree with both these posts.
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Just curious: is there anyone who is more concerned about Washington than Toronto? Doesn't seem that way.
Question 2: would you rather have the 3 seed with Washington as the 2, or the 2 seed, with Toronto as the 3?
Mike
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Just curious: is there anyone who is more concerned about Washington than Toronto? Doesn't seem that way.
Question 2: would you rather have the 3 seed with Washington as the 2, or the 2 seed, with Washington as the 3?
Mike
Huh? Wouldn't you obviously want to be the 2 seed to have home court advantage? Did you mean to put Toronto in one of those spots?
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Just curious: is there anyone who is more concerned about Washington than Toronto? Doesn't seem that way.
Question 2: would you rather have the 3 seed with Washington as the 2, or the 2 seed, with Washington as the 3?
Mike
Huh? Wouldn't you obviously want to be the 2 seed to have home court advantage? Did you mean to put Toronto in one of those spots?
Yup. Meant to ask 2 seed vs Toronto or 3 vs Washington. I corrected it.
Mike
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Just curious: is there anyone who is more concerned about Washington than Toronto? Doesn't seem that way.
Question 2: would you rather have the 3 seed with Washington as the 2, or the 2 seed, with Washington as the 3?
Mike
Huh? Wouldn't you obviously want to be the 2 seed to have home court advantage? Did you mean to put Toronto in one of those spots?
Yup. Meant to ask 2 seed vs Toronto or 3 vs Washington. I corrected it.
Mike
Celtics can win at Washington if everyone is healthy and the starters be playing hot like how they're playing right now.
But we need home-court advantage regardless against either WSH or TOR. And it's best to avoid TOR until the ECF.
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Celtics now just .5 games out of the first seed! A win tomorrow against the Heat would tie us, and a Cavs loss in San Antonio would put us solely in the lead by 1 win (.5 games)!
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Celtics now just .5 games out of the first seed! A win tomorrow against the Heat would tie us, and a Cavs loss in San Antonio would put us solely in the lead by 1 win (.5 games)!
It is ours for the taking! 1st seed in the East and top lottery odds are both very realistic outcomes for us heading towards the last few weeks of the season. Amazing.
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If we win against the Heat
I think the guys step up and help IT get the first seed he wants so badly.
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538 gives us a 59% chance of getting the #1 seed.
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My "i dont want to play them" ranking
Cavs
Raptors(completely dependant on Lowry's health)
Wizards
Hawks
Milwaukee
Miami
Chicago
Detroit
Indiana
That's about how I see it, too. I'd say my preference for matchups goes like this:
Chicago
Indiana
Detroit
Miami
Milwaukee
Atlanta
Washington
Toronto
Cleveland
Agree with both these posts.
We're going to be the #1 seed. Those teams are worrying about not matching up with us. I guarantee you Jae Crowder and IT could give a **** about who they matchup with.
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My "i dont want to play them" ranking
Cavs
Raptors(completely dependant on Lowry's health)
Wizards
Hawks
Milwaukee
Miami
Chicago
Detroit
Indiana
That's about how I see it, too. I'd say my preference for matchups goes like this:
Chicago
Indiana
Detroit
Miami
Milwaukee
Atlanta
Washington
Toronto
Cleveland
Agree with both these posts.
We're going to be the #1 seed. Those teams are worrying about not matching up with us. I guarantee you Jae Crowder and IT could give a **** about who they matchup with.
Meh, players do care about matchups. In fact Crowder expressed disatisfaction last year when we were matched up against the Hawks.
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I'll be annoyed if the Hawks fall to the 7th or 8th seed opposite us due to injury, only to be at full strength for the playoffs. We should still beat them, but that would be a team of 2nd round quality that we'd have to matchup with in the first round, despite a top seed.
On the other hand, I'd be ecstatic to play the Hawks without Millsap in the first round.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 47-25 0
2. Boston 47-26 .5
3. Washington 45-28 2.5
4. Toronto 44-29 3.5
5. Atlanta 37-35 10
6. Milwaukee 37-35 10
7. Indiana 36-36 11
8. Miami 35-37 12
9. Chicago 34-39 13.5
10. Detroit 34-39 13.5
11. Charlotte 32-40 15
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Miami at Boston
Brooklyn at Atlanta
Phoenix at Charlotte
Chicago at Milwaukee
Philadelphia at Indiana
Another huge night for us. If we win, then we'll be tied in the standings with Cleveland, and with a game in San Antonio looming for Cleveland tomorrow night, we could be in sole possession of the first seed as early as tomorrow!
But there's several other important games tonight. Atlanta is in a free fall, and if they would lose while Milwaukee and Indiana both win, then Atlanta would be tied with Indiana for the 6/7 seed.
Further, a Miami loss and a Chicago win could put Chicago back on the brink of the playoffs.
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So the Celtics are tied for the #1 seed after tonight's win.
And the Cavaliers visit the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. I think the Spurs need to play for the #1 seed in the West.
I'll be thrilled if the Cavs do find a way to win in one of the most hostile environments in the league. Which is possible, because LeBron is itching to beat Gregg Popovich and Kawhi Leonard given their history against each other. Plus, their last meeting was an OT loss at the Q.
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I'd rather see the C's in the 2nd (or even 3rd) seed, if it put us out of the Toronto bracket. Though it looks like Toronto is now making a play for 3, which would make the top seed preferable.
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I'd rather see the C's in the 2nd (or even 3rd) seed, if it put us out of the Toronto bracket. Though it looks like Toronto is now making a play for 3, which would make the top seed preferable.
You have to wonder if they end up tanking a couple of games toward the end to stay in the fourth seed and avoid Cleveland as long as possible.
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Who are we going for in this Miami/Detroit game? Detroit right? I do not want any part of Miami. They are on a run right now looks like they are gonna win this one.
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Who are we going for in this Miami/Detroit game? Detroit right? I do not want any part of Miami. They are on a run right now looks like they are gonna win this one.
Yes, root for DET.
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Who are we going for in this Miami/Detroit game? Detroit right? I do not want any part of Miami. They are on a run right now looks like they are gonna win this one.
Yes, root for DET.
With Indiana losing tonight its actually better to root for MIA. The Heat owns the tiebreaker with Indiana 2-1 and if they win they will only be 1 game back in the loss column.
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A win by the Lakers tonight over the Wizards would be huge for both our playoff seeding and our Nets pick. I gotta suck it up and route for the Lakers tonight
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Who are we going for in this Miami/Detroit game? Detroit right? I do not want any part of Miami. They are on a run right now looks like they are gonna win this one.
Yes, root for DET.
With Indiana losing tonight its actually better to root for MIA. The Heat owns the tiebreaker with Indiana 2-1 and if they win they will only be 1 game back in the loss column.
Heat wins at the buzzer. Wow what a game. Detorit is definitely done for sure now.
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Who are we going for in this Miami/Detroit game? Detroit right? I do not want any part of Miami. They are on a run right now looks like they are gonna win this one.
Yes, root for DET.
With Indiana losing tonight its actually better to root for MIA. The Heat owns the tiebreaker with Indiana 2-1 and if they win they will only be 1 game back in the loss column.
Nope, Miami with a last second tip in by Whiteside to win it!
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Yeah, I want Miami in 7th for the Cavs in the first round. They'll have a lot of fun with that scrappy group. Give me the future Celtic Paul George and the Pacers in the first round!
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Yeah, I want Miami in 7th for the Cavs in the first round. They'll have a lot of fun with that scrappy group. Give me the future Celtic Paul George and the Pacers in the first round!
I'd love Indiana in the first round, but I think it's going to be Miami and Atlanta competing for 7th and 8th. If Atlanta is without Millsap, bring them on, but if he's playing, I'd much prefer Miami.
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Washington down 9 in the 3rd quarter to the Lakers. That'd be a double win.
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Washington down 12 going into the 4th. This would be an absolutely devastating loss with three tough road games coming up. They'd almost assuredly be in 4th the rest of the way to the playoffs, which is ideal for us if we can manage to stay in the first seed.
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Good Lord, the Lakers are plain awful. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion with them choking up this big lead.
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Yeah, I want Miami in 7th for the Cavs in the first round. They'll have a lot of fun with that scrappy group. Give me the future Celtic Paul George and the Pacers in the first round!
This is the best case scenario. Miami is only 1 game behind Indy and 2 games behind Milwaukee and Atlanta. A tight race at the bottom.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Boston 48-26 0 (Ah, it's so good to finally write that!)
2. Cleveland 47-26 .5
3. Washington 46-28 2
4. Toronto 45-29 3
5. Atlanta 38-36 10
6. Milwaukee 38-36 10
7. Indiana 37-37 11
8. Miami 36-38 12
9. Chicago 35-39 13
10. Detroit 34-41 14.5
11. Charlotte 33-41 15
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Milwaukee at Boston
Atlanta at Philadelphia
Charlotte at Toronto
Miami at New York Knicks
Indiana at Memphis
Washington at LAC
Huge night for the Eastern playoff seeding again, and there's lots of potential for movement tonight:
Boston can go a full game up on Cleveland in the first seed.
A Toronto win and Washington loss would move Toronto to the third seed and Washington to the fourth seed.
A Miami win and Indiana loss would move Miami to the seventh seed and Indiana to the eighth seed, which would be excellent for us.
An Atlanta win and Milwaukee loss would give Atlanta a full game lead on Milwaukee for the fifth seed.
Indiana is in a very, very precarious position right now. If they lose tonight, which is likely playing in the grindhouse on the second night of a back to back, they'll be in 8th just 1.5 games up on Chicago. The rest of their schedule after tonight looks like this: @ Toronto, @ Cleveland, vs. Toronto, vs. Milwaukee, @ Orlando, @ Philadelphia, and vs. Atlanta, which is a crazy difficult schedule the rest of the way. Here's the Bulls schedule the rest of the way: vs. Cleveland, vs. Atlanta, @ New Orleans, @ NYK, @ Philadelphia, @ Brooklyn, vs. Orlando, and vs. Brooklyn. Here's the Heat's schedule the rest of the way: @ NYK, vs. NYK, vs. DEN, @ CHA, @ TOR, @ Washington, vs. Cleveland, vs. Washington.
What's worse is that Chicago currently holds the tiebreaker over Indiana due to a better division record of 8-7 vs. Indiana's 7-7, and in the case that they both tie in the division record, Chicago holds a 2 game lead on the conference record over Indiana with a much, much easier schedule down the stretch. So essentially, Indiana is pretty much going to have to win their game in Cleveland and vs. Milwaukee and hope that Chicago loses to Cleveland tomorrow night if they want the tiebreaker over Chicago. Otherwise, both Miami and Chicago will own the tiebreakers over Indiana, which is not good at all for Indiana since they'll all be competing for those last two spots pretty closely.
Bold Prediction: Indiana misses out on the playoffs due to losing a tiebreaker to one of Miami or Chicago, setting up a George trade somewhere this offseason.
Perfect Night - Boston win/Milwaukee loss, Atlanta win, Toronto win/Charlotte loss, Miami win, Indiana loss, and a Washington loss.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Boston 48-26 0 (Ah, it's so good to finally write that!)
2. Cleveland 47-26 .5
3. Washington 46-28 2
4. Toronto 45-29 3
5. Atlanta 38-36 10
6. Milwaukee 38-36 10
7. Indiana 37-37 11
8. Miami 36-38 12
9. Chicago 35-39 13
10. Detroit 34-41 14.5
11. Charlotte 33-41 15
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Milwaukee at Boston
Atlanta at Philadelphia
Charlotte at Toronto
Miami at New York Knicks
Indiana at Memphis
Washington at LAC
Huge night for the Eastern playoff seeding again, and there's lots of potential for movement tonight:
Boston can go a full game up on Cleveland in the first seed.
A Toronto win and Washington loss would move Toronto to the third seed and Washington to the fourth seed.
A Miami win and Indiana loss would move Miami to the seventh seed and Indiana to the eighth seed, which would be excellent for us.
An Atlanta win and Milwaukee loss would give Atlanta a full game lead on Milwaukee for the fifth seed.
Indiana is in a very, very precarious position right now. If they lose tonight, which is likely playing in the grindhouse on the second night of a back to back, they'll be in 8th just 1.5 games up on Chicago. The rest of their schedule after tonight looks like this: @ Toronto, @ Cleveland, vs. Toronto, vs. Milwaukee, @ Orlando, @ Philadelphia, and vs. Atlanta, which is a crazy difficult schedule the rest of the way. Here's the Bulls schedule the rest of the way: vs. Cleveland, vs. Atlanta, @ New Orleans, @ NYK, @ Philadelphia, @ Brooklyn, vs. Orlando, and vs. Brooklyn. Here's the Heat's schedule the rest of the way: @ NYK, vs. NYK, vs. DEN, @ CHA, @ TOR, @ Washington, vs. Cleveland, vs. Washington.
What's worse is that Chicago currently holds the tiebreaker over Indiana due to a better division record of 8-7 vs. Indiana's 7-7, and in the case that they both tie in the division record, Chicago holds a 2 game lead on the conference record over Indiana with a much, much easier schedule down the stretch. So essentially, Indiana is pretty much going to have to win their game in Cleveland and vs. Milwaukee and hope that Chicago loses to Cleveland tomorrow night if they want the tiebreaker over Chicago. Otherwise, both Miami and Chicago will own the tiebreakers over Indiana, which is not good at all for Indiana since they'll all be competing for those last two spots pretty closely.
Bold Prediction: Indiana misses out on the playoffs due to losing a tiebreaker to one of Miami or Chicago, setting up a George trade somewhere this offseason.
Perfect Night - Boston win/Milwaukee loss, Atlanta win, Toronto win/Charlotte loss, Miami win, Indiana loss, and a Washington loss.
TP for the summary.
I think we want to see washington in the 2nd round statistically speaking, but part of me really wants to bury Toronto in a 7 game series.
Regardless, it would be nice to meet either Cleveland or Toronto in the ECF after they've beaten each other up for 6 or 7 games.
I think our path is Miami in round 1. Washington in round 2. ECF....Cleveland or Toronto.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Boston 48-26 0 (Ah, it's so good to finally write that!)
2. Cleveland 47-26 .5
3. Washington 46-28 2
4. Toronto 45-29 3
5. Atlanta 38-36 10
6. Milwaukee 38-36 10
7. Indiana 37-37 11
8. Miami 36-38 12
9. Chicago 35-39 13
10. Detroit 34-41 14.5
11. Charlotte 33-41 15
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Milwaukee at Boston
Atlanta at Philadelphia
Charlotte at Toronto
Miami at New York Knicks
Indiana at Memphis
Washington at LAC
Huge night for the Eastern playoff seeding again, and there's lots of potential for movement tonight:
Boston can go a full game up on Cleveland in the first seed.
A Toronto win and Washington loss would move Toronto to the third seed and Washington to the fourth seed.
A Miami win and Indiana loss would move Miami to the seventh seed and Indiana to the eighth seed, which would be excellent for us.
An Atlanta win and Milwaukee loss would give Atlanta a full game lead on Milwaukee for the fifth seed.
Indiana is in a very, very precarious position right now. If they lose tonight, which is likely playing in the grindhouse on the second night of a back to back, they'll be in 8th just 1.5 games up on Chicago. The rest of their schedule after tonight looks like this: @ Toronto, @ Cleveland, vs. Toronto, vs. Milwaukee, @ Orlando, @ Philadelphia, and vs. Atlanta, which is a crazy difficult schedule the rest of the way. Here's the Bulls schedule the rest of the way: vs. Cleveland, vs. Atlanta, @ New Orleans, @ NYK, @ Philadelphia, @ Brooklyn, vs. Orlando, and vs. Brooklyn. Here's the Heat's schedule the rest of the way: @ NYK, vs. NYK, vs. DEN, @ CHA, @ TOR, @ Washington, vs. Cleveland, vs. Washington.
What's worse is that Chicago currently holds the tiebreaker over Indiana due to a better division record of 8-7 vs. Indiana's 7-7, and in the case that they both tie in the division record, Chicago holds a 2 game lead on the conference record over Indiana with a much, much easier schedule down the stretch. So essentially, Indiana is pretty much going to have to win their game in Cleveland and vs. Milwaukee and hope that Chicago loses to Cleveland tomorrow night if they want the tiebreaker over Chicago. Otherwise, both Miami and Chicago will own the tiebreakers over Indiana, which is not good at all for Indiana since they'll all be competing for those last two spots pretty closely.
Bold Prediction: Indiana misses out on the playoffs due to losing a tiebreaker to one of Miami or Chicago, setting up a George trade somewhere this offseason.
Perfect Night - Boston win/Milwaukee loss, Atlanta win, Toronto win/Charlotte loss, Miami win, Indiana loss, and a Washington loss.
TP for the summary.
I think we want to see washington in the 2nd round statistically speaking, but part of me really wants to bury Toronto in a 7 game series.
Regardless, it would be nice to meet either Cleveland or Toronto in the ECF after they've beaten each other up for 6 or 7 games.
I think our path is Miami in round 1. Washington in round 2. ECF....Cleveland or Toronto.
Same here, too. Washington is seemingly a much better matchup for us, but a TON of Raptors fans and personalities have been talking a bunch of crap lately about how they'd "love" to see us in the second round and would sweep us or beat us in five, even without homecourt advantage.
I'd love nothing more than to shut them up with a beatdown series, but I'm fine with taking the number one seed and facing the 4th seeded Wizards in the second round instead. They won't get past the Cavs anyways.
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Tough night for the Celtics. Not only we took the "L" but Miami winning tonight and the Pacers losing tonight means Miami is in 7th, causing a first round draw against them if playoffs started today!
Have to hope the Clippers do a favor and beat the Wizards to stay 2 games up on the loss column against them. We are also lucky the Raptors lost tonight. Hopes to a better end of the night. Go C's!!
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Team Record Games Back
1. Boston 48-26 0 (Ah, it's so good to finally write that!)
2. Cleveland 47-26 .5
3. Washington 46-28 2
4. Toronto 45-29 3
5. Atlanta 38-36 10
6. Milwaukee 38-36 10
7. Indiana 37-37 11
8. Miami 36-38 12
9. Chicago 35-39 13
10. Detroit 34-41 14.5
11. Charlotte 33-41 15
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Milwaukee at Boston
Atlanta at Philadelphia
Charlotte at Toronto
Miami at New York Knicks
Indiana at Memphis
Washington at LAC
Huge night for the Eastern playoff seeding again, and there's lots of potential for movement tonight:
Boston can go a full game up on Cleveland in the first seed.
A Toronto win and Washington loss would move Toronto to the third seed and Washington to the fourth seed.
A Miami win and Indiana loss would move Miami to the seventh seed and Indiana to the eighth seed, which would be excellent for us.
An Atlanta win and Milwaukee loss would give Atlanta a full game lead on Milwaukee for the fifth seed.
Indiana is in a very, very precarious position right now. If they lose tonight, which is likely playing in the grindhouse on the second night of a back to back, they'll be in 8th just 1.5 games up on Chicago. The rest of their schedule after tonight looks like this: @ Toronto, @ Cleveland, vs. Toronto, vs. Milwaukee, @ Orlando, @ Philadelphia, and vs. Atlanta, which is a crazy difficult schedule the rest of the way. Here's the Bulls schedule the rest of the way: vs. Cleveland, vs. Atlanta, @ New Orleans, @ NYK, @ Philadelphia, @ Brooklyn, vs. Orlando, and vs. Brooklyn. Here's the Heat's schedule the rest of the way: @ NYK, vs. NYK, vs. DEN, @ CHA, @ TOR, @ Washington, vs. Cleveland, vs. Washington.
What's worse is that Chicago currently holds the tiebreaker over Indiana due to a better division record of 8-7 vs. Indiana's 7-7, and in the case that they both tie in the division record, Chicago holds a 2 game lead on the conference record over Indiana with a much, much easier schedule down the stretch. So essentially, Indiana is pretty much going to have to win their game in Cleveland and vs. Milwaukee and hope that Chicago loses to Cleveland tomorrow night if they want the tiebreaker over Chicago. Otherwise, both Miami and Chicago will own the tiebreakers over Indiana, which is not good at all for Indiana since they'll all be competing for those last two spots pretty closely.
Bold Prediction: Indiana misses out on the playoffs due to losing a tiebreaker to one of Miami or Chicago, setting up a George trade somewhere this offseason.
Perfect Night - Boston win/Milwaukee loss, Atlanta win, Toronto win/Charlotte loss, Miami win, Indiana loss, and a Washington loss.
TP for the summary.
I think we want to see washington in the 2nd round statistically speaking, but part of me really wants to bury Toronto in a 7 game series.
Regardless, it would be nice to meet either Cleveland or Toronto in the ECF after they've beaten each other up for 6 or 7 games.
I think our path is Miami in round 1. Washington in round 2. ECF....Cleveland or Toronto.
Same here, too. Washington is seemingly a much better matchup for us, but a TON of Raptors fans and personalities have been talking a bunch of crap lately about how they'd "love" to see us in the second round and would sweep us or beat us in five, even without homecourt advantage.
I'd love nothing more than to shut them up with a beatdown series, but I'm fine with taking the number one seed and facing the 4th seeded Wizards in the second round instead. They won't get past the Cavs anyways.
They lucky Paul Pierce isn't in the eastern conference anymore, cuz he usually rips the Raptors fans' hearts in the playoffs lol.
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Well, Toronto lost at home to Charlotte and Washington lost in LA, so we picked a good night to falter, I guess. Maybe Chicago will do us a solid tomorrow night and take out the recently hapless Cavaliers.
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Well, Toronto lost at home to Charlotte and Washington lost in LA, so we picked a good night to falter, I guess. Maybe Chicago will do us a solid tomorrow night and take out the recently hapless Cavaliers.
I'll be thrilled if Chicago beat the Cavs tomorrow. But I don't see LeBron James losing three in a row, especially after that beatdown they got in AT&T Center. I expect a blowout win for the Cavs at United Center.
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Well, Toronto lost at home to Charlotte and Washington lost in LA, so we picked a good night to falter, I guess. Maybe Chicago will do us a solid tomorrow night and take out the recently hapless Cavaliers.
I'll be thrilled if Chicago beat the Cavs tomorrow. But I don't see LeBron James losing three in a row, especially after that beatdown they got in AT&T Center. I expect a blowout win for the Cavs at United Center.
A good point.
However, Chicago has proven most of the time they beat the top teams this season against all odds.
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Well, Toronto lost at home to Charlotte and Washington lost in LA, so we picked a good night to falter, I guess. Maybe Chicago will do us a solid tomorrow night and take out the recently hapless Cavaliers.
I'll be thrilled if Chicago beat the Cavs tomorrow. But I don't see LeBron James losing three in a row, especially after that beatdown they got in AT&T Center. I expect a blowout win for the Cavs at United Center.
A good point.
However, Chicago has proven most of the time they beat the top teams this season against all odds.
Yea and Chicago is only a game or so out of the 8th spot right? So they have something to play for
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Well, Toronto lost at home to Charlotte and Washington lost in LA, so we picked a good night to falter, I guess. Maybe Chicago will do us a solid tomorrow night and take out the recently hapless Cavaliers.
I'll be thrilled if Chicago beat the Cavs tomorrow. But I don't see LeBron James losing three in a row, especially after that beatdown they got in AT&T Center. I expect a blowout win for the Cavs at United Center.
A good point.
However, Chicago has proven most of the time they beat the top teams this season against all odds.
Especially the Cavs. The Bulls are 3-0 against them this year.
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Let's go Lakers! Let's go Bulls!
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First place again! :P
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LOL.
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First place again! :P
And Cleveland falling like a stone...who'da thunk....
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Washington has Utah and GSW next two games.
Toronto is playing really well.
Indiana is currently the 8 seed.
1. Celtics
2. Cavs--> strugling
3. Raptors--> playing well and getting Lowry back
4. Wizards --> fading
5. Atl/Mil
6. Atl/Mil
7. Miami
8. Indiana
is a dream scenario for me.
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Now if the Celtics can actually win games they're supposed to win...that #1 seed would be locked up.
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Washington has Utah and GSW next two games.
Toronto is playing really well.
Indiana is currently the 8 seed.
1. Celtics
2. Cavs--> strugling
3. Raptors--> playing well and getting Lowry back
4. Wizards --> fading
5. Atl/Mil
6. Atl/Mil
7. Miami
8. Indiana
is a dream scenario for me.
Yeah, that's about as ideal as it gets, but I would put money on Chicago getting in at the 8 seed over Indiana.
After tonight, Chicago has 7 more games, and only one of those games is against a playoff opponent, with 5 of them being against the bottom-6 teams in the league (Brooklyn twice). And that playoff opponent is Atlanta without Millsap. Chicago pretty much just virtually sealed their tiebreaker over Indiana with that win over Cleveland, too.
On the other hand, Indiana still has games @ Toronto, @ Cleveland, vs. Toronto, vs. Milwaukee, and vs. Atlanta.
So essentially, Chicago just has to play one game better than Indiana the rest of the way to surpass them in the standings, though things get a bit more complicated if there gets to be a three-way tie with Miami, Chicago, and Indiana.
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https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2017-nba-predictions/
538 now projects Boston having a 64% chance of hanging onto the top seed with Cleveland having a 35% chance of reclaiming it.
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https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2017-nba-predictions/
538 now projects Boston having a 64% chance of hanging onto the top seed with Cleveland having a 35% chance of reclaiming it.
perhaps. but for me, it is the upcoming game with cleveland that will decide first place and possibly even indicate the outcome of a playoff series between them.
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I like our chances against the bulls if they make the 8th seed (might be tougher if rondo becomes playoff rondo). Also would make for interesting storyline against rondo.
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Chicago had great success against top teams.
They also had great downfalls with weaker teams.
This team is unpredictable.
As for Cleveland, if I were them, I'd be scared about Philly. One thing that is undeniable is that this Philly team is playing with a purpose. They bring energy and toughness for 48 minutes. If you look down on them, you lose.
This end of this season is very exciting in the east.
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seems like nobody wants the first seed... ::)
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I like our chances against the bulls if they make the 8th seed (might be tougher if rondo becomes playoff rondo). Also would make for interesting storyline against rondo.
We struggle with teams with length. We eat the Bulls in a seven game series.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Boston 48-27 0
2. Cleveland 47-27 .5
3. Washington 46-29 2
4. Toronto 45-30 3
5. Atlanta 39-36 9
6. Milwaukee 39-36 9
7. Miami 37-38 11
8. Indiana 37-38 11
9. Chicago 36-39 12
10. Detroit 35-41 13.5
11. Charlotte 34-41 14
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Indiana at Toronto
Denver at Charlotte
Orlando at Boston
Philadelphia at Cleveland
NYK at Miami
Detroit at Milwaukee
Washington at Utah
Perfect night/Who to root for: Boston win, Toronto win/Indiana loss, Charlotte loss (so they shut it down before our final game against them), Cleveland loss, Miami win, Milwaukee win, Washington loss
It might be a bit too much to ask, but a Philly win in Cleveland would be absolutely huge for us, though it'd have to be combined with a win by Boston against Orlando. Let's just hope that we take care of business against Orlando and maintain our lead tonight. A Toronto win/Indiana loss combined with a Washington loss would also serve us really well tonight, too.
So we have lots to root for (and against) tonight!
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I like our chances against the bulls if they make the 8th seed (might be tougher if rondo becomes playoff rondo). Also would make for interesting storyline against rondo.
We struggle with teams with length. We eat the Bulls in a seven game series.
Yum, bull meat.
Mike
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Team Record Games Back
1. Boston 48-27 0
2. Cleveland 47-27 .5
3. Washington 46-29 2
4. Toronto 45-30 3
5. Atlanta 39-36 9
6. Milwaukee 39-36 9
7. Miami 37-38 11
8. Indiana 37-38 11
9. Chicago 36-39 12
10. Detroit 35-41 13.5
11. Charlotte 34-41 14
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Indiana at Toronto
Denver at Charlotte
Orlando at Boston
Philadelphia at Cleveland
NYK at Miami
Detroit at Milwaukee
Washington at Utah
Perfect night/Who to root for: Boston win, Toronto win/Indiana loss, Charlotte loss (so they shut it down before our final game against them), Cleveland loss, Miami win, Milwaukee win, Washington loss
It might be a bit too much to ask, but a Philly win in Cleveland would be absolutely huge for us, though it'd have to be combined with a win by Boston against Orlando. Let's just hope that we take care of business against Orlando and maintain our lead tonight. A Toronto win/Indiana loss combined with a Washington loss would also serve us really well tonight, too.
So we have lots to root for (and against) tonight!
Why do we want Toronto to win..they are still in striking distance...
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Team Record Games Back
1. Boston 48-27 0
2. Cleveland 47-27 .5
3. Washington 46-29 2
4. Toronto 45-30 3
5. Atlanta 39-36 9
6. Milwaukee 39-36 9
7. Miami 37-38 11
8. Indiana 37-38 11
9. Chicago 36-39 12
10. Detroit 35-41 13.5
11. Charlotte 34-41 14
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Indiana at Toronto
Denver at Charlotte
Orlando at Boston
Philadelphia at Cleveland
NYK at Miami
Detroit at Milwaukee
Washington at Utah
Perfect night/Who to root for: Boston win, Toronto win/Indiana loss, Charlotte loss (so they shut it down before our final game against them), Cleveland loss, Miami win, Milwaukee win, Washington loss
It might be a bit too much to ask, but a Philly win in Cleveland would be absolutely huge for us, though it'd have to be combined with a win by Boston against Orlando. Let's just hope that we take care of business against Orlando and maintain our lead tonight. A Toronto win/Indiana loss combined with a Washington loss would also serve us really well tonight, too.
So we have lots to root for (and against) tonight!
Why do we want Toronto to win..they are still in striking distance...
It's virtually impossible for them to catch us at this point. They're 3 games back with 7 games to go, and we have 3 games against Orlando, New York, and Brooklyn remaining. If we both win tonight, then we'd have to go 3-3 the rest of the way with them going 6-0 for them to catch us, which isn't happening.
We want them to win because a Toronto win and a Washington loss puts them in 3rd place and playing Cleveland in the 2nd round rather than Boston. I think we're likely to keep the number one seed at this point, so we want Washington at 4 and Toronto at 3.
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Milwaukee and Miami both down in the 4th in games they should win tonight.
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Milwaukee and Miami both down in the 4th in games they should win tonight.
Well, Miami lost, but Milwaukee won, which is the more important result. They should be firmly out of the running to play us in the first round.
Both Toronto and Washington are 3-1 vs. Milwaukee this season, but most of those games didn't come lately when they've been playing better. They're going to give hell to whoever their first round matchup is, and I could see them upsetting either Washington or Toronto with how well they're playing now.
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Wizards lost to the Jazz tonight. Updated standings
1. Celtics 49-27
2. Cavs 48-27
3. Raptors 46-30
4. Wizards 46-30
5. Bucks 40-36
6. Hawks 39-36
7. Heat 37-39
8. Pacers 37-39
Outside looking in includes the Bulls a half game back of the Heat and Pacers at 36-39 followed by the Hornets and Pistons with 35-41 and 35-42 records, respectively.
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Wizards lost to the Jazz tonight. Updated standings
1. Celtics 49-27
2. Cavs 48-27
3. Raptors 46-30
4. Wizards 46-30
5. Bucks 40-36
6. Hawks 39-36
7. Heat 37-39
8. Pacers 37-39
Outside looking in includes the Bulls a half game back of the Heat and Pacers at 36-39 followed by the Hornets and Pistons with 35-41 and 35-42 records, respectively.
that current seeding would be perfect for us.
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Wizards lost to the Jazz tonight. Updated standings
1. Celtics 49-27
2. Cavs 48-27
3. Raptors 46-30
4. Wizards 46-30
5. Bucks 40-36
6. Hawks 39-36
7. Heat 37-39
8. Pacers 37-39
Outside looking in includes the Bulls a half game back of the Heat and Pacers at 36-39 followed by the Hornets and Pistons with 35-41 and 35-42 records, respectively.
that current seeding would be perfect for us.
I think this is the single best possible outcome for us.
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Wizards lost to the Jazz tonight. Updated standings
1. Celtics 49-27
2. Cavs 48-27
3. Raptors 46-30
4. Wizards 46-30
5. Bucks 40-36
6. Hawks 39-36
7. Heat 37-39
8. Pacers 37-39
Outside looking in includes the Bulls a half game back of the Heat and Pacers at 36-39 followed by the Hornets and Pistons with 35-41 and 35-42 records, respectively.
that current seeding would be perfect for us.
I think this is the single best possible outcome for us.
Keep an eye on the Raps making sure where we are because they would not want the Cavs in the second round...theyd lose intentionally or win re 3rd or 4th seed depending where we are.
Personally this should light a fire with the guys to just flat out beat anyone in its path to the Finals.
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Run home has become trickier:
Melo-less Knicks who beat the Heat today
Cleveland who will remember how good they are any minute now
An Atlanta ALL-IN to make the playoffs.
A reasonably hot Charlotte
An improved and carefree Brooklyn team who could have a big shooting night and ruin our lives
The amazonian tarantula that is the Milwaukee Bucks.
Honestly, I'd say winning 3 of these games will be a good feat. 2 seed will do, but 1 seed will make getting to the Finals SO much easier.
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Run home has become trickier:
Melo-less Knicks who beat the Heat today
Cleveland who will remember how good they are any minute now
An Atlanta ALL-IN to make the playoffs.
A reasonably hot Charlotte
An improved and carefree Brooklyn team who could have a big shooting night and ruin our lives
The amazonian tarantula that is the Milwaukee Bucks.
Honestly, I'd say winning 3 of these games will be a good feat. 2 seed will do, but 1 seed will make getting to the Finals SO much easier.
The Celtics have shown that they could lose to Phoenix, 76ers and close game with Brooklyn. 1 seed will be thrilling, but I can settle for 2, as long as Washington remains 3rd.
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Doesn't matter where they land .
Celtics always got switch ready to flip .
Marcus not worried one iota.
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Huge game this afternoon between the Hawks and Bulls. If the Bulls win there will be a three-way tie for the final two playoff spots between the Heat, Pacers, and Bulls with identical records of 37-39. Based on tiebreaker procedure, Chicago winning today will bring them to 7th in the East based on best winning percentage against the conference followed by Miami in 8th and the Pacers on the outside looking in.
None of these teams play each other moving forward so it will be interesting if the Bulls do win how this would shape the bottom half of the east playoffs.
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Who has the easier run home out of Washington and Toronto?
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Who has the easier run home out of Washington and Toronto?
Wizards have the following schedule: @ GS, vs CHA, @ NYK, vs MIA, @ DET, @ MIA.
Raptors have the following schedule: vs PHI, @ IND (B2B), @ DET (B2B), vs MIA, @ NYK, @ CLE.
So I'd say that the Raptors have the slightly easier schedule going forward. Plus, with the tiebreaker already given to Toronto, I'd say that they're likely to keep the 3rd seed with Washington in 4th. So we'll need to try and keep the 1st seed for the better 2nd round matchup.
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What's funny is that this is almost a worst-case scenario for Cleveland in the first round. They're almost assuredly going to play either Chicago, Miami, or Indiana in the first round. They're 0-4 vs Chicago, 1-2 vs Miami, and 2-1 vs Indiana.
However, Indiana has the hardest schedule remaining of those three fighting for the final two spots, and they have neither tiebreaker against Chicago or Miami, nor would they advance in a three-way tie with Chicago and Miami.
So if Chicago beats Atlanta today, then Indiana will have a better final 6 game record than either Chicago or Miami in order to get in the playoffs. Otherwise, Cleveland will be playing a team that they have a losing record against in the first round. They'll still advance, but they're going to be challenged in the first round, which is great for us.
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What's funny is that this is almost a worst-case scenario for Cleveland in the first round. They're almost assuredly going to play either Chicago, Miami, or Indiana in the first round. They're 0-4 vs Chicago, 1-2 vs Miami, and 2-1 vs Indiana.
However, Indiana has the hardest schedule remaining of those three fighting for the final two spots, and they have neither tiebreaker against Chicago or Miami, nor would they advance in a three-way tie with Chicago and Miami.
So if Chicago beats Atlanta today, then Indiana will have a better final 6 game record than either Chicago or Miami in order to get in the playoffs. Otherwise, Cleveland will be playing a team that they have a losing record against in the first round. They'll still advance, but they're going to be challenged in the first round, which is great for us.
Who would the Celts want to win between Chicago/Atlanta wouldn't matter to us?
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It's going to come down to the Cleveland game for the top seed. Looking at the schedules Cavs won't relinquish it otherwise.
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Wow, Atlanta is terrible right now. Chicago now in 7th place, knocking Indy out of the playoffs via tiebreaker in a three-way tie among Miami, Chicago, and Indy.
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Well, with Chicago owning the tiebreaker AND having a significantly easier schedule down the stretch than Miami, it seems very likely that they'll end up on 7th with Miami or Indiana coming in 8th.
I'd prefer a Chicago or Indiana matchup, but we'll beat Miami pretty handily. Just can't take them lightly, even if we're 7-0 versus them the last two years.
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Well, with Chicago owning the tiebreaker AND having a significantly easier schedule down the stretch than Miami, it seems very likely that they'll end up on 7th with Miami or Indiana coming in 8th.
I'd prefer a Chicago or Indiana matchup, but we'll beat Miami pretty handily. Just can't take them lightly, even if we're 7-0 versus them the last two years.
Wow, so watch Cleveland mail it in on Wednesday and LBJ rest verse the Cetics so they wrap up the 2 seeed
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Who has the easier run home out of Washington and Toronto?
Wizards have the following schedule: @ GS, vs CHA, @ NYK, vs MIA, @ DET, @ MIA.
Raptors have the following schedule: vs PHI, @ IND (B2B), @ DET (B2B), vs MIA, @ NYK, @ CLE.
So I'd say that the Raptors have the slightly easier schedule going forward. Plus, with the tiebreaker already given to Toronto, I'd say that they're likely to keep the 3rd seed with Washington in 4th. So we'll need to try and keep the 1st seed for the better 2nd round matchup.
TP.
Looks like we are in a pretty good spot right now- at least we control our own destiny so to speak. A win vs Cleveland would be epic.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Boston 50-27 0
2. Cleveland 48-27 1
3. Toronto 46-30 3.5
4. Washington 46-30 3.5
5. Milwaukee 40-36 9.5
6. Atlanta 39-37 10.5
7. Chicago 37-39 12.5
8. Miami 37-39 12.5
9. Indiana 37-39 12.5
10. Charlotte 35-41 14.5
11. Detroit 35-42 15
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Boston defeated New York
Indiana at Cleveland
Dallas at Milwaukee
Chicago at New Orleans
Philadelphia at Toronto
Atlanta at Brooklyn
Denver at Miami
Washington at Golden State
Perfect night: Boston win; Indiana win/Cleveland loss; Milwaukee win; Chicago win; Toronto win; Atlanta win; Miami loss; Washington loss.
Another big night. Perhaps Indiana could pull off a win in Cleveland, which would both help us in the chase for the number one seed and help them try to make the playoffs (better matchup for us than Miami).
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Indiana win tonight would be askingfor too much
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Who would have predicted beating the Cavs to 50 wins for the season back in October? Not me.
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The standings as it is now looks perfect.
Cavs stuck with either MIA/CHI (and they haven't done well against either).
Meanwhile I think we match up well with either MIA/CHI (without Wade) honestly.
Plus we avoid Toronto in the second round if they stay #3 and CLE get them 2nd round with a healthy Lowry.
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Cavs down 2 with a minute to go! Come on, Pacers!!
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Overtime!
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Overtime in Cleveland. Pacers blew two chances to win this.
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Paul George is the man, but no wonder that team sucks. It's basically only him on that team with a bunch of "meh" players.
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Paul George would look sooooooo good in green!
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And freaking Monta falls asleep on defense giving up a JR three, and then JR matches the dumb play by fouling PG! Lol
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Paul George only makes 1 out of 2 free throws. Pacers are giving this game away to the Cavs.
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Paul George would look sooooooo good in green!
Well he blew a free throw that would have won this in OT
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ok.....Love just gave the ball back to the Pacers with 1 second left...unbelievable
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Omg, this has been a textbook example of how NOT to finish games. But how about that Pacers D down the stretch?
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Double OT in Cleveland. Good game tonight.
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Nobody can legitimately say Cleveland is trying in these games though, Lebron and co. are going all out tonight. They just are not the dominant team they used to be.
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Nobody can legitimately say Cleveland is trying in these games though, Lebron and co. are going all out tonight. They just are not the dominant team they used to be.
Very true. Pacers doing everything to lose the game yet Cavs are equaling them in mistakes. And they are certainly playing all out in this game.
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This Pacers team is absolute garbage outside of George. No wonder he's ready to be out of there.
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And there are people who don't want George in Boston? Look what he's done with this garbage roster. He's the only one who can score AND defend!
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Lol George plays like a basketball god, and his trash teammates keep giving up buckets to their guys. I can't wait to hear George's diatribe after this one! Lol
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Shades of Pierce vs Lebron, 2008 ECSF Game 7
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And that will do it, Cleveland pulls it out in double OT, 41-15-11 for Lebron in 51 minutes. He's giving it all he has and more and Cleveland can barely pull out these games.
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And there are people who don't want George in Boston? Look what he's done with this garbage roster. He's the only one who can score AND defend!
There are tales of a Celticsblogger having a scoring night similar to George this evening.......
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51 minutes for Lebron.
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Got to think Lebron rests one of the next two games, right?
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Maybe, but a CLE loss would've been preferable. Doubt they rest him on Wednesday with how much they've been riding him lately... but hopefully I'm wrong.
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Maybe, but a CLE loss would've been preferable. Doubt they rest him on Wednesday with how much they've been riding him lately... but hopefully I'm wrong.
According to Lebron, Adam Silver is watching him, LOL. He is afraid to get in trouble if he rests.
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Such a frustrating game. Hard to blame PG for that crucial missed free throw when he literally did it all for them down stretch, including 20 straight points at one point, but he hits that free throw and they would've won.
Granted, Lebron and Thompson missed 4 straight free throws themselves to even make that possible, but still.
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Got to think Lebron rests one of the next two games, right?
I doubt it . You know he and Lue want to rest ...I think the media have screwed them , they got a lot of bad press.TV money is big .....NBA might be suck n up
I
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51 minutes for Lebron.
He has to play most game about 38 minutes for them to win. Despite having Love and Irving , without lB on he court major minutes they kinda suck .
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Maybe, but a CLE loss would've been preferable. Doubt they rest him on Wednesday with how much they've been riding him lately... but hopefully I'm wrong.
According to Lebron, Adam Silver is watching him, LOL. He is afraid to get in trouble if he rests.
Lol, yes of course. Or maybe just a coincidence -- Silver regularly attends to the center of the universe, where LeBron happens to live.
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Anyone that thinks the Cavs do not want the first seed only have the last Pacers game to disabuse of them of that notion. No way a team that does not care about seeding goes to two overtimes to win. No way does LB play 51 minutes if they are not trying to fight for that #1 seed.
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This end of season is exciting.
When you look at Miami's schedule, you wonder how they'll be able to get a playoff spot.
At this point, I'd bet on Indiana or Charlotte for the 8th seed.
But again, Chicago can collapse at any moment or anyone can get hot again.
As for the Celtics, they have a tough schedule. The Cavs can wake up at any moment. Charlotte is super hot, Atlanta needs to bounce back, Milwaukee will fight for a nice spot.
Only Brooklyn remaining, but again, this is a trap game.
If the Celtics managed to focus and play one game at a time with AB and Crowder healthy, hopefully they get 1st seed. That would be awesome.
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Anyone that thinks the Cavs do not want the first seed only have the last Pacers game to disabuse of them of that notion. No way a team that does not care about seeding goes to two overtimes to win. No way does LB play 51 minutes if they are not trying to fight for that #1 seed.
I think they're a team that has gone to the Finals 2 years in a row and is led by a man who has played almost 50,000 minutes of NBA basketball over the last 14 years. I'm sure they want the 1 seed but they're not willing to exert themselves all that much to get it. I bet they sweep whoever they get in the first round.
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Playoff seeding?
ONE
is the loneliest number that you'll ever do.
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Can we get an update on the ramifications of today's games who we are or aren't pulling for? I know we're hoping for a CLE loss obviously
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Can we get an update on the ramifications of today's games who we are or aren't pulling for? I know we're hoping for a CLE loss obviously
I'll do it in a bit. Also, there's rumblings of Cleveland sitting their guys against us tomorrow, so I'll post that, too.
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Can we get an update on the ramifications of today's games who we are or aren't pulling for? I know we're hoping for a CLE loss obviously
I'll do it in a bit. Also, there's rumblings of Cleveland sitting their guys against us tomorrow, so I'll post that, too.
If they do that, I would not mind at all Stevens resting everyone.
If they won't play their guys, then I'm perfectly fine giving IT, Horford, Bradley, Crowder (especially Crowder with his elbow) a night off.
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Can we get an update on the ramifications of today's games who we are or aren't pulling for? I know we're hoping for a CLE loss obviously
I'll do it in a bit. Also, there's rumblings of Cleveland sitting their guys against us tomorrow, so I'll post that, too.
If they do that, I would not mind at all Stevens resting everyone.
If they won't play their guys, then I'm perfectly fine giving IT, Horford, Bradley, Crowder (especially Crowder with his elbow) a night off.
Eh, Crowder for sure with his elbow, but AB should be plenty rested with as many games as he's been out. As for IT and Al, it'd depend upon who all they rested. We'd probably need at least one of them to pls in order to try and ensure a victory.
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Games of note tonight (aside from Cleveland), Washington at Charlotte, Toronto at Indiana, Milwaukee at OKC, and Chicago at New York.
I'm not sure how you root for these. There are too many ins and outs. Do you root based on the assumption that the C's will be #1 or #2? Do you root for a Toronto matchup because Lowry is still questionable or a Washington match up because they're maybe not as dangerous as a healthy Toronto team? If Washington gets the 4th seed are we sure they'd beat Milwaukee, currently seeded #5?
Then there's the Indiana/Miami/Chicago mess. I'd rather avoid the Heat entirely so I guess that means you root for Indiana to keep winning and hope the Heat falter going forward. But if they don't, and Chicago falls we could easily wind up with Miami in the 8th spot or 7th.
What a mess. From her on I'm just rooting for the Celtics every night and letting the rest take care of itself.
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Can we get an update on the ramifications of today's games who we are or aren't pulling for? I know we're hoping for a CLE loss obviously
I'll do it in a bit. Also, there's rumblings of Cleveland sitting their guys against us tomorrow, so I'll post that, too.
If they do that, I would not mind at all Stevens resting everyone.
If they won't play their guys, then I'm perfectly fine giving IT, Horford, Bradley, Crowder (especially Crowder with his elbow) a night off.
I wouldn't be okay with that. That win is basically worth double, we need it if we want the #1 seed (and with Toronto looking like they will stay at #3, we want it)
And on an unrelated note, how many games do you guys think Atlanta wins between now and the end of the season? They have a brutal stretch coming up:
4/6 v BOS (B2B)
4/7 @ CLE (B2B)
4/9 v CLE
4/11 v CHA (B2B)
4/12 @ IND (B2B)
I could legitimately see them going 0-5 (although I think they'll pull out a win and go 1-4). They have a 2 game lead on the #9 team, but they might not make the playoffs at this point. The last game in Indy could determine who makes it (the tiebreaker is currently 1 to 1)
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Can we get an update on the ramifications of today's games who we are or aren't pulling for? I know we're hoping for a CLE loss obviously
I'll do it in a bit. Also, there's rumblings of Cleveland sitting their guys against us tomorrow, so I'll post that, too.
If they do that, I would not mind at all Stevens resting everyone.
If they won't play their guys, then I'm perfectly fine giving IT, Horford, Bradley, Crowder (especially Crowder with his elbow) a night off.
Eh, Crowder for sure with his elbow, but AB should be plenty rested with as many games as he's been out. As for IT and Al, it'd depend upon who all they rested. We'd probably need at least one of them to pls in order to try and ensure a victory.
I mean, if resting their players means Lebron, Irving AND Love, then we're fine. Sure, give AB and Horford some minutes (since they've missed quite a few games to injury).
But that team is honestly mediocre without Lebron as it is, and without Lebron and Irving, trash. (Okay maybe that's a bit harsh, but it's kind of true too lol).
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Can we get an update on the ramifications of today's games who we are or aren't pulling for? I know we're hoping for a CLE loss obviously
I'll do it in a bit. Also, there's rumblings of Cleveland sitting their guys against us tomorrow, so I'll post that, too.
If they do that, I would not mind at all Stevens resting everyone.
If they won't play their guys, then I'm perfectly fine giving IT, Horford, Bradley, Crowder (especially Crowder with his elbow) a night off.
I wouldn't be okay with that. That win is basically worth double, we need it if we want the #1 seed (and with Toronto looking like they will stay at #3, we want it)
And on an unrelated note, how many games do you guys think Atlanta wins between now and the end of the season? They have a brutal stretch coming up:
4/6 v BOS (B2B)
4/7 @ CLE (B2B)
4/9 v CLE
4/11 v CHA (B2B)
4/12 @ IND (B2B)
I could legitimately see them going 0-5 (although I think they'll pull out a win and go 1-4). They have a 2 game lead on the #9 team, but they might not make the playoffs at this point. The last game in Indy could determine who makes it (the tiebreaker is currently 1 to 1)
I think 1-4, with a win over either CHA, or IND.
That could be bad for us though if they get the 8 seed. We DON'T want to face them first round.
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Team Record Games Back
1. Boston 50-27 0
2. Cleveland 49-27 .5
3. Toronto 47-30 3
4. Washington 46-31 4
5. Milwaukee 40-37 10
6. Atlanta 39-38 11
7. Chicago 38-39 12
8. Miami 37-40 13
9. Indiana 37-40 13
10. Charlotte 36-41 14
11. Detroit 35-42 15
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Toronto at Indiana
Orlando at Cleveland
Charlotte at Washington
Chicago at New York Knicks
Milwaukee at OKC
Perfect Night: Cleveland loss, Chicago win, Milwaukee win
Toronto at Indiana and Charlotte at Washington provide interesting dilemmas. On one hand, we want Toronto to win to essentially ensure that they stay in the 3 seed and face Cleveland in the second round. On the other hand, an Indiana win makes it more likely that they get the 8th seed over Miami, which is a more favorable matchup for us. The same can be said about Charlotte at Washington. A Washington loss would essentially keep them in 4th place for good. Further, a Charlotte win would make it more likely for them to sneak into the playoffs as the 8th seed, which is also a favorable matchup for us. However, we also play a game in Charlotte on Saturday, and a loss would be devastating to their playoff chances, especially if combined with a loss to Miami tomorrow night. So they'd probably shut down their main guys if they get knocked out of the playoff race by then. So choose who you want to root for based on your preference for those games.
There's also lots of talk about Cleveland resting their guys tomorrow. From Cleveland.com:
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2017/04/will_cavaliers_rest_over_seedi.html
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Cavaliers like to say they value rest over a particular playoff seed.
This week is designed to dare them to prove it.
Awaiting the Cavs Wednesday is a huge showdown with the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. The Celtics lead Cleveland by a 1/2-game for first place in the East. Should the Cavs take care of business Tuesday with their home game against the Orlando Magic (who they've beaten 16 consecutive times), the Celtics' advantage would be gone.
The Cavs lead Boston 2-1 in the season series, making Wednesday's matchup even more important. Cleveland would not only go up a full game with five to play, but would own the head-to-head tiebreaker -- the first determining factor when teams are tied for a playoff seed.
OK, now it's time for the catches. Yes, there are many.
The Celtics blew out the Knicks on Sunday, and will get two days off before the Cavs come to town.
Cleveland is of course coming off an emotional, taxing, draining 135-130 win in double overtime over the Pacers Sunday. LeBron James played more minutes (52) than he has in any game since Jan. 27, 2013.
After James, Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, and J.R. Smith all played at least 42 minutes, and Kevin Love (coming off knee surgery) played 37.
Coach Tyronn Lue canceled practice Monday and shootaround on Tuesday for the Magic game. The players won't be on the court again until they show up at 4:30 p.m. for a walk through to get ready for Orlando.
"Um, we play Tuesday? I'll be ready Tuesday," James said, after posting 41 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 assists in that marathon against the Pacers. "I'll be ready to go Tuesday."
But what about Wednesday? Given the way the Cavs have conducted business this year -- targeting back-to-back games to rest players (on occasion), and considering the workload undertaken Sunday, there is virtually no way Cleveland's stars would play against both the Magic and the Celtics (they also play Friday at home against Atlanta).
Orlando is a home game and Boston is not. Twice already this season the Cavs played road games without James, Irving, and Love.
Also, the Cavs are 1-9 on the second night of back-to-back games on the road.
In other words, this is the epitome of a scheduled loss. The Celtics, at home, rested and ready, against a Cleveland squad coming in for its third game in four nights.
But the No. 1 seed is literally on the line here. The Cavs know it would be a bad look not to try to get it. And they also know the league is watching.
It was after the Cavs didn't play their Big 3 on a Saturday in Los Angeles for a game broadcast on ABC that NBA commissioner Adam Silver demanded owners be involved with decisions to rest players and threatened "significant penalties" if protocol for resting players isn't followed.
The league's owners are meeting Thursday -- the day after the Cavs and Celtics play on ESPN -- and the topic is going to come up.
Cleveland is also just 19-19 on the road this season. Yes, the Cavs are expected to ramp up in the playoffs, and it's true they closed every playoff series (including the Finals) on the road in 2016. But one more tough stretch now could pay huge dividends when the conference finals come around.
Asked if the Pacers' slugfest changed Lue's plans this week, he said "I don't know how our guys will feel."
There are myriad quotes attributable to Lue from the past two months talking about this very issue. Does he value the rest (and health) of his players or getting the top seed (not that he can't have both, it's just, if he guns for No. 1 he risks injuries)?
"To be a championship team you've got to win on the road," Lue said last week. "For me if I had to choose one, health would be the biggest thing over anything else. We've just got to get healthy."
That stance will be tested this week.
So it's largely assumed that Cleveland will rest their guys on one of these games in this back to back, especially since Boston would be the third game in four nights for them with another game against Atlanta on Friday. So far, there's no indication that they're resting guys tonight, so many expect them to tick off the league and rest their guys against Boston tomorrow in one of the biggest games of the season that the league and beat writers have been building up for weeks.
So it'll be interesting to see how that goes. It'd be great for us, since they'd ultimately be surrendering the number one seed to us, and because we have our last back to back on Wednesday and Thursday.
EDIT: Looks like everyone is dressing and playing for Cleveland tonight, so it's likely that they rest tomorrow. But don't be surprised if one or more of their guys gets a phantom "minor injury" that requires them to sit out tomorrow just to get the league off their back. lol
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And on an unrelated note, how many games do you guys think Atlanta wins between now and the end of the season? They have a brutal stretch coming up:
4/6 v BOS (B2B)
4/7 @ CLE (B2B)
4/9 v CLE
4/11 v CHA (B2B)
4/12 @ IND (B2B)
I could legitimately see them going 0-5 (although I think they'll pull out a win and go 1-4). They have a 2 game lead on the #9 team, but they might not make the playoffs at this point. The last game in Indy could determine who makes it (the tiebreaker is currently 1 to 1)
I imagine they'll steal one of those Cleveland games and Charlotte and Indy are both not very good. I say 2-3.
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Can we get an update on the ramifications of today's games who we are or aren't pulling for? I know we're hoping for a CLE loss obviously
I'll do it in a bit. Also, there's rumblings of Cleveland sitting their guys against us tomorrow, so I'll post that, too.
TP for the breakdowns yall
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Dave McMenamin ESPN Staff Writer
Tyronn Lue said that the entire team, Kyle Korver included, will play tonight against Orlando. Lue says the plan, barring any unforeseen scenario, will be to play all of his guys in Boston tomorrow on the second night of a back-to-back as well.
If I were them. I'd be wanting to avoid having to play BOS and TOR too. If they beat BOS, they can rest at least one game as they have the tiebreaker.
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Dave McMenamin ESPN Staff Writer
Tyronn Lue said that the entire team, Kyle Korver included, will play tonight against Orlando. Lue says the plan, barring any unforeseen scenario, will be to play all of his guys in Boston tomorrow on the second night of a back-to-back as well.
If I were them. I'd be wanting to avoid having to play BOS and TOR too. If they beat BOS, they can rest at least one game as they have the tiebreaker.
Man, I just can't see them playing both, especially after that double overtime Indy game and the fact that Boston will be the third game in four nights for them with another game against Atlanta on Friday, too. I certainly don't think they will if Orlando actually challenges them tonight and makes their main guys play big minutes.
I'm guessing that he's saying this now to not try and get in trouble with the league, not that they really care. It's just their MO, especially with Lebron, to prioritize rest over seeding. I mean, hell, they literally finished every series on the road in their championship year last year.
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If Cleveland doesn't rest against the C's we can officially put this they're coasting nonsense to bed. They may not value the #1 seed but they know it makes their path to the Finals just that much more likely.
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Maybe I'm in the minority. But I hope we avoid Indiana.
We've seen what PG13 can do in the playoffs, and if he goes rogue on us, him + their size could pose a tricky series (though I still expect we win).
My hope is Chicago (without Wade), or dare I say Charlotte creeps up and takes the 8 seed.
We match up well with them as well.
Miami too with Waiters possibly not available in the first round either.
Indiana, ATL, Milwaukee are teams I want to AVOID.
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LeBron hooping tonight
No rest for the mistreated weary ...over worked and under paid
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If Cleveland doesn't rest against the C's we can officially put this they're coasting nonsense to bed. They may not value the #1 seed but they know it makes their path to the Finals just that much more likely.
I mean, that argument just doesn't make sense anymore anyways. They're clearly struggling, especially defensively. And that's not surprising given that they're relying heavily on poor defenders like Love, Smith, Williams, Frye, and Korver, let alone the mediocre defenders of Irving and Thompson.
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Geeze, Indy down 17 at home to Toronto. They might've given up on this season after not pulling out that Cleveland game. Maybe Charlotte will be able to pull out some wins (except against us) and sneak into the 8th spot.
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If Cleveland doesn't rest against the C's we can officially put this they're coasting nonsense to bed. They may not value the #1 seed but they know it makes their path to the Finals just that much more likely.
I mean, that argument just doesn't make sense anymore anyways. They're clearly struggling, especially defensively. And that's not surprising given that they're relying heavily on poor defenders like Love, Smith, Williams, Frye, and Korver, let alone the mediocre defenders of Irving and Thompson.
lol watching this Cavs game, and their defense is just putrid, especially guarding the three. People making the argument that they're coasting haven't been watching obviously.
And lebron is clearly fatigued, too. You can tell with his body language that he's just drained.
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If Cleveland doesn't rest against the C's we can officially put this they're coasting nonsense to bed. They may not value the #1 seed but they know it makes their path to the Finals just that much more likely.
I mean, that argument just doesn't make sense anymore anyways. They're clearly struggling, especially defensively. And that's not surprising given that they're relying heavily on poor defenders like Love, Smith, Williams, Frye, and Korver, let alone the mediocre defenders of Irving and Thompson.
lol watching this Cavs game, and their defense is just putrid, especially guarding the three. People making the argument that they're coasting haven't been watching obviously.
And lebron is clearly fatigued, too. You can tell with his body language that he's just drained.
No worries , Lue said he has a secret plan for the playoffs
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Cleveland down 2 at the half.
Lebron has 22 (!) minutes already, with Kyrie, Love, TT, and Smith all have 17 minutes, too.
And I doubt they put this Orlando team away until later in the 4th, if they don't mess around and lose, so I just really can't see them playing their guys tomorrow.
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Hornets are up 12 at the half on the Wizards in Washington. A win would move them within a half game of Miami for 8th. They're 7th in the NBA in net rating since the All-Star break.
Also, the Wizards are solidifying 4th, as I've said that they would for over a month.
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Hornets are up 12 at the half on the Wizards in Washington. A win would move them within a half game of Miami for 8th. They're 7th in the NBA in net rating since the All-Star break.
Also, the Wizards are solidifying 4th, as I've said that they would for over a month.
Washington Milwaukee could be a good 4-5 series. I wonder if Washington comes out of that one alive. If the Celtics get the #1 seed, they could wind up seeing Giannis in the second round.
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And then the Magic remembered that they're tanking. ::)
Cleveland has been on fire hitting tough threes, but most of this is self-inflicted by the Magic making dumb plays or just flat out missing open shots.
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Hornets are up 12 at the half on the Wizards in Washington. A win would move them within a half game of Miami for 8th. They're 7th in the NBA in net rating since the All-Star break.
Also, the Wizards are solidifying 4th, as I've said that they would for over a month.
I think I'm pulling for a Charlotte loss tonight, since we have a game against them later this week. If they lose tonight AND against Miami tomorrow, then they're pretty much out of it, hopefully meaning they'd rest some guys against us Saturday.
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Strangely, James back in with a 22 point lead over the Magic. He's already got 34 minutes tonight, so you have to think that means he's already decided to rest at least Lebron tomorrow.
Rationale: let them play together and get some chemistry back tonight, get the W to ensure they stay in the 2nd seed over Toronto, and rest their guys tomorrow night, while also not giving Boston (specifically Stevens) another look at their sets this late in the season before the playoffs.
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The Bulls have to be the weirdest team in the league...down 19 to the Knicks?
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The Bulls have to be the weirdest team in the league...down 19 to the Knicks?
Real weird.
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So, this now brings up an interesting dilemma with the Wizards winning and the Raptors losing.
Both teams will be at 47-31 after tonight, though the Raptors still have the tiebreaker.
Toronto's remaining schedule is: @ DET (B2B), vs. MIA, @ NYK, @ CLE
Washington's remaining schedule:@ NYK, vs MIA, @ DET, @ MIA
Now, since Toronto owns the tiebreaker, Washington will have to outright have the better record in this last four games to move into third. Those are pretty much identical schedules, but it'll ultimately depend upon who rests guys (New York, Cleveland, and even Detroit if they're out of the playoff race by the time Washington plays them) and who is still in the playoff race.
Toronto more than likely still stays in third thanks to the tiebreaker, but it's not the certainty it was looking like coming into tonight.
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So, this now brings up an interesting dilemma with the Wizards winning and the Raptors losing.
Both teams will be at 47-31 after tonight, though the Raptors still have the tiebreaker.
Toronto's remaining schedule is: @ DET (B2B), vs. MIA, @ NYK, @ CLE
Washington's remaining schedule:@ NYK, vs MIA, @ DET, @ MIA
Now, since Toronto owns the tiebreaker, Washington will have to outright have the better record in this last four games to move into third. Those are pretty much identical schedules, but it'll ultimately depend upon who rests guys (New York, Cleveland, and even Detroit if they're out of the playoff race by the time Washington plays them) and who is still in the playoff race.
Toronto more than likely still stays in third thanks to the tiebreaker, but it's not the certainty it was looking like coming into tonight.
it'll be very interesting the final night, toronto may rest the game if it drops them to 4th to avoid cleveland, although giving cleveland that win may push cleveland to 1st.
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How did the Wizards jump ahead of the Raptors in the playoff seeding? Raptors won the season series and they share the same record, shouldn't the Raps own the tiebreaker?
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So, this now brings up an interesting dilemma with the Wizards winning and the Raptors losing.
Both teams will be at 47-31 after tonight, though the Raptors still have the tiebreaker.
Toronto's remaining schedule is: @ DET (B2B), vs. MIA, @ NYK, @ CLE
Washington's remaining schedule:@ NYK, vs MIA, @ DET, @ MIA
Now, since Toronto owns the tiebreaker, Washington will have to outright have the better record in this last four games to move into third. Those are pretty much identical schedules, but it'll ultimately depend upon who rests guys (New York, Cleveland, and even Detroit if they're out of the playoff race by the time Washington plays them) and who is still in the playoff race.
Toronto more than likely still stays in third thanks to the tiebreaker, but it's not the certainty it was looking like coming into tonight.
That is why the NBA should ban 'resting' players during the last 4 weeks of the season. It causes way too much influence on playoff seeding, inadvertent or otherwise. You want to rest players? Rest around the all-star break, give a player or two an extra week off with an 'injury', dont rest them down the stretch and screw up the playoff spots of other teams.
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I want the one seed. I think that's the most important thing for this team. Fully prepared to see this team go to 7 in the first round anyways. Can they win a road playoff game?
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So apparently Lowry is playing tonight, and Wade plans to return Saturday. Avoiding the two seed is now more important than ever.
HUGE game tonight! Let's go C's (and Raps and Miami - or Charlotte depending upon your preferences)!
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So apparently Lowry is playing tonight, and Wade plans to return Saturday. Avoiding the two seed is now more important than ever.
HUGE game tonight! Let's go C's (and Raps and Miami - or Charlotte depending upon your preferences)!
Right now 538 projects Washington ahead of Toronto by 1 game, so 1 seed gets us Toronto. Probably to close to really worry about. That said, let's beat the MF Cav's anyway.
I'm not convinced Wade makes Chicago better, but Lowry certainly does for Toronto.
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So apparently Lowry is playing tonight, and Wade plans to return Saturday. Avoiding the two seed is now more important than ever.
HUGE game tonight! Let's go C's (and Raps and Miami - or Charlotte depending upon your preferences)!
Right now 538 projects Washington ahead of Toronto by 1 game, so 1 seed gets us Toronto. Probably to close to really worry about. That said, let's beat the MF Cav's anyway.
I'm not convinced Wade makes Chicago better, but Lowry certainly does for Toronto.
538 changes their projections every day whether they are right or wrong. Pretty sure they had the C's at around 45 wins before the season.
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So apparently Lowry is playing tonight, and Wade plans to return Saturday. Avoiding the two seed is now more important than ever.
HUGE game tonight! Let's go C's (and Raps and Miami - or Charlotte depending upon your preferences)!
Right now 538 projects Washington ahead of Toronto by 1 game, so 1 seed gets us Toronto. Probably to close to really worry about. That said, let's beat the MF Cav's anyway.
I'm not convinced Wade makes Chicago better, but Lowry certainly does for Toronto.
538 changes their projections every day whether they are right or wrong. Pretty sure they had the C's at around 45 wins before the season.
Right, because their computer model takes in new data every day, and so projections change with it. This isn't really controversial.
Also, it projected 47 wins, and a 10% chance at the top seed.
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Geeze, Toronto getting trashed in Detroit right now. We might have to deal with them (or the Hawks or Bucks) in the second round if we secure the first seed in the East.
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Geeze, Toronto getting trashed in Detroit right now. We might have to deal with them (or the Hawks or Bucks) in the second round if we secure the first seed in the East.
I've seen enough of Detroit to expect them to blow it in the second half.
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So what's the updated standings now that the 2 seed is looking very likely?
Not that anybody even cares right now lol
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So what's the updated standings now that the 2 seed is looking very likely?
Not that anybody even cares right now lol
Cleveland (51-27) a full game up on Boston (50-28);
Boston 2.5 games up on Toronto (48-31);
Toronto .5 games up on Washington (47-31).
Boston would now have to win out and hope that Cleveland loses two more games (still possible, especially with their schedule and resting guys) to get the number one seed due to Cleveland outright owning the tiebreaker.
The same is pretty much true of Washington and Toronto. Washington has to outright have the better record the rest of the way over Toronto in order to take over the third seed, which they have incentive to do.
Toronto's remaining schedule is: vs. MIA, @ NYK, @ CLE
Washington's remaining schedule:@ NYK, vs MIA, @ DET, @ MIA
With Detroit more than likely out of the playoffs now, it's still very doable for Washington to move back into 3rd, though it's going to require them to win out and Toronto to lose at least one of those games.
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Also worth noting that Miami, Chicago, and Indiana are all tied at 38-40 for the 7-8-9 positions. We're likely looking at one of those 3 in the first round but no way of knowing which.
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So now do we root for TOR to fall to #4 and WAS up to #3?
I think we're going to finish #2 for good now (unless, god forbid, we lose out or something)
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 51-27 0
2. Boston 50-28 1
3. Toronto 48-31 3.5
4. Washington 47-31 4
5. Milwaukee 40-38 11
6. Atlanta 39-38 11.5
7. Chicago 38-40 13
8. Miami 38-40 13
9. Indiana 38-40 13
10. Charlotte 36-43 15.5
11. Detroit 35-43 16
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Boston at Atlanta
Milwaukee at Indiana
Chicago at Philadelphia
Washington at New York Knicks
The situation the rest of the way:
Our magic number is now two. Any combination of two wins for Boston or losses for BOTH Toronto and Washington assures Boston of the second seed in the playoffs.
So everyone knows that last night was a major blow to our chances at the number one seed; however, there is still a slight chance that we could end up as the number one seed. Cleveland finishes the season on a tough schedule vs. ATL, @ ATL (B2B), @ MIA (B2B), and vs TOR. That's compared to our @ ATL (B2B), @ CHA, vs. BRK, and vs MIL.
If we would win out and Cleveland would lose two of those games, then we'd have the overall better record and be the first seed. Now, this will largely depend upon Lebron resting. The way I see it, he will rest ONE of the games of the B2B (which one depends upon how Atlanta plays them on Friday and who they want to play in the first round), and he'll HOPE to rest the final game of the season against Toronto. However, if they happen to lose one of those games before the Toronto game, most likely the game he rests on the B2B, and we win out, then Lebron will HAVE TO PLAY the Toronto game or risk falling back to the 2nd seed.
Now this actually works really well in our favor, because it's going to essentially force Toronto to win a game in Cleveland on the last night of the season to be the third seed, that is if Washington can win out, too. Toronto and Washington are essentially tied in the standings right now (tied in the loss column), but with Toronto having the tiebreaker, Washington will have to outright have the better record than Toronto to move back into the third seed.
And they have a ton of incentive to do so, because they want to play us in the second round rather than Cleveland. Now both teams have a difficult schedule the rest of the way: Toronto has vs MIA, @ NYK, and @ CLE and Washington has @ NYK, vs MIA, @ DET, and @ MIA. Of those two, Washington looks to have the easier remaining schedule right now because it's likely that both Detroit and Miami are out of the playoff picture by the last two games of the season for them, unless Miami beats Toronto tomorrow, which is also a win for us.
So for the next week we should want:
Boston to win out (not only for the Brooklyn pick but to also keep the pressure on Cleveland)
Cleveland to lose (at the very least one game in order to force Lebron to play against Toronto)
Toronto to lose (with the 1 seed very unlikely, we should root for Toronto to lose every game)
Washington to win (we want them at the 3 seed instead of Toronto, especially since the 1 seed is unlikely now for us)
Hopefully this will set up a win/win scenario for us on the final day of the season next Wednesday. If Boston and Cleveland are tied in record (requiring 1 Cleveland loss and 0 Celtics losses) and Toronto and Washington are both tied in record (requiring both teams to pretty much play identically the rest of the way), then as long as Boston can beat Milwaukke and Washington can beat Miami that night, we'll get an ideal match whatever the result of the Toronto/Cleveland game. If Cleveland wins, then Washington would overtake Toronto for the third seed; if Toronto wins, then Boston would overtake Cleveland for the first seed. Essentially, in that scenario Toronto is screwed, but they can't really do anything about it leading up to that game, since they don't know where Cleveland and/or Boston will end up.
But when we get to the bottom half of the playoff bracket, things are a bit more confusing.
For Milwaukee and Indiana tonight, you can look at it two ways. On one hand, an Indiana win (combined with a Chicago win) would essentially knock the Hornets out of the playoffs, who we play on Saturday, which would help our chances of winning that night. Further, it would go a long way to ensuring that Indiana made the playoffs, which is a better potential first round matchup for us. On the other hand, it's not inconceivable to see the Bucks slide to the 7th spot, which we do NOT want at all for a possible first round matchup. So a win tonight would go a long way in ensuring that wouldn't happen. Further, a win tonight would make it more likely that they rest their guys the final night of the season against us, which would be beneficial for us, as well.
As for Chicago at Philadelphia, they should win that pretty easily. And they're pretty much guaranteed for the playoffs at this point with their soft schedule. However, if they win enough and Atlanta loses enough, that could very well push Atlanta to the 7 seed being only 2 losses better than the Bulls. And at this point, I'm not sure which team I'd rather see in the playoffs.
So there's still lots to root for and against in the final week. Hopefully we can get a good draw (like the Pacers) and matchup with Washington in the second round rather than Toronto.
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Seems like Indiana is playing better recently. Perhaps it might be better to avoid them and take the Chicago matchup instead. We saw the other night how dangerous PG13 can be when the game is on the line.
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^^well shoot go Bucks then don't want no part of those guys. could see them upsetting someone and the way we look recently could be us
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Seems like Indiana is playing better recently. Perhaps it might be better to avoid them and take the Chicago matchup instead. We saw the other night how dangerous PG13 can be when the game is on the line.
Yea the order of teams I'd rather not see from the top down
Cle
Tor
Ind
Mil
Wiz
Heat
Chi
Atl
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Seems like Indiana is playing better recently. Perhaps it might be better to avoid them and take the Chicago matchup instead. We saw the other night how dangerous PG13 can be when the game is on the line.
Yea the order of teams I'd rather not see from the top down
Cle
Tor
Ind
Mil
Wiz
Heat
Chi
Atl
Uhh I should probably rethink that lol
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The Hawks have full confidence in a series against the Cs .
TBH all 7th seedables are capable of knocking us off.
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Just a week ago some of the Celtics fans were talking about how the Celtics can take on the Cavs in a 7 game series with HCA.
Now...how are the Celtics going to get past the first-round???
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The Hawks have full confidence in a series against the Cs .
TBH all 7th seedables are capable of knocking us off.
Sadly true could see any one of those teams upsetting the C's in the first round
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Rooting big-time against Toronto. Our magic number vs them, with three games left, is two. They host Miami tonight and play @NYK and @Cleveland for their final games. There's a very good chance that they go 3-0, since CLE will probably be resting players.
We are at Charlotte tomorrow night and then home against BKN and Milwaukee. I'd love to win the CLT and BKN games so there is no pressure against Milwaukee.
Mike
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Should be entraining first round.
I think all match ups will be close other than Cavs .
At this point Pacers would be my preferred oponent .
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Rooting big-time against Toronto. Our magic number vs them, with three games left, is two. They host Miami tonight and play @NYK and @Cleveland for their final games. There's a very good chance that they go 3-0, since CLE will probably be resting players.
We are at Charlotte tomorrow night and then home against BKN and Milwaukee. I'd love to win the CLT and BKN games so there is no pressure against Milwaukee.
Mike
Not only that, but since we didn't take care of business last night if we want any chance of Washington passing Toronto in the standings, then tonight is probably their best chance of getting a loss. Unless something drastic happens, I can't see Lebron playing against the Raptors at home in the final game of the season, meaning the Raptors best chance at a loss is tonight.
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WOOOOOOWWWWWW! Atlanta up 14 on Cleveland in Cleveland on the second night of a back to back, and they're without Schroeder, Bazemore, Howard, and Millsap!
But yeah, the Cavs are just fine after that a Boston win. ::)
And this is why last night was such a huge loss for us, too. If we would've won last night and the Hawks pull this off in Cleveland, then we'd be back to tied in the standings with a much easier schedule the rest of the way.
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I cannot explain how bad of a defender Love is. He has given up threes left and right on switches tonight.
Even the Cavs' broadcast team is crapping on them now lol
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Whiteside falling for that pump fake, smh...
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WOOOOOOWWWWWW! Atlanta up 14 on Cleveland in Cleveland on the second night of a back to back, and they're without Schroeder, Bazemore, Howard, and Millsap!
But yeah, the Cavs are just fine after that a Boston win. ::)
And this is why last night was such a huge loss for us, too. If we would've won last night and the Hawks pull this off in Cleveland, then we'd be back to tied in the standings with a much easier schedule the rest of the way.
I'm now more concerned about the C's choking away the 2 seed. Toronto should win out if Cleveland rests that final game. C's still have to win 2 games to clinch. That is certainly not a given right now.
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WOOOOOOWWWWWW! Atlanta up 14 on Cleveland in Cleveland on the second night of a back to back, and they're without Schroeder, Bazemore, Howard, and Millsap!
But yeah, the Cavs are just fine after that a Boston win. ::)
And this is why last night was such a huge loss for us, too. If we would've won last night and the Hawks pull this off in Cleveland, then we'd be back to tied in the standings with a much easier schedule the rest of the way.
I'm now more concerned about the C's choking away the 2 seed. Toronto should win out if Cleveland rests that final game. C's still have to win 2 games to clinch. That is certainly not a given right now.
I don't think the Cavs will be able to rest their guys. They'll have to win both in Atlanta and Miami on the road in a back to back, which is unlikely given how they're playing now. It wouldn't surprise me to see Lebron only play one of those back to back games and play the Toronto game, since it's unlikely they win both games on the road anyways.
Of course, that assumes that we win our games, which is far from certain given how we've played recently.
But hopefully they're forced to play that Toronto game, which would be a win-win for us either way.
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WOOOOOOWWWWWW! Atlanta up 14 on Cleveland in Cleveland on the second night of a back to back, and they're without Schroeder, Bazemore, Howard, and Millsap!
But yeah, the Cavs are just fine after that a Boston win. ::)
And this is why last night was such a huge loss for us, too. If we would've won last night and the Hawks pull this off in Cleveland, then we'd be back to tied in the standings with a much easier schedule the rest of the way.
I'm now more concerned about the C's choking away the 2 seed. Toronto should win out if Cleveland rests that final game. C's still have to win 2 games to clinch. That is certainly not a given right now.
I don't think the Cavs will be able to rest their guys. They'll have to win both in Atlanta and Miami on the road in a back to back, which is unlikely given how they're playing now. It wouldn't surprise me to see Lebron only play one of those back to back games and play the Toronto game, since it's unlikely they win both games on the road anyways.
Of course, that assumes that we win our games, which is far from certain given how we've played recently.
But hopefully they're forced to play that Toronto game, which would be a win-win for us either way.
I say he sits out the miami game, he does that a lot lately, unless this year he's just trying to keep them out of the playoffs, to avoid them in the first round and or to cost them some $
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Good to see the Cavs get torched by the Hawks after our experience with both teams.
The Cavs announcers said that the Celtics game was the best performance by the Cavs all year.
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If the Cavs and Celts are tied they have the tiebreaker though, don't see them losing 2 more game
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http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/how-concerned-should-the-cavaliers-be-over-kyrie-irvings-sore-knee/
Interesting. Apparently, Kyrie is dealing with some issues with his knee that has been really bothering him lately.
Lue has said that he doesn't plan on resting Kyrie or Lebron until the first seed is locked up, though that was before tonight's miserable loss. Their magic number is 2 between Cavs wins and Celtics losses.
As long as we win the next two games (@ Charlotte, vs BRK) and they don't win BOTH of their games in the back to back at Atlanta and Miami (which they're unlikely to do), then Lue will have to play both Lebron and Kyrie until the final game of the season anyways to try and ensure the first seed, which works out for us really well if we take care of business in our own games.
So it'll be interesting to see what they do down the stretch. Lebron has looked increasingly fatigued in games, which you can see both in his body language and his poor free throw shooting. And with Kyrie's knee issue, it's a really tough spot to be in for Lue, since they both prioritize health AND the first seed obviously.
So we really need to make sure to take care of business in Charlotte and against Brooklyn. Things could get really, really interesting with another loss in Atlanta on Sunday. I could really see them resting their guys on one of those nights since they're unlikely to win both games anyways.
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If the Cavs and Celts are tied they have the tiebreaker though, don't see them losing 2 more game
Yeah, it's unlikely, though certainly not impossible given their schedule and how poorly they've played lately.
What is more important is that they play to win in the final game against Toronto, which could ultimately decide if Toronto gets the 3 or 4 seed. As long as Washington wins out, which they have a good shot at doing, then a Toronto loss the final night of the season in Cleveland would move them to the 4 seed, which we want.
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If the Cavs and Celts are tied they have the tiebreaker though, don't see them losing 2 more game
Yeah, it's unlikely, though certainly not impossible given their schedule and how poorly they've played lately.
What is more important is that they play to win in the final game against Toronto, which could ultimately decide if Toronto gets the 3 or 4 seed. As long as Washington wins out, which they have a good shot at doing, then a Toronto loss the final night of the season in Cleveland would move them to the 4 seed, which we want.
Hmmm you're right very interesting.
How about tonight's games of Chicago/Indiana/Milwaukee I'd like to avoid the latter two?! I'm thinking a Milwaukee win so they stay out of 7-8 and a Pacer win so they stay in 8th and see the Cavs, I guess we could slide to one and face them too if the Cavs fall apart down the stretch.
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Great win by Brooklyn over Chicago. Not only does that virtually assure us that Milwaukee doesn't fall to 7th or lower, it also could mean that they get to rest their guys against us the last night of the season, which would be very beneficial for us.
Now go Milwaukee and Washington!
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Miami and Washington close down the stretch. Washington doing their best to p--- away this game at home, which would really screw us (and them) in the playoff seeding.
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Miami and Washington close down the stretch. Washington doing their best to p--- away this game at home, which would really screw us (and them) in the playoff seeding.
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Well great. Washington just screwed themselves (and us) for the playoff seeding by losing to the Heat at home. They're almost assured to be the 4th seed now, unless Toronto would lose BOTH of the next two games @ NYK (unlikely) and @ CLE.
Well, we better become Hawks and Heat fans, because now our best bet to avoid the Raptors in the 2nd round is to get the 1 seed. That's going to require us winning out and Cleveland losing 2 of the final 3 games. It's unlikely, but it's certainly possible with a back to back in Atlanta and Miami and a final game against the Raptors.
However, we're pretty much going to have to hope that Cleveland loses in both Atlanta AND Miami, because otherwise Toronto isn't going to have any incentive to win their game against Cleveland on Wednesday. If Cleveland would go 1-1 on the back to back, then that'd put the Raptors out of range of the 1 seed, so as long as they beat the Knicks tomorrow, then they're not going to beat Cleveland in the last game, which would only harm themselves by making them face Cleveland in the 2nd round.
So, yeah, this Washington loss really screwed us. Let's hope that both Toronto AND Cleveland can somehow lose tomorrow, which would really help us out and open up our possibilities a bit more.
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Most likely we are going to finish 2nd and Indiana finish 7th. I like that matchup.
Anything beyond that isn't worth worrying about. You have to beat the teams in front of you, whoever they are. Cleveland, Toronto, and Washington will all be tough matchups.
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The seeding is pretty interesting. Literally no seed locked up at this point lol
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Most likely we are going to finish 2nd and Indiana finish 7th. I like that matchup.
Anything beyond that isn't worth worrying about. You have to beat the teams in front of you, whoever they are. Cleveland, Toronto, and Washington will all be tough matchups.
Maybe. Chicago owns the tiebreaker over Indiana, so if Chicago goes 2-0 (vs ORL and vs BRK) and Indiana goes 1-1 (@ PHI and vs ATL), then Chicago will be at 7. Atlanta might still be playing hard to keep Milwaukee at bay, too, so that's very possible.
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The seeding is pretty interesting. Literally no seed locked up at this point lol
Interesting, no doubt.
Worth worrying about, no chance.
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Most likely we are going to finish 2nd and Indiana finish 7th. I like that matchup.
Anything beyond that isn't worth worrying about. You have to beat the teams in front of you, whoever they are. Cleveland, Toronto, and Washington will all be tough matchups.
Maybe. Chicago owns the tiebreaker over Indiana, so if Chicago goes 2-0 (vs ORL and vs BRK) and Indiana goes 1-1 (@ PHI and vs ATL), then Chicago will be at 7. Atlanta might still be playing hard to keep Milwaukee at bay, too, so that's very possible.
Yeah, I suppose that is possible. Indiana has been playing much better lately, and Atlanta has mostly sucked. I wouldn't be surprised if Indy lost to Atlanta, but odds seem against it.
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Most likely we are going to finish 2nd and Indiana finish 7th. I like that matchup.
Anything beyond that isn't worth worrying about. You have to beat the teams in front of you, whoever they are. Cleveland, Toronto, and Washington will all be tough matchups.
Maybe. Chicago owns the tiebreaker over Indiana, so if Chicago goes 2-0 (vs ORL and vs BRK) and Indiana goes 1-1 (@ PHI and vs ATL), then Chicago will be at 7. Atlanta might still be playing hard to keep Milwaukee at bay, too, so that's very possible.
Yeah, I suppose that is possible. Indiana has been playing much better lately, and Atlanta has mostly sucked. I wouldn't be surprised if Indy lost to Atlanta, but odds seem against it.
They've played much better as of late. They beat us in Atlanta the other night and Cleveland in Cleveland the very next night. I'm really hoping they can get another win against Cleveland at home tomorrow, too, though by then they'd have probably wrapped up the 5 seed and would be resting in Indiana due to owning the tiebreaker over Milwaukee.
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Ugh so now there's a great chance if we make it past the first round, we match up with Toronto with a healthy Lowry back too. :(
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Ugh so now there's a great chance if we make it past the first round, we match up with Toronto with a healthy Lowry back too. :(
Brutal they will beat us up Ibaka/Jonas will feast on our front court
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Ugh so now there's a great chance if we make it past the first round, we match up with Toronto with a healthy Lowry back too. :(
If we legitimately fear the Raptors, then we have no business worrying about a deep playoff run to begin with.
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Well, with today's Raptors win, Washington is now set in the 4 seed. Toronto could possibly get to the 2 seed, though it'd require Boston to lose out (unlikely). They are unable to make the 1 seed, though, because they've been swept by the Cavs thus far this year.
Thus, our last remaining chance of avoiding Toronto in the playoffs is to hope for the Cavs to lose 2 of the next 3. But it's more complicated than that. Essentially, they need to lose the next two in Atlanta and in Miami, because if they don't, then Toronto has no incentive to beat them in the final game of the season, since that would only bring them the Cavs sooner in the playoffs.
There is a glimmer of hope, though. Though it's unlikely, they very well could lose the next two games in a back to back on the road. Historically this season, they've been bad on the road, especially in back to backs. Further, both Atlanta and Miami are currently 2-1 against the Cavs this year, so they both present certain matchup problems for them. And with both of them fighting for crucial playoff seeding, they will be motivated, especially the Heat. Finally, the Cavs are not playing great right now, so there's a very real chance that it could happen.
And since they've already got the 2 seed locked up and have not rested an ailing Kyrie (knee) and Lebron lately, who has had to play a ton of minutes and has looked physically fatigued, if they lose today's Atlanta game, I could very well see them not playing their guys against the Heat. They'd be unlikely to win that game with how things are going right now anyways, and after their shellacking of Boston in Boston this week, they might feel confident that they could beat us without having HCA in the conference finals. Lue has said that he's not going to rest his guys until they locked up the number one seed, but that was before their loss in Atlanta. It's hard for me to see them pushing an ailing Kyrie and an aging Lebron that hard just for the number one seed when they just proved that they can beat Boston in Boston. Finally, since they've beat Toronto three times already, they should also feel comfortable facing them over Washington in the second round.
So today's Atlanta game is very, very important and could ultimately decide whether or not we get that first seed.
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Well, with today's Raptors win, Washington is now set in the 4 seed. Toronto could possibly get to the 2 seed, though it'd require Boston to lose out (unlikely). They are unable to make the 1 seed, though, because they've been swept by the Cavs thus far this year.
Thus, our last remaining chance of avoiding Toronto in the playoffs is to hope for the Cavs to lose 2 of the next 3. But it's more complicated than that. Essentially, they need to lose the next two in Atlanta and in Miami, because if they don't, then Toronto has no incentive to beat them in the final game of the season, since that would only bring them the Cavs sooner in the playoffs.
There is a glimmer of hope, though. Though it's unlikely, they very well could lose the next two games in a back to back on the road. Historically this season, they've been bad on the road, especially in back to backs. Further, both Atlanta and Miami are currently 2-1 against the Cavs this year, so they both present certain matchup problems for them. And with both of them fighting for crucial playoff seeding, they will be motivated, especially the Heat. Finally, the Cavs are not playing great right now, so there's a very real chance that it could happen.
And since they've already got the 2 seed locked up and have not rested an ailing Kyrie (knee) and Lebron lately, who has had to play a ton of minutes and has looked physically fatigued, if they lose today's Atlanta game, I could very well see them not playing their guys against the Heat. They'd be unlikely to win that game with how things are going right now anyways, and after their shellacking of Boston in Boston this week, they might feel confident that they could beat us without having HCA in the conference finals. Lue has said that he's not going to rest his guys until they locked up the number one seed, but that was before their loss in Atlanta. It's hard for me to see them pushing an ailing Kyrie and an aging Lebron that hard just for the number one seed when they just proved that they can beat Boston in Boston. Finally, since they've beat Toronto three times already, they should also feel comfortable facing them over Washington in the second round.
So today's Atlanta game is very, very important and could ultimately decide whether or not we get that first seed.
These are so awesome. You are the world's leading Celtics playoffs seeding summarizer. Best thing is hearing it all in my head narrated breathlessly like Charlie Day gossiping in the prom episode.
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Well, with today's Raptors win, Washington is now set in the 4 seed. Toronto could possibly get to the 2 seed, though it'd require Boston to lose out (unlikely). They are unable to make the 1 seed, though, because they've been swept by the Cavs thus far this year.
Thus, our last remaining chance of avoiding Toronto in the playoffs is to hope for the Cavs to lose 2 of the next 3. But it's more complicated than that. Essentially, they need to lose the next two in Atlanta and in Miami, because if they don't, then Toronto has no incentive to beat them in the final game of the season, since that would only bring them the Cavs sooner in the playoffs.
There is a glimmer of hope, though. Though it's unlikely, they very well could lose the next two games in a back to back on the road. Historically this season, they've been bad on the road, especially in back to backs. Further, both Atlanta and Miami are currently 2-1 against the Cavs this year, so they both present certain matchup problems for them. And with both of them fighting for crucial playoff seeding, they will be motivated, especially the Heat. Finally, the Cavs are not playing great right now, so there's a very real chance that it could happen.
And since they've already got the 2 seed locked up and have not rested an ailing Kyrie (knee) and Lebron lately, who has had to play a ton of minutes and has looked physically fatigued, if they lose today's Atlanta game, I could very well see them not playing their guys against the Heat. They'd be unlikely to win that game with how things are going right now anyways, and after their shellacking of Boston in Boston this week, they might feel confident that they could beat us without having HCA in the conference finals. Lue has said that he's not going to rest his guys until they locked up the number one seed, but that was before their loss in Atlanta. It's hard for me to see them pushing an ailing Kyrie and an aging Lebron that hard just for the number one seed when they just proved that they can beat Boston in Boston. Finally, since they've beat Toronto three times already, they should also feel comfortable facing them over Washington in the second round.
So today's Atlanta game is very, very important and could ultimately decide whether or not we get that first seed.
TP .....good job Pot ;D
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Cute run by the Hawks to cut it to 13 but Clevelands not losing this game. They look like the way they came out playing against us just not going to be denied.
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Ugh so now there's a great chance if we make it past the first round, we match up with Toronto with a healthy Lowry back too. :(
If we legitimately fear the Raptors, then we have no business worrying about a deep playoff run to begin with.
TP ....true ......the Raptors are basically a two man team . Two guys scoring 30 a piece or more . And you can't stop them. We have to have 30 each from AB and IT to counter this . AB is too irratic health and scoring to make his 30 to be counted on ....so yes it does look bad. ....leaving the IT to score 45 and drains him of energy.
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The Celts deserve this though two p--- poor efforts against the Cavs/Hawks when they had the number one seed in hand
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Ugh so now there's a great chance if we make it past the first round, we match up with Toronto with a healthy Lowry back too. :(
If we legitimately fear the Raptors, then we have no business worrying about a deep playoff run to begin with.
TP ....true ......the Raptors are basically a two man team . Two guys scoring 30 a piece or more . And you can't stop them. We have to have 30 each from AB and IT to counter this . AB is too irratic health and scoring to make his 30 to be counted on ....so yes it does look bad. ....leaving the IT to score 45 and drains him of energy.
A few of the meetings Bradley wasn't even dressed. I also think either Crowder or Horford was out too.
A fully healthy Celtics vs a fully healthy Raptors team would be interesting. But of course, it's a moot point if neither team get past their first-round opponents- whom both could pose a challenge for the Atlantic division teams.
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Wow, four point game with 18 seconds to go and Lebron turns it over on a five second call! He's played 45 minutes tonight! I'd say they're a bit nervous about the playoffs as much as they're riding Lebron with heavy minutes to get that seed.
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Omg, the Cavs are doing everything they can to blow this game! Atlanta down 2 with a jump ball!
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OVERTINE!!!!!!
They blew a 26 point fourth quarter lead! Woooowww. This is the LAST thing that the Cavs wanted. But this might be perfect for us. If the Cavs lose this in OT, then it's hard to justify continuing playing Lebron tomorrow with 50 + minutes tonight.
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Let's go Hawks!
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Going to be very interesting to see if they play Lebron and Kyrie tomorrow now after the Atlanta loss. They've both put on a ton of minutes lately, and on the second night of a back to back in Miami, how likely they are to win that game is up in the air.
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Hawks matchup so well with Cleveland.
I wish we did.
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Going to be very interesting to see if they play Lebron and Kyrie tomorrow now after the Atlanta loss. They've both put on a ton of minutes lately, and on the second night of a back to back in Miami, how likely they are to win that game is up in the air.
Is the game in Miami? If so all the better I could see Lue just shutting down Lebron/Kyrie and starting Deron/RJ not worth it imagine if they got injured would be the stupidest thing ever.
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Imagine if that jimmy butler foul ends up coming back to cost us first place and avoiding Toronto in the second round....
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Lue was just asked about shutting down LBJ/Kyrie and he just said we'll see that he'll think about it
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Woaahh, just saw what happened in CLE-ATL. The one seed is very much in play for us again.
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At this point, you have to think they'll rest tomorrow.
All that, and another game in 24 hours. Lebron played 46 minutes...
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Cavs blew a big lead and lost lol
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At this point, you have to think they'll rest tomorrow.
All that, and another game in 24 hours. Lebron played 46 minutes...
Seems likely, yes. They really should just shut LeBron down. They very clearly don't need the one seed, and he needs the rest.
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I think what hurt us to get the nº 1 seed wasn't losing against Cleveland. It was losing games such as the Atlanta one.
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At this point, you have to think they'll rest tomorrow.
All that, and another game in 24 hours. Lebron played 46 minutes...
Seems likely, yes. They really should just shut LeBron down. They very clearly don't need the one seed, and he needs the rest.
Especially because they've already got the 2 seed locked up, so it's not like they're fighting to not lose two rounds worth of HCA. I think we'll see both Kyrie and Lebron shut down tomorrow. I just saw where Lebron is by far the oldest in the top-10 in league minutes this year, with no other 30 year olds in the top-10. This is by far the least amount he's rested in quite a few years.
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Atlanta is one dangerous team to play against. They have enough players to keep you guessing.
Lebron and his band will surely love to get into a series with us...they are having troubke against teams with bigs like Atlanta and Miami but would despatch a non rebounding team like the Cs easily...to beat the Cavs the Cs have to shoot 60% from the field to even have a chance.
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You guys are assuming they'll rest going so hard at the top seed at this point? LeBron decides how many minutes they want to play. I don't see them resting now.
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I've never seen two teams fighting so hard not to be the #1 seed.
Mike
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If I was Ty Lue. I shut down Lebron and Kyrie the rest of the way and give them a little mental TO before the playoffs start. Let your other players fight off Boston for the one seed because at the end of the day, they don't need it if they play Boston as seen in the game the other night.
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Further support for them falling to the 2 seed - would line them up for (most likely) Indy (3-1), Toronto (3-0), and then most likely Boston (3-1), which they're 9-2 against collectively.
If they retain the one seed, then they'll most likely play either Miami (1-2) or Chicago (0-4), Washington (2-1), and then Boston (3-1), which they're 6-8 against.
So it actually probably makes the most sense for them to rest their guys and take the second seed rather than play their guys and fight for the first seed.
EDIT: and that's if Atlanta doesn't beat Washington in the first round. If they do, then that would set up the number one seeded Cavs with the Hawks (1-3), which they do not want this year. So, yeah, the two seed actually gives them a much easier road through the East than the one seed.
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Further support for them falling to the 2 seed - would line them up for (most likely) Indy (3-1), Toronto (3-0), and then most likely Boston (3-1), which they're 9-2 against collectively.
If they retain the one seed, then they'll most likely play either Miami (1-2) or Chicago (0-4), Washington (2-1), and then Boston (3-1), which they're 6-8 against.
So it actually probably makes the most sense for them to rest their guys and take the second seed rather than play their guys and fight for the first seed.
EDIT: and that's if Atlanta doesn't beat Washington in the first round. If they do, then that would set up the number one seeded Cavs with the Hawks (1-3), which they do not want this year. So, yeah, the two seed actually gives them a much easier road through the East than the one seed.
Nice stuff, what about us?
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Toronto could actually do us a favor if they win against Cavs.
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Further support for them falling to the 2 seed - would line them up for (most likely) Indy (3-1), Toronto (3-0), and then most likely Boston (3-1), which they're 9-2 against collectively.
If they retain the one seed, then they'll most likely play either Miami (1-2) or Chicago (0-4), Washington (2-1), and then Boston (3-1), which they're 6-8 against.
So it actually probably makes the most sense for them to rest their guys and take the second seed rather than play their guys and fight for the first seed.
EDIT: and that's if Atlanta doesn't beat Washington in the first round. If they do, then that would set up the number one seeded Cavs with the Hawks (1-3), which they do not want this year. So, yeah, the two seed actually gives them a much easier road through the East than the one seed.
Nice stuff, what about us?
I think we want the number one seed. Not only does it give us HCA in the ECF, should we make it that far, but I think it gives us a much better chance of reaching the ECF in the first place:
1st seed - First Round: Miami (4-0)/Chicago (2-2: though our two losses to Chicago had a lot of caveats to them that don't come into play now); Second Round: Washington (2-2)/Atlanta (1-2: though I think Washington should beat Atlanta going 3-1 against them this season); Third Round: Cleveland (1-3).
2nd seed - First Round: Indiana (3-0: though they're playing much better lately, especially George); Second Round: Toronto (1-3)/Milwaukee (1-1); Third Round: Cleveland (1-3).
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Toronto could actually do us a favor if they win against Cavs.
Naw. If the Cavs play tomorrow and actually beat Miami, then expect Toronto to tank that game. If they would beat Cleveland and we'd win out, then they'd just screw themselves by facing Cleveland earlier in the 2nd round.
That being said, Casey might just go ahead and play them tough, because more than likely their road will go through Cleveland anyways. Plus, getting swept by them in the season series (Toronto is 0-3 against Cleveland this year) isn't necessarily great for their confidence going into the series. Getting a win IN Cleveland might make them more competitive by giving them confidence against the Cavs heading into the playoffs.
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Further support for them falling to the 2 seed - would line them up for (most likely) Indy (3-1), Toronto (3-0), and then most likely Boston (3-1), which they're 9-2 against collectively.
If they retain the one seed, then they'll most likely play either Miami (1-2) or Chicago (0-4), Washington (2-1), and then Boston (3-1), which they're 6-8 against.
So it actually probably makes the most sense for them to rest their guys and take the second seed rather than play their guys and fight for the first seed.
EDIT: and that's if Atlanta doesn't beat Washington in the first round. If they do, then that would set up the number one seeded Cavs with the Hawks (1-3), which they do not want this year. So, yeah, the two seed actually gives them a much easier road through the East than the one seed.
I cannot imagine anyone actually is doing this analysis for Cleveland.
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Yeah Cavs shouldn't fear anyone. Doesn't mean they won't get challenged. They should be resting but haven't. Do they fear Silver? lol
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Yeah Cavs shouldn't fear anyone. Doesn't mean they won't get challenged. They should be resting but haven't. Do they fear Silver? lol
Looks like most, if not all of the teams stopped resting players. You have to wonder if Silver sent some confidential notice to all franchises warning them against sitting players down the stretch.
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Yeah Cavs shouldn't fear anyone. Doesn't mean they won't get challenged. They should be resting but haven't. Do they fear Silver? lol
Looks like most, if not all of the teams stopped resting players. You have to wonder if Silver sent some confidential notice to all franchises warning them against sitting players down the stretch.
At least for nationally televised games, which the last three games for them have been. Their final two are not nationally televised, so there's much more leeway there.
They've been clearly playing for the number one seed the last several games, but now we'll see what they truly value with everything working in favor of them resting against Miami.
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Further support for them falling to the 2 seed - would line them up for (most likely) Indy (3-1), Toronto (3-0), and then most likely Boston (3-1), which they're 9-2 against collectively.
If they retain the one seed, then they'll most likely play either Miami (1-2) or Chicago (0-4), Washington (2-1), and then Boston (3-1), which they're 6-8 against.
So it actually probably makes the most sense for them to rest their guys and take the second seed rather than play their guys and fight for the first seed.
EDIT: and that's if Atlanta doesn't beat Washington in the first round. If they do, then that would set up the number one seeded Cavs with the Hawks (1-3), which they do not want this year. So, yeah, the two seed actually gives them a much easier road through the East than the one seed.
who owns the tiebreakers between atl, indiana and milwaukee?
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Further support for them falling to the 2 seed - would line them up for (most likely) Indy (3-1), Toronto (3-0), and then most likely Boston (3-1), which they're 9-2 against collectively.
If they retain the one seed, then they'll most likely play either Miami (1-2) or Chicago (0-4), Washington (2-1), and then Boston (3-1), which they're 6-8 against.
So it actually probably makes the most sense for them to rest their guys and take the second seed rather than play their guys and fight for the first seed.
EDIT: and that's if Atlanta doesn't beat Washington in the first round. If they do, then that would set up the number one seeded Cavs with the Hawks (1-3), which they do not want this year. So, yeah, the two seed actually gives them a much easier road through the East than the one seed.
who owns the tiebreakers between atl, indiana and milwaukee?
Hawks own tiebreaker with Bucks (virtue of 3-1 head to head record);
Hawks tied with Pacers for tiebreaker (1-1; play in the final game of the season against each other)
Milwaukee owns the tiebreaker over the Pacers (virtue of 3-1 head to head record);
Bulls also own the tiebreaker over the Pacers (virtue of tied head to head record, but better division record).
So essentially:
One more Hawks win guarantees them the fifth seed;
One more Bucks win guarantees them the sixth seed;
Two Pacers win guarantees them no lower than the seventh seed, though one loss and two Bulls wins either pushes them to 8 or out of the playoffs, depending upon how Miami does (they own tiebreaker over Indiana, too).
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Raptors and Wizards are 2-2.
In case of a tie, division winner decide.
Wizards won their division, Raptors isn't.
So why I keep hearing Raptors own the tiebreaker?
Please tell me what I'm missing.
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right now i have no problem with the second seed, atlanta has our number IMHO. so basicly either way is fine, with #1 you get a potential home court in the finals but go against ATL, and with the #2 you avoid ATL and possibly lose home court in the conf finals.
The one great thing is that, LeBron is pushing 40 + mins night in night out, that stands out to me.
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Raptors and Wizards are 2-2.
In case of a tie, division winner decide.
Wizards won their division, Raptors isn't.
So why I keep hearing Raptors own the tiebreaker?
Please tell me what I'm missing.
Because Raptors won the series 2-1, it's not 2-2. They only played 3 times this season. And 2 times @ DC too.
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Raptors and Wizards are 2-2.
In case of a tie, division winner decide.
Wizards won their division, Raptors isn't.
So why I keep hearing Raptors own the tiebreaker?
Please tell me what I'm missing.
Because Raptors won the series 2-1, it's not 2-2. They only played 3 times this season. And 2 times @ DC too.
TP thanks.
2-2 is with a preseason game. That explains my mistake.
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The more minutes you do anything , the more mistakes or accidents happen ...th odds multiply . Like riding a bike , eventually your going to slip up or wreck even if it's not your fault.
LeBron is pushing his luck playing 40 minutes a game every game this season nearly
To win first place he has to stay in the game against Raptors and Heat that's two more potiental 40-45 min use games . Then he has to face playing a Series with no easy opponents where he can sit on the bench and watch .
He very well maybe pushing Father Time and Lady Luck too far.
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http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2017/04/cavaliers_to_sit_big_3_tonight.html
The big 3 to rest tonight?
Hmmmmm
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http://www.fearthesword.com/2017/4/10/15246758/cleveland-cavaliers-rest-lebron-james-kevin-love-kyrie-irving-miami-heat
The Big 3 resting tonight in Miami! The number one seed is ours for the taking!
Of course, that means we're going to lose to Brooklyn now lol
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Further support for them falling to the 2 seed - would line them up for (most likely) Indy (3-1), Toronto (3-0), and then most likely Boston (3-1), which they're 9-2 against collectively.
If they retain the one seed, then they'll most likely play either Miami (1-2) or Chicago (0-4), Washington (2-1), and then Boston (3-1), which they're 6-8 against.
So it actually probably makes the most sense for them to rest their guys and take the second seed rather than play their guys and fight for the first seed.
EDIT: and that's if Atlanta doesn't beat Washington in the first round. If they do, then that would set up the number one seeded Cavs with the Hawks (1-3), which they do not want this year. So, yeah, the two seed actually gives them a much easier road through the East than the one seed.
who owns the tiebreakers between atl, indiana and milwaukee?
Hawks own tiebreaker with Bucks (virtue of 3-1 head to head record);
Hawks tied with Pacers for tiebreaker (1-1; play in the final game of the season against each other)
Milwaukee owns the tiebreaker over the Pacers (virtue of 3-1 head to head record);
Bulls also own the tiebreaker over the Pacers (virtue of tied head to head record, but better division record).
So essentially:
One more Hawks win guarantees them the fifth seed;
One more Bucks win guarantees them the sixth seed;
Two Pacers win guarantees them no lower than the seventh seed, though one loss and two Bulls wins either pushes them to 8 or out of the playoffs, depending upon how Miami does (they own tiebreaker over Indiana, too).
TP! cleveland potentially resting (and now confirmed) was why i originally asked you the milwaukee tiebreakers, so as long as bucks win tonight they would stay in the 6th see so would rest on wednesday (because otherwise if they didn't own the TB then the would worry about dropping to 7th with cleveland in 2cd) , and we know toronto would throw the game to cleveland on friday if it helped cave stay in 1st
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Watching the Hawks success makes me think about the 2009 season. The year with KG out and some people were expecting LeBron to make it to the finals just to have Dwight and the Magics ruin the party...idk why but Dwight in Atlanta is giving me that impression. They have size, something that LeBron's team doesn't...it'll be interesting to see if they were to meet in the playoffs
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http://www.fearthesword.com/2017/4/10/15246758/cleveland-cavaliers-rest-lebron-james-kevin-love-kyrie-irving-miami-heat
The Big 3 resting tonight in Miami! The number one seed is ours for the taking!
Of course, that means we're going to lose to Brooklyn now lol
You laugh ......but it seems the more gifts the Celtic team is given ......the WORSE they respond
This team does not work unless there is a do or die or mass urgency.
I don't trust them
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 51-29 0
2. Boston 51-29 0
3. Toronto 50-31 1.5
4. Washington 48-32 3 [Locked in as 4 seed]
5. Atlanta 42-38 9
6. Milwaukee 41-39 10
7. Indiana 40-40 11
8. Chicago 39-41 12
9. Miami 39-41 12
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Brooklyn at Boston
Indiana at Philadelphia
Cleveland at Miami
Orlando at Chicago
Washington at Detroit
Charlotte at Milwaukee
Who to Root for: Boston win; Cleveland loss/Miami win; Indiana loss/Chicago win (pushes Chicago to 7th for the Cavs and Indy tied with Miami in 8th); Milwaukee win (seals them at no lower than 6th); Washington loss (just because screw them).
Big night tonight. We need a win and a Cleveland loss to reclaim the first seed, which looks probable in both games due to the Big 3 in Cleveland resting. We also need to be rooting hard for a Milwaukee win against Charlotte tonight and an Atlanta win against Charlotte tomorrow, which would seal Atlanta and Milwaukee at the 4 and 5, respectively, meaning probable rest for Milwaukee's guys on Wednesday. Kemba has been shut down for the rest of the season, so both of those wins look probable, too.
Though there is a thought that Atlanta could tank their way to 6th for a better playoff route. This year, they're 1-3 versus Washington, but they're 2-1 against Toronto. Further, they're 2-1 versus Boston, but they're 3-1 against Cleveland. So some have suggested that they'll tank their way to 6 and try to play Toronto in the first round rather than Washington. I don't really buy it, but it's something to keep an eye on.
The other games are interesting to note, too. Depending upon who your preferred first round matchup is (Indy, Chicago, or Miami) will depend upon who you want winning tonight. Wanting an Indiana matchup is tricky, because they don't own the tiebreaker with either Chicago or Miami, so getting in that 8 spot would be difficult. If you want a Chicago matchup, then you want both Indiana and Chicago to win tonight. If you want a Miami matchup, then you want Miami to win and one or both of Chicago or Indiana to lose.
So lots to root for still in this big night!
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 51-29 0
2. Boston 51-29 0
3. Toronto 50-31 1.5
4. Washington 48-32 3 [Locked in as 4 seed]
5. Atlanta 42-38 9
6. Milwaukee 41-39 10
7. Indiana 40-40 11
8. Chicago 39-41 12
9. Miami 39-41 12
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Brooklyn at Boston
Indiana at Philadelphia
Cleveland at Miami
Orlando at Chicago
Washington at Detroit
Charlotte at Milwaukee
Who to Root for: Boston win; Cleveland loss/Miami win; Indiana loss/Chicago win (pushes Chicago to 7th for the Cavs and Indy tied with Miami in 8th); Milwaukee win (seals them at no lower than 6th); Washington loss (just because screw them).
Big night tonight. We need a win and a Cleveland loss to reclaim the first seed, which looks probable in both games due to the Big 3 in Cleveland resting. We also need to be rooting hard for a Milwaukee win against Charlotte tonight and an Atlanta win against Charlotte tomorrow, which would seal Atlanta and Milwaukee at the 4 and 5, respectively, meaning probable rest for Milwaukee's guys on Wednesday. Kemba has been shut down for the rest of the season, so both of those wins look probable, too.
Though there is a thought that Atlanta could tank their way to 6th for a better playoff route. This year, they're 1-3 versus Washington, but they're 2-1 against Toronto. Further, they're 2-1 versus Boston, but they're 3-1 against Cleveland. So some have suggested that they'll tank their way to 6 and try to play Toronto in the first round rather than Washington. I don't really buy it, but it's something to keep an eye on.
The other games are interesting to note, too. Depending upon who your preferred first round matchup is (Indy, Chicago, or Miami) will depend upon who you want winning tonight. Wanting an Indiana matchup is tricky, because they don't own the tiebreaker with either Chicago or Miami, so getting in that 8 spot would be difficult. If you want a Chicago matchup, then you want both Indiana and Chicago to win tonight. If you want a Miami matchup, then you want Miami to win and one or both of Chicago or Indiana to lose.
So lots to root for still in this big night!
How are they gonna tank for that? Sitting their starters? If that didn't work against the Cavs, it's definitely not gonna work against the Hornets
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http://www.fearthesword.com/2017/4/10/15246758/cleveland-cavaliers-rest-lebron-james-kevin-love-kyrie-irving-miami-heat
The Big 3 resting tonight in Miami! The number one seed is ours for the taking!
Of course, that means we're going to lose to Brooklyn now lol
looks much nicer now. ;D
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Team Record Games Back
1. Cleveland 51-29 0
2. Boston 51-29 0
3. Toronto 50-31 1.5
4. Washington 48-32 3 [Locked in as 4 seed]
5. Atlanta 42-38 9
6. Milwaukee 41-39 10
7. Indiana 40-40 11
8. Chicago 39-41 12
9. Miami 39-41 12
Bold = games still yet to be played tonight/yet to be determined
Brooklyn at Boston
Indiana at Philadelphia
Cleveland at Miami
Orlando at Chicago
Washington at Detroit
Charlotte at Milwaukee
Who to Root for: Boston win; Cleveland loss/Miami win; Indiana loss/Chicago win (pushes Chicago to 7th for the Cavs and Indy tied with Miami in 8th); Milwaukee win (seals them at no lower than 6th); Washington loss (just because screw them).
Big night tonight. We need a win and a Cleveland loss to reclaim the first seed, which looks probable in both games due to the Big 3 in Cleveland resting. We also need to be rooting hard for a Milwaukee win against Charlotte tonight and an Atlanta win against Charlotte tomorrow, which would seal Atlanta and Milwaukee at the 4 and 5, respectively, meaning probable rest for Milwaukee's guys on Wednesday. Kemba has been shut down for the rest of the season, so both of those wins look probable, too.
Though there is a thought that Atlanta could tank their way to 6th for a better playoff route. This year, they're 1-3 versus Washington, but they're 2-1 against Toronto. Further, they're 2-1 versus Boston, but they're 3-1 against Cleveland. So some have suggested that they'll tank their way to 6 and try to play Toronto in the first round rather than Washington. I don't really buy it, but it's something to keep an eye on.
The other games are interesting to note, too. Depending upon who your preferred first round matchup is (Indy, Chicago, or Miami) will depend upon who you want winning tonight. Wanting an Indiana matchup is tricky, because they don't own the tiebreaker with either Chicago or Miami, so getting in that 8 spot would be difficult. If you want a Chicago matchup, then you want both Indiana and Chicago to win tonight. If you want a Miami matchup, then you want Miami to win and one or both of Chicago or Indiana to lose.
So lots to root for still in this big night!
How are they gonna tank for that? Sitting their starters? If that didn't work against the Cavs, it's definitely not gonna work against the Hornets
They were still trying to win that game, which wouldn't be the case here. If you told your players to tank for playoff positioning, they could get it done, and I think that's been done before, either through resting or purposeful rotation decisions.
But like I said, I don't see this coming to fruition or them even attempting to do this. They'll lock up the 5 seed tomorrow night, though, then again, knowing this Hawks team they could very well lose the game when trying to win it.
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Cavs finally wised up. Maybe they just wanted the 2 seed locked up at worst? Either way we'll see the mental makeup of the C's. If they don't play with their hair on fire the next two games there's your answer about this team.
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Well, both games were much closer than needed, but a Celtics win and a Cavs loss puts Boston a game up on the Cavs for the number one seed!
More than likely that gets it for us, too. I don't see Lebron and Kyrie playing against Toronto either, so hopefully that just about does it!!
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https://twitter.com/ESPNForsberg/status/851623213289394176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Fboston-celtics
Could hear Celtics in trainer's room reacting throughout OT of Cavs-Heat. Cheers after Heat win. Celtics 1 seed with win vs MIL.
https://twitter.com/Scott_Souza/status/851622651042947073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Fboston-celtics
Some clapping heard in #Celtics training room as #Heat win in OT vs. Cavs. C's control own destiny for No. 1 seed.
https://twitter.com/MichaelVPina/status/851621549018943488
Marcus Smart just walked into the media room to cheer on the Heat
The C's know what's up!!
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Well, both games were much closer than needed, but a Celtics win and a Cavs loss puts Boston a game up on the Cavs for the number one seed!
More than likely that gets it for us, too. I don't see Lebron and Kyrie playing against Toronto either, so hopefully that just about does it!!
You jinxed us ....LeBron will demand to'play ......his ego is dying being in SECOND PLACE .... :D
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If it was not for that bogus foul call in Chicago we could have sit our starters on Wednesday.
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If it was not for that bogus foul call in Chicago we could have sit our starters on Wednesday.
Or that dumb TO and miracle Ullis shot in Phoenix [this could go on for awhile lol]
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Well, both games were much closer than needed, but a Celtics win and a Cavs loss puts Boston a game up on the Cavs for the number one seed!
More than likely that gets it for us, too. I don't see Lebron and Kyrie playing against Toronto either, so hopefully that just about does it!!
You jinxed us ....LeBron will demand to'play ......his ego is dying being in SECOND PLACE .... :D
I double dare LeBron to play in the final game of the regular season. One injury to him or Kyrie and that's it for the Cavs this season.
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We still need to beat Milwaukee and Cleveland must lose to Toronto for us to remain the 1 seed, correct?
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So, where last year we got pretty much the worst playoff route we could get, this year we're going to get about the best playoff route we can get. It doesn't guarantee anything, but our road to the ECF is much simpler now than it was a couple of days ago.
Think about it - three straight losses (two miracle Hawks wins and a gutsy come-from-behind win in Miami) has led to this scenario. The stars are aligning, folks!
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1 seed is huge. Home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Celtics play Washington in the 2nd round (we match up best with them). Cavs would have to play Toronto in the 2nd round. Cavs would also have to play indiana in the 1st round.
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We still need to beat Milwaukee and Cleveland must lose to Toronto for us to remain the 1 seed, correct?
No the C's just need to win to stay at 1. Hawks own the tiebreaker over the Bucks correct?
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We still need to beat Milwaukee and Cleveland must lose to Toronto for us to remain the 1 seed, correct?
Nah, we just need to beat Milwaukee to remain #1 seed. But if we lose and Cavs win vs Toronto, then Cavs lock up #1 seed due to the virtue of tiebreaker.
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We still need to beat Milwaukee and Cleveland must lose to Toronto for us to remain the 1 seed, correct?
Nope. For Cleveland to get the one seed, we have to lose and they have to win in the final game of the year.
Note - we play the Bucks, who wrapped up no less than the sixth seed tonight. If Atlanta beats Charlotte tomorrow, then Milwaukee will be set in the sixth seed, meaning they'll have nothing to play for.
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1 seed is huge. Home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Celtics play Washington in the 2nd round (we match up best with them). Cavs would have to play Toronto in the 2nd round. Cavs would also have to play indiana in the 1st round.
Don't forget, the C's need to get past the Heat in the first-round. They'll be tough for sure. But who knows what'll happen in the 4 vs 5 seed matchup.
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1 seed is huge. Home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Celtics play Washington in the 2nd round (we match up best with them). Cavs would have to play Toronto in the 2nd round. Cavs would also have to play indiana in the 1st round.
Don't forget, the C's need to get past the Heat in the first-round. They'll be tough for sure. But who knows what'll happen in the 4 vs 5 seed matchup.
It doesn't look like the Heat will make the playoffs. The Bulls have the 8 seed and if the Bulls beat the Nets on Wednesday they lock up the 8 seed and Miami is out.
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1 seed is huge. Home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Celtics play Washington in the 2nd round (we match up best with them). Cavs would have to play Toronto in the 2nd round. Cavs would also have to play indiana in the 1st round.
Don't forget, the C's need to get past the Heat in the first-round. They'll be tough for sure. But who knows what'll happen in the 4 vs 5 seed matchup.
It doesn't look like the Heat will make the playoffs. The Bulls have the 8 seed and if the Bulls beat the Nets on Wednesday they lock up the 8 seed and Miami is out.
Ah I forgot about the Bulls. I would really like that first-round matchup.
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1 seed is huge. Home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Celtics play Washington in the 2nd round (we match up best with them). Cavs would have to play Toronto in the 2nd round. Cavs would also have to play indiana in the 1st round.
Don't forget, the C's need to get past the Heat in the first-round. They'll be tough for sure. But who knows what'll happen in the 4 vs 5 seed matchup.
It doesn't look like the Heat will make the playoffs. The Bulls have the 8 seed and if the Bulls beat the Nets on Wednesday they lock up the 8 seed and Miami is out.
Heat own the tiebreaker over Indiana. They have ATL left.
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We now control our own destiny. A win against Milwaukee clinches the 1 seed. Considering all the injuries we've dealt with this year, this is incredible!
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Is there any doubt Toronto tanks that last game?
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Is there any doubt Toronto tanks that last game?
I dont think so. Its not yet given the Celtics will end up the first seed, esp since there's a decent chance we lose at the Bucks (from Raps point of view)
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Is there any doubt Toronto tanks that last game?
Not they way . They will play to win. Their coach is not a tanker , nor is the team philosophy......they are on a winning pattern .....that bunch isn't the type to lay down.
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Is there any doubt Toronto tanks that last game?
I doubt it. Assuming no big upsets, the Raptors will have to get by BOS and CLE. I don't see the top three teams in the East losing to lower rated teams in a 7 game series. If that's the case, it would be better to figure out how to beat CLE and to send a message rather than losing again and going 0-4 for the regular season (assuming that rest isn't a critical need).
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We still need to beat Milwaukee and Cleveland must lose to Toronto for us to remain the 1 seed, correct?
Nope. For Cleveland to get the one seed, we have to lose and they have to win in the final game of the year.
Note - we play the Bucks, who wrapped up no less than the sixth seed tonight. If Atlanta beats Charlotte tomorrow, then Milwaukee will be set in the sixth seed, meaning they'll have nothing to play for.
Hmm does Atlanta have anything to play for tomorrow? I know Charlottes out of the playoffs do they rest guys and look to the lottery or try and play spoiler to the Hawks?
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Reportedly Lebron will NOT play on Wednesday.
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We still need to beat Milwaukee and Cleveland must lose to Toronto for us to remain the 1 seed, correct?
Nope. For Cleveland to get the one seed, we have to lose and they have to win in the final game of the year.
Note - we play the Bucks, who wrapped up no less than the sixth seed tonight. If Atlanta beats Charlotte tomorrow, then Milwaukee will be set in the sixth seed, meaning they'll have nothing to play for.
Hmm does Atlanta have anything to play for tomorrow? I know Charlottes out of the playoffs do they rest guys and look to the lottery or try and play spoiler to the Hawks?
Atlanta is playing for the fifth seed, so they certainly have reason to win.
Charlotte also shut down Kemba for the rest of the season, so they're probably in for a loss no matter what, unless the "bad" Atlanta shows up.
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Reportedly Lebron will NOT play on Wednesday.
I think The Cavs would rather face The Pacers than either The Heat or Bulls...
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1 seed is huge. Home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Celtics play Washington in the 2nd round (we match up best with them). Cavs would have to play Toronto in the 2nd round. Cavs would also have to play indiana in the 1st round.
Don't forget, the C's need to get past the Heat in the first-round. They'll be tough for sure. But who knows what'll happen in the 4 vs 5 seed matchup.
It doesn't look like the Heat will make the playoffs. The Bulls have the 8 seed and if the Bulls beat the Nets on Wednesday they lock up the 8 seed and Miami is out.
Couldn't Miami still get in? If Miami wins, Chicago wins and Indy loses, you have three teams at 41-41. Miami>Indy. Chicago>Miami. Chicago>Indy via division record. Looks like Indy would get pushed out and Miami would pull the eight seed.
Mike
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We still need to beat Milwaukee and Cleveland must lose to Toronto for us to remain the 1 seed, correct?
Nope. For Cleveland to get the one seed, we have to lose and they have to win in the final game of the year.
Note - we play the Bucks, who wrapped up no less than the sixth seed tonight. If Atlanta beats Charlotte tomorrow, then Milwaukee will be set in the sixth seed, meaning they'll have nothing to play for.
Hmm does Atlanta have anything to play for tomorrow? I know Charlottes out of the playoffs do they rest guys and look to the lottery or try and play spoiler to the Hawks?
Atlanta is playing for the fifth seed, so they certainly have reason to win.
Charlotte also shut down Kemba for the rest of the season, so they're probably in for a loss no matter what, unless the "bad" Atlanta shows up.
Oh man thats awesome
You never know though what if Kidd is one of those wanna stay in rhythm before the playoffs type coaches and plays all his guys. They are young after all hopefully not. Whoever he plays we're gonna have to go out and take it.
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1 seed is huge. Home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Celtics play Washington in the 2nd round (we match up best with them). Cavs would have to play Toronto in the 2nd round. Cavs would also have to play indiana in the 1st round.
Don't forget, the C's need to get past the Heat in the first-round. They'll be tough for sure. But who knows what'll happen in the 4 vs 5 seed matchup.
It doesn't look like the Heat will make the playoffs. The Bulls have the 8 seed and if the Bulls beat the Nets on Wednesday they lock up the 8 seed and Miami is out.
Couldn't Miami still get in? If Miami wins, Chicago wins and Indy loses, you have three teams at 41-41. Miami>Indy. Chicago>Miami. Chicago>Indy via division record. Looks like Indy would get pushed out and Miami would pull the eight seed.
Mike
You've got the correct result for the wrong reason. It goes Chicago, Miami, Indy in a 3-way tie, but it's based on head-to-head record. Chicago is 4-3, Miami, 3-3, and Indy 3-4 against the other two. So Chicago gets #7. Then Miami is 2-1 against Indy, so they get 8th.
Division tiebreakers only enter if the teams have the same head-to-head and are all from the same division. So let's suppose it's Chicago and Indy tied for 7th and 8th (Miami lost). They're 2-2'against each other, so then you go to divisional record because they're in the same division.
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This is really brutal the way this has worked out. Effectively killing my enthusiasm for the playoffs. All I wanted was a chance to wreck the Celtics season. Was that too much to ask? After 82 games it's a little hard to get excited about getting one series against Milwaukee and then bounced - but I suppose it's better than the old days of no playoffs at all.
So the Celtics are going to get the #1 spot (most likely) and they've got the best odds in the draft. FFS
I REALLY hope this backfires on the Cavs
demar is brutal when refs aren't on his side, so a cavs series would make him a ghost when it's 5 v 8 again
is laughable that the Cavs would give up home court through the playoffs!
The NBA probably told them to lose so that they have an easier ride to finals because they fully intend to rob us in the second round!
Hope our boys are ready to beat the Cavs and the Refs because it is very obvious what is going on!
Awww poor Raptors fans on realgm rofl
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So will the result of today's games tell us who we'll play if we stay at 1?
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So will the result of today's games tell us who we'll play if we stay at 1?
No, that gets determined tomorrow in our game and the Cleveland-Toronto matchup.
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So will the result of today's games tell us who we'll play if we stay at 1?
No, that gets determined tomorrow in our game and the Cleveland-Toronto matchup.
I think they are asking, IF we are #1, does tonight determine who we are playing as a 1 seed,
no, tomorrows chicago/nets and miami/washington games decide that
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So will the result of today's games tell us who we'll play if we stay at 1?
No, that gets determined tomorrow in our game and the Cleveland-Toronto matchup.
I think they are asking, IF we are #1, does tonight determine who we are playing as a 1 seed,
no, tomorrows chicago/nets and miami/washington games decide that
Yep, thanks for the clarification.
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The 3, 4, 5, and 6 seeds are all now set (TOR, WAS, ATL, and MIL).
The rest will be determined tomorrow:
A Cavs loss OR a C's win gets the C's the first seed no matter what;
A Cavs win AND a C's loss would give the Cavs the first seed;
Wins by the Bulls and Pacers OR a loss by the Heat would keep Miami out of the playoffs;
A Miami/Chicago win and Indy loss would push the Bulls to 7th and Miami to 8th;
A Miami/Indy win and Chicago loss would push Miami to 8th and Chicago out of the playoffs.
Most likely we'll stay in the 1 spot and face the 8 seeded Bulls, and Indiana will stay in the 7 seed and face the 2 seeded Cavs. Miami probably misses the playoffs on a tiebreaker, which combined with us getting the first seed is probably good for Brad's shot at Coach of the Year.
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People shouldn't sleep on the Pacers as a first round opponent. If the Cavs draw them, it will not be a totally easy matchup. Since they signed Lance Stephenson again, they have been quite good. A rematch of Stephenson-George vs Lebron's team would be quite entertaining.
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People shouldn't sleep on the Pacers as a first round opponent. If the Cavs draw them, it will not be a totally easy matchup. Since they signed Lance Stephenson again, they have been quite good. A rematch of Stephenson-George vs Lebron's team would be quite entertaining.
I still think Chicago would've been a better matchup for them and could've taken them 7 games.
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This is like the freaking SATs.
"Indiana, Chicago and Miami are all fighting for playoff spots. Indiana is ahead of Chicago, unless Miami wins by 13 or more points. But if Chicago wins, Indiana plays...
What's the name of the bus driver?"
Mike
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Ian Mahinmi out for Game 1 of the 2017 playoffs with a strained calf.
Wow, brutal blow for the Wizards...now Hawks will take advantage of that with their front court prowess and steal Game 1 at Washington.
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People shouldn't sleep on the Pacers as a first round opponent. If the Cavs draw them, it will not be a totally easy matchup. Since they signed Lance Stephenson again, they have been quite good. A rematch of Stephenson-George vs Lebron's team would be quite entertaining.
Is Lance playoff eligible? I thought he was on another roster post March 1. Maybe I'm thinking of someone else.
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The 3, 4, 5, and 6 seeds are all now set (TOR, WAS, ATL, and MIL).
The rest will be determined tomorrow:
A Cavs loss OR a C's win gets the C's the first seed no matter what;
A Cavs win AND a C's loss would give the Cavs the first seed;
Wins by the Bulls and Pacers OR a loss by the Heat would keep Miami out of the playoffs;
A Miami/Chicago win and Indy loss would push the Bulls to 7th and Miami to 8th;
A Miami/Indy win and Chicago loss would push Miami to 8th and Chicago out of the playoffs.
Most likely we'll stay in the 1 spot and face the 8 seeded Bulls, and Indiana will stay in the 7 seed and face the 2 seeded Cavs. Miami probably misses the playoffs on a tiebreaker, which combined with us getting the first seed is probably good for Brad's shot at Coach of the Year.
This is pretty remarkable, that all 3 teams have a shot at making it, or not.
I would like the Celts to draw the Bulls b/c I just don't think they are very good, or a very cohesive unit. Indy (George) and Miami (Whiteside and Dragic) could be defensive matchup problems.
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This is like the freaking SATs.
"Indiana, Chicago and Miami are all fighting for playoff spots. Indiana is ahead of Chicago, unless Miami wins by 13 or more points. But if Chicago wins, Indiana plays...
What's the name of the bus driver?"
Mike
The Celtics are driving the bus right now!
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People shouldn't sleep on the Pacers as a first round opponent. If the Cavs draw them, it will not be a totally easy matchup. Since they signed Lance Stephenson again, they have been quite good. A rematch of Stephenson-George vs Lebron's team would be quite entertaining.
Is Lance playoff eligible? I thought he was on another roster post March 1. Maybe I'm thinking of someone else.
he is, i heard the explanation and it made sense, but i can't remember why sorry
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Cleveland is losing down like 20 versus raptors so far :D
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Chicago and Miami win, and Indy is on their way. So who do we end up playing?
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Chicago and Miami win, and Indy is on their way. So who do we end up playing?
chicago
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Celtics vs Bulls
Cavs vs Pacers
Raptors vs Bucks
ATL vs Washington
So most likely path is:
Round 1 Bulls
Round 2 wizards
Cavs in ECF.
Am I missing anything?
Leggo Green!