The OKC game is on the road.
Spurs splitting season series with Miami. Now goes down to conference records
Miami 17-6 (Vs. Western Conference) [.739]
Spurs-20-6 (Vs. Eastern Conference) [.769]
Spurs half game behind OKC and Indiana now. 1 Game remaining against both (@ Indiana, @ OKC)
Spurs at the moment would have home court if they were to meet in the Finals.
Last edited by cd021; 03-07-2014 at 03:06 AM.
The OKC game is on the road.
The tie-break is the other way around. It's the Spurs' record versus the East and Miami's versus the West.
Would you call that a signature win?
It hasn't been played yet. But, yes, it would be.
I meant tonight. Didn't phrase it correctly.
First signature win of the season. March 6th!!! Now, they need to build on it.
Tbh i would rather avoid the Rockets, bad matchup imo. Hopefully the Rox get the Clips in R1 and then OKC in R2 if they get through that.
Corrected
Fixed it. Spurs would have home court as of now.
Hollinger's #1 Western Conference odds now has Spurs the most likely.
42.8% Spurs
39.4 Thunder
09.6 Clippers
05.3 Rockets
02.9 Blazers
Still has the Clippers a substantial favorites to come out of the West, though. For some reason, people can't seem to get that the Spurs are far and away LAC's worst possible matchup.
Hollinger's rankings don't take matchups into account at all. They just predict the outcome of a series between teams with ratings of 108.756 (Clippers now) and 106.607 (Spurs now); they don't care who those teams actually are. By definition the #1 team in his rankings will always have the highest chance of making the Finals (in their own conference) and winning the Finals.
Indeed. I was speaking generally, though.
Yes.
Spurs-4-0 ( Now on pace to win 60 games) 21 remaining games
Thunder-3-1 (Now on pace to win 61 games) 20 remaining games
1/2 game apart.
That would be the perfect order. Thunder and Clippers face in the 2d round -- with the Clips prevailing. Then no OKC to deal with.
And the Spurs have owned the Clippers in the Blake Griffin era.
But, of course, be careful what you wish for. The Spurs owned OKC until Game 3 of the WCF in '12. Once OKC turned the corner, the dynamic completely flipped with no middle ground in between. Could that happen in the Spurs-Clippers series?
With the Pacers loss tonight: Spurs, Pacers, Heat, OKC all with 16 losses.
As of right now.
Spurs would play Phoenix
winner would play winner of Houston/GSW series.
Last edited by cd021; 03-08-2014 at 01:44 AM.
Houston isn't just a bad matchup. They're the better team. The Spurs need the #1 seed more than ever so Houston plays OKC in the second round.
WESTERN W L PCT GB HOME ROAD DIV CONF PF PA DIFF STRK L10 1 Oklahoma City 46 16 .742 - 26-6 20-10 9-5 27-10 105.7 99.0 +6.7 Lost 1 6-4 2 San Antonio 45 16 .738 ½ 22-8 23-8 9-3 25-10 104.4 97.9 +6.5 Won 5 8-2 3 Houston 43 19 .694 3 25-7 18-12 9-4 23-16 106.4 101.4 +5.0 Won 4 8-2 4 LA Clippers 43 20 .683 3 ½ 25-5 18-15 7-4 26-11 107.7 100.6 +7.2 Won 6 8-2 5 Portland 42 20 .677 4 24-8 18-12 12-3 23-16 107.6 102.6 +5.0 Lost 1 6-4 6 Golden State 38 24 .613 8 18-10 20-14 8-4 21-16 103.3 98.6 +4.7 Won 2 7-3 7 Phoenix 36 25 .590 9 ½ 22-12 14-13 7-4 23-17 105.5 102.7 +2.8 Won 1 6-4 8 Dallas 37 26 .587 9 ½ 20-10 17-16 9-5 19-17 104.4 102.3 +2.1 Won 1 6-4 Memphis 35 26 .574 10 ½ 18-14 17-12 2-11 19-19 95.5 94.9 +0.6 Won 1 7-3
Spurs vs Suns is our current 1st round match up
http://espn.go.com/nba/bracket/_/year/2014
Spurs would sweep Phx or Dallas if they came to play every game. As awesome a Rockets vs Spurs series would be in the second round that's too much of a risk. Spurs could easily beat them in four games, or win or lose in seven games. I rather not take the risk and face Portland or LA in the second round.
They're a tough match-up. Not a better team IMO. The Diaw starting lineup has its advantages over Houston's lineup. The last game showed that Diaw can cover Jones and exploit him on the offensive end with post ups. Allowing Green to guard Harden and Leonard to shut down Parsons isn't that much difference from Green and Leonard shutting down Curry and Thompson last season.
Also Splitter anchoring the second unit is (obviously) a major upgrade over Ayers at center. Diaw or Leonard would play the 4 for a stretch along with Mills, Beli and Manu. That should give us an advantage over their bench.
Would anyone be surprised if Houston loses in the first round? I wouldn't, especially not to Golden State. The Warriors are their worst matchup. Dallas is probably one legit bigman short of being able to beat them. Memphis doesn't have the offense, and the Suns don't have the defense. Don't know who'd win if they played Portland.
I disagree, Hoop. The Rockets are just a bad matchup. Or at least they were earlier in the season. At best for Houston, Duncan versus Howard is a draw. Jones has the ability to be an X-factor, but he'll have to get mad lucky shooting. The Rockets win on the wings, but if Leonard continues to excel on offense, it will be a lot closer than Houston needs it to be. Parker versus Beverly may be comical, since Patrick is extremely overrated defensively. Lin, Asik and whomever versus Manu, Beli/Mills and Splitter comes out well if everyone stays healthy.
In short, the Rockets can win if they shooting above their heads. But the Spurs haven't peaked yet and still look like a buzzsaw. If the Spurs have home court, they could well sweep Houston, since I think they'll give up if they go down 2-0.
Clippers are the worst matchup for Houston tbh, but I also could see the Dubs giving them problems. As for a Spurs-Rockets series, I'd give Houston the edge unfortunately. Too much Harden and their three-point shooting is harder to contain than Golden State's was last year as shutting down Harden/Parsons is much tougher than doing the same to Curry/Thompson. It also doesn't help that Lin and most of their bench actually plays well against the Spurs, much like OKC and Portland. Its ridiculous how confident these teams are against SA.
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