Did we just clinch the West?

[Budkin]

I know this has been discussed to death and I thought I had a grasp on it... out of the last three games we had to win 2, including beating Houston since the division tiebreaker came before the conference. But then the headline of this article came along and confused me:

Spurs Top Wolves, Clinch First in West (http://www.nba.com/games/20060416/SASMIN/recap.html)

So did we clinch?

[ZStomp]

No.

Dallas needs to lose tonight.

[Kori Ellis]

That link doesn't work for me, but no they haven't clinched yet. If the Mavs lose tonight, they will though.

[T Park]

Dallas will prob win.

Wich is fine.

I want to see them clinch in person :)

[Kori Ellis]

Sports Network put a story out on the wire saying that they did clinch with the win over the Wolves. So it will probably be everywhere (incorrectly) in a matter of minutes.

[Budkin]

That link doesn't work for me, but no they haven't clinched yet. If the Mavs lose tonight, they will though.

Fixed it, it's from NBA.com

[Kori Ellis]

Yeah I just saw it.

Sports Network and Sports Ticker put it out incorrectly (NBA.com uses Ticker).

Associated Press got it right. (Example (http://www.woai.com/spurs/story.aspx?content_id=52BBBEBF-F5C9-4E12-AD0B-DBC39E2B37BD))

[genghisrex]

Spurs.com says it too... what a screw-up.

[Kori Ellis]

Spurs.com says it too... what a screw-up.

Like I said, it's going to be wrong everywhere. Two of the major wire services, Sports Ticker and Sports Network, got it wrong. So every place will have it wrong in a couple minutes.

[SequSpur]

The Spurs have 2 games left. Dallas has 2 games left.

The Spurs have the tie breaker and lead by 2 in the loss column.

Ummmm... Spurs have clinched the West.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

interesting screw up hehe!

[Kori Ellis]

The Spurs have 2 games left. Dallas has 2 games left.

The Spurs have the tie breaker and lead by 2 in the loss column.

Ummmm... Spurs have clinched the West.

The Spurs don't have the tiebreaker.

[Nikos]

The Spurs don't have the tiebreaker.

Why not?

[Kori Ellis]

Head to head is tied 2-2.

Division record, Mavs are currently ahead. Division record is the second tiebreaker.

[Nikos]

So as long as the Spurs win 1 of the next 2, or Dallas loses 1 -- then the division is clinched right?

[Kori Ellis]

So as long as the Spurs win 1 of the next 2, or Dallas loses 1 -- then the division is clinched right?

Correct.

[Budkin]

Assuming Dallas wins their last two, we have to win at least one of our last two games. If we tie record wise at this point they will get 1st because their division record will be better than ours by 1 game.

[Fabbs]

The Spurs have 2 games left. Dallas has 2 games left.

The Spurs have the tie breaker and lead by 2 in the loss column.

Ummmm... Spurs have clinched the West.

No. The second of the two losses being to Houston would screw up the Spurs better (for now) interDivision record.
So technically the Mavs are still alive for #1.
Realistically the Spurs will knock down the #1 with either a Dallas loss tonight or a Spurs win over Utah. Should we blow it, it's a given we roll Houston in the finale.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

They already fixed it in ticker

[Dre_7]

All they need to do is beat Houston. Thats it.

[exstatic]

Magic number is 1: any 1 Spurs win or 1 Dallas loss (they only have one game left) and we wrap the West.

[cs100]

The title now says "Balanced Spurs Attack Tops Timberwolves" so it has been fixed.

We need to win one game OR dallas lose one game. Either one will work.

[Sense]

All they need to do is beat Houston. Thats it.


:tu true..

[GoSpurs21]

my understanding is that as long as the Spurs win against Houston we win the west

[Kori Ellis]

It doesn't matter if it's Houston or Utah now. As long as they beat anyone (or Dallas loses one game).

But even if they lost today, then all they had to do was beat Houston because they would need just a division win. Before today, they needed 2 wins, a Dallas loss, or just one division win. Now they need just one win (or a Dallas loss).