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I think it may very well come down to the wire for that 9th seed. Every game will count this season if any of these teams hope to make the 8th seed. Again, it will come down to whoever wins the last game of the season will likely make the 8th seed.
I think it may very well come down to the wire for that 9th seed. Every game will count this season if any of these teams hope to make the 8th seed. Again, it will come down to whoever wins the last game of the season will likely make the 8th seed.
lets make it 9 seed playoff and let rockets have the handicap and sit out for a couple series, being as they are really handicapped by then tmac and yao should be healthy for a few games
Alongside durability, head to head will be extremely important. Going 3-1 v a team or 1-3 can be difference between playoffs or no playoffs. And as previously mentioned, durability. If any player loses a core player for a long stretch, they're in trouble... Rockets T-Mac is out 3 weeks, but it's irrelevant because he's not even a superstar.
Now that I've thought about it, if I had a gun to my head... I would say the Phoenix Suns will finish 9th in the West.
Why? Shaq's durability, Nash/Amare's dissatisfaction with their new style and perhaps coach, and also their defense still is MIA... also they are the oldest team in the NBA, and 2 of their core players are over 35... no other West team can say this.
They have bad matchups against point guards (Parker, Williams, Paul, Billups), they have bad matchups against our beloved Dirk, and they've started this season getting blown off their home court multiple times. They're 11-8, but their margin of victory is .2, that's the MOV of a 42 win team.
If i have to bet my money on it, it would be the rockets. I forsee it blow up due to health or team chemistry.
I say Denver. Nice little start with Billups but its along season.
I'm going to say Blazers, Suns, or Mavs. Most likely the Blazers though. If I had to choose who I would want to miss the playoffs, I would say the Nuggets but I'm not sure if they will now that they have a real point guard.
Blazers
A team from the SW division, it can be any of them:
Hornets
Spurs
Mavs
Rockets
One of them won't make it but my top 2 choices would be Spurs then Hornets.
I'm leaning towards the Suns.
You guys are crazy for thinking the Spurs will miss the playoffs.
suns
Suns.
book it
Come on Allanon you must be kidding or you're afraid of the spurs #8 seed so you are rooting for the #9.
Even being a ing spurs homer, I can't see the spurs out of the playoffs, NO WAY.
Besides now we have a new all star Matt ing Bonner : we can stop the season the le is already for the spurs and the MVP finals is already for Matt. You can begin right now the off seasons threads.
If we can stay healthy we will make the playoffs. The only way I can see us missing is if we continue to have injury problems. We definitely have the team to make it.
If the Suns don't get their act together and start playing as a team, then they'll end up with the 9th seed. I said at the beginning of the year that the Mavs would definitely make the playoffs, and I don't think I'm going to be wrong. Originally, I thought the Nuggets wouldn't make it, but that was before the Billups trade.
Honestly, I don't think the Rockets are going to make it because of their health issues.
it has got to be the Spurs. after all, Spurs have to tank the season, right Allanon?
mavs
This guy just launched a Hot Carl all over Chauncey and the Nugz:
http://20secondtimeout.blogspot.com/...tsas-they.html
All we've been hearing about since the Allen Iverson-Chauncey Billups trade is how Iverson is destroying the Detroit Pistons while Billups is revitalizing the Denver Nuggets. Meanwhile, I've kept saying two things:
1) Besides the well known salary cap relief that the Pistons can obtain by not re-signing Iverson, Iverson can have an impact this season by potentially making the Pistons more dangerous come playoff time because of his ability to dribble penetrate, collapse defenses and draw fouls. Detroit's offense stagnated in recent postseasons but he can have a 20 point quarter singlehandedly; the Pistons don't have an apparent solution to the way that Boston pushed around their bigs in last year's playoffs but the Iverson acquisition can at least jump start their offense. I didn't think that the Pistons were going to win the East before the trade and I don't think that they are going to win the East with Iverson but by the end of the season they will not be any worse off for the deal and there is a decent shot that they will be a more dangerous playoff team.
2) Denver has made a habit in the past few years of beating weak teams but falling flat against good teams; people seem to have forgotten that the Nuggets had some impressive winning streaks when Iverson teamed up with Anthony. It is not correct to speak of Billups' allegedly transformational effect on the team until the Nuggets actually face strong compe ion.
That loud thud you just heard was the San Antonio Spurs knocking the status right out of the Nuggets in a 108-91 beatdown that was not as close as the final score. This game was played in Denver, by the way, but homecourt advantage played little role as the Spurs' "Big Three" of Tim Duncan (21 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, five blocked shots), Tony Parker (22 points, eight assists) and Manu Ginobili (21 points on 7-11 field goal shooting) dominated while Billups (12 points on 5-13 field goal shooting, four assists) was almost completely invisible, scoring most of his points when the game was already all but out of reach. Duncan provided a nice demonstration of the difference between an MVP level player and a regular All-Star such as Carmelo Anthony (16 points, six rebounds) or Billups; Duncan has an impact on almost every possession at both ends of the court, drawing double teams, scoring and passing on offense while blocking shots, clogging the middle to deter drives and grabbing rebounds on defense.
You may retort that this was just one game out of 82--and you would be quite correct to say that but this truth should hardly be encouraging to Denver supporters because it is reasonable to expect plenty of other results like that as the Nuggets begin their inevitable descent from third in the West to fighting for the eighth playoff spot. Keep in mind that the Nuggets are just two games ahead of the three teams in a logjam at the seventh-ninth spots right now.
At full strength, the Lakers, Hornets, Spurs, Jazz, Rockets, Blazers and Mavericks are better than the Nuggets. The Suns look a bit shaky but I expect them to pull things together eventually. Denver will not win too many games against those teams this year. The Nuggets may very well pad their record in their next three games (at Sacramento, followed by home games versus Minnesota and Golden State) but then they visit Dallas and Houston in a killer back to back before playing Cleveland in Denver, traveling to Phoenix and battling Portland in a home and home series. Let's just say that Denver will most likely not be in third place in the West after those nine games.
You realize that we haven't had our entire team on the floor yet this year and are still winning. When the playoffs do arrive one of you talkers are going to have a V.I.P. ticket to the T-Mac second round cherry busting jamboree.You'll feel that on the face again come playoff time..hopefully on the first round
I'm waiting for this stupid picture in all it's glory or another one close to it with a eating grin on his face when he gets past the 1st round with the caption " I POPPED MY CHERRY"
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