SPURS magic # for #1 seed

[DesignatedT]

Lakers clearly fools gold losing to the jazz.

[Mel_13]

And if the Lakers win tonight it stays at 3 - right? But... if LA loses tonight, it would drop to 1. Yep.... the "magic number" would drop by two, with no difference in our record, and a single loss from LA. Normally, "magic numbers" don't work that way.

Actually, it dropped to 2.

[ducks]

lakers lose 2 in a row
on to denver and one to jazz

[Dex]

Magic number to clinch #1 overall seed:









Magic number to clinch #1 seed in the Western Conference:

at that Nazr pic. He had that face about 75% of the time on the court.

[ChuckD]

The funniest thing about the commentators was their Phil quote when he said he wasn't going to rest anyone. Yeah, Phil, you have no bench to turn to.

[Mugen]

crofl @ the Spurs losing 6 games in a row.

Very True.

But a loss to Utah at home = 4 games, tbh.

[Mel_13]

at that Nazr pic. He had that face about 75% of the time on the court.

Ahh, the memories of the "Hands of Stone" and that 3 pt shot against Sacto in the 2006 playoffs.

[spursfaninla]

If the Laker game was tomorrow, and the Spurs won, they would be 3 games up in the loss column, with 3 games left to play. So the worst they could do is tie. And beating the Lakers one more time would give the Spurs a 3-1 record head-to-head with the Lakers, which is the first tiebreaker.

So if the Spurs win the Laker game, they clinch the West no matter what else happens.

If they lose to the Lakers, they have to win all 3 of their other games to clinch. They could still win the West without winning all 3 of the other games, but the only way to be sure would be to win out.

Spurs current record is 59-19 with 4 games left, and Lakers are 55-22 with 5 games left. Assuming the Lakers have the tie breaker if there is a tie with a Lakers win, we must win one more game than they are able to win to clinch.

Lakers can win only 60 games, since they have 55 wins and 5 games left.

Therefore, once we win 61, we should clinch. At 59, we need to win any combination of 2 of our 4 games.

[ChuckD]

At the "switch" being flipped for L.A....

I thought we picked a ty time to slump. LA literally cannot rebound without Bynum on the floor and he can only play like 28 minutes.

[tdunk21]

http://twitter.com/#!/jmcdonald_saen

Kobe turnover, Lakers lose. Spurs' magic number down to 2. Meaning they can clinch No. 1 seed on homestand that begins Wed vs. SAC.

[D-rob fan]

Spurs current record is 59-19 with 4 games left, and Lakers are 55-22 with 5 games left. Assuming the Lakers have the tie breaker if there is a tie with a Lakers win, we must win one more game than they are able to win to clinch.

Lakers can win only 60 games, since they have 55 wins and 5 games left.

Therefore, once we win 61, we should clinch. At 59, we need to win any combination of 2 of our 4 games.

Or just win the lakers game and we automatically clinch the west.

[Mel_13]

I thought we picked a ty time to slump. LA literally cannot rebound without Bynum on the floor and he can only play like 28 minutes.

Strange thing is, he played 39 minutes and had 23 rebounds, but PJ benched him for the last 3 minutes and replaced him with Odom.

[Splits]

I thought we picked a ty time to slump. LA literally cannot rebound without Bynum on the floor and he can only play like 28 minutes.

Bynum played 38:40 tonight and had 23 rebounds, yet LA still got outrebounded by 3. Earl freaking Watson had 8 boards, as many as any other Laker not named Bynum.

[bluebellmaniac]

The magic number is 1 if that "1" win is against LA (which really counts as 2). Otherwise it is 2... I'd rather have it sewn up before the LA game and then rest our old men...

What a great finish to the season! Getting pretty exciting :-).

[duncan228]

Thanks to Jazz, Spurs can clinch No. 1 seed on upcoming homestand. Blog update here: http://bit.ly/eB7fMN

Thanks to Utah, Spurs’ magic number down 2
Jeff McDonald

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...number-down-2/

[GSH]

Actually, it dropped to 2.

I don't think so. If we lose in LA, the head-to-head is tied at 2-2, so it goes to lower tiebreakers. And I think that the conference loss tonight just screwed LA on the next tiebreaker. I'll double check, but I think LA screwed the pooch tonight.

[Mel_13]

I don't think so. If we lose in LA, the head-to-head is tied at 2-2, so it goes to lower tiebreakers. And I think that the conference loss tonight just screwed LA on the next tiebreaker. I'll double check, but I think LA screwed the pooch tonight.

It's 2.

The Spurs have 12 conference losses and the Lakers have 13. The tiebreaker has yet to be determined.

[Mugen]

Spurs goal should be simple now: Win the next 2 then shut it down for a week.

Rest is absolutely critical to this team.

I'd send the Silver Stars to play for them in LA & PHX if they win the next two, tbh.

[Sean Cagney]

Spurs goal should be simple now: Win the next 2 then shut it down for a week.

Rest is absolutely critical to this team.

I'd send the Silver Stars to play for them in LA & PHX if they win the next two, tbh.

...................

[Dex]

I don't think so. If we lose in LA, the head-to-head is tied at 2-2, so it goes to lower tiebreakers. And I think that the conference loss tonight just screwed LA on the next tiebreaker. I'll double check, but I think LA screwed the pooch tonight.

Negative.

If we managed to end tied with L.A. (meaning we lost in L.A., plus two other games, and the Lakers win out), it would end both teams at 60-22.

First tie-breaker would be head-to-head, which would be 2-2. Second tie-breaker would be Conf. Record.

Spurs Conference record would end at 37-15.

Lakers Conference record would be 39-13.

If the Lakers win enough to get into a tie with the Spurs, they will win the tiebreaker, so Spurs don't want to get into that.

[Mel_13]

If the Lakers win enough to get into a tie with the Spurs, they will win the tiebreaker, so Spurs don't want to get into that.

This is correct. The Lakers win the tiebreaker if the two teams finish with identical records.

[GSH]

It's 2.

The Spurs have 12 conference losses and the Lakers have 13. The tiebreaker has yet to be determined.

Unfortunately, I think you're right and I'm wrong. I had a spreadsheet for the lower tiebreaker, but Utah falling out of the playoffs hosed the numbers. I don't think there is any way for us to lose to LA and still win the tiebreaker anymore.

Negative.

If we managed to end tied with L.A. (meaning we lost in L.A., plus two other games, and the Lakers win out), it would end both teams at 60-22.

First tie-breaker would be head-to-head, which would be 2-2. Second tie-breaker would be Conf. Record.

Spurs Conference record would end at 37-15.

Lakers Conference record would be 39-13.

If the Lakers win enough to get into a tie with the Spurs, they will win the tiebreaker, so Spurs don't want to get into that.

Echhh... that's right. It wouldn't even go to the playoff contenders in the conference. Sucks to be me right now.

[Mel_13]

Unfortunately, I think you're right and I'm wrong. I had a spreadsheet for the lower tiebreaker, but Utah falling out of the playoffs hosed the numbers. I don't think there is any way for us to lose to LA and still win the tiebreaker anymore.

Why is it unfortunate?

[ajballer4]

Spurs goal should be simple now: Win the next 2 then shut it down for a week.

Rest is absolutely critical to this team.

I'd send the Silver Stars to play for them in LA & PHX if they win the next two, tbh.

I'd still love to lock up HCA in the Finals over Chicago

[GSH]

Why is it unfortunate?

Like I said in the edit. Because it sucks to be me right now.


I got caught up in all of your "magic number" crap. The only point I was making was that all games aren't created equally right now, and we could have closed the thing out with one win in LA, even though we had a "magic number" of 3.

BTW - you still can't deny that we had a magic number of 3, but could have locked it up with a single win. One win for us, one loss for LA. That's 2, not 3. And if you have a magic number of 3, shouldn't it take 3 win/loss combinations to clinch? The game in LA would have counted for 3 because of the tiebreaker.