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There's also the fact that Diaw s all over Jones. Don't get me wrong, Houston is a worrying 2nd round matchup, but the Thunder are much more troublesome.
There are some huge differences though:
- Ibaka is a lot more problematic than Dwight, especially for Parker. As we have seen last year, it's easy to rile Dwight and mentally take him out of the game. Not so much with Ibaka who can "block" an arm or goal-tend with the refs nodding in approval.
- Harden is good, but he's not Durant.
- weak PG situation in Houston
There's also the fact that Diaw s all over Jones. Don't get me wrong, Houston is a worrying 2nd round matchup, but the Thunder are much more troublesome.
There are no easy second round matchups, but you have to play defense to thrive after mid April, and Houston and Portland don't play a lick.
There are teams that are pests in the regular season that tend to go s up in the playoffs. H and P are definitely in that category. One of the best quotes about the playoffs was from Charles Oakley, the ex Knick and Bull. He said: "The playoffs are when the lights get brighter and the rims get smaller." Bad news if you're pretty much a jump shooting team.
WESTERN W L PCT GB HOME ROAD DIV CONF PF PA DIFF STRK L10 1 y - San Antonio 60 17 .779 - 31-8 29-9 11-3 36-11 105.6 97.1 +8.5 Won 1 9-1 2 y - Oklahoma City 55 20 .733 4 32-7 23-13 11-5 33-14 106.2 99.5 +6.7 Lost 1 7-3 3 y - LA Clippers 55 23 .705 5 ½ 32-6 23-17 11-4 34-14 107.8 100.7 +7.1 Won 1 7-3 4 x - Houston 51 25 .671 8 ½ 31-8 20-17 9-4 28-18 107.1 102.4 +4.7 Won 2 7-3 5 Portland 49 28 .636 11 27-10 22-18 12-3 26-21 106.7 102.8 +3.9 Lost 1 6-4 6 Golden State 47 29 .618 12 ½ 25-13 22-16 10-5 27-19 103.2 98.8 +4.4 Won 1 6-4 7 Dallas 47 31 .603 13 ½ 25-14 22-17 9-5 27-21 105.1 102.6 +2.5 Won 3 6-4 8 Phoenix 45 31 .592 14 ½ 25-14 20-17 7-8 25-21 105.5 102.6 +2.8 Won 1 7-3 Memphis 45 32 .584 15 24-14 21-18 3-12 26-23 95.5 94.4 +1.1 Lost 1 5-5
Phoenix doing well against OKC right now...
*knocks on wood*
Thought the Pacers, had hit the bottom. They lost by 19 at home to Atlanta. The Hawks had a road winning percentage of .289.
Roy Hibbert got benched for the entire second half.
The Pacers scored just 23 points in 24 first half minutes.
Thunder about to lose...thanks Phoenix!
1st seed is all but locked up now. Magic number down to 2 with 5 games remaining.
Thunder lost to Phoenix, so the magic number is 2 now.
The best-case scenario for the Spurs is looking realistic, tbh..
1. Spurs
2. Thunder
3. Clippers
4. Rockets
5. Blazers
6. Warriors
7. Suns
8. Mavs or Grizzlies
Clippers getting Golden State and OKC getting Phoenix would be quite nice, tbh..
Would much rather have OKC as a 3.
Flipping 2 and 3 still a possibility, tbh... might be even better
I agree, forgot to swap them..they play each other on Wednesday, so it's very possible that Clippers get the 2 seed..
Yeah, the only way the standings could get better would be if OKC somehow slipped to the 3 seed.
lol, OKC Blunder.
OKC having to go through Golden State in the 1st round then the Clippers without homecourt, sounds good tbh...
god that would be like christmas. so perfect in so many ways. okc draws phx and gets a tough 1st round, we stay in tx (dal then hou) for the first 2 rounds so easy travel.
right now we face phx, and i'drather not play them. what would it take to flip phx and mem/dal in those 7/8 seed slots?
Thinking about the possibility of getting Memphis or Dallas in the 1st round makes me hard, tbh..Spurs win either series in 4, tbh(Mavs might get 1)..
I'd rather avoid the team with athletic players and stretch-4s..
Why would the Thunder getting the Suns be "quite nice"? The Mavs and Grizzlies may be limited, one way teams, but at least they're playoff tested and the stage won't be too big for them. The Suns, on the other hand, could easily fall flat. I get the logic of them causing some match-ups issues for the Spurs, but don't discount that.
The Thunder getting the Grizzlies would be ideal, as would falling to the 3 seed obviously, but that's more than likely not going to happen.
Very possible. Clippers have a season series lead of 2-1 with a showdown in L.A. on Wednesday. OKC will be on the 2nd night of a back to back after playing Sacramento.
The Clippers are off until Wednesday and can take control of the 2 seed or cut it to half a game with a win.
Record Post-All star Break (as of 4/7/14)
Spurs-22-2 (.916)
Clippers 18-5 (.786)
Heat-16-9 (.640)
Thunder 12-9 (.571)
Pacers-13-13 (.500)
(Italicized are updated to include the games from 4/6)
What makes you so sure about that?
OKC's remaining schedule: @ Sacramento, @LAC (b2b), New Orleans, @Indiana, @New Orleans (b2b), Detroit
LAC's remaining schedule: OKC, Sacramento, Denver, @Portland
If the Clippers win on Wednesday against the Thunder, they'll be tied in the standings with LAC owning the tiebreaker. OKC will be coming off the game against Sacramento, meanwhile the Clippers will be at home and well rested since they don't play between now and then.
OKC dropping to the 3rd seed is a very realistic possibility. Not sure why you act like it's a foregone conclusion that they'll be the 2nd seed.
They're the second most consistent regular season team in the league three years running and they've been struggling for a while now, so they're due to pick it up. They can also play the second best player in the league (and best player in the league this season) virtually unlimited minutes, no matter the schedule, which doesn't hurt. To add to this, the Clippers are banged up and as such, probably won't be going all out in pursuit of it.
How you feel about this post now, tbh?...
OKC is missing Sefolosha and has Perkins on minute restrictions. They also sit Westbrook on one end of back-to-backs.
And the Clippers don't need to go all out. All they need is a win at home on Wednesday and they'll be in good position to get the 2nd seed. If OKC loses on Wednesday and one other game (let's say @Indiana), all LAC would have to do is beat Sacramento and Denver at home.
pacers will not beat the thunder
pacers can not score
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