Western Conference Seeding Scenarios
April 15th, 2008 by Brian Cronin | Comments | Permalink |
I’ve taken a look at the possible draft scenarios, so let’s now take a look at the other fairly confusing bunch of scenarios, the seeding scenarios in the Western Conference.
Seven of the eight teams in the NBA Western Conference have one game remaining (Hornets have two).
I’ll give you the two most likely scenarios, and then I’ll explain the various tie-breakers (and where each team stands, because there are quite literally far too many unlikely possibilities to address).
IF ALL TEAMS WIN OUT (except Spurs win the only head-to-head among the eight teams, against Jazz)
#1 Lakers
#2 Hornets
#3 Spurs
#4 Jazz
#5 Rockets
#6 Suns
#7 Mavericks
#8 Nuggets
IF ALL TEAMS WIN OUT (except Jazz win the only head-to-head among the eight teams, against Spurs)
#1 Lakers
#2 Hornets
#3 Jazz
#4 Suns
#5 Rockets
#6 Spurs
#7 Mavericks
#8 Nuggets
So as you can see, that game against the Spurs and Jazz is extremely important.
Okay, otherwise, here are the notable tie-breakers:
- Lakers own the tie-breaker over New Orleans and San Antonio, either together or separate, so the only way the Lakers can lose the #1 seed is if they lose their game and New Orleans wins both their games.
- Denver owns the tie-breaker over Dallas, so Dallas, who is one game ahead of Denver, has to stay one game ahead of Denver to assure them of the #7 seed. This is going to be difficult, as Dallas plays New Orleans in their last game, while Denver plays Memphis. Still, if New Orleans beats the Clippers and the Lakers beat the Kings, the last game won’t matter for New Orleans, which would help Dallas.
- If New Orleans and San Antonio lose out, we’ll see a stunning FIVE-TEAM tie!! The Hornets, Spurs, Jazz, Rockets and Suns would all be tied. In this scenario, you determine the division winners first, and they get the #2 and #3 seed, respectively, which would be the Jazz at #2 and the Hornets at #3. The Suns would then win the tie-breaker between the remaining three teams, and the Spurs would win the tie-breaker with the Rockets.
So that’d give us an astonishing:
#1 Lakers
#2 Jazz
#3 Hornets
#4 Suns
#5 Rockets
#6 Spurs
This is extremely unlikely, though, as it involves the Clippers winning a game, which is not going to happen, but hey, who knows for sure?
Here are the head to head records for the teams that could be tied:
Utah
3-1 or 2-2 Spurs
2-1 Houston
2-1 Phoenix
3-1 New Orleans
New Orleans
1-3 Utah
2-2 Spurs
4-0 Suns
2-2 Houston
Houston
1-2 Utah
2-2 Spurs
2-2 Suns
2-2 Hornets
Divison Record: 8-8
Spurs
1-3 Suns
2-2 Houston
2-2 or 1-3 Utah
2-2 New Orleans
Divison Record: 10-6
Phoenix
3-1 Spurs
2-2 Rockets
1-2 Utah
0-4 Hornets
In any event, the first two scenarios listed are the only two likely ones, but we shall see!!
Here are the remaining scheduled games:
Lakers (56-25)
Tue, Apr 15 Sacramento
Hornets (55-25)
Tue, Apr 15 LA Clippers
Wed, Apr 16 at Dallas
Spurs (55-26)
Wed, Apr 16 Utah
Jazz (54-27)
Wed, Apr 16 at San Antonio
Rockets (54-27)
Wed, Apr 16 LA Clippers
Suns (54-27)
Wed, Apr 16 Portland
Mavericks (50-31)
Wed, Apr 16 New Orleans
Nuggets (49-32)
Wed, Apr 16 Memphis
so i take it golden state is out of the picture?
Yes, they were eliminated last night.
Id love to see Lakers v Suns, Spurs v Mavs, Nuggets v Hornets and Rockets v Jazz in an ideal scenario.
I’d love a Williams vs. Paul 2nd round.
nice analysis, Brian. just feel bad for golden state though. also your knicks. hate seeing unutilized talent
yeah the knicks have such talent….
As citizens of the NBA, it falls on the rest of us to help Save the Sonics! I beg you to please post your team/owner’s information with the following. Thanks!
We Miami Heat fans have put together a proposed plan of action here: http://thesouthfloridafan.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-help-seattle-keep-their-sonics.html
It involves this:
IMPLORE EVERY NBA TEAM BLOG TO POST THE ADDRESS OF THEIR OWNERS. IN ADDITION, LETTERS SHOULD INCLUDE SOMETHING LIKE THIS:
“As a form of protest, we vow to boycott any game next season in which the Oklahoma City Sonics play, whether it be in our arena or watching it on television.”
Spread this around as much as you can. It’s going to take the other teams to prevent this from happening. Let’s save the Sonics!
(E-mail your local newspaper too. This is of vital importance)
“a dig through the archives would find one good Knickerblogger threat from fall 2008.”
…er, that would be thread, not threat. a dig through the archives would find several dozen good threats.
BUt this is the one I was talking about…
http://www.knickerblogger.net/index.php/2007/09/13/do-players-improve-when-given-more-minutes/
And a couple other good ones…
http://www.knickerblogger.net/index.php/2007/09/17/one-more-nail-in-the-anti-per-minute-arguments-coffin/
http://www.knickerblogger.net/index.php/2007/11/08/bp-more-per-minute-analysis/
BILL SIMMONS HAS STARBURY IN MVP Ratings!
Ok, 450th best player this season but he also has a frightening parallel of Penny Hardaway and Dwayne Wade.
that’s the joke, that he and Randolph were the two least valuable players this year. pretty good call, I’d say.
Isiah’s last game is TONIGHT.
I am weeping tears of joy.
*sigh* and another season bites the dust…
I dont eally want to talk about playoff scenarios for other teams…whats the use? We need a seasons over what do you think will happen next thread
Tied for 5th worst record in the league. Great. Same record two years ago, we sent the 2nd best # of ping pong balls over to Chicago. Hard to believe 4 teams were WORSE than the Knicks this year. If we had honestly tanked, we’d be behind Minny and Memphis for sure.
Here’s hoping we get lucky ..