Playoff picks. Series

[SPURSX3]

8 Atlanta at 1 Boston  = bos in 4
7 Philadelphia at 2 Detroit = det in 5
6 Toronto at 3 Orlando = orl in 5
5 Washington at 4 Cleveland   =  cle in 6


8 Denver at 1 LA Lakers = lakers in 6
7 Dallas at 2 New Orleans = NO in 5
6 Phoenix at 3 San Antonio  = SA in 6
4 Utah at 5 Houston = utah in 5
 

 

[Laker Fan]

8 Atlanta at 1 Boston                          Boston in 4
7 Philadelphia at 2 Detroit                    Detroit in 5
6 Toronto at 3 Orlando                       Toronto in 6
5 Washington at 4 Cleveland               Cleveland in 6     


8 Denver at 1 LA Lakers                      Lakers in 5
7 Dallas at 2 New Orleans                   Dallas in 7
6 Phoenix at 3 San Antonio                 San Antonio in 6
4 Utah at 5 Houston                           Utah in 5

[rickortreat]

8 Atlanta at 1 Boston              Boston in 4
7 Philadelphia at 2 Detroit        Phila. in 6 ***upset!
6 Toronto at 3 Orlando            Orl. in 6
5 Washington at 4 Cleveland    Washington in 6 ***upset!   


8 Denver at 1 LA Lakers          LA Lakers in 7
7 Dallas at 2 New Orleans        New Orleans in 7
6 Phoenix at 3 San Antonio      Phoenix in 7 ***
4 Utah at 5 Houston               Utah in 6

2nd Round
Washington at Boston             Boston in 7
Philadelphia at Orlando            Orlando in 7

Utah at LA Lakers                  Utah in 7 unless Bynum plays.
Phoenix at New Orleans           Phoenix in 7

EC Finals
Orlando at Boston                   Boston in 6
WC Finals
Phoenix at Utah                      Phoenix in 7

Finals
Phoenix at Boston                   Boston in 7

[Randy]

That's pretty funny, Rick -- the Jazz are 1 and 3 vs. the Lakers this year and they have proven they can't beat anyone away from their home court.

Of course, the Sixers are 3 and 7 in the last 10 games.  And as you shared repeated during the Sixers losing streak -- only the last 10 games count, which makes the Sixers the worst team in the playoffs right now.   

[Ted]

That's pretty funny, Rick -- the Lakers are 1 and 3 vs. the Lakers this year and they have proven they can't beat anyone away from their home court.

Of course, the Sixers are 3 and 7 in the last 10 games.  And as you shared repeated during the Sixers losing streak -- only the last 10 games count, which makes the Sixers the worst team in the playoffs right now.   

Good grief. Just let the man pick his games.

[Randy]

That's pretty funny, Rick -- the Jazz are 1 and 3 vs. the Lakers this year and they have proven they can't beat anyone away from their home court.

Of course, the Sixers are 3 and 7 in the last 10 games.  And as you shared repeated during the Sixers losing streak -- only the last 10 games count, which makes the Sixers the worst team in the playoffs right now.   

Good grief. Just let the man pick his games.

Thanks for the advice, Charlie Brown -- I really didn't keep him from picking his games, did I?  Just laughed at some of his choices!  Do you think the Jazz can beat the Lakers in a 7 game series?  When 4 of them are in LA?

[Joe Vancil]

I'll take:

Boston over Atlanta, in 4
Detroit over Philadelphia, in 5
Orlando over Toronto, in 5
Washington over Cleveland, in 6

Boston over Washington, in 5
Detroit over Orlando, in 5

Boston over Detroit, in 6

Los Angeles over Denver, in 6
Dallas over New Orleans, in 6
Phoenix over San Antonio, in 6
Houston over Utah, in 7

Los Angeles over Houston, in 5
Phoenix over Dallas, in 6

Phoenix over Los Angeles, in 6

Boston over Phoenix, in 6

[Reality]

Boston, Detroit, Orlando, Washington

Lakers, New Orleans (my "upset" special), San Antonio, Utah
[/quote]
Lurker, i see you have upset in "  ", but why would New Orl over Dallas be considered any sort of an upset?

[Lurker]

Boston, Detroit, Orlando, Washington

Lakers, New Orleans (my "upset" special), San Antonio, Utah

Lurker, i see you have upset in "  ", but why would New Orl over Dallas be considered any sort of an upset?
[/quote]

Read around.  No one is giving NO a chance.  Almost everyone has Dallas taking the series even though the Hornets are the #2 seed.

[Reality]

Hmmn.  Weird.  To me all the top teams have shown themselves to be up and down the final month.  Don't why they would single out New OrL.   

[ziggy]

This came from 82games.com and is a measure of the winning % and team performance against the best 10 teams, middle 10 teams, and worst 10 teams.  Not a lot of surprises, but there are a few interesting tidbits.

   Good   
 Team   W%   Net
 Boston   70%   5.7
 Utah   60%   4.4
 Detroit   57%   3.2
 L.A. Lakers   55%   0.4
 New Orleans   50%   -2.3
 Dallas   48%   0.2
 San Antonio   46%   -1
 Houston   42%   -2.1
 Phoenix   39%   -2.9
 Denver   38%   -5.8
 Golden State   38%   -4.3
 Sacramento   37%   -6.8
 Washington   36%   -7
 Cleveland   34%   -4.9
 Philadelphia   34%   -6.3
 Orlando   33%   -4
 Portland   31%   -5.3
 Toronto   28%   -5.9
 Atlanta   24%   -8.4
 Minnesota   19%   -11.7
 Indiana   16%   -8.7
 Milwaukee   16%   -11.4
 New Jersey   16%   -11.6
 Charlotte   16%   -10.9
 Chicago   15%   -11
 New York   15%   -9.2
 Memphis   12%   -12.5
 Miami   11%   -11.7
 L.A. Clippers   6%   -15.3
 Seattle   6%   -12.5

[Reality]

what does the "net" stand for?

[ziggy]

what does the "net" stand for?

Average margin of victory.  So for instance with the Jazz they won 60% of the games played against the top 10 teams, and had an average margin of victory of 4.4 points against those top 10 teams.

Here are the records against the middle 10 teams (6, 7, and 8 seeds essentially)

   Ave.   
 Team   W%   Net
 Phoenix   77%   7.9
 Detroit   74%   6.7
 Boston   70%   8.8
 L.A. Lakers   70%   9.6
 San Antonio   69%   5.6
 Denver   69%   6.9
 Cleveland   69%   0.4
 Houston   67%   4.4
 Utah   66%   6.7
 Orlando   66%   5.5
 Golden State   62%   2
 New Orleans   60%   4.2
 Dallas   50%   2.6
 Washington   50%   -1.6
 Indiana   50%   0.7
 New Jersey   48%   -4.9
 Charlotte   45%   -3.1
 Toronto   44%   1.3
 Atlanta   44%   -1.6
 Chicago   43%   -3.1
 Portland   41%   -1.5
 Sacramento   39%   -0.3
 Milwaukee   35%   -7.8
 Seattle   33%   -7.7
 Philadelphia   30%   -5.6
 L.A. Clippers   29%   -5.1
 New York   20%   -8.7
 Minnesota   18%   -6.4
 Memphis   14%   -7.7
 Miami   10%   -11.2

[rickortreat]

That's pretty funny, Rick -- the Jazz are 1 and 3 vs. the Lakers this year and they have proven they can't beat anyone away from their home court.

Of course, the Sixers are 3 and 7 in the last 10 games.  And as you shared repeated during the Sixers losing streak -- only the last 10 games count, which makes the Sixers the worst team in the playoffs right now.   

When did I ever say only the last 10 games count?

That was your misinterpretation of my statement, and I never bothered to correct you.  If I tried to correct everyone who misconstrued what I said, I would never get anything else done. 

Where is Bynum?  The Lakers need him bad.

[Randy]

That's pretty funny, Rick -- the Jazz are 1 and 3 vs. the Lakers this year and they have proven they can't beat anyone away from their home court.

Of course, the Sixers are 3 and 7 in the last 10 games.  And as you shared repeated during the Sixers losing streak -- only the last 10 games count, which makes the Sixers the worst team in the playoffs right now.   

When did I ever say only the last 10 games count?

That was your misinterpretation of my statement, and I never bothered to correct you.  If I tried to correct everyone who misconstrued what I said, I would never get anything else done. 

Where is Bynum?  The Lakers need him bad.

Over the past 10 games they are ranked 4th in point differential behind Houston, Boston and LA.  Over the past 5 games they are ranked 4th behind Boston, Houston and Orlando. They are playing the way you would expect a top 10 team to, beating the weak teams, going after the suspect good teams, and occasionally toughing out wins against elite teams.

It's why the entire season counts, huh?  You sure wouldn't want to look at the Sixers last 10 regular season games, like you looked at those 10, would you?

As for the Lakers needing Bynum?  The Lakers have beat the following teams in the last 16 games:
  San Antonio, New Orleans, Dallas - 2x, and Utah.

The Lakers lost to Houston and Utah in the last 16 games without Gasol.

The Lakers have a real shot at winning the whole thing without Bynum.  I'd feel a lot more confident if they had him but as long as the Lakers have Kobe, Gasol, Odom, Fisher and the Lakers role players and bench players, they have a real shot!

When you have the best player in the world on your team, you always have a shot.