The Fat Lady Hasn't Sung Yet...(NOTE: If you aren't an optimist, you might want to skip this thread)

[kg_veteran]

As of this morning (3-15-04), the Western Conference standings look like this:

1. Sacramento 49-17
2. Minnesota 46-21
3. San Antonio 44-23
4. Los Angeles 43-23
5. Dallas 42-24
6. Memphis 41-25
7. Houston 39-26

Several things really struck me as interesting as I looked at the remaining schedules for the respective teams...

1. The Kings don't have the Pacific Division sewed up yet.

The Kings have a fairly difficult schedule coming down the stretch, and the Lakers have a fairly soft one. I still see the Kings winning the division, but if the Kings can't get it done on the road, the Lakers very well might catch them.

2. The Midwest Division is still up for grabs as well.

And when I say up for grabs, I'm not just talking about the Wolves and Spurs. The Mavs and perhaps even the Grizzlies could foreseeably get into the mix.

The Wolves have 6 home games remaining and 9 road games remaining. Only 2 of the home games are pretty sure wins (Washington and Seattle), with the remaining 4 being stout, divisional opponents (San Antonio, Memphis, Denver, Utah). The road games could be treacherous, as they have to face San Antonio, LA, Denver, Houston, Sacto, and Memphis away. The remaining three road games should be wins (at GS, at LAC, at Phoenix), but you never know. I have the Wolves pegged as going around 8-7 the rest of the way.

The Spurs have 9 home games remaining and 6 road games remaining. Sounds favorable, and it is. The road games include very winnable games at GS and LAC but also include difficult games at Utah, Portland, LAL, and Minnesota. Of the home games, the Spurs have some easy ones (Boston, Phoenix, Seattle) and some challenging ones (Portland, Denver, Cleveland, Minnesota, Sacramento, Detroit). I have the Spurs pegged as going about 12-3.

The Mavs have 8 home games and 8 road games left. The road games are a mix of tough ones (New Jersey, Indiana, Miami, Houston) and games they "should" win (GS, Seattle, Philly, Orlando). The home games are also a mix of tough (Sacto, Cleveland, Utah, Memphis) and "easy" (Seattle, Phoenix, Atlanta, Boston). While we all know that it's tough to gauge the Mavs' performance on the road this year, I think they finish strong on the road, and we know they're a wrecking ball at home. I have the Mavs pegged as going about 14-2 for the final stretch.

The Grizz have 8 home games and 8 road games the rest of the way. Without listing the games, I see them going about 11-5 the rest of the way.

The Rockets have 6 home games and 11 road games the rest of the way. I have them pegged at about 9-8.

If my predictions prove to be correct, the final standings in the Midwest Division would look like this:

Dallas 56-26
San Antonio 56-26
Minnesota 54-28
Memphis 52-30
Houston 48-34

The Mavs would win the division via the tiebreaker with the Spurs.

Moral of this rather lengthy post: The Fat Lady Hasn't Sung Yet!