worried about the spurs catching the mavs? - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Murphy3 · 03-20-2002, 01:57 PM

to be honest...i am very confident about the mavs winning the midwest.

they have the lead over the spurs.
yes, the spurs have won 9 games.. but let's look at their opponents

Fri, Mar 1 at Minnesota W 85-77 --
Sun, Mar 3 at New York W 99-83 --
Tue, Mar 5 Golden State W 109-88 --
Thu, Mar 7 Houston W 99-97 --
Sat, Mar 9 at Chicago W 100-73 --
Mon, Mar 11 at Denver W 93-79 --
Tue, Mar 12 Memphis W 98-84 --
Thu, Mar 14 Chicago W 91-86 --
Sat, Mar 16 Boston W 111-104

not exactly a rough nine game stretch.
new york isn't very good..golden state isn't very good, houston isn't very good, chicago sucks, denver isn't very good, memphis sucks, chicago still sucks, boston is a good eastern conference team (which isn't saying much), and minnesota is playing very poorly.

hmm..any of the top 5 teams in the west (dallas, lakers, san antonio, sacramento, or portland)..any of these teams would have probably won at least 7 of those games..probably 8..and maybe all nine.

san antonio's streak is nothing to get excited about.

now, here we are...the mavs have the lead in the midwest with a couple of games with san antonio left.

what do the mavs need to do to secure the west?

take one of two from san antonio and i believe they'll win the midwest if the mavs play decent basketball at the worst

kg_veteran · 03-20-2002, 02:43 PM

Given the schedule that SA has remaining, I think Dallas needs to win 57 games (including 1 of 2 from SA) to ensure the Midwest Division title.

TheKid · 03-20-2002, 03:15 PM

KG I agree.

Bayliss · 03-20-2002, 06:43 PM

I want the Spurs to beat the Lakers tonight. That would put us ahead of the Lakers (record wise) and winning the Midwest isn't going to do a whole lot if we don't have home court advantage.

(Yes, we are a very good road team but let's make the Lakers come into our house and steal victories. Not the other way around.)

And I think we can take both games from SA.

Drbio · 03-20-2002, 06:47 PM

Bayliss - I agree. Let's win it on the court.

reeds · 03-20-2002, 10:49 PM

its now 10 games...do the Lakers count as a good team???lol

mavsfan4 · 03-20-2002, 10:52 PM

IT STOPS AT 10, WE WILL KILL THEM TOMORROW.

ocelot_ark · 03-20-2002, 11:53 PM

I'm with RCF on this one. I just don't see us getting beat by them. I imagine our guys are so confident right now, they're flying.

mavsfan4 · 03-21-2002, 12:20 AM

They are playing back to back, we stomp on them early and don't let up.

Mavdog · 03-21-2002, 02:03 PM

A glance at the remaining games indicates it will be a horse race for the Midwest crown and the second seed in the playoffs.

SA games
@ Miami
@ LAC
@Port
@Seattle
@LAL
Seattle
@Houston
Dallas
Port
Denver
@Detroit
@Memphis
Phoenix
@Utah

Dallas games:
SA
@ Milwaukee
@ Minn
@ Boston
@ Wash
LAC
@ SA
@ Utah
Port
Houston
@ Seattle
@ Sac
Utah
@ Phoenix

Same no. of home/away games and alot of the same opponets. SA plays one less team who has a winning record. So what will happen?

As much as it pains me to admit, I expect SA will more than likely win the Midwest by one game, with the Mavs second. That is unless we sweep the Spurs, winning both tonight and taking the rematch on April 6 at SA. The Mavs will also need to beat Portland when the Blazers come a calling, and also keep up that road warrior mentality when the Mavs visit Milwaukee, Minnesota and Boston next week, SA and Utah the first week of April and Seattle and Sac the week after that.

Murphy3 · 03-21-2002, 02:27 PM

well, it looked better for the mavs until the spurs whipped the lakers.. now it is a dogfight.. but i think the mavs will win the division by two games.

yes, the mavs do play one more opponent with a winning record but the spurs have more games against the western conference elite.
dallas has
SA twice
Sac once
Port once

SA has:
dallas twice
Portland twice
LAL once

both have a tough schedule..and if you look at the spurs current winning streak, it is littered with wins against mediocre to poor opponents, with the exception of the lakers..

it's a very deceiving winning streak. It's nothing like the streak the trail blazers were on.

However, the mavs do need to win the games they should win..take one from the spurs.. and i think the mavs win the Midwest by at least one game..probably two

Drbio · 03-21-2002, 06:44 PM

I am a lot more concerned about San Antonio after watching last nights game. But I still think the Mavs pull it out and that ain't just the homer in me talking.

ocelot_ark · 03-21-2002, 06:49 PM

I think the Mavs will take the midwest, and that's the homer talking. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

djb · 03-21-2002, 06:49 PM

I'll let you all know what I think after a couple more weeks [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Drbio · 03-21-2002, 06:52 PM

Don't go too far out on that limb dj.

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

grbh · 03-22-2002, 02:03 AM

Yes, very

ocelot_ark · 03-22-2002, 02:21 AM

I'm pretty worried about what this loss does to the Mavs psyche. We can't put two good games together since the trade it seems. The Spurs seem to have turned the corner on us. We lost, and they didn't even have their starting SG. That doesn't sound very good for us.

I wouldn't be near as worried if Nellie would find a starting lineup, ANY starting lineup, and stick with it.

Bayliss · 03-22-2002, 07:53 AM

SA plays Miami on Saturday...

We play Memphis.

Miami is hot... Memphis is not. Perhaps we can steal a game tomorrow,

Murphy3 · 03-22-2002, 11:17 AM

the spurs turned the corner on the mavs?
it's one game..a closely contested game. I think you're reading a bit much into it.

If anything, i think the series this year has shown that the mavs CAN beat the spurs in a playoff series..not get whipped up and down the court.

now, i'll stay with my original prediction that if the mavs can take a game from the spurs..they'll win the division

grbh · 03-22-2002, 11:42 AM

Does anyone know what the next tyebreaker after head to head is.

I think it is either record in West, or in Midwest, not sure though.

ocelot_ark · 03-22-2002, 04:46 PM

I'm pretty positive that the next tiebreaker is the midwest record.

MFFL · 03-23-2002, 10:55 PM

The first tiebreaker is head to head, the next is conference record.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's the link

April is an exciting month for NBA fans. Every regular season game takes on greater importance as teams jockey to make the NBA Playoffs and secure home-court advantage for the postseason. One or two wins often decide if a team makes the Playoffs or watches the postseason on television. Likewise, one or two wins often separate the first and second place teams.

The top eight teams in each conference qualify for the First Round of the NBA Playoffs. The division winner with the best record in each conference is ranked No. 1, the other division winner is ranked No. 2 and the remaining six teams are ranked Nos. 3-8 according to their win-loss records.

In the Western Conference, for example, this means that even if the teams with the top two records are from the Midwest Division, the Pacific Division winner still will rank second. The team with the better regular season record has home court advantage in each round of the Playoffs.

The First Round is a best-of-five series, so the team that wins three games wins the round. The opening round has a 2-2-1 format, meaning the first two games are played on the home court of the team with the better regular season record, the third and fourth games (if both are necessary) are played on the other team's court and the fifth game (if necessary) returns to the original court.

The four teams in each conference that win their respective First Round series proceed to the best-of-seven Conference Semifinals, played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format. This means the team that wins four games wins the series. The two winning teams in each conference then advance to the Conference Finals, a best-of-seven series with a 2-2-1-1-1 format.

The last stage is the NBA Finals, which pits the top Eastern Conference team with the best squad in the West. It is a best-of-seven series with a 2-3-2 format.

In the event that two or more teams are tied in the standings, a series of tiebreakers are applied to determine which team receives the higher seeding. If one tiebreaker still yields a tie, the next tiebreaker is used and so on, until the higher seeding is determined.

The tiebreakers include:

1 Better record in head-to-head games
2 Higher winning percentage in conference games
3 Higher winning percentage within division (if teams are in the same division)
4 Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference
5 Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in opposite conference
6 Higher point differential between points scored and points allowed