1. Los Angeles Lakers........... --- 55-25 2. New Orleans Hornets........ --- 55-25 3. San Antonio Spurs........... 0.5 54-25 4. Utah Jazz...................... 2.0 53-27 5. Houston Rockets............. 0.5 54-25 6. Phoenix Suns.................. 2.0 53-27 7. Dallas Mavericks.............. 5.0 50-30 8. Denver Nuggets............... 7.0 48-32 9. Golden State Warriors....... 7.0 48-32 Los Angeles holds tiebreaker over New Orleans Houston holds tiebreaker over Los Angeles San Antonio holds tiebreaker over Houston Denver holds tiebreaker over Golden State Houston and New Orleans (who holds tiebreaker, clair?) series tied at 2-2 San Antonio and New Orleans (who holds tiebreaker?) - series tied at 2-2 San Antonio and Los Angeles (SA up 2-1, play Lakers later tonight) The Lakers, Hornets, Spurs and Rockets all could end up anywhere from the #1 seed and the #5 seed. That is beyond all comprehension and threatens to destroy the natural order of the universe. Please don't ask me about 3 or 4 way ties. I think the rule is all games are played in Vancouver.
Tiebreakers are basically W-L record head to head first. Then it goes to division record if the 2 teams are in the same division, otherwise it goes to conference record. Three or more teams would be overall record head to head against the other teams they are tied with. Then it goes to division record if all the teams are in the same division (which could happen with Hornets, Spurs and Rockets), otherwise its best conference record. If none of that solves the problem, then its on to best winning pct against teams that made the playoffs in the West. Then it goes to best winning pct against teams that made the playoffs in the East. It should not get this far. Lastly, division winners must be determined before playoff seedings are determined. So if all four of these teams end up tied (Lakers, Hornets, Spurs, Rockets), the division winner out of Hornets, Spurs and Rockets must be determined first. Then tiebreakers between division winners will be determined. Hornets: 2-2 Lakers, 2-2 Spurs, 2-2 Rockets Lakers: 2-2 Hornets, 1-2 Spurs, 1-2 Rockets Rockets: 2-2 Hornets, 2-1 Lakers, 2-2 Spurs Spurs: 2-2 Hornets, 2-1 Lakers, 2-2 Rockets So if the Lakers beat the Spurs tonight, then only the Rockets would hold an advantage over the Lakers head to head out of all combinations of these 4 teams. Division: Hornets 10-5 Spurs 10-6 Rockets 8-8 Conference: Lakers 35-15 Hornets 33-17 Rockets 32-17 Spurs 31-18
If you're a Hornets fan, then you need to pull for the Spurs to defeat the Lakers. If Lakers win tonight, they get the #1 seed unless the Rockets win their division and end up with the same record as the Lakers. If the Lakers lose, the Hornets are back in control of their own destiny for the #1 seed. I'm tired.
Good news is no matter what happens, the Hornets still control their destiny for the #2 seed and for the division title. That being said, I hope the Spurs pull it out today. I'm not so eager to play the Mavs on their court the day after a home game with that much riding on it, though. We are close to collapsing and having to start on the road...
The Hornets suck when playing at Sacramento, that's just a fact. That and they were worn out from the Lakers game on Friday. Mehh.
Houston, Hornets, Jazz, etc... have a difficult time with the Kings. I do not think it is a longshot that they upset the Lakers.
Looks like: (1) Lakers vs (8) Nuggets (2) Hornets vs (7) Mavericks (3) Spurs vs (6) Suns (4) Jazz vs (5) Rockets
