maelstrom11 wrote:Any word on when the Blazer game will be made-up? Let's hope its not on a night after the Wolves just played or a night before a big game. I could totally see the league doing that to us. Not to mention... will the Blazers have to fly in to play us after they just played?? In reality they should schedule this game into Portland's schedule forcing them into a back to back since they lost a back to back when this game was cancelled. In an scenario...this game will be BIG!
Only three possible dates, maelstrom...see my analysis in the pretenders/contenders thread. My guess is both teams fly out of Portland 3/25 after playing there and play here on 3/26...seems the fairest to both teams. Cool thinks they will play on the night of the NCAA Championship Game (a date the NBA always keeps open).
New Orleans - W - Actual L
Chicago - W - Actual W
Cleveland - L - Actual L
@ Denver - L - Actual W
Dallas - W - Actual W
@ Houston - L - Actual L
@ Sacramento - W/L - Actual W
@ Utah - L - Actual W
@ San Antonio - L - Actual L
Portland - W - Postponed
Clippers - L - Actual W
Warriors - L
@ Milwaukee - W/L
Washington - L
@ Boston - L
@ Miami - L
@ New Orleans - W/L
San Antonio - W
@ Lakers - W/L
@ Portland - L
@ Indiana - L
Lakers - W
Sacramento - W
@ Golden State - L
@ Portland - L
@ Utah - L
@ Lakers - W/L
OKC - L
@ Houston - L
Well, well, well. We are now 2.5 games behind Denver and ahead of the pace I thought was realistic when I first went through our schedule for the stretch run. Great win tonight!
The other good thing is that we are starting to get some separation from Sacramento and New Orleans, thus increasingly making this look like a 4-team race for the 8th seed. The odds still aren't great, but tonight certainly helped!
Update to my win estimate as well. Originally I 'predicted' (in reality I more or less hoped) following line for already played games (actual result after arrow):
Dallas - W -> W
@ Houston - W/L -> L
@ Sacramento - W -> W
@ Utah - W/L -> W
@ San Antonio - L -> L
Clippers - W/L -> W
So Wolves are already half a game ahead even my optimistic win prediction. For remaining schedule my latest expected result after arrow.
postponed Portland game - W Portland is one team that we have change to catch by just winning our remaining three games against them. Lillard and McCollum just seem to be too clutch but we should win them at least home.
Warriors - L -> W/L Warriors's haven't looked that good after Durant was sidelined. Hopefully they'll struggle little longer and we have change to one more upset.
@ Milwaukee - W/L This is a tricky one. Bucks have been playing better now when Middleton is back in starting five. I'll keep Q:s original prediction.
Washington - L -> W/L Washington has not anymore looked that good. Since this is our home game, I think we might have change for victory.
@ Boston - L Difficult to find any reason for hope against Boston in their house.
@ Miami - W/L Miami's winning streak ended and I expect that they won't continue to play as well as during that streak. I also won't expect that they would hit again 15 three pointers against us. Should be winnable game for Wolves.
@ New Orleans - W/L This one won't be easy even tough New Orleans could really use more outside shooting. Both Boogie and Davis have had monster games against Wolves in past and since New Orleans doesn't have their own pick in next draft, they have no reason to tank. (New Orleans will keep their pick only if it's top3. So probability to keep it is pretty low even if they tank.)
San Antonio - L Unless San Antonio rests all starters I don't see them losing.
@ Lakers - W Lakers traded their best scorer and I expect that they start tanking to have more hope to keep their pick next summer. (they lose it if it's not top3)
@ Portland - L 2nd game of back to back for us. Most probably loss even tough win would put us probably ahead of Portland.
@ Indiana - L Indiana has been really erratic this season. On good day they can win whatever team (wins against Clipper with CP3 twice and Houston and losses to Philly & Brooklyn) but they have played much better at home. So probably loss for Wolves.
Lakers - W See previous Lakers game
Sacramento - W See previous Sacramento game
@ Golden State - L Only chance would be that this is already meaningless game for Golden State and they rest some of their starters.
@ Portland - W/L I think this is a game that we have to win to have a any hope for playoffs.
@ Utah - L Second game of back to back for us. Probably no chance.
@ Lakers - W See previous Lakers game
OKC - W/L -> W OKC has been struggling now and I have feeling that and we will see soon that Westbrook is a human after all. He has been carrying a unbelievable load and it would be real superman level performance to continue same level until regular season is over. I think with recent struggles OKC won't have anymore change for higher than 7th seed at this point and they will rest Westbrook.
@ Houston - W I expect that this is meaningless game to Houston. They have secured 3rd seed before last game and I expect them to rest Harden.
So after latest win, I have Wolves final amount of wins between 33 and 39 with 36 as mean. Latest ESPN estimates in playoff odds page, have both Portland and Denver ending with 37 wins, Dallas with 35 wins and Wolves with 34 wins. I think they have not yet updated odds based on last night results since Wolves playoff chances didn't change in last update. My latest estimate for other teams in playoff competition will have all others (Dallas, Denver and Portland) with 37 wins.
New Orleans - W - Actual L
Chicago - W - Actual W
Cleveland - L - Actual L
@ Denver - L - Actual W
Dallas - W - Actual W
@ Houston - L - Actual L
@ Sacramento - W/L - Actual W
@ Utah - L - Actual W
@ San Antonio - L - Actual L
Portland - W - Postponed
Clippers - L - Actual W
Warriors - L - Actual W
@ Milwaukee - W/L
Washington - L
@ Boston - L
@ Miami - L
@ New Orleans - W/L
San Antonio - W
@ Lakers - W/L
@ Portland - L
@ Indiana - L
Lakers - W
Sacramento - W
@ Golden State - L
@ Portland - L
@ Utah - L
@ Lakers - W/L
OKC - L
@ Houston - L
We are now 2.5 games ahead of the pace I first predicted. Very nice! I have tonight as a toss-up. Both teams played last night and we don't have to travel very far, so that neither team is advantaged in that regard. However, Milwaukee is just as hot as we are and are playing at home. And like us, they have stepped it up defensively. It's going to be a tough out.
Remember back when some people said this team wouldn't get to 30 wins with this difficult schedule? :) I know they are thrilled to be wrong and the way this team is playing right now wow.
Denver play sacramento on the road and dallas has phoenix at home tonight. Those are likely wins for denver and dallas tonight. Portland have wizards at home so they have good shot at a win as well. We need to grind and win to ight vs the bucks to stay with den/dallas/portland in the race. I would call tonights game a must win. Its a back to back and on the road but we cant let this ine slip.
Dallas had a klunker. Portland ALMOST has another anti-klunker, but the Wiz made a tremendous comeback to steal the game in OT. Here are the updated KOM standings, still calibrated post-all-star-break (net change in wins since all-star break are in parenthesis):
The Wolves began the post-all-star break 7 games back. They are now 5 games back. They need a lot more anti-klunkers, and some help from Portland (like losing tonight at Phoenix!). Our defensive improvement gives me some hope...
