Does anyone else think that Portland will "rest" a bit for the upcoming playoffs, having secured a spot. They are one game behind Minny for the right to play the Lakers in the 1st round so I guess it comes down to who they would rather play...LA or San An...
Quick question, which has probably already been answered. What happens if the Cavs and Rockets end up in a tie, how do they decide who gets the most balls? Is it a reverse tie-breaker, where the team that was worse head-to-head <i>wins</i>? If that's the case, then the Rockets have them <i>beat</i>!!!
From what Ive been told (by people on this board), the Rockets and Cavs would get the same amount of balls in the lottery if they tie
The Blazers are two losses behind Minnesota and the Wolves hold the tie breaker. In other words, Minnesota has already clinched the 5th position. It is quite conceivable that Dallas will pass the Lakers and the Lakers will drop down to 4. Dallas finishes with Utah and Phoenix, while the Lakers get Seattle and Sacramento. There is no reason for Portland to tank. They are settled in. If anyone will rest, it's the Lakers. If you were LA, wouldn't you rather drop to 4 and play the Wolves or stay at 3 and play the Blazers.
I agree Portland won't tank, they will want to stay sharp going in as the underdog in the next series. Plus Portland is deep, they can rest all their key guys around a quarter and not lose much. No on multiple counts. #1, the Lakers want to delay playing at the Kings as long as possible in the playoffs. #2, home court in all series except Sac is far more acceptable than any other option for them right now--if they win out (at home) this is assured I think (tiebreakers over Spurs/Mavs). #3 Minnesotta is a more unknown quantity than the Blazers. Also, Minnesotta isn't as deep but they have a better defense and the better go-to players. The Lakers know they swept the Blazers pretty easy last year. The Lakers fear neither (2-2 against both in the regular season), but they already know how to beat the Blazers. Now the Kings will probably tank the last game versus the Lakers 1) so that the Lakers are away from them in the brakets and 2) because they don't want to risk injury/threaten freshness with zero at stake for them. I predict the Lakers will be focused on winning these last 2 games. A Port/SA path with both series starting at LA would be about as easy as they could expect before playing Sac--and that is probably what they will get.
