What will be our final record?

[footey]

With 25 games to go, it will be interesting to see how we finish.  Based on my review of the schedule, it's not as tough as the first half, but not as easy as the last month.

We play the Nets on 2/24 (away) and on 3/6 (home).  Durant was scheduled out 4-6 weeks, and those two games are in the 5th and 7th weeks of his recovery.  I'd say we split these.

The next two games, vs ATL and Philly, will be tests of our strength.  I'd say a split is realistic.  Losing both would be disappointing but not out of realism.  Winning both unlikely; we just don't match well vs either team, and Harden makes his debut.

GS, SAC, Denver and OKC western trip in March realistically is 2-2, or maybe 3-1.

Final 3 games are on the road vs Chicago, Milwaukee and Memphis: Ouch!!

To win 50 games, we'd have to go 18-7.  Possible, but realistic?

If we continue at our current winning rate of .561, we would finish season with a 46-36 record. Somehow that feels about right.

What do you think?

[Roy H.]

I’ll say 15-10 the rest of the way.  47 wins.

[Donoghus]

Well, I took the over at 45.5 before the season started so 46 or higher would be nice. 

I'll go with 47-35.

[smokeablount]

I think we can stay hot through mid March and then things will get tougher. But I think a lot of games that were tossups before the deadline, or where we were slight underdogs, will now see is favored. The Hawks and upcoming Nets games (if Durant is still out) are examples of this.

I think we can expect to perform better than our current win % moving forward and that hitting 50 wins is possible if we can stay hot thru mid March. If we can beat Philly, I think we actually have a real chance to run the table in February.

[SparzWizard]

Maybe 44-38, enough for the 4-6 seeds.

I think we could beat ATL but get destroyed by the newly-formed 76ers. Apart from the Warriors, that western trip has potential traps written on them. I'd say 2-2. Then against the midwest teams...well that's brutal lol. Could see 1-2 or 0-3.

[nickagneta]

I'll go all Positive Pete and say 50-32. Now that the team is consistently beating the dregs of the league, I think they can win enough against the tough teams to go 18-7.

The team's issue hasn't been showing up big versus the best teams, it's been their failures at playing down to the level of the competition against bad or undermanned teams.

They've fixed that, have gotten healthy, have figured out their identity and roles for everyone. Being the best defensive team in the league and staying healthy nets them 50 wins.

And maybe some Coach of the Year votes for Ime. How messed up would that be given the way he was absolutely torched on this site since his hiring?

[liam]

Maybe 44-38, enough for the 4-6 seeds.

I think we could beat ATL but get destroyed by the newly-formed 76ers. Apart from the Warriors, that western trip has potential traps written on them. I'd say 2-2. Then against the midwest teams...well that's brutal lol. Could see 1-2 or 0-3.

We don't have a good matchup against Embiid but we have two excellent defenders to put on Harden.

[liam]

46-50 wins...

[footey]

Thought I would bump this up after I originally posted nearly two weeks ago, before we played ATL and Philly.

48 wins feels about right, but 50 not out of realm of the possible.  I'd be quite happy if we could achieve 50 wins.  We would have to go 15-6 the rest of the way, which seems quite doable given how we are playing.  That should give us good shot at 3rd seed.  Hoping we can play CLE in first round and avoid Philly or the Bucks, let them play each other at the 4/5 seeds.   

[Redz]

I just went through the remaining schedule and came up with 15-6, but I gave them a win vs Brooklyn where we don't know what they'll look like.  The last 3 games on the road vs CHI, MEM and MIL could be rough and meaningful.

They just need to keep taking care of business vs the bad teams and improving their play.  I'd like to see them have to play some more crunch time.  The blowouts are fun but not at all indicative of the kind of resistance they'll see in a 7 game series (look at me assuming no play in game!).

[Phantom255x]

My predictions:

@ DET (W)
@ IND (W)
ATL (W)
MEM (L)
BKN (L)
@ CHA (W)
DET (W)
DAL (L)
@ GSW (W - Upset)
@ SAC (W)
@ DEN (L)
@ OKC (W)
UTAH (L)
MIN (W)
@ TOR (W)
MIA (L)
IND (W)
WAS (W)
@ CHI (W)
@ MIL (L)
@ MEM (W)

So I see them finishing 14-7, and with a final record of 49-33

As for where 49 wins gets us in the standings, we'll see but my guess is, that should easily be enough for one of the top-5 seeds and probably as high as the 3 seed if one of MIL/PHI sort of slips. I'm honestly expecting the Cavaliers to slip a bit and to finish around the 5-6 seed. It'd be nice if we could get a path where we face the Cavaliers 1st round, then draw Miami or Chicago and avoid MIL/BKN/PHI for a while.

[slamtheking]

My predictions:

@ DET (W)
@ IND (W)
ATL (W)
MEM (L)
BKN (L)
@ CHA (W)
DET (W)
DAL (L)
@ GSW (W - Upset)
@ SAC (W)
@ DEN (L)
@ OKC (W)
UTAH (L)
MIN (W)
@ TOR (W)
MIA (L)
IND (W)
WAS (W)
@ CHI (W)
@ MIL (L)
@ MEM (W)

So I see them finishing 14-7, and with a final record of 49-33

As for where 49 wins gets us in the standings, we'll see but my guess is, that should easily be enough for one of the top-5 seeds and probably as high as the 3 seed if one of MIL/PHI sort of slips. I'm honestly expecting the Cavaliers to slip a bit and to finish around the 5-6 seed. It'd be nice if we could get a path where we face the Cavaliers 1st round, then draw Miami or Chicago and avoid MIL/BKN/PHI for a while.

thought being an optimist I'd pick a better record than you but came up at 13-8.  need to get my green goggles adjusted so I can see things better

[jbpats]

My predictions:

@ DET (W)
@ IND (W)
ATL (W)
MEM (L)
BKN (L)
@ CHA (W)
DET (W)
DAL (L)
@ GSW (W - Upset)
@ SAC (W)
@ DEN (L)
@ OKC (W)
UTAH (L)
MIN (W)
@ TOR (W)
MIA (L)
IND (W)
WAS (W)
@ CHI (W)
@ MIL (L)
@ MEM (W)

So I see them finishing 14-7, and with a final record of 49-33

As for where 49 wins gets us in the standings, we'll see but my guess is, that should easily be enough for one of the top-5 seeds and probably as high as the 3 seed if one of MIL/PHI sort of slips. I'm honestly expecting the Cavaliers to slip a bit and to finish around the 5-6 seed. It'd be nice if we could get a path where we face the Cavaliers 1st round, then draw Miami or Chicago and avoid MIL/BKN/PHI for a while.

Barring injuries I think this is accurate and gets us the 4th-5th seed in the East

[gouki88]

48-34 is my feeling.

[Donoghus]

Early April is going to be pretty wild in the East.

I feel like you're going to see several teams "massaging" their seeding the best they can.  Especially in BKN is still floundering down in the play-in games. 

East playoffs are going to be a bloodbath.  Its going to be awesome to watch.