The Race for Homecourt Thread

[fairweatherfan]

For the record I think div. comes before conf. in the tiebreakers.  Not like LA has any chance of catching us anyway.

Division record only comes first if the teams are in the same division.  Otherwise it's conference record. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Playoffs

[BudweiserCeltic]

The Race for Homecourt is colored Green.

More than our conference record, I'm more worried about the West race. The top teams need to start losing for us to get homecourt throughout. I don't think Miami or Chicago is going to take it from us.

And look up who has won the finals for the past 20 years or so, the team with homecourt in the finals has won most of the time by a decent margin if I remember correctly.

So as much as I like Dallas and the Spurs keeping the Lakers in the 3rd position, I hope they start losing.

[Megatron]

The Race for Homecourt is colored Green.

More than our conference record, I'm more worried about the West race. The top teams need to start losing for us to get homecourt throughout. I don't think Miami or Chicago is going to take it from us.

And look up who has won the finals for the past 20 years or so, the team with homecourt in the finals has won most of the time by a decent margin if I remember correctly.

So as much as I like Dallas and the Spurs keeping the Lakers in the 3rd position, I hope they start losing.

As far as HCA goes, im only worried about the Lakers.

Lakers have the best team in the west, they just havent played up to potential this year. I expect them to be in the Finals and if they get there there is a good chance we have HCA.

[Q_FBE]

Boston 44-15 - 1st EC

Fri, Mar 4 vsGolden State 7:30 PM    
Sun, Mar 6 @Milwaukee 9:00 PM
Wed, Mar 9 vsLos Angeles 7:30 PM  
Fri, Mar 11 @Philadelphia 7:00 PM    
Sun, Mar 13 vsMilwaukee 6:00 PM
Mon, Mar 14 @New Jersey 7:00 PM  
Wed, Mar 16 vsIndiana 7:30 PM  
Fri, Mar 18 @Houston 8:30 PM  
Sat, Mar 19 @New Orleans 8:00 PM  
Mon, Mar 21 @NY Knicks 7:30 PM NBA TV
Wed, Mar 23 vsMemphis 7:30 PM    
Fri, Mar 25 vsCharlotte 7:30 PM  
Sun, Mar 27 @Minnesota 7:00 PM  
Mon, Mar 28 @Indiana 7:00 PM  
Thu, Mar 31 @San Antonio 8:00 PM TNT T
Fri, Apr 1 @Atlanta 8:00 PM
Sun, Apr 3 vsDetroit 6:00 PM  
Tue, Apr 5 vsPhiladelphia 7:30 PM  
Thu, Apr 7 @Chicago 8:00 PM TNT
Fri, Apr 8 vsWashington 7:30 PM  
Sun, Apr 10 @Miami 3:30 PM  
Mon, Apr 11 @Washington 7:00 PM  
Wed, Apr 13 vsNY Knicks 8:00 PM  

I don't see a ton of tough games - maybe 5 or 6 in that bunch. A lot of it will come down to the Celtics focus each and every night and this year it looks pretty good. I think we can get to 64 and 18 which should win the EC by 4 games.

[mgent]

For the record I think div. comes before conf. in the tiebreakers.  Not like LA has any chance of catching us anyway.

Division record only comes first if the teams are in the same division.  Otherwise it's conference record. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Playoffs

Oh yeah that's right, I haven't read the full breakdown in a long time.

[droponov]

DORS: Difficulty of remaining schedule, based on opponent efficiency differential, home or away, and back-to-back situations. The higher the number, the tougher the schedule.

Los Angeles: 0.40 (21th toughest remaining schedule in the league)
San Antonio: 0.21 (19)
Boston: 0.17 (18)
Dallas: 0.15 (17)
Chicago: -0.42 (12)
Miami: -0.65 (8 )



´

  Isn't that more like the lowest number = the hardest schedule?

Nope.

[guava_wrench]

DORS: Difficulty of remaining schedule, based on opponent efficiency differential, home or away, and back-to-back situations. The higher the number, the tougher the schedule.

Los Angeles: 0.40 (21th toughest remaining schedule in the league)
San Antonio: 0.21 (19)
Boston: 0.17 (18)
Dallas: 0.15 (17)
Chicago: -0.42 (12)
Miami: -0.65 (8 )



´

  Isn't that more like the lowest number = the hardest schedule?

Nope.

Yes if the ranking "21th toughest remaining schedule in the league" is correct.

[Fafnir]

DORS: Difficulty of remaining schedule, based on opponent efficiency differential, home or away, and back-to-back situations. The higher the number, the tougher the schedule.

Los Angeles: 0.40 (21th easiest remaining schedule in the league)
San Antonio: 0.21 (19)
Boston: 0.17 (18)
Dallas: 0.15 (17)
Chicago: -0.42 (12)
Miami: -0.65 (8 )



´

  Isn't that more like the lowest number = the hardest schedule?

Nope.

fixed?

[BballTim]

DORS: Difficulty of remaining schedule, based on opponent efficiency differential, home or away, and back-to-back situations. The higher the number, the tougher the schedule.

Los Angeles: 0.40 (21th toughest remaining schedule in the league)
San Antonio: 0.21 (19)
Boston: 0.17 (18)
Dallas: 0.15 (17)
Chicago: -0.42 (12)
Miami: -0.65 (8 )



´

  Isn't that more like the lowest number = the hardest schedule?

Nope.

  Boston's number (.17) is well higher than Miami's (-.65). Is Boston's remaining schedule much harder than Miami's?

[fairweatherfan]

I think droponov may be referring to the ranking and not the raw number.  Higher ranking = tougher schedule.  Lakers have easiest remaining, Heat the toughest.

There's no way the Heat have the easiest schedule of the bunch as they still have 10 consecutive +.500 opponents, and a few more after that. 

[mgent]

I think droponov may be referring to the ranking and not the raw number.  Higher ranking = tougher schedule.  Lakers have easiest remaining, Heat the toughest.

There's no way the Heat have the easiest schedule of the bunch as they still have 10 consecutive +.500 opponents, and a few more after that. 

I was surprised too that they had a -.65 but according to NBA.com the higher the number the harder the schedule and they have the 8th easiest record (i believe homecourt and back to backs factor in).

[fairweatherfan]

I think droponov may be referring to the ranking and not the raw number.  Higher ranking = tougher schedule.  Lakers have easiest remaining, Heat the toughest.

There's no way the Heat have the easiest schedule of the bunch as they still have 10 consecutive +.500 opponents, and a few more after that. 

I was surprised too that they had a -.65 but according to NBA.com the higher the number the harder the schedule and they have the 8th easiest record (i believe homecourt and back to backs factor in).

Odd - I guess most of their games are at home, which helps a bit.  Looking at the Lakers they have quite a few tough games left too, with a SA/Atl/Miami/Dallas road trip (and the Magic when they get back) starting Sunday.  So I guess their schedule is pretty rough too. 

[Donoghus]

Like I mentioned last week, if we have a 3+ game lead on the morning of March 17th then I will be thrilled.

Anything less and I'll be a little nervous.  Things get more difficult after that date.   The more cushion, the better.

[droponov]

Boston's number (.17) is well higher than Miami's (-.65). Is Boston's remaining schedule much harder than Miami's?

Yes, at least according to this metric.

fixed?

Yes, that was a typo; LA has the toughest remaining schedule of all the contenders.

[celticinorlando]

heat has a tough road right now...lakers, magic, bulls, spurs twice..boston on the other hand really has 1 tough game in march...at the spurs