With 29 games left this year, the Jazz need to get into Playoffs mode starting tomorrow. Every game against a western conference team is going to end up being worth 2 wins or 2 losses beause they are all grouped so close together. A loss to a team like New Orleans or Houston could really hurt our chances. Starting tomorrow we have 7 games at home against other playoff quality teams in the west and 2 against quality east teams, but one of those teams is Detroit and we own them so that almost doesn't count as a tough game. So, we have 16 total home games left and 9 are against decent competition, given the dominance that the Jazz have exhibited at home this year I say anything less than 14 - 2 the rest of the way is a failure. 14 home wins puts our win total at 48. I don't think that would be enough to win the division or get into the playoffs this year, it would be close, but not quite enough. That means we are going to have to get some more wins away from the ESA.
Moving onto the road, we have 13 total games left and 5 of those are against the playoff quality teams from the west and only 1 against playoff quality from the east. Lets say we go 2-4 against the tough teams and 4-3 against the others. We should go 6-1 against the others, but we do have that December history lesson to remember. That gives us a 6-7 record in road games and total record of 54 - 28. That should win the division pretty handily, but may not get us home court advantage in the first round and right now that would be against San Antonio, so game over for the Jazz if that happens.
Hopefully for this is what we will see happen from here on out.
- Phoenix is going to struggle for the next 10 games learning how to play with Shaq and go 5-5 bringing them down in the standing a bit.
- New Orleans is going to wilt uner the preasure and none of the fragile players have been hurt yet so look for Paul and Peja to miss a combined 15 games. They will end up as the 6th seed.
- The Lakers are one hard foul on that pinky of Kobe from becoming a .500 team the rest of the way in, I am rooting for Raja Bell on the 20th or Ron Artest on March 4th to "Sweep the Leg" if you will.
- San Antonio is going to turn it on and finish with the best record, they always do at this time of year.
- Dallas is going to go backwards with Kidd, he really is not playing that well this year. 36% shooting percentage is Jason Shart territory plus his turnovers are way up.
- Houston, Denver and Golden State don't matter so we will not discuss any of them. Now this is a big if, but IF all of these things happen the Jazz could end up with the 2nd seed. With home court advantage in the first two rounds you could pencil them into the finals again and then we would get a chance to topple our nemesis for a trip to the finals. If the Jazz are ever going to win a championship now is the time with the East being so bad.
Monday, February 18, 2008
The Playoffs Begin on Tuesday
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10 comments:
Wouldn't that be sweet if the K3 trade ends up being the best move of all....I actually think it is...but the media will not mention it. In fact, even if we earn the 1 or 2 seed we will get very little recognition. In fact, my guess is there will be more coverage on ESPN of the Chris Paul Celebrity Golf Tourney than there will our great run.
Oh and how ticked are CP3's people over the All-Star Weekend Staff not rigging both the Skills Challenge and the actual game for him to win the MVP? Guaranteed sh$# will go down today.
It is a good time to be a Jazz Fan, and the next few months are going to be a fun ride.
All those people calling CP3 the best or second best point guard are up in the night (whatever that means).
I would agree that the East as a whole is an extremely weak conference, but that it's best teams (Boston, Detroit) are just as good as the elite in the West. But from a Jazz perspective, like you said, we don't have to worry about Detroit.
Hey bro, it's pretty amazing to think that the best fans in the world would have a lame blog with not much participation. Sorry, my friend, but you have hated on the Warriors a little too much in this blog. GSoM is the best team blog, hands down, and while fans may talk trash, the main writers on GSoM don't talk a game like you do. Where do you live? What is your team's name? How boring are your fans? How boring is the whole vibe of your team and city? You are the Jazz. You don't talk the kind of game that you are talking. We'll see you in the playoffs. Then I can promise you that if the Golden State Warriors are victorious over the Jazz, this blog will never be the same. It will have more Warriors writers than Jazz writers. (Which won't be very difficult because GSoM has hundreds of participants). You will never hear the end of it.
Wait the Rockets and Warriors, both of which are within 1.5 games of the Jazz, and the Nuggets who are within 2.5 games of the Jazz don't matter?
I know I'm a Rockets fan, but come on. You're 1-1 against us this year. I can admit I think right now you have the better team, but we don't matter??
The Rockets are playing extremely well right now. I do worry about the Rockets...until playoff time. The Jazz have grown substantially since last year in the first round. I don't see the Jazz matching up against the Rockets anyway because the Jazz will be stuck with a 4 seed and Houston will be a 7 or 8.
As for the number of games we are ahead? Welcome to the West. 2.5 games can seperate contenders from pretenders.
We'd love to have more Houston fans on here though...better than GS fans.
Hey Anonymous...if it's so lame, quit looking at our blog man. Aparently you have the #1 blog in the world, waste your time there please.
P.S. Ever been to Utah? It sure sounds like you have based on your opinion of how lame we are. Oakland is sure something to talk about.
Thanks for making my point on the Rockets c.b. I am not discouting that they will make the playoffs, but even you as a fan would have to admit that you don't have a lot of faith in T-Mac and Yao to get it done there. Until I see otherwise in playoffs, The Rockets, Warriors and Nuggets just dont scare me as a Jazz fan.
The Nuggets scare me, I don't want to see them in the playoffs. A cupcake matchup in my opinion would be either the Hornets or the Warriors.
Hey, you're right man, that was a little over the top. Utah is gorgeous. I actually love the Wasatch Mountains and have made Park City a regular stop on my way out to school. But lets be serious, that write-up of the West was a little far-fetched. The Warriors a non-factor? We'll see... And the only reason us Warrior fans have ever heard about your blog is because one of your Jazz fans hopped onto a GSoM thread yesterday. It's cool though to get a little dialogue going.
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