MavsBoard

(05-06-2021, 10:20 PM)ClutchDirk Wrote: [ -> ]Lakers getting spanked and AD hurt for the 100th time in his career...

Let's freeze the standings after tonight.  4/5 Dallas/Denver series and then Utah assuming they beat the 8th seed.

(05-06-2021, 10:38 PM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: [ -> ]Let's freeze the standings after tonight.  4/5 Dallas/Denver series and then Utah assuming they beat the 8th seed.

And then ...

After winning eight playoff games, the Mavs will be ready to kick ass against either the Suns or the Clippers.


http://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength


https://www.espn.com/nba/standings

Shouldn't put Utah in ink as the 1 seed just yet. PHX is just 1 game back and has the tiebreaker. The only game either has left with a top-7 opponent is Utah, who plays DEN on Friday in a big game for playoff seedings for both.

(05-06-2021, 10:38 PM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: [ -> ]Let's freeze the standings after tonight.  4/5 Dallas/Denver series and then Utah assuming they beat the 8th seed.

(05-07-2021, 02:43 AM)F Gump Wrote: [ -> ]Shouldn't put Utah in ink as the 1 seed just yet. PHX is just 1 game back and has the tiebreaker. The only game either has left with a top-7 opponent is Utah, who plays DEN on Friday in a big game for playoff seedings for both.

Yeah, I certainly have not put anything "in ink" yet.  I was just playing along with Dan's suggestion that we should "freeze the standings after tonight."

I would contend, though, that Utah's remaining schedule is easier than Phoenix's remaining schedule.

Utah has home games against Denver, Portland, and Houston.  Utah has road games against Golden State, Oklahoma City, and Sacramento.  (Opponents' winning percentage = .455)

Phoenix has home games against Portland and New York.  Phoenix has road games against Golden State, the Lakers, and two games in San Antonio.  (Opponents' winning percentage = .524)

The Knicks are a "top-7 opponent," and the Lakers and Blazers probably are too.

The Lakers with Drummond are basically in the same situation as the Mavs with JRich, except worse since center is such an important position. They have to start him or his agent will get pissed off, but every minute he plays is a minute where the Lakers are losing.

(05-07-2021, 03:05 AM)Hogmelon Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah, I certainly have not put anything "in ink" yet.  I was just playing along with Dan's suggestion that we should "freeze the standings after tonight."

I would contend, though, that Utah's remaining schedule is easier than Phoenix's remaining schedule.

Utah has home games against Denver, Portland, and Houston.  Utah has road games against Golden State, Oklahoma City, and Sacramento.  (Opponents' winning percentage = .455)

Phoenix has home games against Portland and New York.  Phoenix has road games against Golden State, the Lakers, and two games in San Antonio.  (Opponents' winning percentage = .524)

The Knicks are a "top-7 opponent," and the Lakers and Blazers probably are too.

Winning percentages aside, there are no guaranteed wins. You can bet one of those teams will drop a game vs lesser competition. Memphis who's in the playoff hunt, got blew out at Detroit,  and they're healthy now. No guarantees

(05-07-2021, 03:05 AM)Hogmelon Wrote: [ -> ]The Knicks are a "top-7 opponent," and the Lakers and Blazers probably are too.

Nope, no way.

Top 7 (the teams that have separated from the rest) - UT PHX LAC DEN MIL BKN PHI

Those are the real tests, and only UT has a game vs one of those.

Portland and NY are clearly in the next tier down, and LAL is meh without Lebron. None of those are in the top 7 by either record or ability.

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(05-07-2021, 04:35 AM)HoosierDaddyKid Wrote: [ -> ]Winning percentages aside, there are no guaranteed wins. 

That's a fair point. That's why they play the games, because you never know. It should be an interesting race for top seed.

(05-07-2021, 04:48 AM)F Gump Wrote: [ -> ]Nope, no way.

Top 7 (the teams that have separated from the rest) - UT PHX LAC DEN MIL BKN PHI

Those are the real tests, and only UT has a game vs one of those.

Portland and NY are clearly in the next tier down, and LAL is meh without Lebron. None of those are in the top 7 by either record or ability.

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Sorry about that.  I misunderstood your meaning of "top-7 opponent."  (I thought you meant top-seven in the conference.)

Of course, I agree with your "Top 7 (the teams that have separated from the rest) - UT PHX LAC DEN MIL BKN PHI," but I doubt that the Utah vs. Denver game will be the only "real test" remaining out of the twelve games I listed (the games remaining on the respective schedules of the Jazz and the Suns).

Lakers are toast.

LBJ, THT, Schroder and maybe AD out versus Portland.  They will have lost the tie breaker to Portland and Dallas with a loss tonight.

I feel pretty good about the Mavs avoiding the play in.  Now lets get the Nuggets match up.

"We are the 7th seed and ahead of the 10th seed by 5.5 games.
This is the list of teams below us.
TrailBlazers tied
Warriors- 3.5 games back
Grizzlies- 4 games back
Spurs- 5.5 games back
We play the TrailBlazers tomorrow. We lose and we fall to 7.
Suns after that and if we are tanking out then that is a loss
Knicks after that. We might drop down to 8 depending on win and losses.by other teams
Rockets for the final game at home and banner raising. Assumed loss and go down to 9.
Pacers doesn’t affect west standings but we likely lose and we would be tied for the10 seed or a half a game ahead after the loss
Then the final game with the Pelicans which could make us the 10seed or out of the playoffs with a loss.
If we lose that last game we might dip to a 10-15 draft pick.
Any talent you see in that range worth dipping out of the playoffs for?"


Laker fan post 

(05-07-2021, 07:45 AM)Hypermav Wrote: [ -> ]Lakers are toast.

LBJ, THT, Schroder and maybe AD out versus Portland.  They will have lost the tie breaker to Portland and Dallas with a loss tonight.

I feel pretty good about the Mavs avoiding the play in.  Now lets get the Nuggets match up.

Makes you wonder whether the pandemic break last year was a huge blessing in disguise for the Lakers, given the age and injury-prone nature of LeBron, AD and even key contributors like Dwight Howard. McGee´s attention span is probably not longer than a month either.

(05-07-2021, 08:49 AM)Mavs2021 Wrote: [ -> ]Makes you wonder whether the pandemic break last year was a huge blessing in disguise for the Lakers, given the age and injury-prone nature of LeBron, AD and even key contributors like Dwight Howard. McGee´s attention span is probably not longer than a month either.

For sure. The shutdown was a huge benefit to the veteran teams and the teams with questionable depth. Lakers and Rockets come to mind in the west. Really surprising how terrible the defending 2nd Round Champion Rockets looked once they got that extra rest. Lebron really looked refreshed in the bubble compared to March

(05-07-2021, 07:45 AM)Hypermav Wrote: [ -> ]Lakers are toast.

LBJ, THT, Schroder and maybe AD out versus Portland.  They will have lost the tie breaker to Portland and Dallas with a loss tonight.

I feel pretty good about the Mavs avoiding the play in.  Now lets get the Nuggets match up.

AD is a go, don't know about THT. This is a must see game IMO. Both teams need to win in the worst way.

Interesting piece. Mentioning it may take sense for Houston to give offers to top RFAs. It suggest best way for Wall would be basically to split the cost between Houston and his new team - Houston and Wall reach a buyout agreement at (let's) say half his salary and Wall signs somewhere at 20 mil per. That is best win-win-win situation. Everything else ends with Wall rotting on one of the bottom feeders who doesn't really want to play him as he will worsen the tankathon position.

https://theathletic.com/2573470/2021/05/...n-houston/

https://twitter.com/_Andrew_Lopez/status...8795906051

https://twitter.com/OlehKosel/status/139...9658491904

(05-07-2021, 01:44 PM)omahen Wrote: [ -> ]Interesting piece. Mentioning it may take sense for Houston to give offers to top RFAs. It suggest best way for Wall would be basically to split the cost between Houston and his new team - Houston and Wall reach a buyout agreement at (let's) say half his salary and Wall signs somewhere at 20 mil per. That is best win-win-win situation. Everything else ends with Wall rotting on one of the bottom feeders who doesn't really want to play him as he will worsen the tankathon position.

Thanks for posting that.  It was actually negotiate $20mm off of the $92mm remaining over 2 years (so $72mm) and Wall would make it up signing for about the MLE or $10mm per year over the next two years.

I also thought the suggestion of throwing a 4 year/$45mm deal at THT was interesting in terms of what Hollinger thought might be good value, but also enough to possibly make the Lakers blink.