10 game segment at 60/new playoff run projections

[Reunion Mav Old]

Well, we might now just end up 7th. I would prefer to finish the season as we have so little chance of falling to 8th and a descent chance of climbing the playoff ladder. 

We are 7-5 Post All-Star break which is consistent with the 6-4 Ten Game sets we have averaged for the year. Among the best parts, a couple of good wins late where we closed out games. We continue to show development improvement. Because of injuries, a few guys had their arrows turn around to ^ late in the season (Boban, Delon Wright, and to some degree even Justin Jackson, Willie Cauley Stein and perhaps others.) Opportunity to be ready worked out for some of the guys and that is a positive. All of the injuries, especially to Seth and Brunson, really hurt us. 

If we do play the rest of the season or if it is just the playoffs, it will be nice to be healthy and become a team with both depth and situational options off the bench.

Training camp starts tomorrow. The 60% win percentage we have been consistent with all year suggests we win 4.8 of the 8 games. Let's round that to 5-3 which would result in 45-30 for the year, 62%. We all know win percentage will determine the seeds. 

The way this stands, there will be no direct ties with 8 games, a round number remaining. We need to win two more games than either/or the Rockets or the Thunder to pass them. So 5-3 would mean they have to only go 3-5...not that unlikely. Going 6-2 would certainly help. 

Winning that first game will be incredibly important. Closing the gap to only one game, right away would help our Psychology and hurt the Rockets in particular. They are talking about moving up to 3rd seed, which is actually quite unlikely. Losing the first game would damage their hopes and bring them back to a reality more like real reality instead of their .....

I don't think there has ever been a game, immediately after a long lay off where 3 point shooting is so big of a factor. No one is playing in their own building. Our team plays better on the road than all of the 3 teams immediately in front of us. If we get our rhythm first, this play off seeding set of games could work out well for us. 

Let the serious preparation begin.