Analysis The Race for Home-Court Advantage - 25/26 Playoffs Seed Tracker

[LeBowen]

Been thinking about this and the Nuggets are basically just choosing the order in which they'll play the Thunder and the Spurs.
I can't see any of those three teams being eliminated by anyone else, assuming everyone is healthy.

If I was on the Nuggets, I'd rather play the Rockets and the Thunder because their odds of beating the Thunder would be way lower if they go the Timberwolves-Spurs-Thunder route, with the Thunder having two easy series.
Beating them after taking care of the Rockets isn't that unrealistic.

 

[$pursDynasty]

Two games to play and the Lakers trail the Nuggets by one game. The Lakers have the Blazers and the tanking Jazz. They also hold the tiebreaker over the Nuggets. The Nuggets have a game against the Thunder and the Spurs. Now the Thunder could do the smart thing and rest everyone against Denver but that starts the narrative that they are ducking them. Plus you don't want to give a rival confidence with any type of victory against you. So hopefully they will play 4 da win. If the Thunder does win, it would behoove the Spurs to go all out for the win Sunday because moving Denver to OKC's side of the bracket would be huge! I don't fear Denver or OKC but the ring is the thing so let's be smart about this. I feel the plan was get Wemby his 20 min game against Dallas and then rest til playoffs but trying to win Sunday might make our path to ring #6 that much easier.

 

[spurraider21]

the thing with denver is you are going to have to go through both OKC and SA regardless (in all likelihood), so jostling for a better round 2 matchup when you will presumably play the other one in round 3 anyway is kind of a fools errand, as opposed to at least giving yourself the easier round 1

 

[Mugen]

Maybe they think the Spurs are easier prey than the Thunder. I think they're wrong but they're a veteran squad looking across at a team with zero playoff experience together tbh.

 

[Russ]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2042392955315765454

I think Portland would still have to beat Sacramento to get the 8 seed even if they beat the Clippers (assuming the Clips beat GSW).

The difference between being 8 or 9 is huge.

If you're 8 you have two chances to make the playoffs and may even get the 7 seed by winning your first game against Phoenix.

Even if you lose that first game, you get a home game against the winner of 9-10 to make the playoffs.

If you're 9, it's one and done -- and even if you win that first game you have to quickly go on the road and win just to get the 8 seed.

 

[spurraider21]

Maybe they think the Spurs are easier prey than the Thunder. I think they're wrong but they're a veteran squad looking across at a team with zero playoff experience together tbh.

im sure they do, and probably justifiably so. jokic to a large extent neutralizes wemby's defensive impact both by being able to space him out (and denver doesnt have anybody for wemby to cheat off of) and also being able to score against him one on one when needed. the spurs also have the experience issue, and in a crunch time game, id rather deal with Fox and Castle than SGA

but either way, they're going to have to get thru both to reach the finals anyway

 

[ambchang]

I thought the OKC injury report was by one of those NBA Centrel type spoof accounts. They are such Warriors, playing through all these injuries until the very end . A reminder that hard fouling people doesn't just hurt the other person, it hurts you too.

 

[Snake Eyes]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2042381430659887398

Yeah, OKC isn’t winning

Ridiculous.

 

[Mugen]

Shameless to the point where I can kinda respect it tbh

 

[Exstatic]

OKC is literally sitting their entire rotation tbh.

They’re going with players 11-15, plus 3 two way players to make the requisite 8 man minimum. This is exactly why I wanted us to keep winning to put pressure on them. We forced them to play starters and rotation players all the way up to game #80. No rest for the wicked.

 

[Exstatic]

Two games to play and the Lakers trail the Nuggets by one game. The Lakers have the Blazers and the tanking Jazz. They also hold the tiebreaker over the Nuggets. The Nuggets have a game against the Thunder and the Spurs. Now the Thunder could do the smart thing and rest everyone against Denver but that starts the narrative that they are ducking them. Plus you don't want to give a rival confidence with any type of victory against you. So hopefully they will play 4 da win. If the Thunder does win, it would behoove the Spurs to go all out for the win Sunday because moving Denver to OKC's side of the bracket would be huge! I don't fear Denver or OKC but the ring is the thing so let's be smart about this. I feel the plan was get Wemby his 20 min game against Dallas and then rest til playoffs but trying to win Sunday might make our path to ring #6 that much easier.

OKC is resting their top TEN players, going with their 11-15 guys, plus 3 two way players to hit the requisite 8 dressed players. They’re not winning this game, but obviously dumping it.